Celestia breathed a sigh of relief as she flopped on her bed. Finally, she had a break from the constant demands of Princess Cadance. That spoiled Crystal princess would be the death of her, she was certain. If she had to make an entire meal over again because it "wasn't sweet enough", she just might poison the bitch. She would have quit long ago was it not the only job she was good at.
She looked up at the poster above her bed and grimaced. The great and powerful wizard looked down at her in his life-like painting, with a gaze full of condescending disappointment. All it did was remind her of that dream she once believed she'd achieve, the chance to work with Starswirl. She knew now that the only way she'd see him would be by serving him food. Even with this absence of a real life, she nevertheless daily practiced her magic, hoping something would come of it eventually.
The bell rang, calling her back. Celestia groaned and stood back up. Re-doing her messy bun, she made her way briskly out the door and down the long hallway. Once she reached the deserted kitchen, she checked the scroll sent to her inbox through Dragon-Mail. It told her to come to the main foyer in ten minutes for an important job. She smirked at the idea that this job would be "important", but was also glad that'd she wouldn't have to rush down there. Relishing in the extra time, she grabbed herself a small snack of oat crackers. She was just about to walk out of the kitchen, when suddenly her last cracker morphed, and turned into an eight-foot tall creature with the head of a pony, a deer antler, a goat horn, a fang, a goat beard, a lion paw and an eagle claw, a lizard leg and a goat leg, a bat wing and a pegasus wing, a snake-like body, and a dragon tail. He gave Celestia a slight smirk.
"So, Tia, where are you off to?" he asked with over-emphasized inquisitiveness.
"Discord, please don't interfere with my job again," Celestia whined.
"Your job?! I thought we planned to have a picnic today!" Discord gasped in mock horror.
"I never have time for a picnic."
"Exactly why we should have one now!" Discord huffed. He leaned in closer to Celestia and said, "is it Little Miss Crystal again?" Celestia nodded, and Discord sighed knowingly.
"If I had real draconequus powers, I would dump zinnias on her, spin her around so that she's really dizzy, pour noodles on her, force her to dress in a nerdy robe cosplay, switch her mane with an ugly one, make her massage my knees, and almost drown her in water. Since I can only teleport and shape shift, though, I'll just sing about it to her." Celestia smiled at Discord's attempt to be helpful. He was great to have around, even if he was often quite annoying. Without him, she'd have literally no fun, no friends, and no real reason to live.
Realizing how much time had passed, Celestia quickly rushed out the door, with Discord trailing behind her. They slowed down before turning the corner into the foyer, and Celestia gestured to Discord to leave. With a snap of his fingers, he turned into a clip in Celestia's mane. Too tired to protest, she turned into the grand, bedazzled room and briskly made her way towards Princess Cadance and her father, King Sombra.
"Good, thou art here," Sombra said. He pulled out a scroll from the pocket of his red coat. Opening it, he told Celestia, "we hath received this letter from Starswirl the Bearded today that dost worry us greatly. He says that he is putting to the test a new spell, one that he has not yet finished, but is trying to figure out. We have heard it is meant to be world-changing, and are worried that if cast without being fully finished, the results may be devastating. Cadance has told me that thou knowest everything there is to know about Starswirl, and that thou art very skilled with magic. Thou must go to his castle in Lower Crystal Empire and try to convince him not to enact the spell."
Celestia couldn't believe her ears. The Crystal King was asking her to convince her idol to not cast what could possibly be the most powerful spell ever cast? The idea was both baffling and terrifying, and she wasn't sure if this wasn't just a dream, even though she'd never actually had a dream before. She gave King Sombra a questioning look, just to see if he was serious. He confirmed it with a nod. Still amazed and wondering how desperate the king was, she said that she accepted, and he started guiding her though what she needed to do.
"His castle is located at the very edge of the Crystal Empire's southern border. It is hard to miss. When thou arrive there, show the guard this letter, and ask to be taken to Starswirl's western wing. The wizard will be very busy, but thou must nonetheless make him put down his work and listen. If thou succeedest, you shalt be rewarded greatly." Celestia took the letter from King Sombra with his royal seal on it to prove its validity. With worry still keeping with her, she asked, "what if I am unable to convince him?"
