We can only change so littleby vadramChaptersChapter 1 PreparationsChapter 2: May the stars guide you sweet princessChapter 3 Enter the puppeteerChapter 4 Playing with yourselfChapter 1 PreparationsChapter 1 Preparations Preparations In a dimly lit room in the royal castle Princess Luna puts the finishing touches on her plan to overthrow her sister Celestia and seize the power in Equestria. Alongside her four smaller ponies stand around a round table covered with maps of Canterlot and the surrounding area. “Status report.” Luna demanded of the four ponies. “Yes my princess.” answered one of them. He was a grey earth pony with a short yellow mane and tail, most of his mane was covered by a black and blue helmet, matching his armor. In the middle of his chest sat a jewel made to look like a blue lizard eye. Ironically since he had lost one of his eyes long ago, he had covered it up with a eye patch with a crescent moon engraved on it but part of his scar still remained visible. Every part of him screamed soldier, from his muscular physique to his cutie mark of a chipped old sword with green goo dripping from it. He was the supreme commander of Luna's ground forces and one his most trusted advisers. His name long since forgotten by the men under his command, who just simply knew him as The Queen Slayer. Not sooner had he finished his sentence before realizing the severity of his mistake. The foolish stallion dare to address Luna with the title of princess. On any other occasion those would have been the last words he ever spoke, fearing for his life he made a hastily correction. “Apologies my Queen, it was not my intention to address you by your former title” “Take heed Slayer, one more utterance like that and you may find yourself without a tongue to utter from.” She was clearly annoyed by the soldiers slip up, and if it was not for the matter at hand she would have cut of more that his tongue. Such disrespect would not be tolerated even from her highest ranking officer. “Our Queen is too kind” he said taking a deep breath, thanking the lady creator for her generosity on that day and continued with the briefing. He knew the real reason behind the princesses decision to spare him. While he made a name for himself long ago by his acts of bravery during the last war, everypony could be replaced, even him. But not now, not so close to this crucial moment. It would cause too much confusion and loss of morale among the troops. “Stop wasting our time. Present the status our ground forces at once.” “Yes, we have the 1st, 3rd and 24th platoon stationed inside the capital itself in full combat gear under the pretence of a delayed training exercise a total of 82 fully armed earth ponies regulars, 8 unicorns combatants and 12 mixed ground support personnel” A much smaller earth pony came out of the darkness whispered something into his ear and retreated back out of sight. It was like he was never there. “And I was just informed that on the day of the assault, some of the Day Guard, had fallen ill, and will be replaced with guards from the Night Guard, another 12 regulars. Colonel Bronze Hammer if you please.” Back in his day Bronze Hammer was a great soldier and a military genius, his exploits were the stuff of legends, but his time had long since passed, he had retired from active duty over ten years ago, but could not say no when the princess personally came to him and asked for him to join her cause. The older earth ponies body was not what it used to be, in his youth it was said the he could take down a pack Timberwolves unarmed, but the years have not been kind to him, Struggling to even standing under the weight of his own armor, which he insisted to wear, he could barely raise his sword to properly salute the princess let alone kill anything with it. While his body seemed to had failed him, he was far from useless. His greater strength had always been his brilliant mind. It was his special talent after all as shown by his cutie mark of a quill resting atop a broken hammer. He took a step forward, and continued the briefing. “My queen I am proud to inform you that the preparations for the Veteran and Reservist Day are advancing as planned. Over 100 combat ready loyal soldiers will attend, as well as twice of many veterans that will do all they can to run interference. Their bodies may be weak but their will are strong. Glory to the Queen.” “Also within the populace there are 113 lightly armed soldiers dressed as civilians,” continued Slayer. “Raising our total to 200 fully armed, 113 only carrying light weapons, 8 unicorns combatants and 12 mixed ground support personnel. Oh and around 200 veterans running interference.” The last part was said with humor in mind, but the Queen was not amused. In fact she was angry at him for making fun of soldier whom she served with and knew would die for her. It was not unnoticed by the rest of the ponies. “They are going against the 127 Day Guard earth ponies and 84 pegasi. The earth ponies will not be a problem, but without air support we will have trouble dealing with the pegasi. Also if the reinforcement are late taking the main gate will take between 3 to 6 hours longer.” “You should not concern yourself about the main gate, my operators are more than capable of opening it without your help.” The voice came from a hooded figure standing to the left of Bronze Hammer. “There is no need to hide your face, we all know what you are.“ The Slayer said trying to provoke a reaction from the hooded pony. She took her hood down, revealing her face. Even if he had told her they knew what she was, her appearance still caused some shock in the ponies around the room, except for Luna and Hammer who seemed mostly unphased. And they had reasons to be surprised, no pony under the age of 30 had ever seen a resident of Zebrica their whole lives, not since the fiasco of the Midnight Sunrise all those years ago. For the most part she looked like a pony, slightly bigger than the average mare, but nothing out of the ordinary. Her coat was mostly white with the occasional black stripe, large tanned leather bracelets tied with string were around her cannons, and she wore a sash made of the same material decorated with bone pieces went across her chest. Nothing unusual about that, but what caught both Luna and Hammers attention was her mane. Or almost lack of thereof. The zebras almost never cut their mane, except during rituals or as punishment. For them their mane is a status symbol, just as important as their marks. She had a history, and it is clear as the full moon that she would not talk about it. Even after revealing her face, her mark still remained hidden. “Why so surprised?” Hammer taunted the gray earth pony. “You act like you never saw a zebra your whole life.” A smug smile appeared on his face. “Enough of this.” Luna said using her Royal Canterlot voice. “Cease this foolishness, lady Pyre, have your agents finish the preparations?” “Of course my Queen. At the specified time the castle inner walls will crumble, taking with them anypony patrolling on them or in the immediate vicinity. Judging by the reports your followers have provided we expect between 20 and 33 Day guards to die or be otherwise incapacitated for the duration of the conflict” “Excellent. Now Queen slayer, what about the troops near the city itself?” “We have two regular battalions, 1300 strong, that are 3 hours away under the pretext of a war game in honor of Veteran and Reservist Day, along with a platoon of unicorns combatants, 34 heads. Over 3 companies, 300 total soldiers that are task with capturing and securing the nearby villages, if needed they can arrive in less that 6 hours to reinforce the troops in the capital city. Not that it would be required my Queen.” “As for enemy troops” Hammer interrupted his younger counterpart since he saw he had nothing of importance to say anymore. “We outnumber them 5 to 1, and almost 7 to 1 concerning unicorns, we expect the fighting to last between 2 to 3 hours, we estimate a loss rate under 17%” “What about Cloudsdale and the other palace?” “Cloudsdale will not be a problem” said the fourth of the ponies standing around the table. She was Nightingale, leader of the Shadowbolts, Equestrias Covert Operation. “We will take down the Wonderbolts and secure Cloudsdale before anyone figures out what happens. The Shadowbolts could reach the Canterlot within the hours to coordinate with the ground teams, however the rest of the aerial force will arrive roughly an hour after us. Until they arrive we will not be able to fully engage the pegasi guards until they arrive. We will harass them and provide whatever help we can to the ground units but they will be mostly on their own.” “And the elements?” “Except for a couple of squads that will be required to take over Cloudsdale, all remaining unicorns will capture and guard the elements until news of your victory arrives there.” “My Queen” the Slayer intervened. “No one doubts your powers, but I beg you to reconsider taking at least a couple of unicorns when battling Celestia... It would make the battle go faster... saving many lives.” "I understand your position general, but we need every unicorn guarding the elements. If she decided to run from our battle she would surely head towards them, hoping to use their power to defeat me” “But my Queen.” “You dare question my actions? MY DECISION IS FINAL.” “Yes my Queen! The night will last forever!” all for said in unison. They headed took a bow and headed back into the darkness leaving princess Luna alone. “Soon... Soon my dear sister... Soon it will all be over.” Author's Note Currently looking for editor willing to do charity work. Other chapters will be longer I promise. Feel free to point out any mistakes, be it grammar or otherwise. Creative criticism welcome. Chapter 2: May the stars guide you sweet princessMay the stars guide you sweet princess The night before the takeover Luna gathered her generals one last time to make sure all was ready for the next day. “Report.” “All troops