• Published 13th Dec 2014
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The Fall of the Sun & Moon - Maxes Altho



Twilight and friends return from vacation a bit different from when they left.

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The Rise of Twilight, Part Two

Previously, in The Fall of Celestia

“Well, I guess I could do that. Let’s see, according to my Atlas of Equis (RD: “She carries one of those in her saddlebags? Like, everywhere?”), the most sensible route would be to travel across Zebrica to the west, then head north to the Islands of Minos. From there, Griffonia is just across the Ponydratic Sea, with Saddle Arabia a little ways south. The Crystal Empire is in the northern tip of Equestria, so that would be the logical conclusion to our journey. That way, if AJ gets to learn about the crystal food process, and it runs a little longer than we think, she’s just a train ride away from Ponyville, not counting the stopover in Canterlot. That sound good to everypony?”

A chorus of agreements found its way to her. “Alright, everypony. Let’s plan to leave in one week’s time. Bring plenty of bits, food, and space in the saddlebags. Leave all disagreements at the train. For the next three weeks, we are officially on vacation!” Cheers all around. “Now, I just have to send a letter to the Princess detailing this…”

----------And now, the continuation----------

“Yes, this was in your letter, Twilight. But what caused such a sudden shift in demeanor?”

“Ah ah, Princess. That would spoil the surprise! As I was saying, we left from Ponyville, and made our way to the capital of Zebrica. Now, we didn’t want to cause a fuss, so we asked those we met to keep our presence on the down-low. We were there to relax, not get caught up in some international dispute. So, our adventure first brought us to…”

--------------------

“Ladies, welcome to Zeboria!”

“Wow.”

What one may expect from a Zebrican city might be something akin to Ponyville, scattered houses, mostly of mud and thatch. In most cases, one would be correct. However, in the case of Zeboria, one would find a city to rival Canterlot. Walls, twenty feet high and ten feet thick, surrounded the city, with sentinels posted every few yards. Within the city, wide, spacious, well-kept roads of stone laid perfectly straight in a circular pattern, like the spokes of a wagon wheel. These spokes joined in the center, the cultural hub of the country of Zebrica and lands beyond.

All the ponies were busy getting sore necks from trying to look everywhere at once. All of them, except Rarity. Her gaze was dead set on the center of the city. She would see the height of Zebrican fashion if it killed her! However, a deep voice from a side street stopped all of them.

“Well, well, what do we have here? New tourists, come to our city dear?” The owner of the voice was, of course, a zebra. To Rarity’s disappointment, he was not lavishly dressed, sporting only a simple gold chain around his neck and a few rings about his hooves. Twilight was the first to respond.

“I’m sorry, but do I know you? I feel like I’ve met you somewhere before.”

“Ah yes, but I am Xanadu, if you please, for I am the humble ruler of the Zebricanese. Dear Twilight, I was sent by some, to give the Elements a warm welcome.” His voice dropped, as did his rhyming. “Also, I am the father of our dear Zecora, who has sent many a good letter about you.”

Before Twilight could respond, Rarity shoved her way up until she was almost nose-to-nose with Xanadu. “Alright, buster. I came here for one reason, and one reason only. I came here to see fashion! Are you able to accommodate that?”

“Ah, you must be the fashionista Rarity. I shall take you to the palace, if you would come with me.” He began leading the group towards the center. “If you come with, you shall see, fashion that will make you smile with glee! We shall also have a meal, company mine, for I fear it is almost past lunchtime.”
Twilight glanced at her companions, all with rumbling tummies and grins on their faces. “Alright. Lead the way, Lord Xanadu.”

--------------------

Celestia had to hide a smirk.

“Whatever is so funny, Celestia?” Twilight snapped.

“I am sorry, but at any of the meetings of world leaders, he was always the one to make me laugh. That is most likely where he recognized you from, Twilight. I know there was at least one such meeting in Canterlot while you have been my student.”

--------------------

Later, after dinner and a fashion show, with Rarity scribbling down as many notes as she could without setting fire to her parchment, the plates had been cleared away and tea set for all seven. Twilight politely asked Xanadu to drop the rhyming, so they could exchange pleasantries.

