Concord spent the 15 minutes before the arrival of everypony else’s food deep in thought. He understood what had gone wrong, he understood why it had happened, what he couldn’t decide was what to do about it.
He had spent the time since he returned constructing an elaborate disguise, of sorts. Ponies are, by and large, emotional creatures, and this means that the easiest way to control or manipulate them is through their emotions. He had also realized that there was a strong logical argument to be made for imprisoning him again. Therefore he had decided that his best option was to approach the ponies in such a way as to play on their emotions rather than their logic, hoping that their emotions would overrule their logic, as was not uncommon. While this approach was the most likely to have a positive outcome, it had one significant drawback. Namely, that Concord was not, himself, a very emotional pony, and would necessarily have to act in a way that was unnatural to him.
That was the root of his problem. Concord had been trying to project an image of himself that conflicted with his nature. This had come apart when his more calculating nature had shone through, as it had when he had deliberately mentioned those horrific scenarios as evidence that he was not unreasonable, that he was actually being very moderate in his handling of that threat. While nothing he had said had been inaccurate or unreasonable, it had instead been too accurate and too reasonable. He had showed everypony that his actions had not been done out of kindness or respect of the rights of other living creatures, but out of expediency. He had sounded like a pony who would have gladly mentally enslaved potentially millions of griffons, or simply eradicated their entire race, had it been more efficient to do so. And, Concord had to admit, that was not too far from the truth. The fact was that he had imposed a strict code of conduct upon himself which he would have hesitated to break, but he could not deny that to him, the morality of the act was never even considered. He had considered how every other living creature in the world would react to his decision, but never the rightness or wrongness of the act itself. He was a practical pony, not a kind one.
Being aware of both the nature, and the cause of his current problem, all that remained was to decide how to proceed from here. The looks that had been cast him from the eight other ponies made it clear that there was little enough sympathy after his misstep. Even Luna, who had been at least a tacit supporter, didn’t seem to be able to just forget what he had said, so he decided that it was time to abandon this charade, for the moment at least.
This incident would, at the very least, have made them suspicious of Concord’s behavior, so rather than continue this act, he would allow them to see him as he normally was. He would try to avoid saying anything so blatantly heartless as he had before. After all, he had only said it to evoke a sense of horror, at which he had succeeded, only to realize that the horror wasn’t at the situations themselves, but at the pony cruel enough propose them. He wouldn’t try to disguise his nature anymore, and would have to hope that, so long as he did nothing to worsen their opinions of him further, they were emotional enough to decide to not imprison him once more.
Mind made up, Concord stood majestically, abandoning the casual, relaxed attitude that he had previously displayed. The cushion vanished, and Concord stood proudly, drawn up to his full height, making him slightly taller than Celestia, face drawn and emotionless, eyes hard and calculating. He looked for all the world like a statue, proud, dignified, powerful, remote, and cold.
Celestia and Luna were the first to notice this change in Concord’s demeanor, and despite their differing opinions on how to handle Concord, on this change, they both agreed.
This was bad.
This was very bad.
They felt they were no longer looking at a normal pony who happened to be incredibly powerful, which is what Concord had been trying to show before. Now they were looking at the entity which had, in five hundred short years, subjugated, through diplomatic skill and military prowess, the entire known world. An entity whose will knew no equal, and whose means were limitless. This was no longer the Concord that they remembered from their foalhoods together. They were looking at Emperor Concord, Lord of Order. This was the thing that they had feared so much that, despite their long history and all he had done for them, they had betrayed it without giving him a chance to stand down.
Luna was chilled at the abrupt return of this side of Concord’s personality that had thus far been absent. She knew Concord better than anypony else, and knew that if his behavior before had been unusually light hearted and relaxed, which restrained though it was, did constitute a dramatic shift from before, then what she saw now represented the other extreme. The Concord of mere moments ago was not a threat, represented Concord at his best. Now, however, Concord was a threat that nothing save for the Elements of Harmony could confront, and Luna was frightened by that realization.
Celestia was also chilled by Concord’s transformation. Not a literal transformation, but by abandoning his nice pony facade, he took on an altogether frightening aspect. She knew how to make ponies scramble to kneel before her, to make them fear her displeasure, and despite her recognizing exactly what Concord was doing, she found herself wanting to kneel, to appease the pony before her. Concord was very good at instilling fear and awe in his subjects and always had been. Part of it was the knowledge that his face wasn’t a blank mask, put on to conceal his thoughts or feelings, but that he genuinely did not care about anything around him. She had seen him execute ponies guilty of treason, announce celebrations for military victories, receive news of natural disasters, or learn of the death of a pony close to him, all with that same expression of cold, ruthless indifference.
She knew that this was what frightened her about Concord, the thing that made her want him to stay a statue for all eternity. It was the knowledge that Concord was Order incarnate, and that he was without mercy, without pity, without remorse, and that there was nothing she could do to stop him. If Discord, Chaos, was like a whirlwind, bringing change and uncertainty, then Concord, Order, was like a mountain, bringing stability and certainty. But where Discord’s Chaos was unpredictable, the outcome uncertain, Concord’s order was frighteningly predictable, and like a mountain, anything caught underneath it was, inevitably, crushed.
