(Just a brief author's note, Sympathy's name has been changed to Purity.)
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Maelstrom breezily cruised through the temple halls. It was black other than the illumination of a string of torches on the wall. The entity gazed absently at the portraits of the Council, and the group of low life creatures he had the pleasure of spending most of the waking moments of his life with.
Finally, Maelstrom stopped at the two best portraits, in his opinion. He and Purity really were the most photogenic of the entire group. Purity had the grace of a flower dancing in the breeze, and the beauty of the twinkling stars.
Not even more than two feet away, and pinned to the wall at a higher angle than his portrait, hung the painting of one beast Maelstrom loathed more than anyone in all of the realms. Even on a inanimate piece of wax paper, the detestable worm still looked at him with that smug look, reminding him he'd always carry a higher title.
The god's hateful, crimson eyes scanned Astraia's photo right next to him. He hated her just as much. She was a direct copy of that miserable wretch and just as judgmental.
In a smaller frame below the two was the first offspring of the King and Queen. Little Celestia was still so young; at just the tender age of two she was still so easily corruptible. If only Maelstrom had access to get to her, but he had been forbidden to see the little sun princess and threatened with death if he attempted it.
It hadn't stopped the child from approaching him in curiosity one day. Oh, Maelstrom would never forget that day. The naive, spoiled little princess had wrinkled her face up at his appearance and asked why he had looked so strange. She had been quite talkative for a two year old. Maelstrom had remembered picking the girl up and sitting with her in his lap as if he was one of her family.
Before he had the chance to taint her little infant mind, he was blasted with a powerful current of fire and Aegeus had whisked the girl out of his arms quicker than a whip. Any attempt to get close to the King's daughter after that was always thwarted by a magical barrier that the King and Queen had summoned around Celestia as a precaution.
It never broke his hope that one day he'd be able to get to her, when Aegeus and Astraia were unable to protect the girl anymore. Mommy and Daddy wouldn't be able to keep Uncle Maelstrom from instilling darkness into her and destroying those pathetic notions of harmony.
“Maelstrom?”
The entity was broken from his venomous thoughts and realized he had a claw raised and engulfed with flames, inches away from Aegeus's portrait. A smile snaked across his face as he floated over to Purity. “Purity, darling, Aegeus told me you wanted to see me?”
“That I did.” Purity's normally serene and heavenly tone had become hard and stern, and her soft, blue eyes were riddled with anger. She led the god towards a large, stone table in the middle of a room.
“Perhaps you can tell me how the book got this way.”
Maelstrom stalked closer to the table and watched as tendrils of pure, black magic seeped from the pages of the book. The ominous, sinister energy curled around him, filling his black heart with the demonic aura. He inhaled deeply through his nose, as if he was smelling the most pleasant aroma. “It's beautiful, isn't it?”
“No it isn't!” Purity snapped at him. She rarely raised her voice, even to Maelstrom. “You corrupted the entire book! These changes—these spells you added, they are permanent! They cannot be erased! And the supply of this magic paper is low. I can't just get a new book.”
“So don't,” Maelstrom told her with a casual shrug. “I don't see the big deal. This book of spells; it's to provide guidance to the mortals when we leave them on their own. It has every magic a mortal could possibly want to use.”
“This book is supposed to have only one type of magic,” Purity growled, “White magic. These spells are supposed to prosper the inhabitants of this world. It has healing spells and purifying spells, and spells of love and harmon-”
“Oh, GAG me!” Maelstrom cried, yanking at his ears fiercely. “I can't hear anymore!”
“And now there's no way to remove the spells you added!” Purity glared at one of the pages. “You added curses! You added a spell for disabling magic? That requires a tremendous level of power and knowledge. The results of this spell could be catastrophic!”
“Well then, let's hope an idiot doesn't attempt it,” Maelstrom chuckled. He hopped back a bit, a startled smirk on his face when Purity's leopard paw furiously slammed against the table.
“That does not matter! These spells are not supposed to be in here in the first place!!” The room lapsed into silence, save for Purity's heavy breathing as she glared at the silent immortal.
