Back when Discord ruled alone, he had grip over every aspect of Equestria except one. Alicornia. It was there that the essence of white magic in itself was concentrated into a blinding sun of power. Discord was powerful and held reign over dark magic, which is more powerful that white magic in concentrated doses, yet more intense and hard to have in said concentrated doses. Yet his power was spread far and wide over all of Equestria, and he had less magic due to the darkness’ uncontrollable abilities. Alicornia was the one place in Equestria that Discord could not control, and he wanted it desperately. The land of Alicornia was fertile, peaceful and beautiful, living in absolute harmony with itself and others (besides Discord). The ponies who lived in this land were alicorns with the power of small deities, and the sick and weary in the midst of being healed. There were ten permanent residents, Faust, Cadence, Celestia, Luna, Enchantment, Merriment, Charity, Candor, Constance and Compassion. Faust was generally known to be the creator of all and had retired to her throne where she spent her time creating smaller worlds with her wondrous art. Cadence was the sovereign of emotions and was less powerful than her sisters. Celestia was in charge of the day. Luna was in charge of the night. The rest formed the Council of Harmony, a group which used all of their specific talents to form a wise decision that used both rhyme and reason. They also formed many charity organizations, cleaned the country and provided education for ponies in nearby regions where Discord’s rule was not so powerful.
One day, a pregnant earth pony mare staggered to the outskirts of Alicornia, where Constance had been keeping guard. The mare, Great Great Granny Smith, said that she had been overseeing a peaceful assembly against the draconequus ruler when his army came to arrest them. Great Great Granny Smith resisted and ended up with deep wounds in both of her hind legs. Cadence immediately cried out in empathy and scorned Discord for as long as he lived, and though her aunts were in agreement with her, Celestia did not show it. She called upon the alicorns to overthrow the dictator, but the others were not sure.
“Be reasonable, Cadence, for though it is true that Discord is a tyrant, the chances are that you will fail if you pursue this hastily,” Candor decreed.
“We cannot think only of the folk of Equestria, but also of our own land. Who would be able bodied to rule it after we were gone?” Constance reasoned.
“None of us disagree that your efforts are good at heart, and generous to a fault, but you cannot let rhyme overtake reason, for the two together may only create wise choices,” Enchantment smiled, and Charity nodded with her.
Cadence wept at this, and Celestia and Luna felt for her. They felt for all of the ponies who had been hurt by the great king Discord, and they wept alongside Cadence. Celestia decided that the situation was bearable no longer, and called upon Luna.
“We shall sneak out in the midst of the night and find Discord while he is sleeping. We will then call upon all of our powers to turn him to stone, and jail him in the gardens where he shall stay for the rest of eternity. If he is too mischievous, we may have to turn him to stone, or even kill him. After Discord is gone, we will surely be able to rule Equestria as easily as Alicornia. Do you have any objections to this ploy?”
Luna paused. She, being a creature of the night, was not like her sisters, and did not feel understood by them. She had always wanted more than peace, but it seemed like the best option, so she agreed.
The two alicorns stole into the night, and had almost reached the outermost borders of Alicornia when they were discovered by the Council of Harmony and Faust herself. They bowed their heads in submission, but were surprised when the seven alicorns did not wish to stop them.
“You are foolish to do this, you know,” Faust told them, not unkindly.
“Yes we are,” they responded, humbly.
“You are foolish and stubborn and impatient.”
“That is true.”
“However, you are also brave. You are self sacrificing and moral and strong.”
“We are?”
“This proves to me that you are able to save others. By applying the powers of Friendship, you can solve any problem,” Faust smiled. “Therefore, the Council and I have decided to grant upon you the powers of Harmony.”
“With these, you will be able to rule graciously and fairly throughout the land. If you apply Honesty, Generosity, Laughter, Loyalty, Kindness, and most of all, Magic and Wisdom to any situation, you will surely succeed,” Merriment laughed. “Do you accept the power of what we are about to give you?”
“We do,” Celestia said.
“Wait!” Luna cried. The alicorns all looked at her. “Are you sure that we are able to bear this power? I have doubts as to whether I am really virtuous and strong enough on the inside to harness this ability alongside Celestia.”
Compassion took a step forward. Her kind, empathetic eyes looked deep into those of Luna. “No matter what others say of you, you are strong, Luna. You are as wonderful as you allow yourself to be, and even if you royally screw up,” Compassion giggled. “We are always there for you. Never forget that.”
