Princess Celestia was nervous. More nervous than she had been in centuries. Even the return of Nightmare Moon a mere six days ago hadn’t worried her half as much. The Elements of Harmony were unusual things, their mechanisms still mostly unknown, so anytime anything at all happened involving them, Celestia became slightly paranoid. Shining Armor, Cadence, and Luna had all given her strange looks when she had ordered that a permanent guard be posted around two statues in the gardens, with orders to report any changes every half hour. Luna, at least, understood why she had chosen those two particular statues, but Celestia could tell that Luna didn’t share her concerns. However, being thought slightly disturbed was a small price to pay to ensure the safety of Equestria, for all of Equestria would be imperilled if her concerns were true and she did nothing.
Six days, only six days, and already the guards had missed an update. It was 11:36 at night as she rushed towards the garden, mentally preparing for the worst. Which of them would have escaped, Discord or Concord, chaos or order? From what she had seen so far, it would probably be Discord, since even though everything was quiet, he was usually unpredictable, so allowing her to learn of his escape might all be part of some elaborate game. Concord, on the other hoof, had always been direct and efficient, so she couldn’t imagine him allowing his escape to be detected, unless it was part of some larger plan. Discord could be playing games, and revenge was something he would indulge in, but Concord wasn’t usually so petty as to stoop to revenge. If he wanted them out of the way, he would simply crush them before they knew he was a threat. This calmed her slightly, since Discord was a threat that they could confront, Concord wasn’t. And, she reminded herself, there is always a chance that it was just a mistake and that neither of them has escaped. She wasn’t convinced of that last explanation, but it was important to hold out hope.
Hope, she thought as she entered the gardens at a gallop, spread her wings, and took to the sky, scanning the gardens below for any indication of what had happened. Her heart sank when she saw the statue of Discord, standing upon its pedestal as it had for more than 1500 years. She could see no sign of the guards who should have been observing the statue. Girding herself for what she might see, she turned and dove towards the place where the statue of Concord, an alicorn rather than draconequus, should be. What she saw confused her, for on the ground before the statue were the four guards, all of them asleep. As she settled to the ground, she allowed herself a little hope that maybe, just maybe, nothing was wrong after all. Such breaches of protocol were rare, but it had happened before.
The four guards were lying in a perfect row, arrayed before the statue, and in order to approach them, she would have to cross its line of vision. This felt like Discord’s doing, the guards were bait to lure her into some ridiculous trap, but why place them in front of Concord’s statue? Bracing herself as best she could, she strode towards the sleeping guards, but keeping her gaze fastened on the face of the statue. She realized the truth the moment the eyes of the statue became visible for they weren’t the unresponsive, stony eyes of a statue, but were grey, and cold, and very, very, much alive. Suddenly, there was a dim flash, and a gust of wind, and the stone around Concord turned to dust and blew away. What was left was a grey alicorn. Everything about him was grey, his eyes, his mane, his tail, his coat. His horn and cutie mark were the only exceptions. His horn was a fluted, transparent crystal that was illuminated from within by a subdued grey light. His cutie mark was completely black, and consisted of a unicorn horn and a quill that crossed to form an ‘x’.
“Celestia, or shall I call you Princess after all these years,” he said in an even voice that was devoid of emotion. He paused for a moment, as if to allow Celestia a chance to respond, but when Celestia failed to reply, he said chidingly, “am I truly so terrible that the Great Princess Celestia can not so much as return a simple greeting? come now Princess, what has you so worried?”
Celestia was annoyed by his taunting, but refused to accept the bait. “What have you done to my guards, Concord? You should know that I will not allow you, or anypony else to harm my subjects.” she said confidently.
Concord sounded more amused than worried as he said, “Really, Princess, the sight of four sleeping ponies is all it took render you speechless? If that is all, then rest easy, for they are merely sleeping, and will awake well rested and ready for duty. You should know,” he said mimicking her, “that I would not harm innocent ponies needlessly, and these guards are merely guilty of trusting you, something that I would, from experience, advise against.”
“The problem was always that your definition of “need” was different than everypony else’s. But if they are unharmed as you insist, then wake them, and permit them to leave. As you said, they are innocent of any wrongdoing, so please do not involve them in whatever plan you have for revenge.”
“Revenge,” Concord said, acting as if the idea had never occurred to him, “is that what you think I am after?”
“Of course, why else would you put my guards to sleep and lure me here in the middle of the night if not for revenge?”
“Why, to talk of course,” he said with a grin, which despite the genuine warmth it conveyed, caused Celestia to cringe, “for 1500 years is a long time to go without conversing with another pony, and we are, after all, social creatures.”
“That doesn’t explain what my guards have to do with anything.”
