//------------------------------// // Chapter XIII: Harmony's Judgement // Story: By the Will of the Council // by Captain Neckbeard //------------------------------// "So that's how it has happened." Luna closed their tale, just as they got clear of the Everfree Forest. "Incredible! After witnessing everything in these six months, I didn't think I could be surprised anymore, but you dashed my expectations." "Don't think this is any less extraordinary for us." added Celestia "A walk through Caelum and meeting La'uriel isn't a standard experience, even for an alicorn." Clover walked on. She glanced up at Canterlot, which definitely saw less chaotic days. She sighed, and said: "I'd say I get you, as I had my share of adventures as well back in the days, but this is no time for telling that sort of stuff. So... Do you have the knowledge how to use the Elements of Harmony now?" The sisters shared a look. Celestia answered, with a sort of confidence in her voice that didn't seem entirely genuine. "We're sure when it comes to that, we'll know what to do." "Really?" asked Clover, with an eyebrow raised. "Yes." said Luna, with a slight ear droop "I'm sure even if we'll have doubts, our Creator will help us out." "Well, good enough for me. The mere appearance of you two made me believe in many things, so I'll leave it to you. But will you at least share your plan on defeating Discord? I don't want to play advisor or anything, I'd just want us to be on the same page." Silence followed Clover's inquiry. Both alicorns just walked on for seconds, looking at the ground, seemingly deep in thought. Then, Luna spoke up first. "We'll just blast him? With the Elements of Harmony!" Luna's fake grin, and unsure tone didn't exactly seem to convince Clover. But Celestia backed up her sister's words. "We'll find a heavily corrupted area, and dispel the chaos from it. Last time that was effective to make Discord appear. And then, we'll indeed just...blast him, as Luna said." Clover just nodded, and giving herself over to Celestia's more convincing lie, responded. "I don't think I have the capacity to dispute the effectiveness of your plan, so let me ask just one more thing: When do you think you will fight him?" "As soon as possible. The quicker we deal with this, the better. Both for Equestria, and for us." Luna answered immediately, this time sounding really confident. "Yes!" Celestia nodded, "It's not like we could really prepare for a fight like this." Celestia then stopped, and added: "And with that said, I think you should go, and find shelter. We're grateful for all your help so far,  but it's on us from here on out. And I don't exactly know what will go down once we engage Discord, so better safe than sorry." Clover smiled a bit painfully, and fumbled with a hoof on the ground for a few moments. "And I'm glad I could be helpful! I wish you good luck then. I'll go back to the hideout now, and wait there until you deal with this issue. So... See you later?" Luna looked to the side, dodging an answer that Celestia was aware of too. So she said: "If we can defeat Discord, we'll definitely say our farewells personally. And if not... Then I guess this was our last battle ever." Clover seemed disappointed and sad. Celestia quickly added: "But hope for the best! I think we actually have a good shot at this." "I... understand. Then hopefully see you later." With that, Clover bowed her head. The sisters did likewise, and Luna added, speaking for both of them: "It was an honor, Clover the Clever." Afterward, no more words were shared. It would have been too hard. The sisters and the unicorn stared at each other for a few more moments, then they both went their separate ways. ☼☽ Now it was only Celestia and Luna again, walking towards the west at a good pace. The grassy field underneath their hooves didn't show any signs of corruption, but in the not so far distance, a tree groove, sporting far too many colors, was visible. That was their destination, and as Celestia explained it, undoing his magic would trigger him, then he would be an open target. Or something like that... "So that's indeed the extent of our plan?" asked Luna. "No. We'll use our instincts. And with the Creator's help, we'll surely figure out something." "It's just as if mother said that." "She did." Celestia said, glancing down at Luna. "These were her parting words. Now it's time we act upon them. We must." Celestia's voice wasn't judgemental at all, yet Luna felt guilt. She hung her head, and didn't answer anything, just trotted on, albeit slightly slower than previously. "Luna?" "It's just..." Luna started, not even making eye contact. "You just reminded me of her. She was right about everything, including me. I was so foolish, Celestia. Do you think she could ever forgive me? Because I'm not sure I could ever face her again, considering how I acted towards her and father in the past." Celestia stopped, and turned towards her sister. Luna stopped too, and awaited the blow. "Luna. Our parents won't forgive you." She looked up at her