Legacy of the Sun

by Alexstrazsa

6 - Discord

Chapter 6: Discord
Age: 700

‘Someday soon,’ for an alicorn, ended up being one hundred years. It was at this time that the corruption spreading from that dark cave had reached the castle of the two sisters. In the past, they had both heard the terrible screeches and roars from various beasts within the forest, which had clearly seen the evil taint, and were now vicious and bloodthirsty creatures. Now, however, the first creeping, putrid looking vines moved past the treeline and encroached upon the land around the castle.

“Celestia...” Luna started, not knowing how to continue.

“I know, sister... I know...” the older alicorn replied, her mouth creased in a frown. She looked upon the forest with sadness, wondering how something so terrible could have happened to the forest she had known for hundreds if years. “It feels like it was merely a week ago when... father and I were exploring these woods...”

She wasn’t able to think much past that when the distinct roar of a hydra pierced her thoughts.

“Celly!” Luna cried, spreading her wings and backing up in fear. Out from the forest, a hydra stormed through, tearing down trees and ripping up dirt with its claws. Its four heads looked every which way, searching for their next meal. Their eyes then locked onto the two alicorns, and its heads collectively licked their lips. With a primal bellow, the hydra surged towards them, preemptively snapping it’s jaws in the event something was caught in them.

“Luna, follow my lead!” the sun princess yelled, dashing to the right. Two the the hydras heads went towards her. Luna ran the opposite direction, and the other two heads went for her instead. The opposite pulling caused all four heads to snap back and hit each other with audible thumps, temporarily dazing the hydra. After it had shaken its heads and recovered, it decided to chase after the larger alicorn.

“Perfect.” Celestia thought, looking behind her. She then spread her wings and took to the sky, flying in a zig-zag pattern to throw off the hydra, which was catching up to her. With a heavy flap of her wings, she shot forward and spun around. As she faced the hydra, her horn lit up and she shot a blast of magic at the creature, hitting one of its necks. Celestia continued through with the spin, facing forward again and steadying herself, grinning slightly as she heard the hydra whimper.

When Luna noticed the hydra stop following her, she quickly dug her hooves into the ground to slow down, sliding across the grass slightly. Wasting no time, she flared her wings and flew off in pursuit of the hydra. She noticed Celestia fire off the round of magic, and decided to follow her sister’s lead in the attack. Her horn lit up as well and several beams of blue light shot from her horn and exploded against the hydras scales. The monster fell down from the blast but just as quickly got up, angrily roaring. The sound was almost deafening as Luna shot past him and caught up with Celestia.

“What now, Celly?” she asked, looking up to the white alicorn.

Celestia turned her head to Luna and brought a hoof to her chin, thinking for a moment. Her eyes suddenly widened, then her brows creased in aggression and her mouth curled into a smile. “Now, we confuse him. Fly opposite of me!”

Luna nodded, then the two took off, side by side, rapidly approaching the hydra. They each went to the creatures sides, flying clockwise and counterclockwise around him quickly. In a vain effort to grab his meal, the hydras heads snapped out and clapped shut, but only found air. The heads tried to follow the alicorns as they flew, quickly beginning to twist their necks around each other.

“Keep going!” Celestia yelled, eyes squinted and tearing as she became nauseous due to the g-forces, wind and continuous spinning from her rapid flight.

Finally, all four heads were tied up and bound like a rope, and the hydra quickly lost it’s balance and fell to the ground with a thud. It whined in pain as it tried to untangle itself, quickly scraping itself to its feet. The hydra made no continue the fight as it hurried into the forest, heads still wrapped up and knotted together. After it had disappeared behind the dense trees, Celestia and Luna both sighed, breathing heavily.

“When did you learn offensive magic like that?” Celestia asked, looking at Luna with a relieved smile.

“I’ve been doing some reading.” she happily admitted.

