//------------------------------//
// Chapter 6 - Snake Eyes 
// Story: Balance 
// by TheAceofClubs 
//------------------------------//

There was a forlorn feeling shared by the two sisters the following morning; they had left Everfree City before but they had always been sure that they would return. Discord’s game had played havoc with their heads all night and neither had had much sleep for fear of whether they had the ability to save the citizens of Equestria. When they had set off beside their parents the following morning they had been reassured once more that it was well within their capabilities to complete the task at hand, but that hadn’t seemed to make much difference.
It was a long flight from Everfree city to Canterlot and the young mares had eventually just taken to resting on their parents’ backs. They had long since passed over the small village of Ponyville and could see the incredible peak looming on the horizon. By the time the city at the foot of the mountain had come into sight the daytime light was thinning and the sun would soon have to be lowered. Celestia and Luna had spent some of the journey in slumber, unable to keep their eyes open for any longer and so felt much more refreshed by this point; Sola and Orion didn’t seem to be tired either and hadn’t even broken a sweat getting that far. The group had decided that due to the time restrictions they had best continue straight to their destination without stopping in the city. By the time that they had landed on the mountainside they stopped only to magically move the sun under the horizon and the moon into its place before delving into a cavern. The mountain was supposedly filled with magical energy and Celestia could feel it quite clearly as they walked past the numerous luminescent gemstones that decorated the walls.
“We’re close.” Orion murmured, causing Celestia to look away from the beautiful crystals to see that structure had been carved into the cave walls ahead. Aside from the smoothed rock patterns there were also gargoyles that actually looked more like ponies when carefully examined; as they walked underneath the illumination from both the crystals in the wall and Sola’s glowing horn Luna noticed that whereas one was just a simple pony the others had extra details. A pair of splendidly carved wings was mounted on the sides of one while another had a gemstone grafted to its head.
“This place is amazing.” Luna thought aloud. The older alicorns laughed at the comment.
“It is indeed.” Sola agreed. “It is said that this place was where Equestria was founded and the foundations of harmony and disorder came into existence.” Celestia listened intently while marvelling at their surroundings.
“It is?” Luna asked curiously; she had always imagined that Equestria’s beginning would be more humble.
“It was in this cavern that Princess Platinum of the unicorns, King Puddinghead of the earthponies and Commander Hurricane of the pegasi defeated the windigos and brought unity to ponykind.” Sola continued. Luna and Celestia looked at one another and then back in surprise.
“There were three leaders?” Celestia repeated.
“Where do we alicorns come into the story?” Luna asked inquisitively.
“As your mother just said ponykind wasn’t always united.” Orion answered. “But when the three finally came together and cast aside their differences and contempt for one another their power meshed and became the element of harmony and drove the windigos away.”
“Now the element of harmony isn’t a physical object, but instead an energy.” Sola continued. “This energy is most commonly known to us as the birthing pool.” The two sisters smiled when they finally understood something amidst their confusion but remained silent. “The birthing pool would occasionally discharge energy in the form of pure harmony; the combination of earthpony, unicorn and pegasus.”
“Alicorns.” Luna mumbled quietly; Sola nodded in agreement.
“Exactly.” She said with a chuckle. “This means that we are the physical incarnations of ponykind unity. Now on the other side of the spectrum is disorder; powered by natural feelings between ponies. When the element of harmony was created and the windigos were banished the negative energy that had previously been felt by the three monarchs was cast away with them. Where it landed came the existence of the element of chaos which like the element of harmony occasionally spewed forth energy except in the form of the combination of everything that ponies hated; these beings came to be known as dragonequus.” Celestia frowned at the information.
“So Discord holds the same energy as we do?” She asked.
“Naturally yes, but he is much older than you and Luna and thus more powerful.” Orion stated. “But harmony and chaos share the same origins and therefore cannot directly affect one another, by law of taboo.” Sola nodded at the comment.
“We don’t fully understand Discord’s motives, even after all these years, but if he wanted to harm us then he would have to find other ways of doing so; we’re immune to his magic.” The sisters nodded in understanding; his games seemed to fit the slot as he probably used the ponies of equestria as his bargaining chips instead of anything that could break ancient laws.

