A Frozen Heart

A quiet clacking sounded through the halls of Canterlot as Luna walked down one of the many hallways. The clacking of her hooves hitting the marble floor was only accompanied by the quiet whistle of a mild breeze.

Luna stopped as she passed by an open window. She could hear the joyful, excited singing of the birds outside, while also spotting the sunrise in the distance. She saw how the previously dark night sky had begun turning into its light blue counterpart. A scene Luna had witnessed many thousands of times through her life now.

Yet...there was something different about this sunrise. It didn't seem to spread joy and warmth, but anger and cold. Luna felt how a strange feeling of anger brewed within her, only waiting to be unleashed. The anger was accompanied by the usual cold Luna felt these days, a cold that originated from her chest, her heart. She felt the cold growing within her, becoming more powerful and dangerous, yet Luna only shook her head to get rid of the thought of it being something dangerous. She was surely just imagining it.

With a sigh, accompanied by a small, frosty puff of smoke, Luna turned away from the window, continuing down the long, empty hallway.

The usual clacking of Luna's hoofsteps was dampened as she entered the Canterlot Garden's dirt roads. Luna slowed down a bit, strolling down the main pathway of the gardens. She closed her eyes while taking deep breaths, breathing in and out. Her ears twitched to the sound of the birds flapping their wings. Luna navigated herself through the garden perfectly, even without her eyesight. She had walked down the paths of the Canterlot gardens many hundred, if not thousand times, and she had become able to travel through them even without looking, her experience guiding her way.

Luna stopped after travelling for about three minutes. She took a last deep breath before finally reopening her eyes, staring at the very being that had moved her to visit the gardens this day.

Discord. Before her stood the Lord of chaos and spirit of disharmony itself, locked within his cold, lifeless stone prison. He was forever locked in place, defeated by the hooves of Luna herself. He was petrified, lifeless, no sign of life from the statue in front of her. Yet...she could hear a voice from within his the statue. A voice calling for her.

"You..." It whispered quietly, almost inaudible, causing Luna to get closer to the statue. "Failure..." It whispered again, as quiet as before.

Luna shook her head as she realized she was listening to a statue. "I must be imagining things." Luna said to herself, scratching her head with a hoof.

"You..." Said the same voice again, coming from behind Luna, causing Luna to shiver slightly. "...Are a failure!" The strangely familiar voice said loudly.

Luna turned around to where the voice had come from, yet spotted nothing after doing so. She raised an eyebrow as she looked around herself.

"I really thought you would have the brains to stop all this." Said the voice coming from behind Luna once again. Luna turned around once more and finally spotted the owner of the mysterious voice.

She saw Discord sitting on top of his supposed stone prison, watching Luna with a disappointed look. "Discord?" Luna asked in great shock.

"I'm quite disappointed, I must say." Discord replied, ignoring what Luna said. "I always believed you were smarter than this. Turns out you are unable to distinguish between good and evil." He added, a slight smile forming on his face as he mocked Luna.

Luna opened her mouth in order to reply, yet she was silenced as Discord appeared in front of her, putting a finger on her mouth.

"It seems I give Celestia less credit than she deserves." Discord said to himself, walking past Luna. "After all, she defeated me and King Sombra all by herself and managed to trick everypony in Equestria into obeying her." Luna felt the strange anger from before coming up inside her again as Discord went on. "And she did all this while managing to get her 'lovely sister' to turn away with her hooves folded behind her back."

That was what crossed the line for Luna. Her inner rage was let loose as she jumped around to where Discord now stood, swinging her right hoof and hitting Discord in his face, effectively making him fall to the ground. "Don't you dare talk about that wicked mare in my presence!" She shouted at Discord who now laid in front of her.

Discord, however, did not react with fear or anger. He...smiled. Smiled at the sight of Luna's rage. He chuckled quietly as he held his paw to his nose as it began to bleed. "Perhaps you are not a failure after all..." Discord said in a monotone voice, looking up at the furious face of Luna.

Luna grumbled loudly at him. She grabbed him with two hooves, pulling him close to her. "I have never sat idle in my entire life!" Luna shouted in Discord's face. "I have sworn an oath to protect and serve my subjects and I will NOT have anypony threaten them!"

Discord's smile grew larger as Luna shouted in his face. "I suppose you already know what to do then." He said, snapping his claws and disappearing. Luna grumbled, looking around herself for the draconequus.

"Show yourself, Discord! I am not done with you just yet!" She shouted, threatening Discord. Luna then heard something appear behind her once again. Yet, as she turned around for this third time, she did not spot Discord, but somepony else. Somepony who she really did not wish to see.

"Sister..." Said Celestia with a quiet, sad voice, her eyes becoming wet as tears flowed down her cheeks.

Luna's ears twitched at hearing the voice of Celestia. She breathed out a thick, ice cold puff of smoke in reaction to the familiar, yet strangely hated voice. Her head slowly turned towards Celestia, giving Celestia a slight shock.

"Luna your...your eyes. What happened?" Celestia asked, tears still rolling down her face. Luna was oblivious to how her eyes had become slitted, yet she also did not pay any attention to what Celestia was saying.

"You will answer for your crimes, sister!" Luna told her loudly, fully turning towards her sister.

Celestia looked clueless at Luna's statement. "Crimes? Luna, please. I am your sister, snap out of this! I have never done wrong to anyone! You know I haven't!" Celestia begged.

Luna closed her eyes for a second, taking a deep breath before opening them again. "Your denial is hopeless. I am well-aware of the things you have done and the things you are plotting." Luna stated factfully, resulting in only more confusion on the side of Celestia. "And I, Princess Luna, will not allow such evil in my realm!" She told Celestia loudly.

Celestia could only shake her head at Luna in fear and sadness. "Luna...no..." She sniffed, "Please, you have to believe me, you have to!" She begged once more.

"The only thing I believe in..." Luna said, charging her horn. "...is righteousness!" She shouted, firing a powerful beam of energy at Celestia.

Luna covered her face as the beam hit Celestia, causing an explosion that whirled up lots of dust and dirt, creating a big cloud of dust where Celestia had stood. Luna lowered the hoof she had covered her face with and looked at the cloud in front of her, looking for any kind of movement within it, ready to take yet another shot at any time.

Yet, she was met with a completely different thing.

"Well done, Princess." Said the voice Discord, coming from within the statue. Luna did not bother to turn towards the statue this time, but kept her eyes on the dusty cloud. "It seems you are more competent than I had originally thought you to be." Discord said, attempting to mock Luna, with no success. "You are ready. Ready for what is inevitable, unavoidable." Discord said, becoming quieter.

"Fullfill your destiny, Princess." Discord said in a serious voice, his voice becoming a quiet whisper. "Show no mercy."

Luna watched as the dust settled, showing her nothing but the dirt of the pathway. Even though the image of Celestia had been a feint by Discord and it was gone now, Luna's inner rage still burned. The image of Celestia branded into her mind, as did Discord's words.

"My destiny..." Luna mumbled to herself, taking her first step forward, back towards the castle. "No mercy." She mumbled in a hate-filled voice.

Luna had by now become oblivious to the inner cold she had felt up until now. The cold had grown powerful, having feasted on Luna's rage and hatred. The cold had formed a powerful blizzard that now raged within Luna. Luna's heart had grown cold as the blizzard attacked it. It would grow ever more cold, until it would finally be encased in snow and ice. And with Luna's good-willed heart gone, her past self would vanish. Luna would be nothing but a puppet of the cold, fooled and brainwashed.