sister, sadness spreading on her face, belonging to someone who accepts the punishment, and agrees with it, too. But before she could drown in sadness too much, Celestia added: "Because they weren't angry at you in the first place." "W-what?!" "You've barely spoken to our parents in the last few years, but I did, and I can tell you; if anything, they were disappointed, but not mad or hateful. They just wanted the best for you Luna, even when you weren't there to listen." Luna's eyes went wide. Her expression changed. A single tear was welling in her eye. A smile was playing in the corner of her mouth, and Celestia was awaiting the (slight) emotional outburst. And Luna, surely enough, threw herself at Celestia. She expected this, of course, and answered the hug with a hug. And they remained like that, while she felt some of Luna's tears on her coat. She cried silently, befitting of the sister who always wanted to hide her emotions, yet had so many of them. "Thank you." Luna only said, after she managed to turn off the fountain of feelings to some extent. "You thank me for what?" Celestia asked gently, while still engaged in the hug. Luna got out of the hug only to face her sister, and answered. "Well... everything. That you believed in me. That you supported me, and insisted, even when I wanted to turn you away from myself. That you knew things about me not even I knew. That you are... my sister." "You don't have to thank me for all that!" Celestia said, and giggled. "These are all natural, exactly because of what you said: that we are sisters. And sisters do these kinda things." Luna sniffled, and wiped away her tears. She looked away, and said in a small voice. "Then I've been an awful sister." "Oh, come on sis!" Celestia sat down next to Luna, and put a hoof around her withers. "The Magikhan built a wall between us, but you managed to see through it, and broke it down. So don't feel bad now. Let any bad blood between us, perceived or real, be a thing of the past. Okay?" Luna searched the ground with her eyes, as if searching for the right answer, but then, she slowly managed to smile. She turned to her sister. "Okay! And... Thank you." And Luna nuzzled up to Celestia's neck, and she held her sister close, so she couldn't escape even if she wanted to. They remained like that for minutes, before Celestia broke the silence. "Feeling better?" "Y-yes. I guess I just really needed to get that off my chest. You know, before this might indeed become our last battle." They released each other, and stood up. Celestia glanced up at her own Element-crown. "Have faith, my sister. Together, we cannot fail." "I do have faith. Even if not necessarily in these crown thingies, but I indeed have faith in us." ☼☽ Celestia stopped casting, and the strangely colored and shaped trees were back to normal. It surprised her, but it needed very little effort. Her mind barely went through the stages of the spell, her anti-dark magic one, yet it fired already, getting rid of Discord's corruption in the area. Yet, Discord was nowhere around. Celestia was displeased. That bait should have worked! "Maybe we should actively search for him?" reacted Luna, tapping her chin slightly. "You don't have to look very far." came a sinister voice from behind them. The Sisters turned back. It was Discord, sitting upon a tall black throne, adorned with antlers at the top, not unlike the one of his own. He was visibly comfortable, had his legs crossed, and his body reclined. "I'd be horribly disappointed if I missed anything involving you two." he added "I hope that is not the case." Celestia and Luna glanced at each other. This was it. The moment of truth. The next few minutes would decide the fate of Equestria. Or perhaps even more. They didn't feel fully ready so far, but right then, they could think of only one thing: finishing this fight. They both took up battle stances. Spread their legs. Steeled their expressions. And their hearts. "End of the line, Discord. This is the end of your tyranny." Celestia declared, her voice determined and threatening. "Oh, we're at THIS again?!" Discord groaned, and crossed his legs the other way around "Okay, let's go through the motions again, then let me go about my business. All this havoc won't wreak itself." "Don't act so overconfident, you god of madness." Luna answered, her voice not unlike her sister's. "We have the means to defeat you this time. This is your final hour." Discord leaned forward in his throne, and squinted his eyes. "Oh, you mean those baubles?" Discord let out some laughter, then continued. "Surely, you jest. What good would they do, hm? Did little Clover convince you some useless trinkets could defeat me? BWA-HAHAHAHA!" Discord laughed even more, and waved away both alicorns. Then he added: "You know what? Let go of the boring theatricalities to spare ourselves some time, and let me show you something real funny instead. I swear, you're gonna love this!" Discord lifted his paw, but Luna would have none of it. She lowered her head somewhat, and instinctively, she