Celestia, despite Concord finally doing as she had wished, finally showing himself for the cold, dispassionate, and ruthless monster he was, had hoped that the element bearers could have been spared this. She also regretted now that Twilight had not yet replaced the Element of Magic upon her head. Now that Concord was behaving as his old self once more, she no longer felt that anypony was safe without the Elements’ magic to protect them, and yet she was worried about what he would do if either she or Twilight tried to do anything.
The element bearers had finally succeeded in calming Fluttershy down, and when the food finally arrived what felt like the longest 15 minutes anypony present had ever experienced, everypony except Concord was ready to eat. The various meals were levitated in by unicorns, and were placed on the ground before each of the hungry ponies, all of whom began to eat immediately, relieved at having something to distract from what had been happening. When the same servant who had taken Concord’s order before approached the now menacing grey alicorn, he almost fell into a bow. When Concord failed to notice his presence, he said, “excuse me, my lord.”
Concord pivoted with startling precision, and with a few long strides, towered over the servant. He said in a coldly formal tone, “rise and deliver your message.”
The servant rose quickly and said in a voice that only trembled slightly, “the kitchen staff wishes to apologize for not having completed your order, but require more time to prepare a cake from scratch. They are preparing it as we speak, but it may be several more hours yet.”
The towering figure did not react in the slightest, but said, “very well, you are dismissed.” Without even waiting for the servant to acknowledge his dismissal, or to bow as he departed, Concord turned and walked calmly back to where he had been standing before his thoughts had been interrupted.
Everypony else ate in silence, some occasionally casting anxious glances towards the now standing Concord. If anypony thought it strange, however, they kept it to themselves, choosing to avoid antagonizing him further. Fluttershy especially looked upset, but now it seemed more like she regretted having hurt his feelings rather than being displeased by his statements. If Concord noticed any of this, however, he did not deign to show it.
After having allowed the ponies to begin their meals, Concord said in a clipped tone, brooking no argument, “the question asked by Ms. Sparkle, namely that of the reasons behind the conflict, is of great importance and goes directly to the heart of the issue. However, in order to understand why I was fighting the griffons, you must understand the nature of the overall conflict, of which the war with the griffons was only a minor part. And in order to explain the overall conflict, we must investigate the events following the founding of the Kingdom of Equestria by Celestia and Luna’s parents, who would be its first King and Queen.”
Everypony stopped eating at this, and looked directly at Concord, curiosity replacing whatever other emotions they had been feeling. Still allowing no time for interruptions, Concord continued, his voice still devoid of expression, “Equestria was founded 2013 years ago by two alicorns, King Radiant Dawn and Queen Vernal Glory. Despite their names, which may indicate some connection to the Sun, or Spring respectively, alicorns are not inherently immortal, supernaturally powerful beings. They are simply ponies who are imbued with the gifts of all three tribes, and although alicorns are rare, they do occur naturally. It had been established practice that alicorns only married other alicorns, since that was the only way to ensure that their offspring would also be alicorns, but the downside of this practice was that inbreeding caused the never very large alicorn population to slowly dwindle until Radiant Dawn was the last of the alicorns. That was until Vernal Glory was discovered, and the two were married, and from this union, Celestia would eventually be born. That will be significant later, but what matters now is that the last two alicorns known to ponykind were united in marriage, and they set out to unify the disparate pony tribes into a single Kingdom.”
“Without there being any other alicorns to really resist them, and the common belief that alicorns were inherently better, due to possessing the traits of each tribe, most ponies agreed to follow the couple willingly, and the few groups who resisted were coerced into compliance eventually. In this way, Equestria, the first major nation was founded. It is from the year of its founding that we calculate the present year, so technically, Celestia was born in the year -4. This matters because on the day that Equestria was formally proclaimed, two strange foals appeared at the castle where the new King and Queen resided, with their young filly, Celestia. One of those foals was myself, and I appeared as a grey alicorn, this being the same body that I was found with. The other foal was Discord, a draconequus, the first and only known specimen. We were taken in by the King and Queen for several reasons, not the least of which was that we were both exceptionally powerful, and they hoped that we would help to cement their rule. This is how I found myself a Prince of Equestria.”
“Six years passed in relative peace, and then royal family expanded with the birth of Princess Luna, and everypony was relatively happy. Discord and I came to realize slowly just what made us different from other ponies. I could feel how strongly ponies believed in order, how organized a life they led, how loyal they were to authority, and I was able to draw power from these feelings. Discord meanwhile, came to realize that he was attuned to chaos. He revelled in rebellion, in disorder, in conflict, and he drew power from these feelings and chaotic events. We theorized at the time that we appeared when we did because the founding of Equestria represented the birth of a deliberate search for order and structure by the ponies, and since it was headed by two alicorns, I took on their form. Discord conversely, was an amalgam of all those who resisted the expansion of order. And we appeared where we did because the King and Queen of Equestria were at the epicenter of the conflict between order and chaos. We both realized our natures, and being good little colts, told our adoptive parents. Learning of the conflicting natures of their children, for they treated us as such, they changed their plans for the future.”
