//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1 
// Story: After Discord 
// by Faindragon 
//------------------------------//

I looked at the blood that slowly sipped down on the knife mounted on my hoof; watched with fascination as it filled the engraving written on the base of the knife. The warm blood dripped onto my right hoof, the same hoof which my knife was mounted upon. It was a delicate blade, made for killing and nothing else. I watched as the blood dropped onto the carpet, life red against royal blue. My victim struggled against my hooves, tried to scream; a scream that was muted by the hoof I held over his muzzle. I pressed the blade deeper into his body; the delicate metal work tearing muscle and flesh alike. The body that pressed against me, the body of my victim, was the body of an older stallion, my target for this night. I felt how Luna had started to take the older stallion with her, the life Celestia had given him slowly drained away from his veins. I slowly pulled the knife out of his body, turning him around. My hoof was still in his mouth, keeping him from screaming. I looked into his eyes; my body trembled with satisfaction of what I saw. Pain and panic flashed in the old stallions green eyes as the flame that was his life slowly had started to flicker, extinguished by my cold knife. I leaned towards the stallion; whispered into his ear.
"Discord have fallen, the goddesses have taken his place. Long live the princesses."

The pure horror that emerged from the stallions’ eyes filled me with life as I withdrew the knife and placed it against the stallions’ chest. I slowly lay some weight behind the knife, pierced the thin hide on the stallions chest. Slowly did the knife slide in the stallion, reaching the heart. The body became slack in my hooves. I slowly dropped the lifeless stallion to the floor, bending my neck and placing my hoof over the stallions heart. A fast prayer left my lips.
“Luna, goddess of night and death, welcome this lost soul to you. Punish him for the bad he have done in his life and reward him for the good. Celestia, goddess of day and life, I have to ask you about your forgiveness. I, one of your children, have extinguished the life giving flame you had given another of your children. See my reasons and forgive me, and know that I serve you, Celestia and Luna, the goddess of the circle of life and the circle of day. Now and forever do I serve the goddesses and true rulers of Equestria.”

I slowly rose from the floor. It hadn’t been the first time this past weeks that I had prayed that prayer; nor would it be the last time. I took a first look around the bedroom where the deed had been done. It was a big room, with a bed too big for a single pony. The tears of the fallen rattled against the two windows overlooking Trotholm. Luna’s celestial eye watched me, spread its silver light through the tears and into the room. A mirror caught my attention, its reflecting surface casting its twisted vision of the room. And in the middle of it was my own twisted reflection, standing over the owner of this house. I looked at myself, my own bright blue eyes looking back at me, my thunder-sky colored coat reflecting the silvery shine that Luna graced me with. No blood soaked my coat, not a single drop of the life-giving liquid. My eyes followed the outline, the outlines of a pegasus in his young years. Or, it would have been the outlines of a pegasus if it was not for one thing. My wings were long since gone, ripped off years ago. My eyes went directly to my cutie mark, a cogwheel. I wasn’t natural, murdering was not my true talent. It was said that you couldn’t change your talent after you had gotten your cutie mark. I am a living proof that you can.


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I have always loved the tears of the fallen; it is as if the tears wash away the shame from my soul. Or, rather, what was left of it. I do not believe that I have an immortal soul anymore, not after the changes I have gone through, not after I have gone against my nature, the nature of all living, the harmony of all. I have not only forsaken myself by ignoring my talent, no, I have forsaken so much more. To take another ponies life, to disturb the harmony in that way. I have forsaken the goddesses by disturbing their harmony. But in one way I work for the goddesses, I’m a faithful follower; I do what I believe is the best for the goddesses, the true ruler of Equestria. To clean up this city, my home city, the city called the ‘City of the Fallen Alicorns’, is what I have tasked myself with. I’m going to rot out every corruption in this city; I will clean it from the filth that Discord once placed here. Luna and Celestia is my witnesses.

My hooves found their own way over the rough cobblestones that were the main street of the gray Trotholm. Only a few other ponies where out in the falling tears, most of them were probably hurrying home, trying to escape it. They ignored me in the same way as I ignored them, some glanced my way but that was it. My great grandfather had told me that Trotholm once had been a beautiful city, resident of the alicorns and the greatest city in Equestria. That had been before Discords’ raise to power. My great grandfather had been a guard in the castle at that time, the time when Discord single-handedly erased the alicorn from the mind of ponykind. My great grandfather told me about the alicorns and about his time as a guard.