inside the capital are present and are awaiting the designated time to begin the fight”, Bronze Hammer declared proudly. “The Shadowbolts are in position, all other pegasi are also ready for the upcoming battle”, Nightingale reported. “We will attack the Wonderbolts and the rest of the pegasi guards, before they can even take up arms we would have killed, trapped or incapacitated all of them. The population of Cloudsdale could prove more difficult to handle since there will be an increase number of tourist coming to see the Wonderbolts performance. And how glorious will their final performance be.” “All soldiers around the capital city will be ready, Canterlot will soon be ours. Er i mean yours my Queen.” Slayer proudly said. Pyre had her eyes closed. Everypony was awaiting her report, she said nothing. “Lady Pyre”, the old soldier tried to get her attention, without success. “Pyre?”, Luna said in a soft voice. Not many living ponies remember her talking so calmly before. Both princesses were used to using the Royal Canterlot voice when addressing their subjects. Such tones were only used when talking to each other, but as often was the case their conversations would often quickly degenerate into heated discussion, then into arguments, many cursing words were used, some so old that nopony even remembered them. The results were often the same, one sister would leave the room in a fit of rage usually breaking doors in their path, sometimes injuring servants, but the castle itself would suffer the most. Canterlot castle was build to take a beating, the hardest stone was used in its construction, all of it brought from far away lands and magically enchanted to stick together. But no stone, no matter how strong the unicorn that enchanted it was, could resist the magical might of a infuriated goddess, seeking something to channel all their anger towards. Luna’s reaction took the entire room by surprise, many jaws were dropped, and pants would have been darkened if ponies ever wore pants. One thought passed thru the ponies minds, had our future queen finally snapped, had her rage reached a point where even screaming and yelling would not reduce it? or was she not even trying to reduce it. The all took a couple of steps away from the zebra preparing to shield themselves from whatever magic Luna would release to punish the insolent creature. It never came. After a while the two soldiers and the Shadowbolt captain’s expression changed from terror to curiosity. They looked at Pyre... then at Luna... back at Pyre... back to princess. It was like they were watching an invisible tennis match, permanently keeping their eyes on a nonexistent ball. Lunas face was also new to them. Her expression betrayed her feeling, another thing the three saw very little of, except rage, they saw rage a lot. The look on her face was an odd mix of confusion, curiosity and worry. Pyre’s eyes suddenly open and she began to speak, having the full attention off everypony. All of them got closer to her to head what the shaman had to say, even Luna stretched her neck across the table so she would miss a word the zebra would say. “I see.” After taking a short break she resumed. “My Queen I had a terrible vision, while I see your plan unfolding exactly as planned, the inevitable will still happen. If we keep on this course of action Celestia will somehow defeat you, banish you to the moon, while the rest of us will be executed for treason.” “Are you sure about that shaman?” Luna asked after regaining her posture with a flat emotionless voice. “My ability to see the future is... limited, to say the least. Images are blurry, and often chaotic, they appear before me with no rime or reason, the voices sometimes do not match the images as well, but, I strongly believe that this is the most possible outcome.” “Is there no way to change the future? Is there nothing that can be done to ensure our victory?” “I cannot say. I can only see a few years into the future, and only one future is visible to me now, regardless of our action. War is imminent. If we do not attack her, she would eventually catch wind of our complot and the result will be the same. Only a miracle could lead us to victory. A miracle or a way to see all of time. Both equally impossible.” “My Queen, what is your decision? should we continue on this course of action, or wait for another opportunity to present itself?” the younger general asked. “I do not know”, Luna said to herself making sure no pony was able to hear her. “Pyre are your agents in place?” “Yes my Queen. Everypony is ready and is only awaiting for the time of the attack to arrive. So, we are going to go thru anyway... My Queen?” “I do not know”, again Luna was talking to herself. “Leave us, we will weigh the options tonight, have your troops prepare to attack regardless. Tomorrow at first light meet us again here and we shall inform you on our course of action.” “The night shall last forever” the four ponies said together, before three of them left the room leaving Pyre and Luna alone. After a moment of silence the zebra spoke. “Regardless of your course of actions my Queen, I will still expect to receive what I was promised. I would greatly prefer to use your sisters, but if it comes down to it, I would gladly take yours.” “Do not worry, one way or another, tomorrow you shall have the thing you so much desire. There are a few things matter to us, and our word is one of them. Rest assured that no matter what decision we will take, by tomorrow, you will be played in full. Now leave us, we have many things to consider before the sun rises.” “The night shall last forever, my Queen. May the stars guide you well. Good night my Queen, rest well.” and with that she left. Luna let out a deep breath and headed towards her quarters. She passed her bad winged guards who all stood in attention and greeted her with a “Hail Princess Luna, diarch of Equestria.”, the words did not seem to bother her at all that night. the princes entered her room and shut the giant doors behind her. Her room was simple, a sturdy wooden bed stood in the opposite side of the room, giant by pony standards but barely large enough for her to sleep comfortably in, covered by dark blue sheets and with only slightly lighter colored pillows, all covered by small white stars woven into the fabric. Beside the bear stood a wooden nightstand where she would often put her crown and chestpiece before going to bed. On the wall to her left stood two large windows and a door that lead to a balcony that oversaw both the gardens and the university, two things she was very important to her. Several flower pots handed from the walls, plants herself discovered an foundly names Nocturnum, since they only seemed to blossom during the night. While on the wall to the right of her she could see a the tapestry that depicted all of her greats acts as diarch of Equestria. The major one would always involve her sister and seemed to be almost lifesize, although stylised. Like the creation of Equestria by the two sisters, the defeat of Discord lord of Chaos, the banishment of King Sombra and the first changeling war. There were other larger one of her and her army, the Night Guard, mostly about her slaying some monster or defeating some army long, long ago. Between them and far apart were the rest of her achievements, the first tax law, the rights of stallions declaration, because as we all know for the longest time Equestria had always been a matriarchal society. The founding of the first coed school and of the canterlot university, but none of these larger than her hoof. She could take the tapestry, have two others made and it would have stilled not filled her wall, while her sisters had long since been moved out her room and into the throne room since there simply was no more room to add any other great acts. Other items in her room was a oval mirror, that over the course of years caused many sad feeling from Luna. A desk covered with all manner of parchments and books. And rather large metal chest engraved with a giant stone carved into the form of a halfmoon resembling her cutie mark. Inside it stood her armor, not the flimsy chest piece she wore around the castle, but her real battle armor, forged from the stars themselves, her hoof and cannon guards, her chest pieces that saved her life more on one occasion, as well as her helmet. Witch she proceeded to pick up. She looked awhile into the dirty battered old helmet, looking at her reflection. And after a while she could have sworn that her irised began to think until only a small slit remain, just like that of a lizard or of a dragon, as well as her blue mane darken until it became black. Paying very little thought to it, chalking it up to her fatigue or just being a trick of the light. She thought a lot of the matter at hoof, but every plan, every strategy that came into her mind already had been thought of before, and for whatever reason she and her generals said that it would fail. Nothing new came into her mind. No brilliant new plan, no clever ruse, no secret weapon that she could use tomorrow or anytime in the future for that matter. All fell short when compared to the one that could be put into motion in just a few hours. The shaman said that it would most likely end in death of her followers. Should she risk the life of thousands of her loyal soldiers, thousands more of her sisters and of countless civilians that would be caught in the battle? Should she? Could she? These questions tormented her long into the night, but no answer came to her. It has long since passed half past three, the meeting was in a little over two hours. She should have long been busy that night with surveying the lands of Equestria for any dangers to her subjects, just like her sister was doing during the day, instead of plotting to overthrow her sister and seize power. But by now she felt tired. Maybe just for a night, maybe just tonight she could do what everypony did and rest, maybe tonight all the evils that plagued the lands would follow