//------------------------------//
// Prophecy Fulfilled, Bandaid! 
// Story: The Affection of Princess Nightmare Moon 
// by Aegis Shield 
//------------------------------//

The Affection of Princess Nightmare Moon
Part 25: Prophecy Fulfilled, Bandaid!

Princess Celestia gasped as though breaking from water into the blessed air. She sagged forward for a moment. As she looked up, a bit sweaty, she watched the dome of black glassy magic slowly shard itself away into nothingness. Flapping her wings experimentally, she looked about. No sign of Discord. But no doubt he was near. Wiping her mouth, for she felt she’d been drooling in her coma, she looked around rather angrily.

“Princess Celestia!” Grand Vizier Twilight Sparkle suddenly burst into existence in  a shower of sparks. As soon as the black dome had come down, she’d vacated the throne to come to her aid. “I’ve been on the throne for a week now! Are you okay?! Are all your kharma flows okay?!” Twilight had bought the ‘sabbatical’ story, and had dutifully stood in Celestia’s place to run the noon day court. It had, of course, made her into a nervous wreck. And while the brilliant scholar had no idea what ‘magical kharma flows’ were, if Celestia’s were misaligned then surely it was cause for alarm.

“Where is Discord?” Celestia turned quickly. “Have you seen him?”

“Discord? Who’s Discord?” Twilight stopped, blinking.

Celestia’s mind raced. She touched Twilight’s shoulder with authority, “Twilight, I want you to sit on my throne until I return. Maintain Equestria as I would. I’ve urgent business to attend to.”

“Wh… what?” Twilight said, a few hair pricking up and curling.

“I know it is a heavy burden, but you have been groomed your whole life for this. For emergencies when I cannot sit in the seat of power,” Celestia’s pinions were straightening themselves, outlining in a hazy white light. “Do as I say,” she turned to take off, but something caught her ethereal mane.

“Mom…?” Twilight mewled, soft in the eyes. She was holding the alicorn with a small hoof. “You’ll… you’ll be okay right? Y-you don’t have to tell me what it is, but… but you’ll be okay, right?”

Celestia paused, deeply touched. She could count the number of times her adoptive daughter had called her ‘Mom’ on the hooves of less than half a dozen solar guards. “I will be soon.” She turned, enclosing Twilight in her wings. They were warm, glowing and alive. The little mare shuddered. “Stay safe, sit in my place. I will return.” She kissed her forehead with love. Then, with a mighty force of wind she shot skyward. A bright, blinding light followed Celestia like a comet. She did not flap her wings, but by pure force of will and magic, shot across the sky like a fiery bird.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

“This really is a good piece of work, I’m very impressed,” Chrysalis said. “You’ve your Queen’s approval on this, Sombra.”

Sombra smiled, chest inflating. He’d really made excellent progress in the mere week he’d been in the Changeling City. The tower he’d been given had quickly been converted into an astronomy tower. With about twelve hours of calculations and a few pots of coffee, he’d also conjured up a grand telescope. “There’s one more feature I think you’ll like, your maj… my Queen,” he amended with a good-natured smile. She nodded her approval to have him explain. Reaching with both hooves, the genius black stallion turned a great crank. Looking over at his chalkboard, he mumbled down the series of numbers and coordinances. He turned the telescope just so until the numbers lined up. The huge telescope labored from the sky, down the mountains, to the horizon itself like a sailor might point it. He checked the eyepiece, then smiled. “Please, have a look.” He gestured.

Stepping and leaning down a bit because of her alicorn-height, she closed and eye and peered in. Canterlot. She could see Equestria’s capital! “What?!” she blurted. She looked again. That was certainly the white city, with all it’s (rather phallic) towers, curling vegetation and tiny little dots that must’ve been ponies. “How is this accomplished?” she looked over at him. “Your telescope can see—!”

“Beyond the curvature of the planet, yes,” Sombra grinned with all his fangs, a warm and inviting smile. “Normal telescopes can only see a certain distance because of the curve of the planet and, well, air is not as clear as you might think over great distances.” He gestured to all his facts and figures. “With a few choice spells and the proper refraction, we look through the planet instead of across it, and we get a proper view based on estimations of three-dimensional space.”

“In lay-ling’s terms?” Chrysalis said, watching the little ant-ponies mill about.

