A Cavalcade of Cards

by QueenMoriarty

When the World Was Saved

"Oh, you should see the looks on your faces! So intense, so sure of yourselves! Oh, it's just absolutely hilarious! HAHAHAHAHAH--"

Celestia could not hold back a smile as the rainbow struck Discord, as his flesh and muscles and heart and mind became lifeless stone. She gasped with jubilation as a shockwave flew out from his body, a wave of what she could only describe as reality washing over the madness-torn plane. The purple-and-green checkerboard underneath her hooves cracked and bent as the wave passed, giving way to grass and sand. Out towards the horizon, Celestia watched dumbstruck as mountains tore themselves out of card-towers and chocolate monoliths, animals with bodies that made sense seemed to erupt out of nothing, and the nauseatingly pink sky was washed away by a choking darkness.

Had it been any other time in history, the crushingly empty void of space would have been terrifying. But Celestia had seen nothing but Discord's senseless sky for so long that time itself had begun to bend and twist, and so the void was nothing but a comfort to her.

And then the void exploded, and the name of Ungula became that of Heaven itself.

Millions and millions of tiny points of light appeared where once there was nothing, filling the darkness with a light that put Celestia in mind of a diamond sandstorm. There seemed to be shapes formed by the points of light, but no sooner had Celestia begun to examine them then they changed. The heavens began to twirl and spin, as though a thousand jewel-speckled ribbons had suddenly been caught up in a gust of wind.

Celestia turned to her side, and smiled at Luna. Her sister's horn was glowing, and her eyes were fixed on the sky. Celestia looked back up to the illuminated dark, and marveled at her sister's skill.

"Stars," she said suddenly, and the word felt eerily familiar for one that she had not heard in centuries. "Those are stars."

"To think, it hath been so long that I had forgotten how to hold them," Luna spoke, her words seeming so small in a world that finally felt as large as it was. She shaped a galaxy with a gesture of her horn, and Celestia was speechless as she watched the universe dance to the tune of her sister's will.

"One could not guess at thy lack of practice from this spectacle, dear sister." For the first time in she knew not how long, Celestia allowed herself to fall back on her haunches and sit.

"This, a spectacle? The war hath clearly endured longer than the limits of thy memory, Celestia, if thou dost consider this paltry show to be anything approaching extravagant. No, the spectacle, we doth save for the first night."

Celestia stared in confusion. "But is this not the night we see before us?"

Luna shook her head, then smiled and shrugged. "Time is made anew this day, and it falls to we who marshal the day and the night to set the clock in motion and determine the hour. And I say, this darkness is not the night. 'Tis the darkness of a sky that is long overdue for a true day."

Celestia blushed, and reached out into the universe. There, on the edge of her power, she found something that seemed at once like a stranger and like a most beloved family member. It had drifted lifeless for all this time, occasionally yanked into life by the prankster who even now seemed like a distant memory, but at her touch it ignited.

The world, vast and full of life as it was, fell silent in reverent expectation. All could feel the sun roaring back to life, could feel Time Itself bend at the knee and ask the alicorn for its standing orders. Celestia smiled, and withheld her orders for the moment. She instead brought her wings down with a great crash of air. Within seconds, she had been propelled up into the sky, and her wings spread by sheer instinct.

Flight, yet another thing that Discord had so often left broken or bent out of shape that Celestia did not expect to be able to stay aloft. But there were winds now, updrafts and downdrafts and thermals and slipstreams, and her wings felt as though they would break off from her and fly forever from sheer joy at finally being able to manage something longer than a short hover.

In the darkness before dawn, most of the landscape was so many blurry shapes to Celestia, but she knew her way to the place she sought. She flew north, cresting the great MacIntosh mountains with a few lazy beats of her wings and bidding a loud good morning to any who might have been hiding in the caves. She allowed herself to fall very nearly to the ground itself as she passed over the Southern Sands, and the buffalo tribes cheered and danced around their fires as she buzzed between them.

The towns of the ponies were more of a mixed bag. Some were asleep, some were just barely awake, some were going insane over the complete absence of insane things in their universe, and quite a few were running scared like some unholy cross-breed between sheep, chickens and those rather excitable little puppies that get heart attacks if you make them too happy.

But some of them were cheering and singing her praises, so it wasn't entirely embarrassing.

Finally, Celestia reached the Canterhorn. She approached the summit slowly, flying around and around the towering mountain as she climbed ever upward. When at last she reached the summit, and settled down upon the dew-soaked grass, she was almost surprised to see Luna sitting beside her.

"Thou didst not truly think we would sit out thy moment of triumph, surely."

Celestia smiled, and turned to face the horizon. The ancient, familiar power gathered in her horn, and she seized control of her destiny.

She could think of only one thing to say, at this momentous occasion. It was the only thing that could be said in such times.

"Let there be light."

And there was. The light of the Ungulan sun, so long thought to be lost to their world, spilled over the landscapes. There was no chaos. There was no cotton candy typhoon, no chocolate tsunami, no disaster that defied logic. For one glorious moment, Equestria was truly at peace.

Author's Note:

Congratulations, you defeated Discord! Your reward is your choice of basic lands.

Comments

[Alaborn]

I believe you mean "Your reward is your choice of dual lands." I've send many a Wood Elf searching for a Bayou or Savannah.

[FanOfMostEverything]

7657759
Or Murmuring Bosk, Dryad Arbor, that one Shadowmoor cycle...

Suffice to say, to the victor can go more than a few kinds of spoils.

As for the story itself, a lovely moment of triumph.

[Alaborn]

7657822 Bah, the only one of the Shadowmoor cycle worth playing is Mistveil Plains.

[Malandy]

Woah. Discord's stoning! Don't usually see the first time that happens... Nice First New Day Post-Discord!

[Ri2]

7658573 Both.

[Pretentious Narwhal]

Hurray, a basic land for 3 mana!

[Bugsydor]

Huh. And here I was expecting Back to Nature to be the card.

[son_of_heaven176]

Does anyone know what the kanji is on the card?

[PresentPerfect]

Story was epic, but that author's note... XD