The Sum of Her Parts

Chapters

The Child's Call
Games and Other Fatal Pursuits
It Takes Two to Be Lonely
Contract an Expanding Heart
A New Age Dawning
Happiness is a Flower Watered by Tears
Starry Eyes
What Are You So Afraid of?

The Child's Call

The former Princess Pupa, now newlywed Queen of the Crystal Empire, could have been said to be walking through the quickly rising snowbanks on the outskirts of her kingdom, only that would have been too nice a word. Her trembling forehooves dragged the rest of her aching body through the snow until every few inches she collapsed and lay broken while violent spasms ravaged her body for several agonizing minutes. Then, once she managed to haul herself upright once more, she almost instantly wanted to fall again as the icy wind screamed in her face. Her soft tresses of blue and lavender had fought themselves free of their braid, and now they wriggled around her head like a wreath of snakes. Her crown and regalia long forgotten, her flimsy, ripped dress of shimmering green silk fluttered open, exposing her skin to the snow that stung her with frostbites.

Dark blue and purple splotches bloomed like a garland across her torso, now reduced to nothing more than flaps of cracked skin stretched on rods of bone as her chest heaved laboriously. Her lovely gossamer wings had bent in several places from the unforgiving wind, and it had even torn one out of its socket to scrape across the snow.

Her voice had been lost from screaming hours ago, and now the only sound from her was a rasping cough that clawed its way out of her red raw throat. The few tears that hadn’t already been spent were frozen to her face like embedded pearls that rimmed her dark, sunken green eyes, looking out to the white wasteland that would be her grave. But even with all that pain and suffering, it could have been bearable if not for what was happening inside her.

With one last gasp of exertion, Pupa’s legs suddenly crumpled beneath her. She gave a weak attempt to push herself upright, but other than an involuntary shiver, her body would no longer obey her.

The queen closed her eyes in surrender. It was decided then. How could she be expected to overcome herself? The last spark of her determination faded; her own meager emotions had only been able to carry her so far.

It was useless at this point to conserve heat, so she lay exposed on her back and looked up at the hordes of windigos all making a beeline straight for the Crystal Empire. Fear trickled like lead in her veins at the thought of her home turned into a wasteland, her precious ponies frozen in ice. Closing her eyes, she prayed that the shield she had created would still hold, if not by the Crystal Heart’s power, then Sombra’s…

A jolt of electric pain shocked her heart, bringing her back to reality. Pupa barely restrained a whimper as she felt that toxic, black poison throb in her aching heart. It gushed out of her heart and began eroding the tissues inside to make room for more, more, more, eating her inside out, until it felt like there was nothing left but burning blackness. She felt it bubble in her bones like lava before it clawed its way to the surface. Her back arched as the poison diffused through her skin, turning her pearl white fur darker and darker as it took hold.

It wasn’t fair. She had looked away for a full hour. The rules said she should have been free, but it was already too late. The poison had been in her system for too long, and now it was going to destroy her from the inside out. All she could do was sit and watch the poisonous acid burn away her skin and coat it with a slimy chitinous layer, bore holes into her legs, gloss over her translucent wings, erode her teeth into glistening fangs. And even still, as she lay on her deathbed, with all passion and vibrancy drained from her, the most sickened, diseased, and twisted part of her still yearned to turn and run back the miles she had wandered, run back to him…

Time was meaningless, but Pupa lay there for hours, not moving an inch, fighting for her last shred of dignity. It didn’t matter if she didn’t move forward; as long as she didn’t go back, she had won against the curse.

As the internal battle of wills raged on, the storm out in the rest of the world began to die down, and Pupa could see past the dense wall of flurries to a small cluster of straw huts, lit from within by brightly glowing lamps that were the most beautiful sight she could have asked for. Her eyes drank in the light greedily, even as it began to fade from her own eyes.

Amidst an encroaching fog on her vision that had nothing to do with the snow, she thought she saw one light bob towards her. She might have heard a shout as well, but that didn’t matter. She just stared into that beautiful light as she tried not to cry. She had won a small victory against herself, but there was no hiding the fact that she had lost to the rest of the world. Her foolishness in marrying a mad tyrant had finally borne its fruits. The intrigue, foolishness, and fear had brought her down just when she thought she had it all.

Even as the cold seeped into her body, when she remembered all those days of wondrous innocence and heartwarming love, all she could think was:

It was never worth this.

Then Pupa looked down at the white snow and saw only darkness.

“What’s the report, Doctor?”

“Not too good I’m afraid, Princess Platinum,” replied a brown unicorn donning a shabby, patchwork cloak in place of a medical coat. His profession was identifiable only by the red cross cutie mark that shone through the threadbare cloth as he stood over the patient. “She’s suffering from severe hypothermia and pneumonia, as well as starvation. She must have been walking in this blizzard for days on end; the journey’s left her nearly dead.”

“Obviously,” Commander Hurricane commented, rolling his eyes. “What I’d like to know,” he continued as he pointed to Pupa’s recently added black chitin, “is what in the stars’ name caused that.”

“Poison,” the doctor answered gravely, shaking his head sadly at the poor figure curled on the table. “A love poison, from what I can tell. It’s fermented over months of time inside her, growing stronger and stronger until now, when it’s taken her over completely.”

“Is there any way to save her?” Chancellor Puddinghead piped up, looking over at the princess solemnly, her usually chipper disposition downtrodden by concern.

“Even if I could, it wouldn’t be good for her. The poison has reached a point where it’s cursed her very heart. If she were to live, she would be driven by an addict’s desire to drain the love from others in a futile effort to sate the hole in her heart. But it can never be filled now, now that she’s looked away from her lover and the connection’s been broken.” A pregnant pause having filled the conference room as the heavy news sunk in, he added, “She only has a few hours left at best, and the medical wing is beyond full. If your business with the crystal princess is concluded, I would like to place her in the morgue if you so wish, Your Graces.”

“Certainly,” Princess Platinum said with a polite nod of the head. “Thank you for your time, Doctor.”

The stallion fell into a humble bow before ushering in two assistants who wrapped the body in linens and bore her away, leaving their leaders to brood in private.

“We cannot allow this to continue,” the princess stated resolutely. “The state of Princess Pupa has confirmed our suspicions: the Crystal Empire has collapsed. The Crystal Heart’s magic has failed to protect it, and a corrupted magic has taken over in its place. We must take action at once.”

“Agreed,” said the pegasus commander. “I’ll prepare the pegasi troops to mobilize within the afternoon. We’ll send out some scouts, then work out a strategy while we fly, and save those crystal ponies within a week’s time.”

“I was going to suggest sending a diplomatic party,” the unicorn said with a toss of her mane.

“Yes, because I’m sure whatever thing cursed Princess Pupa is capable of negotiation.”

“And I am equally sure that it would overlook a whole army of pegasi and not try to curse them, nor hold the surviving crystal ponies hostage,” Platinum deadpanned.

“You’re assuming it is capable of strategy,” Hurricane retaliated.

“You’re assuming its weakness. This foe most likely has a vast arsenal of dark magic—“

“—and of course no measly pegasi army could stand up to magic, because magic is the greatest force ever, blah blah blah,” the commander said before giving a loud snort. “How typical of a unicorn to think.”

“Well go ahead then, if you want to get your army killed. Maybe we can use your feathers to make some new coats,” she added darkly.

“Watch your tongue, or I might saw off your horn, shove it down your throat, and have you cough up fireworks as a carnival attraction!”

“Try me, you stubborn, big-headed, egotistical son of a—!”

“Would you two quit it already?!”

The two leaders froze and looked down the table at Chancellor Puddinghead, wearing a rarely seen pout and glaring at them with often seen aggravation.

“Are we really going to do this again?” she demanded, her voice ever so slightly wavering. “Call each other names, fight against ourselves instead of the real problem, ruin my chance to get reelected? I’m tired of that, you know. I thought the windigos taught us better than this.”

The others’ expressions softened as they watched her bright blue eyes start to water, only to then change to terror as her poofy hair began to deflate. “Oh, of course,” Commander Hurricane sympathized as he inched his chair back, “you’re absolutely right; we’ve been acting horribly, haven’t we?” He chuckled nervously. “How about some love and friendship—“

“Which is why I suggest we send out an earth pony scouting team!” Puddinghead said, her hair returning to its natural bubbly state.

Hurricane facehoofed.

Platinum turned away and sighed. “We… we can’t go on like this,” she whispered.

“What was that?” Puddinghead asked cheerfully.

“We can’t go on like this,” she repeated, her eyes downcast sadly. “We can’t keep Equestria united, not when we can’t unite ourselves. It’s better than before, yes, but it’s not enough. The ponies still hold grudges like we do, and there’s distrust everywhere. Harmony is only on the surface, a façade we hold in public to hide the tensions underneath. But that’s starting to crack too. It won’t be long before discord consumes all of Equestria, and we’ll be worse off than before.”

The meeting room fell silent as the words rang dully through the chilled air. “So what should we do?” Puddinghead asked in a voice like that of a child, lost and vulnerable.

“With me childless, I suppose Clover will be next in line for the unicorn crown,” Platinum replied somberly, slouching in her chair as the words drained her energy. “Perhaps the monarchy will be dissolved after her; I do not know. All I know is that I am not fit to partake in it.”

Hurricane’s eyes widened into the first expression that the other leaders had ever seen of him being taken by surprise. He waited a full beat before his hoof collided with the table to punctuate his saying, “That’s a load of nonsense, even from you. Don’t tell me you’re going to abdicate that easily! Because you snapped and had one argument?!”

“One in the line of many.”

“Come now, so maybe you’re not perfect, but you’re somewhat competent, and you obviously understand your weaknesses. What happens after Clover? Her daughter? They can’t solve your problem because they’re unicorns, will think in the same way you do, and so will all those that come after them.”

“Well, what else do you intend me to do?” she demanded. “I’m sick and tired of this! You two do what you want with the Crystal Empire. Do what you want with Equestria. I’ll do what I want with my life.” Then she lifted the unicorn crown off her head, glanced at it with a look of disgust, and disdainfully tossed it onto the table, where it spun drunkenly before crashing to the floor.

Hurricane and Puddinghead stared at the crown so intently that neither of them noticed Platinum leave the meetinghouse. They just watched the sunlight dully glint off the varnished metal spokes as they stewed in a silence that was so unrepresentative of their reeling thoughts.

“That mare’s crazy,” he declared, standing up suddenly. “It’s not her that’s the problem; it’s this whole blasted Council we’re attempting. But what are we supposed to do about that? We can’t have a monarchy without neglecting two races.” He glanced at the silent earth pony chancellor before slamming his helmet onto the table. “Here,” he said. “You make a monarchy. Your tribe always seemed to have the most common sense during the blizzard. Hopefully that’ll be enough to balance us out.”

And with a flap of his wings, it was finally Chancellor Puddinghead alone. Her soft blue eyes regarded the fallen relics of power like gravestones of forgotten friends. Then she gently placed her hat beside them like a wreath of roses to commemorate the dissolved council.

“At least we tried,” she whispered sadly.

The screech of her sliding chair echoed in the silence of the grave. Her heavy heart weighed down her hooves as she walked across the endless expanse of the meeting hall. She stopped at the door and flung it open, revealing the smiling sun overhead, its jubilant light contrasting with Puddinghead’s mournful face.

“Why do they not understand?” she asked herself and the world. “It’s not about balance. It’s about harmony.”

It was spring now, the first spring after the windigo blizzard had ravaged the land. The courtyard’s trees were adorned with white and pink blossoms that fell like a better, gentler snow on the former leaders gathered there. The petals fluttered on the breeze that lifted them above the branches to greet the sun, only to fall one by one onto the brick tiles, stopping just before they reached the cave entrance.

It was here in this cave, hidden entirely from the cheerful light of day, that the Tree of Harmony made its home. Had the sun been smiling down on it, its crystalline bark would have fractured into a million rainbow fragments, shimmering as the fragile branches of the newborn tree reached up to grasp empty air while searching for the mother sun. Now, however, it emitted a soft glow that illuminated the grim faces of the ponies with a mysterious blue aura.

It highlighted the creased lines of the commander’s forehead as he stood lost in thought, and the lines sagging around Princess Platinum’s somber eyes as she relayed the tale to Clover the Clever. The young mage’s tightly pursed lips were accented in the same blue light as her eyes bugged out in horror. The sunlight mixed with it to caress like a worried mother the furrowed brow of Clover’s only daughter, Dusk Melody, whose head swiveled back and forth between her ruler and her mother, trying to make sense of the conversation.

With slow, measured steps, Puddinghead grew close enough to hear Clover say, “…can’t just abdicate! Equestria needs you, all of you! Even if it’s difficult to compromise sometimes, the council can still work!”

Platinum sighed, her eyes flashing a silver that was too old for one her age. “I hope there may come a day when Equestria is ready to take on a more democratic government, but that is not today. As it stands, the council is too weak, not centralized enough. Dark times are approaching, and we can’t have a government that can’t agree on anything. We must be a united state, not three tribes stepping on each other’s hooves as we try to fulfill a treaty.”

“But think of what it took to get ponies to accept the council in the first place!” Clover pleaded. “You can’t just unravel all that work! Ponies’ hearts can change, so please, Princess—“

“No,” Platinum ordered morosely. “There is no Princess of Equestria.”

“If there is a vacancy in power, who knows what kind of tyrant or oppressor could take over? Please, at least consider staying until we can transition to a better mode of government.”

Silence. Clover looked down sadly, used a curtain of mane to hide her eyes. When she looked up, they were filled with fire.
“You can’t just hand the crown to me, Platinum,” she said fiercely. “I won’t do this without you.”

Clover took a few steps into the cave. “Everfree Castle was built here for a reason. Remember what happened here? That was the first time that ponies of all kinds joined together in harmony. Like a seed, the fire of our friendship forged this tree, forged this country. Maybe it’s gotten to be too much to handle, and maybe resigning is for the best. Maybe a chancellor doesn’t know what to do after an election, maybe a commander doesn’t know how to perpetuate peace after a war, and maybe a princess doesn’t know how to handle a bureaucracy after a political upheaval, but you do know about Harmony. And I’m sure Cookie and Pansy would agree if they were here, that you can solve this together, even if you’ll be working together to depart from one another.”

The princess opened her mouth to protest when Hurricane placed a gentle hoof on her shoulder and said, “Trust her, Platinum. She’s not rash like us, calling doomsday on every meeting gone awry. It’ll be hard, but with patience, we’ll figure something out.”

At this, Platinum gave a small smile and said something, but Puddinghead, observing from afar, had stopped paying attention. Instead, her keen eyes were focused on a young filly walking into the cave. Unflinching against the dank cavern, her steps were sure with purpose, her head tilted upward with the poise of princess as she approached the Tree of Harmony. Though she did not understand the filly’s intent, the curious chancellor looked on respectfully in silence, a silence only broken by the panicked cry—

“Dusk Melody!”

Clover shouted her daughter’s name, but she was already too far away to hear. Puddinghead’s bright blue eyes flashed as she saw the filly kneel at the base of the tree and close her eyes. Her lips mouthed words too faint for her ears, but the single tear that rolled down her cheek made their intent clear.

Pudding was about to call out to the other leaders, but this was rendered unnecessary when a mighty crack like lightning drew everypony’s attention to the cave.

On the highest branch, a spark of swirling red and pink light, the very same light from the Hearth’s Warming fire, crowned the crystalline tree. Like a newborn star, it rapidly grew in strength, becoming brighter and brighter until it rivaled the sun itself.

Clover attempted to run to Dusk, but a howling wind charged with magic held her back. It stung in her eyes, burning away the tears with the same relentless scalding that assaulted her throat, raw from trying to scream over the wind. Fear beat in her chest like a second heart.

Meanwhile, Dusk herself remained unafraid. She stood up tall and stretched out her forelegs wide, as if to embrace the cosmic powers summoned at her will.

Then there was a loud cry, terrible and beautiful, infused with the primitive rawness found in all living beings from birth. But like the highest, glass-shattering note in a melody, it also marked the spell’s climax, its apex before tumbling into a quiet like death. As its last strands reverberated in the air, the light faded, the wind subsided, and the little filly stood alone in the center of the calm.

For a second, there was naught but silence.

“Dusk,” Clover breathed, her faint voice echoing into all of history. “What did you do?”

Dusk pivoted around to face her mother. The dying wind sent her pink hair fluttering around her head, where the red light circled around her brow in a bloody halo, the same light reflected on the edges of her golden eyes. And for that split second, Pudding had no doubt that those eyes, those gems of a goddess, could see straight into Clover’s soul.

“You were in trouble,” she said plainly. “So I asked for help.”

No sooner had the words slipped into the open air then the earth trembled violently beneath their hooves. A wave of life-giving energy radiated in a white pulsating glow throughout the castle and the surrounding area. Meanwhile, the red and pink ball of light quivered and split like a seed into two, with the red half falling to the ground, trailing sparks of fire. The pink half remained floating in midair, spinning into a blur that molded into a flowerbud, which then bloomed to reveal its shimmering coral petals.

From this flower, there burst forth two divine creatures of light. On one side sprang a mare with fur as radiant as the white clouds in the sky and a flowing mane as fair as the maiden blush of sunrise. On the other side leapt her twin, donning fur of the calmest sea and a mane kissed with the inky hues of dusk.

Their horns were lit with a brilliant light that illuminated the ponies’ awestruck expressions, which only filled with more wonder as the creatures unfurled their majestic wings. Spreading them out wide, the pristine feathers caught hold of the wind as they glided slowly down from the tree. Their movements were perfect, graceful, and when their delicate hooves landed on unhallowed earth, there was not a sound.

At once, their nearly blinding glow dimmed to a soft aura of warmth and comfort. Then tentatively, in a manner that for anypony else would be seen as uncertain, the two creatures took slow, measured steps towards Dusk Melody, with the white one slightly leading. Their eyes were strange, unreadable, as they paid no attention to all the other ponies held spellbound by their presence.

Princess Platinum found it hard to breathe as she watched the approaching alicorns. Their grace, she marveled, their beauty. They way they walk, as if they were floating on air. There’s a certain poise to them, their heads held high as if they ruled the world, but their movements are simple, humble, too.

They look like princesses.

They stopped just inches in front of Dusk, slackjawed in silent wonder. The rest eyed them cautiously, not sure whether to stare or prepare to fight the newcomers. Their muscles tensed as the white alicorn spread her wings to their proudest height, but the smile that shortly followed caused a collective sigh.

“What do you require of us, child?” she asked with a siren’s voice.

Nopony knew how to answer. Nopony except Puddinghead, who confidently strode up to the two celestial beings. She wore the widest grin as she beamed up at the alicorns who would be their salvation.

“We need you to bring order.”

Nopony noticed the draconequus slither around the base of the tree and slink into the shadows.

Games and Other Fatal Pursuits

"Halt. Clarification, Mother."

Celestia's voice echoed off the empty white walls of her Comprehension Chamber. For the first time in nine years, the holographic images projecting the outside world stopped swirling around her, instead hovering inert to fill the room with another layer of white from their soft glow.

An alicorn mare instantly materialized beside Celestia with the silence of an apparition. Her shimmering, pearly coat blended in perfectly with her surroundings, adding to her phantom-like appearance. Her silver mane and tail billowed around her like smoke, partly obscuring her slender legs that levitated inches above the ground. This made her amethyst wingtips stand out in contrast as they shone like tinted glass. The same color was reflected in her eyes, bearing the light of stars and comets and galaxies continuously winking in and out of existence. How easy it would be for the image of one little alicorn filly to get lost in the depths of that endless universe.

Which was why the elder alicorn didn't bother looking at Celestia when she arrived. Her eyes only followed the line of her daughter's tiny hoof, pointing to the image of an indistinct, shadowy body with jagged edges outlined in red. It seemed to be curled in a fetal position, though the bramble of thorns around it looked far from restful.

"This creature does not align with previously recorded information," Celestia said impassively, "and the Vitreous Erudition prohibits further analysis."

Her mother's eyes briefly darkened at the bleak projection. "Explanation permitted," she declared, her voice ringing out rich and clear.

Celestia's eyes looked blankly ahead. "Name."

"You are viewing a creature of Eris, that of the forsaken forest to the West. Names are a foreign concept to them, seen as too much of a consistency to be allowed."

Celestia's steady gaze flickered. "Noted," she said, hesitant. "What is its occupation?"

"Nothing but whatever it pleases, which is forever fluctuant."

"But… But isn't there some being which tells it what to do? How could such a land operate with no rules to govern it?"

"It doesn't," replied her mother, her scowl as dark as was possible in a realm of perpetual light. "What you must understand, Celestia, is that Eris is the cosmic opposite of Elysium. Their minds function with such twisted logic that it warps their very perception of reality. They cannot possibly understand the bliss that comes from working with a single united cause in mind. In their foolishness, they believe they have found freedom by breaking all restrictions, when in fact they have made themselves slaves to their own desires. As a result, their hearts are restless, never satisfied. This is the punishment of falling prey to Chaos; it is the danger of a world without Order. If allowed to run rampant, soon we would all succumb to the same insanity that is their greatest flaw."

"But then why—"

"Knowledge of the Land of Eris will not serve in the Maintenance of Order, Celestia. It does not need to be Integrated into your memory."

With that, she knew the conversation was over. Celestia closed her eyes and bowed her head. "Clarification ended," she whispered.

Feeling more confused than ever, Celestia watched her mother spin on her back leg and disappear into thin air, leaving her daughter in total isolation for another five years.

For the first time in forever, Celestia let out a small sigh as she heard the slight swoosh of the holographs of the Vitreous Erudition starting up again. She kept her eyes closed a few seconds longer, trying to delay the inevitable, but eventually she resigned herself to the flashing images of a world she could never touch. However, her eyes soon glazed over as her mind drifted to musings, dangerous ones she wouldn't dare to speak aloud.

So instead, Celestia resigned herself to think and to wonder.

"That's all I was told about you."

Celestia had not known the draconequus very long, but seeing as this was the first time in two hours she had seen him lie perfectly still, she thought it safe to assume that he was being serious. His bright red eyes were fixated on her intensely, the gears behind those crimson eyes whirling with turbulent thoughts. Then suddenly his gaze dropped as if embarrassed to search the blades of grass beneath him. His eyes darted back and forth, never daring to look up even as the silence of the forest pressed upon them.

Finally, he spoke up in a voice thick with uncertainty, "Then is that what you believe?"

"It is all I know," she answered without any hesitation. "The only truth I understand."

"But you didn't run away from me," he pointed out as he tried to busy himself with brushing an invisible speck of dirt from his paw. "Doesn't that mean you think I have good intentions?"

"That was to ascertain your existence as a child of Chaos," Celestia replied, a shudder trailing down her spine as she said the taboo name. "Nothing more. My first instinct would be to execute you now."

Those words resonated with Discord. Still keeping his head bent to hide a feral scowl, he felt his muscles tense beneath his skin, pulling it taut. The sunlight glinted off his sharp talons a bit too brightly as the shade of the forest cloaked him a bit too well. Yet his heart thrashed wildly in his chest at the threat. He knew that this mare, delicate as she was, would not hesitate to act upon her word. Looks, as he had learned in Eris, could be deceiving.

Discord fought the urge to tremble as her piercing magenta eyes swept over him with the precision and deadliness of lasers. It was a shrewd, calculating gaze, measuring the precise amount of force coiled in his back legs versus the cold sweat just barely forming on his paw. All this she noticed but cast aside with an indifference that terrified him. Discord, who lived to expect the unexpected, had been caught off guard.

"And yet…"

His ears perked up.

"…it's hard to tell what to do in a place like this," she admitted. As she turned her head and lifted her gaze, his eyes flickered up just enough to see her look down upon the tiny bundle of cottages with a wistful, misty-eyed expression. "I may have known about pony society, but it's a whole other thing to actually experience it. The hesitant but sincere smiles, the small gestures that can change the whole meaning of their words, the warmth that only sometimes reaches their eyes; I hardly know what to make of it."

"I know," Discord agreed enthusiastically, brightening to the energetic creature Celestia had first encountered. "They're so… layered. They have mood swings, dwell over the most insignificant problems, then get all emotional over the littlest things. Not that it's bad, just… just different."

Celestia nodded. "Is that why you chose to stay in the forest?" she asked softly.

"Yeah." A curious emotion veiled his eyes with mist as Discord shrugged and looked down at the tiny cottages in the distance. "It's better for me up here, where I don't have to bother anypony. I mean, I don't think ponies like me that much. They always run away from me."

Celestia's gaze softened, and despite the sensible part of her whispering words of caution, she tentatively placed a reassuring hoof on Discord's paw. "I… Forgive me for threatening you. It would be wiser for me not to antagonize you without provocation, as others should learn as well. But you don't need to take such things to heart. You're just different, that's all. I was taught that ponies are somewhat resistant to abrupt changes, so you have to be patient with them. They're adapting to our presence just as much as we are to theirs. Just give them time, and once they grow accustomed to seeing you, they'll come around."

"It's okay," she insisted when she was met with only silence. "I… I get weird looks all the time, too."

"Only because you're so pretty."

At that moment, Celestia wished the strange blood rising to her cheeks would go just a bit higher to her brain and gift her with coherent speech. "I… er, well, thank you," she began, her voice becoming more and more high-pitched as she tripped over her words. "But it's not a big deal really, how I look. I only took this form because it was deemed to be most effective in bringing order. If being a sea slug would unite ponies' hearts, then you wouldn't want to go anywhere near me. Er, not to say that sea slugs are ugly; they're just different, you know? No, but not your type of different; your different is crazy and amazing and… sorry, I'm rambling, aren't I?"

To her relief, Discord paid no attention to her rant (besides a brief but irritatingly smug grin) and instead said, "So does that mean you're a shape-shifter?"

Celestia shook her head. "No, not really, or at least I don't think so."

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense," the spirit of chaos replied. "You seem like the type that would stick to one shape; you're definitely not cut out for more." With a snap of his talons, he morphed into a tiny slug flopping around in the grass. "You can't be too picky with what you transform into; it's rude, see?"

In another flash, he turned into a lion. "You have to brave enough to let go of inhibitions—

"—before swooping in to claim your desires," an eagle finished.

"But Chaos isn't always that easy," added a lizard. "It takes cunning—

"—forgetting about fear," said a bat.

"—and always being willing to change your mind," a goat concluded with a knowing wink.

"But that's where the beauty of Chaos comes from, doesn't it?" Celestia watched in awe as Discord, now a beautiful blue songbird, rose high above the treetops to greet the sun. Rays of light shone through spaces between feathers in his spread wings to give the ethereal impression of golden translucence. Celestia felt her heart skip in her chest. She loved it.