"Thou wilt not," King Sombra told her, "but if I feel thou art taking longer than expected, I shall come to assist." A little more confident, Celestia turned and walked out the huge double doors into the yard. Once out of the castle bounds, Discord transformed back to his usual self and gave her a hoof bump, spinning around happily in the sky.
"Now look at that! Your life is about to change for the better!" he congratulated her. "Oo, and soon you might even become Queen, and then you could make a law accepting draconequuses as citizens, so I can make more friends, and everypony will be happy!" Celestia smiled at his optimism, but still felt unsure about herself. Seeing this, Discord came down to the ground and walked beside her with concern on his face.
"What's wrong?" he asked. "I'd think you'd be excited to finally meet your lifelong idol."
"I know, and I am," Celestia assured him, "but I'm also terrified. If I fail, the entirety of Equestria is in danger, and it would all be my fault. I just don't think I could live with that."
"Which is why you're perfect for the job!" Discord said. "You care about Equestria so much, even when it's beaten you down time after time, and that caring is what can make you a heroine, a savior, and maybe even a queen." That made Celestia feel a little better, and she hugged Discord in thanks. They kept walking, approaching the fields of South Crystal Empire, only a mile from Starswirl's castle. After a while, they reached the gates, but were stopped by a guard.
"Who are you, and why are you here?" she said. A little intimidated, Celestia just gave her the letter, which luckily the guard understood. She brought them into the castle, up a winding staircase, and down a narrow hall to a large door, leaving them there with what seemed like a look of fear on her face. Before anyone could open the door, the two heard hoofsteps running towards them. They turned, and Celestia saw her sister, another pony, and what she was pretty sure was Clover. The trio halted in front of them, and Celestia immediately hugged her sister, having not seen her for three years.
"Lu-lu, I'm so glad to see you!" Celestia exclaimed, elated. "Why are you here? Is that Clover? And who's that?" Luna put a hoof to Celestia's mouth to stop her from questioning forever.
"Yes, this is Clover," Luna confirmed. Celestia embraced her old friend, then let her sister continue. "This is Chrysalis, who I met last year. We're here to try to convince Starswirl not to cast some huge, world-changing spell. You probably know of it, it's called the 'Harmony Spell', or something."
"We're actually here for the same reason. And this is Discord, by the way."
"Charmed," Discord said, "but don't you think we'd best skip this lovely reunion and deal with what we came here for?" The three unicorns and one pegasus nodded, and proceeded to open the door, which wouldn't budge.
"Oh, buck, it's locked," Clover cursed. "Starswirl, it's me! Let us in! You can't go through with this!" She was met with silence. She banged on the door, but still got no reply. The others joined in on trying to open it to talk to the wizard, but they couldn't even teleport in.
"Clover, darling!" the ponies and draconequus turned to see five mares running towards them. Celestia recognized them as the other founders of Equestria. Not stopping for introductions, the ponies tried different tactics of getting in. Princess Platinum, the pony who had spoken, was trying to offer Starswirl a deal for him to stop and listen. Private Pansy tried to persuade him as kindly as possible, often backing off if she thought she was too forceful. Chancellor Puddinghead was trying to convince him that casting the spell would be no fun at all. Commander Hurricane kept bringing up how King Sombra had forbidden Starswirl to cast the spell. Smart Cookie was just telling him plainly why they wanted him to stop, being completely honest. After what felt like an eternity of this, the wizard finally replied.
"NO!!!!!" he shouted. Everypony quickly shut up. "I have worked on this spell for over ten years, and I am the only pony who could possibly know when and how it should be cast!"
"But Starswirl, you don't understand! Friendship -- " Clover started.
"Do not undermine me, Clover!" Starswirl ordered. She shrunk back, and Luna comforted her. Celestia, who'd just about had it with her "idol", was about to yell back at him, when King Sombra galloped up to them.
"You were taking so long, has he cast it yet?"