cast. She didn't have a specific spell in mind, both her mind and her soul were in such an overdrive that she automatically went through the mind-motions. The magic beam struck Discord, and his paw got frozen in stone, down to his elbow. Luna's mouth was left open at what she just managed to do. Celestia was surprised, too. And arguably, Discord too, although his bewilderment got mixed with anger, and some horror as well. He stared at his own paw, which now looked like a part of some statue, stuck in the snapping motion. But the next moment, he began to clench his paw into a fist, and upon finishing the motion, the stone shattered around his appendage. And with this, his funny mood also shattered. "Oh, I see what you've discovered now." Discord said, and slowly raised from his throne "You wield the power of a god. La'uriel's I presume? I shall warn you: You might have evened the odds, but you do not want this fight. You would be fools to try and kill me. Because that is still impossible." Reacting to that, now Celestia fired a beam at Discord. The mad god dodged this one, and the beam continued flying into the distance. Discord looked behind at it, then back at the sisters. He furrowed his bushy brows, and his voice was uncharacteristically serious. "But if this is the way you chose, so be it." he said, and took a step forward "But I won't give myself up easily." "May these be your last words!" Luna bellowed, and both sisters spread their wings. They rose into the air, and their eyes lit up with a white glow, as the power of the Elements, the power of a true god compelled them. With righteous fury, they attacked Discord. ☼☽ Discord didn't let the suddenly superpowered alicorns hit her, and quickly dodged in a wake of magic. Luna looked where he went, and fired a beam spell at her. Discord dodged once again, then in turn, Celestia cast a huge magic bolt, but Discord whizzed through the air with incredible speed, again remaining untouched. "That is all?" Discord taunted, as he had a moment to remain still. As if only waiting for a prompt, Luna cast multiple, shimmering bolts of blue energy at him. Her magic never looked like that, and it went through her head just how much more powerful she became because of the Elements. Discord this time just extended his paw, and deflected the magic with a small shield. Luna in turn fired much more bolts, dozens of them, in rapid succession, but Discord now summoned forth a big, proper shield, and all of the attacks bounced off harmlessly. Seeing this, Celestia cast forth a telekinetic blast from the air, charged with deadly energy. As Discord was still focused on Luna's attack, this caught him by surprise, and he was temporarily stunned. Luna needed no more, and flew at the chaos god with great speed, and simply grabbed him in her hooves. The next moment, Discord was tackled to the ground, and Luna wanted to execute him with a headshot, but the bolt did not do any visible harm. Angered, she stomped on his head, and it left an outline in the soft ground. Luna was awed once again at her own increased power, this time her physical one. But Discord's head was still far too intact for Luna's tastes, and she stomped again and again with her front hooves, then she changed it up, and dealt out massive strikes with her hind legs, so savage, that they both started to sink into the bedrock. It actually provided a great base against which Luna could bash Discord's head, but he was left only with bruises. Then suddenly, his claw grabbed her right wing, snapped it back, and threw Luna out of the hole she created with her relentless attacks. Luna landed on the ground in a heap. It was strange enough, but she didn't experience any pain. She expected her battle to end there, but without effort, she snapped her own wing back to its correct position. The next moment, she cast a healing spell, and she was good in a second. It was incredible. No spell existed that could undo injuries that fast. And yet... But as soon as her sister received her comeuppance, Celestia flew into a retaliatory strike. Discord emerged from the crater, but he immediately got a high-intensity laser beam into his face. Then Celestia grabbed him in telekinesis, and threw him away with extreme power, into a nearby tree grove. The tree Discord struck upon landing got splintered, despite its several feet of thickness. Celestia landed in front of him, horn still lit up. And Luna arrived too, taking position right next to her sister. Discord slowly got up, and blinked at his adversaries. "Hm, not bad. My turn." He grabbed the remainder of the tree trunk, and his sweeping attack almost got both of the alicorns, but they were on the nose, and flew away from it. Then they fired some magic at Discord, who grabbed it, and reflected it back. They dodged, landing back on the ground. Now Discord was on the attack, and summoned destructive waves of magic, so massive that they scorched the ground in front of him a dozen yards wide. Luna phased away from the waves, while Celestia teleported multiple