The ruins of the greatest city ever born inside Equestrian borders, which once was the capital of a diarchy and held one of the three castles back when Equestria was ruled only by alicorn princesses.
Atop the mountain, now, were only the dead stones of great buildings, houses and shops that bring no memory whatsoever to anypony anymore. The desert streets of the decadent city were mostly devoid of all life, save for some rats and small critters here and there that gave it the atmosphere typical of long forgotten civilizations. The moss on the walls and the stones that composed the street added to that atmosphere, although there was nopony to appreciate it.
Until now.
Walking on the streets of the ancient city, she looked around inside every structure. As an archeologist, she was looking for relics of times beyond any ponies’ memories. Her face then gazed upon a, surprisingly, still clean and reflective silver dish. Approaching, she could see her own face covered in a pale yellow coat and some dust markings here and there. With a hoof, she shook the dust aside and raised her explorer’s hat in front of her, to blow away its dust as well. When she looked back at the dish, before donning her hat, she could see a glimpse of her horn and the rose-colored mane that gave her name.
She smiled. Not quite the ancient relic she was waiting for, but worth something. As the silver dish moved along her body, it reflected her exploratory nature: perfect balanced between the bulkiness of an athlete and the fineness required for easier escapes. Sometimes, she really wished to have the wings of her long gone ancestor, but also, she praised herself for magic skills, which saved her life more often than not. Also, it showed the matching tail, also the same red color of her mane, and on her flank a stylized compass, with an actual rose bulb pointing to “north”.
Before the dish could be properly placed in her saddlebags, though, she caught a glimpse of a black blur moving just outside the building she entered, the ruins of an ancient shop. Placing the dish on her bags, she slowly moved to the stairs at the back of the shop, her horn already channeling some magic as she did. From the edge of her sight, though, she saw a deep orange blur outside the window.
Damn… Not now… Turning around and looking at every possible escape route, the unicorn couldn’t exactly figure a way out. She then changed tactics, taking a few steps back, she aimed at a window and ran towards it, already charging her magic.
Using her hard horn to shatter the, surprisingly, intact glass pane, she threw her weight forward in a mid-air spin and quickly found her target. A deep orange and black striped large feline that was stalking the second floor’s windows, with help of some strange artifact, was quickly brought down by a red magical blast. Not enough to kill, it wasn’t in her nature to do so, but enough that he would be unconscious for the next few hours. Completing the somersault, her horn was the first to enter another window, one which glass was already gone. Much to her surprise, though, a small shard still in the window’s pane made a cut on her flank, a couple inches below her cutie mark.
Upon landing, she cursed the small cut before starting in her trot once more, and every time her left hindhoof stomped the floor it release a whole new world of pain across her. “Damn… It wasn’t that deep a wound!” and then she began cursing also for not taking those lessons about first-aid spells.
She started to worry more and more about her state, not sure if she would be able to hang on much longer like that. However, now that she had announced herself to be there, she couldn’t stop. Not until she was sure it was a place where she could rest safely.
And suddenly a black blur pounced on her. Her quick reactions, though, allowed her to row and avoid the deadly claws of another predator feline, this time a black panther. The unicorn noticed that now, while she backed away, the other ‘friends’ of the panther had joined it, all of them, but for the still ‘sleeping’ tiger, were actually walking towards her, stalking. The group was composed by a jaguar, the panther that pounced over the unicorn, a lynx and, strangely enough, a cute-looking cat. Behind them, came walking the only one she didn’t want to see that day.
“Ahuizotl…” she said between gritted teeth.
“Daring Rose… Long time no see you…” said the strange-looking canine creature with hands in place of forepaws and another hand at the end of his monkey-like tail tip. His fur was tuxedo-like in some aspects, being mostly deep blue with a brilliant cerulean color in his belly, under his muzzle and in his three hands.
“It wasn’t all that long, actually… Only two weeks ago…” Daring Rose answered, trying not to show him her only weakness right now. “By the way… this is not one of your cursed citadels or temples, or anything of the sort… What are you doing in the ruins of Canterlot?”
“You are there for a reason, Daring Rose… And I want whatever you’re after…”
“Switching places now, are we? It’s normally me that follow you to take back whatever you’re stealing for some evil scheme or another…” the unicorn commented.
