//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 // Story: Heavenly Turmoil // by TheManWithTwoNames //------------------------------// Heavenly Turmoil A “My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic” fanfiction By TheManWithTwoNames Standard Legal Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters contained in the following work.  “My Little Pony” and all subsequent properties belong to Hasbro. As the days passed, Princess Luna’s concern for her sister grew. She had hoped that Celestia would be feeling like herself again after a few days of much-needed rest, but since her return from Canterlot Infirmary, the energy and color that once radiated from the princess had turned to a lifeless gray. She seldom spoke and seemed to always be lost in thought, but would never say what was on her mind. She ate very little during breakfasts and slept through the other meals of the day. If a pony did manage to coerce Celestia to speak to them, they only received succinct, emotionless responses. This was not the sister she knew. “Celestia, please tell me what’s troubling you,” Luna pleaded. “I’m fine,” Celestia said quietly, rearranging her untouched breakfast salad with her fork.   “Sister, you can talk to me. Please, please, Celestia. I’ve waited a thousand years just to be with you again, but this is not you. This is not who you are.” Luna looked up at her sister with watery eyes, wishing she would at least look at her. The sun princess said nothing. Luna inhaled and drew herself up to speak. “Sister?” she asked with a much brighter tone. “If you are feeling well, I would like you to hold court today. There have been several visitors to the palace who have refused to let anypony but you settle their matters, and are eagerly awaiting your presence. A representative from Cloudsdale is hoping you would be a judge at this year’s Best Young Flyer competition again.” Luna had anticipated her silence. “Twilight Sparkle had asked me when you would be feeling well enough for a visit, and I promised her you would see her today.” Luna’s face lit up when she saw her sister’s fork hold in place. “Please, Celestia? For me?” Celestia softly murmured, “Fine,” and left her sister at the table. The princess of the night prayed to the stars and the moon and the sun above that this would work. ---------- Princess Celestia sat silently in her throne, waiting for her next visitor to be ushered in. She had already listened to several ponies speak about their problems, though she had difficulty mustering any empathy or concern for them. She could not understand why these ponies could barely manage to function on their own, or what had always excited her about this tedious chore of listening to them drone about themselves. She decided she had enough. Celestia descended from her throne and turned to face one of the many impressive windows that lined the hall. Calling on her magic, she pushed the window open and stepped into the open frame. Breathing deeply, Celestia lifted her brilliant wings and flew gracefully into the clear blue sky. Celestia hadn’t felt so incredible in days, and her exhilaration built with every flap of her feathery wings. Her colorful mane flew wildly around her as she soared and danced on the wind.          After hours of unrestrained flight, Celestia felt that she should rest her wings. She looked beneath her and was immediately drawn to a tall cliff overlooking a beautiful field. The princess stood proudly, watching the tall grass and healthy flowers sway in the light breeze, like silent waves rolling across an endless ocean of green. “It’s the perfect day for a picnic!” a deep voice crooned behind her. Out of the corner of her eye, Celestia saw a familiar face busily smoothing out a stitched-up mess of a quilt on the ground and carrying a straw basket on his tail. “Won’t you keep me company?” Celestia stepped onto the blanket and delicately sat down. Discord placed the basket between them and opened the lid to offer her the first sandwich. “Come on, you like bacon,” the draconequus teased. “I’m not in the mood for it right now.” “Suit yourself,” he mumbled through a mouthful of bread and meat. “I haven’t seen you in a while,” Celestia spoke as Discord reached into the basket for another sandwich. “You had me hoping that I would never have to see you again.” “Just admit it, you missed me,” Discord said slyly. “Don’t hold your breath.” “Speaking of breath,” he said as he waved his sandwich around for emphasis, “your trip down memory lane was actually enlightening