Purity realized flying into a rage wasn't doing any good, and it did nothing to make her feel better. She soothed her anger and gently cupped his face in her hands.
“Darling, please listen to me. The Council is already angry enough with you. You know what your penalty could be. You could face the threat of death.” She blinked, and there were tears in her eyes. “I don't want that to happen.”
There was a moment of silence, and Maelstrom heaved a sigh and threw up his arms. “Very well then. I'll stay away from the book, dearest.” Not that it would do any good. The damage has been done, Purity.
Purity had heard it all before; the lies that he wasn't doing anything wrong, the empty promises that he would better himself, and the fake apologies. Still, she refused to believe there wasn't at least a speck of light in her husband. There had to be something, or maybe she was too far in denial to ever see the truth.
“Thank you, love.” She pressed a kiss to his lips, which he immediately returned. Purity had always wished she could be Maelstrom's humanity, that she could help him see the light. After all, he still loved her. So that had to say something, right?
Maelstrom smirked to himself as he stalked off. He'd keep his promise to his wife, no doubt about that.
After all, he mused with a smirk of glee as he summoned up the rusted, colored stones. Soon I won't need that book at all.
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Temperatures dropped to sub zero that night. In addition to the howling winds and sudden, frigid rain, it made for one uncomfortable, cold night of sleep.
Discord wearily lifted his head off the rocky surface and discovered he wasn't the only one awake from the weather conditions. The sleeping bags were thin. It was in the middle of summer and the thought of packing warmer sleep wear, just in case, hadn't even crossed anypony's mind when they were setting off.
Shivering, Discord raised a talon with the intent to easily summon up some furry blankets, but the dim spark of magic faded to nothing as he raised a solitary claw. Muttering angrily, he vaguely recalled Chrysalis's warning that he may not have magic for several hours after the siren encounter. So hopefully a demon would wait until tomorrow to attack.
Shivering, Discord curled up tightly and expanded his fur as much as his muscles would allow for extra heat. About to drift back off (most likely into a land of nightmares), the spirit could hear the distinct sound of chattering and grinding. Cracking a vermillion eye open, he turned to see a tiny lavender, and saffron form curled up together a couple of feet away from him.
His burgundy tail slid away from his body and wrapped itself around both Fluttershy and Screwball, tugging them close to his body. Even with his exhausted eyes shut, he felt the two bodies settle and start to warm, and he smiled gently.
A few moments passed and Discord heard the sound of quiet hoof steps on the rocks. He opened his eyes—only to see nothing but a neon pink and feel something warm lay across his outstretched arms. Sure enough, the groggy draconequus found himself staring down at the content and smiling face of Pinkie Pie.
From across the shallow cave, Discord heard the shifting of blankets. He didn't think anything of it until he felt a warm presence curled up under his wing and nestled into Fluttershy and Screwball. Twilight.
When did he become these ponies' personal heated bed?
Awake and alert, the remaining ponies at the back of the room glanced over at the snuggled bundle of ponies and exchanged looks. Finding that huddling together didn't do anything for warmth, they decided it was the better option and Discord soon found himself with more ponies draped over him.
Chrysalis and her babies were the only ones alone now, curled up together in a small group that did nothing against the icy fingers of the night. The mare snorted in rage at the indignant thought of snuggling up with everyone else, especially Discord. If those imbeciles wanted to cuddle together, then they could be her guest.
What little warmth against her body was suddenly gone as the changeling discovered her babies and Spike had left their spot at her side. They were a few feet away from her now, and looking pointedly at the others.
“Go on,” Chrysalis said, feeling a small flicker of hurt at their choice. “You can go where it's warm.”
The children toddled a few steps closer to the sleeping group, and then glanced back at their mother. They crooned softly and motioned to her, and to the group. Chrysalis snorted louder and whipped her head the other way.
Not intending on looking back, an eye betrayed her as it wandered curiously to glance behind her. The children had made themselves comfortable under a welcoming wing, smushed up against Twilight and Fluttershy, but still happy regardless.
