Sunbeams and Chocolate Milk

Chapters

Moonlit Meeting
Garden of Shadows
Sour Milk
Concerns
Date Night
Meeting the Inlaws
Headache
Heartache
Epilogue

Moonlit Meeting

The forest was unusually quite tonight. Moonlight danced through the leaves, and fireflies flitted about the branches. The various
denizens of the woods made little noise aside from the occasional chirp or growl in the distance. Their relative silence would have struck some as odd, unsettling even, compared to their usual clamor. That is, if anyone dared to venture this deep into the forest.

This thought, however, did not enter the mind of one such traveler. A lithe, graceful mare, with a pure white coat, and a mane the color of the rosy dawn. She ruffled her delicate wings in the crisp night air, and peered into the darkness ahead, unwilling to light the way her slender horn and ruin the sight of it all. It was simply too beautiful of a night.

Despite her talent for the day, she always did appreciate the night. The moon was bright and full, giving off a calming, peaceful atmosphere. The stars twinkled gently through the trees, as if watching over her in her journey. And the clouds, while maybe a bit too many in number, drifted lazily across the sky, and did little to impede the spirit of it all.

Truly, she thought, the local townsfolk have made this a beautiful night. There must be a festival tonight. I wonder if Luna helped a bit? She giggled softly at the thought, She does get bored at times.

As did she. She adamantly refused to acknowledge such a notion, but she has made this trek before on numerous occasions, for just the same reason as tonight. She was bored. And extraordinarily lonely.

Celestia and her sister Luna had lived together in a castle hidden deep in the forest, to which the locals referred to as ‘Everfree,’ for years. However, to the two sisters would sometimes called it “The Everhere.”

Their parents had vanished a long time ago, and their last instructions to them had been to remain hidden, until the time was right. Neither of them knew what had befallen their parents, nor what their cryptic command had meant. But still they obeyed.

Which is not to say it had been easy. They both longed to live amongst the common ponies. To work the fields with the Earth Ponies, to soar with the Pegasi, and to study the arcane with the Unicorns. But it could not be so. Few ponies dared to venture into the forest, which was filled with dangerous creatures that even the most powerful of mages would have difficulty with. However, these creatures rarely assaulted the two sisters, and when they did, a liberal application of their magic usually frightened them off. On the few occasions when anypony did

enter, they never ventured far, and they did not stay long. They were simply incapable of traversing these treacherous woods.

Which left the only two equine inhabitants feeling more and more like prisoners.

At times like this, when her loneliness reached its peak, Celestia would walk the path she did now, to a hill rising from the depths of the forest, from where she could look over the countryside. She could see lights dotting the land, where ponies made their dwellings.

You know, Celestia thought to herself, as if would ever matter, a village would do well near the forest’s edge. The inhabitants rarely leave the safety of the trees, and the soil is rich fertile. Crops would grow strong there. Perhaps an orchard of some kind. Pears, for instance.

She shook her head, emptying her thoughts. She always liked to greet the view with a clear head. The air was crisp and clean. It really was a beautiful night. The hilltop was always empty, not even Luna went there. She preferred to look down upon the villagers from the clouds. Besides, they each needed a place to be alone. Which isn’t to say they didn’t enjoy each other’s company. In fact, their company was likely the reason they had kept their sanity. Once in a while, however, they each wished to be alone with their thoughts and dreams.

Except tonight, Celestia found she wasn’t.

As she exited the tree line, she saw a form at the crest of the hill. It was not a creature she had seen in the forest before, and certainly not a pony. It was serpentine, and very tall. Twice her own height, she guessed. If it was aware of her presence, it chose not to show it.

As the clouds overhead drifted lazily above her, the moonlight shown through, illuminating the hill enough for her to see the creature.
It was…strange, to say the least. Nothing appeared to fit together, as if whatever being responsible for creating life had run out of matching parts, and was forced to use whatever happened to be leftover. It stood on one hoof, and one reptilian claw. She could just make out a lion’s paw on its right side, and eagle talon on its left. Its back, which was turned towards her, was adorned with a pair of wings-one of a bat, the other of a pegasus-, and ended in a dragon tail with a white tuft of fur at the end. The head appeared to be like a donkey, but with a singular antler and a crystalline horn, blue as the noonday sky.

Celestia stood there for a few moments, dumbfounded at the creature before her. She felt as though she should say something, investigate the nature and intent of this…thing, but she was at a complete loss.

“It’s quite rude to stare, you know.” Came a voice from behind her. Celestia whirled around, taken completely off guard. She instinctively spread her wings wide, and summoned her magic, and preparing to face what had managed to sneak up on her.

There was nothing there. Only the forest from whence she had come.

She sighed to herself, thinking she had somehow imagined it, and turned back toward the mysterious creature-

-And found herself staring into large, intelligent yellow eyes.

Again, Celestia jumped. Straight up, about five feet, in fact. How had it moved so close so quickly? And without her even hearing it? Below her, the creature burst out into an uproar of laughter.

“Gwah-hah-hah! You shou-should see your face!” the creature guffawed as she hesitantly decended to the ground, “In fact-look!“ It then pulled an odd box and small shiny object-a kind of tablet, maybe?- seemingly out of nowhere. It pointed the tablet at the box, and tapped it. Somehow, the box lit up, showing an exact reproduction of the events that had just had taken place, only from a side view. The creature laughed even more, and continued to munch on-wait, what was that? When and how did it get those strange, puffy white things? And did she smell…butter…? Despite her confusion, she could not deny the smell was intoxicating. Which was about the only thing she was sure about at this point in the encounter.

Celestia found herself sitting on the ground in a daze, attempting in vain to comprehend what was going on. The creature, in the meantime, seemed to have gotten bored of watching their ‘meeting’ on the box, and proceeded to use the tablet to alter the image on the box. She saw the ocean, self-propelled carriages racing on a circular path, and a strange bipedal creature in a bat costume flip by in turn. Groaning, the creature snapped it talons, and both items disappeared in a flash of light.

“Nothing on today…” it mumbled. It walked back where it had stood upon her arrival, casting its gaze out towards the flecks of light in the distance, seeming to forget that Celestia was present.

Celestia shook her head, regaining her composure. She stood, and cleared her throat, hoping to gain the creatures attention. It ignored her. Again, she cleared her throat, a little louder this time, to the same result. Finally, she had had enough.

“Excuse me, um, you there?” she said, attempting to hide the quiver in her voice. “Could I please have a moment of your time?”

The creature turned its head slightly towards her. She took that as permission to continue.

“If I may ask, who are you? And what manner of creature are you? A chimera of some kind? I only ask for I have never seen anything like you before.”

After a pause, the creature turned towards her fully. Its lone fang curved upwards in its mouth as it grinned at her. She wasn’t quite sure if that boded well. She had little time to debate this, as the creature approached her, this time in a more leisurely gait.

“Well, since you asked so nicely, I suppose I will tell you. Firstly, I am no ‘chimera.’ Those are so cliché. I am a draconequus, and you may address me as Discord.” It reached out and gently took her hoof in his paw, and kissed it with the respect of one meeting royalty. “And may I have the pleasure learning the name of the beautiful creature before me?”

“Oh my,” Celestia giggled, “no one has ever complemented me in such a manner. I am Celestia.”

“Ooooh Celestiaaaa…” cooed the other, seeming to bask in the very sound of her name, “What a perfect name for the most radiant sight my eyes have ever beheld!”

“Oh, why thank you! But, um, what is a draconequus? I don’t think I have heard of the name before…”

“Uh, well um…” He paused for a moment, his charming smile faltering for a moment. “Wait, are you an alicorn? I haven’t seen an alicorn in…why, I don’t even remember, it’s been so long!”

“You’ve seen other alicorns before?” cried Celestia, stunned that this ‘Discord’ had even heard of her race, “I thought they were…well, gone.”

“Why yes I have! But none of them could compare to you.”

“I’ve never met anyone who’s seen another alicorn before…Or anyone at all really…”

Discord looked at her for a moment, and a quick flash of understanding passed through his large, red-and-yellow eyes. Did he too long for companionship?

“Ah yes. Unique creatures such are we. Difficult for us to connect with the common folk. But perhaps together-”he moved closer to her, never breaking the link between their eyes, not even to blink, and held her head in his paw. The soft touch his fur sent a tingle throughout her body. She had never felt anything like this before. “-we could have something no one else will ever have.”

He raised his talon, pointing it towards the tip of her horn.

“I know many things. Ponies, magic, the world in general…” he said softly, his eye gazing through her soul. They began to gleam in the moonlight, seeming to pulsate with a myriad of colors, some she didn’t believe existed. “Even a thing or two about alicorns. In fact, I know something that any alicorn would find simply” his talon grew closer to horn. She knew she should feel alarmed about a creature she had just met doing this, but she was utterly transfixed be his gaze. “…amazing.” Then his talon finally made contact with tip of her horn.

And her mind utterly blanked out.

That same tingle from earlier had returned, but more intense this time, like her horn had been attached to a thundercloud.

Discord seemed to notice, and chuckled. “Feels good, doesn’t it? But I know what will feel even better…”

Slowly, he slid his talon down, nearing her head. As he decended, the feeling became more intense, exponentially more pleasurable. Her head swam. Her body had been completely paralyzed. Perhaps she had even begun to drool a bit. But she didn’t care. This was the most unbelievable experience of her life! She couldn’t imagine anything better!

Until he touched her forehead.

And then her world exploded.

If there any thoughts or doubts left in her head, they were obliterated at that moment. The colors in Discords eyes filled her own vision now, encompassing her entire reality. The only thing she could see was him. He began to lean in, his eyes closing halfway. And then he spoke. His voice seemed much larger now. His words reverberated throughout her body, and her very soul.

“Together, we can be happy. Together, we can be whole.”

Celestia began to lean forward as well. She…she wanted this. This was insane, she had just met this creature, she didn’t even know what his intentions for being here were, a small, frightened voice whimpered. But none of that seemed to matter. She could only think of all the burdens on her mind. Her loneliness, her longing, her desperation for to experience something new, all of it vanished. Everything she had ever wanted, anything she would ever want, all of it was here. With him.

The clouds above them, as if moving on their own accord, drifted in front of the moon, causing shimmering columns of moonlight to dance around them.

The voice in her mind slowly faded into wordless whine, until finally dying away into the buzzing in her mind.
Then finally, their lips met.

And the stars seemed to explode in every color of the rainbow.

It was glorious.

Author's Note

First Chapter of my First Story! If you spot any grammer/spelling mistakes, any help would be appreciated!

Garden of Shadows

In a dark, lonely castle standing deep in the forest, a single light shone. Atop the highest tower, a dark blue alicorn stood, her magic focused heavenward, intent on completing her task. She had been working for some time, and her strength was beginning to falter. Her pale blue mane whipped wildly in the turbulence created by the magic she wielded. Her horn shone so brightly that, if it had not been for the illusionary magic surrounding the castle, the nearby ponies would have easily spotted it.

Finally perfect, thought Luna, placing the final star in just the right place, and it only took three hours this time! Whatever the townsfolk are celebrating tonight, they certainly tried harder than they ever have before. I hardly had to do anything!

She paused for a moment to catch her breath, brushing a displaced strand of her mane out of her face. She would need to thoroughly brush herself later. And after a quick whiff of herself, she decided on a bath as well. But despite her weariness, she was proud of herself. This was her most spectacular night yet! And all things considered, she wasn’t even as tired as she normally was.

Tia was right, I am getting better at this. Luna mused, Oh, she will be so proud of me!

