//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 - Extreme and Desperate Measures // Story: Happy Endings // by Taranth //------------------------------// Luna was not smiling at all. Neither was anyone else in the throne room, as few of them as there were. The room was dark and foreboding, the torches lining the walls giving off a seemingly thin and wan light as if ashamed to be seen in the darkness. Only slight reflections on marble edges or where carpet became tile truly gave shape to the room. Luna on her throne was a sight to behold. She sat still as a statue, her eyes closed - though none in that room imagined for a second that she was not wide awake and fully aware of everything that transpired within it. The silver regalia around her neck seemed to shine like a crescent moon - all the more so because the rest of her form was somehow even darker than the room around it, a black hole surrounded by a halo of drifting starscape. While Celestia's mane held the soft colours of the northern lights, it still seemed to have some resemblance to natural hair in the way it flowed and spun, even if it seemed to flow more like it was underwater and billow out in winds that no mortal could feel against their coat. The stripes of colour, flowing in vaguely parallel lines, at least gave the illusion of stripes in a natural mane. Luna's mane, however, held no such illusion, appearing even in direct sunlight as a wavering portal, a hole in existence straight into the night sky that darkened the air around it. Some whispered, when they thought neither sister within earshot, that should any be entangled in those ethereal tresses, they would find themselves lost and trapped in a realm of eternal night that the Nightmare had sought to bring to Equestria. After being back for some time now, there were few who held to such beliefs - at least out loud - but the trembling officials in this room could be forgiven for thinking it. It was difficult to tell where her mane ended and the darkness around her began, an expression of her power reaching out and bringing a true sense of night-time to the place, complete with chill night breeze - as if the court was being held outside under the stars, and the moon itself had descended to the throne to reign at midnight. This was all the more terrifying for the fact that the sun was clearly visible shining in the blue, cloud-speckled sky through the upper windows, approaching noon. Normally, the cancellation of the day court for 'important business' - not too unusual a situation for the princess, whose duties political and deific often took her attention from the day-to-day rule - would result in a comparatively quiet but productive day inside the court, with nobles and officials making deals and sharing information with each other wherever prudent, and marking royal appointments for the future when not. Now, only a few guards and the most dedicated of ministers dared remain within the hall. Luna's bat-winged guards turned away any who dared approach her, stoic and unyielding as their gold-clad counterparts, marred near-imperceptibly by lack of sleep and their own slight confusion at the situation. Occasionally the doors had opened and closed as a new pony moved to enter the room, froze at the slight of the tableau of darkness and its avatar across the room, and beat a hasty retreat. Though there was no indication that the latest opening of the door was any different, everypony in the room jumped as Luna's eyes snapped open, the blue-white glow of moonlight shining out from them upon the intruder. To the herald's considerable credit, she barely flinched at the sudden attention, bowing deeply. "Princess Luna, your sister has returned to the palace. She will arrive here shortly." Her voice did not waver, and her body language was well controlled, but for a slight twitch of the eye that was masked by the darkness. Luna nodded slowly, dismissing her with a barely noticeable twitch of the muzzle. The young herald bowed again and left the room, quite unaware that she had gained the respect and attention of several high-ranking ponies in the room for her cool-headedness in the face of darkness, and would likely gain considerable prestige in the castle - assuming that the status quo was not to be shortly annihilated by a war between alicorns. For long minutes that felt like hours, none dared move, fearful of being the first to draw that cold gaze upon themselves now the princess's eyes had opened. The next sound and movement in the room was the great doors opening to admit Celestia herself. For the rest of their days, those who were present at the scene (and dared speak of it) would say that it was akin to watching the sunrise across Equestria compressed into a room. As the door opened and Celestia walked in, the darkness simply retreated away