The changeling queen snorted in indignation at the pestering thought in her head. She must have snorted at least ten times before she finally, grudgingly pushed herself up, and walked very cautiously up to the group.
Everyone was squished together in a heap of fur and scales, no longer shivering or looking to be in any discomfort. She snorted again, this time in amusement, at seeing Pinkie Pie somehow sprawled across Discord's face with her butt right between his eyes.
Chrysalis stared down at the group a moment longer, before making her mind and turning away.
That's when a serpentine tail gently curled around her hoof. Discord didn't open his eyes, but Chrysalis knew that had been a conscious action. She stared down at his quietly breathing form, and down at her hoof. Then, she silently laid down next to her children, with the tip of the draconequus's wing barely grazing her back.
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Most of the group was still huddled together the next morning when sunlight leaked into the entrance of the cave. Chrysalis didn't want to admit it, but she couldn't remember the last time she had felt so comfortable. The sun rays beaming down on her just added to that.
The changeling queen groggily lifted herself from the rocky surface, and was confused by the weight on her head. She jolted, startled by the pink hoof hanging in her face. Oh for the love of Equestria. Pinkie Pie was sleeping on her head.
What in Tartarus's name is with this pony's sleeping habits? She could just throw the mare against the wall, but that probably wouldn't even wake her. Rolling her eyes to herself, Chrysalis nudged the pink pony off of her head and let her plop gently to the rocky ground beneath her.
Chrysalis stood up and stretched. The warm beams of the sun hit her face; a far cry from last night's below freezing temperatures. The mare couldn't help but give a smile. Everything was so peaceful, and so calm. From the heavenly rays, to the gentle breeze rustling her mane, it was hard not to be content.
Suddenly, a blood curdling scream tore through the air. Instantly, the sleeping group of ponies jolted awake and utter chaos broke loose as they tore from the cave and down the path, the terrifying sound of Rarity's screams still echoing in their ears.
Realizing the screams were coming from the direction of the lake, Chrysalis feared it was a siren. Sure they had seen what looked like the demon drowning, but sirens were not easy to kill. It was more likely it had gone to regenerate and it was still at large.
“Rarity!” Twilight shouted, “We're coming!” The panicked group skidded to a stop at the clearing to the lake, and they couldn't believe what they saw.
“Rarity!” Fluttershy gasped, “Oh Rarity! What...what...!”
Hunched over the shallow waters of the lake, Rarity was wailing into her hooves. Her normally gorgeous, purple bangs didn't spill over her face like they normally did. ...She didn't have any purple bangs, or any hair for that matter.
“Oh, my coiffure!” Rarity wailed, “My beautiful coiffure! It's gone!”
It was no secret as to what happened to Rarity's mane, especially when the group heard the hysterical laughter from above them, in a tree.
“Oh relax, my little pony! Why, haven't you heard, my dear? Bald is in this season!” He dissolved into obnoxious cackling once more.
Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie collapsed to the ground in uproarious laughter, and even Chrysalis had to bite her lip and turn her head. The more sympathetic ponies like Twilight and Fluttershy approached the distressed mare.
“Rarity.” Twilight's voice went up into a hysterical squeak, and she had to quickly swallow to fight back her own raucous laughter. Clearing her throat and regaining her composure, the unicorn took a deep breath to say something. Then she started laughing as well.
“You!” Rarity seethed at the laughing draconequus. “Why you wicked beast! You horrible, cruel and unspeakable creature! You will pay for this crime against FASHION!!”
Watching as Rarity gave chase to the mirthful spirit and screamed all sorts of horrible things she would do to him, the entire group could only laugh. Where they would be annoyed by Discord's chaos, especially so early in the morning, the group could only feel relief. After yesterday, they weren't even sure if he would ever be the same again.
“I never thought I'd be happy to see Discord tormenting us,” Twilight commented through a stream of breathless giggles. Nodding her head, Chrysalis found it oddly difficult to disagree.
