The Day It Began

by Dyon

Chapter 10

The morning air was cold enough to chill any normal pony that would be sitting in the gardens this at that early hour. Celestia, however, was not a normal pony, and the crisp morning air hardly affected her at all. She gazed out from where she sat over the beautiful Canterlot gardens.

From atop the small hill that she was seated upon she could look out across the entirety of the gardens. Like Canterlot itself, the magnificent spectacle of nature that spread out before her was entirely ponymade, and by extension, Celestia had practically built the entire city herself.

A large portion of the landscape below was reserved for the animals that lived in the small eden. They were wilder than most of the creatures that could be found in Equestria, and Celestia had made sure that they stayed that way. It was a small tribute to a friend that she had lost a long time ago.

Whenever she had any free time, Celestia, could often be found wandering the small forest amongst the animals. Generation after generation had grown up knowing the kind white alicorn, and she was one of the only ponies that they did not shy away in fear from. Herself and the old caretaker of the grounds, that was.

Past the trees she could see that the hedge maze had grown back in full. It had taken many months of work, but the talented ponies that looked after that whole section of the castle had managed recreate it perfectly. It had been completely desolated when Discord had escaped his imprisonment all those months ago.

It was not the first time that the maze had been destroyed. Over the years everything from tornados to over zealous pupils of hers had managed to wreck the maze quite thoroughly. Every time some disaster did come along though, she made sure that it was put back exactly how it had been before.

She and Luna used to have a maze exactly like it in the old capital. In those early years when Equestria was first getting on its feet Luna had really enjoyed just wandering about the maze. She would lose herself in it on purpose so that she could puzzle her way out. Every time she would stumble out of the maze she would add some new layer to it so that next time it was harder.

Celestia would shake her head at her younger sister, and ask why she would lose herself on purpose. Luna would laugh and tell her that she was just trying to think something through, and getting lost was the only way to find her way out. It was rebuilt to be exactly how it had been the last time that Luna came shambling out of it. She wasn’t laughing that time though.

Celestia sighed, and looked to the skyline. The night was coming to an end, and soon she would need to raise the sun. The grass under her was still damp with dew, and clung to her fur. The last bit of the moon was sinking below the horizon indicating the time to her.

She looked once more across the gardens, to the area that she was dreading to gaze upon. The statues decorated the landscape in tiny little clumps. To the common observer they were probably thought of a beautiful, and most of them were. Some of the very finest sculptors ever to come out of ponykind had crafted the statues below.

A few of them however, were made in a much more unpleasant fashion. She knew that she had to go there today, but she certainly didn’t want to. Gazing in the direction of her destination, she felt real fear start to well up in her. Very few things in the world actually scared the goddess, but those few things that did were nothing to be trifled with.

She could see him from where she was seated, nearly a mile away. He stood there frozen, with a look of pure horror eternally etched on his face. How could it have possibly come to this? What she was going to do was completely insane.

She tore her gaze away from the statue, and back to the horizon. The moon had now vanished from the sky, indicating that its reign over the heavens was at a close for now. Celestia reached out, feeling for an old friend that loomed just out of sight. It didn’t take long, hardly a second, before she felt the warmth reach out to her.

As kindly as she could, she persuaded the lazy titan to start its trip across the sky. Slowly, as if just waking up from a dream, the sun began to climb higher into the sky. It broke over the horizon, bathing the world in its beautiful radiance, as it bent to the will of the princess and began its trek.

Celestia looked to where the morning was beginning, and felt a small amount of pride well up in her. Luna was far more talented at decorating the heavens that she was, but she still loved to look at her sunrises. She felt the power of the day beginning fill her up, and for those few moments that she controlled the will of a star itself, she felt as if she could do anything.

Deciding that it was too late to try and put off the chore any longer, Celestia rose to her hooves and took off. She pushed up from the ground with one mighty stroke of her wings, and was soon sailing through the air. The air was still cold, but the sun was beginning to warm the world around her.

She spent most of her time nowadays in the castle going over matters of state. It had been some time since she had just been out for a flight just for the sake of flying. Celestia’s faint smile turned to a grimace as she realized that even now she couldn’t enjoy this small freedom. She couldn’t relish the feeling of the wind rustling through her mane or the way it felt to exert herself, even a little, because her mind was focused on what was about to transpire.

