Darkened Shores

by Silver Flare

23: Fall of Canterlot

Lyra Heartstrings galloped through the moonlit streets of Canterlot, her breath coming out in ragged gasps of pale fog. The temperature had been steadily dropping since the moon had risen several hours ago, and Lyra found herself wishing she had a sweater or a hoodie. Or at least a scarf. But she didn't have time to worry about apparel. She sprinted past a Foal's R Us and turned at the Marecy's, running towards the castle and the statue gardens.

She felt a stitch starting on her right side, and Lyra slowed her pace a little, focusing on her breathing. She hated running. She'd never been an athletic pony, preferring instead to gravitate towards studies and hobbies that didn't involve both sweat and pain. But then she remembered the sound of Discord's mocking laughter, and she pushed herself harder.

She remembered a trick she'd learned back in grade school when her parents had made her take at least one after-school activity involving sports. The track coach had, probably in desperation, urged Lyra to count her breaths while she ran. She tried it now, hoping to lessen the sharp pain in her ribs. But then her mind drifted to the previous summer, and the few days when Discord held power in Equestria. The world had just about ended in a lunatic's vision of the apocalypse.

Counting breaths was not enough of a distraction.

As the entry gate to the gardens loomed into view Lyra caught her first glimpse of living ponies for miles. Squadrons of pegasi flew back and forth through the cool air, and heavily-armored unicorns stood in precise ranks scattered around the courtyard. A few of them glanced at her with worried eyes, some of them giving her nods of recognition as she passed. But she didn't nod back or slow her approach.

Shining Armor and Princess Luna were the only two anywhere near the statue of Discord. They stood together, pale and dark silhouettes paired against the deep night. Shining Armor sighed, stretched, and occasionally glanced around, clearly restive and eager for something to happen. Beside him, Princess Luna could have been a statue, her deep blue coat and flowing mane the only hints that she didn't belong among the solemn figures of Canterlot Gardens herself.

"What is it?" Shining Armor asked without taking his eyes off of Discord's stone form.

Lyra stumbled to a stop, her head drooped and her mane glistened with sweat. She intended to answer, she really did. There just wasn't enough air in her lungs to speak without passing out. She held up a hoof while her chest heaved in ragged gasps. Shining gave a tiny nod in return and waited.

Meanwhile, an armored pegasus flitted out of the star-speckled sky and landed heavily in the grass, his back confidently turned upon the draconequus statue. "Sir!" He saluted, his hoof clanging off his helmet.

"Report."

"Captain, a caravan attempting to skirt through the grass along the south road overturned, blocking most of the roadway."

Shining eloquently lifted an eyebrow. "So clear the way."

"Sir," The pegasus ducked his head in shame. "The, uh, the civilian ponies began fighting one another in the road, using hoof and cudgel. My squadron couldn't get close."

Luna spoke for the first time since Lyra arrived. "And the spirit of chaos laughs at our folly."

Shining Armor shook his head sadly, his sigh heavy with regret. "Terrible news. I take it my wife has been summoned to the scene?"

"Yes Captain, Princess Cadance should be on her way now."

"Good. She'll know how to handle the situation. Dismissed."

"Sir." The pegasus saluted again and vanished with a flap of wings.

Shining glanced meaningfully at the mint unicorn still trying to catch her breath. Lyra nodded and collapsed into the cold grass. "Yes, that's. . . that's what I came to. . . to tell you."

Shining smiled at the small irony. "There were no guards around when you spotted the wreck, so naturally you came to tell me directly. I might have made the same call had I been in your hooves."

Lyra rolled her eyes, but she smiled too. As her breathing slowed to something a little less desperate, however, she felt a subtle change in the atmosphere. A prickly sensation crawled down her spine.

Beside her, Luna tensed. "Captain. . . We believe now is the time."

Without hesitation, Shining Armor's horn began to glow, and in a burst of light a massive dome of purple energy formed over the entire city of Canterlot, cutting the ponies off from the tapestry of the night sky. The shield itself was a signal, and all along the outskirts of the city, outside the dome, clusters of unicorns from students to civilians to members of the guard began channeling their magic through meticulously placed crystals. The light diffused across the outside of the purple shield in shifting ribbons of colored light, suffusing the night with ethereal beauty.