After one final glance at her latest masterpiece, Luna entered the tower at a leisurely pace, humming a happy little tune as she descended the spiraling stairs to return to the castle. She was in no rush, as she had finished most of her share of the daily chores she shared with her sister earlier that day in order to have time to work on the night sky for tonight.

The only chore that remained for her could hardly considered as such, however. It was one of her favorites, after all. While her absolute favorite was aiding the ponies with the moon night sky if needed, there one other that came close: her garden.

Because the two sisters were more or less confined to the castle, it had proven difficult to purchase food from the local farmers. Their lack of any form of currency did not help in that regard. And there was little that grew in the forest that could be considered food to ponies, however there was much that could be used for various potions and medicines. So, long ago, Luna had set up her garden. It was placed in a section of the castle in which part of the ceiling had crumbled away (for this castle was even older than Luna or Celestia), and the room had use for little else.

As she passed through the long hallway lined with armors-which were most likely as old as the castle itself-, Luna realized that Celestia was nowhere to be found.

Where could Tia have gone? She wondered, Oh yes, she must have gone to that hilltop of hers. She’s been going quite often as of late. I hope she is feeling alright. She shook her head. What was she thinking? This was her elder sister Celestia, she was thinking about. Nothing ever bothered her. She would be fine.

These thoughts vanished as she entered the garden chamber. Oh, how she loved this room. The countless hours spend wandering about, tending these delicate plants to maturity. This garden had been the two sisters’ main source of sustenance for as long as they had been on their own. Celestia tried to her best to help, aiming the sun just so that it bathed the seedlings in the perfect amount of light, but Luna did most of the work.

Admittedly, it was rather small in comparison to the fields of the townsfolk, but it only needed to feed two ponies, so it was the perfect size for its intended purpose. Along the east and west sides, there were the food crops; carrots, tomatoes, corn, et cetera. And between the two was a small area for more…aesthetic plants. A few trees, hedges, and some pretty flowers. It was nice to have a place filled with green amongst the dull stone of the castle.

In order to gain the original seeds, Luna had been forced to sneak into a nearby town, and steal some from a distracted farmer. She never told this to Celestia, but she most likely knew anyway. Even though the elder alicorn disapproved of stealing and disobeying their parents’ wishes, it wasn’t as if Luna had done it for selfish reasons. They needed the food, and the farmer would never miss a few seeds. And after a time, the crops produced more that enough seeds to sustain itself each year.

Luna began walk amongst her fields, recasting a few spells that kept the soil hydrated here and there, and checking to make sure no pests had infested her charges. Not long ago, a swarm of parasprites had wandered past the castle’s defenses, and found their way into the garden. They had nearly destroyed everything when the little devils were discovered.

Luckily, she and Celestia had managed to drive them off before they had reached the center of the garden. Because if they had made it there, they surely would have eaten the crown jewels, so to speak, of her garden: the Moonlight Blossoms. The little flowers were her pride and joy, aside from the night sky of course. Through a combination of selective breeding and the occasional enchantment, Luna had managed to enable them to nearly entirely photosynthesize from moonlight. They also had an extraordinarily long lifespan, and stayed in bloom year round. As an unforeseen side effect, the unique flowers had developed a bluish hue, as well as emitting a soft glow. And they even gave off a special pollen that caused any living creature to glow themselves. While the effect was amusing at first, it had taken a while to create an antidote.

Tia was glowing for week after I found that little feature, Luna giggled at the memory, and she is still hesitant to go near them. Well, I did coat her favorite slide in the pollen. That may be a part of it.

The flowers seemed to be healthy, glowing in their usual shade. But something appeared to be different.

“Wait, are they glowing brighter than usual?” Luna wondered aloud. “Perhaps they are a new breed? No, that cannot be that, it is nowhere near the season for new blossoms…Could it perhaps be an omen? But what could it-”

Suddenly, a surge of pain swept over her like a wave, as if she had been trapped within a thundercloud.

What in the stupendous starry skies IS THIS!? She cried in mental anguish.

Luna was so dizzy could hardly stand, the world spun, and felt like she was about to vomit. She stumbled, almost falling onto her precious, delicate flowers, but managed to stagger away from the patch. Her teeth clenched so tightly she thought they may shatter. Again she stumbled, and collapsed, unable to stand against whatever force was assailing her. Her ears were ringing, louder and louder!

“Tia.” she whimpered, barely noticing the tears forming in her eyes, “Sister, help me…” Her wings began to flounder around on their own accord, like frightened, feathery fish.

Eventually, the ringing refined itself into a new sound.

Screams. Something was screaming.

Desperate to end this torture, she forced herself to stand, wildly turning her head from side to side, her barely focused eyes searching for the source of the cries. She saw nothing, no one. Only her garden. Where could it be coming from?

She glanced upwards, and witnessed a sight that turned her stomach, and reduced her nerves of steel to rubble. The stars, her stars, were up there, exploding into ironic, colorful displays. Each time one exploded, she felt as if someone had torn away a piece of her very soul. And with each detonation, the cries of those remaining grew louder, more desperate. Tears streamed down Luna’s face, helpless to stop whatever manner of beast or force responsible. The stars were afraid. The stars were dying.

It was horrifying.

Sour Milk

As the last of the colorful bursts faded into memory, Celestia sighed, and snuggled up closer to her new mismatched lover. After what had seemed like a blissful eternity, they had broken their tender kiss, and settled into the hillside to watch the breathtaking display that had taken place in the heavens.

For the first time in her life, she felt like someone understood her. Cared for her. Well, her parents had, but they had abandoned her years ago. And she supposed Luna did too, but she was her sister, so she didn’t count.

“Ooh, that was amazing, Dissy-dear!” she cooed.

Discord didn’t seem to paying much attention. He was still looking out at the sky, looking quite satisfied with himself. Certainly he was reveling in their shared experience. Certainly. Even though she herself was still feeling the tingling sensation that was most certainly love, she did want to talk to her soulmate. To learn more about him, and how he could do the amazing feats he had performed.

“Dissy! Did you hear me?” she said, poking him gently in the side.

His eyes quickly snapped into focus, and glanced in her general direction.

“Hm, yes. Amazing.” He grunted, and resumed his gaze out into the void.

“Dissy, you’re not paying attention to me!” Celestia pouted, puffing her cheeks in a huff. A dim memory of Luna doing the same thing when she was a filly and didn’t get a treat when she wanted surfaced briefly, before fading away again.

“Dear, don’t do this.” He groaned. But underneath the groan resided something else. Was it…a threat? No, it couldn’t be.

“No Dissy I will! It’s a beautiful night and want to talk with you! Like, how you do what you do, or who you really are-”
Discord’s head snapped around, as if not attached to the rest of his body, his eyes casting a glare that would make an Ursa Major turn tail. Celestia shrank back, suddenly fearful of her new lover. Was he angry with her? Had she said something wrong? She only wanted to talk, to whisper sweet nothings to each other until the unicorns lifted the sun. Was that so wrong? What was he going to do to her?
She received her answer in the form of a sharp strike of his paw on her cheek. Fortunately he hadn’t used the claws residing within, although the blow caused her eyes to lose focus briefly. Everything went blurry. When she had recovered from the blow, she couldn’t help but stare at him, and a hoof drifted to her jaw. Discord’s gaze met hers, as hard as stone. And after a tense moment, it softened. He brought his paw to her cheek to join her hoof. She flinched, fearing another strike. However, he gently caressed her stinging skin, his touch as light as feather, and as soft as velvet.

“I’m sorry I had to do that my dear.” he said in a voice that somehow was both a comfort and threat, “But you should know, I have quite the temper. Please understand, I know what is best for you. So you must do as I say.”

“B-but…” Celestia sputtered, her eyes beginning to well with tears, “W-why…? I just wanted…” She was unable to finish her thought, and broke down in a mess of sobs.

For a moment, that same hard look of frustration appeared on his face, but was quickly replaced with a whimsical grin.

“Oh, my dear…How about this?”

He snapped his talons, and with brief flash of light, a small pink cloud appeared. Discord’s grin grew wider.

“A peace offering.”

Celestia managed to stop her heaving shoulders for a moment in order to see what he was referring to. Perplexed, the alicorn inspected the little cloud, whose color bore an uncanny resemblance to her own mane. It appeared to simply be a pink cloud, which was not exactly a groundbreaking achievement in the arcane arts, but the longer she looked at it, the odder it became. Firstly, she detected a sweet, fruity aroma wafting from it. And Celestia had stood on clouds before, and this was nothing like that. This had a fluffy, spongey texture, and yet was a bit sticky to the touch. For some reason, she was compelled to take a bite, and she found it was indeed sweet, and instantly melted in her mouth. She had never tasted anything like this before!

Discord chuckled.

“I call it ‘Cotton Candy.’ And if you think that’s good, watch this.” He then removed his horn, which was apparently hollow inside. He positioned it underneath the cloud, and tapped the top of the fluffy oddity. With a surprisingly loud clap of thunder, it began to produce rain. Only this rain was…brown?

The draconequus offered the goblet(?) to her.

“Please, take a drink.”

Celestia was hesitant, but curiosity won out. After all he knew what was best for her, didn’t he? She took the container in her magic, and lifted it to her lips. A sweet, rich flavor greeter her. A flavor she recognized from long, long ago. She licked her lips.

“Is…is this…chocolate…?” She stuttered, simply astounded. She could almost feel her eyes sparkling.

“Indeed, my dear. Chocolate milk to be precise.” replied a rather smug Discord, casually brushing some of the sparkles off of his coat.
Celestia let out an audible gasp, awestruck at this marvelous feat of magic. To be able to combine milk, and the rare delicacy chocolate? Incredible! She herself and Luna had only had the luxury of tasting it once before, not long before their parents had vanished. They had just returned from a trip from the Jaguar jungles, and had brought it back as a gift for them. It had been a wonderful day!

…Hadn’t it? She found herself having difficulty remembering the details. How could she have trouble remembering one of her most cherished memories of her own parents? Celestia frowned, doubt bubbling up from beneath the surface. She felt as if she could almost remember, but then the memory would just slip from her grasp.

Discord seemed to notice.

“Is…something wrong, my dear?” He sounded…genuinely concerned, didn’t he? Weren’t those lines of worry etching themselves across his face?

“Oh it’s nothing, just having a bit of trouble remembering…certain things.” the alicorn said, not wanting to worry him. But wasn’t she mad at him just a moment ago? No, certainly not. Whatever could she be mad at him for?

“Oh, I’m sure it’s nothing important if you can’t remember it.” Discord said with a pleasant smile, taking his horn from her magical grasp. With a quick motion, the horn had become a handkerchief, a new horn having appeared on his head. He used the small piece of cloth to gently wipe away her tears. Had she been crying? Odd, she hadn’t even noticed.

“Yes, I think you’re right. Nothing important at all.” Celestia replied. She sighed. “You know, for a moment, I thought I was angry with you for a moment.” Discord tense slightly. “I can’t for the life of me figure out why though…” He relaxed again.

“I believe you were cross with me because I wasn’t paying attention to you. And you were absolutely right, so I conjured this little beauty,” he patted the cloud affectionately, “to make it up to you.”

“Oh yes, that must be it.” As soon as she said this, she was struck with realization and immediately adopted her puffy-faced pout again. “And don’t think a small monumental feat of magic the likes of which the world has ever known is going to make me forgive you so quickly.”
Internally, Celestia was ecstatic. Their first lovers quarrel! How wonderful! She had always found references to these in some of the romance novels in the extensive library back at the castle, she had never thought she would be able to experience one!

