Opening Act - Chaos
Greetings!
I'm sure you're all wondering what you are doing here; let me give you a bit of context before we begin.
There was once a land... Or was it an island? Regardless, this land was known as Equestria, a paradise for any and all creatures, blessed by both Sun and Moon. Of course, we all know this. You wouldn't be here without at least some preliminary knowledge, correct? Nightmare Moon, Discord, Chrysalis, Sombra...
This paradise, with the light of the gods shining upon it, prospered.
In the days long ago, gods roamed freely among each other, peaceful, even if anathema to each other. One could look outside and not be surprised to see Discord evenly conversing with the Entity Harmony, or witness the reshaping of the world by an idle deity, or see grand displays of majesty soaring through the sky as the beings held friendly competition. Animals led their young over the hooves of the mighty, and the weak were at peace with the strong.
But then, everything changed when the Fire Na- Oh. Wrong story.
Things were as they always had been; things were as they always would be; and as was the nature of life, things changed. There came a being truly of a different ilk. His name was Entropy. Fragments of fragments, wisps of thought, shadows cast by the brightest light... All of these collected in the new creature, this... undeity, this... abomination. Even I can barely fathom his being, and believe me- I am old! I can't describe him to you. Perhaps if I use the Entity Harmony for contrast: Harmony was, of course, an Alicorn. What? Equinkind was the first mortal race, designed after her! Even if Dragons are superior. Her domain- nay, her birthright was all of existence. To look upon her was to look upon perfection- no blemish, no flaw; the air grew still around her, and the animals lay down and rested in her presence. The Sun envied of her radiance, and the Stars longed for her beauty- any other deity, from the ever-fickle yet reliable Fortune, to the stick-in-the-mud Law, the Sisters Celestia and Luna, Jackal with his Three Children, and so on and so forth... They all yielded to her. She was their god, the Overgod, the one that brought to them peace and stilled their rages, quieted their disputes, shielded them from the fear of isolation. In her, there was Unity, and with Unity, came Harmony.
Back to Entropy. To sum him up, everything that Harmony was, he was not. Need I go any further? Oh, fine. I know what you're thinking: some generic, evil, black-as-sin, Alicorn bloke who was too big for his britches. Well, you're wrong. Entropy was not evil. He was not even black-as-sin! That would imply he had a color, of course... Entropy manifested as nothing. His very essence and presence was a hole in the space of the world. Where Harmony created, Entropy destroyed, and to behold him was to behold death itself. The Entity Entropy strove only to undo Harmony's work, to make Unity into Void. It was terrifying, I say; the clash between the Tamer of Creation and The Unmaker birthed the last of the Great Entities, Time.
Change had come with blood, fire, destruction, and Death. Harmony knew the Entity Entropy would only grow more devious as Time passed, and set into motion the end of the Era of Gods.
I'd continue, but I really must move this story along. Not much of me yet remains.
Memories of days long past, of when Sun and Moon warred with Stars and Earth, where the Unity of Harmony and Void of Entropy pulled at the fabric of the world, had long faded. But it was not to be. Though Discord and Luna had returned to Unity, Celestia still needed to prepare her Faithful Student for secrets belonging to the rulers of Equestria. She never had the time.
You are here to bear witness to what ended one of the greatest Eras of Peace.
You are here to pay witness to the ramblings of good old Time, summing up the End of Days.
You are here to give me the strength needed to act when I should have, for my failure brought about the doom of the world.
The future that should have been will be, even if it costs my life.
And here we have the Opening Act, what They forgot I collect.
See now a new doom, one forged both of old and new.
Nightmares and Scourges, do not be discouraged!
There, with his eye upon you; Master Time will not make you a fool.
Let the tale unfold, to make amends.
Let the tale unfold, Where Harmony Ends.
Let the Opening Act begin!
Discord shivered. It was impossible, I know. One does not simply make a god... 'cold'. Yet the feel of something predating even him had momentarily filled him with a feeling he had not felt in a long period of existence. It was the cry of a newborn foal, the primal instinct of something weaker than another, the first step to the End of an Era. Discord, Spirit-King of Chaos, felt fear.
Canterlot glistened in the midnight sky backdrop, a quiet breeze drifting through the hills below Discord's resting place. One would almost call it an eerie night, even as others praised its beauty. The animals had gone to ground, ponies and other sentients alike huddled before their hearts for an unknown, cold, grasping fear. The stars and heavenly bodies watched apathetically, and Time itself seemed reluctant to move, knowing what was to come. A reckoning had come.
Discord sighed, "So, have you finally come to destroy me, Law? I expected you to be here long ago."
Where Harmony Ends
Thunder had rippled through the night sky. Or, what sounded like thunder.
Celestia awoke, and knew something was wrong; the balance of sun and moon had shifted yet again, and not by an internal means like Nightmare Moon...
