Lunatics

by Quill and Brush

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure
Length: 1804

From Latin lunaticus, meaning moon-struck

Celestia has had a rough existence. First her husband and then her sister fall away from the light, forcing her to imprison both of them. She has finally finished stabilizing the country after the 'Eternal Night', only to be confronted with Nightmare Moon's lingering influence. Will she succeed in maintaining peace in Equestria? Or will Nightmare Moon plunge the known world into social nighttime eternal?

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2012-12-11 21:32:53 UTC

Prologue

1 April, Year 237 of the Glorious Triumvirate

Queen Celestia collapsed onto her large bed with a sigh.  She had just learned of her husband Tellurus’ fall into insanity and subsequent transformation into the monster calling itself Discord.  The door to the bedroom creaked open.  Celestia cracked open an eyelid to investigate the source of the intrusion on her self-pity and to determine the amount of effort needed to dispel aforementioned intrusion.

A small voice floated from the crack in the door.  “Tia?  Are you alright?”

Celestia sighed, a small smile tugging on her lips.  “Yes, Luna, I’m fine.”

Luna pushed her head past the door.  “Do you wanna talk about it?”

Celestia’s smile drooped once more.  “Not particularly, but I’d appreciate your company.”

Luna perked up slightly and forced her way through the doorway.  She shortly arrived at the bed and crawled up to snuggle into her older sister’s comforting grasp.  The younger alicorn, barely larger than a mortal pony, was engulfed inside the much larger alicorn’s wings.

After a time of comfortable silence that neither of them could bother to quantify, Celestia sighed again.  “Luna, I’m going to need your help.”

Luna craned her neck back to look up at her sister’s face, curiosity evident in her eyes.  “With what?”

Celestia bent her neck to nuzzle the Princess.  “I’m going to need you to step up and help me with leading the kingdom.”  Luna’s gaze became excited.  “I need to figure out how to help Tellurus, and I can’t do that while I’m being overrun with nobles and laws.”  Now, Luna’s gaze turned fearful.  “Don’t worry, I won’t leave you alone.  I just need someone to split the workload with me so I can help Tellurus at the same time.  Can you do that?”

Luna looked away for a second, before turning back with fire in her eyes.  “Of course, sister.  I will help in any way I can.”

15 March, Year 19 of the Reign of Chaos

“After nearly two decades of rebellion, you’re finally ready to officially surrender your rule to me, the true King of Chaos?  Well, it’s about time.”  The monster known as Discord towered above two alicorns - one white, one nearly black - as they stood in the throne room of the castle at Old Roam, deep within the ground beneath the Seven Hills that the city was founded on.  “Then come, Celestia, and take your rightful place at my side as the Queen of Chaos!”  Celestia nodded solemnly and began walking forward towards Discord.  “And Luna, sweet, little Luna.  Bow before me and I might spare your life.”  Luna bowed her head, keeping an eye towards Celestia as she turned and leaned against the towering draconequus.  Discord threw his head back and his arms wide, laughing loud enough to shake the city on the surface.

Celestia nodded almost imperceptibly towards Luna, who nodded in return, and the two of them began to concentrate, pushing magic into their necklaces through their horns.  Each of the gemstones set into their necklaces began glowing different colors, Celestia’s red, orange, and yellow pulsating with Luna’s green, blue, and violet.  The pulsing color began to increase in brightness and frequency, beginning to hum a harmonious chord.  Before long, the six gems shot out solid beams of light toward each other, finally distracting Discord from is victorious laughter.  The beams struck each other and pushed straight up, the resulting rainbow arching towards the King of Chaos.

Discord chuckled.  “You think you can defeat me with rainbows?  Hah!  You couldn’t defeat me if you were draconequi and I were powerless!”  His laughter resumed, louder than ever.

As the beam touched Discord, it coiled itself into a tight spiral, surrounding him in vibrant colors and fierce winds.  His laughter now drowned out by the vortex around him, Discord watched as the rainbows hit the ground and began to rise again, leaving his feet imprisoned in stone.

“What!?  How are you doing this?”  Discord’s voice echoed around the chamber, causing rocks to fall around the three immortal beings.

Celestia smirked even as her face was being forced into a frown of concentration and exertion.  “Oh, it’s nothing special, my king.  Just a little bit of all powerful magic.”

Discord began writhing around, launching magic throughout the room and at his frozen feet.  “No, no!  I am the all powerful King of Chaos!  Nothing can stop me!”

After several minutes of Discord’s thrashing and screaming, the magic ceased and the commotion quieted.  The only sound present was the panting of the two alicorns.

Celestia slowly caught her breath.  “Did we... did we do it?”

Luna, who was still panting slightly, looked up to where Discord had been.  “I... I think so.  Is... is that... a Discord statue?”

Celestia looked up at the now fossilized draconequus.  “That is indeed what it looks like...”  She turned to look at Luna and gestured towards the gems around their necks.  “So what are we going to call these little beauties?”

Luna looked down at her necklace.  “Well, the opposite of chaos is order...”

Celestia shook her head.  “That doesn’t feel right.  How about...”

Luna looked up and met Celestia’s gaze.  “Harmony.”

Celestia brightened.  “That’s it!  The Elements of Harmony!”

Luna nodded, grinning.  “Perfect!  Now that that’s settled, what are we going to do with him?”  She gestured at Discord.

