A blast of rainbow light washed over the kingdom. All around Equestria, things were returning to normal. The grass became green, the sky became blue, and clouds rained only water.
Princess Celestia ran through the hall towards her balcony. The elements of harmony may have reverted everything in Equestria to normal, but once control of the heavens had been wrested from Discord, the sun and moon had set themselves on a perilous collision course. The princess looked over her shoulder to see that her sister Luna had joined her. They nodded in silent agreement as they leaped off the balcony, horns aglow and wings spread.
With a strained grunt, Celestia telekinetically grabbed hold of the sun. She braced her hooves against one of the castle's spires as she wrestled with the enormous orb of magic. Discord's influence had weakened the outer shell and destabilized the core. With a great pulse of magic, she held the sun in place and began to repair the damage.
Luna, meanwhile, had dove down to street level and grabbed onto the moon. The chunk of space rock spun and wobbled violently, which threatened to throw it out of orbit. Great gashes appeared across the lunar surface as she applied magical brakes on the sphere and returned it to its proper rotation speed. With a quick flick of her head, she forced the moon into its proper position, just below the horizon.
“SISTER!” Luna shouted. “THE MOON HATH BEEN SETTLED!”
“Great work, Luna!” Celestia grunted. She felt the roof of the spire buckle from the force of her magic as she pitched the sun into its place in the evening sky. She let out a huff and fluttered her wings before she hopped off the spire to join her sister on the street. She cast her eyes towards Ponyville and smiled proudly. Twilight and her friends had done it. They'd defeated Discord.
A celebration was in order. Celestia set her best advisers to work organizing the event to recognize Twilight and her friends as national heroes once again. Artisans quickly busied themselves on something special for the group, a stained glass window that immortalized the draconequus' defeat.
Then there was the matter of the cleanup. The elements had fixed all of the impossibilities and damage caused by them, but there was still a lot of destruction caused by perfectly normal ponies in a perfectly irrational state of mind. The first order of business was getting Discord out of the center of Ponyville.
Celestia personally oversaw his return to the sculpture garden, and took extreme care to ensure his now horrified expression faced exactly where he'd been looking for the past fifteen hundred years. As before, he was as a monument to what all of Equestria stood against. Satisfied, she turned to return to the castle, but stopped short at the gasp of one of the groundskeepers.
“P-princess Celestia!” the mare called as she hefted something out of a bush. What she held in her mouth was disturbing, to say the least. An infantile creature, about the size of an elementary student with the head of a pony, and a body made up of all sorts of different things. Many of the other groundskeepers panicked and dispersed. The guards ran to point their horns at the mare and the baby draconequus. The former, in Celestia's royal opinion, looked like she was about to wet herself.
“Stand down,” Celestia ordered as she took a closer look at the diminutive creature. Like Discord, it had a single fang, and its yellow and red eyes mismatched in size. In addition, it had a lizard's tail, and one of its arms was remarkably similar to a bird's talon. However, that was where its similarities to the Lord of Chaos ended. Its head only bore one horn, a unicorn's, kinked off to the right. Its right arm was like a monkey's, ending in a hand that reached out and grasped at her aurora mane. One of its legs seemed to be feline in origin, while the other canine, although exactly which of each she couldn't tell. A pair of wings fluttered on its back, one wide and multicolored like a butterfly, the other long and transparent. Most of the creature's body was white, with a few exceptions. It had a long, untidy black mane, as well as black spots on its feline leg, and zebra stripes running down the left side of its torso. The talon was yellow, and the feathers attached were mostly white, with black tips. The fur on the primate arm didn't grow on the fingers or palm of the hand, which was pink and fleshy. The lizard tail, instead of being red and feathered, was sapphire blue and ended in a point, like Spike's. White spines ran its entire length.
Celestia lifted the creature magically and brought it close to her. Once in range, it grabbed onto her horn and started tugging on it.
