“I can’t do it...”
“You can, Celestia. You must.”
“Why?”
“You know why.”
Celestia was standing over Discord, her eyes filled with remorse for the inevitable. They both knew she had to do it, and they both knew why.
“How can you be so willing?” Her voice was breaking and she didn’t even bother trying to hide her tears. There was nopony around to see her weakness, nopony around to see how much she cared. It was just her, Luna and Discord, and he saw to it that the night princess wasn’t conscious enough to grasp her surroundings. She would hear nothing of what was said here.
Discord reached up and brushed his paw on Celestia’s cheek. Pain shot through his body every time he moved, but it was worth it if it meant he could console her, even just a little bit. “Because I love you. We both know that if you let me go, I can never stop hurting you. We don’t have a choice.”
Celestia’s crying became more intense as her horn began to glow. The area was quiet save for the faint hum of magic as her spell enveloped Discord’s body. It was harmless. ‘At least I can go without pain’ he thought.
As swiftly as it began the spell was over. Celestia remained still for a moment, and Discord just looked at her. “Why am I still here?”
The sun goddess silently moved forward, then laid down and rested her head on Discord’s side. She turned to look into his eyes. “Can you tell me one last story, dad?”
A smile began to form on his lips. She hadn’t called him ‘dad’ in so many thousands of years, and he almost cried at the beautiful warmth such a simple word could make him feel. “Which one would you like to hear?”
“Do you still remember my favorite one?” Her fur was matted and singed, some parts of her flesh were clawed and bloody or seared. Even in her torn and beaten condition, she was still beautiful, just like her mother.
He leaned forward and nuzzled her cheek, rubbing her tears from her face. “How could I ever forget?”
~~~
The sun shone through the curtains of the bed chambers, illuminating the room with a soft orange glow and acting as a natural wake-up call for the sleeping Alicorn. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes he stood with a smile and walked silently toward the washroom. He had only just stepped through the doorway when he caught glimpse of himself in the large standing mirror.
His green mane was disheveled and messy, and his gray coat was matted and unkempt. He felt a smile tug at the corners of his mouth at the comical image of a seemingly sloven stallion in front of him. A bath was most certainly in order.
The steam from his shower made their hot and thick as he stepped out, levitating a towel from a nearby rack and patting himself dry. He stepped in front of the mirror again to reevaluate his appearance. Much better.
He walked back into his bedroom and in front of his open window to watch the sun finish rising. He watched out with quiet contentment, but no sooner had he found peace than the sound of eight rapid-moving little hooves began to ring in his ears.
“Morning, daddy!” the two tiny foals called out after they had snuck up behind him, thinking their presence was still a mystery to the old stallion.
With an overly dramatic display of shock their father gasped and flopped over onto his side, with a hoof resting on his forehead and letting his tongue loll out of the side of his mouth.
The two fillies giggled at his farcical display and jumped on top of him. “Get up! You promised we’d start work on the elements today!” they shouted out in perfect unison, furthering their father’s suspicions that younger ponies have some magical telepathic properties that they use to organize their mischievous deeds.
-
Celestia gazed up at Discord, finding his eyes to be staring off into space as he told his story. “This isn’t my favorite story.” she said as her eyes began to tear.
Pulling away from his absent daze he looked at Celestia with an uncomfortable smile. “I know it’s not. You’ve heard that one too many times. This time I’m going to tell you one that you’ve needed to hear for a long time now.”
“I know how it goes!” she cried out with guilt staining her voice. “I don’t need you to remind me!”
“I do need to remind you. I need you to know that you can never forget. It was never your fault, and nopony loves you any less for it. Please just listen, as my last request?”
Closing her eyes to stop the new flow of tears and burying her face into Discord’s side, Celestia gave a quick and sharp nod, giving Discord the OK to proceed. “You’re not very good at cheering ponies up, you know,” she joked, despite the situation. Discord just smiled in response.
-
“I did, and we will. Patience young ones,” he said as he lifted them from his side and placed them gently on the floor next to him. “Where’s your sister, Luna?”
“She’s still sleeping.” said Celestia.
“Very well, why don’t you and Stella go wake her?” he stood up, towering over the two smaller ponies.
His intimidating size left them both unfazed, and Stella couldn’t have made that more obvious. “But dad! You know she just gets in the way all the time, she’s too young! She doesn’t even know what’s going on most of the time!” she shouted in her high pitched squeaky voice.
He just grinned at the adorable display of squeaks and squeals that seemingly never ceased to escape his children’s mouths. “I understand, perhaps today we can do a little work before we wake Luna.” the message came much to the relief of the fillies in front of him, who let out a tiny sigh at the news. “Off to the labs!” he shouted theatrically.
The three of them made their way to the laboratory together, the two younger ones bouncing along beside their father. The lab was a large room with a giant metal apparatus in the center, and rows of screens and chart boards lining the walls.
The metal machine in the center hung from the ceiling, starting wide at the top and slimming as it neared the bottom, something like an imperfect upside down cone. Adorning the sides of it near the bottom were six gems of different shapes, representing the six elements the machine was built to harness.
