//------------------------------// // Past, Present, Future // Story: Flames of Disharmony // by Prismfire Productions //------------------------------// It was just sunrise the next day, and already things had gotten off to a bad start. Instead of the cheerful glow Celestia’s sun normally produced, the Solar Princess was horrified to see that it was a very ugly plaid and filled her citizens with a sense of dread when she rose it into place. The Lord of Chaos himself had not been seen since leaving the castle, but reports had started to flood in from Appleloosa of his trademark cotton candy clouds and chocolate rain, and Rockville citizens were complaining that their rocks were now of the popular editable variety sold in the Crystal Empire tourist shops. With each new report that came in over the course of the night prior, Luna made sure to leave it on Celestia’s desk so she could see them. “I have failed.” Celestia thought to herself as she started to go through the reports, becoming more depressed with each she read. “I failed to protect my little ponies from Discord’s blend of ‘fun’, failed to keep him from reverting to his old state, and worse of all I have failed as a wife. Perhaps things would be better if I-” “Princess Celestia?” Twilight’s concerned tone snapped Celestia out of her pit of depression, for now, and had her focus on the lavender alicorn before her. “Me and my friends are here to see if there is anything we can do to end Discord’s run of terror.” “I am afraid that it seems Discord has won this time.” Celestia said with a sigh, her mood starting to turn gloomy once more. “Last time you girls had the Elements of Harmony, something that you no longer have. Chances are the Rainbow Beam might not do the job either, I haven’t seen him this bad since the first time I imprisoned him in stone with the aforementioned Elements.” “But we have beat villain after villain, we have never lost a fight we had the chance to win!” Rainbow exclaimed, only to have Pinkie give her a small glare, which the prismatic pegasus took note of. “Why are you giving me that look Pinks?” “Really Dashie?” Pinkie’s tone made the others, even Celestia, gulp and Rainbow back up in fear. “Chrysalis beat us TWICE, Starlight convinced us into giving up our Cutie Marks, and Tirek had us beat until Twilight did that Super Saiyan level fight and Discord pulled a double Benedict Arnold.” “Benedict who and Super what?” Rainbow asked confused, only to shrink away when Pinkie took a step towards her. “That is not important right now you silly filly,” Pinkie said returning to her original spot, her glare backing off a bit. “but my point is that we are not goddesses. When separated we are just average ponies, even you Dashie, and can be beat. Each of us will eventually move on and be reincarnated as a different version of ourselves, it is the circle of life afterall.” “So what do ya suggest sugarcube?” Applejack asked once everypony’s temper cooled. “We somehow manage to kill Discord?” “NOOO!” Celestia shouted at full Canterlot Voice volume, easily putting another being’s -who was on another place in the Universal Plane- shout of denial to shame. However, the outburst made the six mares give Celestia a questioning look, making her realize her mistake as she cleared her throat. “That is a very bad idea Applejack, because without Chaos then Order reigns supreme.” “What is so bad about that darling?” Rarity asked raising her hoof like a filly in school. “I’m sure all of us wouldn’t mind having a nice long break from battling both monsters and minor inconveniences.” Celestia mentally vomited at that idea, but there was no way in Tartarus she was going to admit that Discord was her husband, especially to a mare who was a well-known gossip mouth. “Except it would be a permanent break Rarity. Think of this scenario: everypony doing the same thing all day, every day, with nothing new or exciting to give them purpose. No longer filled with a sense of adventure. everypony would begin to question their own purpose and we will all fade away like a good memory gone too soon.” “We would cease to exist then…” Twilight said in a scholarly tone, earning a nod from her former mentor. “Now for the matter at hoof, I say we try and use the Rainbow Beam to at least reduce his chaos level to make it manageable. If that fails, then we regroup at my castle and try to form a new plan.” The others nodded in agreement before Twilight teleported them away, leaving Celestia alone one more. Before she could dive head first into her pit of sadness, however, one of her maids came in carrying a tray with two kettles of tea and a slice of red velvet