The end of the game
"Twilight, whatever in the world is wrong?" The princess trotted up, asking the little foal who had only recently become her student.
The little filly was in tears, crying over a picture of an elderly pony "My momma send me a message. She told me grandpa has gone away, and he's not coming back!" She sobbed, running over and clinging to the princess's hoof.
"There there, little one." She lowered a comforting wing onto Twilight. "It'll be all right!"
"Are my paernts gonna leave me?" The little filly sobbed, looking up at Celestia. "Are you gonna leave me, too?"
"Child, I promise you." She wrapped her wings around the filly. "One thing you can be certain of, is that I will never leave you!"
...
Equestria, three hundred years after the age of the harmony bearers.
Celestia, the ancient and venerable Princess of the alicorns, felt old.
Not that she looked a day over thirty mind you, but in truth she had seen twenty two centuries come and go. She had seen both friends and family come and go over the ages, and the princess had discovered that even she could become weary of the world.
"Oh, Twilight... how I wish I could see you again." She thought to herself with a sigh. "It's been so long since I've seen a friendship report, I almost miss all of the chaos you and your friends once caused!"
Raising her horn to the sky, she brought the sun in the sky down for the night, as she had a had a thousand times before, then turned to head back to her room for a night's slumber.
...
"Attention visitors, the time is now six fotry five, and the Canterlot royal palace and gardens are closed for the day! We'd like to thank everypony for being our guest today, and wish all of you a happy and safe journey home!"
As the voice blared over the loudspeaker, and all of the pony tour and school groups that had come to see the Canterlot royal statue gardens shuffled out of the gate, past the two security ponies who shut and locked the iron portal behind them. As all the employees and staff clocked out for the night and headed back into Canterlot city, few gave any thought to the grounds and garden they had left behind. After all, who was going to bother with a bunch of dusty old statues anyway?
It was after the sun had finally set, that a lone, shadowy pony-like form materialized out of nothingness. This cloaked figure made his way over to the silent, still statue of a Draconnequis that stood off by itself in the garden. The pony sized shape under a brown cloak approached the mismatched jumble of many creatures, and looked over the unmoving figure of Discord.
Discord, the spirit of chaos. Once reformed into nothing but a harmless prankster, the fiend had returned to his old ways after Fluttershy had passed away. The sisters had returned him to his prison here in the garden, a final act of pity to a creature that had lost his dearest friend.
"For three centuries, trickster, you have slumbered!" The shadowy form rumbled in a deep voice. "I command you now... awaken!"
The stone began to slowly crack and peel away, as a sinister laugh rippled outward from the crumbling stone. The chaotic form beneath burst forth, like a butterfly newly freed from it's cocoon.
"I am free!" He bellowed with laugher, stretching his arms to the sky. "Free to reign chaos upon Celestia's precious little kingdom once more!"
"Yes, free thanks to me." The small form in the cloak hissed. "You will now spread your richly desired chaos, at my bidding!"
"Sorry, but I don't work for others, especially not ponies!" He flew down, and stared into the black void that was the opening in the strangers cloak. "But as a reward for freeing me, you can take my place on that pedestal!"
Smiling, the lord of chaos snapped his fingers... and nothing happened.
"What in the world?" He gazed at his claw. "Why isn't this thing working?!?"
There were few times the lord of Chaos had not been able to bend reality to his will , and this was one of them. The confused draconequuis looked back at his 'liberator', utterly full of confusion.
"Hello, Discord." The large form snarled at him. "it's been a while!"
The cloak had been cast aside, and a large, red and black figure stood towering over the lord of chaos. It was a horned centaur that stood before him, and Discord recognized a face he hadn't seen in ages...
"You're immune to my power!?! But how-" Discord replied, dumbfounded. "This isn't possible! How can you resist my chaos magic?!"
"I am more powerful than you can possibly imagine, you pathetic fool!" The centaur snarled, grabbing the draqconequis by the throat. "I am lord Tirac! I am the master of Midnight Castle, and lord of the rainbow of darkness! And you, Discord, are already well aware of what I can do!"
Even though he had never met this version of Tirek before, he was well aware of what the centaur was talking about. This Tirek did not radiate chaos... oh no! This abomination reeked of raw, unadulterated evil. Whereas Discord fed off the power of orange juice rain and birds flying backwards, Discord felt this being feed off betrayal and slaughter, of screaming children and horrific nightmares.
For the first time in his long existence, the lord of chaos felt fear . The power of the unspeakable horror that lay beyond the Tartarus gate radiated from this one, as he was a vessel of that terrible power. And while that power could not shape reality like his chaos could, was a power greater than his. A power that could easily slay him, should this Tirek wish it so.
"O-of couse, my lord." The draconequuis tried to stifle his fear. "What can I do for you?"
"Merely spread the chaos that you so richly desire, as you did before you were corrupted by friendship!" The great beast bellowed again. "To return to your old chaotic ways! That is the only price I ask for your freedom!"
"Ooooh, that shall not be a problem, great one!" Discord sneered, putting the image of a sweet-smiling yellow Pegasus out of his mind. "Why do you think Celestia and Luna re-sealed me in stone in the first place?"
....
Princess Celestia awoke to the sound of a rooster gargling, and a bird meowing in her ear.