her into the land of dreams, and everypony would be safe. After a loud and rather embarrassing yawn, she finally decided to go to bed and sleep for an hour or two, whatever her decision would be it would come to her in the morning. For now she would sleep in the warmth and comfort of her bed. Before closing her eyes she took a look towards the ceiling. As per her request, a long time ago the domed ceiling or her room was painted with a faithful reproduction of the night sky. “Huh, impressive, they got all the constellations right, we should have thanked them.” “Sleep well little one, sleep under starry sky, sleep now, dream and we shall soon meet.” a voice could have been heard in her room, but Luna had long since fallen asleep. And she slept, and she dreamed, many dreams formed in her mind, many nightmares. Dreams of her defeat, dreams of her their deaths, dreams of her banishment for all of time, dreams of her subjects thinking that their goddess had abandoned them, dreams of the lies her sister would spin about her in the years to come, dreams of everypony forgeting her and slowly vanishing into cold dark nothingness. What a nightmarish night she had. Chapter 3 Enter the puppeteerEnter the puppeteer That night she had many dreams dreams of her defeat, dreams of her their deaths, dreams of her banishment for all of time, dreams of her subjects thinking that their goddess had abandoned them, dreams of the lies her sister would spin about her in the years to come, dreams of everypony forgetting her and dreams of her slowly vanishing into cold dark nothingness. Luna was now surrounded by darkness, she expected it to comforted her, to feel safe here, to feel free, free from all the worries, free from her troubles and free from her life. She did not. For the first time in her life silence and solitude did not comfort her. She was still trying to figure what tomorrow would bring and what laid in store for her people and for herself. "Should I just accept my fate? Should I sacrifice myself for my subjects? Or should I fight? Should I fight with all my might? Should I fight my sister and hope to win?" "..." "Pyre’s visions always come to pass. She is a gifted oracle, although her powers are limited. “...Lu...” ’Fate had not been kind to her. Banished by her father to save her life, cursed at birth by my sisters indiscretions. ‘ “...na...” ’But I am not the one to complain, she had proven time and time again a worthy ally, determined and ruthless. Her hatred for my sister is strong, and it gives her strength. But I still feel sorry for her.’ “Luna...” ’Who is there?’ “Who dares enter my domain?” “My my aren't we a bit defensive.” a voice could be heard echoing from the darkness. “Show yourself. Your Queen demands it.” “Queen! Queen? Queen of what? Queen of the nothingness that you chose to surround you with?” Two giant white spheres appeared in the void. “Who are you? Answer me or face my wrath.” “Now now, temper temper.” Two even larger red spheres appeared to engulf the white ones. “I am warning you.” “Come on your highness, do it, show me your might... Make me tremble in fear... Turn me into nothingness...” “Insolent fool.” Luna’s horn let out a burst of blue and black light hitting one of the sphere. “Release all your... oh... you are done already? I would give it a one and a half out of ten.” Luna was breathing heavily, she fired again and again until she could fire no more and she remained floating in the nothingness. “All right, all right, here, I've changed your grade to a two and two quarters, feeling better little Woona? At least you tried.” “What are you?” “Moi?” the voice said as a third set of even larger spheres appeared surrounding the previous two, these were yellow in color. “I am just a voice. A voice inside a little box inside a little princesses mind, or am I inside your mind and your mind is inside the box?.” “I am no princess...” Luna said with the last of her strength “I am a Queen.” “A queen you say?” a giant disembodied claw appeared out of the darkness picked her up by her wings dangling her in front of the spheres. “If you are a queen, then what pray tell do you rule over?” “I...” Luna could feel her powers returning to her. “I... I rule over dreams... And you have no power here!” She struggled to get free from the creatures grab but failed. “Normally that would be true, but... I have power here now. Do you want to know why?” Luna looked at the two spherical formations who were starting to resemble eyes. “Because I shouldn't have. And isn't it fund doing things you should't do?” “Are you?” Luna said more confused than shocked. "Yeees?" "You can't be." “Here we go. Finally some recognition.” “Discord! what are you doing in my dreams?” she said fear was showing in her voice. “Oh straight to the point. I think I like that, maybe. But I was actually expecting something more along the lines of...” “Eeeeeeeek... Discord! You are free! Aaaaaaaa... I must wake up, I must run to my sister so she can tell me what to do. Aaaaaaaa....” Discord said in Luna’s voice. “Or something like that.” He continued using his own. “So you are free monster. Funny I had a feeling you may appear soon.” Luna was recovering from the initial shock. “Ooo, do tell.” “With how things have been going lately I was worrying that our spells might have weaken.” “Oh? how very thoughtful of you. Thinking of little-ol-me while considering weather you are going to kill your sister or not. I must say Woona I am flattered.” “Don’t kid yourself, I was just being thoroughly, you are a bigger danger to Equestria then my sister will ever be.” “Oh stop you, you are making me blush, if I wasn't just a pair of eyes and a floating claw. Let’s fix that, shall we.” The rest of his head came into sight. From his white furry eyebrows, to his mismatched horns and even that one fang that looked so out of place on his face it actually suited him. “Better? Now you may continue complimenting me.” “Ha! Not a chance.” “Very well. So first things first...” Discord placed Luna at a table he made appear in front of him gently patting her on the head. “Tea?” “Tea?” Luna asked confused at the question. “Or you prefer coffee? Chocolate milk? Or maybe something stronger?” She gave up trying to make sense of his actions and decided to play along. There wasn't really she could do to stop him. “Fine. Coffee, black, no milk no sugar.” With a snap of his talons a steaming cup of coffee appeared on the table in front of her. “Now your highness, can we talk like two civilized immortals in drinking something black in the endless void of your mind?” “What is it?” Luna said taking a sip of her coffee. “Not bad.” “So I came with a business proposition, interested?” “You? You want to talk business? What could you possible want from me? You are already in control of your powers. I know that much, and if you so wished you could make sure I never wake up.” “True.” “And we both know that Celestia can’t defeat you alone.” “Also true.” “So the question remains, what do you need from me.” Luna took another sip of her coffee. “Not bad at all.” “I want you to win tomorrow.” She choked upon hearing those words spilling her coffee on her the table. Discord, the living embodiment of chaos, sworn enemy of all living being wants her to win in her battle with her sister. Only one question came to her mind. “Why?” “Why what?” he said as she turn the table cloth into coffee and let it flow down into nothingness before a new tablecloth grew from the wooden table. Luna now had so many questions. “Why do you want me defeat my sister? What do you have to gain from this? You are already free, and without the both of us standing together against you you have nothing to worry about.” “I see. So you have not figure it out yet. Here take a look.” A oval window now stood to her side, from it the royal gardens could be seen. There among hedge maze and alongside of hundreds of statues stood one of a draconicus with his paw placed upon his chest, her claw stretched in the air, and his mouth open. It seemed to be singing. “I see you are not fully free yet.” “Actually I am completely free, and at full power. But that is not me.” “If that is not you then why are you showing me that fake.” “Uh, do I have to spell it out to you? Fine.That ", he said pointing out the window to the statue, " is no fake, that is Discord, the one and only Discord, turned to stone by you two all those. That is Discord, but that is not me.” “I see.” Luna said continuing to drink her tea. “Too much lemon.” “You have no idea what I just said do you.” “None.” “Uh. Here look, maybe if I use puppets you will understand.” Chapter 4 Playing with yourselfPlaying with yourself “So...”, Discord’s claw appeared in front of Luna holding a double cross bar (++ shape) with six string connected it to a puppet bellow. “Oh, its so cute.” Luna said without realizing when she looked at the miniature version of herself. It was slightly more roundish than the pony but it still looked like her, even if it was a more adorable version of her. A second claw appeared, this one with a puppet of Celestia. Luna’s puppet smiled at the sight of her sister. “Oh look how much they love each other.” Discord said teasing Luna. She was not amused. “Now let us begin. Long ago in the magical land of Equestria... wait, wrong story. Lets see how that went... I see...” A third claw appeared this time with a miniature Discord waving at Luna, no strings connected him to his cross bar. The puppeteer moved the two alicorn puppets out of sight and replaced the table with a scene. Little Discord walked to the center of the scene and took a bow. Discord cleared his throat and started narrating again. “So, once upon a time in the land of Equestria, long before the reign of order, chaos reign supreme.” Wooden cutouts of pink clouds and uprooted trees appeared in the background. “It was glorious, and ruler of all of that was Discord, Living Embodiment of Chaos. ” Spark shot out of Little Discords hands as he rose his arms in the air. “But all of this changed when