for me, too. Now I know why my breath always smells like olives.” Discord wheezed and exhaled a pungent green cloud with a foul odor. “So I was supposed to be a tree. Crazy. I still haven’t heard a ‘thank you’ yet, by the way.” “You did kill my parents,” Celestia countered playfully. “In my defense, I had the mentality of a child when they attacked me.” “So nothing has changed.” “Ouch! Harsh words, harsh words,” the draconequus laughed mightily, and Celestia couldn’t help but chuckle in spite of herself. “You know, Celestia, I always felt like we had a bond. Like there was some special connection between us,” Discord said mystically. “Turns out it was something more like a magical umbilical chord.” Celestia nearly choked at the words. She had been trying to ignore the significance behind her visions of the war while reliving her memories, but the idea had crossed her mind at least once since then. What had really surprised her was how little the knowledge seemed to affect her. She would have thought that the discovery that her greatest and oldest enemy was, in some bizarre and twisted way that befitted the creature, like a son would have shocked her to her core, but she found herself able to accept it with little difficulty. “I don’t really know if I’d say you’re my son,” Celestia hummed thoughtfully. “Maybe ‘creation’ would fit better.” “Wow, you sure know how to make a guy feel loved, Mommy,”” Discord said and twisted his enormous eyebrows in thought. “Yeah, you’re right, it feels a little too weird for me.” “What I want to know is how, despite drawing life from the most beautiful creature in all of Equestria, you managed to turn out looking like... that,” Celestia settled. “What’s that supposed to mean?” Discord challenged defensively. “Discord, look at yourself,” Celestia said as she rolled her eyes. “I’m not even convinced you have the head of a pony. I always thought you looked more like a goat.” The draconequus roared with laughter. “That’s too funny! Somepony said the very same thing to me around the beginning of my rule. I wound up spending the first century tearing up Equestria just trying to find one of the blasted things to see what he was talking about--come to think of it, I’m not sure if I ever found one,” he added thoughtfully. Celestia couldn’t believe herself. She would barely say two words to Luna, and yet she had no issue opening up and talking to Discord. Just talking! No riddles, no visions, no smoke clouding her mind; just the princess of Equestria and the spirit of chaos having a friendly picnic. She must have gone mad. Against her better judgment, she took a sandwich from the basket and took a bite, pleasantly surprised by the taste. “This isn’t half-bad,” she admitted. “Better than little Luna?” Discord asked mischievously. “Well, there’s no such thing as being worse than her...” “Presenting: Miss Twilight Sparkle!” The sudden announcement started Princess Celestia and immediate tore her from her thoughts. The grand doors swung open and the young unicorn entered with a relieved smile on her face. “Princess Celestia, I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to hear you’re feeling well,” Twilight said with a respectful bow. Celestia walked down the steps from her throne to meet her student, fighting to ignore the fears and suspicions that had been plaguing her faith in the unicorn. But she knew this might be her last opportunity to cement Twilight’s loyalty, and Celestia could not allow herself to lose her. “I am happy to see you as well, Twilight Sparkle,” Celestia greeted Twilight as she met her in the center of the room. “It means a great deal to me to see that you’ve come all this way by yourself.” “Oh...” Twilight hesitated. “Actually, Princess, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Fluttershy came to Canterlot with me.” Those horrible little ponies. “Where are they?” Twilight flinched from the urgency in the princess’ voice, but forced herself to smile as pleasantly as she could. “They’re off exploring,” the unicorn answered. “I see. Well, I hope they enjoy themselves,” Celestia said conversationally, her voice immediately losing its harsh edge. “How have you been, Twilight? I haven’t had the opportunity to speak with you alone for some time.” “Things have been a bit chaotic around Ponyville without... the sun,” Twilight hazarded, “but we’ve all been pulling together, Princess.” Celestia twisted her mouth in thought when an idea struck her. “Twilight, how long have we known one another?” “Ah, you made me your