Cast in Fire

by Chaotic Note

Chapter 2 - The Taunts

“... T– this can’t be.”

Celestia blinked. “Pardon?”

“I mean, you look fine! A picture of health! You definitely look like you can last another thousand years, or even more,” Twilight said, her voice quavering.

Twilight made a wide smile on her face, desperately hoping Celestia would crack a smile and admit she was just teasing her. Unfortunately, it didn’t come.

“Twilight... I wish I could say otherwise, but the reality is that my strength is failing me.”

“I refuse to accept that.” Celestia watched as Twilight stood up from her cushion. “You’re the great and powerful Celestia, ruler of Equestria for a thousand years and Mistress of the Sun.”

“Heir of the Sun,” Celestia corrected.

“Doesn’t matter! You’ve always been a figure of power and eternity. There are stories of you moving mountains and performing miracles, healing illnesses long before magic and science created cures for them. You’ve dueled the seventh emperor of Gryphonia, the strongest of all gryphons in history, and defeated him with nothing more than a single strike! When the Star Beasts rampaged after Luna’s banishment, you’ve subdued them without lifting a hoof! Your mere presence tamed them, and even scared the Ursa Major into hibernation for three hundred and ten years! You’ve– ”

“Twilight that’s enough!” Twilight stopped and shrunk back when she saw the frown upon Celestia’s face. “I’m so disappointed in you, Twilight. This is the most serious matter I’ve spoken with anyone, and you’re denying it like a foal. I’ll be dying soon and this is how you treat the situation?” Celestia immediately regretted her words when she saw the fallen expression on Twilight. Tears were welling up in Twilight’s eyes. With slight hesitation, Celestia slowly lifted her hoof towards her. “Twilight I’m sorry I’ve said that. I should have been more thoughtful about my words.”

To her shock, Twilight moved away from Celestia. “No, don’t be. I’m the one that should be sorry. But even so, I’m still mad at you.” Celestia felt her heart drop when Twilight turned back with angry tears. “That night when you made me an alicorn, I thought it was the most amazing thing ever. The highlight of my life, and that it would mean we would do incredible things together. I thought together, we could change the world for the better. But never would I have thought that my transformation would be the means to this horrible end.”

“Twilight I– ”

“Celestia, you’re basically asking me to replace you. I could never do that. This world needs you! There has to be a way to extend your life, or maybe another way to strength this Sun Seal.” Twilight quickly gathered her bags and threw them onto her back.

“Twilight what are you– ”

“I’m going to find a solution to our problem. That way you won’t have to die!”

“Please stop, Twilight. It pains me to see you like this,” Celestia said, almost begging. “If I don’t sacrifice myself, billions will die. I just need your cooperation.”

“And I am cooperating! By finding another answer!” Twilight yelled back. She sniffed and wiped away the tears. “I never wanted this to happen. Never this.”

And without another warning, a spark of purple energy zapped around Twilight’s body and with a loud *POP*, Twilight disappeared. Celestia was stunned for a moment before slamming her hoof down, hitting the tray and spilling hot tea over her hoof. She ignored it. “Damn myself, why did I let this escalate. I shouldn’t have shouted at her like that. She’ll never forgive me.”

“Perhaps, or perhaps not.”

Celestia lifted her head to find Luna walking out from the shadow of a curtain. “How long were you there?”

“Long enough to hear all the shouting.” Luna sat next to her sister and used her magic to clean the mess with a napkin. “I’m sorry to be spying on you and Twilight. I came in to make sure if everything was alright.”

“Well clearly you can see everything went smooth and lovely,” Celestia said bitterly.

Luna gave her a sympathetic look. “Would you like me to go talk to her?”

Celestia prodded her teacup, which was flipped over by her. “Yes. I would do it myself but... I don’t think I can bear to see Twilight now after this.”

“I won’t be long then.”

+Ω‡‡¥‡‡Ω+

Twilight could feel her chest thumping wildly as she ran. She couldn’t care less about where she was going, nor did she stop when she heard the castle’s inhabitants yelling or yelping in shock when she bumps past them. Her mind was far too befuddled and messed up right now for any of that. She didn’t even faze when she crashed into a pedestal holding a vase full of roses. Picking herself up from the puddle of water and clay fragments, she ran away, not stopping as a nearby maid scorned her for destroying such a precious thing.

