The Fallen Titan
The planet was coming apart.
Clouds of choking ash covered the skies, rivers of lava ran down erupting volcanoes and deep crevices had been opened by massive earthquakes; all a result of the ruinous powers unleashed by the now sealed Discord. Celestia and Luna had spent nearly a full year attempting to repair the damage done to the planet, but their many attempts did little to avail its suffering. Hovering over an especially large crevice in the middle of a large expansive desert, Luna spoke her mind about their efforts.
“Sister,” Luna spoke in a worried tone, “we attempted everything possible to heal this planet but I don’t think there is much we can do, our powers are insufficient.”
As Luna hopelessly looked down at the ground, Celestia smiled to her and said, “It is too early to give up Luna, even if our powers are insufficient we cannot just stand idly and let this planet suffer; we must do everything we can in order to keep it stable.”
Luna looked back at Celestia and felt an aura of determination coming from her, it reminded her of the story Harmony had told them of the original consciousness. Even when faced with insurmountable odds, the consciousness did not give into the void. Feeling a bit more optimistic about their current situation, Luna regained her composure but still felt worried about the planet.
“You’re right sister,” Luna spoke in a more hopeful tone, “we cannot give up yet, but even still we will need a miracle to save this planet at the rate that it’s deteriorating.”
Their miracle came in the form of a whisper; the wind whispered a cry for help. Not knowing what they would find, the sisters left for its source.
When they arrived, they were greeted to an unusual, but mournful sight. Lying in the middle of a valley was the body of one of their brothers, the Element of Matter: Titan; surrounding him, were hundreds of buffalo all staring at the once primal element with a worried gaze.
Luna cried out to her sister, “We must help him sister, we cannot lose another brother on this planet!” Celestia nodded in agreement, and they both descended to the valley below.
“I am Cairne Bloodhoof, chief of the buffalo tribes and ruler of the plains,” spoke a young, but large, brown buffalo with a headdress of white and red feathers. “Who are you, great spirit, that has asked for aid?”
The buffalo leader had heard the wind’s whisper, brought his whole tribe to help out, and now stood before a massive, horned, ethereal beast that laid bleeding on its side. Titan spoke to the chief, “I have seen your strength, resolve and wisdom Cairne, in leading your people here; your journey must not have been an easy one considering your land’s current condition.” The buffalo nodded in agreement, Cairne knew that after the earthquakes, crevices, and sinkholes had claimed so many of his tribe, that going to help out someone else would have seemed foolish for anyone else to do, but something in the wind’s call compelled him to aid this beast. Before Cairne could speak again, two winged figures descended into the valley.
Titan felt two familiar energies, and moved his head to face their source. “It is so good to see you again sisters,” Titan spoke somberly as his siblings appeared from behind the buffalos, “I am afraid that it will be the last time we see each other.”
“Do not speak such lies brother,” Luna spoke mournfully, not wishing to accept her brother’s fate, “we can still help you!” Titan turned his gaze to his sisters and gave them a smile of empathy.
“The wounds I have suffered are not any that can be healed,” Titan spoke, and turned to his side revealing massive, black and purple scars, that emanated a terrifying energy. “I would use matter to recover from such wounds, but the substance in them devours it on contact.” Titan looked to her sisters once again, “I am sorry but there is nothing you can do sisters.”
Celestia, who had remained silent throughout the entire exchange, now spoke in a tone of sorrow, “How did you arrive here; what did this to you?”
Titan gave a dry cough before telling them his story. He told them of his attempt to hold Harmony together, before its nebulous form became devoured by, what he called, the Vortex. In doing so, he tried to save as many of their escaping brethren from Harmony’s collapse. When the pain of keeping Harmony stable became too much for him to bear, Titan decided to sacrifice a part of his own body to give himself enough time to escape. He would have been able to regenerate, but the same substance in the vortex kept his wounds from closing up. He tried to find any of his brethren to aid him, but only succeeded in bleeding out as he searched. When nearly all of the life had gone from him, he sensed the energies of his sibling on a little blue and green planet. With the little energy he had, Titan descended through the planet’s atmosphere and crashed into the valley he now lay in, where he remained for nearly a whole year, unable to move.
At the end of his tale, the buffalo remained silent and Celestia and Luna’s eyes began to water, they were to lose yet another sibling to Discord’s foolish ploy.
“Do not worry though sisters,” Titan spoke in a much weaker tone now, the life now trickling from what was left of him, “I may die, but my own strength and powers will live on in this planet, I can assure you of that.” “Chief Cairne Bloodhoof,” boomed Titan, “do you wish to save this planet from decay?”
As Celestia and Luna’s heads turned to the large brown buffalo, Cairne answered, “Yes, the land’s suffering is also the suffering of my people, and it is my responsibility as chief to keep both safe.”
With that answer, the body of Titan exploded into particles of the purest matter that seemed to bathe the entire valley in beautiful emerald glow. The buffalo and the sisters then stared in awe as the particles of matter began to surround Cairne, coating him a radiant glow.
As the emerald light faded away, Cairne Bloodhoof now stood at a much taller figure and found a giant, stone totem on his back, with runes that glowed with an equal green radiance to Titan’s particles. Luna switched her gaze to where her brother laid, but found nothing but a barren earth.
Before tears flowed from her eyes, Celestia stated, “Luna, look at me.” Luna looked at her with watery eyes, “we must continue with our mission, I am hurting just as much as you, but we must trust our brother’s decision, if he placed all of his trust on this buffalo then we have to as well.”
Luna nodded tearfully at her sister, wiped her face off and approached the now empowered chief. “Cairne Bloodhoof,” she spoke to him in a respectful tone, “aid us in mending this world, just as my brother aided you.”
The chief nodded in agreement, and he ordered his tribe back to the plains, where the work of elements to mend the world would begin.
In less than fifty days, Cairne and the sisters mended that wounds of the world. Reshaping tectonics to halt the earthquakes, fixing fault lines so volcanoes could no longer spout through mountains, and clearing the winds of the ash and noxious fumes that blocked the light of the sun. On the final day of their labor, however, Cairne and the sisters encountered a volcano that could not be sealed.
It was the volcano that Discord had first opened to the world, a dark, smoking monstrosity that seemed to emanate with the powers of chaos from the bottom of its caldera. Cairne, decided that nothing could be done for the fire mountain, except return it back to the earth from whence it came. Using the powers of his totem, Cairne slammed it against its base and diminished the enormous volcano to a small smoking geyser. In spite of this effort, even he knew that nothing could ever truly stop the mountain from rising again.
With the final deed completed, Cairne returned to his people in the plains, where they celebrated him as a hero and deemed him the Elder Titan, for reshaping the world back to normal, but the spirit of the Titan within his totem told him that his work would never be truly finished. Seeing him and his tribe in such joy at his work, reminded Celestia and Luna that unlike him they did not have a place to call home on this world, nor any kin left to speak of. Celestia and Luna said their goodbyes to Cairne and his people, and flew away to the site of their now late brother.
Luna and Celestia arrived at Titan’s grave, a massive memorial of stones that Cairne’s tribe had erected to honor the element. Luna and Celestia knew that they would never see either their home nor brother again, but both knew that just as change had come to this world, then they too would need to change. Luna however, had another thought in her mind.
‘Discord cannot be allowed to live for everything he has done,’ Luna brooded, ‘I will not lose anymore loved ones to that thing, I will become stronger, to take care of you as you have taken care of me.’
Lowering their heads to the memorial one final time, Luna and Celestia departed north, hoping to find somewhere to call home.
The rest is, as we say, now history.