//------------------------------//
// Discordant Origins 
// Story: Eternal Twilight 
// by Squirrelloid 
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"So what did happen, Twilight?" Dayspring recovered her curiosity, and bounded over to one of the stained-glass windows. Her gaze wandered over the figure of Discord, his limbs working a set of puppet strings attached to ponies below.

"I suppose, to properly tell the tale, we need to go all the way back to the beginning."

"How far back is that?"

"A long, long time. Many thousand years. I'm not really sure how many. Back to the founding of Equestria itself."

The filly sat back on her haunches, her rear limbs splayed and her forehooves propping her up. "You mean the story we tell on Hearth's Warming Eve?"

Twilight smiled. "Shortly after it, actually. You ever notice there are no alicorns in the Hearth's Warming Eve story?"

Dayspring's eyes looked up as she sat in recollection. After a time she spoke. "I suppose you're right. There aren't any in the story."

"There weren't any back then; just unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies."

"Where did alicorns come from?"

"Patience, little pony. I'll get there."

The young filly nodded her head in acquiesence, her eyes eager.

"In the beginning, the unicorns raised the sun and the moon. They did this collectively, because no one pony had the power to bring the day or the night on their own. Over time their powers got weaker. Unicorn magic began to become specialized, with fewer and fewer who could work general magic and contribute to the raising of the sun. Fortunately they were gifted with a unicorn of unsurpassed wisdom, Star Swirl the Bearded. He may not have been the most magically powerful unicorn to ever live, but he is certainly among the best loved, for those of us who remember."

"Who was the most powerful?"

Twilight frowned. "His greatest student, who was born into a time when it was feared that the magic would die out and the sun would never rise again. Star Swirl was ancient by that time, old even by the reckoning of old unicorns. When he found his last student, whose birth name is lost to memory, he was surprised by the strength of the colt's magic. Despite his age, Star Swirl took on the young pony's training personally. Ponies marveled at the colt's power, and wondered at his blank flank, for despite his obvious magical destiny, no cutie mark appeared to grace his form.

"Then one day, on the winter solstice, when fears were at their highest that the sun had gone forever, Star Swirl's pupil raised the sun by himself. That Hearth's Warming Eve, Star Swirl the Bearded called the leaders of the pegasi and the earth ponies together in conference with him and his pupil. He revealed to them the loss of magic amongst the unicorns, which had until then been a secret, and that his student was the salvation they'd been waiting for. The promise that the sun would always rise.

"But even more momentous was what his pupil said to them. That his was a power that belonged to all ponies, not just the unicorns. That while harmony existed for the present, their houses were divided. They were all swayed by his words, and it was at that moment that he finally received his cutie mark, two hooves pressed together in agreement.  Thus, he became known as Accord."

"I've never heard of him."

"You wouldn't, this history has been stricken from the record."

"What did he do next?"

"While he was just a unicorn, he belonged to only them. Harmony could not be maintained that way. So he and Star Swirl worked powerful magic, captured the essence of the three houses: the earth-sense of the earth ponies, the flight of the pegasi, and the magic of the unicorns, and they bound these natures into the rituals which raised the sun and the moon. The next day, after he brought forth the sun, he was changed. Accord was the first alicorn, and the first prince over all Equestria."

"Sounds like a hero."

"He was––at the time."

"What happened to him?"

"He was corrupted by greed and didn't want to give up power. Star Swirl, in his wisdom, had woven another aspect into the spell. Once every thousand years would be born an unicorn with the power to raise the sun and take on the mantle of leadership. But Star Swirl didn't tell anypony beside his pupil, which was his greatest failing.

"Accord ruled a land of harmony for several thousand years. Those powerfully magical unicorns who were born quietly disappeared, never to be heard of. The corruption in Accord's heart stayed hidden."

"That's awful Twilight!"

"Not as awful as what happened a little more than two thousand years ago. Something in Accord must have snapped, because he became the spirit of disharmony known as Discord."

The filly's eyes widened in fear.

"I see you've heard of him."

Dayspring nodded her head vigorously. "You defeated him with the Elements of Harmony!"

"We did, my friends and I."

"How do you know all this ancient history, Twilight?"

"Trust the story, young filly, not the story-teller. Hey now, don't give me that look."

"But that's not an answer!"

"I suppose it's not." Twilight smiled.

Dayspring yawned.

"Almost time for moonrise, isn't it?" Twilight asked.

"Didn't notice. The light doesn't change here."

"Come, would you like to see me bring forth the moon before you go home?"

Dayspring nodded her head vigorously. Twilight turned before looking over her flank at the filly expectantly. Dayspring's hooves scrabbled on the marble floor to regain her footing, almost slipping in her haste to follow.

"Careful now, the tower stairs are steep."

Dayspring followed up the winding stairs, white stone tinted violet by the light. The shadows shifted unevenly as Twilight's horn continuously moved around the circular, stone column about which the stairway wound. At the top the light moved out of her field of view, and Dayspring swore she could see stars where the stairs let out. She hurried out onto the landing and found herself outside.

The top of the tower had once been a room.  Jagged remains of a wall around the perimeter stood in mute testament to the violence that had torn the chamber open to the sky. On the horizon the faint blush of light from the sun just below the horizon stretched out across the tops of trees and the crests of hills. Above, stars twinkled in the evening sky.

"What happened here?"

"I did."

The filly followed Twilight to what had been a balcony a little hesitantly, looking nervously at the damage. Then she was on the balcony, staring out over the untouched forest in darkness below them. Suddenly, she felt like she was seeing double. One set of images was like she had seen before, pristine wilderness in near darkness, only barely touched by the light of the sun. But the other was Canterlot, the sun low, but visible in the distance. Her horn throbbed. Dayspring shook her head to clear the weirdness from her vision. When her sight cleared, Twilight was looking at her strangely. Dayspring smiled uncertainly.

"How did you get your cutie mark, anyway?"

"Oh, well... I've always been up early... to greet the sun. I thought it sang to me, but that was probably just me being a silly, little foal. And one morning I was out there, watching the sun come up, and my parents came out and saw my horn glowing. And there it was, my cutie mark!" Dayspring looked sheepish. "I'm not actually sure what that's supposed to mean for my special talent."

"You'll figure something out, I'm sure."

"You wouldn't know..."

"You might want to stand back.  The sun has just gone down in Equestria." The world around them had not changed, still near darkness just barely kissed by the light of the sun.

"Oh. Yes, Twilight."

The mare's wings unfolded as Twilight pushed herself back on her hind hooves, the first beat of the wings catching her as she reared, and the gentle beating held her there at full height. Slowly, majestically, the wings lifted her off the ground, her head high, her horn glowing with pale light.

Dayspring couldn't see the moon, not in the unchanging landscape around the palace, but she could feel it in that other world, the world of Canterlot where the palace wasn't, as it crested the horizon and began its journey across the night sky. Then the moment and the magic was over, and Twilight was on the ground, looking at her. Staring into her.

"You felt that, didn't you?"

"I guess so... What...?"

"Little ponies should head home before their parents worry too much, Dayspring. I'll still be here tomorrow. The gate will open for you."

Dayspring sketched a quick bow before carefully heading down the stairs, leaving Twilight standing alone beneath the night sky in the midst of the tower ruins.