from her, as dawn eats away the night, darkness turning to twilight and bringing the outside sunlight back to the walls and floor. Once Celestia stood fully in the room, the chamber was held half in light and half in darkness, the two princesses locking gazes. Of course, by the time this equilibrium had been reached, the Day Guard at Celestia's side had leapt before her, wings stretched wide, ready to leap to attack or interpose themself between their goddess and any threat. Luna's night guard wasted no time leaping in to mirror those poses, and for a long frozen moment it seemed the Nightmare War was about to be re-enacted in the throne room. The only movement was the flowing manes of the princesses. Luna scowled, and Celestia smiled. "This is a little melodramatic, is it not, little sister?" Celestia broke the tableau suddenly with a teasing admonishment and a chuckle, tossing her mane back - with no effect on the actual mane, but breaking the staring match. "Is it not past your bedtime?" Luna's eyes bulged, expressions of shock, outrage, confusion and fear flashing across her muzzle in turn before all crowding in together. "Have you lost your--" She began the shout at full Royal Canterlot volume before cutting herself off with a strangled yelp, glancing around at the wide-eyed ponies around her. Taking a long, barely controlled breath in and out through clenched teeth, she mastered her expression and turned the full disdain of her glare upon Celestia. "We need to talk, sister. Everypony OUT." The civilians scrambled for the doors almost before they had consciously registered the instruction, and shortly the room was empty but for the princesses and their guards, who remained a mirrored line of defence between the sisters. Once again the scene froze, and once again Celestia was the one to break it, taking a step forward, her wings spread to gently brush against those of her guards, causing them to jump slightly, glancing back at her while still trying to keep an eye on their counterparts. "That's enough. Don't worry." She said, turning the full force of her signature comforting smile upon them. Although reluctant, the two slowly untensed, comforted by their ruler's confidence and serene expression. "Go. Nopony is in any danger here." Luna's eyes narrowed slightly again, and the guards hesitated further, but soon bowed and left the room, never taking their eyes off Luna and hovering at the doorway, unwilling to leave entirely. Luna's own guards glanced back at her, and with a grimace she gestured sharply with her horn, and soon enough the bat-winged ponies followed suit, taking a wide path around Celestia and matching glares with the day guard, finally leaving the sisters alone in the room as the doors closed and sealed behind them. Silence held for a long moment once again, as Luna's scowl crashed against the impenetrable calm stare of her sister - though the expression was a little different to her usual, there was a sparkle in the eyes there behind the smile she wasn't used to seeing. Given the situation, Luna considered this nothing short of utterly terrifying. Once again, the elder sister broke the silence. "So, is there a reason that we will be spending the next few weeks convincing Canterlot that Nightmare Moon's return is not immine--" "Discord." Luna seethed, though yet with an edge of fear in her eyes. "Has he taken your mind, then?" Celestia was completely taken aback. "What? No! No, oh no, not at all. You know that we are beyond such power n--" "THEN HAVE YOU TAKEN LEAVE OF YOUR SENSES?!" Luna roared, the sheer power of her voice scattering what little furniture had not already been toppled by fleeing ponies. "Have you taken refuge in madness and sought to unleash its avatar in turn? Become so frustrated with the concept of not winning that you seek to wipe the slate clean? Tossing the board on the floor will not change the outcome of this game, Celestia! What on earth were you thinking, letting Discord loose again? And STOP SMILING AT ME!" Celestia raised a hoof to her mouth, utterly failing to hide a giggle at her sister's antics. Luna's face fell, along with her wings and haunches, dropping to a sitting position. The last of the magical darkness faded out of the room as she stared, the fight draining from her. "By the sun and moon... you truly have snapped." "No, nothing like that, little sister. I am quite sound." Celestia smiled widely, leaning forward as if to whisper conspiratorially from the far side of a grand hall. "I'm just cheating." "Cheating." Luna repeated flatly, her expression falling further. "Given the choice between an impending apocalypse requiring a tangle of insanely complicated plans to merely minimise the damage, or removing the promise of happy conclusions to our stories, you consider voluntarily unleashing the living embodiment