student sixteen years ago next month,” Twilight said, caught momentarily off-guard by the odd question. “Well, Twilight, if that’s so, I find it silly that we are still so formal around each other,” Celestia began with a large grin. “I would like it if you addressed me by my name.” Twilight’s eyes stretched wide. Luna had warned her that the princess hadn’t been herself lately, but she was not prepared for this. “I don’t really think that’s my place.” “You call Luna by her name. Why is it different for me?” Celestia asked darkly, memories of late-night conspiracies returning to her. “I-I’m sorry, P-Celestia, I didn’t mean to offend you...” “Don’t concern yourself, Twilight. All is forgiven,” Celestia forced a smile, though her grin faltered as Twilight recoiled from her. Something was not right. “Have you been keeping with your studies?” “I did find a snipe, though,” Discord spoke up between bites of his sandwich. “I thought it was going to be a bird or something. Turns out they’re indistinguishable from frogs.” “Are you sure you didn’t just find a frog?” Celestia asked skeptically, leering victoriously as the draconequus’ expression changed from confidence to uncertainty to worry to frustration. “There’s another hundred years I wasted! Celestia, you’ve got to let me out again!” Discord pleaded. “I’m going to lose my mind if I have to wait another thousand years before I find a snipe. Or a goat while I’m at it.” “You know that’s not going to happen,” Celestia refused. “As long as I protect Equestria, I won’t allow you to run amok.” Discord pouted and spat an ember over the cliff, which gently drifted to the grassy field below. “You haven’t done a great job of it so far. But fine. I can wait. In six hundred, seven hundred years tops, I’ll be back,” he said ominously, reclining on the patchwork quilt. The alicorn narrowed her eyes at the creature and allowed herself to walk into his trap. “What are you trying to say? The Elements of Harmony have proven themselves to be more than a match for you. Twice,” she added proudly. “Right, sure... Like how I was trapped in stone forever the first time?” Discord mocked. Celestia ignored the smell of burning grass wafting up from below her. “Tell me what you know,” she demanded. “And why would I do that? It doesn’t seem like it would benefit me much,” he asked as he lazily inspected his talons. “Because helping your enemy to defeat you is precisely the sort of nonsensical thing you delight in.” Celestia masked her smirk. Now it was time for Discord to stumble into her trap. “Hmm... True,” the draconequus mused as he ran his paws through his beard. “But doing the exact opposite of what you’d expect me to do is also my style, so I’m afraid the answer is a great, big no.” “But I was expecting you to be contrary and stubborn, so you’re actually being predictable by doing the unpredictable,” Celestia said definitively, truly hoping that the anti-logic wouldn’t need to become any more convoluted. Her gambit appeared  to have worked, as Discord had pulled himself off of the blanket and spat into the field again before summoning a quill and scroll and scratching away intently. “...times the square root... carry the infinity... Bah!” he shouted, tearing the scroll in half and dropping the two halves into the growing fire below them. “I’m still not going to do it.” “Thank you for my birthday present, Discord. I truly enjoyed it.” “So the thing about the Elements,” Discord began as he summoned a projector screen to float in front of the two, “is that they work just like any other form of magic. You need concentration to make them work the way you want. And these six...” he snapped his paw and an image of Twilight and her friends harnessing the power of the Elements of Harmony appeared on the screen. “Have the laser-focus of a tub of gelatin. But the biggest thing they were missing...” The image changed again, showing an image of Luna and Celestia pacing around Discord in their final confrontation, their bodies surrounded by the awesome power of the Elements. “...was the hate. Nothing drives you to put down somepony for good quite like pure loathing.” “Celestia?” The alicorn blinked a few times and looked around the throne room. “I’m sorry. I’ve still been feeling a little light-headed lately. What were you saying?” “I said that I’ve been reading up on ways that Discord might be able to use his powers, if you’d like to hear them,” Twilight offered helpfully. The princess looked into her faithful student’s rich purple eyes and found something there