She was so enraptured by her thoughts, she didn’t notice Discord’s serpentine form wrapping itself around her until it was too late. She was swept up in a tight embrace, her face and his mere inches from one another.

“Oh, is that so?” He sounded so smug. What was he planning? “Then…how about…” He lifted his talon to the tip of her horn. “…this?”

Her face fell. She knew exactly what he meant. Her breath became quick and ragged. She broke out in a cold sweat. Her wings flared out, and her tail began rapidly swishing back and forth. A small part of tried to resist, tried to hold back. She couldn’t let him win so easily! She wouldn’t!

But she did.

“YES YES I FORGIVE YOU! PLEASE DO IT PLEASE!!!”

She surprised herself with this display. She wanted this, she needed this.

Her patchwork partner grinned. “Very well, my dear.” He touched her horn again. The now-familiar rush of electricity surged through her body once again, exciting every nerve in her body. “But we must be careful.” As it had done before, his talon began its slow decent towards her forehead. “We wouldn’t want you getting addicted to this, now would we?”

Despite his voice returning to the world-consuming rumble it had during the first time, Celestia did not hear his words. Or rather, she heard them, but she just didn’t care. She would do whatever it takes do experience this again and again, whatever it takes to please him.

Because she was in love.

Concerns

Luna rubbed her eyes, and sighed. She didn’t know how long ago she had recovered from the stars exploding, a few hours at least. She had spent all the time since then in the library. Hundreds of books and tomes surrounded her, forming a sort of fortress around her. Some were open, others had had anything that could serve as a bookmark shoved in them. Paper covered in scribbles that barely made any sense were strewn about, most waded up and thrown in frustration.

She was tired. Exhausted, actually. But she couldn’t stop. She had to find some monster, some spell, some thing, able to cause the horrific event she witnessed. The stars had literally exploded. Only something of immense power could achieve this, and it was still out there. And if they would destroy something as beautiful as the stars, she had no doubt that whatever it was had ill intent.

The most she had found was a biography of a biologist by the name of Wild Plains. Apparently, he had left the known regions to find new species on countries previously unknown. He was unheard of for years, and presumed dead until he wandered into a remote village, completely raving mad. The rest of his days were spent in an insane asylum, spouting gibberish. What had made this interesting was the last thing he wrote. A mess of scribbles, all repeating the same words: ‘Chaos,’ ‘Disorder,’ and something he called a ‘Draconequus.”
Upon further investigation, she had found that the village he had wandered into and spent the rest of his life in was the very village that was closest to the Everfree Forest.

Could that village have some connection to this catastrophe? But, the ponies there loved nature, and the skies, day or night…Didn’t they? Why would they do this? How could they this? The village was mostly Earth Ponies, with only a few Unicorns and Pegasi. There was no way they could do this…Perhaps they had joined with a dragon? They did have mighty magic indeed, and that could possibly be the reason for such an outlandish name as ‘draconequus.’ A rambling madman mixing the names of those responsible for his madness, perhaps?

Luna groaned, and tried in vain to rub away the pain in her head. It was still throbbing from earlier, and the added frustration of her failure to find the answer did not help. She had always been more of a ‘hooves on’ kind of pony. Celestia had always been more into books than her, and was better at research. Where in Tartarus was she!?

The sound of clicking of hooves echoing throughout the halls of the castle snapped her out of her internal rant. She jumped from her place at the table, sending a few books and papers scattering around the area, and rushed out of the library.

Knowing the castle as well as she did, she quickly found the source of the sound.

There Celestia was, skipping merrily through the castle halls, wearing a silly grin, as if there was nothing wrong in the world.
“TIA! TIA! I MUST DISCUSS SOMETHING WITH-” Luna yelled as she rushed towards her sister, almost in a frenzy.

The white alicorn cut her off with a pleasant smile.

“Oh, hello Luna! I have something I must tell you as well. Tonight I found-“

“THERE’S NO TIME FOR THAT!!” screamed Luna, reaching the end of her already shortened patience, and almost ready to strangle her sister for her apparent lack of concern for the current crisis.

“Alright, alright Luna, if it’s that important to you, you can go first. Goodness, you have no patience.”

This comment made Luna pause out of shock. Usually Celestia was so good at picking up on her mood. But, the pause only lasted a moment.

“Tia, the stars literally exploded! ALL OF THEM!” Luna exclaimed, and waited for her sister to spring into action, and help solve this calamity.

Only she didn’t. She merely glanced out the window out at the sky.

“Oh dear, so they have. I must not have noticed earlier. What a shame.”

This time, the pause lasted a little longer than a moment.

“W-what? That’s it? ‘What a shame?’ And how could you not notice?” Luna managed to squeeze out. “And how can you be so DAMNABLY CALM ABOUT THIS!?”

“Actually Luna, I believe you are overreacting. You can simply make them again, can you not?”

“W-well, yes I can but that isn’t-“

“Then there isn’t a problem, is there?”

“B-but something made them explode! We have to find the cause and end it immediately!”

Celesia gave an exasperated sigh.

“Very well, I shall cast a spell to locate the cause.”

Luna felt a wave of relief wash over her as Celestia ignited her horn. Surely, she would find the cause of this. Luna’s magic was nothing compared to her sister’s and nowhere near as elegant. Waves of golden light flowed from her horn like liquid fire, cascading around her, causing her rose mane to flow in a wind all its own. As the light grew in intensity, Luna suddenly felt a twinge of doubt enter her mind. Tia hadn’t done any research on this, and had apparently only learned about this whole situation a minute ago. How could she possibly know what to look for?

These doubts were forced out of her mind as the light became blinding, and a slight ringing started in her ears. The light grew brighter and brighter, until suddenly, it suddenly vanished. And Celestia stood pointing a hoof-

-directly at her.

“T-tia? I don’t understand…” Luna stammered, unable to comprehend her sister’s meaning of this display.

Celestia raised her brow, and gave Luna an accusatory look.

“Did not cross your mind that, perhaps, you were the cause? Perhaps when you were trying too hard to make the night sky your personal art project, and inadvertently caused the very thing that had worried you so?”

She lowered her hoof, and leaned down towards they were at eye level.

“You. You are the cause. Nothing more, nothing less. Now-” her face shifted to the same silly expression that she had held when she had arrived. “-I will tell about my night.”

A flurry of emotions rushed through Luna’s mind at her sister’s accusation. Shock, Sadness, Denial, Betrayal, Self-Doubt. But mostly Rage. Innumerable responses clamored for her favor, and she attempted to choose one that would make a suitable retort, but none could match how insulted she felt. After a few moments of incoherently sputtering out of anger, she finally let out a sigh, suddenly feeling too weary to argue. Obviously, she wasn’t going to be helpful in this endeavor, but she might as well extend the courtesy of hearing what she had to say.

“Very well, whatever.”

Celestia’s grin grew even wider, and she leaned in close to Luna’s ear, as if there was someone to overhear their conversation.

“I met someone.” She whispered, “On my hill.”

Luna’s jaw dropped, and her and her eyes widened.

“WHAT!? Have you lost your mind!? Did you forget what Mother and Father told us!? We gave our word that we would never let anypony-“

Celestia cut her off.

“Ah, but he is not a pony. His name is Discord. And he is so sweet and thoughtful, and he understands how I feel about not being able to talk to anyone…Well, except for you, but we always share everything. With him, everything is just so new!” She gave a wistful sigh. “He’s just…perfect.”

Luna opened her mouth to argue, but Celestia continued prattling on about this ‘Discord,’ and began regaling her with the story of how they had met. She seemed ecstatic about the whole thing, and so much more animated than she had been in recent memory. She felt as though she should feel happy for her sister, but she couldn’t shake a feeling of dread hanging over her, like a dark, unseen predator, ready to strike; she just didn’t like the sound of any of her sister’s tale.

“And he’s so intelligent! He even knows a lot about alicorns, and things even we didn’t know about ourselves! Here, let try something he showed me. It’ll feel really good, I swear.” Before Luna could object, she was buried under a white blur. As she recovered from the attack, Celestia touched the tip of her horn with a hoof, and then proceeded to drag it slowly down its length, to finally come to rest in her forehead.

While it did feel slightly odd (as most ponies’ horns tended to be a bit sensitive), she could not describe the feeling as ‘pleasurable.’ Seeing that the strange act did not produce the desired effect, the elder sister (while still resting on the younger’s barrel) tried again. And again. And again. Each failed attempt brought about another, each one faster and harder than the last. With each repetition, Luna’s head began to feel more and more like a blacksmith’s anvil, with Celestia’s sledgehammer of a hoof continuing its merciless onslaught.

Just as it seemed Celestia was about to dent her sister’s skull, she gave up.

“Shoot. I don’t think I can do it right.” She said dejectedly, her face falling into a rather childish pout. “And it’s so wonderful, I wanted you to feel it too…” She gazed mournfully at her hooves. “I suppose pony hooves simply are not up for the job. I guess you would need talons to do it…”

Then, her face lit up.

“I know! I’ll invite him here! I know he’ll love it here, and I know you’ll love him too! I’m going to meet back at the hill tomorrow, he said he had a surprise for me, and I’ll ask him then!”

She let out a high-pitched squeal, and began bouncing down the hall. “Oh there is so much to do! We have to make this run-down old castle presentable! Maybe when he gets here, he could help with fixing some of the holes in the roof! Did I mention that he is a powerful mage as well? Because he is! He make anything you can dream of out of thin air! Oh yeah!” She stopped and rushed back to where Luna was sitting, still stunned at her usually sensible sister make a fool of herself. Celestia reached into her make, and seemed to pull out a rather large chunk. However, it seemed to have been simply stuck to it, as she winced in pain slightly, and a few strands of mane were stuck to it.

“It’s called ‘Cotton Candy,’ and look!” she tapped like a raincloud, and a brown liquid began pouring out onto the floor. “It rains milk, only it tastes like chocolate! This is proof that he is powerful indeed!”

Luna had admit, however begrudgingly, that Tia was right about that. Although she didn’t dare to taste whatever this…thing produced, she could tell by the scent that this wasn’t simply on odd-colored cloud and rain. It seemed to be as her sister had claimed. But something like that shouldn’t be possible. Creating things out of nothing? Unheard of. For any kind of transmutation spell, one had to start with something. Summoning spells required sigils, and often offerings, to call even the smallest of targets fourth. The fundamental principles of magic, science and order stated that these sort of feats were impossible.

Hmm…Order…

Suddenly realization struck her. Order could not allow this, but what about chaos? Wasn’t that one of the words that poor Wild Plains had fixated on in his last days? Along with ‘Disorder’ and…some kind of odd creature as well? It was a longshot, she knew, but she felt this may be what she was looking for.

“Um, Tia? Can I ask you something?”

Celestia, who had continued rambling on about Discord despite only having known him for a single evening, stopped and gave Luna a pleasant smile. “Of course Lulu, what is it?’

Luna scratched the back of her head, trying to think of how to phrase her question.

“You mentioned that this ‘Discord’ wasn’t a pony, correct?”

Celestia cocked her head to the side, with a puzzled and slightly suspicious look on her face. “Yes, he is not a pony. Is that a problem?”

Luna quickly shook her head. “Nono! Not at all! I was just wondering, what is he? Griffons don’t travel this far west often, and zebras are rarely so forthcoming with their magic. If he is to visit, I would at least like to know what kind creature to allow past the castle’s defenses.”