“But it does, ‘tia dear,” Celestia bridled at his familiarity, “ for if you had known that I had escaped, if I hadn’t disguised myself and used these ponies as bait, then you would have simply summoned the Elements of Harmony from Ponyville and turned me back to stone, unless I summoned you by force, of course. However, I did not think that doing so would make a very good impression, so I opted for the plan whose only cost was that four guards got a better nights sleep than they otherwise would have.” His horn glowed slightly brighter for an instant, and in a flash of grey light, the four guards disappeared. Celestia looked furious, but Concord cooed soothingly, “there, there, I just put them to bed in the barracks, they will awake in the morning refreshed and ready to fight to the death in your defense, I promise.”
“Why should I believe anything you say Concord, what makes you think I trust you?”
“Whether to believe me or not, that is your choice, and honestly, you probably shouldn’t trust me, given our history,” Concord said, his voice flat once more, “however, should you decide not to trust a single word I say, then this meeting shall be rather unproductive since you shall have to independently verify everything. But before you make your decision, consider first who among us has given the other better reason for mistrust.”
Celestia fell silent at this, trying to formulate a plan. It was important that she find some way to contact the Elements, but with Concord seemingly intent on speaking with her privately, she simply could see no way to extract herself. She was also hesitant to raise some alarm because she wasn’t sure how Concord would treat any guards who proved to be actively hostile. As far as she knew, he hadn’t harmed those guards, but that may only have been because he surprised them, but if they had tried to fight. She didn’t want to consider what would happen to Canterlot if a fight broke out between Concord and the guards. As the silence lengthened, Celestia noticed Concord doing something unheard of, he was actually fidgeting anxiously. She had never before seen the ponification of order look as impatient as he did now. She started to wonder what exactly it was that he was waiting for that would unsettle him so. Finally, it seemed as if Concord had had enough, and interrupted her thoughts in an annoyed voice.
“As much fun as all this sitting around and staring is, for the last 1500 years I have done nothing else. And however puzzling your current dilemma is, I simply can not stand to waste what little time I have watching you unravel it. Therefore, I will make you a deal, one that I think you will find agreeable. I say this because it costs you nothing and robs me of any hope of escape, even you should find those terms acceptable. Even better, as it will offer you another opportunity to betray me, and as before, there will be nothing I can do to stop it. I will bring the Element bearers here, and allow you to arm them, and all I ask for is a day in which to convince you, Luna, and the Elements that I need not be imprisoned again.”
The bitterness evident in his voice hurt Celestia, and even though she knew that what she and Luna had done had been necessary, to hear Concord voice just how little he apparently thought of her stung. She briefly considered his proposal before replying in a stern and regal voice, “I will not allow you to influence the Elements of Harmony, neither mentally, physically, nor magically. I will send them a summons, and will dispatch chariots to bring them here, once they arrive, we may speak further.”
Concord smiled as he said cheerfully, “much better, and thank you for your rapid response. However, I must decline, your proposal is much too slow, so I will allow you to write them a letter informing them that they will be magically summoned, let us say, an hour after the receipt of the message. The time is negotiable, since I am uncertain how long it would take for Ms. Sparkle to rouse each of her friends. Any objections?”
Celestia felt a pang of fear when he mentioned Twilight for that meant that he knew who at least one of the element bearers was. She tried to sound confident as she replied, “no, I will not agree to you interacting with the elements in any way, that is final.”
Concord sighed dramatically as his smile morphed into a mischievous grin. “Fine, if you insist.” Celestia released a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding, only to gasp as, in a flash of grey, all six of the element bearers appeared between them soundly asleep, beds and all. Concord said pleasantly, “I have a revised agreement for you to consider. I will not interfere as you awaken the element bearers, retrieve the Elements themselves, and arm these six ponies in return for 24 hours to convince you, Luna, and these six ponies here, not to imprison me.”
Celestia glared at Concord, who smiled back benignly, and said, “if you think that such callous disregard of my orders will help you convince me or increase your chances at all, then you are sorely mistaken.” If her words had any effect on Concord, he did not show it. Instead he looked almost jubilant.
“My actions were not intended to convince you, but rather to get you to agree to allow me to convince you. I take it that you have decided to accept my revised offer?”
Celestia nodded slowly, and with graceful, measured movements, walked to the bedside of her faithful student. Speaking loudly enough to be heard, but in as soothing a voice as she could muster she said, “Twilight... Twilight Sparkle, you need to wake up.” Celestia smiled as her protégé mumbled something incoherent and turned away from Celestia. Even Concord seemed to be moved by this little scene. Celestia, raising her voice just a little and tried again. “Twilight, this isn’t a dream, you are back in Canterlot, and need to wake up.”
This time, the message got through to her weary student’s brain, and with a small stretch and a yawn, she opened her eyes and saw the lights of Canterlot Castle framed against the brilliant, glistening expanse of the night sky, but the thing that most interested her was the strange, grey alicorn who was smiling warmly down at her. Worry was the farthest thing from her mind at that moment, for the only thing she could think was, this certainly is a very vivid dream. That was until a very familiar voice said from behind her, “Twilight, this isn’t a dream, this is real.”
That was when she panicked.