What Once Was

by Chocolate Pony

Chaos Of Love 1.

Celestia stretched out her wings and sighed as she entered the castle. The cheers and excited cries of her subjects were muffled by the castle doors closing behind her. It had been yet another day of going around the kingdom dealing with legal troubles, examining and approving construction of new buildings, even attending a wedding.

All in all, it had taken a lot out of Celestia. More than it would’ve as an adult. She was still a teenager at the moment. Discord surprisingly was taking his time yanking her out of this memory just to vomit her into another. Why? She wasn’t sure. In fact she didn’t really know if she wanted to find out.

“Your duties for today are over, Princess Celestia. Would you like me to get you anything? Or do you have any plans for relaxation?” Rivers, Celestia’s assistant, asked.

“No thank you, Rivers. I’m sure you’re far more tired than myself. Go have a rest. You most certainly deserve it. I’ll probably just drink some tea and look over letters I received from my subjects” Celestia replied.

Rivers smiled and shook her head. “You’re always such a busy bee, your highness. If only Luna could be more like you.”

Celestia stopped dead in her tracks at that remark. What was that supposed to mean? Luna did plenty of her own work. So why did it seem like no pony saw that?

“Luna is busy with many other things, Rivers. We just...prefer to do our jobs separately. I’ve offered for her to work alongside me, but she’d rather not” Celestia explained.

“Y-Yes of course. Sorry, your highness. It just seems like you two used to do everything together at one point. Then again you were only foals! Ponies change! Oh pony feathers! I’ve gone on saying too much. I’m gonna go rest as you suggested. L-Later, your highness.”

With that, Rivers quickly scampered off to her own quarters. Celestia looked after her, face filled with mixed emotions. Again, Celestia felt like other ponies were afraid of her just cause she was a powerful princess. Also ponies acted like Luna didn’t exsist, or was inferior to her. It was very upsetting to say the least.

On the way to her office, Celestia walked past her sister’s room. She paused when a sniffling sound came from behind the door. Was Luna...crying? Celestia turned to face the door, raising her hoof.

“Luna? Is everything alright?” Celestia asked, shortly after knocking a few times.

“Go away” A muffled groan replied.

“Are you upset about something? If so, we can talk about it. That’s what sisters are for after all.”

“I said go away!”

Celestia sighed. She wanted to respect her sister’s wishes, but also wanted to help if something really was wrong. Using her magic she twisted the door knob. The door itself quietly creaked open.

Luna lay on her night sky bed sheets, face buried in the pillows. Celestia carefully approached her, standing at the foot of the bed.

“Are you ok, dear sister?” She asked.

There was no answer. “You sounded like you were upset. Do you want to talk? Did somepony say or do some-“

“Since when did you start caring!?” Luna suddenly screamed, her head jerking up from the pillows.

Celestia jumped back in surprise. Luna’s eyes were red with tears and anger. But...why? What had Celestia done?

“I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you. I was j-just worried about you” Celestia stuttered in reply.

A bitter snort left Luna’s nostrils. “As if! You only care about your precious kingdom and your precious subjects! So why don’t you just go spend more time with them!? I’m sure they miss you SO much! Enough to completely ignore me!” Luna shouted, pointing an accusing hoof at her sister.

Celestia suddenly became bitter herself. She stamped her hoof in anger and cried, “I have tried getting you involved in things! Maybe if you weren’t so reclusive and so damn selfish, I could help you! Maybe the other ponies would care more! Who knows? Maybe our parents would’ve loved you enough to not leave!”

Luna’s face twisted from anger to shock. Celestia's own anger faded at the weight of her words. Did she really just say that?

Before Celestia could even begin to form an apology, Luna’s eyes grew dark with hatred. Her horn lit up and Celestia was literally blasted out of the room by a massive explosion of magic.

She flew through the bedroom door and smacked into the wall across the hallway. Grunting in pain, she steadied herself. Luna glared at her from inside the room one last time before the door was slammed with such force it cracked.

Celestia’s eyes filled with tears. Why was she so stupid? What kind of sister was she? Although Luna didn’t know it at the time, this was gonna be one of the things that lead to her banishment. Celestia had forgotten just how cruel her own words could be. Her sister would eventually go insane and be punished. But the whole time, Celestia was partially responsible.

“Princess Celestia! What happened!?” A couple guards came running to her aid. “We heard a loud noise come from here. Are you well?”

Celestia hid her face behind her pink mane in order to avoid their eyes. She felt embarrassed, humiliated, and heartbroken. She couldn’t let them see her this way. Royalty had no time to show weakness or vulnerability around others.

“I-I’m fine. My sister and I just had a d-disagreement. I-I need to be alone right now” Celestia stuttered.

With that she got up and ran in the opposite direction. She didn’t bother stopping until she’d reached the royal gardens. Collapsing onto the grass beside a pond, Celestia burst into tears.

She wept until her ribs hurt, her head was pounding, and her throat was sore. Celestia knew that before her Luna’s banishment they had problems. But she had completely forgotten just how many of those problems she created.

