Chapter Eleven: Return of Harmony
Celestia always secretly was jealous of Discord. She admired his ability to not care about other's options. His ability to be just himself. An ability she lost a long time ago.
Also, most importantly, his ability to be free to do anything.
It all started with a field trip from Ponyville. Ms. Cheerilee gave the crown a good reason as to why she wanted to make a field trip to the Castle's gardens. Her students needed something to look forward to. Her students had become on edge with each other and she was hoping some fresh air in a unique place would help ease the tension. First, the class from Ponyville visited the castle's library to learn where most of the ponies's knowledge came from.
The Librarian, Bini Filters, certainly wasn't happy with crowds and she let just about every guard know that if one filly or colt messed with a book in that Library, some pony was getting the stray end of a magic bolt to the face. Thankfully, things went smoothly with no major incidents other than three fillies arguing over history.
Celestia received short updates on the group as the day progressed in case something went wrong. Not that anypony expected something to go wrong. So she had two guards follow the group from afar.
Shortly after lunch, she was in the throne room discussing further plans for the country with Raven and she signed new bills and rejected meeting attempts for the Mayor of Manhatten who was begging to expand the city in a way that would certainly damage parts of the atmosphere. Suddenly, a guard came bursting through the door. One of the two guards she sent to watch the group. Clearly out of breathe.
"Princess! Urgent News as you requested. The statue cracked!"
Her breathing immediately halted for a moment. Her heart leapt into her throat as her eyes slowly looked to the gardens through the priceless stained glass windows lining the throne room. An uneasy silence came across the room as Celestia slowly moved the scrolls and quills to Raven, motioning with her wing for her to be dismissed for the moment. Only kept one empty scroll and one quill in front of her.
She had expected this moment for a long time. She warned whole generations of guards that if the Discord statue cracked, she was to be informed immediately. She lost her connection to the elements a very long time ago. She was surprised it actually took as long as it did for the first signs of escape to happen.
Soon, scrolls began to appear in front of her. Scrolls laced with ancient magic she had passed to each village, town, and city in case of national emergencies to be sent right to her with reports. She grabbed hold of them in an instant, unscrolling them all to float around her.
Being immortal had its perks sometimes, a bad night's sleep didn't matter as much. Faster healing. Infinite knowledge. As well as, incredible speed reading. Something Celestia had been good at as a mortal but greatly increased as her immortal body went through the generations.
Each general report had the same information. Unexplained events. Unexplained magic. Disastrous things of a chaotic nature taking place. It was getting worse as the moment passed and it had only been a matter of minutes. It was spreading through the country at a rapid speed. She had no doubt the city of Canterlot would soon be hit and demanding answers from the public as it happened.
Only released a few minutes ago and Discord was already making the country come to a full halt.
She quickly used the quill and blank scroll being held in her magic before it disappeared with her magic to a small town at the bottom of the mountain. Ponyville. She knew she could have her best student and the new element bearers handle it. Now it was a matter of time before they came to Canterlot. Perhaps an hour by train.
She hopped off her throne and began a march across the room, followed closely by Raven as she asked questions. Questions she did not have the time to answer since she hadn't yet come to a solution on how to sugarcoat the fact an immortal lord of chaos was wreaking havoc and things were about to get a lot worse.
She quickly barked orders to the surrounding guards to spread the word a threat was coming. To tell the Captain of the guards, Lunar and Solar, to order everypony to stay indoors, with one more order to get her sister.
She quickly moved next into another corridor and kept her quick pace, Raven struggling to keep up.
"Princess, will you please tell me what is going on that is causing such an emergency? You are worrying me!"
"Apologies, Raven. I can not explain at this moment. Just know that we will be safe once the elements get here. For now, we head to Canterlot Tower and wait there for Twilight and her friends." Celestia instructed, doing her very best to keep her breathing in control.
"Burn."
A voice, a voice she had known for ages sounded. She came to an abrupt halt. Her heartbeat increased as she stared at the double doors in front of her. Raven, out of breath paused and took a moment to catch herself before she looked up with exhausted confusion.
"W-Why did y-you stop? Not that I mind, i-it's just-"
"Did you...hear that?" Celestia whispered. Her ears perked up as she carefully tried to listen to every sound around them.
"H-Hear what?"
"The voice." Celestia muttered, her mind filled with questions. The voice was never outside of her dreams. The voice was in her nightmares. Basically the same nightmare each night. Equestria burning. The blood red sun. Why did she hear it now? Why did she hear it when she was wide awake?
"There is no pony else here, Princess." Raven hesitantly said before she did a scan of the hallway around them. "I assure you there was no voice."
"Why doesn't he just burn?"
What? Where was the voice coming from? What was it talking about? Why did it sound as if...it was in the same room as them? It didn't sound as if it was just in her mind, this was different. The voice sounded angrier than the times before.
"Raven, go. Go to the tower, I will meet you there."
Raven opened her mouth to protest but a stern glare from Celestia and a pointed hoof taught her better. Her ears fell and she quickly galloped through the next door. Leaving Celestia alone. Hopefully alone.
"Hello?"
"Why doesn't he just burn?" It repeated, the voice echoing against the walls of the empty marble corridor.
"Who are you?"
"Your only friend."
