//------------------------------// // Episode 54: "Origins Celestia Part 5" // Story: Pony POV Series Season Four: Generation Transitions & Origins // by Alex Warlorn //------------------------------// My Little pony Friendship Is Magic Pony POV Series Origins Part 5 Princess Celestia Optional-Canon How did it end? You're still here aren't you? Besides from that ... Cadence whispered, "Galaxia. Take Celestia and Luna and go." "Go where? The way home is blocked!" In the final stages of he war, Havoc blocked the way for either side to escape for home. He was drunk on the chaos the war brought. He had turned from at the very least, a protective father, into one who had stopped caring if His children fell in battle or made it back home. What goodness there may once have been in His avatar was gone...He was mad. Annihilation and blind panic swirls around his aspect like they were tangible. "Away from all of this. This has all been pointless." "And What Fun Is There In Having A Point?" Boomed Havoc's aspect as its shadow loomed over the two mares, and two fillies. He then gave an insane laugh was that shuddered every bone in my body. "Go somewhere safe," Cadence said not taking her eyes off of Havoc's aspect. "What Makes You Think There Is Anywhere Safe For Them To Go?" "You can't beat Him alone!" "Ha! One Alicorn against Havoc? What nonsense! I love it! Soon, none shall stand against chaos as everything is returned to how it should be! How the universe intended for itself to be! Chaos is the proper state of all things and I shall be the one to return all to it!" He ranted insanely. Completely lost in his own world. Oblivious to all he didn't wish to be so. "Here's to chaos! Isn't it grand? Striking fear into all who stand! Here's to chaos, what splendid might! Such wonderful fright! Havoc slowly approached us, letting his claw slowly scrape across existence itself, sparks flying as he did so, a maddened look in his eyes, a smirk that would stop your heart my student. "Here's to chaos, return things to their prime! In its natural state the universe shall abide Order forever cast aside! No longer in the darkness will chaos have to hide! All will be monument to my lovely bride!    Havoc laughed as flames came off him. Luna and I hid inside Galaxia's wings. "No. I know I can win... But I don't know if this version of me will still be around afterwards. So let me say this incase the next version doesn't remember. Take care of Celestia and Luna. You can't help in this fight." "Cadence." "I'm the Concept of Temperance, of Harmony ... and I won't be alone. They're all with me. JUST GO!" I don't know where Cadence got that aura from ... but it was enough to knock us all away. It was like a symphony given a visual form. In it felt the warmth of many of our family brought into one harmonious force. Havoc's aspect and Cadence clashed in a tempest, you have never seen anything so incredible Twilight Sparkle, it rippled through space and time as worlds tilted. Galaxia didn't dare look back. Then the winds of force of their confrontation knocked my sister and I away from Galaxia. She called out our names, I barely heard her over the storm. I held onto my sister for dear life as she cried. Galaxia did her best to follow us through the storm of conflict. All I thought was what Cadence said. 'Somewhere safe.' I think it was my instincts that drove where the two of us 'landed.' As spirits, it's safe to compared it to crash landing. Galaxia trailed behind us. ++++ I looked to Twilight, I could see gears turning in her head each time I said Cadence's name. She opened her mouth to speak, but stopped, uncertainty in her eyes. A touch of fear. "Yes, my faithful student?" She jumped. "O-oh, i-it's nothing, please, continue..." she said, trying to hide her emotions better. I let her. I can't answer a question which she does not want the answer to. ++++ What happened next Twilight Sparkle varies from timeline to timeline. But I remembered in my dreams just once. I...Twilight, I'm warning you, what I'm about to say next is far worse than anything you've heard so far...It is one of the most horrible truths about Discord I could tell you, are you certain you want to know? There's no shame in not knowing this one detail, and I can tell you the result, not the manner in which it happened...Alright, but remember, this is something you can't unlearn in an eternity... Discord! Help ... no, what are you doing'? Dissy! Don't! Why are you- Discord! DESTRUCTION!? Discord you don't know what you're doing! You Will Allow Him To Finish Pandemonium, That Is An Order. ... Yes, father. Hehhehehhe. Ha hA hA! My Little Dissonance. You Are Finally My Favorite Discord. All The Power Of My Aspect Is Yours. Consume It. Devour It. . . . Now that we're alone, sister dear, there is something I need you to do for me. ++++ I manifest a bucket as Twilight promptly went into dry heaves and finally vomited. I can't blame her, that had been my reaction. "Oh sweet Celestia! That's...that's..." I look down as understandingly as I can into her rightly horrified, sickened eyes as she struggles to keep herself composed. "Unspeakable, even by Draconequi standards, it was a taboo...Now you know the truth of where Discord's new power came from...I won't deny that Havoc was insane when he permitted it, and Discord had lost anything resembling sanity long before that point, he was like a feral animal. When he regained his farce of sanity, Discord felt no remorse, the only thing that changed about him was the new scope of the chaos and misery he could now unleash." I gently pat her on the back and place my wing over her as she threw up once more, waiting until her stomach settles enough to continue. ++++ What happened next was out of a nightmare Twilight Sparkle, but it was very real for the ponies who had to endure it. You must understand something Twilight. While as sprits we can exert our power into reality as you saw Discord do with the pony and the cliff, we normally can not interact with ponies directly that way. The Lost Third Age with its world spanning spell keeping everything and everypony perfect was so overwhelmingly flooded with magic, that if the ponies had the know-how to use it the amount of wonders they would have been able to do would have made you faint my student. Sky Wish's power to effect fate with her wishes would have been the tip of the ice berg. It was child's play for us to open gateways or to simply manifest directly. And I still don't know why Discord did what he did. Maybe it was a prank on himself, maybe it was just a whim, maybe Pandora betrayed him, maybe he didn't want to be an invisible prankster and was too lazy to create a gateway with his new power. I don't know. I was oblivious to things at the time. There is only one true way for a spirit to enter the material universe. Others require huge amounts of magical energy and on top of that piercing the barrier between the spiritual and material world. The most EFFECTIVE if time consuming way is the same way your spirit did and that of all yours ancestors. Shady had always been a withdrawn pony, one who