Then in a second, it all came crashing down. With a flash of light, Discord tumbled from the sky. Branches could be heard snapping in his wake as he plummeted, and when he slammed into the dirt, he was a draconequus once again.

A cry wrenching itself from her throat, Celestia ran to kneel at Discord's side. Tears welled in her eyes as he lay motionless, with his tongue lolling out of his mouth in what was certainly the most serious death he could manage.

"Oh no," she panicked, placing her hooves over her mouth in horror. "Oh no, no, no—AHH!"

Celestia fell backwards as Discord coiled into a spring and shot into the air. Rainbow fireworks exploded, which then turned into a shower of orange soda. The soda turned the ground to sticky mud, a situation that proved problematic for a certain alicorn trying to stand with any ounce of dignity.

As he slowly settled down to earth, Discord let forth a roaring guffaw that could be heard for miles. "Haha! Sweet Eris, your face! Priceless!"

Celestia growled. "Stop laughing at me!" she ordered, wiping soda from her eyes with little success. "That wasn't funny!"

"Well, then you just failed the test," Discord stated simply. "The most important rule of Chaos is to always have a sense of humor."

Isn't having rules oxymoronic? Never mind, that answer's probably going to be in riddles or something idiotic like that. "But faking your death is cruel! You could have been seriously hurt for all I knew!"

"Tsk, tsk, I thought you would have realized by now that I can't be serious about anything."

"And to think I was trying to have a civil conversation with you," she muttered, pouting in last drops of soda rain. Reluctantly, she licked some off her face. It was very good.

Still, I'll get him back for that prank, she vowed. Wait, what?!

"Aw, don't be mad," Discord pleaded, putting on his best puppy dog face. "You can never pull off that kind of stunt in a land where everyone's immortal, and the opportunity was too good to pass up. If it upsets you that much, I won't do it again, promise."

Celestia was skeptical, but her gaze softened to just a scalding glare.

Then she tried to stand but fell flat on her rump in the mud.

Discord held back a snicker. Celestia's glower could have burned holes into the sun. Discord gulped, remembering her threat to execute him from before.

With a gentlemanly smile, he held out his paw to Celestia. When she just stared dumbfounded at it, he jabbed it more insistently in her direction. Finally he rolled his eyes and remarked, "Jeez, you need to work on your social cues."

Hesitantly, Celestia held out her hoof. Instead of just helping her stand, Discord spun her around in a whirlwind, sending the mud and soda flying off her coat. Then he snapped his fingers and she jerked to a screeching halt.

"Now you're just showing off," she grumbled.

"I was doing that from the beginning. Come on, keep up!" he sternly admonished.

Celestia only stumbled around dizzily.

"Hmm, you'd make a good ballerina, if your coordination wasn't like that of a blind buffalo. Perhaps there's still a chance to have fun with you."

Discord paused in his musings, then smiled. "Your face is cute like that," he commented as Celestia's eyelids fluttered, passing over her dazed stare.

"Uh, thank you?" she said as the world still spun beneath her.

"It's good to see you surprised," Discord explained. "You should do it more often."

"I think I'll pass," she remarked, icier than she expected. For Elysium's sake, he's such an idiot. But an idiot with valuable information about chaos. An idiot with a nice smile. Nice smelling, too. Wonder what shampoo he uses.

…Okay, now I know I've lost it. Gah, I'm such an idiot…

"I don't suppose I can ask for another start-over?" Discord asked, now nestled comfortably between the roots of a tree.

"After six tries? I think this is the best I can ask for," Celestia replied. Though not particularly dizzy anymore, she decided to play it safe and found a soft patch of grass to sit on. "Or at least," she amended, "the best I can expect from a creature of chaos."

"Well then, I suppose I'll have to prove you wrong." With a snap of his fingers, he conjured up a long table, sagging from the weight of china cups and platters of sweets. Another flash, and he and Celestia were sitting at opposite ends, with Discord sporting a ridiculously oversized top hat for the occasion.

"Now then," he said, folding his hands, "in a respectable and genteel fashion, let's get to know each other better."

Celestia only batted an eye before saying, "Yes, so about Eris—"

"We can have all the heart-to-heart discussions about Eris for you to obsessively archive for your orderly overlords later, can't we? For now, I want to know more about you."

The draconequus offered a fish-shaped kettle. "Chocolate milk?"

Celestia shook her head. "I prefer tea."

"Chocolate cake?"

"Vanilla."

"Chimmi-cherry?"

"Cherry-changa."

"Bacon?"

"What in Equestria is that?"

"My, you're picky," Discord said, giving her a toothy grin. "I suppose only the most charming of gentlemen could put up with you."

Celestia rolled her eyes, though she was unaware of the small smile on her face. "Even when you're being 'gentlemanly,' I'm still proven right."

Discord snapped his talon, dispelling the faux tea party. "But did I get the charming part?"

"Let's just say it'll be a while before I invite you to the castle."

"Gosh, you have high standards," Discord teased. "No moving up the social ladder for me; I guess I'll just continue on being a fugitive in these unforgiving woods."

Celestia's eyes widened at the joke. It was the truth, she realized. He really did have nowhere else to go. "I-I mean, you could stay if you wanted. It probably gets really cold here at night, especially when fall comes…"

Discord paused at the sudden 180 in tone. "What? No, you don't have to worry about stuff like that. I can take care of myself, no problem."

"But I don't want you to be abandoned here, especially since by their years, you're a minor—"

"No, it's fine, really," he insisted. "I actually kind of like it here. It reminds me of home."

"Home," she repeated, her voice breathy like a leaf shaking in the wind that blew over a vast sea. "It's… strange, to think of home. Even though the castle is nothing like Elysium, it barely feels like I left. I mean, it all happened so fast that I didn't realize I was leaving until I was gone. One moment I was alone in my chamber, then led through some halls by Mother, and when I blinked again, I was here, with Luna at my side."

"You've mentioned Luna before," Discord commented. "Did you know her in Elysium?" His tongue fumbled with the name.

"No. I was kept in isolation all throughout my Comprehension Stage." The alicorn sighed. "Which is what I don't understand. I was not the first being to be sent from Elysium, but they never send more than one through the Gates."

"The Gates?" Discord cocked his head to the side.

"You don't know about…?" She shook her head. "I suppose I should stop being surprised when it comes to you. Well, in any case, you should know that there are Gates in all four of the Cosmic Lands. They are our only link to the mortal world and can only be opened by a conduit of Harmony, in our case, the Tree of Harmony. It shows that the beings summoning us are sentient enough to resonate with the harmonious lifeforce that binds the universe. At any rate, the Gates of Eris and Elysium are connected, just like in Empyrea and Erebus to the north and south, so when one gate is opened, so is the other. This ensures that balance is maintained on the mortal plane."

Pensive, Discord placed a talon to his chin. "So when that filly opened the Gates of Order with her wish to the Tree..."

"...The Gates of Chaos were opened as well," Celestia finished. "The Gates let you and me out, but Luna… I don't understand why she was as well. Perhaps it was because I had just finished my training and was considered weaker, but Luna still had another two years to go in hers, so I don't know why they would pull her out before she was ready."

"Maybe they thought it was cute or something, the thought of two little fillies riding off into a world of adventure." Discord remarked as he flippantly waved a stick of cotton candy into existence. "Want some?"

Celestia hesitantly reached out and pulled a piece for herself. She studied it curiously in her hoof, but once part of it had gotten stuck in her flowing mane, she decided to forgo suspicion and popped it into her mouth. "No, Elysium isn't like that. They don't do things on a whim. Everything is precise, deliberate, all to serve the glory of Order. Not that you'd understand such things, but—"

"What?" Discord gasped, placing his paw over his heart like a fatal blow had just struck him. "How you demean my intellect! I'm not ignorant, you know, just because I didn't spend my first fourteen years spying on unsuspecting mortals with my all-seeing eye of knowledge."

"Oh?" Celestia cocked an eyebrow. "And what pray tell would you happen to know about my homeland?"

Discord instantly reverted from his dramatic theatrics to his normal tone of voice, if such a thing existed for him. "Yours is Elysium, the glorious Land to the East Beyond the Eternal Sea," he began, more than happy to oblige while munching on the cotton candy. "On the island, you have a single palace of white-tipped spires that pierce the white clouds, because you all were cheapskates and couldn't afford more paint. Everything there is perfectly symmetrical, perfectly scheduled, perfectly predetermined. And of course, downright boring, too. Nice beach though, I've heard. Not much to say besides that; be glad you don't give out tourist brochures."

Discord's grin drooped as he studied Celestia's crestfallen face. "Did I say something wrong?" he asked, his former uneasiness sweeping over him again.

Celestia looked down, letting her soft pink mane hide her face. "I never knew it was an island," she admittedly quietly.

"Oh." All at once, Discord was aware of just how silent the forest was. "Well, that's okay. I mean, you didn't go outside and all, so it probably wasn't all that special to begin with—"

"I mean, why would they bother telling me anything?" Celestia said, bitter tears coating her eyes. "I saw a thousand different social structures of a million civilizations throughout all of time, but never once could they point that camera to my own backyard." Then almost comically, her eyes bugged open wide as she sucked in a gasp and covered her mouth with her hooves. "No," she said, "oh no, no, no, no…"

"What's the matter?" Discord laid a gentle claw on Celestia's shoulder as she shook her head in distress, sending her pink hair billowing like a cloud around her.

"Already this place is getting to me," she lamented, a frustrated sigh causing her body to sag like a sail without wind. "I'm behaving like a child, getting worked up over the stupidest issues."

"Hey, that's not true," Discord said consolingly as Celestia hid her face behind her hair. "Although…" he added, "Really? Really? That's the hang up? I mean, you're across the Eternal Sea, here. I suppose it could have been another continent, but really? You missed that, huh?"

But Celestia paid no mind to his remark, instead continuing her tirade in a resigned, depressed tone. "It's no wonder they wouldn't show such unimportant things; they would interfere with my learning. I shouldn't expect them to tell a Virtue such trivial information."

"Virtue?"

"My rank," Celestia explained patiently. "The seventh Class of Elysium is the Order of Virtue. Don't you rank yourselves in Eris?"

"And by rank you mean arrange us in a permanently binding sequence that defines us forever? Cute idea, but not exactly our style."

Celestia shrugged. "I suppose that's true. Besides, it doesn't really matter, does it? You must be about as powerful as Luna and me combined. They wouldn't have sent you through the Gates if you weren't strong enough to combat us."

"Combat?" he asked, his voice serious and a little bit sad. "That sounds pretty harsh, don't you think? I don't want to fight you. I was hoping we could be friends."

Friends. She liked the word. It sounded nice, warm, the kind of thing that wouldn't rattle around lonely inside of her but wrap around her like a hug. She wondered if such a thing would be possible if her goal was to eternally oppose him and all he stood for.

"Well, as long as you don't provoke me enough to warrant a solar beam to the face, I believe that can be arranged," she agreed with a genuine smile.

"Hold on, you could actually do that?" he marveled.

"But of course. Virtues are the ones that control celestial bodies."

Discord's eyes widened. "Really?" he asked, leaning closer. "Like the sun and the moon?" He pointed to the sun, shining brightly through the thin canopy. "I love watching it in the sky; it brings so many colors. But the stars at night are pretty too. Do you control those?"

"Um, eventually, yes," she answered, slightly taken aback. "It-It's not a big deal, really," she added at the sight of his awestruck expression. "Virtue is one of the lower classes; they almost always send the Ardens or Cheri to the mortal world. They can control a lot more than the sun and moon. I… I don't know why they would choose me."

Celestia sighed. "It's okay, don't think about it too much. It's not my place to question."

"Yes it is," Discord answered with a confidence that even surprised himself. "You're curious about your purpose; that's natural, I think. I'd want to know too if I had one."

Celestia's eyes softened at that. "Did they really not tell you anything about the mortal world?"

"Well, I had known it existed, but that was only from overhearing the whispers. In Eris, everypony mostly keeps to themselves."

"There was no training? No one ever told you what you were meant to do?"

Discord shook his head. "They're very independent there. If you want to know something, you find out for yourself. And if you hear wrong, well, that just adds to the insanity."

"So what did you do for all that time?" she asked, her eyes wide in rapt attention despite her weak attempts to keep quiet. Being near him was a risk in itself; striking up a conversation was downright illogical.

But for once, she didn't care.

"Whatever struck my fancy," the draconequus replied with a shrug. "Dancing, candy making, fly swatting, ping-pong playing, traveling space, creating wormholes, starting a worm farm, teaching one to dance, that sort of thing. Ah, Wilbur. We were just getting the hang of the tango, too."

At that, all of Celestia's puzzlement bubbled into giggles. Racing to the tip of her tongue, they exploded with a tangy sweetness that left her breathless yet full of energy. At first they jumped almost startled out of her, but they soon eased into each other, forming a rhythm like music…

The alicorn shook her head. What was she doing? She stared intently at the strange being before her. A lizard leg and a cloven hoof. A lion paw and an eagle claw. An antler and a gnarled horn. A pair of sanguine orbs swimming in poisoned choler. All meshed together into one horrid abomination that should make her want to turn tail and run.

But run where? Back to the castle, where her summoners would give her pitying looks and ask her questions she couldn't answer? She knew what they wanted from her, for her and Luna to become the first diarchy of Equestria. It was needed. It was important. It was what she came here to do. This… gallivanting in the forest wasn't. So why am I doing it?!

"Yes, you wish you were a draconequus," Discord said smugly, bringing Celestia out of her stupor.

Her eyelashes fluttered again as blood flooded her already rosy cheeks. She turned away, trying to think about anything but the fact she had been staring at him for a full two minutes, probably wearing the most dimwitted expression imaginable.

Still, his comment nagged at her curiosity. I've never wished for anything before, have I? I… I wonder what it would be like. Would I wish to be like a… dr-draconequus, is it? Wait…

"You're called a draconequus?" she asked.

Discord shrugged. "It's what I call this form at least. Remember when I transformed into all those creatures? A lot of times my brain gets confused and works overtime the faster I transform. It tries to do too many things at once, then my magic short-circuits, leaving me like this, a draconequus."

"Aha!" Celestia exclaimed triumphantly, pointing a hoof at Discord. "So you do have a constant! You have a name!"

"Well of course," he answered, as if she had just announced the groundbreaking discovery that the sky was blue. "Somepony has to take credit for my pranks."

"But a name is something that never changes!"

"No, names are what set you apart from other ponies. They keep you an individual, stop you from blending in with the crowd."

"By labeling. A name brings to mind memories and other associations of a pony, which are thus organized together. It distinguishes a pony by defining 'you,' the constancy of a self."

"So by defining chaos, do we make it any less chaotic? In distinguishing the undefined, do we inadvertently create definition? These are questions we must ask ourselves, we pitiful grasshoppers amidst the vast field of the universe." In a flash of light, he was sitting on a mushroom and smoking a hookah pipe, belching out multi-colored bubbles.

Celestia shook her head, though she was grinning from ear to ear. "You're impossible," she said almost endearingly.

The two then proceeded to sit in a companionable silence. Celestia pondered how to disprove Discord's arguments, but after a few minutes of her thoughts using her brain as a particularly headache-inducing racetrack, she arrived at the insightful conclusion that names were stupid anomalies that weren't worth getting a migraine over.

Discord in the meantime was having fun turning the remaining bubbles into green onions. He entertained the idea of doing a polka dance with them, but then shrugged and bit into one, because contrary to popular belief (which he was more than proud to achieve), he did not live solely on sweets. Even as an immortal being of vast power, a dentist's appointment was a terror that nopony could live through.

Finally, the draconequus spoke. "It's Discord, you know."

Celestia perked up. "What?"

"Discord," he repeated. "That's been my name for the past thirty seconds since I thought it up."

"Isn't that just a synonym for Chaos?"

"Exactly! So now I'll even get credit for all the acts of discord I didn't cause. Ooh, now ponies will mix up my name with the noun, how delightful! But of course the best part about this is that according to your logic, you're the discordant one!"

"My name is Celestia," she deadpanned. "I've said it five times."

"Darn. And Sunbutt would have been so fitting, too…"

Celestia gasped. The sun! She looked up through the forest canopy and saw the sun was already above the western horizon.

She scrambled to her hooves in a panic. "I have to go," she told him hurriedly. "I'm needed back at the castle."

When Discord looked up at her, his eyes contained all the confused sadness of a lost puppy. "But I… I…"

"I-I'm sorry!" she called over her shoulder as her trot sped up to a gallop. How could I have lost track of time like that? There are so many things I need to do; I don't have time for this!

"Celestia, wait!" he cried out, a note of alarm clearly in his voice. The draconequus clambered to his feet, clouds of dirt and dust billowing in his wake, and lunged to grab hold of Celestia's hoof. The alicorn whipped around at the touch, a gasp ripping from her throat, to see him standing before her with his knees trembling like jelly and his face blushing furiously.

"Stay, please," he begged, the words spilling out in a waterfall. "Just a little longer. I… I know you have to go back down there, but I've just gotten to know you, and I don't… I don't want to see you go yet."

Oh no, that simply won't do, Celestia told herself sternly. Clover will be expecting me soon, and there are still a million things that must be arranged. We still have to sort out the details for my and Luna's tour across the country to have ponies become familiar with us, then there's the meeting with the council to discuss the Crystal Empire Crisis, and most importantly I can't forget seeing Luna—

"I suppose five minutes wouldn't hurt," she said with a gracious smile.

Discord's nervousness melted into a jubilant grin that flushed his face with a warm glow, the same glow that sparked in his eyes like those of a child. "Thank you," he said. Celestia was struck by the fervent sincerity of it.

"It's not a problem," she replied, folding her legs under her to sit on the grass once again. "Though you may be irksome at times, I… I rather enjoy your company." Giddy, she placed a thoughtful hoof to her lips stretched wide in a grin from speaking those words, but she soon waved it aside. "Now, what should we do?"

"Do you want to play a game?" Discord asked eagerly, his enthusiasm failing to be held back by his eyes.

Celestia tilted her head to the side. "A game?" she repeated. Her mind flashed with brief recollections of playing children she had seen through the Vitreous Erudition, but her heart was more powerful, fluttering with the innate desire all children possessed.

"Yeah," he explained, his bright disposition permeating the air, infectious in its purity. "Tag, I think it's called. I saw some fillies doing it in a nearby village. I couldn't go near them, obviously, but it looked like fun. I've heard about it before at home, but I've never really had a friend to try it with, but now… did I say something wrong?"

Friend. Once again, her heart caught on that word, that word that took her breath away, not that she needed it now anyway. The word breathed life into her, sent her heart pounding, racing, yearning for a certain something more that could only be found behind those bright, chaotic eyes…

"What? Oh, no, you didn't," she said, shaking off the crazy thought. "Keep explaining."

The draconequus smirked, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. "Actually, with only five minutes, I think some spontaneity would be more fun, don't you?"

Then not even waiting for her answer, he reached out, his face all smiles and giggles, and shouted…

"Tag! You're it!"

The air was filled with Luna's giggles as she fled from her older sister after booping her on the nose. Celestia's lips curled into a smile as she raced after in hot pursuit, jumping over the carefully tended flower beds with ease. Her hooves pounded against the ground, kicking up small clouds of dirt. In her haste, her slender legs tripped over each other, sending her practically tumbling down the rolling landscape of the castle grounds.

Up ahead, Luna's breaths came out in pants of laughter as she saw her sister approach. Celestia playfully nipped at Luna's tail, emitting a terrified shriek from the younger alicorn. Then with a powerful thrust from her back legs, she pounced on the filly. The two sisters laughed breathlessly, grass tangling in their manes as they rolled around in the flower beds, with Celestia still clutching Luna firmly in her hooves.

"Give up?" Celestia asked while tickling Luna's sides.

"Haha, n-no!" Luna cried as she flailed in her sister's grasp. "Let me go, Tia!"

"Not until you surrender," came the sing-song reply.

"Never!" Luna cried defiantly.

Celestia smirked. "Oh well…" Then she discreetly tapped a button half-concealed in the dirt, which caused all the flowers to squirt water at Luna.

The elder sister smiled as she watched Luna laugh until she was breathless. "That was fun, Tia!" she exclaimed once the water stopped, leaving her mane sopping wet but her fun far from dampened. "Did Discord show you that one?"

"Maaaybe," she teased. "But if you think that's a good prank, just wait until the Organ to the Outside is done. With what I have planned, the guards will never want to see another whipped cream pie again once I'm through with them."

"Can I help?" Luna begged, giving Celestia a heartbreakingly cute puppy dog face.

"Of course you can, little sis," Celestia said before she mischievously added, "After you surrender, that is. Unless you want another round of tickle attacking?"

"What? No way! You'll have to threaten me with a dozen rattlesnakes – well, nice ones anyway – and I still won't… sister?"

The sun princess had loosened her grip and was looking at a distant figure approaching. Quickly, she shot Luna with a ray of pure sunlight that left her dry but slightly smoking at the ears. Then she stood up and brushed the grass out of her mane, with Luna following suit a second later. Celestia had just enough time to hastily readjust her golden diadem before Commander Hurricane came into full view.

Celestia gulped as he glanced briefly at the crushed flowerbed, though he made no comment. "Lady Celestia, Lady Luna," he greeted simply, inclining his head to each in turn.

"Commander Hurricane," Celestia returned in kind. "Is it time?"

The pegasus nodded. His eyes were grey and hardened like a coming storm. "The 3rd Division will escort you to the northern border, where our standing army will convene with you. I trust you can take it from there?"

"Indeed," Celestia replied, resolve pulling her mouth into a thin line.

At her words, a platoon of twenty or so guards marched forward and formed a nigh impenetrable square around the two soon-to-be princesses. Then in one united movement, with Commander Hurricane leading at the helm, they began walking towards the front of castle, where a chariot awaited them.

Celestia walked with a confident yet airy skips that gave her the appearance of hovering above the ground. Her head just peeking above the sea of golden helmets, she raised her head high in what could have been regality but was actually just her straining to see her beloved sun. She kept her eyes straight ahead, never wavering except to occasionally glance at her escorts' faces, identical in their grim stoicism.

Right, warface, she told herself, wiping away her smile. Her eyes narrowed into slits of burning steel, accentuated by furrowed eyebrows that cast a shadow of fearsome darkness upon her face. Her nose crinkled as if detecting a disgusting odor, and she gritted her teeth in a hideous scowl. Her very gaze struck terror into the hearts of mortal ponies crawling under her hooves. She was beautiful and terrible, a warrior princess, a goddess of war who would raze her foes to the ground…

"Tia, are you alright?" Luna asked, placing a hoof on her shoulder. "You look like you're constipated."

What?! I am the terror of the sun! "Huh? Oh, yes, I'm fine," she answered, her sugary-sweet smile just barely covering up the irked expression underneath.

Though to be honest, the redness of her cheeks wasn't helping either.

After quickly going through a cycle of ridiculous and probably painful facial contortions, she settled for her regular Day Court expression, cold and appraising and more than a little bored. It wasn't the face of nightmares, but Luna didn't laugh, so she supposed it would have to do.

Actually, she's been quiet for a while. Celestia looked to the side at Luna, who looked so sick she might have actually been constipated. Every muscle in her body was tense, and she walked like a stiff tin soldier. She looked straight ahead at the golden plates of armor blocking her view, but her eyes rattled inside their sockets in silent fear.

"Hey, you," Celestia greeted brightly as she poked her playfully in the side. "What's going on, Lu?"

Luna looked up at her shining big sister with wide, sad eyes. Then she shrugged her shoulders. "Nothing, just thinking. I suppose I'm nervous, honestly," she admitted.

"There's no reason to be nervous," Celestia assured her. "It's going to be one unicorn versus two alicorns. Pretty easy to place bets, isn't it?"

"I know. It's just that… we were educated on war, Celestia. You know that nothing is for certain."

"I'm sure it will be fine, precisely because of that knowledge," Celestia reasoned. "Good ponies always win in the end, remember? We're destined to win. We've been gifted with the ability to end a war before it becomes too brutal. All it takes is us looking tough and blasting the Shadow King with a few spells, and his dark curse will be eradicated. Then we can go home knowing we've won a new Equestrian territory, a new land where the glory of Order can thrive."

"Aw, cheer up, Lulu," Celestia added when her sister remained silent. "Discord won't want to play with a sourpuss like you when we come home. You'll have to stay in the castle and do all the boring paperwork by yourself."

"Hey, no fair!" Luna protested, glaring at Celestia with the most adorable pout.

Celestia's laughter rang out like a bird's song. By this point, they had reached the front of the castle, and the two alicorns were standing off to the side while their entourage readied the chariot. Taking advantage of their all too brief privacy, Celestia wrapped Luna in a tight embrace. "Have courage, little sister," she whispered. "Trust in Elysium. Trust in me."

With matching smiles on their faces, the two sisters boarded the chariot. Commander Hurricane and another soldier, however, bore less than positive expressions.

"So, that's what they believe, is it?" the commander wondered. "Even if we do win, do you believe it will come without any sacrifice?"

"Perhaps we gave them too much credit," a buttercup yellow pegasus suggested worriedly. "Despite their amazing power, they are still children."

"Perhaps," he conceded. "We will never know precisely. Not that it matters though. We can't go back now."

"Should we discuss this with them?"

The commander shook his head. "No, Private. They won't understand. They're like so many rookie soldiers who eagerly line up in front of the registration office. Their hearts are filled with things like honor, duty, and serving the country, without understanding what any of it entails. They know there will be death and pain, but then idealism takes over. They are the heroes of their own story. In their minds, they cannot suffer. No, it's not something you can just lecture about. They'll see it for themselves when we arrive. Then they'll understand. There's no such thing as a true victory in war."

"Still, a little warning would prepare them, would it not?"

Commander Hurricane closed his eyes, shutting out the sun's light. "But I'm never prepared, Pansy. I can break ponies' bones, but I can't break their hearts. I'm too softhearted for that."

Pansy smiled. "Well, then there's hope for them yet then. Never forget that. There's always hope."
"Of course," he said with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "There's always hope."

Then they took to the sky and flew to war.

War.

It changed things. It snuffed villages out of existence, filled the skies with swirling blackness, blew out the lights in ponies' eyes like candles. So dark. So constant.

It destroyed things. It razed crops to the ground, shattered crystal walls with spears, pushed buildings into flames. So unfeeling. So evil.

It messed with fate. It made the crystal filly whimper beneath an iron chain, let the glory-seeking pegasus soldier fly into a berserker rage that would haunt his dreams for years, sent the valiant one right next to him tumbling into a blade's sweet embrace. So arbitrary. So chaotic.

How strange that none of those horrors had touched the land back home. Ponies still played in the fields, towns remained whole and well, and the sun gave the earth life from her clear blue sky.

It felt eerie. And Celestia didn't like it.

