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// Chapter One 
// Story: My Arcadian Pony 
// by Ecthelion_Yuda 
//------------------------------//

Luna woke shortly after five in the morning. The sun was shining brightly and the sky was the most delicate shade of blue. Swifts sang gloriously from the trees in the palace gardens and all seemed well with the world. Luna breathed a deep, happy sigh and stepped down from her grand bed with the grace of a swan and made her way down to the Great Hall for some breakfast.

Celestia was waiting at the table when Luna arrived, her multi-coloured mane shimmering in the young sunlight, casting the most beautiful lightshows on the walls and ceilings of the Great Hall. Luna took her seat and the servants took their cue. They brought in delectable treats available in Canterlot: Sweet pastries, tempting cakes, delicious breads of many different kinds and a plethora of things that Luna had never even seen before. Ever since she had lost the evil of Nightmare Moon, Luna had been ravenously hungry almost constantly. She put it down to the fact that she had spent a millennium on the moon and after one thousand years it was understandable that she should be a little peckish.
“What be our duties this day fair sister?” Luna enquired. Celestia chuckled slightly at Luna’s over formal tone.
“Well Luna, I thought you might like to head into Ponyville later to visit Twilight and her friends. It has been too long since you went to see them.” Luna beamed at her sister with a smile that radiated all the light of the sun and moon combined. Ever since the wedding, Luna had been rushed off her hooves with her royal duties. She hardly had any time to herself anymore, never mind time to spend with friends. Celestia smiled back at Luna. 
“I know that Pinkie Pie has something special planned, and it will take her all morning to get it from Sugar-Cube Corner to Twilight’s library, so once we finish our meeting with Fancy Pants and Fleur de Lis at noon we can head off.”

The dress fitting was abysmally boring for Luna. Luna felt that wearing lavish clothing when it seemed neither necessary or desirable was a grievous waste of her time. She much preferred martial arts and reading to modelling for her sister, but when push came to shove she really couldn’t fault the quality of the gowns. Everyone was tailor made especially for her, and the shades of blue, black and purple that sang out through each dress she tried on matched her pelt and mane perfectly. Nevertheless, Luna was glad when the whole ordeal was over. Celestia had a carriage waiting for them in the courtyard and Luna (not bothering with the social conventions of using the stairs) leapt off of the balcony where she had finished trying on dresses and flew down her sister. Four strong pegasi wearing the royal seal of Canterlot on their breastplates were harnessed to a huge golden chariot. Gorgeous engravings of the sun and moon adorned the sides of it, and the red velvet seats were softer than cloud. The pegasi took off smoothly and flew without impediment. Within the hour, both princesses were in Ponyville and heading towards Twilight’s house.
“Princess Luna!” Twilight galloped towards the Night Princess, smiling from ear to ear. Twilight skittered to a halt in front of Luna.
“Hello, Twilight Sparkle. We had not much time for reminiscing after the festivities of your brother’s wedding. I am glad of this chance we have now.” Twilight smiled so much that it looked like her face were about to be ripped in two. As Celestia stepped down from the carriage, Twilight humbly bowed her head.
“Please Twilight, this is an informal visit. No need for bowing or anything like that. I can’t have a student who always looks at the floor whenever I’m around, or else they will learn nothing of the world around them.” Luna giggled as Twilight sheepishly raised her head without actually taking her eyes off of the gravel at her feet. Suddenly, Pinkie Pie’s head appeared from the downstairs window of Twilight’s house.
“Come on everypony, lunch is getting colder as we speak!” Laughing at Pinkie’s hysterics, the three mares trotted into the library.

Inside the library, everyone was waiting for the princesses to arrive. Rarity and Fluttershy and laid out a lavish table arrangement of gold and silver cloth that shimmered in the sunlight and the food from both Sweet Apple Acres and Sugar-Cube Corner looked and smelled divine. Luna could barely stop herself from devouring everything in sight. As Celestia took her seat, Trixie entered from Twilight’s bedroom. She slid into the seat next to Twilight, looking increasingly uncomfortable as each pony’s gaze fell on her.
“Listen everypony,” Twilight said. “Trixie lost a lot of business after that Gabby Gums article and her caravan has been repossessed. She’s lost everything she owned in the world, even her hat and cape. So I told her she could stay with me for as long as she needed and so far she has been a big help around the place.” Everyone still seemed a little wary, but Luna broke the silence.
“Well, I expected nothing less from one so kind as you Twilight Sparkle.” Slowly, everyone’s misgivings about the blue mare dissipated and she became more involved with the conversations going on between Twilight’s…no…HER friends.
All was going well and everyone was laughing at one of Rainbow Dash’s poorly executed jokes when a crash came from Twilight’s bedroom. The nine ponies leapt to their feet and Trixie and Luna edged towards the door. Luna was about to turn the handle when the door burst open, sending a cloud of billowing black smoke straight at the ponies. Luna and Trixie stumbled backwards, choking on the smoke as the foul cloud engulfed them all.
“Mh, ha ha ha! Hello there my little ponies.” The voice was vile, smooth yet strangely sickly. There was no doubt who it belonged to though.
“Discord!?” Celestia blurted.
“Oh my dear, sweet Celestia. You didn’t think that you could leave me trapped in that statue forever did you? I mean, we all know just how well that worked out the first time when you and your little flower of a sister tried it. Why would six unimportant and unremarkable regular ponies have any more success?” Twilight ran to the bookshelf nearest her and pulled out a copy of ‘Starswirl the Bearded: A biography in spells” and wrenched it open. There in the hollowed out pages lay the Elements of Harmony.
“Oh dear, the little unicorn has the Elements again whatever shall I do?” Discord’s voice reeked of sarcasm. Twilight just glared at him, but Luna was suspicious. “I can’t have you sealing me in that stone hell again, not today. So I think it’s about time you saw the power of a real chaos GOD!” And with that Discord threw out his lion paw and the smoke surrounding the nine ponies grew even denser, crushing the life out of Luna’s body. She felt a tingling sensation as she drifted out of consciousness.