Chapters For the first time in over a thousand years, Sizzle and Shimmer felt safe and happy.
It truly was so long since they had been happy: Happy for five years of their lives, than just battling to stay alive, hiding from a monster. It wasn't fun.
"How... how's your wing, Sizzle?" Twilight said worriedly. She was constantly worried about Shimmer and Sizzle's wounds.
"As good as it'd been for a thousand years. Why are you so worried?"
Twilight cringed. "Even with all the villains I've defeated, I've never had to deal with... blood, or major wounds like that. Not even Discord let anypony bleed or be broken, and I watched him blow something up!"
Sizzle, who was drinking a bit of water that was brought to her, spit it out in shock and turned her head towards Twilight in less than a second. "You've seen DISCORD!?" She said in shock, her sister doing the same, "I thought he was gone over a thousand years ago! AND he hurt NOPONY?!" Sizle said disgustedly "I watched him kill a pony!"
Twilight and the other alicorns stared in shock at Sizzle. Celestia and Luna stopped staring. The other two, however, stayed staring in horror.
"He's.... killed a pony?" Cadence said quietly, clearly terrified.
"Many. There was a whole war between the alicorns and Discord, and he killed all of them except us and maybe Celestia and Luna." Sizzle said. She suddenly had tears in her eyes. "One of my first memorys I got while I was five years old, was watching Discord burn our house to the ground in a multicolored flame, our parents screaming, still inside." A tear slid down her cheek.
"Oh... my..." Twilight said in horror. She didn't know what to think. "Discord... returned out of stone once... he plunged the world into chaos, and split apart my friends, but we fixed everything when we turned him to stone again... and... he didn't kill... anypony."
Sizzle gave her a look of horror. "He was turned to stone? That's good, but he got OUT?! What if he does again? What if he kills all the unicorns or something this time!"
Twilight cringed. "Well, you see... Discord... well, he... isn't in stone right now."
"WHAT?!" Sizzle and Shimmer yelled together.
"Why haven't you done something about it?! Turned him to stone again?!" Shimmer said, suddenly scared for her life.
"Don't panic! We turned him into a friend! He will not hurt anypony ever again."
Shimmer and Sizzle weren't believing it for a second. "I hope I never see that monster again in my life."
"He's not a monster anymore. Please believe me. I'll bring him here if you don't believe me." said Twilight, giving the girls a slightly angry, yet understanding look. She understood why they hated Discord, but if they kept hating him like this, he could kill them.
"DON'T! Don't bring Discord here! It doesn't matter who says it, that will forever be a TERRIBLE idea!" said Shimmer, who quickly became afraid that these ponies were secretly trying to get them killed.
"Oh, so many ponies saying my name all the time. What are you ponies talking about me for?" said a voice in the ceiling. Chills ran down Sizzle and Shimmer's backs. If they imagined that voice laughing maniacally, they would create a perfect image of their parents being burned alive.
Sizzle quickly ran into action, leaping off her bed, making all of the machines disconnect to her. She stood in front of her sister protectively, putting up a magic shield.
"DISCORD! You will leave and never return! " said Sizzle in a powerful voice. Every alicorn had a powerful voice. It was loud and forceful, and it had a small amount of alicorn magic inside it, making most things follow the order or cower in fear. It was like Luna's voice on her first Nightmare Night.
Discord, however, wasn't most things. He was only a little surprised at the voice. "Ooo! I haven't heard an alicorn talk like that in a thousand years!" He then greeted everyone. "Hello, Celestia. Luna. Cadence. Prin cess Twilight." He snickered.
Twilight sighed. "Discord, you're scaring our new friends here. They think you killed ponies, including their parents! And, though I believe them, I don't think you deserve to be put into stone again. You already served your punishment for those things. Unless..." Twilight made an angry face at him,"You make yourself deserve it by acting this way."
"Oh please, Twilight, you think I actually killed a pony? I can't believe you would even think I'd do something like that. Anyways, who are these-" He paused, and attempted to teleport into Sizzle's forcefield to finish his sentence, but failed, smashing into it's outside walls. "Holy... Lovely alicorns? I haven't seen a spell like that in a thousand years either! A chaos-blocking spell?"