of chaos and most dangerous foe we ever faced in our lives... cheating. Perhaps I have missed something in the past thousand years, but as I understand it, when most ponies cheat, they do it to benefit their purpose, not ruin it entirely!" "Ah-ah, you just have to think outside the box, little sister. Certainly, there is an element of risk, but there are a few things you have not considered." "Do not patronise me while you tear down everyth--" "Perhaps we should take this somewhere more private if you're going to insist on shouting? You've scared the staff enough already today." Celestia's quiet, calm voice somehow cut clear over the top of the Royal Canterlot Voice effortlessly. Luna gave a snarl far more suited to a carnivorous beast than a pony, but concentrated her magic and vanished from the room in a flash of blue-black energy, followed seconds later by her sister. It was hours before anypony dared check if the throne room was safe to re-enter. ~-~-~-~ "The first thing you should recall, Luna, is that Discord's power and modus operandi is as opposed to Sombra's darkness as the elements are to either." Celestia strode cheerfully through the Hall of Windows, trailing a blue-coated whirlwind of barely suppressed rage in her wake. "The darkness brings oppression, conformity and slavery, which Discord would find as offensive as it was boring. Neither could thrive in the other's presence." "And neither can we thrive in either! If you seek to escalate this to a war between villians, Celestia, it will not become any easier for the ponies caught in the middle." "But if Discord willingly fought with us, against the shadow?" Luna burst out laughing, though it was tinged far more with desperate worry than any actual humour. "And what possible reason could you have to believe that the personification of disharmony would ally itself with the very ponies who sealed it away in stone not once, but twice?" "Simple. I made a story out of it." "You made a-- wait, you what?" Luna turned to Celestia, who suddenly wasn't smiling anymore, looking at her sister with intense seriousness. "I took Discord to Ponyville, and tasked Twilight and her friends to reform him." "W-what? You call that a story? No preparation? No foreshadowing? Just... take the greatest monster we've ever known and... let him out, and tell them 'don't let him come back until he's on our side'?" "Somewhat brilliant, don't you think?" Celestia smiled again. "If you're trying to convince me that you are not insane, you are going about it quite poorly!" "Don't you see, Luna? Discord is a creature of stories. Chaos, like Harmony, is not an elemental - hah, poor choice of words, sorry - a physical force of nature like air or water or the sun or moon - it is a conceptual thing, of understanding and metaphor. Something can only fail to make sense if there is a sense for it to rebel against. Discord's chaotic power is nothing but a story element, his power granted to him by the tales in which he appears." She built up to a crescendo, triumphant. "If Discord is the villian in a story that spreads across Equestria, his power reflects that, twisting the very world around him into his image, nigh-unstoppable control over reality. But if he's tied down to a little tale of redemption, a personal tale of overcoming hardship and loneliness..." "His power is limited, and if the story doesn't spin out of control, you can draw out a happy ending... which means Discord is reformed?" Luna eyed her sister warily. "You will forgive me, but it sounds far too easy. Have you done this before?" "Nope! I only had the idea recently. But I've been thinking it over since, and I have to say... I truly believe it will work." "But you could use this to... to conquer every villian, destroy every cursed item, wipe the land clean of threats within a year!" "No." Celestia sobered again. "It won't work on Twilight, for starters - she's already tangled in her own story for now, and trying to resolve it through another story won't work. Same with the other things already enmeshed with that tale. And besides, the Hall gets cranky if you try to use the same solution to too many problems. It always gets harder, every time - new complications. Have to keep the stories fresh and interesting." She looked up at the window showing Discord's defeat at the hooves of Twilight and her friends. "But if ever there was a foe I would bet upon being vulnerable to this tactic, it would be Discord. And to be honest, whatever path we choose - to keep or break the stories - having Discord break loose again without warning could mean disaster. He would be vastly weakened without the stories to support him, but the Elements would suffer similarly." "And - considering, as you said, that Sombra's magic and Discord's are opposed - have you considered that this very action might