As was typical, the flight didn’t take very long, and she was soon landing in the statue garden. She set down at the foot of the petrified draconequus. He was looking away from her, but she could feel his mind reaching out and probing.

Even trapped in this form Discord was still very dangerous. The Elements had managed to make his body unable to move, but his mind kept its unnatural ability to search where his eyes could not. An ability that had no doubt been acquired from another of their immortal brethren.

The absolute horror that he displayed brought a small smirk to the face of the alicorn. It immediately disappeared, and Celestia’s expression returned to that of warm stoicism. Before her stood one of the greatest enemies that she had ever had, but unfortunately, he wasn’t the only one.

The decision had been made the day prior, but there was still time to reconsider. All she really had to do was turn around and head back to the castle, and nopony would be the wiser. She could chalk all of this up to momentary hysteria brought on by the stress of the situation.

The corner of her lips dropped ever so slightly. The time that she could pass anything off as her being simply overwhelmed by the situation had past eons ago. She had seen crisis many times over the centuries, and it had hardened her. It was not a simple emotion that had driven her to this point, and she knew that her judgment was just as unclouded as ever.

This was the best thing that she could do for her subjects, or the entire world for that matter. Something had to be done, and before her stood the only rational option that she could contemplate. Regaining her resolve, Celestia’s horn sparked to life, and she began.

____________________________________________________________________________

“Ah don’t reckon that we will need that, Pinkie,” Applejack informed her bouncy pink friend, as the chariot came to a stop atop the platform.

Pinkie Pie frowned from behind her surprisingly compact cannon. “But AJ if we don’t use the party cannon it will take forever to decorate.”

“That’s kinda mah point Pinkie. Ah don’t see the reason that we need to have a party. From what Twilight’s letter said this is a very serious situation.” Applejack hopped out of the chariot, and reached back to help Fluttershy out.

“That’s exactly why we need a party. Everypony is going to be all serious and stuff so we need a way to get them to smile. What better way of doing that than having a big party!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed as she pushed the cannon out of the chariot, where it landed on the stone floor with a large clang.

“I don’t know about you guys,” Rainbow Dash said from where she was sprawled out on the canopy of the sky carriage, “but this feels like one of those things that we all get called together for to go fight some new bad guy. I don’t think we will be sticking around long enough to even have a party.” Rainbow lazily rolled off the side the chariot and landed with a large amount of athletic grace.

“We have to… fight?” Fluttershy squeaked from where she was hiding behind Applejack. Applejack immediately turned around to console her easily startled friend.

“Don’t you worry none, sugarcube. Ah’m sure that everything will work out like it always does.” AJ prodded the frightened pegasus to stand so that she could walk with the rest of her friends to where the guards were trying to usher them.

“Yea, Fluttershy, don’t worry. Whatever it is we can just put on the elements and zap it with the rainbow. That usually fixes everything,” Rainbow Dash added as she took to the air, and stretched her wings.

“Can we have a party after that?” Pinkie asked nopony in particular.

“Sure, Pinkie. After whatever is going on you can throw a party.” Rainbow glided over to the door the guards were patiently waiting for them at. Her friends followed closely behind.

Just like every other time that they had been summoned to the castle, the guards were stationed every couple of meters. One in particular was waiting at the entrance of the castle for the mares. His armor was an immaculate white, and hit electric blue mane fell over his neck in long streaks. Unlike the rest of the stallions stationed outside the castle, this one seemed to be in a hurry, and tapped his hoof against the tile as he anxiously waited for them to arrive.

The pegasus guard turned away from them once they were close enough, and quickly proceeded to walk down the corridor. Applejack gave her cyan friend a confused look, to which the chromatic pegasus shrugged and followed quickly behind their escort. The other three mares decided to do the same.

In silence the group hurried along the hallways to their destination. It didn’t take long for them to figure out that they were being led to the throne room. Rainbow Dash wanted to ask what the trouble was, but the air around the ponies was so filled with tension that she was afraid to cut it.

In short order, the five ponies arrived at the throne room, and the pegasus turned to address the mares for the first time. “Princess Celestia has summoned you to the throne room to address some matter of grave importance. If you would kindly excuse me ladies I have someplace that I desperately need to be.”