“It sees really far because we look down, not up,” Sombra smiled a bit, gesturing. When the queen pulled away, he moved and checked another long line of numbers. “In fact, why don’t we check on the Crystal Empire?” He turned the same massive crank, making adjustments and tightening the proper valves as he went. Double-checking the crystal matrixes, he looked into the eye piece. “Ah! There it is!” Sure enough, the angular and crystalline structures of the mighty city-state rose up to meet him. His smile slowly slipped from his muzzle. “Just as I remember it,” he mumbled slowly. 

Seeing his fading enthusiasm, Chrysalis leaned and nosed him to one side to have a look. “You’re to be commended, Lord Sombra!” she said. “Why, we could even spy on other nations if we wanted to! See how their crops were doing, see what wars were going on, all without crossing the border and violating any treaties we’ve signed!” she grinned a big, fang-filled smile.

Sombra tilted his head, smiling cautiously at those words. “Well, you know what they say. A telescope pointed at the sky is an astronomer, and a telescope pointed at the horizon is an explorer. You can see most of the world from right here, given the proper co-ordinances.”

Chrysalis paused. There was a small, twinkling light heading for the Crystal Empire. Behind it was a trail of fire that was melting a path in the snow below it. She squinted, falling silent. “Ah…?” she mumbled. Mother’s prophecy flashed across her memory. The age of ponies ending in a flash of fire brought about by a tiny dot of white light. The foretold half-breed bringing prosperity to the changelings. “And a city of glass shattering into countless pieces…” she whispered, barely above a whisper. Not exactly as mother had shown it, for the future was not set in stone. But all the major signs were there. The half-breed. The dot of light. The city glass… neigh… crystal… was about to be leveled. Her pupils shrank in excitement.

“Pardon?” Sombra asked.

“Lord Sombra, I’d like you to cap the lens for now,” Chrysalis coughed. “Perhaps I am too hasty to spy on my neighbors. It’s not good manners.” She offered a rather fake smile. The black stallion blinked at her. “I want this telescope pointed at the sky and not one degree lower, unless I am present here for its use. Understand?”

“Of course,” Sombra nodded. “I meant it to watch over our own lands, but it can see much further based on the math, is all. It’s misuse would be a gross invasion of privacy to others.”

“Agreed,” Chrysalis said quickly, taking the little cap that was hanging on the chain and putting it over the viewer. “Well go on, chop chop.” She gestured. He scurried and began turning the big crank again, using all his body-weight. The telescope labored to the sky until it was pointed at the sun. “Good stallion. Now take a few days off. You built this monstrous bit of genius in a mere week, I don’t want you burning out on me.” She patted his head like a foal’s.

“Very well. Perhaps a nice swim in the river,” he wondered.

Chrysalis left him to his own devices, almost unable to keep herself from giggling like mad. She walked quickly and quietly down the spiraling stairs until she was outside. Not a cloud in the sky. So un-assuming. It was happening! It was happening right now! The end of the world!

=-=-=-=-=-=

Celestia landed with the sound of breaking glass. Her mouth was a neutral line, and her eyes aglow like white sunlight. The mild crater she’d made in the street made ponies flee in terror. Fearful citizens looked out their windows at the burning, swirling sight. Southern Princess Celestia? What was she doing here?

The white, smoldering alicorn left hissing trails of hoof-prints as she went. The ice would not bear her, the glass and crystal walkways could not withstand her. It was only the base stone beneath that would stand up to her liquid fury. The sun incarnate walked the streets. The storm drains gulped and burbled and moaned as snow, ice and crystal alike melted in her presence. Ponies cleared the streets quickly, slamming doors and shuttering windows. The intense heat! It was like an instant sunburn! One unlucky mare got a face full, coming out of a shop. Her grocery sack burst into flames and she shrieked, holding her face and staggering back inside. Her fur was stained red from the heat and she held her eyes, blinded.

The crystal guards ponies saw her coming, recognized her, and gave her a wide opening. A slight twitch of Celestia’s neck and a flick of her horn sent the draw-bridge of the palace screaming down on its chains. The portcullis lifted and then slammed itself almost out of its grooves. The spikes curled and squirmed away from the day princess as she passed beneath them.

A slight clench of her teeth flung the massive palace doors open. She could sense him inside. Sense him hiding someplace. How dare he make her relive every high and low of her life like that?! How dare he place her into such a state?! The eldest and wisest child of Faust was, for the first time in a long time, legitimately angry. Bumbling nobles? Pfft. The fight between Chrysalis and Nightie? A knot to be untied and laid neatly down. This? This was personal.