times, but she miscalculated the last one, and reappeared right in front of a magical wave. Celestia was washed away by the power of the attack, feeling his skin burning, and as if her body was torn asunder. But the next moment, she regained control, and stopped on the ground after a long skid. She felt no pain, and no damage was apparent on her body. She was surprised to say the least, but she wouldn't ponder upon that right then. She went back into battle, assisting her sister. Discord meanwhile got into the air too, his tiny wings belying his speed. He and Luna circled each other, exchanging attacks, putting up a light show. Luna's dark blue bolts got mixed with magic of many strange colors, testament to Discord's nature as a chaos god. He noticed an attacking Celestia though, and teleported away. For a moment, the sisters searched where he could have gone. Then Discord reappeared, not so far from them in the air: "Yoo-hoo! Over here!" The sisters didn't appreciate the taunt, and fired simultaneously, but they missed, as Discord teleported away a good distance. They followed, and cast rapid magical attacks at him, but they all missed. Discord blinked out of existence repeatedly, reappearing more and more distance away. Finally, he got struck by one of Celestia's attacks, but he was uninjured. "I'll just let you know, I feel NONE of this." he said, spreading his arms "I'm a god, and you cannot harm a god. When will you admit this to yourselves, and just give up?" To answer him, Celestia summoned a solid wall of magic, and as if it was a huge bat, she hit Discord with it. The god of chaos flew several hundred meters backwards, and left a small ravine after himself where he landed. The alicorns after him of course, preparing for his next move, but they only heard his voice from the hole he unwittingly created. "I suppose my point wasn't good enough. Let's try this again." Discord levitated up from the hole, surrounded by an aura of magic. The sisters began charging up their spells, but this time, he countered them before anything could hit him. He grabbed Luna in his telekinetic grip, and after spinning her around once for momentum, Discord hurled her at a nearby mountain. Luna helplessly soared through the air, and impacted the rocky slopes in the distance with a barely audible thud. Celestia contemplated for a moment if she should follow this up with an attack, or go and check on her sister, but the situation decided instead of her, as the top of the mountain crumbled down. She instantly teleported there, and caught the falling boulders in her levitation, just before they reached Luna, who was still plastered against the mountainside. "Sister, are you alright?" she asked with concern. "I'm fine." Luna answered, and detached herself from the alicorn-shaped mark of impact. Celestia let out a sigh of relief, while Discord appeared before them. He was clapping, and beside his hollering, he said: "Good show, good show, bravo! The audience demands an encore! But it's your turn this time, Celestia." And Celestia did give him a good show. She still had the entire tip of the mountain in her magical grip, and smashed it against Discord. The huge mass of stone crashed into the ground with an earth-shattering thud, trapping Discord underneath. But not for long. Discord split it open, and flew up between the two halves. She was floating in front of the sisters again, completely uninjured. They attacked again, but Discord took one half of the mountaintop, and used it to deflect the magic beams. Then he launched it at Luna at an incredible speed, but she shot it into a cloud of gravel before it could reach her. The other half flew at Celestia who dealt with it in a similar manner. After the failed attack, Discord just stared at the alicorns with a bemused smile, while they were panting, and obviously planning their next move. Celestia got an idea, and cast a spell at the clouds. As her weather magic got intensified too, it had an immediate and extreme effect, and the clouds became the darkest of dark. Lightning started to shoot out of them, and with her mere thoughts, she directed them at Discord. And he didn't want to miss any of them, and opened a small umbrella, so they would surely strike him. "Now, that's a bit more creative than your usual fare!" said Discord, while the current was coursing through him. "But if it's a storm, why not mix it up a little? Let's add my favorite!" He snapped his claws, and the clouds suddenly spewed chocolate rain. Celestia and Luna got soaked quicker than the former could dissipate the stormclouds, and it was once again sunny skies. Getting angry (even more than she already was), Luna flew at Discord, her body enveloped in a ray shield, that would instantly disintegrate anything short of adamantium, but the burn marks on the chaos god's body got healed as fast as they were caused. "Impossib... "Oh, gimme a break!" Discord said, whacking Luna with his closed umbrella. "I already explained why no attack will work on me. You think I'm just bluffing, don't