The alicorns, he told me, had been created as the goddesses representations. They had been perfect in every manner. The physical strength and endurance of an earth pony, the wings and agility of a pegasus, and the horn and mind of an unicorn. They had been created to rule, but they had always been kind at heart. Earth Pony, unicorn and Pegasus alike, all had they had their place, a place they were more than happy with. It was the alicorns who had made sure that the prayers had reached the goddesses; it was the alicorns who took upon them to appease the goddesses. But how powerful the alicorns might have been had they all been slaughtered under Luna’s celestial eye less than eighty years ago, slaughtered by an even more powerful being.

Nopony knew where Discord had come from, nor who had created him. My great grandfather had been on guard duty at the time when Discord attacked, he had seen what had happened. Discord had attacked when Luna had raised her eye over the sky, during one of the two daily prayers in the great castle that the alicorns inhabited. My great grandfather had air duty during the Luna hours, circling over Trotholm. He had returned to report directly as Luna’s celestial eye had reached its highest peak. He had been greeted by an utter disaster. Luna’s celestial eye had shone red for what had happened.

Luna’s blood red grace had shone down into the castles prayer halls. My great grandfather and his squad had entered the prayer room, the room of the goddesses as it was called. They were meet by the view of slaughtered alicorns. Blood and gore had been spreading out in the room, dead alicorns lay everywhere. And in the middle of the room, at the altar of the twin eyes, had he been standing, looking into the distance, laughing for himself. Discord, the alicorn bane and former ruler of Equestria, stood there, Luna’s blood red grace embraced him.

In his hand did he hold the head of the alicorn king, talking to eyes cloaked with Luna's shadow. My great grandfather hadn’t understood the words the vile creature had spoken, nor did he want to. What had happened thereafter had been enough for him to want to turn around, gallop away. Discord had grappled the head in both his hands, holding it in front of his eyes, screaming in its face.

“The alicorns reign have come to an end, I am the ruler of Equestria now. My chaos will spread across the land, corrupt every living thing. The chaos will be the new order; your goddesses are banished from this land. With no prayers left, where will they get their power from? Utter chaos will rule from this day forward.” Discord had then crushed the alicorns dead head with his lion paw and eagle talon, the red liquid that gives a pony life splashing against the floor. He had turned around, laughed and looked at my great grandfather and his squad. With a few last words had he touched each one of them and then disappeared in a bright flash.

My great grandfather travelled to Luna’s side when I was only a filly. He had been sick a long time, and it was during one of those days, when I was alone with him, that he told me the story of Discord. He told me other things, ancient rituals and prayers, for the twin goddesses I had never heard about. When I talked with my parents had they looked down on me questioning, they hadn’t heard about the goddesses either. But as I grew did I understand the true meaning of the story he had told me.

Discord had removed a part of my great grandfather’s memory, and I suspected it was removed from every other pony as well; wiped out from the memory of the entire ponykind. A memory had been removed to ensure that the goddesses would never get their power back. The goddesses had been forgotten by the entire ponykind.

And my great grandfather had, on his death bed, remembered. And he had told the first pony he had been able to; to make sure that it wasn’t forgotten. When I came to this conclusion, at the same day I had gotten my cutie mark, did I freeze in place. It all came to me, washed over me; the goddesses didn’t have any power in Equestria if they weren’t prayed to. The night and day was irregularly, Discord chaos controlled both sunset and sunrise, not the goddesses. I felt to my knees right there, on the square, a square that I later got the knowing of was the squad in front of the alicorn’s castle, and prayed.

I can’t recall what I prayed, nor if I shouted or whispered. What I know is that I was laying there, praying, until the guards had thrown me in a cell. And in the cell I kept praying. A day later, or around fifty sunsets as it was during the chaos time, was I finished praying. I was still on my knees in that cell when I felt two hooves touching me. One was as warm as Celestia’s grace in the summer and the other was as cold as Luna’s grace in the winter. I jerked back, quickly getting to my hooves, and the touch vanished.

I remember looking in the room, seeing nothing but pitch darkness. None of the celestial eyes illuminated this place, none of them spreading their grace around me. So I waited, and thought.

My thoughts wandered around aimlessly. The goddesses could come back to power, the order my great grandfather had talked about could return. And all it needed was prayers, prayers from all of ponykind. But I couldn’t just go out and talk to ponies around me; Discord would get the knowing of that somepony remembered quicker than I could spread the words of the goddesses. No, that was not the way to do it; but what was.