She’d buried the memory of that poor dying foal. Carefully forgotten the lusty breath of Mountain Blood’s desire on her neck when he’d mounted her. Turned her mind’s eye from the mass execution of the Luna-Tics rebellion, moon-worshipping mad-ponies that they were. Her stomach churned, tied, then churned again. Fresh wounds, old memories, fiery battles and more rushed over her like a tide of war and water. Times of famine, of prosperity and love and loss and joy and pain and sorrow. She wasn’t like him. She moved on with each generation, treasuring what she could and moving on from the pains that time brought with it. It was the only way to stay sane when one was immortal. Now he’d brought everything rushing back to her and all the old wounds had opened again.

She could sense him, her aura encompassed the castle to home in on the proper floor and room. The gardens? Neigh. Beneath. Above? Was he teleporting about? She stopped in a grand hall. The servants, nobles, guards, and everypony else ran for their lives.

Cadence suddenly emerged from a staircase. “Celestia?!” the Princess of Love gaped at her sister’s state. Wild, glowing and very, very angry. “What are you doing?!”

“Where is he?” Celestia whispered. A crack rushed away from her hoof, up a column, and blasted a pebble from the ceiling. Being crystal, it shattered when it struck the floor.

“Discord? He said you’d be angry when you were released, so he’s hiding,” Cadence said, lifting a hoof worriedly. “Please, not in my home. When we gods fight only the mortals get hurt! Please, think of my husband! My city state! Don’t start a fight here!” she begged.

“Come out, brother,” Celestia whispered under her breathe, peering about. Every shiny surface reflected her, and every dull one feared her. “I don’t want to drag anypony else into this. Your fight is with me, let it be only with me.” Her mane danced about, wriggling like flame.

“Not before you hear the truth,” A nearby houseplant said. Celestia turned and it imploded into a thousand pieces. Cadence gave a shout, shielding her eyes from the flying debris. “You blame me for the deaths of countless innocents, but I think you recall the era better than most…” said the closest chandileer. A toss of Celestia’s head sent it crashing to the ground were it exploded into glass and metal shards. Cadence took cover behind a column.

“Cadence!” Shining Armor stood at the top of the bannister.

“Shining! Stay back! It’s not safe!” Cadence shouted from where she slumped against a column.

Celestia’s eyes flicked over Shining Armor. Her glowing white eyes saw his soul. Mortal pony soul. Not Discord in disguise. She allowed him to gallop down the stairs and throw his arms around his beloved.

“Besides, big sister, you’re the only one of us that can travel at the speed of sunlight. Why step out in the open?” A column chuckled, snaggle-toothed and grinning. Celestia turned, lightning-fast, shattering it with her back hoof. Her golden horse-shoes whined and bent, so she kicked them off.

“Show yourself,” Celestia said acidly, eyes narrowing. 

Discord’s lazy guffaw echoed about the palace, through the halls and hidey-holes that ponies were squeezed into. “No,” he sighed from a window-sill. Celestia stopped to breathe. She could bring down the palace and destroy everypony inside if she wasn’t careful. “Not before you listen.”

“Honeyed words and lies are your strength, brother,” the white alicorn turned in a slow circle. Cadence and Shining Armor slipped from column to column. “Don’t think I will give them any credit.”

“I killed a third of the planet’s population, in an era long past,” A snake-like figure slipped from the reflection of a window to the inside of a mirror. “But it wasn’t that that angered you, it was only Mountain Blood’s death that had you put me away.” Celestia stared about. She could not see him clearly. She was too upset. Too angry. Too frustrated and sad from reliving all her most painful memories so suddenly. “Your silence speaks volumes,” a tapestry showing the five children of Faust grumbled. Celestia turned and approached it. “But your lack of caution was what killed him, not I,” he hissed. 

And so, he told her. Told her of the plague. How he’d purged it and suffered the consequences. How she’d carried it home to her dearest husband (and her other little ponies!). How Mountain Blood had mere days before he would have started bleeding from every orifice and become bed-ridden, never to rise again. Had he emptied the world of plague-carrier and innocent alike? Yes. With his Mother’s Eyes he’d seen them levitating out of their beds and out of windows, others flailing from their jobs or their love-making or their feasting or fighting. Just suddenly… fell, into the sky.

Celestia slowly sank to her haunches, her wings limpening out. Her fiery aura began to fade. “I memorized every face,” Discord stood, unhidden, behind her. “Every cutie mark. I remember all of them.” He touched her shoulders with his mis-matched hands. “It was not my fault your husband died. It was your ignorance of something medicine had not yet grasped. Our ignorance.” He squeezed the tender muscles. She hunched. A lump was rising in her throat. “I took a broad brush to eliminate the plague and ninety-nine percent of its carriers… and that was the price.” A great stream of tears was welling up.

