//------------------------------//
// Starry Eyes 
// Story: The Sum of Her Parts 
// by IsabellaAmoreSirenix 
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There is a certain beauty to the world, they say. It is an eternal, unchanging kind of beauty, one that time cannot touch nor can pain blemish. Even in life's darkest hours, when hope is lost and cruelty reigns, that beauty can always be found. It may be of a twisted sort, but there it always lies, waiting to be appreciated. Yet for a loveliness so profound, its heart is surprisingly basic: symmetry.

No matter what the time or culture, symmetry is always desired in all parts of life. It exists in mathematical and scientific formulas, in buildings and bridges, in leaves and flowers. Even faces are judged by any imperfections not mirrored on the other half. If one half is deemed lovely, then the universe demands more of the same to have the whole be truly beautiful.

It was the biggest piece of rubbish Discord had ever heard.

With one final sprint, the draconequus hurtled through the thorny brambles surrounding the cave where the Tree of Harmony resided. Instead of using the cave's entrance, he opted to pass through the back wall, so that the tree's engraving of a swirling chaotic storm would be the first sight that greeted him. A welcome diversion from the second one, in which there unfolded one of the ugliest scenes to meet Discord's eyes.

"There is symmetry in this union, is there not?" Kallisti asked as she slowly treaded in a circle in front of the tree. Vibrant blue flowers popped up wherever she walked, only to crumple into thorny black vines that draped around her like a feather boa. "You and I, here together in the open, rather than pulling the strings and trying to trip up each other from afar?"

Sybilla snorted and reared her head, sending her copper orange hair falling around her neck in waves as it trailed to the ground, where red lotus flowers bloomed in her hoofprints. Not once did she blink her narrowed red eyes that watched Kallisti's every move while she walked at the exact same pace at the opposite end of the invisible circle. "That would imply that I share anything in common with such a lowlife monstrosity as you."

"A lowlife monstrosity? That's certainly a creative one. Perhaps I should give you a gold star, just like I give to the draconequui toddlers when they reach your level of imagination," Kallisti deadpanned.

"Sarcasm—"

"'—will forever be a rampant visage upon the face of civilized culture, though sadly I find time and time again that I cannot count your kind among that group,'" Kallisti finished with a roll of her eyes. "Your preaching is predictable as always, Sybilla. Perhaps I wouldn't be thought of a savage if you treated me with common courtesy, hmm?"

"Treating you with courtesy would be like dressing up a viper in a white lace dress," she said. "It doesn't lessen the venom."

Much to Sybilla's surprise, Kallisti smiled, a warm and genuine smile. "You were imaginative just now. It comforts me to know that your kind was not born the way you are, that you still have the chance to know true freedom."

"That analogy was taken from a book I catalogued in the Discordant Archives of the Vitreous Erudition," Sybilla said coldly.

Kallisti scowled. "Along with most other books," she remarked, brushing aside a stray lock of her black hair with her wolf paw. "For a civilization so fixated on finding knowledge and truth, you certainly don't have any trouble ignoring truths you do not wish to believe."

"Enough," Sybilla ordered with a stamp of her front hoof, sending flowers fluttering in the breeze. "You have no right to question our methods. Your kind lost that right a long time ago. This is an orderly affair that does not concern you. Begone from this place."

"Oh, but it does," Kallisti said with a smirk. "This has everything to do with me. This is the moment I have dreamed of, the moment I have hoped for, the moment I will praise in Eris for eons to come: the moment Order collapses into Chaos."

Then Kallisti turned to Celestia.

Celestia stood frozen in place between the two opposing spirits, though their conflict was nowhere near as fierce as the war being waged within her. Around her swirled shards of black and white, like wisps of smoke but sharp as glass as they cut into her skin. They spun around her in a howling cyclone that sent her aurora mane whipping violently around her face, though she did not flinch. Her slitted pupils stared forward, blank and unfeeling, her jaw dropped in a silent cry.

The draconequus spirit stuck her hand through the battling shards, which simply passed her transparent wrist, and caressed Celestia's face. "Silly girl," she mocked, her lips curled. "Believing she could take on both Hamartia and Constance, even when their purpose is to destroy the other. How wonderful it is, to watch both sides meet their death."