The entire setup was Celestia’s invention, she was still a filly as far as Alicorns go with their impossibly slow aging process, at the young age of 152. Despite her young age, however, she was something of a prodigy. Her genius mind had made many breakthroughs in the fields of science and magic, and her most recent was sure to be her crown achievement. It was her belief that any magic-user’s power could stem from one of several sources. While the sun was main source of magic for all creatures, she believed that these “elements of harmony” could amplify somepony’s magic if used properly.
So her, her older sister and her father had been working on a way to harness the power of these elements. They had been working on it for weeks, and Celestia was positive that they were so close to getting it she could taste it.
“All right, let’s get into positions,” the stallion said as he entered the lab.
Celestia and Stella cantered off to get into their places. Celestia stood near the large apparatus in the middle, whereas Stella was over near a screen against the wall that sat comfortably close to an emergency shutoff button. “Ready, pops!” they called out in unison when they had taken their places.
After an assessment that everything was in its proper position, the stallion walked over to take a place near Celestia on the opposite side of the center machine. “Ready, Celestia?” he asked as he levitated large goggles over the eyes of himself and his two fillies.
“Ready!” she squealed as the oversized goggles were pushed onto her tiny head. Her excitement was running uncontrolled as she bounced in place.
“Good. Ready, Stella?” he asked, turning to his other daughter.
“Ready!” she called, not removing her eyes from the screen in front of her.
“Good! Today we’re going to try focusing the elements into gems. We have six gems fixated on the apparatus, we’re going to try funneling the power into them for containment. As you know, gems have properties closely resembling an Alicorn horn as far as magical possession goes. If they prove successful hosts, we’ll be ready to test-”
“Yeah yeah yeah!” Celestia interrupted before she slapped a large button on the side of the machine.
He smiled at her immature impatience as the machine whirred to life. There were several flashes from the focus point at the end of the machine, and Discord turned to Stella for the readout.
“Signs are normal, pops. So far so good,” she said, still staring at the monitor. How she always knew when her father was getting ready to ask her something nopony would ever know.
The stallion turned back to Celestia, who was sitting on her rump, rubbing her forehooves together and licking her lip like an adorable little mad scientist as she watched the magical flashes irradiate the gems.
The noise picked up to an incredible volume, signalling the next step of the procedure. “Ok, Celestia; The first gem’s almost full, get ready!” he yelled over the ear piercing howl of the machine.
“I know!” she called back, standing up to prepare herself. Her tongue still lay out of her mouth, but this time she seemed to be chewing it with concentration instead.
“Tell us when, Stella!”
“Almost! 3! 2! 1! NOW!” she screamed as loud as her tiny lungs would allow.
Celestia launched her forehooves at the machine, grabbing at a rotary wheel designed to turn the gems. With a quick jerk the wheel was turned, but seemed to get stuck on something halfway between the change. “Daddy, it’s stuck!” she screamed.
The stallion reached forward with his hooves and tried to turn the wheel, but it wouldn’t budge. “Back up, Celestia!” he called, and the tiny white princess obeyed, stepping backward a bit but not moving her eyes from the frantic display.
The stallion turned in place so that he was facing away from the machine and gave it a powerful buck with his hind hooves. The wheel still refused to move.
He was just about to give Stella the order to cut the power when Celestia stepped forward. She lifted her head toward the machine and her horn began to glow as she reached out toward the wheel. “Celestia no! We cannot use magic in here!” he shouted, but his words didn’t have time to reach her before the white flash exploded into the room.
The world around him faded to white in an instant, and he could no longer see nor hear anything for who knows how long. Somehow it seemed peaceful, if only for the briefest of moments.
“DADDY!” he heard the screaming as if so far away, and couldn’t place where it came from.
“DADDY HELP!” the voice screamed again as the world began to come back into focus. The blurry image of Celestia filled his vision.
“HELP HER!” she cried out again, and his eyes adjusted enough for him to make out tears on her face.
Instantly he sat up, scanning the room around him. There was a bright light in the center where the machine used to be, and at the middle of the light was his daughter.
“Stella!” he called out, trying to get the filly’s attention. “Are you alright?”
Fear gripped his heart as no response came, and he sprinted closer. “Stella?!”
The filly stirred for a moment before bursting to life. “Daddy?”
“Oh thank goodness. We’re gonna get you out of there, Stella.” he said with relief, even though he wasn’t quite sure what ‘there’ was.
He turned to fetch the help of his palace guards, when a tiny voice stopped him dead in his tracks. “Daddy it hurts.”
He faced Stella again, and the sight would be the subject of his nightmares for the remainder of his life. From the bright white light stretched tendrils of black, slowly swirling around and grasping Stella. As they slowly crept across her body the filly began to cry in pain. “Daddy stop them!”
Without giving a second’s thought his horn ignited, and he reached out with his magic to grasp the his screaming daughter. The tendrils clung to the stream of magic and severed it, so he lunged again. Over and over he would stretch for her, but over and over the tendrils would sever his reach.
“Get them off me!” she was crying and screaming incoherently as she thrashed about, trying to kick them off of her.
“I’m trying!” he said, his voice was breaking and his vision was blurring again from his tears. “Celestia go get help!” he called, not turning to even see if she would or even could obey him.