"Your highness!" Smart Cookie exclaimed, bowing. A few of the other ponies followed suit. Ignoring them, Sombra banged loudly on the door, ordering Starswirl to stop or be incarcerated, but there was no further response. All the unicorns worked together to try to open it magically, but it seemed the wizard's powers were much stronger than they had thought. They had just about given up hope, when a huge, gargoyle-like creature with a brown mane, tasseled tail, and bat wings ran up towards them, shouting, "Starswirl, Tirek's coming here! He's trying to take something from you!" He finally opened the door, with a shocked, yet caring look on his face.
"Scorpan?" he asked. "Wait, why?"
"Something about using an unharnessed power to take over Equestria." Suddenly, an even larger creature, who Celestia assumed was Tirek, came crashing through the castle hallway. Acting impulsively, Starswirl whipped out his notebook and read from it loudly, stopping Tirek in his tracks.
"From one to another, another to one! One's destiny singled out alone fulfilled!" A moment of silence followed, with everypony just standing there, waiting for something.
Suddenly, all six of the founders started glowing, with Clover the brightest of them all. Blasts of energy came from each of them, going towards each other. Then, the energy switched directions, and shot towards all the other six creatures, excluding Starswirl and Scorpan. Celestia could tell something had gone horribly wrong just as she got hit by the strongest surge of magic she had ever felt, lifting her off the ground. It engulfed her, flooding her vision with a sun-like gold and filling her with enormous amounts of power. Just as she was feeling like she wouldn't be able to take it anymore, it released her, slowly lowering her back down. Winded, she shook her head, trying to get a clear vision. Luna was standing before her, but she looked different. She had a long horn on her head, was much taller, and her mane was darker blue, flowing behind her even without a breeze, resembling the night sky. On her flank, on top of the tattoo she had there, was a cutie mark, showing the crescent moon.
"Luna? What happened to you?" Celestia said, still exhausted.
"Probably the same thing that happened to you." Celestia gave her a confused look, but when she glanced over herself, she understood. She had huge wings, a similarly flowing mane and tail, and a sun-shaped cutie mark. When she stood, she found herself higher off the ground than usual, and felt stronger muscles in her legs. Too baffled to speak, she looked around at everypony else. Discord, Tirek, and Sombra seemed generally the same, though the king's horn appeared to have a red tip, and be curved. Chrysalis, on the other hand, was dramatically changed. Her mane, slightly more bluish in color, was riddled with holes, and her legs and horn had these holes as well. She was as tall as Celestia had become, and she had grown a pair of bug wings and a flower-like thing atop her head. Her green eyes were glowing, and her cutie mark was gone, with greenish-blue armor covering her torso.
"What did you do to me?!" she shouted in despair. She turned to Starswirl, demanding an answer, but before she could get one, Tirek grabbed the wizard. The huge titan-like demon opened his mouth wide, and slowly but surely, a beam of multi-colored light shot forth from Starswirl's horn, flowing into Tirek's mouth, making him grow. All the other ponies just stood there, shell-shocked, as the beam died out, and Tirek threw an exhausted Starswirl back onto the floor. The monster stormed out of the castle, bursting through the wall. As Scorpan and many of the other creatures in the room rushed over to see if the wizard was okay, Celestia and Luna both glanced over towards the founders, all of which were lying still on the floor.
"CLOVER!!!" Luna raced over towards her friend's body, with Celestia close behind. Luna was shaking Clover, trying to wake her up, but Celestia knew that Clover wasn't sleeping. Carefully, she placed a hoof on Luna's shoulder. She whipped her head around, her eyes full of tears. Without a word, Celestia hugged her sister close, feeling Luna hold on to her like she was her life source. They just sat there for a minute, undisturbed by the other creatures, who were still figuring out what had happened. Slowly, Luna pulled away. Breathing heavily, she stood, facing the weakened Starswirl. As she lifted her head, Celestia could see her face burning with anger.
"You..." Luna breathed. "You did this."
"It was supposed to create harmony," he protested unsteadily. Luna didn't seem to have even heard him. Her new mane whipped around fiercely behind her, and her teeth bared in grief-filled rage. Celestia could see she was blinded by this, and touched her shoulder, trying to calm her. It did nothing, and Luna shrugged her off, advancing on Starswirl.
