Ballad of the Eclipse

Equestria was in a state of pure chaos.

Sense and reason were irrelevant. Laws were changed, if not broken. Order was gone.

The sun and moon would set and rise without notice to reveal or conceal a world where the sky was green and the clouds were pink. Where wolves lived in the blue trees and the sloth was an alpha predator.

Houses of concrete were blown apart by wind, scattering the terrified and confused ponies within. They would run only to find their hooves sinking into the solid pavement and liquid puddles were their only secure grip.

If a pony tried to make sense of what they were seeing, it would cause their head to ache or their minds to snap. If they found any reason in what they saw, it would change.

A land that was once harmonious and gleeful had surrendered to Discord.

On a throne in the centre of it all was the creature responsible. He gave a hearty laugh as he watched ponies flee for their lives or shut out the world to reserve their sanity. He relaxed his snake torso into the back and crossed his lizard foot over his horse leg while stretching his bat and bird wings. He laid his lion paw down and with his eagle's talons snapped his fingers, producing a flash of white that disappeared to reveal a glass of red wine. He brought it to his horse snout and looked at it with his sickly-yellow, red-pupiled eyes and sipped some down.

"Ahhh," He revelled in the taste. "Aged nine seconds. Perfect!" He laughed at his act of defiance against physics.

The wine glass was then destroyed by a dark-blue beam, splattering his face with red. He looked to see the two princesses standing side-by-side.

"Ah, the rabble comes to pay tribute" The creature mocked while one of his fingers-turned-straw sucked the wine off his face. "Please, there's no need to kneel, a simple 'Congratulations on over-throwing us' will suffice."

"Your sick pleasure ends now, Discord!" Shouted Celestia.

"Equestria is no one's to toy with, much less you!" Added Luna.

"Oh?" Discord replied, his one word dripping with smug assuredness. "But isn't that just what your big sister does?"

The princesses stood perplexed.

Luna asked, "What do you mean, cur?"

Discord smirked as though something had gone as planned. He vigorously snapped his fingers.

The ground beneath the princesses shattered, revealing a pit which the two fell into.

Luna stretched out her wings, catching herself in midair. She flew towards the surface, only to see no surface.

She touched down. When her hooves caught ground, all she could see was black. She felt around and found moist flakes bending beneath them: grass. She was outside. But where was the moon, or the stars?

“Luna?”

The princess jumped away in fright and faced the speaker, only to still see nothing.

“Luna, it’s me.” Came the voice of Celestia, followed by a yellow glow from her horn that brought much-needed light.

Luna was relieved, but confused. “Sister, what has happened to Discord?”

“I caught him off-guard, and I believe I was able to banish him.”

Luna let a breath out and looked at her big sister with pride. “Well, done sister.”

The two smiled at each other.

“Now,” Celestia began, “I believe it is still nighttime, so would you do the honours?” She gestured to the empty night sky.

“Ah, of course.” Luna concentrated and cast her spell to raise the moon.

Nothing happened.

Confused, she tried again, willing her magic to grasp the moon. Still, it did not rise. Confusion gave way to frustration and Luna grit her teeth, ordering her magic to collect into her horn. She only felt her magic flow around, aimlessly.

Frustration gave way to panic. Her hoof shot to her forehead: her horn was gone.

Luna looked at her sister, desperate for help. Celestia only shook her head. The former Princess of the Night felt her knees tremble and her eyes water.

Celestia looked to the sky. Her horn’s glow intensified.

Luna watched, confused. What was her sister doing? Light struck her eye and she shut them. The light seemed to penetrate her eyelids, it was so bright. She looked to the source, and gasped.

It was the moon. Surrounded by the same yellow magic as her sister’s horn.

Luna looked to her elder sister, who had turned away from her. She could raise the moon, too? Then why had it been Luna’s duty all these years?

“Celestia has never needed you, wittle Woona.” Mocked a voice in Luna’s ear. “Let’s face it, she’s the one in charge, she just lets you tag along.”

Luna’s trembles of horror became twitches of anger. She glared a hole into Celestia’s head; her ‘royal duties’ were nothing more than Celestia patronising her. Celestia’s horn flashed again and stars appeared in the sky, dotting the black and forming constellations.

Luna watched on, her rage growing as Celestia surpassed her work with less effort.

The constellations began to morph into unfamiliar shapes. “She doesn’t need you. She isn’t honest with you. She doesn’t even respect you enough to tell you.”

The constellations came together to form a face contorted in a twisted grin with eyes of sickly-yellow staring into Luna’s.

“So why should you?” The eyes formed hypnotic patterns, and Luna stared into them.

With no effect.

The face raised an eyebrow. It flashed white and became the floating face of Discord. “What in the world?”

His hand appeared in the sky and snapped its fingers. Still, it had no effect Luna.

The only thing that affected her was her rage. Her face contorted, and from the bottom of the heart that pumped her boling blood, she let out a scream of rage that rattled Discord’s control. Her magic pulsed fiercely in her body, and this time she forced it to the surface. With a flash of dark-blue, her horn re-appeared. With her magic, she grasped at Discord’s constructs - now vulnerable without his control - and shattered them.

Luna’s surroundings crumbled and she found herself back in front of Discord’s throne. She looked around herself, but the villain was gone. Instead, she found her sister unconscious on the ground. Luna forgot her anger and approached Celestia. She reached out to her, but stopped a hair’s-breadth away.

Discord’s illusion was fresh in her mind, and though she knew it was his trickery, she saw truth in it. Luna knew herself and her sister to be very powerful. Was it possible that Celestia could, in fact, be granting Luna her duty out of pity, not necessity and respect?

Celestia groaned, waking up. Luna focused her attention on the current dilemma. Discord held this region in his grasp and he was clearly more powerful than they had estimated. They would return to their castle and regroup.

Luna prepared a teleportaion spell. Celestia opened an eye and saw her younger sister.

Celestia smiled.

Luna looked away.

They disappeared.

Princess Celestia paced down her throne room, Twilight at her side.

The white Alicorn spoke, “We consulted our generals in our castle, but the ultimate solution came from our former student, Star-Swirl the Bearded. His theories on the Tree of Harmony allowed us to find Elements of Harmony and defeat Discord.”

“But what about Luna?” Twilight asked. “How did you two deal with what Discord did to her?”

Celestia looked away, ashamed. “She told me that she had overcome Discord’s influence. I mistakenly held faith that Luna was beyond Discord’s tricks. That faith gave us both the resolve to defeat an enemy more powerful than ourselves. But, I allowed it to blind me from the facts: Luna was in turmoil, and she needed help. Because of my...” Celestia stopped. She hung her head until her mane obscured her face

Twilight held her hoof to her mouth; her mentor was tearing herself apart, and she felt the deepest guilt for it. She was about to place a hoof on Celestia’s shoulder, but the white Alicorn continued to walk on and continued.

”Because of my ignorance, Luna’s fears drove her further away.” She approached another window. She did not look where she was going, for she knew where this window was, by broken heart.

Twilight followed, but knew which window they were at before she looked up. At the bottom, the window showed the two princesses together, but Luna was looking away. Above that, Luna was standing over smoking ruins, transformed.

Twilight dared not go any further. When Celestia spoke once again, her heart sank.