Truth Behind Harmony

Deep within the bowls of the moon a creature stirred, awakened by the familiar tingle of activity beginning on that forlorn blue orb. She slowly roes to her hooves, her red eyes looking down at the glowing blue pool that served as her eye on the world of her sisters creation, making it possible for her to see all that went on there. She began moving toward it, stretching her wings to get the blood circulating through them properly, and then she began to speak to the room at large.

“Wake up my beauties, rise and shine; it’s a band new day and the mortal world is at peace…but not for long.”

As she spoke, ponies began waking all around her, raising their heads to look at her. Slowly they began to raise, their eyes flashing yellow to signify their bond to her, the being who had taken them away from their torment and pain. She smiled as they gathered around her, nuzzling a few before gazing into the pool that reflected the world.

“Just look at them,” she said, “I pull one tiny thread and their whole world unravels into chaos, glorious chaos.”

They all gazed at the image floating in the pool, and watched the being they all viewed as their mother. The younger ones began to gather closer to her, nuzzling up close to her as their eyes began to glow they got close to her, and she returned it with affectionate nips and rubs, for she loved her foals dearly.

“And would you look at this,” she said, making the pool zoom in on a pair of ponies in particular as she turned back to the pool. It showed Luna and Fantasia flying toward the borders of Equestria at frightening speed, which made her smile mischievously as she spoke. “It looks like my nieces are coming together again at long last, how cute, but I wonder what Celestia is up to at this hour?”

She made the image zoom out, and then refocus on the balcony that led to Celestia’s bed chambers. As she gazed inside, a smile broke across her face at what she witnessed.

“Well my my Celestia, look at how far you have come in such a short time.” She licked her lips at the site, for she was after all a creature of such passions, and seeing such always got her excited. She shook her head however, for this was no time to be thinking of such wants, even if it could be simply satisfied.

She lifted her head then, looking out over the masses of her loyal children as she stretched out her thoughts. “North Fire, Dark Reign, Heath Haven, my loves, come to me.”

Three young alicorns leaped out from the group, each of them landing in front of her and nuzzling against her, their shining eyes eager with anticipation.

“I need you three to take your groups out to the Everfree Forest and set up a base in the caves hidden there, I have a feeling war is about to visit that quite little part of Equestria.”

The three children shouted their approval, turning to amass their forces as large groups of ponies of all kinds leaped to answer their call. The being watched as her true children guided those who she had taken to the portals, a smile creeping its way to her lips once again. It had been ages since she had caused such mischief, mischief the likes of which no pony of this age would be prepared to handle.

She threw back her head and began to laugh, looking to the statue of her long lost sister as the pupils of her eyes turned yellow like those of the ponies around her. She reveled in this joyance feeling, for soon she would come forth, and the pieces would once again begin moving towards her desired goal; bringing her closer to once again embracing that which they had stolen from her.

Her revenge would be sweet…

Celestia lifted her head drearily from her pillow, not even bothering to open her eyes as she activated the spell that would make the sun rise into the sky. She snuggled up closer to Twilight, the mare responding with a squeak and a nuzzle, opening her eyes to look at Celestia with a smile. She was about to speak when she heard the rustle of wings on the balcony, and then a gasp as somepony walked in.

“Oh my…Celestia,” said a voice above them, a voice that sounded all too familiar to Celestia as it spoke. “I never knew you had such…interesting tastes, but I must say she is quite something.”

Celestia’s eyes slowly opened; both her and Twilight looking up to see Fantasia staring down at them, a wolfish grin on her face and a devious light dancing within her eyes. She was holding a foal in one of her forelimbs, keeping him off the ground and close to her body as he slept.

Twilight’s interest was piqued almost instantly, driving all thoughts of embarrassment from her mind.

“Is that your foal,” she asked, noting the similar red markings along his black coat and mane.

“Why yes,” said Fantasia as she looked down, “how very astute of you, though I guess the resemblance is uncanny at best, the only real thing he inherited from his father is the fact that he is male.” She then chuckled, looking at Celestia before speaking again. “So tell me dear sister, how long have you and this intelligent individual been seeing each other?”

“Now what makes you think…?”

“Sister, please don’t tell me you have forgotten how good my sense of smell is, I could smell the scent of your coupling the moment I landed on the balcony.”

Both mares blushed as Fantasia laughed at their expense, Luna joining from behind. They were quickly interrupted as a nock came to the door, and one of the guards poked his head in, not even batting an eyelash at the presence of another alicorn in Celestia’s room.