cake in her magic. “Tea and cake your Highness?” The maid, Heart Bearer, asked as she trotted over and put the tray on Celestia’s desk, pouring both of them a cup. “You look awfully stressed, is there anything you want to talk about?” “Not at this moment, what’s on my mind is something I have to work out on my own.” Celestia said before sipping her tea, her eyes widening at the explosive flavor that made her taste buds tingle and eased her throat as her mind felt like it was put into a warm embrace. “This tea is delicious Heart, how did you make such a wonderful blend? It is unlike anything I have ever had before.” “Well I started with a basic blend of jasmine tea and honey, then added lavender and cinnamon to sooth and give a bit of a kick.” Heart replied sipping her own tea then looked up at Celestia with a smile. “Then to top it off, I finished it with a healthy dose of love infused into it.” “You’re a changeling?” Celestia asked downing a second, then third, cup of tea. She waited for Heart to nod before continuing, humming at how she was currently feeling. “A fine changeling you are then. I would hate for Chrysalis to get her hooves on you, if she made tea like this then I would consider negotiating with her. So how did you get such tasty love?” “The love is how you feel towards your husband,” Heart said with a grin as green fire surrounded her, revealing that she was actually Queen Chrysalis. “and I appreciate your compliment by the way. As for negotiating, how about you-“ Without saying a word Celestia removed her crown and tossed it at Chrysalis. The changeling was surprised as she caught the crown in her magic, and could feel the coronal aura that pulsed from it. “You can’t be serious Celestia… No anger? No monologue? No fight? Just giving up the crown just like that seems awfully out of character for you.” “I am in no mood to fight Chrysalis,” Celestia’s tone was cold, devoid of all emotion. “I have lost the will to rule, I am nothing but a failure. ” “Celestia this is not like you,” Chrysalis said putting the crown back on the desk, actually looking and sounding concerned. “on any other day you would have me ensnared in your magic and would be threatening me. Hay, you would have even called upon your sister and guards by now, but yet you stand here in self loathing. I have to question why, considering Discord’s current state is not your fault.” “That is where you are wrong Chrysalis,” Celestia said standing up and looking at her nemesis with dull eyes, void of her will of fire. “there must be something I could have done differently. Spend more time with him, take a vacation, but now my ponies have to suffer for my wrong doing. In a way, I guess this is karma, because now I know how you felt when you had to pick up the pieces after your second failed take over.” Chrysalis said nothing, instead forcing the depressed alicorn to sit, refilling her cup of tea. “He is the Lord of Chaos Celly, you knew what you were getting into when you married him. Even with Fluttershy’s efforts to help him control it, chaos is a vital part of reality. It can only be contained for so long before it rears its ugly head.” “That part is true,” Celestia said once again taking comfort in her own cup of love. “I guess I grew slack over the years then. He was imprisoned for so long, then with Fluttershy’s coaching I fooled myself into believing he truly was reformed.” Chrysalis sat beside Celestia, and given their height differences she was still eye level with the seated diarch. “If that was the case Celly then we would have another problem on our hooves, everypony would. You know Chaos is in flux, for everyone it leaves it finds another host to corrupt and take hold. I have known you since we were foals, and yet I have never seen you in this condition, even after banishing Luna.” “Times were simpler then too Chryssy,” Celestia said making the changeling queen’s eyes widen in shock at her old nickname. “Me, Lulu, you, Amore, and Sombra all had the same classes and were the best of friends. I was the popular one, Lulu and Sombra were the athletes, Amore helped others with personal problems, and you were seen as the dork.” “I was the top of the class with grades.” Chrysalis said in rebuttal, a flash of her horn later and she was holding a pair of faded red-rimmed glasses in her hooves. “yet whenever our classmates needed help with their homework they asked you.” “Now look at our respective states,” Celestia said leaning over on Chrysalis’ wither. “I guess Destiny split us apart for a reason. Despite me being the most popular, I always envied your smarts. I never asked you for help because, like a fool, I