preferred the shadows to sunlight. She wasn't a bad pony by any definition. Her greatest flaw was her crippling lack of self confidence. She was not very physically fit for an Earth pony, and sometimes envied unicorns and pegasi for their gifts. Some even nicknamed her 'Little Shadow.' In the years of the broken tribes, she actually had (whether they were a gift or she made them herself I do not know) a pair of sunglasses that showed the world as an ideal perfect place, the original 'rose colored glasses.' I think she might have been seeking way to MAKE herself happy. As an adult mare, she'd actually found some of the basic principles of alchemy, many I believe your friend Zecora still uses. It was soon after our war burned out that the Earth pony Shady of Paradise Estate found out much to her confusion, she was pregnant. She had no relations with a stallion. She felt ill during much of the pregnancy, but no harm came to her, at all. Anything that meant her harm soon fell mad, were found frozen, or died from monster attacks. You are THAT confused Twilight Sparkle? This happened AFTER the First Age, AFTER the Second Age where pony civilization was at it's peak, and AFTER the separation of the three tribes in that frozen age I unwittingly brought, and AFTER the three tribes had reunited into Equestria! The Ponies of Paradise Estate had been alive for and through all of it! She was driven as a by a base need to flee and hide in the final days of her pregnancy, none of the others were able to find her. Then she gave birth. It was not painless birth. And she screamed at the sight of what was born. It looked back at her, unsure of the world itself. It saw the bright color red coming out of her, and laughed. It noticed she was in pain. And it cried. Both were teleported back to Paradise Estate in an instant. Shady's life was saved. Everypony was shocked at what she had given birth to. She'd let no one harm it. She nursed it and cared for it. It nuzzled her. The goofy white pony Surprise she couldn't help but feel she recognized it somehow. She didn't think it was dangerous. Just something familiar about it. Shady wondered what name to give it, then dreamed of a horned serpent that encircled the world who told her the newborn's name was Discord. And so Shady gave it that name. It was a month before she was fully recovered. It never left her side. It glared at the other ponies, clutching to her for protection. It's okay, Twilight, I know about the pregnant mares who had nightmares about such a thing. But remember, these ponies had no idea who Discord was before this and to Shady, Discord was her child, no more different than any other no matter how he looked. In fact, in another world I've seen in the Truth, you did much the same for a foal born of Nightmare Moon's power, seeing her not as the Nightmare my sister became but an innocent little child...Yes, Twilight, you were a very good mother... The ponies who remained at Paradise Estate had shrunk more during their time being ignored by Civilized ponies in the Second Age, and being crowded in on all sides by conflict and strife during the new Third Age of the three tribes. Originally there had been dozens of them. Now there was less than ten. There were no longer any foals among them who had had thousands of years now to grow up. And the last stallion had chosen to abandon eternal life and live among the ponies who had finally remembered the glories of total love and total brotherhood. I'd be lying if I said the Paradise Estate ponies didn't celebrate the reunification of the tribes. The warrior from another world that you keep hearing about eh? Megan? She was a human Twilight, she wasn't from this world, the Rainbow of Light had no right to keep her. She had an entire family on Earth and she couldn't just abandon them. Heh, through it's true, the ponies had become like a second family to her. She actually finally gave up her own immortality during the very height Second Age. One, she felt she was having too great an influence on the pony's cultural sense of identity, and more important, she saw the ponies could finally take care of themselves without a new monster randomly appearing to eat them. The ponies had built a -civilization- at last, rather than just accepting hand-me-downs from various other cultures. Everything they had they built on their own ... heh, the Second Age did have one trick that sadly has been lost to history. In tribute to humans, these ponies had figured out how to use their hooves as precisely as any griffin's paw. Megan, feeling her duty finally done, gave the Rainbow of Light to the ponies of the Estate for safe keeping. Megan's role has been exaggerated by time, so Lickety Split's stories aren't one hundred percent truthful, but the one thing that's never exaggerated was her courage. She could talk down tyrants from their goals. In recent years, their numbers had become even less. The pegasus Heart Throb had left the Estate and immortality behind to finally have a normal life with her daughter. Another recent departure had been a Pegasus named Flutterbye ... yes Twilight Sparkle, it is getting rather contrived isn't it? But her line would later merge with an Earth pony who had chosen to stay on the Estate named Posey, who, I swear, if she had wings, would be Fluttershy, her love for plants matched Fluttershy's love of animals. No Twilight, I know how this sounds, but believe me, you only live once. Souls are not 'recycled' like raw material. The events of the amputated timeline were special circumstances, as was my punishment and the desperate choice myself and my sister would make. This is also why you won't find any of the current Lickety Split's stories containing Discord, his ancestor had also chosen to finally see what the great beyond would hold for her after the reunification of the tribes. Another pony's recent departure reduced the number of unicorns on the Estate to three. Moon Dancer had come to see the Estate as her prison not her home and- ++++ "MOON DANCER?!" "Yes. She is the namesake and ancestor the same Moon Dancer Spike was attracted to before he fell in love with Rarity. Twilight. Is there anything about your friends you think I don't know? And why yes Twilight, ponies descendant from that age DO seem to find their way into your life and into my castle. Very strange isn't it? I suggest you sit down for the next one least you have a heart attack." ++++ Those three unicorns were comprised of Galaxy, one of the gem eyed ponies of legend. Her magic centered around light and heat, but her greatest magical gift was a form of magically enhanced intuition. Huh? The gem eyes ... Ironically their lines have two origins. You don't want to know the origin of their first line, just know it involved an evil wizard with a taste for jewels, slavery, and...accidental eye surgery via an explosion. The eyes of the second line were actually a gift from some of Luna's constellations! They overheard a pony wishing she could twinkle like stars and gave her the gem eyes with stardust after taking her among the constellations. It was surprisingly very well received gift. Remember, this was back in the First Age, back then, even former villains were accepted if they were truly repentant...Yes, I wish modern ponies were more like that too. Twilight The First, yes Twilight, your precursor. She was ... heh, quite the contradiction compared to you. Her magic was based on the power of wishes. Though like you, she loved to star gaze. Mimic, her line came from the first unicorn to enter Dream Valley. She held onto a foursome of enchanted horseshoes that were created by her ancestor that actually contain her line's life-force. She didn't know it until later in her life, but you like, and Trixie, she could copy any spell encountered. Heh. Her actual PERSONALITY? ...  