“…And so, that’s why we’re here, Lord Xanadu. We just needed a vacation from all the hectic things happening in Equestria, you know?”

“Yes, I understand, Twilight Sparkle. In fact, that is the reason I met you at the gates today. Sometimes, palace life becomes a little bland, so I take a few hours off and become one of my little zebras. However, do not take me for a fool.”

“I’m sorry?”

“I know the real reason for your visit. You are here to make allies for the imminent power shift in Equestria, no?”

“What? What would make you think that? Celestia is the ruler, along with Luna. Who else would have any notion of taking the throne?”

“Why, you, my dear.”

WHAT?” The room falls silent.

“Hush, it is nothing to fear.” Xanadu grimaced at his unintentional rhyming. “You see, the zebras are a very spiritual race. You have brought along the Elements of Harmony, yes? I don’t mean to pry, but I can sense their power.”

“Um, yeah, we all have ours,” Twilight remarked, lifting hers out of her saddlebag as her friends did the same. “I made sure to bring them, in case we ever ran into anything we couldn’t handle on our own.”

“Like I said, I don’t mean to pry, but our astronomers have been scouring the night sky. Ever since the Elements have come into your possession, there has been a shift in the energies of the cosmos. We take this as a sign that Celestia’s reign is coming to a close, and are prepared to weather any political strife that ensues from the shift.”

“I-I’m afraid I don’t understand. Energy shift in the cosmos? What does that mean?”

“Let me put it this way. Imagine the Elements of Harmony are sentient beings. They were treated with respect and awe for a very long time. Then, your Celestia and Luna came along and used them to imprison Discord and seal the Crystal Empire away. They went from being objects of power to nothing more than pets for your rulers. Then, the unthinkable happens. One of your rulers rebels against the other, and she is forced to send her own sister to the moon. Suddenly, the Elements only have half the connection with our plane as they did before. Celestia obviously fears their power, so she seals them away for another one thousand years.

So, you have six beings, hidden away for one thousand years. In that time, they fall into myth and legend. Then, what, fifteen, sixteen years ago? They are woken by an unbelievable amount of magic power, power that has not been seen since before Star Swirl the Bearded. They search the world, and find you. Do not give me that look, that is all Celestia would talk about for a time. They sense more power in you than Celestia has, and so, they gather their own power to change your fate.”

“Wait, wait, wait. Hold up a second, bub.” Rainbow Dash, rising out of her chair, floats next to Xanadu. “What you’re saying is, they found Twilight, and a bunch of rocks made it so she would eventually find them?”

“Nay, not just her. Our astronomers that day found not one, but six fates were changed. You were the one to perform the Sonic Rainboom felt across the world, yes?”

“Uh, yeah. I’m just that awesome.”

“Yes, and you unlocked a hidden power within you that day, as did Twilight. Ah, I did mention four other shifts, yes? The Elements, being six in number, would not be content with another diarchy. They sought out four others whose power was unleashed that day, and tied all of your fatestrings together. Also, not rocks, my flying friend. The gemstones you possess are naught but the physical manifestation of the power of Fate itself.”

“But that means—“

“Yes, the moment your blue friend performed her world-changing stunt, you were all fated to meet, retrieve the Elements from their hiding place, and bring about the fall of your now weak rulers. And, above all the others, rests you, Twilight. Loyalty, Kindness, Honesty, Generosity, and Laughter may be strong, but none are as powerful as the Element of Magic.

You, Twilight Sparkle, are the one fated to become the next ruler of Equestria.”

--------------------

“I take it you did not handle his prophecy well.”

“I almost destroyed the entire east wing of his palace. At the time, I thought he was spouting absolute nonsense. I know I am probably one of the most powerful unicorns of my generation, but to be ‘fated’ to force you from your throne, all because of some… how did you put it, Rainbow?”

“Some stupid rocks.” Rainbow called from the back, still in the same position she was before.

