Chapter 2:0 – Chaos
Thunder crashed around Celestia as the rain soaked through her cloak, dress, and coat. In the distance, the estate of Baron Ferdinand mi Amore was ablaze with sorcerous fire that would leave no survivors. Screams cut through the storm as the baron and his court, such as it was, burned alive. In the small village next to the estate, windows lit up, but nopony dared step outside to see what was happening. Even the ponies she’d warned, who were now making their way across the hills and away from the estate, barely looked back at the inferno.
Something is wrong here. Celestia could sense it, like a disturbance in the fabric behind reality, but couldn’t pinpoint it. It wasn’t the fact that blood was streaming from her nose and eyes, that was expected now that her powers had become so diminished. Neither was her torching of the estate, she could remember the events that had led up to it. The problem was, she also thought she could remember the event itself, and the events that came after it. But that just wasn’t possible, was it?
The ancient sorceress’s vision blurred, but it wasn’t just from the rain. She had the sensation of time rolling backwards, sliding around her until she found herself standing in a blizzard. There was still a fire in front of her, but this time it was the College of Winterm that was ablaze. This time, her body wasn’t giving out on her. Celestia hadn’t lost as much power yet then and she’d been able to conjure up an even more impressive fire, one that caused the stone of the college to melt and flow, ensuring not one record on Luna’s betrayal would survive.
So, it’s a dream, then. I do hope it’s not going to stick with just the one theme. If I have to revisit every time I’ve incinerated someone or something, this is going to take all night.
Time scrolled backwards again, and this time Celestia found herself hovering over Cant’r Laht. It wasn’t Cant’r Laht as she knew it in her own time; this was the Cant’r Laht of a thousand years ago. Celestia’s castle was nowhere to be seen; in its place were the estates of the greatest mages of the city. Half those mages were dead, slaughtered by Celestia because they’d dared to oppose her entrance to the city. The other half would surrender soon and name her their new Matron of Sorceresses. Even weakened as she was by her recent battle with the White Procession, she was still far more powerful than even all the sorceresses of Cant’r Laht combined.
What’s this about? I cannot believe that this is just some random collection of memories. Am I recollecting all the times when I killed en masse, “recounting my sins,” as that meddlesome high priestess would say?
Again, Celestia found herself falling further backwards in her personal history. She had quite a long history to fall back through. Now she found herself in the throne room of the Royal Court of the Three Palaces of the Two Queens. She was one of those queens again, and the other queen was standing at the other end of the room. Only, her sister wasn’t Queen Luna at the moment, she was Nightmare Moon. This was a memory that Celestia had no desire to relive. She was grateful when time reversed again, pulling her further back.
Celestia was standing in the Crystal Palace now, far from home, clad in full armor. Luna was lying on the floor nearby, unconscious, or so she believed. Her sword was held over the mad King Sombra of the North, prepared to execute him. She would do it in a moment, or at least she had in the past. He’d taunted her and later cursed her after her sword fell, but she’d counted it as a victory back then. If only I’d known what it would cost.
One last time, she slid further into the past, almost to the very beginning. She had the feeling that this was the end, the last stop in her dream-journey through her life. Celestia and Luna stood together now in a landscape that defied logic or explanation. Discord, Lord of Chaos, a being of unimaginable power, reclined in an infinitely-sided throne, gazing at them with a grin on his face. He didn’t know about the old magic they’d acquired, however, didn’t realize that the Elements of Harmony would soon be his doom.
“A bit melodramatic, aren’t we?” Discord asked with a yawn.
That didn’t happen! This isn’t a memory! This isn’t the past!
“How right you are,” Discord whispered in the newly minted alicorn’s ear, responding to things she’d merely thought about, “What? You didn’t think you’d really won, did you? It’s not like you ever made that same mistake before … or after. Linear time is such a bore.”
Celestia’s jaw dropped at Discord’s revelation. The events she’d been pulled back through, she’d thought them victories at the time, but they’d proven sour in the end. The torching of the mi Amore estate had revealed to Celestia that Cadence would not be fit to succeed her. Her destruction of the College of Winterm had destroyed all knowledge of Nightmare Moon’s Rebellion, but also made it impossibly hard for Luna to rejoin the world she’d returned to. Her descent on Cant’r Laht and the destruction of the Cabal had led to a millennium of trouble and strife with Cant’r Laht’s noble families. Her defeat of Luna in Nightmare Moon’s Rebellion had fractured Equestria, possibly forever, and given the True Faith all the fuel it needed to condemn her personally, and sorceresses and unicorns in general. And hadn’t that Rebellion become inevitable after her execution of the Shadow King?
Her and Luna’s defeat of Discord didn’t fit in with the pattern, though. There had been no ill repercussions from that event. In fact, it had ushered in a golden age for Equestria under the rule of an alicorn diarchy. Nothing bad had come from it.
“Not … yet,” Discord reminded her, “Much like with your life, though, your time is nearly up.”
The draconequus snapped his claws, and Celestia instantly jolted awake. Summer and the new year were approaching, but it was still no excuse for just how much Celestia was drenched in sweat. Her limbs shook as she sat up in bed and she tasted blood in her mouth. It hadn’t been an ordinary dream, but a vision, a warning of what was to come.
The Elements of Harmony defeated him once, they were all that could. If his return is imminent, then they must be ready to be used again. Luna and I can’t wield them anymore, however. Twilight Sparkle and her companions must be prepared. Once again, the fate of the world rests on them.