Sybilla's eyes swept over Celestia, and they narrowed. "Constance is tethered to her. How?"

"As always, you doubt the strength of a pony's will," said Kallisti. "Raw emotion is powerful, a power I wish you would rediscover."

"But that can be saved for another time, if you choose to visit Eris once more," she continued, walking around Celestia once again. "For now, I have a question, one that has nagged at the back of my mind for quite some time: what do you see when you look at her?"

With a sigh, Sybilla decided to humor her. "I see Elysium's mortal vessel being torn apart at the wishes of Choas," she said darkly.

Kallisti snickered.

"What is it?" Sybilla demanded. "I'm telling you the truth. Who are you to laugh? What has she ever been to you but the means to an end?"

"Of course. That is all you ever intended for her. But it doesn't explain the reason for a filly to be so devoted to her sister to risk herself like this. There's something more to her, something we can't see or understand."

She raised her voice. "But you can see it, can't you, my crooked flower?"

Discord's breathing stopped.

"Why don't you come out so we can see how you've grown?" Kallisti asked.

Unthinkingly obedient, his legs moved with the same mechanics of a tin soldier, until he planted himself firmly in the center of the cave for all the world to see.

"Well?" Kallisti's voice was a spoiled sweetness. "What do you see, child?"

Discord felt two pairs of eyes examining him, one cold and calculating, the other bright and insanely gleeful, yet he was blind to them. He only saw Celestia.

Why? he wanted to ask. Why did you do it?

The reply came as faint as a voice shouting from across the sea. Because it's all I'm meant to do.

Then Discord ran straight into the heart of the storm.

In that moment, Discord knew he could have returned to the quaint cottage in Ponyville. He could have escaped this cosmic tug-of-war. He could have lived a simple life with Fluttershy, just as he had tried to do with Celestia all those centuries ago. But the Celestia before him was none of those things. She was extraordinary, down-to-earth, and fascinatingly complex.

Even as he felt the shooting pain of glass tearing skin, even as his hands grabbed blindly to find her, even as his vision fell into a dark haze, never in his life had he seen one truth shining so clear:

She is always worth this.

Then Discord looked down at her snow white coat and saw only darkness.





"Hey."

A faint voice whispered in the darkness.

He took a step onto a platform of air. There were no walls, no floor, nothing substantial that the draconequus could feel. Grief empties, after all.

Another step. He might have called it floating, if his heart were not so heavy.

At once, a dim spotlight turned on, revealing Celestia an inch and a mile away. Her small body did not move as it lay defeated, tangled pink strands of mane covering her face. There was no crown, no necklace, no shoes. Sorrow was her only garment.

"Hey," he whispered back. The void swallowed the echo.

She lifted her head to look straight at him. Her magenta eyes were puffy but dry. She shifted her body ever so slightly that he could now catch a glimpse of her front hooves. In them was cradled a tiny, white, glass bird.

Celestia took a shaky breath. "I really messed up, didn't I," she said with a sad little smile as she looked down at the motionless bird.

"Yeah. Yeah, you did."

He took a few more steps, then knelt at her side, just outside of the circle of light. "It was all a lie," he heard her whisper. "Everything. Kallisti told me the truth. And yet I still came back, because it's all I know how to do. I must be really pathetic."

"A little, yeah."

The silence threatened to swallow them whole.

"You know you're dying, right?" Discord asked.

She nodded once and looked down at the bird. "I know." The words just barely managed to squeak out. "Just like every machine does when left out in the rain. And I've cried enough to make it easy to fall apart. I've cried for Luna. Luna, dear Luna. If they have to get rid of one, it won't be her."

The tears flowing down her face skirted around her sad smile as she looked up at Discord. "We're both defective now," she told him. "But it's okay, right? There's no point in me being around if I can't uphold Order. I should just let myself be replaced."

With a pained look, Discord brushed away some loose strands of mane from her face to reveal her eyes, whole and clear and pure. "You know, I thought the same thing. When I joined Tirek, I thought I could replace you and Fluttershy and everypony else with a new friend. But you're irreplaceable, Celestia. I see that now. I could wander the entire earth and never find somepony exactly like you. Not because of how you were born or what you were supposed to do. Because of who you are right now."

Celestia bit her lip and stared into the bird's pale, blank eyes.