she had prayed she would never see: guilt. Twilight Sparkle was hiding something from her. This would not stand. “Never mind that now, Twilight. I’d like to ask you a few things. To help get my thoughts in order,” Celestia spoke. “Of course, Pri-Celestia,” Twilight corrected herself. “I’m happy to help however I can.” “I’m glad. When we went to investigate Discord’s cave those days ago, you and your friends had to stay behind for the carriage to take you home, correct?” she asked. “That’s right.” “It must have been late when you finally made it back to Canterlot.” “Yeah, it was already pretty dark out,” Twilight answered. Celestia silently acknowledged the confession -- Twilight admitted to being taken to the palace when she was meant to be returned to Ponyville. “I am sorry for leaving you there, Twilight,” Celestia apologized, though her voice was devoid of any regret. “Tell me, has Luna been staying in touch with you? I know that she trusts you nearly as much as I do, and she tells me she sees you as a role model for reintegrating with pony society.” “Oh, yes, of course!” Twilight said hurriedly. “What sort of things do you discuss with her?” Celestia’s tone was earnest, but the cold stare the alicorn gave her caused Twilight to realize the princess was beginning to distrust her. “You know, like what I write to you. The magic of friendship, lessons I’ve learned from the ponies in Ponyville... Sometimes she asks me questions about... things like how to speak to ponies without intimidating them.” Princess Celestia’s ancient heart was breaking. “Those girls had to deal with soap roads and chocolate rain for less than a day. They simply didn’t have any reason to harbor any real hatred toward me,” Discord continued, the projector showing corresponding images. “The cute little pink one actually liked it.” Princess Celestia burned a hole through the projected image of Pinkie Pie’s laughing face. “Not a fan, are we?” “The Elements symbolize order and peace among all ponies,” Celestia said angrily, ignoring rapidly-growing blaze below her. “The idea that they could be strengthened by negative emotion is absurd.”   “Let’s just stick to what we know. The girls didn’t hate me, and here we are enjoying a picnic together.” “So then why didn’t the seal last forever the first time? I hated you. I hated you with every ounce of my being for all that you did to Equestria and what you took from me,” the princess said dismally. “Trust me, I know. But what about your sister?” The word always sounded filthy whenever it slithered out of his mouth. “She didn’t hate me with all her heart, and just a few centuries later it was my time to shine again. And what about Nightmare Moon?” Discord added. “Luna?” “So, we agree they’re one and the same now! That’s good! That’s progress,” the draconequus cheered as he clapped his paws together. “You just couldn’t find it in you to hate her. You were too weak, and now she’s back to take everything away from you again.” Celestia was silent. She didn’t want to believe it, but she couldn’t find anything in what he said that she hadn’t seen to be true with her own eyes. Luna was weak and it nearly doomed Equestria, and then Celestia had been weak and now her own sister was plotting against her. “How do I know I can trust you?” The inferno below stretched as far as she could see. “Oh, Celestia. You can’t trust anypony...” “Well, Celestia, I’m glad that you’re feeling healthy again,” Twilight said with an uneasy grin as she inched toward the doors. “But I should go check on the others. I’m sure they’ve gotten into some situation by now.” “Very well, Twilight Sparkle. I also have other duties to attend to. Thank you for speaking with me. This has been very enlightening.” ---------- Princess Celestia could hardly concentrate on the rest of her visits, not that any of them mattered anyway. “There aren’t enough pegasi in reserve, your town will have to endure a drought for a while longer. If that traveling magician from Hoofington continues to spread lies of Ursa Majors, have her arrested for disturbing the peace and conspiring to instigate a riot. Yes, I will be present in Cloudsdale tomorrow for the competition.” The very instant she was freed of those common ponies, she retreated to her bedchamber and slammed the lock tight. She collapsed onto her bed and fell fast asleep, eager for the dreams that awaited her. She remembered her nightmares. She was rising through the air toward the sun, until the moon betrayed her and eclipsed the life-giving celestial body. And she fell into the blackness, unable to move or save herself--she didn’t bother to try. And yet, the fear remained. She refused to die. On cue, he appeared in front of her, his homely but comforting face twisted into an inviting grin. He offered his paw and time stood still. It was only a dream. It didn’t really matter what she did. And perhaps if she didn’t hit the ground, she wouldn’t wake up, and she could continue to dream. Celestia took his paw and dreamed of wonderful things.   ---------- She raised the sun and returned to her room. Celestia would not have anything to do with her sister this morning, or her poisonous cooking. She clenched her eyes tight in attempt to force herself to sleep. She was disturbed by a clamorous knocking on her door and prayed to be left alone. “Sister?” Luna. “Celestia, did you fall back asleep? We have to be in Cloudsdale soon to judge the Best Young Flyer competition, remember?” Celestia remained silent in hopes that Luna would give up, until the handle on her door slowly turned open. She was certain she had locked that door. “Rise and shine, sister. You’ll feel better once we get you out of the palace.” There was no way out of it now, Celestia knew. She slowly climbed to her hooves and let her sheets slide off of her. Luna nearly screamed when she saw her sister. “Oh, heavens, Celestia! What happened?” Celestia refused to speak to her scheming little sister; she had spent enough time with Discord to recognize when somepony was trying to make a fool of her. But the princess of the night would not relent. “Sister, you look like death warmed over! We have to get you to the infirmary right away!” “I’m fine,” Celestia hissed. “Let’s just go.” “Sister, you’re sick! Stars above, Celestia, you’re gray-” “I said I’m fine!” Celestia remained mute in the face of Luna’s endless interrogation; she couldn’t show any weakness, lest the duplicitous mare seized the opportunity to overthrow her before Celestia was prepared to deal with her. “Once and for all,” Celestia murmured absentmindedly as she climbed onto her personal chariot beside Luna’s. “Did you say something, sister?” Luna asked hopefully only to withdraw after receiving only silence in response. The two set off for Cloudsdale, and though Luna tried her best to reach out to her sister, all Celestia could do was think. Think of how she’d rather be flying rather than being ferried around by those overbearing guards. Think of how disappointing each performance was sure to be in comparison to her own grace and talent. Think of how soft and helpless the entire pony race had become as a result of her naive compassion and personal weakness. Think of how far Equestria seemed to have fallen, from an exciting world full of wonders and new discoveries to such an uninteresting mess. Think of how right that father in Canterlot had been when he said it was foolish to allow Luna to live in the palace. Think of how the two ponies she had held closest had betrayed her. Think of those wretched ponies that poisoned Twilight’s mind. “Hey, it is! Princess Celestia! Princess Luna! Over here!” The two royal alicorns turned their head to see a purple hot air balloon drifting a few hundred feet away. And still Celestia could hear that pink ones’ awful, grating, squeaky voice. “Look, Celestia, it’s Twilight and her friends,” the younger princess motioned, hoping the surprise would prompt any sort of reaction. Celestia stomped twice on the floor of her chariot, and the pegasus guards increased their speed, leaving the others far behind. As planned, Celestia arrived at Cloudsdale well before the heretics to allow herself time to alert her guards to a possible conspiracy, and instructed them to keep a close watch on Luna, Twilight Sparkle, and the others for any suspicious behavior. She fought the urge to scream as that horns-on-a-chalkboard sound of the pink thing’s voice alerted her of their approach well before the top of the purple balloon came into sight. Without wasting another second, Celestia pushed through the crowd of chattering pegasi, ignoring their greetings and concerned whispers, until she reached the famous Cloudsdale Cloudiseum. Some flank-kissing pegasus ushered her to her private box, where he guaranteed her she would have the best view of the performers, as if it really mattered to her. The only thing that Celestia was concerned with was how she would expose Luna for the traitor she was. “This is going to be a fantastic show,” Discord chuckled from his seat beside her. “I can already tell. Popcorn?”