Far far away, on a desolate planet miles away from Equus, lay a goddess in a prison amidst stars, bound with chains of darkness. There was nothing, just suffocating, deafening silence. Nothing in sight, alone, oh so so alone, lonely, no, must, alone, save, please, lonely. No! calm, quiet, composed, That is how a Princess must be.
The seconds ticked by, or was it years, centuries? She didn't even know anymore.
Her ear flicked.
Her breathing quickened.
Just before her mind shut down, she recognized what was happening.
A panic attack
Nothing in sight, alone, oh so so alone, lonely, no, must, alone, save, please, lonely HELP SI-
"How many times must you be reminded not to call me that !" snapped a voice.
The chains tightened and the deity felt electricity course through her, but she did not scream. She had run out of tears long ago. Besides, the chain around her neck was choking her.
"Forgotten even her name, but that insufferable fact remains embedded in that stubborn head of hers's" grumbled the voice.
"I couldn't............ forget it.......... even if I........... I tried dear Aaaargh" Her nose started bleeding.
Well, at least I'm not alone anymore, sometimes you do get what you wish for.
"So eager for more, you really are a glutton for punishment". The shadows converged to form a familiar-looking, Umbrian alicorn with a maniacal grin plastered on its face.
The deity, with painstaking effort, resumed her earlier, listless position "If you're here........ for you're....... usual song and .........dance, spare me, I wish........... no part of it tonigh-".
Her voice, rusty with disuse, cracked. The terrible sound grated the ears of the shade but she paid it no mind and cackled cruelly, "Nonsense, you were always fond of a little ribbing, were you not?"
"So princess, how goes your thousand-year exile hmmm? Enjoying the fate you bestowed upon me?"
Silence.
"It isn't over yet you know, don't get so antsy. Yes, I usually visit at the end of your exile, but I wanted to see my little slave. You have another 54 years left."
The princess started breathing heavily.
"By the way" it whispered as it slinked closer and closer, "little princess, how is your little prophecy project going?"
The Princess's breath hitched
"Oh yes, I know all about that."
No
NO
NO!
Centuries of planning down the drain!
My only hope is gone!
Equestria will become a frozen wasteland!
Nothing in sight, alone, oh so so alone, lonely, no, must, alone, save, please, lonely.
STOP IT YOU FOAL! calm, quiet, composed, That is how a Princess must be.
How could she have found.......... Have I miscalculated?
"Yes yes yes little princess, you forget yet again that this is my domain, and I've ruined them all. Starlight Glimmer has become insane with all the nightmares of her friend's death. Ah, it was delicious. Fear and hurt of foals are so satisfying. Next up Trixie Lulamoon, oh don't look at me like that, I didn't do a thing haha, she destroyed herself with her conceit, and mmmmm Sunset Shimmer" The princess flinched " You've driven her off to another dimension altogether" It's cackles echoed through the celestial plane, voice growing more vindictive by the second.
"You shall be trapped here forever at my mercy, for me to do whatever I want with you. My elemental prison will crumble, your mental one will not. I shall be loved, be adored, not harmony and Certainly. Not. You" It spat, "pathetic, useless 'warrior princess', couldn't defeat me in a one-to-one spar, so you had to cheat with the other elements. How does it feel to be useless. For all your stupid plans to fail. You will sit here and languish for all eternity because that's what you are. You are Useless!!!
Their eyes met. The Princess could see the layers and layers of burning rage, hatred, and the desperate conviction in those wild, insane eyes, that it had finally bested the world-renowned politician at her own game. That it had cornered her from all sides and the queen was just preparing for checkmate. However, even as the insane laughter dominated her ears, she could see the burning hatred it held for itself. Somehow, as she saw the deep-rooted loathing it held, she knew that all the spiteful insults over the last Millenium were directed at none other than itself. Unshed tears glistened at her eyes for the pitiful creature before her.........
tears...........well miracles do happen.
Wait, she didn't mention........
"Well, do you not have anything to say, hmph, I thought so, now..."
The shadow had expected many reactions, desperate pleading, stony silence, even her si- slave going mad and she was most ready to gloat. She had bested that conniving cur after decades of planning after all. However, hysterical laughter was not an expected reaction. Because laughter meant that she had made a mistake, and for the creature before her, giving an inch was equivalent to losing a thousand miles. The rusty sound grated on its ears, the unused muscles straining at the unexpected exertion, such that even she winced!
Why is that treacherous worm laughing, I have bested her after thousands of years. It is checkmate and she knows it!................... doesn't she?