Discord looked down at the glass bird too. "You could let go of it, you know. It won't break."

"It's not the bird I'm worried about breaking."

"Then let me keep you together." Celestia shuddered as his arms wrapped around her. Both of his hands were clasped over her heart.

Her hooves trembled, rattling the bird. "I… I can't," Celestia said, looking out to the empty darkness filling her subconscious. "If I do, I'll have nothing left."

"You'll have me," Discord reminded her. "You'll always have me. I know I've hurt you, but I'd give my heart and soul to show I love you. I want to be your hope, your joy, your strength."

His hands moved to steady her shaking hooves. "Celestia, you've been strong for so many years. Be strong now. Don't be afraid to be weak."

"No, you don't understand!" the princess cried out. "She's not just some alternate persona I wear. She's a part of me now. I need her, alright? I need her."

"You don't, love," Discord said. "Not anymore. Look around you. Look at how she takes from you but never gives. She is nothing more than a parasite. But you are stronger than her. You always have been."

"But isn't it irresponsible of me?" Celestia asked. "I could put so many ponies in danger if I don't contract."

"Your ponies aren't children anymore, Celestia," said Discord. "They can handle themselves. For every enemy they have triumphed over, the love and Harmony in the world has been strengthened, hasn't it?"

"But they can't defend themselves—!"

"Yes, they can, if you trust them to. Maybe it's a leap of faith, and maybe you'll fall sometimes, but at least you'll be moving somewhere. You can't just keep them sheltered away for a thousand years; the world needs to change."

"But—"

"Would you please just listen to me?" he begged her.  "After all the time we spent apart, there's so much I should have told you.  I'm scared, so scared that this is my last chance to get through to you.  So please, let me explain."

When she fell silent, he continued.  "Celestia, if you want to save everypony, you need to start with yourself. After all you've sacrificed, you need to go out and live, to remind yourself what about the world is worth sacrificing so much."

The air of a warm summer from long ago surrounded them as Discord pulled Celestia closer. "I can't make you let go," he admitted. "And maybe you don't want to. But it's a beautiful world out there, Celestia, and if you wanted, I would be honored to share it with you."

"But what would I do?" she asked. "Where would I go? Who would guide me? Who would keep me from making mistakes?"

"Well, it definitely won't be me," he said with a small chuckle. "I've made more mistakes than anypony could ever hope to. But there are good mistakes too, aren't there?"

Celestia thought of Luna and smiled. She nodded her head.

"There's no one path through life, you know. You can make a detour, turn around entirely, or just sit on the curb and watch the sky for a day. Wherever you go from here is entirely up to you. I'll follow you for as long as you want. If life is a maze, then I can think of no one else I'd rather stumble through it with than you."

Celestia gasped as she felt a warm wetness begin to dampen her mane. "I was wrong," he said, his voice shaking, "for so many years. I tried to love you without understanding you. I should never have tried to change you to be like me. You're wonderful just the way you are, not in spite of our differences, but because of them. I used to see the world in only one way, as something I needed to control out of fear, but you helped me to see differently. My world shifted. And I want you to keep doing that, over and over again, until I am certain of nothing except for the fact that I will always love you."

"D-Don't rely on me like that," she said. "I can't be the center of your world. I just can't."

Discord shrugged his shoulders. "Too late. A pity for me, if my center is such a scaredy-cat.  Come on, dear, you can do it."

Celestia buried her head in her hooves as she said, "Oh, I don't know anymore... this decision, it's..."

"Hopefully your first of many," Discord answered.

"I'm lost, Discord.  Just tell me what the right thing is to do and I'll do it."

He shook his head.  "I can't do that for you.  You aren't just some machine taking orders.  I can't love a machine.  And when I look at you, I see all the love that others have put into you, bits and pieces and shards of hearts until it takes on a life of its own.  And when I look even deeper, I sometimes see a spark in the very center, a light that is entirely yours.  Maybe you don't remember it, but I want to see it again, Celestia, with all my heart and soul.  But I'll work with you, little by little, and we'll see where we'll go. But for now, just relax. Breathe."

He pulled her closer, so that she could feel his beating heart pressed to her back, behind her own heart. "One, two. One, two. In, out. In, out," he murmured in her ear. "A pattern. A rhythm. An order." His lips fumbled with the word, but Celestia didn't notice. His even voice flowed over her like water.

