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// Prologue: Lessons of the Past 
// Story: Eternal Harmony 
// by Chinscream 
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“Why?!”

The monster scoffed through his grin. “Why? My dear, the real question is, ‘Why not?’”

Celestia’s calm nature had long escaped her. Between seeing her friend and teacher turned into a force of chaos and being one of the two with the power to stop him, she had simply lost any hold on her normally miniscule temper, her anger and sadness consuming her vision and forcing rivers of tears down her cheeks.

“That’s not what I meant! Why did you turn into this… THING?!” She regarded the twisted, mismatched form before her in the only way she could, as the monster it had become.

The King’s face slowly became solemn within the barrier, his eyes shifting from red and yellow to the brown and white they once had been. He spoke evenly and calmly for the first time Celestia had heard since that horrible night.

“Listen to me, Celestia. You too, Luna,” he turned as best he could to cast a glance at his other former student; the Pegasus returned his look of sorrow with one of disbelieving anger. “The power contained within these relics is not meant for our kind. Harmony is not meant to be forced; to attempt it can only bring chaos!” His eyes again shone yellow for a moment before he collected himself with a shake of his head. “I see now the folly of generations past… To control that which is itself the controller—it can never truly be done! I use now the last of my power to warn you: Once you destroy me, lock away the Elements of Harmony! They must never be used except in the most dire of circumstances, lest the controllers of Control succumb to madness at the hooves of the creature contained within!”

“Do not listen, Sister!” While Luna had long since steeled her mind against the ramblings of who had become a creature of pure madness, Celestia found herself considering his words. As her tears continued to flow, something in her began to scream at her to stop. She had been right all along; her teacher was still within this monster… Perhaps he could be saved after all!

But he knew of her thoughts, and laid them to rest with a sad shake of his head, turning his eyes toward the ground. “I cannot be saved, Celestia. This is my final moment before falling entirely into the void of madness. I must be destroyed, and nopony must ever use the Elements again, lest the Nightmare they imprison be released through them!”

Celestia’s hope finally faded, and she succumbed to despair, her face contorting into a face of pure sorrow. “But… I… I don’t understand!” she screamed. “ What do you mean about, ‘controlling control’? What is the Nightmare?!”

The creature imprisoned in the barrier of light before he closed his eyes for a moment. Celestia watched in horror as the half-fanged mouth contorted into a twisted grin and the eyes shot open once again, revealing the yellow and red she had grown all too accustomed too. “Why, my little pony… I am the nightmare!” The now-complete Discord cackled maniacally, crushing the white Unicorn’s heart as the final injustice took hold.

Luna decided they had waited long enough. “Sister! We must do it now!”

Celestia hung her head in defeat, and her horn was enveloped in a pool of the pink, blue, and lavender of the Elements of Kindness, Laughter, and Magic, while her sister’s wings simultaneously glowed red, orange, and purple, reflecting her own three. The gems holding the barrier glowed in sync, and began to spin around the imprisoned chimera, who could do nothing but flail and cackle madly. As the final moment came, he stopped suddenly and regarded Celestia with a single brown-eyed glance. “Farewell, my little ponies. See you both on the other side.”

That did it. Celestia was certain now that she could not do this; she was simply unable to believe he was beyond salvation. In the final moment, she shifted the command she had given to the Elements; rather than oblivion, this once-pony would receive only imprisonment for his crimes. She knew that in time, she could find a cure for his madness and bring her teacher back. Celestia set her focus, and the barrier erupted with all the glory of the sun she had learned to control. She was bathed in the warmth of pure Harmony, the absolute purest—

Wait. There was a dark spot. In the instant that the light engulfed her, she could feel a lone, dark presence watching her. It seemed to move from the center of the blast in a straight line toward the encircling Elements, where it skimmed across them before disappearing upon reaching that of Loyalty; one of those controlled by her sister.

She sensed it so quickly, she was unsure it had even happened at all. As quickly as the blast of light erupted, it died down to the faintest of embers. In exhaustion, the fillies dropped the Elements from their magical grasps and collapsed to the ground. Celestia managed to crack her eyes open, and saw that where her beloved teacher’s grotesque form had just stood was a statue in its likeness, posed as if in victory. Her head finally fell to the newly restored grass, and sorrow and exhaustion dragged her into the realm of sleep, her beloved teacher’s final words echoing in her dreams:



“Nopony must ever use the Elements again, lest the Nightmare they imprison be released!”