"After being told by not only your personal student, but also the king, the other five founders, and four other ponies that your spell could have devastating results, you still cast it?!" she ranted. "What is wrong with you? Was it your pride? Your precious pride that led you to unnecessarily lash out at Clover, not listen to anyone's advice, and not admit my powerful sister to your school because she was an orphan?!?!" Celestia shrunk back, remembering that scaring event long ago, but trying not to be a part of that. Luna still didn't back down. Her eyes started glowing, and her mane became lighter and larger. Her coat darkened to almost a black, and her eyes turned a dragon green. Fueled with hate and sadness, her horn lit up a dark purple, and a powerful spell shot from its tip right at Starswirl. Everypony else was too shocked and scared to stop her, even Celestia. She watched as her life-long idol was hit with a deathly ray of energy. He squirmed in pain for what seemed like forever, then went limp. Luna collapsed to the ground, and Celestia ran to her. Her sister's features slowly changed back to how they were before her anger, but she was completely knocked out. Scorpan ran to Starswirl's body, checking his pulse and confirming his death. The five sat there in solemn silence for a while. Nopony knew quite what to say after such an unexpected turn of events, and they were all exhausted simply from watching. Slowly, Celestia stood on her new legs, and walked up to Scorpan, trying to be as respectful as possible.
"I seriously apologize for any insensitivity, " she started, "but were you saying earlier that Tirek was trying to take over Equestria?" Scorpan looked up at her with anger written all over his face. She immediately felt guilty.
"Please," she said, " I'm so sorry that my sister killed your friend, and I promise that I'll try to make it up to you if possible. But if the entirety of Equestria is in danger, that's probably top priority." Celestia realized how awful that sounded, but luckily Scorpan sighed and stood.
"Yes. My brother learned that our kind used to have a power that was taken from us long ago, the power to take magic from any creature, draining there strength as well. When I told him about Starswirl's harmony-creating spell, he must have recognized that it could restore these long-lost powers to him, and he wants to use them to take over Equestria, as you said."
"Any idea about what we could do to stop him?" Celestia asked.
"The best thing I can suggest is to send him to Tartarus before he gains too much strength," Scorpan told her, "but that would take a ton of magic, more than a normal unicorn could pull off."
"Well, we're both alicorns now, maybe that'll work," Celestia said, levitating her passed out sister onto her back. "We'll be back soon." With that, she rushed out of the castle and followed the trail Tirek had made.
~~~~~~~~
After about a half hour of running, Celestia could feel Luna stirring. She stopped and lifted her off her back. The dark blue alicorn shook her head and slowly opened her eyes. She frowned, looking around the woods they had stopped in.
"Where are we?" she groaned.
"Near Neighagra Falls," Celestia said. "We have to find Tirek and cast him into Tartarus." Luna stared at her in astonishment, clearly rattled by this new news. Celestia helped her up and told her she'd explain on the way. Her sister nodded, and started raising into the air, flapping her wings. New to this ability, Celestia attempted to mimic her moves, failing quite badly. Sighing in mock exasperation, Luna came down to assist her. Carefully, Celestia beat her wings up and down, feeling the wind catching in her feathers. She slowly lifted off the ground, needing less effort the higher she got. Luna soared ahead of her, gesturing for her to follow. Gradually, she directed the angle of her wings to glide her in that direction. She pushed a little too hard, and she was propelled through the air passed Luna, and sent careening into a tree. Laughing, her sister got her up again.
"Maybe go a little slower for a start," she suggested. Celestia stuck her tongue out at her, and they both giggled. She felt like they were fillies again, just joking together without the fate of Equestria in the balance. She longed for those simpler times, back when all that mattered in the world was the five of them and the games they would play. Nevertheless, the real world couldn't be forgotten for long, as the two heard a booming roar in the direction of a nearby mountain. They shared a worried glance, and immediately sped off towards the sound. Celestia was starting to get a hang of her wings, but once they found Tirek at the foot of the mountain, she realized she had no idea how to land. As Luna gracefully rested upon the grassy ground, she instead tumbled head over heels, coming to a halt after creating a long skid mark. She quickly got back up on her hooves, trying to look threatening as she yelled up at the huge creature.