you?" Luna didn't think anything as she somersaulted multiple times through the air, after the attack that shouldn't have been as powerful as it was. She could stop eventually, meanwhile... Celestia tried another elemental spell, this time trying to freeze Discord. He collected the frost magic into a little bowl though, and tasted it. "Not bad, but needs more flavor." Then fire came, but this got collected into a ball. Discord played around with it, while Luna started firing at her once again. "I'm getting bored." he said, while shooting a sinister glance at the older sister "Hey Celestia, catch!" Celestia expected the fireball to be directed at her, but Discord launched it straight at Canterlot. She immediately flew after it, before it could reach its destination. Although no pegasus could match the speed of any sort of spell in flight, Celestia easily sped through the air, and got in front of the infernal ball. As counter-spells failed, she just started to slow it down with her body, the sensation being warm, but not scorching. Finally, the spell let loose exploded in her face, and sent her plummeting into a gigantic supporting beam holding up one of the platforms of the city. It cracked, and under the sheer weight, it crumbled, and a part of the city slowly started to slide down the mountainside. Celestia reacted in time, and caught the whole platform in her telekinesis. Picking up the shattered parts, Celestia tried a restoring spell, and to her wonder, she fixed the supporting beam in seconds. Then positioned the platform back in its place. And if she had any time, Celestia would have wondered what were the limits of her new powers, but she had to get back to Luna. Who, meanwhile, was busy. Busy, but Discord now obviously just baited her, as he bolted through the air, while Luna tried to hit her. And some of the missed spells hit mountains in the distance, creating a visible explosion. Such range shouldn't even be possible for a magic bolt! As the sisters reunited once again, Discord remained still, and talked, inside a bubble shield. "I see you're still at it. And I'm getting really bored. So, how about this..." Discord peeked up at the Sun, then continued: "...Whoever gets to the Sun last is a rotten apple. And a dumb mule! Buh-bye!" With that, Discord launched himself up into the air, and flew straight at the Sun. ☼☽ The sisters followed Discord closely, who was already in low-Earth orbit. There was no telling what he would do if he reached the Sun, so they were determined to stop her, especially Celestia. Still, she couldn't shake the feeling that at this point, the battle was continuing for its own sake, and Discord was playing around with them. Could there be a conventional attack that could hurt Discord, and finally his reign would end? Could a battle of gods end with one of them losing, and either giving up or succumbing to the wounds as a result? Celestia didn't know the answer to any of those questions, but started to think that regarding some things, Discord pretty much stated the truth, just to confuse them even more. "Such a lovely orb of fire!" Discord stated "It would be a shame if something happened to it..." And he cackled for emphasis. Celestia caught up to him first. As magic didn't work too well on Discord so far, Celestia simply bit on the end of his tail, and he stopped with a sudden jolt. Discord was visibly surprised, then Luna arrived too, and cast a shimmering bolt of magic right between his eyes. He split his head in two to "dodge" it, then the parts joined back together. Discord visibly wanted to quip something again, but the next moment Celestia bucked him in the face with both hind legs, with such intensity that he fell out of the sky, and began his descent towards the earth.  Luna looked at her sister with an expression that practically stated "That's it!", and dived after Discord. Indeed, it seemed physical attacks worked better on him than magical ones. And after all, it made little difference to Luna if she had to make her hooves dirty in the metaphorical or the literal sense, if the fate of whole ponykind was at stake. Celestia likewise flew towards her target. Luna reached Discord first though, and dealt him a savage blow with a front hoof. Discord spun out of control, Luna after him, and punched again. Finally Discord came to, and they locked into a free-fall wrestling match. Discord managed to punch Luna away, but then Celestia came, and with a burst of speed, flew into Discord's face hooves first. Then they dived together towards the earth, Celestia continuously beating him, his head receiving blow after blow. They sped towards the earth at ludicrous speeds, and with Discord unconscious (or just feigning it), nothing would stop Celestia using the wretched god to soften the brunt of the impact. Finally, they both impacted the ground with an earth shattering explosion that had left a huge crater, and Celestia in the bottom of it, still grabbing onto a passed out Discord underneath her. She panted heavily, and looked for any life signs. Discord