Celestia and Luna gasped and jumped back, which made Twilight and Cadence look at them. They quickly got back into position, trying to look like nothing happened.
"I haven't seen those since that silly war with all the alicorns!" Discord finished. "I'm glad I could stop Celestia and Luna from using them, or else I would have been done for! Well, the Elements made me 'done for', but if they didn't exist, that is!"
Sizzle suddenly dropped her magic shield, and instead wrapped her magic around Discord in a levitation spell. But, there was something strange about it, as Twilight noticed, because her horn was flared up and sparking. It only needed to be lit to do levitation. It only needed to be like that if she was doing a larger, more complicated spell. Twilight understood what she was doing as Discord said it out-loud.
"Oh, curse you silly alicorns, trying to contain my magic!" Discord said quietly and angrily, as he attempted to break his magic through the chaos-blocking spell. Sizzle's magic only got a stronger hold.
"Wait a minute!" Twilight realized something Discord had said,"'I'm glad I could stop Celestia and Luna from using them'? Did you CURSE them into not using that spell?!"
"Well, maybe." Discord replied. He had stopped trying to break out of the spell, realizing that it was pointless.
"And 'silly war with all the alicorns?! If there could be an 'all', then there were definitely more than six! I bet you're lying and that you DID kill alicorns! You killed almost all of them!"
"Well..." Discord said, flinching. "They left me with no choice. They should have known better than to try and contain the Lord of Chaos."
Twilight sighed, and said "Celestia, do you know what happened? I'm sure you'll know."
Celestia opened her mouth, and closed it again. She seemed to not want to tell the tale. "Okay." she finally said,"But only if Discord leaves. He will only upset Shimmer and Sizzle more."
"Now, I WOULD leave, if SOMEPONY would allow me to teleport again!" He looked and Sizzle angrily.
Sizzle released him, and he teleported away. "A friend, huh?"
"Sort of. It's hard to call him a friend." Twilight said. "Anyways... Celestia?"
Celestia sighed, and started. "Over a thousand years ago..."
Over a Thousand Years Ago...
Author's Note
Woohoo, Chapter 2! Enjoy Celestia's story of what happened over a thousand years ago!
Over a Thousand Years Ago...
Over a thousand years ago, alicorns were as common as a unicorn, pegasus, or earth pony.
In that time, Discord had ruled over the land, spreading chaos wherever he went. The ground could be checker-board patterned, or fish could fly in the sky. The days and nights were only seconds long, and the ponies were like puppets, being played with like dolls.
Discord had his fun whenever and wherever he wanted. You could be having as normal of a day as there could possibly be in a world like that, when your life could be literally turned upside down.
The alicorns, unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies did not like Discord's ways, even if he had one rule: He would never, ever kill anypony.
The alicorns created a spell to stop Discord's chaos, even if it was only for a second. They called it Disharmony's Harmony.
Discord did not care about the spell. He didn't even calling it by it's name, going with something like Chaos-Blocking Spell Thing, or Fun Stopper.
The alicorns would work together, using Disharmony's Harmony to push Discord's chaos back, making the land peaceful again.
But Discord grew angry, so angry that he broke his number one rule, and began to burn alicorns in a multicolored flame. Though Discord sent this as a warning shot, the alicorns only took it as another reason to be angry for Discord, to destroy him, or end his chaos forever. He could not even follow a simple rule he made up, and it cost him all of ponykind. They swore that they would not take anymore chaos again.
Unicorns cast spell upon spell, though through a small test the alicorns proved that unicorns could not use Disharmony's Harmony, they found a way to fight against Discord. They attacked him and his throne, striking the chaos around them in an attempt to destroy it.
Pegasi moved away the cotton candy clouds, and anything else chaotic in the sky. They led flying fish to water, and flying pigs to land.
Earth Ponies used their magic to make the land as normal as it could get.
And the alicorns used Disharmony's Harmony to keep the land normal and healthy.
They called this point in time, The Discord War.
