Poseidon had left the palace grounds to meet the citizens of Canterlot. He felt it would be best to ease the subjects into the idea of a larger royal family. He donned simple regalia and took a small escort of two guards with him. With the sun shining and not a cloud in the sky, he felt confident things were going to go well.
Leaving the palace grounds, Poseidon headed straight for a tourist booth. He wanted to get some maps to add to his collection, and so he could explore Canterlot at his leisure. Poseidon saw the city as another land to explore, someplace new, mysterious and full of adventure.
Operating the tourist booth near the palace gardens was a cheery looking unicorn. She wished her previous customers a good day, and turned her attention to Poseidon.
“Oh! Hello!” she said with a respectful nod. “What may I help you with today?”
“I'd like a map of the city, please,” Poseidon said with an eager grin.
“Certainly!”
In a flash, the unicorn produced the a rolled up map from under the counter. Poseidon lifted a small, bloated sack mark 'Appleloosa' from his side bag, and dropped it onto the counter top. Coins spilled forth from the opening, rolling about and glinting in the sun.
“That should cover it,” Poseidon remarked to the surprised guide. “Thank you, and I'll see you later!” With his nose already in the map, Poseidon made his way down the main street to explore the city.
Poseidon wanted to see and experience everything Canterlot had to offer. He carefully scanned his new map, looking for a good place to start. Settling on a cultural history museum, Poseidon stepped forth to begin what he hoped would be a splendid afternoon, but no sooner had he started than his trip came to a sudden halt. A purple unicorn, her head also buried in a book, had stepped out in front of Poseidon, and the two of them collided. Poseidon, being considerably larger, only stumbled a bit, but the mare was sent tumbling to the ground. Everypony nearby pause to look at the commotion.
Poseidon rushed to the mare. “I'm terribly sorry about that!” he said, his voice filled with concern. “Are you alright?”
The unicorn shook her head until she could see straight. She looked up at the alicorn as the guards helped gather the dropped book and get her to her hooves. The unicorn let out a gasp.
“You must be Poseidon!” said the unicorn.
Being recognized before he had introduced himself gave Poseidon a bit of a shock. “Yes, but, how did you know that?” he asked.
“I met your wife, Queen Gaea, in Ponyville. She came to Canterlot with me. My name is Twilight Sparkle. Pleased to meet you.”
“You're Twilight Sparkle? I've heard so much about you from Gaea and my daughters. Your quite the smart one, aren't you?”
Twilight blush. Neither Twilight nor Poseidon noticed the crowd move ever closer to them, wanting to hear more about this new king and queen being mentioned.
“What are you up to this fine afternoon?” Poseidon continued.
“Well, I was just reading up on comparisons of the use of magic today as opposed to the classical era for a study I'm doing on how to best utilize basic spells with current technologies.”
Twilight looked to Poseidon for a response, but all she got was an eager smile. Twilight figured Poseidon was just being polite. She was used to reactions like this whenever she told others about her studies.
“Um, if you're interested... in that kind of stuff...”
“It sounds fascinating!” Poseidon exclaimed. Twilight perked right up at the admiration. “I'm actually on my way to the cultural history museum. Would you care to join me?”
Twilight smiled so hard she squinted. “I would love to!”
The two ponies made their way through the streets to the museum. Twilight, having grown up in Canterlot, proved to be an excellent guide for Poseidon. She pointed out the cities landmarks, given history lessons on everything she could think of, and Poseidon hungrily ate up every word. He furiously was jotting notes onto his new map, noting places of great interest to him, like the aviary and the ice cream parlour, for further study.
As they approached their destination, something in the sky caught Twilight's eye. “Oh, look there!” she said, pointing skyward. Far above, Cloudsdale, city of the pegasi, floated by. A trail of soft clouds wafted in the flying cities wake.
“That's where they make the weather for Equestria,” Twilight told Poseidon.
“So that's Cloudsdale...” Poseidon responded softly, thinking to himself. The cloud city looked like it had a lot of the grandeur of Incitatus the pegasi ancestors hailed from. He watched as the weather factory puffed out clouds into the sky. Soft, wispy...
...and black.
“That's odd...” Poseidon remarked.
“What is?” Twilight asked from the museum steps. She followed Poseidon's gaze upwards back to Cloudsdale. “Huh? That's not right.”
“Does that usually happen?” Poseidon asked Twilight.
“No. Cloudsdale has an excellent track record for weather control. Those don't even look like rain clouds. They're just... black.”
Poseidon was troubled by this phenomenon. He turned to Twilight. “I'm afraid I'll have to postpone the rest of our sightseeing tour. I think I should have a look at what's going on up there.”
