Twilight galloped as fast as she could. Ponyville was a mile and a half away. Her destination was the guard station of the town. Typically, the local watch guards wouldn’t have been able to deal with any mess caused by Discord, but the princess had temporally assigned a dozen royal guards as reinforcements for the reformation attempt. They were staffed with some of the most robust ponies within the Royal Guard, and although they couldn’t outright defeat Discord, they could contain him until the princess arrived.
After a few minutes, Twilight passed the fenced hill that signified she was a quarter of the way to the town, where she could now see the royal guard heading towards her. Twilight continued down the hill and slowed her pace as she reached the guards.
All of the guards wore golden armor with various colored accents atop their white coats. Leading the group was Captain Triple Trouble, an earth-pony stallion known for his battle prowess. His royal guard armor was accented with blue to denote his rank. At the center of his chest piece was a jeweled emblem of his cutie-mark: three unique blades crossing at their centers.
“Captain Trip-” she hastily began.
“Lady Sparkle, how many times do I have to tell you to inform the guard of what you do with the draconequus? This is the fourth time!” the captain complained.
“I’m sorry captain. I…no there’s no excuse for being careless, but right now I need your help,” Twilight said.
The captain raised his eyebrow, “Help? I’ve assumed you handled Discord considering the light show earlier and your lack of panic. Am I wrong?”
“You are correct sir, however, Discord might have had…a baby?” Twilight nervously chuckled realizing how outlandish she sounded.
Triple could only stare at the unicorn in disbelief, “My Lady, while I respect the attempt at humor, I am not in the mood. The entirety of Ponyville was put into a panic thinking a beast from the Everfree was approaching, and you know how hard it is to calm them all.”
Twilight rubbed her hoof anxiously. She did know from the countless times she and her friends had to calm them after a false beast attack was reported. “Sorry about that. But I am being serious captain. After we used the elements, Pinkie found a creature laying in front of his statue. Applejack’s tying it up as we speak.”
The captain let out a disgruntled sigh, “Lady Sparkle, we will be having a talk later, and I will be telling the princess of your carelessness. Your nonaction is unbefitting of someone in your position and could’ve had massive consequences, especially now. Let’s just hope it isn’t too dangerous.”
Captain Triple Trouble then turned to face his soldiers and spoke aloud, “Stallions, it appears that the situation is not as simple as we first assumed. Discord has indeed been sealed as we thought, however, he has left us a little present to take care of. Unicorns, I need you all to prepare the barrier spell. According to Lady Sparkle, he left behind his uhh…baby,” A few snickers could be heard throughout the unit, embarrassing Twilight, “and I will not risk the citizens of Ponyville if it turns out to be dangerous.”
The Captain pointed towards one of the Earth-Ponies in the back who was wearing unaccented armor, “Private Pace, send a message informing her Majesty of the situation.”
“Yes sir!” the pony saluted.
“Alright, to Sweat Apple Acres,” the captain commanded, “Lady Sparkle, you’ll be coming with us in case the elements are needed.”
Twilight knew before she even spoke that the captain would not be happy. “Of course captain. But you should know that Rainbowdash and Fluttershy have already left,”
Before the captain could rebuke her, she added, “Yes, I know. But it wouldn’t matter if they were here. Fluttershy isn’t in the right headspace for us to use the elements again.”
The captain sighed and signaled everyone to move forward.
One thousand years. One thousand years since the last time Celestia and Luna had eaten alone together. There was of course the celebratory feast they had upon Luna’s return, however, it was a public spectacle with no privacy. Celestia did try to schedule as many chances to be with Luna as she could, but with her having to run Equestria alone at the time and Luna’s focus on becoming acquainted with modern society, she just couldn’t find the time. Now eight months after Luna’s return, they could finally have lunch together.
They were eating in the royal dining hall alone with the occasional interruption from a waiter. It was when a waiter carted in the deserts that Luna observed something she thought Celestia would have gotten over. “One would think that given a thousand years, you would improve your eating habits sister. But it seems that such things are to be eternally changeless,” she teased.
“Sorry to disappoint Luna, but cake is something I will never give up.” Celestia proclaimed. Using her magic, she took an entire cake from the serving trolley. She then cut a small sliver of cake and placed it in front of Luna, “I did learn to share like you said I should however.”
Luna glanced down at the pitiful slice and then up to Celestia with a deadpanned expression, “Sister.”
“Oh fine!” Celestia huffed. She cut another small slice of cake and placed it on top of the other. Luna arched an eyebrow and continued to stare at Celestia. The two sat silently for a moment before Luna erupted into laughter with Celestia following suit. It was moments like this that Celestia missed during the one thousand lonely years since Luna’s banishment to the moon.
“Um, excuse me…” came a meek voice from Celestia’s side.
“Oh! Sorry, Silver Side you are dismissed. And here, take this for your time.” Celestia passed the waiter a sizeable amount of bits.
“Thank you, your Majesty!” he cheered and then merrily walked out of the room.
After a moment of silence, Luna cleared her thought, “Now that we are alone again and at the end of our lunch, I wish for you to answer a question of mine.”
“And that would be?” Celestia inquired.
“Why under Aurora’s grace would you free Discord?” Luna pressed.
Celestia groaned, “You weren’t supposed to know until everything was done.”
Luna scoffed in offense, “I can’t believe this! To think you would hide something so important from me, your equal. It seems I was fortunate to overhear Captain Armor, who you trust more I presume?”