It wasn’t long until the alicorns found the passage widening in front of them; there were less statues and higher walls and eventually a large chamber came into sight. The room was dimly lit by a source of illumination on the ground and Celestia could see gargantuan statues at least three times the size of the ones that they had already seen decorate the area in different places.
“Mother, father?” Luna decided to ask as they approached. “Is this it?” Both Sola and Orion nodded in confirmation as the walls eventually vanished to start a cylindrical shape around them.
“Yes Luna, this is the birthing pool; the safest haven in all of Equestria.” Sola announced as they entered the chamber. Celestia and Luna were both taken aback by what they saw; hulking stone pillars and statues were everywhere facing inwards in a circle around a large shining spring, each coated with moss and greenery with occasional flowers appearing here and there. The ground had turned from craggy rock to earth lined with soft turf that felt cool to the hoof. Celestia was amazed at just how much flora there was, especially for a garden that never reached daytime light. Looking up at the ceiling Celestia could see the reflection of the water cast an eerie white glow over its surroundings.
“It’s beautiful!” Luna murmured in amazement before realizing that she was being left behind and trotting off to catch up.
“It is; not only was this the place where you were born but it is also the only haven of solace from Discord’s reach.” Sola sang, sitting beside the lake that spread out before them. As Luna approached she lit up at the sight of the water, although she couldn’t be sure as to why. As she came to the lake’s shore she gently poked the water with a hoof, giggling as the water seemed to follow it into the air before lightly coming to rest on the surface.
“Well, we’re here.” Luna exclaimed excitedly.
“Did Discord say what would happen when you arrived?” Orion asked; curious as to what would happen next. Luna thought and shook her head.
“Of course I didn’t; there was no point.” The deep voice of Discord filled the chamber, bouncing off the walls in a reverberating boom. Everypony was startled by the sudden outburst; surely it was impossible for Discord to reach there. There was a flash of light and an image of three alicorns appeared before them; one mare and two foals. It took a second to recognise the image.
“That’s...” Luna murmured before her eyes widened in disbelief. Another flash came from Sola and within seconds the image had transformed into a much more terrifying one; Discord’s face was plastered in the air in front of them.
“Somepony has been a pair of very naughty fillies.” Discord sneered at the group.
“How?” Orion exclaimed in outrage. “How can you possibly be here?”
“Here? Like, right here?” Discord teased. “The taboo on these places is cancelled out if a being of harmony brings a being of discord into their glade, or vice versa. You should know that.” The dragonequus cackled at the fury on the elder alicorns’ faces.
“What?” Sola’s expression was filled with contempt for the dragon abomination “We would never bring the likes of you to such a hallowed place!”
“Maybe not willingly.” Discord’s voice teased further. “But if you didn’t intend to bring me, yet still did, an exception would still be made.”
“If I didn’t intend to bring you?” Sola seemed thoroughly confused by the comment but nonetheless kept her guard raised.
“Yes; if you didn’t intend to bring me.” With those words Discord’s glowing silhouette flashed and returned to the form of the alicorn family before erupting once more into a puff of smoke.
“Dear Luna, you should be ashamed; defiling a library book like you did.” Discord’s voice rang through the chamber as a scrappy piece of paper fell out of the cloud and drifted down towards the floor. The alicorns looked down at the paper and sure enough there was a cruelly drawn picture of an alicorn mother and her fillies. Luna frowned at the scrap; she had thought it long gone.
“I was a pony for ten years of your life; taking the form of a book for a few days was no challenge.” Discord shortly followed out of the cloud of smoke, almost slithering to the floor like a serpent. “When Luna tore this scrap from my pages she took a piece of me with her. But when she accidentally dropped it I felt like I might’ve needed to rethink my strategy but much to my fortune your beloved mother picked it up instead.” Sola frowned in shame of her foolish actions but managed to contain her composure. 
“So what do you intend to do now?” Luna asked through gritted teeth. Discord scratched his chin lazily with a sneer.
“Well, as I said, you and your sister have been very naughty and broken the rules.” He laughed; the mares jumped at the accusation.
“What?” Luna shouted.
“We found the glade like you said!” Celestia argued. Discord chuckled again before leaning down to their levels.
“Oh shaddup; you did not.” The dragonequus tapped Celestia on the nose teasingly. “You went straight to mummy and daddy and got them to bring you; you did no searching at all and for that you must be penalized.”
CRACK
Discord had opened his mouth to cackle at the alicorns again but had been sent hurtling backwards when Orion had loosed a spell at him, hitting him harshly on the side of his head. When Discord looked back up he saw both Sola and Orion standing defensively over their foals.
“Don’t you dare lay a hand on my daughters you filth!” Orion spat in disgust.
“Oh?” Discord’s smile turned even more sinister as he got back to his feet. “And I suppose you’re going to enforce that?” Sola had had enough of listening and decided to loose a spell of her own. The bright yellow wave of energy soared towards the dragonequus but was knocked away almost effortlessly.