be what triggers Twilight to turn to that dark magic to protect herself and her friends?" Celestia turned away sharply, the words hitting home. "...Of course I have." "Then what could--" "I've done everything I could to keep the stories separate. As you said - no foreshadowing, no preparation, no warning, not even to you. This matter with Discord is as self-contained as I can possibly make it. And when it succeeds..." "Even if... I cannot even imagine Discord being a friend to us, Celestia. But even if he was, he will not be kind to our plans. He will be a piece we cannot control. He'll get caught up in other stories, he'll make life hell for the palace staff..." "Perhaps, perhaps. But I've got a few little tricks up my sleeve yet, Luna." She grinned. "And besides... perhaps the best way to keep Discord out of the stories is to bring him outside them altogether." "...You... you can't mean..." "You don't think Discord would make a good guide for the Hall? He's an expert manipulator, fantastic at thinking outside the box... and regardless of whether he is reformed or no, the happy ending rule is inviolate - I think he could do some amazing things here." Luna was completely lost for words - or more accurately, had a thousand things she wanted to say all trying to get out at once, leaving her gaping stupidly at her sister for almost a full minute. Celestia even let her smile be replaced by concern at the sight of her sister struggling to breathe before it was done. "Are you... alright, Luna?" "You're insane!" Luna gasped. "It's really the only explanation! You're planning to let somepony who tried to twist the world into their insane image have control over the destinies of--" This time, Celestia didn't even need to speak to cut off her sister's ranting. She just slowly turned her head to stare at the window to one side of Discord's fall, showing a wondrous stylised image of six ponies, the Elements of Harmony, and the fall of Nightmare Moon... "Even Discord might get a happy ending. For himself, not just us. A way to use his powers and be accepted, work with us. I know it's hard to imagine, but... much stranger things have happened under these windows." "Not to our benefit." Luna grumbled. "I still think this is a horrible idea. But does it mean that you've made your decision, then? You're going to keep the stories going?" "Not yet. That's part of the reason I'm doing this." Celestia sighed. "If anyone would have the ability to look into this and see the shape of it from directions we can't, it would be Discord. I'm not sure that we could trust anything he said, but... it would be a start, at least. Even a lie or a riddle would be more to go on than we currently have." "...Alright, you have a good point there." Luna admitted her own curiosity was considerable, although certainly not enough to even entertain the thought of what her sister had done. "But never, ever do anything like this without warning me again." "Agreed, sister. Now, you had best get to bed. I've got a long day of convincing everypony that they don't need to worry about Nightmare Moon's return, most likely closely followed by several weeks convincing everypony that they don't need to worry about Discord's return." "I'm not apologising for that." "That is most likely fair, although I'll expect you to do your part later. Now off you go. I'll let you know as soon as I know what's going on with Discord." "If he doesn't turn my moon into cheese before then." Luna muttered, moving towards the entrance to the hall, hoping she could at least get at least half a solid day of sleep before Discord started re-sculpting reality out from under them. She paused at the doorway as something occurred to her, turning back to look at her sister, who was staring up at Discord's window once again with her expression as unreadable as usual. "Celestia..." The elder turned slightly to acknowledge the younger. "Do you really think Discord would let you break the stories? After all, you said yourself - he gets his power from the stories themselves. And if you gave him the power to manipulate them, he would likely not give it up easily." "Perhaps, perhaps - but on the other hand... Do you think Discord would really pass up the chance to be a part of permanently breaking one of the fundamental foundations of magic?" Luna suppressed a shiver, and turned away without another word, closing the door behind her and returning to her chambers in a burst of blue-black light. Even in this state, Celestia was hard to argue with, but the doubts she had been feeling were still burning strong after that conversation. She wasn't prepared enough to win a debate with her sister, but it seemed that action might need to be taken to reign her in if she considered this an acceptable tactic. In her mind's eye, worlds fell apart, and Discord smiled.