• Published 16th Aug 2013
  • 2,053 Views, 35 Comments

Chaos Cooldown, an Equestria Origin Story - JeckParadox



Discord explains the secrets of the universe to the newly immortal Princess, and what happens after the end of the world... and what happens when it begins again...

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The Spirit of Order and the Night

"Luna!" Twilight called, "I'm here, when are we going to start?" She looked around the balcony before walking over to Luna's telescope and peeking inside, before gasping as she saw the Moon in far closer detail. She frowned as she zoomed in, spotting a shoddily-built castle.

"Friend Twilight?" Luna asked suddenly, making Twilight jump a foot in the air.

"Oh! Sorry Luna, you startled me a bit."

Luna trotted up to the telescope to see what Twilight was looking at, smirking at the castle. "Ah, I remember it as if it were yesterday. I... I've never really studied architecture." She admitted, chuckling. "I'd get trapped in one room or another often, and the entire thing collapsed daily." She smiled at the lopsided structure. "It took me a thousand years to get it right, and by then I realized I was already used to not having any shelter..."

Twilight gazed up there. "...so... is that where we're heading first?" She asked, trying to downplay her excitement of going to the Moon. Luna nodded. "It's a good a place as any, though it's a bit of a trek... I take it you've already cleared your schedule as i've done mine?"

"Yep! Spike has everything covered, and I triple checked with Celestia that she could handle it all."

Luna chuckled. "Foolish sister, she thinks just because she was able to operate Equestria alone for a thousand years that she's going to just breeze through the work of three Princesses..."

Twilight grinned. "Hehe... Celestia always has managed to underestimate her workload..."

Luna raised an eyebrow. "Oh? I thought Celestia's been keeping very reasonable and organized since I've come back."

Twilight giggled. "Well, perhaps compared to a younger Celestia... but compared to any one of her secretaries... yeesh... to think, back when I was her student I wouldn't really wonder what Celestia's duties were, I mean I knew, but it never really occurred to me that she'd shirk her work to deal with whatever minor problem started up in Ponyville."

"Minor, friend Twilight? Possibly Ursa Minor. Throughout Equestria they tell daring stories of the fearless residents of Ponyville who dare to place their village next to the Everfree Forest and directly in front of Canterlot, Ponyville's been on the verge of nearly being decimated to nothing more times than I can count."

"Eight hundred and fifty-three times...." she smirked at Luna. "As of last week."

Luna nodded. "Hydras are fairly pesky, aren't they?"

Twilight smiled again. "No match for any of us though..."

"...the Elements of Harmony, Celestia, Twilight, Luna, Discord, Cadence..." Luna listed off. "It's a wonder that there are still things out there willing to attack us, considering that particular lineup."

Twilight shook her head. "Where there is stupidity or desperation, anything can be made out to be possible."

"Well, enough talk of monsters and war, let's go up to the Moon... it really has been too long." Luna said. "Ready?"

Twilight pulled her suitcases closer and nodded.

Luna gave nod in return and lit her horn with some strain, and the energy glowed bright, surrounding the two Princesses and depositing them on the Lunar Landscape. "@#$%!" Luna shouted as the spell dissipated. Twilight would have stared at the Princess in shock, considering the Princesses almost never ever swore like that, even in private, but she was currently shivering too much to devote energy to turning her head. "I forgot how damnably cold it is here!!" Luna growled loudly. Luna's horn began glowing and a red aura appeared over the two of them.

Twilight sighed in relief as the heating spell warmed her from head to hoof. "....Luna... I don't think I would have survived much longer if I were still mortal..."

"Banishments were better prepared unfortunately, we have heating spells directly attached... most of the time..."

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Nopony's been banished to the Moon in my memory..."

"Tis... an ancient spell... and a harsh punishment. We sealed Sombra here for a time, but it didn't hold him and he used our taking his imprisonment for granted to conquer the Crystal Empire... so long ago... he took advantage of everything Twilight..."

Twilight and Luna were quiet for a time, Luna's memories going back a few thousand years.