However, even before the words were uttered, she knew she had failed. The eyes that had held pity for her before, were shining with the glimmer of victory, of hope. Her own hopes were destroyed even before the crushing blow landed when she saw light returning to the eyes of the mare she had sought to break.
with a painful grin, the princess whispered, "You............ missed!"
Suddenly, a wave of Concordian magic crashed into both beings, rejuvenating one and weakening the other. Something magical had just occurred.
The Princess laughed with joy, a musical quality entering the voice which was so harsh before. Threads of light erupted from her horn and connected with the other immortals of the world.
The shade's eyes widened.
No!
"Sister! sister, please! don't do this! "
"harmonia siquidem permiserit."
"Please sister!"
"I have chosen"
"Sister!" the shade screeched, " Our friends shall Die!"
In the Stone Palace, Draconian Terrein :-
"harmonia siquidem permiserit, Bravery accepts her choice"
"Queen Saphira!" The draconian guards hurried to help their millennia-old ruler, who was growing more decrepit by the second.
"No time", she wheezed, "Take me to canterlot, I wish to visit old friends...... Dracul will be my successor...........This I command."
"My queen..........." The guards murmured.
"NOW!!!"
As the queen left, the Dragons mourned.
In Canterlot castle, Equestria:-
"Harmonia siquidem permiserit, healing accepts her choice"
"aaah, this actually hurts, am I really that old? Good thing I'm already at Canterlot"
A wrinkled old zebra, who was dragging herself to the royal chambers, grumbled.
"Damn that silly old fool, I had told her not to give guards holidays but noooo. They need a break Asatira, let them have fun Asatira, they work so hard Asatira. This is what it has come to. How am I spending my last moments on Equus? Dragging this sorry old hide into her chambers. Now I have to stop Saphira and Daphne from having those insane competitions of theirs about who lasts longer.... Again....."
She sighed.
"What I would give to see Luna for one last time, to apologize for...... anyway, come on get to it you old coot! Oh is that a dedicated guard over there? My last wish will be to give him a promotion. Shining armor can you-"
In equestrian airspace, above the Royal Canterlot Castle:-
"Harmonia siquidem permiserit, Strenght accepts her choice"
"Damn it sparky, couldn't have waited for ten more minutes. Sheesh, you really must hate closed spaces. You were supposed to come tomorrow."
A silvery black griffin cursed into the night sky as she forced herself to glide to avoid crashing.
"Great, just great, the gate is right in front of me for harmony's sake! where are the guards? Oh right, Summer Vacation. When Asatira said that siding with Big Ce would bite me in the flank........ Well, I didn't really expect this".
"Listen here you fat chicken, I don't know who you are but you are under arrest for trespassing" Came an arrogant voice.
Biting back an indignant squawk at the disrespectful soldier, she studied him carefully.
Hmm cocky, probably a recruit, detained for some misdemeanor or the other, too arrogant for his own good. Let's correct that, shall we?
With a mocking grin, the Griffin snarled with a mock sweet tone, " Is that right? A fat chicken. Ok then soldier, take me to Captain BraveBird and tell him that his former mentor, Daphne wants to talk to him about the discipline of a certain former recruit."
The guard spluttered, " how dare you, I.......C-C-C-C-Captain? "
"Former captain" she reminded absentmindedly.
"I-I-I-I-I-I"
''Save your apologies recruit, you can see my state can't you? Take me to Celestia's chambers"
The guard snapped to attention, "SIR YES SIR"
Daphe wasn't done yet, " aren't you gonna check if I'm a changeling or not? Are you that bad of a guard? By harmony what has this legion come to, I'm gonna ask Ce for special training given to the lot of you, Answer me recruit, should I?!!
"SIR NO SIR.....I MEAN SIR YES SIR! I MEAN.........THIS RECRUIT DOESN'T KNOW SIR!"
She snickered, "At ease, I'm not a changeling, now let's go"
"Where sir?"
"Celestia's goddamn room recruit!!!"
"Yes sir! Sorry sir!"
"Sir, all is forgotten, right?"
"Yes recruit, provided it doesn't happen again."
"Recruit!"
"Yes sir?"
"Do I look like a male to you?"
West wing of Canterlot Castle, Equestria:-
"Harmonia siquidem permiserit, Beauty accepts her choice"
A cry of anguish followed the feeling of one of the threads of immortality in her snapping. In bright corona of light, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza teleported to Celestia's chambers in Caterlot Castle, leaving glittering teardrops in her wake.