“Well, you’ll have to show me sometime. What you did was...” the alabaster princess stopped mid-sentence, ears perking up. She heard a faint tapping, coming from in front of the castle. Looking in the direction of the rope bridge, she saw other ponies! Right before her eyes, there were pegasi, unicorns and earth ponies alike, all stomping their fore-hooves on the ground and cheering. They whistled, hollered and yelled in delight before the two princesses, who were positively dumbstruck at the sight.

“Celly... what should we do?” Luna asked, leaning closer to her sister. She nervously looked from pony to pony.

“We should...” she looked over them, with their smiling faces and yells of joy. “Go and greet them.” Celestia finished, looking down to Luna with a warm smile of her own.

The moon princess gulped and nodded nervously before spreading her wings. Celestia did the same, and the two princesses lightly flew to the small crowd on the other side of the bridge.

As they touched the ground, Celestia noticed how much taller she was than the other ponies. She also noticed their gaping mouths as they looked over both her and Luna. Quiet mumbling was heard between them, speaking things like ‘horn and wings’ and ‘so tall.’

“Who... who are you?” a random pony in the crowd asked.

“I am Princess Celestia, and this is my sister, Princess Luna.” Celestia calmly answered.

“Hello...” Luna quietly added, attempting to hide herself behind one of Celestia’s wings.

It was silent for a long while, as both the princesses and the small group of ponies looked at each other in curiosity and awe. Celestia and Luna had never seen other ponies before, and the group had never seen a pony with both a horn and wings, let alone two of them. After minutes of this silent stalemate, with only the quiet sound of wind and the occasional distant animal sound in the forest, one pony moved in front of the group and broke the stillness in the air.

She was an earth pony with a light pink coat, paired with straight red mane that formed a widows peak on her forehead and extended to the back of her neck. Her tail was equally as straight, and she wore a simple saddle with bags attached to it. She had a very serious face on, and appeared to be the leader of the group. “Greetings, Celestia and Luna. My name is Crimson Heart, and I am the founder of... what used to be Ponyville.”

“Ponyville?” Celestia inquired, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes. It is... was... a settlement we had formed, just outside the border of this forest.” Crimson Heart looked the ground with sadness in her eyes as she said this.

“Why do you refer to it in the past tense?”

The pink pony sighed. “It’s because of... Discord.” The other ponies behind her gasped, afraid of merely the mention of whoever Discord was.

“And just who is Discord?” Celestia laid down on the ground now, becoming eye level with Crimson Heart. The alicorn had a slight frown, and she looked to the red maned pony with concern.

“Discord... is a terrifying being who can do anything at will.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean exactly that, Celestia. He can do... anything. He can make it rain from ground to sky, or turn creatures into... pastries.”

Celestia blinked. “I am terribly sorry, but I do not have the slightest clue what you mean.”

“I wouldn’t expect you to. This is the only area of Equestria he hasn’t touched with his mischievous antics. It seems so... peaceful here.”

“I would not be entirely sure of that...” Celestia replied, looking to the area of the trees where the hydra from earlier had reduced to broken trunks and gnarled branches.

“Regardless, this is the last safe haven we have. The rest of the world is... too chaotic.”

The princess stood, mane and tail flowing lightly in the breeze. Her eyes narrowed as she looked past the treeline, where the rest of Equestria was hidden. “Myself and Luna will see what we can do.”

Crimson Heart’s eyes grew wide. “Are you... are you really going to do that for us?”

“Of course we will. Long ago, we made a promise to protect Equestria. If that vow means leaving this forest and confronting Discord, then so be it.”

The founder of Ponyville dropped to her front knees in a deep bow. “Thank you... thank you so much. Everything we had was in that town.”

“Yeah, thanks!” a member of the crowd shouted. Others followed suite, and soon the whole crowd had erupted into applause and cheers once again.

“Your kindness and generosity are untold of, Celestia.” Crimson Heart said. As Celestia looked into her eyes, she could see tears brimming on the edges of the pink ponies eyes.