You are among the few to actually ask that Twilight. ...Oh, I'm fine...It's just touching you want to know about Mimic as pony, not a mage... Most are just dazzled by her power and move on. She was a pony trapped by her legacy. Seen as only her legacy. Her power was all she was known for. She never left the Estate because she felt she could NEVER live a normal life anyway, so she might have well put her talents to good use. Not to worry, Twilight, you will know more about her later in this tale... One of the pegasi was Firefly, a daredevil thrill seeker who didn't let a mishap during a stunt slow her down or damage her confidence. She was the one who found Megan and brought her to our world. It was a completely wild gambit both trying to 'find help' and again in recruiting her of all humans. It paid off in spades. Yes, as Rainbow Dash certainly does act a lot like her, doesn't she? The Pegasus Wind Whistle was Megan's best friend to put it bluntly. She was logical and rational to a fault. Sound familiar my student? She actually had a bad reputation among her fellows for not having a heart: which I can tell you was a complete lie. The third pegasus of the group was a pony named Surprise. Imagine Pinkie Pie with wings, more prone to laughing, more laid back and not as hyper active, and more appreciative of personal space. Yes Twilight, I read Razzaroo's book too remember? The group had been four. But the pegasus Masquerade left shortly after Discord was born. She was known for taking nothing at face value due to her own talent at fooling the eyes of others with purely non-magical means, and she saw something about him that went beyond his bewildering appearance and the strange happenstance of his birth. Ironically, the vast majority of history that survived that took place BEFORE Discord's rule was thanks to her preparations. She was extremely shrewd for a pony from the First Age, but even she couldn't smoother Shady's child in his sleep based on a vague sense of danger. Even after all the Paradise Estate Ponies had been through, that was just too cold-blooded for her to do. And the last of the three Earth Ponies who comprised the nine remaining care takers of the (recovered) Rainbow of Light besides Spike himself? The last Earth Pony to leave had been, Ember who had gone several thousand years as a foal and a blank flank and had in spite of maturing emotionally and mentally still had the body of one, had chosen to finally grow up. Her cutie mark was a large white star. Why yes my faithful student, I am delaying. Her name was Abigail Jacqueline I of the First Line. But she was better known simply as Applejack. ... Welcome back to the land of the living Twilight. You were only out for a little while. I made coco. I must say, while I foresaw you fainting, I wonder how you got all four of your legs to stick up perfectly like that. And where was I? Oh yes. Applejack I is of course our Applejack's ancestor, ours is the Fifth of the Fifth Line, by the way, but Applejack the First was...not very well coordinated, at all, neglectful of her horse sense, and much less stubborn and less serious. Remember how you told me Applejack acted when she got so sleep deprived? Her clumsiness then was Applejack I when she let herself simply daydream...Huh? What song was I humming? Nothing... That old mage I mentioned? Applejack The First proved her courage that day and was involved in the origin of that line of gem ponies. And of course there was a Spike. This wasn't Spike the First of course, nor your Spike Twilight. This was Spike the Fifth. The Grandfather of the Spike you know. He had just hatched and begun to learn about the world at that time. Spike The Forth, the one from the third age, who had lived for four or five thousand years in the original timeline (and thus why he once said he wouldn't consider himself old unless he was a million), had died of old age at around a twelve hundred and two years old a while before. It seems Rota Fortuna has declared the name 'Spike The Dragon' will live forever but never shall the different namesakes meet. Yes, yes Twilight, you're very right. I suppose all these details aren't THAT important to the events that transpired between myself, Luna, Aunt Galaxia as we'd come to call her, and Discord. But Twilight. I grew up around these ponies. As the world slowly repaired itself from my mistake, I was able to bask in the best of both worlds for that one, and only time. I want you to just remember them. That's all. If you were telling ponies fifty years from now about the events of Discord's second reign, would you leave out any of your friends? I thought not. Discord didn't understand why the Flutterponies were terrified of him, the Flutterponies didn't understand why they were terrified of him. Let alone what it was about the Rainbow of Light that made him sick. You know it's funny Twilight. I've seen Discord roar with laughter at seeing others suffer at his antics, at his pure self-satisfaction seeing ponies break themselves in half from, his manipulations. With Shady was the only time I've ever seen him so completely happy. Those ponies Twilight, Shady was shocked at the sight of what she had given birth to ... but none of them once judged him for it. And the way he smiled. It was the only time I think he ever smiled that wasn't at another's expense. He thought messes pretty, he was still chaos incarnate after all, but he never once enjoyed seeing other living things hurt. Firefly also saved him from a close encounter with a cockatrice. His magic was impossible, even when he was still sucking on his own tail. He didn't have a clue how his own magic worked. Most of the time all he had to do was wish for something really really hard and it would somehow happen. I actually kept one of his crayon drawings until it was destroyed during Nightmare Moon's first public assault against me. And Shady, oh Shady, how he made her happy! It was almost alien how just by existing he was able to give her happiness. Just by needing her, just by loving her, it was a wonder to behold. He made Shady smile. Then the nightmares started. He'd wake up in the night screaming and she'd come for him and comfort her child. She'd sooth him back to sleep. But the next night the nightmares would come again. And again. In a tireless march. There would always be a giant horned snake trying to eat him and this awful