Where were the guards? Celestia pondered the absence of the ever-present Royal Guard, as she galloped through the halls, attempting to find the source of the disturbance and turmoil she could feel within herself. She could feel it in the air, echoes of a cry caused by means most foul and evil; she could feel it in the stones of the castle beneath her hooves, no longer a foundation to be trusted, cast into question by recent events.
There, in the heart of her castle.
Celestia looked upon her throne room with despair. The beautiful stained glass windows depicting many heroic deeds both old and new were shattered beyond all recognition. The scent of burnt flesh and depravity saturated the air, all traces of the typical, clean atmosphere having long since fled, and something could still be seen shifting in the corner. Celestia quickly trotted through the desiccated chamber, her facade of a thousand years pushed almost to its breaking point before the figure that lay in the corner. Luna was flayed, her mane and tail in tatters; the normally lustrous night-sky coat blackened with burns and desecrated with many cuts, almost peeled away like an apple along her legs. Blood was all that Celestia could see, as Luna looked up and opened vacant eye sockets, and let out a breathless scream-
Where Harmony Ends
Oh. It appears I've started too far ahead.. I can't seem to remember what happened after that. Let's roll it back further and see if we can find what we're missing.
The Elder God 'Law' drifted down, descending to the pink cloud over the castle upon which Discord rested. If one didn't look closely enough, Law looked just like any other Griffin King. Same regal bearing, golden crest feathers similar to a crown adorning his head and chest. His coat gleamed with a silver-steel light. The cloud returned to normal as he landed on it, causing Discord to give an unappreciative grunt in response. Law reached Discord's upper body in height; just a little taller than Celestia, and definitely taller than Luna. The cold, gray eagle-eyed visage fell upon Discord- wherein one could see the difference from just 'any other Griffin King'. Law's face was scarred and pitted with centuries of battle, delt by Discord himself in the time following Harmony's death. He spoke with the rattle of a creature long dead.
"I'm not here to kill you. Yet. I know you've made peace with the Sisters." Law shuffled in place as Discord seemed to ignore him, the latter reaching instead for a glass of chocolate milk from the icebox that had appeared next to him. He downed it in one go and placed the glass on the cloud.
"And why do you care about little old them, Law? Am I not enough for you to fight anymore? Or is it just that you're bored of me as much as I am of you?" Discord pontificated, adorning his serpentine form with a steel skullcap and unsheathing a sword with his claw. He brandished it about randomly.
"Times are changing Discord. Old allegiances are being exchanged for new ones, and the forces of Harmony and Entropy marshall themselves. You very well know this," Law rasped, "Even you should have seen it coming the instant you chose a side. I'm here to tell you; I will put you down, Mad Dog, take your power for my own, and then rape those Sisters of their ability. I will give them merciful deaths if you stand aside and let me take them first. You'll even have time to run."
Discord burst out into inane laughter, wiping a tear from his eye, "Did you honestly expect me, of all the creatures on, over, in, out, and all around Equestria to accept that deal!?"
"No." And with that, Law lunged, swiping at Discord; he tripped over the empty glass in the process.
The resounding explosion could be seen from Cloudsdale, and nearly blew Canterlot off the map were it not for Luna's timely intervention. Ponyville was, as with every other week, nearly destroyed.
The full moon glistened in the sky- Luna hovered before it, eclipsing its light before her fellow deities.
"It appears you have both forgotten about whom watches the night! Cease this nonsense and return with me to the castle at once!"
Discord glared at Luna before reaching out and pulling her from the path of a raging Law emerging from the chocolate-dust cloud left behind by Discord's trap. "Lulu dear, please don't interrupt when the adults are talking." He vanished in a flash as the cloud flew upward, Luna struggling to stand upright at the incredible speeds it was moving- it had become soft and spongy, as she slowly sank hoof-first into the cloud. Luna continued to rise as the Discord and Law proceeded to showdown beneath her.
Discord's spurs jingled, as his paw flexed- he straightened his hat, and shifted the lollipop in his mouth. "Now that the lady's outta the way, shall we get started, ol' buddy ol' pal?" In a blur, he reached for the holster at his side, lifted out a banana, and yelled "BANG!" A flurry of multicolored bolts proceeded to burst out of the fruit's business end and towards the noble griffin, only to bounce off his metallic fur.
"Your tenure as a statue has made you weak, Discord. I am the strong one now."
Law flashed forward, once more swiping at the draconequus; where Discord dodged, however, was immediately rent asunder by a talon of ice. Discord let out a disappointed groan, and proceeded to fall with a string of night sky tied to his hoof, with his form fading into a mist. Law inspected the darkened landscape, searching for the chaotic god, before abandoning the search and calling for the cloud which had trapped Luna.