Celestia relaxed, her warm smile returning. “Oh yes of course! How silly of me to forget that!”

As she looked Luna dead in the eyes, she noticed for the first time that her sister’s violet eye’s look rather dull, as well as her coat and mane. And to add to that, her expressions, while exuberant, seemed almost...false, even forced. Luna’s unease continued to grow, dreading the answer Celestia would give.

“He’s a Draconequus.”

As soon as Celestia hopped off to prepare for their visitor, Luna hurriedly returned to the library.

She had a lot of work to do.

Date Night

Ordinarily, Celestia would have taken her time in the trek between the castle and her little hilltop, but not tonight. She was far too excited to see her Dissy-Wissy again to dawdle on some simple path. She rushed through the overgrowth and mud puddles, eager to see what wonders he would enchant her with this time.

Only once she reached the hill, no one was there.

“Dissy? Dissy-Wissy? Where are you?” she called. For what could have been minutes or hours, she continued to call out, but no one answered her. With each passing moment, her calls became more and more like agonized wails.

Where was he? Could he have stood her up? But why would he do that? Tears began to well in her eyes.

Well, we did have an argument yesterday…Didn’t we? I think we did. But we made up, so why would he still be mad at me…?

As sobs began to quake through her body, she sank to the ground, and tried to staunch the wet flow of her misery by covering her eyes with her hooves. She only succeeded in smearing the mud left from the journey all across her face.

“Why?” she wailed. “Why would he-whuh?” Her lament was interrupted by a realization that her flank suddenly seemed much lighter. She raised her head to glance behind her…to find that her tail had vanished without a trace.

“Hello, my dear.” Said a deep, melodious voice beside her.

Celestia gasped, and whirled a head around to source of the voice. And there he was! He hadn’t abandoned her after all! And…he was wearing her tail…as a gaudy feather boa…? Oh well, that didn’t matter, her Dissy-Wissy had come back for her! She leapt into his waiting embrace, her tears now those of joy. Well, his embrace wasn’t exactly waiting, as he was engrossed in posing with her tale wrapped around his shoulders. As a result, he couldn’t quite catch her, and they both tumbled down the side of the hill, coating themselves in mud and twigs.

Not that Celestia cared. All was right with the world, she had her scrambled sweetheart back. She hugged his thin body tightly, and buried her face deep into his chest.

“Dissy! I was so scared, I thought you had left me forever!” she cried between her ecstatic sobs.

Discord didn’t immediately reply. Instead, he gave her an annoyed glare as he snapped his talons to clear himself of the debris, causing Celestia to pull back, giving a nervous laugh to try and dissolve whatever situation she had created. Her cheek tingled, remembering the strike she had received the previous night. Instead, he smiled. He began to chuckle. Then, exuberant laughter! Celestia began to laugh with him, no longer fearing his retaliation. After a few moments of mirth, they began to calm down.

“Oh my dear, I am so sorry I kept you waiting. I had to make sure everything was in place for tonight.” Discord said, looking deep into her eyes,

“And in a way, I’m glad I did! If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have found out you could be so strong!” He cackled again, causing nearby trees to lose a sizable portion of their leaves.

Celestia giggled a bit more as well. But then she remembered something.

“Dissy, didn’t you say that we were doing something special tonight?”

His eyes lit up with a devilish glee. He leaned in close, and guided her head towards the tree line. She realized they were near the very edge of the forest. In the distance, the lights of the town could be seen.

“Have you ever been to town?” he said with a grin.

Something deep in Celestia’s mind stirred. She pushed away.

“B-but…I was told…to keep hidden.” Discord’s grin fell slightly.

“Oh, come now dear. Surely you can be naughty this one time?” He said, grabbing her hoof, and pulling her towards the edge of the forest.

The stirring increased, causing her to dig in her hooves into the ground. Her head began pounding, and she wrapped her hooves around her ears in a futile attempt to stop it.

“No, no! I can’t! I promised my parents I wouldn’t go to town!”

Discord frowned. A chill ran down her spine, and her cheek tingled, fearing what he might do next. After a few moments, he sighed.

“Very well, I suppose I can’t ask you to break a promise.” He snapped his talons, and Celestia was surrounded with light. When it faded, she found that her appearance had changed. She was now a dark brown pegasus with a red mane.

“How…?” she said her now blue eyes widening.

“It doesn’t matter. If no one will know that you’re an alicorn, it wouldn’t be breaking your promise, would it?” He tapped his chin. “No no, this won’t do. Let’s try again.”

He snapped his claws again. Now her coat had become a creamish color, and her mane had become much longer than before, and was now a slightly different shade pink. Her horn was gone, three pink and blue butterflies had become her cutie mark.

“Oh, my…” she said in a soft voice.

“Oops. Spoilers.” Snap.

A black earth pony, with a crimson mane.

“Too edgy.” Snap.

A stallion version of herself. It felt weird.

“…” Snap.

This went on for several minutes, and Celestia passed through several more changes, including violet unicorn, a grey pegasus with a crooked eye, and so on. Eventually, Discord settled on a simple white pegasus with a bright yellow mane and a sunflower cutie mark.

He appeared behind her, and started pushing her towards the tree’s edge. “Perfect! Now let’s go, let’s meet the townsfolk!”

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

About an hour later, Celestia sat rather large mushroom (that had previously been a windmill), sipping a glass of chocolate milk, watching Discord spread merriment and whimsy across the town. The townsfolk where running around like mad, yelling with joy. They had to be. Everything was so much better this way, wasn’t it?

His pink clouds filled the sky as they rained down their sweet, rich goodness, and the land was a blue and green checkerboard pattern. The trees were covered in polka dots. Waterfalls from the nearby mountains flowed upwards, which were now lime green. A few cottages spun slowly in the air, as fish flitted about amongst the pegasi attempting to free the trapped occupants. As they should, all deserved to join in this marvelous time.

And Discord himself was overjoyed as well! He was happily skipping around the town, casting his magic wherever he thought needed a bit an improvement. A purple squids on some sort of shoes with wheels on them stumbled past, causing Celestia to giggle, and almost choked on her milk. They were clumsy yes, but they would learn. After all, this was better than way it was before.

Wasn’t it?

Yes, of course it was. Dissy wouldn’t do anything that wasn’t for the best. He would never.

“Isn’t it wonderful, my dear?” said Discord, appearing behind her in his usual fashion. Celestia sat her glass down beside her. It promptly sprouted legs and leapt into the air, landing on a fish that happened to be flying by, and rode it off into the fifth or sixth sunset of that night. Or was it seven? She had honestly lost count. She smiled.

“Yes Dissy, it is! So much more exciting than it ever was before.”

“And this little village is just the beginning! Soon I will spread this new age throughout all of Equestria!” He began to cackle.

Then, he took her hooves in his hands, and gazed deep into her eyes. He raised a new talon that had appeared from nowhere, and snapped it. The mushroom shifted itself into a glorious outdoor cathedral. A few more snaps, and Discord was wearing a crisp suit with matching gloves and a top hat. Celestia herself was in her own form again, now wearing magnificent white gown that fit her perfectly. Discord produced a small box from withing his collar, and presented it to her. She took it in her magic, and opened it.

Within was the most beautiful diamond ring she had ever seen.

“With you by my side, of course.”

Celestia couldn’t move. Was he actually…?

She leapt into his arms and kissed him.

“YESYES OF COURSE!” she squealed once she finally pulled away. “This is greatest day of life! I can’t wait to tell Luna!”

Discord gave a cocky grin.

“Oh? And here I thought you had never met anyone outside of your castle before myself. Who might this ‘Luna’ be?”

“She’s my younger sister!”

His grin fell like a stone.

“…Sister…?”

Suddenly Celestia felt…nervous. She took a step back.

“Y-yes…I must have forgotten to mention her before now…” She felt so stupid! How could she have forgotten to mention her own sister?

Discord glowered at her for a moment, then smiled again. But she didn’t think it was his usual grin. This one seemed more…sinister. Must have been her imagination.

“Well then, I think it’s time I meet my future sister-in-law.”

Meeting the Inlaws

Luna had thought that she had left the library a mess before Celestia had returned the previous night. Tonight, however, she had made it resemble the result of magical fallout. Complete, and total destruction, centered in a certain area. Because now, she had a specific subject, instead of randomly grabbing a book. And that subject was the name that appeared in both the biologists’ and her sisters’ testimony: draconequus.

However, her search had provided little more than it had the night before. Despite the more focused search, she was frustrated by the lack of results. Every so often she found a mention of the creature, usually something to the effect of ‘Very bad, avoid at all costs,’ which served to worry her more.

Her own sister had seemed to have encountered a draconequus, and had been somehow affected by its mysterious powers, and Luna wanted to find out how to save her.

So far, nothing.

As she finished the final page of the final tome that had any relevance to the problem at hoof, she sighed loudly. She had run out of options, and was quickly running out of time. Not just because of Celestia’s plan to bring this creature into their own home, but she feared that whatever charm she was under would soon become permanent.

“I have to think of something.” Luna said to no one in particular. “What could possibly defeat a being that seems to thrive off of pure, unbridled chaos?”

She sat on her haunches, suddenly feeling exhausted. And rightly so, as she realized that she hadn’t slept since her ‘conversation’ with Tia the night prior. A growl reminded her that she hadn’t eaten, either. Deciding that she wouldn’t be able to help her sister if she starved to death, she rose from place on the floor, briefly taking notice of the impressions of her hooves had left on the floor. She would have to remember to take care of those after everything was over.

Opting to stretch her stiff wings, she lifted off and took to the sky by way of a nearby window. She soared through starry sky, relishing in this brief reprieve.

And then the stars were gone. Again.

She stopped short in the air, nearly plummeting to the ground in shock. She feared the ‘Discord’ had destroyed them again, but the sun rocketed from the horizon, only to be literally knocked back down by the moon. The sun countered, rising again at incredible speeds, sending the moon spinning across the sky. The moon recovered quickly and charged, intent on reclaiming its rightful time in the sky, backed up by a squadron of stars. Again and again the two celestial bodies clashed, rapidly shifting the sky from day to night.

Luna groaned. Discord, she thought. It has to be. Even Celestia has trouble moving the sun at normal speed, let alone at this velocity. Well, at least he’s occupied.

She descended to her garden quickly, intending to only stay for a quick snack, and then back to her research. If she had any time to spare before, she had just lost it.

She trotted briskly though the small assorted fields, searching for anything that seemed ripe. She settled on some apples that hung from a nearby tree. They were sweet and juicy, and exactly what she needed to continue on.

After eating her fill, she moved to return to her work, but was stopped by the sound of hooves approaching. Was that Celestia? Had Luna really spent that much time working? With the sun and moon brawling above, it wasn’t hard to lose track of time.

And if Tia’s back, she thought, that means…him.

“Luna! We’re here!” Celestia called as she entered the room with…what she assumed was this ‘Discord.’ She wasn’t a biological expert, but she honestly couldn’t understand how this creature could possibly function with so many different body part shoved together.

It…he walked next to Celestia, looking about with a grin that Luna found…unsettling. Celestia’s condition seemed to have worsened. Her coat, mane, and eyes had lost more color. She looked even more tired, and seemed to be out of breath. Though if she had noticed, she didn’t let it bother her. She even stumbled every hew steps. Yet, her empty, denial-filled grin was still plastered on her face. She trotted her way over to Luna, with Discord trailing behind examining the various plants in the garden.