“It doesn’t quite matter now… Hand over whatever you found al--”
Before he could finish his sentence, though, he was hit squarely in the chest by a very dark and heavy-looking sphere. Daring Rose looked behind her, where apparently the ball had come from, wondering who would put a trap in the corridor of a house. Then she saw a cannon pointed at her shoot again. Instinctively, she closed her eyes and waited for the killing blow, only to hear the cannon shooting three more times and not a single ball hitting her. Opening her eyes again, she finally noticed the strange creature behind the cannon, with what could be a pony head supporting a concave helmet of sorts, which straps where hanging loose under his muzzle line, a snake-like body, two different arms connecting at each side of his body at shoulders’ height, one eagle-like and the other lion-like, and two legs down his body, a dragon-like paw and a horse-like hoof. He also had a pair of wings, one typical for pegasi and the other for bat-ponies.
“What the…”
The creature looked at Daring Rose and smiled, one of his fangs pointing out from his muzzle. He then took out his helmet and bowed slightly at her and, in doing so, he revealed an antler and a distorted blue horn, none of which would be normally hidden under his helmet. “The ‘what’ is a Draconequus, and the ‘who’ would be Discord, former god of chaos and spirit of disharmony.”
The first words to reach Daring Rose ears were ‘god of chaos and spirit of disharmony’. Only a couple seconds later that she caught another one, “You said… ‘former’?”
“Yes, I did.” Discord then disappeared and reappeared between Daring Rose and the offending group, the helmet back atop of his head hiding both his horns, “I have orders to ask you to leave the city politely before I start kicking you all the way out.”
“And whose orders are those?” Ahuizotl asked.
Discord smiled, “That’s not important… Let’s just say her authority is unmatched in the last… few years…”
Something in the way Discord said ‘few’ made Daring Rose wonder if there was a double meaning in his words.
Ahuizotl, though, had his eyes wide-open and made a hasty retreat, soon followed by his feline predators. Daring Rose was about to ask something when she stepped forward and winced in pain. The Draconequus turned to face her, his helmet now gone along with the cannon. “What’s the problem?” he asked.
“I had… a cut in my flank…”
“Hmmm… I’m not that good with healing magic. However, I know somepony which is…”
“Another god of chaos?”
“Oh no… She’s much friendlier than that. Come, I’ll take you to her,” with a snap of his eagle claws, a small wheelbarrow appeared under Daring Rose, surprisingly more comfortable than she thought possible, and the spirit of disharmony… former spirit of disharmony started pulling her forward before both of them disappeared in thin air.
At the next second, after she recovered from her momentary daze, Daring Rose noticed that wherever she was, it wasn’t the same ruins as before. A large library, high enough to put two houses above one another with roof and all and wide enough to support five of the same side by side, was filled to capacity with a variety of books of many kinds, some of which Daring Rose never heard about and plenty that history said where completely wiped out of existence.
“Indeed a formidable collection,” the voice of a mare easily surprised Daring Rose, which jumped in mid-air. Before she could land on her injured leg, though, a pinkish magic aura surrounded her and slowly put her down. Daring Rose could then feel the same magic focus on her wound and slowly close it, leaving not even a scar. “Sorry, never meant to scare you.”
Daring Rose, then turned to the mare in question and gasped in surprise, not quite trusting her eyes with the sight. In front of her stood a very large pony, about twice her height, covered in lavender fur and a flowing purple mane and tail, both of which had eventual streaks of red, blue, purple, orange, pink, yellow, cyan and a very dark blue crossing them randomly. Her eyes were violet as well and had a serenity about them that enchanted the smaller unicorn. It was only later that Daring Rose would notice in the rather large and pointy horn above her eyes, in the middle of her forehead and the large pair of wings, carefully folded on her back.
The pony in question even had a crown behind her horn, four ponyshoes adorning her hooves and a beautiful torc around her neck, all of them in brilliant silver-like metal, which Daring Rose was sure wasn’t silver somehow. The torc even had a brilliant emerald in the center of it, and the crown supported another emerald in its center.
“Who… are you…” Daring Rose whispered, not truly waiting to be answered, or heard by the way.
“I am, my little pony, called Twilight Sparkle, once known as the Princess of Friendship and co-ruler of Equestria along with other Princesses as well. But that was a couple millenniums ago.”
“And you… You are still alive?” she asked, not truly believing her eyes.
Twilight chuckled at the question. “So it seems young one.”
Only then Daring Rose noticed what she had done and bowed respectfully for Twilight. “Sorry, Princess! My name is Daring Rose! I’m really sorry for invading your domains…”
“Rise, my little pony, and it’s alright. I was, actually, expecting somepony to come to this city. It can be very lonely sometimes with only me, Discord and Philomena.”