He could hear a sudden faint laughter that seemed to emanate from the light in front of him. “Who is that?” he called in hysterics. “Who’s there?”
The voice just continued to laugh for a moment before going silent. The only sound permeating the room was the cries and screams of Stella, and her father’s sad whimpering attempts at consoling her.
He could do nothing to help her, and he knew it, but he kept trying. Every reach of his magic ending in a painful lash, but he kept going over and over.
“Stop them!”
“They’re hurting me!”
Finally the tendrils had encompassed her entire body, encasing every last inch of her with their unearthly blackness. The stallion immediately sensed the futility of his actions, and hung his head. “I love you, Stella. I’m so sorry.” he cried, beaten.
Stella stopped thrashing and crying, and watched her father in his great moment of defeat. “I love you too.”
And with a burst of light she was gone. The stallion lay paralyzed on the ground, drained of tears and energy, he couldn’t move. The world faded to black around him.
-
Celestia was crying into Discord’s coat as he continued his story. Her teeth clenched at the memory of everything that had happened. “She doesn’t even know!” she cried into his fur.
Discord glanced at her and raised a brow. “Who doesn’t know what?”
“Luna!” she sobbed. “I’ve never told her any of it! She doesn’t even know... she doesn’t even know who you are.” her tears were soaking Discord’s side.
He lifted his paw and stroked her ethereal mane. “Perhaps it’s for the best.” he said, trying to console the weeping princess.
“How could that be for the best? She’s battled with you countless times and she’s never known who it was she was fighting. She’s never known how much she should care!” her sobbing increased as she gripped him tightly with her forehooves.
“Then she won’t be hurt when I’m gone.”
Celestia rested her face down on his side again, the most recent wave of emotion began to ebb as she realized the pain she may have saved her younger sister. “You’re right.”
-
The stallion woke in a hospital room. Celestia was sleeping in some chairs near the foot of his bed, and he was strapped to various machines that were beeping steadily and providing readouts of his vitals. Aside from that they were alone in the room.
“Celestia.” he whispered. She stirred, but remained sleeping. “Celestia, wake up.”
The young Alicorn yawned and stretched her limbs, then looked up at her dad. After taking a moment to rub the sleep from her eyes she smiled. “You’re awake.” she said still tired, but obviously happy.
‘I am” he smiled. “Where’s Luna?”
“She’s downstairs in the playplace with her caretaker.”
“Good. How are you? Are you alright?”
“I’m fine, dad.”
With a huge sigh of relief he relaxed back into his bed and watched the ceiling for a moment.
“What happened when I was gone? When we came back, you were lying on the floor alone. Where’s Stella?”
Any relief he was feeling was vanished in an instant. He felt tears coming back to him, and had to battle his urge to cry before he could even respond. “Celestia...” his voice was laced with grief, shaking and breaking so much it was nearly incomprehensible. “She’s gone.”
“What?” she squeaked. She was already crying, but she didn’t notice.
He was readying himself to recount the horrible story, when a sudden sharp pain shot through his entire body. The machines on his side started beeping frantically as he arched his back. The pain was so immense it had stolen his voice, and his mouth hung open without the ability to even force out a groan, much less a scream.
“Dad, what’s wrong?” she lept to her feet as her father began to thrash around on his bed.
He hadn’t heard her cries, but even if he did he couldn’t respond. The world was fading again, and he was powerless to prevent it. The laughing was back. The laughing he had heard from the light that had taken Stella. The laughing that he knew would haunt him for the rest of his life. Then there was nothing, and he was alone in the cold dark again.
Voices. So many voices ringing in his head. Frantic, scared voices.
“What do you think is wrong with him?”
“How am I supposed to know? I’ve never seen anything like this!”
“He looks... patched together.”
He opened his eyes to see a large number of ponies gathered around him. He was lying on his back, strapped into a chair or bed of some sort, unable to move. “What’s going on?” his fear was multiplied when he heard his own voice. It was so different. “What’s happening?!”
The ponies gathered around him gasped and began to murmur things between themselves. He was prepared to start shouting at them until a familiar squeaky voice rang out from the crowd. “Daddy!” she called, he could hear her struggling as she pushed herself through the dozens of ponies.
Before long she was jumping up to sit on his lap, and looking at him with curious eyes. “You look funny!” the crowds around her groaned at her naivete, adorable as it may have been.
“What do you mean, funny?” he smiled, thinking he might just have a few scars that she was taking notice of that would be easy, maybe even fun to explain.
“Well for starters, you have TWO horns!” she bellowed as loud as she possibly could.
The stallion was quite shocked to hear of this development, and looked at her as confused as he possibly could. “What do you mean ‘for starters’?”
“I mean that’s just the beginning! ALL of you looks funny!” she seemed to be excited about whatever drastic change her father had gone through, but he found it hard to mimic such mirth.
“Could I have a mirror, perhaps?” he asked, trying to fake a smile to make sure Celestia stayed at ease.
Before the filly could respond another pony stepped in to answer for her. “I’m unsure if that’s such a good idea, your majesty. You see, we all think it would be best if-”
“Mirror. Now.”
“As you wish.” the pony bowed and walked out of the crowd, before returning with a small hand mirror moments later. “Here is your mirror, but we must insist that you brace yourself before you look into it. The changes are... quite drastic.” he finished nervously.