“So be it.” Discord’s eyes glowed as the ground began to shake. Celestia and Luna brought their bodies closer to the ground to steady themselves while Sola and Orion spread their legs to support their weight. Luna’s eyes widened in fear as all around the chamber the statues started to glow and twitch. Within seconds the statue of Commander Hurricane had taken wing and was arcing through the air towards the couple. Watching the statue’s movements closely the alicorns managed to parry in time as the pegasus slammed into the floor where they’d been standing. Seconds later they were forced to take evasive action as the stone earthpony lunged at them too, barely managing to keep their balance.
HISS
Both Orion and Sola were thrown backwards into the birthing pool by a magical surge of energy cast at them by the unicorn monolith. Celestia and Luna rushed straight to the water’s edge to see whether they could spot their fallen parents but the illumination from the pool was simply too much to view through.
“Mother! Father!” The sisters screamed in panicked unison. From behind them Discord was laughing maniacally, the statues gathering beside him.
“Pity; I expected more.” The dragonequus sneered at the despairing sisters. “But I guess being struck by an ancient power like that is enough to knock the life out of anything.” Luna shuddered with contempt for the creature before spinning round to face him.
“You monster!” She screamed with blind fury. “How could you?” Discord rolled his eyes.
“Cool your jets; don’t forget you’re still being punished.” Discord continued blankly, completely unbothered by his brutal murder.
“Buck you!” Luna spat, gritting her teeth and only just managing to restrain her urge to kill.
“Gazunteit.” Discord answered. “I think that I’ve made my point though; I never expected your parents to actually take to violence, so their deaths were unplanned. With a loss like that harmony’s place in Equestria dwindles lower and that’s really all I’m after.” Luna stared daggers at the dragon abomination with hatred.
“Mark my words!” Luna growled at her opposition. “I will kill you!” The young mare was seeing red and feeling anger like she had never felt before.
“You do that. In the meantime, here’s another deadline.” Discord laughed again and jumped straight upwards and vanished in a puff of smoke.
“Sure, you cheated on the last task but you still made good time.” Discord’s voice continued to ring through the cave. “We’ll keep the same deadline but this time I need you to leave this place and head to Canterlot. Tell the citizens there of what has transpired here as well as this haven’s location. If you do as I say then return here at the end of the week. If you don’t, the ponies of Equestria will pay the price.” The young mares looked around, but the dragonequus was nowhere to be seen. They waited for any other speech but none was heard. The chamber returned to peace, as if nothing had happened; the monoliths had been returned to their places and the chamber was silent.
“Luna, quickly!” Celestia called suddenly. Luna turned on the spot to see a bubbling in the birthing pool and within seconds a white head appeared, gasping for breath.
“Mother!” Luna cried out, rushing to assist Celestia in pulling Sola from the water. Once that was done they became aware of the huge bleeding gash across her side.
“M-Mother?” Celestia said croakily. Sola smiled softly at her daughters.
“Hello girls.” Sola whispered weakly. “You aren’t hurt?” Luna shook her head rapidly.
“Don’t worry about us; look at you!” She cried in despair. Sola shook her head and chuckled quietly.
“Mine was a fading light.” The words drew a tear-drowned cough from Celestia. “While yours is the rising sun.”
“Mother...” Celestia’s face was already sodden with teardrops as well as water from her mother’s fur. “You’ll be okay, right?” Her voice was shaky but Celestia only just managed to keep her act together.
“Celestia...” Sola lifted a hoof and stroked her daughter’s face. “I’d be lying to you if I said I’d be returning home with you.” That was enough to crack both sisters and they lowered their shuddering heads to rest beside their dying mother’s.
“Your father and I love you enough to make this sacrifice; it’s a parent thing, you’ll understand it one day.” She continued softly.
“How can we do this without you?” Luna cried out, burying her head into the silver fur. “I’m so scared as it is!”
“We trust in your abilities and believe that you will make the right choices.” Sola assured them. “You have friends all around Equestria that are willing to help you, even if we can’t.” Celestia and Luna continued to listen, but couldn’t believe it. “You’ll be alright; I know you’ll be alright. Just look out for one another and you will, understand?” A few seconds passed before either of the young mares made a sound.
“I understand.” They both said together. Sola smiled up at them and raised her hooves to their heads before gently laying them on her neck.
“I love you both so much.” She whispered as her pulse started to slow. Both Celestia and Luna held their breaths as the rise and fall of Sola’s respiration slowly came to a stop. By the time they had raised their heads again her flame had completely petered out. The two mares watched as the deceased alicorn body started to glow and fade away. Inevitably both Celestia and Luna found them clutching their mother tighter than they had ever done before, refusing to let her leave. It was pointless to try as Sola’s body finally vanished entirely.