“Yes, some stupid rocks. Stupid rocks that, although they may be stupid, seemed to have chosen us rather than any other being in Equestria, or on all of Equis, to wield them.”

“Odd though he may be, Twilight,” Celestia intoned, “Xanadu and his astronomers are the best in the world. They can tie events in the night sky to anything happening on this planet. They were the ones to realize that the Elements did not conform to our world’s laws. Star Swirl himself based a lot of his research into the effects of magic off of what he learned from the Zebrican diviners and astronomers. In any case, what happened next?”

“We left Zebrica shortly after. As in, the same day. I couldn’t stand to be near him any longer. The other girls were affected too, but I could never figure out how much. We set off for Minos next, and had an absolute blast. We saw the honorable gladiator brawls, how they were more a show of strength than actually killing your opponent, something Fluttershy appreciated.”

“Humph. Now I know they were holding back on purpose. What’s the use in fighting someone if you aren’t going to let some blood be spilled?” Fluttershy remarked, drawing gasps from all (other than the five) who knew her. Fluttershy would never intentionally harm another sentient being!

“However, we ran into the King of Minos, a gargantuan minotaur by the name of Xerxes. We feasted with him, because, come on, how do you say no to royalty?”

--------------------

Xerxes was a large king, the kind that befitted a large dining table. The ponies all had to be helped into five foot tall stools to overlook a table crowded with piles upon piles of meat. Thankfully, Xerxes was aware of his guest’s diets, and ordered a selection of greens and fruits brought out. They chatted while they ate; well, more like, the king shouted while the ponies tried to hold on for dear life so as to not be blown away.

“So, how long until the old bird kicks the bucket?”

Twilight spit out the pit of the fruit she had been eating (the servants called it a “plum”. Apparently native to only the islands). “What?”

“You know what I mean, little pony. How long until your teacher is beaten down by somebody- sorry, somepony- stronger and that somepony else takes her place? Someone like you, perhaps?”

Twilight, having learned from the last ruler who tried to get her hackles up, stewed his comment over in her mind before responding. “I am unsure what you mean.”

“Oh come on!” He almost roared. “Celestia cannot shut up about how proud she is of her little protégé, how she cannot wait for her dear Twilight to become the next Star Swirl. I thought she was grooming you to take her place!”

“Now you wait just a darned second, Mr. King,” Applejack said in a huff. “Celestia is a strong ruler. She ain’t gonna be steppin’ down anytime soon!”

The King of Minos roared with laughter. “Ha ha ha ha ha! Oh, that’s rich,” he said, wiping a tear from his eye. His merriment died down, however, when he noticed that none of the ponies were joining in with him. “Man, she even kept her student in the dark, even when she… Impressive…”

“Hey!” Somehow Pinkie got across the table (without disturbing anything) and climbed up Xerxes’ chest to look him in the eye. “Celestia. Is. Not. Weak. Do you understand me?”

“Ya, ya, I hear you all right, little pony,” he said, gently removing Pinkie from his fur and setting her on the table, “I just don’t understand how she kept this act going for so long.”

“Alright, enough beating around the bush. Either say your piece or we’re leaving!” Twilight stood up, but then realized she was still suspended five feet in the air by a rickety stool. She slowly sat back down.

Xerxes deflated a bit. “Okay, but what we say can never leave this room, hear? If any of the other world leaders knew I told you this, I would be skinned alive by next moon. Okay? Okay. One thousand and whatever years ago, your two Princesses were at full strength. They could wield the Elements of Harmony as easily as I can swing a club. When they got that Chaos God put into stone, it drained them. I dunno if it was the Elements, or their own stupidity, but they were weaker afterwards. That was when Sombra succeeded in taking over your Crystal Empire. He capitalized upon the Princesses’ weakness and took a large part of your land for himself. Then, Celestia made a decision, and a stupid choice. She had to banish Luna to the moon, which further weakened her. After that, she sealed away her one source of infinite power. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back, if I am using that phrase correctly. Now Celestia was so weak, she could do nothing but sit back and observe for one thousand years, raising and lowering the sun and moon.