The pony held the mirror backwards in front of the stallion’s face. “Ready?” he asked. Receiving a quick nod of approval, he turned the mirror over to face him.
His eyes shot wide in shock. This pony... no, not a pony at all... this creature staring back at him from the mirror was hardly a shadow of his former self. It looked deranged, deformed. The shock had no time to settle before he was falling again. Falling back into the blackness he was becoming uncomfortably familiar with.
The voices returned, many more than before. They were screaming this time. Terror, they were screams of terror. He opened his eyes and was appalled at the vision before him. He was floating above a dying city. Ponies were screaming in the streets, running in fear from strange indescribable creatures. The ground was raining molasses toward the sky and lightning was striking down all over the place, freezing in place as it reached the apex of its brightness creating large statuesque spires of blue light that dotted the landscape.
He didn’t have much time to survey further details of the chaotic scene playing out below him. Instead there was one thought that pushed all others from his head. One hope that gave him the sudden drive he needed, and he immediately darted off toward the hospital.
His arrival couldn’t have been more unwelcome, and the pieces clicked together immediately why. It couldn’t be more obvious that they blamed him for the hectic scene playing out all around them. Honestly at this point it wouldn’t be surprising, he woke up above the city with no idea how he got there, who knows what he was doing.
“I assure you that it wasn’t me!” he protested as the hospital staff attempted to bar him entry.
He was met with only growls of disgust at his pleas, and the guards at the door continued to impede him. Frustrated with their lack of any real response he reached out and grasped both of the offending guardsman by their horns and tied them together.
How did I do that? Or the better question; Why did I do that?
He shook his head and tossed the two guards to the side as they frantically tried to untie their horns from each other, a task that would be made more possible if their horns weren’t made of solid bone.
Ignoring their struggling he walked into the hospital, ponies seemed to be cowering in every corner of every room as he walked through the building, but he paid them little attention as he searched for his daughters.
Celestia told him Luna was in the playroom, but he was unable to find her there. He had no idea which room he was in when he was admitted, so he searched them all one by one, again with no luck. Angered at the futility of his search he launched himself out of the window of one of the hospital rooms and flew off in the direction of his castle. Perhaps his children were escorted home by their caretaker?
His arrival at the castle was even less welcome than the one he was met with at the hospital. Instead of two guards there were several, and instead of simply denying him entry they were assaulting him with a barrage of spears and magic. At first he was terrified by the ambush, but as they attacked he soon found that nothing was harming him. Their spears were breaking against his flesh leaving no wounds, and their magical grasps were vaporized the moment they made contact.
Their onslaught went from terrifying, to intriguing to annoying. He walked hardly hindered through his corridors as the battalion of alicorn soldiers followed behind him continuing their nonstop assault. It didn’t take very long at all before his patience met its end, and he finally snapped at their ever continuing attacks.
“STOP!” he shouted, and was met with surprise when the command actually worked. Without turning to look at the men he gave a smirk. “So you have no fear of attacking your own king, but you’ll still obey his commands? Confusing bunch, the lot of you.” he said, and turned to face the soldiers.
They were frozen in place, all of them. As if time had stopped they were stuck holding the position they carried as they were attacking him. Again he found himself both confused and impressed by his own power, but again he took no time to ponder on it before starting down the halls again in search of his daughters.
He knew his home like the back of his hoof, but with in his panicked state it seemed to him as some form of labyrinth. Unending corridors winding in spirals around a maze of corners and turns. He was unsure if he was going in circles or not because every hall seemed to look the same, gray stone walls dotted with stained-glass windows.
His frantic searching was interrupted when he heard a squeal from a nearby room. He knew the voice, he could identify it from anywhere. He even knew where it came from, and his heart began to beat incredibly fast. He walked over to the doorway of the room the sound had emanated from and peered his head in. She was standing on her bed, staring straight at him.
“Stella?” his heart was on the verge of thumping out of his ribcage. Confusion and an alien sense of joy boiled in his stomach at the sight of his daughter.
“You didn’t save me, daddy.” she said coldly. “You didn’t even try.”
His spirits instantly dropped through the floor. “I tried. I tried so hard, I’m so sorry.” he felt tears welling up in his eyes. “Please forgive me. I did everything that I could.”
“But you didn’t.” her sharp voice lashed like whips at his heart. “You gave up. You could have kept trying, but you stopped!”
“No...” he said with no sign of certainty. He dropped to his knees, knowing she was right. “I did. You’re right, I did and I’m so sorry. I would give anything to have you back. But I can’t.” his face was soaked in tears by now. “I can never have you back.”
“Don’t be so certain.”
He looked up at her, his face contorted with utter bewilderment. “What do you mean?”
“Nothing is certain. Certainty is so overrated, so I’ll make you a deal. She seemed to have some evil grin that put him into a state of serious unease. It was becoming apparent to him that whoever he was talking to was not his daughter, but what it was instead he has no idea.
“What kind of deal?”
“Business proposal, nothing more.” she said, the mirth in her voice beginning to show through. “You have something I need, and I happen to be in possession of something I know you’d give anything for. You can have it, for one low price!” she began to get an excited air about her that you might find on the salesponies from some midnight infomercial.