Luna looked upon Law, in all his furious majesty, and knew that to battle him was tantamount to suicide. Desperate and afraid, she struggled to pull her hooves from the cloud, as Law leisurely coasted up to her. "It appears your protector is gone now, Luna. You and Celestia really did a number on him if I was able to incapacitate him that easily. The Elements served their purpose quite well..."
Luna looked at the massive griffin approaching her, and, being unable to escape, glared defiance. "You shall never get away with this, Beast!"
"I already have." Law stretched out a claw to Luna's eyes, eliciting a panicked cry as he slowly, and with pleasure bordering on ecstasy, ripped out her left eye. Luna was silent as the pain ripped through her, denying him the satisfaction at watching her squirm. Law slowly began to breathe heavily, a lust filling his normally empty eyes; "You have no idea how long I've been waiting to do this. Discord neutered me all those centuries ago, and I can finally get back at him through mutilating his allies! I will do him last. I highly doubt you'll survive the Power Circuit-" a grunt, as Luna's vision went fully black, and the pain intensified, "and I will definitely need your extra energy to track him through the night."
Luna channeled magic through her horn, flapped her wings, and jerked her legs, all to no avail. Without Discord or another of similar caliber to counteract Law's aura, she was helpless.
Law began to chant in a language long forgotten by the Lunar Diety, it's syllables making her ears fold back and quiver in pain as her teeth ground against each other. A blackened, smoldering hook materialized in Law's bloodied foretalon, and he carefully stabbed Luna's eyes on to the end. For a moment, all was still. The trees quieted, the wind ceased, and all life held its breath in anticipation of the tragedy to come. And the silence was shattered, as the Moon itself resonated in Luna's agony, being painted bloody by the magic violating the caretaker; Luna herself wailed at the burning, ripping, and tearing of her soul. Law looked up in an orgasmic glee, screaming his victory to the impassive heavens, "YOU HEAR THIS DISCORD? THIS WILL BE YOU!"
Law proceeded to start slashing at the prone, wailing Luna, only causing her wails to escalate as her flesh began to resemble the slow cooking of her essence; her coat turned a pallid color, quickly darkening to a gruesome black. To those attuned with the powers of gods, it smelt invigorating, inviting the consumption of the weak, the infirm. The eyes stabbed upon the hook began to not only bleed, but weep, as their owner's Deity pooled within the windows to the soul. Glass, crystal, and metal alike shattered before the Moon's pitiful keening.
Abruptly, the wailing stopped.
Discord twirled the hook idly as he examined Luna with a magnifying glass. "Interesting piece of work here, Law, I mean. The craftsponyship on this spell is amazing! This has my name written all over it, except... I did not make it. Oh well, shame to destroy such an amusing piece of work." Law smirked as Discord closed his claw over it, channeling a large amount of chaotic magic to destroy it.
Discord waved his paw over Luna, vanishing both the half-cooked Princess and magnifying glass, and focused on the Black Hook. Luna's blood-dripping eyes had gone with the Princess, and the hook seemed to drain the life around itself even without a focus or target; a truly malevolent weapon. Law looked on, the calm demeanour as was his nature settling back on his face.
Law flashed forward once more and jerked Discord's closed claw to impale itself upon the hook, only to have it break into water as the point attempted to sting him. Discord let the cruel device fly to the griffin as he rematerialized behind Law, and released the stored burst of Chaos Magic into the Griffin Diety, forcing Law's passive manipulations of the space around him to falter. Discord then broke a baseball bat over his opponent's skull, causing him to momentarily drop from the sky like a rock.
With Law's presence fading, the Hook began to disintegrate. "I suppose the craftsponyship was not as good as I made it out to be..."
Without warning or movement, Law buried ice talons into the Spirit-King's chest, the Elder God's magic locking him in place.
"...oh. I get it now," Law wheezed, "You aren't any weaker... You've just gotten careless and cocky." The Beast proceeded to take the now-reformed Black Hook in his beak and lept upon the disabled Discord, burying the tool into Discord 's heart. Discord opened his mouth once, releasing a small cloud of smoke, closed it, and opened it again.
"All too true, old friend. You got me. Now if you don't mind, I will opt out of the Power Circuit and allow myself to reincarnate properly." Law's eyes widened, as the massive pool of Chaos that was the Spirit-King proceeded to evaporate; a true death. "I'm Chaos ol' chap! I break all the rules, and you would need something a little more damning than that toy to capture me..." The draconequus' laughter echoed emptily.
Where Harmony Ends
Now, I do believe we've caught up. Where was Luna again? Yes, that's right! The castle!
Celestia quickly moved to calm her sibling, whispering soothing, broken statements. Sobs could be heard emitting from Luna as the Lunar Goddess whispered, "T-t-tia, I.. It's so dark... There.. was a Beast.. a G-g-griffin God battling Discord..."