chose to keep up my social status instead of looking out for my friends. I guess time changes a pony, for better or worse.” “You are wrong about that,” Chrysalis said in a slightly stern tone. “time changes for nobeing, but everybeing changes with time. Time is a constant variable, and always flows at the same rate, unless you are one of the few who can travel it.” Celestia lightly chuckled, feeling a bit better from her conversation with her friend-turned-enemy. “I know of three that fit that description, and a fourth that not even that laws of physics can control, for now anyway. You know, perhaps there is still a bit of good left in you Chrysalis, and to be honest I’m growing tired of fighting.” “Please don’t flatter yourself, once Discord gets back under control I will go back to scheming against you.” Chrysalis said with a smirk, but also had a faint twinkle in her eyes. “Only reason I am not attacking is because Discord affects my children, chaos magic makes them a bit on edge and nervous, so we really are in the same boat in terms that none of us are safe. That being said, as his wife why aren’t you out there trying to reason with him?” “I am not a fighter Chrysalis,” Celestia said with a small sigh. “you of all beings know that first hoof. You beat me, the Princess of the Sun, in combat on more than one occasion. Lulu is a better fighter than me, Twilight is better than me, even Shining Armor is a better in a fight. Your fighting ability, tactics, and smarts are things that I could only wish to match.” “Is this really what you have been reduced to?” Chrysalis said suddenly, making Celestia look at her confused. “What happened to the filly and young mare I used to know? You used to be so full of hope and determination, where are those things now?” “Those things died when I banished my sister to the moon.” Celestia said on the verge of tears, her sadness having enough effect that Chrysalis made her right wing that of an alicorn and wrapped it around the weeping mare. “The pain was my own, the punishment her’s, but to this day I see just how wrong I was to do it. Ruling by myself, I had to mature very fast to ensure that I could maintain the throne, so I had to quit with my old habits.” “Similar to when I took over the hive.” Chrysalis said with a nod of shared circumstance. “I had to do what was best to keep my children healthy, and it was only then that I realized just how much every other species hates changelings, so I changed to fit the role.” Celestia turned her attention to the window, seeing Discord’s newest trick, sapphire and maroon clouds raining down cats and dogs that made her shake her head. “Aren’t we all just victims of circumstance then? All five of us had to give up a lot in order to move on to our roles, but Amore was the one who paid the price the most.” “I attended the funeral,” Chrysalis said holding back a few tears. “I was still getting used to my heightened emotions as a new queen, and sadness and grief overtook me for a few weeks afterwards.” “Me and Lulu attended as well,” Celestia said grabbing a long-forgotten photo of her and her friends at their graduation party. “needless to say that was not a very good day. It also earmarked the first of many warning signs I ignored of Lulu becoming corrupted, but I downplayed it as her own way of grieving.” “I think we really need to take a step back,” Chrysalis said as she casually dusted off a shelf of memories from their school days, each picture making her smile from a time when she didn’t have responsibilities. “the past doesn’t define our future, but current events do.” “Which is why I plan on going through with what I said earlier about negotiations.” Celestia said with a smile as Chrysalis spun in place with a look of shock. “That is, of course, if you are willing to listen.” Chrysalis didn’t know what to think, flipping through several emotions before narrowing her eyes. “If you think for once second that I will go through the same process Thorax and most of my drones when through, then you are a fool Celestia!” “Oh trust me, I wasn’t going to suggest it.” Celestia said in a calm, soothing tone that made Chrysalis back off her posture. “However, what I am offering you and your remaining drones is full pardon and amnesty, and can freely feed on the love that I have for my husband and my ponies have for me and Lulu. In exchange, I require that each of you remain in disguise, a full list of your drones with their aliases, and you remain being my maid Heart Bearer.” “You kidding me right?” Chrysalis asked tilting her head a little. “All forgiven, and acted like nothing happened at all with the invasions