“It is my duty as princess of Equestria to protect it. I vow to remain loyal to my promise to keep this land safe.”

Another cheer came from the small crowd, who were simply elated.

“Come, Luna.” Celestia said, looking to her younger sister. “It’s time to leave the forest.”

- - -

For the first time in their very long lives, Celestia and Luna stepped outside the boundaries of the Everfree Forest. They were surprised by the dirt path that had been formed in the forest, from all of the ponies traveling throughout. In all the years this road

The refugees of Ponyville followed the two princesses closely, anticipating how they would react to the outside world, and how they would rid Equestria of Discord. They silently pondered, watching the two alicorns as they stepped outside of the forests veil.

There was a deathly silence as both princesses looked out upon the world before them. They stood and stared, eyes scanning the landscape and its surroundings.

“Is... it... supposed to be like this?” Luna quietly asked, eyes shifting from one sight to another

“I... do not think so.” Celestia replied.

They were speechless after that, not sure how to even begin to comprehend the world they were looking at. In the distance, a group of small buildings could be seen - presumably Ponyville. However, above the town were clouds of various neon hues, raining what looked like brown water. Where grass would normally be, vibrant and strange patterns crisscrossed and weaved, making the ground look like a terribly tacky quilt. Random trees fell over in the wind, revealing thin sheets instead of thick trunks.

The animals in this world were of a completely different nature as well. Birds flew upside down and backwards, snakes coiled like springs and bounced around, and chickens grew hideously tall legs and lost their wings. To put it in one word: chaos.

“This is... very different.” the sun princess said, head cocked slightly to the side.

“It used to be so beautiful.” Crimson Heart said, stepping forward.

Just then, the sky around them grew dark, and a haunting laugh echoed through the forest. “Honestly, Crimson Heart, you’re much too attached to your old way of life.” The voice was smooth and laced with sarcasm, and at the same time, sinister and cunning.

The town’s founder looked into the tree tops, eyes moving from branch to branch, scanning for anything out of the ordinary. Behind her, the ponies cowered together in fear, frantically searching the area.

“Who is that?” Luna asked, also looking skywards.

“It’s him.” Crimson answered. As she finished, a crack of lightning shot from the clouds and struck mere feet away from Celestia, who remained still. Oddly, copious amounts of smoke and confetti shot out from the impact area. When the white hot bolt of electricity struck, the split second it sparked formed a large creature, leisurely sitting upon a dark throne. In his gryphon claw, he lazily rolled a glass between his fingers, which was filled with a brown liquid. With a sly grin, he brought it to his bearded face and took a sip, the glass gently tapping against his snaggletooth.

“Wasn’t that fantastic?” a voice said, between Celestia and Luna. To their shock, they looked to where it had originated, to find a second copy of the creature standing besides them, resting his arms around both of them casually. In a flash, the one sitting upon the throne, and the throne itself, disappeared. “Well, who do we have here?” With a snap of his fingers, he now floated in front of the princess.

“Discord.” Celestia spoke, eyes narrowed. She stared daggers into the beast in front of her, yet he seemed unaffected.

“Oh, so you’ve heard of me? How wonderful!” With another flash, he appeared in front of Luna. “And who is this? You are simply precious.” Discord took his lion’s paw and pinched Luna on the cheek, to the young princesses horror.

“Enough with the games, demon.” Celestia harshly spoke, eyes shifting to Discord.

He let out a vile laugh before appearing in front of Celestia gain. “Demon? I’m afraid not, my dear. You see, I am a draconequus.”

“A what?” Even the princess, in all her years of life, could only raise an eyebrow in confusion at what he had described.

“Oh, you know, draconequus. A little bit of this, a little bit of that. It’s quite simple, really!” He fluttered his bat wing and pegasus wing as if to prove his point. “However, enough about me... I want to know all about you...” Discord smiled, and dragged one of his fingers down Celestia’s cheek to the edge of her mouth.

