Three translucent creatures appear in a black space, each one taking a different form from a race in Equestria. A yellow Dragon, a red Griffon, and a pink Kirin appear within the contained space. Each one sparkles with a small amount of magic as they silently observe each other. The dragon is the first to break the silence.
"The seal has been undone on Unity. She is whole again." He says with a sigh. "The laws set in place on that world are now in jeopardy. I propose a reset on the planet. This is only one timeline of many. Its loss will not be missed."
"Come now, Mist. There is more that can be done without pulling the plug. Not to mention, we lack the numbers to do a full reset. Now that Discord is frozen in stone." The griffon sighs, "The laws have long been in jeopardy since the arrival of your favorite pony in this time period anyway. Correct, Cleo?"
Cleo sighs a bit, her body shifting from child to adult to elderly. "Time is holding on by a thin thread because of Twilight Sparkle. Her desperation to break my laws is… Cute." She says with a shrug. "But correct, your object of affection is quite a problem, Mist. She's completely broken mentally."
Mist grumbles, "Through no fault of her own. Unity has been extracting her harmony since day one. All that strength she has is turned against her. Even the elements of her time won't resonate with her anymore at this rate. I'm afraid the damage will be permanent."
Cleo shrugs, angrily saying. "No spoilers, not for someone who created this branch of the timeline with his experiments. I just evened the score by having the father and mother killed earlier than normal."
"Enough. Both of you." Says the griffon with a glare at the both of them. The red spirit gently fades and changes into a pony. Unfazed by the glare and change, the other two spirits still allow him to continue. "The fault lies with Gloria. Or as she's called now Unity," he says with a simple hand-talon motion.
"Focus on the matter at hand and hoof you two. Infighting will do us no good." He says
The pair look at each other for a moment and nod. Cleo speaking after a moment. "Fine, in that case, I propose heroic assistance. What say you, Equus." She says with a rub of her nose. "This is your well-being we're talking about."
"Very well," Equus says. "Cleo, repair any damage Twilight may make with her time magic. If you must, seal the ability away for as long as possible. Mist, I am granting you a single direct intervention. Use it to save your precious Twilight Sparkle at the right moment."
Cleo and Mist nod. Cleo smiled. "I know exactly who to send to help, too." She giggles a little as Equus changes again from Pony to Yak. Mist and Equus tilted their head in curiosity.
Celestia and Luna crawl out from their hiding spots. The pair just had front-row seats to the entire fight.
They were scared. The two sisters nervously look at Discord. If he was so easily beaten by Unity, then what could they possibly do to deal with her themselves. Not to mention, she seemed to have gotten even stronger after the fight happened! Beating Unity at this point just seems. Impossible.
Celestia staggers a little bit. Her body is worn out from the day's efforts. Luna rushes over to help Celestia stay standing. "I think we're safe for now. Let's use uh. What did Unity call him? Discord? Ohhh, so that's Discord." She says, getting a little distracted.
"I thought he'd be taller." Says Celestia as she leans on Luna a little bit. Catching her footing for a moment with Luna's help. As she leans off of Luna, Celestia's ears perk up. Her wing covered her little sister defensively. "Who's there!?" Internally, she screams, 'Please don't be Unity, Pleaseeee don't be Unity!'
A small flash of pink shines across the sky. The bushes rustle and shift as a tall, pony-like creature walks through the foliage. Celestia tilts her head as Luna peeks from under the wing. The pony has an extra fluffy mane, a long red horn, and a thin tail with a tuft of hair on the tip. The most prominent feature is the layer of dragon scales along their back. "I thought I heard something going on." the creature says. "I never expected to find two young ponies out here." Are you two alright?
Celestia carefully puts her wing up. "Who. No. What are you?" She says with a confused expression. She's never read nor heard about what she's looking at. The tall creature smiles a little. Her curiosity is peaked, but her worry about protecting Luna overtakes that feeling quickly.
The tall mare smiles softly. "Please don't be so alarmed. I'm not here to hurt you." She says as she looks over to the statue of Discord. "Although, I see that you have quite the story to tell. I am Sunshower Daze. Leader of the Kirins." She motions for someone behind her. "And this is my Daughter, Rain Shine." She says with a smile as a smaller Kirin, about the same age as Celestia, walks forward from behind the much taller mother.
Celestia lowers her guard after a moment and lets out a sigh of relief. "We could really use a place to rest. If you guys have a place to spare." She says eagerly. After all, she isn't getting a sense of deceit from this 'Kirin.' "I'm Celestia, and this is Luna. We're uh. Really far away from home." She says with a mumble. "Not by choice either."
The Kirin looks over to Discord and nods. "We can provide you with a bed for the morning and a warm meal. She then gently glows her horn as she grunts. Lifting up the statue with a small struggle. "Please follow me."
The pair follow quietly behind Sunshower, the group walking towards the mountain and into the crevice. A small path reveals itself before the group as they walk, a pony-made road leading them into a small village of tree houses and small huts.
"Welcome to Season's End!" Sunshower says with a smile. Sweating a small amount as she drops the statue of Discord in the back of her home. "Please. Come in." The door is gently opened with magic, revealing a quaint house perfect for a small family. Sunshower walks inside and sighs for a moment. This was starting to become a hassle. "Feel free to use the room at the end of the hall. There's only one bed in there, so I hope you two don't mind sharing."
Celestia smiles tiredly. "Thanks. A lot." She yawns a bit. "You sure we aren't intruding?" She tilts her head.
Sunshower just giggles. "It's not a problem, Celestia. Please, you two, get some rest. Then we can talk about things when you two wake up. Take all the time you two need." She waves her hoof. The pair of Alicorns walked to the room to pass out.