“Where did you come from, little one?” she asked, completely nonplussed by this assault on her royal being. The creature let out a playful giggle as it continued to pull at the bony appendage. Celestia glanced at Discord, still as stone. Was this something he'd done? No, chaos wasn't capable of creating. Still, it had to have come from somewhere, and the approximation to Discord was distressing. After short consideration, she floated the baby off to one of her guards
“Take her to the royal nursery,” she ordered.
“Yes, your highness,” the guard said. Her guard was apprehensive, perhaps even a little scared. "Why do we not seal this one away as well?" she could practically hear on his face. She smiled reassuringly at him, which seemed to ease his doubts a little.
Celestia had never been a proponent for using punishment as a preventative measure. When she looked into Discord's eyes, she saw sadism, cruel insight, and more than a fair share of violent insanity. The little one lacked any of these, instead her eyes bore the innocent awe at everything that only a newborn could have. A plan began to hatch in her mind.
After the ceremony, Celestia sat comfortably at her writing desk. She'd taken to keeping a diary, many years ago, just after the first time they had defeated Discord. On the shelves lining the back of her desk were rows of slim, white tomes with her cutie mark on the cover. These diaries were probably the best recorded history of nearly two millenniums worth of major events in all of Equestria. A few dozen of the books were missing; Celestia had loaned them to her sister to help her re-adjust to life on the planet. She lifted her quill and took it to the freshest page of her most recent diary.
Dear Diary
Today we celebrated Discord's defeat. Twilight and her friends truly are an amazing group of mares, completing over the course of two days what Luna and I took several months to accomplish (although, they didn't have to travel across the world in search of the Elements of Harmony). I would hope that Discord's newest prison will be a permanent solution, although I already know better. Once my student and her friends pass on, the seal will weaken once more and he shall be free. My original plan was to simply (hah) find new bearers for the Elements every generation, although I believe a better solution has presented itself.
In the gardens, near Discord's statue, one of the groundskeepers discovered a baby draconequus (whom the doctors have confirmed to be female). I have yet to determine where this juvenile came from, or how she is related to him, but if we can teach her the values of friendship, peace, and harmony, then perhaps she will be able to do the impossible and defeat Discord, permanently. The nurses have called her everything from Discordia to Mania to many things too rude for me to repeat even here, but I personally like the name Luna picked out for her, Moonstruck. Despite its connotation, it does sound like a strong, unicorn name.
Speaking of my little sister, she was unable to attend the ceremony today. Her magic finally began to come in a couple of days ago when she stabilized the moon, so it looks at first glance like somepony ripped huge chunks of her mane out. She's mentioned that once she's presentable again, she plans on making an appearance to re-introduce herself to the populace. I would like to help her, and have invited her on several of my own publicity trips, but she is as stubborn as she's always been, and has staunchly refused any assistance on the matter. I can only hope she manages to at least break her habit of SHOUTING ALL THE TIME, LIKE WE USED TO HAVE TO BEFORE THE REFORM.
Celestia paid a visit to the royal nursery the next day. Moonstruck was being nursed by one of the oldest and most experienced, Lullaby. She was a white pegasus mare with a graying mane, and a baby bottle for her cutie mark. The two had been given a wide berth by the other nurses, who tended to the young of the rest of the royal family.
“Has she been any trouble, Lullaby?” Celestia asked.
“Not 'tall,” Lullaby gently flicked her wing away from a grasping talon. “She's a wee bit of a grabber, though. Ah... there's a good girl,” she brought Moonstruck into an embrace as the baby draconequus detached herself and began to rub her back.
"BEEEELCH."
Nick-knacks, toys, and loosely secured furniture rattled as the burp echoed through the nursery.
“She's certainly quite vocal,” Celestia mused
“Excuse me, your highness?” Lullaby had raised her volume several decibels. Celestia smiled and leaned close to the nurse's ear.
“For now, treat her like a unicorn foal. Send for me if she begins to get out of hoof,” she instructed.