“I understand,” Twilight said. “Good luck.”
Poseidon and his escort of guards reared back and took to the skies. As they shrunk into distant specks, Twilight frowned. The strange clouds brought dark memories bubbling to her mind. She assured herself that her past trials were over, that chaos was under control, and whatever was going on could be easily solved.
Poseidon approached a black cloud. It floated sluggishly through the air, as if under some burden. The alicorn approached it cautiously, his gaze a fixed stare. The dark mass was now just a few feet away. Slowly, Poseidon reached out a hoof, and gingerly poked at the cloud.
A jet of black liquid burst out from the point of contact. Poseidon reared back in surprise as the fluid sprayed over his blue coat. The alicorn backed away, shaking the mess from himself. As the guards came close to help their king, the new dark clouds began to release a torrential downpour of the black liquid onto the ground below. A familiar scent drifted into Poseidon's nostrils as the air around him filled with a dark mist. It smelled of...
“Ink?” Poseidon puzzled. The stallion looked towards Cloudsdale, wondering what was going on in the weather factory.
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Inside of the Cloudsdale weather factory, pegasi ran about trying to get some semblance of control underway. Nopony hardly noticed Poseidon when he first entered through the front doors. With a loud, deliberate clearing of his throat, Poseidon managed to grab the attention of a nearby supervisor.
“Oh!” exclaimed the pegasus. “I didn't notice you there.”
“My name is Poseidon, father of Princess Celestia and Luna. I saw that there was some unusual trouble with the weather, and decided to investigate.”
“Oh, you're king Poseidon! We got the message from the palace just this morning about preparations for your inauguration. Right this way then,” the pegasus said as he handed Poseidon a workers' helmet.
The supervisor, who introduced himself as Tornado, led Poseidon and his entourage through the factory, explaining the problems as they went.
“Things just started to fall apart all at once a few minutes ago,” Tornado began. “Snowflakes bursting into sparks, rainbows turning into spaghetti, and now the clouds are coming out filled with ink! All of the ingredients go into the machines normal, but everything is coming out a mess!”
“I don't know much about rainbows, but I might be able to do something about the snow and clouds for now,” Poseidon offered.
“Any bit of help would be appreciated.”
They entered the cloud making room. It was just as chaotic in here as everywhere else in the building. Poseidon approached the first machine, a great steel steamer. A green and purple mare was furiously pumping ink out of it as fast other workers poured water back in. Poseidon peered through a view port in the side of the machine, casting the mist aside with his command over water. He witnessed the water being poured into the vat inside, transforming into ink in the descent. Scrunching his face in concentration, Poseidon prepared a spell.
The machine began to shake, steadily growing more violent. The nearby mare inched away as the steam shot forth, screaming in a high pitched wail. Poseidon leaned his head in closer, focused hard on his task. Then, with a tremendous boom, the steamer burst apart, spraying runny black ink all over the room and its occupants. Poseidon, knocked onto his back, blinked in shock.
“Well, that was interesting...” he mused.
Poseidon rolled onto his flank and put a hoof to his chin. His magic had not simply backfired, it had refused to work. He wondered why the water would not to separate from the rest of the ink. It was as if it were under some great spell, but the waters of the world had chosen Poseidon to be their master. No force left in the world should rival his control of this element of nature. Once more, Poseidon found himself deeply troubled.
“Sir?” a guard asked Poseidon.
“Hm?” Poseidon grunted as he was pulled from his thoughts. He then turned to Tornado, who was pouring ink from his helmet. “I'm very sorry about the mess...”
“It's alright,” Tornado assured Poseidon. “I know you tried to help, but it's just no use. We may not have proper weather for a while now, let alone clear skies for a ceremony.”
“I'll tell my daughters about the situation. Maybe we can find out some way to help.”
“Thank you.”
Poseidon left the factory, his thoughts returning to the strange behaviour of his magic. The situation had a familiar, but uncomfortable feel about it. Memories of a battle, long in the past, nibbled at the edges of his mind. Poseidon pushed the thoughts from his head.
“Just some strange pegasus magic,” Poseidon thought to himself. “Discord isn't free.”
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Princess Luna lay in her bed, curled in her blankets. Though it was the middle of the day, not a sliver of light entered through the windows, blocked by heavy curtains. Only soft, glowing stones, set into the ceiling like stars, offered any illumination. In their faint glow, the night princess dreamed.
However, the princess's blissful thoughts were interrupted by a soft tapping at her door. Sleepily, Luna raised her head to look at the door. Wondering who was disturbing her rest, she slid from her bed and approached the entrance to her room. Opening the door a crack, trying to keep the light from the hallway out, Luna peered outside.