Lyra held her breath, staring hard at the small, fine crack running through the eye of the statue before her. All around her, ponies of the guard readied themselves, and Lyra did the same. Her brow furrowed in concentration. But as the minutes ticked by, nothing happened. Her heart beat a little too fast, and sweat began to roll into her eyes. Still more nothing happened. Soft murmurs drifted through the assembled guardponies.

Lyra drew in a breath to ask a question, but Luna cut her off. "It is done." She said, anticipation lacing her voice. "Discord is free."

"W-what?" Lyra stammered.

"Observe." Luna paced up to the statue and struck it a blow with her hoof. The white stone shattered into pieces, falling to the soft grass around the Princess.

The air itself reverberated with malice. "Oh dear. . . our sweet Princess has gone and ruined the surprise." The scattered chunks of stone twitched through the grass like a drove of suddenly lively guinea pigs, and they quickly hopped atop one another, forming a demented parody of the draconequus they once encased. It moved like a malformed puppet, its head swiveling around too far, and its broken mouth opening too wide as it addressed the gathering. "But. . . surprise!"

"Fire!" Shining lowered his head and a bolt of magic tore through the stone figure. A hundred others followed, launched by the rows of unicorns waiting for just this moment.

The stones merely jostled in place, bumped around and shifted but not seriously displaced by the attack as the bolts passed through the figure. Lyra backed away, her eyes wide and darting as the broken statue threw its head back and laughed. It laughed so long and so hard, it started to choke. Yet, as it coughed dramatically and held up a lion's paw in the universal gesture of 'give me a second,' Lyra could tell it couldn't possibly be the real Discord. He was hiding somewhere.

The statue reached an eagle claw way down its throat, and pulled up a particularly large chunk of stone, coughing as it did so. "Well, I do apologize. Had something stuck in the old craw, it seems." With that it tossed the stone into the air, twisted its body around at the waist, and struck the falling object with an invisible baseball bat. The hunk of stone rocketed through the air like a comet and shattered against the inside of the shield in a shower of sparks.

The statue turned a mocking grin upon Shining Armor. "Well," Its tone suddenly turned sophisticated, but its mouth still didn't quite match the words it spoke. "That is a solid bit of work, old chap, solid bit of work. A true harmonic shield, jolly well done! Still and all, you've left me quite a few toys to play with inside, haven't you old buddy, old boy, old chap?"

Luna scarcely paid the statue any mind. Instead, she scanned the grounds for any hint of the real threat. "Enough games! Show yourself, Discord!"

"Enough games?" The statue laughed. "Why, we haven't even started playing! And the night is so young." The statue stretched, and the sound of stones grinding against stones made Lyra cringe. "I say it's high time the fun began! You see, small communities grow great through harmony!" It's head remained still while its broken body jangled with mirth. "Great communities fall to pieces through discord! Ahahahahahahahahahaha!!!"

With that, the statue fell to all fours and crab-walked into the ranks of unicorns, flinging bodies left and right. Magic flared, panicked voices shouted, and through it all heavy stone footsteps could be heard. Shining Armor charged into the fray, his horn aglow. Lyra felt her courage drain away as the cold seeped into her limbs. Fighting was a waste of time and energy. They couldn't win. This isn't fair! He doesn't fight fair!

She squeaked in surprise as a leonine arm draped across her shoulder. A voice like shredded silk tickled her ear. "My dear, it's more than fair." Lyra twitched her head to the side to find a grey-coated face topped with a pair of mis-matched antlers. And a pair of cheap plastic sunglasses. The kind worn by tourists. "You see, Captain Shiny-Flank assembled all these fine young ponies here tonight in order to fight something, didn't he? Imagine their disappointment if I didn't indulge them just a little."

Wherever he touched her, Lyra felt little tendrils of panic creeping under her skin, but she couldn't bring herself to move. It felt like every nightmare she'd ever had sort of rolled into one. She actually surprised herself when she found her voice. "G-get. . . get away from me." She mumbled.