She kissed her at the base of her horn and backed away. The six of the council formed a circle around Faust, whose horn was lit with magic. The rays of a rainbow spouted from the tip of her horn, and one color hit each of the council. Their eyes glowed with light, but they stood strong. A great burst of white magic erupted from Faust, and suddenly, the six had become beautiful gemstone orbs with the cutie marks of each of them etched in.
Faust looked to the remaining alicorns. They were gathering the elements in the satchels they had brought with them for the trip. “Do the both of you promise that you shall protect other ponies with all of the wisdom in your hearts?”
Celestia nodded, but Luna seemed unsure. She was holding the gemstone orb of Compassion in her hooves. Her eyes were wet, but she did not cry. “I do.”
Faust smiled and touched her mighty horn to the tips of the others’. “Go forth.”
The two alicorns took flight for seven days and eight nights. They landed outside of the great Discord’s cavern, an oddly humble hunk of stone with a wide opening carved in, runes and pictures scraped ‘round it as though the draconequus had been bored. Celestia opened up the satchels and smiled at her sister. “Three each, you can pick first.”
Luna returned the tender beam. “You are always the most selfless. You shall have Generosity, for one.”
She levitated the indigo sphere to her sister’s side. “I have the habit of bluntness and pessimism, but only when necessary, so I shall take Honesty.”
Her sister suspended the tangerine globe to Luna. “You are willing to put everything of yours at stake for what you love, therefore I give thee Loyalty. I try to cheer others with dance and song when they cannot glow, which earns me Laughter. You are the stronger of us two in sorcery, so I bequeath thee Magic...”
“There is only Kindness.”
Luna gazed into her sister’s eyes. “Please, Celestia. Let me be strong.”
Celestia smiled. “I dream of a world peaceful, where ponies would rather have apple pie than war. Where Harmony is respected and where friends come in sixes. We will rule over that world, won’t we?”
“Why not?” Luna grinned, pointing her wing toward the cavern. “All we have to do is defeat that centuries-old, insane, patchwork god. Then we shall have tea with Cadence and tell her what a wonderful adventure we had.”
“Cadence? Is that your sister?” boomed a voice from inside the cave. “How delightful! Even more wretched little alicorns to slay once I’m done with you.”
Both of the girls shivered at his voice, but Celestia held her tongue strong. “You shall never get at her, King Discord, because we are here to defeat you and return harmony to the land!”
“BOAR-EEN-GUH.” The ground shook with his yawning bellow.
“What in the name of Faust do you mean by that?” Celestia cried.
“I mean BORING. Why on Earth would you want harmony? Harmony isn’t productive. It’s not interesting or creative, and it certainly isn’t FUN.”
“What is Earth?” Luna whispered to her sister. She shrugged in reply.
“All I want is a little Change. There’s so much beauty in terror and rampant destruction, don’t you think?”
“Of course we do not! And besides, that’s a terribly selfish reason to do anything! Your own interests do not benefit the ponies of Equestria!”
“Again, why on Earth would I want that?” From the depths of the cave came a reasonably large being with the head of a pony, the body of a snake, wings of a bat and bird, and all sorts of limbs and horns. He gazed at them approvingly. “You two are most definitely strong enough to kill me. Which is an awful shame, seeing as I really do not want to die.”
“Whether or not you want to does not make any difference to us. We see your sins, and we are prepared to do anything in order to strip you of your powers. You are too much of a danger to all of the ponies in Equestria if you still walk free, so either you die, or you turn to stone.”
Discord turned to Luna. “You haven’t said anything, my dear. Are you prepared to kill in order to strip me of my powers?” Suddenly, his head morphed into an equal copy of her sister’s, with a stern face and crossed eyes. “Do you believe that I am too much of a danger to all of da ponehs in Uh-quest-ree-uh if I still walk freh, so ah must dah or turn to stone?”
Luna giggled, despite herself. “Yeah I do, ‘cause you’re a big meanie pants!”
Celestia’s face on Discord contorted into a duck-lipped pout. “Am not.”
“Are too.”
“Am not.”
“Are too!”
“Am not.”
“Are too!”
“AM NOT! MOM!” Discord turned to Celestia, sucking his thumb. “LUNA’S BEING MEAN TO ME!”
“Luna, he isn’t your friend. He’s just trying to deceive you so that you take mercy on him, though he doesn’t deserve it.”
