//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: A Turning Point // Story: Discord Cannot be Reformed // by Psyonicg //------------------------------// That first day is common knowledge amongst all the races. It can be found in history books in all the libraries of Equestria. What is not so well known is the day that followed. The day that, if it had gone differently, could have changed the course of history. If one pony had been more cautious, so much bloodshed could have been avoided, and so many may have been spared. -From “ Discord’s Second Reign Vol.I: An Introduction ” Chapter 2 – A Turning Point Ponyville was once again bright and sunny. Since the previous day seemingly nothing had changed, but inside the great tree which doubled as a library, nothing was the same. Everything had changed. To the six ponies and one dragon within, the future was an unknown. And for one pony, Twilight Sparkle, this lack of knowledge was leaving its mark. At the centre of the library Twilight paced, following a set path which looped around and around a small bust of Celestia in the centre of the room. It was this bust which Twilight focused on as she paced. Her eyes were bloodshot, with dark rims surrounding them, and her mane, fur and tail were messy and un-groomed. As she paced she muttered pleas for forgiveness along with varying explanations for the events of the previous day. Her attention was so concentrated that she had yet to notice the discharge her horn was letting out, traveling through her body and causing her hooves to leave dark marks on the floor, which as she paced slowly grew into grooves. And by the substantial depth of the groove she was currently walking in, it was apparent she’d been pacing for some time now. Standing to the side, watching, were her friends and number one assistant. True to his title he’d stayed up all night to make sure she was ok. It was obvious that she wasn’t, but at least he’d managed to make sure she stayed warm and ate enough over the night to keep her strength up. After one particularly long stream of muttering Twilight fell back on her haunches and let out a choked sob. “How did this happen… how did I let this happen? The Princess is going to be furious! She’ll lock me up… or worse, banish me!” Pinkie Pie bounced forward with a small smile and leant down so that she could look Twilight in the eye. “Or maybe she’ll banish you then lock you away in the place where she banished you!?” Twilight looked up at Pinkie, her eyes wide. A few seconds of silence passed, and then a cry of despair was released. Collapsing to the ground, Twilight began to sob weakly into her hooves. Applejack stepped forward and gently pulled Pinkie Pie back. “Sugarcube, ah don’t think that helped.” Pinkie Pie frowned and went still, a disconcerting difference from her usual attitude. “I was just trying to make a joke.” Shaking her head, Rarity patted Pinkie and gave her a small smile “Darling, its ok. These situations require a subtle touch. Allow me.” With that Rarity slowly lowered herself into the groove created by Twilight’s pacing and sat down. Now in a position to look Twilight straight in the eye, Rarity reached out and put her hoof beneath Twilight’s chin, raising her head so they were looking eye to eye. “Darling, look at me.” “I failed, Rarity. I failed to stop Discord even with the Elements. Celestia isn’t going to let me stay here after that! She’ll send me back to magic kindergarten and I’ll never get to see any of you ever again!” “Maybe Celestia will punish you. But, darling , we’re your friends… turning back to face the rest of their group Rarity gave them a pointed look. Applejack was the first to notice. “Yeah! We’ll always be by your side!” Pinkie followed with a happy smile as she bounced forward “And we’ll always make sure a smile’s on your face!” Shortly followed by Rainbow Dash. “And you know you’ll never be let down with us by your side. Giving a bashful smile, Fluttershy nodded and came to join the rest of them. “Ummm… I… What they said...” Twilight looked up at her friends and a small smile formed on her face “You guys… really?” Rarity nodded as she climbed out of the groove, offering her hoof to Twilight. “We’ll be by your side always. Even if that means going to magic kindergarten with you.” Spike up until this point had been watching from the side lines, not wanting to interrupt the obvious "best friend" moment. However, now he felt it was time to lend his own support, and with a warm smile on his face he joined the rest of the ponies in helping Twilight out of the groove that she'd gotten herself into during the night. Once Twilight had