“Your highness, Misses Lyra and Bon-Bon have arrived per your summons.”

“Thank you guard, tell them we shall meat with them shortly.”

She then watched as he left and closed the door behind him, rising to her hooves along with Twilight from the bed; beckoning her sisters to follow them as they made their way to the door.

Celestia tapped her hoof impatiently as the sun rose higher in the sky, for they had been in the royal courtroom for an hour now and she was beginning to run out of patients.

Where the devil was her sister and Fluttershy, everypony else had either arrived or had been relatively easy find, admittedly they had found Pinkie Pie out in the Canterlot gardens looking flustered, but other than that everypony else had been in the room save for Fluttershy.

Celestia had a sneaking suspicion she knew where they were, and sure enough her suspicions were confirmed when they both walked in through a side door, both looking noticeably flustered and blushing deep red, Celestia giving her sister a knowing look before speaking.

“Did you really have to take care of such business at this time of day?”

“We are sorry sister, but she was rather direct in her persuasions…very direct.” Luna’s blush deepened further as she turned away, Celestia saying nothing further about it and instead directing her attention forward as she told the guards to let their guests in.

Lyra and Bon-Bon walked along the carpeted floor as they approached the throne and the large number of ponies there, Lyra’s nerves growing with each step as she tried to keep calm. She had expected Celestia and Luna, and even entertained the possibility of meeting with the Elements of Harmony, due to the letter being in Twilight's horn writing.

But she had not expected the mare standing on Celestia’s other side, a mare she knew all too well due to her own past. However she would have to keep those concerns quite for the time being, for they had finally stopped in front of the raised dais, bowing low toward the regal monarchs in a show of respect, but before Lyra could begin to speak she was cut off by the sun goddess’s voice.

“You can skip the formalities Agents Lyra and Bon-Bon; I know who you are and why you are here.”

This caught everypony except Luna off guard, and stole the breath from Lyra’s lungs. She was so dead, her cover blown and she knew it. “Well,” said a voice in the back of her head, “might as well square your shoulders and see what the golden bitch wants.”

She and Bon-Bon both rose and stood straight, Lyra glaring into Celestia’s eyes with a non-caring look, as if the knowledge that her cover had been blown didn’t shake her to her core.

“So what is it you wanted to speak to us about,” asked Lyra, her voice calm despite the dread she felt.

“We assume that you have a means with communicating with our sister, the one you call Mercury Waters; we wish to converse with her now, for it is of the utmost importance.”

Lyra nodded, and then she and Bon-Bon got to work setting up the station, everypony else watching as they worked. Twilight watched curiously as the built the device, noting the intricate design and the use of wires and crystals to power the contraption.

Finally it was constructed, Lyra using her horn to turn it on, entering the correct sequence to connect to the coded frequency that she used to get in contact with her ruler and then standing aside. After a long moment an image formed on the screen, and the three sisters gasped at the face, for it was not the one they remembered.

“Sister,” exclaimed Celestia “what has happened to you?”

The alicorn mare on the screen smiled at the reaction, her right eye showing happiness at seeing her sisters again. Her left eye however, and part of the left side of her face was missing, replaced by metal plates and a red glowing orb that seemed to act as a replacement eye.

But those weren’t the only things that had been replaced with metal, the right side of her chest shown metallic as well, a glowing white disk over her heart that pulsed in time with her silent heartbeats. Her right foreleg an left back leg were also missing, and both her wings had been replaced with metallic replicas, like those given to wounded pegasi who had lost a wing due to injury.

But despite this, Mercury kept smiling at her sisters pained expressions, knowing the cause of it and not wanting them to worry.

“Sisters please, long has it been since I have gazed upon you, though I do apologize if I am not as whole as you remember me. The republic has fallen on bad tidings for the past thousand years or so, and because of this I have been forced to directly interfere to prevent disaster. It has cost me a little more then I expect, though I am coping, for my power has helped in that regard.”

Celestia nodded, remembering the unique power her sister had bound herself to, that now seemed to have taken part of her, like some morbid exchange.

“But I know you didn’t blow my dear daughters cover just to chat about problems on my end correct?”

“Correct…and when you say daughter, do you mean…?”

“Lyra is my daughter through marriage, so in technical terms she is my step daughter. Which reminds me, you can remove your disguise now Lyra, as well as the disguise of your mate.”

Lyra nodded, and then with a flash of her horn, both she and Bon-Bon changed, bull horns growing from their heads and their tails becoming long flexible appendages with tufts of tail hair at the end.

“What the hay, what the heck are you,” said Rainbow Dash rather harshly, drawing a glare from her friends. “What?”