"Hey, you!" He turned, glaring, but smiled menacingly upon seeing them.
"Well, if it isn't two of those little ponies," he growled. "Come to give me your magic?"
"No! We, uh," Luna stumbled over her words. She looked to her sister for help, and Celestia just started casting the spell. Luna followed suit, and their horns glowed brightly a dark blue and light purple, with layers upon layers of magic growing from them each second. Luna was struggling to use her horn a little, but Celestia made up for what she was lagging behind on. Two blasts of light shot from them, meeting, and rocketing towards Tirek, who stood ready to receive the power. Instead of going into his awaiting mouth, though, the light engulfed him, shrinking him to a weaker form of himself. A door-sized portal opened up behind him, showing a dark cavern with rocks lining it, and a three-headed dog seemingly guarding. Tirek was sent into the portal, and it closed behind him. Suddenly, the magic taken from Tirek started to spread throughout the land, and Celestia could see it reaching all the way to the edges of Equestria. The light slowly faded away, giving the sisters a chance to regroup.
"Wow, didn't know I could perform that kind of magic," Luna said in awe.
"I think that when we became alicorns, our magic enhanced as well as giving us newer powers. Which also might have made it easier for us to adapt to them."
"Amazing," she said. "We should probably go back now, let the king and Starswirl and all of them know that we beat him." Celestia nodded, starting to walk along with her, then halted in her tracks.
"Wait, Starswirl?! He's dead. You killed him," she said.
"I didn't kill him," Luna corrected.
"Unless you have a twin I never met, yes, you did. Everyone saw it, and Scorpan's furious." Luna looked at her in confusion, then widened her eyes, realizing her sister was telling the truth. She sat down, a look of horror on her face.
"How could I have killed somepony?" she asked desperately, searching for an answer herself. "Was I really that angry over Clover's death? Why don't I remember? Am I going insane?!" Celestia put a hoof around her, hoping to comfort her, though it seemed to not help at all. She thought back to what happened, replaying the memory in her mind.
"Well, there was something odd about you," she started. Luna looked up at her hopefully. "When you were casting the spell that...killed him, you looked different. Your coat turned black, your eyes dragon-like, your mane purple, even your tattoo changed colors. It seemed like your voice was deeper too, and you were practically blinded with anger. Maybe it wasn't completely and solely you who did it." Luna looked skeptical, yet a little more at ease with this.
"I'm going to find out what this was as soon as I can, so it will never happen again. Right now, though, we should probably go back," Luna decided, standing again. Smiling with relief, Celestia joined her as they soared up into the sky towards the Crystal Empire.
~~~~~~
Sombra threw another book at the library wall in frustration. Reaching for a textbook to his left, he skimmed over the first three pages, but just discarded it along with the other rejects. The king trotted over to a nearby bookshelf and levitated out all the books from it and brought them back to his table. The next book he found was mostly about magic, but it didn't tell him anything he didn't already know. He had realized soon after the fiasco at Starswirl's place that spell hadn't only changed his horn, but given him more power than he could ever imagine. Fearing he might hurt somepony if he didn't reign in his new strengths, he immediately studied and perused every book on the highest level magic. Only problem was that with so few unicorns in the Crystal Empire, there was almost nothing on that kind of magic in the castle library.
"Ugh! One writing on powerful magic, that's all I ask!" Sombra shouted in annoyance. A green glow caught his eye from the middle of his stack of books, interesting him greatly. He walked over to it and pulled in out with his teeth. It was a leather-bound book, with a clasp holding it together. Slowly, he undid the clasp and opened the book. In it was piles upon piles of spells, ones he had never before heard of. Excited, he leafed through the pages, carefully reading each spell and analyzing its use. As he got farther into it, he realized that most of the spells in there seemed to be fueled be bitter feelings and alarmingly hateful intentions. For some reason, though, they intrigued him, and some part of him could understand these feelings. He read further, getting more and more immersed in the spells, mumbling them to himself. The emotions started consuming him. He felt resent towards the crystal ponies, how they would always defy his laws when they didn't benefit them directly. He was a great leader, with reasonable ideas and understandable decisions. His subjects had too much power, being as dumb as they were. They would never acknowledge anypony else's problems, consider the future, or even think up any creative thoughts. They endlessly irritated him. Their spoiled little selves didn't merit all that they got. Wealth when they deserved poverty, breaks when they should have work, freedom when they needed oppression, for their own good. Sombra grinned. He would show them how the other half lives, give them a reality check and teach them to work hard for what they want. Besides, he needed more ponies in the caves mining crystals, and those rich, crystalline devils would be perfect for the job. Soon they'd know what real suffering is, and they'd beg him to let them go, but he wouldn't do it. He would let them shrivel away in those mines, knowing that they'd finally get what's been coming to them all this time. Chuckling to himself, the corrupted king stood and started walking towards the door of the library. He exited briskly, passing the gardens and heading towards his tall castle.