two annoying little ponies decided to confront him.” The Celestia and Luna puppets returned to the scene. “At first they stood no chance against the might and cunning tactics of lord Discord.” Witch was pretending to be a cowboy on the back of Celestia’s puppet. “But then they discovered the pesky elements of harmony.” Two little crowns appeared on their heads and Little Discord started to run to the other side of the stage. “The lord of chaos stood bravely against their new weapon.” Little Discord was still running. “I said he stood bravely.” Nothing changed. “Don’t make me get the box.” Discord yelled. Little Discord then stopped, slowly turned around and lowered his head in defeat. “Better. So he stood bravely against the new weapon but sadly the monsters overpowered him and turned him to a statue.” Little Discord became gray and stood in a position of sheer terror. “Really? Couldn't you pick a better pose?” Little Discord moved into another position, he was now standing tall, chest pushed out, his arms resting on his sides, one his head turned to the side looking up into the distance. A cool pair of shades appeared on his face. “Much better. And the two sisters reign together happily for many years.” The props in the background were replaced with a cartoon version of Canterlot castle, the two puppets were moving one of their forelegs as if they were waving. Little Discord was moved to the side of the scene. “But as the years went by the two sisters started fighting more and more.” He was hitting the two puppets against each other like a baby would hit two of his toys, and he was enjoying every moment. “The little sister gather her armies and prepared to attack her older sister.” Wooden cutouts of ponies fighting appeared in the background in front of the castle, the drawing of the ponies wore the golden armors of the Day Guard and the purple armors of the Night Guard. In the foreground the two princess puppets now had pieces of cloth covering them resembling their armor. “I will destroy you sister, because of whatever reasons I have right now.” Discord said wiggling Luna’s puppet. Doing a poor imitation of her voice. “No sister I am sorry I something something... sister, something something friendship.” he said wiggling Celestia’s puppet, using a voice that sort of resembled Celestia's bust mostly mocked her. “I do not care. I am going to make the night last forever killing all the plants and stuff.” “I cannot let you do that.” “Ha ha, you cannot stop me I am stronger and stuff.” “Then i will use our magic macguffin that we had to be together the last time to use and I will use it now against you severing both our connection to it or something, making sure we can never defend our slaves from any sort of danger ever again.” “Ha ha, I do not care, what are you going to do send me to the moon for a thousand years or something?” “Sure why not.” And sparks came out of the crown on top of Celestia’s puppet. “To the mooooon.” And Luna's puppet disappeared in a puff a smoke. “I am sorry sister and all the feels and stuff.” Then the curtains dropped. “Well?” Discord giant head said looking at Luna. “What?” Luna’s eyes were still fixated on the scene, it was surreal she saw her future there, a exaggerated and comical interpretation of her future, but still her future. “What did you think?” “Umm... it was... sad?” “Yes it was.” The scene and the puppets disappeared. “What you saw is more or less your future. There are many things you can change tomorrow, but the events that you saw happen will come to pass. Regardless of what you do.” Luna sighed in defeat. “Unless...” Discord said intentionally pausing to allow Luna to focus her attention on him. “What? Is there a way to change my fate. If you know please show me, Discord I am begging you.” “Show you? Okay.” The stage reappeared. "Time for more puppets." This time it was of Luna’s chamber. In a window stood the Discord statue form earlier, Luna's bead took up most of the scene. The claw that holded the Luna puppet returned as well. “It was the night before the battle,” “And all through the castle not a creature was stirring” “Not even a mouse...” “The princess was worried...“ “Troubles clouded her mind...” “The story doesn't rime.” “So the princess walked into bed...” the statue of Little Discord moved and raised her glasses. “And she went to sleep”, as he placed the puppet in the bead Little Discord’s mouth opened. The curtains surrounded the bed wrapped around it and the whole ensemble turned along with the background to reveal a scene painted all black. There Luna’s puppet sat at a table on which two miniature cups stood. Another Little Discord appeared on scene, waving and blowing kisses at an imaginary audience, as it walked and pulled an invisible chair from under the table and sat on it grabbing a cup. After pretending to take a sip he pulled from under the table a miniature puppet set and two puppets one of Luna and one of Discord. Luna looked closer at the puppets to see what it had in its hands. She saw that her puppet was imitating her gestures. If she moved her head back so did the puppet, if she moved her hoof it did the same. She turned to look up and saw a giant puppet looking up at her looking up at a puppet looking up at... A paw grabbed her head and turned it back towards the puppets below her nose. “What... what just happened?” “My apologies, this one is going in the box for sure after we are done.” Little Discord put his puppets and his scene back under the table, he turned his head upwards and smile widely, a halo appearing above his head. “Maybe.”Discord said raising an eyebrow. The little one let out a sigh of relief and faced the Luna puppet, taking the cup in his claw, “Now princess, we stand here as you can see, with Discord, your Discord still trapped in stone.” He said pointing to a stone statue of Little Discord now standing on a stone frowning and with his arms crossed. “There are an infinite number of possibilities for tomorrow. But only two lead to victory.” Little Discord pulled a coin from under the table and was lifting it upwards towards Luna, as if saying ‘here take it’. Luna lifted the coin with her magic and proceed to examine it. On one side there was an engraving of herself with Celestia bowing before her. On the other she saw herself covered in armor with fangs coming out of her mouth laughing as a maniac, beneath her hoof stood Celestia motionless. A blood stain covered this side of the coin. The scene returned to that of her bedroom with a little discord statue in the window still looking angry. Luna’s puppet from the table was gone and was replaced with the one sleeping in the bead. Another Little Discord stood on the edge of the bead looking at Luna, he was playing with a miniature coin. “Now here is the deal princess. I wish for you to win tomorrow. I can tell you how to win but I do not know what side the coin will land on.” Luna was deep in thought. “Of course you can decide to refuse and ask me to leave, but then your fate will be entirely in your hoofs.” “Why?” “Pardon?” “Why would you help me win? What do you have to gain?” “Well I promised not cause chaos where I come from, but... I said nothing about causing chaos in this reality. And what could be more chaotic than making that the most improbable thing in all of time and space happens.” “So I’m guessing you already know what I am going to chose and how the events unfold.” “I have no idea. The chances of you winning against your sister tomorrow are 2 out of infinity. The chances of chocolate rain falling from the sky without any magical intervention whatsoever are one out of one hundred, while the chances of something getting ahold of magical machine and messing with another timeline are one in ten. And for what’s in it for me... well bragging rights of course, I would be the talk of all other Discords, I made the most improbable thing happen. Every immortal time traveling reality changing creature will know of me. And let me tell you that was a rather select club, before time traveling became a thing.” “So do we have a deal?” “Deal.” “Excellent. When you wake up you will flip the coin. Once it lands you will be given all the information you require to make this happen. But you will forget what face the coin landed on.” “Alright.” Luna prepared to wake up when something caught her attention. “But before I leave I have one question for you.” “Ask away.” “What is that?” she said pointing at Little Discord. “Huh?” Discord look down at the miniature version of himself and his eyes grew in shock. With a snap of his claw the scene, the bed, Little Discord and the mysterious object vanished. “Nothing” he said turning his head around so that Luna couldn't see his face. “But it looked like he was...” “He was not.” “But that looked like a..” “I SAID HE WAS NOT. Now good bye.” He snapped his claws again and Luna woke up in her bed. She looked around but there was no sign of Discord. She rushed to the balcony and looked at the garden. It took her a minute for her eyes to adjust to the light, but after they did she looked for the discord statue. It was exactly where it had always been. “It was just a dream”, she said returning to her bed. As she passed her nightstand she noticed something shiny on it, the coin. ”It was not a dream. I really talked with Discord last night, well with a Discord at least.” She picked the coin up and looked at it. “One side a hero one side a monster.” She threw the coin the air and followed it with her eyes, it fell to the ground and it bounced landing... In a flash it all was gone from her memory. She now knew what she had to do. She knew why she would have failed. She finally knew how to defeat her sister. Victory was in sight, One thing still bothered her. She tried to remember the details of what she saw Little Discord doing, ”It looked like... a doll. A doll of a pony... it did not resemble the rest of the puppets he used. It looked like he was... hugging it or snuggling with it?”" A chill went down her spine at the thought. "I fear to ask what could go on in his twisted mind between him and that yellow pegasus."