Celestia wrapped her hooves around her sister, their altercation from the previous night seemingly forgotten. Luna couldn’t help but notice her sister’s usual spine-crushing grip was more akin to wearing a light scarf, and returned the embrace, trying not to squeeze too hard. After a moment, she pulled away and looked back to where Discord had been standing.

He had vanished. The two alicorns looked around, trying to find were he had gone.

Suddenly, Luna felt a weight on her back. She reared up, letting out a rather undignified squeal, and began bucking about, trying to shake off whatever was on her.

“YEEE-HAAAAWWW! Ride ‘em cowboy!” a voice yelled. Luna stopped and looked at her back. And there was Discord, wearing a ridiculously large hat, a cow print vest, and spurs. Then she realized that she wearing a saddle and bridle. She could almost feel her mind stop working.
Celestia sat nearby, trying to hide her giggling. It didn’t last long. Judging by her boisterous laughter, she apparently found this nonsense hilarious. As did Discord, because his maniacal cackling erupted from his place on her back. Luna spat out the bridle, giving it a look of contempt.

“You must be Discord.” she said, trying her best to at least pretend to be civil. “I have heard…a lot about you.” He jumped off her back, did a triple somersault, and made a perfect landing, now wearing a sparkling pink leotard. Off to the side, a table had appeared, and seated where three smaller versions of himself in various outfits. Upon his landing, all three held up signs with the number ten printed on them, and loud cheer erupted from seemingly nowhere. He turned to face Luna, the same disturbing grin on his face.

“You have, have you? Well then, that means the you have the advantage over me,” he said, “as your sister only just mentioned you a short time ago.” He glared at Celestia, who flinched in response. “And I don’t like being at a disadvantage.” Judging by her reaction and Discord’s icy tone, Luna suspected that despite his foolish behavior, he was not one to be trifled with.

He snapped his eagle talons, and the room returned to the state it had been before his arrival. He glanced around the garden again. His face showed nothing. Luna could see, even if her sister couldn’t, that he was a clever one. An opponent you cannot read is a dangerous one.
“This garden…it doesn’t seem like it could have grown here on its own. Everything is too…” he pawed at a nearby lilac bush, and betrayed a look of disgust, “orderly.” The poor bush then promptly let out an unnatural wail and withered away. Luna let out gasp, and a look of horror streaked across her face. She looked to Celestia for aid, but it seemed she had been distracted by a passing cloud of pink and blue butterflies.
Discord smirked.

“And judging by your reaction, I’d say you were its grand architect.”

“I...Yes I was. And I would appreciate it if you would stop destroying it.” Her voice wavered as she tried in vain to sound authoritative. She tried to hide it, but she was fearing this monster’s power with each demonstration.

He noticed, and mocked her with a false look of innocence. He even conjured a fake halo held up with wire.

“Destroy? Mwah? Oh heavens no!” he continued his façade by donning a white robe, and rose into the air via a rope while strumming an out-of-tune harp. “I only have the purest and most noble of intentions for you and all you hold dear!” He gazed around the room from his vantage point, like a malevolent god. “In fact, I will help you…improve it.”

He raised his talons. He was about to do something, something terrible! In desperation, Luna launched a spell at him, not caring what it was. It turned out to be a concussive blast, which sent him flying across the room. He seemed to land…

A pit of dread formed in her stomach. That blast had sent him to the middle of the garden. Toward her most prized possession.

The moon lilies.

She galloped to the center almost in a blind panic. Then she noticed that Celestia was right next to her, and seemed to be scolding her.
“Why did you do that!? He going to help make your garden better, and you BLAST HIM!? I’ll be lucky if he ever speaks to me again! Ugh, you why have you been such a pain lately! First you ruin your own night sky, and then you blast my boyfriend! I can’t believe you turned out to be such a brat!”

Luna did her best to tune her after that, and to remind herself that her sister’s words were the work of Discord’s curse.

…She hoped…

They finally reached the center of the garden, to find a Discord standing in the middle of the patch of glowing flowers. It seemed their pollen could affect him as well, because he was glowing as blue as they did.

He seemed…perplexed. As if he didn’t quite understand what was happening. Celestia began to giggle. And Luna had to admit that he looked someone humorous like that. As they both began to snicker, Discord’s eye came into focus. He glared at them, silencing them both.

“So, you think this is funny, do you?” he growled, any joviality he had had gone. Celestia began to back away, trembling even more that earlier.

“I-I…You…It’s kinda…” she stuttered, too afraid to properly form a sentence.

“You do think this is funny. Don’t you?” he said again, with enough force to send them both sprawling backwards. He began to stretch and swell, growing greater in size and length. His eye burned with hellfire, and the glow flew off him, as if in terror, and changed to an angry shade of red, making it look like fire swirled around him.

“Well, if you think this is so funny, then how would you like it if the joke was ON YOU!?” he inhaled, and released a breath with the force of a hurricane at them sending a maelstrom of pollen at them. The wind clawed at Luna’s eyes, and each bit of pollen that struck her felt like an arrow strike.

When the winds calmed, Discord stood in his normal size amongst the flowers, which had now lost their lovely blue glow. Luna looked at hooves, expecting to bear that glow. But she didn’t. In fact, what she saw astounded her. Her colors had inverted themselves! Her coat had become a sickening green, and her mane a rotten orange color. Her colors, her beautiful colors that reminded her of the night sky she tended, the one physical thing about herself she treasured, ruined!

“What…what did you do?” she said half-consciously, hot tears beginning to well up in her eyes.

Discord polished his claws on his chest fur with a smug grin.

“Oh, I simply changed the effect of those flowers to play a little prank on those who wander into their patch. I believe I have fulfilled my promise of improvement. And improvement deserves an improvement on the name.” He stroked his beard. “How about…Poison Joke?”
Nearby, Celestia could be heard in uproarious laughter. Her horn had doubled in length, and resembled a wet noodle, and her wings had become miniscule, rendering them useless.

“Oh my goodness, Lulu! This is wonderful! Those flowers are some much better now, aren’t they?” She said in between bursts of laughter.

Luna stared at her sister. How…How could she say that? She knew how much work she had work she had put into them. Had Tia truly fallen so far that she couldn’t remember? Or did she simple not care anymore? Her tears began to flow unrestrained. However, through her sadness, something else began to surface.

Rage.

How dare Celestia ignore her feelings!? She KNEW that those flowers were her pride of the garden. She KNEW that she prided herself in her coat. She KNEW that she WOULD NEVER RUIN HER OWN NIGHT SKY! And now she was laughing her!? As her anger grew more intense, she felt that she was about to boil the tears off her face.

Discord, ever the observant, noticed her. He pulled Celestia close.

“Well, my dear, I’m afraid I must take my leave. It seems your sister is about to blow.” He snapped his talons, and there was a bright flash of light. When it cleared, he had vanished from the room. Celestia stared at Luna.

“What did he mean? Are you angry or something?”

She wanted to respond. She wanted to yell, she wanted to knock the sense back into her sister. She wanted to do something.

But the way Celestia stared at her, with eyes once filled with the light of intelligence and wisdom now blank and vapid. Looking at that empty gaze, her rage suddenly vanished. To see the sister she had admired so much reduced to the level of a love struck adolescent simply drained her.

As she walked slowly away from the garden, she heard Celestia calling after. She didn’t care. She was too tired, too numb.

After a time, she realized that she had wondered back to the door to the library. Within, she could see the remains of her fervent research, and wondered if she should continue the effort.

Why bother? Sister obviously doesn’t want to return to her original self. She thought forlornly. She doesn’t even know that there’s anything wrong. What could defeat a beast that can make a pony such as my sister the exact opposite of herself?

She stopped.

“Wait…Opposite? That’s it!” she exclaimed. Feeling renewed, she rushed to the library and lit her horn. Books and tomes flew about, some removing themselves from the table, and others took their place.

“If you fight fire with fire, you just make a bigger fire.” She said to no one as she flipped through various books, knowing exactly what she was looking for. “In order to counter fire, you use water. Its opposite.”

She soon found what she was looking for. An old weathered storybook that their parents had once read to them. Luna smiled as she read the title.

The Tale of the Tree.

Headache

Celestia trotted through the halls of the castle, searching for her sister. She had checked her chambers, but she wasn’t there.

As Luna had stormed off, she hadn’t answered her questions on why she had done so. Maybe she not had heard them. So her search had begun.

Even though she had found the changes the altered flower pollen had caused quite humorous, she had realized soon after Discord’s departure that hers tended to get in the way. So she had paused briefly to make up some of the antidote, which fortunately still countered the affects. Since Luna had run off so quickly, she suspected that she hadn’t cured her color change, and had decided to make and extra dose for her.

Her hoofsteps echoed as she searched, and she began to grow frustrated.

Where could that foolish filly have gone? I’ve checked all her usual brooding places. She thought bitterly. With Luna’s usual haunts checked and eliminated as possibilities, she had begun wandering the castle at random. At this point, she found herself near the library. To her surprise, she heard someone within. How odd, she thought, she rarely goes in there.

As she entered, she was surprised by the state the room was in. The books were strewn about haphazardly, with Luna at its center, fast asleep. As Celestia suspected, her sister still had her mismatched color scheme. She trotted over, curious as to what she was doing. Scattered around the table Luna was seated, there were maps and charts depicting every known region in the world, most of which were covered in illegible scribbles.

Luna stirred in her sleep, and lifted her head. She glanced around, as if she had forgotten where she was. Her gaze found Celestia, and her eyes snapped into focus.

“Sister! What are you doing here?” she said, with a nervous hint to her voice.

“I could ask you the same thing.” Celestia said, raising an eyebrow.

Luna’s eyes darted to a book on the table. It looked like she had fallen asleep on it. And as quickly as she had looked at it, she looked away. She obviously didn’t want to speak on the topic, so Celestia decided against pressing the issue for now.

“I noticed you ran off after quickly. So I brought you this.” She said, levitating the flask over to Luna. “Even if your new color scheme is rather humorous, I thought you may wish to relieve yourself of it.”

Luna blinked, looked herself over, and blushed. She took the flask in her own magic, nodding her thanks.

“Oh. Yes. I must have forgotten to make the potion myself. I’ll go take care of this immediately.” She said quickly, and ran off to douse herself in the antidote.

Celestia took this opportunity to look at what Luna had been so hesitant to show her. The charts seemed to have been methodically crossed off, seemingly in search of a specific location. The weathered old book she had been sleeping on was at the center of it all, so she glanced at the title.

‘Tale of the Tree?’ That old storybook mother and father used to read to us at bedtime? Why she use this old fairytale of a magical tree for research material? She wondered. Is she trying to find it? Surely she knows it doesn’t exist, doesn’t she?

“Thank you sister! I am relieved to finally be rid of those horrendous colors.” Luna said as she trotted back into the library, casting a spell to dry herself. She had returned to her natural colors. When she reached the table, she noticed that she had left the book visible, and looked rather panicked for a moment. A long, awkward silence held in the air, as each alicorn tried to think of something to change the subject.

Celestia thought of it first. She remembered the news she had wanted to tell her sister earlier. How could she have forgotten to tell her? Well, things did pick up rather quickly when she and Discord had arrived. There hadn’t exactly a lot of time to talk. Feeling giddy at the thought, she gave her sister a warm small.

“Oh, Luna, I forgot to mention earlier, but there is something wonderful I have to tell you!”

Luna cocked her head, obviously curious as to what she had to say.

“What…what is it, Tia?”

Celestia rummaged through her mane (a lot of things seemed to make their way in there recently) until she found the beautiful ring Discord had given her. She placed on her horn and struck a dramatic pose.