As if doubt was a puff of smoke that only needed to be exhaled from her lungs, her thoughts because clear. Interrupting Discord's steady order, she craned her neck around so that her eyes were fixated on him. "Discord…" she began. "There are a lot of things I don't know. Things I've forgotten, things I've misunderstood, things I've never appreciated. But… I'd like to find them again. Perhaps they'll fill the hole from the things I'll let go."

"Is that what you really want?"

She nodded.

"Good. Then nothing can go wrong."

Her eyes widened. "You really trust me like that? I'm afraid to trust myself."

"Then trust the ones who love you. Trust loony Lulu, and I pray that someday you'll even be able to trust me if you're crazy enough to. We're your friends after all. You don't have to save the world alone." He paused for a minute to consider that. "Actually, I don't think you have a choice. I'd start helping Twilight Sparkle make checklists before I'd ever stop pestering you."

Celestia didn't smile. "Why me?" she asked him. "Out of all the ponies in the world, why would you choose me? Back home, I'm just… well, nobody, really."

Discord shook his head and smiled. "Oh, Celestia. You are so much more."

Then she lifted her front hooves over her head and let the little bird go.

From the first flap of its tiny wings, the glass began to crack, forming pale spiderwebs of silver across its body. The white spotlight focused on Celestia sent gentle luminescence shining through its jagged edges like blood. Still, it continued to fly higher, spiraling and spiraling until it ascended to eclipse the very source of the white light, miles above Celestia's head. The two immortals left below were filled with awe as light refracted off the glass and burst into rainbows that trailed from its wingtips.

It would have been a dazzling display of glory if the bird had managed to hover steadily in the air. Instead, it continuously lost the rhythm in its wings and plummeted a few meters down. Then it slowly flew higher again, more glass cracking all the while. Its pain was apparent, but when it snagged onto Celestia's gaze, she was met with its constant expressionlessness. Unable to muster up the will to live, even as it died.

Celestia's eyes shone like stars. I love you, I hate you. I trust you, I defy you. I need you, I pity you. Goodbye, and forever remain a constant in my memory.

The glass bird nodded once. Even many years after, Celestia would swear she saw the faintest smile grace its eyes.

Then flaring its wings to full height, it was torn asunder into shards of glass.

A once darkened sky was now alight with thousands of pieces of glass, shimmering like stars as they slowly fell all around Celestia and Discord. Arcs of pastel rainbows caught hold of the fragments and fluttered behind them like streamers of a shooting star. With the gentleness of falling snow they descended, twirling and spinning to meet the ground with the embrace of a lover. And wherever one landed, a tiny pink daisy, tall and straight, would blossom and fill the dark void, until the two lovers were surrounded by a meadow of flowers swaying in the summer breeze.

It was a beautiful sight, but Celestia hardly gave it any notice. Her eyes were only for the bird.

Freed from its glass prison, the bird she and Discord had created as children now soared above their heads. Graceful glides, daring dives, and astonishing ascents all came together as it danced through a void that was not quite so empty anymore.

Celestia felt her heart soar in her chest. How wondrous it was, that such a tiny bird could hold so much bravery. It flew so wildly, without any fear of falling.

Maybe I could do that too, Celestia thought. Not now, but maybe someday.

As if it heard her thoughts, the bird switched directions to descend back to her. It hovered in front of her face with a gentle expression, one that spoke of a quiet wisdom, and its golden eyes twinkled with the sparkle of youth.

Celestia averted her eyes. She could feel the bird's gaze probing her, its captor for more than a thousand years.

Much was her surprise then, when she glanced up and saw the bird staring straight back at her and smiling.

Discord chuckled. "Smart bird," he remarked. "Well of course it is, since I had a hand in its creation."

"What does it see in me worth smiling about?" Celestia whispered.

"A soul. One long asleep, now recalled to life."

She reached out a trembling hand to the bird. "Its eyes… are so bright…"

"So are yours, my dear. I hope you'll get to see that someday."

Someday soon.

Its smile never stopped as it returned home to Celestia's hooves.

She blinked, and in an instant she was out of her subconscious and thrust back to reality. At once, her eyes were blinded by the light emanating from the Tree of Harmony, and her ears were assaulted by a terrible howling. She cried out, flattened her ears, and closed her eyes, trying to block out the pain.