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Celestia had stood on the edge of this balcony ever since she was a kid. She always loved raising the sun here because then she would be able to stand in the warm rays, and watch as they cast their light down on her prospering kingdom, the luscious grass, and the pristine lakes all around Equestria. Most of all, she loved to watch her beloved subjects canter about and begin life once more.
That was not the case today.
The great orb of light rose from beyond the horizon, and spilled a cascade of rays onto the dying land. The emerald, dew platted grass had now become a pale, crackling yellow with black sprouts of the remnants of wilted flowers.
Instead of bustling commoners going about their day, the land was almost entirely deserted. Even in the busy city of Canterlot, many food markets had closed and there was only a couple of farms barely getting by.
Lakes were lucky to have three feet of water, if at all, and it was now seldom you'd see a lustrous flower. Plants everywhere had nearly all died out completely.
Ponyville and Canterlot were barely getting by, and it had only been a little over a month that these disasters had started. Celestia had arranged with the officials of regions that hadn't been tormented by drought and famine to borrow some necessities for survival.
Every couple of days, the Wonderbolts rounded up a group of pegasus and flew to a region somewhere across the country to receive water. The water was taken back and split among Ponyville and Canterlot by the weather pegasus and the citizens. The citizens mostly used it on their farms and to share as drinking water, while the weather pegasus used a portion to create a very brief rain.
This temporary solution would not be able to sustain them for very long. At the rate life was going now, Ponyville and Canterlot would be exterminated within a matter of weeks.
As a Queen and her people's hope, Celestia felt utterly helpless. She was unable to counter this black magic with her own, and she couldn't just summon up a glass of water for every citizen in the region. She had never felt more helpless or stressed before in her entire life.
Tearfully, the mare laid back in her bed and grazed a hoof over her stomach. At least the nausea wasn't as bad. Although, that was probably because she spent the entire night throwing up and had nothing left in her stomach to make her feel sick.
She missed her husband, she missed her sister, and she missed the little ponies she had sent out on a journey to the unknown. Other than a few letters back and forth, there was no way for her to communicate with her beloved husband, and there was no telling when she would see him again.
“My Queen.” The mare groggily raised her head to see Rain Drizzle at the door. “You have a visitor. Should I let him in?”
“Of course,” Celestia mumbled, not even caring who the visitor could be. She was utterly lonely and miserable.
The doors opened by a magic force of the guards, and in stepped a stallion Celestia had never seen before. Yet, somehow, he was vaguely familiar.
The stallion's fur coat looked like it had been dyed in caramel, which got a little darker near the bottoms of his hooves. The most perplexing thing, unlike Celestia had ever seen, were the swirls in his jade eyes. Immediately, Celestia knew he wasn't from this realm.
“Good morning, Queen Celestia,” Caramel Corn began. He hesitated and gazed mournfully at the perishing lands outside the castle. “However good we can call it...”
“Good morning.” The queen found herself staring due to his appearance, and blushed from her rudeness. “Apologies. What can I do for you? I've never seen you around here before.” She laughed, “Granted, I can't possibly know all of my subjects, but...”
The stallion smiled and kowtowed. “My apologies as well. My name is Sergeant Caramel Corn. I'm from the realm of Disarray, and captain of its army.” A hazed look came to his eye. “I've come to ask for your help with something.”
“And what would that be?”
“Tragedy has befallen our land, as I'm sure it has for you. The only difference is we have nobody to help us. King Discord has left to figure out the source of this problem, and I am only his adviser, and an earth pony. There is only so much I can do.”
Celestia felt her heart drop to the pit of her stomach, and she motioned the stallion to follow her. “My friend, I'm afraid I am as helpless as you are under these circumstances. The plagues that have been scattered across our lands were sent by a powerful curse. The magic is too strong for either me or my husband to counter it.”
Her horn glowed with a powerful aura, that swung the library doors open. The stallion clopped after the mare and gazed around in wonderment. He had never seen this many books before! “What are we doing here, your majesty?”
“Please, just call me Celestia. I bear no title over your people and I'd hate to feel as if I'm responsible for the downfall of even more of my subjects.” The stallion quieted.