“Good afternoon, sleepyhead,” said Gaea.
“Mother?” Luna asked, wondering what her mother could want from her. “What is the matter?”
“Oh, I just wanted to spend a moment with you, if you don't mind. I know how your work makes you keep odd hours.”
Stifling a yawn, Luna assured her mother that she could talk for a bit. “What troubles thy mind, mother?”
“I was just thinking about the upcoming announcement to the subjects of Equestria,” Gaea said as she made her way into the dim room. “And I was curious about what you would be doing for it.”
“Oh, well, we are certain Celesia would discuss the details of such a matter with us, but we have not yet done so.”
“Well,” Gaea said, leaning towards Luna. “I would really like to see you do something special for the occasion. A comet, a new constellation... the moon with the sun.”
“But, mother,” Luna protested. “That would be most inappropriate for such an occasion. It is supposed to be a ceremony of new beginnings. Our moon is more representative of endings. What would the others think of us if we tried to force our presence on such a happy day?”
Gaea gave a small frown. “I just thought it would be nice to see my children getting along so well together. And,” she added lowering her voice to a whisper. “I always liked the moon most of all.”
Luna eyes widened. She was honoured by such praise, especially from from her mother. “You... really like our moon so much?”
“Of course,” Gaea cooed. “The sun has always been there, but your father and I made the moon to make the night even more beautiful. We made it for you.”
Luna was beaming with joy. She had never heard the tale of how the moon came to be. “Is this true?” she asked.
“But of course, my dearest Luna,” Gaea said, embracing her child. “Wouldn't it be such a wonderful sight? And I have one more request.”
“Anything, dearest mother.”
In the dark, Gaea's eyes flashed a pale yellow, but Luna did not see, her own eyes closed in bliss.
“Don't tell your sister. It will be our little secret.”
Luna was suddenly come over with tiredness. “Of course... mother...” she said as she slumped back to sleep.
Discord chuckled, low and deep. “Sleep well, my little pony. We have much to do.” Reaching out a hoof, the possessed alicorn touched Luna lightly on her brow. The night princess squirmed as dark thoughts invaded her slumber, warping her dreams. Discord slipped from the room, leaving the dark princess to suffer silently in her mind.
In the purgatorial void that was now Gaea's prison, the true Gaea fumed angrily. “So,” she hissed. “You know much about our past.”
“But of course.” There was a flash, and Discord appeared before Gaea. “It's no fun playing a game you don't know the rules to, and I can read you like a book.” At his words, a large tome appeared. The draconequus began to flip through the book's pages. “Spring, 2nd month, 9th day, 687 years BE. 'Poseidon and I formed a large body of earth to cast into the sky among the other celestial bodies...' Guh, this is boring. What else is in here?”
Gaea charged at Discord. She did not know what she hoped to achieve, but she had to try something. However, the wily creature just flipped over at the queen's approach, and she harmlessly ran above him. Discord stopped on a new page.
“Winter, 3rd month, 12th day, 2 years BE; 'I grow weary of my children...' Oh, now that is interesting! The 'Great Mother', tired of her own foals.” Discord read on. “'Celestia has set another forest on fire by flying the sun to close to the ground. I told her to leave that task to the unicorns, but she is being intolerable.
Luna flew off into the night again. Poseidon spent a week looking for her. He found her sick and shivering in a cave somewhere. Why does she do these things to us?'”
“Give me that book,” Gaea ordered.
“Or what? You'll use the 'Fire of Friendship' again? Besides, the book isn't real anyway.” Discord haphazardly tossed the tome to Gaea. “All of this is in our heads. I just happen to be in control, so I can do whatever I want with your memories. Maybe draw some inspiration from them. Children make such good agents of chaos.” With a snap of his fingers, Discord vanished again.
Gaea looked down at the book that lay open before her. Glancing at its writings brought distant memories vividly back. She found the page Discord had been reading. 'I grow weary of my children...' Discord had read that part truthfully. Gaea then wondered what had been omitted. '...They continually think that the world is but a plaything. They are old compared to other ponies, but are still just fillies in heart and mind.'. She had been tricked again. Gaea knew that all parents have hard days from their children, and scolded herself for falling for such a simple shot at her emotions.
Gaea thought back on those times long gone, wondering how other mothers managed to raise responsible children in the few years they had. A generation was birthed and buried in the time it took her little ones to come to terms with what they were. Gaea wondered if, like Discord, she could gleam some wisdom from her children, innocent and wild for so long. She read on.
'...Was I such trouble in my youth?...'