regained her footing Spike stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her barrel, muttering into her fur, “I don’t care about Discord. I'm just happy you’re ok.” At that statement Twilight finally seemed to have a genuine smile and as she looked around at her friends her smile only grew. "You know, I've said it before. But it's times like these when I realise that I could never have gotten where I am today without you. You really are the be-" "TWILIGHT SPARKLE" The door to the library was blown open by a burst of energy and into the library strode what seemed to be the sun itself , eyes blazing and wings outstretched. Twilight was suddenly reminded of an old pony’s chant. All shall lay happy beneath her light, for her love is as bright as the sun. All shall be content with what they are given, for her kindness is as warm as its glow. And all enemies shall fear her wrath, for none can escape its reach Twilight had never understood the final line of the chant. It seemed so at odds with the Princess’s actions that she couldn’t imagine her having any kind of wrath. However, in that moment the line fit all too well, and left her shaking as Celestia approached. "P-Princess! Please forgive me, it was my fault, I didn't respond quickly enough. Whatever you do, punish me and not my friends. It was me who failed, not them." As she spoke her voice steadily grew softer and as she finished she stepped forward and bowed down. "WHERE IS DISCORD?" Celestia moved forward and the temperature in the room skyrocketed. Nopony felt it more than Twilight, whose entire world had narrowed down to the two burning orbs of her mentor and the gaze that they were giving her. She tried to respond, but the moisture in her mouth had vanished, and it felt like a choir of dragons had decided to perform inside her head. Despite the pain, Twilight managed to raise herself up off the ground to look at her mentor directly. Forcing the words out of her mouth proved to be a much more difficult challenge, however, and as she spoke each word came out strained "He got away... I'm sorry Princess, but we had no idea that he would respond that way. He was so angry... we didn't know what to do!" For a brief second the room was still and then, as if a blindfold had been removed, Celestia seemed to notice the ponies in front of her, most notably her faithful student cowering before her hooves. The change was almost instant as Celestia furled her wings back and let the magic she’d unconsciously gathered fade, leaving her eyes to return to normal and the room to cool down. With her magic no longer pulsing throughout the room it suddenly seemed a much less dangerous place, and the ponies before her seemed much less scared. Seeking to ease the fears of her student Celestia lowered herself down and, with a gentle smile, took Twilight under her wing, humming a slow lullaby under her breath. Underneath Celestia’s wing, Twilight’s body was beginning to relax as the panic of failure was soothed away by the familiar lullaby. However, as the panic receded a new unfamiliar emotion began to make its presence known. “I’ve never seen the Princess react like that to anything. What reason could she possibly have to be that aggressive? Is it about the Elements, is it something to do with Discord, or is something wrong with Celestia?” Her natural curiosity piqued, Twilight decided that there was a reason, be it something or somepony, that must have caused that reaction, and she was going to find it. After a minute of watching, the rest of the group decided they were no longer at risk of inciting the Princess’ wrath and walked over to stand next to the Princess. As they did so Celestia got to her hooves and gave the six ponies, and dragon, a smile. "I know what you're going to say, and there is no need. I have no intention of punishing Twilight, and I must apologise for my entrance." With a world-weary sigh Celestia dropped to her haunches, her voice barely audible. "I had hoped it would never come to this..." Applejack frowned as her ears flicked forward. “Ah’m mighty sorry Princess, but could ya repeat that?" Celestia shook her head "It is unimportant. What is important is that you listen to my next words very carefully." At this the ponies shifted, bodies tensing and eyes locking onto their ruler. "I realise that you will be worried about Discord's escape. However, I do not believe that it is as bad as you think it is." "Not as bad?!" With an outraged cry Rainbow Dash sprang into the air, her wings outstretched in an instinctive display of anger. The same anger which, momentarily, caused her to forget who she was talking to, and allowed