"Who was it Lulu? Tell me, and... wait.. not that one..." Celestia feared what it meant if whom she perceived it to be had acted.
Celestial glanced around the throne room, realizing for the first time the source of the evil, rotten stench being not Luna, but a pile of gore before her.
Luna's eyes, blackened and swollen with the essence of their master, had been rotting exceptionally fast. It was clear the Lunar Princess would not use those ever again.
"...Tia, Discord... He saved me... I fear for him. That god was as old as he was... and more powerful, too..."
Celestia turned her defeated gaze to Luna, and said simply, "He is likely already dead Luna. Law had long held a grudge against Discord, and Discord 's own cunning has long since faded."
"How harsh Celestia... I thought you had faith in the 'Magic of Friendship?' It's quite clear that I'd escape real harm!"
Both heads snapped to examine the Spirit-King's tattered, transparent form floating just over the throne, as the glass depicting heroic deeds; namely, Twilight Sparkle's Ascension began to reform. "Yes. I'm dead, you're right as usual Celestia, blah blah blah. Now listen, I don't have much time. Both of you know exactly who will be the first pony to receive the essence of a defeated god, and considering YOU probably wished to reincarnated into Twilight Sparkle and let her rule, Celestia, we need to make plans. Law will be here soon, and he has figured out a way to bypass Inheritance; Lulu over there looks like she walked out of an oven as a result. "
Celestia immediately stepped forward, and declared to Discord, "Take Luna to Twilight. I will sacrifice myself to hold off Law."
The fading Spirit-King acquiesced, then drifted to Luna and smacked himself in the back of his head. His ghostly eyes fell to the floor with a wet sound. He quickly picked them up, and to Celestia's shock, inserted them in place of Luna's missing ones. "Just be careful when rolling your eyes dear, they tend to fall out. I assure you, I will return for those."
Luna, wincing with discomfort, opened her eye sockets.
She gasped as she beheld her reflection in a broken shard of glass; where Discord's eyes were normally fully mustard yellow with mismatched ruby pupils, they had changed to a milder yellow color, with blue pupils. Celestia merely watched in shock, as her younger sister tested the eyes of their much hated enemy.
"Discord, perhaps..." Celestia began,
"Thank you..." Luna whispered,
"Go Celestia! We must be off!" Discord, now barely visible, snapped once. Luna vanished once more. He snapped again, and Celestia found herself with a lake of glowing, foreign energy within her. "I gave you what I could spare. Sparkler's going to need the rest to survive the mantle of Godhood. Give that boring ol' Law a storm of Chaos for me!" With one last roar of laughter, the Spirit-King dispersed into a yellow spark, and faded away.
I'm sure you all want to know what happened between the Griffn God and Solar Princess...
Well, we can get to that later.
Where Harmony Ends
Luna staggered into the library with a crash, instantly rousing the sleeping duo of dragon and librarian. She breathed slowly, still yet recovering from Law's torture, and shambled to the seating area where a rush of air signified she had collapsed upon the wood floor.
Twilight Sparkle, alarmed by the crashing of somepony downstairs, began creeping to the first floor, telekinesis enveloping the closest object she had on hoof: her signature lavender magic had grabbed the incredibly heavy half of the 'Friendship Approved by Discord!' medal she had received following the aforementioned's departure. With Spike behind her tantalizing his disapproval, the pony crept down the final few steps, an unfamiliar third party breathing heavily from the Library's sitting room. Twilight paled as she examined the unharmed state of the entrance door, the pool of blood, and tracks moving away; with a final, deep breath, she quickly rounded the archway wings flared and horn blazing with incandescent violet light to intimidate the intruder.
"Get ou- oh Celestia, Luna!" The makeshift weapon plummeted from Twilight's grasp as the blue alicorn sister lay breathing, almost sleeping- the former adopted a horrified expression and teleported to Luna's side to examine the slowly healing burns and lacerations.
"Gather your friends... Twilight Sparkle... I can recover while you... retrieve them." Luna drew close to a trance, the air about her filling with traces of inner turmoil as the Lunar Goddess attempted to quell the warring emotions of terror, rage, and the echoes of violating pain from her mind.
"But, Luna... You're hurt!" At which point Twilight got a faint whiff of the odor clinging to Luna's coat and fled out of the room, quickly slinging a charm of fresh air behind her. Luna didn't even notice the mare had departed her presence. Twilight looked back and called for Spike to watch the Princess before rushing out into the early morning hours.
Where Harmony Ends
The moon hung low in the sky. Twilight idly noted the bloodied appearance as the prodigy's mind whirred with all the intensity of a hurricane; How did Luna get hurt? Where is Princess Celestia? What is that infernal racket!? The Carousel Boutique was filled with sobbing, and upon more upon awareness, Twilight noticed nearly every house around her had devolved into the same, heaving cries of despair.
