"So Celestia... who was Discord?" Princess Twilight asked, her voice stern and controlled.
"Twilight, what do you mean?" Celestia innocently. "Discord is Discord. He's an ancient force of chaos."
"I couldn't bring myself to ask while you were my princess. Even after we were 'equals' I couldn't bring myself to ask. So now I'm asking, who is Discord? You never asked Fluttershy to redeem Sombra, Chrysalis, Tirek, or Cozy Glow, A FILLY... You only ever asked her to redeem Discord, a creature I thought could never be redeemed anymore than you could redeem a forest fire. Even when Discord betrayed us, you accepted him back with open arms, I'd become friends with him. What about you though? Did you just trust my judgement?
"The only other creature you ever went to those lengths, excuse me, those risks, was Luna when she was Nightmare Moon. You risk Equestria itself to get her back. You even tried to trivialize Nightmare Moon into a candy-eating boogie mare with a holiday. Not to mention the MANY ponies you never bothered to correct and let them think Nightmare Moon was an alien parasite that possessed Luna... You didn't take AS many risks, or go to QUITE as many lengths, but it was far more than you EVER WENT for any OTHER villain, when their talents could have been just as useful to Equestria."
Celestia said nothing.
"I... I admit, for a time I feared he might have been Starswirl The Bearded..." Celestia's eyes bulged at Twilight's words. "But then we met the Pillars, in a way I was relieved. Even if it made no sense for Meadowbrook to be an Earth Pony doctor when she had personally created several magical artifacts... which led me to find she wasn't the first pony to bear that name. ... But your teacher being someone that ruthless, well, (by our standards, I've learned how griffins and dragons deal with their villains), it got me thinking again.
"And it all circled back to Luna, and the risks you went to for her sake. And the only creature you ever took that giant a gamble on again was Discord. The Elements banished Luna, petrified Discord, and their power VAPORIZED Sombra. And don't tell me Sombra was worse, Discord ENJOYED seeing us suffer, he ENJOYED watching friends fight each other, he ENJOYED seeing me broken. Sombra was just a different KIND of evil. And Cozy Glow? We never tried to contact her parents, or even to FIND her parents. You really do take after your mentor Celestia... So I ask again Celestia, WHO, WAS, HE?"
Celestia had said nothing, she merely listened to Twilight's words, offer no resistance or excuses. Silently Celestia got up from her chair, and went off to a drawer, she undid a sealing spell on it, and then took out a key and undid the lock. She took out a chest. She undid a second sealing spell, and undid a second lock. She opened the chest, took the contents, containing magically preserved letters, bits of string, a heart shaped locket, a strip of blue cloth, a strand of blond hair, and a map of a place Twilight didn't recognize. Celestia then pulled out a false bottom of the chest. Celestia took out a photograph, it technologically couldn't have existed over a thousand years ago, and yet it existed all the same.
She showed Twilight the picture. Twilight said nothing.
"No shocked expression? No gasp of surprise? No words of denial or accusation my Princess?" Celestia asked calmly and politely.
"Only confirmation of what I already suspected. I can't blame you in the slightest. If it was Spike, or Shining Armor, I'd have likely made the same risks. Even when it put Equestria itself in danger, I'd still fall short of our ideals and risk so much for one person..." Twilight looked at the photo, showing three young figures on a grassy field, a pink mansion in the background.
"Are you going to tell anypony?"
"For what point? It's over now. And I know that many ponies wouldn't understand, I won't taint your legacy. I just wanted to know for sure. Because I needed confirmation, that if things went that way, I'd likely made that choice too... I wonder... would Sunset be able to do what needs to be done if I go mad with power, and my friends can't save me? ... Hopefully we'll never know, because I trust my friends WOULD BE able to save me from myself."
"That's what makes you better than me my Princess, you were able to save those you love. Four times over, I couldn't."
~ Fin