The alicorn furrowed her brows and bared her teeth slightly. “Do not touch me.” She hissed.

“What’s the matter... Celestia?”

“How do you know my name?”

He chuckled, reappearing next to Celestia. Nonchalantly, he crossed his legs and rested an elbow on Celestia’s back, looking down to her. She returned an angry scowl.

“Oh, don’t be like that, Celestia. Lighten up a little!” he disappeared momentarily and popped up next to Luna, hovering upside down. “I bet you know how have a good time.”

“Do not talk to my sister so casually, Discord.” Celestia harshly said.

“Are you always this uptight, my little sun princess?”

Celestia closed her eyes and breathed deeply, trying to remain calm. Opening them, she looked to Discord, who was floating in the air, arms behind his head as he pretended to lay down. “How do you know who I am... and what I can do?”

“Well that’s easy, Celestia. You’re practically an open book!” In his hand, a leather bound tome appeared, with the title ‘Princess Celestia.’ Discord pulled a pair of reading glasses from seemingly nowhere and put them on before clearing his throat and flipping through the pages. “Now, let’s see... ah, yes. Celestia, daughter of Rhapsody and Sonance, regent of the sun, seven hundred years old, blah blah.” He then smiled, snapping the book closed and making it, and the glasses, disappear in smoke filled bursts.

“What? That... that is impossible...” Celestia’s eyes went wide as he listed off facts that only she and Luna would know. Just what was she dealing with?

“Nothing is impossible with chaos, my pink haired beauty.”

She couldn’t take it anymore. “What do you want, Discord?” Celestia nearly yelled, to the surprise of everypony around - and even to the draconequus itself.

“My, my, my. So demanding, Celestia. If you insist on being so dull, I simply care here to ask what you thought of Equestria!”

“Do you truly desire my answer to that?”

“Well of course.” He hovered in front of the irritated princess, and lightly tapped a finger to her nose. “I always want to keep the opinion of my favorite alicorn in mind.”

The princess moved her head away from Discord’s obtrusive finger before speaking. “It disgusts me. I would like Equestria to return to normal.”

Discord frowned, holding his chin in his hand. “I’m hurt, Celestia. I thought you would like my improvements.”

“Undo your madness, Discord.”

Discord stifled a laugh. “Oh? And what will happen if I don’t, little sun spot?” He snapped his fingers and a fresh glass of the brown liquid appeared in his hand.

“...then we’ll make you.” The voice came from Luna, whom all eyes turned to. She was frowning and looked dreadfully frightened, but she stood her ground.

Discord nearly spit out his drink, which was turning purple as he consumed it. “You two? Stopping me? The spirit of chaos and disharmony?”

“We will do everything within our power.”

“Your power? You mean this?” Discord snapped his fingers, and to everyponies shock and horror, the sun rapidly dipped below the horizon and the moon took it’s place.

Celestia’s face turned from anger to horror in an instant. Her magenta eyes widened, her pupils shrinking to pin sized. Her mouth stood agape as she witnessed the feat before her - at something she thought was only possible for her to accomplish. In a mere moment, her power had been dwarfed right in front of her. She glanced over to Luna, who wore the same terrified expression. Neither of the princesses could move a muscle, or even think straight for that matter. They were too busy focusing on the god like creature before them.

Discord laughed. It wasn’t a lighthearted laugh, or a good-natured laugh, but a dark, sinister, truly evil cackle. It echoed throughout the woods, ringing through the ears of the princesses and the towns ponies. “If moving the sun and moon is the peak of your power, how can you possibly hope to defeat me?” He snapped his fingers, and a large cloud hovered over the surrounding area. After several moments, small, fluffy pieces of fabric began to fall from the sky. “I mean really, Celestia, I can do mostly anything I want! Raise the sun, paint the ground... make it rain socks.”

