Broken Harmony

Discord watched at the power was absorbed by Nova. She took two steps and stumbled, almost falling. Luna and Celestia came up on either side of her, to support her as she tried to stand. Nova started to shiver as she looked at the other two alicorns.

“It hurts…..”

Celestia gave her a small nuzzle and said, “ give it a few moments child, the power has always been there, Luna and I just freed it and gave it a path to follow. Your head may hurt as well for a small time. You now know what we know, the spells Luna and I can perform, the knowledge is now yours. That much information given so quickly will surely leave you weak.”

Luna turned to look at Nova, “ time is a luxury that sadly we cannot afford. Nova, my sister and I would have preferred to let you adjust to your new self and magic at a much slower pace but, sadly, I fear we do not have the time for that, the enemy is strong and already planning and plotting to rid this world of the rest of our kind.”

Discord floated up to the princesses and quietly said “ the rest of your kind? Are there still others then? From the destruction I saw outside I feared there would be very little left to save even if I were able to find and bring Nova back.”

Celestia looked him in the eyes and he saw that she had tears. Of course she would, he thought, these are her subjects, it must kill something inside to know she couldn’t save them all. “ Luna and I before sealing ourselves away were able to save as many as we could. Many of them I was able to get over to the Crystal Empire. The heart was able to shield them from Grogar’s attack. He hasn’t found a way through that much love and light, at least yet.”

Luna continued, “ as for the others that were not able to escape through that means, we were able to shield them inside here in the underground chambers. That’s where we need to head now, we have to get them out and as safe as we can.”

Discord nodded and moved to take Nova from the princesses. She leaned heavily on him but, he didn’t mind he wanted to make sure she was ok. He started to think about how he could at least help them with this problem. One small problem at a time and maybe that would be enough to get them all through this without anymore casualties.

Nova sighed and stumbled as she started to walk with the others. “I’m so sorry, I don’t know how much help I will be the way I am right now. I want to help though I want to make sure no one else gets hurt. Where is he, Grogar? If you have unfroze time, should he not be making some type of advance?”

“My dear, let’s not press our luck shall we, you almost sound like you are inviting trouble in- frankly that’s what I’m suppose to be here for….”

“No Discord, Nova’s right,” Celestia said. “ With the amount of power we just casted off in such a short amount of time I don’t understand why he hasn’t tested the shield Luna and I made - “

THUNK- a meaty sound came through the broken windows in the hallway. All of them turned to see what was the cause. No one wanted to believe what they saw, another THUNK sounded and they all watched in horror as something slowly slid down the shield. Discord made sure Nova was with the sisters and walked towards the shield. He had to see, had to know what was being thrown at the castle.

THUNK - Discord jumped back from the sound, then watched as the animated body of a unicorn slid down the pink power that ignited underneath her. All the while her horn lashing out, and driving wild power into Celestia’s defenses. Discord watched in shock as he saw what was happening, two animated bodies of pegasus came flying towards the barrier with a unicorn body between them. Closer and closer they sped with no disregard for their wellbeing, they threw the unicorn at the shield where it hit with the THUNK sound they had been hearing. Again, this one slashed out with blind power trying to fight it’s way through to the castle.

Celestia, Luna and Nova had moved to stand beside Discord. The sisters cried as another unicorn hit. The eyes were bloodshot, pieces of his skin were blackened. There was no life left, only Grogar’s power and hatred flowing out. The unicorn snarled and slashed, this time making a small tear in Celestia’s power.

Discord glanced at the girls beside him and quickly to a staircase leading down. “ I am going to need my power to help if this turns into a battle. We need to get underground - now.” Nova was slowly sliding to the ground between the grieving rulers, Discord started to panic, if he didn’t get them to move forward now, they were in serious trouble. “ TIA, LU! MOVE, NOW!!!!!” The girls were startled by how loud he was and backed towards the stairs. He grabbed Nova and spun the girls around, they ran with all their might. Faster and faster down the stairs. Nova tripped and Discord quickly grabbed on to her lifting her up and holding on to her as he glided down the stairs. Upstairs they could hear snarls coming from screaming enraged entities that use to be ponys. They were breaking through, it wouldn’t be long now.