“It’s ok,” said Lyra with a grin, “we get those reactions all the time from outsiders. As to what we are, we are of the race known as Gorgans…”

“Gorgans,” screeched Twilight in alarm, “but Gorgans are monsters who turn their victims to stone with a gaze, much like cockatrices.”

This drew a laugh from Mercury, “I can see the Legendaris Invictus has served its purpose well, but no Twilight, my race is not the monsters you describe.”

Twilight opened her mouth to ask another question, only to have the mare on the screen raise a hoof to silence her. "Now is not the time for questions young Twilight, for we have other business we must attend to. I assume by the fact that Fantasia stands by your side sister that the rumors my spies have told me about the attack on her kingdom are true?”

“Yes,” said Fantasia, “and I believe I was stricken with the same madness that affected Luna all those years ago, or at least some variation of it.”

This caused every pony in the room to look at her, especially Luna, for she had been trying hard to keep from connecting the dots, but now that her sister had said it, she was forced to connect them and come to the same conclusions.

“Hm…yes, I assumed as much, the reports from my spies there showed similar behavior when compared with the reports from Equestria those many years ago.” She then turned to face Celestia, her mismatched eyes locking with those of her oldest sister, “Celestia you…you don’t think it could be…her do you?”

Twilight and the other seven mares in the room all perked their ears up at this little snippet, Twilight wondering who this ‘her’ possibly could refer to.

“Yes, we do believe it was her. The magic I found in the wounds of Fantasia matched with the magic I felt deep inside Luna when she had been turned into Nightmare moon, and I think it was she that was behind both events.”

Mercury nodded, her face showing her concern as she sighed in defeat. “Then it is as we have feared, I shall communicate with the others, and we should arrive at your palace by midday your time, so stay safe my sisters.” And with that the transmission ended, her face disappearing from the screen as Lyra and Bon-Bon began dismantling the device, while Celestia turned to the other ponies present.

“We best get ourselves ready, my sisters will be here soon. I will expect Everypony at the landing balcony by midday, ready to greet our guests.”

Celestia could barley contain her joy at the thoughts bubbling through her head as she got up, for she was going to see her sister after so long, and it didn’t even matter the news she had been given. She galloped off as the group split up, Twilight walking up beside as she ran to her royal chambers to dress.

“Princess, um about…”

“Celestia, Twilight!”

They both turned to see Fluttershy running excitedly up to them, so they both stopped so she could catch up.

“Hey, I just wanted to tell you both that I kind of spilled the beans about you two being together, hope you’re not angry with me.”

Celestia giggled as Twilight blushed with embarrassment. “Don’t worry Fluttershy, I can safely say I am not angry with you, neither I can assume is Twilight, it was going to have to be revealed anyway.”

“Oh few that’s good, now if you will excuse me, I got a naughty princess I have to go help get into her dress,” said Fluttershy, who then giggled as she clapped her hooves and whinnied, charging off toward Luna’s room.

Twilight and Celestia both stared after the mare looking dumb struck, and then they turned to each other with expressions of confusion.

“Princess, I think your sister has corrupted my friend”

“Quite the contrary my dear student, my sister has always been rather…shall we say reserved about subjects of that nature, I think it is your friend that corrupted my sister.”

They both looked at each other for a moment, and then they began to laugh. They began moving again, heading to Celestia’s chambers, figuring they might as well be dressed to match if everypony knew about their relationship.

They all stood upon the landing platform as the mid-day sun towered overhead, all waiting patiently in their fancy garb that Celestia had loaned them for the occasion. They looked as regal as any royal court pony could possibly look, their manes all tied elegantly and draped over their shoulders, and their coats all cleaned to a royal shine.

Celestia paced nervously as she watched the skies, for now that her happiness had died down, all her worries had begun to crawl their way back in. Sure, Fantasia and Mercury had responded well to her, but she didn’t know what her other sisters would think. She knew for a fact Siren would not answer her summons, not until things between them all mended and the kingdoms started trade again, but she was used to Siren being so brash. Out of all the ponies she remembered, it was her sister Anastasia that scared her the most.

When she had said that Pinkie Pie was like Anastasia, she had meant that literally. Anastasia was a being of extremes, just like Pinkie Pie was, and she had her occasional…episodes, but there was a big difference between the two. When Pinkie Pie had an episode, she began talking to inanimate objects and her main went straight as a sheet. When Anastasia had an episode however…she shuddered as the memories of the first and last episode the young mare had ever had, for she had only seen destruction wrought like that two times in her life, and the other had been wrought by Nightmare Moon, which had seemed tame compared to the destructive force of nature that Anastasia was.