She and Luna stood together as they surveyed the castle grounds with hollow eyes. It felt like being in a foreign land, disorienting and unnatural. They looked out at the lush green grass and brightly colored flowers and saw only a wasteland, ashes smoldering beneath their hooves.

Luna whimpered, cringing away from a passing butterfly, and the two sisters pressed closer together. Their fur stood on end, though it did little to rid the clamminess of their skin blanched white.

A strange feeling tugged at Celestia, a feeling of them being the only two ponies left on the earth, yet of her being all alone. The air around her still rang with eight-month-old laughter, now accompanied by the gut-wrenching bitterness associated with remembering a pony's voice after they died.

A cloud passed away, letting the sun's rays warm their skin. Celestia shuddered.

Neither one felt like playing anymore.

It Takes Two to Be Lonely

Drip. Drip, drip.

Dripping wax, the candle sitting precariously on Celestia’s desk burned low, just barely illuminating the scattered bundles of parchment. Her eyes squinted as her magic sent a quill racing across an official-looking document, yet there was no pause in her writing, not until she crammed a final paragraph into the bottom margins, threw down her quill, and stamped the corner with the royal seal.

Right on cue, there came a knock from outside her chambers. Celestia didn’t bother answering, though. Only when she heard the soft clip-clop of hooves walking towards her did she say, “What are you doing up so late, Luna?”

Though Celestia didn’t see Luna raise an eyebrow, the following silence was enough for the gears in her head to click into place.

Oh right. Nighttime. In the past week since Luna had donned the night shift to ward off ponies’ post-war nightmares, Celestia had gotten better at not turning around in expectance of seeing her younger sister attached to her hip, but it was in little automatic responses that she slipped up.

“I could ask the same of you, Celestia.”

Luna stepped closer, and their billowing manes tangled into one, hers blue with stars, her sister’s pink streaked with gold. United, the golden rays clung to specks of light to form shooting stars, and the navy blue of dusk was filled with fluffy pink clouds.

Then Luna leaned down and gently nuzzled her sister. “Writing to the zebras?” she inquired.

“Of course,” Celestia said as she reread the letter. “Their military may not be strong, but they are key trading partners with the griffons and minators. It’s important to strengthen our alliance.”

Luna paused, choosing her words carefully before heading into dangerous waters. “Sister, don’t you think you’re being somewhat paranoid?”

“Better to be overprepared than under,” the solar princess brushed aside as she reached for another scroll, only to be intercepted by Luna’s swift hooves.

Celestia looked up.

“Sister, I understand how you feel. Yes, the war against the Shadow King was awful and should never be repeated, but this—“ she made a wide sweeping motion to her cluttered writing desk, “—is too much for you. You barely eat, barely sleep, and it’s upsetting.”

Celestia remained silent, which Luna took as a good sign to continue. “I think you’re being too hard on yourself. It wasn’t a total disaster,” Luna reasoned. “We were able to stop the advance of dark magic from reaching Equestria, after all.”

Celestia cracked at those words. “At the cost of a entire empire? That war was a failure, an absolute failure!” With a cry of anguish, Celestia buried her face in her hooves. “We weren’t sent here just to protect one country! It was our duty to bring Order to whole world! Don’t you understand?” she demanded, standing to face Luna. “That war is what happens if Order fails! It showed that we’re not powerful enough, I’m not powerful enough to stop it!”

“Enough.” Luna’s hoof struck the floor, punctuating the command. When she saw her sister’s eyes begin to water, she said in a gentler tone, “Celestia, stop. You will only drive yourself into madness if you dwell on the past. Learn from its lessons; do not try to atone for a sin that you did not commit. There was nothing we could do to stop it. We are not goddesses. No matter how much power was invested in us, we cannot control ponies’ hearts.”

The sun princess’ weary eyes flickered to the moon and back, remaining unconvinced.

“Perhaps…” Luna suggested hesitantly, “perhaps you should take a break tomorrow. Catch up on sleep. Go into town. Visit Discord. The stars know he was lonely during the war.”

“No, Luna,” Celestia said in her authoritative tone used only in court. “I don’t have time for any of that. Discord will understand, I’m sure.”

“I’ve seen him. He's asked me about you. He said he wants to give you space to grieve and compose yourself, but he needs to see you. I could see the loneliness in his eyes.”

Drip. Drip, drip.

Celestia blinked, refusing to let any more tears fall. “I won’t risk seeing him, not now, not anymore.”

“Don’t tell me you are blaming him of all ponies for the war,” Luna demanded angrily.

“No,” she answered, turning her face away. “I just can’t help but wonder… what if he was the reason why I wasn’t strong enough? Maybe being around his chaotic magic has somehow tainted mine. Mother did warn me of such things.”

“You know as well as I that life is not as black and white beyond the Gates. We cannot always apply their way of thinking here.”

“I don’t know what to think anymore, but it’s too much of a risk to see him. I’m sorry, but I… Luna, I just… can’t.”

Luna’s face fell. “I see,” she said, closing her eyes. “In that case, I’ll leave you alone. Think carefully about what I’ve said. Good night, my sister.”

Celestia squeezed her eyes shut in pain as she heard her sister’s hoofsteps grow more and more distant. Only when the door swung shut with a soft click did she inhale with a sharp gasp, followed by a rattling sigh.

With her blurred vision, all Celestia could see when she looked out the window was her sister’s silver moon trying to penetrate the thick canopy of the lonely Everfree Forest.

I will not cry, she told herself fiercely. I will not cry.

Drip. Drip, drip.

The candle went out.

“What… what happened here?”

Gnarled branches, withered grass, and black leaves that blocked out the light surrounded Celestia from the moment she entered the forest. A cold wind blew past, setting her fur on end as it whistled through the threadbare trees with a lonely wail.

“This place reflects my thoughts,” Discord explained as he emerged from the shadows. “And they were… dark when you left for the war. I didn’t want to see the sun then. I missed you too much.”

A pause. Silence threatened to shatter her eardrums if not for Discord’s beating heart, drowning out everything else. “You came to see me,” he said while walking towards the princess as if in a dream. “I… I didn’t think you would.”

“I couldn’t stay away,” Celestia answered. As much as she had tried, it was impossible. One could only live without a heart for so long, and right now she had never been more aware of its gentle strength moving in steady rhythm within her. Now she had to wonder how she could have possibly believed his presence in her life to weaken her magic when she had never felt more alive.

“I’m glad.” Discord took a careful step forward, like someone trying not to startle a fawn.

At that, silent tears began to pour down her cheeks. He was trying so hard to hold back, to not scare her, and all the playfulness he had had enough trust to show her before the war had now vanished in the wind.

Throwing aside all inhibition, Celestia ran and threw her forelegs around the draconequus. “Don’t be scared,” she whispered as she buried her head in his fur. “Isn’t that what you told me when we first met? That chaotic ponies are supposed to be brave in doing what they believe in? Well, don’t be afraid of me then. I haven’t changed, Discord. I’m too orderly to change. You know that.”

“Celestia…” The name was spoken like a prayer.

“I’m glad to see you too,” she continued, her emotions flowing out with her tears. “I’m sorry I was too scared to see you at first. I didn’t know what to do when I came back. The war… it was too… too awful… for me to handle… there was so much I had to do…”

“Shh, don’t say it, Celestia,” Discord murmured, running his claw through her shimmering mane, the only light in the darkness. “If you don’t say it, then it never happened.”

Celestia was more than happy to oblige in his flawed logic. She closed her eyes as sobs hiccupped to the surface until they slowly faded into the calmness, until she was able to align each one of her breaths with Discord’s. Their chests were pressed together, and each time one heart contracted, the other’s expanded, creating a consistent lulling note.

She looked straight into his eyes as she felt his touch outline the curves of her face, faltering only when he brushed against her cuts from battle. She winced, not from the pain, but the memories. There was a brokenness to her now, she knew. Perhaps in time such wounds could heal, and the slow passing of many years could return them to the nearly blossomed love they once shared.

Which was why a gasp rose to the surface when he tenderly cupped her face in his hands and kissed each pale scar.

Celestia was filled with a burning desire to speak, but the moment was too beautiful to ruin. So with hardened resolve, she bit her lip until she felt blood drip into her mouth.

It was the only injury Discord didn’t kiss.

Cradling a small piece of eternity, they held each other in absolute silence. Then it was broken in the most perfect way possible. “I love you,” he whispered.

Even though she knew he had waited eight months to confess, Celestia couldn’t bring herself to echo the words. Still holding Discord’s gaze, her bright eyes were glazed with a foggy mist, dense and unreadable.

“I know. Forgive me for leaving you alone.”

Then it was silent once again.

“So this is what you’ve been doing here.”

Discord’s heart skipped a beat at that voice. Turning around, he saw Celestia walking towards him. The late afternoon sun rimmed around her head like a halo, giving her the appearance of a goddess. Sunlight was reflected in her soft magenta eyes, already filled with so much warmth and beauty. And all of it was directed solely at him. It was always a challenge not to fall to his knees in her presence.

Her eyes were alight with curiosity and a bit of apprehensiveness as she looked at the body of a chicken torso sown to a serpent bottom, lying motionless next to the draconequus. Similarly mutilated animals were scattered around Discord, who glanced up at Celestia with guilty yet confident eyes.

“I’m sorry for hiding this from you,” he said, “but I didn’t want you to react negatively.”

“It’s a bit late for that, isn’t it?” she asked, though Discord could detect no anger in her voice.

“Trust me,” he implored, “this isn’t what it looks like.”

“What is it supposed to look like?” she countered, raising an eyebrow. “I’ve never been good at abstract art, so to me this looks like you’re cutting up animals to use as toys.”

Discord’s fur bristled. “They’re not toys,” he said defensively. “They’re my creations.”

Celestia’s eyes softened with pity. Discord’s expression darkened. He hated that look of hers. Pretentiousness didn’t suit her.

“Discord… if you were lonely, you could have told me. These things… they’re, they’re… dead, you know.”

“They aren’t dead!” he snapped. “All of these animals were nearly dead, but I saved them. My magic’s preserving their vital organs.”

“But why?” Celestia asked of him. “Why are you doing this? They’re just innocent animals, and you’re changing them! I’m fine with you changing a few things as long as nopony gets hurt, but this is going too far!”

“Do you really think I’d be so cruel as to cause them pain?” the draconequus snapped, rounding on her. “I’m not a monster, Celestia! I thought you of all ponies would understand that!”

“I am fully aware of that, which is why I was hoping for a decent explanation. But to me it looks like you’ve been going behind my back and reshuffling body parts for entertainment! That’s… that’s just wrong, Discord!”

Discord’s eyes widened as he saw tears fill Celestia’s. Despite her anger, her legs trembled. She took a step back.

“Wait!” he cried out, reaching for her hoof. Celestia looked at him with sad, confused eyes.

“Wait, please,” he repeated in a calmer voice. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath. “Clarification.”

Celestia blinked back her tears at their code word, used for situations like this when their two worldviews clashed so violently. “Explanation,” she answered.

“Have you ever tried being creative, Celestia?”

Celestia’s eyes widened, the question so out of left field that it caught her off guard. “Y-You know I’m incapable of such things,” she told him abrasively.

“Yeah, well, I’m not,” Discord answered. “You need an open mind to be creative, and that’s just what I embody. Please, Celestia, this… this is important to me. It’s the only form of self-expression I have. I know it’s strange and inexplicable, but when has anything I’ve done been easy to understand?”

His heart beat wildly as it always did when they had these disagreements. It was scary, he knew, to continuously push her boundaries, to never know when a revelation would be too much for her to handle, and she would leave him alone forever. Discord nervously searched the infinite depths of Celestia’s eyes for a response other than repulsion and disgust.

Then Discord smiled. He found it. Amidst the sea of fear and doubt, there was a spark of curiosity. That was all he needed from her to prove himself.

“But…” She searched for words, just as her heart openly searched for answers. “Being creative is making something new, isn’t it? You’re just rearranging what’s already in existence.”

“Don’t writers rearrange words?” Discord countered simply. “Don’t artists rearrange colors, musicians rearrange sounds? It’s not the tools that matter, but the creators. They’re the ones who think up the different combinations and show the world something new.”

“But how?” she asked breathlessly. “How can you… just think up something so different from everything you’ve known?”

“You… you don’t really think about it,” Discord explained. “Many times the idea comes to you almost randomly, and you just run with it.”

Celestia settled herself on the ground and looked up at the chaotic spirit like an eager student. “So then, you didn’t need the idea to come to you. You would be fine without it.”

“All works of art need to be created, Celestia,” Discord said, his bright red eyes alight with a fervent spark, “and all creators need to create. We need ideas, more than life itself. They come to us as gifts, but only we can give them the gift of life in return. They entrust themselves to us in the hope we’ll give them life.

“That’s why I’m doing this, Celestia. I… I’ve been blessed to come to this world, to meet you. To pass up a chance to give back with something of my own would tear me apart.”

Discord paused before adding, “But at the same time, you’re… you’re right. There is that escapism too, in wanting to use art to break the rules of this life. I want to create a world where I’m surrounded by similar creatures, where somepony having mismatched body parts isn’t reviled. I know it’s a dark and ugly world, but it’s the one I need.”

“No,” Celestia breathed. She stood up and slowly walked towards him. At once, Discord wanted to close the distance between them, but he could only watch in awe as each of her movements fluidly slid into the next with a heavenly grace, like bending rays of sunlight. His eyes widened, wanting to fill to the brim with her radiant light. Of course there was the subtle illumination from her horn, but there was also a glow about her face that was entirely her own. It pushed away the darkness, every the ugly gloominess in his heart, for no shadows of any kind could fight against her. When a flock of birds overhead rustled some branches, letting sunlight pour into the forest floor, Discord didn’t even know the difference.

Celestia stood on her hindlegs and with her forelegs pulled Discord towards her. There was something wonderful about being held by her; it felt like her touch alone made all his mismatched parts fit together. “Discord, this is beautiful,” she whispered. “So beautiful. Why… why didn’t you tell me about this before?”

Discord hung his head. “Because I’m no good at it,” he admitted. “You… you know how I am. I’m so used to conjuring up things with a snap of my fingers. But when I get an idea for something new, something that takes time and care and effort, I can never stay focused enough to see it through. All of these are unfinished projects. They’re ideas I failed to bring to life. I… I feel so ashamed.”

“Then… let me help you,” she said, looking up at him with shining eyes he couldn’t refuse.

“Celestia…” Discord watched her chew her lip nervously. It was always amazing, her openness to change. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, I think so.” She smiled eagerly. “You’ll have to guide me though, but if you need to focus, then I’ll keep you on track.”

Discord merely nodded, but his ecstatic grin made up for all the unspoken words. He led her by the hoof into the forest’s heart, which suddenly didn’t seem so gloomy anymore.

After a series of ridiculous twists and turns that seemed to go in circles, Discord stopped in front of a scraggly tree, nearly identical to those around it. He quickly ducked behind it and after a minute of clashes and cat meows that Celestia shrugged off as Discord being Discord, he returned with a songbird cradled in his arms.

“Do you think it’s alright?” he asked, presenting it to Celestia. “I thought it’d be nice to start one together from scratch, and well… I’ve always wanted to create with this one. All the others are supposed to be made in my image, but having the first completed one be made in yours… it just makes sense to me. You’re the only face I want to see. It’s just been too intimidating, to capture your beauty. No, capture’s too harsh of a word. To release your beauty to the world, to have another piece of it around me, is what I want. I wish that all of Equestria were filled with pieces of you. Filled with those streaks of your mane that shine gold in the sunlight, your white coat like clouds awaiting the kiss of Dawn. I’d carve the world into the shape of your eyes, then set it aflame with a blaze that heals instead of burns, the same blaze only your eyes can hold. I’d take that warm blush around your cheeks which probably means I’m embarrassing you…”

Celestia giggled. “You should try poetry next, Casanova.” Then she glanced down at the motionless bird, and her expression sobered. “You’re sure it’s not in any pain?”

“On my solemn word,” he vowed, placing his paw over his heart. “If anything, we’re giving it a second chance to become something new and special.”

“Still, I’d rather not cut it up,” she remarked. “Or, if you need to do it for creativity’s sake…”

“Nah, some limitations are good,” he answered. “So we’ll keep it a bird, just one nopony will have ever seen before.”

And over the next few hours, that was just what they did. At first Celestia was hesitant, only making slight color adjustments, but with Discord’s encouragement, they soon branched out into altering body parts. He laid out feather samples of birds from far off lands and let Celestia pick and choose like a filly in a candy store. From there the changes were more extravagant, until the poor creature looked more like than a cross between a draconequus and a feather duster than an actual bird. And while the ludicrousness did make Celestia laugh, she was certain the final product would have been a disaster if her design sense hadn’t scaled things back.

But it wasn’t entirely fun and games either. In fact, it took many tedious, intricate spells to rewire the bird’s internal systems to accommodate for the changes. Each time Celestia noticed Discord’s tail twitch or his gaze wander, she tenderly lifted his face so he was focusing only on her eyes. Then he would jump back into the spell with fervent passion once again. She loved watching his fingers glide across its sleek feathers with an artist’s mastery, but more than that, his heart and soul working behind it as well.

Then he would take her hooves and gently guide them over the bird, making it glow with her magical light. His body would press against her side, so close that she could almost feel his love and dedication rolling off him in waves. Then she realized just how much more intimate this was compared to some mere arts and crafts project. Mother Nature had become the canvas of the gods’ children. An act once seen as morbid was now beautiful, made so by the fact that it was being performed together. He was painting his soul for her to see, but more importantly, painting it with her to experience. In a sense, they were creating new life, something to call their very own.

Finally, the alicorn and the draconequus stepped back to admire their creation. The once plain blue bird had become a rich brown with speckled black spots on the feathers. Its underside was a downy white, the same as the crest adorning its head like a crown. It turned over in its sleep, exposing the underside of its wing, which gleamed like gold like its eyes. Swirls of sea green and sky blue rimmed its eyes, reminiscent of face paint. Similar flourishes were given to its tail feathers, which flared out like a peacock. In the center was a single phoenix feather, altered so that sparks of gold fire would trail behind it as it flew.

For a moment, Discord was rendered speechless. “I… I can’t believe it. I can’t believe we did it.”

“It’s beautiful,” Celestia praised in breathless wonder. “Can it sing?”

“Hmm, that’ll be hard, since I don’t know how to sing. Do you?”

Celestia shook her head. “It was considered frivolous,” she mumbled.

“That’s okay,” Discord said brightly. “I’ll work on it. After all, creations are more than the sum of their parts, Celestia. They’re infused with all the dedication and love a pony puts into them. In a way it transcends its maker by holding that special power. So if we want it to sing, even if singing is impossible for ourselves, it can still do it.”

Celestia felt her breath catch in her throat. Maybe he can’t see it himself, but his soul… it shines. His hopes and dreams are pure, like a child. I wish I could see the world through his eyes. He sees so much beauty in the world, so much hope and joy and wonder. What… what would I be without him? Empty, cold, unchanging. I’d die before I’d live like that. That’s not a life at all.

Then her blood froze at her own thoughts. I have to say it. I have to tell him.

Never in her countless visits had she said goodbye to Discord. He never let her, saying that it was too open-ended. So instead they settled on arrivederci, see you soon. A parting with a promise of return.

And yet when she looked into his eyes, she knew it was a promise she would break.

Celestia felt the comforting presence of his lion paw holding her hoof. On the count of three, she told herself, I’ll let go and tell him everything I’ve planned with Luna for tonight.

She took a deep breath to center herself, then used each inhale and exhale to measure her counts.

One…

Two…

Three…

Discord placed his eagle claw over his paw, keeping Celestia’s hoof firmly in place. “Tell me what you’re thinking of,” he requested.

“Why do you always ask me that?”

“Because that’s the only way I can tell with you. You’re always so mysterious.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t think a spirit of Chaos would find anything complex about a creature like me. I’m amazed that you don’t find me mind-numbingly dull, always doing the same thing every day.”

“There’s a lot I never realized about Order,” Discord mused, “but more so about you. I don’t think you’re quite as orderly as you like to believe. If you were, I wouldn’t be this close to resorting to divination just to find out the reason why you’re beating around the bush instead of telling me why you’re here.”

“And I know it’s important, don’t try to deny it,” he ordered. “You came without telling me beforehand, which an obsessive-compulsive scheduler like you never does. Plus, you’re wearing your regalia. You decided to see me last minute, which means it’s urgent and you need somepony to talk to before worry eats you up. Well, you don’t need to be afraid. I’m here. I’ll always be here for you, Celestia.”

“But what if I’m not here?” she whispered. “What if I were to go far away, to a place where I would never see you again?”

“Why would you go?” Discord could barely keep his voice from trembling. “You’ll be turning sixteen soon. Your coronation is in a few weeks. You’re not leaving… oh.”

“Is that what this is about, Celestia?” He placed a talon under her chin and lifted it so she was staring into his eyes, his eyes that she could never lie to. “You’re scared that once you’re a princess you won’t have time for me anymore?”

No, that’s not it… ! “Yes,” she lied, closing her eyes and swallowing the little ball of truth that had lumped in her throat.

“Well, that’s a bit silly to worry about,” he teased her with his trademark smile. “We can’t stay children forever. We have to change. And change is a beautiful thing. It’s a natural part of life as order ensures, but it also shakes the status quo in a way only chaos can. It’s a union of who we are. How can anything bad come from that? Well, as long as you don’t stand me up too many times,” he added with a wink. “I’ll understand, Celestia, don’t worry.”

Celestia could only manage a thin smile. “You’re right,” she agreed. “I feel a lot better now.”

A glinting light flashed across his eyes. He didn’t buy it.

“I-I should get going.” She stood up on slightly quaking legs. After all, cowardice wasn’t a good foundation for anything. “I’m sorry I have to leave so soon.” And I’m sorry for hiding this from you, she wanted to add, but I didn’t want you to react negatively.”

“That’s fine,” he answered. In his arms he still held the sleeping bird, basking in the late afternoon sun. He gave her a brilliant grin, but his eyes were searching, seeking the answer she couldn’t, wouldn’t give. “Arrivederci?” he asked, for the first time uncertain of the response.

She couldn’t speak. She only nodded.

A twin pair of yellow and red eyes glowed with poisonous venom amidst the dark forest of the Everfree. Villagers called it a cursed place, condemned to damnation. In their ignorance, they made the rumors self-fulfilling. They locked their windows, skirted the forest’s edges, and ran away in fright. Their own actions had woven a curse of loneliness, one that could break even the most joyous of minds.

The draconequus advanced on all fours, though his movements were more akin to the slithering of a snake. Next to him he levitated the sleeping bird, eyes closed to the encroaching darkness. It would always be innocent to the shadows, he vowed. He would only let it know the sun’s light, Celestia’s gift of life.

There was the occasional squelching sound as Discord stumbled in his haste over the mismatched animals on the ground. If they felt any discomfort, they couldn’t express it in words. He hadn’t given any of his other creations a voice. There was only one voice he wanted to hear, and he couldn’t bear to have hers come from the mouths of monstrous creatures.

Besides, he had been hearing enough voices. They whispered horrors in the darkness when Celestia wasn’t around, terrible horrors he would never let her hear. Spirits, they claimed they were, from the Forsaken Forest to the West. Silver-tongued devils trying to lure him with promises of power and freedom, a life without loneliness, a life where chaos reigned. One bold voice proposed to make Celestia surrender her kingdom and then force her hoof in marriage.

It was a shame spirits couldn’t bleed.

Tuning out the voices was harder than it sounded in a place as silent as the grave. He briefly wondered if this was what madness was like, enduring an internal cacophony that could never been turned off. It was too reminiscent of Eris, where there was never any peace of mind.

Discord ran faster, which only spurred on the peals of laughter from the spirits. “Ooh, run faster, little boy,” taunted Kallisti, Spirit of Anarchy. “Run away from all the awful, spooky monsters in the shadows. Oh wait! You can’t. You’d have to run out of your own skin to do that.”

Though Discord couldn’t see any of them, he imagined the wraiths floating right by his side, hissing in his ears. He squeezed his eyes shut and plunged through the brambles of the forest. Branches whipped at his face, sharp burrs caught in his fur, thorns cut through his skin, and still he ran, cradling the bird in a protective bubble of magic all the while.

“Where are you off to in such a hurry, little boy?” Kallisti asked, her high-pitched cackle blending with the howling of the wind. “Don’t you want to play with your friends? How about a game of tag? You’ve had a lot of practice being it, haven’t you? When you walk into town, everypony’s already run away from you! Pity they all hate you too much to let you tag anypony.”

The other chaotic spirits chimed in with a chorus of howls and squeals, emulating the frightened townsponies. Discord shut his eyes tighter, wishing he could also shut off his ears.

“But wait! You were able to tag one. That little Virtue, Celestia. Is she who you’re running to?”

But Discord would never dare run to her. He could only ever run away from them.

“Such a pretty little thing,” Kallisti remarked. “Mind if we tag along?”

“No! I won’t let you hurt her!”

“Haha! Listen to the little knight in shining armor, everyone! Of course we wouldn’t, little boy. None of us would dare get involved with what she’s doing tonight. Oh, but hasn’t she told you about that?”

Kallisti’s voice shifted to an accurate yet haughty impression of Celestia’s as a flickering projection of the young alicorn crossed Discord’s path. An illusion, he knew, but that did little to lessen the sting when she opened her mouth to say, “You really think you can love me? I, who deem myself to be above love, above any mortal emotion? You are nothing to me, absolutely nothing. There is only Order to me. Order and Chaos do not mix. If you love me, you will only be alone. You are a fool—“

The fake Celestia was cut off as Discord ran straight through her, turning her to green dust. It wafted through the air, and suddenly the whole forest came to life with images of her. She sneered down at the lone draconequus from the trees. Soon every patch of shadow was illuminated by a pair of her magenta eyes, multiplying until the branches seemed to catch on fire from her hateful glare. Her distorted laughter rang through the air.

“Celestia…” A whimper escaped his lips. “I… I’m scared.”

Taunts were nothing. Illusions were child’s play. Fear sent his heart pounding, though not because of what Kallisti was doing. It was what she wasn’t doing. Despite being showy, Kallisti was far subtler than this in her tactics to play mindgames with him. It was too obvious he was being tricked, which meant one of two things: something to do with Celestia tonight actually scared her, or she had finally gone insane.

The really terrifying thing was that either was just as likely.

No, Discord thought as he ran. Celestia would tell me if something was happening with her. I have to trust her.

Trust her. Discord kept his eyes focused on the growing pinprick of sunlight just up ahead. Meanwhile, the bird in his magical grip began to stir. It shivered violently as another wave of dark Chaos magic washed over the forest, spurring Discord to run faster.