Without another word the guard turned and rocketed down the hall. His speed was enough to make Ponyville’s number one speedster a little jealous. A little confused, Applejack slowly pushed open the door to the throne room, uncertain what they would find on the other side.

Much to their relief the two ponies that waited for them on the other side of the doors were Rarity and Twilight. Pinkie bounced into the room, and quickly made her way to the two unicorns and pulled them into a big hug. A little caught off guard, the two mares quickly returned the embrace.

“Oh my gosh it feels like its been forever since I’ve seen you guys. I know that it’s only been a couple of days, but still we should do something to celebrate being reunited. I made sure to bring my new and improved version of the party cannon just in case we needed something to celebrate.” Pinkie Pie released her friends and bounced back a few steps to allow the others access to Twilight and Rarity.

“It is good to see you too Pinkie, but I don’t think that we will be celebrating anything anytime soon.” Twilight looked away from her friends.

“What do ya mean, Twi. Why did the princess ask us to come to Canterlot anyway?” Applejack asked, voicing the concerns of the whole group.

“I am not actually sure why she wanted everypony to come to Canterlot.”

“Well then why do you look so down, sugarcube?” Applejack made her way over to the other mare. “What is the matter, Twi?”

“Well… I don’t know if I should say. We aren’t supposed to talk about it,” Twilight continued to look away, unwilling to meet the gaze’s of her friends.

“Not supposed to talk about what?” Rainbow Dash sailed away from the wall mirror that she was making faces in to join the conversation.

“She doesn’t want to tell you about the war,” Rarity answered.

All eyes in the room immediately shot to the white unicorn that was being unnaturally blunt. Twilight seemed more shocked than any of them. Rarity wasn’t supposed to know about it either. Only a select few outside of the actual guard knew that the zebras were preparing to mount an assault on Equestria.

“War?” Fluttershy squeaked.

“Wait. How do you even know about it, Rarity?”

“It is hard not to know about it, Twilight. All of the guards are flocking to the capital, and they are such amazing gossips. Really, everypony in the castle has already heard about this invasion that is supposed to be happening soon.”

“Hold on a second both of you. What is this about an invasion, and why are we not supposed to know about it?” Applejack turned once again to Twilight.

“Well it seems that there is no point in hiding it now,” Twilight glared at her unicorn friend, but Rarity was completely unfazed. “It all started when some ancient evil was released from a prison beneath Canterlot. He fought off both princesses and escaped, but not before he wrecked the city. He flew back to his home country of Zebrica, and completely took over the government. Now he is forcing the zebras to gather an army, and the princess thinks that he is planning to invade Equestria,” Twilight was a little out of breath from the confession by the time that she finished.

“He is forcing ponies to fight when they don’t want to? That isn’t very nice of him,” Pinkie Pie was very good at stating the obvious.

“So the princess called us here so that we can zap this guy with the rainbow. See, I told you guys that’s what was up.” Rainbow Dash would have patted herself on the back if the situation weren’t so grave.

“No, that’s the thing. When I asked Princess Celestia about using the Elements on him she said that they wouldn’t work,” Twilight replied.

“Well then why did she want us all to meet up here?” Applejack asked.

“I don’t know. I keep trying to figure out why she would want us all to come to Canterlot, but I just can’t figure it out.”

“Then allow me to enlighten you.”

_____________________________________________________________________________

The wall cracked slightly as the punching bag slammed into it. I knew that it was very odd for a cushioned object to actually cause damage to a brick wall, but I couldn’t get over the fact that I had knocked it off the chain in the first place.

After I had sparred some more with Captain Hammer it came to my attention that I was way stronger than I should be. There is no human alive that should be able to swing a hammer with a hundred pound head. I truly didn’t understand why the ponies even had such an instrument lying around.

The next time that I had sparred with the Captain I had chosen a much lighter weapon. The sword that I had used was too short for me, but I had been able to work miracles with it. Never before in my life had I felt more in control of my body. I had almost been able to match the good Captain blow for blow, and he had been doing this sort of thing his whole life. I was far too good for a novice, and I was determined to find out why.

Knowing that I was stronger and faster than I ever had been before, all of the pieces started to fit together. Empress, had smacked me around pretty hard, but I had come out of the ordeal relatively unscathed. I had managed to swing around a massive hammer, and had managed to match the speed of an expert swordsman. Maybe all of the things that Apollo had told me weren’t as insane as they had sounded.