Only when she felt Discord's hands cup her face and tilt it upward did she open her eyes to see the two spirits of Order tearing the other apart. Now that Constance was no longer bound to Celestia, they had risen to hover above the Tree. The resulting cyclone of clashing energy sent magic shockwaves that shook the cave. Just above the screeching din, Celestia could hear the cries of Sybilla and Kallisti as the magic pushed them back.

"Wh-what is this?" came Sybilla's fearful cry.

Kallisti sounded just as mystified. "This… I never… never could I have predicted this." She kicked the ground. "I never wanted this! I never wanted this for my children!"

Discord frowned. You pretty but empty flower. You never had any.

"The girl lives!" Sybilla called, relieved. "But it's impossible! I don't understand!"

And you never will, Celestia thought sadly. If you want answers, go find them yourself.

The magic pushed the two spirits back through the Tree of Harmony, but Discord and Celestia stayed together, entwined in the heart of the storm.

"Don't let go," Celestia murmured, heard even above the wind screaming in her face. "Don't you dare let go."

So together they watched as shards of black and white glass scattered around them like fallen bodies, more and more by the second. And still the fight raged on, undeterred by the bloodshed.

Celestia felt tears sting in her eyes, with only a dim awareness as to why. They're perfectly matched, she thought, so why fight each other? Why not come to peace?

A peace did come, but only when the final two shards fell to earth and the last howling scream tumbled down a long dark path into silence.

"It's over now, Celestia," Discord said. "It's all over."

When she did not reply, he repeated, "Celestia?"

All at once, Celestia was acutely aware of the dozens of cuts along her back where the glass had cut into her skin. Blood rushed furiously in her veins, their frenzy only matched by the adrenaline that was slowly wearing off. She could dimly hear Discord's panicked voice beside her, but she drifted away from it, like a spirit floating out to sea. She tried to focus on his face, her shoreline, but the world moved from under her into a messy blur. There was a feeling of falling, but a gentle one, for the waves were familiar and the wind knew her name. It was the same wave that had borne her away from the island of her birth all those centuries ago. She let her eyes slide close, because there was nothing to fear. The same trustworthy wave would drift her home.

Just as she was about to dive into the sea, she heard on the very edges of her consciousness a sound. It was a quiet sound, but it caused her heart to leap with the force of thunder. It was a sound born out of nothing, a sound that was never intended to exist. But beyond any shadow of a doubt and above all the odds, it was there.

The beautiful, unmistakable melody of a songbird.





"Boop."

A muffled groan issued from beneath the covers.

"Boop."

A figure under the covers shifted.

"Boop."

A pause.

"Hmm… one more."

A pair of magenta eyes snapped open.

"Good, you're finally awake," Discord said after booping the princess one last time on the nose. "Maybe you'll be able to convince these ponies that for once, this disaster wasn't my fault. You should have seen the looks on their faces when I teleported you here; they thought I tried to kill you. Sadly, no, you were doing a fine job of doing that yourself."

Celestia didn't answer; she only stared up at the ceiling.

"Oh cripes, she's in shock. Look around, you're okay, see? You're in your room in the castle. The doctors say you're alright, even though I think they're using a broad definition. But still, you're safe." After a moment's pause, he said, "Great, now they'll blame me for giving you brain damage or something. It wasn't my fault that I dropped you while going up the stairs! Well maybe it was, with me sparking that cake addiction of yours, but that was – literally – ages ago!"

Not even that could draw her attention. She kept staring up at nothing, all the while wearing the most blissful – and in Discord's opinion, the goofiest – expression imaginable. "I did it," he heard her breathe in wonder. "I surpassed the reason for my creation. I became more than the sum of my parts."

Discord couldn't help but smile a warm, affectionate smile down on her. "Heh. Yeah, you did. You also could have gotten yourself killed if it wasn't for the daring heroics of yours truly, so as amazing as that was, let's try not to do it again, 'kay?"

"Alright." Her serene expression dripped off her face like wax. "I said some terrible things to you before. I'm sorry. You're not a monster, Discord. If anything, I should know now that you are more than what ponies define you as."

"Thank you, and I'm sorry too. I know you must have loved Sombra very much."