In the aether:-
Both beings screamed as they felt one of their immortal threads snapping. In their hearts, they both knew that their friends were not long for the world. They couldn't decide which hurt more.
"How could you do this!!! Our friends!!! "
No. I. Have. No. Friends!!
"Lu...... Is that you? Please! Speak to me, dear Ack-"
The chains tightened. They were far too strong for an unconscious burst of magic to break them.
"No!,I have no friends!", the shade screamed, it's insane eyes flashing madly around for anything to take her anger out on, "Only traitors!
As the Princess's heart broke, Concordia herself spoke from her. Each word was accompanied by a thrum of power.
"Child, what has become of you. You have forsaken harmony. It is for such great a crime that I forsake my gift."
Pain, immense pain, the shade felt it was being torn into two. With a final scream, the power of dreams was snatched from its guiding light and given to another. The shadow collapsed, panting.
"You have betrayed me, the gift of dreams is no longer yours, it shall be given to one far worthier than you. I cannot stop you from dream walking. That is a school of magic outside my jurisdiction. However, Such magic will forever forsake you!. This I decree!
The nightmare thrashed and snarled. Tears leaked down its face.
"Oh, Child. Fight and come back to us. We need you."
With those final words, Concordia snapped the tight chains into pieces and Celestial returned to the world of life.
Princess Celestia's chambers, Canterlot Castle, Equestria:-
The bright flash of light from the hastily cast teleportation spell, fueled with anguish, was easily visible even in the badlands.
"Cadence, I swear you've blinded me this time. Wonderful, had to drag myself halfway to Ce's damn chambers, and now Princess Sexy over here freakin blinds me with her fancy magic. Teleportation, pah, try to brew a potion will you...... oh right, you blew up a whole castle the last time you tried!"
Cadence blushed, "I thought everypony agreed to stop calling me tha............... Oh, Asatira! what happened to you?"
"Old age apparently. Also, while everypony did agree, I'm not a pony, am I?
Cadence ignored the sardonic grin. A tear escaped her eyes, and another and yet another. Soon, she was just a pile of snot, tears, and feathers." Oh Asatira, your smooth, shiny coat, your beautiful stripes, you, I-I-I can see your bones through your skin! Oh, brave, strong Asatira!"
The doors open. Two legions, one comprised of ponies and the other composed of dragons, marched in. Each carried their respective leaders on an elaborate pedestal. The 'leaders', who were bickering about which pedestal was more magnificent.
As Cadence gawped at their sickly frames, Asatira facehoofed which elicited a wince from everyone present. The sound of crunching bones would probably be the scariest thing the soldiers ever encountered in the era of peace.
"Nope, I am not having this. We are going to die and I will not spend my last moments hearing you two bicker about who is more awesome and cool. Yes that means no old age claw wrestling Daphne", Daphne shrank back with a guilty grin," and no competitions Saphira!" Saphira whistled with an innocent look that screamed ' I was thinking that just now '.
An offended dragon stepped forward," Miss, how dare you speak to the Queen this wa-.............No no please carry on hehe" The dragon gulped after seeing the absolute dead serious eyes with the full force of the quod nemo virórum, Otherwise known as The Stare.
"Listen here young Drake! I have been alive for more than fifty thousand years now. I have fought wars, saved lives, and even taken many lives. And most importantly, I have kept those bumbling idiots alive for millennia. I will not, and I repeat, will not allow them to ruin my last moments on Equus with their futile quarreling."
Reducing the drake to tears, her face softened seeing Cadence's state. Even Saphira and Daphne stopped their good-natured ribbing. The mare was softly petting her tail and rocking back and forth after seeing the old, withered forms of The World's once proud and strong defenders. Tears leaked down her eyes as she kept on stating all the names of her dead friends, this time adding theirs to the list.
As they moved slowly to comfort their fallen comrade, Celestia materialized. Tears pooled in front of her as she teleported all of them to the bed. Her tears soaked the mattress and the cold whispers of the familiar words they all knew entered their ears.
"Nothing in sight, alone, oh so so alone, lonely, no, must, alone, save, please, lonely, nothing in sight, alone, oh so so....."
Celestia had once tried to share the fate that befell once her every week with a mind link. The sheer waves of hurt and torture inflicted on her by Luna was enough to render her unconscious for over a month. The only reason she hadn't become insane was because of her element protecting her. Every week, they had to rebuild Celestia from the pieces Luna had shattered her into. The first understandable phrase she usually spoke was that her name was Little, useless, princess and a plea to not leave her alone. They had finally resorted to using a memory stone. However, this time it seemed like she remembered every feeling with the utmost clarity. That was worse. Especially as they were actually leaving her alone this time, permanently.