Down at the bottom of the stairs Celestia took charge. “ We need to get to the other little ponys that are down here, they have to be protected.”

Luna catching her breath turned to the staircase as the sounds were gathering strength. “We don’t have a lot of time sister, we need to figure out something fast and effective. Whatever your plan, we need to do this now.”

Nodding, Celestia gave one quick glance to Discord and mouthed please help, then she ran as fast as she could, her hair wildly trailing behind her. Luna close behind kept pace, behind them, Discord holding onto to Nova, covered their path.

They rounded a corner and came to a group of fifty or so ponys. They were tired, scared, and some of them hurt, they huddled together as they saw their rulers come running towards them. Celestia looked at Luna and screamed “ FREEZE THEM- DON’T LET HIM TAKE THEM! LUNA, HELP ME!!”

Luna’s horn lit up in response and together the girls ran side by side as the power pulsed and pierced the darkened hallway. Slowly a crystal started to form, Nova heard a pony start to scream. They’re encasing them in crystal, they’re freezing them to keep them safe. Nova started to struggle in Discords arms.

“Nova- stop, you can’t help them, it’s too strong a spell. You just got your powers you haven’t even tested them yet!”

“Discord! If I don’t help now, I doubt I will have a chance to ever test them. Let me down! I need to help them save their ponys. It won’t hurt them near as much if the spell is done quickly. Now! Please!”

She nudged his chest enough to make him lose his grip and let her go. She flew to the sisters and fired her horn to match theirs. Together the three lights formed one beam and the crystal quickly formed. All three girls were at the end of what they were capable of. They all crumpled to the ground. There was a crash upstairs and Discord knew that the animated bodies had gotten through. He could hear them dragging themselves down the stairs. He was sure wing beats were coming up the hallway. He screamed in frustration, what would it matter if the few ponys that were encased survived if their rulers were not their to love and guide them?

Nova’s sight was turning grey around the edges she was close to blacking out. She snapped her head up at Discord’s scream. “ Help us ….” she barely had enough voice left to whisper. He saw the first skeletal pony sliding towards them and reacted, ripping a hole in the fabric of space he pushed the girls into his Chaos Realm. He raced in after them as he sealed up the tear. The last thing he saw was a broken unicorn dragging her body up the hallway, screaming in rage at him. The sight would stay in his nightmares for a long time after this was over, he was sure of that.

He flew to the girls as they fell through space, grabbing all three in his power, he floated them over to his home. Kicking at the door he fell through with the girls into his place of safety. They had made it out, for now.

Celestia and Luna woke fairly quickly after they had fled from the nightmares at the castle. They glanced around at their surroundings and found that they were in a room that may have been a place for company, an entertainment room. Celestia pulled her legs underneath her and slowly stood up. She turned to Luna, “ take your time sister, let me talk to Discord and then we can all come up with a course of action.”

Luna nodded to her sister and set her head back down. Celestia knew she needed a moment as she had just recovered from the first attack. Really they both had, but, Luna was far more injured than she had been. Celestia looked around to see where she would find Discord, it appeared there was an upstairs … without stairs to go up. Setting her wings alight she flew up to the second floor. She landed near a door and looked inside.

Discord had placed Nova on an oversized bed. His room seemed to shimmer as it blended together in a mismatch of patterns, colours, and furniture, it suited him.

She walked in hoping the sound of her hooves would alert him to her presence, it did the trick.

“ I knew you would wake up soon, you two were stirring even before I brought Nova upstairs. How are you and Luna feeling?”

“ Luna is still resting. She’s been through a lot and still needs to take it slower then she wants. It can’t be helped though, her injuries were far worse, you know that though..” She walked toward the bed and leaned her head against his shoulder. “ Thank you, for getting us out of there. After that spell there was no way we had the energy left to free ourselves,” she looked him in the eyes, “ you saved us, you know.”

Discord touched her cheek, “ My dear Celestia, Tia, I will do whatever it is in my power to see this world, and you all safe. You surely must realize that by now. I have been literally to the ends of our world, travelled across space to bring back peace to this world.”

“ I know you have. I wish there could have been any other way but, I had to act quickly. I am so sorry to have left you with such a task. Once before, I would never have dreamed to turn to you.”