She shook the thoughts from her head; this was no time to be question herself. She looked up as the others gasped, seeing what they had spied as clearly as they did. A pony was being carried toward them on the back of a large black scaled dragon, his eyes shining red in the sunlight as he flew toward the landing platform, landing roughly on it and letting the Alicorn dismount, before changing his shape into that of a Alicorn sized Kirin male. The Alicorn stretched her wings and claws out, looking at the gathered throng, and smiling as she walked up to Celestia before opening her mouth to speak.

“Nomag wer suaco onureth dout altiuiri nurti loreat lae coi dronilnric wux okarthel.” said Ixen; a smile appearing on her lips as she spoke the ancient words of the dragon tongue.

Celestia’s eyes teared up as she heard the old greeting, for it was one they had used in their childhood, when the wait of responsibilities didn’t way so heavily on their shoulders, and she responded in kind. “Vur nomag wer ixen di dout sepa gahri wer gogetoi ekess erlelee wer sepa di dout itova iri.”

Ixen teared up as well, walking over and wrapping her sister in a hug, crying into her shoulder as she let the weight of centuries poor out of her strong frame, for it had been too long since she had her big sister to lean on.

After a while she pulled away from her eldest sister, sniffing and looking at the other two, her heart flipping over backwards at the sight of Luna, their youngest and most spoiled sister, before finally speaking again.

“The others should be arriving here shortly, everypony is so eager to see you after so long.”

“Everypony,” Celestia asked, trying to keep her fears in check.

Almost at once a dark look fell over Ixen's features, and she sighed loudly as she turned back to Celestia. “Unfortunately no, not everypony will be eager. I don’t know the details, but it appears that after…after the events of Nightmare Moon, it seems Anastasia had one of her episodes.”

Celestia’s face fell, her worse fears confirmed. She gulped, looking at her sister’s scaly face for any sign of scaring, “How bad?”

“It was horrible, by the time I had reached her to try and calm her down; her entire kingdom had been dropped into the void. Many pony lives were lost. Oddly though, they did not blame their ruler for what had transpired.”

“What, how is that possible, who could the possibly blame for that?”

Ixen seemed to hesitate, and then she sighed as she spoke. “They blame you dear sister, and the worst part is…she has started to believe it.”

Celestia felt the shock cut through her like a knife through butter. She had to hold back the pain that was welling in her throat, this was far worse than anything she could have ever imagined. It was one thing to just have a sibling blame her outright, she deserved it, but to have a sibling blaming her due to rumors spun by her subjects…it was just wrong.

She was slowly dragged out of her downhill spiral as another form was spotted in the distance, though this time it was Mercury, who was flying in on her own power instead of being escorted. She landed smoothly, her metal hooves clanking on the stone of the landing platform as she walked over to embrace Celestia. The sight of her mangled sister was worse in reality then it had been over the hollow projector as Lyra had called, but before she could voice her concerns Mercury spied Lyra in the crowed, and broke her embrace with Celestia before beckoning to Lyra to embrace her. Lyra didn’t need telling twice though, running up to the mare that had become her mother and hugging her tight, Mercury running a hoof through her step-daughters mane as she looked up at Celestia.

“Thank you for not harming her, I don’t know what I would do if I lost her.”

“It was no trouble; we just wish you hadn’t felt the need for secrecy.”

Mercury nodded, then let go of her daughter, walking over to converse with her other sisters.

Celestia scanned the skies, wondering who would be next, though in all honesty she just wished that Anastasia would show up already, for there were many other reasons that what Ixen had said bothered her.

Like Fantasia had been Luna’s favored sister, Anastasia had been hers, the rambunctious and wild mare bringing heights of joy to Celestia that she had never known before. It had been Celestia that had brought her back from the brink during her first episode, she who had calmed the raging inferno of angered thoughts and feelings that had consumed the wild mare, when no other could reach her.

She spotted another shape however, her heart sinking a bit when she saw who it was. Of all her siblings, Dreamstride was the one she liked the least, and with good reason, as they had a very jagged history. The pony landed softly, folding her butterfly like wings against her sides as she walked over to Celestia, the green pools that were her eyes gazing at them all in turn. Celestia stood still for a moment when their eyes locked, and then her face grimaced, causing her to glare at her sister.

“I distinctly remember asking you not to speak to me in such a manor sister; you know how it makes me feel.”