her to voice her opinions honestly. "How can you possibly say that letting Discord, the very embodiment of chaos itself, go free is not that bad! If anything, it's not just as bad as we think, it's much worse!" Celestia merely smiled and shook her head "Rainbow Dash, what is around your neck?" The unexpected comment gave Dash pause, and with a hesitant motion she put a hoof to her neck to touch the Element of Loyalty. "My Element… why? With a patient smile and an encouraging nod Celestia said "Yes, and what does that Element do?” "I.... don't know. It saved Princess Luna and it..." "Yes?" Rainbow’s eyes lit up, and she let out a triumphant cheer. “It turned Discord to stone!” "Well done Rainbow Dash, What you've got to realise is as long as you have the Elements there is nothing that he can do to you. And if he comes out of hiding to try something, it will be a simple task to bring you six to him and turn him back to stone." A big smile now on her face, Pinkie Pie leant over and looked Celestia in the eye. "Soooo, you're saying that there's nothing to worry about?" Celestia nodded once more. "This calls for a... PARTY!" Bouncing into the air with an overenthusiastic cry, Pinkie Pie returned to the ground with a small pink cannon. "Uh... Sugarcube, is that what ah think it is?" "Sure is! I stored one in here ages ago in case of a super-special party emergency!" An alarmed expression on her face, Rarity trotted over and placed a hoof on Pinkie. "Darling... I think maybe the party can wait until the Princess leaves, don't you agree?" Pinkie dropped back on her flank and put a hoof to her chin, ‘hmmm”ing thoughtfully "I guess we could wait..." Rarity and Applejack both gave small sighs of relief... ...Which were extremely short lived. “…Or we could make an extra special Celestia is in Ponyville and everything is super-duper-fun party!” Taking mercy on her little ponies, Celestia shook her head "As lovely as that sounds Pinkie, I am needed in Canterlot post haste. Coming here was a serious breach in my schedule, so your party will, unfortunately, have to wait." The effect was instantaneous. Pinkie seemed to deflate before everypony’s eyes. Her ears flattened against her head and her eyes filled with water. Without missing a beat, Celestia continued. “But of course it sounds delightful, and I can't wait to attend when you throw it... oh, say, two weeks from now?" With a burst of streamers Pinkie Pie leapt back up into the air, landing on her hind legs and saluting. "You can count on me Princess! One super-duper Celestia is Ponyville and everything is super-duper-fun party in two weeks coming up!" The small smile never having left her face, Celestia nodded and gave the group of ponies’ one last look-over. "I'm just glad you're all ok, and remember Discord is harmless while you have the elements, so there is no need to worry." A round of affirmatives from the group resulted in a contented nod from Celestia as she walked out of the library, leaving the six friends alone again. In the wake of Celestia’s departure the group turned to each other and exchanged small looks of relief. Bumping Twilight with her hoof, a grin on her face, Applejack tipped her hat up. “Well ah guess all that worrying was for nothing, eh Sugarcube?” Twilight didn’t respond, staring out of the open door and into the distance, her eyes glazed over and a thoughtful expression on her face. “Ahhh… Sugarcube?” With a small start Twilight turned to face Applejack, looking like she’d been caught with her hoof in a cookie jar and blinked. “I'm sorry Applejack, what did you say?” “Ah said I guess all that worrying was for nothing, right?” Twilight hesitantly nodded and looked back out of the door “I guess so… It’s just that—” “The Princess was awfully frightening when she came in with those big glowy eyes with all the TWILIGHT SPARKLE and shouting and stuff, and that isn’t like anything you’ve seen before and now you’re questioning what you know about the Princess because of it and you think that if that’s how she can be maybe she’s not the omnibenevolent goddess you know. Pinkie Pie stated with a calm look on her face. There was silence. Broken, after a brief moment, by Applejack “Ah don’t know about you lot, but that sounded pretty farfetched to me; what’s actually the reason Twi?” Six sets of eyes turned to the unicorn in question and most, but not all, were surprised to see Twilight nodding slowly. “Actually… that’s pretty much spot-on, Pinkie. The only time I’ve ever seen the Princess even slightly as upset as that was when she was telling me about the Crystal Empire!” Fluttershy gave a small smile. “Maybe she was just