“We Minotaurs, we base our rule on power. The strongest of us get the best land, the best warriors, the best loot from raiding weaker camps and cities. When your Princess decided to sit back and watch as the Diamond Dogs encroached on her land, as the Griffins started taking the mountains to the north of Equestria, and as we heard rumors of possible changeling hives within your borders? We fortified our positions, as did the Griffins. She sat back and let it happen. That is the greatest sign of weakness to a Minotaur. When an enemy dares stake claim on your land, you crush them so they learn to never do it again. For the Dogs, it would have been easy. Just use her precious sun to burn the ground they stood upon, then send in her guards to clean them up. White one. I heard you ran into some trouble with the pesky Dogs. How do you feel knowing Celestia could have prevented that, fifty years ago, and did nothing?”

“Well, now that you mention it,” Rarity finally spoke up, “It does seem a bit bizarre that Celestia would allow those things so close to one of her cities.” The table fell more silent than before. Not even breathing could be heard.

“Um, Mr. King, sir,” Fluttershy chose this moment to speak, “This is an interesting story and all, but what does it have to do with us, if I may ask?”

“Huh? Oh, ya, ya, I was getting to that part. We can now fast-forward to, say, three, three and a half years ago? Your Nightmare Moon returns, and instead of facing her lost sister herself, Celestia ran. She sent her calf to ‘find’ your Elements of Harmony, when she knew exactly where they were. You defeat and reform her back into your Princess Luna. Now the pair is complete again, but still at a fraction of full power, something Luna never regained. If Celestia had been able to control Nightmare Moon, they would have been the greatest rulers the world had ever known. But she ran, and instead of harnessing the power her sister had, banished her. That is sign of weakness to us. When you take over rival camp, do you put all their warriors to the blade? No, you take the strongest among them and bolster your own ranks.

“Then, there is the events of two years ago. Due to three fillies, the God of Chaos is unleashed. Celestia bids you to use the Elements on him once again to recapture him. However, one thousand years is a long time for a deity such as Discord to plan. He steals away the Elements. Now, your rulers have enough power between them to at least stop him from wreaking havoc, while sending you into his maze to retrieve the Elements. Sort of a two-pronged attack. Instead, Celestia sends you in, no knowledge of what tricks he might pull, and sits on her Royal Plot as he rains chaos across your lands. The result? The bearers are tricked into denying their Elements, and he almost succeeds.

“Then I hear that her student, the one who also stopped Nightmare Moon, defeated Discord single-hoofedly, resealing him in stone. A youngling and her friends, taking down a millennia’s-old deity!

“And now we come to the crutch of the matter. One year ago, your Princess Cadance is married to Celestia’s Captain of the Guard, who, if I remember, is your brother, yes? Only, it is not your Cadance. She was captured by the changeling Queen Chrysalis in order to overtake your kingdom. Celestia and Luna, all-powerful ‘goddesses’ they may be, could not tell that one of their own was a fake? Then, once you, Twilight, exposed the mad queen’s plot, Chrysalis was able to defeat Celestia in a single blast. Where was the other Princess? Sleeping on the job! Us Minotaurs, we do not tolerate treason within our ranks. Nor do we accept slacking off when danger is imminent. In that, your Princesses are guilty on both accounts.

“Allow me to give a brief telling of my rule. I was born the third son of a simple farmer of a minor tribe. As minor as we were, we were eventually defeated and absorbed into a larger clan. I and my brothers were spared, and conscripted into their ranks. I rose quickly through my squad, coming to rest at second-in-command. Then, in a siege against one of our rival clans, my leader turned tail and ran. I took advantage of his weakness, and struck him down, taking up leadership of the squad. My squad was the first one through the walls that day, and took home the manticore’s share of the winnings. With a strong grip and sharp wit, my squad rose to the top of the heap. I eventually had enough power to challenge our general for complete military control. He beat me into the ground, but I delivered the killing blow. From then on, I used my mind, as well as my muscle, to win our clan battle after battle, war after war. Any rival general who dared stand up against me fell by my hand. It was not bloodless, and I ended the day with more injuries than a pony could stand, but I kept going. We overtook more and more clans, even as more kept popping up. At some point, we became so powerful, we came after the capital. Oh, how my forces blades did sing that day! We fought our way to this very room, where the ruling clan chief sat. He begged for his life to be spared. I felled him myself; we consider it the ultimate show of weakness to be reduced to groveling for one’s life. With that final blow, I took the helm, and transformed the Islands of Minos into an Empire. I never showed fear, never showed weakness, never gave my enemies a chance to get a better hand.