Chapter 1 PreparationsChapter 1 Preparations Preparations In a dimly lit room in the royal castle Princess Luna puts the finishing touches on her plan to overthrow her sister Celestia and seize the power in Equestria. Alongside her four smaller ponies stand around a round table covered with maps of Canterlot and the surrounding area. “Status report.” Luna demanded of the four ponies. “Yes my princess.” answered one of them. He was a grey earth pony with a short yellow mane and tail, most of his mane was covered by a black and blue helmet, matching his armor. In the middle of his chest sat a jewel made to look like a blue lizard eye. Ironically since he had lost one of his eyes long ago, he had covered it up with a eye patch with a crescent moon engraved on it but part of his scar still remained visible. Every part of him screamed soldier, from his muscular physique to his cutie mark of a chipped old sword with green goo dripping from it. He was the supreme commander of Luna's ground forces and one his most trusted advisers. His name long since forgotten by the men under his command, who just simply knew him as The Queen Slayer. Not sooner had he finished his sentence before realizing the severity of his mistake. The foolish stallion dare to address Luna with the title of princess. On any other occasion those would have been the last words he ever spoke, fearing for his life he made a hastily correction. “Apologies my Queen, it was not my intention to address you by your former title” “Take heed Slayer, one more utterance like that and you may find yourself without a tongue to utter from.” She was clearly annoyed by the soldiers slip up, and if it was not for the matter at hand she would have cut of more that his tongue. Such disrespect would not be tolerated even from her highest ranking officer. “Our Queen is too kind” he said taking a deep breath, thanking the lady creator for her generosity on that day and continued with the briefing. He knew the real reason behind the princesses decision to spare him. While he made a name for himself long ago by his acts of bravery during the last war, everypony could be replaced, even him. But not now, not so close to this crucial moment. It would cause too much confusion and loss of morale among the troops. “Stop wasting our time. Present the status our ground forces at once.” “Yes, we have the 1st, 3rd and 24th platoon stationed inside the capital itself in full combat gear under the pretence of a delayed training exercise a total of 82 fully armed earth ponies regulars, 8 unicorns combatants and 12 mixed ground support personnel” A much smaller earth pony came out of the darkness whispered something into his ear and retreated back out of sight. It was like he was never there. “And I was just informed that on the day of the assault, some of the Day Guard, had fallen ill, and will be replaced with guards from the Night Guard, another 12 regulars. Colonel Bronze Hammer if you please.” Back in his day Bronze Hammer was a great soldier and a military genius, his exploits were the stuff of legends, but his time had long since passed, he had retired from active duty over ten years ago, but could not say no when the princess personally came to him and asked for him to join her cause. The older earth ponies body was not what it used to be, in his youth it was said the he could take down a pack Timberwolves unarmed, but the years have not been kind to him, Struggling to even standing under the weight of his own armor, which he insisted to wear, he could barely raise his sword to properly salute the princess let alone kill anything with it. While his body seemed to had failed him, he was far from useless. His greater strength had always been his brilliant mind. It was his special talent after all as shown by his cutie mark of a quill resting atop a broken hammer. He took a step forward, and continued the briefing. “My queen I am proud to inform you that the preparations for the Veteran and Reservist Day are advancing as planned. Over 100 combat ready loyal soldiers will attend, as well as twice of many veterans that will do all they can to run interference. Their bodies may be weak but their will are strong. Glory to the Queen.” “Also within the populace there are 113 lightly armed soldiers dressed as civilians,” continued Slayer. “Raising our total to 200 fully armed, 113 only carrying light weapons, 8 unicorns combatants and 12 mixed ground support personnel. Oh and around 200 veterans running interference.” The last part was said with humor in mind, but the Queen was not amused. In fact she was angry at him for making fun of soldier whom she served with and knew would die for her. It was not unnoticed by the rest of the ponies. “They are going against the 127 Day Guard earth ponies and 84 pegasi. The earth ponies will not be a problem, but without air support we will have trouble dealing with the pegasi. Also if the reinforcement are late taking the main gate will take between 3 to 6 hours longer.” “You should not concern yourself about the main gate, my operators are more than capable of opening it without your help.” The voice came from a hooded figure standing to the left of Bronze Hammer. “There is no need to hide your face, we all know what you are.“ The Slayer said trying to provoke a reaction from the hooded pony. She took her hood down, revealing her face. Even if he had told her they knew what she was, her appearance still caused some shock in the ponies around the room, except for Luna and Hammer who seemed mostly unphased. And they had reasons to be surprised, no pony under the age of 30 had ever seen a resident of Zebrica their whole lives, not since the fiasco of the Midnight Sunrise all those years ago. For the most part she looked like a pony, slightly bigger than the average mare, but nothing out of the ordinary. Her coat was mostly white with the occasional black stripe, large tanned leather bracelets tied with string were around her cannons, and she wore a sash made of the same material decorated with bone pieces went across her chest. Nothing unusual about that, but what caught both Luna and Hammers attention was her mane. Or almost lack of thereof. The zebras almost never cut their mane, except during rituals or as punishment. For them their mane is a status symbol, just as important as their marks. She had a history, and it is clear as the full moon that she would not talk about it. Even after revealing her face, her mark still remained hidden. “Why so surprised?” Hammer taunted the gray earth pony. “You act like you never saw a zebra your whole life.” A smug smile appeared on his face. “Enough of this.” Luna said using her Royal Canterlot voice. “Cease this foolishness, lady Pyre, have your agents finish the preparations?” “Of course my Queen. At the specified time the castle inner walls will crumble, taking with them anypony patrolling on them or in the immediate vicinity. Judging by the reports your followers have provided we expect between 20 and 33 Day guards to die or be otherwise incapacitated for the duration of the conflict” “Excellent. Now Queen slayer, what about the troops near the city itself?” “We have two regular battalions, 1300 strong, that are 3 hours away under the pretext of a war game in honor of Veteran and Reservist Day, along with a platoon of unicorns combatants, 34 heads. Over 3 companies, 300 total soldiers that are task with capturing and securing the nearby villages, if needed they can arrive in less that 6 hours to reinforce the troops in the capital city. Not that it would be required my Queen.” “As for enemy troops” Hammer interrupted his younger counterpart since he saw he had nothing of importance to say anymore. “We outnumber them 5 to 1, and almost 7 to 1 concerning unicorns, we expect the fighting to last between 2 to 3 hours, we estimate a loss rate under 17%” “What about Cloudsdale and the other palace?” “Cloudsdale will not be a problem” said the fourth of the ponies standing around the table. She was Nightingale, leader of the Shadowbolts, Equestrias Covert Operation. “We will take down the Wonderbolts and secure Cloudsdale before anyone figures out what happens. The Shadowbolts could reach the Canterlot within the hours to coordinate with the ground teams, however the rest of the aerial force will arrive roughly an hour after us. Until they arrive we will not be able to fully engage the pegasi guards until they arrive. We will harass them and provide whatever help we can to the ground units but they will be mostly on their own.” “And the elements?” “Except for a couple of squads that will be required to take over Cloudsdale, all remaining unicorns will capture and guard the elements until news of your victory arrives there.” “My Queen” the Slayer intervened. “No one doubts your powers, but I beg you to reconsider taking at least a couple of unicorns when battling Celestia... It would make the battle go faster... saving many lives.” "I understand your position general, but we need every unicorn guarding the elements. If she decided to run from our battle she would surely head towards them, hoping to use their power to defeat me” “But my Queen.” “You dare question my actions? MY DECISION IS FINAL.” “Yes my Queen! The night will last forever!” all for said in unison. They headed took a bow and headed back into the darkness leaving princess Luna alone. “Soon... Soon my dear sister... Soon it will all be over.” Author's Note Currently looking for editor willing to do charity work. Other chapters will be longer I promise. Feel free to point out any mistakes, be it grammar or otherwise. Creative criticism welcome.
