//------------------------------// // Eclipsed // Story: Discordant // by ezra09 //------------------------------// “Twilight, please tell me this statue’s always been here,” Rainbow Dash whispered. Panic gripped at her lungs like a vice, making it nearly impossible to speak. Twilight answer was nothing more than an incomprehensible croak. “This can’t actually be Celestia. There’s no way she’d lose to anypony.” Twilight tried to stand, but her legs didn’t want to cooperate. Her mentor stared down at her with a look of angry defiance. “Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight turned at the sound of a new voice. Princess Luna stood in the shadow of a large statue, watching them with teary eyes. “Princess Luna? Please tell me this isn’t what it looks like.” The princess dropped her head. “It isn’t safe here anymore. Please, come with me.” Twilight looked back to the stone figure of her mentor, a cold weight settling at the pit of her stomach. “What’s the point? Princess Celestia... and without the elements, there’s nothing we can do.” “I... I know what happened to the elements,” Princess Luna said. “You do? You found them?” Princess Luna pawed the ground, looking away in shame. “I’m the one who took them.” She looked back at Twilight, tears falling freely, “Oh, Twilight Sparkle, this is all my fault.” ***** “So by the time I realized what was happening, the damage was done. I had no choice but to do what they told me, or they’d reveal my treachery.” The princess lowered her gaze from the six ponies around her. They’d moved with the princess’s help to a small room in Manehatten, where they would be safe for the moment. “Princess, you couldn’t have really believed that, could you? Your sister loves you. We all do,” Twilight half whispered. “I know, Twilight Sparkle. I knew Tia wouldn’t do me harm. She never would have banished me if there’d been another option. I tried to tell myself that, but the nightmares got worse every day. Every time I closed my eyes, I found myself imprisoned again. Little voices in my head were constantly whispering, asking why Tia couldn’t have just stripped away Nightmare Moon’s dark power the first time.” “Why couldn’t she?” Applejack asked. “That’s somethin’ ah’ve always wondered.” “My sister couldn’t wield the elements to their full potential alone. They symbolize the harmony between ponies after all, nopony can use them by herself.” “So Discord needled you in your sleep until you finally cracked?” Twilight prompted. Luna nodded slowly. “Perhaps if I’d know it was him, I could have resisted, but at the time I believed the thoughts to be my own. So I acted on them, and on my fear. I never meant for anypony to get hurt, I just wanted to hide the elements until I could talk to my sister.” “What happened tonight?” Twilight asked. “How did they get to Princess Celestia?” “The little one came to me this afternoon. The changeling queen, I believe. She told me she wanted one last thing from me.” She buried her face in her hooves. “I convinced myself it wouldn’t hurt anything. I believed Scootaloo was on our side, so I thought their elements were useless.” “What did they ask you to do?” “They wanted me to bring down the force field. So I went to your brother, Shining Armor, and told him that Celestia wanted him to bring it down. I told him we were setting a trap for Discord and his followers. He was suspicious until I proved I was really Princess Luna, and then he brought it down and I cast a sleeping spell on him.” Twilight’s face hardened, but she kept silent. “By the time I had gotten to the Sculpture Garden, my sister had been turned to stone.” Luna looked up, meeting Twilight’s eyes for the first time, and almost flinched at the anger in them. It took Twilight a few moments, but she took a deep breath and turned away, keeping her temper in check. “Discord’s managed to pull one over on everypony,” Applejack said kindly. “Ah reckon a princess is no—” Applejack flinched as Twilight bucked her chair across the room. Fluttershy let out a weak squeal and ducked under the table. “Sugarcube?” Applejack asked, looking between Twilight and the overturned seat. Twilight took a long breath. “We’ve said that to everypony we’ve come across, and not one of them was actually sorry about helping Discord. Scootaloo, Trixie...” Her voice broke as she continued, “Even Spike’s gone over to him.” “You don’t think the princess actually wanted to help him, do you?” Rarity asked. Twilight breathed a hard sigh. “No, of course not. But we can’t take anymore chances. We trusted Scootaloo, and look where that put us.” “But without Princess Luna, we don’t have a chance against Discord,” Applejack said. Rainbow Dash stood from the corner for the first time since they’d arrived. Everypony fell silent and turned to her. She stumbled over her words for a moment before saying, “I want to