“So, what you’re saying is,” Rainbow flew up, munching an apple, “is that Celestia allowed Chrysalis to almost take over, because of stuff like Discord and Nightmare Moon, moments of weakness? That’s messed up, and completely not true, right, Twi?”

“Uh, Twi? You doing all right?”

“Sugarcube? Come on now, if anythin’s wrong, ya can tell us.”

*POOF* with a sudden flash of light, Twilight was gone.

--------------------

“They eventually found me outside the palace gates, curled up in a ball and crying. There was a part of me that refused to believe what Xerxes said, that you were weak. However, there was now that nugget of doubt growing in my chest. You didn’t do anything about Nightmare Moon, or Discord, or Sombra, because you didn’t have the power to do so. To you we held the power, so you used us like chess pieces! You even went so far as to—“

It was at this point that Celestia’s thoughts became interrupted by a small buzzing in her ear. She raised a hoof to swat the annoying insect away, when it spoke. It spoke in another voice Celestia had not heard in weeks, one she was grateful to hear.

“Psst! Princess! I’m ready when you are. Just give the word.” With that, the pest was gone. Celestia smiled inwardly. She now had her ace in the hole.

“—and then there was the whole deal with Chrysalis, when—what’s so funny this time?”

Ponyfeathers. Some of Celestia’s mirth must have shown through. “Oh, nothing of any importance. You said you went to Griffonia next?”

Twilight looked bewildered, then shook it off. “Um, yes, we did. I won’t bore you with the details, but, in short: we met Gilda, she still hated our guts, turns out she is a daughter of one of the representatives of the Griffonian Council. Did you know Griffonia has a Democracy, not a Monarchy? They have representatives from each city who come to the elected Prime Minister and they work it all out. Fascinating stuff, actually.

“Because of our connection to Gilda, we ended up with the Prime Minister one night. He was as insufferable as Xanadu and Xerxes. He went on and on about ‘pledging the allegiance of the griffins to the new Equestrian rulers’ and other such nonsense. Same song, third verse. You know what he said your flaw was? Pride. The Griffins are nothing if not proud. They are so prideful, that their leaders are always the first ones on the battlefield, and the last ones off. He saw you sending the six of us after your foes time and time again as an insult to your pride. Not only do you send us to do your dirty work, but you show up ex post facto and claim it was all part of your plan to send us through that hell and back. He spouted off some more, but by then I had stopped listening. It all started to click, you know?

“Xanadu said you lost your spiritual connection. Xerxes spoke of how you lost your power, through your and our actions. The Prime Minister saw the downfall of your pride, as you kept sending us against foes you could not bear to face yourself. And through it all, the lack of qualities kept leading back to one place: us. The rest of the world saw it, but you kept everyone in the dark!”

“Twilight—“

“No, Princess! The time for you to speak is over!”

“Twilight—“

“You thought you could keep your pieces blind, well, hear this. We are taking our own king out of the equation!”

TWILIGHT SPARKLE!” the roar came. Nopony had ever seen Celestia use the Royal Canterlot Voice, and it was downright terrifying. Every light grew dim, and all warmth left the hall. “”You dare use the accusation of others as a basis for your little game? I have ruled Equestria for over a millennia. What makes you think you can take what has been Ours for generations? This charade is OVER! Discord, now!” Celestia quickly threw a shield around her ponies, making sure to exclude the six. Discord would never harm a soul, but she wasn’t about to take the risk. She waited…

And waited…

And waited…

“D-Discord? Where are you? You said you would assist me!”

