The start of his renascent
Luna was walking down a hallway in the castle, completely and utterly bored, no questions asked. The pictures of long dead aristocrats hung along the hallway, and mentions of their achievements to deserve such an honor were engraved underneath the pictures. She rolled her eyes as she remembered that it was most likely the descendants of those aristocrats that she was just finished dealing with earlier over the ridiculous demands of the latest bill that they wanted to pass into law. There was just so much one could do and take in royal ‘company’, and she wanted the close comfort of an actual friend more than anything else right now, to shut out the annoying voices of the aristocracy and their demands in her head.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t likely to happen, mostly because she was a princess, partly because of the stuffy variety of ponies in Canterlot, which limited her already limited pool of potential friends, and last of all, she had to set an example to her and Celestia’s subjects. Oh, she’d give them quite an example, alright, and if they didn’t like it, they could kiss her flank! Shaking her head slightly, she began to think of the older days, with her sister, Celestia. Those were countless untold years ago, but they still felt like yesterday to Luna, having been used to the passage of time.
Eventually, her thoughts drifted off to when she was imprisoned in the cold, dark moon. No matter how much she was occupied with, her thoughts always came back to the moon, and with that, the regret that she could not restrain her jealousy and being sent to the moon, away from the sister she loved. Despite sleeping most of the time while she was there, it wasn’t a pleasant sleep filled with dreams. The nightmares inside her mind plagued her, and she doubted she’d ever be free of them. She always wondered if Celestia remembered that she was up there, and if anypony at all remembered who she was, or even cared.
Then, her thoughts took her to a completely different direction, one she didn’t particularly enjoy nor thought that they would take her. Discord, a draconequus, and formerly an Alicorn, now set in stone once again and placed in the palace gardens by the Elements of Harmony, roughly one thousand years ago. She missed them, but like all normal ponies, eventually they, too, would pass away. She could only wonder what it was like, being imprisoned in stone. Discord probably deserved it, being a fallen Alicorn. But not just any Alicorn, he was also Celestia’s and Luna’s older brother. Most ponies wouldn't be able to recognize him, however, nor be able to put together that he was once an Alicorn; much less that he was their brother.
His fall into a draconequus wasn’t a pleasant one. He had a terrible run-in with that one plant, poison joke, and the effect seemed to distort his personality, alter his appearance, and changed his powers, which were formerly the powers of neutrality, not the forces of chaos as thought previously by pony historians. Most of those same historians would have laughed at the thought of poison joke being that life-changing, especially when compared to the same plant today.
However, unlike the poison joke of today, the poison joke of then was much, much more potent and deadly. No pony laughed at the sickening results of being in contact with the plant. Ponies who came in contact with that awful plant usually died, and if they did not die, they were usually crippled beyond help, the most common of ailments being that unicorns lost their magic, earth ponies lost much of their strength, and pegasai either lost the use of their wings, or no longer had hollow bones, in which they could no longer walk on clouds. If they were truly cursed by bad luck, they would have both inflicted upon them. Those were only the common ailments, but they were so dreadful that any worse cases were immediately deemed too cruel for the afflicted pony to continue living, and so they were most often immediately burned at stake. It certainly was a cruel joke on ponies, and was often mentioned in threats and acts of torture, but thankfully, its actual use was very low, as it was very dangerous to handle and only reserved for the most extreme circumstances, or used in complete stupidity.
As he was unable to control his new powers of chaos due to always having something to offset them, as was the law of neutrality, he was sealed off in stone by Celestia and Luna many, many years ago, as a precaution, both unwanted and needed, when they were just fillies. Bitter in having this decision made for him, he swore that when he was out of his imprisonment that he would exact his revenge and reclaim himself as their older brother, changed or not, and rule over Equestria once again. His one attempt at making chaos seemed more like the attempt of a filly trying to make a picture of her family, and that’s what gave Luna a bit of interest in Discord.
Could it be that he was joking about obtaining revenge, simply played out one large (If very cruel) joke on Ponyville, and planned to apologize to his sisters later? She would have thought that he would’ve caused a lot more than pink cotton candy clouds that rained chocolate milk if he was actually out for revenge. Unfortunately, he had no such time for an apology, as he was placed back into his imprisonment in stone with the help of Twilight Sparkle, her friends, and the Elements of Harmony, just after he took complete control of Ponyville. He had been stuck in stone for as long as she could remember ever since his release and a thought suddenly came into her mind.
