Crunch.
Crunch.
The sound of her hoofbeats against the dead grass set Celestia on edge as she attempted to creep quietly through the blasted remains of the Everfree. The edge of the forest had been unharmed, which had lifted the spirit of her hope; but upon walking twenty paces within, it sunk. The forest had become this blasted, twisted mockery of what it once was, and she had already walked close to two miles through warped trees, dead underbrush, and blighted grass.
“What have you done...” she whispered to herself as she passed by what was once a pond, now full of a black material akin to pitch. A rancid odor emanated from it, all too similar to the scent of rotting corpses. She had come to know this all too often in recent times.
A barrier of dead trees, lifting their branches like skeletal arms up towards the blackened sky, blocked Celestia path. She felt a deep jolting sensation in the pit of her stomach, as if she had been traveling very quickly and came to a sudden stop.
She walked slowly up to the trees, the ancient trees that had once formed a natural wall to surround the palace. There was not a single spark of life left within them, their bark an ashen grey, their leaves long felled and crushed. Celestia grit her teeth and closed her eyes, face screwed up in an expression that suggest immense physical pain. Her pain was all inside, however; these trees had been grown by the founders of the palace, eons ago. Now, they were as dead as the rest of the forest around them.
Celestia tore herself away from the sight, and pressed herself through a gap in two of the trunks. She was now standing on a field of ash, where green grass and small shrubs had grown not too long ago. She dwelled not on the fate of the field; she had no time for that now. Instead, she trained her gaze upward at the palace, and the being which floated before it.
He was encased in a ball of crackling energy an blinding light, his image distorted behind the sphere. Long tendrils of electricity connected the ball to the ground, the wall of the palace, and the dark clouds that hung over them. Where the energy touched the ground and the palace wall, huge cracks had appeared, slicing deep into the stone and earth, slowly growing with each passing minute.
“Ah, Celly! How nice of you to join me here.” His voice was a maddened cackle. The cutting tone, the sarcastic bite... he was enjoying this.
“Stand down, Discord,” Celestia yelled over the hum of the sphere and the tendrils. “I don’t want this to become any harder for you than you’ve already made it for yourself.”
“It’s a bit late to attempt intimidation, wouldn't you say?” Discord gestured his paw at the land around the palace. “I can see you enjoy what I’ve done with the place. I’ve blighted up the area for dramatic effect.”
“You destroyed history here,” Celestia spat at him. “This forest contains some of the most powerful magic and oldest trees in Equestria. Your callous attempt at theatrics for your pathetic rebellion has caused needless destruction to an ancient ground!”
Discord cocked an eyebrow, and smiled slyly at Celestia. “My oh my, Celestia, I didn't know you were just a plant lover! A little botanist I have with me today...”
Celestia ignored this jab, and ground her teeth. “Discord... stand down. Now. I have an army that makes your pale in comparison. I don’t want to have to use force to bring you down, but if you do not comply...”
“You’re bluuuuffiiiiing!” Discord said in a sing-song voice. “Are you forgetting that I have eyes everywhere?” As the words left his lips, the ground parted, a blanket of eyes having just opened their lids. Celestia looked down to see that her hooves were sinking right into the pupils of two rather large snake eyes. She let loose a yelp, deeply unnerved by the scene. Her wings shot out, and she hovered in the air right above the sea of seeing.
“I’m warning you, Discord...”
“Warning me about what, Celestia?” The jovial tone was gone from Discord’s voice, replaced by one of minor annoyance. “Your petty bluffs are getting you nowhere. You’ve lost! Accept it! Soon, once I have become completely charged, I can release all the energy I am accumulating here in a massive blast that will warp Equestria into the perfect chaotic wonderland I always wanted!
“You had your chance to join me...” Discord said with a sigh. “You played the game, and you lost. You could have earned a surefire ticket to victory, but you... spurned my advances...”
“You care not about those around you!” Celestia shouted at Discord. “You simply do whatever you like, whenever you like! The suffering of thousands lays on your shoulders, and you act as though you’re throwing the world’s grandest party! You’re not only dangerous, you’re insufferable and horrifying.”
“Oh, Tia, you wound me!” Discord placed his paw and talon over his heart in mock distress. “Why, I think I may even cry!”
“You’re a bastard, Discord,” Celestia growled, her eyes narrowing and her horn sparking. “And you can’t change. I gave you your chance, and you’ve shown that you’ll gladly continue in your self-centered ways. You’re so absorbed that you won't even accept what will save you in the long run. Now, I’ve got to take you down. Permanently.”
“What can you do, Celestia? Any magic you attempt on me will only seek to send my chaos wave across Equestria sooner,” Discord said with smirk. “You’re hosed, my dear Alicorn! You’ve lost! But, since I am a forgiving soul, in my new Equestria, I will gladly make you my queen...”
Discord licked his lips with his serpent's tongue, and Celestia shuddered.
“Should I fail, I will gladly embrace death to avoid being chained to you for eternity.”
“Ah, but that’s the beauty of it!” Discord cackled. “You surely haven’t forgotten, have you? Alicorns are immortal! You cannot die! Not of old age, not of poor health, not in battle or suicide... not of anything short of an elder god’s intervention! After I defeat you like I did Luna, you will be mine in a glorious, chaotic infinity!”
“Ah.” It was Celestia’s turn to smile. “Have you forgotten where we are? What lies just below the palace?”
Discord paused. “Surely you jest. It’s far too late for you to use the tree of harmony! You’d need exponential power to unlock it, and even you wouldn’t destroy Equestria just to keep me from winning. You aren’t nearly powerful enough to control that all on you own, Tia.”
“I will be if I give something of great power up for it,” Celestia said. “And as it turns out, I’ll have solved two of my issues.”
Discord paled. “You wouldn’t.”
“I will die, Discord,” Celestia said, slowly flying forward and locking eyes with the draconequus. “But I will have saved the ponies and races of Equestria from eons of suffering under your self-important, callous rule. I care for others, Discord. I have love in my heart. I can understand that I am not as important as the lives of others. And that’s something you’ll never be able to do.”
Discord scowled. “One life won’t be enough for all six elements, Celestia. You’ll be far too weakened, and I’ll overpower you. I win again!” He let loose a mad laugh, the cackle echoing over the dead courtyard and the blighted trees beyond.
“It’s a good thing I’ve got two,” Celestia said with a smile. Discord’s pupils shrunk to the size of pinpricks.
“You didn’t... you couldn’t have! I chained her deep within the earth!”
The sound of hoofbeats rose from the twisted remnants of the Everfree, approaching quickly.
“I guess you’re not as good as you thought you were,” Celestia said, giving Discord a smirk. “Hardly a surprise.”
“Then I suppose we’ve got ourselves a good, old fashioned standoff,” Discord said.
Celestia’s horn lit. “I suppose we do.”
Discord raised his talon as the sphere began to expand, and bright light consumed the entire region as the two powers collided.