“Tell me what the deal is, then.” he said, hoping to finish his business with whatever creature it was that was using his daughter’s image. He wanted to leave, run away and not look back at this cruel projection of his affections that was being used as leverage against him, but something kept him there.
“Well, you may or may not know that I’ve recently put a lot of time into a work of art. A masterpiece of discombobulation and nonsense that I think came out quite nicely. The thing is that this work of art has been taken from me, the canvas I crafted it on seems to have a life of its own. I need my work returned to me, and in return...” she paused for effect, smirking as she knew she was about to finalize a deal that he could never refuse. “You can have back your precious filly. ‘Stellar’ I think her name was? Her body’s quite uncomfortable anyway, much too small for my taste.”
His eyes flew wide as he finished his proposal. Every bit of his mind wanted to scream ‘YES!’ right then and there, but more cautious heads prevailed. “What does this art have to do with me? I’ve taken nothing from you.”
She began walking closer to her father, still grinning smugly. “It has everything to do with you. It’s you I’ve been fighting with this whole time. You’re the one keeping me from my masterpiece. I built it around you, and you took it from me.” she leaned in closer, and whispered into his ear. “I want my body back.”
He clamped his eyes shut, trying to process everything that has just been said. “You’re the reason I look like this? You’re the reason I just woke up above a city in tartarus?” he was having trouble believing his own words. “I can’t give you my body!”
Stella’s eyes glazed over with a fiery rage. “MY body!” she shouted. “And you can accept the trade or I’ll take it back anyway and you’ll get nothing!” her voice began to shift and contort, deepening from its original tone. “I promise you won’t win this fight. You’ve already tasted my power, accept your defeat.”
Fear began to burn in his chest. She was right and they both knew it. Whatever this creature was, it seemed infinitely powerful and he has no wish to be on the receiving end of its wrath. “You give me Stella back, and you can have your body. But what about mine?”
“Not my problem.” she said, her voice returned to the normal tone of a of a happy little filly.
His body was wracked with sudden pain, and he began writhing on the floor. “Stop fighting it!” a voice called, but it seemed to be coming from in his own head. “You’re just making this more difficult for both of us.”
He gave up his struggling and granted the enormous entity entry. He couldn’t see it, but he could feel its presence. He was beginning to feel as though he was sharing his own mind, an uncomfortable push in his crowded head.
“Alright, job’s done.” the voice nonchalantly echoed in his mind.
“The job is not done. You still have to uphold your end of our bargain.” he thought back to himself.
“I haven’t forgotten, and as promised you can have your daughter back. I’ll even let you borrow the body for a moment while for your little reunion.” the voice seemed seemed happier than it should’ve been. It was unnerving.
The world began to swirl around him, the colors of his daughters room began to morph into a gray blur. He blinked his eyes a few times, trying to focus them when the world stopped spinning. The gray blurs began to clear, and turning more metallic.
“I’m back in the lab?” he asked when he finally realized his surroundings.
“Yes you are.” the voice replied, no longer overjoyed and instead sounding rather serious. “You wanted your daughter back, so I’m giving you a second chance.”
“A second chance at what?”
The voice didn’t bother responding as the world answered his question for him. “Daddy?” Stella’s weak voice called from the center of the room. His vision snapped to the horrifying subject.
“You may want to hurry, I have a feeling she won’t last long.” the voice jerked him from his daze, so he shook his head and launched towards her with all the speed his new body could muster.
He landed on the platform just in front of her, the black veins were reaching out toward her just as before. “Daddy?” she asked, turning her head toward the thump that has rang out when the stallion landed. “No...” she started in disbelief at the impossible monster that stood in front of her. “NO!”
He was slightly taken aback from her shouting, but soon remembered his body. His simple existence was terrifying her. “No, Stella! It’s ok, it’s me.” he said hoping to calm her.
The filly began shaking in fear and started to try and back away from her father, pushing herself further into the grip of the tendrils. “Get away from me!” she cried.
He stepped forward, knowing he would have to save her first and explain his appearance later. Reaching up for her one of the vines lashed out at him and struck his hand, but this time he felt no pain. He grabbed and yanked at it. The tendril tore from its nest and fell lifeless to the ground.
“STOP! IT HURTS!” she screamed.
“I know, I’m so sorry. I’ll stop the pain, I promise. I’m going to make it better.” he reassured her, hoping she would understand that he was trying to help. He reached up again and grabbed another, tearing it and throwing it to the ground.
Stella let out another scream of pain. “You’re hurting me, please stop!” she shouted in tears.
Redoubling his efforts he began to lash at the vines again and again, tearing and ripping at them repetitively. Every slash of his talons severing another as his daughter kept screaming.
At last there was only one vine remaining, Stella has lost the power to scream and was instead panting in tears as she watched her monstrous father claw at the tendrils that were trying to devour her. “Last one, I’m getting you out of this.” he said, and raised his paw back preparing it to strike.
It swung down with incredible force, and halfway through the swing the voice began to laugh. He has no time to react as he severed the final remaining filament. Stella fell from the grip of its nest and landed in his arms.
“Thank goodness!” he shouted in relief. “Stella, we’re alright now.” he said staring at her. No response. “Stella?”