What if he changed as well? Surely he would have learned some sense of moderation in causing chaos and control over his powers, as well as knowing that some ponies don’t like jokes. Sure, there was that time where he made a mockery of Celestia and Ponyville, but she was sure that he changed, if her one thousand year exile to the moon changed her, she was sure that his exile, however long it was (As she forgot) would be more than enough for him to finally return to his senses and rule with his sisters together, as they should have been doing, all these years.
She sighed, and found herself walking by her sister’s room, with two pegasai and unicorn guards by the doors. Curious to see if she was in there, and if Celestia would agree with her, Luna shooed the guards away. “Leave me be,” she said in a commanding voice. “I wish to speak to my sister with full privacy of a most urgent matter.” She knew that her speech was a little odd at times, but that was only around any royal guards, it made her seem a little more commanding. The guards bowed, and quickly left no trace of them ever standing guard by Celestia’s door, just as a royal guard was trained to do. Luna smiled, opened the door slightly, as to not disturb Celestia with whatever she was doing, and took a peek inside Celestia’s room.
Her sister’s room was dark, and she couldn’t see her sister anywhere inside her bedroom, which worried Luna. Could she have gone on a night walk without somehow alerting the royal guard where she was going? Luna quickly dismissed the idea, for it was quickly nearing winter. Celestia wouldn’t purposefully be walking out in the cold. She entered the room slowly, cautious, in case Celestia had set up a trap for anypony that was going to disturb her, and that pony right now was Luna, assuming she was still in the room. She called out her sister’s name softly.
“Celly? Are you in here?” A quiet moan reached her ears from the bed at the far side of the room. Luna flinched, quickly realizing her mistake, and quickly tried to escape through the door. Unfortunately, the door closed with the familiar pink wave of magic she knew all too well. Sheepishly, she turned around to meet with the image of her sister, complete with an annoyed face and exasperation in her eyes.
“Luna, what is it this time? You know it’s time for me to sleep.” Celestia said grumpily, and Luna cursed herself. She had forgotten that Celestia slept during the night, ruled over Equestria over the day, and vice versa for Luna. Still, she thought, now would be as good a time as any other, and so with that in mind, Luna strolled into Celestia’s room, careful to close the door behind her. While most of the castle staff would be off on their rounds, and the guards by the door were gone, there was always still the chance of somepony passing by and just happening to listen into their conversations. Luna sat down near Celestia, not knowing where to start. Celestia waited as her sister drew her composure, and began speaking.
“Well, ‘Tia, it’s about Discord.” Celestia groaned, and sat up, giving her sister a glare. For the love of Equestria, was that all she woke her up for? Celestia had expected something actually pressing, if Luna had conveniently forgotten that this was her sleep cycle. Idle chatter about Discord could’ve waited for some other time, he certainly wasn’t going anywhere. Being turned into stone for the second time in a row does that to you. Then again, Celestia was slightly curious why Luna would bring him up now, of all times, which brought her a little more attention than the boring and pathetic bills that tried to pass on as laws around here, damned aristocracy. But only a little.
“What about him, Luna? Now, I know he’s our older brother, but there was never a need to bring him up in any of our discussions. Wait, don’t tell me, he’s free again and making more of those yummy pink, fluffy clouds similar to cotton candy that also happen to produce chocolate rain?” Luna rolled her eyes at the sarcastic sentence at the end, and decided to just get to get to the point, if she ever wanted to get somewhere with Celestia. Her sister had an annoying habit of downplaying certain things at times.
“I think it’s time Discord has his renascent back to Equestria, as a fellow monarch to Equestria.” Luna said softly. Celestia stared at Luna for awhile, and then her gaze hardened. Luna had to be joking. Then again, she wasn’t in Equestria when Discord was released, having been sent away to practice her negotiation skills with the Gryphons. The look Celestia was giving Luna made her more than a little worried now. Celestia probably wasn’t going to take this very well. She wasn’t sure if she should continue speaking, but she did so anyway, since she wasn’t about to back down. “Think about it, sister. I was trapped in the moon for a thousand years.” Celestia winced. Okay, Luna thought, she hit a rather sensitive nerve; it was time to trap Celestia and expand on it. “Discord has been trapped in stone for nearly twice that, if not more.