The alabaster mare moved past the dusty, forgotten shelves, and trotted up a few carpeted steps until she reached...a wall. Caramel Corn stared at her in puzzlement, and back at the wall. “Your ma—Celestia? Why have you brought us to a wall?”
Without saying anything, the tip of Celestia's horn glowed with another pulse of magic. The trails of gold traced the outline of a large section of bricks on the wall. With a brief, blinding flash, the section of bricks disappeared, revealing a secret door.
“Try not to inhale too much dust,” the queen joked dryly, as she led them in. Another pulse of magic engulfed her horn, this time creating a light to bring the room into view. The room was barely the size of a closet and bulged with books from every dust-devoured shelf.
“What is this place?”
“The hidden corner of the library. This room is my father's; it is filled with ancient history and spell books. I figure if I'm lucky, I might find some way to counter this plague with another kind of magic.”
“Another kind of magic?”
A sphere of magic engulfed several books and levitated one of them in front of Caramel Corn. “This is a book on your world's history. I used it to figure out how to open the portal to Disarray again. If you're lucky, you might find something in this book that can help you until Discord returns.”
Caramel Corn silently tucked the book into his saddlebag and nodded his thanks. The desperate look of crumbling hope in his eyes tore through Celestia's heart like a knife.
“There isn't any spell book here that can help?” Caramel Corn asked quietly. “I heard the legends of a great spell book with the strongest spells in Equestria. In fact, I heard that's what killed the former King and Queen.”
Celestia shut her eyes tightly. “I know of which book you are referring to, and the answer is no. That book can't help you. Few have been able to harness the magic in that book and it has led to nothing but disasters. It is a vile, vicious book that shouldn't be existing.”
“So why is it?”
Celestia took the question in silence for several moments, remembering the moments after her parents' deaths. The hatred she felt for that book—there were no words. She remembered screaming and trying to throw the book. She remembered trying to burn the book, and she remembered the burning pain of electrocution when she tried to tear its pages.
“Because it can't be destroyed,” Celestia whispered. “Not in our world, anyway. Not with our resources. Alicorn's Power was crafted with an ancient magic, and this kind of magic can't be found anymore.
“This is the magic that can alter the book and erase the spells so it will only have spells crafted from pure, white magic. If that's all the book had in the first place, many things in this life wouldn't be the way they are today.”
“Like what?”
“For one thing, my parents would still be alive, and the changelings would not be a threat to us. In fact, they wouldn't be the changelings at all. They'd be the benevolent and kind species they once were. Discord would not have tried to take over this land, and would have little chaos magic, if any. There's too many to list, my friend.”
“So where is the book now?” Caramel Corn asked quietly.
“Hidden,” Celestia said shortly. “Hidden and locked away, where it will forever stay. I am never taking my chance with that book again. It has destroyed too many lives, mine included. It's traumatized my family, and especially my husband.”
Another moment of silence passed, and Celestia encased a stack of her father's books in another sphere of magic. “I'm going to see if I can find anything in my father's records that can help us. I'm very sorry I couldn't have done more for your people, Caramel.”
The stallion shrugged and gave an appreciative smile. “You did your best, your majesty.” Before she could rebuke him, he held up a hoof and gave her a playful grin. “And yes, I am going to call you 'your majesty', because you are a Queen, and as long as you offer to help us, you have the respect of our people too.”
The queen felt a warmness flood through her heart as she gave a quiet nod, and closed the entrance to the room behind them.
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“Okay, okay, anypony else startin' ta' have second thoughts about Discord being back to normal?” Applejack deadpanned. Although it was hard to hear her through the tissue over her mouth, as well as the rest of her body.
“What?” Discord quipped, “I wanted a mummy!”
It was late afternoon now, and the siren's forest was miles behind. Thankfully, nothing else had risen past the lakes, and there was no more uncanny weather to slow them down. Chrysalis would say things were going well, but to say it would jinx it.