But Luna shook herself out of it fairly quickly. "Come on Twilight, let's walk. Everything's pretty far apart."

Twilight looked up into the starry sky. "Um.. where's the world?"

Luna looked up. "On the other side. We'll be able to see it when we reach the Castle. But that's a long, long walk away. We'll see the glow first."

"Why not fly, or teleport?"

Luna frowned at Twilight. "We could not. The last time I was here... no magic..." she let out a sad laugh. "...well, a little. But no more than you, before your ascension."

"I could teleport..." Twilight said slowly.

Luna shook her head. "Never was any good at it, Celestia's even worse. We just flew or spirited ourselves as smoke..."

Twilight nudged Luna slightly, showing a smile. "You should teach me that sometime. Now come on, are you going to mope the whole way?"

Luna forced a smile that slowly became genuine. "Apologies, friend Twilight. This... this landscape brings back a lot of old memories. The smell..."

Twilight nodded, unfurling her wings and levitating her cases. "Come on, I'll race you there!"

"You don't even know where 'there' is!"

"Well, you'll have a slight advantage then. Come on."


Luna landed with a soft sound in front of her 'castle'. She turned and saw Twilight barely fluttering in the distance. "You underestimated me Twilight!" Luna called back.

Twilight let out a groan as she teleported the final few yards and landed in a heap in front of Luna. Luna bent down and began doing a healing spell, but Twilight's horn shined for only an instant and she got up with another groan, but no longer tired. "Like I said.. slight advantage."

Luna smirked. Twilight was terrible in competitions typically, her ability to pace herself her only good trait. But despite the fact that Twilight was also a Spirit, her body wasn't nearly as powerful as Luna's. "So... here it is."

Twilight turned and saw the massive structure. "So, this is your Castle on the Moon?"

"Yep!...it's... not as impressive as the title implies..."

Twilight gave a laugh and went for the door. Luna walked with her for a few seconds before a connection suddenly occurred in her brain. "Wait!"

"Huh?" Twilight turned back to face Luna, who was blushing.

"I... it's... very unstable... so we should be careful..."

"We're both immortal." Twilight said with a smirk. "We could get crushed to a pulp, have our horns and wings taken off, and we'd still be able to get up and brush it off. I don't think I have to worry about getting hurt."

Luna rolled her eyes. "I mean I don't want to collapse it for the Castle's sake. I know we'd both be okay... and..." Luna sighed, looking off to the side. "and... well, the real reason i don't want you to go in is because when I built it I was Nightmare Moon.... I was a bundle of hate and jealousy and pettiness... there are probably things in there I don't want you to see."

Twilight brought in Luna for a hug and began walking inside. "I think we can deal with whatever's inside there, together."

Luna nodded. Took a deep breath, and the two mares walked into the dark castle together, Luna giving one last glance at the huge glowing blue-green sphere above them.


The structure was surprisingly empty, considering. Luna seemed almost disappointed that there wasn't slander and evil schemes painted across the wall in blood. She wasn't kidding when she said it collapsed daily, already the two Alicorns had collapsed a tower and taken out a wall from attempting to scrape out what might have been a message a millenia ago.

Twilight, despite the accidental demolition, was having the time of her life, snapping pictures and writing notes on the moon rock. Twilight had always been a fan of archeology, something she got from her mother and a childhood of being surrounded by Daring Do rough drafts.

It wasn't until they got to the third floor of the remaining castle that Twilight's mood dampened slightly. "Luna... is this what you were talking about?"

Luna gave a kind of half-laugh with little happiness behind it. "Yes... this was what I was thinking about... kind of tame in retrospect."

Scattered across the ground were statues of Alicorns that were viciously torn apart, shattered, and generally beat up. From the mark burned on each flank Twilight was able to recognize them as Celestia. "You really hated her for a long time... huh."