The voice was in a laughing fit as he stared at the filly in his arms. Fear gripped him once more as he stared at the unmoving body. “Stella? Answer me, Stella.” he began to cry at her, shaking her gently to wake her from her sleep.
“You can’t wake her up!” the voice cackled. “You don’t even realize do you?” If the voice has its own body, it would no doubt be rolling on its back and holding its sides right now.
“Realize what?”
The voice seemed to sober up, but only slightly. “That was me!” it shouted. “You just murdered me!” again it seemed happy at such a dark prospect.
“And?” he asked, still not getting the point.
The voice sighed with mirth. “I was picking a host, and you killed me.” it started “I has her life in my being, and you severed the connection.”
He was still confused at this point, so the voice went on with its explanation. “When I first chose my host I has to start funneling its own life into my ‘body’. You just killed my body, ergo...?” he said, waiting for the stallion to pick up on his hints.
His eyes opened wide with horror as the realization hit him. “That’s right!” the voice shouted. “You just killed her yourself! You should see the look on your face right now... priceless!” it sounded like it was crying with laughter.
-
“I... I had no idea.” Celestia stammered, her bloodshot and watery eyes met with Discord’s. “You’ve never said anything about this.”
Discord looked at her for a moment and smiled weakly. “It wasn’t your burden to bare.”
“I’m so sorry.” she continued to look into his eyes, hoping to instill some minor sense of solace.
“Don’t be. None of this was ever you, it was Discord.” he said, then laid his head back. “I can feel it. I’d love it if you could hear the end of the story.”
“I wouldn’t want it any other way.” she said, and laid back down on his stomach.
-
The understanding dawned on him, and he fell backwards still clutching her body in his arms. He began to cry, and continued to try and wake her up. “Come on, Stella. You’re fine, just get up. I saved you. We’re alright, just please wake up. I love you. Please.” he was begging as he hugged her, and she just flopped around unable to return his loving embrace.
He was broken. He became lost in his own mind as the beating voice grated down on him. “It was you. It was all you... Discord.” it said, making sure to kick as hard as it could while he was down. “I’ve won.”
The stallion didn’t respond, just continuing to cry and rock with his filly in his arms. It wasn’t until the cold grips of control were lost to him that he would let go. “Now I’m taking my body, you got your second chance and you blew it again.” it said as it pulled his consciousness from his own limbs. “It’s almost as if you wanted her dead.”
That was the end of it all. The stallion mentally thrashed wildly at the voice that was taking control. “This is MY body!” he screamed. “She was mine, and you took her from me. Now I’m taking what’s yours!”
He yanked his own body back from the grips of the voice, who just laughed. “You really think you can overpower me? I’m going to let you try, futility is a funny thing to watch.”
A smirk grew on his face. “You called me ‘Discord’. The name would imply that I am everything you wouldn’t expect, but even then the unexpected would be the norm. When everything is chaos, you begin to assume chaos. You should never trust someone you know can’t be trusted.” his mad grin enveloped his whole face as he stood and laid his daughter’s body gently on the ground. “You said yourself that I killed your body... that means that you have nowhere to return to. Nowhere to go, when I’ve taken mine from you.”
Comprehension hit the voice like a speeding train, but it was too late. Before it could regain control, the stallion was tearing at his own body. Ripping, tearing and gouging at his own flesh, destroying the art that the voice has worked so hard to create.
“STOP!” it shouted at him, trying to regain control. Every attempt was met with agonizing pain that they both shared as the stallion continued to rip himself apart with his own talons. “You’re killing us both!”
“I will protect my kingdom and my family. I’ll protect them with my life, even from myself!” he was bellowing, never stopping his assault.
The voice managed to find his grip on the mad stallion, and held with all of its might. “Stop.” the voice said, angrily. It began to push the consciousness down. “I’m afraid I have no choice, now. I had planned to share my every creation with you, but now I have to kill you. I hope you don’t enjoy this as much as I do.”
There was a pause of silence. The death the stallion thought was inevitable didn’t come. “What?!” the voice shouted out. “Why isn’t this working?”
The voice tried again and again to end the insufferable life of the stallion, all met with failure. “Why aren’t you dying?!”
The stallion grinned, a horrible evil grin. “I’m taking a host. You cannot stop me, don’t even try. I’ve taken your power from you, and now...” he took a moment to let his news sink in. “I’m going to end you with it.”
He could feel the voice recoil in his mind, and it ran around his subconscious trying desperately to hide. Its fear was so great that it managed to make the stallion’s body tremble. “You’ve given me unlimited strength.” he said, casually chasing the fleeing voice around his own head. “Unlimited magic.” every time the voice through up a mental blockade, he would simply waltz through it as though it weren’t there. “Unlimited power.” he had cornered the voice, and used his magic to give it physical form in his head so that he could grip its quivering body by the throat.
Lifting the pale embodiment of terror with his claw he held against the walls of his mind and stared into its eyes. He stared with indignation at the face of his victim, and stopped himself. It looked happy. He released his grip from it and dropped it to the ground, and it rolled over onto its back and laughed uncontrollably.
“Why are you laughing?” he yelled, more of an angry statement than a real question.
