//------------------------------// // Chapter 10 // Story: Princess Luna is Dead // by Horsegirl123 //------------------------------// "Oh, hello Twilight!" exclaimed Fluttershy. She trotted out of her cottage and wrapped Twilight into a nice, warm hug. "I haven't seen you in a while, how is everything going? Would you like to come inside?" "It's great to see you Fluttershy," said Twilight with a smile. Fluttershy beamed and stepped out of the way so her friend could enter the cottage and make herself comfortable. "How has being a ruler of Equestria been? It sounds so exciting!" said Fluttershy, offering Twilight the only article of furniture not occupied by some animal or another. "It's been... interesting. I haven't been given any assignments yet, but would you mind terribly if we could catch up later? No offense, but I'm back here for a specific reason," Twilight said. "Oh my goodness of course, I'm sorry," apologized Fluttershy quietly. "What do you need?" "I need to talk to Discord, if you would be able to track him down. I understand he can be all over the place-- literally," said Twilight. "Did I hear my name?" cooed out a voice from the kitchen. In a flash of purple light, the Spirit of Chaos appeared in front of Twilight in full chef attire. "Lets make this quick, princess. I have a rabbit salad that is only halfway done!" he said, twirling a ridiculously long mustache he had given himself. His hands detached themselves from his body, holding a salad mixing bowl to the side and messily tossing lettuce and carrot shreds all over Fluttershy's floor. "Oh Discord, you are making a terrible mess!" said Fluttershy, rushing to collect the fallen vegetation. "My apologies," said Discord, materializing his sale making hands into a broom and dustpan that fell to a clatter in front of Fluttershy. She exhaled heavily, obviously angry that the spirit was playing her as usual. "Discord, go to the kitchen and get a real broom and dustpan, and clean up this mess," she commanded with nervously, not used to her position of authority over a sentiment being. "But Fluttershy!" whined Discord, "I want to stay out here and play with Twilight!" "No, you have to clean up your mess." "Actually Fluttershy," intervened Twilight, "could I speak to Discord alone right now. If you don't mind." Twilight lit up her horn and magically cleaned up the fallen vegetables and floated them out of the room and into the garbage in the kitchen. "I suppose that's alright. I'm going to feed the animals outside. Just, um, call me in if he gives you any trouble, ok?" "Sure thing. Thanks Fluttershy." With that, Fluttershy left the cottage, closing her door softly. "Discord," said Twilight impatiently, knowing that the draconequus would not go willingly without a few overly dramatic costume changes. "Why would you want to talk to little ole me?" asked Discord, shrinking down to the size of a filly with golden curls and a southern accent. "Discord, I don't have time for this." The spirit shape-shiffted again, this time taking the shape of a grandfather clock." "Well take your time," he said, his mouth formed of numbers, "I have enough time for the both of us!" he laughed. "This is important!" yelled Twilight, knowing reason alone would not be enough to convince the spirit to partake in a full conversation. "Oh alright alright," said Discord, taking his natural shape with a slump in his shoulders, "you don't have to yell. You see if I was not so reformed I probably would not have agreed so quickly." Twilight rolled her eyes. "So what do you want to gab about?" asked Discord. In another flash of bright light he was wearing pink pajamas and holding popcorn, lying on his stomach with his back legs crossed and staring at Twilight. "Boys, shoes, clothes, the government, celebrity gossip?" "Enough! You have to get serious! This matter could affect Equestria for eternity if not handled precisely." "My my my! So passionate!" Discord canned once again, this tie setting up a whole photo studio around Twilight's angry face. "Make me love you. No! Make me hate you!" Twilight seethed, her body beginning to turn white, and her hair beginning to crisp as if a flame was starting. However, as soon as she noticed, she exhaled deeply, and her coat faded back to purple. "Discord, I will personally turn you back into stone if you do not shut up and listen to me RIGHT NOW!" Discord, snapped the place back to normal and stood in front of Twilight, intrigued. "Must be important," chuckled Discord. "What do you need?" "I need you to give me answers. I know something is very, very wrong." "How specific," mumbled Discord, only to have Twilight shoot him an angry look before continuing. "I know that Princess Luna isn't who she really is, I know Celestia is hiding something, and I know that there is another alicorn who was wiped from our minds. Unless you want to turn to stone again, and I am not playing, you are going to help me in every way possible until this entire matter is resolved, understand?" "Come with me, Twilight," commanded Discord, taking the most serious tone of voice Twilight had ever heard leave his mouth. He motioned for her to exit the cottage and follow him, and she reluctantly followed. "If you're planning to prank me or something Discord, so help me I will use my darkest spell on you." "Will you just shut up for a minute!" Twilight took a step back. "Excuse me? That is no way to talk to somebody." "Why can't you remember anything?" he asked, ignoring her previous statement. "I-I don't know. Rarity and Spike can't remember either." "So why do you