As Twilight came further out of her self-imposed session of Twenty Questions, the mare realized she could feel it too... A deep sense of sorrow, confusion, and all around wrong-ness of the night; a night of Nightmares Unbound, a night wherein the ponies' dreamscape guardian was weak enough to be felt. A weakness rippling already long out of the borders of Equestria.
Putting the intuitive emotions aside, Twilight teleported into the boutique's main ground-floor chamber, only to find Rarity bustling about with a cup of tea shaking uncertainly in her magical grasp. "Twilight!"
"Twilight, darling, you simply MUST answer me! There's something wrong, isn't there? Do you know what it is? Tell me! Sweetie Belle is sobbing her poor heart out and I can't figure out why!"
Rarity proceeded to unleash an obviously building litany of complaints and legitimate concerns. It seemed her personality as a drama queen and experiences being the Element of Generosity had immediately discarded the emotions that had shaken many of the ponies who had not felt such terror before.
"Not enough time Rarity! Go find Fluttershy and tell her to retrieve Rainbow! Meet me at the library with the both of them."
"Don't tell me I have to run! I have to run don't I... Well, this is.. serious business.."
Ignoring her, Twilight blinked out of the building and continued her task.
Where Harmony Ends
Rainbow Dash was not asleep.
One would have thought the arrogant and proud pegasus would have ignored the call of a broken moon, but something had taken hold within her. Loyalty screamed in agony, and Rainbow could feel the rending of a law ancient as it was strong; following instinct alone, she flew upwards into the early morning, where the bloodied moon hovered low on the horizon. Shadows could be seen hovering in the rust-colored light. She flew closer, keenly aware of the air around her; it had been filled with an endless and exquisite rage clashing with the breeze of summer's last day and all the fleeting moments it entailed. She paused in a dark cloudbank created by Discord's mine, seemingly put in the perfect spot to observe what would transpire here.
A rasp. "So. Celestia. You alone stand before me and my goal of revenge. Discord IS here, and I know that he WILL die by my claws!"
The unmistakable voice of the Solar Princess resonated through the air. "Law, calm down. You don't need to do this... it doesn't matter that Discord is aligned with Harmony, you need only concern yourself with helping us as you have long before. Why have you let your wrath consume you?"
"I'm tired of Harmony Celestia. I'm tired of Unity. I want to see it all burn, And I will use yours, your sister's, and Discord's power to make it so. I look forward to the final death of Void, and so should you! You have had many faithful students over the centuries, and I can see how it weighs upon you. No amount of rebirth will be substitute to the lives of those you've sacrificed."
The shadow that Rainbow Dash recognized as Celestia seemed to sag at Law's accusations, but straightened itself back up as the griffin leered closer.
"You can die with Void, Celestia. I will be merciful and grant you that option. Or you can die here. Now. Let me take your power, your essence, and you will care about nothing ever again. Feel no more pain, no more sorrow. Time will look upon you and envy your peace."
Celestia's voice came out like a breath of wind. "I will see to it Discord has enough time to properly reincarnate himself."
Law's shadow jerked away from Celestia as a flare of sunlight emerged from both the opposite horizon, and from Celestia herself. The mare and griffin faced each other, now clearly visible to the pegasus. They glared at each other with the force of natural disasters, and Rainbow shivered.
"You're different Celestia. Something's off..." The Griffin King of Kings, Law, underestimated Celestia.
And in an instant, Celestia had ripped clean through his wing with a golden blade, and snared him in a cage of golden energy. What seemed to be sparks, each a different color dripped from her horn. Law froze with a look of disbelief.
"You're not powerful enough to harm me! How-" The Solar Princess had ducked her head, a kaleidoscope of colors surrounding her horn, and as she lifted it, the cage rose high into the sky.
Rainbow and Celestia both, upon realizing the griffin had disappeared in the blue expanse, became aware of the other.
"Ehehe, Princess... What just happpened?"
The Princess closed her eyes.
And then the sun went dark.
The rainbow-maned pegasus froze at the sudden darkness, and looked to see a luminescent river of molten steel enveloping the Princess; and a voice like thunder exclaimed, "You think... You DARE to stop me from my victory? There is a reason they call me Elder God, child. Even as you bind me, I have strength enough to bind you until long after your lands are in ruin. Farewell Celestia."
And then the sun flickered to life.
The Princess fell, encased in a prison of ethersteel.
Much to Rainbow's dismay, she realized that the Princess was much too heavy for her to catch, and fled to the only pony she considered might be able to help: Twilight Sparkle.
Where Harmony Ends
The sun, a source of solidarity in the lives of all creatures younger than the reign of Discord,
As the sun went out, if only for a short moment of time, the land... Or was it an island? Well, the world, yes let's go with that... The world knew what lay ahead.