Luna shook her head. "I thought I did, but really... well, the night I came back, or at least the Nightmare did, I didn't even try attacking her. I dared her to strike first... but even then I didn't really put my effort into it." She smirked at Twilight. "Just think, you and your six friends, having to brave the greatest dangers a psychopathic Alicorn has to offer; scary trees, whiny serpents, and a broken bridge."

"Don't forget the manticore." Twilight added. "Or the cliff."

"Oh yeah... hehe, that cliff thing, I don't even know what I was thinking... I think I just didn't honestly believe that you six would unlock the Element of Magic. I didn't treat you seriously at all."

Twilight nodded, levitating a broken Celestia statue back to her hooves, only for the legs to crack and send it tumbling down again. "Good thing too."

"Yes." Luna's horn glowed and every statue in the room glowed with a pale blue light that soaked them through completely. She had a special connection with the moon, and every statue in the room's light came together in the center, in the form of one, whole, statue.

"Luna!"

"What?"

"I was studying those!"

"Oh... sorry Twilight. I just thought it would be kind of mean to just leave them broken all over the place..."

"Hmph. Fine, but no more disintegrating things, these are all valuable artifacts of Equestria's history!"

Luna rolled her eyes. "Alright, if my bratty rock tantrums have historical significance then I'm going to have your doll catalogued in the Equestrian Natural History Museum."

"You leave Smartypants out of this." Twilight jokingly threatened, snapping a picture of the new statue before moving on.


Approximately 400 years ago.

"And this is for making fun of my art!" Luna screamed, bucking the statue in the side over and over until the wing fell off and she made a substantial crack. She fell to the ground, gasping in exhaustion. But the mere fact that she could become exhausted just made a new wave of hatred against the stone figure and all it represented. She got up and pushed the statue over, then lifting it back into place, over and over, til it broke through the middle.

Luna grinned in triumph for a few seconds before it faded away, leaving only the normal frown she always had in the mirrors around her 'castle'.

She stepped over the broken statue, levitating it without looking and tossing it out the nearest window, not caring it destroyed the moon-glass she had spent hours making before. She would have time to do it again.

She had nothing but time.

She walked down the hall to her 'bedroom', in the highest tower she could build with her limited magic. She laid down against the tablet, despite the fact she didn't dare to sleep. Her first few years on the moon were so filled with nightmares she might have been put off sleep permanently. Luckily, it didn't really matter whether Luna slept or not. She would always heal enough to keep going, she'd always have enough magic to keep her alive.

It was fascinating, to the mage within, what the Elements had done to her. She didn't know they could be used by just one pony, as the Elements were fueled by Harmony, initiated through Harmony, and used weaponized Harmony. It was against their nature to be able to be used by any one pony. It took at least two, two ponies cooperating, with a bond of friendship. But apparently Luna wanting to get the recognition she deserved was threatening enough for the Elements to stop following their own stupid inconvenient rules. It was childish of her to anthropomorphize* the Elements, but if she was going to hate Celestia for all eternity, she might as well hate her weapons as well. But what they had done to her... it was fascinating. As an Alicorn she possessed seemingly limitless magic, but the Elements had put a limiter on how much she could release, taking her down as low as a Unicorn.

She would never exhaust her magical power, but never be able to summon enough of it to make a difference.

She found herself jealous of Sombra, who had managed to escape the Moon after just two weeks. She had spent almost a thousand years on this rock, and the only thing she could do was wait for the stars to get into position.

Luna sighed and rolled back off the slab, unfurling her wings and taking flight, going for a long loop, not bothering to keep track of any of her surroundings, she would run into her castle again eventually, and if not, she could just make a new one.

She headed in a random direction, as per usual, but stopped when she came to a small crater she managed to recognize. It was covered with burns, huge clefts of stone had been ripped out of the ground and thrown left and right, and at the center of it all, the imprint of her hooves and of six blackened burns arranged around the hoofmarks in a circle. This is where she had first arrived. And this is where she would be going back, she decided.

Summoning her strength of will Luna teleported her armor to her, putting each piece on in turn. She spent the next few hours making a mirror from a nearby boulder, and when she was done she looked over herself. She didn't require food to survive, but she had gotten incredibly thin over the years. Nopony would consider a walking skeleton attractive, even in Luna's jeweled armor.