Celestia frowned again.  “It wouldn’t feel right leaving him here.  Can we being him and put him in the gardens of the castle in Everfree City?”

Luna walked over to sit next to the slightly larger alicorn.  “Of course we can.  And I swear that we will find a way to reverse the curse of the chaos magic that made him this beast.”

Celestia just smiled and leaned into her sister’s comforting side.

21 December, Year 391 of the Glorious Diarchy

Princess Celestia collapsed onto her large bed with a sigh.  She had just witnessed her sister’s psyche’s final collapse.  “How could I have missed all the signs?  How could I not have noticed my little Luna’s discontent?”  She sighed again, sitting up and looking out the large window across from her bed.

“How could she over power me like that.  To be able to alter the path of her moon so greatly as to place it in front of my sun.  It’s absolutely unheard of...  Where did she get all this power?”

As if in answer to her barely audible question, the storm broke in the skies above Everfree City with a crack of lightning, a peal of thunder, and a burst of maniacal laughter, pulling Celestia from her bed and to the balcony overlooking the city.

Off in the distance, a tall figure was silhouetted by the lightning bringing the darkened sky into a state of twilight that should have been reserved for dawn and dusk.

Celestia stared at the figure outside the city.  “I swear, sister, that one day, I will return you to your former state of mind, rescued from this nightmarish figure that you have become.”

21 March, Year 1 of the Eternal Night

“So, dear sister, are you prepared to be defeated by me?  For I am ready to defeat you...”  The black alicorn glared across the room at her white counterpart.  “I would assume so, considering the fact that you called me here to end it once and for all.”

Celestia met her adversary’s gaze with steely resolve.  “Indeed, Nightmare.  However, I do believe that you have it backwards, for it is I who will defeat you.”

The newly pronounced Nightmare Moon smirked at this.  “Ha!  To think that you could defeat dark magic with that sunshine you cling so closely to.”  Her grin widened menacingly.  “It’s a shame that you can’t use those pretty rainbows that worked so well on your beloved.”

Celestia’s gaze hardened into stone.  “You leave him out of this.  This is between you and me.”  Smugness pulled at the corners of her mouth.  “Besides, I can use the Elements of Harmony.”

Nightmare’s face drifted through shock straight to incredulity.  “Ha!  You may be able to use three of the six, but that won’t be enough to stop me!”

Celestia’s gaze remained steadfast.  “We will see about that, won’t we?”  She lit her horn bringing a glow to the gems set into her necklace.

Nightmare grinned.  “I see that the power comes easier to you now than it did four centuries ago.  My, my, Celestia.  Have you been practicing?”

Celestia merely grunted, pouring more magic into the gems.  Nightmare fell into silence, watching the display of magic from across the room.  Shortly, the three gems shot light across the room, splashing across Nightmare’s chest.  Before she could form a response, three more beams shot across the room from a previously dark corner, joining with the light from Celestia and forming into a swirling rainbow that surrounded Nightmare.

“What!?”  Nightmare began thrashing, immobilized.  “How could you use all six?  I am the only one who can wield those!”

Celestia grinned.  “No, sister.  When you succumed to the nightmare, you lost your connection to the Elements.  I just found some new ponies to wield them.”

Nightmare stared, mouth agape, at Celestia.  “No.  No!  This can’t be possible!  You cannot defeat me!  The nightmare told me!”  The rainbows began to spin faster, and lift Nightmare’s now frozen body into the air.  “No!  I swear, Celestia, that you will never defeat me!  You will rue this day!”  And with that, the Elements launched Nightmare into the sky, directly at her precious moon.

Celestia slumped down, exhausted yet grinning.  “I can’t believe that actually worked.”  A cough came from the corner that was once again drenched in shadows, catching Celestia’s attention.  “Yes, yes, come out, my little ponies, for we are victorious.”  Three sets of hoofsteps approached the princess.  “Thank you, all of you.  You have done a great service to my kingdom.”

“Thank you, Sir Torte of the Bakers’ Guild.  You have borne your Element with enthusiasm and laughter.”  The first of the ponies, a pale blue earth pony with a long, straight dark pink mane and tail, grinned up at the princess even as he was bowing in reverence.

“And thank you, Lady Saphire of the Jewelers’ Guild.  You have borne your Element with little thought of self gain.”  The second pony, a pure white unicorn with a luxurious blue mane and tail, bowed herself down as low as possible.

“And thank you, Sir Feral of the Forest Dwellers.  You have borne your Element with thought only towards the kindness it will let you show to your fellow creature.”  The last pony, a pale yellow pegasus with a pure white mane and tail, nodded sagely as he dropped to the ground.

“The three of you, and your families, will remain in my favor forever more.  In fact, I would like to give you each a role in the design of the new capital city, high on Canterlot Mountain.”

21 December, Year 15 after the New Dawn

Princess Celestia collapsed onto her large bed with a sigh.  The construction of Canterlot, and the reconstruction of Equestria, had just been completed.  “Finally, I can relax again.”

As the large white alicorn stared out the window across the recently constructed commercial district of Canterlot City, a commotion from outside her room startled her out of her peace.  Shortly thereafter, the guards stationed outside her room knocked thrice before opening the door a crack.  “Your Majesty, there is a matter that requires your immediate attention.”

Celestia sighed once more.  “What is it this time?”