In the far east, a sleeping dragon uncoiled and stirred for the first since the Time of Endless War.
North, a black shadow gathered itself. It was time to manifest a new puppet.
Not-so-far West, echoes of a long-dead pony collected in preparation for the coming storm.
Within the Deep South, a tribe muttered in foreign languages, performing rites and rituals to bring forth a guardian.
High in the sky, in mountains piercing the stars, a frigid wind; a cold long kept at bay by sunlight craved for the fear and hatred of entities far below.
From the depths of the earth, a fathomless Void strained at the ends of its dreamless and restless unconsciousness.
And as all the players of the coming trials began to wake, the Alicorn Twilight Sparkle and her friends gathered in the library.
Where Harmony Ends
Ranbow Dash plowed through the entrance door, being the last to arrive on the scene, only to discover Fluttershy in the midst of shaking her head sadly. Pushing her to the side, much to the yellow mare's surprise, Rainbow addressed an also-surprised Twilight.
"Twilight, there's no time to waste; I just saw the Princess get put into some shiny metal by a voice in the sky!"
Before Twilight had the chance to respond, or even really absorb the information, Luna called out from the other room.
"Quickly, attend me! There is no time to waste."
Rainbow realized that Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie, all showing signs of being awoken roughly, had also been in the room quietly conversing to the side. Spike had long since been put back to sleep after cleaning... something; and she failed to recognize the faded bloodstains on the floor.
Everything seemed... off... as it appeared to Twilight. Rainbow was shaken, afraid of what she had witnessed. Applejack had a glazed look in her eyes, a childhood echo resonating with the invasive emotions emanating off of the blood-moon. Rarity was calm, almost tranquil; the mare looked like she wandered in a dream, unwilling to accept the reality before her. Pinkie Pie too, was calm, but not in the same manner; she held the calm of an icy cavern, the smile frozen upon her face slowly disintegrating as the group moved to the sitting room. Fluttershy followed last, quivering with suppressed sobs- the blood-moon's touch was most evident upon her.
As they all entered the sitting room, Luna lay with her eyes closed. She had turned to face them, and spoke with urgency.
"Sit down. All of you. There is not much time; Somepony must attend to Canterlot and ruling the nation, and without Celestia... I fear for all of our safety."
Rainbow attempted to interrupt, "Erm, Princess Luna... How did you know Pri-"
"We are Sun and Moon. We are keenly aware of the other, Rainbow, and that is all you need to know. Moving on, events have been set into motion that will require all of you to help Twilight survive."
Luna's ears turned to the group of friends, listening closely. There was a disbelieving silence.
First, Rarity: "But, Princess Luna, what in Equestria would ever harm-"
Then, Rainbow Dash bursting into agitated flight: "Just let me at him! Who is it Luna? Who is thr-"
Pinkie Pie, oddly somber: "I'd like to throw a party for the new pony, but..."
Applejack came-to: "Don't worry Twi', we'll take good care o' ya."
Fluttershy simply moved to Twilight and wrapped a wing around her protectively.
The mare in question, had sat down. Hard. Twilight visibly shook even as Fluttershy attempted to comfort her. "What... Why me Luna? Did I do something wrong?"
Luna sighed. "I was afraid I would have to be the one to break the news to you Twilight. Has Celestia ever told you of the nature of us gods?"
Only silence replied.
"The Sun and the Moon, Twilight. My sister and I are comparatively young to the entities that still roam the world today...
Where Harmony Ends
"I am old, friends. So old. Older than you might believe, older than even language itself, if you can comprehend it. But for however old I am, there are still things older. Me and my kind were afflicted with a curse as a result of a terrible struggle during the early days... Even now it eats at me, at Celestia, even at the monster who attacked us; Law.
My memories of the olden days are mostly decayed, but I still remember the curse. I always do. It eats at our forms, at our essences, draining out the memories and the power and the strength of days long past. It drove us to division and fractured our minds, and the strongest that had fought it for the longest suffered the price. All of us are immortal; Discord, me, Celestia... Law. The curse made me wish almost for a true death.
After enough time, when mortals had long since populated the world, we found a method. We shared it among all of our kin, be they hateful of us, insane, or simply lost. A method to shield us against the curse. A tragedy to mask another of a deeper nature. It was discovered, we could shed our flesh and be made anew- become recreated, reborn, reincarnated. It was not to be undertaken lightly, however. It was designed such that a mortal who had earned our favor could take upon our essence for themselves, and become a new god; the power, memory, and wisdom of the elder being fused to the energy and vigor of the younger; adding the old personality to compliment the new one that had taken over.
Things did not go as planned.