"Ugh!" The princess groaned, slowly opening her eyes. "What in the-"
Madness was the only word that described what was before her.... sheer and utter madness! The ceiling to her room was gone, the clouds in the sky were scoops of chocolate ice cream, and a pair of feathery wings with no bird attached flew by. Immediately, the princess knew what was going on.
"DISCORD!" The angry mare roared, bursting out into the main hall. "Where are you, you malevolent mischief maker!"
"Right here!" The laughing draconequuis was sitting on Celestia own throne, drinking a glass of cider, surrounded by a bunch of royal guards who were jumping around and barking like dogs. "It's soooo good to see you again after three centuries! Though to us immortals, I suppose that's only like... what? Five minutes?"
"How did you get free?!?" Celestia demanded. "The sealing this time should have lasted at least a millennium!"
"Let's just say I had a little benefactor who sprung me early!" The villain chuckled. "And look! I even got you a gift for my return!"
Discord pointed towards the base of the throne, where Celestia saw there as the stone statue of an alicorn, her face frozen in fear. At first, the princess assumed it was just some more of Discord's chaotic re-decorating. But upon looking at the statue more carefully, the princess made a horrific discovery.
"Sister!" Celestia cried out, looking back to Discord in anger. "What have you DONE?!?"
"You know, I finally decided to try putting ponies in stone!" Discord burst out laughing. "I must say, I can see why you enjoyed doing it to me! The sheer look of terror on their faces, frozen like a beautiful work of art!"
Immediately, the princess galloped for the door, but discord snapped his fingers and in vanished, leaving a blank wall.
"There's nowhere important for you to go anyway!" The trickster chuckled wildly. "If you're going to look for some new harmony bearers in a hurry, don't bother! I already scoured Equestria for all of the potential candidates while you slept, and they're already here!"
Discord pointed over at the far wall, where Celestia's gaze met a most gruesome sight. Row after row of pony heads, mounted on plaques as trophies, lined the walls. There might have been two to three hundred of them, but Celestia was too sickened to actually count.
"T-this is a trick. An effect of your chaos powers." Celestia whinnied in horror. "As soon as you're put back in stone, my subjects will go back to normal!"
"Not this time, my dear Celestia! I learned a bit from the tactics of my benefactor" The draconequuis chuckled. "I couldn't risk any of these ponies mastering the elements, and sealing me back up again. I want this game to last a bit longer than our last one!"
"A game... is that all this has been to you?" Celestia looked up at Discord's poor victims, then closed her eyes. "These poor ponies, all of the others you've tortured for your sick entertainment. You've wrecked many lives in the name of your sick fun!"
"They were only mortals, Celestia." Discord scoffed. "You act as if their lives actually meant something."
"You want to play games, monster?" Celestia turned back to face him, her eyes glowing. "Well, you're about to play your last hand!"
The glow soon covered her whole body, then moved up to her horn. The entire castle seemed to shake, under the power she was gathering in one, small area.
"Celeastia, wait..." Discord looked up at her, his eyes going wide. "Celestia, what are you doing?!?"
"The game is over, Discord!" She snarled, looking angrier than the trickster had ever seen her. "You'll never hurt another pony again!"
For a moment, the princess thought of Twilight Sparkle. She thought of her sister, and all of the family she had lost.. and all the family she was leaving behind.
Then, she unleashed her power.
Her soul... her being... her very life force poured out from her horn, and tore out across the room. it tore towards Discord, causing the draconquuis to recoil in horror.
"No! It can't end like this!" He wailed in terror. "I don't wanna stop playing! I don't wanna-!"
FZASH! The white hot light from the wave hit him... and he was gone. Not frozen in stone, not sealed away in a magic slumber. Discord, the trickster lord of chaos, was disintegrated. His death howl tearing throughout the castle. There was only a small, disgusting stain on the floor where he had stood only a moment before.
The wave continued outward, washing over and healing an Equestria in chaos. But as the wave spread across the sky, the burning rays of Celestia's sun fizzled out. A much brighter sun came up over the horizon, and moved across the heavens of it's own volition. All across the landscape, ponies who were battering their heads against walls, or running from crazed wombats, suddenly found themselves back at their normal lives. But they would soon discover that their lives had changed, and things would never be the same again.
"Oh my word, what dideth just occur!?" Princess Luna found she could move again, and looked around at a bunch of confused guards in the throne room. "The last thing I doth remember I was- SISTER!"
The alicorn princess stopped dead, when she saw the unmoving form of Celestia, lying on the throne room floor.
"Sister, art thou hurt? What did happen to..." She trailed off as she saw that Celestia wasn't breathing. "S-sister?"
...
Celestia trotted on into the light, not even hesitating or looking back. she heard the sadness and sorrow of a passing behind her, but she assumed it was only an echo.
"About time you got here, you highness!" The unicorn pouted, pushing out her bottom lip. "And this from the pony who said she'd never leave me!"
"To be fair, you're the one who left me!" The alicorn retorted. "Though I am happy to see you again!"
"Come on, Celestia! I have so much to show you here!" The unicorn mare, now looking as she had in her prime, trotted beside her teacher.
"Calm yourself, my faithful student." She smiled, as they trotted into the light together. "We have all the time in the world."