laugh, taunting him. He began to know things he knew he had no business knowing, he began keeping it to himself except his mother. He'd stick close to her for dear life, the only thing in creation that could make the nightmares go away. But even the fortress of her presence wasn't a match for this growing tide. I hope there is a world where she was. Mimic found out she was with foal as well. A couple of of the ponies wondered if this was some sort of alien invasion. The rest thought that couple watched too many sci-fi movies. For the record Twilight they had no idea the Flories were originally not from their world. But the detractors still had no clue where these unknown pregnancies had come from. It didn't help that a mysterious old mare showed up at the Estate wishing to become a live in housekeeper around the same time as Mimic realized her pregnancy. The old mare had a galaxy swirl for a cutie mark. No, she never once tried to harm Discord in his sleep. She couldn't. No Twilight there was no barrier, no invisible guardians, she simply could not. Maybe she was hoping this Discord when shown a mother's love would have a change of heart. Or she just couldn't harm another mare's foal. Galaxy and Wind Whistler began to wonder how Discord's magic seemed to have no true limit, and how while Shady kept him in check, and had shown no real desire to lord it over others ... that amount of magic in the hands of a child scared them. They had only seen this amount of sheer power in one of their friends, and countless power-mad megalomaniacs. Posey loved the flowers Discord made for her garden. AJ and Surprise thought his games were a riot. Firefly thought Galaxy and Wind Whistler were being stupid, thinking a child could be dangerous. Mimic felt a -need- to stay away from him, and Discord felt a gut instinct to stay clear of her. Twilight wished she knew the answer, but her wishes didn't answer her. Unlike Sky Wishes, Twilight The First's wishes could not alter fate. Spike thought there was something very creepy about that kid. Galaxia (though she functioned under the alias Star-Reacher) was strangely cold around him: that, I can't say didn't hurt him. Mimic's surprise pregnancy went much easier for her. But she found her magic was reduced to almost nothing during that time, even her family's enchanted starlight forged horsehoes were just pieces of metal. All her magic was being directed to the developing life inside her.  This concerned her. This made Firefly fear what might be growing inside her. Wind Whistle however encouraged a wait and see attitude. Like Shady, Mimic was driven by a base need to be as far away from others as possible as she began to deliver. This time however, Twilight and Wind Whistle followed her. The amount of magical energy released as Mimic contracted gave Twilight a horrid headache. I would be lying if I said I don't think Twilight The First assimilated a small fraction of the power Mimic's wild magic was throwing off. And Mimic gave birth. A white earth pony with the wings of a pegasus and the horn of a unicorn, her eyes closed, her mane bright pink and her coat snow white. That wasn't supposed to happen. Then it turned out she was carrying twins. This time out came a light blue filly who was the same mix of species as her sister. Their eyes opened at the same time. Twilight and Wind Whistler were shocked to their bones when a sun symbol appeared on the white one and a moon symbol appeared on the blue one. So yes Twilight Sparkle, myself and my sister gained our cutie marks within minutes of being born, and no one will ever break that record, which I'd say I'm rather proud of. Mimic's magic, which was also her life force, was so drained she spent a good deal of time being carried from place to place. She recovered before we grew the wits to feel guilty about it. It was Star-Reacher who suggested the names 'Luna' and 'Celestia' to Mimic, she accepted them readily. After Discord first saw myself and Luna, he finally spent a night without the nightmares, and the night after that, and the night after that. Did I ever think Discord was freaky looking? I grew up around him, he was treated as normal by the mares around me, none told me he was unnatural, how could I find him freaky? This held true before the big bang, and it held true at Paradise Estate. We didn't have a clue what any of us were. In another day and age I'd have been freaked out by my own appearance.   Little Lulu was scared how night crawlers, owls, moths, and bats kept gathering outside our room at night, and how they seemed to circle around her every time she went outside after dusk. She didn't know they were simply overjoyed to be with their queen of the night in person. Luna had a 'normal' sleep cycle at first, but she kept getting sleepy during the day and became more active at night. This gave Mimic no shortage of sleepless nights, she once told me she had to resist the temptation to put a muzzle on Luna to shut off the noise. Thankfully Star-Reacher was able to act as a nurse maid. Sunbirds, butterflies, even flowers seemed to be gravitate towards me whenever I went outside. Luna wondered how I got all the pretty things and she got all the nasty things. Wind Whistle, when she thought she thought we weren't listening, wondered if Luna represented evil, I good, and Discord neutrality. The last living thing that they had met that was aligned with darkness had tried to turn them all into monsters and erase the day. And the Rainbow of Light hadn't left a repentant little centaur among the ashes. Luna brawled her eyes out that night and Mimic gave Wind Whistle a good tongue lashing for it. Discord made so many funny faces that night to make Lulu laugh again. I can't say Discord was that awful a 'big brother.' We got back at him for his practical jokes enough times. And he never stopped trying to find ways to make his little shadow of a mother smile. Twilight would take Luna star gazing. But all the gazing Luna would do was at the moon. Constantly, endlessly. Even Twilight began to find it rather strange. Mimic stopped me from gazing at the sun several times least I damage my vision. But I never did. Playing dress up didn't grow old for a good while. Our little fashion shows were a riot. Looking back on them I can see they were childish and inane, but at the time they genuinely delighted us. I only wish we had taken a picture of when we crammed Discord in a cheer leader costume in revenge for the Bo Peep and her sheep costumes. Firefly was stunned at how fast myself and my sister picked up on her flying lessons. And Galaxy and Wind Whistler said the two of us absorbed knowledge like a dry sponge. Our progress actually managed to encourage Discord to stop goofing off and began to take his own studies seriously. He finally learned how to flying when he saw us doing it (he had had several painful false starts). And Mimic, our mother, taught us magic, as much as she could, her magic had been nearly a natural talent or augmented by her artifacts, but she saw how eager we were to learn. She wondered where our boundless energy came from. For a