Suddenly, the light was blocked by a swarm of thorny vines, planted with Kallisti’s dark enchanted seeds plucked from the Tree of Harmony. They towered over him like snakes coming in for the kill. With every beat of his terrified heart, Discord could feel their magic strengthen, leeching off of fear.

So he reared up on his hindlegs and exposed his deadly sharp talons to his assailants before proceeding to mercilessly rip into them. There was no method to his madness, only desperation to reach the sun. His claw arched through the air like a scythe before striking down the foul plants dead at the roots. A disgusting black ooze drenched his claw when the vine burst apart, but that did not deter him. His eyes narrowed in concentration as he imagined each vine to be a vice holding him back from the sun. Pride. Doubt. Insecurity. All were cut down.

Finally the sun was visible once more. Sharp pain tore into him from every limb. Sweat dripped down his heaving chest, leaving him gasping for breath. And yet he smiled as with one last stride he broke through the vines and stepped into the light.

There he stood alone, a shadow against the late afternoon’s horizon. All of a sudden, Discord was acutely aware of just how quiet the rest of the world was outside the forest. To most, it would seem peaceful. To him, it felt… lonely?

A cross between a cry and a gasp tore from Discord’s lungs. He winced in pain as he craned his head back to see dozens of tiny thorns embedded deep in his skin. He could feel the sting of their black venom mix with his warm brown ichor. It hurt.

Discord called out for help, but nopony came.

He glanced back at the forest, then down at the creature sitting expectantly in his hands. It would be all right, he tried to tell his rising fear. If this bird could escape the clutches of dark Chaos, he could too. All it would take was Celestia.

Trust her.

“What if I were to go far away, to a place where I would never see you again?”

“Order and Chaos do not mix. If you love me, you will only be alone.”

Discord’s hands, slick with dark magic of the vines, trembled so much that the bird almost tumbled out of his palm. “Fly away,” he bade it, the sole good creature wrought of his hands, and all the hope the bird carried for him inside. “Leave this dark place.”

Holding the little bird in his gentle claw and paw, the young draconequus lifted his creation to the sun. With a flap of its wings, it lifted off to greet the sun’s glowing rays. Discord’s heart soared along with it upon watching it hover in front of him experimentally before building up force in its wing muscles, which would release to send him gliding freely over the horizon.

Then its fragile wings fell off its body.

The songbird crashed to the ground, a croak of pain from its twisted neck the only sound it would ever make. The sun set behind the horizon, wanting to shield her eyes.

Then the shadow retreated back into the gloom.

Up in the highest tower of Everfree Castle, Princess Celestia surveyed the surrounding forest. Her face was motionless, impassive, and unreadable to all ponies but two, the only two who truly knew her heart. Her eyes searched the dark treetops for one of those ponies, while the rest of her waited for the other to arrive at her door.

Torn in two. Two yearning eyes. Two waiting hearts. Life worked in pairs, she had discovered. A pattern. A rule. A cycle, unbreakable in its inevitability. You couldn’t ask for more than what it gave you.

Were we really only given two years?

No, the answer came from within. Nothing’s free in this life. We weren’t given anything. We had to take it. And now it’s time to pay.

There was a light knock on the door. “Sister, are you ready?” Luna called through the crack, where a sliver of silver light poured into the room, stopping just short of the alicorn inside. “It is time.”

Time. Something she should have had more than a surplus of, but now she clung to every second of her racing heart. Terror gnawed in her gut as Celestia felt tears well in the back of her eyes. Angrily, she blinked them away. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Who’s supposed to be afraid of home?

In an attempt to distract herself, Celestia started organizing the spellbooks littering her study, remainders of her late-night studies in search of an elusive enchantment that might be able to bring peace to the world in the blink of an eye. It was the whimsical idea of one in desperation. She had known where she needed to go all along; the only thing that had stopped her was fear.

Fear was irrational. She didn’t even know what they would say, if they would come at all. But at the same time she knew that whatever happened would be the end of the frustrating, stressful, and beautiful life she knew and loved.

Another light tap from the door called Celestia’s attention back to Luna, still waiting for an answer. No, she wanted to answer, but like so many other words in her life, they went unsaid.

Idiot, she chastised herself. You were the one who came up with this plan in the first place. If you didn’t want to change, you should have stayed silent like you always do.

Celestia raised her eyes past the Everfree Forest to the unseen lands along the horizon: wary zebras, menacing minators, hostile griffons. The world was a bomb waiting to go off, and Celestia knew it. Tensions were too high, tensions that pulled on hearts and tightened them, making them ready for another war. The whole planet was relying on the power of Order. Relying on her.

She dropped her gaze back down to the Everfree Forest. Her heart squirmed with guilt. Today wasn’t a proper goodbye.

You never would have been able to say it anyway.

“I’m coming, Luna,” Celestia replied. As she walked away from the window like a pony condemned, she glanced back at the silent forest and allowed her aching heart one last indulgence.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “Forgive me for leaving you alone.”

Contract an Expanding Heart

It seemed to Celestia that wonder and awe were just innate reactions to the Tree of Harmony. Even though the two alicorns had witnessed Elysium in all its glory, the tree still managed to leave them breathless. Their steps were slow and hesitant, though their hearts wished to admire from a safe distance. As they came closer, its radiant blue light washed over them; a light that was not sunlight or moonlight, but a cosmic force all to its own.

When they reached the base of the tree, even the two majestic alicorns were dwarfed by its grandeur. Celestia glanced out of the corner of her eye at Luna, who nodded in solemn reassurance. Then together they knelt in front of the tree, looking for all the world like little children, like the little child who had summoned them to this land.

Celestia looked up at the trunk, where her and Luna’s cutie marks were imprinted. She knew that the image of a chaotic thunderstorm was on the other side, unseen but still present, a comforting reminder. Perhaps she could have drawn on that thought for moral support if her thoughts were not plagued with worry.

We were never instructed to contact them, she brooded, but isn’t it also wise to seek guidance? Could we be sent back anyway? Will they be angry with us or think we failed?

A perturbed inner voice spoke up. Anger from those emotionless onlookers? No. Belief in failure for trying to follow their instructions? Absolutely.

Celestia’s disquiet softened when she felt Luna gently brush her hoof against hers. Little Luna, the second through the Gates but the first in Celestia’s heart.

I’ll protect her, the elder sister vowed. No matter what it takes, I’ll make sure she never sees another war.

Closing her eyes, Celestia summoned the courage to light her horn with a white arcane glow that would carry her words across the Eternal Sea. Then she spoke in a clear, full voice:

“Guardians of the sacred land of Elysium,” she invoked in High Accordis, the language of Elysium, “hear the cries of your children. You sent us to the mortal plane to bring order, which we have accomplished with all the power invested in us. Now we seek your guidance to save this world with which we have been entrusted. Answer us, we plead, and bring us out of the darkness that is ignorance and into the saving light that is Order’s glory.”

At once, the light from Celestia’s horn was snuffed out just as another sprang to life from the six-pointed star in the center of the tree. The young alicorns cried out, shielding their eyes.

“Sister, what’s happening?” Luna screamed.

“I… I don’t know, Luna!” Celestia felt like her heart would tear itself from her chest in its desperation to escape. She braced herself, expecting at any moment the unyielding pull of a teleportation spell to Elysium, or worse still, an incantation pushing down on her neck like a knife severing her head.

A strange dryness shriveled up her throat and eyes. She couldn’t scream, couldn’t cry. The roaring sound of blood pumping through her ears counted down the seconds. She thought she would faint. She didn’t know which would kill her first, her imagined executioners or her own fear.

“Don’t be afraid, my little ponies.”

Suddenly, the harsh white light retreated, leaving them in the presence of another alicorn. She stood slightly taller than the sisters, though her stature did not bring the impression of regality. Her coat was a simple olive green, accentuated by her vibrant orange mane. It did not blow in an ethereal breeze; rather, it fell in voluminous waves to her hooves, as if drawn to the earth beneath her. When she spread her wings, there was the sound of rustling leaves, accompanied by a rich, earthy fragrance. With her wings open, the sisters could catch glimpse of a red lotus cutie mark, the same color as her eyes, glowing unnaturally bright in the dimness.

“Don’t be afraid,” she said again in a warm, surprisingly maternal voice. “I am Sybilla, the Spirit of Fair and Just Prophecy.”

“Sybilla?” Celestia breathed. She’s of a really high order! Ah, we really messed up this time!

Luna whimpered as she held Celestia’s leg. “Sister, I’m scared. W-why is she fuzzy?” She pointed to the strange, blurry glow around Sybilla.

“I don’t know, Luna,” Celestia whispered in reply. “Er… Sybilla, if I may ask…”

“What you are seeing is merely a projection of my consciousness,” Sybilla explained patiently. “I myself am not truly here. To do that would be to open the Gates and allow another chaotic monstrosity to enter the mortal plane. But still, little one, your fear is unfounded. I bring no ill will towards you, nor does Elysium.”

Celestia was ready to pass out in relief at those words. “S-So we did the right thing by summoning you here? We’re not going to be thrown in a dungeon or banished?”

“Of course not, my little pony! Where on earth would you get such an idea? You two acted with great courage and prudence by asking for help. Those with self-centered hearts would doom their world for the sake of their own pride. You have shown your willingness to sacrifice yourselves to maintain a greater order. There can be no higher glory than that.”

Celestia’s face glowed from the accolade. “Th-thank you, Sybilla.”

Meanwhile, Luna peeked her head out from behind her sister. Celestia gently tucked her wing around her. “So does that mean you would be willing to help us?” the elder questioned.

“Certainly,” Sybilla agreed before her face grew somber, though her red eyes did not change. “I know of the suffering your world will face if it is not impeded. It is a bleak prospect on a dark horizon; not even the light of the sun and moon can pierce it.”

“So… we won’t be able to stop an oncoming war?”

Sybilla shook her head. “Currently, no. You have more to concern yourselves with than the squabbles of mortal civilizations. Neither the King of Shadows nor the minator Tirek, whom you faced shortly after the war in the Crystal Empire, was the last threat against Order. Others like them will follow, and some are already in your world. In your current state, you are powerless against them.”

Her mysterious red eyes glowed brighter. “However,” she continued, “I would not come to you without hope. You may not possess the strength necessary to protect your world, but with some extra help, perhaps we can come to an agreement.”

“An… an agreement?” Celestia echoed.

Celestia didn’t like Sybilla’s smile; it was too out of practice to feel genuine. “In Elysium, there exist many… spirits, for lack of a better term. They are not like you or I, who watch over aspects of the mortal world; rather, they are the personification of forces that affect the minds of sentient beings. They already reside in this world, fragments in ponies’ hearts, though they can condense into one entity, one spirit. They contain a vast amount of power, power that can rival the highest classes of Elysium.”

By now, Celestia was hanging onto Sybilla’s every word. “I can promise you one thousand years of absolute peace and order,” Sybilla said, her captivating voice growing softer. “In return, my proposal to you is this: allow yourselves to become the vessels of these spirits.”

Then just like that the hypnotizing strings snapped, sending Celestia recoiling backward. Her eyes were pulled into saucers. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, as she drowned in the deafening pounds of blood rushing to her head. Her lips trembled, forming words she couldn’t bring herself to say.

Still, Sybilla continued. “I myself control two spirits: Hamartia, the Purgation of Miasmata; and Constance, the Perpetuation of Order. Coincidently, they work as a pair. Hamartia’s vessel will absorb the negative, discordant feelings of ponies, allowing her heart to become twisted and corrupted. Any bitter feelings of enemies wishing to disrupt your reign will all be removed and transferred to her. Then Constance’s vessel will banish Hamartia’s from the world, and afterward be responsible for maintaining order with fairness and justice. So just as you hoped, you can buy your world a millennium of uninterrupted peace.”

Celestia and Luna could only stand paralyzed. This reaction made perfect sense from a biological perspective: the mind wouldn’t have to worry about the body and instead focus solely on the problem at hoof. The body made sense. Sybilla’s proposal did not.

Their mouths were agape like frogs trying to catch flies, as if they hoped the words to articulate their feelings would somehow fly into their mouths. Finally, Celestia caught a bite. “So you’re saying one of us is going to have to banish the other?” she cried, tears beginning to well in her eyes. “Th-that’s… just cruel!”

Sybilla’s eyes narrowed. “You came to me seeking answers,” she coldly reminded them, “and now you have heard the only solution I have available to you, the only solution where you can ascertain peace with one hundred percent certainty. It is your choice whether or not you accept. Besides, this is not permanent. The contract only lasts one thousand years; any more negative emotions would kill Hamartia’s vessel. Once that time is up, the banishment will come undone through an alignment of the stars that your mother will arrange, and the spirits’ control over you will recede into your subconscious. Afterwards, it will be your choice if you wish to renew the contract for another thousand years.”

The way she speaks of a thousand years, it’s like it’s so short for her, Celestia marveled. Will it be that way for us as well? Will time pass for us in a dream?

No… no, I don’t think it will. Separation is separation. I’ll be alone for a thousand years. Celestia turned to look at Luna, and her whole body began to tremble. I’ll never be able to see my sister.

“Do you have an answer, Celestia?” Sybilla asked, quiet but firm.

Panic spiked through her veins. How could she choose? How could anypony? Her mind shut down, only to be filled by troubling memories. She remembered the war in all its terrors, and Tirek’s destruction soon after. She dwelled on the happiness of her citizens when she returned, even when she wished to mourn over the death and destruction she had seen. She thought of herself and those sleepless nights of worry, alleviated only by Luna’s soft knock at the door….

Celestia blinked back her tears. “Why are you asking only me?” she demanded, angrier than she had expected. “Why aren’t you asking Luna, too?”

Come to think of it, she hasn’t spoken to Luna at all. She hasn’t even looked at her. Why?

Sybilla blinked twice, which was probably as far as she could go in the way of showing surprise. “Yes of course, child,” she amended, though her maternal tone was strained. She still did not look at Luna. “I merely meant that you would speak for both of you. By all means, discuss it with her.” She turned her head away in what would have been a gesture of privacy if not for her ears still pivoted in their direction.

Celestia immediately rushed to grab Luna’s hoof. “Luna, we can’t do this,” she said, her voice squeaky and high as she struggled to regulate her breathing. “I’m not going to lose you. We’ll figure out another way, without resorting to such drastic measures. We’ll start building up a military, arrange more negotiations… Luna, are you listening to me?”

Luna was staring straight ahead at the Tree of Harmony with a frightening intensity before she dipped her head in a nod. “We have to do it,” she whispered in resigned acceptance. There were no tears in her eyes; they were melted away with a resolve like fire.

“Luna…” Celestia didn’t know how Luna was able to stand so tall and firm. She felt like her own body would crumple from the weight on her heart.

“There’s no other way. We can’t put ponies at risk like this, not we they need us most. It would be irresponsible for us to value our happiness over theirs. Remember why we came here in the first place.”

Celestia closed her eyes at the memory. “We need you to bring order.”

“I know,” Celestia finally acknowledged. “I just wish it didn’t have to be like this. We… we were supposed to be together always.”

Luna reached up and hugged Celestia. “Have courage, my sister,” she whispered. “A thousand years is only a lonely day without your sun. I am willing to wait for the twilight when our paths cross the sky once more. Even if it is for a mere second, I will endure for that moment.”

Celestia squeezed her even tighter. “And to think I’m the older sister,” she laughed despite the tears in her eyes. “Promise you won’t grow up too fast when I’m gone, okay Lulu?”

“Only if you promise not to bury yourself in paperwork or whatever craziness will come over a thousand years,” she said.

“Deal,” Celestia whispered. A fallen tear glowed in the Tree of Harmony’s light.

“Have you made your decision yet?” Sybilla asked, her red eyes glowing eerily. “Will you make a contract with me?”

It was Luna who answered. “Yes, we will.”

Sybilla nodded once. “Contract initiated.”

Two spells, one white and one black, shot from her horn and hit Celestia and Luna squarely in the chest. At once, the sisters felt a sharp pain like an electric jolt course through their bodies. There was a pull on their legs and necks, elongating them to add more than ten inches to their already towering height. Magic swirled over their manes as they changed color, rippling in an ethereal wind. Then in a burst of light that elicited a cry from both sisters, the spells were complete.

“Luna, are you alri—“ The rest of Celestia’s sentence was cut off by a sharp gasp as she turned to see her newly transformed sister.

Her navy blue coat of dusk had changed to the pitch-black of midnight. Her starry mane now whipped around her violently, with none of its formerly gentle flow. She now stood at the same height as Celestia, perfectly eye-to-eye, though Luna’s pupils had turned to slits that along with her newly added fangs kindled terror into the sun princess’ heart. It was like looking at her sister through a distorted mirror: recognizable but so twistedly wrong.

Celestia’s fear was mirrored in her sister’s eyes. “Sister…” Luna breathed, half in awe and half in trepidation.

Then Celestia caught a glimpse of her reflection in one of the Tree of Harmony’s crystalline branches. Her already regal stature had been acutely enhanced, with svelte legs, a lengthened horn, and grandiose wings. Her regular white coat now shone like newfallen snow, which was contrasted with the new colors her mane now accommodated. Sea green, sky blue, and earthy lavender had encroached on her natural pink hue, turning her mane into a rainbow of pastels that flowed in a solar breeze over one of her slitted pink eyes.

Two thoughts sprang to the forefront of Celestia’s mind. I look like Mother, she realized in shock. Then: I wonder if Discord could recognize me now.

“These are previews of what your new forms will be,” Sybilla explained, “once the spirits possess you. During your thousand-year contract, you will remain permanently this way. However, in the years leading up to it, you may choose whether to show or suppress your forms, depending on if you wish to have ponies acclimate themselves to them.”

Have ponies acclimate? Celestia wondered, still stunned by her reflection. It’s going to be a challenge to adjust myself.

“What do you mean, ‘in the years leading up’?” Luna asked. “Why not just change us now?”

With a mighty flap of her wings, Sybilla took to the air, where she hovered in front of the tree’s star-shaped center. “My contract only has the power to prevent future attacks. However, there are already threats that exist in this world, though they still remain unrealized. To vanquish them, you will rely on the Elements of Harmony.”

She gestured to the five multi-colored sparks, currently un-formed jewels, and the six-pointed star. “These will mature into magical artifacts that have the ability to restore harmony to the world. They can keep chaos and evil from getting out of hand, but they are a double-edged sword in that they can just as easily stunt goodness and order. If perfectly orderly beings such as Hamartia and Constance try to utilize them, the Elements could backfire, destroying Order in the mortal world. This is why we will give you a few years to eradicate all present threats using the Elements.”

Sybilla softly touched down on the ground as she continued her explanation. “I will confess, this period will be turbulent for you. The spirits will affect your mood and behavior, and at times briefly control you all together. But all of this will simply help you get used to sharing your body with another spirit. Consider a carriage, for instance. Up until now, you have been in the front, holding the reins and directing your body. By having the spirits temporarily take over, it will prepare you for what it is like to sit in the back seat, able to observe and think but not control. However, when the Elements are being used, I promise that they will retreat, leaving your own soul free to wield Harmony’s power.”

She looked at the two sisters, both wearing stupefied expressions, and she smiled sadly. “Forgive me,” she requested in the closest her monotonous voice came to sincerity. “I know this is a lot of information to load upon you at once.”

Celestia only nodded dazedly in agreement as her mind buzzed, trying to process everything.

“I suppose the only thing left to determine is who will bear Hamartia and who will bear Constance,” Sybilla added nonchalantly.

Celestia’s blood froze. She hadn’t even considered that. To wallow in malevolence or put on airs of benevolence, to destroy a mask of kindness or suffocate behind one. Both were horrible fates, but to ask which was more bearable to live with…

“Give me Hamartia,” Luna requested, staring down Sybilla like a bullfighter.

Celestia gasped in horror. “Luna, why?” she asked her sister, her sweet and innocent sister who didn’t deserve to bear the burden of the world’s hatred and suffering.

Luna squeezed her eyes shut. “Please, Tia, allow me this,” she pleaded, her voice trembling terribly. “I can handle anything the world throws at me. Grief, rage, agony, I don’t care. But I can’t… I can’t banish the pony I love. I don’t have the strength of heart to do that.”

“And you think I do?” Celestia cried. “Lulu, you’re my little sister. I can’t let you suffer like that.”

“Suffering is suffering. There is no better option here. If you want to protect me, Celestia, then keep me from doing something I regret. I’ll trust Elysium, Order, but most of all you to be my conscience. Don’t let the bitterness I’ll carry hurt anypony, even yourself.”

Luna’s grip on her sister’s hoof was almost painful. “Please, no matter what happens to me,” she cried, tears pouring down her face, “I will always, always love you, my sister.”

There was a painful tightness in Celestia’s throat. “And I will love you, Luna, just as I always have.”

“My presence in your world is fading,” Sybilla warned them. “You must make the decision now.”

Celestia nodded. Then to Luna, she said, “The time for me to protect you is past. My sister, we will do this together.”

Sybilla’s horn ignited with a luminous crimson. A roaring gust of wind sprung up from the cave entrance and pulled with it a million shards of a glassy substance, some white and some black. The wind carried them from all four corners of the world, from a small piece of ponies’ hearts. The shards swirled around Sybilla, drawing them towards her like a black hole sucking in light. The amount of raw orderly concentration left the young alicorns feeling like fragile leaves about to be crushed by the wind.

As she stood facing the powers of Order with Luna at her side, Celestia could have lied and said her sister banished all the fear from her heart. But in actuality, Luna’s presence was like the life vest that kept her from drowning in the storm. Anything more would have been weakness, for courage was the strength to raise one’s head above the turbulent waters and cry out above the howling wind in a loud voice:

“Celestia, Virtue of the seventh class of Elysium, offers her body, mind, and soul to serve Constance, Spirit of the Perpetuation of Order!”

“Luna, Virtue of the seventh class of Elysium, offers her body, mind, and soul to serve Hamartia, the Spirit of the Purgation of Miasmata!”

The shards condensed into two shadowy, vaguely pony figures, one black and one white. For a moment the creatures flanked Sybilla, who had just completed her spell, before she raised her hoof and pointed to Celestia and Luna. Then, their bodies mist and eyes fire, they ran at lightning speed to collide with the two sisters.

It felt like being doused in Arctic-cold water when the white spirit ran through Celestia. A chilling numbness flooded her veins, leaving her paralyzed as the mist passed over eyes and effectively blinded her. For an agonizing minute, the world was white, as white as her Comprehension Chamber in Elysium where she had spent her childhood in a state that barely passed for life. She wanted to wipe it away, but she was frozen. Only when the mist diffused through her skin was she able to collapse in a broken heap.

As did Luna, Celestia lay shivering on the forest floor several minutes after the spirit had entered her. Even though the mist had passed, she could still feel a cold clamminess beneath her skin that made her sick. Violent shudders assaulted the sun princess, and not even all the sun’s heat could warm her. It was a coldness like death, Celestia decided, although dying might have been preferable then. She could feel the spirit of Constance literally weighing on top of her heart, a heart that, in a few years, would no longer be able to love.

Celestia curled into a fetal position as she cried. Discord… I’m so, so sorry.

Tears stinging in her eyes, Celestia could just barely make out Sybilla dispersing into tiny particles of light as she prepared to return to Elysium. Just as she was about to be sucked into the Tree of Harmony, the universe in its humorous cruelty left the sisters with a final adieu of irony:

“Contract initiated. Go in peace.”

A New Age Dawning

"Get out of my bedchambers."

Discord only laughed at Celestia's furious expression. "Why, is that any way to welcome a friend, Celly dearest?" he asked, sprawled on her bed as he idly turned her phoenix Philomena purple. "Whatever happened to Harmony, good will, and all those boring things you prattle on about?"

"The spirit of Chaos complaining about a lack of Harmony, that's the day," Celestia muttered irritably as she yanked the pins out of her hair in an attempt to focus her attention anywhere but on the obnoxious draconequus turning her quills into bubbles.

"Touché, but I'm afraid that doesn't answer my question," he answered.

At that, Celestia firmly turned her face away from him, still resolutely in denial. "Oh, I'm sorry," she declared in a scathing, mocking tone. "I can't hear ponies that aren't in my bedchambers."

"Thank goodness I'm here then!" Discord said with biggest smile adorning his face. "I wouldn't want you to miss a single minute of my next exciting musical number!"

Panicked, Celestia quickly blasted the disembodied trombone out of its misery before it had the chance to emit one tortured wail. Honestly, if there was one power of the universe she wished he possessed, it was a sense of pitch.

"Are you trying to get me to banish you?"

"That depends, would it be any less boring than whatever today's rant is about?"

"I'd make it so boring you'd want to scratch out your eyeballs if you don't make me do it first."

"Well then, I'm all ears!" he exclaimed, folding his claw and hoof in his lap while he crunched on a corn on the cob.

Celestia fought to repress a laugh as she eyed him crossly. "It's about my coronation," she began.

"Oh, was that today?"

"You would know; I doubt that anypony couldn't have noticed if you were absent."

"Oh come now, Celly, I was pretty good today," he said in his defense. "I was even one of the only ponies that didn't fall asleep during your crowning. You were far too beautiful for that."

With a passing blush, she brushed off his flattery. "Yes, but I'm talking about the times when I wasn't around."

He pressed his claw over his heart as he comically gasped. "How can you accuse me without eyewitness testimony?"

Celestia rolled her eyes. "You kept blowing raspberries during the opening hymn."

"Hey, it's audience participation!"

"You gave a potted fern wings."

"The Equestrian Triarchy!"

"You turned my Chancellor into a pig."

"I see no difference whatsoever."

The princess let out a groan of frustration, and unknowingly, a little bit of hurt. "Must you constantly mock everything I do?"

At that, Discord's eyes widened in concern. In a rare moment of seriousness, he advanced towards Celestia, and ever so gently cupped her face in his hands as if it was the rarest diamond. "Don't ever think that of me, Celly," he murmured, lightly tracing a spiral on her cheek. "I understand how important today was for you, and believe me, I'm doing my best."

It took all of Celestia's strength of will to resist the urge to fall into his arms, lose herself completely in his embrace. Tonight was not the night for that. No matter what, she had to maintain her resolve. "Your best isn't good enough," she declared, roughly jerking her face away. "I won't have you making a fool of me in front of the nobles."

"Last time I checked, I believe you were the ruler of Equestria, not them."

"But I have to take their opinions into account, along with those of everypony else in Equestria," she told him. "I can't just rule however I please and disregard the ponies I'm leading."

"Then lead some new ponies, ones who can have a little more fun in their monotonous lives."

Celestia shook her head, sending ripples of pink mane swirling around the side of her neck. "That's not possible," she whispered sadly.