“Eight more years passed peacefully, with no major catastrophes or conflicts to distract the King and Queen from domestic life and the future. They had decided that the best thing they could do, both for their family, and the country, was to raise these ponifications of Order and Chaos. They had hoped to instill in us values that they thought important, justice, fairness, restraint, moderation, duty, et cetera, while at the same time, trying to prevent either of us from ever taking the throne. They realized that neither of us would be willing to sit idly by while either Order or Chaos took over, so they dedicated themselves to preparing Celestia and Luna to become the rulers of Equestria so that neither I nor Discord would either need or want to. The final part of their plan involved betrothing myself to Princess Luna, and Discord to Princess Celestia, in the hopes that the bonds of marriage would lessen the likelihood of either of us turning on our partner. They also hoped that by pairing Celestia, the more orderly and authoritative sister, to Discord, the embodiment of Chaos, and Luna, the more friendly and compassionate sister, to me, the embodiment of Order, that they would be moderating influences, preventing us from being too extreme in either direction. And by ensuring that both Luna and Celestia would be co-rulers after their eventual deaths, they hoped that neither of us would feel that the other was too powerful.”
Concord paused to allow everything he had explained so far to sink in. Both Luna and Celestia were blushing at the mention of their respective betrothals. Celestia looked especially discomforted by the curious expression on Twilight Sparkle’s face as she looked at the Princess about whom she had just learned so much. Twilight realized that she now knew more about her mentor than anypony else had for possibly more than a thousand years. Concord too remarked this strange, nonverbal interaction between mentor and student, and filed it away for future investigation. However, if he was right in what he was starting to suspect, then he may have found a new tool to work with.
Concord decided that he had waited long enough and continued, voice still impassive.
“This plan may have worked, but there is no way of knowing for sure, since long before any of it had been finalized, before any of the marriages could occur or educations be completed, Discord changed everything.”
“For no reason that we were ever able to detect, Discord killed Radiant Dawn and Vernal Glory, and fled from the castle, the original Canterlot. He killed them by turning both of their brains into cotton candy.”
Both Celestia and Luna had known this was coming, but neither had expected Concord to deliver it so bluntly, as if reciting a math formula, rather than referring to the cruel murder of two ponies he had once purported to love. They both winced, and lowered their heads dejectedly, at which point Twilight leaned her head over and nuzzled Celestia’s side consolingly. Celestia was surprised by this act, but appreciated it nonetheless. It had stung worse at the time, especially since it had been her fiancé who was responsible, but the pain was still there.
Concord continued, despite the emotional pain his words had caused to his listeners.
“Why he fled, we do not know for sure, since he never allowed himself to be questioned about their deaths or face trial for his crimes. What is known is that he left Canterlot and began causing problems for everypony everywhere. Neither Celestia nor Luna were capable of stopping Discord, and they knew this, but they wanted to hold to their parents’ plan that neither I nor Discord should hold the throne. They refused to take any serious action for more than a year, watching as Discord wrought havoc all over Equestria and the surrounding lands. Finally, however, Discord did something that the Princesses couldn’t ignore or repair. He started to manipulate the Sun and the Moon, throwing all of Equestria into chaos at once, and they were powerless to stop it. Realizing that they were out of their depth, they decided to ask me to intervene, and I refused.”
Concord was surprised when he heard gasps from all six of the element bearers at these words. They were either engrossed in the story, or were once again incensed at his cruelty, or possibly both. Either way, he continued evenly.
“I refused because I was unwilling to confront Discord unless I had the authority to actually fight Discord. I would not help to start a conflict, which I expected using my power to directly counter Discord’s would do, without the authority to carry that conflict to its conclusion. I said that I would only oppose Discord if I were appointed Regent, and given full control of the Kingdom of Equestria for the duration of the war. Luna and Celestia were indignant at first, followed by suspicion that I really only wanted to be regent so I could be in charge, and finally desperate that something be done. Once I was appointed Regent, I wrested control of the Sun and the Moon from Discord, and invested the Princesses with the power to control them so that they could resist Discord’s influence on their own. My expectation was that Discord, once he realized that we were in open conflict, would realize that he should never exert himself too much at any one time lest I be able to overwhelm him while he recovered. By tying the Sun and Moon to Celestia and Luna respectively, and thereby allowing them to use the magics inherent in those bodies to resist any of Discord’s magic, I ensured that Discord could no longer influence them without weakening himself enough for me to defeat him directly. With the Sun and Moon safely under the control of the Princesses, I was able to turn my attention to actually fighting a war with Discord. I had also gained a pair of immortal champions, whose powers would be rivaled by none save for Discord and myself, and since it was their Kingdom that I was protecting, I also thought that their loyalty would be assured as well. In a way I was right, their loyalty was assured, only their loyalty was to Equestria, not to its King.”
“Before I move on to the actual nature of the war, since Discord and I did not fight directly, I am offering you this chance to ask any questions you may have about what I have explained so far.”
Concord fell silent then, as he waited to hear what the ponies thought of his explanation so far.