“Discord proposed to me!” she exclaimed.

Luna eyes widened, and her jaw dropped.

“You can’t…you can’t be serious.” She stammered.

Celestia couldn’t help chuckling to herself. Of course this was the reaction she would be hoping for. In a moment, Luna would hug her, and congratulate her, and beg her to be the maid of honor, which she would graciously allow, and-

“You can’t be serious!” Luna said, interrupting her thoughts. She noticed an edge of hostility appearing in her voice. “You just met him YESTERDAY! And now you’re going to MARRY HIM!?”

Celestia frowned.

“Of course I am. I’m in love with him. And he loves me.”

“And how can you be so sure of that?” Luna said firmly.

“B-because it’s true love. I can feel it. He understands me…”Celestia replied, each word weaker than the last.

Luna sighed, her features hardening.

“No, he’s a charismatic trickster. He knows what to say to manipulate you. And he tried to do the same to me, you would have noticed if you had-“

Celestia whirled towards Luna, her eyes blazing.

“LIAR! HE LOVES AND I LOVE HIM AND THAT IS FINAL!” she screamed, causing the entire castle to shake.

Luna stepped back out of shock, but remained steadfast.

“Tia, please. He’s an evil, cunning beast that has tampered with your mind.” She said, her voice a tender whisper. “I beg of you, let me help you.” She gestured to the table and charts, as well as the storybook. “The Tree of Harmony and the Elements it bears can heal you, and put a stop to whatever plan Discord-”

Celesia cut her off.

“The Tree is an old fairy tale we were told as fillies. And even if it were real, there is no need to find it. Discord’s ‘plan,’ as you say, it to help ponies everywhere, to fill their lives with merriment and joy!”

Luna said nothing, instead lighting her horn and summoned a nearby crystal ball. She channeled her magic through the ball, until hazy pictures began to appear. A scrying spell. Eventually the image cleared, showing the state of the nearby village. Ponies were scurrying about, with all manner of creatures intermixed. It was almost as if looking into another world, completely foreign to their own.

“Merriment? Joy? I see none of that. I only see chaos and fear.”

Celestia shut her eyes tightly, as if that would cause it all to go away.

“No. NO! This is all for the best. All for the best…” she whimpered.

“The best? Do you think this the best? Look at this and tell me it’s for the best!”

“No…”

“Look at it!”

“NO!” Celestia cried, and sent the ball flying across the room to shatter on the wall. She had never felt like this before. Her mind was in turmoil, her thoughts clawing at each other in a violent, brutal conflict. As she tried to sort through the maelstrom of her mind, she had a thought.

“You…you’re jealous.”

Luna blinked.

“What?”

“You’re jealous.” Celestia said, lifting her head and glaring at her sister in the eye. “Jealous that I have found someone that loves me, and you’re all alone. Alone with silly stars and stupid flowers!”

Luna stared at her, looking like she had been struck.

“How…how could you say that? I…I only want to help-”

“Help? What could you do? You can barely lift the moon without passing out.” Celesita sneered.

“Sister, please!” Luna cried, tears welling up in her eyes. She called over one of the larger shards of the crystal ball and held it in front her Celestia’s face like a mirror. “Look at yourself! Whatever Discord has done to you, it’s getting worse!”

Celestia snorted and batted the shard away with her hoof.

“The only thing Discord has done to me is given me a future, something I could never have here, trapped by those foolish rules mother and father gave us.” She looked down at her little sister, sobbing and blubbering nonsense in protest. “Something I could never have with you.”

That was it. That was all Luna could handle. She was normally a strong-willed pony, but she had a tender heart. Never had her own sister spoken to her with such…contempt. With a loud wail, she pushed past Celestia out of the room, tears streaming down her face all the way. After she had gone, Celestia sat for a moment, trying to decide what to do next.

She decided stay angry.

“FINE!” she yelled after Luna, even though the blue alicorn was well out of earshot by now. “Run away! Shows how much you’re good for!”

With a snort of triumph, she lit her horn and teleported to her chambers, suddenly too weary to walk there. Upon her arrival, she nearly collapsed where she stood. She couldn’t be that tired from the argument, could she?

Forcing herself to move, she paced the floor, still brooding over what had been said.

Stupid little foal. After everything I’ve done for her, she has the gall, the audacity to…Ohhhh!

Discord messing with her mind? Ha! Nonsense! He would never-

…

Would he?

She tried to shake the thought away. Of course he would never-

But it was too late. The seed of doubt had been planted, and the same mental war from before began anew, even more intense this time. One side, the side loyal to Discord, tried to rip the seed from the soil of her mind and cast in to the flames of Tartarus itself. The other side, the side that made her think of her sister and her parents, were driving back the hordes that opposed them, and encouraged the seed to grow.

She wasn’t sure anymore which side she wanted to win.

A memory flashed before her mind. A recent one. From the fight with Luna. She had tried to show her something, something in that piece of the crystal ball. What was it? She had no idea, but Luna had made it sound important. Had she wanted to show her something?

She staggered over to her mirror, which stood nearby, and gazed at the pony it showed. Looking back at her was a pony she didn’t recognize.

It was an alicorn like herself, to be sure. But her coat was a dull grey, and her mane had only the faintest hint of pink, and both were matted and unkempt. Her eyes were dull as well, and held no spark of life or intelligence. The blazing sun which had once proudly adorned her flank was now faded, barely even recognizable as existing at all.

Was this pony truly her?

The bags under her eyes caused her to remember that she hadn't slept since meeting Discord, but simply missing one night’s sleep couldn’t have done this. She suddenly felt even more weary before.

What she noticed more, however, was the sudden pain.

The horde of Discord loyalists in her mind surged, as the seed of doubt rooted itself further in her mind. These thoughts seemed to be increasingly desperate to destroy this seed. They pressed their attack, almost breaking the defensive line of her memories. She felt like her mind would break with them as she watched helplessly from afar.

Just as the defensive line was about to give way, a light appeared. From it, two figures appeared. Two alicorns. The stallion, blacker than the darkest void, with a mane that seemed to be made of the cosmos themselves. The mare, her coat as the center of a star, and a mane made of starlight.

Her parents.

Together, they lit their horns, sending a wave of blinding light surging across the battlefield, wiping out the attackers entirely. The light continued, overwhelming her vision, blinding her.

She wasn’t sure how long she hung there in the endless white. She was scared. What was happening to her? Had she finally gone mad?

She wept, wept harder than she had ever had before in her life. Was now she lying on the floor of her room, with a line of drool running down her face? Had she completely lost her mind?

Was she even alive?

Do not fear, my child. A calming voice emanated from the void.

Two figures appeared before her, cloaked in darkness and light respectively.

“Mother, Father!” Celestia cried. She tried to run to embrace them, but no matter how far she ran, she could never get any closer to them.

We cannot speak for long, daughter. Her father’s voice resonated around her. Please listen. The world hinges upon what we must say.

Celestia blinked.

“What is it? What must I do?”

Luna was correct. Her mother’s voice this time. Your mind has been distorted by the chaotic magic of Discord, the Spirit of Chaos itself. We have purged his influence from your mind. Now it is up to you and your sister to stop him.

“But how? Why can you not help us?”

We have done all we can. We no longer have any influence on the material plane. It must be the two of you.

“But…what can I do?” Tears welled in her eyes. “I couldn’t even keep myself from being controlled…I’m worthless.”

The figure of light lowered its head towards her.

Celestia…you are far from worthless. You are key in saving the world, and Discord knows this. There few who can resist the charms of Discord. Fewer still who could resist his touch. He resorted to making contact because you were resistant to any other form of influence.

The figure of darkness nodded.

Had Luna not been suspicious of your behavior, she may have fallen for his charms, or his touch, as you did. It is not your fault. Think.

Celestia closed her eyes, and thought of everything that had happened since she had met Discord. At the time, she had seen nothing wrong with his behavior, and thought he was just being sweet. But now, with her head clear, she saw the truth.

Everything Discord did, he did for himself. It was all a means to an end, to remove her as a threat as to his plans. She opened her eyes, her resolve resolute.

“You…you’re right. It isn’t my fault. And we need to stop Discord.” She said, her voice growing stronger. Then she had a thought. “What do we do?”

The figures looked at each other, nodded, and spoke, their voices united.

The Tree. Seek the Tree of Harmony. Use the Elements it bears.

“The Tree? It exists? Where is it?”

You should know, we read you the story enough.

It was your favorite bedtime story.

“The Tale of the Tree…That old storybook has the answer? Why can’t you just tell me?”

You and Luna must find the answers for yourselves.

A tremendous force shook the air around her, as if reality was about to fall apart.

Our time here is at end. Remember all we have taught you, and that we love you both.

Farewell.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Luna laid on her bed, her tears staining the dark-colored pillows. She had been there since the fight. How long ago had it been, anyway? She had lost track. Not that she really cared anymore.

If Celestia couldn’t even see if there was a problem, how could Luna even begin to try to help her?

“I suppose I could try to find the Tree of Harmony on my own,” Luna answered herself “but I don’t even know where to look anymore…”

“I believe I do.” A voice said behind her.

Luna bolted upright and whirled toward the voice. There, in her restored glory, was Celestia. Her coat and mane were as vibrant as they ever had, perhaps even more. Her eyes were sparkling like gemstones, filled with wisdom and excitement, as well as a few tears. Luna’s own tears welled anew, and she leapt toward her sister.

“Tiiiaaaa!”

Celestia welcomed the embrace. Many tears were shed, and as many apologies where exchanged. After a few minutes of this, the sisters pulled apart, and looked into each other’s eyes.

“I’m so happy to have you back, Tia.” Luna whispered.

“And I am glad to be back. Thank you for not giving up on me.” Celestia whispered back, nuzzling her little sister.

Luna returned the gesture.

“But…how can we stop Discord?”

Celestia produced a book. The same book Luna had been studying earlier. The Tale of the Tree.

“This should have the answer.” She said

“How do you know? I’ve checked the story many times, and it never says where it could be.”

Celesta paused, a sad expression forming on her face.

“I had a vision. Of Mother and Father. They freed me of Discord’s influence, and offered me their guidance.” She said
Luna nodded solemnly, as Celestia opened to the final page. There the sisters read the last words:

And if the force of chaos should return,
Then the Elements you should earn.
Seek the Tree, but do not roam,
For Harmony is often close to home.

“’Close to home?’ I had thought that was a metaphor or something.” Luna said.

“Perhaps. But perhaps not.” Celestia said as she closed the book.

“But we have played in these woods all are lives. Where could it be?”

“Hm…Mother and Father seemed to have some insight on these events. If they had wanted us to find the Tree on own, then they would prevented us from find it before we needed to. Where we have we ever been forbidden from going?”

The two alicorns sat and pondered this for a while. The celestial bodies were still warring in the sky, so it was hard to tell how long they sat.

Luna cocked her head.

“Didn’t they say never to go in that chasm nearby?”

Author's Note

We're getting close to the end! Hope you enjoyed so far!

Heartache

The chasm wasn’t hard to find. It wasn’t far from their castle, and it was rather large. Any who knew the area like they did would have been able to find it with ease within a few minutes’ walk.

Before leaving, the pair had taken the time to find some saddlebags in a storage room, gathered a small amount of supplies, and set off. Neither Luna nor Celestia knew for sure what was in this chasm, so it would be best to be prepared, just in case.

Neither sister had said much on the way, opting instead to walk in silence. What more could be said at this point? Both knew what they had to do, and the risks involved in doing so. They had quickly found the gorge, its dark, foreboding presence stretched out as far as they could see, daring them to test its dominion.

