It was a calm autumn night, Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends sat at the highest balcony of her Crystal Castle, preparing for the event that was about to take place.
“How much longer Twi, I don’t know how long I can hold my excitement.” Complained Rainbow Dash as she hovered around the lavender alicorn.
“I know how you feel Rainbow…” Twilight replied. “I can barely keep my excitement in myself, we’re about to lay witness to a very rare occasion, this meteor shower only crosses above Equestria every three thousand years.”
“Three thousand years? Whoo’ee, that’s a mighty long time. Doubt even princess Celestia saw the last one.” Debated Applejack.
“Even if the princess was around back than, I don’t think she’d have been old enough to remember the last meteor shower.” Fluttershy responded in her usual soft tone.
“Heads up guys, it’s starting!” Spike called out to the group, excitement evident in his voice.
As if on cue, the meteor shower soared across the night sky, each travelling at different speeds. Some seemed to take their time whilst others raced across either just slow enough or too fast to be noticed. Twilight and her friends were in awe of the sight, all believing that it would be a long time before they saw anything more beautiful and spectacular.
* Canterlot Castle: Royal Gardens *
“My, this is incredibly out of character for you Discord, though I must say that I’m very flattered to see this side of you.” Celestia commented whilst said spirit of chaos poured her a glass of red wine.
“True as that may be my dear princess, I just thought that it would be nice to have a good view of the little rocks up there…” Discord replied as he pointed his glass to the sky. “And if you’re a bit skeptical about this little picnic, I merely wanted to thank you for giving me another chance after that whole… Tirek fiasco.” He finished with a guilt-ridden expression at the recollection of the memory.
‘He still blames himself for helping Tirek.’ Celestia thought. “Stop blaming yourself for what happened last year, Tirek tricked you into joining him, the fact that Twilight, her friends, myself and everypony else gave you another chance shows that it’s not your fault, but his.” She reassured him as she placed a hoof on his knee.
A small smile returned to his features. “Thank you Tia, I feel much better now.”
“Well now, using my old pet name are we? That’s incredibly bold of you Discord. Tell me, was there another reason for this outdoor get-together?” Celestia questioned with a raised eyebrow. She couldn’t help but smirk as Discord ever so slightly blushed.
He cleared his throat as he attempted to find the right words. Slightly anxious, he began, “W-well I was just thinking that… uhh… seeing that we’re getting along again… umm… I’d just thought that maybe you’d like to… you know… continue where we left off over a thousand years ago, or to start over… but, only if you want to, that is.” He finished just above a whisper.
Celestia was a little stunned at what Discord was proposing. ‘Does he truly wish to go back to how we were before?’ She pondered, still slightly surprised at he’d just said. ‘Now that I think about, ever since Tirek was defeated by Twilight and her friends with that new power, Discord’s been going out of his way to help ponies in trouble to make amends for what he’s done. Maybe it’s time that we give it another chance. I can’t wait to see Twilight’s face when she finds out.’ She concluded her thoughts with a small grin.
‘What am I thinking? She’ll probably blast me for even suggesting that. Stupid, stupid, stupid!’ Discord battered himself mentally, a blush evident on his cheeks. His train of thought was disrupted however when he felt a quick, soft kiss on his cheek. Cupping the kissed cheek with his lion paw, he turned to his right, seeing Celestia blushing and just barely covering her mouth with the tip of her hoof. “W-wait… huh? Why’d you… what?!” Discord couldn’t find his voice, saying he was surprised would be an understatement. ‘Did she just kiss me?!’
His thoughts were halted when Celestia lowered the hoof that covered her mouth and replied, “It’s okay Discord, I’d love to start over. I’ve been thinking about it for some time now to be honest, and I don’t believe that even I could have chosen a better time to bring it up than now, and I’m glad that you did.” Discord could have sworn that his heart skipped a beat at those words, and once he noticed that he regained a pulse, he couldn’t help the large goofy grin that enveloped his face.
The two of them shifted closer together and continued to watch the meteor shower that still covered the night sky.
* (Meanwhile) Canterlot Castle: Balcony above the gardens *
Luna wore a smile that was full of pride; her sister and Discord had finally gotten back together again and she couldn’t be happier. It was at that moment when recalled all the fond memories of their time together when they were younger. They always found the time to play all kinds of games, shared what stories they knew, and she’d occasionally help Discord with a wide variety of pranks on Celestia. Luna always figured that Discord really liked Celestia, because after he went somewhere to have his laugh he always came back to apologize and accepted any punishment she gave him.
Her theory was only later proven to be right when the two made it official and started dating. Luna and Celestia’s parents were still around at the time and they couldn’t have been more proud for they believed and often stated, “There cannot be order without chaos” and thought of their relationship as the road to bring perfect balance between Order and Chaos.
After another minute of good and fond memories, her smile disappeared into a scowl as she recalled that day, that damned accursed day. To reasons the princesses still don’t know, Discord had changed; he became rude, aggressive and plagued the ponies with misfortune. When their first attempt to make him stop failed in tragedy, they went to the Tree of Harmony to acquire the Elements for they were the only things with the power to counteract his ability to manipulate the very fabric of reality. But even when Celestia thought she was hiding it from her between when they obtained and finally used the elements, Luna could easily see the hesitance in her sister’s eyes. When one of the royal guards suggested that they’d destroy his statue, Celestia stopped them, “NO! No… please, take him to the castle gardens, I still have hope for him.” Luna had even remembered one night before she became Nightmare Moon; she saw her older sister crying at the base of Discord’s statue, apologizing and practically begging for his forgiveness.