"Hmmmm. . . you're right." Discord replied, as thought she'd said something completely different. "This needs a little something more. I wonder what might happen if. . .?" With a snap of his fingers, a nearby statue shuddered. A stone depiction of a pony standing on one hoof and pouring out water from a pitcher leapt off of its pedestal and hurled its stone container into the fray. When it shattered a thick goo exploded outwards with a surprising amount of force, spattering nearby ponies in a pale yellow syrup. Then that statue joined the fight too.

"Wait for it. . ." Discord held his breath in anticipation.

Lyra shrugged out from under the heavy paw and took a pair of timid steps backwards. "S-stop this." She wished she sounded braver, but she couldn't help it. She was terrified.

Discord waved his paw, which was suddenly holding a signal flag, and from over a nearby hedge a swarm of bees appeared. They flung themselves straight into the melee, and all the while Discord's mocking laughter resounded off of the castle walls. "Hahahahaaaa-hahahahah!! You see? Somehow, the bee's nest found its way into that stone pitcher! What a sticky situation the esteemed Canterlot guard has found itself in!"

There was a gust of wind from nowhere, and it cut through the fray. The unicorns and the stone effigies were mostly unmoved, but the bees were bundled up into a ball of swirling air and ejected from the fight. Then the ground itself rippled, opening a crack just below the newest stone pony. It slipped, its rear hooves falling in and dragging it back as the earth snapped shut, pinning the statue in place.

The glow ebbed from Luna's horn as she stepped forward, her starry mane flowing. Discord's laughter subsided, and his crooked smile was replaced with a frown of boredom. He gently plucked the glasses off his face and dropped them to the ground, where with a flash of light they became a somewhat startled goose that honked and waddled away in a dignified hurry.

"Do you mind, O ancient stuffy one? Shamrock Shake and I were just starting to enjoy ourselves." Without transition, Lyra found Discord's arm draped over her again, as though they were the best of friends. She squeaked in protest and tried to duck away, but she had been hoisted into the air like a small piece of luggage.

"INDEED WE DO MIND, HARBINGER OF DISSENT!" Luna's voice thundered through the night, filling Canterlot until the whole city resonated with her audacity. "THY TRICKS CANNOT EARN THY FREEDOM TONIGHT!"

Lyra glanced up to see Discord looking entirely windblown, his fur and antlers bent away from the sound of Luna's voice. He tapped a claw against his temple. "My dear, if you simply allowed somepony to perform the Heimlich maneuver on you, we might be able to find that megaphone you've swallowed. . ."

Shining Armor galloped up from the cluster of soldiers, his helm framing fierce blue eyes. "We have the rubble monster trapped as well, and I've got Fritz and Lucky working on a disenchantment." He skidded to a stop next to Luna. "I think we've got everything under control."

"Oh indeed you do, Shining Armor, indeed you do. Perhaps congratulations are in order." A hunk of gold appeared in Discord's claw, and he shook it until it resembled a medal of valor. "Here, take this well-deserved. . . oh my heavens, whatever is that noise?" There was a series of distant crashes, stone and glass, that wafted towards them from the direction of downtown. "Perhaps a store full of foal's toys has been taken over by enterprising and militant stuffed animals. What are the odds?" Discord clucked his tongue in disapproval. "I suppose I'll just hold on to this medal for the time being."

Shining growled, and then shouted over his shoulder. "Ranks!" Almost a hundred unicorns fell into rank and file, their horns aimed at the draconequus. Then Shining's horn lit, and Lyra felt herself encased in magic as she was hauled out of Discord's grasp by force.

Luna scowled at the Captain of the Guard. "You cannot fight him this way."

"Aim!" Shining Armor shouted. Row upon row of unicorns dipped their heads. Discord reached behind his back and pulled out a weapon, falling into a flawless fencer's guard stance. His confident grin vanished into surprise as he saw that the weapon he held was nothing but a long stalk of wheat.

"Fire!" Dozens of magical blasts tore through the night. Every guard present opened fire with a destructive burst from their horn. Shining grinned as he watched Discord's pupils shrink to pinpricks. But then Discord blurred, deflecting every single attack with lightning-fast flicks of his weapon. Magic ricoched in every direction, most of them striking the shield at some point, but a few launched into buildings or nearby trees, causing damage.

