//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: My Little Pony: Rise of the Elements // by Featherdust418 //------------------------------// "Playtime is over for you, Discord!" Princess Celestia, Royal Guardian of the sun and one of the two Sovereign Sisters of the Equestrian Nation, stood alongside Princess Luna, the Royal Guardian of the Moon, as well as the second Sovereign. Together they faced down Discord, Spirit of Chaos and Master of Confusion, the one who had come to disrupt the ponies peaceful way of life and spread confusion and darkness as far as he saw fit. The Princesses had traversed far and wide, enduring the many challenges that Discord himself had set up as his defenses and blockades. They were tired, in pain, and had argued with each other, probably more than they had in their entire lives. During the final moments of their journey, the two had ceased speaking to each other, as they had become fed up entirely. Finally though, they had reached the place where Discord had made himself at home. They could end his reign of terror, be done with his tricks, and go back to the peaceful and harmonious world that they had previously resided in. "Oh I doubt that. Hungry?" Discord responded nonchalantly, as he sloppily consumed what appeared to be strange black seeds from a small sack, getting more seeds on the ground rather than into his mouth. The two sisters offered no reply to Discord's question, but rather glared up at him and stood together silently. Then, Celestia turned her head and used her magic to unlatch the saddlebag she had brought with her. She then levitated six gem-like objects out of the bag, and Luna took hold of three of them, and they began to swirl the objects around themselves slowly. Discord, who had been ignoring the royal sisters ever since they had remained silent at his question, took notice of the strange objects and immediately became intrigued. "Oh? What have you got there?" This time, Celestia did reply to his question. "The Elements of Harmony!" Luna then also spoke up, "With them, we shall defeat you!" The sisters then powered up there magic, and the Elements began to swirl faster and faster around them. Discord, however, simply rolled over in his throne and began to laugh. "Ahahahahaha! You should see yourselves right now! The expressions on your faces, so intense- so sure of yourselves! Ahaha! Haaa... very well! Let's see if your little 'Elements' will work!" His own expression then changed, from amusement to one of anger. The sisters then touched their horns together and released a loud, angry war cry, and the Elements spun so fast that they created a shield around the two. They then began to charge up, and released a powerful rainbow-colored beam of energy, that swirled around and around- then it shot straight up into the air and then came down in an arch, straight at Discord himself. He was not deterred, however- he made a shield of his own, and placed it in front of him moments before the beam reached him. He was immediately surprised at the beam's force- its pressure started to break away at the sides of his shield, as he poured more focus into the center, where the beam was hitting. He knew he wouldn't lose though... he couldn't. He had put far too much effort into his twisted plan to fail. Finally, the beam's power began to let up. Once completely gone, he instantly dropped his shield, plopped down onto his throne, and started to pant heavily. He thought about what had just taken place. These two foolish ponies, they tried to stop him- Discord, the one and only Spirit of Chaos! Well, he would show them that he was not to be taken lightly. Admittedly though, he was surprised at the Element's strength; he didn't expect them to come that close to defeating him. He knew little about the Elements, but what he did know was that they were incredibly strong and that those utilizing the ancient tools needed to have kind hearts, as well as be in good spirits. Knowing at least this, and also that the sisters would most likely be looking for the Elements he worked harder than ever before at creating his defenses that the sisters would have to go through, to aggravate and crush their spirits as much as possible. He then looked down at the sisters... and saw that they too, had been exhausted. Celestia picked up her aching head and looked around weakly. She saw the Elements lying on the ground around her and her sister. 'What happened? Celestia thought to herself. Then, all at once it came back to her- she and her sisters' attempts to stop the Spirit of Chaos. They had searched long and hard, and finally had come upon the secret dwelling place of the Elements, the Tree of Harmony. With them, she was sure that they would be able to defeat Discord... 'Something... isn't right. Something is amiss.' The Elements should not have failed. They were supposed to stop Discord, and end his reign of terror. However, there was something that was off... and she could feel it. She looked to the Elements again, and saw that they were even duller than when she and her sister first found them, having been so inactive for such a long time. Perhaps the extreme amount of energy that they were suddenly forced to expel had spent their magic for the time being? Possibly, but Celestia felt that this wasn't the case. If only her knowledge about them had been greater... but there was so little recorded on the Elements, it made it difficult for her to find out more than what she had already known. She then heard something stirring beside her. Looking over, the Solar Sovereign saw that her sister was awakening slowly. Celestia inched her way closer to Luna, and draped a wing over her. "Luna... Luna, are you alright?" she asked gently. Luna shook her head carefully and, looking around, replied, "Y-yes... I believe so. My cranium is in a great deal of torment, but I should be... wait. What are... the Elements. Discord. It's... it's all coming back to me now." "Yes sister, I'm afraid that the impossible has happened... the Elements have failed. Not entirely though... something is amiss. I believe that-" She stopped suddenly, when Luna abruptly pushed Celestia's wing off of her. She stared at her in surprise, and Luna returned the gaze with one of irritation. "Celestia... you promised me that these 'Elements' would work. Yes, they proved to be powerful, any peasant could even see that. But what is power when it still fails? I will tell you- it isn't enough. You should have done more research on them, tried to-" "Now excuse me! 