Chapter 2: May the stars guide you sweet princessMay the stars guide you sweet princess The night before the takeover Luna gathered her generals one last time to make sure all was ready for the next day. “Report.” “All troops inside the capital are present and are awaiting the designated time to begin the fight”, Bronze Hammer declared proudly. “The Shadowbolts are in position, all other pegasi are also ready for the upcoming battle”, Nightingale reported. “We will attack the Wonderbolts and the rest of the pegasi guards, before they can even take up arms we would have killed, trapped or incapacitated all of them. The population of Cloudsdale could prove more difficult to handle since there will be an increase number of tourist coming to see the Wonderbolts performance. And how glorious will their final performance be.” “All soldiers around the capital city will be ready, Canterlot will soon be ours. Er i mean yours my Queen.” Slayer proudly said. Pyre had her eyes closed. Everypony was awaiting her report, she said nothing. “Lady Pyre”, the old soldier tried to get her attention, without success. “Pyre?”, Luna said in a soft voice. Not many living ponies remember her talking so calmly before. Both princesses were used to using the Royal Canterlot voice when addressing their subjects. Such tones were only used when talking to each other, but as often was the case their conversations would often quickly degenerate into heated discussion, then into arguments, many cursing words were used, some so old that nopony even remembered them. The results were often the same, one sister would leave the room in a fit of rage usually breaking doors in their path, sometimes injuring servants, but the castle itself would suffer the most. Canterlot castle was build to take a beating, the hardest stone was used in its construction, all of it brought from far away lands and magically enchanted to stick together. But no stone, no matter how strong the unicorn that enchanted it was, could resist the magical might of a infuriated goddess, seeking something to channel all their anger towards. Luna’s reaction took the entire room by surprise, many jaws were dropped, and pants would have been darkened if ponies ever wore pants. One thought passed thru the ponies minds, had our future queen finally snapped, had her rage reached a point where even screaming and yelling would not reduce it? or was she not even trying to reduce it. The all took a couple of steps away from the zebra preparing to shield themselves from whatever magic Luna would release to punish the insolent creature. It never came. After a while the two soldiers and the Shadowbolt captain’s expression changed from terror to curiosity. They looked at Pyre... then at Luna... back at Pyre... back to princess. It was like they were watching an invisible tennis match, permanently keeping their eyes on a nonexistent ball. Lunas face was also new to them. Her expression betrayed her feeling, another thing the three saw very little of, except rage, they saw rage a lot. The look on her face was an odd mix of confusion, curiosity and worry. Pyre’s eyes suddenly open and she began to speak, having the full attention off everypony. All of them got closer to her to head what the shaman had to say, even Luna stretched her neck across the table so she would miss a word the zebra would say. “I see.” After taking a short break she resumed. “My Queen I had a terrible vision, while I see your plan unfolding exactly as planned, the inevitable will still happen. If we keep on this course of action Celestia will somehow defeat you, banish you to the moon, while the rest of us will be executed for treason.” “Are you sure about that shaman?” Luna asked after regaining her posture with a flat emotionless voice. “My ability to see the future is... limited, to say the least. Images are blurry, and often chaotic, they appear before me with no rime or reason, the voices sometimes do not match the images as well, but, I strongly believe that this is the most possible outcome.” “Is there no way to change the future? Is there nothing that can be done to ensure our victory?” “I cannot say. I can only see a few years into the future, and only one future is visible to me now, regardless of our action. War is imminent. If we do not attack her, she would eventually catch wind of our complot and the result will be the same. Only a miracle could lead us to victory. A miracle or a way to see all of time. Both equally impossible.” “My Queen, what is your decision? should we continue on this course of action, or wait for another opportunity to present itself?” the younger general asked. “I do not know”, Luna said to herself making sure no pony was able to hear her. “Pyre are your agents in place?” “Yes my Queen. Everypony is ready and is only awaiting for the time of the attack to arrive. So, we are going to go thru anyway... My Queen?” “I do not know”, again Luna was talking to herself. “Leave us, we will weigh the options tonight, have your troops prepare to attack regardless. Tomorrow at first light meet us again here and we shall inform you on our course of action.” “The night shall last forever” the four ponies said together, before three of them left the room leaving Pyre and Luna alone. After a moment of silence the zebra spoke. “Regardless of your course of actions my Queen, I will still expect to receive what I was promised. I would greatly prefer to use your sisters, but if it comes down to it, I would gladly take yours.” “Do not worry, one way or another, tomorrow you shall have the thing you so much desire. There are a few things matter to us, and our word is one of them. Rest assured that no matter what decision we will take, by tomorrow, you will be played in full. Now leave us, we have many things to consider before the sun rises.” “The night shall last forever, my Queen. May the stars guide you well. Good night my Queen, rest well.” and with that she left. Luna let out a deep breath and headed towards her quarters. She passed her bad winged guards who all stood in attention and greeted her with a “Hail Princess Luna, diarch of Equestria.”, the words did not seem to bother her at all that night. the princes entered her room and shut the giant doors behind her. Her room was simple, a sturdy wooden bed stood in the opposite side of the room, giant by pony standards but barely large enough for her to sleep comfortably in, covered by dark blue sheets and with only slightly lighter colored pillows, all covered by small white stars woven into the fabric. Beside the bear stood a wooden nightstand where she would often put her crown and chestpiece before going to bed. On the wall to her left stood two large windows and a door that lead to a balcony that oversaw both the gardens and the university, two things she was very important to her. Several flower pots handed from the walls, plants herself discovered an foundly names Nocturnum, since they only seemed to blossom during the night. While on the wall to the right of her she could see a the tapestry that depicted all of her greats acts as diarch of Equestria. The major one would always involve her sister and seemed to be almost lifesize, although stylised. Like the creation of Equestria by the two sisters, the defeat of Discord lord of Chaos, the banishment of King Sombra and the first changeling war. There were other larger one of her and her army, the Night Guard, mostly about her slaying some monster or defeating some army long, long ago. Between them and far apart were the rest of her achievements, the first tax law, the rights of stallions declaration, because as we all know for the longest time Equestria had always been a matriarchal society. The founding of the first coed school and of the canterlot university, but none of these larger than her hoof. She could take the tapestry, have two others made and it would have stilled not filled her wall, while her sisters had long since been moved out her room and into the throne room since there simply was no more room to add any other great acts. Other items in her room was a oval mirror, that over the course of years caused many sad feeling from Luna. A desk covered with all manner of parchments and books. And rather large metal chest engraved with a giant stone carved into the form of a halfmoon resembling her cutie mark. Inside it stood her armor, not the flimsy chest piece she wore around the castle, but her real battle armor, forged from the stars themselves, her hoof and cannon guards, her chest pieces that saved her life more on one occasion, as well as her helmet. Witch she proceeded to pick up. She looked awhile into the dirty battered old helmet, looking at her reflection. And after a while she could have sworn that her irised began to think until only a small slit remain, just like that of a lizard or of a dragon, as well as her blue mane darken until it became black. Paying very little thought to it, chalking it up to her fatigue or just being a trick of the light. She thought a lot of the matter at hoof, but every plan, every strategy that came into her mind already had been thought of before, and for whatever reason she and her generals said that it would fail. Nothing new came into her mind. No brilliant new plan, no clever ruse, no secret weapon that she could use tomorrow or anytime in the future for that matter. All fell short when compared to the one that could be put into motion in just a few hours. The shaman said that it would most likely end in death of her followers. Should she risk the life of thousands of her loyal soldiers, thousands more of her sisters and of countless civilians that would be caught in the battle? Should she? Could she? These questions tormented her long into the night, but no answer came to her. It has long since passed half past three, the meeting was in a little over two hours. She should have long been busy that night with surveying the lands of Equestria for any dangers to her subjects, just like her sister was doing during the day, instead of plotting to overthrow her sister and seize power. But by now she felt tired. Maybe just for a night, maybe just tonight she could do what everypony did and rest, maybe tonight all the evils that plagued the lands would follow her into the land of dreams, and everypony would be safe. After a loud and rather embarrassing yawn, she finally decided to go to bed and sleep for an hour or two, whatever her decision would be it would come to her in the morning. For now she would sleep in the warmth and comfort of her bed. Before closing her eyes she took a look towards the ceiling. As per her request, a long time ago the domed ceiling or her room was painted with a faithful reproduction of the night sky. “Huh, impressive, they got all the constellations right, we should have thanked them.” “Sleep well little one, sleep under starry sky, sleep now, dream and we shall soon meet.” a voice could have been heard in her room, but Luna had long since fallen asleep. And she slept, and she dreamed, many dreams formed in her mind, many nightmares. Dreams of her defeat, dreams of her their deaths, dreams of her banishment for all of time, dreams of her subjects thinking that their goddess had abandoned them, dreams of the lies her sister would spin about her in the years to come, dreams of everypony forgeting her and slowly vanishing into cold dark nothingness. What a nightmarish night she had.