Then Discord grew furious. The ponies working together to stop his chaos, and were succeeding. They were winning the war. Then, without another thought or reason, Discord began to burn every single alicorn alive. He laughed as the alicorns screamed and shrieked until they were nothing but ashes, burnt in the multicolored flame of chaos itself.
We began to lose the war. Without Disharmony's Harmony, the ponies couldn't keep the land normal. Discord had killed almost every alicorn, when he had a thought. Me and Luna and another friend, Harmony, the creator or Disharmony's Harmony, were the only alicorns left. he didn't know that Harmony lived. He cast a curse on us, preventing us from ever using Disharmony's Harmony again. We had one hope... Harmony. Discord thought he killed Harmony. He didn't curse her because of that. We were preparing for her to use Disharmony's Harmony on the land, and save Equestria!.. But she didn't. She couldn't. She said that no matter how strong she was, she would never have enough strength to fix all the chaos.
Instead, she created a solution. She killed herself. She sacrificed herself, to grow a tree made out of all the magic she had. It grew six crystals that matched the personalities of her dead friends. Kindness, Laughter, Loyalty, Generosity, Honesty, and Magic. The Elements of Harmony.
Using the Elements of Harmony, we turned Discord to stone.
Twilight and Cadence were shocked and sad at the story. Celestia and Luna seemed sad from telling it.
The sisters were trying as hard as they possibly could to hold back tears. They had heard this story before. They lived inside this story.
The other ponies didn't notice. "I... can believe him doing that. But... maybe they could have been kinder? Asked Discord to have his own little space, and then they have theirs?"
"Tried it." Shimmer said before anypony could continue. Her voice cracked and wavered. "The... the alicorns created a pocket dimension for... for him to reign chaos in... We even helped, though... though since we were four it... it didn't do much for us to help. Discord ruled with his... his chaos in it for... for two days... and then he left out of... of boredom." Shimmer began to cry quietly. Celestia realized that the story she told was like shoving Shimmer and Sizzle's nightmares and pasts in their faces. Sizzle had begun to cry quietly as well. Luna went to comfort Sizzle, while Celestia comforted Shimmer. They hugged them, and told them it was okay.
Shimmer sniffled, and said "Thank you."
"Okay. Now that we are away from the past, we must get back to the present. The doctors must deal with those wounds. I know how they may help Shimmer, disinfect the area and stitch the scars. But-" Celestia was interrupted by Shimmer.
"No disinfecting required. While down in the caves, I got my cutie mark in health and healing from using a complex spell to remove every speck of dirt or anything that could get us infected from our wounds." Shimmer said, showing off her mark. It was a big, green health symbol, surrounded in a white glow. "Sizzle doesn't have a mark, before you ask."
"Well, I guess they won't need to do that." Celestia said. "But what I'm most worried about is Sizzle's wing. Will they fix it, take if off and fix it, or just take it off?"
Sizzle was now staring at Celestia, concerned. "'Take it off'? Umm, I hope..." she seemed like she was going to say 'not', but she also seemed like she was thinking about the options. Eventually, she said,"Will... it hurt?"
"Not if they put you to sleep it wont." Luna said.
"Well, I guess I should be prepared for somepony to take my wing off!"
Shimmer walked out into the waiting room, her scars covered up by stitches. It wasn't hard to tell that she was forcing a smile.
"There we go! Your scars are all covered up!" said Cadence happily. Then she noticed the forced happiness. "Why are you upset?"
"Not upset. Just... worried for Sizzle. They have decided to remove the wing, and are still trying to figure out if fixing it afterwards would be impossible." Shimmer said, removing the fake smile. "They have started already, around the same time I got my stitches started."
Twilight went to comfort Shimmer. "Don't worry. Either way, she wont be able to feel the horrible pain that the wing must cause. She will be more happy then she's ever been before!"
Shimmer gave Twilight a real smile, then they went back to the waiting room chairs to wait for Sizzle.
After a while, a familiar orange alicorn walked through the door. There was something unfamiliar about her, however. Her twisted, shattered, broken wing, was no longer there, and there were bandages wrapped in it's place. They had to be wrapped diagonally to be placed the way they were, under the existing wing, and over the wound were there once was one.