think something is wrong?" "Holes in events. We know that this mysterious pony was present during my childhood and is Shining Armor's wife. It should be simple, shouldn't it? How could we forget something so simple. But Spike said I called her Princess Cadance once." "Twilight, you're right, but you can tell no one that you are." "What? Why not? We have to fix this!" she exclaimed. "But why? Why do you think you have to fix this? No one is missing her, obviously, and life hasn't changed in any way. Why not let it go?" asked Discord, not meeting Twilight's eye contact. "Because I can't rule a nation and sit back and let this happen. If the ponies I swore to protect are going to be in danger, i have to help." "But they aren't in danger! It's for their own good!" said Discord, but immediately zipped up his mouth after doing so. "Discord? What do you know?" asked Twilight, taking a step closer to him. "Nothing, nothing, I swear!" "Discord!" He hung his head. "Twilight, you have stumbled upon something bigger than you could ever imagine. Please, just leave it alone for once." "If you could help me with this, I would be eternally grateful. But first you have to tell me what you know!" "Twilight, you will be in so much danger," he said. "I will do anything, no matter the cost, if it means helping somepony." "Ok. I'll help you, but you have to approach this carefully." "Noted. What do I have to do? What is even going on?" "Where were you last night? I can tell by the bags under your eyes that you got home late." asked Discord. "How do you know that I wasn't up studying?" "Because there is nothing existing on the matter that you are trying to learn about. Trust me. where were you?" "Crystal Empire," she answered. "Why?" "While I was in Canterlot, Celestia took away the book that I was reading that said that Princess Luna was dead. I went to the Crystal Empire to see if there was anything more about Luna's banishment, but the librarian acted like she had never even heard of Nightmare Moon before." "Oh my goodness, you are so thick!" exclaimed Discord angrily. "Don't you dare speak to me like that!" yelled Twilight. "She hadn't, Twilight! No pony in the Crystal Empire knows about Luna's banishment." "What? How can that be? Luna helped banish Sombra, therefore they must know of her! It's their history," said Twilight, dumbfounded. "That's the Luna they know. But the Empire vanished before she turned into Nightmare Moon, and Celestia has made sure to keep that hidden from the Empire. She was afraid that if they knew, they would't be able to fuel the Crystal Heart anymore." "They deserve to know, Discord," said Twilight. "That is the absolute least of your problems right now, Twilight. Right now, if you want to know the whole truth, we need to get to Canterlot." "Why can't you just tell me?" "You won't understand. But that isn't your fault. You can't possibly understand without me, but we have to go to Canterlot." "There's nothing there, I checked so many times," said Twilight. "Why do you think Princess Luna isn't who she is made out to be?" asked Discord, still serious. "She came into my room, late at night, begging me to help her," a tear rolled down Twilight's cheek, "and she said she was trapped. Trapped and she was hurt and she didn't have much time, and I couldn't help her. I couldn't help her before she disappeared," sobbed Twilight. Discord grabbed her face, scrunching up her tear stained cheeks. "How do you mean disappeared?" "Sh-she snapped back to normal, and it was like noth-nothing had happened. She said she had been sleep walking," stammered Twilight. "She's weak," he said, a tinge of fear in his voice. "Twilight, you have to realize the danger you are putting both us into. You are absolutely right that something is going on, but it so much bigger than you could ever imagine. But if you break the cycle, it ends. And Equestria will be entirely different." "Wh-what do you mean? What am I going to do?" she sniffled, controlling her tears. "You are part of a cycle. Did you ever wonder why you were made a princess?" "Because I showed the true magic of friendship and I have exemplary magic skills, I'm the Princess of Magic," said Twilight, feeling weird saying it out loud. It all of a sudden felt very... silly. "And do you know what your 'Princess Cadance' was princess of?" Twilight shook her head. "Love," said Discord. "Love and magic can go so far, dear Twilight. One can drive, while the other can make a dream a reality. So what if you loved someone so much, and wanted to show it, so you used a little magic? You're just a puzzle piece. You are just a pawn in this whole big game of Celestia's." "Stop it! Stop it right now!" screamed Twilight. "You're in this whether you like it or not!" yelled back Discord, materializing a tissue for Twilight to dry her eyes with. "But if you win this game, Celestia goes down. It's scary, I know, to think of her in such a light, but love can do crazy things to a pony Twilight. And if you break this cycle, she will no longer be able to rule Equestria. You will be the Queen." "I don't want to be queen! I can't raise the sun and the moon! I just want everything to go back to normal." "I won't let it. I can't let this go on for any longer. I'm so sorry you had to be mixed up in all of his Twilight. You really are a nice little pony," he said sadly. "Discord, please just tell me what is going on," pleaded Twilight, becoming even more terrified of the situation after seeing that Discord himself was shaken. "Princess Luna is dead, Twilight, but you're going to give her life."