Standing over the fallen form of the punching bag as its insides spilled across the floor I truly started to realize the implications of this. No wonder Celestia had wanted me to fight for her in this upcoming battle. I was able to do all of these things without even thinking about them.

As far as exercise went, I really didn’t go out of my way to get it in. It’s true that during High School I had played some sports at the request of my parents, but after a few years I had dropped out. I really didn’t see the need to participate in many team sports. If I thought about it, I was not by any stretch of the imagination a fit human being.

Being here had somehow super charged me beyond simply being able to conjure magic music from nowhere. If I worked at it, and dedicated myself to becoming a true fighter like the Princess wanted would there even be a limit to what I could do? The possibilities scared me.

Before I knew about any of this things were strange enough. I was in some other dimension on an alien world in the middle of an ancient feud. Did I really have to discover that I had also been dramatically altered by the trip between worlds? It was hard to stop myself from spinning into a cycle of self-pity, but I somehow managed it.

Sighing, I bent down and picked up the punching bag. Now that I was actually aware of my strength lifting the seventy-pound bag was like nothing. I tossed it over my back, and walked back to the storage locker I had gotten it from. I heard the beans from the bag spilling out across the floor with every step that I took.

The training room was completely empty. It seemed that the guards that normally used the facility were at some important meeting today about the current state of affairs along the border. I had picked up a lot of what was going on from some of the newer recruits who couldn’t help but talk about it. I swear those guys are even chattier than high school girls.

Not feeling the need to be gentle with broken equipment I tossed the bag into the closet, and picked up another one. I dragged the punching bag back along the hardwood floor until I was once again in front of the chain that was used to hold it up. I quickly strung the bag up, and began my assault on it.

At first I had been excited to test out just how much damage I could dish out, but it became obvious very quickly that if I tried as hard as I could the bag wouldn’t hold up long. For whatever reason that information only excited me more, and I had eventually broken it off the chain and sent it careening into the wall behind it.

This time however, I was being much more gentle with my strikes. I gave the bag simple jabs to try and see just how fast I could throw a punch. I pulled a considerable amount of power out of each punch, not wanting a repeat of what had happened a few minutes prior.

The more I tried at it the more improvement I was able to see. At first the punches were flying as fast as I had expected them to. Of course they were faster than anything that I had ever expected myself to be able to do, but they weren’t crazy fast. Over time I noticed that they started to gain speed drastically.

I was tossing punches out left and right so fast that it was kind of hard for me to actually see them clearly. The bag started to rock unsteadily on the chain as the speed of my blows continued to steadily increase. I somehow managed to get a hold of myself, and stopped the onslaught.

The chain suspending the bag creaked at it started to slow. I hadn’t realized it, but I was panting now, and I had to bend over to catch my breath. Maybe the news of everything that was happening was finally catching up with me. Maybe, this is where my brain finally gives out, and I just snap.

I calmed myself and stood back up. The bag was barely teetering in front of me, but it was also calling out to me. I felt all of the frustration at my situation begin to well up inside of me. The pure unfairness of it all began to come to the surface of my mind, and it dredged with it a rage that I hadn’t felt for a very long time.

I wound my fist back as hard as I could and took out all of the frustration that had been festering in my mind out on the poor defenseless punching bag. The link to the chain held strong, but the wooden beam holding the chain in place didn’t. The wood snapped, and the punching bag sailed hard into the brick wall just like its brother had.

The bag exploded as it hit the wall, and caused a shower of beans to scatter across the room. The wooden beam fell in two pieces to the ground, and the building shook ominously for a moment before settling. I quickly turned away from the pointless destruction that I had caused, and quickly made my way to the exit. I didn’t want to think about what I was capable of doing anymore.

____________________________________________________________________________

Though she had never done the ritual before it came to her just as easily as most magics did. A white haze sped out from the horn of Celestia, and began to circle the imprisoned trickster. The mist swirled rapidly around him, and began to close in.

Celestia channeled more power into the spell, and felt herself begin to weaken. The Element’s hold over the draconequus was powerful, but the princess spent long enough with them to know how they worked. The mist collapsed in on the statue and found the weak points that she knew were there.

