The Birth of harmony
The castle shuddered as three Alicorns ran down the corridor, their destination in sight. The battle had been underway for hours now, and they had seen their opportunity to end the long campaign they had been waging against Discord, the spirit of chaos; it would end tonight no matter the cost and all three knew that fact. Celestia was leading the small group; to her left, her younger sister, Luna, was struggling to keep up due to her shorter stature. To her right was another Alicorn slightly shorter than the elder sister. This one was a stallion, his coat was a deep red, covered with gold armour, the only one out of them to be wearing any. His helmet was, again, a brilliant gold and allowed his horn to poke through a special hole cut for unicorns. The back of it stretched down to his body covering his mane, offering optimal protection. His long wings were tucked against his body, and his eyes, an incredible sky blue were focused on the door at the end of the corridor where they would soon be having their final showdown. A large part of the ceiling suddenly collapsed, as a shot from a cannon hit the castle, undoubtedly shot from one of their own. As the debris fell towards them all too quickly for Celestia to cast a spell to protect them, the stallion leapt into action. Unfolding his wings and taking off with a burst of speed, he kicked the large piece of rock out of one of the many windows that littered the long hallway. As he landed in full gallop Celestia shot her eyes over to him.
"Fast as always, Stargazer." she spoke through each laboured breath from the amount of running they had done that night. Stargazer didn’t say anything and just gave her a small smirk. He had told her too many times that he didn't need thanks for saving a life, but he couldn’t say it now as he didn't have enough breath to speak, considering the running and just kicking a piece of rock that could easily have weighed 3 tonnes out of a window. As they approached the door, Celestia began channeling magic through her horn, as did the others. There was no doubt that the door was enchanted with every defensive spell known to pony kind.
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The sound was deafening, the combined spells hit the large double doors, causing one half to splinter and the other to embed itself in the wall on the other side of the castle chapel. As the dust cleared around the ponies, they saw their enemy at the end of the room. Discord was standing in his usual nonchalant way, seemingly knowing of their impending arrival.
"You always did like to make an entrance, didn't you Celestia?" he chuckled as he spoke, infuriating Celestia. "Ahh, Luna. Trailing your sister again, I see. Oh, and Stargazer! You were never far away from these two, were you?" He laughed at the site of his old friends making stargazer speak first.
"It ends here, Discord!" his voice commanded authority, but also showed his true age. In truth, he was much younger than any of the others in the room. He was but a child, only having turned 19 within the past month, but he wasn't scared by the Draconnequus standing before him. As he lowered himself to the ground, ready to lunge at the spirit of chaos, Luna stood in front of him to block him from attacking Discord.
"There's nowhere to run!" The air could be seen visibly moving from her mouth as the night pony spoke. Discord quickly put his hair back into shape as the rush of wind had put it out of its place, laughing silently. As he was about to speak to the group standing in front of him, he was cut down by a voice filled with a rage that was unknown due to its source.
"YOUR REIGN OF CHAOS IS OVER DISCORD, GIVE UP NOW OR SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES!" Celestia was screaming at him, the rage etched onto her face as every word poured out of her mouth. This was the result of all the pain she had bottled up. "YOU KILLED THEM! YOU KILLED MY PARENTS AFTER THEY TOOK YOU IN! THEY CARED FOR YOU LIKE YOU WERE THEIR OWN AND, YOU KILLED THEM!" The tears were streaming down her face now as she recalled the death of her and Luna’s parents. This seemed to touch Discord but not in the way it would touch most ponies. Instead, he started laughing, remembering his greatest triumph. He doubled over as he laughed, and that was when Stargazer saw his chance.