A particularly hard rain fell upon Luna, who had quickly become completely covered in the garments. She poked her head out of pile, shaking it slightly to get here bearings back.

“And then, I can manipulate mostly anything! For example...” He waved his hand in a circular motion, and the pile of socks around Luna began to twist and twirl around her as a hurricane. The fuzzy pieces encompassed her, catching her off guard and hiding her from sight.

“Luna, no!” Celestia yelled, jumping to the sock tornado. She threw a hoof into the spinning frenzy, but to no avail.

“Oh, please. There’s no need to be so dramatic.” Discord abruptly stopped spinning his hand, causing the socks to fall and spread in every which way. In the bottom of the reformed pile, Luna stumbled out, in a daze.

“Wha... what happened?” she asked, to nopony in particular, before collapsing. She exhaustedly looked down at her hooves, which were all adorned with a sock. “Why... why am I wearing these? I don’t understand...”

Discord couldn’t help but burst out into raucous laughter at the wobbly princess. He wiped some tears from his eyes as he watched her attempt to get up, only to fall flat moments later.

“Leave my sister be, Discord!” Celestia shouted, teeth grit and brows sharply furrowed.

“My, Celestia. It seems the combination of my beautiful composition and the dreadful sun has gotten you all hot and bothered. How about you take some time to cool down?” He snapped his fingers.

“Quiet, Discord! Just return everything to-” she didn’t get to finish as a large volume of very cold water drenched her from head to hoof. Her mane now stood limply at her sides, dragging along the ground. Silence encased the area for moment, save for the dripping of water from Celestia’s body, before Discord fell to the ground, clutching his sides. He laughed and laughed, playing the two princesses for fools.

“Oh! Oh!” he cried, attempting to speak through his giggling fits. “That was... that was too good!” Using his arm for support, he slowly pushed himself up, chortling the whole way. Finally, he had regained his composure and stood, letting one last laugh slip through before he brought a hand to his mouth and coughed.

“Now, where were we. Ah, yes, you were soaking wet. Allow me.” With the wave of his hand, a hot, forceful wind blew past Celestia for several moments. When it finally stopped, her hair was dry, but now incredibly disheveled and curly. The strands weakly tried to sway as they stood knotted up and curled.

“Oh, it’s simply perfect.” Discord appeared next to Celestia, and practically whispered into her ear, “Perfectly chaotic!”

All he received from Celestia was what sounded like a primal growl, but he shrugged it off and teleported in front of her. Just then, he looked down to his wrist, where a paper timepiece now lay. “Good heavens, just look at the time!’ he exclaimed. Next to him, from seemingly nowhere, a string fell down, dangling lightly. He pulled it, causing the sun to drop down and the moon to replace it, accompanied with a clicking noise.

“This is enough!” Celestia thought, the anger building inside her reaching it’s breaking point. She had been extremely patient up until now, but this was the final straw. She was not going to let this monstrosity undermine her and her sister before their very eyes. “Discord...” she said, eyes closed. “I have had enough of you!”

As Celestia said this, she opened her eyes, and the iris’s pulsated with a bright glow. Her horn lit up, and the sun and moon forcefully switched places, and faster than anypony had ever witnessed before.

“What do we have here?” Discord asked, gently stroking his beard. “It seems there’s more to you than I thought, Celestia.” He lifted his arm, which glowed yellow. “If it’s a power struggle you want, then it’s a power struggle you will have!”

Instead of the sun moving, it was the moon that rose, and it moved directly in front of the sun. The darkened light cast a haunting glow over Equestria, as both princess of the sun and spirit of disharmony struggled with the Celestial bodies. Through both their efforts though, neither of the bodies moved from their eclipsing spots.

“It would appear we’re at a stalemate.” Celestia calmly said, glowing, half open eyes staring right into Discord’s garnet red ones.

“So it would.” Discord responded, crossing his arms. “I suppose there is only one way to settle this.”