The statue began to radiate with energy as the mist seeped through the stone. The hard part was over, and all she had to do was release the spell and Discord would be free once again. Celestia hesitated; she was still frightened to venture down this path.

She once again steeled her resolve, and began to draw upon the power of the sun that now hung overhead. Its warmth and strength was always able to give the alicorn a tremendous boon when she needed, and she called upon every shred of magic that it was willing to lend.

The energy coalesced into her, and she could feel the flow of mana around her shift towards her. Celestia made a dam within her mind to hold the magic back until she needed it to perform the task at hand. It built in her mind like water trying to overrun a floodgate, but she held fast.

She allowed the power to build within her until she could bear it no longer. She let power flow from her, and a massive beam of light was loosed from her horn. It made contact with the statue, and completely obscured it.

A cracking could be heard from within the blinding light that was now encompassing the frozen god. A few seconds passed before an explosion rocked the small section of the gardens throwing dust and debris several feet. Celestia stood unmoving where she had been as the dust around the now freed Discord began to settle.

The dust cleared and revealed the draconequus sitting on the ground stretching. “You cannot imagine what standing in the same position for a such a long time does to the body.” With a loud pop Discord’s leg came off in his hand. “Oops looks like I overdid it a little.” With a flick of his thumb he popped the hoof of his now disembodied leg, and poured chocolate milk out of it into his mouth.

“I see that you don’t waste any time when it comes to chaos,” Celestia remarked dryly.

“Who has time to waste time with something as important as chaos, Celestia my dear?” Discord slapped the hoof back onto his leg, and reattached it.

“I trust that you know why I let you out of your confinement.”

“Always straight to the point with you, Celestia. You never take the time to stop and smell the flowers.” Discord’s face darkened. “Of course I know why you saw fit to let me out of that infernal prison. I cannot say that I fault you for doing so, it was really your only course of action.”

“Then you will help us with this matter?” Celestia asked hesitantly.

Discord’s face regained its joyful arrogance as he gave his answer. “No.”

“What,” Celestia was admittedly shocked by his response; “You have more cause to hate him than anyone else.”

“Yes I do. I will not be helping you and your little tribe of ponies in taking out Porosis once and for all. I will do it myself, and then I will come back for you and your little kingdom. Do not think that I have forgotten what you have done to me on two different occasions.”

“Then your highest priority is Porosis?” Celestia asked.

“Oh yes, Mister Order and Stability himself; the very antithesis of life embodied in an all-powerful being. You know me, Celestia I love life. It is so deliciously chaotic, even if YOU try to rein it in and control it. Some of the things that you and your ponies do to each other I could never think up. So to answer your question, yes. The number one priority is that arrogant bat-zebra,” Discord said as he floated into the air and began to circle Celestia.

“You will then come for Equestria of course.”

“But of course, my dear. I am nothing if not honest with my intentions.” Discord crossed a claw over his heart to show his sincerity.

“Then we will be ready for you when you return.” Celestia wanted to make sure that he heard the threat in her voice.

“No, Celestia. I fear you will not be ready for what is to come next.” With a wink the draconequus disappeared from sight.

Celestia let out a sigh as she looked to the spot that the trickster had vanished from. On the ground lay an orange smoothie with a swivel straw. Celestia picked up the cold beverage with her magic and examined it closely. After she was satisfied she took a hesitant sip, and found it to be delicious. She began her slow trek back to the castle as she lazily sipped the smoothie. There was really no point in wasting something so delicious.

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“Wait! You let out Discord? Why would you do something like that princess?” Surprisingly, it was Twilight who was raising her voice to the monarch.

“I did it because in the entirety of history only one person has ever defeated Porosis, and it was Discord. I did it because I would rather not waste countless pony and zebra lives on a pointless war when we had a way to get to the root of the problem. I did it, my dear student, because it was the only logical thing to do with all of the information at my disposal.” Despite the volume at which Twilight had addressed her, Celestia kept her voice low and smooth.

“So then you wanted everypony to gather here to stop Discord, not Porosis.” Twilight had finally put the puzzle together.

“That is correct, Twilight. We have beaten him back with the Elements of Harmony two times before and we can do it again. On top of that we know that he will be immediately coming back to Canterlot once her defeats Porosis once and for all. We have the advantage of knowing exactly when, where, and how to strike at him and that is all we need,” Celestia explained.