“Do hush your complaining, Applejack,” Rarity snapped, “At least he didn't do anything to sully your mane!” She finally had her amethyst curls back. It only took the threat to cut off all of the draconequus's scales and use them as fringes on one of her capes.
“Oh come now, my little ponies!” Discord snickered, “My pranks are how I show my love~!”
“Wowie, if that's the case then you must love Twilight the most!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed. A hoof gestured to the lavender mare currently covered in glitter, glue...and molasses. “You rained molasses on her the longest!”
“I guess the plan to let the brat have only three freebies a day went out the window,” Twilight griped under her breath. She coughed and spluttered as she accidentally inhaled a mouthful of molasses and glue.
“Then I guess he loves Chrysalis the least,” Pinkie Pie giggled. The changeling mare hadn't had anything done to her yet, for which the group were thankful. They hardly wanted to be cleaning bloody pieces of him off the trees and ground.
Chrysalis's eyes glinted with a slight, mirthful malice. “That or he simply fears what I could do to him.”
“Oh please!” Discord scoffed. “Don't flatter yourself, my dear! There is not one part of me that fears one part of you! In fact...” The most devilish smirk came to the draconequus's face, and to the ponies' alarm, he began to stalk towards her. “Let me prove it to you...”
The changeling mare snorted rudely, but before she could take another step forward, Discord abruptly swept her off her feet. The Queen could only let out a filly-ish squeak of surprise as she suddenly found herself upside down in his arms in a blur of motion.
The girls cried out in horror. They were legitimately fearing for the dracoenquus's life. Certainly Chrysalis had eased up a bit on the evil side since the siren incident, but they didn't imagine this would go over well.
“What by Tartarus's name ARE YOU DOING?!” Chrysalis screamed in rage. She barely craned her neck up to shoot a glare of daggers and murder at the draconequus, only to stare in confusion and further rage at the totally not-intimidated smirk on his face. Before she could snarl anything else, he abruptly took a deep breath, and...
KREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!
The group flattened their ears from the sudden, high pitched shriek that they at first thought was coming from Chrysalis's mouth. Upon further looking, they realized it was emanating from her hooves, that were vibrating rapidly.
Chrysalis could hardly believe the unbelievable indignity of what was going on. She, the mighty, feared-all-around changeling queen was being played like a damn bagpipe! Her hooves struggled and a snort threatened to burst out at the tingle against her hooves. With a fierce kick against his chest, she managed to free herself, nearly sending Discord back onto his haunches.
The cocky smirk on the draconequus's face faded the moment he saw the terrifying expression on Chrysalis's once she manged to regain her composure. He backed up a few steps as Chrysalis took a stance.
The snake-like eyes of the changeling burned with an emerald fire, and her snout twisted up in a fierce snarl, baring her sharp fangs. The group cried out as the mare's horn suddenly began to spark with green bolts of lightning so bright the terrified ponies had to shield their eyes.
Whipping her head back, a cascading blast of green energy slammed into Discord with a roaring crackle, and he promptly collapsed to the ground, glowing an un-natural green.
“Discord!!” Fluttershy screamed.
There was no sound or movement from the draconequus at first, and then he began to twist around rapidly on the ground, roaring with laughter fit to burst a lung. “NOHOHO! NOT THIS AG-HAHA-AIN!!”
The girls stared in awe at Chrysalis, whose look of seething rage and murder had morphed into a dark and triumphant smirk.
“It's a convenient spell I learned to wrangle him back in our childhood, that I almost forgot about, until now. It consumes his entire body in tickling sensations—far beyond anything your measly duster could ever do.” She snickered; there was a cruel, but slightly playful smile on her face. “A brutal torture without causing any bodily harm.”
Twilight relaxed. Despite the poor spirit going ballistic in laughter (and possible respiratory distress), she felt an odd sense of peace. Perhaps there was the smallest shred of care left between the draconequus and changeling since this was all Chrysalis chose to do to the draconequus. Or, perhaps she was just leaning too much into things.
“He's going to pass out soon,” Twilight mused, a slight smile tugging at the corner of her face, despite everything.