Minutes passed without a sound before either of the young mares raised their heads. They looked mournfully at one another with hopeless expressions.
“Wh-what do we do?” Luna asked Celestia quietly. Celestia stared back blankly for a few moments before taking a deep breath and exhaling.
“All we can do Luna; mother and father fought to give us a chance and we have to take it.” Celestia answered, trying her best to sound decisive. “Not doing so would make their sacrifice a vanity.” Luna nodded slowly and stood. She felt a mixture of emotions but she that she could restrain some of them; she would have to as she could quite clearly see the effect that all of the stress was having on her sister. Celestia’s usual content face was marred with a distraught expression stained with tears. Under her violet eyes were sties from her recent difficulty with sleeping and along her silver fur and salmon pink mane was a fresh streak of blood running from the tip of her nose to her flank, all the way across. It was evident that Celestia was at her very limit and Luna understood just how close she was to breaking.
“Celestia...” Luna started, shaking her head slightly. “This is too much for me and I know it’s too much for you as well; let’s head to Canterlot and find a place to stay for the night.” Celestia stared for a second, obviously thinking it best if they continued onwards, but not finding the strength to openly disagree.
“Come on, let’s go.” Luna nuzzled her older sister and they both turned to leave the chamber. Celestia’s tears fell once more as they headed for the mountainside, leaving a trail of red droplets upon the rock floor from the blood stains mixing with her sorrow.