looked pretty bad. No mortal, or even an alicorn could have survived any of this. She did, but only because of the Elements. Did they provide her powers beyond Discord's? Apparently not, as he turned his head towards the alicorn still standing on him. "That was fun! But would you mind, and remove yourself from me? Your dirty hooves will leave a mark on my coat!" Celestia didn't budge, just furrowed her brows. Discord smiled, and collected a tiny amount of energy in his pawed hand. An explosion, an even bigger one than the impact caused, launched Celestia far away. Discord flew up, and away from ground zero, passing Luna who was near, and at the ready. She needed nothing else to follow, as she now saw her sister couldn't deal with the mad god, after all. She didn't check up on her sister. At this point, she knew in this form, they were both practically invincible. Luna chased Discord through the sky. The latter lowered himself to ground level, and took into a small forest. Luna tried to blast him from the sky, but only hit the trees, which blew up into tiny, burnt splinters. Soon enough, Celestia joined the chase, very much unharmed from the big explosion. With both sisters on his tail, Discord flew towards the sky again, then suddenly rolled around and spread out his arms. "Oh, for chaos' sake, let's end this already!" He dived down to the ground, followed by a very graceful landing compared to him. The sisters followed suit, and landed a few dozen yards in front of him. They still had battle in themselves, and Discord knew that too. He spoke. "Do you see it now? All this struggle, all this power, and you still couldn't even leave a scratch on me. We can continue this indefinitely, but the most you'll achieve is an Equestria ruined through your attempts to save it. Just look around! All this devastation, only to defeat me, but you caused harm to everything, except me. When will you admit you lost, and just leave me be? Or do you actually aim to try the bore-me-to-death tactic? Because truly, I was already bored by the second minute of this battle. Fighting is really not for me..." Discord crossed his arms, and made a pouty face as he finished his last sentence. Celestia and Luna so far only stared at him, but now they looked around. Discord had a point. The area stretching from Canterlot to the Everfree forest, and to the mountains in the northern direction, was almost unrecognizable by the damage they all caused. New landmarks were created through their battle, ravines, craters, rockslides, clearings... But Discord still stood there before them, unharmed. Celestia slowly turned towards her sister. She wanted to consult her, but Luna spoke up before a word could leave her mouth. And Luna was still angry, to say the least. "Do you think we will give up?! Do you think this is the end of it?! That you lecture us, and we would just walk away? Well, think again!" And Luna charged up her horn, and fired. Discord extended a hand as if wanting to discourage her, but the spell was let loose, and it struck him hard. So hard, that it left a visible hole in his abdomen. Discord grasped the wound, as a yellow liquid flowed through his fingers, hitting the earth in fat drops. Discord looked down, both surprise and horror on his face. "You... You monster. You killed me..." He panted heavily, then slowly looked up at Luna. "You struck me in my only part that could be hurt. Now my godhood is leaking... I'll be dead in no time." Luna cocked her head, focusing on the wound. She seemed baffled that she scored that hit. Celestia only had an eyebrow raised. "I hope you're happy now, that you've killed a god." Discord continued, grieving for himself. "That's what you wanted, didn't you? Because that's the only thing your kind is good at, isn't it?" Discord looked at the two sisters who were starting to get confused. Tears appeared in the corner of Discord's eyes. Then, he couldn't take it anymore. He sucked in his lips. His tears were flowing now. He was slightly shaking. He thought he would last. He didn't. He burst out laughing, so hard, that his wound closed itself on its own. He was hollering, and pointed at Luna. "I can't... I just can't... BWA-HAHAHAHAHAHA!" He couldn't finish the sentence, he had such a blast. "I can't believe you fell for the same trick twice!" Discord laughed on, slapping his knees. "Aren't alicorns supposed to be smart? I just told you I cannot be killed, and you still believed you got me! Seriously, you are a neverending pool of amusement, Luna!" He didn't think he could laugh any harder, but he did. And it didn't seem he would stop anytime soon. ☼☽ Now both sisters looked at each other. Luna was seriously devastated. Her ears drooped. Celestia simply looked forlorn. "And here I thought I actually got him..." Celestia stepped closer. They locked their gazes, and Celestia softened her own expression, trying to give her sister some hope. If nothing else, they had some of that still. "Maybe we approached this whole battle the wrong way. We were so fixated on killing