A laugh drew her attention back to the center of the hall. Twilight stood there, her head thrown back, cackling at the stars. “Oh, Princess. Did you really think we would overlook somepony as devious as Discord? What did he tell you? ‘Just give the word?’ Well, obviously, you didn’t give the right word. Flutters, would you care to do the honors?”

Fluttershy held out her hoof, and uttered one single Word. Celestia tried to grasp the Word, but it fell out of her memory like the echoes around the room, leaving her with only a remembrance of raw, untamable power. At that moment, all light and dark in the room was drawn to a single point. A chain of dark energy fastened itself around Fluttershy’s hoof, and at the other end manifested Discord. Rather, what was left of Discord. He was no larger than a small dog, laying on the floor like her common ponies did when they saw her. When he spoke, it came out like a small animal’s voice instead of the harsh cackle Celestia was used to. “You called, Ms. Fluttershy?”

“Is there something you would like to say to the Princess, -“she spoke the Word again. Discord visibly shrank, then nodded. He flew – not teleported, but actually flew—to Celestia, stopping just short due to the taut chain around his neck.

“I’m sorry, Celestia, but I had no choice. I found them like you asked, but they somehow captured me. Twilight drained me of my chaos energy until she forced me to give it up.” Discord looked on the verge of tears.

“Give what up, Discord?” Celestia had an inkling of an idea, but needed to hear it for herself.

“My Name, Celly. I was forced to give them my Name, you know, the one reserved for calling beings such as myself into existence? The Sacred Name that all beings on this plane of existence have? Twilight said she would give my power back only if I helped her. It’s not like I could resist anyways, with her saying It all over the place. Also, Fluttershy promised me Saddle Arabia. Saddle Arabia, Celly! Could you imagine me as a sultan? … No, really, imagine it. I barely have enough power to keep myself here.”

“[Word], I think that is quite enough out of you. Seeing as this whole trial nonsense will be over soon, did you bring our gifts?”

Discord whimpered, stole one last glance at Celestia, and then nodded at Twilight. From his pocket dimension (yes, Discord has one. Doesn’t every multi-planar being?), he produced a familiar purple box. Twilight reverently took it in her magic, opened the box, and distributed the objects to her friends. Within were the six Elements of Harmony, but not as Celestia remembered them. These Elements were jagged, the gemstones as black as night. The necklaces and tiara were unruly heaps of metal, rather than the simple shining gold pieces they once were.


Divergence detected. Resume in The Fall: The Remanding of Twilight


Celestia could only gape. How did this happen? What happened to my dear student? However, something Discord said clicked in Celestia’s mind.

“How did you drain Discord of his energy? Raw energy, from any deity, would be enough to drive any mortal insane.”

“Ha! Wouldn’t you like to know?” Rainbow shouted.

“Now, Rainbow, what did we say about outbursts like that? That’s why you’re in the back. Well, Celestia, somewhere between Griffonia and Saddle Arabia, we all got this idea in our heads. We tracked down the one villain we never truly vanquished.” Twilight sneered, showing all of her… fangs?

“We hunted down Chrysalis.”

Author's Note:

If you are here for the backstory for The Fall: The Remanding of Twilight, you can stop here.


So, we finally glimpse the truth. At least, my take on what might possibly be considered the truth.

This chapter was the crux of my argument. I had noticed throughout the show, times when Celestia could have done something, anything, but didn't. Not when NMM showed up, not when Discord was released, never when the Crystal Empire resurfaced. In fact, the only time I remember her actually doing something was to reverse the Want-It-Need-It spell.

Now, a dedicated MLP watcher could probably poke more holes in my thoughts than Swiss Cheese, but it feels good to finally get this off my chest, and do it in such a way that I hope was entertaining for all of you.

Also, it was fun to write both the zebra and Minotaur dialects. For Xerxes, just imagine a half-Russian Mr. T, and you'll have the character I was going for.

I am hoping one more chapter out of this, and then an epilogue of sorts. I am already thinking of a sequel, and shall release more on that as the time approaches. Until then, wait around for The Rebellion of Twilight.