Come Little Children

by BlueEyedMelloon

Chapter 1

The roar that seemed to shake the very air around them was abruptly cut off as stone devoured the head of Discord. Frozen in a pose of disbelief, the dragonequus stared at his captors with wide, unblinking eyes. On either side of him, an alicorn stood, crown atop their head. The smaller alicorn was the first to move, dropping to her knees and gasping for air. Her midnight coat was lathered with sweat, and when she turned her deep blue eyes to the elder of the two, they were dull, but large with excitement.

“We did it sister.”

The other alicorn’s wings dropped to the ground, primary feathers brushing the blackened earth and stirring up ashes. Her head also lowered until the flowing pink mane that seemed to have a life of its own was billowing just inches from the ground, and her horn almost poked the earth. Her breath too came in sharp reports, and between inhales, she said “Yes little sister. It is done. Discord is defeated.” The two sisters remained in their respective poses for some time, while Discord watched them recover from his position in the middle. The younger alicorn, called Luna, lifted her head to gaze at the statue.

It had taken weeks for the royal sisters to locate him. His chaotic magic spread quickly over the land, making tracking him ever more frustrating. After casting countless spells and untangling leads, they had cornered the dragonequus in a town far from their castle and edged by forest on most sides. Discord himself was a picture of chaos; his body parts came from so many different animals, it was impossible to tell which creature he had originally been. When he realized that he had been found, his magic turned from widespread to concentrated in the snap of a clawed finger. The fight had been long, but in the end, the Elements of Harmony that were wielded against him had proven to be more powerful than his chaotic powers. Now Luna and her elder sister Celestia stood the victors, and around them Discord’s power was beginning to wane. The sky changed from polka dots to deep blue, and stars appeared in the velvet of the night sky. The moon shone brightly on the horizon, and Ponyville began to settle back into normalcy. Cheers could be heard from the town as ponies realized that the magic was breaking. Soon word would reach all of Equestria that it was the two princesses that had brought the world back into routine.

Finally Celestia stirred, raising her head and looking to Luna.

“Come Luna, we must return to the castle. There is much to be done now that Discord is no longer a threat.” She lifted her wings and flapped a couple of times, returning the blood to the delicate veins within them. Luna wearily rose to her feet and too lifted her wings, following her sister into the sky as they wheeled higher and higher above the earth. Celestia glanced at the disfigured statue below, and decided that she would send guards to watch over him tonight. She would return for him in the morning. Together the princesses straightened their course for the castle in the center of their large capitol city.

Equestria was in shambles. Discord’s reign had left towns destroyed, buildings left to ruins and families torn apart. A slew of orphans were being sent to the orphanages that still stood, their parents lost to the attack on Equestria. Crops had wilted under the stress of the rapidly changing weather patterns, and roads were destroyed by flooding due to the chocolate milk rain that had lasted for two weeks. The animals had fled to the Everfree Forest, the only part of Equestria that wasn’t affected by Discord’s power. Ponies avoided it like the plague; withstanding Discord was a good indicator that there was other magic at work that nopony wanted to get involved with. Throughout the land came cries for help; citizens sent letters and representatives to the castle to beg the royal sisters for help. Celestia and Luna were besieged by requests, and had to turn away many of them for sheer lack of provisions. As time went on, starvation fell rampant, and the once thriving nation stared out through gaunt eyes and hobbled around on weak legs.

Luna and Celestia were weary with emotion. Day and night, they struggled to attend to courtly manners, and assist the nation in rebuilding itself. When Luna searched the dreams of their subjects, she found that many were troubled by nightmares fed by the worry of food and home. It brought pain to her very soul to see the heartache that their subjects were feeling, and when she expressed this to her older sister, Celestia nodded, eyes reflecting the want to help back to Luna, but still she felt that the other alicorn didn't truly understand what was going on.

She sees them in the daytime. When they put on a smiling face for neighbors and children, act like nothing is wrong. But none can control their dreams. I see them as they really are, afraid and hungry. Celestia does not understand these ponies the way that I do.