"Hi guys." Sizzle said in a much lighter voice than normal. Almost as if she had been holding a boulder on everything, including her voice, and than suddenly it was lifted.
"Sizzle!" Shimmer said happily, and ran to hug her twin sister.
Shimmer and Sizzle hugged for a little while, then split apart. "How are you feeling, sis?" Shimmer said.
"Amazing! Once upon a time I would have said 'there's no such thing as ok', but now I feel like there is such thing as incredible!" Sizzle said, still in that lighter voice that Shimmer would have to get used to.
"You sound like you feel that way. Have you heard your voice? It sounded deeper or raspier, or... something different while we were in the cave. Now, it sounds like fluffy clouds! If they had a sound." Shimmer finished with a giggle.
Sizzle replied,"Well, I feel that way too! I feel like I was carrying a boulder on everything, even my own voice, and then I woke up and the boulder was gone!" Sizzle then noticed Shimmer's stitched-up scars, and asked "How are you, now?"
"Better! I have told you before that I have sort of gotten used to my scar's pain, but I definitely noticed the difference when they finished stitching!"
The sisters smiled.
"You two will need a coronation when you finish your time in the hospital." Celestia said to the sisters, a smile on her face as well.
"A coronation?" Sizzle said, confused.
"Alicorns are so rare, and live such long lives being immortal, that the ponies decided that all alicorns should be royalty. You two will need your crowns." Luna answered. "Greetings, Princess Shimmering Ember and Princess Sizzling Ember!"
The sisters blushed. They were both very happy with their new titles. There were a few costs, but overall they may be able to live happy lives. Almost all alicorns were dead, and their killer was being considered a friend, but they were feeling no more of their terrible pain, and were being crowned princesses. They could be themselves, with nopony to tell them they couldn't. They felt okay, a perfect balance of bad and good in their lives.
"Wait, I just realized something. Where will we live?" said Shimmer.
"You may live with Luna and I in the Canterlot Castle for now. Someday, you may have your own kingdom to rule together." Celestia said.
A while after Sizzle had her injured wing removed, they were let out of the hospital and stayed at Canterlot Castle for two days before the coronation.
Sizzle and Shimmer couldn't exactly understand what Celestia was saying behind the door, but they knew it would open soon. They had many ponies wearing lots of makeup behind them, preparing to sing a song for their coronation.
Finally, the large doors opened, and the ponies behind them began to sing as the twins walked forward towards the other four princesses. They didn't quite understand what they were singing, but it sounded something like "These twin princesses cometh, behold".
The twins stood just in front of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. They lit their horns as they levitated two simply crowns towrads Shimmer and Sizzle. The crowns were placed atop their heads as they smiled. They turned around and spread their wings for everypony to see. Except for Sizzle, who could only spread one. Ponies cheered, seeming very happy that there were two new princesses to lead them.
All six princesses walked on to a balcony. Shimmer and Sizzle looked over the balcony's edge, and saw a wonderful sight. Ponies. Thousands of ponies cheered, smiling and laughing, of all ages. There were newborns and elders, mares and stallions, all cheering happily.
"Why don't you say something, princesses?" Celestia whispered to the twins. The twin princesses decided that Shimmer should be the one talking.
"Well, I don't know how to say this without just saying a sad story, but there was once a time full of fear over a thousand years ago. Me and my sister, Princess Sizzling Ember, bravely lived in this time of fear, attempting to fight it back. When the fear began to take control, we hid away, where nopony could find us, even the fear. We lived in fear, but we also lived in bravery. For when we began to hide, we truly fought the source of the fear. We use our spells, we blasted it, we did anything we could to be brave and fight back! Now, we have left this hiding spot, safe above ground, with no fear. Everypony that I see now is brave and fearless, just like us! And I'm proud that we fought the fear, that we were brave, because if we weren't, we wouldn't be here, looking at all these brave ponies, smiling happily today."
Shimmer finished her tale with a smile and a few tears of joy. Princess Celestia stepped forward and shouted the final words the twins would hear in that day.
"Welcome Princess Shimmering Ember and Princess Sizzling Ember!"
The crowd cheered as loud as they could.