For all of our bleeding knowledge, we did not anticipate the agony of recreating an identity from shards of lives, and most often the mortal lost themself in the process, leaving only the god. All the mortal's experiences were little compared to the centuries we contained, and their identity often was lost within ours. Rare indeed was the mortal, let alone ascendant who had the will of a god. What's more, those with darker affinities found themselves able to force themselves upon the ascendant, immediately squelching the soul of the mortal and yet achieving the same desired affect.
You see, the curse was a product of form, of body. It sank into our godly bone and muscle and forced upon us the effects of age and permanently harmed us. I still cannot remember previous, what happened long before Nightmare Moon and the Time of Endless War. The ascendant's body was free of our curse, for a time... It brought us time to recover and heal. Each transference we lost a piece of ourselves and we restored it with each rebirth- not the same, bot something new.
Now I anticipate your questions about this 'Law', but let me finish first.
What I recall is only fragments of a great and terrible war. We labeled it the Time of Endless War; Law fought for Harmony, and Discord, at the time, simply sided as a neutral party. ...I believe Law sought out Discord to convince him to join us. I only recall Discord cursing Law to bear the injuries of his struggle for the lifespan of Time. Law devolved into senseless violence, rage and hatred consuming his once-noble soul. He finally struck last night, having done something thought impossible.
That monster somehow broke the loyalty of his essence to Harmony and realigned himself to Entropy."
Where Harmony Ends
Luna's entrancing voice faded from the brightly lit room.
Twilight seemed in awe, as her friends struggled to understand the concepts presented to them.
"Luna, does that mean... Was I to be Celestia's ascendant?"
Luna only coughed and turned her head away, "Sister was so sure you would have made it and pieced yourself together with your friends' help."
"Twilight, unless an ascendant has already been marked by a god, they shall receive the first godly essence that is liberated of form. I believe Celestia wanted to give you the choice to accept her godhood, and for that reason left you clean."
Fluttershy spoke up, querying, "Um... Luna... if it's alright with you, could you tell us where Discord is? If Law was here, I'd like to make sure he's okay..."
Silence reigned.
"Friend Fluttershy, Discord is dead."
More silence.
Luna listened closely, as it started with sniffles, and quickly evolved into sobs. The clattering of hooves rushing across the library floor sounded, and Twilight seemed to be struggling to form a coherent question.
Ever the trooper, Luna forged ahead, "Twilight Sparkle, you must be prepared. When a God's form is slain, their essence is rebirthed into a creature born the exact same moment, or... it is channelled to an unclaimed ascendant. That means you."
Twilight Sparkle, Alicorn Ascendant and Element of Magic, proceeded to royally ignore the Lunar Goddess and comfort Fluttershy.
Luna bowed her head as Kindness wept for the maddened, lost soul that had been only so recently saved; she wept more for the tragedy she now knew would befall one of her dearest friends. Theories separated to different parts of the library to collect their wits and allow the massive pile of information that had been given to them.
One by one, the ponies drew back to their lone Princess.
"How long?"The Most Faithful Student asked.
"You will naturally draw the scattered essence of Discord within a span of a month. Or I can give you a focus to pull it all to you now."
"Aside from losing myself, will anybody else be in danger?"
"No. But I have never seen nor heard of Discord reincarnating, and I would not not know how he may react, supposing you don't survive the transfer."
Twilight looked to her friends; Pinkie and Fluttershy both were thrown into a state of grief, Rarity frowned at the floor, Rainbow Dash snarled with an unfamiliar wrath, and Applejack glanced to the door, her desire to leave evident.
"Would you stay with me, girls?"
Their eyes gathered on the librarian. Twilight appeared drawn-out, tired, and completely out of her expertise. Her eyes looked closely back at them, trying to find a source of reliability, anything to silence the uncertainties and fears running through the alicorn's mind.
Not one flinched before her desperate gaze or looked away; they affirmed her question with silent vigil.
"One last thing, Luna. Why has Discord never reincarnated before if all the gods must do so now?"
Luna confessed of her ignorance, "Twilight... That's something you'll know yourself soon enough. I do not know Discord's personal conditions of the curse, and while we all must reincarnate and experience a general set of woes, some were... specialized."
"Now, Twilight Sparkle. Look deeply into my eyes."
And the Alicorn of the Moon and Stars opened her eyes.
Everypony in the room gasped at the pale yellow-blue pupils so reminiscent of Discord's own.
And the Alicorn Ascendant looked once, and closed her eyes.
Luna winced in pain, and closed her eyes; as she reopened them, they had returned to normal. Discord's last gift had been given, and Twilight refused to look any more. She backed up slowly, as once more the eyes of the room observed her. It started with the Comedy section. Laughter and various ridiculous-sounding antics could be heard coming from the literary devices; then the Romance section proceeded to act up with soft, whispered promises and oaths and loves of epic tales. Twilight looked around at her living-library, and collapsed on the floor of the main room, dead to the world.