Discord crossed his arms as his eyes surveyed Celestia's face intently. "I'm not going to become one of your orderly puppets, Celestia," he said, a little more angrily than he would have liked. "That's not in my nature."

"I know," she replied with a heavy sigh, "which is why you have… to go."

"Go?" Discord repeated, his voice strangely hollow. "Go where?"

"Somewhere in Canterlot, somewhere in Equestria, I don't know," she said with a dismissive wave of her hoof. "You can go somewhere, anywhere, just… not where I am."

A pause. Then: "If you wanted to break up with me, you should have just said so."

"Those are the facts," she said, stretching her swan-like neck with an air of superiority. "Our wants are no longer a concern to Us."

"Oh no," Discord retaliated sternly, grabbing her hoof and drawing her closer to him again. "You don't get to distance yourself from this with your high-and-mighty royal we. Besides, one of you is hard enough to handle."

Celestia only gave him an icy cold glare, though she did not pull away. "We are trying to remind you that We are no longer an individual. From this day forth, We are an avatar of Equestria, nothing more. We answer to their will, not Our own."

"But I'm not in love with Equestria," Discord said flippantly, resolutely ignoring the chord of desperation in his voice, before locking onto the twin mirrors of Celestia's rose-tinged eyes with frightening intensity. "I'm in love with you."

At that, Celestia reared up and turned away. "You don't love me, Discord," she told him. "You never did. You only wanted to play with a toy you could never have."

Wrathful lightning flashed in his eyes, a looming omen of the events to come. "How dare you," he said, ire seething in his voice. "I can understand if you want to end this, but can you at least be a mare enough to admit that it started? You cared about our love once, so you don't get to sweep that under the rug and say it never happened. Or do you have some other neatly packaged excuse for why the past two years somehow don't count?"

"I… I was young," Celestia admitted, "and foolish. Impressionable. Headstrong. But most of all, I was stressed. I wanted to escape the politics of court, and you were that escape for me. And while I am grateful for your service during that time, I cannot afford to escape from who I am any longer."

"Oh, well then, why don't I pick up my paycheck and be on my merry way?" he retorted, his normally playful sarcasm now burning like acid. "So, what was my position in your court, hmm? Court jester? For Equestria's sake, I hope you're not nearly as intimate with your other employees; you may end up having to abdicate yourself before a scandal reaches the presses."

Celestia had to blink back tears before she could say, "Lust is a petty thing. I am above such trivialities. If I love, I love with my heart."

"Aha! So you do admit there was love!" Discord shouted triumphantly, watching her mouth fall into the daintiest little O.

"Th-this conversation is getting us nowhere," she stammered.

"Oh come now, Celly," Discord said, his previous vigor renewed. "It's unsportsmare-like to quit while you're losing. Now tell me," he continued, draping his pegasus wing across her back, "like the rational being you are, why you'll deny yourself the spirit of chaos but still admit to the chaos of love."

"Love… isn't chaotic in the slightest," Celestia breathed, fighting to keep her voice even as his touch sent burning shivers down her spine. Closing her eyes, she recited, "Love is a natural part of order for a community. It is the foundation of a community's unity and willingness to help its members for the betterment of all. It allows compassion, tolerance, and a single-minded goal that keeps the society functioning. It is a more complex form of altruism, a parent's self-sacrifice for a child. Love defines social structure and aids in the survival of present and future populations. It is orderly, not discordant."

"Oh really?" Discord asked in a low tone bordering on seductive as he twirled a lock of Celestia's mane in his talon. "Well, that's an admirable definition, but you and I know there's much more to it than that. What about how it makes you feel? The notion of doing the right thing while doing all the wrong actions, the feeling of dying even though you've never felt so alive? There's no way to choose who you love, but once that arrow flies, your life's all over, even though it's just beginning. The world hasn't changed, but somehow you see in a whole different perspective while still only focusing on the one pony that ever matters. You start doing strange things, irrational things, things that are stupid and you know are stupid but you can't stop doing them, because you're not in control anymore, even though you've finally become whole and complete and understand your place in the world. It's like a poison, and the only cure is to keep taking in more and more, never satisfied but always content. What do you have to say to that?"

"Yes, yes it is a poison, what you've given me," she spat. "And if you cared for me, you'd see that it needs to stop."

"I know what you're trying to do," he said, crossing his arms, "and it's not working. You can't hurt me that easily, though you're doing a good job at being aggravating and inscrutable. Come on, Celestia, what is this about? You've been growing distant lately, and it's worrisome. I thought it was the coronation or something stupid like that, but it's obviously much bigger. For weeks I feel like we've been going backwards, like you're becoming that distant Elysium by-product I met two years ago. You won't visit me, won't even talk to me. Please, you know you can confide in me—"

"SHUT UP!" she screamed, covering her ears with her hooves as she started shaking violently. "Can't you see you're making this harder for me?!"

Shocked, Discord stretched out a trembling hand. "C-Celestia, I—"

"Why?!" Celestia howled in anguish. Still turned away, she threw her head back to the sky, her distraught tears gushing from her eyes in full view. "Why won't you hate me? Why won't you make this easier? Can't you let me have this one wish, to spare you from suffering too?"

With a strangled cry, Celestia ran to Discord's embrace. "There's no use in lying anymore," she lamented. "I tried to keep it from you, but it's been getting stronger. I tried to fight the episodes I've been having because I wanted to be able to say goodbye, but I was too weak to say it. I wanted you to leave, to hate me so it wouldn't hurt, but you love me too much." She allowed herself a small smile that faded like whisper of a memory. "It's over now. I'm losing. She's taking over again, and I don't know if I'll be able to free myself this time. It doesn't matter anyway. I knew I was living on borrowed time. I've known I was going to leave. I'm leaving now, and I still can't bear to say goodbye."

"C-Celestia, you're talking n-nonsense," Discord said, fighting down the tremble in his voice, "and that's coming from me."

"Then I suppose it's poetic, isn't it? For the last few months you've been my only source of sanity as I've fought this curse I've placed upon myself. And even though this hurts, I am grateful for this fleeting existence. But I can't keep stalling the inevitable. My life has never been my own. I knew that before, and I understand that today. I can only hope that in time you too will come to understand that this is for the best."

With a sigh she slipped from Discord's arms and stood alone in the center of the room with the balcony behind her, bathed in the red light of the dying sun.

A single tear dripped from her eye. "Forgive me for leaving you," she said as her body began to glow white, "but you were never part of my purpose."

"No, Celestia!" Discord cried as he leapt into action. He tried to wrap his arms around her, only to recoil at her frigid skin. Her tears shone like glass as the light around her grew in intensity until Discord had to partially cover his eyes with his talon and paw to continue looking at his beloved. He staggered back like a drunkard, the raw magical force repelling him, filling the air with orderly magic. A swirling wind sprung up around her, sending her hair billowing wildly, the pink tresses twisting and bleeding into new colors.

There was a sound like breaking rocks as a strand of light traveled from the base of her tail to the tip of her horn until with one resonating crack, her fate was sealed.

Discord looked up into the vacant eyes of Constance.

From that day forth, two halves of a soul remained apart, one tormented in the forest of liberation and one suffering in the castle of luxury. It is an ironic instance indeed when a princess becomes a captive within her own body and a chaotic child chooses to remain confined, but as always, the universe strives to break its own rules. Though its contradictory nature can be perceived as chaotic, the consistency to always be inconsistent is one rule of the many rules that order thrives on. Consider the rule of surviving the universe to be 'expect the unexpected,' though such a phrase in itself could be considered a disorderly paradox, thus unceremoniously dumping any intelligent thought on the matter right at the start once again, completing a frustrating circle.

So it was that Equestria's elder princess found herself pacing in circles in the magical atrium beneath Mount Canterlot. So strong was her uneasiness that her flowing tail had several times come close to knocking over some priceless magical artifact balancing precariously at the edge of a table.

She winced as some bottles on the table rattled. Every creak, every plunk, every noise made her body tense up in anticipation. At any point she expected somepony to barge into the room and drag her away to some highly important meeting. Whether a part of her wished for such an occurrence was up for debate, but she knew she couldn't allow hesitation…

The princess froze. Her ears perked up, straining as high as they could towards a slight creak in the floorboards above the ceiling. Had Starswirl come back early? Or was Luna trailing her again, demanding to know what she was up to?

Celestia scowled. If I told her, she'd probably start crying like she always does nowadays. She doesn't even realize what a blessing it is to actually be able to cry at all.

Another creak. Oh Luna, why can't you stay out of things and let me handle it?

This time, the sound was accompanied by a tiny squeak. A mouse. Celestia breathed a sigh of relief, a burst of adrenaline sending a thrill through her veins. Disobedience. How strange that it should blend so well with her desire for order in her life.

Turning her attention towards the matter at hoof, Celestia stopped her pacing, though she kept her eyes fixated on the ground. It was always difficult to look in any mirror now. The threat of seeing her now hollow, vacant eyes haunted every reflection she glimpsed of herself, like the memory of a persistent nightmare.

But this mirror was different, she reminded herself with a smile. This one did not reflect the reality of her world, but the beauty of another, where life was filled with harmony and true love, just as the stories always said.

Within her, Celestia felt the spirit of Constance retreat in a further circle around her heart, lightening the burden, as if to communicate, It's alright. Do not be afraid. There is no need to serve us now. We will allow you your happiness.

Celestia's lips curled. As if Discord could ever be right about anything. The path of Order was hard, but it always came with a reward.

True love.

Raising her eyes, Celestia peered into the depths of Starswirl's mirror to see…

…A young draconequus, racing through the Everfree Forest, his mismatched body little more than a blur darting through the thick foliage, now varying shades of a putrid black. The brittle bark, the withered leaves, everything felt tainted with the stench of death, as if a dark fire had burned all life from the inside out. The forest's well known darkness, once caused just by the protection of the canopy, was now very real, exuding from every blade of grass Discord trampled as he ran. There was no real urgency behind his haste, just the overwhelming desire to run out of his own skin, his own heart, beating far too fast and loudly in this silence.

Indeed, the shrill mocking that had plagued Discord had for the past month been replaced by a perpetual quiet, unnatural and ominous. And as twisted as it sounded, he had come to find that he preferred the company of the spirits, even if poor company, rather than none at all. In lieu of their voices, he replayed in his head Kallisti's departing phrase on that day she emerged from the shadows, granted him a small smile, and then vanished into the mist:

"Rise above your suffering, kall gurdete ist dellu ahrai."

'Cracked seed that rises straight.' That was the meaning behind the phrase, spoken in his native language of Bedlam. It was a tragic phrase as much as a hopeful one, acknowledging both someone's suffering as well as the promise to overcome it and blossom into something beautiful. The usage was rare, as it was a term of endearment. Why Kallisti would use it was an enigma to Discord. But whatever it meant, it couldn't be good.

"What a bitter seedling you are, little one."

Discord looked up from the ground to see that his legs had inexplicably led him to the Tree of Harmony, where Kallisti was waiting, sitting on one of the roots, with her hands folded and her lips pursed.

The young draconequus' eyes widened. "I… I don't want to see you," he mumbled, slowly backing away.

"But you're not going to do anything about it," she said coldly, absentmindedly flicking her lion's tail against the crystal tree trunk. "That's your problem. Your desires are conflicted. You wish I were gone, yet you missed my company. You want companionship, yet you remain alone. It's a delicious sort of chaos, but I'm afraid it won't do. You'll have to use that chaos, unleash it from your mind and plant it in the world. Right now, you're just helpless and stupid."

Discord balled his hands into quivering fists at his sides. "Stop doing that," he said, his voice shaking terribly, his eyes watering. "Stop making me feel miserable."

At that, Kallisti stood up and started walking towards him. Her eyes, one hazel and one blue, narrowed in anger. "No, I'm not. I'm going to keep degrading you, attacking you, accosting you, until you get rid of those stupid tears of yours. For years you've let yourself live in a garden, safe and protected from anypony who would try to hurt you. But there's no pony princess to pull the weeds and wipe your eyes in the real world."

"I saw what happened with the bird," she continued, advancing closer to Discord, who had found himself unable to move. "You wanted freedom, but when it didn't work, you just gave up. You were a fool to do so. You won't accomplish anything by hiding in this forest. You must go out into the world yourself."

Discord hated the feeling of shame overwhelming him, hated her, hated everything. "You... Y-You don't know anything about what it's like out there. Whenever I try to go into a town, ponies run away—"

"Then make them stay," Kallisti hissed as she spread her wings, a swan's on the left and a raven's on the right. She leaned down so her face was inches from Discord's. "Command their respect instead of letting them push you around. That's why your friend is suffering. She lets Elysium control her like a puppet. She's not strong enough to think for herself, the coward, the weakling, the—"

A slap rang out in the empty air.

"Don't…" Discord growled, staring up at her with angry, watering eyes. "Don't ever talk about Celestia that way."

Kallisti placed a grey wolf's paw to the red welt on her cheek, then smirked. "That's what I'm talking about," she said.

She let her paw brush against the side of his face, then she pivoted around with a dramatic flip of her ebony hair as she walked towards the Tree of Harmony.

"It's a wonderful world out there," she called to the highest tops of the cavern. She threw her arms out wide, as if to embrace the very air of the mortal world she was unable to breathe as a mere spirit. "And you could experience it all, if only you were brave enough to embrace it."

Discord took a hesitant step toward her. "Why… why are you doing all of this?"

"Because you've become dreadfully boring to Eris, dear," she said. "But the promise of a romance might just be what it takes to peak not only their interest, but that of the whole world.

"The world's been caught in a boring cycle for eons. Good against evil, order against chaos. But for the first time in countless ages, you have presented a little enigma, a break in the rules no one has seen done before: love. It's different. It's game changing. So much so that it just might bring about…"

Kallisti tossed him a black seed.

"…a revolution."

Discord turned over the seed in his claw. "What is this?" he asked her warily.

"Oh, just a little something to give you an edge," she said with an innocent shrug.

He took a step back. "This is a trick, isn't it," he demanded, his eyes livid. "You're trying to trick me, aren't you, just like they did to her!"

Kallisti turned her head and raised her eyebrows at him before kicking aside a patch of dirt by the Tree of Harmony to reveal similar seeds underneath. "Tricking you would be detrimental to me," she said. "I don't need to manipulate you. You already have the power inside you to change this world; it just lies hidden underneath the earth, just like these seeds. No, what I'm offering you isn't a contract or a curse. It is, very simply, the chance to let you do whatever you want."

His eyes narrowed. "So you don't care what I do."

The spirit nodded.

"So… if I were to, say, save Celestia using this power, you wouldn't stop me, would you?"

At his words, Kallisti's eyes widened, and she immediately ran back to the young daconequus. She firmly clasped his hands in hers and looked him in the eye with a terrifying intensity.

"Don't you understand any of this? I would be ecstatic if you saved her," she told him breathlessly. "I would be ecstatic if you saved this whole world. I know what she's done in making that contract. Her head is spinning and spinning; she doesn't have any truth to guide her. But you do. Tell me, what do you know about yourself since coming to this world to be true above all else?"

The answer came surprisingly easy. "I love Celestia," he told her, staring mesmerized into her eyes. "I will always love her."

With a small, choked cry, she pressed her lips to his forehead. "Good," she told him. "Then let that guide you. Order is a curse; you know that. You've seen how it's made her suffer. Save her from the Order she was born into. It doesn't matter what you have to do. Even if you have to force her, even if you have to hurt her like I have done to you, remember that it is all for her. Nothing else matters."

Discord's eyes widened. "But will she know that I'm doing it for her?"

The spirit shook her head. "You don't need to explain it to her. She doesn't have to understand. They… they never understand." Kallisti blinked a few times, then gazed into her reflection within the crystal branches. "I… I know it will hurt you to hurt her, just as I had to hurt you, but it will be worth it, this I promise. As long as you do it for the one you love, nothing else matters."

Then she stepped back, leaving Discord standing alone with the seed cupped in his hands. He glanced up at her, then down at the plunder seed, and nervously chewed his lip.

A vein in Kallisti's neck throbbed. "What are you waiting for?" she demanded. "Think about Celestia. Her smile when she sees you, the light that glows around her, all of it could be gone if you let her go. Elysium will crush her with their oppressive rules. Show her the joy that only Chaos can bring, the joy that can break her curse and set her free…"

Kallisti's words faded into the background of Discord's mind. Though his eyes were open, he could not register anything he was seeing. All he could perceive was a tremor of power somewhere deep in his core where his magic resided. His magic felt like it was overflowing, washing off him in waves and into the Everfree Forest. It sent his body shaking, like an earthquake along his spine. Blood rose in a surge of heat to his head, his eyes, burning, burning, burning, as if to combat the chilling numbness in Celestia's heart. A rumbling sound escaped his throat to match the distant rumbling behind him, growing steadily closer.

Kallisti smiled. "It's time to go outside and make some friends."

When he blinked, he saw that Kallisti was now gone, replaced by a horde of creatures. Sea serpents, manticores, cockitrices, and many more of his half-finished creations flocked around him, the squawking and roaring of their living bodies disrupting the silence.

As if in a trance, Discord circled the crowd, trailing his fingers across their skin, pressing his ear to their beating hearts. Tears stung in his eyes. They were real. They were real.

Somewhere in his breathless admiration, Discord had dropped the plunder seed. When he circled around again, he saw that a beautiful flower had bloomed, complete with five petals as black as poison.

What he failed to notice was the slightly crooked stem.

Discord caught a glimpse of his face in the reflection of one of the Tree of Harmony's branches. While nothing drastic had changed at first glance, there was a definite change in his eyes, gleaming with something that went far beyond childish mischief.

He smiled at what he saw. I'm no longer a child anymore, he told himself.

I can make my own decisions, Celestia thought as she stared into the forbidden mirror. I'm not running away from anything. I know what I'm doing. Nopony has to understand why. They could never, ever understand. Their understanding isn't important.

The only thing that is important, he thought…

The only thing that really matters…

…Is the chance to be free.

As the draconequus looked into his reflection and the princess looked into the reflection of another, two alicorns of Elysium looked at reflections of them both, before one cut off the spell with her horn and the image faded into the mist.

"It is an interesting situation, is it not, Andromeda?" Sybilla asked. "The affairs of the heart are very strange indeed."

"It is," Andromeda agreed, her eyes shining brightly with a myriad of stars. "It would not be wise to interfere at this stage. I am confident that this situation will resolve itself."

Sybilla blinked twice. She was irked. "I wish we did not have to resort to something that would come out so… messily. We are better than this, are we not?"

"It is the only way to correct our failure," Andromeda said, "and to be certain that such an occurrence will never happen again. Thank you though for bringing this to my attention. If it is acceptable, I would like to be alone to consider the situation further."

Sybilla nodded and vanished into a whirlwind of leaves, leaving Andromeda alone. Her horn sprang to life with an amethyst aura, reviving the Vitreous Erudition that bore the holographic image of Celestia in front of the mirror.

"Revolution? Freedom?" Andromeda repeated softly to herself. "Your brightly shining heart brings about the strangest things, my daughter. I wonder, what would become of you if they actually came true?"

Then with a swipe of her hoof, she flipped the image upside down.

Celestia's life had – quite literally – turned upside down.

Pink cotton candy clouds stuck to her hooves as she walked on the sky, though her heart was far heavier than air. Uprooted houses on trampolines of bubblegum hovered above her head as they spun in lazy circles. A herd of tutu-wearing buffalo passed by her, dancing far more gracefully than she ever could. They spun like tops until they crashed into a tower of cards. Rather than collapsing, the cards flew like butterflies in frenzied acrobatics. Briefly glancing up, Celestia saw the undersides of two: the toothily grinning Joker and the Princess of Hearts. The pair pointed and laughed at the sight of grey ponies trudging drearily across the chaotic landscape, caught between inverted heaven and earth. It made Celestia sick.

Then, as if in lieu of a dark cloud, a fish-shaped kettle started floating above her. It took one glance at her, blew up its cheeks, puckered its lips in a pout, and spat orange soda in her face for good measure. A single drop rolled down Celestia's face to her lips.

It tasted bitter.

Celestia pressed forward, never pausing, even when the world shifted so that she was walking on checkered ground. Her eyes were fixated solely on the creature perched beneath the noonday sun. A mad god cackled with maniacal glee as he sat atop his twisted throne. Around him flocked cockitrices, manticores, sea serpents, and a horde of other horrors.

It was all so ugly.

Much had changed in the two-year period after Discord had exiled Celestia and Luna from Equestria, but to return and find the land virtually unrecognizable had not just been a blow to re-locating the Tree of Harmony, but a personal one as well. All memories of her youth had either been eradicated or twisted in Discord's madness. They had all been turned to dust.

The silence of this world was striking. Only the soft tread of hooves beside her echoed hollowly, reminding Celestia of Luna's presence. Like her sister, the night princess stared unflinching at the draconequus. Her tears had been spent privately, leaving her eyes hardened in the way she would look at a dead pony, too far gone and beyond her reach. If only Celestia could have believed the same.

The saddlebag containing the Elements of Harmony felt far heavier than it should have. She wondered if the guilt of this day would weigh similarly, if she would wander the mortal earth accumulating more and more until it crushed her. The weight of Constance was already enough. At least the spirit wouldn't take this away from her. If Celestia was going to condemn him, she wanted full responsibility.

Then Discord – or at least, the caricature – noticed them. His vermillion eyes were lost in madness, so much so that it was as if he wasn't looking at her at all. She tuned out his rambling of games that made her want to smack the insanity out of him. It made no sense why he was like this underneath, how he had been able to fool her for all those years. It was too much for her to understand.

Clarification? a tiny, hopeful voice inside her wanted to ask.

The Elements hummed to life. No, she answered. There is no explanation.

Silver moonlight shone down on Celestia's motionless body, lying defeated in the throne room of Everfree Castle. A soft groan escaped her lips as she struggled to raise her bleeding head from the ground and look up into the sky.

Pain that had nothing to do with Nightmare Moon's attack blossomed in her heart as she looked up at the twisted version of her sister that Hamartia had created…

"This isn't a diarchy, Luna," Celestia coldly reprimanded her sister, with her head bowed and body trembling before the sun princess upon the throne. "And even if it was, what makes you think you have the authority to tamper with the heavens, with the responsibility Elysium bestowed upon you? Remember that you were never meant to pass through the Gates with me at all."

"No," Celestia whispered. "It wasn't Hamartia. It was me."

She looked up at the wicked mare laughing in front of the silver moon, only to squeeze her eyes shut when another bolt of dark energy struck a nearby village. "Oh dear sister, I am sorry, but you have given me no choice but to use these."

At her summons, the Elements of Harmony rose up from the ground. Their colorful, shiny surfaces glowed innocently, hiding the destructive power held within. All six spun around Celestia, encasing her in a rainbow aura. They lifted her high above the castle and into the night sky, where she hovered face-to-face with Luna.

But it wasn't Luna. Celestia had to remind herself of that. The world saw a tyrant with her sister's face, but she knew she was facing a byproduct of the curse they had brought upon themselves. Luna was the sacrifice, and it was Celestia who would raise the knife.

Tears stung in Celestia's eyes as the Elements hummed to life with the power of Harmony. If this was what it meant to preserve Harmony, then Harmony was a cruel mistress indeed.

Celestia's magic let forth a powerful blast of rainbow magic. The caster winced in pain as Luna's spell collided with hers. For a moment, Celestia wondered what would happen if she cut her spell and allowed Luna to win, if she could be a good sister and protect Luna from harm. But then Luna would only end up hurting herself, wouldn't she? The Luna Celestia knew would be stricken with unbearable heartache if she continued to destroy ponies' lives. Banishment was the right thing to do.

If only the right thing didn't hurt so much.

I'm sorry, Luna. She felt her sister's magic put up a brief struggle against Harmony's, as if trying to fight her own fate, before giving out entirely. Behind those darkened eyes, there could be seen a glimmer of genuine fear, fear that Celestia couldn't bear to witness. So instead she closed her own eyes, not wanting to see the final blow delivered, but that didn't prevent her sister's scream from breaking her heart. That wasn't Nightmare Moon's scream. It was Luna's.

Then it was silent.

One by one, the Elements of Harmony fell out of the air, their power drained. Soon after came Celestia, tumbling from the heavens like a fallen star. She didn't attempt to stop her descent; rather, she tucked her body into a tight little ball to keep her spirit from breaking. A soft white light trailed behind her as she drew closer to the sweet embrace of earth. A weak part (and now, a good portion) of Celestia hoped the impact would be enough to kill her. Which was why, if she had the energy, she would have cried out in frustration when five meters from the ground, her wings automatically snapped open to break her fall. She slowly glided down the rest of the way to land on all four hooves in the middle of the castle gardens where she and Luna had played together an eternity ago.

For a while, Celestia just stood alone in the garden, bogged down with grief and memories. Just the thought of moving felt too daunting to attempt, even if it was to collapse into a sobbing heap. She just stared at her snow-white hooves stained with figurative blood as her mind buzzed with an empty numbness. Grief had gouged out her insides, leaving her hollow. Nothing else remained but the building pressure behind her eyes…

Drip. Drip, drip.

A few drops of blood from a cut stained the ground, but no tears came from her eyes.

Celestia's eyes quivered in their sockets. Why… why can't I cry?

A racing pulse, a pained cry, and streaming tears were all things Celestia lacked as the horrifying realization swept over her. She literally felt Constance emerge from her dormancy and fill her veins with a chilling numbness, leaving her true spirit wordlessly screaming for release.

Constance's slitted pupils took in the silver glow of her fallen sister's moon. Her eyes remained dry.

No! Celestia's spirit screamed as she saw the Mare in the Moon crying tears of starlight. No, let me out! Let me out!

Somewhere in the distance, a clock rang midnight. A new day dawned.

Author's Note

Sorry for the delay in releasing this chapter. I was on vacation all last week, and it took another few days to get back into the swing of this story. Expect upcoming chapters to be released faster!

Happiness is a Flower Watered by Tears

"She's not happy."

Discord looked up at the distant speck of gold in the sky that was the chariot bringing the princess back to Canterlot. One would think that such an important figure would always stay in the center stage of life's opera, but like all things in this world, she gradually became smaller and smaller, until the rest of the big, empty world poofed her out of sight, out of existence all together.

"Who, the princess? And… why are you staring at the sky with Rarity's opera glasses?"

Without even turning around to address the speaker, Discord expertly tossed the glasses over his shoulder and into a rabbit hole precisely on the opposite side of town from Carousel Boutique.

"Note to self," Discord thought, "ask Celestia for opera tickets. Don't phrase it like a date, though. That's important. Also, remember to not say thoughts out loud in front of ponies…" It was then that Discord had the remarkable spur of inspiration to down at Fluttershy.

Ponyfeathers.

"Umm, operas aren't very well known for making ponies happier," Fluttershy said. "But why would the princess be unhappy in the first?"