They lay there for hours, sharing all the good times they had, about all the craziness they had endured about how most of their friendship had endured the test of time. The word being most.
"Celestia?" Saphira tentatively prodded, "Is Luna still in there?"
The silence was all the answer they needed.
"Could you give her this letter for us when she returns?" Celestia nodded.
"We have one for you too, but please read it after" She gulped," after we are gone, please?" Celestia nodded again, not trusting herself enough to speak. Yet another teardrop rolled down her cheeks.
"And of course, we couldn't forget our Princess Sexy over here, could we?" Cadence gave a weak chuckle and a halfhearted glare. "We really should have rewarded that reporter for coming up with that."
Celestia started shaking," Please, don't leave me"
Asatira came forward, nuzzling her affectionately," Celestia, you will never be alone. Luna will come back, Cadence will always be there and of course, you will have a lively foal in the castle soon who will never leave you. We will always be with you in your heart and live on in your memories. Please, let us go. We are ready."
With a mock gasp, Daphne teased," Asatira has gone senile! Oh poor zebra, she is doing what she has never done before! Giving. Nuzzles!"
"Hmph, well I never."
"Seriously Celestia, we are old and we are ready. Let our last act be one of dignity. The act of saving the world by sacrificing ourselves" Saphira continued.
"Admit it, you want a fairytale about your great deeds don't you."
"Yes"
Asatira glared at the miscreants, "All jokes aside Celestia, let's finish what we started, together. And remember, we love you"
With tears coursing down her cheeks, the threads of light reappeared from the tip of her horn to complete the ritual they had set in motion.
In the aether, the shade screamed and pleaded, but her will was overpowered by the four words uttered by the other elements.......
Luna, we are so so sorry
........ And in a voice not her own, she spoke the damning words.
Harmonia siquidem permiserit Hope is ready
Harmonia siquidem permiserit Bravery is ready.
Harmonia siquidem permiserit Strength is ready
Harmonia siquidem permiserit Healing is ready
Harmonia siquidem permiserit Beauty is ready
Harmonia siquidem permiserit Sorcery is ready
"Harmonia per gratiam scriptor, we choose Twilight Sparkle" Intoned all the Immortals of the world.
With those words, the death knell was struck for the valiant heroes of Equestria. Quivering forms of Celestia and Cadence lay amidst the shimmering forms of their oldest friends as they dissolved into stardust and ascended the heavens, forever immortalized in the stars of the land they left behind.
"Child, you do not deserve this pain. But to not raise the sun will harm the very creatures you sought to protect"
A battered and broken form of Celestia floated in front of a pulsing ball of light. Her eyes were cold and devoid of life. It sent shudders down the spine of Concordia herself!
"I cannot, I have no one to raise it for. Cadence can survive without the sun and Luna is gone."
"Child, Luna is not gone, she will return."
"I don't care."
"Your friends would care."
"Well they are dead aren't they? They can't care!"
Concordia sighed," What about the foal they gave their lives for, the one who can't be born without the sun?"
Celestia flinched.
"Read the letter they left, they love you"
"Does it ever get any easier?"
"Never, Oh somedays I just wish to lay in the hooves of my strong comforting broth-, never mind. You still have people who care for you. Read and remember. Most importantly, live"
Celestia snapped awake. The letter was just a hoof length away. She reached out and read. Then with a cry of anguish, reached out and Pulled the sun, collapsing with the effort. But if one observed closely, they would see the tiny curl of a smile on her face.
Dear Ce,
Remember that old song we wrote as children
Who are we?
do you have to ask
do you not see
the harmony guard
Saphira is our sword
Daphne is our Strength
Asatira is our wit
with which we can never fall
Cady is our grace
Lulu is our hope
Cece is our magic
With these virtues
We shall never fail
We got our backs
And love in our hearts
Who are we you ask?
We are the harmony guard.
Remember how Starswirl would grumble about this? The look on his face and his mutterings about undignified rascals in the palace was so worth it though. Over the years, we may have gotten fancier titles, Asatira, Chief Adviser to the crown, Daphne, Captain of the Royal Gaurd, Saphira, queen of the Dragons, but this song reflects who we truly are. Remember not our stony royal titles but this song. And always remember, we got your back sister.
We love you.
Sincerely,
The Harmony Gaurd
As the sun rose, the life of Twilight Sparkle began.