Where Harmony Ends
"So, Sparkler, here we are."
Within a space of endless color, with sky ever-shifting and land ever-changing, a small orb of order held sway. In this, Twilight Sparkle awoke.
The Draconequus known as Discord looked at the mare within her island of safe, sound, logic and order.
"Discord! But... you're dead!"
"One does not simply kill chaos, dearest friend! I know my passing brought great pain, but rejoice, for I live!"
A fanfare could be heard in the distance.
Twilight looked at the Spirit-King and realized just how terrible his condition truly was. Luna had been right; the curse of the gods had nearly eaten through the soul of Chaos, and from a magical standpoint, layers of something black and swollen obscured a many-coloured light filtering it only to a vivid yellow hue. One could hear the wind blow through the hole-y form of Chaos. A foreign weariness filled the eyes of Discord, and the god sagged.
"Sparkler," he pulled a cloud.from below and lay back similar to a therapist's patient, "I will not make you bear my burden- I will do as I have always done and endure for the next day if I must." Discord pulled a handkerchief with various dessert items tucked inside and tied it to a stick.
"Discord... Why do you force yourself to bear such a cruel fate? Why not-"
The Elder God whirled around so fast Twilight took a step back within her little orb. Around her, the storm of sky and land intensified. He grinned.
"Tch. Do not lecture me, you are but a mere speck compared to what I am! I am Chaos! I am Change! I am... alone."
Discord glared at Twilight, "I have two primary reasons that are why I am the way I am Sparkler. The first, as you may know from dear old Lulu, regards that curse." He spat out the last word as one would a foul-tasting food.
Discord placed his travel bag on the cloud and looked sadly at himself. His eyes glazed over and voice turned wistful.
"I used to be beautiful, did you know that? I suppose you wouldn't. That is what the curse stole from me, personally. It stole the wonder and beauty of change, leaving only the ugliness of Chaos; it would have warped my mind as it did my magic, had I not sacrificed something dear to me to hold it at bay all these years."
Discord dabbed a napkin with his eyes, before replacing then in his head.
"And there is what I fear Sparkler. I fear both, that a rebirth into somepony weak would weaken me to lose both my mind, and the mortal to be consumed by the darkness I resign myself to hold at bay." The Spirit-King looked away at the landscape about him.
"In case you couldn't tell, I sacrificed my intellect. How else would I have been defeated by something so simple as the Elements of Harmony? I was infamous for being untrappable, unstoppable; I used to always find a way."
"Would you chance yourself like that, Sparkler? You once went to the ends of Equestria for me, but would you sacrifice your identity only to risk loosing something worse than I unto the world?"
The God of Chaos and Change had turned away from the bubble that was Twilight Sparkle's mind, and was thusly surprised when a warmth drew close and joined him on his cloud.
"They all still have their friends you know. Luna, Celestia and the rest. Those mortals that survived rebirth had their minds locked within, personalities to comfort and share joy with. I have nothing."
Twilight Sparkle spoke her mind; "You don't need to be alone anymore, Discord. You have Fluttershy, and even if you are a massive jerk, a pain in the rear, and an... irritating individual, you are also my friend too. Discord looked at the Alicorn by his side, then back at the fading, dissolving orb she had called her own, and realized what lay at the center. A picture each of her friends, a figurine of Celestia, a map of Luna's sky, and half of a 'Friendship Approved!' Medal. All these things she would die for. All these things she would protect long before herself.
Discord laughed, not spitefully as Twilight had heard long before and since, but a warm and hearty laugh. A laugh bespeaking warm hearths, summer beach days, winter family dinners and a good read. A laugh brought about by the change of good tidings and goodwill, rather than the madness and frantic nature that was Chaos.
"You truly are an Element of Harmony, Sparkler. Take care of us."
And with those words and fading laugh, Discord vanished. Twilight looked around, suddenly afraid to be left alone in the strange land without the familiar entity of Chaos. A great wind arose and blew strongly at the alicorn, as her wings snapped open and she was thrown back into the half dissolved orb she had woken in. To her horror, the orb had healed itself closed behind her; a fathomless void encroached upon its perimeter. There was something new, though- she looked up and beheld the changing sky. She looked down and saw the chaotic earth. It wrapped around her little island of logic and order from the inner perimeter now, and reinforced the orb, holding the void at bay. The alicorn mare was tired. She closed her eyes.
Twilight Sparkle was not the one to open her eyes in the library.
Hush, viewers. I'd continue the tale, but I'm tired and need my rest. As I said previously, I will need to intervene. There will be a point where if I do not act, this tale ends prematurely, and we will never get to see the World's End!
Until Next Time.
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Much appreciated! I do try to inject humor while I write; serious stories are great, but always serious means always on edge- therefore not as enjoyable.