"Oh, it's nothing," Discord said dismissively. "Pretend you didn't hear anything."

His request only caused Fluttershy's doe-like eyes to widen further. "Discord, we're friends now," she reminded him, her voice soft and gentle. "You can tell me anything that's bothering you."

The draconequus squirmed under the intense power of Fluttershy's adorable expression. "Some other time, maybe, but not now. Please?" A small, dark part of him scowled. Here he was, justifying himself to a filly! Oh, how the mighty fall!

But perhaps some of the most valuable lessons can only be learned on earth.

Fluttershy gave him one last glance before turning around. "Alright. I don't expect you to trust me with everything right away. Why don't we go back to the cottage? The princess said it would take a day or two to prepare a room for you at the castle, so you can stay with me the night. Um, if that's okay with you, of course."

Discord shrugged. No reason to be fussy. He fell into step behind the pegasus, all the while trying to ignore the sideways glances the citizens of Ponyville were currently throwing him.

What, is it a crime to walk in this town? With a snap of his tail, he conjured up a chocolate milk puddle, causing an unsuspecting couple to slip and fall face-first in the dirt. Their limbs flailed about wildly like fish out of water as they tried to regain their bearings with little success.

Discord snickered. Sweet Eris, their faces!

"Stop laughing at me!" A voice from ages past echoed in his mind. "That wasn't funny!"

The mistrustful looks continued.

Crestfallen, Discord glanced at Fluttershy. Her eyes looked back at the struggling couple as she walked. Her mouth was turned down, yet she didn't say anything about it. Instead, she said, "Do you mind if we take a little detour before heading back? I need to help the animals by the beaver dam. The poor things are still terrified about what happened earlier."

Discord nodded. Anything to get away from these ponies.

The spirit of Chaos let his mind go on autopilot as they walked towards the outskirts of Ponyville. After all, there wasn't much to capture his interest anyway. House, garden, road, house, garden, road. Wash, rinse, repeat. All around him, ponies were walking to the bakery, to the market, to the theater, just as they would tomorrow and the next day and the day after that. He could see their hoofprints permanently indented in the road, mementos of their endless journey back and forth along life. Always moving yet never getting anywhere. Caged hamsters running on a spinning wheel. How boring.

"I didn't think a spirit of Chaos would find anything complex about a creature like me. I'm amazed that you don't find me mind-numbingly dull, always doing the same thing every day."

But she's different, Discord thought. She didn't mind some Chaos. Everypony else just goes along with what they're told to do, and they're… happy about it.

He turned to look at Fluttershy. Are you really happy with your life, Fluttershy? Surely you can't be happy with having to resolve the problems of stupid animals?

"Of course I'm not, Discord," Celestia said as she stretched beneath the broad oak tree. "I'd prefer it if there weren't any problems to resolve at all so I could be happy here with you, but life doesn't work that way. But when I help them, it's not really happiness I feel, more like…" She tossed her head back and smiled at the few drops of sunlight dripping through the canopy. "Oh, it's hard to describe. It's a wonderful feeling though. I'll have to bring you to Day Court one day, so you can see for yourself. Sometime after my coronation, yes, I think that would be lovely…"

Discord studied Fluttershy carefully. There was a drag, a reluctance to her hooves, right? No, that was just the muddy road. Her head was hung low, surely, wondering if she could turn back? Yes, but the timid creature always had her head down.

Confound these ponies, Discord fumed. He could dismantle them, observe all their parts in isolation, but nowhere among that paltry sum would he find the force that moved them, that drove them, that compelled them.

"Discord, could you please stop?" Fluttershy asked. "You're making it rain lemonade."

Discord looked up to see that his idle magic had created a little entourage of yellow clouds floating around his head. Instead of making them disappear, however, he had them coalesce into one cloud, which floated into the already overcast sky above the woodland. A little surprise for a certain lazy pegasus once she stopped napping during cloud duty, Discord thought with glee.

He watched as lemonade spilled onto a meadow of copy-and-paste white daises. Like paint, each drop turned the drab petals bright orange or gaudy purple or shimmering rainbow or glittery glitter. No two flowers were the same anymore. Discord smiled.

Would Fluttershy notice if he pushed the cloud back to Ponyville? Nothing harmful, just an extreme makeover! Everypony liked those! Maybe the animals would like one as well…

"Discord?" Fluttershy spoke up. "We're here."

The draconequus hadn't even realized it. He usually expected forests to be alive with chirps and growls. Now, it was as silent as it was when he lived in the Everfree. The déjà vu made him shudder.

"Where are the animals?" Discord asked.

"Oh, they're hiding," Fluttershy answered as she flew up to a hole in the nearest tree. "Mr. and Mrs. Squirrel?" she called. "You can come out now. It's safe, I promise."

"Do they always behave like this?"

"Oh, no, not at all! They've handled Ponyville's disasters quite well, actually. In fact, the last time I can remember this happening was…" She bowed her head, shielding her face under a curtain of pink hair. "Well, when you were last here."

Discord remained silent and watched as she repeated the same procedure in other little hidey-holes, until her persistent coaxing had reaped its rewards in the form of a group of small woodland critters all huddled together and trembling.

And all had their eyes on him.

"Now, I know that what happened with Mr. Beaverton Beaverteeth and his family was upsetting to you all," Fluttershy said, "but I assure you, nothing like that is going to happen again. Discord's our friend now, and he's promised to not hurt anypony or any animal ever again. Isn't that wonderful, my little friends?"

A bird flew off to find the hiding family of crickets.

"Well fine, be that way," Discord said, sticking his tongue out at them. "I don't need you anyway."

"Now Discord, don't be like that," said Fluttershy. "Don't you want to get along? Please, just a nice little apology, and this can all be over."

The spirit of chaos scoffed. "Apology? Apology for what?"

The quivering sea of animals parted to reveal a group of beavers swimming to shore.

"Oh."

"Discord," Fluttershy said, "these are the beavers you controlled. Don't you have anything to say to them?"

Discord thought. He pondered, mused, and cogitated. He placed his claw to his chin and scrutinized the angry little water rodents. He could see the words coming together masterfully, ones that could fix this entire situation, as muses from the sky rained down a deluge of inspiration upon him.

Then he drenched them in lemonade rain.

"Haha, surprise!" he shouted gleefully. "Come now, don't be such sourpusses! Let's let bygones be bygones!"

A mother beaver covered her son's ears as the beavers screeched.

"Well!" Discord exclaimed, aghast, placing his paw to his chest. "Someone's certainly under a dark cloud today!"

"Discord…" Fluttershy warned.

"What? Who doesn't like lemonade, for crying out loud! Those beavers are just being stubborn, I tell you, stubborn!"

"Oh honestly," she muttered, a dark look passing over her sweet face. Then she turned to the beavers. "Please, you must understand that Discord's still working on how to interact nicely with other creatures. But I promise, he doesn't mean any harm! Won't you just accept him and give him a chance?"

This time, all the other animals joined in squabbling their complaints about the draconequus to Fluttershy. It would have been a wonderful sort of chaos, Discord thought, if it weren't too screechy. And honestly, were they really not going to let the golf course incident go? Come to think of it, he wondered if that bunny had ever been able to cough up that tomato…

Finally, Fluttershy had had enough. "Quiet!" she shouted, her little voice magically soaring over the din, which dribbled down to some scattered murmuring as they all turned to the pegasus. "All of you! I can't believe this. Is that any way to treat a new friend? You trust me, don't you? Well, I trust Discord. So can you all please just try to get along with him? He… he can be really funny! You know, sometimes…"

When the angry chattering started up again, Discord conjured up a floating park bench to lounge on, along with a generous helping of popcorn. Their squabble was quite the entertaining show, but it could easily grow stale. How did Fluttershy manage to do this day in and day out?

Yet as he listened further, he noticed a shift in the animals' voices. With what little of squirrel and rabbit language he had bothered to pick up for a thousand years (the extent of his vocabulary being, "Granite tastes terrible!" and "What's wrong with its face?" all in a terribly pitched Canterlot accent), Discord had been able to follow the babble for only so long. However, with a few repeated phrases, he was able to realize that the animals weren't complaining about him anymore. They were complaining about Fluttershy!

The tears in her eyes confirmed his suspicions. A surge of defense for the mare rose up within him like a wave crashing on the shore. The nerve of them! After all she put up with from them, they were just going to turn on her?

Without even thinking, Discord gently prodded Fluttershy with his tail, moving her behind him. "Just forget them, Fluttershy," he said. She squeaked in fright at the ferocity of his voice. "If they're going to be like that, then just leave them. They don't deserve your help."

The pegasus slightly shook her head. "Discord, it's fine. Just let them get their frustration out."

But he wasn't listening to her anymore. Rounding on the animals, he said, "You know, she doesn't have to be this nice to you! In fact, she doesn't need to do anything for you! You'd be alone, and then where would you be, hmm? You lazy things probably couldn't even manage gathering food for yourselves!"

"Please stop…" she whispered.

"You could at least make her burden easier! Because of a stupid picture on her flank, she's stuck with you for the rest of her life!"

"I'm not stuck with them, and they're not a burden," Fluttershy objected. "They're my friends, and I enjoy being with them."

"Why?" he demanded. "What is it about going through the same ordeal every single day could possibly bring you enjoyment? Why can't they leave you alone, so you can live your life in peace?"

By this point, Discord had let his powers run haywire. Tree trunks were turned to blueberry pie, leaves became neon glowsticks, and grass was transformed to quills. All around, the woodland had become a world of chaos.

One by one, some of the younger critters began to scurry away, tripping over rock candy in their haste.

"Wait!" cried Fluttershy as she stretched out her hoof to them. "Don't leave me! Don't leave me!"

Crushed under the weight of their confused gazes, Fluttershy collapsed to the ground and started sobbing, a quiet but heart-jerking sobbing. Not because of the animals, Discord realized. Because of him.

"Fluttershy?" He reached out to touch her shoulder, only to have her jerk away and bury her face in her hooves. "I… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you cry, I truly didn't."

When she didn't respond, he turned to face the animals, their overall mood a cocktail of anger, pity, guilt, and bewilderment. They huddled closer together, as if the discordant wilderness were closing in on them like walls. There was no laughter, no smiling. No happiness.

Drowning in that sea of wide-eyed faces, Discord had never felt so alone.

"Look, Mr. Beaver What's-Your-Face, I'm… I'm… I'm s-sorry, okay?" Discord said, the apology sour in his mouth. "I didn't mean to turn you and your family into a mob of raging sociopaths. Okay, well, I did at the time, but I don't want to do it again."

Fluttershy's ears perked up.

"I know you don't trust me," he continued, "but for now, can we at least try to get along? I don't like seeing that pegasus cry any more than you do."

Mr. Beaverton Beaverteeth glanced first at the draconequus, then at Fluttershy's beseeching eyes, and back again. Motioning for a path to be cleared, he, with the rest of his family following close behind, waddled ever so slowly and cautiously up to Discord. There he deliberated for a moment, unsure of whether to take Discord's paw, but one more watery-eyed stare from Fluttershy won him over. The two shook hands.

"Excellent!" Discord exclaimed. With a snap, the woodland returned to normal, a floating handkerchief wiped Fluttershy's eyes, and a bouquet of rainbow flowers appeared in his paw.

"My sincerest apologies," he said, holding out the flowers to the beavers. Before the parents could accept, the youngest child, entranced by the vibrant hues, reached out and took it.

Then a tulip spat a jet of water in her face.

There was a moment of silence, in which all the critters watched the young beaver in terror, waiting for the moment when she would keel over or scream in fright.

Instead, she laughed.

The grin on her face was infectious as Discord smiled right along with her. "You like that, don't you?" he said, half to amuse her, and half to confirm it himself. A playful spark in his eyes, he turned the water dripping from her face into bubbles, which the tulip slurped up and exhaled into a single large one. The bubble engulfed the beaver entirely, only to burst into an explosion of rainbow-colored water.

By that point, her uncontrollable laughter touched the animals, whose worries were finally soothed. Excited chattering filled the air as some of them scurried by Discord to watch the spectacle. The rest crowded around Fluttershy to voice apologies for their behavior and showers of reassurances, so much so that she could help but giggle.

"Oh, it's alright, I forgive you all," she said, looking down on them all with the fondness of a mother. "We're all friends now, and that what matters. Everything's back in order."

Order, huh? Discord thought to himself. As he watched the laughing beaver, a warm, buttery emotion stirred in his heart. So this is what it's like. It's far less lonely than I imagined.

He glanced over at Fluttershy, and the beautiful smile on her face, glowing all the more radiant from the smiles of the animals around her. So that's what she does this for. The smiles. All those tears seem like an awfully big fuss though, but... perhaps it's worth it, to gain a friend.

Animals as friends? Check. Ponies as friends? Well, one had been willing to change her mind about him, and Discord liked to see the glass of chocolate milk half air-filled. And Celestia? Well… perhaps she could change too.

As he thought those words, a team of weather pegasi began busting the clouds overhead, allowing Celestia's sun to break through. As her healing sunbeams fell to the earth, Discord witnessed the orderly light purging the chaotically colored field of daisies, like paint being washed away in the rain. Soon, all that remained was a sea of pure white.

Except for one. There, in the meadow's heart.

A single, sunset pink daisy.

The little beaver plucked up the flower and offered it to the draconequus with shining eyes and a warm smile. Discord took the present gratefully. Far more gratefully than he should have.

As the spirit of chaos let a blissful contentedness sink into him, a single yet persistent thought nagged at him. Celestia's sunbeam shower made his smile drip off his face, and he absentmindedly began to pluck the petals, all the while murmuring:

"She loves me, she loves me not. She loves me, she loves me not. She loves me, she loves…"

Another?

"You took another lover? From an alternate dimension?" Discord repeated. It sounded too crazy, even by his standards. It was a prank; it had to be! Yet as he let the stack of whipped cream pies fall from his paw and splatter onto Celestia's bedroom floor, he knew there would be no pranking today.

Celestia nodded as she rubbed her puffy red eyes. "I was perfectly within my rights to," she snapped, "after what happened between us."

"And Constance let you keep that up for a thousand years?" The draconequus raised an eyebrow in skepticism.

"Yes, because despite whatever lies you were fed in Eris, Order is not cruel!" the princess screamed, before glancing towards the bedroom door where her guards were stationed. She dropped the volume, but not the anger. "Constance is only obligated to preserve order in this dimension; she was more than willing to allow me my freedom in another."

"So it was you who loved him," Discord said slowly, "not her?"

"Yes," she said, glaring up at him. "And unlike a certain spirit of chaos, that King Sombra accepted me for who I was and didn't try to change me. I found a stable love. One that would last."

Discord felt his hands clench into fists, his nails imprinting crescent moons in his palms. "And I'm sure it was the perfect romance for you," he said, anger seeping into his voice. "Perfectly orderly, perfectly righteous, perfectly kind."

"He was everything I could have dreamed of," Celestia declared coldly.

"And is that the kind of love you want?" Discord asked her. "Somepony who never argues with you, who only tells you what you want to hear? If you do, then you're even more of a fool than I thought, Celestia. If you want that kind of love, go look at a mirror and talk to yourself."

"You know what? I would love to do that, except that mirror's gone!" Celestia rose from her vulnerable position on her bed to her full height, wings extended with the wrath of the sun as she screamed, not caring if all of Equestria heard her. "He's been gone for months, lost himself to darkness and despair, all because of my mistakes and foolishness! And still, he sacrificed everything he had to save me, because by Faust he loved me a thousand times more than you ever could!"

Then she levitated a vase of multicolored flowers from her nightstand and with a pained howl, smashed it on the ground in front of her, sending glass flying.

Discord slowly backed away, shocked numbing every movement, even the pain as he tread upon the glass shards. "Celestia…" he said as the water from the vase gushed forth, drowning the bent flowers and widening into an endless river that separated her from the draconequus.

"But now I know the truth," she whispered. "Love is a curse. No matter what joy you or he brought me, it was never worth this."

Celestia smirked ruefully at his horrified expression. "Not laughing now, are you? I'm done with your games, Discord. I won't let you control me anymore. To think I thought you would treat me as anything other than your puppet. You never cared for me. Tirek proved that. I was a fool to trust you, to love you. My mother was right."

Discord didn't say anything in his defense. There was no taking back those words he said. It was too late. He just closed his eyes in resignation. Even when he felt the literal heat of Celestia burning magenta orbs glaring at him, he didn't open them. He didn't want his last memory of those gorgeous eyes to be filled with loathing. He loathed himself enough. There was no need to hurt himself anymore.

But then her words hurt even more.

"Get out of my life, you monster."

Discord learned an important lesson that day: ponies never really changed.

"Goodbye to you too, Celestia."

Celestia winced as she heard the door softly swung shut, leaving her alone. But as the saying goes, when one door closes, another door opens.

"You have questions, don't you, poor child?" asked a voice behind the princess. "Then lend me your ear, crooked flower. I have answers."

~~~

Present Day

~~~

Discord watched with empty eyes as mundane chamomile tea was poured into a normal china cup. "We were always rough like that, even after a thousand years," he concluded. He sagged in his chair, as if the serene ambiance of the pasture were draining his spirits. He contemplated the tea in front of him for a brief moment, but when no chaotic whimsy inspired him, he decided to just guzzle it down normally. How terribly boring.

Though there should have been nothing but sweetness, Discord grimaced. Everything tasted bitter now.

Fluttershy placed a thoughtful hoof to her chin as she set the teapot down and passed him the sugar. "But what about when the princess wanted you to be reformed?" she asked.

"Oh, Celestia's always been too merciful for her own good," Discord said with a dismissive wave of his paw. "She still hoped there could have been a chance with us again."

Discord remembered how those lonely eyes following him through the castle had gradually become more hopeful, a subtle shift that only those closest to her could see. And he too had experienced a change in himself as he spent more and more time in the castle. A thousand years ago, Discord had believed Celestia's princess duties were nothing but tedious rituals, but watching her in action was another thing entirely.

Her dignified airs did not interfere with her inherent compassion as she tended to Equestria's needs. Princess Celestia, he had realized, was not a different mare from the Celestia he had loved more than any other pony. Nor was she a slave to her subjects' demands as he had feared. Her care for her ponies was genuine, her joy in their joy just as true, and Discord had started to understand why Celestia had been willing to sacrifice herself for a thousand years to ensure their wellbeing.

"There was never any romantic love between us though, not after I broke out of my stone prison and almost disbanded your friends," he said. No, never love, even as his no longer antagonistic role towards her ponies had caused Celestia to open up more. Smiles in the hallways were more genuine, and responses towards his pranks were less annoyed. She had slowly lost the tense, brusque demeanor around him, had lowered her guard enough to let him in at times. He had even been able to make her laugh once, a bittersweet laughter that sent a tear rolling down her cheek.

'Friends' was not an apt word for them. There was too much distance between them for friendship, even though they had crossed that gap and much more long ago. Even though Discord had gained her trust…

Just like that, a pang of guilt struck Discord in the chest. "Maybe there could have been love again," he said, his head bent in shame, "if I hadn't betrayed her first."

Fluttershy's eyes softened, and she placed a reassuring hoof on his shoulder. "It's alright, Discord," she said. "We forgave you, remember? I'm sure the princess would like to as well, if she didn't have to appeal to the ponies in Canterlot."

Discord gave the kind pegasus a feeble smile. "Yes, you're right, Fluttershy. Better to kick one draconequus out of the city rather than have a full-scale riot against her and Lulu, no matter how wonderfully chaotic it would be."

"But it's only temporary, you know. Ponies just need to calm down about Tirek; Princess Celestia said you would be welcome back to the castle in a few months."

Discord gave her a pointed look. Even though what Celestia said was right, they both knew he wouldn't be returning to live with her again. "Fluttershy, there's no need to pity me. If I was really upset, I would have stolen Rarity's drama couch by now."

To prove his point, he transformed his chair into an exact replica of the couch, then lounged upon it casually while wearing a pair of shades. "See? I'm cool with it. I needed to get away from her anyway. The past few days were far too awkward for both of us."

Awkward didn't even cover it. Imagine bursting into somepony's bed chambers, ready to prank them with an arsenal of whipped cream pies, only to find them sobbing on the bed because… well, he didn't even want to think about it. He squeezed his eyes shut, as if to quell the rising memories, even as his gut twisted and his cheeks burned.

Discord opened his eyes as he felt a hoof brush against his shoulder. In the time he had spent reminiscing, Fluttershy had gotten up and was now sitting on the edge of the drama couch. "Discord… I'm so sorry. I'm sorry things had to end for you two like that."

"Mares. What can you do about them?" Discord shrugged off with a weak smile. Then he tenderly placed her hoof in his paw. "That's why I'm thankful for all you've done for me, Fluttershy. It's in times of struggle that I need a pony to rely on, and I'm grateful I can always turn to you. You really are a true friend."

Silence.

"…Wow, that does sound incredibly cheesy."

Fluttershy giggled at his remark. "You'll get used to saying it like the rest of us."

Discord conjured up a towering stack of pancakes. "It's amazing you ponies haven't destroyed the maple syrup business with your sappiness." He tilted his head to the side, examined the pancakes, then turned them alternating colors of Celestia's mane before digging into them with an alarming ferociousness.

Fluttershy's eyes softened in pity as he wolfed them down. "Discord…"

"What?" he asked, briefly looking up at her. "Rarity can eat tubs of ice cream as comfort food, so why can't I have my own coping preferences?"

Discord rolled his eyes as Fluttershy held her gaze. "Really, Fluttershy, I'll be fine. I've lived for a thousand years; I can cope with this. This is probably the best for both of us anyway. We could never have been together, not now." He set his fork down and looked at it with a strange melancholy. "You'd think immortality would mean eternal love, but that's not the way life works. We've changed too much for it to happen."

"You know, you remind me of her in some ways," he remarked. "Well, before all the craziness of other worlds caught up to us, that is."

"It's the mane, isn't it?" she asked, embarrassed, as she brushed a lock of it out of her eyes.

"Maybe that's part of it, but it goes a bit deeper. You have her same kindness, her openness. Both of you were willing to accept me when nopony else would. You cared for me like you do for your animals, just like she does for all of Equestria. That kind of all-encompassing love is hard to find. Maybe it would have worked out better for us if she had even an ounce of your bravery."

"What? No, but I'm not brave at all, especially not braver than the Princess! She's fought in battles over the fate of Equestria, while I'm still afraid of my own shadow."

The draconequus paused for a moment, tapping a talon thoughtfully against his chin. "Fluttershy, do you remember the day we first met?"

"Um, I don't know if that's the best way you want to start off with whatever you're going to say…"

Discord was suddenly all too aware of a certain warmness in his cheeks, coincidentally tinged the precise color of Fluttershy's mane. "What? No! Uh, Celestia, remember? Anyway, I'm talking about in the hedge maze, when I used my hypnosis on you and your friends. Fluttershy, you were the only one who wasn't swayed by my tricks and taunting, because I couldn't get to your weaknesses. Not to say that there weren't any, but that you knew about all of your flaws and accepted them as a part of who you are. Not many ponies can do that."

"Celestia certainly can't," he added with a snort. "She's too focused on being perfect, and for her, Order is perfection. She feels secure with it, knowing she'll never make a mistake or let anypony down. She's too scared to let go of the spirit of Order because she doesn't know who she'd be without it. That's the worst kind of control it can have, because it means she'll never fight back. She'll be a slave for the rest of her life, all because she's too scared to give herself control over her own destiny. She's afraid of her very self.

"Not to say she's a bad pony, though. It's just what she's been taught her whole life. She doesn't know any other way to live."

"Oh my," Fluttershy said, her eyes wide. "That's very sad."

"It is," Discord agreed as he ate a purple pancake, "but there's nothing I can do about it. If she doesn't want to fight it, if she wants to stay a puppet of Order, then nothing I can say will change it. The only pony who can set herself free is herself."

Fluttershy's eyes slightly narrowed. "It sounds like you're giving up on her."

"Hmm? What makes you think that?"

"Well, you told her goodbye," she said, "then you walked out on her. She knows you never want to see her again."

"Neither does she!" Discord said, growing defensive. "What else was I supposed to do? It's not my fault if she wants to be stubborn."

"But you could still be there for her," Fluttershy reasoned. "She needs you, even if she won't admit it, just like you need her."

"Sorry, but that's not happening. Even though her contract's over, she's not the Celestia I loved, and probably never will be. So why should I need her? I've had enough trouble dealing with her problems. No, I'm going to live a simple life as a spirit of chaos, mark my words. Everything I'll ever want is right here with me."

"Oh Discord…" Fluttershy sighed.

"Nope!" he said, brandishing a fork. "Not doing it! For once in my life I've made up my mind. All I need is you, a little chaotic freedom, and these pancakes. Ooh, there's even some parchment at the bottom. Yum!"

Fluttershy cocked her head to the side. "Why is there parchment?"

"Hmm?" Discord asked mid-chew. He looked down at his plate and found three half-eaten scrolls, all bearing the insignia of a six-pointed lavender star.

The royal seal of Princess Twilight Sparkle.

"That's funny," Discord said. "When did those get here?" They were mostly illegible now, but as Discord unrolled them, he was able to read through the bite marks and syrup splotches and make out a few key phrases from the very perturbed alicorn.

…Discord, Princess Celestia… out in three days. She's coming towards the Everfree. Can you and Flutter…

…going on, Discord? She said you would know. Can you please come to Canterlot and…

…me use the summoning spell if you… I'll have to teleport to…

And finally, the one that had appeared a few seconds ago:

I swear to the sun and the moon, if I find you singing in the shower again…

Discord didn't have time to finish reading the sentence when a burst of white light appeared above the table. It crackled and fizzled, giving off random sparks of energy, until it condensed into the form of one irritated Twilight Sparkle.

"Discord, I—!" At a great loss to ponykind, Discord was sure, those two words of her rant were all she managed to berate him with before she toppled over and crashed onto Fluttershy's tea set, sending china flying in every direction.

"Oh my goodness," Fluttershy said as she held out a hoof to steady Twilight. "Are you alright?"

The princess sighed. "No, Fluttershy, I'm not," she said before snapping at Discord. "Though I'd be a little bit better if a certain somepony were courteous enough to reply to my scrolls."

"Oh hello, Twilight Sparkle!" he waved cheerfully. "Didn't know you'd be the type who would crash parties! Care for some tea?"

Twilight's right eye twitched. "Discord," she began as she clambered down from the table in a most un-princessly fashion, "I'm not in the mood for games today."

The draconequus pouted. "I was trying to be friendly. Honestly, no need to sound like Celestia."

"Sorry," Twilight said, actually genuine. "It's just that I'm at the end of my rope here; there's not much more I can take."