“Aw, you’re so SIMPLE, my dear. You really are a pretty little thing, and a ‘maiden fair and true’...” With this, white gloved hands appeared in the air and folded their fingers into quotation points. “...but you’re simply NO FUN, and we can’t have that, now can we?” He glided through the air toward Luna and reclined as though on a lounge chair. “How about you? Are you fun?”
“Not in the way you interpret!” Celestia cried.
“I’m plenty fun. Just watch me.” Luna’s mane swirled around her as her horn glowed with magical potency, the orbs of the elements bequeathed to her shimmering. “Honesty, Laughter and Kindness flow through my heart, and Loyalty, Generosity and Magic flow through my sister’s. They give us the power of being able to depend upon each other, a certain reliability that can never be replaced by utter random pain. What do you have to depend upon, you monster?”
“Love.”
“What?”
“I have love. I have more love than you’d ever get from your sisters.”
“How much can you lie, beast?”
“I wouldn’t lie about this. The love you get from your family is equally distributed, commonplace. You alicorns distribute love impartially, loving anypony as much as everypony. You don’t have significance. Even your sister over there only loves you as much as she loves her niece, Cadence.”
“You thought she was our sister before.”
“Don’t change the subject. Your sister loves you only as much as her or that wretched little pregnant assassin who fled to Alicornia.”
“She wasn’t an assassin! She was a peaceful protestor who YOU tried to kill!”
Discord grinned. “Is that what she told you? Well, she’d make a bad element of Honesty if you ask me.”
“STOP IT!” Luna turned to her sister, her eyes wet. “Is this true?”
“What, Great Great Granny Smith being an assassin? I had no idea.”
“No, IDIOT, you only loving me as much as anypony else!”
“Well, of course.” Celestia looked a little bit confused, a little bit angry. “But I love you, and that’s the point, isn’t it? Tutor Candor and Teacher Enchantment always taught that it was the best way to love. Weren’t you listening?”
“I always thought that I was special to you.” Luna looked down at the ground so the tears would fall straight down and not trickle down her face.
“Everyone’s special, Lu.” Tia smiled at her sister as warmly as the first sunbeams on a Spring day.
“Which means that nopony is.” Luna looked up. “Finish what you started, Discord.”
“All I was going to say was that with your sister, everything is fair.”
“And?”
“And with me, nothing has to be.”
Celestia put her hoof on her sister’s shoulder. “Why are you entertaining his offerings? He is evil, you know that. I thought that we had agreed to live together and reign kindly and wisely.”
“You know what, sister? I’ve got to be selfish.”
“But why? Why would you even WANT to? Aren’t you the bearer of the element of Kindness?”
“I’m also he bearer of the element of Honesty, and I honestly say that I’d appreciate you to let me choose which side I’m on.”
“But you already did. You’re on MY side. We were going to make this world a better place.”
“Who says that he can’t?”
“He hasn’t!”
“And I’ll change that. We can change that, you can come with us.”
“I can’t betray my little ponies as easily as you, Lu. If you join forces with him, I’m afraid I’ll have to fight you.”
“That doesn’t even bother you much, does it? Seeing as you only love me as much as everypony else.”
“Luna, will you stop being such a SPOILED BRAT for ONCE?!” Tia screamed. “I’m sorry if you’re not the most important thing in my life, but nothing is, and you should respect that! We came here to win back this world so that we could make it better and to destroy the being who made it worse! Why are we even disputing this? He’s tricking you into fighting against me because that’s what he does! He tricks ponies into destroying themselves! How could you love anyone like that?”
“I... I don’t know.” Luna looked to the draconequus. “How could I love you?”
“Oh, am I back in on the conversation?” Discord was languidly swinging as though in an invisible hammock, drinking the straw out of a cup of chocolate milk.
“Yes, you pile of Faust’s excrement sewn together with sheep's stomach lining.” But Luna was smiling.
“I think,” he said, molding his cup of chocolate milk into a ball and tossing it to Luna. “That love should be one of those things which doesn’t need a ‘how’.”
“How will you fight me?!” Tia yelled. “What elements have you?”
“Must we use those?” Discord asked. “Traditions are so annoying. Everypony expects you to uphold them.”
“If I really am to join you, then yes. Yes we must.” Luna was smiling at him affectionately. Bad sign.
“What do you and that monster have that’s more powerful than Harmony?!” Celestia scowled.
“I have a name, you know,” Discord replied.