“Yes, exactly. At least then we won't have to worry about his incessant chattering for about an hour.” Okay, perhaps Twilight had been leaning too far into things.
With a sigh, the unicorn cast a spell on the spirit to extinguish the torture, leaving Discord twitching and wheezing out a few hoarse giggles into the sand.
“Everyone.” The changeling turned sharply to the group, causing the ponies closest to her to ram into her from behind. “We're here.”
The group of bewildered ponies could only stare in sheer awe at the sight before their eyes.
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Dear Sister,
I miss you and my brother more and more everyday. It's hilarious, really, because there were days where I just wanted him to blow away, but you know I love him. He is my brother, after all.
Fillydelphia is a little more stable than it was when I got here. That's not to say they haven't had some tragedies. We've buried many since I got here. And many buried themselves in the earthquake.
I pray to our Mother and Father that Discord and the girls are faring better on their journey. They must hurry and solve this problem, or Equestria will be no more.
I should get some sleep, and you should as well. Give my love to my little niece or nephew!
Your dear sister, Luna
Celestia closed her eyes mournfully and let a tear slide down her face. The haunting words continued to play in her head: Equestria will be no more... The entire country was rapidly deteriorating, and this was just her country. There was no telling what toll these plagues were taking on all of the realms.
The Queen sifted through her large stack of books with magic, and wiped a layer of dust off the covers. There were books on Equestrian history and spells with weak healing incantations, but nothing that could help her with this madness.
Celestia was about to go to give up, until a book in the pile caught her eye. It was tiny; more like your average address book than an Equestrian text book.
This book was dated before she was even born, and the title was scrawled in Equestrian, and in very distinguishable handwriting. This belonged to her father.
Celestia delicately flipped the pages of the book with magic. She was almost scared to touch them. They were so thin, frail, and yellowed at the edges from age.
The first page the Queen turned to immediately had her do a double take. It was the Elements! Or...was it? It had the same diamond-like appearance before they became jewelry, but the gemstones had a far more jagged appearance. The smoother curves of the diamonds looked needle sharp, and the vibrant colors had become darker, with a tinge of gray to them.
The Council has Maelstrom in custody, where he belongs. I managed to appeal to them and convince them out of giving him the death penalty. That has to be the fifth time I've saved the ungrateful creature's life.
Purity has been trying to decipher the mysterious powers of these stones he's crafted. The Council wants to destroy them, for their demonic power is too dangerous to chance, but Purity is convinced that if this power is harnessed and changed, it could be beneficial for our people. I only hope that she's right.
For now, at least we're all at ease that Maelstrom is in custody. At least now we don't have to worry about his evil or him trying to get to my daughter.
Maelstrom. Why did that name sound so familiar?
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“Mistah, why do ya look 'tho funny?”
“My, my, what a rude question, little one! Haven't your parents taught you any manners? Surely they've mentioned something about me!”
“Well....what' yer name?”
“How about you try to guess it, little Tia.”
“You know me?”
“Indeed I do, dear little princess. Why, I'm your Uncle Maelstrom~!”
“Das'a funny name.”
“No funnier than Celestia. Perhaps we should get to know each other.”
“I like cr'wayons. Ar'we you one of da ponies trwyin' ta' help th' wor'ld?”
“Oh yeah... I'm trying to help the world alright.”
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(Unedited version. Any mistakes you see don't hesitate to point them out. I don't bite! ...Unless you take my gummy bears.
Adorable cuddling scene is inspired by "Land Before Time". It looks like Chrysalis is starting to warm up to her traveling companions. So what's going to happen when they realize she's stabbed them in the back?
Those of you that paid close attention to this chapter would have probably gotten a massive chill at one eerie point. c: Let's see if you know what part.
Next chapter synopsis: The ponies are only one step away from the gates of Tartarus, and Chrysalis has one final choice to make up her mind to follow Maelstrom or not; meanwhile, Celestia continues unearthing more of Aegeus's reccords, and starts to realize the danger she's put the ponies in.)