and bitterness, just like that?” “Friends look out for friends Chryssy,” Celestia said as she got a quill and paper ready. “and you have been away from your friends for far too long. Notice, I am not asking for you to fully reform, I am just asking for a suitable compromise that benefits all parties involved.” Chrysalis fell into deep thought, pondering all her available options and weighing each against the offer. A few minutes later, she cleared her throat after coming to a conclusion. “I, Queen Chrysalis of the Badlands Hive, hereby accept the terms and conditions that have been put forth during negotiations.” Both rulers looked at each other for a long minute, showing no emotion on their faces in a battle of who would give first. However, they both got into a giggle fit at the shenanigan, feeling like they did when they were young as they smiled. Once Celestia summoned a chess set, they settled down into the stratigic war of board game superiority, with Chrysalis taking an early lead before Celestia came back to tie as the door opened. “Tia I have midday news to-“ Luna stopped mid-sentence, her voice caught in her throat, as she saw who Celestia was with. Flaring up her magic, she pinned Chrysalis to the wall as her horn shone a vibrant navy blue. “Thou has but one chance to save your life fiend.” Luna said as she lined her horn up at Chrysalis’ throat, making the changeling whimper. “I guess you use the next minute wisely, so what is your plan to try and take over this time?” “I have no quarrel Luna,” Chrysalis said as she gulped from the deadly projectile parked at her jugular, Luna’s grip somehow managing to mute her transformation magic. “nor do I currently have any plans to take over, in fact a negotiation has been made.” Luna gave a sinister chuckle, her magic flaring brighter and starting to hurt Chrysalis by compressing pressure against her chitin. “Ha! You honestly expect me to believe that malarkey?! It is clear that you have brainwashed my sister into not finishing you, but unfortunately for you I have no such issue doing that task.” Chrysalis closed her eyes, hoping her death would be quick and painless. Instead, Luna let go as a resounding *SLAP* echoed through the castle, city, and for miles into the surrounding countryside. Peeking, Chrysalis saw that Luna had been slapped clear across the room, with Celestia standing at full height and looking rather cross. “Sister…” Celestia’s tone was deathly soft, clearly showing her effort to restrain the anger that was making Chrysalis feel as if she was melting from the inside out. “Have you forgotten how well we got along with her when we were fillies? Me and you have forgiven each other for our past actions, do you think it is not fair to at least offer her the opportunity?” “I suppose thou hast a point dear Tia,” Luna said after a few minutes, Celestia’s rage evaporating. “though, it will take some time for her to clear my doubts.” “Oh you have reason to worry,” Chrysalis said with a mock laugh, putting Luna on edge when she saw the mischievous look in the changeling’s eyes. “after all, our prank wars were legendary and I plan to resume our yearly quibble for the pranking crown.” “Fat chance you will beat me bug,” Luna said with a lighthearted grin. “I happen to still have a few tricks up my hooves that will allow me to win the pranking crown.” “We will need to set some rules in place,” Celestia said thoughtfully, the others nodding in agreement. “nothing illegal or fatal for starters, and no banishments allowed. We will work out the rest of the details later, but let’s get back to the point over a game of Serpents and Slides. Going back to earlier, you had news to report Lulu?” “Yes I did,” Luna said as the three sat down in the middle of the room, Luna setting the game up. “Captain Sentry and Commander Spitfire found Discord in the Everfree Forest planting large quantities of poison joke, they were on their way to tell Twilight when I headed here.” “Poison joke huh?” Chrysalis said rubbing the bottom of her muzzle, thinking about both the plant and the game as she waited for her turn. “I will see about my remaining drones eating that stuff like it was candy, we are immune to it’s effects due to our complex DNA and magical signature.” “That will piss off Discord,” Celestia said with a giggle, rolling a 5 on the die to hit the first serpent, shooting her into the lead. “he doesn’t like unforeseen situations, and that will count as one. That should buy the girls enough time to rainbow up, and if everything goes as planned then the problem will be taken care of and my husband will be fine for a few centuries or so.” “You mentioned