“I wanted to hate you…” Celestia mewled softly, tears pitter-patting amongst her massive hooves. “I did hate you. Deep in my heart. I hated you, so much!” she turned and threw her arms about Discord, burying her face in his chest. She started sobbing.

Slowly, Discord’s elongated body slipped around her as a cushion of fur and feathers. The white alicorn wept, an era of tears and anger welling up out of centuries of repression. Ponies throughout the palace slowly poked their heads out of their hiding places. Servants slipped from their hidden passages. Guards, civilians behind them, slowly filtered into the room to see from the upper balconies and higher platforms of the grand room. Discord looked up and all around them, cupping the back of his sister’s head and resting his cheek atop it. “I missed you,” he whispered. “Just a little. I’m so sorry.” Painted as a genocidal villain for the rest of time, he did not care, but he did mean it.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Chrysalis drummed a hoof a few times on her throne. None of her drones had any idea what she was talking about. Catastrophic damage to the Crystal Empire? No-ling had heard any such thing, not from the border patrols anyway. And with the borders to Equestria closed, it wasn’t like they could go see.

She ventured to Sombra’s tower to check the telescope. Turning the crank as she’d seen Sombra do, she lined up all the numbers and took a look. The city state still stood. “The future is not set in stone,” she grumbled. “Mother must be teasing me,” she grumbled. “All the signs were there.” She paused by the river to think. The foretold half-breed had emerged. The white dot of light had fallen from the sky over the city of glass… and it had not been obliterated.

What had seemed like a shifting prophecy had taken another route entirely. She frowned, touching her chin and stirring the water with a hoof. Was it up to her, then, to destroy the Crystal Empire to make the prophecy come true? To turn the era of the world to one of changeling supremacy? It tantalized her. She would ask Sombra to rebuild his weather machine like Discord had said, and point it straight at Canterlot! She rose with a smile, turning to spot Sombra soaking himself in the shallows of the river.

Sombra sat up when her shadow cast itself over him. “My Queen!” he said, splashing upright and bowing. His nose went into the water and he snuffle-snorted. She laughed a bit, but let him gather his dignity. Though, the scarlet swimming trunks really didn’t help. “What is it? You need me again so soon?”

“Lord Sombra,” Chrysalis smiled with all her fangs. “Sorry to bother you again, but I’ve a new project for you.”

“Oh? Yes, of course. Name it.” he said, eager to please. The black stallion dribbled water in the hot, Badlands sun. Her eyes travelled him for a moment, and he shifted uncomfortably. Gorgeous black-furred thing. “Erm…” 

The black goddess caught herself and coughed twice. “Ahem! I need…” A ball rolled up to her and stopped at her hooves. It was muddy, painted with happy designs and symbols. A group of larva rushed up to her, skitter-skreeing and dancing about. Kick the ball, Queen! Kick it! She smiled in her own bizarre, toothy way and gave it a little kick. It went sailing and they stampeded after it. She watched them go. She turned back to Sombra, opening her mouth to speak. A plain-looking brown stallion flashed across her mind’s eye.



“You’re too clever for that. You always have some other motif. Even full of your mother’s love you’ll just get greedy and lose everything you’ve ever--!”



She blinked twice and shook her head. She watched the larva play and run along the river, laughing and tackling each other in their merriment. Then she glanced about at the city that was rising up around her. Immortality. Well-Earned Prosperity. New young. A magical, mathematical genius at her right hoof.



“You’ll just get greedy and lose everything you’ve ever--!”



“Loved.” Chrysalis mumbled, staring at nothing. She felt very sober, all of a sudden. Like a great and endless greed had just been lifted from her heart. Why cling to it? There was no reason. Not anymore.

“Pardon?” Sombra asked a little awkwardly.

“Nevermind it. As you were, Lord Sombra.” She lit her horn and, rather comically, placed him on his back in the water. He didn’t fight her, only blinked a few times when a coconut with an umbrella popped into existence in his right hoof. Chrysalis left him there. The massive joke suddenly laid itself out before her. If Mother herself couldn’t see the future (free will of mortals being the deterring factor), how could she express a prophecy? There was no prophecy. There never had been. Merely… hints, at what sort of future there could have been. Enough to push the right ponies in the right directions. Well, herself anyway. She was glad she'd not shared it with anyling. “Elegant,” Chrysalis admitted, shaking her head with a wry smile.



End of Part 25