I can not remember how long I sat in that pitch darkness, Celestia’s and Luna’s hours floated together down there. I remember that I prayed more than once, I remembered that I had food and water pushed into my cell more than once, a torch illuminated the room from a chink between the door and the stone that was the cells floor, I remembered that I feared.

I feared that Discord had gotten words about it; I feared that the goddesses would once more be forgotten. I remember that I sat there, embraced myself with my wings, and prayed. I prayed over and over again to the goddesses, prayed over them to protect me. I felt helpless in that cell and I found confidence in the goddesses, found confidence in their embrace. Because even if I didn’t have their grace shining down on me did I know that they watched me.

And then, one day when I waked up, was the door open. No guards were positioned outside. I slowly walked outside, only to be stopped just before the stairs by an earth pony. It was a guard and he raised his hoof, pointing towards one door on the same floor without a word. I understood the sign and didn’t want to cause any trouble so I walked towards the door.

I feared that door, feared what might lay in wait behind it. Its dark wood whispered to me, paralyzed me, draw my eyes towards it. My eyes followed every line in that door, as if the answer for an escape lay there within. The lines etched to my mind, I would probably be able to draw those lines today if I had to.
I remember the panic and fear that drifted in my mind, washing all other feelings away. I remember the sour sweat mixed smell that hit my nostril in front of that door. I remember the golden letters written on the door, “Warden”. I remember how the door opened and revealing a room where an unicorn was positioned behind a desk, Luna’s celestial eye illuminating the room.

What I don’t remember is what happened in there.


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I looked up; the cold, fresh Luna hour air whirled around me as I stood on a square only illuminated by Luna's grace. The square was covered with puddles of water, the tears of the fallen that had been pouring down had moved on without me noticing. As if my hooves had gotten direction from my memory did I find myself on the square in front of the alicorn castle, or as it had been known under during the time of chaos, the forbidden castle. The same square I had first came to the conclusion of the goddesses, the same square that I had prayed my first prayer at.

The statue was still standing there, the statue of Discord on his throne, the statue that symbolized the corruption that had taken over Trotholm. The castle was still ruled by that corruption, servants of Discord still ruling from that castle. Trotholm had broken free from the rest of Equestria; none knew what had happened with Discord; that was something the inhabitant of Trotholm did not know about, the fact that Trotholm was ruled from the castle was a well-guarded secret. I am the only free citizen who knew about it, and I believe that very few inside the castle knew about it. The goddesses had defeated Discord; that I knew for sure. They had left Trotholm for me to clean up, otherwise they would already have been seizing control of this city; nothing would have been able to stop them, not now.

I might not have been truthful when I said that none knew. Discord servant knew for sure. Not only was it easy to tell on the guards, guards trotting the streets in unease; not for the ones they should guard. No, they was trotting in unease because of how their captain acted, and their captains acted because of how his or her, what sex he or she was had never occurred me to find out, superior acted. And so it went, straight to the top. That we were cut off from the rest of Equestria was easy for me to see, I knew what to look for. The “announcements” from “Discord” had been coming to often and had been too vague the last days. But the inhabitants of Trotholm didn’t know; they lived on as if nothing had happened. A few seemed to have realized that Celestia’s grace shone down upon them for a longer time before Luna’s grace took its time. They didn’t seem to realize that the Celestial hour and Luna’s hours had found harmony. And even fewer realized what it meant.

I felt how the smell of the clean tears reached my nostrils, smiled at the welcomed thought of how even the fallen wanted to clean the filth that Discord had covered Trotholm in.

I looked at the two guards standing in front of the castle gates, two pegasi standing still although the tears of the fallen slowly rolled down their armor. They must be chilled to the bone by the wind that howled the square at this late Luna hour. I found myself thinking about how easy it would be to kill the guards and infiltrate the castle, cleanse the corruption that ruled Trotholm from within those walls. I found myself closer to the castle; I had started to walk towards it, blade unsheathed. The guard was eyeing me; I could easily see how they stiffened as they prepared themselves for whatever I would do with the drawn blade. I chuckled slightly. They would not have a chance against me if it came to crossing blades; that I were sure of. But it was not my time to strike yet, I had no information.

I chuckled for myself; this was not the time to start trouble. More information would have to be collected before I attacked the castle itself, I had to know whom it was who had the power inside the castle, who was tainted by the corruption from Discord and who was not.

I sheathed my blade as I turned around, leaving the square behind me, slowly started to trot against the darker part of Trotholm.