him not liking unforeseen situations, I bet he already planned on them trying to use that power.” Luna said before swearing to Faust about her rotten luck on the game. “Knowing Twilight, they already have a backup plan, otherwise they are sleeping pigeons.” “Ducks Lulu…” Chrysalis said putting a hoof to her forehead. “The term is sitting ducks.” Luna looked at Chrysalis as if she had grown horns. “Since when did they change the term to that of a floating waterfowl? Pigeons provided a more challenging sport when trying to catch them.” “Since they went extinct due to a massive flood shortly after the first time I had to deal with the supertide.” Celestia said looking away, a deep pain forming in her eyes. “It wiped out their natural resting/breeding grounds, they didn’t last the ensuing winter and I still regret it. Enough of this negativity, how about we resume talking about our school days?” “Sounds good,” Chrysalis said as she rolled, scowling at the fact she was one space short of winning when she hit the longest slide, taking her back to the beginning. “I’m just glad Professor Starswirl isn’t around, I’m sure I made an enemy for life when I accidentally mixed the wrong potions and made beard remover instead of an enhancer.” Celestia and Luna shared a wordless exchange, hoping their teacher wouldn’t hunt their friend down, Chrysalis evidently not hearing about his return. The staredown held firm until Luna lost by blinking first, meaning she would have to be the bearer of bad news. “Um Chrysalis, you are mistaken about that fact. Our teacher returned several months ago and is in his old laboratory in the western tower as we speak.” “What?!” Chrysalis paled, her chitin changing from a finely polished black to an ash grey as she whimpered in fear. “Pl-please don’t tell him I am here, I don’t have a death note to cash in right now and personally like living.” “Wow, I never thought I would see the day where you would be begging us for mercy.” Luna said with a smirk, earning a glare from the other two mares. “Only way I would tell him is if you totally buck up and get on my bad side, otherwise I won’t do it.” “Just stay disguised around him and you should be fine,” Celestia said with a shrug as Luna won the first round, each of them resetting to start another game. “although I am curious as to why none of my guard busted the door down when you first revealed yourself Chryssy.” “Bubble of silence spell.” Chrysalis said with a grin as she took a large lead, one that she did not lose as she won on her fourth turn. “My original plan was for me to reveal myself, catch you off guard, we have a big fight, then I kick your flank and proclaim victory.” “So you were plotting!” Luna said triumphantly before getting thrunked by Celestia a second time, this one landing on the opposite cheek as the first. “Sorry…” Celestia had a scowl that impressed Chrysalis on her muzzle, no longer taking any more slander. “Next time I’m kicking you out of the room and putting a complex locking spell on it that only myself, and possibly Twilight, could break it. Are we clear Luna?” “Yes we’re clear.” Luna said in defeat. “You may continue your explanation Chrysalis.” “As i was saying...” Chrysalis said mildly annoyed at the interruption. “However Celestia, your mood overwhelmed me and got me feeling sympathetic, and now we are here. Besides, us and Starswirl are the only ones in the castle, the guards are doing patrols to ensure every citizen stays inside while Discord is on his rampage.” “Let’s just hope the girls are having good luck.” Luna said as she got up and stretched after the seventh game. “Now that I think about my fillyhood memories, remember that time Professor Plum Pudding caught Sombra and Amore passing notes in the library with an invisible candlestick?” At the Castle of Friendship, the six mares who had decided to go face-to-face with Discord sat in their thrones, each nursing their wounds thanks to help from Starlight and Spike while Trixie left to get more bandages. “What exactly did Discord do to cause do many wounds?” Starlight asked as she started to sanitize a nasty gash on the right side of Twilight’s horn that just missed hitting the appendage. “We were blindsided,” Twilight said hissing in pain from the sanitation rag. “we had everything planned so perfect but it hit us where it hurts. Before leaving here we rainbowed up, and when we got to him we had the mysterious aide of some changelings who were giving him a fi by eating his poison joket. Since he was distracted, we decided to hit him while his guard was down, but he was already prepared for us.” “How was he prepared?” Spike asked as