Celestia slightly lifted an eyebrow. “Is that so?”

Discord suddenly disappeared, and his voice echoed around Celestia and the other ponies. “We’ll just have to duke it out!”

Out of nowhere, a crackling ball of energy shot at Celestia, who spotted it and narrowly dodged it in time. The impact shot some dirt at the sun princess, whose eyes were rapidly scanning her surroundings. Her horn lit up, ready to strike at any moment. Another ball of energy, which she deftly evaded as well.

“You cannot hide forever, Discord!” she yelled, into the sky.

“Celly!” Luna yelled. Celestia spun around and found Discord next to her sister. She immediately shot off a burst of magic, but the draconequus snapped his fingers and the sizzling energy transformed into limp noodles, which fell comically to the floor.

“Pasta, my dear? How cliché. You need a little more pizazz!” He shot off his own burst of magic, in the shape of a sharp disc. Celestia barely dropped to her knees in time, as it skimmed over here mane and lodged into a tree behind her, before dissipating.

“Luna, use your magic like we practiced!” Celestia said, spreading here wings and taking flight.

“O... Okay!” Luna replied, before also spreading her wings and lifting off the ground.

The two princesses dodged Discord’s assaults and launched their own, only to have them transformed into some sort of comedic item. A magic blast exploded into balloons next to him, while a beam of light looped into text that read ‘Celestia can’t fight.’ Meanwhile, a princess tucked her wings in and dropped as a ball of flame passed her, as the other took shot into the air, escaping the path of an extra sharp candy cane.

To Crimson Heart and the other members of Ponyville, the fight was surreal. Each and every one of them had a difficult time believing the things they were seeing. Some simply turned their backs and refused to watch, knowing they wouldn’t be able to take it if the outcome was poor. The town founder rigidly stood though, watching the princesses and hoping with every fiber of her being that they won against impossible odds.

“Luna, use the technique we used against the hyrdra!” Celestia shouted as she passed Luna mid flight. The moon princess nodded, flying next to her sister - and right towards Discord. The spirit of chaos smiled as he watched his opponents fly right into their doom, or so he thought. They broke apart before they reached him, going opposite directions.

“Please. Do you honestly think that will work?” he asked. In his hands, two lassos materialized, which he spun around as deftly as the best cowpony in Equestria. With a quick motion, he sent the lassos out much farther than should have been possible, snagging both princesses. Then, with a hard tug, he brought them both back to him, and they crashed together with a hard thud.

“Are you two done with your little games? I would like to go back to ruling Equestria.”

Celestia painfully got to her hooves, breathing heavily. “We will never... give up... to something... like you.” She panted.

Discord sighed. “You’re finished, ladies. Now, how would you prefer to be done away with? Launched clear off the planet? Encased in an underground labyrinth? Locked in an inter-dimensional prison? The choices are nearly endless!”

“Not yet... we can still fight!” Celestia thought, closing her eyes. Her mind raced. Her heart beat quickly. Most importantly, raw magic flowed through her. She thought to all the ponies who had been suffering in Equestria. From the town founders like Crimson Heart down to the simplest pony, they were all in turmoil and wanted nothing more than salvation. She then thought to Luna, who still had much growing to do, and needed a strong sister to look up to. Finally, the final words of Rhapsody, her caring mother, pierced through mind.

“I’ll let you two take your time. Choosing your ultimate demise is quite the decision!” He turned away from the alicorns, and unexpectedly, began to sing. “~Oh, Chaos, you are such a dear... Oh, Chaos, you’ll always be here...~”

“Luna...” Celestia said to her sister, who had stood up.

“~And without you, I don’t know what I would do...~”

“Yes, Celly?” the young alicorn replied, looking up to her sister with moist eyes.

“~But with all these wonders, there’s nothing to fear...~”

“Touch my hoof.” Celestia raised her hoof and moved it near Luna, who curiously looked at it. Noticing Celestia still had her eyes closed, she reluctantly raised her own hoof.