“I know my past and I’m not him anymore, but Celestia, remember I am still the Lord of Chaos. I will never be able to stop who I am, honestly nor would I want to. I am who I am.”

“No I understand that Discord. The idea of having you on our side to fight with us instead of against us, it means a lot.”

“ Yes well,” he shuffled a bit further away from Celestia, turning to face Nova, “ you have all taught me things about myself, what this world could be… it’s worth fighting to protect it. It’s worth fighting to protect her….”

Celestia looked down at Nova, “ she really is beautiful. The power she possess even I didn’t expect her to be so strong so quickly. You can feel the elements inside that power.”

“I know you can, I’ve been driven to and brought back from insanity by that power Celestia.”

“ I’m sure you have,” she watched him as he brushed a stray piece of her mane from her face. She was surprised by the emotions crossing his face.

“Discord?”

He looked up at her, “ she can hear them inside her Celestia. They are still within her, their spirits are there and conscious.”

“ What, you can’t be serious? Discord, that can’t be possible. How?”

“ You expect me to know, friendship is magic I suppose is as easy an explanation as any. Nova explained to me that their powers were weak but, they
had enough spirit left to have one speak for them all.”

“Fluttershy?”

“Fluttershy. She talked to Nova first. Nova told me she had heard them from the beginning but was afraid of the voices and shut them down. Once her power had started to emerge she was able to hear Fluttershy again. They spoke and then in turn Nova let me know what was happening.” He glanced at Celestia and saw there were tears streaming down her cheeks. His lion paw touched her face softly and made sure she looked at him.

“They aren’t in pain anymore. They made sure to let me know that they were ready to help Nova and they were ok with what had happened. What you did to save them.”

Celestia drew in a shaky breath, “ thank you for this Discord, I had never imagined that they could be awake, alive inside her.”

Discord looked down at Nova, “ I’m sure she didn’t either. She has had so many shocks so quickly, one right after the other and has charged through everything thrown at her.I am astonished by her sheer strength Celestia, she is such an amazing creature.”

Celestia listened to him and heard the emotion flow in the way he was speaking.
She was shocked but not surprised to see that Discord had fallen in love with Nova. “ Discord, is it her or is it the memory of the girls you love?”

“What?”
“You love her.”

“ I love her Celestia. I thought I had feelings for her magic and how much she felt like home but, the more time I spent with her I knew that wasn’t it. It’s her.”

“ Discord, understand please. You finding someone to care about romantically is wonderful, chaos finding a love in harmony. It seems so opposite that it just makes sense for you.”

“But…”
“ But, Discord understand that we are in the middle of a battle for survival. I need to know that you will do what is needed to help us save our home, help us save the ponys who live here and vanquish Grogar to whatever hell he came from. Nova is apart of our story now. She is connected to this world and saving it. She has no choice, her whole being is made up of souls and magic sent to protect this land. She will do what is needed at whatever the cost. It’s why she is here.”

She put her hoof on the bed making Discord look at her. “ You understand that - right Discord?”

Discord looked painfully at the still alicorn sleeping on his bed and then turned stoney eyes to Celestia. “ I know the reasons she came to be Celestia, I know that my friends were killed and given a new chance at fighting. I also know that she is not just them. That she is her own beautiful soul and regardless of having a choice or being made to fight, Nova would help. She will fight alongside you and Luna, and I will fight alongside her. Trust me Princess, I understand well what we are facing. Now, if you don’t mind, I believe I would like to be alone. I’m sure you need to tend your sister?”

“I’m sorry Discord, I don’t want to hurt you. Just, please keep in mind what our goal is. Love is beautiful it can make us stronger, it gives us reason but, it also can make us question what may be needed. I need you clear headed when we leave your rehelm.” She turned around and walked to the door, “ he’s waiting for us, and he’s not afraid to use any means to win. We must be ready.”

Discord watched her go, there was nothing else to say to her. Celestia was battle ready, her heart already hardened to do what was needed to win back her kingdom. This was his home too, and as he looked at Nova, he knew he would do anything to give her a chance at peace. He thought of the poor ponys who were being reanimated to fight against them. Yes, he would do what needed to be done to destroy Grogar.