But the vase is not precious. Not as beautiful or important as Celestia. Why did she have to go now? Why did she have to die?! Twilight refused to believe any of what Celestia had said about the duties of a Sun Heir and the consequences of letting go of its title. It had to be a lie. It all had to be! But the ugly truth still leaned over her head like a stormy rain cloud, washing away her hopes and joy. Just when she thought she couldn’t feel any worse, she felt herself falling over something hard and her face being dunked in chilling water. She rose up quickly and gasped for air, looking around as best she could through her wet mane. Somehow with all the running, she managed to find herself in the middle of the royal gardens, dripping wet in a fountain. Looking up at where the spout was, she could see a stone version of Celestia pouring water down into the pool from a stone vase. Her heart tightened with pain, and finally all the tears she was holding back surged from her eyes.

“Why... WHY?!” Twilight bellowed as loud as she could into the sky, her throat croaking with sobs. “THIS ISN’T RIGHT!”

“Oh nothing is ever right in the world, and who better know this than I?”

Twilight swung her head around for the source of the voice, her teeth bared viciously. “Who said that?! Show yourself!”

“Why don’t you look up here then?” Twilight looked up at the figure of Celestia. Instead of a kind, serene face of a goddess, there was a twisted face with an oddly large fang smirking back at her. Twilight uttered his name with seething anger. “Discord.”

“Hi ho, Twilight Sparkle! It has been a while since we’ve talked,” Discord said with glee as he slithered out from the Celestia figure’s face, its features rippling as if he was emerging from liquid. He grew into his full length and size as he stepped onto the water, although not sinking into it and instead started to skate circles around Twilight as if he was on ice.

She was not pleased.

“No, we haven’t. Not since my friends and I have sent Tirek back to his cage. And how dare you impose your face on Celestia? That is beyond obscene.”

“Oh it’s just a fountain thingy of Celestia. It’s not like I’m actually coming out of her face or anything,” Discord chuckled. He barely stifled his laughter when Twilight was frowning deeper than the depths of Tartarus. “Oh gee, you look quite furious.”

“Furious? More like enraged!” Twilight shouted as she stood up, flexing her wings wide.

“Whoa hold your horses there, Twilight. No need to start a fight with little old me,” Discord said with a devilish smirk.

“Don’t start with your jokes. You might soil the water with them.”

“Woo hoo hoo, a bit feisty aren’t you?” Discord chuckled as he twirled his beard with a claw. A claw attached to a gryphon who appeared from out of nowhere in his lion’s paw.

“W– where am I?!” the gryphon squawked.

“Hush. The grownups are talking,” Discord said as he tossed the bystander into the pool. A portal opened up on the surface of the pool, sending the gryphon into what appears to be a street crowded with bustling gryphons. The portal closed before the bird could utter another word.

“What do you want?” Twilight asked, her face still angry.

“Just like I said: a talk. I heard through the grapevine that Celestia’s time is to soon burn out.”

“Grapevine? How many others know?”

“Oh I’ll never tell. It’s a secret I’ll keep to myself, just like the ones Celestia is keeping from you.”

“What are you saying?” she asked with a snarl. She didn’t like where the conversation was going.

“Oh I’m speaking of dark secrets that Celestia wouldn’t want to let the public know.” Discord grew a small smile and puffed out his cheeks to look innocent, cupping the cheeks in his mismatched claws.

“That’s a lie. Celestia wouldn’t have any ‘dark’ secrets. She’s a pristine ruler of Equestria! For a thousand years she has taken care of us little ponies from any evil that would plague us! She led us into a golden age. She is one of the most benevolent on this earth!”

“For a thousand years,” Discord repeated with relish, “and in those thousand years, she has also done many things. Terrible things that would give her more than a bad image in the public’s eyes.”

“How would you know that? You were a subpar stone statue during that time!”

“I may have not been able to speak, move, or even blink, but that does not mean my ears were not keen. I see all, know all.”

“Know what?”

“Oh, like how during the times of war between Equestria and the gryphon empire that Celestia herself would burn her prisoners of war to a crisp and sent their meat back to the king as a ‘peace offering,’ claiming it was just chicken.”

“That’s a huge, fat lie. Celestia never did that. It was the nobles of Canterlot who sent actual cooked chickens to the gryphons as an insult. The emperor of Gryphonia at the time spread dirty lies about how it was Celestia who had burned his own soldiers to a crisp. It was a big, fat lie!”

“Or that’s what the historians paid by Celestia wants you to believe. Oh! How about that time when she tried to force her sun duties on somepony else without sacrificing herself.”