worried for us. I know that if any of you girls were in any sort of trouble I’d be just so angry!” Raising an eyebrow at the soft tone that was Fluttershy’s ‘angry voice’, Rainbow Dash grinned and placed a calming hoof on her shoulder. “Don’t worry Fluttershy, we’re all safe now. Besides Twilight has a point!” A brief few seconds of silence were spent with the room’s occupants looking expectantly in Dash’s direction, one or two of them with slightly annoyed looks at the sarcastic way Dash had treated Fluttershy. However when no extra information was forthcoming, Twilight decided the waiting had gone on long enough. “Go on.” “Go on what?” Rainbow Dash replied with a confused look. “You said that I had a point.” “Well of course you have a point!” Another few seconds of nothing were followed by an exasperated sigh from Twilight “Would you like to explain the point to the rest of us maybe?” “O-oh right!” – Rainbow Dash shuffled about, a blush forming on her cheeks – “Yea of course… I was going to do that. I just thought someone else might have had something to say. Didn’t want to be rude and all so I just thou-“ “Rainbow Dash please ! Could you just… tell us?” “Ok, geez Twilight, calm down would you? Anyway, the point is that we know all this stuff about Celestia but do we really know it? Do we really know what we think is true, is true? Like all this stuff she says to us, she just says and assumes we’ll believe it. Well I'm starting to question it all. Ok sure the Elements were needed to stop Discord, and I guess Celestia wasn’t around when Nightmare Moon showed up. But how come we are the only ones being sent off to unknown empires and through changeling invasions to get our elements, when the two all-powerful rulers don’t do anything!” As she’d been talking Rainbow Dash had slowly but surely gotten angrier, her wings lifting her up higher and higher until with her final sentence she threw her hooves up with a shout. “I mean come on, I didn’t even see Princess Luna at the wedding? Where was she, huh?” A slightly offended, and shocked, look adorning her face, Rarity grabbed Dash’s wings with her magic and dragged her back down to the floor. “Rainbow! That is simply no way to speak about the Princesses. I'm sure they have a very good reason for the things they do!” “Oh come on Rarity, surely even you can see through all that Canterlot glamor to all the strange things going on around those two!” “Ah! How could you even think to question Princess Celestia and Princess Luna? I couldn’t even begin to imagine what would make you believe th–” “She’s right.” Cut off mid-rant, Rarity, along with Applejack, looked over at Twilight with dumbstruck expressions. “I'm sorry, darling, but it sounded like you just said this slander that Dash has been spouting was correct.” “That’s exactly what I'm saying, Rarity. I’ve never questioned Celestia or Luna before, but did you girls see what happened yesterday!? That wasn’t just malicious pranking or dark tricks. That was straight up evil and… and… Celestia told us to free him.” Twilight finished her sentence with a heavy sigh, her body slumping down as tears began to gather at the corners of her eyes. This, however, did not stop her from continuing. “I mean, what do we really know about the Princesses? All this power and we have no idea why we’re using it. I mean how long have the Princesses ruled? Over a thousand years, that’s for sure, and Discord ruled before them. We’re just simple ponies trying to understand the thoughts of immortal alicorns with more knowledge and experience than we’ll ever have!” “Ah dunno about you, Sugarcube, but I think that’s a perfect reason for us to leave well alone. We have the Elements, and the Princess has promised us that we don’t need to worry. Way I reckon it, we just carry on as if nothing’s happened, and if Discord shows up again then we blast him with these,” – Applejack lifted up the Element around her neck, – “and show him who’s boss.” During Applejack’s talk Rarity had begun to nod and as Applejack finished Rarity stepped forward. “I for one think that Applejack is right. Why should we question the Princesses? They obviously know what they’re doing, and it’s just like Princess Celestia said; we have the Elements, and from the light show that Pinkie was performing yesterday it seems Discord is unable to harm any of us while we’re wearing them.” Pinkie Pie giggled and put her hoof around Rarity’s shoulders “Yeperoonie. I don’t know why you silly ponies are worrying so much!” Shaking her head, Twilight looked to Pinkie and Rarity with a serious expression. “You girls know it’s not that simple. Even if we ignore