The sisters paused at the edge of the dark abyss. They could feel the magic here, dispelling any light that might attempt to penetrate the chasm below. They looked at one another. With a solemn, wordless agreement, they spread their wings and descended into the darkness below. Because they didn’t know what could be down there, they decided to gently float down, instead of descending more quickly.

They knew that they were disobeying one of their parents’ wishes, and they knew that they would soon be disobeying more. Despite the fact that they had their permission to do this -in a way- it still felt...wrong. After so many years of following these rules, suddenly needing to break them was daunting.

As they floated slowly down, the prevailing darkness enveloped them, which was concerning. How would they find the Tree if they couldn’t even see their own hoof in front of their face?

To their surprise, as they neared the bottom, the darkness receded like a fog lifting in the morning. Although it was still dark, they could at least somewhat see. In fact, they could see a faint light shimmering in a grotto nearby. They knew what was there.

And they knew there was powerful magic at work here.

The alicorns were drawn to it, as if being beckoned by whatever lay ahead. As if something had been…waiting for them, and was excited that they were finally here.

It did not feel malicious, however. It felt…peaceful, welcoming even. As they breathed the cool, crisp air they felt more and more alive.
As they approached, the glow lead to a wondrous sight. An enormous tree, made entirely of crystal. Gems hung from the branches like leaves, with links of crystal hanging like ivy. The whole tree pulsated with light like a heartbeat, like it was alive.

Animals could be seen around the base of the tree, some scurrying about, and a few lounging on rocks or amongst the branches. Predators and prey alike, coexisting here, completely unaware of the life-or-death struggle that they would normally be a part of. A mutual, unspoken agreement of peace seemed to exist here.

The two sisters examined the tree more closely. About halfway up the trunk, two symbols could be seen, as if someone had carved them there: a sun and a moon. If there had been any doubt about what this tree was, the presence of their cutie marks removed them.

Luna gasped.

“The Tree of Harmony…” she whispered.

Celestia said nothing and flew up to the point where all the branches met, and ignited her horn. The center, which resembled a six-pointed star, gleamed at their approach, as if the Tree had recognized them. The pulsations quickened, and animals began to chitter and chirp in excitement, raising a grand, primal chorus that sounded…joyful.

It almost felt like the Tree was greeting them.

Luna felt a twinge of doubt. She had believed Celestia when she said she had been freed from Discord’s influence, but what if that had been a part of his plan? What if he knew about the Elements, the Tree, and had sent her own sister to destroy them? She had to make certain.

“Are you sure?” she asked, spreading her wings to join her sister in the air.

Celestia seemed to understand why she had asked.

“We have managed to discover the means by which we can defeat Discord, and free the citizens of Equestria.” She looked to the Tree, and used her magic to pluck the five colored gems from the branches like ripened fruit. They had an array of colors, of pink, light blue, a deep violet, crimson, and a yellowish orange. “Even without these Elements, the Tree of Harmony will possess a powerful magic.”

The animals fell silent, bearing witness to the events before them.

After the first five had been retrieved, the center of the tree opened, revealing another Element of the same pointed-star shape, and with a bright lavender hue. The animals scattered into the underbrush, startled at the sudden, unexpected change to the Tree. The pulses slowed, back to the way it had been when they had first arrived.

With all six Elements together, their collective magic resonated with one another with a quiet, high-pitched hum. They freed themselves from Celestia’s magic. They began to lazily circle the alicorns in the air.

Celestia smiled.

“As long as that magic remains, it will continue to control and contain all that grows here.”

Luna cocked her head and looked at her sister with confusion.

“Alright, you convinced me. But did you really need to go into the full explanation? I believe we both know what is happening.”

Celestia blinked, shook her head, and sighed.

“I am rather tired of being influenced in this manner.”

“What do you mean?”

“I believe the Tree wanted me to fully explain. I felt as if I was being watched, and the feeling stopped once I finished.”

“But why would it do that?” Luna said, glancing back to the Tree. It simply continued its glow, revealing nothing.

“I am not sure. But I do not think it was of malicious intent. Perhaps this place shall be needed again one day.” Celestia replied, floating back down to the ground.

“Hm. Perhaps.” Luna murmured, joining her sister.

“Whatever the reason, I does not matter now. We have what we need. The time has come.”

The landscape was worse than Celestia had remembered. Which may have been in part of Discord’s spell on her, but the damage had definitely worsened. As if to drive home this point, several schools of fish swam by in the air, weaving in and out of the trees, shrubbery and even houses floating lazily above.

Feelings of foreboding filled the two brave enough to venture forth through this nonsense. As they walked, they walk occasionally see a faint flicker of movement just outside of their vision. Likely the local townsfolk, doing their best to hide from a world gone mad. As soon as they appeared, they were gone. They weren’t likely to trust anyone or anything so long as Discord was around. All the more reason to end this.

The sun and moon had ceased their battle long ago, and now drifted aimlessly in the discolored sky, seemingly exhausted. Every few minutes or so, one would try to bump into the other, but usually gave up halfway. The stars were scattered about, some faded, others flickering, and others still were shattered into stardust. Luna paused, staring mournfully the sight. Celestia placed a reassuring hoof on her little sister’s shoulder. Luna tore her gaze away from the sky, and nodded her thanks.

They pressed on.

Ahead on a checker-boarded hill, a throne stood as a dark contrast to the purple sky. As the two alicorn sisters approached, an ominous cackle reverberated through the air, shaking reality like a cloth in the wind. With this laugh came a snap that seemed to echo throughout all of existence, and a few more cottages ripped themselves from the earth, rising up to join the others above. The two sisters did their best to ignore the terrified screams of those trapped within. They couldn’t help them, not now.

The throne (which appeared to be made of cardboard) spun around, revealing the monster behind it all, who seemed to be enjoying himself. He grinned at the two alicorns. The same, creepy grin that he flashed every time he was about to do something terrible.

And I thought that was charming? Celestia thought, disgusted with herself.

“Oho, this is so much fun! How about a game of ‘Pin the Tail on the Pony?” he laughed, holding up…what appeared to be Celestia’s tail…? Upon checking, she gasped at the fact that her tail had indeed vanished. However her surprise only lasted a moment. She composed herself, but was still wary. Both she and Luna knew that he was toying with them, like a cat that had caught a mouse out of its hole.

“Playtime is over for you, Discord!” she stated firmly as she and Luna stepped forward, nodding in agreement.

Discord did not seem impressed, let alone intimidated. Which, if Celestia was honest with herself, she was slightly disheartened. Despite the Elements, they would need every edge they could get. If Discord was confident, that was a bad sign.
He had produced a bag of…she couldn’t really tell what the contents were, black seeds-like objects of some sort, but since he was devouring them like a delicious treat (and scattering them randomly about as he did so) it didn’t seem important. Although, since it was Discord, it could have been anything.

“Oh, I doubt that.” He said in a bored tone. He tossed another seed from his bag into his grinning maw, and visibly shuddered in pleasure. He offered the bag to the two standing before him, sending several of the contents tumbling towards them.

“Hungry?”

Luna and Celestia stood resolute and unwavering, ignoring the few pellets that bounced off of their faces. They had their mission, and no snack was going to stop them. They were probably poisonous anyway.

“Suit yourselves.” he said, and resumed his snack. He seemed to forget that the two mares were even there.

Celestia said nothing. She had nothing to say to this beast that had manipulated and used her, and turned her against her own sister. Instead, she lit her horn, opening the saddlebag that she was carrying. From within, she withdrew three of the Elements. These three- the purple, the pink, and the six-pointed violet- had seemed to resonate with her, with her very being. Luna followed suit, revealing the crimson, orange, and light blue Elements that had responded to her.

This caught Discord’s attention.

“Ooo! What have you got there?” he asked, leaning forward and dropping his bag as he brought a talon to his chin, like a newborn foal that just seen their parents keys, or something equally shiny.

“The Elements of Harmony.” Celestia stated firmly, with only a hint of smugness. As she said this, the Elements began to circle her and Luna. It was all she could do not to smirk. She was going to enjoy this.

“With them we will defeat you!” Luna added defiantly, as the Elements spun faster, and a barrier formed around the two sisters. As their bubble grew, they noticed that the ground beneath them had returned to normal, with green grass swaying in the wind created by the Elements. The tense atmosphere ebbed away, and was replaced by a calm, soothing one. Magic surged through their veins, filling them with power they had never felt before.

Discord doubled over in laughter, and sprawled over on his throne. Did he take nothing seriously?

“You should see yourselves right now! The expressions on your face, so intense, so sure of yourselves!” he manages between gasps.

As he laughed the sisters brought the tips of their horns together, unifying the magic that was flowing through them. From this unity, a great rainbow sprung forth, arcing high into the air, and heading straight for the laughing form on the hill.

A knot formed in her stomach. Was this even going to work? What was supposed to happen, anyway? Thus far, she and Luna had done what felt right, but now, it was out of their hooves. The spell had been cast, and all they could do now was wait and see if it worked. For a moment, the wind flowing around her felt more like claws of doubt grabbing at her, trying to tear her from where she stood.

Time seemed to slow.

Celestia glanced around, doing her best not to separate her horn from Luna’s.

She looked to the houses, and saw a few of the braver ponies peeking out at the scene with wide, awestruck eyes. This was a story that they will tell their grandfoals about. Or anyone that would listen, for that matter. Although, the number that would actually believe them was another matter entirely. If any of them survived this, that is.

She looked at Luna, who didn’t seem to share this experience with her. Her mane flowed in slow motion in the wind. Her face was firm, yet slightly strained. She was never as good with direct magic as Celestia, so this must be difficult for her to maintain this. Celestia tried to bolster her own magic, to at least try to ease the burden on her sister. However with everything being in slow motion, it was difficult to tell if it helped any.

Finally, she looked at Discord. When she did, she thought she was seeing double. She saw one Discord, laughing on his throne, but at the same time saw another Discord. The longer she looked at him, the more everything except him and herself seemed to fade. This second Discord was smaller, and was sitting on the throne, and looked rather uncomfortable being there. He also looked lonely, with the throne he himself had made loomed over him. He reminded her of when they first met, on that lonely hilltop near the forest. A kindred spirit, sad and alone. Friendless.

The other, larger Discord simply kept on laughing, completely unaware that the smaller one existed.

Celestia felt a twinge of guilt, and a wetness on her cheek. The sparkling tears were whipped into the air, and complemented the bright, shining colors of the rainbow.

Time sped up again.

As the rainbow careened toward its target, the world itself seemed to shake, as if readying itself for the massive blow it was about to endure.

Discord still didn’t seem to notice the imminent attack. If he did, he didn’t care. He just…kept on laughing. That twisted, insane laugh of a being who didn’t care if the world around him burned, so long as he got a laugh out of it. And he was certainly getting one now.

“Hilarious! Ahaha-ack!” he laugh was cut short as rainbow struck him, instantly turning his flesh stone with a sickening crackle.

There was a bright flash of light, forcing the two alicorns to shield their eyes. There was a thunderous crash, and then…

Silence.

Celestia and Luna opened their eyes, looked around. Everything seemed…normal. It seemed as if every trace of Discord’s influence had been removed entirely. Green grass, blue sky, normal gravity. The sun in its place in the sky with exhausted pride, and the moon resting peacefully below the horizon. A flock of birds chirped as they flew past. Houses stood where they had before, firmly planted in place.
It was as if nothing had even happened. To an outside observer, there was nothing to show that anything out of the ordinary had happened at all.

