//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5: An End and a New Beginning 
// Story: A Heart of Stone 
// by BorgiaBrony 
//------------------------------//

She woke up early the next morning, alone, still on the mountainside. She could tell from the moment she opened her eyes that the place had changed. The ledge’s warm, welcoming, and bright ambiance of the night before had given way to cold stone, dark cliffs, and foreboding, thick fog that stretched all around the mountain.

Fearing that her parents might notice her absence, she hurried down the mountainside. Hurried, of course meaning slowly trekking though the ridiculously thick fog so as to not fly into anything. She had seen fog like this before, but something about it was off. As she progressed down the side of the cliffs, it became blacker, heavier, almost like smoke.

When she at last reached the ground, the fog had been entirely replaced by the black veil. Immediately thinking that it was one of Discord’s pranks, she called out to him playfully.

“Dizzy! What game are we playing now?”

She received no response. She tried again, this time more cautiously.

“Dizzy? Are you there?”

She felt the ground trembling. As the tremors grew closer to her, she heard a low growl from behind the smog. She was panicking now.

“Discord!” she said pseudo- sternly, “You stop this right now! This isn’t funny anymore!”

The growling and the tremors grew ever closer.

“Discord! Please!”

The terror behind the smoke was nearly on top of her. She was sobbing by now.

“I’m scared!”

The tremors stopped. For this she was thankful, but only for a moment. As soon as the ground had ceased its quivering, a deep and booming voice came forth from behind the smoke.

“Scared? Good, good. You should be!” At these words, a massive red tail slammed onto the ground next to her. The tail swung all around the courtyard, clearing the air and finally revealing the terror: before her stood a colossal, blood red dragon.  His sharp, black spines shimmered fearsomely in the morning sun, before the smoke from his nostrils blocked it out again. Celestia knew beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the monstrosity standing before her was Discord’s father.

She stood there dumbfounded, staring at him. Cronus wasted little time. He flicked his wrists and dagger-like claws shot from his fingertips. He swung them straight down at her. She was paralyzed with fear: No flying or simple alicorn magic could save her now. This was it. She was done for. She closed her eyes tightly and waited for it to end.

Thud.

After opening one eye slowly, she saw someone she was never so happy to see in her life: Discord had intervened, creating a large wooden board between Cronus’ claw and her. Cronus, his claws still stuck in the wood, was flabbergasted. 

“Since when can the little abomination do magic?!” he bellowed in his surprise.  Discord shyly explained himself to his father, telling him the story of how he had read Celestia’s school books to learn his magic and that he and Celestia had become friends. After Discord had finished, Cronus stroked his chin, seemingly reevaluating the situation.

“Is there any limit to what you can do with those powers?” he asked his son.

Discord looked all around, trying to avoid the question for as long as he could. At last, he finally declared whilst looking at the ground, “No, not to my knowledge.”  

Before that day, Celestia had no concept of what true malice looked like. But as soon as she looked into Cronus’ eyes, she could see it: vicious, gleeful, evil the likes of which she would never see again. Whatever he had planned for Discord, it was far from good. The dragon guided her friend to the opposite end of the courtyard, just out of earshot. Cronus had to lay himself on the ground to speak quietly and closely to his son.

After a few moments, Discord sulked back over to her. The usual joyful look on his face was vanished; replaced with grave stoicism. He walked straight up at her and told her the honest truth.

“Tia, I have to go away for a while.”

“How long, Dizzy?” she asked him, already knowing the answer in the back of her mind

He looked down at the grass once again. “Awhile,” he repeated quietly.

“I’m not going to see you again, am I?” she asked, beginning to choke up.

“Well….no, I don’t think so.” 

Celestia’s heart sank. She was going to lose her only friend in the world and there wasn’t a thing she could do about it. She wanted to break down and cry right then and there, but she didn’t want to make it harder on Discord. All she could do was bow her head in sorrow.

“Aw, don’t feel that way,” he said as he lifted up her chin. “As long as you keep yourself happy and laughing, I’ll be there. These two months have been the best of my life. Thank you for giving them to me, Tia. Good bye.” He hugged her intensely. She didn’t want him to let go, but let him walk away when he eventually did. Celestia watched on as Discord got on his father’s back, and flew out into the Western skyline.

For the next few weeks, she lived her life like a ghost. She ate and slept, yes, but beyond that, she just existed. She lost interest in all that she once enjoyed, for the void that Discord left in her heart was too big. Her parents had no clue what was wrong with her, for when they asked her, she put on a happy façade and made it seem like nothing was wrong.  
The only thing she did was take care of Luna. She felt that she needed to do what Discord had told her and look after her, keep her safe, and provide her with anything she needed.

One day, almost six months after Discord had left her, she woke to chaos in the castle. Ponies were running around from room to room carrying food with them. Following close behind each of them, was a cloud of multicolored dust whizzed like a sandstorm. When the rainbow dust cloud caught up with them, it decimated whatever food they were carrying.

She walked into town to find more of the same chaos, only on a larger scale. Her parents, struggling to find a way to combat the mysterious clouds while at the same time controlling the masses, were spread too thin even for them. Since their days of rule began long ago after the founding of Equestria, they had never seen such madness. The flags which their images adorned were being ripped all around, which only served to discourage them even more. Celestia wandered through the madness until she reached the center of the town. When she took her last step, the dust clouds stopped, and everypony could see what they really were: small, round creatures with big eyes and four wings: Discord’s parasprites. They all looked at Celestia. She looked back. Minutes passed and still the standstill continued. 

Suddenly, the parasprites retreated from Canterlot, flying straight up at the sun. They all massed in a gigantic ball, blocking out the sun. Then, they formed themselves to be an exact replica of Celestia’s cutie mark. The absolute precision and speed with which they assimilated themselves assured Celestia of one thing: they had been trained by somebody to do that.
Ponies all around her came out of their hiding places once they knew for sure the danger was gone. Celestia stood there, in the center of the town, with a smile on her face that she hadn’t had for a long time. Any time after that, when she was questioned about why she smiled during such a chaotic situation, she responded with, “Because I knew then he was safe.”