"Daddy!" Cadence squealed, running out of the crystal building with a huge smile on her face. In that moment, Sombra realized what was happening. He tried to fight back the dark magic that had consumed him, but it was too late. Fearing for the safety of his beloved daughter, he pulled together enough strength to cast one last good spell. A light red glow came from his horn, swirling around the princess. Ice started to rise up around her, encasing her in its preserving freeze. Not sure of how long it would be until Equestria would be safe from what he would become, or any other dangers, he only allowed the ice to melt once this time came. He was able to catch one last glance of Cadence's smiling face before he was consumed by evil.
~~~~~~~~~
"But seriously, what the heck does a cutie mark of a triangular hat mean?!" Hatter Mouse said. Luna sighed in irritation, but remembering her position of importance, she acknowledged the idiot stallion.
"Well, what were you doing when you got it?" she asked for the 70th time that day. Hatter reflected for a minute, literally, and finally came up with an answer.
"I was trying to make hats in my father's hat shop, so as to keep business going while he's sick, but I could never quite get any of them right. Then, when I finally finished one, I realized I had made a mistake, and accidently sewn in a stopwatch. For some reason, though, it looked pretty cool, and the next costumer that came by bought it. That's when it appeared." Luna stared at him in amazement, wondering how he couldn't have figured it out himself.
"From what I can tell, it's an occupational/character cutie mark. It's a hat because you are great at making hats, and its triangular shape most likely represents a dunce cap," she told him carefully, not wanting to offend, even if he was so annoying. He stared at her blankly, and she snapped.
"You're dumb, and your dumbness helps your work!" she blurted out. Celestia, who was sitting next to her discussing another pony’s cutie mark, looked at her in shock. Feeling guilty, Luna was about to apologize, but the stallion seemed unfazed by her rude description of his character, and simply trotted off happily, glad to no longer be a blank flank. Luna was about to address the next pony in line, when the bell rang, signaling their break. Relieved, the two alicorns left their chairs and headed for the café nearby. Before they reached it, Celestia pulled Luna aside.
“What was that all about!?” she exclaimed. Luna groaned at her sister’s goody-two-shoes character.
“I know I was a little rude…”
“A little?”
“…but he was so much of an idiot that he didn’t even realize I had insulted him.”
“That’s not the point!” Celestia scolded. “You need to control your emotions if you’re going to be in a position of power.”
“Hey, I never wanted this job,” Luna retorted. “I thought being ‘Cutie-mark Ambassador’ meant we would be traveling Equestria, which most ambassadors do.”
“Do you see me complaining? Besides, what else do you think they’d have us do after causing the Cutie Mark Revolution?”
“I don’t know, but why do all these newly non-blank-flanked ponies have to all be either jerks or idiotic bastards? Is anypony interesting these days?” Luna complained.
“Maybe if you hadn’t killed Starswirl, we’d have better jobs!” Celestia blurted out. Luna stared at her, hurt. She knew what she did was awful, but it wasn’t on purpose. Did she have to be reminded about that every time she made the smallest mistake? She glared at her sister, and walked past her to the café. She mumbled her order to the exhausted barista and sat down at her usual table. Celestia rushed in and sat by her, going on about how sorry she was, and that she didn’t really blame her. Luna barely listened, automatically forgiving her yet again. Celestia looked satisfied at that. As she went up to order her food, Luna ran a hoof through her long mane. She wasn’t sure if Celestia realized it, but they went through this charade twice a week, and it barely changed each time. Fight, blame, apologize, forgive, repeat. It felt like Celestia was stabbing her heart, deeper each time and the injury ignored. She’d grown generally numb to it.