He lunged with everything he had, using his strong wings to blast through the sound barrier as soon as he started moving, giving Discord no time to avoid the incoming attack. Stargazer slammed into his chest, throwing both over the alter that held the elements of harmony which Discord undoubtedly had been trying to destroy before the Alicorns had entered. The Draconnequus hit the floor, hard, with the pony landing near him, equally as hard, but on his feet at least. He jumped backwards as Discord swung at him with his eagle claw, leaving jagged scars in Stargazer's chest plate. As soon as Stargazer landed, he quickly charged and fired a bolt of lightning at his enemy, but Discord was already on his feet and had anticipated the attack. The force merely moved him back slightly as he dissipated the bolt around him. All the while, Celestia and Luna stood dumbstruck at the sight before them. They knew that Stargazer was both strong and fast, but they didn’t think even he was capable of phasing Discord, let alone knock him down in one hit. Snapping back to, reality the sisters sprang into action to aid their friend. Luna had taken to the air and kicked Discord in the back of the head to give Celestia enough time to charge a spell. Discord's focus was now on Luna, and trying to slash at her with his claws, but, in the air, Luna maneuvered too fast for him to hit her. As Celestia’s spell became ready, she shouted to Luna to move. Her sister lost her focus on her enemy and he took this to his advantage to hit her with his strong lion paw, making the ground crack as she hit it. His victory over the night pony was short lived, however, as a beam of pure sunlight collided with him and launched him straight into the wall. As soon as the beam finished firing into the spirit of chaos, he was hit again, and pinned to the wall by Stargazer, whose horn was sparking with a spellthat had been charged to a point that his body couldn’t cope with. Discords eyes went wide as Stargazer unleashed the full strength of his spell, engulfing both of them in lightning. The pain would be too much for anypony but, Stargazer held on, his mind racing.
"If I'm going to die here, then I'm taking you with me!" There was a massive explosion between the two creatures, throwing Stargazer across the room, landing just a few feet away from Luna. His armour had been blown off, revealing his mane and tail, which were both short and a deep natural black. The explosion also revealed his cutie mark, a golden shield with 2 silver crossed swords over the top of it. As Stargazer slowly stumbled to his feet, his head spinning and his ears ringing from the explosion, he looked over to see Celestia helping her sister to her feet. Luna was clearly hurt, there was a massive gash on her front left leg from where Discord had hit her, and her right wing was bent in a position that it clearly shouldn't be. Celestia was obviously in pain too, he realized, it must’ve been both mentally and physically draining to create the explosion, as sparks were still flying from her horn due to the untamed magical energy she had released. He then looked over to where he was standing mere seconds ago, ready to die for Equestria. He saw Discord standing there, not even fazed by the onslaught he had just taken. The only things to show that he had been attacked at all was a portion of his fur being singed, a small cut on his arm and the trickle of blood coming from his mouth. As Stargazer was on his feet, he moved over to his friends to help Luna gain her balance. When she was finally able to stand on her own,Stargazer felt a presence behind him. As he turned his eyes went wide as he looked at the altar. The elements were glowing. His focus has shifted from Discord and he was now fixated on the elements maybe they were....activating? His question was answered as a brilliant shaft of light erupted from each of the stones on the altar. Then, as the shaft reached into the air, they changed their course… straight towards the trio. Two beams of light went into Stargazer as well as Luna, and one went into Celestia. A moment passed before another light poured into the room from an unknown source and shot into Celestia, engulfing them all in magic. As the magic engulfed them a necklace appeared round Luna's neck with a moon made out of diamond as the only jewel on it, and a voice of unknown origin whispered in their heads.
“Laughter.”
Then, a crown atop her head with a sapphire placed in it as the voice hissed:
“Generosity.”
After a moment’s pause, it was evident that Luna’s gifts had stopped coming. Stargazer could feel something forming over some minor wounds on his body. Once the piercing brightness subdued, he could both see and feel the chest plate that now sat on his body. In the center was an Emerald in the shape of a shield. He could hear the voice again, but this time it was as if it was speaking inside of him, not just to him.
“Kindness.”
And then a golden mask appeared on him, similar to the helmet he had been wearing moments ago, covering his head. His horn poked through a hole and the sides of the mask were going down just under his jaw and ending at the tip of his mouth, eventually tapering down to two spikes. A ruby cut into the shape of two crossed swords was in a recess just below his horn, at which point the voice spoke again, this time whispering
“Loyalty."
Like Luna, Celestia was bestowed with a crown and a necklace both containing an amethyst in them, as the voice then whispered
“Honesty.”
And then the voice whispered to Celestia alone
“Magic.”
As they landed on the floor, Discord looked at them and began to speak, this time with a cold focused voice, unlike the way he had been speaking before.
"So, this is the true power of the elements….well there’s nothing that you can do even with that fancy jewelry! Remember, I am Discord, THE EMBODIMENT OF CHAOS!" As he spoke his words he lost focus on the group before him, consumed by his pride he brought one of his hands onto his chest and the other in the air, throwing his head back as he shouted the words to the world. At this point the Alicorns unleashed everything they had at him; as soon as the spell hit him he froze in place. All of Discords features began to turn grey and harden. As the aura left the ponies, Stargazer’s vision began to blur. He had expelled too much magic, his body was utterly exhausted, and as he hit the ground, his vision began to turn black. The last thing he heard before he slipped away from the world was Luna screaming his name.