believe it’s all Discord’s doing, that nopony really wanted to help him, but Twilight’s right. We can’t take any chances.” She choked up, apparently unable to continue. Pinkie Pie stood and put a comforting hoof on her back. “I don’t know what we could have done different. I keep thinking it’s my fault Scootaloo did this. But we can’t change what happened. The only thing we can do now is find the Elements of Harmony and beat Discord.” She looked at the princess. “I think you should go. I’m sorry, but there’s too much at risk for us to trust anypony.” Luna nodded sadly. “I understand.” She rose and added, “If you need me for anything, ask. I’ll do whatever I can to help undo the damage I’ve caused.” ***** “Oh, it was fun, Celestia,” Discord said, leaning casually against the stone princess. “Oh, watching your ponies run in circles when I revealed myself, the utter chaos as they realized they couldn’t trust their best friends.” He wiped a tear from his eye. “I can’t say I’m happy with this arrangement.” He ducked under a wing to look her in the eye. “I thought you were boring before, but you’ve taken it a bit to the extreme now.” “Maybe we can still do something to lighten the mood. Do like christmas lights? You’d make an excellent lawn ornament.” He leaned back, draping an arm casually around her neck. “This brings back memories, doesn’t it? Us, together, me laughing at my inevitable victory. Of course, the moment my back was turned, you sent those letters to Twilight. Such a shame, you’re so much more fun when you can talk, but I just can’t take that risk again.” Celestia remained silent. “Bah,” Discord said, turning away. “I’m sure we can find some other arrangement soon enough.” ***** Chaos ruled Canterlot. Scootaloo stood on a balcony high up in Canterlot Castle, watching the city below. It had been twelve hours since they’d turned Celestia to stone. Or several days, depending on how you looked at it. The sun drifted backwards across the sky, finally settling on midmorning. She’d lost count of how many times it had set and risen over the past few hours. The roads below shifted and changed, sometimes leading to dead ends or disappearing entirely. Houses traded places with each other and carriages pulled ponies through the street. Scootaloo was troubled, but not by the odd happenings below. Nopony had been hurt, and there was no reason to believe this world was any worse than one ruled by harmony. Different, sure, but not worse. Scootaloo hadn’t been able to sleep. Not since they’d attacked the princess. Celestia had been ready to fight the moment the shield went down. Discord had brought the other elements within seconds, and things had promised to turn ugly. Scootaloo had been terrified. It was one thing to talk about changing the world. It was another to fight the most powerful pony in the world. A pony that controlled the very sun. A pony that had been so understanding, even kind after all Scootaloo had done. Scootaloo shook her head and turned to walk down the hall. Candles burned in their sockets along the wall, shifting to every color imaginable, and some Scootaloo had never seen. Watching them for too long gave her a headache, and when she turned away she couldn’t picture the odd new colors. Celestia wasn’t a match for Discord. She’d known it, of course. He’d kept her from helping Twilight when he’d broken free a year earlier. In the end, he would keep her busy long enough for them to use the elements. Of course, in the few seconds before then, she could fight back. Maybe hurt one of the wielders, maybe even kill one and render the others useless. Scootaloo’s heart had shuddered, adrenaline washing through her when she’d realized the danger. Celestia stared down at her, horn glowing with enough power to turn her into dust. And then, only for a moment, the anger vanished from the princess’s eyes. She looked at Scootaloo with an unreadable expression. The angry defiance was back a moment later, but the glow faded from her horn. “I think I understand,” Celestia whispered, so quietly she might have been speaking to herself. “You never had a chance. Your cutie mark would be the same no matter what path you chose.” Those had been Celestia’s last words. She hadn’t fought. She hadn’t run. She’d looked down on Scootaloo in pity and called her a traitor. Scootaloo spun and made her way to her room. Each of the element wielders had been given free reign over the castle. Diamond Tiara had wasted no time in claiming Princess Celestia’s quarters, and Trixie had moved into Luna’s room. Scootaloo didn’t care about the fancy suites available. She’d remained in the room she’d been in the past week. She opened the door with an angry shove and marched through, coming to a startled halt a moment later. Somepony was in her room. They turned when she walked in, glaring at her with narrowed eyes. “Rainbow Dash?”