“I’d prefer to speak of you as ‘He who shan’t be named’.” Celestia was frightened now. Her sister was lost to the powers of all she was against, and her worry was beginning to show. How could she save Equestria without teamwork? The girls had been worried about whether they would win, not whether Luna would betray them!
“How about ‘The Elements of Change’?” Luna asked. “Ability, Patience, Common Sense, Optimism...”
“Obstinacy,” Celestia scowled.
Luna glared back. “Yes, and Bravery.”
Discord grinned. “Sounds good to me.” The six elements they had chosen together suddenly appeared in his palms with a snap of the fingers, blood red for Ability, pale yellow for Patience, forest green for Common Sense, sky blue for Optimism, deep indigo for Bravery and burnt orange for Purpose (as Obstinacy would later be referred to as).
“This is your last chance, you know.” Tia hissed. “I won’t go easy on you.”
“Nor us, dear sister. And same to you. We could still rule over this land passionately with this draconequus alongside.”
“I won’t back down from the goodness I believe in. If you two really shall doom Equestria with your reign when you win, then let us hope that Faust allows I success.” Celestia’s magic enveloped the three elements Luna had chosen for herself as well as her three. “For Harmony!”
“For Change!” The two others had also risen themselves to the battle, Luna’s horn glowing and Discord’s front limbs glowing with magical potency. Luna was saddened at the sight of her sister taking the other elements. ‘Just because she bears them does not mean she has taken them from me,’ Luna reflected. ‘She cannot see the possibilities, that’s all.’
The three magics beamed into a central point, forcing each being backward with the raw energy. Celestia’s magic, a bright coral wave with yellow and pink light shining through, was obviously more powerful than either of the others, but perhaps not combined. Discord’s was completely black... only, no, now it was polka dotted... now it oozed with slime... peanut butter? His magic writhed and twisted, obviously not used to having to be confined to itself. It practically seethed with annoyance, which otherwise would have been his downfall. Luna’s was soft and navy blue, twinkling with star-like patterns and clusters fluctuating around in it. The three combined in the middle to form a sort of black hole, bits of matter being sucked into it every few moments. Five minutes later, Celestia took a step forward, pressuring her magic to head forward more... she advanced. Again, this happened. Luna screamed with the passion and blood she was pouring into her effort, her wings out, beating against the power. She looked at Discord through the corners of her eyes and found him sweating, but not pouring all of his power into it. Was he MAD? She tried to turn her head to speak to him, but the pressure of the magic wouldn’t allow her to without giving up all of its current. Five more minutes passed. Celestia was almost upon them now, and Luna cried out; “DISCORD!” Suddenly, his magic exploded in a terrible reaction that left Tia on the floor shivering on the other side of the room.
“She’s too young. You both are.”
“Lo and Behold, a beacon of hope! For before there was Harmony, there was Chaos eternal, and until that moment, insanity reigned.”
“Is that the Alicorn Bible or something?”
“I made it up.”
“Cute.”
“Now what do we do with my sister?”
They discussed it for a little while, Celestia occasionally chipping in with biting remarks about the future of Equestria, and they decided (after one of Tia’s sarcastic comments) that they would seal her into the sun. She wouldn’t be dead, and she’d be able to raise the sun when she wished, which they predicted would be the same as before, as Celestia was a very responsible pony. The only downside was that there would be no turning back.
“Which I don’t think is much of a downside, but you probably do,” Discord smiled gently and touched Luna’s face.
She returned the smile and gave the final appeal to her sister. “Change my mind, Tia? This is our last chance.”
“Our last chance was before we even began our quest,” Celestia scowled. “I have said no a thousand times, and I shall say no when I am licking my wounds.”
Luna nodded and closed her eyes. “But know this!” Celestia decreed.
“When I sleep, my sisters shall fall into a deep sleep. On the very first night of the thousandth year, the alicorns of whom you have no control shall waken yet again in the shape of the stars. They shall fly to my aid and we shall bring back the purifying day to bring harmony to the land.”
“How sacrosanct of you, sister. I always thought you were one for love and tolerance.”
“Give me a little time to change my mind.”
Luna smiled and closed her eyes. Her horn and Discord’s hands began glowing. She opened her eyes one last time as Princess Luna, sister of the Alicorns. After her sister would leave, Nightmare Moon would replace her current body. “Just because I am selfish does not mean I am not wise, sister.”
Celestia smirked. “Words to rule by.” She stood up, raised her head in pride and disappeared.