Daytime comes and goes as the pair sleep their exhaustion away. Celestia and Luna wake up and stretch. The duo looks outside, noticing that it's around noontime. Celestia sighed. "I've never been disconnected from the sun this long. It feels cold." She mumbles to herself.
Luna sighs. "You're telling me. It feels weird being tired at night. Even if it's just a little bit." She shakes her head as the duo walks out of the room towards the living room. Rain Shine hums as she practices her singing in the living room. Humming and singing a familiar song. She stops when she notices her guests.
"Eep! Uh. How much of that did you guys… hear?" Rain Shine says with a mumble, blushing heavily from being caught practicing singing.
Celestia tilts her head. "Only the end of it. You're an excellent singer, though." She says, "Not to mention you know that song too! Guess it really does transcend racial barriers, like mom said." She says with a rub of her chin.
Rain Shine smiles bashfully. "Thanks. I'm gonna be singing it at the open mic this week. It's a good song to start off with." Rain Shine stands up while speaking, trotting to the nearby kitchen and putting food on the dining table. "Mom won't be home for about an hour. So you two have some time to eat before she gets back. Hope you two don't mind some salads, though. We don't really eat anything too fancy out here."
The pair sit down, Luna being the one to speak this time. "No worries, Mom taught us to not be picky." Luna happily munching down on some cabbage and lettuce. Celestia doesn't even speak, just eating down her meal.
Rain Shine leaves the two to enjoy breakfast, heading out to tell her mom they've woken up. Just in case she can come back early. Which she does.
Sunshower walks into the house just as Celestia and Luna finish washing the dishes. Even without magic, the pair will still be respectful in someone else's home. Celestia noticed the tall Kirin first. "Oh! Mrs. Sunshine. We were just cleaning up. Thanks for the food." Luna happily nods as she puts the dishes to the side.
Sunshower smiles. "Well, what thoughtful guests. You've been raised well." She then motions for them to sit on the nearby couch. Sunshower taking a nearby chair. "So. Tell me everything."
Celestia and Luna look over at each other. Divulging every little bit of information, they have up to this point. Sunshower doesn't interrupt nor ask questions. She hardly reacts, just listening and idly watching the pair of Alicorns.
The conversation finally dies down. Celestia finishing. "And I think she's been messing with Mom since they met. Those gemstones we saw in her room, those aren't just normal memory stones."
Sunshower sighs. "Unlikely," she says, having broken her own silence. "She's been fragmenting pieces and bits of your mother's spirit, slowly making room for the personality she wants to foster."
Luna picks up what's being said and mumbles. "That's why Mom has been so obsessive since the start. She didn't just forget her lessons and old life. They were being stolen. That's why Unity had the Elements of Harmony!" Luna's voice getting louder and peaking at the end of what she said.
Celestia grunts a little. "Ahhhh! We could do something if we had our magic, but we're just flies to her like this!" She says with a sigh. "We can't even make it home in time to stop her if we have to walk!"
Sunshower rubs her chin. "This is troublesome to hear. Ponies and Kirin have never been close friends in the past, but we certainly do not want a pacification spell to be cast on us."
Luna then looks outside. With these realizations, she's even more determined to fix this. "Mom is still in there somewhere. The one that helped us back when mom and dad were alive. Your best friend Celestia. She's still there." Luna sniffles a little. "We just have to figure out how to bring her back."
Celestia stares at the ground. "She's Mom now, Luna. Regardless if it's the Eternal Queen or the loving Princess." She sighs. "But you're right. We have to figure out a way to free her. It's just."
Rain Shine pipes up after a moment. "Creativity, right? It's hard to think of a plan?"
Celestia and Luna nod together. Celestia replied, "Mhm. The pacification spell had already started when we left. It's draining creativity out of everything in and on Equus. Since we lived in the castle, ours is sorta mostly already gone. We've just been winging it this entire time."
Luna then perks up. "Actually, wait. There is one creature that still has creativity! We saw him earlier!" She then motions outside, right at Discord's statue
Celestia gulps. She was hoping to avoid this. "W-wait Luna. If mom's stories are still right. He takes over Equestria from US at some point! Maybe we should just. Leave him there?"
Luna leans in and nuzzles Celestia. "That's the future, sis. We have to deal with the present. Sides, I don't really see any other option. Besides, we have to figure out how to free him first. We don't have magic to do a de-petrification spell."
Celestia looks over to Rain Shine and Sunshower, who both tilt their head. Sunshower shook her head after a moment. "Apologies, but we don't know the petrification spell, much less a de-petrification spell to fix this in the first place." She says sadly. Before perking up. "Although, there may be a way to unseal your magic, even just a little bit. We could go talk with the village shaman."
The alicorn duo looks at each other. "Well, it's worth a shot. Even just a diagnosis would do us some good." Celestia mumbles out.
Sunshower smiles. "Excellent. Rain Shine, take them to Zera's hut, please. I have a few more duties to attend to today that I put off." Sunshower would then lead the group outside, trading some goodbyes as the group heads to the local shaman.
Elsewhere, Twilight is sitting in front of the spell, focusing on the pacification spell. A silent, stale air around her. Quietly, she gazes up at the reflective surface of the machine, the core component orb missing from the center. However, her reflection is what she's most interested in.
"So you did survive, Princess. No. This isn't survival. This is meddling. Isn't it?" Eternal says silently to her doppelganger in the mirror-like surface.
There's a small silence before the reflection giggles a little, saying. "I have no idea!" Her reflection says the much more color-saturated and younger-looking pony says back to her. "All I remember is darkness, and now I'm here. This hyper, almost insane level of magic is way above my head, but I'm here now and well."
Princess Twilight sighs. "Let's talk. Without anyone else trying to stop us. Please?"