Except for one thing.

A statue, resting at the crest of the hill, peaceful and unmoving. It depicted a strange creature made from parts of many beasts and monsters, frozen in an eternal laugh. If one didn’t know better, they might have thought that it had been carved that way, made from a single piece of stone. They would have never guessed the madness this ‘statue’ had caused.

Celestia felt herself moving toward the statue that had once been Discord, her legs moving on their own, and her wings frozen at her sides. Out of the corner her vision, she saw Luna begin to move to stop her, but let her continue. Celestia was glad that her sister had. She needed to do this.

Upon reaching the top of the hill, Celestia kicked away a few smoldering pieces of cardboard, and then paused, staring at the statue’s merry expression. After a moment she pressed a hoof to its chest. It was already cold, like it had never been alive at all. She was surprised at the emotions that filled her. Sadness. Guilt. Regret. None of them fit what one who had defeated such an evil should be feeling.

Why was she being so sentimental about this monster? He had twisted her mind, made her into his puppet, a mockery of the mare she once was, turned her against her own sister, and tormented innocent ponies.

Perhaps, it was because he had given her a chance to talk to someone new? Someone she had never seen before, that she didn’t see every day, with their own completely different set of opinions and experiences to share with her?

Or maybe it was the guilty joy that she had felt when she had broken the rules she had followed for so long. To go crazy and do whatever she wanted, without anyone holding her back, even if it was only for a short time?

Or maybe, just maybe, despite whatever fabricated feeling he had placed within her, she had believed they were real?

Or even…wanted them to BE real?

She shook her head. Whatever the reason, it didn’t matter anymore.

It was over.

Perhaps. Perhaps not. A voice whispered in her head.

She gasped and look around. A few of the local ponies had emerged from their hiding places, curious of the two, and the monster they had defeated. They approached slowly, cautious of them both. Luna was talking to them, attempting to soothe their frayed nerves. Celestia couldn’t hear what she was saying.

No one was close to her. In fact, the air around her was still, and silent. Almost fearful. She realized that she couldn’t hear anything beyond a distorted mumble from those below. Slowly, her eyes drifted back to the statue in from of her.

“No…” she whispered to herself, “It can’t be…”

That’s right, Celly dear. I’m still alive, the voice mocked, and even though you may have won this round, it was a cheap shot. I’m almost proud of you. But DON’T expect to be so lucky next time.

‘Next time.’ The words filled her with dread. Would there come a day when she might have to face Discord again? Would the ponies, who were only now gaining the confidence to come closer to the two alicorns, need them to step in to protect them again? She didn’t know if she had the strength to do so.

Oh, one more thing. Good job removing the one being that could have offered you an out. You’ve just condemned yourself. You just made yourself a hero to these ponies. They’ll worship you. They’ll grovel at your feet, and raise you on a grand pedestal, untouchable to all. You may have your sister, but we both know she can’t be everything you want. What you NEED. You’ll never have the one thing you want most:

That sneering, smug voice paused, letting Celestia slowly realize what he meant. She could almost see the statue smirking at her, almost hear his maddening laughter, gloating over this little victory amidst his greatest defeat, mocking her for her victory. Reveling in this final joke.

A companion. An equal. A FRIEND.

Until next time, MY DEAR.

Discord’s voice fell silent once more, leaving Celestia standing there, stunned. She didn’t know how long she stood, trying in vain to think of what to do. A part of her wanted to smash the statue to pieces, another to hurl it into the sea, or better yet the sun. Still another part wanted to simply break down and cry where she stood. But still, she did nothing. No matter what she did, she would be doing exactly what Discord wanted. No matter what she did, he would win. So why do anything at all?

She felt a soft wing wrap around her barrel, and looked into the soft blue eyes of her sister.

“Tia?” she whispered, obviously concerned. “What is wrong? I saw you freeze up, and-“

Luna was cut short by the throng of ponies that surrounded them both, cheering for their new champions, proclaiming their greatness, not seeming to care where they had come from or what their intentions were any longer. Pegasi were sent to the neighboring towns to spread the word of the heroes. They wanted everyone in Equestria to know what had happened here, and who had done it.

A few were even talking about making them their new leaders. Princesses, queens, empresses. The word ‘Goddess’ could be heard every so often as well.

No one seemed to notice her tears in one of their savior’s eyes.

Author's Note

Chapter 8 new and improved!

Epilogue

Princess Celestia lounged in her chambers, weary from another day as a matriarch.

‘Princess.’

She still wasn’t used to that. She didn’t think she had what it took to be a leader. If she could be so easily controlled, how could these ponies trust her? How could she trust herself?

It had been several weeks since Discord’s defeat. Word had quickly spread of the monster that tormented them, and two mysterious alicorns that had saved them. Celestia had no doubt that the story had been embellished more than a once, but she had decided it didn’t really matter. They almost worshipped them as it was, and whether the story was accurate or not wasn’t going to change that. In fact, it had been difficult to talk them down to just naming them princesses. They had wanted to worship them as goddesses, at least at first.

Glancing in the mirror, she decided she couldn’t blame them. She certainly looked the part. At some point during the confrontation with Discord, they had changed. The alicorn in the mirror was taller, and her white coat had seemed to have become whiter, if that was possible. Her magenta eyes gleamed brighter than ever before, shining with the new magic that flowed through her. Magic that had grown so much stronger, to the point where she could move the sun with little effort. However, the most dramatic change had been her mane. Once, it had been the color of the rosy dawn. Now, the rose had been joined by all the colors the daytime sky had to offer, and fluttered in breeze known only to itself. She had to admit that while it had taken some getting used to, she was beginning to like it.

She also noticed the bags under her eyes. Celestia sighed, and rubbed her temples. This lifestyle wasn’t something she was used to, or necessarily wanted. She had wanted to meet other ponies, sure, but not rule them. However, it seemed that wasn’t an option.

She usually just put on a smile and waved to the ponies as they came and went, helped deal with a petty squabble or two if needed, but upon her first opportunity would immediately withdraw to her chambers, her sanctuary. She couldn’t even go to her little hill without being mobbed by the adoring public. Not that she really wanted to. That hill’s meaning to her had been soiled by Discord. Another foul trick he had played on her, she supposed.

A deep yawn interrupted her musings. She felt very tired.

Sleep had not come easily recently, mostly due to worry. Whether it was worry for herself or her and Luna’s new country, she wasn’t sure.
However, the soft embrace of her pillows finally overwhelmed her, and she drifted off to sleep.

It felt wonderful. The first moment of true peace she had felt in weeks.

It didn’t last long.

Distorted images floated before her.

Flash

A vampiric monster, draining the magic from ponies.

Flash

A dark king, ruling over a kingdom of snow and crystal.

Flash

An alicorn, as black as the darkest void. And just as cruel.

Flash

Shape-shifting monsters

Flash

A castle on a mountain side.

Flash

A town near a forest.

Flash

Enemies return.

Flash

After the first few images flashed by in rapid succession, some began to linger, and tell her stories.

The town near the forest again. Just beyond it, six poines stood in a circle, wearing odd jewelry. She didn’t recognize the town or the ponies. Wait, was that Discord’s statue with them? It looked different. After a flash of light, Discord was freed. Where these ponies loyal to him? No, they didn’t seem to enjoy doing this. Their faces showed great misgivings about doing this, and yet they did so anyway. How odd.

Flash

One of the ponies from before, a yellow pegasus, was…scolding Discord? And he seemed to be backing down. Had she tamed him? Unthinkable!

Then she touched his arm, and smiled. They laughed. And not the sadistic laugh that had been haunter her, but a real, honest, jovial laugh.

No, she realized, she befriended him.

Flash

She saw herself, and another of the ponies from before, a lavender unicorn. Why did she feel such attachment to her? As far as she knew, they had never met before. But she seemed to be…proud of her? She had so many questions. She wanted answers.

Tia? TIA!? a voice called.

She woke with a start, and glanced around. She was still in her bed, and Luna was standing over her, a concerned look on her face.

“Luna…?” Celestia said sleepily, rubbing her eyes.

“I…I felt something was happening with your dreams…and…and I…” Luna said weakly, letting her sentence trail off, and shuffling her hooves. It made sense that she was worried. Recently, Luna’s influence over the night had expanded to the dream world. She had been able to sense when something was wrong with a pony’s dream, and even enter them. However, she had promised to do so only if a pony truly needed her to, especially for Celestia.

Her sister’s appearance had changed as well, even more so than Celestia had. She too had grown, but was still shorter than her sister. Her dark blue coat had darkened to the color of the midnight sky, and eyes reminded one of moonlight reflecting off a pond in the night. Her mane darkened as well and was filled with stars. It too wafted in its own private wind.

Celestia offered a weak smile.

“I’m fine Luna. Just a…strange dream.”

Luna’s face hardened slightly, but still filled with concern.

“It was about him, wasn’t it?”

Celestia’s sharp inhale served as her response. Luna sighed.

“I know he still haunts you sister, but it is over. The Elements will keep him sealed.”

“But…if something ever happens…if our bond to them are broken…” Celestia didn’t need to finish that sentence. They both knew.

“Perhaps. But-” Luna said, wrapping her wing around her big sister, “if he ever does return, I will make sure you do not do anything foolish.”

Finally, Celestia smiled, and returned the embrace.

“Alright. And I promise, from now on, I’ll listen to your concerns. Always.”

Luna laughed.

“It is a bargain. Now, I hate to leave so abrubtly, but one of us needs to lower the sun and raise the moon. I will do both tonight, and I will her no protests on the matter. But I will be back soon to speak with you about this dream at length.”

As she trotted away, Celestia’s thoughts drifted back to her dream. No, ‘dream’ felt like the wrong word. ‘Memory’ seemed to fit better, but she was certain that she had never seen these places or ponies before.

If Luna had gained new powers over dreams, she thought, perhaps I have as well? Instead of the present, maybe this is…the future?
If that was true, she would know for sure in due time.

The thought of Discord returning concerned her, certainly, but she felt oddly peaceful. The image of him and that Pegasus together stuck with her. Maybe he could be reasoned with? If he could be reasoned with, he would be a powerful ally.

Whether the two could have something again, but real…was unsure. She wasn’t even sure if she would ever want to try again right now. It would take time to sort through the thoughts and feelings she had encountered, and then she’d decide if she wanted to pursue them one again.

She sighed, and decided to save that task for another day. If she had anything at this point, it was time. At least it seemed that way. Right now, she wanted nothing more than something sweet.

Celestia blinked, an idea presenting itself.

She rose from her bed and stepped to the floor. Taking a wide stance, she lowered her horn, and began to channel her magic. She squeezed her eye shut, and clenched her teeth again the strain.

She’d never tired anything like this before.

Attempting to contain the magic in a small area, she tried to keep the noise of the spell down as to not alarm anyone in castle.

After a few minutes of intense casting, she finally finished. The opened her eyes, and looked down at space she had focused on, and smiled.

A little pink cloud hovered lazily in the air, as if it had been there all along.

Celestia levitated a cup underneath the little pink cloud, and it began to rain a brown liquid. She brought the cup to her lips, and drank deeply. She savored the rich, pleasant flavor she was rewarded with.

She lowered the cup, and inside. As the last streaks of daylight shone through her window, they reflected off the surface of the milk, revealing her reflection within.

She smiled.

If she could stare Discord in the eye and defy him, what could possibly be worse? Whatever challenges she, Luna, and all the citizens of Equestria will face, she knows they will persevere.

Everyone will play their part.