With her transformation into Nightmare Moon in mind, Luna didn’t think about her banishment, rather she thought about the emotional trauma her own sister was going through. First she turned the one she loved into stone, then she banished her own sister to the very moon that she controlled.
‘Poor Tia…’ Luna sadly thought. ‘She could see us every time she’d gazed into the gardens, or looked upon the moon and we’d seemed so close, but yet, so far away. A thousand years alone, a thousand years of painful memories, a thousand years of torment.’ Her thoughts were interrupted when she took interest in a stray comet.
* Back with the Mane 6 *
“Uhh… Twilight, should that comet be like that?” Asks Rarity, confusion evident in her voice.
Twilight looked through the telescope that she had on her balcony and found the oddity that was pointed out. This one she did find odd for all the others were a light blue, almost white even, but this one was a bright orange and increasing speed every second.
“Maybe, but I don’t think so. It propably got too low and is now burning through the atmosphere.” She guessed.
The young princess assumed that the meteor would burn up into dust before it hit the ground, but she was wrong. It sailed thousands of metres overhead until it impacted into the furthest corner of the Everfree Forest with such great force, it caused tremors to be felt for miles around. But what caught the attention of the Mane 6 and Spike most of all, was the large booming sound followed by a massive pillar of pure light that shot towards the night sky, causing significant gusts of wind so strong the struggled to stand.
When the light and winds finally died down after over a minute, the group was in a mix of thoughts and emotions: some were in shock, others in awe, the rest were a mixture of the two.
“What the hay was that!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, asking nopony in particular.
“Ah don’t know RD, what do you think Twi…” Applejack began to ask only to be cut off by her alicorn friend suddenly screaming.
Twilight rolled all around the balcony screaming as though she was having a panic attack. Her eyes were glowing stark white whilst she had fearful, pained expression on her face. Her wings and hooves were flailing around like she was having a seizure, threatening to hit anything that came near her.
Clicking into action, Dash and Applejack pinned down the screaming princess, stopping her from injuring somepony or herself.
“Spike! Send a letter to the princess, we’ve gotta get Twilight to the hospital!” Rainbow exclaimed, giving the situation extreme seriousness.
“On it!” He replied. No sooner did those words leave his mouth that he started writing something on a piece of paper that he got seemingly out of nowhere. Once he was done, he set it ablaze with his special fire and ran to the others who were already taking Twilight downstairs.
* Canterlot Castle: Royal Gardens *
“What in Tartarus was that all about?” Discord asked more to himself than Celestia as the strong winds died down.
“I don’t know, but whatever it was, it cannot be good.” Celestia answered as best she could.
“Sister!” A voice called out. The two turned to the castle to see Luna descending from her balcony. After landing, she rushed to her sibling and asked, “What was that Tia? That energy, it felt so dark and tainted, what could this mean?”
The elder alicorn was about to give her the same answer that she gave Discord, but before any words could leave her mouth, a flash of green fire appeared in front of her face, and as quick as it came, it vanished, leaving behind a floating scroll.
“What this?” She wondered. Celestia unrolled the scroll and began to read. It didn’t take long for her eyes to widen and an audible gasp to escape her mouth.
“What is it?” Luna and Discord asked worriedly in unison.
“Something horrible has happened to Twilight, we have to get to Ponyville right away!” Was all the answer she gave them before she flew off towards said town.
The night princess and spirit of chaos gave each other a concerned look before releasing the breath they didn’t know they were holding, and followed the sun princess to the little town.
* Deep beneath the crash site *
The meteor tore through the ground into a hidden cavern. It was about the size of half a football oval, the walls ten feet high and covered in roots, most likely from the trees in the Everfree Forest above.
The oddity of the cavern, however, was that one area within the walls was carved out and had numerous strange sculptures in threatening battle stances. These beings were nothing like anything that lived in Equestria; they stood on two legs and wore identical battle armor, each wielded a weapon that ranged from swords, spears, axes and maces in different shapes, sizes and forms.
Up the center of the wall was a large crack, caused by the blue-glowing meteor at the bottom of the crack. A mist that glowed much like the meteor was seeping into the room behind the wall, as if it was being sucked in.
The interior walls of the small room were lined with statues identical to the ones on the outer wall, all positioned like they were guarding something. Sure enough, in the center of the room was obviously what they guarded.
A large, ominous, stone sarcophagus laced with disturbing skeletal beings ranging from different races in the midst of a war-zone. All around the edges there were skull carvings of most, if not all, species of animal giving all who look upon them an eyeless death glare, some would say that they’re right to be angry for the top was covered in many chains that were anchored to either side in numerous spots in the floor. Something was inside it, there had to be, because someone went through a lot of trouble to make sure it didn’t come out.
Unfortunately, the blue mist entered the sarcophagus through every available gap that allowed it to reach the contents inside. Once all of the mist was inside and the meteor was no longer glowing itself, the odd coffin started to glow a deep crimson in the same nooks and crannies that the blue mist used to get in. The room and cavern outside started to rumble, it began to appear as though there was gold-tinted rain in the room, and the floor, walls, statues and sarcophagus were progressively cracking and crumbling under the pressure.
The chains started to rustle and crackle as well. Then, one by one they began to shatter, breaking apart and falling to the ground. Once the final chain broke, the increase in gravity subsided and everything calmed. After a full minute of silence, there was a sudden gasp from within the sarcophagus, as if whatever was inside was desperate for air.
As the breathing became stable, there was a low, deep growl. After one final nostril inhale and exhale, a dark, deep and twisted voice finally spoke.
“I… live… AGAIN!!!” It bellowed as a black and red armored fist burst out through the stone lid.