“In the future, everyone will blame Luna for turning evil. Blame her for being jealous of me. When I was the one who made things worse” Celestia thought.

She gazed tearfully at the pond water. Watching some fish swim about, and watching apple blossoms fall gently onto the surface. Ripples formed immediately after the impact, distorting the beautiful scenery. It was only then Celestia noticed something. She could see the reflection of the clouds Pegasus ponies had placed in the sky earlier that day. She had overseen this being done so she knew where the clouds were supposed to be and when. She was also aware of what was natural and what wasn’t. And last time she checked...pink clouds were not natural!

Celestia sat up examining the reflection closer. She had to be mistaken, right? That couldn’t be at all what she was seeing. She blinked a few times, cocked her head to both sides. Nope, still there.

Celestia finally decided to actually look up at the sky. Upon doing so, she was surprised to see...the clouds were normal. Just their average, fluffy, white selves.

“Must’ve been my imagination. All that crying must’ve gotten to my he-“ Celestia was cut off from her sentence by her own startled gasp.

Having looked back at the pond she was stunned to discover the pink clouds were now floating before her. But how? She hadn’t seen any pony place them there. What pony would be fast enough to do that anyway?

Celestia leaned forward a little at the cloud closest to her. She noted that the fish in the pond were nibbling at a few hovering over the water. They were...eating the clouds? What were these things made out of?!

Sticking out a hoof she reluctantly poked the cloud. It felt like a normal cloud. It looked like one. But there was one thing very off about it, besides the color. The smell. It wasn’t like rain or snow. It smelled like something edible. Like some kind of...candy.

“Take a bite. You’ll get a real sugar rush!” A voice exclaimed.

Celestia yelped in surprise, losing her balance and nearly face planting into the pond. Luckily, whomever was behind her had grabbed her tail. She was pulled back into a standing position. Then politely, but most inappropriately, patted on her rump! Celestia gasped in shock and disgust abruptly turning to face and correct the stranger. She immediately stopped when she realized who it was.

“D-Discord?”

“Oh you mean to tell me the precious little princess remembers me?! How delightful!” Discord exclaimed.

A burst of confetti randomly appeared into the air. Discord did a most strange and rather disturbing dance before stopping and smiling proudly.

“Then again, who could forget someone as fabulous as myself?” Discord said.

Celestia rolled her eyes and sighed. Some things really never changed. Or most specifically some individuals.

“Why are you here, Discord? And why are you messing with the weather in my kingdom?” Celestia firmly asked.

“I’m not “messing” with anything! I’m “redecorating.” It sounds so annoying and unappreciative when you say it” Discord replied.

“Clouds are supposed to be white.”

“You know I understand that in this universe the world is full of uniquely colored creatures. But in another that would be deemed incredibly racist.”

“Discord!”

“What? It’s true!?”

“What are these made of? You told me to take a bite a moment ago. So what are they made of?” Celestia inquired.

“Cotton candy of course. ‘Tis the ultimate teeth rotter!” Discord answered, folding his arms across his chest.

“Clouds made of cotton candy? What kind of magic is that?” Celestia asked, a hint of disgust in her tone.

“It’s more like...chaos.”

A rather threatening growl could be heard in his tone. But there was something else hidden in it that she couldn’t quite read. It sent chills down her spine regardless. For more reasons than one.

Suddenly, his seemingly serious tone changed back into a teasing and cocky one. “Anyways, just wanted to drop by and visit, princess. Feel free to help yourself to one of the cotton candy clouds. I must be off. Chaos must be spread elsewhere.”

“Why? And where are you going?” Celestia asked.

“Aww, going to miss me? Don’t worry. I’ll be back soon enough. Toodles, your highness.”

Discord snapped his fingers, disappearing in a flash of magic. Celestia sighed gently. Suddenly, Discord was before her again.

“By the way, you look better when you’re not crying.” He then vanished again.

Celestia blinked in surprise a few times. Did he just...complement her? A small smile graced her features. A blush forming gently on her cheeks.

Celestia shook herself from her daze. She needed to get back to the castle soon. But before she began her trip back, she took a look at one of the pink clouds still hovering over the pond.

She took a bite of one.

It wasn’t bad.

Author's Note:

Yes that’s right. Discord broke the fourth wall by referencing to our univerese.

Comments

[YajanII]

"Celestia his her face behind her pink mane in order to avoid their eyes" I suppose that the "his" is for hide.
Anyway, omg celestia, living so long took a blow in her memories, and discord trying to cheer her up is the cutest thing ever <3

[Chocolate Pony]

8667671
Yeah sorry, had to fix that. Just a typo.

And yes it did. But really who wouldn’t end up forgetting important details about personal matters when you’ve been alive for over a thousand years and have been through so much/have had to remember so many other important things? Celestia used to be a pony who felt and experienced a lot of things other ponies face on a daily basis. But that has all been consumed and replaced by her role as a princess. As will be further shown.