Celestia knew she was playing with fire hiding her plan from Luna. Her lack of trust was one of the reasons Luna felt betrayed by her one thousand years ago. Celestia felt that if she wasn’t careful, she could break the reformed bond she had with her sister.
“Luna it’s not that I don’t trust you, I just know you would never go along with reforming him,” Celestia responded.
“You are right, I would never agree to something so foolish,” she confirmed. “Tell me then, what could’ve possessed you to think that reforming him was even possible? You know as well as I what he has done, and what Lords of Chaos of the past have done.”
“Yes, Luna I know. But back when he took over Equestria he could’ve done far worse. Instead of all the death and destruction he used to spread with his father, he chose to simply toy with our ponies. You remember what he was like—when Mayhem was alive.
“Look, I believe that after Mayhem passed Discord, for the first time, understood what he and his father were doing to our ponies. I am not naive to think he will ever be a good person, but at the very least his heart has been opened, and I wish to use that opening to gain a powerful asset for Equestria,” she explained.
Luna took a moment to think about what Celestia had said before replying, “Celestia, loss is powerful, but I do not think it could add even a smidgen of light to a heart as black as his. Someone like him deserves ten-fold the pain he has inflicted upon others,” she sneered. “However, it does us no good to quarrel, what’s done is done. So instead I leave you with this: Celestia, you are an idiot who is far too kind,” she jested, blowing a raspberry at Celestia.
The two shared a laugh and Luna continued, “So sister, how do you plan on turning Discord of all ponies into an ally?”
“I have given the job to my student Twilight Sparkle and her friends,” she explained. “I will be truthful, I do not think Twilight or any of her friends can reform him except for one, her friend Fluttershy.”
“Praytell, why do you think this, Fluttershy, could achieve such a feat?”
“Fluttershy is linked to the Element of Kindness,” Celestia stated.
“Ah, you plan to use the slight empathic abilities it grants.”
“Yes, It should be the edge needed to reach him. However, if the plan fails Twilight can seal him with the elements. And if that fails, I have left her with a dozen of Equestria’s best guards. And if somehow they fail, I have inserted a soldier of the Coming Dawn into the stationed guards. I may be an ‘idiot who is far too kind,’ but I’m an idiot who makes backup plans,” she proudly answered.
The name Coming Dawn piqued Luna’s interest, “Coming Dawn? So, you did take my suggestion of creating a group like the Full Moon.”
“Well with you banished, I didn’t have the time to handle threats outside Equestria myself. And I couldn’t use the Full Moon as they were loyal to only you and disbanded,” Celestia explained.
“So then who i-” before Luna could finish she was interrupted.
“Your Majesties, a letter has arrived through royal fire” a guard stated as he entered the room.
“Sorry Luna, but we’ll have to continue later,” Celestia explained as she tore open the letter and began to read.
“‘Tis fine sister,” Luna assured.
The room grew silent as Celestia read. Her face went from disappointment to utter confusion. “It seems I was wrong in thinking Discord could be redeemed, but thankfully all is mostly ok. However, something unexpected has happened,” she told Luna.
“And what would that be?” Luna questioned.
“According to this letter, Discord had a baby,” Celestia answered.
The room once again grew silent until it was cut by Luna’s befuddled voice, “What…”
“The creature is just over there captain,” Twilight said as she pointed towards her friends and the statue of Discord.
Captain Triple nodded and proceeded to walk toward the three surrounding the creature. Following closely behind the captain, Twilight and the soldiers could see the creature coiled in rope.
“You three,” Captain Triple said to Twilight’s friends, “move away from the creature. We’ll take things from here on.” He then looked behind himself, “Unicorns, erect the barrier.”
“Sir!” four unicorn guards said in unison. Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie went to Twilight’s side as the unicorn guards took station around the statue and creature. The guards’ horns glowed as they channeled their magic in unison. From their horns, streams of magic shot above the statue, and a barrier of magic slowly formed. When the barrier reached the ground, a quiet whine could be heard as it dug through the ground.
Captain Triple turned to Twilight and her friends, “This spell should be able to hold this thing for at least two hours if it’s as strong as Discord. It’s a physical magic distortion barrier taught to them by Celestia herself. Nothing gets in nor out; magic included. And it would take the physical strength of a dragon to even crack it.”
“Thank you for the reassurances captain,” Rarity said.
“Sir, the letter has been sent,” a guard said as he approached the group of five.
“Thank you, Private Pace. Now, I need you to interrogate Lady Sparkle and her friends about what happened before we arrived. Be thorough,” the captain ordered. He then turned toward the rest of the soldiers, “Pegasi, prepare an assault in case the creature breaks free. And you two remaining earth-ponies, patrol the area and ensure no one sees. I don’t need a civilian seeing all this and getting the town into a panic. If any of you need me I will be with the unicorns devising a course of action for when Princess Celestia arrives, understood?”
“Yes sir!” the remaining six soldiers chanted. The four pegasi took to the sky, while the earth-ponies went in opposite directions. Captain Triple walked over to one of the unicorns and began talking to him, leaving Twilight and her friends alone with Private Pace.
Private Pace cleared his throat and took a notebook and quill in hoof, “Well I guess we should get started. My name’s Private Fast Pace. May I get each of your names?”
Pinkie Pie giggled, “You should already know silly, you’re one of the ponies guarding us.”
“Well yes I do know, but it’s for protocol and formalities,” Fast Pace said.
“Oh, that makes sense,” Pinkie said.
Fast Pace took a moment to write in his notebook. “I guess we can skip the names and dive right on in. Tell me everything that happened today.”