“So, speaking of cutie marks,” Celestia said, returning with their food, “have you figured out what ours mean yet?” Luna shook her head, and glanced towards her mark, surprisingly matching the tattoo underneath it. Even without the knowledge of its meaning, she liked how it looked, mirroring the night she loved. A timer they brought with them rang abruptly, signaling the end of their lunch break. The two sisters walked back in silence, but once they reached their building, a group of crystal ponies stopped them, their coats looking oddly dull.
“If you want your cutie marks decoded, you have to wait in line,” Celestia told them automatically.
“No, we’re no here for that,” a blue mare with a droopy purple mane breathed.
“We just barely could escape,” a green stallion with a white mane said. “We thought you two would be best to help us, since you were able to defeat Tirek.” The sisters exchanged looks of worry, wondering what could be so powerful that they’d be the first pick to defeat it.
“Tell us everything,” Luna allowed, putting their closed sign up.
“About little while ago, Sombra had been in his library, but came back drastically different,” the purple mare began. “His eyes had green smoke coming from them, his mane flowing magically behind him, and his teeth turned to fangs. Then he started taking away our rights, like Parliament and free speech, and gave us curfew, forced us to work in the dangerous mines, and other restrictions to follow. It didn’t even stop there! He became more and more cruel, and by the end of the month, we were practically slaves.”
“Wait,” Luna stopped her. “How did we not hear about this earlier?”
“He cut off all contact with the rest of Equestria, and he built a crystalline wall around the empire.” Luna nodded and gestured for her to continue, trying to conceal her shock and fear.
“So after this going on for about two months, Silver Tiara here,” she gestured to a pink mare with a purple mane next to her, “got help from one of the kinder guards to find a hole in the wall, which the five of us were able to get through. We immediately ran here, and we must ask you to defeat Sombra, before anypony else gets hurt!”
The sisters exchanged looks, both seeing the other was just as scared as her. They silently decided to help, realizing that their new powers were going to make things like this a more regular occurrence. The two gave the crystal ponies money for food and a hotel, then flew off towards the empire. They were abruptly stopped in midair as Discord appeared in front of them. Luna and Celestia groaned in unison, preparing themselves for his random introduction.
"Well look who's finally out enjoying the open air!" he exclaimed. "Though I don't see much that's really worth enjoying. It's all so boring. Oo, maybe a few changes would do this place some good!" He snapped his fingers, causing the letters on a nearby sign to start doing the Swan Pony ballet.
"Like that? It's new!" Celestia sighed in annoyance and changed the sign back to normal.
"Discord, we're trying to do something serious now, and we really can do without your trickeries," Celestia scolded.
"Aw, but what's the fun in serious?" Discord asked rhetorically.
"Well, playtime is over," Celestia said. "Please don't bother us." The two flew off, and Luna could hear Discord shouting, "Well, poo poo to you!" before disappearing again. Ignoring him, she just let herself revel in this time of freedom. Luna loved the feeling of soaring through the clear sky, which she didn’t get many chances to do those days, being confined in that dusty building. The wind ruffled her feathers, cooling her off from the heat of that summer day. She sighed in relief, enjoying the moment to its full extent. It was soon over, though, as the Crystal Empire could be seen standing grimly in the distance. Instead of the shining and bright place it usually was, it was now black and gray, with none of the usual beams of light coming from the castle. As they got closer, Luna noticed that the Crystal Heart, usually floating below that castle, was gone, the spot where it should have been looking almost scorched. They landed outside the tall and gloomy wall. With her magic, Celestia blasted a part of it away. They confidently trotted inside, even though all they wanted was to run back home and go to sleep, pretending that none of this was true, but they had a duty to fulfill. They passed similar houses to what had always been there, except all a sad grey. Once they reached the center, they saw ponies marching to the mines, chained together. On the balcony overlooking the empire, Sombra stood, just as the others had described, smiling maniacally.
