“In the space between chaos and shape there was another chance.”
-Jeanette Winterson
She relished these precious moments, the last minutes before she rose the sun. These magic minutes before the night faded into day. They calmed her, allowed her to center herself. And after a day like yesterday had been, Celestia most definitely needed to center herself.
She breathed in the crisp air and looked down from her tower at the city of Canterlot below her. As soon as she raised the sun, the ponies there would rise and begin their day. They would go to work and school, they would live their lives...
…and they would learn the news of the Crystal Empire's secession.
The events returned to her and she felt the crushing despair looming once more. She closed her eyes and sought to center herself once again. She tempered her breathing, focused on a peaceful stream in springtime...
“Heavy is the head that wears the crown, eh Celestia?”
The voice of the Lord of Chaos broke her concentration. With an annoyed groan, she opened her eyes to find him floating beside her. “What do you want Discord? It's too early for your nonsense.”
The draconequus nodded and popped his neck. “Early indeed. At least you slept, troubled sleep it might have been. I was up all night pondering the day's events.”
“I had a feeling there was someone else in that room.”
Discord laughed and leaned over the balcony. “Don't worry, I left after you had your little breakdown. I hate seeing such misery. It's... well, it's no fun.”
“I foresee a great deal more misery in the days to come.”
Discord sighed. “As do I. And that's why I'm leaving.”
Celestia did a double take. “What was that?”
“Leaving. Departing. Going away. Flying the proverbial coop.” His hand detached and flapped away like a bird before popping back into place in a flash of light.
“But you can't leave the castle! I forbid it! There's no telling what you'll get up to out there.”
“You misunderstand.” He chuckled. “I'm not leaving Canterlot. I'm leaving Equestria entirely.”
“But... but how?”
Discord snapped his fingers and a map of stars appeared before Celestia's eyes. “I am not of this world, Celestia. I was not born, I simply... arrived. Much as you and your sister did. The difference is that I am much older than you two and as such I remember what I am.”
Celestia observed the map. “And what exactly are you?”
“Chaos, dear lady. And chaos wanders. Chaos is random. Chaos goes from place to place, planet to planet, galaxy to galaxy... dimension to dimension.”
The stars began to whirl around Celestia.
“I pop into a world, take a form and a name, stick around for a few millenia, and depart. Such is the way of chaos.”
The stars faded. Celestia shook her head to clear it of dizziness and stared at the composite creature. “If that's all true... then how old are you, really?”
Discord shrugged. “Time loses it's meaning when you reach a certain point. I have already taken on hundreds of thousands of names... and I know deep down that my journey is not even a quarter finished.”
Celestia stared at him with wide eyes. “Then... then what are you?”
“In the easiest of terms, I could be called a 'god.' But then, so are you, my little pony. But you are young. You have many lives yet to live. Especially since your days in this particular world are numbered.”
“What?”
He reached out almost as though to caress her flowing mane... and plucked out a single hair. He held it up for her to see.
Before she could reprimand him, the hair struck her dumb.
It was gray.
“I... I...”
“You're aging, Celestia. Old Clover's prophecy is coming true.”
“...the Twilight of the Gods...”
A snap of his fingers and he was standing before a chalkboard, a graduate's cap on his head and thick glasses over his eyes. He pointed at a crudely drawn chalk image of herself. “You are a young goddess, Celestia, and so you cannot move between worlds freely yet. Your current form must age and die before your astral form can move on.” The chalk Celestia withered and wrinkled with age before keeling over with large X's over her eyes. “Once that happens, you and your sister will travel to the next world. You'll take new forms, new names... And all of this will be as though it were a dream.”
Celestia stared at the drawing. “How long will it go on?”
Discord shrugged as the chalkboard, cap, and glasses vanished in a flash of light. “I'd wager forever. Eventually, however, when you get to be my age, you'll remember your lives.” He sighed and, for the first time, Celestia saw regret cross his face. “Believe me, Celestia. You will long for the days that you did not remember.”
“So why are you leaving?”
The regret vanished and Discord rose above her head. “As I said, things aren't fun anymore. Too serious... and they're going to get more serious before the end.”
“Then we need you. Now more than ever! I had you released in case of a situation just like this.”
“You are making this situation chaotic enough without my help, Celestia.” He grinned down at her, his head resting on his hands. “Explain to me again how letting Luna and Shining Armor get married is going to make things better and not worse?”
Celestia flushed with anger. “And the alternative? Banishing my sister once again and surrendering her foal to Cadance? Would that have been better?”
Discord shrugged. “I don't know the future, Celestia. But old Clover did. Heed her words, if you are wise.”
Celestia scoffed and turned away. “Run away then. Go on to your next life. Pretend we won't need your help.”
He was silent for a moment. “I won't apologize, not for my actions and not for fleeing. But I will leave you with a gift.” He appeared before her and held out his claw. “Think of your greatest regret, Celestia. Imagine your greatest failure... but also your greatest victory. Think of the one moment in time that, had you acted differently, would have made things better. And, even knowing that, you wouldn't change a thing.”
Celestia concentrated. She thought of her sins, her regrets, her failures. She remembered the ponies she'd hurt, the ponies she'd ignored. She thought of the way things were going and their inevitable conclusion.
One word rang true.
“Eden...” she whispered, a tear in her eye.
A shining apple of pure gold appeared in Discord's claw. “It is done.”
“What is it?”
“Chaos, my sweet princess. Pure chaos. Anypony who takes a bite from this apple will be imbued with all my powers.” He let her magic take it and smiled crookedly. “Guard it well, and may it be your last resort should things get too... heavy.” He began to rise into the air, looking around at Equestria one last time. “I had fun in this world, millennium trapped in stone no-withstanding, of course. I will miss it terribly.”
She tore her gaze away from the apple and looked up at him. “Where will you go now?”
He shrugged. “Haven't the foggiest. Wherever I end up, whoever I end up being, I just hope I'm a little more low key. It's hard being this crazy all the time.” He laughed and began to fade.
“How do I know this isn't a trick? That all this hasn't been some grand lie?”
He laughed again. “You mean besides the start of your old hag hair? Fine, a final parting tid-bit. Now that you and Luna are aging, you've each lost something hugely important.”
“And what's that?” She called up to him.
He vanished, but his final whisper rang in her ears as though he was standing right next to her.
“Your purpose.”
She didn't understand... until she looked at the horizon. There, peeking just out of view, was the sun.
It was rising without her.
Celestia, her mind nearly broken, looked from the golden apple floating before her, to the gray hair on the ground, and finally back to the rising sun.
For the first time in her life, Celestia felt... old.
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In Equestria, the moon sank and the sun rose, all on their own.
The goddess of the night took to her bed with her foal by her side, happier than she could ever remember.
The twice crowned prince dozed on the train back home, both worried and elated at what the future held.
The Crystal Empress watched the sun rise from her throne, preparing herself for her first day as a true ruler.
And the goddess of the sun, her world-view both enlarged and shattered at the same time, adjusted her crown, steeled herself, and carried the apple into the castle.
Immortal goddess or not, she was going to do whatever it took to defend the land while it was still hers to defend.
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“Look to the skies, for the true rulers fall from the heavens. The land they strike shall be their fortress, time will bow to their every whim, and they shall rule until the Twilight of the Gods.”
“The sons of Armor shall go to war; one born of loving light, the other of lusting dark. The Apple is the object of their desire… and over it shall Equestria be plunged into darkness for all time.”
-Clover the Clever