Twilight felt her anger wavering and the curiosity creeping in. “She tried to pass the role before?”

“Oh yes she did. A few decades after the beginnings of Equestria, Celestia was worried with fright of her future. She was a cowardly pony who did not want to die. Luckily, there was a mare who held Celestia very near to her heart. A pony who would do anything for her beloved older sister.”

Twilight took a step back, her eyes widening. “No... you don’t mean– ”

“Yesss I do mean who you are thinking about,” Discord cut in, chortling deeply. “Princess Luna, the lonely Mare in the Moon.”

“No... that can’t be right! Celestia would never do that to her sister! She’s kind and sweet, and loves her sister!” Twilight insisted.

“Ahhh, but she would dare indeed. Unfortunately for her the ritual failed. Forcing such a binding without sacrifice drove the poor sister beyond madness, and because of that failed process, Luna transformed into something far beyond her own powers.” Discord nodded with what appeared to be symphony. “Nightmare Moon, a powerful alicorn with reign over horrible dreams and the black matter of space, and the moon of course. Who could forget the moon.”

“But that’s not even how Luna transformed into Nightmare Moon! I saw it with my own eyes! Luna became Nightmare Moon on her own accord!”

“Yes, perhaps that is what you saw, but I did not say it happened right away. Her ‘immediate’ transformation happened about a week after Celestia tried to make Luna the Heir of the Sun. Celestia had hoped by altering the steps, she could avoid dying.”

“That’s a lie. You’re lying. You’re LYING!”

Twilight jumped at Discord’s face with carnivorous-like fury, wanting to punch his kooky tooth straight out of his mouth. Maybe send it down his throat even. Her hoof, however, fazed through Discord as if he was made out of miss. Instead, Twilight’s hoof smashed into the face of the Celestia fountain spout. Twilight crashed onto the other side of the pool and groaned with pain as she lifted her head. She looked down and was shocked as she saw a decapitated stone head of Celestia lying at her forehooves. She didn’t mean to do that! She didn’t want to do that! With the image of Celestia being headless in mind, Twilight screamed in horror and kicked the stone head away, her cry loud enough to shake mountains.

Discord, meanwhile, was roaring with laughter. “Wow you have some issues going on, Twilight! This is great!”

Twilight turned around with renewed rage. “Get out, get out, GET OUT!”

Her horn burned brightly in an fiery purple glow and fired off an intense beam of pure magic at Discord, aiming to burn a hole through his thick noggin. Discord’s head, however, decided to ‘nope’ at that and split in half, letting the magic bolt pass through the space before coming back together again. Twilight let off another one, this one being eaten by him instead. Twilight grinded her teeth in a frenzy. She was just on the edge of having enough of this draconequus demon in her sights.

“WHY DID YOU WANT TO TALK TO ME ANYWAY?! YOU WERE ONLY PROVOKING ME!” Twilight shot off another laser, only to have it effortlessly dodged by Discord. “I THOUGHT WE WERE PASSED ALL THIS! I THOUGHT YOU HAD CHANGED!”

“More or less,” Discord smiled. “I came here to see just how much you actually care for Celestia, and I can clearly see you do care for her a lot.”

“Oh it’s way more than that. MUCH MORE!” Twilight decided to forgo laser shooting and went for punching instead. “SHE WAS THE FIRST TEACHER I EVER HAD! ONE WHO SHOWED ME THE JOYS OF MAGIC!” She went for his chest but missed. “SHE TOLD ME STORIES OF HERSELF THAT SHE NEVER TOLD TO ANYONE ELSE!” She tried to grab one of Discord’s arm but it slithered away. “SHE KEPT ME COMPANY AT MY WORST AND LOWEST TIMES! LIKE A MOTHER, SHE CARES FOR ME! SHE’S THE MOST IMPORTANT –” Twilight attempted to roundhouse kick Discord in the chest “– MARE TO ME –” her hooves blazed through the air with purple fire “– IN THE WHOLE –” the water steamed when they touched “– WORLD!”

But no matter how many times she attacked Discord, she couldn’t land a hit on him. He sighed as he saw Twilight’s eyes glowing white with intensity. “Is she that important to you?”

“YES!” she snarled, her voice echoing as if there were room full of Twilights speaking.

“Important enough for you to sacrifice yourself instead of her?”