Chapter 3 Enter the puppeteerEnter the puppeteer That night she had many dreams dreams of her defeat, dreams of her their deaths, dreams of her banishment for all of time, dreams of her subjects thinking that their goddess had abandoned them, dreams of the lies her sister would spin about her in the years to come, dreams of everypony forgetting her and dreams of her slowly vanishing into cold dark nothingness. Luna was now surrounded by darkness, she expected it to comforted her, to feel safe here, to feel free, free from all the worries, free from her troubles and free from her life. She did not. For the first time in her life silence and solitude did not comfort her. She was still trying to figure what tomorrow would bring and what laid in store for her people and for herself. "Should I just accept my fate? Should I sacrifice myself for my subjects? Or should I fight? Should I fight with all my might? Should I fight my sister and hope to win?" "..." "Pyre’s visions always come to pass. She is a gifted oracle, although her powers are limited. “...Lu...” ’Fate had not been kind to her. Banished by her father to save her life, cursed at birth by my sisters indiscretions. ‘ “...na...” ’But I am not the one to complain, she had proven time and time again a worthy ally, determined and ruthless. Her hatred for my sister is strong, and it gives her strength. But I still feel sorry for her.’ “Luna...” ’Who is there?’ “Who dares enter my domain?” “My my aren't we a bit defensive.” a voice could be heard echoing from the darkness. “Show yourself. Your Queen demands it.” “Queen! Queen? Queen of what? Queen of the nothingness that you chose to surround you with?” Two giant white spheres appeared in the void. “Who are you? Answer me or face my wrath.” “Now now, temper temper.” Two even larger red spheres appeared to engulf the white ones. “I am warning you.” “Come on your highness, do it, show me your might... Make me tremble in fear... Turn me into nothingness...” “Insolent fool.” Luna’s horn let out a burst of blue and black light hitting one of the sphere. “Release all your... oh... you are done already? I would give it a one and a half out of ten.” Luna was breathing heavily, she fired again and again until she could fire no more and she remained floating in the nothingness. “All right, all right, here, I've changed your grade to a two and two quarters, feeling better little Woona? At least you tried.” “What are you?” “Moi?” the voice said as a third set of even larger spheres appeared surrounding the previous two, these were yellow in color. “I am just a voice. A voice inside a little box inside a little princesses mind, or am I inside your mind and your mind is inside the box?.” “I am no princess...” Luna said with the last of her strength “I am a Queen.” “A queen you say?” a giant disembodied claw appeared out of the darkness picked her up by her wings dangling her in front of the spheres. “If you are a queen, then what pray tell do you rule over?” “I...” Luna could feel her powers returning to her. “I... I rule over dreams... And you have no power here!” She struggled to get free from the creatures grab but failed. “Normally that would be true, but... I have power here now. Do you want to know why?” Luna looked at the two spherical formations who were starting to resemble eyes. “Because I shouldn't have. And isn't it fund doing things you should't do?” “Are you?” Luna said more confused than shocked. "Yeees?" "You can't be." “Here we go. Finally some recognition.” “Discord! what are you doing in my dreams?” she said fear was showing in her voice. “Oh straight to the point. I think I like that, maybe. But I was actually expecting something more along the lines of...” “Eeeeeeeek... Discord! You are free! Aaaaaaaa... I must wake up, I must run to my sister so she can tell me what to do. Aaaaaaaa....” Discord said in Luna’s voice. “Or something like that.” He continued using his own. “So you are free monster. Funny I had a feeling you may appear soon.” Luna was recovering from the initial shock. “Ooo, do tell.” “With how things have been going lately I was worrying that our spells might have weaken.” “Oh? how very thoughtful of you. Thinking of little-ol-me while considering weather you are going to kill your sister or not. I must say Woona I am flattered.” “Don’t kid yourself, I was just being thoroughly, you are a bigger danger to Equestria then my sister will ever be.” “Oh stop you, you are making me blush, if I wasn't just a pair of eyes and a floating claw. Let’s fix that, shall we.” The rest of his head came into sight. From his white furry eyebrows, to his mismatched horns and even that one fang that looked so out of place on his face it actually suited him. “Better? Now you may continue complimenting me.” “Ha! Not a chance.” “Very well. So first things first...” Discord placed Luna at a table he made appear in front of him gently patting her on the head. “Tea?” “Tea?” Luna asked confused at the question. “Or you prefer coffee? Chocolate milk? Or maybe something stronger?” She gave up trying to make sense of his actions and decided to play along. There wasn't really she could do to stop him. “Fine. Coffee, black, no milk no sugar.” With a snap of his talons a steaming cup of coffee appeared on the table in front of her. “Now your highness, can we talk like two civilized immortals in drinking something black in the endless void of your mind?” “What is it?” Luna said taking a sip of her coffee. “Not bad.” “So I came with a business proposition, interested?” “You? You want to talk business? What could you possible want from me? You are already in control of your powers. I know that much, and if you so wished you could make sure I never wake up.” “True.” “And we both know that Celestia can’t defeat you alone.” “Also true.” “So the question remains, what do you need from me.” Luna took another sip of her coffee. “Not bad at all.” “I want you to win tomorrow.” She choked upon hearing those words spilling her coffee on her the table. Discord, the living embodiment of chaos, sworn enemy of all living being wants her to win in her battle with her sister. Only one question came to her mind. “Why?” “Why what?” he said as she turn the table cloth into coffee and let it flow down into nothingness before a new tablecloth grew from the wooden table. Luna now had so many questions. “Why do you want me defeat my sister? What do you have to gain from this? You are already free, and without the both of us standing together against you you have nothing to worry about.” “I see. So you have not figure it out yet. Here take a look.” A oval window now stood to her side, from it the royal gardens could be seen. There among hedge maze and alongside of hundreds of statues stood one of a draconicus with his paw placed upon his chest, her claw stretched in the air, and his mouth open. It seemed to be singing. “I see you are not fully free yet.” “Actually I am completely free, and at full power. But that is not me.” “If that is not you then why are you showing me that fake.” “Uh, do I have to spell it out to you? Fine.That ", he said pointing out the window to the statue, " is no fake, that is Discord, the one and only Discord, turned to stone by you two all those. That is Discord, but that is not me.” “I see.” Luna said continuing to drink her tea. “Too much lemon.” “You have no idea what I just said do you.” “None.” “Uh. Here look, maybe if I use puppets you will understand.”