he brought over some warm wraps for Twilight’s, Rainbow’s, and Fluttershy’s wings to ease their soreness. “Last time I checked, he only had one pair of eyes so he couldn’t see you if his back was turned.” “He already had the trap baited,” Twilight replied with a content sigh, her wings dropping as they relaxed. “and we fell right into it. The moment we unleashed the beam, a magic mirror made of pure chaos energy manifested and reflected it back at us at double speed, we didn’t have a chance…” “Yeah, now all of us are beat up pretty badly.” Pinkie said in a tone more like her sister Maud than her normal cheery voice. “It is going to take a few days for us to bounce back from this, and I feel sorry for Twilight because she is going to have to send Celestia a letter saying that we failed.” A heavy silence fell in the room, all eyes turning to the lavender alicorn. Twilight was feeling smaller than a breezie, and as defenseless as a love starved changeling, with her gaze directed at the cutie map. The map itself, thanks to Starlight at Twilight’s instructions, now showed the areas where chaos was reigning supreme. “I am not going to send that letter just yet,” Twilight said leaning back, her spine popping back into place. “we need to formulate our backup plan first. Remember, I told her this morning that is what we were going to do. So do any of you girls, or you Spike, have a plan that does not involve death?” “Why not bind him with a magic rope?” Spike asked sitting down by Starlight, wiping his brow of a little sweat that had formed from all the running around. “Try and cut him off from his chaos magic like obsidian and nullstone block normal magic.” “Nah, won’t work sugarcube.” Applejack said with a small huff. “From wha’ I’ve heard, Chaos magic is unpredictable and doesn’t do well when something hits it that it don’t like. Our beam was a good example of that, now look at how we are.” “What about an anti magic bubble?” Starlight asked thoughtfully. “That would isolate him, I know of nothing that can break that. Luckily, I found the spell in a centuries old book I was reading on hypothetical alchemy. With your permission Twilight, I want to try it out, otherwise nothing good will come from this meeting.” A thousand lightbulbs went off at once in Twilight’s head, making her grin at her student. “Starlight you’re a genius! Look at what we tried and everything we are suggesting, all of it is to counter the chaos magic Discord is using. Our failure was the key that we overlooked, instead of Harmonic magic, we need to fight Chaos with Chaos!” “Did you hit your head too hard on that rock you landed on from the beam?” Rainbow asked raising an eyebrow. “Look Twilight, we all we respect you as our de facto leader and all, but I think that none of us want to turn evil. What if we lose sight of the goal and end up hurting the rest of us instead?” “No, nothing like that Rainbow, you should know better than that.” Twilight said with a scowl, looking like she wanted to give the pegasus a thumping for that idea. “There are three forces of chaos girls, just as there are three forces of harmonic. The magic Discord is using is chaotically bad, so we just need something chaotically good to counter with.” Rainbow made an ‘o’ with her muzzle, finally getting where Twilight was going. “That would bypass his defenses, considering we would be using chaos magic ourselves to fight with.” “Umm, girls?” Fluttershy said as a whisper while an argument broke out, none of them had the same idea and they each thought that their idea was best. This continued for several minutes until Fluttershy finally got fed up. “GIRLS!” The others froze in place, not expecting the outburst considering Fluttershy rarely raised her voice. The most startled was Starlight, with her jumping backwards and hiding under the map table and quivering. Seeing that she had their undivided attention, Fluttershy eeped and hid behind her mane. “Sorry about that,” Fluttershy said in a low whisper. “but this is not the time for bickering. There is one thing that we have left, one skill of mine that I had hoped that I would have to use again.” “What skill is that?” Starlight asked from her hiding spot, Fluttershy jumping to near the top of her DO NOT TICK OFF list. “Can you control animals or something along those lines? If so, summon the fiercest animals you can think of and you might have a chance.” “No,” Fluttershy said with an amused, light-hearted chuckle as a steeled look showed itself in her eyes. “and whoever told you that is either a good liar or a glamorous gossip. Twilight, get that scroll ready, it is time to believe in the power of music.”