“YES, YES, YES! I WOULD GIVE MY LIFE FOR HER LADYSHIP!” Twilight swung at Discord again, this time grazing his arm a little. He winced as he felt the heat burn his fur. Felt like time to leave.

To her slight surprise, he spread his arms wide open, no longer smiling. “Hit me, Twilight. Don’t hold back.”

Twilight didn’t hesitate. With a powerful swing, she leapt up and punched him right in the jaws, satisfied to hear a crack in his mouth. Every ounce of her strength jolted into his head, sending him high flying into the air. Oh but Twilight didn’t stop there. She soar straight after Discord and grabbed him by the tail. She spun him around in the air before diving back down with Discord in tow, continuing to spin forward until the motions blurred like a racing wheel. She then slammed Discord into the dirt hard without mercy, creating a small crater in the earth before swinging him around again. Twilight then finally released him as he reached top velocity, delivering him to a painful patch of thorny roses. Discord groaned as he pulled a thorn out of his eye, which left no wounds as if it wasn’t in his eye in the first place.

“Well, at least you let your anger out.” Discord looked up to see Twilight creating a massive pack of purple and white energy swirling around in a perfect sphere. He gulped. “And this is where I make my exit.”

With a quick snap of his fingers, Discord was gone without a trace. Even the rose bush fixed itself. Twilight, however, was still in her devastating, rampant state. With no draconequus in sight, she had no target to direct her magic anywhere. She didn’t have enough energy to throw such dense and heavy magic concentrate upward, and if she were to release her grip on the magical energy, it would explode right above her. With her stamina draining fast, she was literally holding a ticking time bomb.

“Can’t control this much power,” Twilight strained out, pausing between each word as she breathed. She shouldn’t have let her emotions out like that or she wouldn’t be in this mess, but Discord really did deserve that beating. Twilight wanted to punish him for what he said, but in the back of her mind she couldn’t but wonder if what he was saying was true. Did Celestia really force her sun duties on Luna? It didn’t seem to make any sense to her at all, and she would never get the answer if she couldn’t control this magic bomb right now.

“Somepony please help me! Anypony really!” Twilight screamed. She felt her grasp on the sphere fading away. As the last of her strength went away, she embraced for the worse. However, nothing happened. Not even a ‘poof.’ She looked up to see the sphere shrinking away, a blue glow compressing on it. “Huh? But who is– ”

“That would be me, Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight looked down to see a blue alicorn softly smiling at her. “You looked like you needed some help.”

“Princess Luna,” Twilight gasped in surprise. Exhaustion then hugged her tightly. “Oh I’m feeling a little light,” she moaned as her wings stopped flapping. Her eyes closed and her vision was overtaken by darkness.

Author's Note:

Think I did a little too much? I dunno, I wrote this all in one night sitting. Hope this chapter pleases you cause this is the best I could come up with.

Comments

[Lag Incarnate]

I like how Discord helps in his own way.

[Chaotic Note]

5021991
Yep. By being a total dick and releasing all the anger and stress outta ya.

[Foals Errand]

Yay Luna is here to help Twily!

[dragonjek]

Wow. Discord can really be an asshole.
I'd like to think he's just lying, but Discord tends to distort the truth rather than tell outright falsehoods. I'd trust Luna's perspective a lot more.

Twilight, however, was still in her devastating, perpetual state.

I'm not entirely sure what you meant to say in this sentence. There's nothing "perpetual" here.

[Chaotic Note]

5023917
Maybe, but the ball of magic is and she's still feeding it by maintaining control of it. Control demands energy, and that energy is feeding into the sphere. It's kind of like filling a balloon with the hose faucet, except there's no off switch.

[dragonjek]

5024015 The ball of magic isn't perpetual. There's nothing eternal or everlasting about it. It's something she can't stop, but that doesn't make it perpetual. "Uncontrolled", "unrestrained", "rampageous", or "rampant", perhaps, but nothing you said in that segment of the story or in your reply to me has anything to do with the word "perpetual".

[Chaotic Note]

5024287
Wow ok calm down.

[dragonjek]

5024339 I wasn't upset, angry, or agitated. I was just pointing out that the word didn't fit.
Tone is difficult to express across the internet.

[StormyVenture]

I think this could use a touch of editing. Not sure what the right words are, but it could some refining.

P.S.
Celestia is fairly dense to think that her announcing her inevitable demise is going to produce anything other than immediate denial...

[Chaotic Note]

5032519
She thought she could handle it.

[ReaderReads]

OH. OOOOOH. oh.