The voice replied, anyway. “Because! Look...” he gasped through his roaring fit. “Just look at what you’ve done!” he gestured behind Discord’s back. “I did. I gave you all that power, I gave you everything. And just LOOK at what we’ve created with it!”
Discord turned, returning from the dark of his thoughts to a harsh reality. In front of him lie his city in ruins. His jaw went slack as he stared in shock, pillars of flame towering over his destroyed home. Alicorns were lying limp and dead in the streets, sharing their final resting place with mounds of rubble and ash.
“What...? How?” he managed to choke out.
The voice sobered a little so as to fill Discord in on the details. “I’m an immortal conscience, illusion spells are less than elementary. That was quite a chase you gave me, through ‘your mind’. You didn’t hear their screams as you tore down the walls of their home and strangled them?”
He gave up at this point, dropping to his knees. He looked down at his body to find there were no gashes or tears. He was covered in blood, but none of it was his.
“Beautiful, isn’t it? You’ve managed something as poetic as genocide without ever even knowing what you were doing. But don’t worry, I’ve saved the best for last!” the voice jerked at the body, forcing it to fly toward a dead clearing nearby. In the center, framed by the bodies of fallen alicorn guards was a small white filly with a pink mane.
“No.” he said, unable to believe what he was seeing. “I didn’t...”
The voice laughed a little. “Don’t worry, you didn’t. I wouldn’t let you do that one, not under an illusion.” he flew the body close to the white filly sleeping on the ground, she seemed to be sleeping, her steady breaths raising and lowering her tiny chest. “I decided I’d let you watch this one.”
He landed right next to her, and lifted the sleeping filly with his paw. “Ready, Discord?”
“NO!” he shouted to the voice. He struggled with all his might, reclaiming very little of his body back, but a little was all he would need.
He shook the filly just a little bit, enough to stir her awake. She opened her eyes slowly and looked up at Discord. “Dad?”
To her surprise he didn’t come bearing good tidings. He wasted no time, struggling to get his mouth to obey he managed to mutter the words. “Elements. Get your sister. Go.” With his last bit of power he teleported Celestia from his paw.
“And what do you think that was?” the voice asked, sounding none too threatened.
Discord didn’t respond, instead he lay back to relax and gather his strength. He would soon need it. Electing to keep the voice distracted Discord started up a conversation. They didn’t seem to move much when they were talking.
-
“This is the part that hurts me most.” Celestia said as she practically began to crush Discord with her hug.
“I know it is, but please understand that you’ve never hurt me. I wouldn’t have made you do it if I didn’t want you to. Nothing could make me happier.”
“Thank you.” she whispered, loosening her grip but still holding the embrace.
-
Their conversation dragged on for almost an hour. They were now lying in the grass basking in the heat of dying flames. Discord brought up so many topics, and the voice was more than happy to answer any and all questions he asked.
He was running dry on distraction material when his daughters finally arrived. Discord rolled over and noticed Celestia and Luna walking towards him. “Oh look, here comes the cavalry!” the voice sarcastically mocked.
The sisters brought themselves to within a few steps of Discord, who was now standing. “We have what you’ve asked for.”
He couldn’t respond, he was saving his strength to protect them and couldn’t afford to expend any on taking control for talking. The voice took this chance instead. “We’re sorry, we’re either not home or can’t come to the phone right now. Please state your name and number after the beep, and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can. BEEP!”
The sisters weren’t in the least bit amused. Celestia looked at him as though she’d lost someone she loved, but Luna’s eyes were filled with anger. She didn’t know that she was staring at her father, to her it was a maniac who has just destroyed everypony she held dear. Perhaps even her father included, she had no idea.
“No games. It’s over now.” she yelled at him, but her squeaky voice probably couldn’t even intimidate a bunny.
Laughing he stepped forward. “Over? I daresay I don’t think we’ve even started yet.”
He reached down to grab the tiny Alicorn, but his body was stopped. He froze inches with his claw inches from her face as Discord held his body still with every scrap of strength he could muster. A few grunts and groans escaped his frozen body’s lips before he could mutter a single broken word.
The voice bashed repetitively against Discord’s hold, loosening the grip with every hit. “Let me go now, or I’ll make them die slowly.” Discord refused to listen, taking the brunt of his attacks and all the pain that came with it. He would give his daughters this chance, if nothing else. He has failed one, the others would be given the redemption he couldn’t give her.
The Alicorn sisters cantered around to position one on either side of him and began blasting him with magic. Strike after strike lashed out at Discord’s body, pushing his pain over the edge as he dropped his hold and fell into unconsciousness. The voice took immediate control once again, and leapt the body into the air. “Silly foals.” was all he bothered to say before he flung himself at Celestia in anger.
He grabbed her by the throat with his claw and raised her into the air, using the same tactic that Discord has tried to use on him just a short while earlier. He raised her high into the sky and looked up at her from his lower position. Wave of magic blasts washed over him from Luna’s horn as she relentlessly tried again and again to stop him.
“Are you prepared?” he mused, merely trying to stall in order to think up some creative way to end the two Alicorns.