~*~

“Princess Celestia! Princess Luna! What in Equestria are you doing here?” There were mixed murmurs as the dishevelled alicorns entered the Canterlot meeting hall. Sat in thrones of elegant unicorn design were six mares and stallions that all rose to welcome their unexpected guests. They were Harlequin, Daybreak Sparkle, Goldglitter, Whirlwind Gustburn, Lightbreeze & Ironclad Valorhoof, the stewards of Canterlot.
“My dears, you look a mess! Whatever happened to you?” Goldglitter asked, supporting the shaky alabaster alicorn while magically levitating a cushion towards them and ushering her down upon it. Ironclad approached Celestia and squinted at the red streak across her hide.
“Princess Celestia, is this...blood?” Celestia looked down at her hooves without talking; she would’ve been overjoyed to see the stewards again if it hadn’t been for the previous events. Luna stepped forward, ignoring the pillow that had been positioned for her and decided to tell the tale. She told them of the events in Everfree, how they had corrected the sun and the moon and how they had been tasked with travelling to Mount Canterlot by Discord. She spoke of the truth behind Rightheart and the sacred chamber resting within the mountain and finally the fight between their parents and Discord.
“I...see...” Ironclad murmured. “I am so very sorry for your loss.” Daybreak nodded in agreement.
“We all are; today Equestria has lost a great asset.” He stated grimly. “If there is anything we can assist you with you need only ask us Princesses. We are in your service.” Luna thought for a second, looking at Celestia for a few moments before turning back.
“If you could please accommodate us until our business in Canterlot is complete we would be ever so grateful.” Daybreak nodded with a smile at the request.
“But of course; it is the very least we can do.” Luna smiled back and looked to Celestia who had long closed her eyes in an attempt to restrain tears from developing again through the recollection.
“Goldglitter, Lightbreeze?” Luna asked, rousing the unicorn and pegasus further. “Could I ask you to accompany Celestia to the washroom and keep her company until I am ready to rejoin her?” The words made Celestia look up quickly at her younger sibling, letting a few of the restrained tears roll from her eyelids. Goldglitter and Lightbreeze both nodded.
“It would be our honour Princess Luna.” Lightbreeze chirped sweetly.
“If you’d like to come with us Princess Celestia.” Goldglitter said, beckoning the silver mare to follow her. Reluctantly Celestia stood and managed a side glance at Luna.
“Don’t worry; I just need some time to collect my thoughts.” Luna reassured her. Celestia stared for a moment before nodding and following Goldglitter from the room without a word.
“Princess, would you like us to leave?” Whirlwind asked Luna, but was answered with a shake of the head.
“I don’t like lying to Celestia, but it’s for the best; she needs to rest.” The dark blue alicorn mare stated. “No, what I need is your services.” Daybreak nodded in acknowledgement. 
“Well, we’re prepared to hear your wishes and help in any way we can Princess.” He confirmed to her. Luna nodded; she was confident that they would give their all to help her.
“Thank you.” She said quietly. “Now, what I need is...”

