Discord
“Well?” demanded Discord, folding his arms. The Pale Mare craned her neck and turned her attention away from the heavens. “What are you going to do now that I've broken your little system of mortality? Punish me? Go ahead and try. I'm ready.”
An uneasy stillness took the ponies. Discord placed himself between Twilight and the ancient guardian, and waited. She stared at him at length.
It's like she knows I can't stand waiting... he thought. Still, there's no telling what she'll do or how powerful she really is. I can't give her a chance to undo everything.
“I wonder,” said the Pale Mare, “if you understand what exactly you accomplished. And what you didn't. While it's true that Twilight now lives again, another soul has taken her place in this world. The balance has not changed.”
“You brought me back?” said Twilight. She rubbed a hoof on her chest and looked off into space. “That's right. The changeling, and then...” The unicorn quickly began to piece together what happened. She pushed her head at Cadence. “You died so that I could live?”
“I had to,” said Cadence. “It's going to be alright.”
Twilight shook her head and stomped her hoof at Discord. “No! How could you? This isn't right at all. I should be gone. And Cadence should be alive. And now she'll never see Equestria again, and I... I...”
Discord felt the wretched pang of guilt return again. The same pain as when he knew he'd let Twilight die at the whims of the changeling. No, it's different this time. I was trying to fix my mistake! I was trying to make things better. I'm so happy you're still here, so why does it seem so wrong to you? I can't accept that you feel that way, Twilight.
Then Twilight closed her eyes. “Take it back,” she said. “I don't care which one of you does it. Just take me and give Cadence her life back.”
“Twilight, no!” Discord circled the space around her with his coils. “I won't let you go again.”
Twilight wiped her eyes and glared up at him. “Discord, you arrogant, selfish creature. Do you ever think of anyone but yourself?”
“I brought you back! Against all odds. Against the very laws of nature. I did it for you.”
“You did it for your own amusement!” Twilight snapped. “And you ended up getting one of my dearest friends killed in the process. It was just another game to you, wasn't it?”
“No, it wasn't,” said Discord, digging his claws into the earth. “I let you die. So I had to do something about it.” He squeezed his claws together. “I didn't expect anything to happen to her. I just did what I had to.”
Twilight bit her lip and looked away, silent. Cadence nuzzled at her and brought her to sit.
“Please don't be angry,” said Cadence. “He only made it possible for me to save you.”
“Maybe I shouldn't have been saved,” said Twilight, kicking the grass.
“You know that's not true,” said Cadence. “I died because I know in my heart that there's something you need to do.”
“Indeed,” interrupted the Pale Mare. “A great conflict stirs in the mortal realm, but I fear an even greater catastrophe may be in its wake. Have you not seen the skies? If something is not done, there may be no future for any pony, let alone you two.”
They all looked up. Every moment the stars seem to blink out faster, and though their numbers seemed infinite, entire patches of the sky were black and lifeless. Discord could feel a horrible emptiness spreading out across space. No chaos. No order. Simply nothingness. He shivered a little, then trembled.
“What's causing this?” Twilight jumped to her hooves, her wings sprung open. She immediately looked at Discord. “Could you have...”
“No one is that powerful,” muttered Discord. “Not even me. Besides, I would never get rid of the stars. Beautiful furnaces of collision and combination, a myriad of possible outcomes on a galactic scale. But, maybe I would change the colors.”
Before he could continue to elaborate on his different designs for the universe, the Pale Mare interrupted again. “Maybe no pony has the power to do this,” she said, “but the right pony in the right place can wreak havoc. This realm stretches to the edge of the universe and perhaps beyond. There's no telling what a powerful enough creature could have done.” She turned her head to Twilight. “I have a feeling that your quest will be over soon, but I do not know what to expect.”
“Nightmare Moon,” guessed Twilight Sparkle. “I hope Celestia is alright.” The very mention of her mentor made her straighten and look around frantically. “Ah! Where is it?” She reached for her bags, now torn and stained with blood. Her horn sparked as she pulled out supplies and books, little bits of food rations and samples she'd taken on the journey. She searched and searched and eventually levitated a small orb that resembled blackened glass.
“It couldn't be. Celestia's light is gone?” she reached out and touched it with a hoof. It cracked and collapsed into twinkling dust, piling on the grass below her.
Discord frowned. “If the stars are going out, then I don't see why that one would be an exception.”
Twilight sagged, her wings drooping. “But, if that's true... then we have no way of finding her now. All of this was for nothing. Our journey, our sacrifices... all wasted.”
“No,” said the Pale Mare. She turned and indicated the sky again with her wing. “Princess Celestia has finally reached the apex of this land.”
“You knew where she was?” demanded Twilight.
The Pale Mare shook her head. “She had kept herself hidden. And I did not know if I could trust you. You had to be tested.”
Discord coiled his hindquarters up into the air. “You're not going to keep me from going,” he said. “This is my journey.”
The Pale Mare took a step towards him. He reeled backwards, and teleported across the field to the right. Yet she was still next to him, as if he had gone nowhere at all. No matter how he bent space, or where he went, he always seemed to be in the exact same place: with Twilight and with the Pale Mare.
“You know that this place exists only for ponies,” she said, raising a hoof.
“Don't you dare,” Discord hissed.
She almost smiled. “You are many things,” she said, “but among everything that you are, you are in part a pony. You bury it because you hate to admit it, but I can see right through you. I wonder if you've figured it out yet, yourself.”
Then she left him shaking there, turning about with a flick of her tail. She opened her wings up towards the sky and leaned back. A small disc of light opened up above them and expanded, illuminating the ground all about the Pale Mare.
Twilight glanced sideways at Discord. “Part pony? What part of you could possibly be like us?”
Discord stuck his forked tongue out and let a little hiss. “Oh, I'll show you a pony part.”
Twilight looked away and her cheeks turned bright red. Then Cadence leaned down and whispered something into her ear. Discord lifted an eyebrow. Cadence giggled and Twilight looked back at him, eyes wide.
“What?” he said. “What's so funny?”
“Nothing,” said Twilight.
Quit holding back on me, Twilight... thought Discord, ruefully She wouldn't look at him, or smile his way, or laugh. Her dreariness was starting to eat at him. You can't stay angry. You can't hate me now, not after all we've been through.
The Pale Mare finished her incantation and stood back. Above them, the sky opened up into a great hole. What lay beyond it, not even Discord could sense. Everything in Equestria and that afterlife simply terminated there.
Twilight flexed her wings and walked beneath the light, pausing beside the Pale Mare. “Are you coming?”
The great white mare shook her head. “I cannot leave this realm,” she said, “or it would come undone. You may think me its master, but I am in fact its eternal servant. Nothing more.” She nodded to Discord. “Something else I hope that you someday understand.”
“Please,” said Discord, waving his claws. “I have no master.”
But maybe my way of thinking isn't exactly right. He drummed his claws on his jaw and shrugged. Do I control chaos, or am I a part of it? I've all eternity to figure it out, I suppose. Right now there's a princess to rescue. And then the face-rubbing begins.
Twilight swallowed and took to the air. She hovered and looked back at the Pale Mare. “Thank you,” she said, “for, um, everything that you do. I'll see you again.”
“Someday,” agreed the Pale Mare. They both knew it was inevitable.
Cadence took to wing beside Twilight, and Discord followed after. The Pale Mare watched as the three of them flew towards the openness above. As they neared the threshold, the light only seemed more intense. Discord covered his eyes and glided towards it. Anything could have lain beyond its threshold--even oblivion.