Luna looked at the stars once again, the four most loyal of all of them, slowly closing in on the Moon so that they could sacrifice themselves to free her. She instinctively knew the exact time, now that she thought about it. Only a few more years. Only a few more years til she could get out.

Until she could break Celestia like that statue.

Until the ponies of Equestria feared her again, until they respected her again.


Celestia took a few deep breaths. She commended herself for keeping so calm, considering the circumstances. Her emotions were at complete war with each other inside her chest, inside her brain a million thoughts shouted at each other, deafening her from anything else.

Her sister was coming back.

An alicorn was about to declare war any minute now.

Her sister was coming back!

Equestria is about to fall to darkness.

Her sister was coming back!

Every town in Equestria and the world at large were going to go into a panic.

Luna!

Nightmare Moon.

Luna, oh Luna!

She needed to ready the army... but what good would throwing their lives away so early accomplish?

Luna was coming back!

She needed to get Shining Armor ready to seal Canterlot.

She needed to put together a party, no, a festival to celebrate!

She had to alert her ponies, help them prepare... but it's too late for that now.

Luna!

Need to trust Twilight. You have to trust Twilight.

Is Luna's room clean? She wouldn't want to sleep on a dusty mattress.

Would the Castle survive the initial onslaught?

But every single one of those thoughts came to screeching halt as it was time for dawn to approach, and as the four stars that had taunted her for a thousand years disappeared into the surface of the Moon, taking away every blemish that had marked her sister's presence.

Celestia froze. She had never done that before. She had gone to war before, she had had the fate of the world at stake before. Those terrible wars against Discord, hovering at the edge of her memory, floated to her consciousness. She barely remembered those days, but they were terrible indeed for the ponies. She hadn't hesitated then. Why now?

Her country was under attack, how could she possibly just stand here, in her own castle, as her student braved her sister's eternal wrath in Celestia's place.

But here she was, still standing here. She just continued looking at the unblemished Moon. The same as it had been for the million years before. The same way it had always been in her memory. Even farther back than Discord, farther back than she could possibly hope to remember. She remembered the Sun and Moon, and she remembered her and Luna.

She jumped nearly six feet in the air when there was a knock at the door. She lit her horn in a fight or flight response, but she recognized the magical presence of one of her servants outside. She calmed herself down and tried to quiet her thoughts and her beating heart. "Come in." She said as casually as possible.

The pegasus soldier opened the door and walked in, bowing before explaining it was time to go to the Summer Sun Celebration in Ponyville.

"...Tell me, what's your name?"

The soldier blinked, blushing. "Uh, Lt. Pendant, your Majesty, thank you for asking."

"Thank you Pendant. Pendant, I'm sorry, but we'll have to be delayed for a short while."

"But, Princess, I mean no offense of course, but the Summer Sun Celebration is typically held by you personally at the capitol building exactly at the stroke of dawn, which is around 5:30... I'm sorry, Princess, but if we want to arrive at the right time we need to go now."

"Pendant... rest assured, there will be no celebration until dawn, and it will not be dawn until I arrive."

Pendant raised an eyebrow at the sudden misuse of power. Princess Celestia had not delayed the Sun rising for centuries, for any reason. She was universally loved because in part of this seeming incorruptibility.

"Um... Princess... is there any reason why-"

"Yes. Yes there is, possibly the most important reason in a thousand years... you'll see for yourself.... I'll fly myself, don't bother with the carriage."

"But-"

Princess Celestia, on principle, was always regal, always loving, always gentle. She pictured herself as a doting mother for all of Equestria's ponies. Princess Celestia did not glare at anypony, especially not one of her noble subjects. But all the same, the look she gave her lieutenant sent a shiver down his spine.

She took to the sky, slowly arcing down toward the Everfree Forest.


She watched carefully for Nightmare Moon, eventually finding herself nearby the Castle where the two had spent over a thousand years together. She could sense Luna's... no, Nightmare's presence in the structure, as well as her student... and five friends.