"Oh, poor thing," Fluttershy sympathized. She held out a chair for Twilight, then proceeded to smooth out her frazzled mane like a doting mother. "What happened to you? Why didn't you come back from Canterlot?"

Twilight buried her face in her hooves. Fluttershy brushed her bangs from her eyes, revealing the dark bags under them, weighed down with tiredness. Yet her body trembled with a shaky energy, causing minor tremors that would make it impossible to rest. To keep from sobbing, she took uneven, ragged breaths that reeked of coffee. Twilight wasn't at the end of her rope; she was at the last atom of the last strand that was just about to come unwound from the last rope as it dangled from the highest spire of Canterlot Castle.

"There's no way I could have left Canterlot!" Twilight cried, her voice high-pitched in distress. "Not with what's been happening in the castle!"

"Shh, there, there," cooed Fluttershy, draping a wing around her. "Breathe, okay? Deep breaths, sweetie. Just tell us what's happened."

After a minute or so, Twilight sighed, her breathing now somewhat calmer. "Princess Celestia hasn't left her room in three days," she said. "She cancelled Day Court, and she wouldn't let anypony inside her chambers. She wouldn't even take food or water from the servants. At first everypony thought it was because something had happened with you, Discord, but that's definitely not it. She started muttering things in this weird language, one that doesn't exist according to my knowledge."

Discord's ears perked up. "Melodic, right? The language. It has this light, airy sound to it, right?"

"Yeah." Twilight cast him a confused look. "But occasionally there's a strange, guttural word that slips in."

His eyes popped out wide against his blanched face. "Th-This is all while she's in Canterlot, right?"

"Yes, it was, but she's not there now." Twilight chewed on her lip, and emotion plucked her vocal chords and made them tremble. "She left the city early this morning, just after raising the sun. She didn't take any of her guards with her; she warned them that anypony who tried to follow her would be charged with high treason against the crown. And when I tried to stop her, she…" Twilight took another deep breath. "She gave me this really sad look said she was going to the Everfree Forest to 'make things right again.' She said that Discord was right all along. Then she told me she would tr-trust me with looking after Luna because she l-loves her 'too d-deeply to let destiny h-hurt her even more.'"

The young princess let out a rattling sigh. "I'm scared for her, I really am, but I can't do anything about it. With Princess Celestia gone, I've had to keep Canterlot running. Ponies are panicking, rumors are flying, and I can't do anything about it, not when I don't know the truth myself. And Princess Luna isn't helping either; she's more freaked out than I am. She's cut short her meetings with the Saddle Arabian rulers to head back to Canterlot, but she won't be back for another few days—"

Discord, who had been listening with silent but growing horror, now leapt from his drama couch and incinerated his shades with his flaming eyes. "Wait, so Luna's not with her?!"

Something about Discord's livid red stare made Twilight scoot her chair back a good six inches. "No, she's not," she answered slowly, cautiously, gauging the rising anger and alarm in his crazed eyes. "Discord, do you know what's going—?"

"So, let me get this straight. Celestia is babbling in High Accordis and in Bedlam, has gone into the Everfree Forest, and Luna's not with her?"

Fluttershy placed a hoof on his arm. "Discord, just calm down—"

Discord shrugged her off and began pacing around the drama couch. In his distress, his chaos magic started acting up, making candy canes and bow ties spring up wherever he walked. "No, she can't be," he told himself. "There are rules to that deal, she knows that. She'd never be so stupid to think… unless…"

He turned his attention back to the two confused ponies. "Fluttershy, try to make Twilight less of a nervous wreck while I'm gone. Equestria can't have her like this, and if Celestia really is stupid enough to go through with this plan of hers, we'll most likely need Twilight more than ever."

"Stop it, Discord!" Twilight yelled as the light of Discord's teleportation started to glow around him. "What's happening to the princess?"

Discord looked down at her and said very, very seriously, "Your princess is about to get herself killed."

Starry Eyes

There is a certain beauty to the world, they say. It is an eternal, unchanging kind of beauty, one that time cannot touch nor can pain blemish. Even in life's darkest hours, when hope is lost and cruelty reigns, that beauty can always be found. It may be of a twisted sort, but there it always lies, waiting to be appreciated. Yet for a loveliness so profound, its heart is surprisingly basic: symmetry.

No matter what the time or culture, symmetry is always desired in all parts of life. It exists in mathematical and scientific formulas, in buildings and bridges, in leaves and flowers. Even faces are judged by any imperfections not mirrored on the other half. If one half is deemed lovely, then the universe demands more of the same to have the whole be truly beautiful.

It was the biggest piece of rubbish Discord had ever heard.

With one final sprint, the draconequus hurtled through the thorny brambles surrounding the cave where the Tree of Harmony resided. Instead of using the cave's entrance, he opted to pass through the back wall, so that the tree's engraving of a swirling chaotic storm would be the first sight that greeted him. A welcome diversion from the second one, in which there unfolded one of the ugliest scenes to meet Discord's eyes.

"There is symmetry in this union, is there not?" Kallisti asked as she slowly treaded in a circle in front of the tree. Vibrant blue flowers popped up wherever she walked, only to crumple into thorny black vines that draped around her like a feather boa. "You and I, here together in the open, rather than pulling the strings and trying to trip up each other from afar?"

Sybilla snorted and reared her head, sending her copper orange hair falling around her neck in waves as it trailed to the ground, where red lotus flowers bloomed in her hoofprints. Not once did she blink her narrowed red eyes that watched Kallisti's every move while she walked at the exact same pace at the opposite end of the invisible circle. "That would imply that I share anything in common with such a lowlife monstrosity as you."

"A lowlife monstrosity? That's certainly a creative one. Perhaps I should give you a gold star, just like I give to the draconequui toddlers when they reach your level of imagination," Kallisti deadpanned.

"Sarcasm—"

"'—will forever be a rampant visage upon the face of civilized culture, though sadly I find time and time again that I cannot count your kind among that group,'" Kallisti finished with a roll of her eyes. "Your preaching is predictable as always, Sybilla. Perhaps I wouldn't be thought of a savage if you treated me with common courtesy, hmm?"

"Treating you with courtesy would be like dressing up a viper in a white lace dress," she said. "It doesn't lessen the venom."

Much to Sybilla's surprise, Kallisti smiled, a warm and genuine smile. "You were imaginative just now. It comforts me to know that your kind was not born the way you are, that you still have the chance to know true freedom."

"That analogy was taken from a book I catalogued in the Discordant Archives of the Vitreous Erudition," Sybilla said coldly.

Kallisti scowled. "Along with most other books," she remarked, brushing aside a stray lock of her black hair with her wolf paw. "For a civilization so fixated on finding knowledge and truth, you certainly don't have any trouble ignoring truths you do not wish to believe."

"Enough," Sybilla ordered with a stamp of her front hoof, sending flowers fluttering in the breeze. "You have no right to question our methods. Your kind lost that right a long time ago. This is an orderly affair that does not concern you. Begone from this place."

"Oh, but it does," Kallisti said with a smirk. "This has everything to do with me. This is the moment I have dreamed of, the moment I have hoped for, the moment I will praise in Eris for eons to come: the moment Order collapses into Chaos."

Then Kallisti turned to Celestia.

Celestia stood frozen in place between the two opposing spirits, though their conflict was nowhere near as fierce as the war being waged within her. Around her swirled shards of black and white, like wisps of smoke but sharp as glass as they cut into her skin. They spun around her in a howling cyclone that sent her aurora mane whipping violently around her face, though she did not flinch. Her slitted pupils stared forward, blank and unfeeling, her jaw dropped in a silent cry.

The draconequus spirit stuck her hand through the battling shards, which simply passed her transparent wrist, and caressed Celestia's face. "Silly girl," she mocked, her lips curled. "Believing she could take on both Hamartia and Constance, even when their purpose is to destroy the other. How wonderful it is, to watch both sides meet their death."

Sybilla's eyes swept over Celestia, and they narrowed. "Constance is tethered to her. How?"

"As always, you doubt the strength of a pony's will," said Kallisti. "Raw emotion is powerful, a power I wish you would rediscover."

"But that can be saved for another time, if you choose to visit Eris once more," she continued, walking around Celestia once again. "For now, I have a question, one that has nagged at the back of my mind for quite some time: what do you see when you look at her?"

With a sigh, Sybilla decided to humor her. "I see Elysium's mortal vessel being torn apart at the wishes of Choas," she said darkly.

Kallisti snickered.

"What is it?" Sybilla demanded. "I'm telling you the truth. Who are you to laugh? What has she ever been to you but the means to an end?"

"Of course. That is all you ever intended for her. But it doesn't explain the reason for a filly to be so devoted to her sister to risk herself like this. There's something more to her, something we can't see or understand."

She raised her voice. "But you can see it, can't you, my crooked flower?"

Discord's breathing stopped.

"Why don't you come out so we can see how you've grown?" Kallisti asked.

Unthinkingly obedient, his legs moved with the same mechanics of a tin soldier, until he planted himself firmly in the center of the cave for all the world to see.

"Well?" Kallisti's voice was a spoiled sweetness. "What do you see, child?"

Discord felt two pairs of eyes examining him, one cold and calculating, the other bright and insanely gleeful, yet he was blind to them. He only saw Celestia.

Why? he wanted to ask. Why did you do it?

The reply came as faint as a voice shouting from across the sea. Because it's all I'm meant to do.

Then Discord ran straight into the heart of the storm.

In that moment, Discord knew he could have returned to the quaint cottage in Ponyville. He could have escaped this cosmic tug-of-war. He could have lived a simple life with Fluttershy, just as he had tried to do with Celestia all those centuries ago. But the Celestia before him was none of those things. She was extraordinary, down-to-earth, and fascinatingly complex.

Even as he felt the shooting pain of glass tearing skin, even as his hands grabbed blindly to find her, even as his vision fell into a dark haze, never in his life had he seen one truth shining so clear:

She is always worth this.

Then Discord looked down at her snow white coat and saw only darkness.

"Hey."

A faint voice whispered in the darkness.

He took a step onto a platform of air. There were no walls, no floor, nothing substantial that the draconequus could feel. Grief empties, after all.

Another step. He might have called it floating, if his heart were not so heavy.

At once, a dim spotlight turned on, revealing Celestia an inch and a mile away. Her small body did not move as it lay defeated, tangled pink strands of mane covering her face. There was no crown, no necklace, no shoes. Sorrow was her only garment.

"Hey," he whispered back. The void swallowed the echo.

She lifted her head to look straight at him. Her magenta eyes were puffy but dry. She shifted her body ever so slightly that he could now catch a glimpse of her front hooves. In them was cradled a tiny, white, glass bird.

Celestia took a shaky breath. "I really messed up, didn't I," she said with a sad little smile as she looked down at the motionless bird.

"Yeah. Yeah, you did."

He took a few more steps, then knelt at her side, just outside of the circle of light. "It was all a lie," he heard her whisper. "Everything. Kallisti told me the truth. And yet I still came back, because it's all I know how to do. I must be really pathetic."

"A little, yeah."

The silence threatened to swallow them whole.

"You know you're dying, right?" Discord asked.

She nodded once and looked down at the bird. "I know." The words just barely managed to squeak out. "Just like every machine does when left out in the rain. And I've cried enough to make it easy to fall apart. I've cried for Luna. Luna, dear Luna. If they have to get rid of one, it won't be her."

The tears flowing down her face skirted around her sad smile as she looked up at Discord. "We're both defective now," she told him. "But it's okay, right? There's no point in me being around if I can't uphold Order. I should just let myself be replaced."

With a pained look, Discord brushed away some loose strands of mane from her face to reveal her eyes, whole and clear and pure. "You know, I thought the same thing. When I joined Tirek, I thought I could replace you and Fluttershy and everypony else with a new friend. But you're irreplaceable, Celestia. I see that now. I could wander the entire earth and never find somepony exactly like you. Not because of how you were born or what you were supposed to do. Because of who you are right now."

Celestia bit her lip and stared into the bird's pale, blank eyes.

Discord looked down at the glass bird too. "You could let go of it, you know. It won't break."

"It's not the bird I'm worried about breaking."

"Then let me keep you together." Celestia shuddered as his arms wrapped around her. Both of his hands were clasped over her heart.

Her hooves trembled, rattling the bird. "I… I can't," Celestia said, looking out to the empty darkness filling her subconscious. "If I do, I'll have nothing left."

"You'll have me," Discord reminded her. "You'll always have me. I know I've hurt you, but I'd give my heart and soul to show I love you. I want to be your hope, your joy, your strength."

His hands moved to steady her shaking hooves. "Celestia, you've been strong for so many years. Be strong now. Don't be afraid to be weak."

"No, you don't understand!" the princess cried out. "She's not just some alternate persona I wear. She's a part of me now. I need her, alright? I need her."

"You don't, love," Discord said. "Not anymore. Look around you. Look at how she takes from you but never gives. She is nothing more than a parasite. But you are stronger than her. You always have been."

"But isn't it irresponsible of me?" Celestia asked. "I could put so many ponies in danger if I don't contract."

"Your ponies aren't children anymore, Celestia," said Discord. "They can handle themselves. For every enemy they have triumphed over, the love and Harmony in the world has been strengthened, hasn't it?"

"But they can't defend themselves—!"

"Yes, they can, if you trust them to. Maybe it's a leap of faith, and maybe you'll fall sometimes, but at least you'll be moving somewhere. You can't just keep them sheltered away for a thousand years; the world needs to change."

"But—"

"Would you please just listen to me?" he begged her. "After all the time we spent apart, there's so much I should have told you. I'm scared, so scared that this is my last chance to get through to you. So please, let me explain."

When she fell silent, he continued. "Celestia, if you want to save everypony, you need to start with yourself. After all you've sacrificed, you need to go out and live, to remind yourself what about the world is worth sacrificing so much."

The air of a warm summer from long ago surrounded them as Discord pulled Celestia closer. "I can't make you let go," he admitted. "And maybe you don't want to. But it's a beautiful world out there, Celestia, and if you wanted, I would be honored to share it with you."

"But what would I do?" she asked. "Where would I go? Who would guide me? Who would keep me from making mistakes?"

"Well, it definitely won't be me," he said with a small chuckle. "I've made more mistakes than anypony could ever hope to. But there are good mistakes too, aren't there?"

Celestia thought of Luna and smiled. She nodded her head.

"There's no one path through life, you know. You can make a detour, turn around entirely, or just sit on the curb and watch the sky for a day. Wherever you go from here is entirely up to you. I'll follow you for as long as you want. If life is a maze, then I can think of no one else I'd rather stumble through it with than you."

Celestia gasped as she felt a warm wetness begin to dampen her mane. "I was wrong," he said, his voice shaking, "for so many years. I tried to love you without understanding you. I should never have tried to change you to be like me. You're wonderful just the way you are, not in spite of our differences, but because of them. I used to see the world in only one way, as something I needed to control out of fear, but you helped me to see differently. My world shifted. And I want you to keep doing that, over and over again, until I am certain of nothing except for the fact that I will always love you."

"D-Don't rely on me like that," she said. "I can't be the center of your world. I just can't."

Discord shrugged his shoulders. "Too late. A pity for me, if my center is such a scaredy-cat. Come on, dear, you can do it."

Celestia buried her head in her hooves as she said, "Oh, I don't know anymore... this decision, it's..."

"Hopefully your first of many," Discord answered.

"I'm lost, Discord. Just tell me what the right thing is to do and I'll do it."

He shook his head. "I can't do that for you. You aren't just some machine taking orders. I can't love a machine. And when I look at you, I see all the love that others have put into you, bits and pieces and shards of hearts until it takes on a life of its own. And when I look even deeper, I sometimes see a spark in the very center, a light that is entirely yours. Maybe you don't remember it, but I want to see it again, Celestia, with all my heart and soul. But I'll work with you, little by little, and we'll see where we'll go. But for now, just relax. Breathe."

He pulled her closer, so that she could feel his beating heart pressed to her back, behind her own heart. "One, two. One, two. In, out. In, out," he murmured in her ear. "A pattern. A rhythm. An order." His lips fumbled with the word, but Celestia didn't notice. His even voice flowed over her like water.

As if doubt was a puff of smoke that only needed to be exhaled from her lungs, her thoughts because clear. Interrupting Discord's steady order, she craned her neck around so that her eyes were fixated on him. "Discord…" she began. "There are a lot of things I don't know. Things I've forgotten, things I've misunderstood, things I've never appreciated. But… I'd like to find them again. Perhaps they'll fill the hole from the things I'll let go."

"Is that what you really want?"

She nodded.

"Good. Then nothing can go wrong."

Her eyes widened. "You really trust me like that? I'm afraid to trust myself."

"Then trust the ones who love you. Trust loony Lulu, and I pray that someday you'll even be able to trust me if you're crazy enough to. We're your friends after all. You don't have to save the world alone." He paused for a minute to consider that. "Actually, I don't think you have a choice. I'd start helping Twilight Sparkle make checklists before I'd ever stop pestering you."

Celestia didn't smile. "Why me?" she asked him. "Out of all the ponies in the world, why would you choose me? Back home, I'm just… well, nobody, really."

Discord shook his head and smiled. "Oh, Celestia. You are so much more."

Then she lifted her front hooves over her head and let the little bird go.

From the first flap of its tiny wings, the glass began to crack, forming pale spiderwebs of silver across its body. The white spotlight focused on Celestia sent gentle luminescence shining through its jagged edges like blood. Still, it continued to fly higher, spiraling and spiraling until it ascended to eclipse the very source of the white light, miles above Celestia's head. The two immortals left below were filled with awe as light refracted off the glass and burst into rainbows that trailed from its wingtips.

It would have been a dazzling display of glory if the bird had managed to hover steadily in the air. Instead, it continuously lost the rhythm in its wings and plummeted a few meters down. Then it slowly flew higher again, more glass cracking all the while. Its pain was apparent, but when it snagged onto Celestia's gaze, she was met with its constant expressionlessness. Unable to muster up the will to live, even as it died.

Celestia's eyes shone like stars. I love you, I hate you. I trust you, I defy you. I need you, I pity you. Goodbye, and forever remain a constant in my memory.

The glass bird nodded once. Even many years after, Celestia would swear she saw the faintest smile grace its eyes.

Then flaring its wings to full height, it was torn asunder into shards of glass.

A once darkened sky was now alight with thousands of pieces of glass, shimmering like stars as they slowly fell all around Celestia and Discord. Arcs of pastel rainbows caught hold of the fragments and fluttered behind them like streamers of a shooting star. With the gentleness of falling snow they descended, twirling and spinning to meet the ground with the embrace of a lover. And wherever one landed, a tiny pink daisy, tall and straight, would blossom and fill the dark void, until the two lovers were surrounded by a meadow of flowers swaying in the summer breeze.

It was a beautiful sight, but Celestia hardly gave it any notice. Her eyes were only for the bird.

Freed from its glass prison, the bird she and Discord had created as children now soared above their heads. Graceful glides, daring dives, and astonishing ascents all came together as it danced through a void that was not quite so empty anymore.

Celestia felt her heart soar in her chest. How wondrous it was, that such a tiny bird could hold so much bravery. It flew so wildly, without any fear of falling.

Maybe I could do that too, Celestia thought. Not now, but maybe someday.

As if it heard her thoughts, the bird switched directions to descend back to her. It hovered in front of her face with a gentle expression, one that spoke of a quiet wisdom, and its golden eyes twinkled with the sparkle of youth.

Celestia averted her eyes. She could feel the bird's gaze probing her, its captor for more than a thousand years.

Much was her surprise then, when she glanced up and saw the bird staring straight back at her and smiling.

Discord chuckled. "Smart bird," he remarked. "Well of course it is, since I had a hand in its creation."

"What does it see in me worth smiling about?" Celestia whispered.

"A soul. One long asleep, now recalled to life."

She reached out a trembling hand to the bird. "Its eyes… are so bright…"

"So are yours, my dear. I hope you'll get to see that someday."

Someday soon.

Its smile never stopped as it returned home to Celestia's hooves.

She blinked, and in an instant she was out of her subconscious and thrust back to reality. At once, her eyes were blinded by the light emanating from the Tree of Harmony, and her ears were assaulted by a terrible howling. She cried out, flattened her ears, and closed her eyes, trying to block out the pain.

Only when she felt Discord's hands cup her face and tilt it upward did she open her eyes to see the two spirits of Order tearing the other apart. Now that Constance was no longer bound to Celestia, they had risen to hover above the Tree. The resulting cyclone of clashing energy sent magic shockwaves that shook the cave. Just above the screeching din, Celestia could hear the cries of Sybilla and Kallisti as the magic pushed them back.

"Wh-what is this?" came Sybilla's fearful cry.

Kallisti sounded just as mystified. "This… I never… never could I have predicted this." She kicked the ground. "I never wanted this! I never wanted this for my children!"

Discord frowned. You pretty but empty flower. You never had any.

"The girl lives!" Sybilla called, relieved. "But it's impossible! I don't understand!"

And you never will, Celestia thought sadly. If you want answers, go find them yourself.

The magic pushed the two spirits back through the Tree of Harmony, but Discord and Celestia stayed together, entwined in the heart of the storm.

"Don't let go," Celestia murmured, heard even above the wind screaming in her face. "Don't you dare let go."

So together they watched as shards of black and white glass scattered around them like fallen bodies, more and more by the second. And still the fight raged on, undeterred by the bloodshed.

Celestia felt tears sting in her eyes, with only a dim awareness as to why. They're perfectly matched, she thought, so why fight each other? Why not come to peace?

A peace did come, but only when the final two shards fell to earth and the last howling scream tumbled down a long dark path into silence.

"It's over now, Celestia," Discord said. "It's all over."

When she did not reply, he repeated, "Celestia?"

All at once, Celestia was acutely aware of the dozens of cuts along her back where the glass had cut into her skin. Blood rushed furiously in her veins, their frenzy only matched by the adrenaline that was slowly wearing off. She could dimly hear Discord's panicked voice beside her, but she drifted away from it, like a spirit floating out to sea. She tried to focus on his face, her shoreline, but the world moved from under her into a messy blur. There was a feeling of falling, but a gentle one, for the waves were familiar and the wind knew her name. It was the same wave that had borne her away from the island of her birth all those centuries ago. She let her eyes slide close, because there was nothing to fear. The same trustworthy wave would drift her home.

Just as she was about to dive into the sea, she heard on the very edges of her consciousness a sound. It was a quiet sound, but it caused her heart to leap with the force of thunder. It was a sound born out of nothing, a sound that was never intended to exist. But beyond any shadow of a doubt and above all the odds, it was there.

The beautiful, unmistakable melody of a songbird.

"Boop."

A muffled groan issued from beneath the covers.

"Boop."

A figure under the covers shifted.

"Boop."

A pause.

"Hmm… one more."

A pair of magenta eyes snapped open.

"Good, you're finally awake," Discord said after booping the princess one last time on the nose. "Maybe you'll be able to convince these ponies that for once, this disaster wasn't my fault. You should have seen the looks on their faces when I teleported you here; they thought I tried to kill you. Sadly, no, you were doing a fine job of doing that yourself."

Celestia didn't answer; she only stared up at the ceiling.

"Oh cripes, she's in shock. Look around, you're okay, see? You're in your room in the castle. The doctors say you're alright, even though I think they're using a broad definition. But still, you're safe." After a moment's pause, he said, "Great, now they'll blame me for giving you brain damage or something. It wasn't my fault that I dropped you while going up the stairs! Well maybe it was, with me sparking that cake addiction of yours, but that was – literally – ages ago!"

Not even that could draw her attention. She kept staring up at nothing, all the while wearing the most blissful – and in Discord's opinion, the goofiest – expression imaginable. "I did it," he heard her breathe in wonder. "I surpassed the reason for my creation. I became more than the sum of my parts."

Discord couldn't help but smile a warm, affectionate smile down on her. "Heh. Yeah, you did. You also could have gotten yourself killed if it wasn't for the daring heroics of yours truly, so as amazing as that was, let's try not to do it again, 'kay?"

"Alright." Her serene expression dripped off her face like wax. "I said some terrible things to you before. I'm sorry. You're not a monster, Discord. If anything, I should know now that you are more than what ponies define you as."

"Thank you, and I'm sorry too. I know you must have loved Sombra very much."

Her bottom lip quivered. "I thought Sybilla was being merciful," she said with a bitterness to her voice. "It was another world; I wasn't required to maintain Order there. I was allowed to show emotion, to love. But now I see what she wanted. She wanted me to bring the two worlds together using the rift, so there would be no difference. That alternate world veered off of what she understood, and she couldn't accept that. She wanted me to combine two worlds into a singular entity that could be controlled, and I let her trick me into almost doing it, like an idiot."

Discord pressed his paw to Celestia's hoof. "They've made fools of both of us. There's no shame in being tricked by a creature infinitely more powerful and knowledgeable than you."

"But do you know what the worst part about them was?" Celestia asked, turning over so Discord could stare into her blazing eyes. "What they wanted to do with Luna. The reason why they sent two through the Gates, the reason why they had us contract… well, it wasn't for a reason at all. It was a mistake. They accidently had us both go through. But do you know how they chose to handle it?" Her voice grew even more agitated. "They didn't tell us or try to explain. Instead, they played a chess game with us. Their plan was to have Luna go mad and die on the moon, just so it could seem like sending two advocates was intentional. They wanted to save face. All the pain and heartache Luna and I endured wasn't to serve any greater purpose. It was because of their Faust damned pride!"

At the last sentence, Celestia stood up on the bed and drew herself to her full height, wings flared, as if to amplify her outraged cry. Alarmed, Discord rose from his place kneeling beside her to embrace the distraught alicorn. "Shh, Celestia," he murmured, running a claw through her mane. "I know it hurts, but there's nothing we can do to change the past or change the way they think. All we can do is try to distance ourselves from them as much as we can."

"I… I…" Celestia nodded and took a deep, steading breath. "You're right," she said. "Besides, it didn't work. Kallisti knows, and soon all of Eris will too. They'll become a laughing stock, which is probably just what they've needed for all those eons."

She plopped down onto the bed again. "I just… I can't believe I used to blindly go along with them. That I was one of them. Being a part of Order was what defined me for the longest time."

"But that's the beautiful thing about all this. You'll get to define yourself."

"I… I still wish to be the princess of Equestria," Celestia said. "And I still want to be orderly. Order isn't evil, after all. Some ponies just use it in the wrong way. But I don't think I'll be able to call myself a vessel of Order anymore, even though I'll always be more on that side of the balance. You understand, don't you?"

"I do."

Celestia pressed a pillow to her chest. "What about us?" she asked with a sigh. "What are we now? 'Lovers' feels strange. I spent a thousand years hating you. And yet I think you've become so much more than my coltfriend."