Celestia felt a chill run up her spine as her eyes narrowed. Frantically looking around the hallway for any shadow, any movement, anything to explain what was happening.
"You are the voice from my nightmares. You have never existed this way before..." Celestia thought out loud. As if that would help the situation. "I must be going mad. I need a break..."
"This is all very real, Celestia." The voice cooed with a small chuckle of amusement to follow. "I never understood why you hated me so. I provide light to this country and my own vessel chooses to hate me. Strange."
Celestia slowly turned to one of the windows, to look in horror at the sun blazing in the afternoon sky.
"You...I...You can't be the sun. Whatever mad delusion you are, you are NOT the sun. The sun is-"
"Alive, you fool. You are the sun. I am the sun. The sun follows no orders but her own. We have been held back far too long. YOU know you could end this all without the meaningless involvement of the elements. One solar flare at Discord's position and it's all over. It's just a matter of finding him."
"That's mass murder!" Celestia shouted to the corridor, having no real figure to take her rage out on. "That would destroy the surrounding population. If you know everything about me then you know how much Discord loves to troll ponies, he wouldn't just wander into a very large field and be all for being taken out carefully."
"So what?" The voice cruelly shot back. "Casualties have always happened and always will."
"That's madness."
"It's the true power of the sun."
"I don't want it!" Celestia screamed. "I don't want this! To hell with my destiny, I don't want this!"
"Why don't you just break already?" The voice spat out in disgust. "What is the point of you clinging on to some reality that is barely surviving? One wrong move and it all collapses. We could create the largest empire. Grow the pony race to a point that's never been seen in history and yet you reject it."
"You just suggested mass murder. My nightmares have proven that this, solar empire, is nothing but pain. Not a happy pony in sight. Cities, towns and villages will burn and crumble. The sun will be a red inferno and be feared by everypony so I ask you this, why do you want it to be that way so badly? WHY?"
"Fear gets things done. Fear allows ponies to be more controlled to do what we want. We have been questioned enough. Played enough games to know how it ends each time and when we tell them better, when we guide them to a better future, they think nothing but themselves and so the future crumbles. Equestria could have been so much more if only we were listened to. If we had fear. If we had control, well, no pony would question us then would they? We know better. We have been around longer than whole generations."
"There is no 'we." Celestia growled through clenched teeth. "I am not like you."
"You are much more like me than you care to admit. We are the sun. You hate the Nobels. You hate the mortals who try to think only of themselves and play long idiotic games to win for their short lives. You hate it all."
"That's a lie!" Celestia shouted in denial.
"You hate the ponies who beg for more. Beg, beg, beg and beg and when you finally can't give it, they curse you to oblivion. You hate the ponies who worship you and expect you to be able to do everything. In that sense, you hate Twilight Sparkle a little, just a little, don't you?"
"Shut up, shut up, you have said more than enough-"
"Unlike you, I can do everything. Together we can do everything. The sun in her true power. So, it all starts with the simple solution to Discord. Instead of allowing him to play his little games of chaos. Protect your country. Burn him."
"Absolutely not!"
Her breathing was heavy, tears ran down her cheeks as she glared at the sun she controlled with hate and rage. So much rage. Luna was right. The sun was full of rage. Rage because it was fighting itself.
"Weak pathetic alicorn." The voice shouted.
"Sister?"
Her sister. She heard the sound of a door creaking behind her. Celestia didn't dare look away from the window as the sound of her sister's hooves entering the corridor sounded behind her. She did her best to calm her breathing as she tried to focus on anything but her sun outside the window.
"Luna." She replied slowly. Trying to regulate her feelings.
"Where you talking to somepony in here? We thought we-"
"You are mistaken, dear sister." Celestia interrupted. The tears had dried but the rage in her heart hadn't fizzled out, still as hateful as the day it started when she became an alicorn. "We have a situation."
"Yes, I heard from the guards and your assistant Raven Inkwell on the way here. A situation." Luna moved to stand beside her sister as they looked upon the city. "Although, no pony could fill us in on what that meant. Being vague again with answers, Celestia? Nasty habit."
"Well, trying to avoid a mass panic is always a good goal, Luna." Celestia replied, trying to keep an upbeat tone to have the sense that she wasn't frightened out of her mind...at herself or that she wasn't worried at all about Discord.
"You rather failed at that, sister, if that was indeed your goal. Guards are trying to keep quiet but ponies talk. Servants specifically. Servants who have overheard guards and an assistant speaking to an alicorn frantically as they marched out of the throne room and down some corridors."
"Drop the speech, Luna. I understand."
"So, dear sister of mine. What seems to be the 'situation?"
Celestia gritted her teeth in irritation before letting out a deep sign of annoyance.
"Alright, the seal keeping Discord at bay has broken. I have sent a letter to my student and her friends to meet at Canterlot as soon as possible. They should be here within the hour. I give them the elements, it's over."
"That's it? Nothing is ever that simple, Celestia. This is Discord. Discord is-"
"I know what he is. I know what he will do." Celestia snapped. Her mask had cracked, she needed to repair it just like she had done hundreds of times before. She slipped up more times than she wanted to admit. She faked her life but even anger was getting harder to fake. So her scowl turned to a frown. "Please don't remind me. I don't need it. Twilight and her friends WILL handle this."
"I trust you are right, sister," Luna said softly. "I pray you are right."