“Yes, Your Highness,” Lullaby replied loudly. She turned to the other nurses, who had stopped their tasks to stare. “What're you lot doing? Get back to work!”
Celestia monitored the baby draconequus' progress for the next several days. Gradually, the other nurses grew used to her presence, and allowed her to play together with the other foals, although Lullaby was still the only one brave enough to actually nurse the juvenile. It wasn't until almost a full week later that a guard approached Celestia.
“Your highness! Word from the nursery. You're... going to want to come see this.”
The entire nursing staff stood by the open door of the nursery. Each nurse held foals either on their backs or in strollers, panic etched on each of their faces.
“Would you twittering gnits get back in here?” Lullaby's voice came from within. “She ain't doing a thing any unicorn wouldn't.” The nurses parted as Celestia arrived and allowed her to see inside.
Moonstruck stood in front of a line of small bears, shaped like the stuffed toys given to foals, but very real and alive. Each bore a brass horn of varying sizes, and wore little red marching band uniforms. The draconequus herself also wore a uniform, with a tall red hat and black brim. She carried a conductors baton, and started to dance in a peculiar, bipedal fashion. The bears began to blow on their horns in a horrid cacophony that mocked the very spirit of music.
“Where did the stuffed bears come from?” Celestia asked calmly.
“We only have one stuffed bear like that. She made the rest of them, your highness,” one of the nurses replied.
“And the uniforms as well?” Celestia questioned further.
“Yes, your highness.”
Celestia nodded and entered the nursery. She approached Moonstruck with a sort of bemused smile on her face. She sat down and folded her legs under her body so she was level with her.
“Is this your band?” Celestia asked calmly. Moonstruck let out a little squeal in response. “May I?”
She presented the baton to the princess. Using it as a conductor, she got the bears to play a simple chord. She returned the baton to Moonstruck, who proceeded to replicate her.
“Very good,” Celestia said with a smile. “Now, you've frightened the other nurses. Why don't you return these to where they came from?” Moonstruck blinked her mismatched eyes in response, the big one, then the little one.
Dear Diary,
Today Moonstruck managed to clear out the nursery with her magic. She summoned a small parade of teddy bears and attempted to conduct them in music. While her musical talent could stand to be improved, what I'm more interested in is where her band came from in the first place.
For posterity, since it's the only real reason I'm keeping these journals, magic is separated into two categories. Order magic, which ponykind practices, is the only kind most ponies are aware of. This is the magic of life, creation, friendship, and harmony. Chaos magic, practiced by many other magically capable species, is less well known. Draconequines, back when they were common, were major practitioners. It is the magic of death, destruction, despair, and disorganization.
At first I thought she may have created them via illusion, but the bears were very real. Chaos magic simply cannot create things, so either Moonstruck summoned them to the nursery from somewhere we've yet to determine, or her unicorn horn allows her some degree of control over order magic as well. Perhaps they're from the same place Moonstruck herself came from.
In any event, as soon as Moonstruck has been weaned, I must begin teaching her to fight against her chaotic nature. She seems to be cooperative enough, perhaps she believes I'm her mother?
Luna has returned my diary from the first year of her banishment. She's reading them much more slowly than I would have hoped. I probably shouldn't rush her, though. There are many old scars on those pages, and it simply wouldn't do if she overwhelmed herself.
Moonstruck grew incredibly quickly. Within the month, she had grown so large that if she stood on her hind legs, she was tall enough to stare Lullaby in the face. She was unbelievably smart, and sucked up her general education at a rate that may have even challenged Celestia's prized pupil.
“Auntie!” the juvenile exclaimed happily as Celestia entered the nursery. She fluttered her wings to float up to Celestia's eye level before throwing a big hug around her neck. “Auntie, listen, I have something important to say!” Moonstruck began to whisper conspiratorially. “I don't. Think. I'm. Like. The other ponies.”
Celestia giggled in response. “You're certainly sharp, Moonstruck. I had hoped to put this off for a little while longer, but perhaps you're ready. Lullaby, I'm taking your charge.”