Celestia and Luna flew up towards him, their horns aglow, ready to send him to Tartarus. He looked up at them, shocked. But quickly regained his composure, and started sending deadly beams of magic at them, all glowing an eerie green. The sisters fought back, and everypony below looked up at them in awe, for the first time seeing someone defy their king. Their battle was long, seeming to be at an impasse. Out of breath, Celestia took a quick break out of the way of the line of fire. Something then caught her eye. In the gardens below, she saw what looked like a glimmer of color. Making sure that Luna could hold her own against Sombra, she flew down to see what it was. Slightly hidden behind a bush was what looked like an ice sculpture. She levitated it out with her magic, and gasped when she saw Princess Cadence concealed inside. The filly seemed fine and happy, with a smile on her face, but Celestia had no idea how she had gotten there.
Meanwhile, the battle between Luna and Sombra started to look like it would end soon, with Luna overpowering the corrupted king. She smiled, feeling successful as she cast the final spell meant to send him to Tartarus. Something went wrong. Right before the spell hit him, he covered the entire Crystal Empire in a green glow. The ponies below looked around in fear as they along with Sombra turned to smoke, as the entire empire disappeared below the ice surrounding them. Luna looked down in shock, one of the largest cities completely vanished off the map. She slowly floated down beside her sister, who stood next to a sort of ice sculpture. The two mares just stayed there for a while, too baffled to say or do anything.
“Luna!” Luna turned to see Chrysalis, still in her new form, racing towards her. She met her halfway, with Celestia following close behind.
“Chrysie, what’s wrong?” Luna asked, fearful of yet another problem coming up.
“I need to ask you a favor,” she started. “Could you banish me to the badlands?” Luna looked at her, taken aback. Her friend quickly explained.
“It’s been unbearable living in Vanhoover lately. The ponies there are worse than I ever imagined. They all fear me solely based on my looks, even those who knew me before the spell! I can't stand to live in a place where I'm not accepted, and the only place I can think of that will fit me is the badlands. I know that ponies aren't allowed to go there, but one can be banished, and that's what I ask you to do. You have the power." Luna understood her reasoning, but hesitated, not wanting to lose another friend.
"Well, I need a reason to banish you, otherwise it won't hold up in court," she stuttered.
"I recently figured out that the only way for me to eat is to suck the love out of ponies, does that work?" Chrysalis suggested, surprising Luna.
"But can't you just take a little from them at a time?" Luna said.
"I'll still be seen as a threat with that power," Chrysalis answered.
"But...can't you stay with us or..."
"Lu-lu," Chrysalis stopped her, "please. I need this." She held eye contact until Luna sighed in resignation. The dark blue alicorn took forms that Chrysalis handed to her, having Celestia sign, then signing them herself. It pained her to do this to her friend, even if she was literally asking for it. When done, Chrysalis took some of the papers for showing to the ponies guarding the badlands, and pulled Luna aside to talk to her.
"I really hope this isn't too much to ask," she began, "but do you think you could let me know when Equestria is in a place where I'm more likely to be accepted? I do really prefer it to the dreary place I'm going now. We both seem to be immortal, from signs I've seen, and I don't want to have to go that long without you or any real love. The feeling, not the food." Luna smiled, happy to hear that her friend wouldn't be gone forever, and nodded eagerly. The two embraced for a long minute, but Chrysalis eventually had to let go, and head off south. Luna felt herself tearing up a little seeing her go, and Celestia held her close for comfort. Luna smiled up at her, glad that they two were together once more.
The trio, including the frozen pony that apparently was Cadence, flew back towards the little town where they lived, near the mountain where they had defeated Tirek. When they arrived, they didn't see cute little houses and a few larger buildings. They didn't see beautiful, large fields and farms. They didn't see many of the ponies living there, any of the roads, or even the town sign. They weren't really quite sure what they saw. It looked like a checkerboard ground, floating houses, dancing buffalo, and the sky covered with cotton candy clouds pouring chocolate rain. The sisters looked at each other in confused amazement. Suddenly, a familiar voice made them understand exactly what was going on.
"Oh you two are back!" Discord exclaimed. "Ready to have fun?"