The other alicorn was slow to respond, but soon enough opened her mouth to speak. “We are sorry sister oldest, we have been…withdrawn from this world for some time, and it seems we have forgotten much of what you have said to us.”

Celestia drew in a deep breath, for it was worse than she had thought. She knew the others couldn’t hear it, but she could hear a second voice speaking faintly behind that of her sisters, a sign that her mind had begun falling within itself. She knew of her sisters strange tendencies, how she would lose herself in the world of her power, often forgetting to care for her body, let alone her mind.

Despite her dislike for her, Celestia could sense that the mental strain was starting to take its toll on the fairy like alicorn. So without asking for her approval, she grabbed her and pulled her into a soft embrace, not caring how sensitive her coat was to physical contact.

“I know we have had our differences in the past my sister, but I hope we can get past them, and learn to be sisters once again.”

The other nodded; her body shaking as she tried to contain repressed sobs as emotions she had long ago abandoned came flooding back into her. “We…” she stammered, “no…I would like that very much…” she said, letting go of Celestia and walking over to Mercury and Ixen; her heart jumping at the remembered pleasure of their unique company.

They waited patiently for the last sister to arrive, Celestia beginning to pace again, while Ixen and the others began conversing with the Elements of Harmony.

“Hm, that is strange, the elements do not look like I remember them.” Said Mercury, looking at the necklace draped over Applejack’s neck.

“What did they look like before Princess,” asked Twilight, her curiosity piqued.

“Oh I am no princess Miss Sparkle”

“Not a princess, I don’t understand, I thought all alicorns were Princesses?”

Mercury laughed, drawing a few chuckles from her siblings as she began to speak. “No not all alicorns are princesses dear Twilight, that is just some Equestrian tradition passed down due to the alarming amount of hostility toward the words Queen or King in the olden days, and tradition has stuck over the years.”

She chuckled again at the memories this produced, of when she had first visit to the rapidly growing nation, “I am what is called a President, I lead my people in times of war and hold veto rights over laws my board wishes to pass into effect.”

Twilight was enraptured, giggling excitedly as Mercury spoke. But before she could try to re-ask her previous question, a massive clap of thunder sounded through the sky.

They all turned to see a great black cloud forming in the sky, reaching its way toward them, till it came to rest itself on the great platform. The cloud opened, and out soared eight elegant mares, each landing upon the ground in single file in roughs of two. The two at the front were the largest, one alicorn and the other a pegasus, both standing at equal height, while the six mares behind them were all alicorn, each with markings similar to their regal mother, except different colors. The lead alicorn walked up toward Celestia, her ice blue eyes staring daggers into her once beloved sister as Celestia spoke.

“Anastasia,” said Celestia.

“Celestia, it has been too long”

Celestia reach a hoof out to her sister, only to have it brushed aside, an even angrier glint coming to the monarch’s eyes.

“Celestia, I only answered your summons because of my own personal reasons, not for some misguided hope of uniting our kingdoms; you and I have business that needs settling.”

Celestia gulped, knowing what was coming before any of her other sisters did.

“Celestia, by right of ancient blood, I Anastasia Skadi Elmora Ordea challenge you to a weighing of magic’s.”

Celestia heard the gasps of the other five, as well as the confused mutterings from her pupil and her friends. But Celestia squared her shoulders, for she knew this had to be done.

“I Celestia Solaris Ordea accept the challenge, and as it is on my land, I pick the field of engagement.”

“Rightly so,” responded Anastasia coldly, relishing in the words she had been hoping to use for the longest time.

“Then we shall hold the challenge within the grand chamber under the mountain.”

“With pleasure,” said Anastasia, before turning to the others behind her. “Sylvia, daughters come along,” she said, and with that she and the other seven mares that had accompanied her walked past Celestia, lifting off into the sky and heading toward the mountain.

Celestia sighed as she watched her sister go, but then turned and went for the stairway, Luna and the others following her close on her heals.

“Sister you cannot be serious about actually going through with this can you,” asked Luna, looking concerned as they moved down the stairs.

“I have no other choice Luna, and she has every right to challenge. Now go and escort everypony to the stands within the chamber, I must go and prepare.”

“Princess what’s going on,” asked Twilight, concern etched on her face.

Celestia quickly bent down and comforted her marefriend, kissing her softly on the cheek to reassure her before rising back to her full height. “Luna and the others will explain everything once you reach there, just be brave my stu…my Twilight, be brave for me.”

Celestia then gave her one more quick kiss, and then she took off, running back to the castle as Luna guided Twilight and the others to the entrance that would lead them to the grand chamber.