“I know he caused a lot of problems when he was first released back into Equestria, but don’t you think he’s learned his lesson about jokes and moderation of such things, ‘Tia? The ‘revenge’ that he had on us was nothing more then a few pranks and jokes, ‘Tia, he didn’t do anything terribly wrong, other than cause some discomfort to Ponyville. Surely all that time after he’s been in stone again has taught him a lesson in underestimating the power of the Elements, as well as not giving you a good time in Canterlot by the agitated aristocracy.” Celestia frowned. She was convinced that her sister’s train of thought had been derailed badly and heading straight towards the edge of a cliff. Release Discord, their older and more powerful brother from his otherwise eternal imprisonment in stone? Sure, Luna had her reasons, but they weren’t enough for her to seriously consider it.
“Luna, the last thing I want to see is Discord running rampant and causing more chaos. Now I know he’s been in stone for a long time (Celestia herself had forgotten just how long Discord was in stone this time), but I can’t take the chance. I highly doubt Discord has even heard of the word ‘moderation’, either that, or he’s conveniently forgotten the meaning of the word. Chaos doesn’t need nor want any kinds of moderation or limits, Luna.
“I admit that while what he did wasn’t exactly life threatening and I probably would have done just for the hay of it to get some revenge on the aristocracy, but this is Discord, and Discord would eventually get bored of doing such childish things. He’ll want to cause more chaos, Luna, and I can’t let that happen if it comes to harming other ponies for his own enjoyment. And don’t say that replacing the sugar with salt when you’re not looking causes harm to you, Luna.” Luna sighed. Her sister could be so dense at times! Discord, for all intents and purposes, was still once an Alicorn and was their older brother!
“Sister, listen to yourself! You’re suggesting that Discord stays trapped; imprisoned as a stone statue of himself for Equestria knows how long! Can you at least give him a second chance, like you gave me one?” Another low blow, but Luna decided that she was going to need every little bit of help to level the discussion in her favor. She paused for effect, which made Celestia bop Luna on the nose with a hoof, impatient with her.
“Is there anything else you’d like to add, Luna?” Celestia said quietly. Luna’s arguments about Discord were logical, and she did miss her older brother. Although she had her own opinion about the matter, she decided to wait and see if Luna had anything else to say about Discord before she shared her own opinion about their older brother. She waited as an indignant Luna rubbed her nose with a wing.
“And stop replacing the sugar when I’m not looking, Celly! It’s bad enough I have to make another cup of coffee, never mind actually trying to find where the sugar is!” Celestia rolled her eyes and got off her bed. She cast a look that read ‘you’re going to be in big trouble one day’, and walked outside her room. Luna followed, wondering what was going on in her sister’s head. Her answer came in the form of a sigh.
“Luna, it’s hard. Not seeing either of you for such a long time has been difficult for me, and now that you’re back with me, I feel so much better. But if Discord rejoins us, we risk having Equestria under chaos by our big brother. However…” She said, cutting Luna off. “I have been working on a spell that can revert a fallen Alicorn back to their former self, and it requires nothing more then the Elements of Harmony and a bit of our own power. I doubt that the timing of this was sheer coincidence. Luna, let’s reclaim our older brother, but only, and only, on one condition.” Luna was now terrified. Whenever her sister had a term or condition on something, it was either something very simple, or one that was extremely cruel. As much as she wanted to see Discord again, she did not want to spend another one thousand years on the moon, for his sake.
“And…What is that condition, Celesta?” She murmured softly. Celestia winked at Luna, and began to walk outside, towards the palace garden, stopping as she reached the pedestal where Discord’s statue formerly was one thousand years ago. Luna watched as Celestia took a few breaths of the crisp, cold air, and mentally prepared herself for Celestia’s decree.
“We give him the choice of accepting it or not.” Celestia said simply. Luna gave a quiet sigh of relief. At least it wasn’t something that was going to involve her being banished again. “However, Luna, bear in mind that if he refuses and decides to reclaim the throne for himself, we have a potential power struggle that will quite possibly rip Equestria apart, as well as open up a juicy opportunity for foreign lands to invade us, Luna, so I believe that would be punishment enough for you if this goes wrong. Also, ponies will question the appearance of a third Alicorn, so I’ll leave all the explaining to you.” Luna cringed, and nodded slowly.