“Philomena?”
“My former teacher’s pet. She’s a phoenix that, after Celestia passed out, decided to stay at my side.”
“Celestia? As in… Princess Celestia? As in…”
“As in late Princess of the Sun, the one responsible to bring morning every day? Yes. And if you’re wondering who’s been raising the sun and the moon since the other Princesses’ death, it has been me.”
“But… if you were alive all this time… why haven’t you said anything?”
Twilight’s smile faded and she downed her head. “You’ve wandered through the streets of Canterlot, haven’t you?” at Daring Rose’s nod, Twilight continued, “My magic alone has stopped this city from crumbling any more than its actual state for two thousand years now. What you saw was the result of another battle, one that ended with me requiring more magic than I ever thought I would ever need.”
“But… back at that time… You were an alicorn already right?” Daring Rose asked.
Twilight only nodded, “The youngest of all four pony Princesses and the only one not to know the true extension of her powers.” At Daring Rose’s puzzled look, Twilight explained, “As I said, I used to be known as Princess of Friendship. And each Princesses’ titles are representation of their natural magic talent. Princess Celestia was the Princess of the Sun and Princess Luna was the Princess of the Moon for example. And as Princess of Friendship, my magic was based on the Friendship. In easier lines: my magic was as strong as my friends’ magic combined. That gave me a subtle talent no other pony in Equestria had, has, or will ever have. If it’s common accord, I can take other ponies’ magic to myself.”
“SAY WHAT NOW!?” Daring Rose jumped at that revelation.
“The first time I had to use that ability, I didn’t know it was mine. Celestia herself made it seems like it was some kind of ritual. A villain known as Tirek had attacked Equestria and was robbing ponies of their magic. In order to keep Equestrian alicorns’ magic safe, Celestia, Luna and Cadance agreed on giving me their magic. In my mind, I was ready to receive their magic, so my ability instinctively activated. Somehow, Celestia already knew about my ability, so she played that card.”
“You… had the power of four alicorns in one?”
Twilight left a deep sight at the memory, “I felt all that power flowing within my body. I could easily reach the Sun and the Moon as I could also feel other ponies’ emotions about the others around them, all those abilities from the other three Princesses. However, controlling them was another history and I almost blown up with the plan. Tirek found me and I almost let him get the magic out of me. But when he destroyed my old home, my anger and hate for him seemed to give me ultimate control of all that magic. I engaged him. Seems like that all four alicorns alive back then had enough power to be equivalent for Equestria’s whole population of earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns, as well as a Draconequus. Yes, Discord had his magic drained as well.”
“Quite an unpleasant memory, if you wanna know,” Discord say, rolling in a tray with tea and cookies for them to eat. “There, Miss Sparkle.”
“No need to be so formal about it, Discord. You’re my friend, not my servant,” Twilight smiled again.
“Where you found these anyway?” Daring Rose asked.
“I’ve learned not to ask,” Twilight grinned, as she took one of the cookies to her mouth. Encouraged that the Princess herself doesn’t seem to mind, Daring Rose used her magic to lift one for herself. “With our powers surprisingly tied, Tirek and I fought. A quick but very harsh battle--”
“I remember hearing they ended up cutting the whole upper part of a mountain…” Discord intertwined. Twilight glared at him before leaving a smile and nodding.
“Yes… Tirek threw me against a mountain and then punched me all the way to the other side.” Then she got serious again, “But that’s not important. In the end, Tirek cheated and brought my friends trapped in magic bubbles. All seven of them, Discord included. He wanted to trade my friends for all the alicorn magic from Equestria.”
“And what you did?” she asked as she slowly ate the cookies, as if she could actually watch the battle in front of her.
“I traded, of course,” she smiled. “And I would trade again, for the lives of my friends are worth infinitely more than all the magic in the whole world ten times…”
“If so… how you managed to defeat Tirek? After all, we do have magic today…” Daring Rose asked.
“My friends and I were, then, granted the last key to another very special kind of magic: the magic of harmony. The six of us, this time Discord and Spike excluded, were infused with a new power, and with it we six could rival all the magic from Equestria and rather easily, if you believe. It was if the power of the whole world was flowing through our bodies and we could do anything. And what we did was steal back the ponies’ magic from Tirek, send him back to Tartarus and then return the stolen magic to their rightful owners.”
“Wow…”
“Since then, Equestria lived in peace,” Discord commented. “Well… at least until she appeared…”
“She?”
Twilight nodded. “And that was the battle that caused the most damage to Equestria…”