Celestia's coat tingled as she felt the connection to the Elements of Harmony being drawn away from her, having found better hosts. She heard Nightmare's scream as she was surrounded by light. It was done, it was over. Celestia took a deep breath, spiriting herself into the ruined room as a ball of light, and saw her beloved student and her new friends each wearing a necklace of-

Twilight's was a tiara.

Celestia didn't allow it to register on her face, but she knew from that moment that Twilight was destined to be even more than 'just' a bearer of an Element of Harmony. Celestia congratulated them, spoke to them for a while, before turning to a very small Luna, surrounded by shards of steel and solidified magic...

And the rest was history.


Twilight had already filled two bags of moon rocks and had a half-full album. "So, where to next?"

Luna turned to the smaller Alicorn and gave a warm smile. "We have quite a while, why not relax for a while... I don't think you had the chance to enjoy the view yet, after all."

"The view-" Twilight stopped as she followed Luna's gaze to the blue and green and cloud-spotted sphere that towered above them. "....oh."

"It's beautiful isn't it?"

"Unbelievably."

"Not many have seen this sight, friend Twilight. Only the worst of the worst of history's criminals, as well as you, me, and Celestia."

"Heh... that's pretty unfair. You have to commit a felon to get a view like this?"

"No, felons get the dungeons, it takes an immortal tyrant or ancient demonic power to get the Moon."

Twilight raised the camera and took a few pictures. Luna smiled. "Well, not any more! This is going straight to Natural Geographic." Twilight grinned widely, looking at the picture for a few seconds before her face lit up. "We should start bringing scientists up here! Professional photographers...." Luna's smile disappeared. "What's wrong?"

"...Do you really think so?...the Moon is someplace sacred to me... despite all the bad memories..."

Twilight frowned slightly. "...I... I see." Twilight looked at the Earth slowly, ever so slowly, turning. "...but... when I publish this stuff... scientists are going to want to go up there... to see it for themselves."

"..." Luna sighed. "Twilight, you're so young. You've never once been treated as a true God."

"...Isn't that a good thing? You don't want the ponies to see us as Gods."

"Yes, it is a good thing... but I still spent over a millenium being treated as if everything I touched was Sacred, and the Moon itself was universally acknowledged to be something unattainable and holy... and it was mine. Nowadays... it's just 'the moon'. But ponies still had a respect for it in that it was unattainable, inexeperiencable except for the worst of the worst criminals."

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "I don't think inexperiencable is a word."

"I'm the Princess, I can make it a word if I want it to be."

"...Luna, things change... I've never really had anything considered 'holy' before but... if you don't think the Moon is ready for this, then who am I to stop you?" Twilight gathered all the notes and pictures and summoned a chest. She placed all the research she had gathered thus far into it and locked it shut. "Well, here I am, depriving all of pony kind from their knowledge of the Moon."

Luna sighed. "Twilight, you don't have to go this far, I get it it's just... I don't know... this is a big step for me, I've never had to do something like making the Moon public before!"

"...Alright. I'll help you."

"Huh?"

"I'm going to help you. Luna, I'm not talking about making the moon into a tourist attraction. I'm talking about letting ponies learn more about the universe."

"...I'm... I'm still not sure."

"...It deserves to be shared, and it's far too beautiful to be just a prison."

"...I can agree with that statement."

"And that's the first step."

Comments ( 5 )
Bum

Sweet! Update:pinkiehappy:

This needs more love.

Great fic. Keep up the good work.

3910654 He didn't gain thought so much as 'awareness', which led to thought and intelligence as his power increased and he built his own sense of what he was.
And the 'chaos does the unexpected', before Discord started doing things, Nothing happened. Literally anything he did would be something completly new and strange to the universe he was in at the time. But I dunno. I'm glad you like the story.

4503327 I like that. It works very well "a glide from one pitch to another"

A good story! But it feels like the third chapter is its own thing, separate from the first two.

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