the extremely convenient fact that Discord seems to have no defence against the elements, which makes no sense by the way ,” – Twilight added under her breath – “He can still cause serious chaos, and I think it would be best if we’re all careful in the future.” The group of friends nodded, and so Twilight continued. “And I’d like to study the Elements over the next few weeks so I’ll probably be asking you to come over to the Library at some point, are you all ok with that?” “Of course, Sugarcube…” “Okie dokie…” “Yea sure…” “Ummm ok…” “Of course darling.” “Great! Well if you’d all excuse me, I have some research to get done!” With that statement the ponies began to filter out of Twilight’s home, leaving to catch up with their tasks for the day. One by one they went until only Applejack remained, stopping at the door and turning around to face Twilight. “Ah, Sugarcube, I think before you start on your books maybe ya should get some shut eye?” Twilight, who had already gotten three or four heavy-looking tomes set up on her study table, looked up and gave a sheepish smile. “Actually Applejack, I think that’s a great idea…thanks” “No problem Twilight, always here to help.” Applejack replied before shutting the door behind her, leaving Spike and Twilight alone in the Library. True to her words, Twilight pushed the books to one side and got to her hooves, beginning the walk upstairs. Despite her body’s exhaustion, her mind was racing at a million miles an hour, and as she entered her room she found herself walking towards the balcony rather than her bed, her hooves carrying her to the window as her brain tried to process the plethora of thoughts inside it. “The Elements truly are amazing, but these past two days have thrown so much into confusion that I'm not sure where we stand. On one side Celestia has never steered us wrong before and the Elements don’t seem to have gone anywhere…” From atop her head a soft lavender glow began to emanate. “But on the other side Rainbow Dash had a good point. How much does Celestia really tell us…? It seems like we’re in the dark most of the time, and yet we’re the ones who should know the most!” A similar glow surrounded Twilight’s horn and little spectral images of her friends, the elements and Discord appeared around her. “My friends and I are the bearers of the Elements…” The Elements floated towards their spectral bearers and connected. “However we hardly know anything about them, and originally they were used by the Princesses…” Images of the Princesses appeared and the Elements moved to them. “No one knows where the Princesses got the Elements except them, and no one really knows what they can do. We do know, however, that they have different effects in different circumstances… They turned Nightmare Moon back to Princess Luna… and they turned Discord to stone.” Spectral re-enactments of those events occurred around Twilight as various pieces of information and scenes began to appear around her in the same shimmering form. As they did so Twilight turned and walked back into her room, giving the images room to spread out. “Of course these events link back to us meeting… and thus the sonic rainboom and…” Very rapidly the room began to fill with different little floating images and lines of text that floated through the air to group together in an ever growing maze of information. After the room had been filled with these pictures, links began to join different parts, slowly at first but rapidly speeding up, and as the links began to appear faster and faster the Element on her head began to glow brighter with a shimmering aura. Soon hundreds of connections had been made, the room becoming a web of information and links. And through this web Twilight strode, following the path she saw, leading her closer and closer to realisation, her Element continuing to shine brighter and brighter. “All the different dots, all the unknowns. They all link up, everything connects and it all leads to one point…” The links began to glow, speeding from one point to another, all of them leading closer and closer to the centre of the web, and the closer they got the more brilliantly the Element shined. Closer and closer they flew until with a burst of chromatic light they all reached one thing. “…Discord!” Meanwhile in Canterlot, a certain princess had just returned, and as she landed on her balcony, she was greeted by a fearsome sight. Donned in silver and black armour, Princess Luna galloped forward, two shimmering blades of midnight energy floating beside her as she came to a stop. “Sister! Thou hast heard of Discord’s escape! The Royal Guard have been mobilised and