That was going to be rather…Interesting, especially if Discord insisted on making jokes all the time and bending the laws of physics. Drinking a glass and leaving the beverage behind was going to creep more than a few ponies out, as well as randomly getting items for his own use, as was told by Twilight Sparkle when Discord somehow managed to make some items appear without apparently knowing he wanted or needed them at the time. Luna herself was researching into this, hoping to tap into a new kind of magic. Suddenly, she realized that something just wasn’t right. She looked around for the statue of her big brother, and couldn’t see anything resembling the hideous creature he now was.
“Where is he, ‘Tia? Didn’t you have him returned back to Canterlot after the chaos he caused in Ponyville?” Celestia pointed a hoof towards the labyrinth, smiling. Luna’s heart sank. She never bothered to go through the labyrinth and its twists and turns, tricks and surprises ever since she came back, and now she was greatly regretting the decision, which could have saved her having to ask her last question.
“I figured that it’d be safer if Discord’s statue was in the middle of the labyrinth, since nopony goes in there anyway. Clever, huh, Luna?” Luna facehoofed. She should have known that Celestia would have placed him in the labyrinth, although, now that she thought about it, the Everfree forest wasn’t that bad of a choice, either.
Celestia smiled, and began to casually trot down to the beginning of the labyrinth, thinking about Luna and her occasional loss of thought. Her sister could overlook so many things, but then again, she was younger than her, and happened to look at things in a different light while taking other things for granted. Celestia remembered that Discord would have often done the same for her, and the memory of one such event where he told her that butterflies weren’t evil incarnations of pegasai brought a sigh from her. How was Discord going to react at the possible chance of being his former self? She couldn’t even remember what he looked like, much less if he was going to accept the offer at all. After heading a few feet into the entrance, she looked behind her, and saw that Luna wasn’t joining her. Curious, Celestia walked back to Luna, who frowned slightly.
“Do we really need to walk through the maze to get to Discord, Luna? I mean, couldn’t we just fly above, or teleport directly into the middle of the maze? It’s almost winter, and I don’t want to be out in the cold for too long.” Celestia placed a wing over Luna, and guided her to the start of the labyrinth, shaking her head.
"No, Luna, I don’t enjoy the cold anymore than you do, but we can’t enter the middle of the maze by those means because I placed a few spells here that would…Discourage any unicorns or pegasai from attempting such a thing. There is a strong magic field that prevents direct teleportation into the labyrinth, and that same field prevents pegasai from entering from the air. I used enough magic to halt even Alicorn power level spells, so I didn’t need to worry much if somepony was going to free Discord from his imprisonment. Sure, there are the earth ponies who’d just walk through the thing, but, whatever.” Celestia walked into the maze, whistling a rather familiar tune. Luna sighed, and glumly entered the labyrinth after a bit of hesitation. The labyrinth was huge, and she didn’t want the aristocracy to start worrying where the princesses were. Despite having lots of misgivings, she couldn’t help but love her subjects…Or at least, pretend to.
“I suppose if it’s the only way, we’ll go through the maze.” Celestia smiled, and galloped off into the maze. Luna, not wanting to lose sight of her sister, galloped after her, realizing that she needed a good stretch of her legs after all that time arguing with the latest generation aristocracy on how breakfast was supposed to be served and what would be considered breakfast. Really, the potential banning of hay bacon strips because they were too fattening and unappealing, while having breakfast served by mares in skimpy maid dresses? Luna didn’t even know how she got talked into that, and she honestly didn’t want to remember why. Some things were just better off being forgotten. She called out after Celestia, who was slowly edging further and further away from her field of vision.
“Celly! Could you slow down a bit, Discord isn’t going anywhere!” Celestia sighed, and slowed down from the fast paced gallop to a more manageable trot. Luna caught up with her sister, gasping for breath. Celestia casted an amused look over at Luna, who glared breathlessly at her sister.
“Luna, you should really exercise more, it’s good for your health! Don’t tell me you’d actually prefer staying at the castle and listening to the aristocracy argue about pointless things. What was it this time, anyway?” Celestia inquired, turning a corner, stopped, and sat on her haunches at a three-way intersection, appearing to think about their next turn. Luna knew that this was just to help her catch her breath, but she was thankful for it anyway, sat down next to her sister, pressing her coat against Celestia’s in a vain attempt to keep warm, and responded to Celestia’s question with ill-disguised temper.