“Good. If I may be so bold, perhaps you should find her a room of her own. Near as I can tell, she's close enough to adulthood to not need a nanny anymore.”
“But...but...but! Nana!” Moonstruck objected as she dropped to the ground. “Who am I going to talk to when I have scary dreams at night? Who's going to look at my pictures and listen to my music?”
“Now, now, child. It's not as if I'm leaving you forever. I'll be here for a long time yet, I suspect, so you can come and visit whenever you need.” Moonstruck pouted, but then relented.
“What was it you wanted to show me, Auntie?” she said cheerily, as if the exchange hadn't occurred.
“Come with me,” Celestia instructed. She led her away from the nursery, up to Canterlot Tower.
“Now, as you've discovered, you're not like the other ponies, because you're not a pony. You are what's known as a draconequus, with the head of a pony and a body made up of many different animals,” Celestia explained.
“So that's why I don't have hooves,” Moonstruck said as she wiggled her fingers and claws. She glanced around at the stained glass windows, and caught a glimpse of Discord.
“Is that a draconequus, too?”
“Yes. That is Discord. He was... not a very nice draconequus,” Celestia explained.
“Did he bite his Nana a lot?” Moonstruck asked. Celestia giggled.
“I'm afraid I wouldn't know. When I knew Discord, he was already older than me. Using his magic, he became a cruel god-king over all types of creatures.”
Moonstruck stared at the windows for a long time.
“Am I going to grow up to be like that?” She asked.
Celestia paused for a moment. “I believe that you will make that choice when the time comes. Come, let me show you what happened to Discord.”
Celestia guided Moonstruck out to the sculpture garden, to where Discord's statue stood.
“This is Discord. When he was defeated, the elements of harmony turned him to stone,” she explained.
“Hello, Discord!” Moonstruck said brightly, waving her hand at the statue. She paused for a moment, as if listening intently. “That's what Auntie tells me!”
“Moonstruck, are you...?” Celestia began.
“Yes, I call her Auntie, because that's who she is,” Moonstruck said as she leaned back on her tail and crossed her arms. After another moment, she lifted her hand and looked at it. “Really?” She pressed her middle finger against her thumb.
SNAP
In an instant, the wildlife around Discord's statue exploded. Flowers the size of dinner plates burst from the ground and vines climbed up the lord of chaos' body.
“Wow,” Moonstruck said as her eyes sparkled.
“I think that's enough for now,” Celestia said as she used her wing to gently turn Moonstruck around and guide her away from the statue.
“But...” Moonstruck began, but was silenced as Celestia merely gave her a stern look.
“You must not speak with Discord,” she said once they were back within the castle walls. “He is a liar and a manipulator. He will say anything to get his way, and it is imperative that he remains imprisoned.”
“...He must have bitten his Nana really hard,” Moonstruck concluded.
Dear Diary
Moonstruck has finally (or perhaps already) finished her days in the royal nursery. I had intended to show her what Discord had done, and what happened to him, in an attempt to discourage her from following his path, although this backfired somewhat upon our visit to the royal gardens. It seems as though, despite being encased in stone, Discord was able to reach out to his kin and communicate with her. Before I was able to intervene, he taught her a little bit of chaos magic. A mere parlor trick compared to his full power, and her full potential, but it may have been enough to spark the younger draconequus' curiosity. I may have to commission a fake sculpture of Discord to put in the garden and move the real one someplace more secure. I liked his old pose better, anyway.
I received a letter from Twilight Sparkle this evening; Apparently my sister's planned publicity trip was a Nightmare Night visit to Ponyville. From the letter, it sounded as though it didn't quite go as she had planned, but turned out alright in the end. Though I wish Luna had allowed me to help her, I'm proud of her for her first successful PR trip. Perhaps I should have her start sending me friendship reports as well?
Celestia chuckled to herself as she turned to retire. Despite her concerns, she had a good feeling about Moonstruck.