couple of decades, that's how life was. Discord continued to refine his magic, Luna and I continued to grow in power and majesty. Luna finally began to appreciate the devotion the night creatures were showing her, it finally hitting her that they didn't mean her any harm and in fact loved her. Heh, Luna was always the better artist, I was still doing stick figures when she had moved onto complex pictures with stories and designs. Discord was quite good at what you would dub 'modern art.' It was Posey who noticed first that the sunlight seemed to follow me wherever I went, the way it encouraged her garden to grow was impossible for a pony like her to miss. Discord was confused when some monsters began to actually bow to him, but then he realized how cool it was. He had created many of them with me or his sister after all. The ponies weren't quite sure what to think, but considering they'd had a descent track record with converting their enemies to good, they weren't too suspicious. That's not to say they couldn't handle villains who was truly irredeemable, as Tirek, Squirk, Arabus, Grogar, and many others all can attest to, they just preferred redemption over destruction, as I'm sure you and your friends do. "Mom! Look what I can do!" I shouted at Mimic one day as I practically flew into the kitchen, knocking over items. After a short scolding Mimic finally asked what I had come in for. "I can move the sun!" Discord and Luna were stunned silent. I had been too at first. This renewed debate among the unicorn on exactly WHAT I was. They had been more in awe and overwhelmed then delighted and amazed like I had hoped they'd be. That night after I had revealed the true extent of my power however, Discord's nightmares returned in full force, worse than ever. He had slept in Shady's bed for the first time in a decade. Luna didn't know what she was doing until she did it. She desired to know what Discord was dreaming of, and as she slept, she saw his nightmares! When she told me what she saw, I was totally confused. She had seen Discord running with broken legs, flying with broken wings. All in one effort to get away from IT. It was the equator long horned snake Discord had described to us all. Luna was even more scared and confused by the landscape. Filled with broken and deformed bodies. The air was as cold as the north pole she described. Shadows with no ponies casting them moved about, glaring at Luna. Luna tried to help him, but the shadows pounced upon her at one when she took just one step, covering her completely. She saw images of Shady playing with Discord, each one a memory. Only for her to be brutally murdered over and over by a large Draconequus' shadow in front of the Discord she knew. Luna wouldn't even describe the more horrid things she saw. The Discord Luna and I knew was grabbed by a much larger Discord. Who simply grinned at him as the giant snake came closer. The snake open its jaws revealing an inferno. "Oh don't resist ourself! That's just silly! We're going to love it! You loved it so much before! And you will again in a second! You just need to remember how fun it is!" As shade of His Parents loomed closer, tears came down the small Discord's face. Luna had only rarely heard Discord swear, (like the time she taken us all out 'night camping' and we disturbed that nest of wasps) but the small Draconequi shouted at it as he came closer. "Go back to pony hell!" Then It spoke. And Luna knew she had heard those voices before. Yes. She had heard two voices from it. "Little One. You ARE THE GATES OF HELL!" And it devoured both Discords in one bite. The next morning, Luna rushed to find Discord. And that was the first time Luna was scared of him. He was totally calm, more than he had ever been, the look in his eyes, it was the look you saw on mad ponies. Even Shady felt something terribly wrong had happened to her son. But he only told her that everything was finally as it should be. That made her more scared. Made me more scared... Luna went off to find mother and Star-Reacher. I followed Discord, but he teleported away. I spent a while looking for him until I thought to check the roof. When I found him was looking into Surprise's eyes, and she couldn't look away even if she wanted to. She was transfixed like a mouse into the eyes of a snake. Hers looked like pulsing rings of different colors, as did his own. "Aside from mom, you've always been my favorite Surprise. I love surprises. Always have. Surprises are magic. But it's not going to be funny around here for you anymore. Maybe you should go farm rocks or something for a while." "It's not funny around here for me anymore. Maybe I should just go farm rocks for a while ..." Surprise repeated like it had been her own idea. And she flew away without a word. Discord then turned his head and looked at me with a frown on his face. I didn't recognize him, it was like a stranger was wearing a Nightmare Night mask of him. Like something, like something was walking around in his dead body! I made a scaredy-pony yelp and teleported away. "MOTHER!" I screamed teleporting right into her bedroom. But I found Luna and Star-Reacher instead. "Sorry Celly," Luna said as she and my nanny pressed against me and teleported to the middle of a flat desert with the sun at high noon. "LULU? Aunt Starry-!? What's going on?!" "I'm sorry Celestia, I wish it didn't have to be like this.  But I'm afraid playtime just ended." Star-Reacher sighed, and then her years melted away to an adult mare, and took on the wings and horns I had been so familiar with when I looked into the mirror. "Star-Reacher you're . .. you're like me?" I asked. "Yes she is," Lulu said, with a strange tone in her voice, more maturity and calm than I remember it ever having. "Celestia. I'm sorry. I'm so very sorry. But there's something important I have to show you." She leaned down to touch my head with her horn. I panicked and teleported away. She teleported me back, and Lulu turned into blue and black snakes that wrapped their way around me. I struggled madly. "I'm very sorry Celly, but this has to happen." Her voice rang out from them without the hiss you think a snake would have. Galaxia touched my horn with hers. I felt memories emerging that I never knew I had. I resisted that memory spell. I pushed back at the memories I knew would hurt when I had them again. Then Lulu reassumed her true shape and helped Galaxia adding more punch to the spell. It gave me creation's worse headache. And still I resisted! I didn't want Discord not to be my friend. I didn't want to know any life but the one I was living. I had always thought of myself as a winged unicorn. After all, my mother was a unicorn, so that made sense right? So you could say I have walked the path of all three surviving races. As the truth of my existence crashed down on me, as reality of who and what I was returned, of who Galaxia was, of who Luna was, of what I HAD DONE, of what DISCORD HAD DONE ... I gave Galaxia the most hateful glare. She lowered her head saying simply, "I'm sorry Celestia. But it had to be done." "Discord," I hissed with such