Celestia smirked at him, catching him by surprise. “I’ve been prepared. The real question here is...” her eyes began to shine a bright white, and a pulse of magic burst from her body, knocking Discord to the ground as she continued to levitate in place. “How fast can you run?”
A beam of magic burst from her horn as she slowly brought it down to aim it at Discord. He could feel the heat already searing his flesh before it even made contact with him and launched himself out of the way of the moving pillar of death. He began to fly high into the air, making sure to evade the magic that was chasing him through the sky.
“Harmony?!” he screamed in shocked horror as he attempted to flee. He’d seen the power of harmony before, it was the only magic capable of besting his own. Terrified he flew with all the speed his wings and magic could propel him with. He looked back to see the distance he’d put between them, only to see that they were even closer than before he took off.
The two princesses were gaining on him, and he began to flail his limbs in a scurry to fly faster. The thrashing of his legs hit the pillar of magic and he let out a loud howl of pain. It was indescribable, and he began to plummet toward the ground. Celestia and Luna followed suit, keeping on his tail as he dropped.
He smashed into the ground with an enormous thud that threw up thick clouds of ash. Celestia cut the magic flow from her horn while Luna used her own to sweep the ashen cloud away, revealing a writhing Discord.
They landed next to him, walking closer while still exercising caution. They didn’t know if he has any tricks up his sleeve.
When they were close enough, Celestia reached out with her magic once more, lifting his body into the air. “I find you guilty of genocide.” she began to cry as she remembered all the loved ones she has lost in a matter of minutes. “For which the penalty...” she dropped her head at the thought of what she knew she’d have to do. A being so powerful couldn’t simply be imprisoned, lest he escaped again. “... is death.”
Her horn flared as her magic intensified. She began to squeeze Discord with all of her magical might, almost endless as it was empowered by the elements of harmony. The pain woke her unconscious father, and he got to look out just in time to see her face as she tried to destroy him.
“Stop!” he called on reflex.
Wait... did I just?
He checked his thoughts over and over again. “Where’s the voice?” he thought to himself.
Celestia dropped her magical field, while still holding the body motionless. “Because I am fair and just, unlike you, I will allow you final words. Speak, monster.” she said through gritted teeth.
“Don’t stop. I can’t let you stop, that was reflex. I’m so sorry, just end it now.” Discord wept as he said it, knowing he had no choice but to let her kill him.
Celestia was having a hard enough time killing it when she was convinced it was a monster, so when she heard her father’s words come from it she suddenly lost all drive. She dropped him from her magical field and lay on the ground sobbing.
Discord wanted so badly to console her, but he couldn’t risk this being a trick. He poked and prodded in his mind in search of the voice. Finally he found it, but it wasn’t speaking. Instead it was muttering tiny whispers of pain. “Unconscious?” he thought.
It was then that he realized why. An astral conscience never feels pain, so when it has a physical body it can’t take it. It couldn’t handle the immense pain it was given, and it lost consciousness. He knew it wouldn’t be long before it came back, though, so he needed to get into action.
“Celestia, you must stop me. I’ll start again if you don’t, we don’t have time.”
She looked up at him, her eyes were bloodshot from crying. “I can’t.”
“You must!” he shouted with a snap. He knew he would regret hurting her for the rest of his life, but if a small bit of pain is what must be caused to ensure she survived then so be it. He stepped forward and raised a paw, pausing with it in the air. He gave her a moment to realize what he planned to do, in hopes she’d stop him before he could bring it down.
She just sat there and watched him. He shut his eyes, knowing he couldn’t bare to watch the very thing he was about to do. He trembled for just a moment, and at long last he made his choice. He threw his paw down toward her.
Suddenly he was stiff, he couldn’t move his arm. Opening an eye to peak down he noticed his two daughters channeling a spell in unison.
“You will be imprisoned in stone.” Celestia said with her eyes clenched in concentration.
“Your magic will be stripped from you.” Luna said, adding to the judgment they were bestowing.
“You’ve ended the lives of the Alicorns.” Celestia continued. “So your life will never end. You will spend every second in agony. You will be alone for eternity with only your own madness for company.”
Discord peered his eye down to see that his legs were already trapped in stone. He looked forward again at his daughters, pride and fear conflicting against himself. He closed his eyes, happy that the nightmare would be over.
An eternity of torture awaited him. Trapped with his own maddening thoughts. He failed to save his beloved daughter, the one who loved and trusted him even as he let her die. He has ended his entire race, those who crowned him king, believing he would lead them from the darkness.
In all he had done wrong, he was left with two shining stars he felt unworthy of. Two daughters, whom he only just barely managed to help save from himself.
A tear trailed down his face. “I love you.”
-
Celestia sat up from her comfortable resting, looking away from Discord as he finished his story. She was no longer crying, drained of any more tears to do so. Instead she turned to Discord when he had finally finished.
He was smiling, looking more content than ever before. Peaceful, and in spite of the bloody matted coat he was almost beautiful. The final image of a kind tyrant, Celestia smiled. The world may know him as nothing more than the harbinger of chaos, but not her.
She watched him for a moment and saw not pain. She didn’t see the strife or anger he caused. None of the confusion or hatred. She looked past the evil and saw her father. She leaned down and nuzzled his lifeless cheek. “I love you, too, daddy.”
