The Other Side of the Rainboom

When the two Princesses arrived at the great castle, Luna gasped at its size. She had not seen the castle in many years, and it had grown since she had last ruled in it.

“Show her to her chambers,” the Princess told her guards. “I will be along in a few moments, I have some business to attend to. Alone.” she added when a guard started walking to her side. “I shall be with you in just a moment, little sister.”

“Okay big sister.” The smaller pony said with a smile, then walked off with the Princess’s nervous royal guards.
Celestia waited a minute while the other ponies went into the castle, then spread out her wings and took to the sky. It was not often she could get away from the guards, so she tried to enjoy these few moments alone in the sky. Eventually she knew she had a job to do and flew over the large labyrinth in the castle’s garden. She touched down as she reached the statues that were spread through the garden. While normally full of fillies and colts, the statues had no audience this time of night. Celestia walked through the museum of statues, past dozens of imposing ponies that seemed almost sinister in the dark. She stopped at the strangest statue in the garden, a creature that had a head resembling a pony, but the remaining parts were a mess of other crreatures.

“Discord.” Celestia boomed.

“Oh, you’re no fun.” came a voice in her head. “I thought for sure it would work.”

“Well, you can see that it hasn’t.” she said flatly, not taking her eyes off the statue.

“At least the ordeal wasn’t a complete loss.” An eerie laugh accompanied Discord’s words.

“You must undo this!” the princess demanded.

“You are in no position to make demands, Celestia.” the voice echoed in her skull. “There is nothing you can do to me.” Another unnerving laugh.

“There is much I could do to you.” Princess Celestia growled.

“There is much I can do too. What do you think will happen to poor Twilight if she regains her memories from before? Or if I remove yours?” The princess hesitated. He was trapped in stone, but that had not stopped his trickery.

“So you’ve won your game. This battle, perhaps. But my sister is free. The Spirits of the Elements of Harmony have met and discovered the Elements. They will still win the war.”

“My dear Celestia, why come out when I can do so much from right here?”

Celestia turned to leave. She couldn’t win. If she left him here, he would wreck more destruction, if she removed him, they would be stuck, the true reality she barely remembered would be lost forever.

“You win, Discord.” The princess sighed. A laugh entered her head and she kicked, her strong legs cracking the statue. The laugh turned to a scream as the statue tipped and fell to the hard ground, shattering into dozens of pieces.

The princess looked at the ruined statue, the only thing keeping the old reality real, and felt tears grow in her eyes. No, she had to be strong, she thought. She turned back to the statue and wondered why it was broken. She wondered what she was doing in the garden while her sister had just returned. Confused, the alicorn took to the skies, heading to the castle as fast as she could.

On the ground, a stone eye winked.

Miles away, a purple pony screamed.