//------------------------------//
// Chapter 73: Origin of Harmony 
// Story: My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic: Stallion Edition 
// by SuperPinkBrony12 
//------------------------------//

                When the flash faded once again, Shining now found himself looking at a familiar black and white tiled ground, and a familiar throne resting atop a small hill. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, bruised and scratched in several areas, approached the throne with stern glares.

The throne spun around, revealing Discord, who of course was laughing and relishing in the chaos he'd created! "Oh, if it isn't the royal pony sisters, back for another beating! Good, I was just starting to get bored. How about a game of 'Pin the Tail on the Pony'?" He asked, somehow managing to snatch Celestia's tail and hold it up for all to see.

Celestia briefly gasped, before her tail was returned to her. "Play time is over for you, Discord. The citizens of Equestria have spoken, and they're sick of your games."

Discord did not appear to be concerned, he just munched on a bag of seeds he seemed to have pulled out of thin air. "Oh, I doubt that very much," He said in a mocking tone, eating a pawful of seeds every few seconds. "Hungry?" He asked the two alicorns, as he randomly tossed seeds all about, a few of them hitting the alicorns in the face. "No? Oh well, suit yourselves. Now let's make this quick, shall we? We all know you can't beat me, but by all means go ahead and try. It isn't often I find a good set of punching bags."

Celestia and Luna said nothing in reply, they just looked at each other, nodded, and pulled out a series of six floating gems. Shining knew what they were, but of course Discord didn't.

Discord dropped his bag of seeds. "Ooh, what have you got there?" He asked the sisters.

"You like them?" Celestia asked, a rather peculiar smile forming on her face. "They're the Elements of Harmony."

"And with these six magical gems we shall defeat you!" Luna vowed. "Knocking off our parents was your first mistake, and your second was leaving us in one piece!"

"This must be when Celestia and Luna turned Discord into stone." Shining realized. Of course, he knew that even if he wanted to, there was nothing he could do to change the course of history that was unfolding before him. The potion left him as an outside observer and nothing more.

Discord showed no signs of concern, not even as the Elements of Harmony swirled around Celestia and Luna respectively (Celestia wielded the elements of Magic, Kindness, and Generosity, while Luna wielded the elements of Laughter, Honesty, and Loyalty). With a laugh he simply said to them. "Oh, this is too rich! You really should see yourselves right now. The expressions on your faces. So intense and so sure of yourselves, it's hilarious!" He then yawned and snapped his paw, shooting out a beam of chaos magic. Much to his surprise, the two sisters vanished from their spot and the beam of magic sailed harmlessly off into the distance. "Oh, you clever little fillies," He remarked, still unconcerned. "I guess it wouldn't be any fun if you didn't put up a fight. But I hope you realize, you're out of your league! You're playing with the big boys now!"

"Correction, Discord, you're the one who's out of their league!" Celestia called out, just before she and Luna fired off a concentrated blast of magical energy, powered by the elements.

Discord stood up and laughed, stretching his left paw into the air. "Ha, you think your silly toys can stop me?" He asked, and those were the last words the chaos maker would utter. Before he had a chance to realize what was going on, he was completely turned to stone!

Celestia and Luna fluttered their way down from above Discord's throne, and put the Elements of Harmony back in their saddlebags. "It's over, we've done it at last," Luna commented, breathing a sigh of relief. "Equestria is free once again."

Celestia, however, adopted a more somber tone as she shook her head. "Luna, you celebrate too early. Discord has merely been defeated, not destroyed. As long as he remains trapped in his stone prison, there is always the possibility he'll escape someday and reek havoc once again. A shame really, had Mother and Father tried harder to reach out to them and not shunned him like the rest of Equestria did, he could have made for a powerful ally. Anyone who could befriend a centaur king is not to be taken lightly."

"Sister, truly thou is not implying thee had feelings for Discord." Luna teased, her old way of speaking slipping out.  

"Maybe at some point we could've had something, but after what he did to Mother and Father, it would never work out." Celestia replied, trying her hardest to keep a straight face.

Luna decided not to press further and changed the subject. "Well, cheer up, sister. At long last our coronations await, Equestria shall be ruled by not but two great queens."

Celestia once again shook her head. "No, Luna, the title of queen does not belong to us. We did not earn it the way all nobility must earn it. To honor the memory of our beloved mother, we shall rule Equestria, but as princesses and not queens."

"Very well," Luna reluctantly nodded. "I suppose it is what they would want. But remember that they are always watching us from up above, and someday, somehow, we will be reunited!"

"The last king and queen of Equestria," Shining realized, recalling the history lessons he'd been taught as a school colt and had learned all over again when his sister enrolled in Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. "King Mike and Queen Lauren. They disappeared without a trace when Discord took over Equestria and were never seen or heard from again. They say Lauren became known as The Creator, and some legends state she was reincarnated into a different race, alongside Mike."





There was another flash, and now Shining found himself watching, as Celestia and Luna approached a glowing crystal tree that Shining had never seen before. "What is that?!" Shining thought. "Not a single book mentions the existence of such a tree, and Celestia and Luna never talked about it."  

Luna gasped. "The Tree of Harmony. It exists!"

"The Tree of Harmony?" Shining wondered, even though he knew nopony could hear him.

Celestia nodded. "Mother and Father's final gift to us, the resting place for the secret weapon we shall use to avenge them, the Elements of Harmony!"

Shining watched, as he saw the two sisters take the six glowing gemstones that made up the Elements of Harmony from the tree. Much to his surprise, he saw that resting in the dead center of the tree, was the same symbol that was displayed on his sister's cutie mark! "Twily's Cutie Mark, Celestia must've realized what it meant!" He gasped.

Luna seemed to hesitate, as she took the elements of Laughter, Honesty, and Loyalty off the tree. "Are you sure this is right, dear sister? The elements may embody the most defining traits of Equestria's founders, but surely there is a reason why Mother and Father had them stored here instead of giving them to us."

Celestia simply replied. "I understand your concerns, Luna. I was thinking the same thing myself. But we finally have managed to discover the only means by which we can defeat Discord and free the citizens of Equestria from his tyranny. Even without these elements, the Tree of Harmony will still possess a powerful magic. And as long as that magic remains, it will continue to control and contain all that grows here."

"Very well," Luna reluctantly nodded. "Now, let's go find Discord and show him what happens when you mess with the royal pony sisters!"

Shining, having seen everything, felt his heart sink. "Now it all makes sense," He sadly realized. "Twilight was meant to be the chosen one, not me. This whole time, I've merely been getting in the way of her destiny. She was meant to free Luna from Nightmare Moon, defeat Discord once again, save the Crystal Empire, and become an alicorn. That's why Celestia took her in and arranged for all those things. But why didn't she ever tell me? Why did she allow me to interfere with what destiny had planned? I was never meant to be a leader, so why did Celestia not intervene when I constantly foiled her plans?" All these questions lingered in Shining's mind, as another blinding flash announced his return to the present.