seething rage. "From everything Luna's told me, and from what I saw, the Discord 'Celly' knew no longer exists. That part of his soul has undergone apoptosis ... he's gone." I told them what he had done to Surprise. "But why would he send her away instead of getting ride of her more permanently if she was a threat somehow?" Galaxia asked. I sighed, "I don't think her being a threat had anything to do with it." I didn't return to Paradise Estate all that eager, for what I'd find, not for who I'd find, or for what I'd have to do. ++++ "You know Wind Whistler, Pandora was the one who arranged for you, mother, and those two others to switch around your personalities. She figured it would give you some new perspective, mix things up, that you'd walk away with some good traits of both. Too bad you all never spoke of that incident again to any of your friends ever." Wind Whistler hung upside down with bed cloths connected to a puppeteer's cross, dressed up like a clown. Discord just hunched next to her, looking at her casually. Her wings were forcibly wrapped around her body. Pegasus and Draconequus were floating several feet in the air. "DISCORD! STOP THIS! YOU'RE NOT MAKING ANY SENSE!" "Oh what fun is there in making sense? Besides, admit it, as much as you detested Fizzy for being a scattered brained goof-off, you LIKED being the fool for once! Not having to put up with the heavy burden of being the smart one among your childish companions. It's hard to be the smart one isn't it? And Fizzy I'd said liked seeing the world clearly. And mother, heh, oh mother, I know you loved being decisive and bold instead of having your self doubt eat you alive every moment." "DISCORD! I ORDER YOU TO STOP!" Shady shouted, she was sitting on a comfy couch in the air with coco and a manticore waving a fan over her several yard away. "Order? ORDER-?! What good is ORDER?! Restrictions and limits built in to prevent anything from experiencing true freedom. And in the end, sanity is but a BURDEN! You can believe me, I've been this way for EONS!" He grabbed Wind Whistler's head. "Foot loose and fancy free with you!" Wind Whistler's eyes swirled for a moment. Then she burst out laughing, the restraints on her wings and her fell away and she flew around like a drunk bumble bee. "So wonderful to be somebody else! Someone other than me!" She sang. "And now for you mother!" Discord floated in front of her, not even using his wings to fly. "Discord ... stop. Listen to your mother." "Hmmmmm. Naw. I don't think you want me to. Not really mother dearest. I'd say you LIKE being this way don't you? Admit it. This self here? It's the you that makes you happy. No cowardice, no doubts, no just doing whatever anypony tells you except to believe in yourself. Oh mother." Shady growled at him. "You are being horrid and cruel and I am going to give you such a spanking!" At this point, we finally managed to smash through the dome of chaos magic he had erected while we were gone. I flew down and touched a pony shaped tree with a flowers cutie mark pattern on one side. Thankfully Discord has always been LAZY and nearly always used permanent magic rather than instantaneous magic. Yes, Twilight, you're right, had he used instantaneous magic, I'd have had to turn a tree into a pony rather than Posey back into one, a much harder task. Very good, my faithful student. Posey shook her head dizzy. "I don't think I want to be a tree anymore." "GET DOWN HERE AND FACE ME YOU LITTLE BRAT!" Shouted Firefly, it took me a moment to realize she no longer had her wings. I quickly recreated them for her. "Thanks! Celestia? What's going on! Discord's gone crazy!" "I know." I sighed. As I did damage control, Luna and Galaxia came for Discord. Yes. Looking back on it I think I was finding an excuse for not fighting him again. "Where are the others?" I asked. "Twilight grabbed Applejack and wished they were safe and teleported away. The others I think are still in the house!" Posey pointed a shaking hoof. I looked at the household. And saw through the windows that the inside now resembled a mess of impossible staircases, with the others, Spike included, trying to find an exit with many of them running on the walls or upside down. We had no idea how more powerful Discord had become. None at all. As a innocent child he had no idea the true (non-existent) limits of his magic. Now he knew how to use his magic to its true potential. After devouring Havoc's avatar and Destruction, I feared he very well might have been the fifth most powerful being in creation! Luna and Galaxia weren't prepared in the least. The shockwaves of air he hit them both with sent them tumbling back, onto for the giant rocks that appeared behind them to break them rather than their fall. Discord knew there was only one reason Lulu would attack him anyone asking questions, or why Galaxia would be in her true form. "So Lulu, what's it feel like to have a happy childhood stolen from you with just one spell? I bet you really appreciate nana for that." "SHUT! UP!" Luna snarled as bolts of black lightning came at Discord from every direction, a simple barrier took care of that, and he redirected the shock right back at Galaxia! "Oh! Look what your spell did! You must not like Galaxia all that much for forcing all those awful memories back on you!" "Shut-up-shut-up-shut-up!!!" Luna snapped and made a blind horn first dive at Discord. "TORO!" Discord waved a matador cape in Luna's face, blinding her from the giant anvil she flew straight into. A dozen tiny stars formed around Discord, and then shot through him from every direction at the same time a bubble form around his head, cutting off his voice and his air. "It's time for you to take a very, very, very long nap Discord." Galaxia said. Discord mutely hissed and snarled as he was turning blue in the face. Then he teleported, the bubble around his head teleported with him. But he had teleported right in front of Galaxia. He then smashed it against Galaxia's horn, he got an eye poked out, but he erased that damage quickly enough. "But I don't feel tired." Galaxia's eyes gleamed like her armor. "That's what you always say." At that point. It degenerated into pure madness. I was trying to help those trapped inside the impossible pocket reality Discord had turned the household's insides into. They were trying to get out. I called for my mother. Mimic. She called back. She told me to run away. I didn't listen. Luna and Galaxia madly tried to do in Discord. There was no end to his new bag of tricks. Firefly OF COURSE tried to help, there was no way she wouldn't. However, Luna ended up having to protect her from Discord, it was the worst moment in Firefly's life. Finally Galaxy did the impossible and found her way out of a maze that wasn't supposed to have an exit with Mimic's help, with the Rainbow of Light around Spike's neck. And we retreated. After all, from their point of view, Discord was a member of their family who had spontaneous ceased to be the one they knew. But when we teleported away, his magic prevented us from taking Shady with us. "Lemme go! We gotta go back for