“The aristocracy wanted me to pass a law that Canterlot maids should be mares only, wear skimpy maid outfits, and ban hay bacon strips from breakfast due to them being ‘too fattening and unappealing, suitable for only common ponies’. Some of those ponies could use the fat!” Celestia stared at her sister disbelievingly, and then her face split into a wide grin.
“Hmm…I’ve always preferred my maids being mares, and I also wouldn’t mind seeing my maids in skimpy outfits…I’d have to cut out the hay bacon part, though, I like my strips in the morning. Other than that, I’ll pass the bill on!” Luna stared at her sister, and slowly shook her head in disbelief and pity for herself.
“No matter how long I’ve been with you, ‘Tia, you still manage to confuse me whether or not you’re joking, for all these years.” Celestia giggled, and draped a wing over her sister, guiding her back to her hooves. Luna slowly stretched her limbs out, smiling as she felt her muscles ripple underneath her coat. Celestia just watched her sister, waiting until she stretched herself out sufficiently, and then continued on into the maze. Luna followed at an even trot, feeling a little better after the short rest she just had. A thought crossed her mind, and she paled at the realization that they might have to return back to Canterlot, back to the idiotic aristocracy, just when they got so far into the labyrinth. She stopped, and Celestia turned her head around when she realized that Luna wasn’t keeping pace with her.
“Luna, is there something wrong? Do you need another rest?” Celestia walked back over to Luna, and draped a wing over on her back. Luna sighed, and asked her sister the thought that was troubling her.
“Sister…Aren’t the Elements of Harmony back at the castle…?” Celestia blinked, and then gave a look of horror at Luna, who groaned. Now they had to go back and get the Elements, then go back out in the cold again! Her new thoughts were pierced by a guffaw from her sister. Luna glared at her, and Celestia shook her head, her eyes filled with mirth.
“Oh, Luna, all these years, and you’re still just an easy tease!” Seeing the hurt look on Luna’s face, Celestia decided it was best to tell Luna where the elements really were, to lessen the blow. “I kept the Elements in the labyrinth as well. That vault in the castle that supposedly kept the Elements? They’re just well-made copies. Well, seeing as Discord was able to steal the Elements from the vault ever so easily last time, I decided that in the event that he ever gets released somehow again that I should hide them where he’d never look. So I put them right in front of him!” Luna frowned. Placing the Elements right in front of their older brother? She had to be joking; no pony does something crazy like that. Then again, her sister wasn’t like other ponies.
“Forgive me, sister, but…THAT’S COMPLETELY CRAZY. Why would you do such a thing?! You know that Discord thinks differently from us! You don’t trust some…Thing like him!” Celestia shook her head, smiled, and gave her explanation for her reasoning behind such a thing.
“Luna, weren’t you the one who told me earlier to trust him?” Luna sighed. That wasn’t the point! Why would her sister leave the most powerful relics of all ponykind right in front of Discord? Celestia continued on, her smile growing wider. “Discord would wonder why I just placed the Elements right in front of him, just within his grasp. Since there would be no rational reason for me to place our most powerful relics so close to him, he would assume that the moment he touches one of them, a trap will go off. It’s the perfect reasoning!”
Luna frowned. She didn’t at all agree with her sister’s judgment. “You’re assuming that Discord will think that you were thinking logically by placing a fake but not fake, trapped dummy version of the elements but really aren’t trapped and are the actual relics, right in front of him? Sister, he’s chaos, he doesn’t think nor do things rationally. He drinks glass, for Equestria’s sake! What if he decides to take the Elements anyway?” Celestia shrugged.
“Well, seeing as nopony has actually bothered to explore the labyrinth for centuries, much less want to revive Discord, I didn’t really think or plan that far ahead.” Luna facehoofed while trying to maintain what little patience she had left for her sister.
“’Tia…” She broke off as a chill wind swept over them, and she shuddered. Celestia, seeing this, pressed her warm coat against Luna’s, smiling.
“We’re almost there, Luna. In fact, he should be just around the corner…” Luna sighed. At the very least, they could go ahead and see if Discord was any the wiser after the last time he got released. She’d thought he’d be a fool to be separated and against her sisters for a second time, after seeing what happened to him the first time. As they rounded the corner, there he was, on top of a pedestal, and surrounding him, the Elements of Harmony. They found Discord, and slowly made their way over to him Luna whispered softly, so softly that Celestia almost didn’t catch it.
“It’s been a long time, brother.” They walked towards the statue.