~*~

The water around Celestia’s hooves was red with the tainting of the blood stain across her hide. It had already hardened and was proving difficult to move making her glad that she had the assistance of Goldglitter and Lightbreeze. Whereas Goldglitter was marvelling at Celestia’s glorious mane Lightbreeze carefully lathering soap along Celestia’s wings, trying her best to shift the blood.
“Thank you both for your assistance.” Celestia said at last, causing them both to start.
“Oh, it’s really nothing Princess.” Goldglitter assured her, going back to the massaging of the salmon pink mane. “In fact, it’s really our pleasure; it’s been much too long since we last saw you.”
“It was your coronation wasn’t it?” Lightbreeze asked which Goldglitter then confirmed with a nod.
“I believe so.” Celestia murmured. “I remember how proud I was at the time, standing beside Luna and looking down upon the celebrating citizens of Everfree. It was a good time.” Lightbreeze nodded, recollecting the events of the day.
“I can remember just how radiant you looked.” Lightbreeze’s voice almost sounded like a song as she remembered the image of beauty a year before.

There they stood; the queens of Everfree City and the supreme despots of Equestria. Goldglitter looked up the steps at their new leaders. Queen Celestia’s salmon pink mane was tied back with a white rose resting just behind her ear, white petals seemed to flow around her, complimented further only by the wondrous ceremonial golden crown and breastplate emblazoned with topaz resting upon her person. Queen Luna stood adjacent to her sister with similar majesty; Luna’s mane was also tied back and lined with forget-me-knots with similar ghostly petals casting light on her hide alongside her black crown and breastplate, instead emblazoned with a sapphire. Goldglitter had long been regarded as the most beautiful pony in all of Equestria but even after three hours of preparation that morning she had to admit to their outshining radiance; after all, the crowning of new monarchs wasn’t a commodity and was obviously the most prestigious event in the entire kingdom. These young mares had to look their very best. Goldglitter would occasionally pry her eyes away from the glorious sight only to talk of her admiration to another pony nearby.
“They simply must tell me who their fabulous dressmaker is!” She gassed to Ironclad who, although admitting that Luna and Celestia did look stunning, didn’t really care otherwise. “She really has made a spectacular costume, even better than my own I daresay.”
“Shhhhh!” Harlequin hissed at the loudmouthed unicorn who, although making a quick comment on his lack of manners, agreed to do as he wished. “They’re about to make a speech!” Harlequin, who was usually quite spontaneous in his half-wit, was right, as the alicorns had approached the front of the courtyard altar and looked down at the crowd below, waiting patiently for the chattering to stop. A few seconds passed before the crowd became silent, perhaps due to the large amount of ponies shushing one another.
“Our gracious little ponies; ponies of Equestria, of Everfree, of Canterlot, Manehatten, Appleoosa and Cloudsdale. Ponies of our wonderful kingdom, today we accept the honour and duty as your queens!” As Celestia’s words rang through the kingdom a great applause erupted as ponies clopped their hooves repeatedly against the floor, accompanied only by an equally loud cheer.
“I, Queen Celestia!” Celestia continued, the crowd instantly becoming silent again. “I, Queen Celestia, daughter of Orion and Sola, shall take my place as queen of the daytime light with bounty and grace!” Applause broke out again but quietened once more as Luna instead opened her mouth to speak.
“And I, Queen Luna, daughter of Orion and Sola, shall watch over Equestria with pride to continue as the queen of the midnight air!” Luna beamed upon announcing these words and actually let the crowd applaud them; after all, it was as much their day as hers and Celestia’s. When the crowd finally finished their clopping Luna decided to continue.
“We promise to watch over Equestria and all of its inhabitants until the day our reign comes to an end. Let it be known that peace and prosperity shall follow this day; that is our promise to you.” The crowd called out even louder than before and the two mares decided to retreat a little bit, to let the words sink in a bit more before finally announcing the beginning to the celebrations.

