//------------------------------// // Discord is Apparently Corrupt // Story: One Thousand Years Ago // by Opticlaudimix //------------------------------// Celestia's horn glowed brightly as she made a magical screen appear next to her, displaying the two sisters in a much younger state. On the screen the two were happily chatting at a restaurant while Celestia continued to explain more about what she was showing. "You see Cadence, back when we weren't the rulers of Equestria yet, Discord ruled the land. Except, he wasn't exactly the Discord you know now, he used to be an alicorn who ruled Equestria fairly in a disorderly fashion. The ponies loved him, and so did we. Life always had something unexpected at random intervals." On the display, a brown alicorn stallion suddenly appeared in a bright white flash. He had a messy tan colored mane and a mismatched pair of orange eyes that almost looked like they were facing different directions. He then proceeded to bombard Celestia with a multitude of bananas before flashing away. "Funny thing, I used to hate bananas back then," Celestia remarked. Cadence raised an eyebrow. "Wait, why didn't anypony seem to care about how he would just randomly show up and change things to his will? Wouldn't that interfere with their jobs and special talents?" "Well, society was incredibly different back then. There wasn't a currency system or even daily schedules, especially since there wasn't even a day and night cycle yet. So ponies would just ask for things and sometimes receive them, the system was great." Celestia took another bite out of a banana. "I can't imagine ever getting used to that..." "Nopony ever did, that's the point, order wasn't around until Luna and I took over." Celestia said. The bar suddenly turned into a beach, but rather than being in a tropical setting, this particular beach seemed to be near a swamp with chocolate milk waves. "So anyways, enough about the times we grew up in. I should probably get on with what happened..." "HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUNA!" Luna had just left her room when a large group of her friends and family surprised her at the doorway. Discord was in the front of the group with a violin in hoof, playing a very somber sounding piece. "Ohmygosh!Ohmygosh!Ohmygosh!Ohmygosh! It's my birthday???" Luna squealed. "Sure is kiddo! And since I feel like it, I say it's now legal for you to drink and gamble! Actually, I'm gonna take back the gambling part." Discord then chucked his violin out a nearby window in the hallway. In the distance somepony could be heard saying, "Hey! Check out this violin I found!". "Oh Discord, you and your shenanigans." Luna laughed. "Anyways, I'll let you continue on with your day. Or not." Discord suddenly vanished along with the rest of the group, leaving a stunned Celestia behind and lots of random animals. They both stood there for a few seconds in the midst of the cacophony. Celestia looked around in confusion. "What just happened?" "It's my birthday right now apparently." "Wait what? So...how old are you right now?" Luna had to stop and think about that for a while. "Honestly, I have no idea." "So are we even celebrating anything right now?" "I dunno, he did tell me it's okay for me to drink now." "You wanna go to the bar then?" As if on cue, a dolphin dived in through the wall and flailed around wildly, sending pieces of rocks and dust all over the hallway. It was holding a sign that said: "Need a Ride?" "Well that was convienient, come on, let's go! You gotta see what being drunk is like!" Celestia hopped onto the dolphin, causing it to stop flopping around and happily chirp. "Hold on a minute Tia, how exactly is this thing gonna get us-" The dolphin suddenly sprouted wings and began to make engine noises as some rainbow colored smoke came out of its blowhole. "Okay then..." "Sooooooo. How...How long has it been since we've......Hey, Tea...Tia, why are we here again?" "Huh? Oh, uh...I think we've been here...since...forever." "So we were al...always here? "Where's *hic* "here" again? I swear, that name sounds...familiar." Across the upside-down bar, an arrow suddenly manifested that was pointing straight down and read: "IF YOU CAN READ THIS, YOU AREN'T HERE. Also, Merry Hearths Warming Christmas." Luna and Celestia were floating in midair, both hugging an open barrel of booze while slowly sipping from its contents. They both looked nauseous and had a deep red in their checks while maintaining goofy looking grins. "Hey Tia?" "Oh wait..."here" is a word, silly 'ol me." "I think we should go drunk now...we're home." "I think you mean I...I-er, I'm drunk, so I should go leave the bar." "Eeeeyup." Celestia's horn flashed, and the two found themselves standing in the middle of a dense forest in bright daylight that was heavily populated with other ponies. Luna looked around for a bit before she realized that something was different. "Hey! what, what happened to all the ba...booze?" complained Luna. "We were trying to...get away from it, I think." Celestia stumbled a bit before crashing onto the hard dirt ground. Somewhere in the distance, a young filly could be heard crying. "Hey Tia...do you hear that wailing noise?" "Huh?" "I dunno about...you, but, that noise makes me...sad." "Well...you wanna, you...wanna go see what it is?" Luna looked around for a bit before focusing on a filly lavender unicorn with an odd, flat balloon in her hoof. "Hey Tia...I think I found it." Celestia vomited over the dirt before she slowly stood up, looking to where Luna was facing. "Uh, is it...that tree over there?" "I"m...fairly certain that it's coming...coming from that, little pony, over by the tree." "Oh my gosh...I see it...woah." The two of them stared in awe at the poor little thing, it was as if time slowed down just to bring attention onto this unfortunate tragedy with all its emotional impact. This solemn moment, in which all hope seemed lost, brought upon despair for all who were witnessing such a dark slice of life. The tears that flowed without solace in sight deeply touched the two royal sisters, playing a symphony of lament for their heartstrings. It was clear that something had to be done, something had to change. "Mommy! My balloon is flat now! What happened to it?" A blue mare that was presumably the filly's mother trotted over and gave her foal an embracing hug. "Oh, don't worry dear, It's just Discord playing some games with us, I'm sure he'll do something funny again soon." This was just too much for the sisters to handle, to bring a filly's mother into this? That was the last straw. "You know what Lulu? We...we need to put a stop to this "Discord" character. How could making a...a little pony cry be considered...playing games?" "Yeah! We need to... stop all this...chaos and...uh, suffering!" "You know what? We should go to... the place where Discord said he kept his, uh...emerrrgency reset keys and fix everything!" "I'm sorry, but what were these "emerrrgency reset keys" that you're talking about?" interrupted Cadence. Celestia paused the floating screen she conjured. "Oh, well you see, there was something else that I neglected to mention. Those were what we know today as "The Elements of Harmony". You see, just in case the impossible occurred and something happened that was so disastrous that it needed to actually be dealt with, Discord made six jewels encrusted in stone that would nullify all magic that contradicts the user's emotions and thoughts. He told everypony about these and put them in his castle for safekeeping, so everypony knew where they were. " "Wait wait wait, so you're saying that all this time, the "Elements of Harmony" are really just there to reset magic?" replied Cadence. "Pretty much, Luna and I came up with a cooler sounding name and all this mythological backstory to it so that the ponies don't know of its true power. In reality, all it needs in order to work is just emotions and magic, with each jewel being there to help convey its power." "So why didn't it work when Twilight and her friends used them on discord while they were corrupt?" "Contradicting emotions, it didn't know what to reset everything to." Celestia explained. "Well then why did you come up with all this mythology backstory only to let Twilight and her friends use them?" "Well, because every time Twilight and her friends use them nothing ever seems to go wrong, take a look around, everypony is constantly smiling with the environment Twilight and her friends create." Cadence sighed. "You know what? This all makes too much sense. Just keep going on with the story." "Well alrighty then." The screen resumed playing again.