“~Oh, Chaos, such a magical thing... Oh, Chaos, it has such a nice ring...~”

The moon princess touched her hoof to Celestia’s and she felt a surge of energy travel rapidly through her body. “What... is this?”

“~And because of you, it’ll always be true...~” a decorative pillar appeared in front of him and he jumped on it, as if singing to a crowd.

Celestia opened her eyes, which were brightly illuminated with white energy. “Just let the power flow through you, and hit him with everything you have.”

Luna stifled a gasp as her sister turned to her, never having seen this happen before, but did her best to follow Celestia’s instructions. She closed her eyes, letting the magical surge flow through her. “Are we ready, Celly?” she asked, reopening her eyes. The same white glow Celestia’s eyes had now encompassed Luna’s as well.

“Of course.”

A shining yellow beam of light shot from Celestia’s horn while a dark blue one came from Luna’s, and the two beams twisted and arched around each other as the rose high into the sky. At their peak, they clashed in the air, making the same noise a powerful flare would. From the two spiraling beams came an extremely bright, almost glowing rainbow of seven colors, which fell rapidly from the sky - and straight at Discord.

“~Oh, Chaos, my chaos, you make... me... sing!~” he sung, raising his eagle claw and resting his lion paw against his chest. Discord drew out the final word of his song, and it was as this point the speeding rainbow of energy impacted him with full force.

The draconequus had very little time to react as he quickly turned to stone, with a feeling not very unlike being caught in quicksand. The magic rapidly rose up his body, petrifying his tail around the pillar, moving up to his legs, solidifying his claw against his chest, locking his arm in it’s upright position - and finally, as he understood what was happening, he couldn’t help but laugh.

“I’ll eternally perform for you, Celestia!” he yelled, before opening his mouth wide again, as if he were still singing. The spell finally rush past his head and finished as at his horn, leaving naught but a cold, grey statue where the spirit of disharmony had been.

- - -

Celestia blinked. Under her, she felt soft grass, lightly tipped with morning dew. Above her, the sun shone brightly, threatening to blind her with he sudden light. She slowly got up, shaking her head slightly to get rid of the throbbing pain that occupied it. Celestia then looked forward, gasped, and clumsily recoiled and tripped over her own hooves, ending up right where she started. Realizing what it was, and that she wasn’t in danger, she got up again and lightly laughed. In front of her sat the statue of the defeated Discord, silent and motionless. She heard a light moan, and looking down besides her found Luna, also waking up.

“Where are we?” Luna asked, unsteadily getting on her hooves.

Celestia smiled, wrapping a wing around Luna. “We’re in Equestria.”

From behind them, a cheer erupted, and the two princess spun around to see the townspeople and Crimson Heart galloping at them. They laughed and sang praises as they approached, their happy voices mixed indistinguishably from one another.

“We... did it.” Luna said, the realization slowly dawning on her, making her mouth grow into a large smile. “We did it!”

“Indeed we did, sister. We stopped Discord, together.”

“Yes!” the small princess cheered, hopping in place.

“I can’t believe it!” Crimson Heart shouted, nearly crashing into Celestia. “You two... you stopped Discord! Equestria is saved!”

“We did what we were meant to do, and nothing more.” Celestia replied, a slight pink hue brightening her cheeks.

“You two were amazing!” a pony called out.

“That rainbow was incredible!” said another.

“I don’t know what to say, Celestia... princess.” the red maned pony said, looking up to the light alicorn. “I’m just... all of us... are eternally in your debt.”

“Hail Celestia! Hail Luna! Hail the saviors of Equestria!” the crowd roared, raising their hooves in the air.

“Oh, you are all far too generous, we just-” Celestia started, but was cut off by Luna.

“Celly, what are these?”