“It was from that day onward that you became the beautiful figurehead to our kind.” Goldglitter said, remembering her purpose for being there and returned to lathering the mane. Her speech rang through Celestia’s mind; she had accepted the burden of maintaining peace within Equestria and she had the duty to stick by that. Sure, they had lost their parents, but that changed nothing.
“Princess, I think that’s really all we can do.” Lightbreeze’s kind voice brought Celestia back to her senses. She looked back at where the streak of her mother’s blood had been and saw nothing but clean white fur. She smiled softly at the timid pegasus and nodded.
“Thank you Lightbreeze, Goldglitter.” Celestia said as she stood; it hurt knowing that when she was finished she could never just indulge in her mother’s company as usual, but the day had had to come eventually. There was no point in feeling sorry for herself about it. She had a task to complete and whether she had lost loved ones or not made no difference to that. She felt a soft towel fall over her head and gently dry her mane of excess moisture.
“As we said Princess, it’s our pleasure.” Goldglitter repeated as she magically opened the washroom door to let the alicorn mare leave.
‘Tonight is the time for mourning, tomorrow we return to our duties.’ Celestia thought as she left the room, trailed by the two Canterlot Stewards.

~*~

The streets of Canterlot were lit in a dull orange light from the magical torches tasked with illuminating the streets when the stars could not. The reflection of the lights shone off of the many numerous puddles littering the cobbled roads interrupted only by the occasional hoof stepping through it on its owner’s way to the town square. In the centre was the Canterlot Hall where at the head of the steps to the entrance stood not only the six stewards of Canterlot but also the young alicorn princesses. The call to attention through the city had roused many a pony, all dressed in hoods and capes, a grim sign that had been affiliated with death over many decades. The ponies knew not who had succumbed to death’s grip but nonetheless put aside their raincoats for the black cloaks. When ponies stopped flowing into the square and the crowd looked large enough Daybreak Sparkle finally spoke.
“Citizens of Canterlot, we thank you for your compliance with attending this most grievous event.” He announced to the crowd, his horn glowing as his hood lowered itself. “Tonight sees the end of the lives of two very special ponies to not just Canterlot, but all of Equestria.” There was a grim silence over the town as they listened clinging to Daybreak’s every word.
“Prince Orion and Princess Sola were once our gracious leaders, heading our people to peace and prosperity.” As Daybreak spoke the names the crowd was filled with gasping. The unicorns of Canterlot finally understood why their monarchs stood before them yet did not speak and simply kept their heads lowered from sight. “But tonight saw their final breaths in Equestria and their departure from this world to a higher plane.” Murmuring could be heard from all areas of the city’s populace as Daybreak stood back to let Ironclad Valorhoof take his place, the prior’s hood rising over his head as the latter’s was pushed down.
“Merely days ago Princesses Luna and Celestia blessed Equestria with the sun and the moon.” He called out to the ponies before him. “They found mistakes with their work and sought to make corrections. Upon attempting to do so they found a barrier surrounding their creations and they were forced to search vigorously for a way to break through this unexpected obstacle. When they found a means to bypass the barrier it backfired on them and destroyed Equestria Palace but repaired the sun and the moon. They led the rescue of ponies trapped inside the palace only to find that their sanity and self-control had long gone, not by stress or reasons by our monarchs but instead by one Sir Rightheart.” The name caused uproar through the crowd; it was to be expected, Rightheart had saved more than any one pony’s fair share of lives.
“That’s impossible! Sir Rightheart saved my wife!”
“He couldn’t have done that, he isn’t even a unicorn!”
Ironclad frowned at the comments and stamped his foot, instantly commanding silence among the ponies.
“Sir Rightheart appeared from the ruins as well as the trapped ponies only to reveal that he has been playing a ruse upon the alicorn monarchs, Everfree City and Equestria in entirety. Sir Rightheart was no less than Lord Discord himself in disguise.” More gasps erupted from the crowd; some found it terrifying whereas others refused to believe it and instead saw it as a disgrace to Rightheart’s name.
“Discord tasked our young queens to fly here to Canterlot and so they did, led by Prince and Princess Orion and Sola to a sacred place within the mountain where Discord ambushed them and killed the queen mother and father while they defended our gracious young princesses.” Ironclad was satisfied by this effect; the sound of rainfall was all that could be heard from the stunned square. Moments passed and Luna took a step forward, magically lowering her hood.
“If I may say a few words?” The ponies of Canterlot saw how battered and tired Luna looked; perhaps they were telling the truth. Ironclad nodded and took a step back to give the mare some space. Luna’s expression was blank, as it had been since the encounter but she tried to look confident, clearing her throat before addressing her subjects.
“When we arrived in Canterlot today we expected events to be smooth; we had been tasked with visiting a shrine in the mountain.” Luna called out without interruption. “We planned to arrive, complete our objective and then leave again. That’s what we did; at least two of us did.” A few sobs could be heard from ahead of them; Sola and Orion had been much loved by ponies all over Equestria.
“Lord Discord is infamous for waging the Evershroud war; for taking lives of ponies all over Equestria, for creating a rift of fear between the two halves of our nation and for the false sense of calm that we’ve felt for the past ten years.” Luna started to shake as she cleared her throat again. “Lastly, he took the lives of our mother and father.” A single tear fell down her face but Luna looked less confident and more vengeful and determined.
“We were brought here today by Discord’s planning.” She continued, her voice cracking under the weight of sorrow on her back. “But this is too much; I refuse to stand by and watch Equestria stay his playing board. I refuse to see more lives fall to his trickery. Yes, today we were broughthere  by his whim, but tomorrow we send him to the dark depths of Treeshroud where he belongs, never to darken our kingdom ever again!” Shocked murmurings filled the square again as Luna’s preaching turned to a shout.
“Mother and father sacrificed themselves to give us the chance to break free from evil’s grip.” Luna raised her head and her horn glowed with magic, spreading her wings to their full extent. “I promise you all that I will finish what Discord began and what Queen Europa, mother and father and the thousands of ponies from all over Equestria since centuries ago fought for. Peace and prosperity will be ours again and this time without the shadow of Discord hanging over us.” As Luna finished her speech she found others mimicking her action. To her side were the six stewards with their heads raised, horns glowing and wings spread. Luna’s breath was heavy and she felt hot with anticipation. As she waited with her horn raised she noticed other ponies doing the same in the crowd; soon the entire square was filled with the lights. Luna beamed at the sight; Sola had been correct. The ponies of Equestria were willing to help her. She was about to open her mouth to speak when one more light appeared beside her; a stunning light that outshone the others brilliantly. Luna turned her head to see that Celestia had walked forward too; her magic of the day shining like a star in the darkness of the night, illuminating the rest of the horns even further. Luna grinned and laughed aloud.
“Our little ponies! We promise you-” Luna’s voice rang out. “We promise all of you that Equestria will finally return to harmony’s side for eternity!” A great cheer could be heard for miles, easily reaching the cavern inside the mountain.

~*~

“Now this is unexpected.” Discord told himself, stroking his chin in thought. “I would’ve thought that losing their parents would break them, not increase their resolve.” The dragonequus sighed in annoyance.
“Whatever, they may have their ambitions but they’re on my side of the board.” He laughed, throwing the contents of his hands, a pair of dice, into the pool below; almost instantly did the figures of two great mares rise from the water casting a silver glow across the chamber.
“Heh, snake-eyes.” He snickered. “I guess you can’t win them all.”