we have donned our royal armour, we wait naught but you to lead us into battle!” Celestia took a step back, her eyes widening before shaking her head and removing the fearsome helmet Luna wore. “Worry not my sister. The problem has been taken care of, and the royal guard will not be necessary today.” This statement was met with a cold stare, and after a few tense seconds Celestia raised her eyebrow and frowned. “What?” “We doth mean no offense, but that is easily the most idiotic thing we hath heard you say since my return. And that is not a statement we would make lightly!” Luna strode forward and pushed her face close to Celestia’s own, their horns tapping together lightly. “Hast thou forgotten all the danger Discord poses? Hast thou grown complacent over our one thousand years of absence!? It is bad enough that you sent us away when thou knew the changelings were mobilising, but this borders on the insane…”- “Luna please, I-“ “…and the arrogant! How could you possibly think…” “Luna wait I was going to-“ “…that letting the most dangerous being go was anything but imbecilic, I can’t believe how stupid-” “LUNA LISTEN TO ME!” The entire castle seemed to go silent as the echoes of the elder sister’s Royal Canterlot Voice faded away, and in that silence the two were left eye to eye, muzzle to muzzle. One looked annoyed and the other looked very shocked, her ears pinned back and her eyes wide. “Now are you finished shouting at me? Because I’d like to explain.” Luna had the decency to look abashed and nodded, stepping back. “O-of course.” Smiling softly, Celestia pulled Luna into a hug, stroking her mane. “Listen to me, Luna. I did not just decide to let Discord go. I had a perfectly good reason.” “I can’t think of any reason good enough to justify this.” Luna scoffed. “Well it’s been so long since he last ruled that chaos no longer holds sway over Equestria. He is dangerous, yes, but he is nowhere near as powerful as he used to be.” “I don’t understand.” – Luna leant back and looked her sister in the eye – “Why would he be any less powerful just because we rule and he doesn’t?” “It is complicated, sister. There are many things that I learned in the years of your absence.” As she spoke Celestia broke the hug and strode over to a large blackboard on the wall, using her magic to draw rough diagrams to accompany her words. “The magic of Equestria is constantly in shift, with chaotic and harmonic magic becoming stronger or weaker as the state of the world changes. Because it has been so long since Discord ruled, and because we have taught our ponies to live in harmony, the balance has shifted towards harmony.” Celestia motioned to a scale in front of her diagrams and drew a large arrow towards the harmony side before continuing. “Because of this, a natural inhibitor on chaotic and evil magic and, in counterpoint, an amplifier of harmonic and good magic is currently covering Equestria.” Luna’s eye lit up and she grinned, jumping to her hooves. “Which means that Discord is less powerful, and we are more powerful!” Celestia nodded and, giving her best motherly smile, erased the blackboard and strode over to Luna. “Correct you are, my little pony.” She said as she ruffled her sister’s mane with a hoof. “Uhh, I am not one of your subjects, Tia.” Luna huffed and brushed Celestia’s hoof away. “I do not need to be babied” “Maybe not, Luna, but I feel that perhaps your little outburst was not quite for the reasons you made it out to be.” Luna’s eyes widened and she shuffled nervously on the spot, coughing awkwardly before continuing. “I… I have no idea what you mean, sister…” She looked down then, clearly distressed. The silence in the room stretched on as Celestia waited patiently for Luna to compose herself, and almost two minutes later Luna looked up, her eyes damp and red. “I was worried for you! I thought you could have been hurt or that Discord might have captured you again. And I don’t think I could have lived with myself if I hadn’t been there to help you again…” “Luna… I told you that it wasn’t your fault! What happened back then had nothing to do with your actions. It was entirely my fault for putting myself at risk without thinking of the consequences.” As she spoke, Celestia walked over to Luna and embraced her. “Thank you sister… I know that it is wrong to blame myself, but sometimes I need reminding.” Returning the hug for a while, Luna eventually gave a sly grin and bopped Celestia on the nose with her hoof. “Now if we’re done being sad let us go do something! I tire of paperwork!” “Wait, Luna… Luna… Wait for me!” The laughter of the two Princesses filled the castle halls that night.