"We'll figure that whole mess out," he said, "but know that I'll always be your friend, Celestia."

Celestia smiled. "Oh, it's all so strange, yet so wonderful. Haven't we been told all our lives to fight each other, to bring balance to the world? But that's not how Harmony works at all. Constance and Hamartia were perfectly balanced, but there was no Harmony. No, to have Harmony, we need to find beauty others and ourselves, don't we? To understand the evil, search for the good, embrace the chaos, and remember the order. And then, maybe, where none was before, we find love and friendship too."

Kneeling at her side, Discord cupped her face in his hands. "I found love and friendship the day I first laid eyes on you," he told her, "and now that I've realize it, I never want to let go, to be alone in a place where you're not there."

"Alone," Celestia whispered. "When I was trapped in my own mind, there was a loneliness so wide and deep that I was drowning. Oh Faust, I never want to feel that kind of loneliness again. Chaos would have you restlessly wander the earth. Order would have me bend all sentience to my singular will. Either way, we would be alone. Harmony is what brings us together."

Discord was suddenly aware of the quiet hush lining the bedroom, a reminder that the pair was entirely alone, but a very good kind of loneliness.

"I heard Harmony sing to me," said Celestia. With the curtains drawn and the sun fast fading, the darkened room knew only the peaceful glow of her starry eyes. "Not one note united in itself, nor many separate notes, but many different voices united in one soul. It is what gives me hope for you and me. We are not water and oil, destined to never meet. We are two voices, two parts of a whole sum, different but inseparable. Together, Order and Chaos dance, they sing, they embrace, they walk, they touch."

Celestia's starry eyes met his. "And this," she whispered, "is where they kiss."

What Are You So Afraid of?

It was a surreal experience, walking with Luna down the crumbling hallways of their old home. The newly risen sun sent healing light streaming through the cracked walls, filling them with gold. Likewise, Luna's presence seemed to fill in all the cracks a thousand years of separation had carved in her heart. There was a sense of wholeness, of lightness in the soul. Though it was undeniable that much had changed, there were a few token things that had stayed the same.

Celestia couldn't help but smile as she noticed Luna's steps falling perfectly in time with hers. Such relics from a time when their sisterhood meant unity in body and soul were welcome.

The silence between them, however, was not.

"Did I really do this?" Luna finally asked, watching the harsh sunlight slash open the jagged scars of their home.

"Some of it, yes," Celestia answered, her voice hushed in remembrance of that terrible night. "Most of the damage, however, is just natural erosion. After all, nopony's lived here in a thousand years."

"A thousand years," Luna breathed. She gently pressed her hoof to one of the cracks, as if to absorb all the centuries it had weathered in her absence. "I can hardly believe it. It feels like it passed in a dream."

"More like a nightmare," Celestia said with a bitter scowl.

"So we will not renew the contract?" Hope carried the last note of her question into the birdsong of a flock soaring overhead.

The elder sister looked down at the worn tiles and thought she saw Sybilla's glowing red eyes staring back in the cracks. "If it were not for the Elements, you would have been lost to madness and spite forever. I will not risk you like that again."

"That still does not answer my question."

They had reached the castle's antechamber, where the Elements' pedestal proudly stood in the center. Now, only a pair of rusting doors stood between them and the outside world. Celestia turned around to face the new Element bearers, who had been following the princesses at a respectful distance. "Twilight Sparkle," Celestia asked once the six ponies had caught up, "would you and your friends mind waiting here for a moment? My sister and I would like a word in private."

Twilight nodded vigorously enough to nearly knock her tiara off. Celestia only gave a brief smile before leading her sister to the grand doors of the castle. There, she paused, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath before charging her horn with golden sunlight. The doors swung open on rusting hinges that screeched and whined in protest, like a pair of eyelids sealed with dried tears now trying to be pried open after staying long asleep, but nevertheless awakened to see the world beyond.

"Everfree," Luna whispered.

The door swung shut softly. "It's not very free anymore," Celestia said, her eyes following a black thorny vine ensnaring a bush. "It hasn't been in a very long time."

"Nor has our freedom, yet I still cherish every second of it."

Celestia looked down at the diminutive, magicless alicorn nestled among her downy white feathers. "For my sake, do not pretend this is freedom, Luna. You know what would come next."

She raised her eyebrows quizzically. "I understand we must have the spirits cleansed from us at the Tree of Harmony, but after that, I do not foresee any further contact with our progenerators."

"Exactly," Celestia said. "Luna, we will be alone. From now on, if we do not meet with Sybilla, we would have to spend every second preparing for the evil that would inevitably disrupt our kingdom."

"Sister, you have nothing to fear!" insisted Luna, craning her neck to see Celestia's eyes in vain. "We are older, wiser, and now together. Remember that you can face anything in this world with me by your side."

"I fear that you are not enough."

The younger alicorn recoiled. "You're being quite coldhearted towards me, sister," she said. "I expected many things from you. Anger. Fear. Disgust. Regret. Impassiveness was not one of them, unless you are not my sister."

"A thousand years of being unable to express true emotion will do that to a pony," Celestia replied coldly. "I spent the night in tears, crying out a thousand years worth of feelings once I was released from Constance. I will not cry anymore."

The sun princess turned her head away, left her eyes shrouded in darkness' uncertainty, the same kind of darkness that muted her voice to a whisper as she spoke. "There will come a time in the next few hours when the numbness of shock will fade and I will fall weeping at your hooves. But for now all I can do is stand paralyzed in your presence, like a pony seeing light for the first time in a thousand years. I know not if that is possible, for the moon to blind the sun, but then again, I was blind to you long before then."

Luna's gaze softened. "Sister, you were not to blame," she said, pressing closer to Celestia's side. "If anypony, blame me for agreeing to that accursed deal."

"So you regret it then?" Celestia asked, soft and dangerous. "Our sacrifice?"

Luna chewed on her lip as her eyes searched the ground, searched for an answer. When she looked up, Celestia was suddenly struck by the brightness of her eyes. "I do not know," Luna admitted, her quiet voice spreading for miles, "but do you think it was right, sister, for them to ask such a sacrifice from us?"

"Everything in this world comes with a price, Luna," Celestia said. "And oh, how those years hurt me terribly. But I do not believe the price was too high. I would give anything for my little ponies."

"Even me, Celestia?" The collectedness waned from her face until it was full of distraught. "Even me?!" came the scream, strangled from her constricted throat. She reared up on her hind legs and grasped Celestia's shoulders with her forehooves so that the elder sister could clearly see her dilated eyes.

"I can't." It was a whisper, a phrase to test the waters as it rolled off the tongue quietly. Then louder. "I can't! Call me weak, Celestia, but I can't do it, I can't! Not again, not ever! I won't go through such pain, not after I've just returned! Can't you understand how I feel? You endured the same suffering as I!"

"Most of the time," Celestia corrected. "Me falling into madness was not desirable for her or for Elysium. She allowed me small mercies."

"See? Doesn't that mean anything to you? This is merely a game they are playing, a game!"

"Luna, control yourself!" Celestia took a step back so that Luna would let go and fall onto her front hooves. "Those are the kinds of emotions that hurt you the first time. I know, I know I hurt you by pushing you over the edge too early, and that is a sin…" Her eyes fluttered closed, and the voice that was Equestria's stronghold cracked into pieces. "A s-sin that I can never atone for. But I promise you, Luna… that I will love you… t-tenfold more than before, and up to the very last second, so that our goodbye will not be one of bitterness—"

Luna crumpled to the ground, sobbing, much to Celestia's alarm. "I trusted you," she whispered, though her weakness could not veil the accusation in her voice. "I trusted you. It was hard, but I trusted you. I could have cut my magic, let myself die alone in that place, yet I did not, all for the promise of seeing you once more and the promise you gave me so long ago that everything would be alright in the end. My love for you was all that carried me through the troubled waters of my deteriorating mind. But I have changed. I cannot trust your promise anymore. I cannot trust you anymore."

Luna's watery eyes were a sea that separated them, a sea that turned to ice as Celestia stood frozen, unable to move or help or comfort. An onlooker from the backseat of a carriage once again.

"Do you want to know what I did on the moon, sister? I carved pictures of fairies and mermaids into the ground. I crafted a castle from moondust; not a replica of home, but an entirely new one from a mirage in my mind. I composed songs and sang them to the stars in the hopes they would sing back. And I wrote words, so many words, inscripted in every crater in which I trod. I wrote of joy and loss and what I believed to be true and what I knew to be impossible but believed anyway. I did all the forbidden things Elysium told us were wrong, and I liked it. I told myself all the rules, and I defied them. What does that make me now?"

"Oh Luna." The elder sister knelt down and cradled the weeping filly in her wings. "It wasn't your fault. You were sick, not thinking clearly—"

"Just like you were with Discord?"

Celestia paused. Silence, the eternal betrayer, who screamed the truth louder than words ever could. "He was a mistake, a foolishness on my part. It is the classic tale of the temptations of Chaos. Luna, we can never forget that it is our responsibility to bear suffering in order to balance out Chaos' frivolity. It is unjust, but it is true."

"Sister mine, sister mine," said Luna, shaking her head. "How long have you lied to yourself, sister mine? Discord was no trivial distraction. Will you deny all the happiness you have ever known?"

"I am happy," Celestia said. "I am happy because our subjects are happy. I am happy because the one I love is happy. And I am happy because you are here, though your tears sting bitter in my own eyes."

Those tears dried on Luna's cheeks. "But you are afraid. What are you so afraid of? The unknown? Celestia, we took the only option we had back then. But things are different now, aren't they? Why must you find danger where there is not?"

For a moment, it was silent. Luna looked up expectantly, waiting for her sister's eyes to open. When they did, they looked too small, too distant, shaking in sockets that were too big for them. The eyes of a much younger and much older mare.

"I love you, Luna," Celestia began with a teary-eyed smile. "You are always first in my heart. My yene tei yenele, my heart of hearts. I would do anything for you. And yet, I am always reminded that the unknown pony walking down the streets is the heart of hearts to somepony, who is the heart of hearts to somepony else. How could I be happy with you while knowing that there are thousands, millions, or even just one pony who has lost their heart of hearts because of me? Luna, as much as it pains me, I must think of other ponies first, not myself. I would never take a chance with you; so too will I not take a chance with them. Do you understand that?"

Very slowly, Luna untangled herself from Celestia's wings and stood up so she was eye level with the kneeling alicorn. "Celestia, that little village of Ponyville gave me all the information I needed to know. I glimpsed a map of Equestria, outlining territory nearly five times the size it used to be. I saw earth ponies, pegasi, unicorns, some griffons, and even a zebra all running away from me together as allies, if not friends. There can be no other country to threaten us, and with the Elements of Harmony under our control, no being, no matter how powerful or evil, can withstand us. And now, see how easily your words come undone. Not the truth, not a lie, but a dera yene jimi, a heart's deception. You do not know if what you speak is true anymore, only that the number of times you say it must make it so."

"It is all I know," Celestia answered. "The only truth I understand. You may be right, that I do not know what my reasoning is, but I know my purpose. I must bring Order to the world. That is all the matters."

"Because it is what Elysium told us," Luna completed.

"Yes, yes it is. As hard as it is to hear, they know better than us. We must trust their judgment. Whatever reason they had for giving us that contract, it must have been for a good reason."

"But what if it wasn't?" Luna insisted. "What would you do then?"

Celestia opened her mouth, then closed it, then opened it again and let it hang ajar. Silence, the eternal defender, who kept inane excuses at bay.

Luna turned her head away. "Sister, I cannot trust you if you do not trust yourself. You do not trust yourself with being anything more than what is expected of you. You are too afraid."

She took a deep breath and then exhaled with a shudder. "Make the contract. Don't make the contract. Perhaps even have us switch places, so that your eyes may be opened like mine. I won't fight you. But no matter what, I want you to decide because it is what you feel is right."

Celestia's eyes widened. "L-Luna… I can't… I don't know, it's too sudden…"

Luna's tiny face burst into a smile, one that crinkled her eyes and graced her cheeks with a gentle luminescence. "Then we'll take it slowly," she said, pulling her sister into a hug. "Together. But until then, we'll just have to be prepared."

Deep inside the sun princess, a newly dormant chill turned over in her sleep.

"Of course, Luna," she agreed. Her sad eyes peered into the darkness of the forest all around them. "We'll just have to be prepared."

But in actuality, nothing could have prepared Celestia for coming face-to-face with Discord once again. It just happened too fast: not even a moment after the doors swung shut behind Twilight and her friends then the spirit of chaos materialized from a stain-glass window. Her eyes widened, trying to fill to the brim with the image of him, sharp and clear in contrast with the blurry film that time had coated over her memories. She wanted to run to him, to find his beating heart beneath warm skin, not the distant tomb of granite and hard feelings.

And yet paralyzed she stood as he shot her a stony glare, carrying none of her sentiments. Then she blinked and he was gone, a mirage wiped from her eyes.

"Hello, Celestia," a low voice whispered in her ear. The princess jumped as the draconequus now stood behind her, pressing into her white coat tinged pink from her pumping blood. She closed her eyes, bracing herself for the inevitable attack…

But it didn't come.

Against her will, her heart leapt. Could a thousand years in stone have changed him? It was hope against hope, but by Faust, she hoped with all her being.

It was if their roles for the last millennia had suddenly been reversed. Celestia stood as still as a statue, allowing him to freely touch her. Hot shivers shuddered down her spine as he ran his talons through her fur. "Did you miss me, Celestia?" he asked again, his voice practically caressing each syllable of her drawn-out name. "Because I missed you terribly."

Her breathing was uneven, but she still did not dare to speak. You never spoke in dreams. She kept her eyes closed, while the back of her mind wondered if Discord had enchanted her, placing her helpless in this delusion.

Then so be it.

"Why so quiet, Celestia?" he asked as his talon absentmindedly trailed along her jawline. "You know I love to hear your pretty voice. Even if it never said what I always wanted to hear."

Celestia froze.

"You were awfully cruel to me, you know. After all that time we spent together, you could never say you loved me." He took his claw away, leaving her feeling strangely cold. "But no matter," he continued ominously. "That can be easily changed."

Then he wrapped his hands around her neck.

Celestia's eyes shot open just in time to see her guards, at first paralyzed by trepidation, now race towards their princess. Leading them was Shining Armor, giving Discord a flaming death stare.

"Let go of her, monster," he ordered, his eyes narrowed into slits. He raised his spear and swung it at the draconequus, only to slash at empty air as Discord deftly leapt to the ceiling, taking Celestia with him.

Discord laughed with a menace that made Celestia's blood boil. She charged her horn with golden light, even though she knew that if he meant to end her, he would most assuredly act first. Although perhaps he wished to toy with her instead, to play with her emotions before flinging her aside like a worthless ragdoll. She didn't know which would be worse.

Discord laughed again as the unicorns began firing harmless spells at him. "Oh, don't worry, I'm not going to harm your precious princess." At that, he released his grip, sending her plummeting to the floor.

Her head swimming from the impact, Celestia looked up when she felt the touch of cold metal against her bruised shoulder. "Princess Celestia, are you alright?" Shining Armor asked, while the rest of her guards formed a protective circle around her.

"I'm fine," she said once she could properly breathe. She stood and looked up at Discord, who was quietly observing them, waiting for her move in this infernal game. Turning back to the captain, she said, "I want you and your stallions to retreat immediately. Do not return with backup. There is no need to raise alarm among the citizens, but do place the guard on high alert."

"Princess, with all due respect, we can't just leave you here to defend yourself against that monster."

Celestia flinched at the word. "I assure you, there is nothing you nor the whole Equestrian army could do to protect me from him. But do not fear for my safety. He will not hurt me."

"Are you sure about that, Celly dearest?" Discord called from his perch atop his stained glass window. "There was that whole 'imprisonment in stone for a millennia' debacle, and while I've never considered myself the most vengeful of ponies, such a thing would strain any relationship, wouldn't it?"

"Ignore him," Celestia ordered. "He is mad."

"Glad you finally picked up on that after a thousand years. Honestly, all that cosmic power is misplaced in a race with such a slow learning curve." With a snap of his tail, Discord summoned a platoon of teddy bears that launched themselves at the princess. Their jaws unhinged to reveal gaping maws lined with sharp bear teeth, ready to tear her to pieces. However, instead of trying to rip into her, they spat out a string of chocolate candy hearts that pelted her relentlessly.

The alicorn's golden magic sliced through the air and decapitated all the teddy bears' heads. "Run, all of you," she commanded. "You will only interfere."

The guards moved back, relief clear on their faces, but Shining Armor hesitated.

"But Princess…"

"Run! That is an order!"

The captain opened then closed his mouth. He nodded once in compliance before leading the others from the hallway. The double doors slammed behind them, leaving the two demigods alone. Celestia sighed in relief.

"You know, if you wanted the two of us to be alone, you could have just asked nicely," he said as he slithered down a pillar. He stood so they were face-to-face once more, only this time Celestia's vision was clear of wishful fantasies.

"Discord," she growled.

"Celestia," he returned in condescending politeness. "Play nice. After all, it's not everyday you play hostess to a guest from a thousand years ago. One should practice better manners, especially a princess. Save the claws for our games later tonight."

As Celestia blushed, Discord's eyes widened, as if he didn't expect to get a reaction from her. "You didn't think I'd still want to play with you?" he asked, slowly coming closer to her. "My darling, how could I resist a creature as lovely as you?"

Wearing that devilish grin Celestia hated, Discord pulled out a golden apple, sunlight glinting off its surface. "To the prettiest one," he said in a low, seductive tone.

Celestia reared up in disgust and kicked it away. "It's probably poisoned," she retorted callously.

He snickered at her little glower, far too old hat to genuinely frighten him anymore. "It's good to know you haven't changed a bit, Celestia."

"Oh, I wish you had changed," Celestia retorted, "but by the looks of Ponyville, you're still the cruel, deluded tyrant I imprisoned a thousand years ago."

"Ouch. And here I was hoping the two of us could reminisce about the good old days."

"Just tell me what you want with me so we can get this over with."

"Tsk, tsk, so hasty, Celestia! We're immortals; we have all the time in the world! And with this meeting being long overdue as it is, we have much to catch up on. Except, of course, there's not much to say on my end. You know, imprisonment in stone and all."

Even in her anger, the princess flinched at his words. "Please, Discord, I know you're angry with me," Celestia said, "but please, if I ever meant something to you, don't take it out on Equestria. I am the only one who should be punished for my actions."

"Oh Celestia, don't be silly," Discord said. "I'm not mad at you."

Celestia blinked. "You're… you're not?"

"Of course not!" he said jovially, though he steadily advanced toward her with an unspoken menace. "I just came here to ask you a question."

"W-What is it?" she asked, unable to keep her voice from trembling.

At that, Discord smirked and leaned down so their faces were mere inches apart. "My question is this," he breathed while staring straight into her shining magenta eyes. "Did you miss me, Celestia?"

The princess stumbled backward. "I… I… Why must you ask me that?"

Discord's eyes lit up a bloody red, a sea of seething anger. "So you'll understand why I'm going to do this." Then with a snap, the draconequus conjured up chains of licorice that wrapped around Celestia, binding her tightly.

"Why are you doing this?" she cried, struggling against the chains.

"Simple, my dear," he replied with a mirthless laugh. "You embraced your destiny, so I embraced mine."

"Well?" he asked, watching her impassively. "You said it yourself the first day we met that we were meant to combat each other. So go ahead. Fight me."

"Discord," Celestia said, tears stinging in her eyes, "I'm not going to fight you."

He shrugged his shoulders. "Fine. Then I suppose we'll just cut to the chase." He looked down at the Princess of Equestria, bound and captive, and said with a slow, deliberate voice of authority, "Let her go, Constance."

Celestia froze and looked up at him. "You knew."

"Did you honestly think Elysium was the only one that sent spirit messengers?" Discord scoffed as he began to pace around her. "I had to depend on them too, since you weren't too keen on sharing information."

"You… you couldn't… No! You didn't contract with them, did you? Is that why you're doing this?"

His dreadful scowl softened to a bitter sadness. "They didn't need to. Their words hurt me enough. Not that I'd bother you with any of that, though. You certainly didn't seem to mind keeping things to yourself."

"Discord, I—"

"But none of that matters anymore," he continued, "because now I make the rules. And I'm giving you two options. Either release Celestia from your control, or I'll kill you all together. And don't think I'll have any qualms about killing you, just because you're in her body. I know she'd rather die than be subject to you."

"Discord… it's me. I'm still Celestia. Let me go, and I'll show you." He scowled, but the licorice dissolved, liberating her ability to use magic. She charged her horn, golden light flowing around her body. When the light dimmed, Discord found himself standing in the presence of a young, pre-Princess Celestia.

"See?" she told the draconequus, whom she had finally made speechless. "I've been free for over a year."

"Celestia…" With a shaking paw, he reached out to touch her sunset pink hair, only to jerk it away at the last second, as if burned by noonday's scalding kiss. "Why…"

"Why didn't I tell you?" she supplied, hushed and downcast. "Because I couldn't have you trying to stop me."

"No, I meant why did you feel the need to go through with the contract at all?"

"Dark forces were approaching," she said. "I want to protect everyone."

"You didn't believe we could stop them together?" Discord asked. The words rang hollow through the air.

"Could you blame me?" she demanded, gesturing to the stained glass window depicting Discord's destructive reign a thousand years ago. "After all you've done to Equestria, how could I expect you to fight for its wellbeing?"

"Oh, I don't know, by actually trusting me for once?" Discord mocked, though his heart wasn't in it. "Instead of trying to control everything, couldn't you have just left things to chance just one time?"

"I took a chance by befriending you. And look where it got me."

"The ruler of a kingdom filled with ponies who adore you," Discord said bitterly. "Yes, your existence is filled with strife."

"Yet it's hard to appreciate when you're about to take it from me."

"Celestia, I have no desire to take anything from you," Discord said, looking her in the eyes with dead seriousness. "If I had had my way from the beginning, none of this argument would be happening at all."

"Then why are you disrupting my kingdom?" Celestia demanded. "Can't you just leave me in peace?"

"Because it makes me sad to see you suffer." The sadness in his own voice was striking. "I want to make you happy."

"And just what makes you think this will make me happy?"

Discord reached out and cupped Celestia's face in his hands so that her eyes were fixated only on him. A soft gasp escaped her lips, but she didn't pull away. "After your coronation," he said, "I realized just how terrible Order was. Following your destiny didn't make you happy, not if you couldn't be with me. All those duties and responsibilities of yours, they were just tearing us apart. Just like I did a thousand years ago, I'm trying to show you how freeing a world of Chaos would be for both of us. If we were together in Chaos, imagine how close we would be."

Discord's eyes burned with a fervent zeal that captivated Celestia. "We could destroy the Tree of Harmony, cut off any link between this world and Elysium. You wouldn't have to answer to anyone anymore. Order wouldn't control you. There would be no more fighting against our natures just because we love each other. No more hiding, no more secrets, no more doubt. Celestia, for the first time, we could actually be together. Don't you realize how perfect that would be?"

For a moment, Discord thought he saw a wondering light behind her eyes, but the mirage was yanked away from him when Celestia turned away with a flick of her tail. "You obviously never knew me then," she said in a shaking voice, "if you would ever think in a million years that I would agree to such a proposal. You're despicable for even thinking it."

"Well then, Constance certainly did a fine job on you," Discord said, crossing his arms. "But I'm not giving up. I'll take away everything from you, Celestia. Your country, your family, your prissy little student. Everything that Order gave you will be mine, and only when you have absolutely nothing will you wake up and see I'm right and coming running back to me."

"Then Discord will never have me," she declared, holding her head up high. "A being of cruelty will have taken his place."

What then commenced was the fiercest glaring contest to ever occur within Canterlot Castle. In fuming silence, Celestia beheld the draconequus with the utmost contempt. A righteous fury to protect her ponies welled up within her, because if not then some far more dangerous, personal emotion would rear its head.

Discord's internal state was less convoluted. Only one fiery beast dwelled within his heart: anger. It thrashed around blindly, directing its power at the world, at Celestia, and at himself. A thousand years of it lay boiling underneath Discord's skin. His actions up to this point had only scratched its surface; if he chose to go further, Celestia could die without a second thought on his part. But he couldn't. Anger drained as much as it empowered, and Discord had never felt emptier.

"Fine," he said. He broke eye contact and looked away. "Have it your way."

Then he reached out for the mare, so close in life yet an ocean apart in love. "Tag," he said, giving Celestia a sad little poke. "You're it."

Celestia's eyes narrowed. "Discord, what do you think you're doing?"

"Don't you remember how to play?" he asked, his usually jovial smirk lost in the tearful memories of long ago. "Run. Run away from me, before the monster catches you again. Isn't that right, Celestia?"

The princess faltered in her stare, though her hooves remained firmly planted. "I'm not going to run away from you," she said, all confidence and fire.

"But that's the game you're playing."

Suddenly, gold struck marble with shattering force. "Enough!" Celestia cried. "Enough of your games! I am not a prize for you to snatch up, nor a puppet you can control!"

Silence. A weighty, oppressive silence, one that dropped on words like tons of lead and crushed them before even the first syllable had a chance to bloom. Death before birth. Life not even a thought, but a wistful dream.

"Lulu's not here, is she?" Discord asked, defeated. Hollow, hollow, hollow, echoed the words, momentary sparks ground to dust by the quiet.

"No, she's not." Cold and curt, the voice of a machine. "She's at the Tree of Harmony, being purified of Hamartia."

"Will you be going too?"

"That is none of your business."

It was unnerving, seeing Discord without a smile for so long, as unnerving as if he were missing an ear or a nose. "Then suppose you should be getting back to your little ponies. Smile and wave and tell them everything will be alright when it won't. Because that's what Order does to keep ponies happy. It lies."

When Celestia glared in response, Discord turned his head away. "Don't look at me," he said callously, though a waver rippled like an undercurrent in his words. "I hate your eyes. They're torn in two."

It startled Celestia herself when she heard her hind hoof step back. Then again, and again, until she was walking away from Discord, who stood as motionless as a statue. Her heart sped up as she felt the searing gaze of his eyes, eyes that weren't torn, but united in a muddled emotion that was one part anger, two parts confusion, and made her feel all parts shame.

One, two, one, two, one, two. Each of her steps fell into an exact rhythm. A pattern, a system, an order.

Discord narrowed his eyes. Celestia tripped.

When she finally made it to the end of the hall, Celestia threw open the golden doors wide. A gentle breeze blew in her face and pushed aside her aurora mane to reveal for a split second her other eye.

Its pupil was slitted.

Author's Note

Because this chapter turned out to be much longer than I originally thought, I'm splitting it into two parts, the second of which will be posted tomorrow.