her! Surprise is still there too!" Firefly shouted as we held her down from throwing her life away. "Surprise isn't there anymore," I whispered. We tried to find Surprise. But she or Discord had apparently gone to extra lengths to make sure she wasn't found. Twilight and Applejack found us. They only said that Surprise was safe. They wouldn't talk more about it. "If Masquerade was here she's say that that Discord had to be an impostor, and I'd agree with her," Posey said. "I'm afraid the Dissey we've known is the impostor," Luna told her. It took a long time to bring the keepers of the Rainbow of Light up to speed on the truth of things. In that time Discord began his thousand years of chaos. One. Thousand. Years. Twilight Sparkle. You saw how broken Ponyville and its ponies were from just a day under Discord. How insane his kingdom grew in one day . Now multiply that by three-hundred-and-sixty-five-thousand. Now you know why no real traces other than Spike remain of the Ages that have come before this one. Ponies had no idea what they were up against. They had no defenses against Discord's overwhelming power. Even after all the monsters they'd faced, the villains they conquered, Discord's sheer overwhelming power and insanity dwarfed even the worst of them. But at the time, what scared me the most, was that Mimic wouldn't love me anymore as her daughter now that she knew the truth. In response she hugged me and said, "Celly, I'll always love you. Both of you." Turns out Luna had feared that as well. All things considered, it did takes us a while to find the resolve to put down somepony who for all intents and purposes had been one of our own. It reminded me of when we saw how limitless Morning Star's greed and hubris really was. In the meantime, Discord made his mark on the world. He broke the weather system so utterly that the pegasi were the only reason it could still function at all. The very turning of the world he slowed down just to see what would happen. And Discord truly became utterly pointless and senseless in his actions, any logic or reason behind them faded into the ether. There was no grand game here, no script he expected his victims to follow. He was fully and completely random! The only real constant being he never ever stopped and loved watching his victims squirm! Mountains turned upside down. Trees running wild with axes at ponies. Horns hopping off their owners' heads and zapping them with spells. Houses growing huge and castle laying sideways. Random colored lightning clouds, AND ALWAYS with the exploding chocolate milk! Was he denied it as a child? Sorry Twilight, but that time truly was horrid, and it only got worse by the day. And we extended it by debating among ourselves if there was anything in Discord to reach. Shady lived the life of a caged bird. You're surprised she didn't make it into the history books? On one point, I didn't want her memory tainted by that monster. Second, tyrants throughout history have had loved ones and those they hold dear, who have been swept under the rug by historians so they could look at that monster and say 'he was never one of us, so we don't need to think one of us could be that awful.' Discord had turned insane through and through, and if he loved anypony anymore it was himself. The mere IDEA something as purely evil as Discord could HAVE a pony as a mother was a dissonance none could accept. The pregnant mothers after one day of his rules feared what he had done to their foals, can you imagine how many fold their fear would've increased had everypony known he'd had a pony mother? The disaster that had brought about the end of the Second Age exterminated many of the other species who had inhabited this world. Discord finished them off. Including any humans who might have survived up this point. The minotaurs were to humans what the griffons were to ponies. And Discorded pretended to be the minotaur's benefactor just long enough until the minotaurs realized they were in the same boat as their former human prey. He kept the hoofed species around simply because 'they were his favorite.' We helped those we could. Often Discord made us just run. Finally we found the resolve. How? When Discord began his reign. There were still five tribes in Equestria. Then Discord began his 'butterfly collection.' Posey actually vomited at the sight. Yes he publicly displayed them. He acted totally confused as to why the ponies cried out in disgust, anger, and horror at his ever growing 'collection.' They told him why, and he only got more 'creative.' When it all ended Twilight, only one flutterpony, one 'Breezie', remained: Rosedust, their queen. Do you have any idea what it's like for a leader to watch those who she's supposed to be guiding, protecting, those who she's the one they turned to in confusion, to be picked off one by one and displayed like trophies? Of all the cruel things Discord has done, this was his most vicious: he made her live forever. To make sure she never reunited with her subjects in the spirit world. We were able to finally remove her immortality five hundred years after his rule ended. She thanked us when she finally died of old age. And her kind became just a fairy tale. And then there was the Seaponies, the 'Hippocampi.' Twilight, know no matter what myths you may have heard about them, they were never evil. Discord actually left them alone mostly. As long as they could produce new songs endlessly in tribute to him. They were the greatest song smiths Equestria had ever seen. But even they had limits, and one day, failed to meet their quota. Yes Discord, a spirit of chaos had a quota, that could change any time he felt like it, do you expect Discord to make sense? Discord chose to turn their ocean into a desert to 'teach them lesson.' Then his card game ran long. Yes he made the deck out of ponies trapped in the cards, just another he amused himself. We wanted to do something, but Discord's power was too much for even us to break the spell on the desert and return it back to an ocean. Galaxia saved some by turning them into Buffalo and Earth Ponies, but the vast majority, simply died. Naturally the seaponies were horrified by this change almost as much as they were of seeing their beautiful ocean reduced to a desert. It was actually called the 'curse of the desert' by many of them afterwards. The panic-fueled hastily constructed instantaneous spell proved impossible to undo without a live seapony as a model to base the transformation into one. And Discord made sure none of us could resurrect anypony except him. Yes Twilight Sparkle, Discord a this point had gained so much power he was actually able to effect the rules of magic! The former seaponies fell into deeper despair. Some of their descendants still try, even unconsciously, to undo the 'curse of the desert' but the best most of them ever get is 'pruney hooves.' ... What's with that look on your face my faithful student? When Discord finally got around to check out his new desert, we had resolved to finish this. We had all long agreed that our Discord would have never done any of this, and