'Done more research?' That is exactly what I did want to do, but you're the one that insisted that we needed to move quickly! Now, I know we needed to defeat Discord, and that waiting wasn't going to help us at all... but at least we would have been prepared." Celestia told her sister, as her coat and mane lost some of their vivid colors and became more grey in appearance. "Prepared? Sister, we are the greatest rulers Equestria has ever known. We are practically ageless, and our magic is so great that we are able to raise the sun and the moon, all by ourselves! We came prepared for these types of situations! For us to rely on some fickle old gems, the idea is preposterous to me! Oh, this is just like you, always worried about yourself, and always trying to find some crutch to aid you in these kinds of endeavors!" As Luna replied, her own coat and mane began to lose their vibrant blue hues, and started to become a dull grey as well. "Well, perhaps that's because I don't feel like getting hurt, captured, or worse- and losing the ponies I love and protect to some maniac! Do you not see? We LOST. Discord isn't some run-of-the-mill villain, his strength matches that of our own! If we were to go hoof to hoof with him, we could be far worse than we are now! But you've always been reckless, thinking you can do things that end up being incredibly risky and foolish... how many times have I been dragged along on one of your pointless adventures, and barely made it back alive because we almost drowned or got eaten by a hydra or who knows what else?" "Oh please, you make it sound like I didn't know what I was doing! And pointless... you're one to talk, what with your long and boring study sessions of subjects that are so obscure and that we'll never use, even in our long lifespans! You clearly would not have stood a chance had we gone hoof to hoof! Its no wonder you couldn't handle my adventures, I should have never brought you along- I never needed you anyway!" Soon their colors were completely gone, and there was nothing left but the dull, boring grey color- in fact if the two had sat completely still, one could even mistake them for statues. Discord watched the two sisters bicker, and a grin stretched across his face. No wonder the Elements didn't work! Of course, he knew anyway, but to actually see why- he was relishing the moment. How he wished he could've watched longer... but he had a kingdom to take control of. So, he quietly arose from his throne, and hovered over two the Princesses, unnoticed. After listening in bliss to the final moments of the conversation, he finally broke up their argument, starting with a slow clap. "Well done, fillies! My my, I am quite impressed! I must say, you should argue more often, its quite-" "SHUT UP!" Luna bellowed, and Discord's eyes went wide as he was taken aback. Luna then with a rush of adrenaline flew quickly towards Discord, and charged her horn with forceful magic. Discord watched as she came rocketing forward, and he gave a mischievous grin. Snapping his fingers, he encased Luna in a bubble trap and caused her to freeze in place, inches away from where he was. She growled angrily, while he shook his head at her and he spoke up, saying, "Tsk tsk tsk! Did you really think charging at me with all your anger was going to give you what you wanted? Your sister was right... it seems that you can be quite reckless at times!" "Heh, told you." Celestia said as she glared at her sister. Discord then snapped his fingers again, and made a second bubble that went around the Solar Princess. "Hey, what do you think you're doing!?" she protested angrily. "Ha, serves you right." Luna chuckled cruelly as her sister became trapped also. "Oh-ho my, you two are much more fun this way! I should have done this a long time ago. Ah well, I can have plenty of fun... once you two are out of the picture. Dearest Celestia, your first words when you came here was that my playtime was over. Well, I tell you- tell you both- this now: Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, your reign of harmony and benevolence is over! The time has come for Equestria to change, to be led by something greater! I shall usher in a new era, an era of darkness and chaos! And my first action as king will be this: I Discord, Spirit of Chaos and Equestria's new ruler, hereby banish Celestia, the Solar Sovereign and former princess of Equestria to the sun, and Luna, the Lunar Sovereign and former princess of Equestria, to the moon!" Discord's paw and claw began to glow with chaotic magic, and he shot a beam outwards till each one touched a bubble, the beam connecting between him and the bubbles themselves. His eyes began to glow white, and he swiftly shot his arms upwards, launching the bubbles into the atmosphere. The last thing he saw of them was two faint, white twinkles in the sky, and then they were completely gone. "I... I did it. I, Discord, am officially Equestria's new ruler... Celestia, you were wrong. Playtime has only just begun."