“Ah don’t know princess. This still sounds awfully risky to me. What if Discord takes the elements like he did last time and we can’t get them back.” Applejack raised a very good point.

“You do not have to worry about that, Applejack. After the last time that Discord escaped and secured the elements out from underneath us I have refortified the vault in which they are housed. There is a barrier in place that is powered by the Elements of Harmony themselves. The magic of the elements directly repulses Discord so there is no way he would be able to get at them.” With no need for further explanation Celestia turned from the ponies gathered before her to the vault on the far side of the room.

Slowly, Celestia made her way to the large golden doors, which the Elements of Harmony laid behind. Like she did every time she opened the doors, she inserted her horn into the small hole that comprised the lock. With an audible click the doors cracked open slightly, and Celestia opened them fully with her magic.

Floating inside the chamber was a chest suspended in an orb of rainbow colored magic. The orb hummed with power as it kept the chest solidly in place. Celestia’s horn began to glow again as she started to undo the magic that surrounded the chest.

“I want each of you to keep your respective element on you at all times. The power of the elements will keep anypony from taking them from you, and as long as you six stay together you will be safe. I don’t know how long it will be until Discord returns here once again, so I would like each of you to stay in the castle under guard for the time being.”

The magic around the chest pulsed for a second before dissipating. A loud rush of wind blew out from the chest as the power of the elements receded, and Celestia caught the now falling chest in the soft glow of her magic. She levitated it in the air beside her as she made her way back to where the girls were standing behind her.

She opened the chest, and was relieved to see the familiar glint of the Elements of Harmony greet her. Celestia let out a sigh that she did not know that she had been holding in as she levitated the Element of Laughter out of the box.

She quickly began to pass out each of the elements to their owners. Naturally, the Element of Laughter found its way to the always-bubbly Pinkie Pie. The Element of Loyalty was the next to be pulled from the box, and was swiftly given to the stalwart Rainbow Dash.

It was Generosity that was pulled out of the chest not long after, and the unicorn Rarity wore it with pride. Kindness was passed to the pegasus who, though easily frightened would, always meet any obstacle head on if her friends depended on her. Celestia levitated the Element of Honesty to Applejack, a pony that was never afraid to give the honest truth to anypony, no matter how much it might hurt.

Celestia looked into the now empty box as if expecting something to still be inside of it. The alicorn princess did a double take when she saw that the box contained only five of the six elements of harmony.

“What’s wrong princess?” Twilight asked, seeing the distress on her mentor’s face.

“The Element of Magic… it’s gone.” Upon hearing Celestia’s words the six mares in the room gasped.

“But I thought you said that Discord couldn’t possibly get to the elements.” Rainbow Dash swooped over so that she could get a look inside the chest.

“He couldn’t. He can’t!” Celestia punctuated her anger with a stamp of her hooves.

“If Discord couldn’t have taken the element then who did?” Twilight thought aloud. “Could Porosis have taken the element earlier when he escaped the city?”

“I suppose it is possible.” Celestia mulled over the possibility. “We did immediately leave to my chamber after the fight with Porosis. That would have given him the opportunity to take the element.” Celestia’s head fell. “It doesn’t really matter. Without the elements we will have no way of stopping Discord when he returns. It seems that I have only compounded our problems with my rash actions today.”

“Don’t worry princess I’m sure that we will think of something,” Pinkie Pie said, trying to rally the group.

“Yea, last time we didn’t have any of the elements when we started to try and take down Discord. This time we have five which is way better than last time,” Rainbow Dash chimed in.

“Ah’m sure that there is some way to get out of this here mess.” Applejack stepped forward to throw in her two cents.

“I have little doubt that we will overcome this obstacle,” Rarity said as she stepped forward to join the group.

“Yes, I agree. We will get through this no matter what,” the unusually vocal Fluttershy added.

“I have an idea.” At the sound of the distinctly male voice all heads in the room turned to where Twilight had just been standing in time to see the cloud of black smoke dissipating. When the cloud finally cleared Twilight was nowhere to be seen.

Comments

[Lone Wolf]

This is getting better

[Dan50]

Oh noes! Hehe

[giz]

brilliant
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