him, that we’ve forgotten what's truly important." "What do you mean?" answered Luna, and as if her ethereal mane was flowing a little bit slower. "Saving Equestria. Ultimately, taking out Discord is just a means to an end. But we should focus on Equestria. That's our priority, sister." "Yes, but if we try to dispel his chaos without..." Luna interrupted herself. She thought about it. She had a feeling, and she saw it in her sister's eyes as well. As if some unseen force whispered in her ears. Was it the Creator herself? Was it her subconscious? Was it an instinct, or the strange precognitive power Celestia had? At any rate, it struck Luna, and her ears perked up. Equestria. If they couldn't defeat Discord, at least they could try to restore Equestria to its former glory. And if Discord turns it back, they will do it again. And again and again. They will struggle for eons if need be, but they won't let him win. They will stand up for ponykind. And now, they would do it together. Not side-by-side, but together. Luna smiled, and nodded. Celestia nodded back. They needed no further words between themselves, they understood each other perfectly. They knew what they had to do. They knew what they wanted to do. They closed their eyes, and cleared their minds, and banished their thoughts of battle. They imagined an Equestria, pure and safe again, where ponykind lived in harmony, and was in charge of its own destiny once again. Where ponies acted like ponies, and nature looked like its usual tamed glory. Where the Sun rose at dawn, and the Moon at dusk. They channeled their thoughts and desires not into a spell, but simply into a wish to stop the corruption, and free ponykind. Regardless, their horns lit up, and a strange, warm feeling flowed through them. A feeling of a peculiar mix of emotions. Joy and faith. Kindness and loyalty. Selflessness. All in harmony. Harmony. That's what they wanted. Not for themselves, but for the ponies of this land, who deserved to have these emotions again, to live again, and not just go through a cynical mockery of it. They just wanted to spread harmony. And feeling each other's presence, they stepped forward, and touched the tips of their horns together. And in that moment, they felt the love of a god flowing through them, a love for every single pony in existence. It formed a dual streak of rainbows, rapidly entwining. And it shot up into the air, and forming an arc, descended upon the god of chaos, still guffawing at his own hilarity. It struck him, and so quickly he couldn't even react, he got turned to stone from feet to head, struck in the dramatic pose he just feigned. Then, the rainbow exploded, washing over the land, dispelling the corruption everywhere, turning back everything to its once harmonious state.  Celestia and Luna, barely able to glance at what they brought forth, passed out, as the power of a true god left them. ☼☽ The sisters opened their eyes. What they saw in front of them was a beautiful field of lush grass and flowers. All the damage from their previous battle, gone. And Discord? Luna gasped loudly when he saw him. Turned to stone, frozen in the state he was in, an exaggerated display of laughter. She couldn't believe her eyes, thinking the last minute was just a fever dream, but she glanced up at her crown, then at her sister, and she knew it was the truth. They defeated Discord. Harmony has returned to Equestria. All of the chaos god's corruption, dispelled. She stood up, and Celestia got to her hooves too. And Luna couldn't hide her joy, and loudly exclaimed. "We did it sister, we did it! We saved Equestria!!! We saved ponykind!!! Discord is gone! Woo-hoo!" Luna pranced in place. She was so happy! She must have looked ridiculous at that moment, but she cared none about that! Celestia was beaming as well, and embraced Luna in a big and tight hug. And right then, Luna could only return it, not being shy of her emotions. "I'm so happy, Luna! Ponykind is free! And yes, we indeed did it, together! The Elements have worked! Our instincts were right!" Celestia and Luna were hugging out the stress and intensity of the last few days in the middle of that field. They remained like that for many minutes, laughing and giggling and even tearing up from the pure overflow of emotions. They didn't just win a battle for ponykind, but for themselves as well. And it was about more than just the struggle against Discord. When they released each other, they looked into each other's eyes for a few more moments. They had words to spare yet, but somehow, like previously, they knew what the other had to say, and just stayed silent. Was it about joy? Definitely. Was it about pride? Very likely. Was it about knowing it was worth it? Yes. Was it about that they finally found themselves? They looked upon the beautiful Equestria that they brought back from the clutches of chaos, and shared another smile. And in that moment, they felt that this was what they were destined for from the very beginning. Even if the powers that be wanted them to think otherwise.