Chapter 4 Playing with yourselfPlaying with yourself “So...”, Discord’s claw appeared in front of Luna holding a double cross bar (++ shape) with six string connected it to a puppet bellow. “Oh, its so cute.” Luna said without realizing when she looked at the miniature version of herself. It was slightly more roundish than the pony but it still looked like her, even if it was a more adorable version of her. A second claw appeared, this one with a puppet of Celestia. Luna’s puppet smiled at the sight of her sister. “Oh look how much they love each other.” Discord said teasing Luna. She was not amused. “Now let us begin. Long ago in the magical land of Equestria... wait, wrong story. Lets see how that went... I see...” A third claw appeared this time with a miniature Discord waving at Luna, no strings connected him to his cross bar. The puppeteer moved the two alicorn puppets out of sight and replaced the table with a scene. Little Discord walked to the center of the scene and took a bow. Discord cleared his throat and started narrating again. “So, once upon a time in the land of Equestria, long before the reign of order, chaos reign supreme.” Wooden cutouts of pink clouds and uprooted trees appeared in the background. “It was glorious, and ruler of all of that was Discord, Living Embodiment of Chaos. ” Spark shot out of Little Discords hands as he rose his arms in the air. “But all of this changed when two annoying little ponies decided to confront him.” The Celestia and Luna puppets returned to the scene. “At first they stood no chance against the might and cunning tactics of lord Discord.” Witch was pretending to be a cowboy on the back of Celestia’s puppet. “But then they discovered the pesky elements of harmony.” Two little crowns appeared on their heads and Little Discord started to run to the other side of the stage. “The lord of chaos stood bravely against their new weapon.” Little Discord was still running. “I said he stood bravely.” Nothing changed. “Don’t make me get the box.” Discord yelled. Little Discord then stopped, slowly turned around and lowered his head in defeat. “Better. So he stood bravely against the new weapon but sadly the monsters overpowered him and turned him to a statue.” Little Discord became gray and stood in a position of sheer terror. “Really? Couldn't you pick a better pose?” Little Discord moved into another position, he was now standing tall, chest pushed out, his arms resting on his sides, one his head turned to the side looking up into the distance. A cool pair of shades appeared on his face. “Much better. And the two sisters reign together happily for many years.” The props in the background were replaced with a cartoon version of Canterlot castle, the two puppets were moving one of their forelegs as if they were waving. Little Discord was moved to the side of the scene. “But as the years went by the two sisters started fighting more and more.” He was hitting the two puppets against each other like a baby would hit two of his toys, and he was enjoying every moment. “The little sister gather her armies and prepared to attack her older sister.” Wooden cutouts of ponies fighting appeared in the background in front of the castle, the drawing of the ponies wore the golden armors of the Day Guard and the purple armors of the Night Guard. In the foreground the two princess puppets now had pieces of cloth covering them resembling their armor. “I will destroy you sister, because of whatever reasons I have right now.” Discord said wiggling Luna’s puppet. Doing a poor imitation of her voice. “No sister I am sorry I something something... sister, something something friendship.” he said wiggling Celestia’s puppet, using a voice that sort of resembled Celestia's bust mostly mocked her. “I do not care. I am going to make the night last forever killing all the plants and stuff.” “I cannot let you do that.” “Ha ha, you cannot stop me I am stronger and stuff.” “Then i will use our magic macguffin that we had to be together the last time to use and I will use it now against you severing both our connection to it or something, making sure we can never defend our slaves from any sort of danger ever again.” “Ha ha, I do not care, what are you going to do send me to the moon for a thousand years or something?” “Sure why not.” And sparks came out of the crown on top of Celestia’s puppet. “To the mooooon.” And Luna's puppet disappeared in a puff a smoke. “I am sorry sister and all the feels and stuff.” Then the curtains dropped. “Well?” Discord giant head said looking at Luna. “What?” Luna’s eyes were still fixated on the scene, it was surreal she saw her future there, a exaggerated and comical interpretation of her future, but still her future. “What did you think?” “Umm... it was... sad?” “Yes it was.” The scene and the puppets disappeared. “What you saw is more or less your future. There are many things you can change tomorrow, but the events that you saw happen will come to pass. Regardless of what you do.” Luna sighed in defeat. “Unless...” Discord said intentionally pausing to allow Luna to focus her attention on him. “What? Is there a way to change my fate. If you know please show me, Discord I am begging you.” “Show you? Okay.” The stage reappeared. "Time for more puppets." This time it was of Luna’s chamber. In a window stood the Discord statue form earlier, Luna's bead took up most of the scene. The claw that holded the Luna puppet returned as well. “It was the night before the battle,” “And all through the castle not a creature was stirring” “Not even a mouse...” “The princess was worried...“ “Troubles clouded her mind...” “The story doesn't rime.” “So the princess walked into bed...” the statue of Little Discord moved and raised her glasses. “And she went to sleep”, as he placed the puppet in the bead Little Discord’s mouth opened. The curtains surrounded the bed wrapped around it and the whole ensemble turned along with the background to reveal a scene painted all black. There Luna’s puppet sat at a table on which two miniature cups stood. Another Little Discord appeared on scene, waving and blowing kisses at an imaginary audience, as it walked and pulled an invisible chair from under the table and sat on it grabbing a cup. After pretending to take a sip he pulled from under the table a miniature puppet set and two puppets one of Luna and one of Discord. Luna looked closer at the puppets to see what it had in its hands. She saw that her puppet was imitating her gestures. If she moved her head back so did the puppet, if she moved her hoof it did the same. She turned to look up and saw a giant puppet looking up at her looking up at a puppet looking up at... A paw grabbed her head and turned it back towards the puppets below her nose. “What... what just happened?” “My apologies, this one is going in the box for sure after we are done.” Little Discord put his puppets and his scene back under the table, he turned his head upwards and smile widely, a halo appearing above his head. “Maybe.”Discord said raising an eyebrow. The little one let out a sigh of relief and faced the Luna puppet, taking the cup in his claw, “Now princess, we stand here as you can see, with Discord, your Discord still trapped in stone.” He said pointing to a stone statue of Little Discord now standing on a stone frowning and with his arms crossed. “There are an infinite number of possibilities for tomorrow. But only two lead to victory.” Little Discord pulled a coin from under the table and was lifting it upwards towards Luna, as if saying ‘here take it’. Luna lifted the coin with her magic and proceed to examine it. On one side there was an engraving of herself with Celestia bowing before her. On the other she saw herself covered in armor with fangs coming out of her mouth laughing as a maniac, beneath her hoof stood Celestia motionless. A blood stain covered this side of the coin. The scene returned to that of her bedroom with a little discord statue in the window still looking angry. Luna’s puppet from the table was gone and was replaced with the one sleeping in the bead. Another Little Discord stood on the edge of the bead looking at Luna, he was playing with a miniature coin. “Now here is the deal princess. I wish for you to win tomorrow. I can tell you how to win but I do not know what side the coin will land on.” Luna was deep in thought. “Of course you can decide to refuse and ask me to leave, but then your fate will be entirely in your hoofs.” “Why?” “Pardon?” “Why would you help me win? What do you have to gain?” “Well I promised not cause chaos where I come from, but... I said nothing about causing chaos in this reality. And what could be more chaotic than making that the most improbable thing in all of time and space happens.” “So I’m guessing you already know what I am going to chose and how the events unfold.” “I have no idea. The chances of you winning against your sister tomorrow are 2 out of infinity. The chances of chocolate rain falling from the sky without any magical intervention whatsoever are one out of one hundred, while the chances of something getting ahold of magical machine and messing with another timeline are one in ten. And for what’s in it for me... well bragging rights of course, I would be the talk of all other Discords, I made the most improbable thing happen. Every immortal time traveling reality changing creature will know of me. And let me tell you that was a rather select club, before time traveling became a thing.” “So do we have a deal?” “Deal.” “Excellent. When you wake up you will flip the coin. Once it lands you will be given all the information you require to make this happen. But you will forget what face the coin landed on.” “Alright.” Luna prepared to wake up when something caught her attention. “But before I leave I have one question for you.” “Ask away.” “What is that?” she said pointing at Little Discord. “Huh?” Discord look down at the miniature version of himself and his eyes grew in shock. With a snap of his claw the scene, the bed, Little Discord and the mysterious object vanished. “Nothing” he said turning his head around so that Luna couldn't see his face. “But it looked like he was...” “He was not.” “But that looked like a..” “I SAID HE WAS NOT. Now good bye.” He snapped his claws again and Luna woke up in her bed. She looked around but there was no sign of Discord. She rushed to the balcony and looked at the garden. It took her a minute for her eyes to adjust to the light, but after they did she looked for the discord statue. It was exactly where it had always been. “It was just a dream”, she said returning to her bed. As she passed her nightstand she noticed something shiny on it, the coin. ”It was not a dream. I really talked with Discord last night, well with a Discord at least.” She picked the coin up and looked at it. “One side a hero one side a monster.” She threw the coin the air and followed it with her eyes, it fell to the ground and it bounced landing... In a flash it all was gone from her memory. She now knew what she had to do. She knew why she would have failed. She finally knew how to defeat her sister. Victory was in sight, One thing still bothered her. She tried to remember the details of what she saw Little Discord doing, ”It looked like... a doll. A doll of a pony... it did not resemble the rest of the puppets he used. It looked like he was... hugging it or snuggling with it?”" A chill went down her spine at the thought. "I fear to ask what could go on in his twisted mind between him and that yellow pegasus."