Her bottom lip quivered. "I thought Sybilla was being merciful," she said with a bitterness to her voice. "It was another world; I wasn't required to maintain Order there. I was allowed to show emotion, to love. But now I see what she wanted. She wanted me to bring the two worlds together using the rift, so there would be no difference. That alternate world veered off of what she understood, and she couldn't accept that. She wanted me to combine two worlds into a singular entity that could be controlled, and I let her trick me into almost doing it, like an idiot."

Discord pressed his paw to Celestia's hoof. "They've made fools of both of us. There's no shame in being tricked by a creature infinitely more powerful and knowledgeable than you."

"But do you know what the worst part about them was?" Celestia asked, turning over so Discord could stare into her blazing eyes. "What they wanted to do with Luna. The reason why they sent two through the Gates, the reason why they had us contract… well, it wasn't for a reason at all. It was a mistake. They accidently had us both go through. But do you know how they chose to handle it?" Her voice grew even more agitated. "They didn't tell us or try to explain. Instead, they played a chess game with us. Their plan was to have Luna go mad and die on the moon, just so it could seem like sending two advocates was intentional. They wanted to save face. All the pain and heartache Luna and I endured wasn't to serve any greater purpose. It was because of their Faust damned pride!"

At the last sentence, Celestia stood up on the bed and drew herself to her full height, wings flared, as if to amplify her outraged cry. Alarmed, Discord rose from his place kneeling beside her to embrace the distraught alicorn. "Shh, Celestia," he murmured, running a claw through her mane. "I know it hurts, but there's nothing we can do to change the past or change the way they think. All we can do is try to distance ourselves from them as much as we can."

"I… I…" Celestia nodded and took a deep, steading breath. "You're right," she said. "Besides, it didn't work. Kallisti knows, and soon all of Eris will too. They'll become a laughing stock, which is probably just what they've needed for all those eons."

She plopped down onto the bed again. "I just… I can't believe I used to blindly go along with them. That I was one of them. Being a part of Order was what defined me for the longest time."

"But that's the beautiful thing about all this. You'll get to define yourself."

"I… I still wish to be the princess of Equestria," Celestia said. "And I still want to be orderly. Order isn't evil, after all. Some ponies just use it in the wrong way. But I don't think I'll be able to call myself a vessel of Order anymore, even though I'll always be more on that side of the balance. You understand, don't you?"

"I do."

Celestia pressed a pillow to her chest. "What about us?" she asked with a sigh. "What are we now? 'Lovers' feels strange. I spent a thousand years hating you. And yet I think you've become so much more than my coltfriend."

"We'll figure that whole mess out," he said, "but know that I'll always be your friend, Celestia."

Celestia smiled. "Oh, it's all so strange, yet so wonderful. Haven't we been told all our lives to fight each other, to bring balance to the world? But that's not how Harmony works at all. Constance and Hamartia were perfectly balanced, but there was no Harmony. No, to have Harmony, we need to find beauty others and ourselves, don't we? To understand the evil, search for the good, embrace the chaos, and remember the order. And then, maybe, where none was before, we find love and friendship too."

Kneeling at her side, Discord cupped her face in his hands. "I found love and friendship the day I first laid eyes on you," he told her, "and now that I've realize it, I never want to let go, to be alone in a place where you're not there."

"Alone," Celestia whispered. "When I was trapped in my own mind, there was a loneliness so wide and deep that I was drowning. Oh Faust, I never want to feel that kind of loneliness again. Chaos would have you restlessly wander the earth. Order would have me bend all sentience to my singular will. Either way, we would be alone. Harmony is what brings us together."

Discord was suddenly aware of the quiet hush lining the bedroom, a reminder that the pair was entirely alone, but a very good kind of loneliness.

"I heard Harmony sing to me," said Celestia. With the curtains drawn and the sun fast fading, the darkened room knew only the peaceful glow of her starry eyes. "Not one note united in itself, nor many separate notes, but many different voices united in one soul. It is what gives me hope for you and me. We are not water and oil, destined to never meet. We are two voices, two parts of a whole sum, different but inseparable. Together, Order and Chaos dance, they sing, they embrace, they walk, they touch."

Celestia's starry eyes met his. "And this," she whispered, "is where they kiss."