“What?” Celestia asked, turning around. Luna was examining a set of six gems on the ground, each a different color. One was a bright garnet, the other a deep purple, the next a shiny aqua, the fourth a brilliant emerald, the fifth a luminous topaz and the final one a polished violet stone. Celestia approached them, and they seemed to pulse with energy and react to her and Luna’s presence.

“Those appeared after you stopped Discord.” Crimson Heart revealed, standing next to Celestia.

“Is that so?” she knelt down, looking at her reflection in the topaz stone. She could feel an extremely potent magical presence lurking in the jewels.

“Sister, maybe these broke off from Discord?” Luna asked, looking to Celestia.

“Perhaps... but what is their purpose?”

“Maybe they’re like you, Celestia. Made to protect Equestria from evils.” Crimson Heart said.

She levitated another one of the gems in front of her. “Why would they come from Discord, then?”

“Discord said he was the spirit of disharmony, so maybe these are his opposites?” Luna suggested.

“I think you might be right, Luna. I can feel very strong magic in this. Can’t you?”

“Yes... it makes my horn hurt a bit.”

“So then, these are the tools that helped defeat Discord, and brought harmony to the land.”

Crimson Heart nodded. “That sounds about right.”

Celestia stood, levitating all six in front of her. She then turned to the crowd and pitched a question, “What creates harmony?”

“Kindness!” one pony yelled.

“Being loyal!” said another.

“Generosity.” Crimson Heart added.

“Having fun!” shouted one from the back of the crowd.

“Honesty...” Celestia herself said.

“...and magic.” Luna finished.

“Thank you, everypony. You have all made it clear how these artifacts came to be. Luna and I were kind and generous, by protecting you. We were loyal to our mother and father, who wish us to protect Equestria. We were also honest, because we kept our oath to keep Equestria safe. Finally, we have much magic to use and share with everypony.”

Celestia rotated the gems around her. “Luna?”

“Yes, Celly?”

“We shall call them... the Elements of Harmony.”

The crowd cheered once more, whistling and stamping their hooves on the ground. Celestia smiled, looking over the small crowd, realizing that they looked up to her now and viewed her as a protector. That was what she was, after all. Both her and Luna were destined to rule Equestria and keep it from harm, and that was exactly what they were going to do.

The first plan, Celestia decided, was to build a new home. Perhaps... on a mountain.

Comments

[Cyclone12]

I liked it, a good origin story. The pace was nice and relaxed, you describe the world they inhabit quite well. Perhaps the weakest element of the story was dialogue which occasionally felt a little stilted, that said it is a minor complaint. I must mention, waiting to have Luna, and to a lesser extent Celestia, until so late in their "life" was rather cruel(albeit unintentional) of Rhapsody and Sonance. Have them a few hundred years earlier would've spared their daughters some pain. I wonder if that encounter with the substance in the cave has already begun Luna's corruption(by merely being in contact) or if that'll happen in another encounter, it would help explain why she knew offensive magic. Keep writing, though I don't know what I'd like to read more of first, this or the 63rd Rune!

[PresentPerfect]

So non-canon, but SO AWESOME.

[BarrenBaron]

i rather liked this, not that original a concept but pretty nicely executed.

[Alexstrazsa]

454592
Where else have you seen this that makes it not original? I'm fairly curious now.

[BarrenBaron]

454643

There are actually quite a few Celestia/Luna/Discord origin stories around. One you could check out could be genisis.
Regardless it isn't about originality (well to some extents, originality should be present) it's about how you execute it.

[Alexstrazsa]

454655
Oh, okay, now here's the real question. Is the concept of the story (a Celestia origin) the unoriginal part, or are the things in the story the unoriginal part? If it's just the concept that's unoriginal, then I'm fine with that.

[BarrenBaron]

454657

nah you're not really copying anyone i can think of, but creation stories are everywhere. Thats more of what i meant.

[Father Pie]

This need to continue

[Brutydude]

Eeyup, it is nicely written