this Discord was not him. During this time, 'Auntie' Galaxia actually found a young artist pony named Bluestar who she had actually fallen in love with and had given birth to a foal. That foal's line would one day ironically mix with ... that somepony else's story. Twilight. Know this is only the events if THIS particular timeline, the past is, in fact, just as liquid as the future, the difference is that our choices can only effect the future. I'm going to be honest, there are so many days I wish I lived in a timeline where the Discord that I'd grown up with had won out... We came at Discord with everything we had. Discord never expects chaos to be used against him. Ever. He believes in it too much. So when Galaxy the unicorn suggested we, the Alicorns, temporally reverse the ponies' personas for the assault against Discord ... it worked. But we didn't expect Discord's one true subordinate to be there. "None of you will touch my son." We barely recognized her. She initially wore a brown clasped hooded cape before removing it. Her eyes looked age before their time. The colors of her sunglasses cutie mark were inverted. Magical constructed batwings that looked like black purple-trimmed cut out in reality adorned her back. On her forehead was a sleek curved horn made of the same material. She willed a scythe made of the same nothingness into being besides her. It was like she had been hollowed out inside. Luna fought her alone first saying, "I am the one and only night." The battle between them was, frightening, that's the only way to put it Twilight it was frightening. Luna taking countless shapes and forms of creatures of the night, using every spell she knew. She created illusions, summoned up monster of the dark that owed them her loyalty, turning herself into a rain cloud of spikes. That was the one time I've seen her use magic Discord taught her. Shady used the gifts her son had given her, creating portals that shot out spiked iron pillars with steel spikes. Her wings and horn were so cold they burned and passed through matter like ghosts. She created black blades forged out of despair itself that flew at Luna. She was implacable. Twilight The First used a spell she had just developed, in honor of the flutter ponies, so we could all fight Discord while he was air-born. Yes Twilight Sparkle, that spell. The rest of us turned the tables on Discord. The unicorns used every magic TRICK they knew to get under Discord's all powerful skin. Discord at his core has been and will always be a spoiled child and a bully. And they were now playing quick magical pranks on HIM. The worst thing you can do to a practical joker. Heh. Other than PROMISE to do a practical joke on them and then leave them alone until they destroy themselves with paranoia of course. Spike resorted to good old fashioned dragon flames and claws. Being reduced to hand to hand was something Discord found rather demeaning, not to mention something he was truly unskilled at. After all, with his amount of power, why should he learn to fight with his bare hands? I chose to switch opponents and help Luna fight the pseudo-nightmare Shady. Mimic only told me to be careful. And with a completely distracted Discord, Galaxia with Mimic and Galaxy and Twilight's wish magic, brought the Rainbow of Light to its full power, greater than it had ever been, and blasted him fully with it. The others broke off their attack at the last possible second. "Ha! Finally running scared?!" Discord was completely taken off guard, unlike Strife he had no chance to deflect anything. He didn't even have a chance to teleport away by the time he noticed his doom was upon him. With a look of surprise and alarm on his face his body turned completely to stone, in seconds.  His statue fell and hit the sandy ground below with a thud kicking up a sandstorm. The Rainbow Of Light's shockwave also returned the ponies' personas to their upright position. Shady stopped attacking us at once. She floated down to the ground, attachments and despair constructs flicked out of existence. She stared at the sight of her son. The others went to her, she was in a state of shock. We both hoped and feared that the desert around us would begin to turn back into an ocean. But the Rainbow of Light was not as fast acting on healing secondary effects as the Elements even if took much less to awaken it. "Shady! Shady can you hear us?!" Twilight begged. "Come on Shady he's gone now! Everything's fine!" Firefly said. "It's okay Shady, we're right here with you!" Posey repeated over and over. "Come on please," Applejack whispered. Mimic, being a mother, Galaxy with her magical common sense, and Spike, who have never been the oblivious types, all looked at each other. "Shady he wasn't your son anymore," Mimic said. "He's just been laid to rest." Galaxy added. "Shady your son's been gone for a long time, we merely vanquished something that had his face," Wind Whistle said. "And who knows? Maybe we can fix him." Spike dared say, "After all, he wasn't zapped to nothing like Tirek."   Then Galaxia did something that every living thing in Equestria would regret for all eternity. She shattered Discord's statue. She utterly and completely BROKE IT! She smashed it to bits! And that was a mistake that cost all of us, all of Equestria. "OH YEAH! HERE I COME BABY! HOPE YOU'RE ALL READY TO FRY! LET'S DO THIS!" Discord is a SPIRIT my faithful student! And there is exactly one way to always free a spirit! Destroy the body. She thought Discord's spirit would be banished back to the ether. That he'd be dead. It didn't happen. Discord's spirit rose from the broken remains of his statue. I had never seen him grin so wide in his life. "THANK YOU SO MUCH! I HAD AN ITCH I JUST COULDN'T REACH!" Galaxia let out the longest, more anguish filled 'No!', I have ever heard in my life. It's lot less cliche when it's someone you know Twilight Sparkle. "Thank you!" He stretched his non-existent muscles. "Dad's little safety measure doesn't trigger if I off myself. Get booted straight back home! His way of making sure we weren't trapped in some eternal suffering with no way out." "No," I whispered, I actually FELT my eyes become pin pricks. "Now where were we? But I prefer the HANDS-ON approach! And I got no body to love! Ha ha! I'd kill me if you just hadn't! Now who wants me to move in with them?" Shady took several trots forward. "Sorry mother. That would be JUST too weird! Ahem. It's YOUR lucky day!" The pony he pointed to was Galaxy. His spirit dove towards her. She tried to run, you can't outrun a spirit. Wind Whistler meanwhile thought about what her friends meant to her, and dove towards the spirit. No Twilight, I will not tell you whether Wind Whistler succeeded in becoming Discord's host body or if she failed to save Galaxy from that fate. I won't have her memory tainted by association with Discord.   Only know, that she screamed, then laughed. She sneered at me triumphantly, and Discord said, in HER voice, "I told you, you hadn't seen anything yet Celestia!" And Discord twisted her body before us to match his old one. You've seen it.