Discord flourished his stalk of wheat in an elaborate bow, to the sound of a gong and applause. When he stood upright again, he was wearing a Karate gi sashed with a black belt. "Very impressive! However, I might be more concerned about every bit of currency in this town having just been turned into various flavors of potato chip." He giggled. "I'd love to see the economists try and sort this one out! 'Hey Ted, how's the situation out there?' 'Well Bob, salt and vinegar might be up, but the sour cream and chive is just plummeting!'"

Luna urged calm as she spoke. "We must remember that fighting only breeds more chaos, Captain."

Shining snorted in frustration, but he nodded. Discord snaked around him. "Hmmm, no. The economy wont worry you much, will it? You're far more worried that your pretty alicorn wife is trapped beneath this bubble too, aren't you?"

Lyra gasped. Luna's eyes widened in shock, and she shouted, "Do not heed his mmmmfff ffmmfff!" She suddenly found her mouth strapped shut with duct tape. It took her a long moment to free herself with magic, but by then it was too late.

Discord had touched a single claw to Shining Armor's forehead. His eyes swirled with every color imaginable, and Discord's voice drifted through the night. "Starting a fight can be quite brave. . . if it's loved ones you're trying to save." From the center of Shining's forehead, color leeched from his coat just as the life seemed to drain from his gaze. There was a moment where nobody dared to move. Discord backed up a couple of paces, keeping his gaze locked on Shining Armor. Then he smiled, and Shining charged with a battle cry that shook the night.

Lyra hadn't seen much fighting in her life. She grew up in an affluent and cultured corner of Canterlot, and the constant presence of Celestia made violence and crime incredibly uncommon. Lyra'd never even seen the more action-y movies Bon Bon loved so much. She'd certainly never seen anything that might have prepared her for being in close proximity to an assault made by a unicorn as well-trained as Shining. And he attacked Discord with every spell in his arsenal. Lyra couldn't plug her ears and shield her eyes at the same time, so she cringed and flung herself backwards on sheer survival instincts.

Chunks of ground exploded upward, but Discord side-stepped them. Mana bolts hummed through the air, curving back around when they missed. Discord eeled out of their way. Tendrils of magic lashed through the air, attempting to entwine and ensnare, but they couldn't seem to make contact. Large stones appeared above Discord's head, but he never seemed to be under them when they fell. Fire erupted in every direction, scorching the ground. But it simply sloughed away from the spirit of chaos as he spun and laughed and reveled in the display of power.

Luna, on the other hoof, seemed to be everywhere at once. She was mending a spreading crack in the ground, then teleporting to the far side of the fray to quench spreading flames, then back again, dispersing stray magic blasts. She worked hard to save Canterlot and the innocent bystanders from the consequences of Shining Armor's uncontrolled attack, but it was all she could do to keep up. A few of the guard had to protect themselves, throwing up shields or tossing themselves to the side.

A soft voice, barely heard, threaded through the din. It stilled the violence causing Shining Armor, and every other witness, to turn. "My love?" An alicorn of light pink and rose stood aghast near the edge of smoldering and torn earth, one hoof held delicately to her throat.

"My dear Princess Cadance, right on time. . ." Discord spun a stately pirouette and bowed low in her direction. Shining Armor charged his enemy again, but his moment of hesitation gave Luna a chance to close with him and tackle him to the ground in an attempt to contain his berserker rush. As they wrestled through the ash and craters of dirt, Discord calmly floated towards the alicorn.

"What have you done to him?" She growled.

"Done?" Discord asked innocently. "Why Princess, I've done very little. If you'd really like somepony to blame for turning your refined hubby into a vicious brute, you may simply have to blame. . . well. . . his love for you."

Cadance tried hard not to twitch, not to give away any weakness beneath Discord's scrutiny. But there was a subtle hitch to her breathing she couldn't quite hide. "Love is a unifying force." She asserted confidently. "It brings ponies together for. . ."

"Do not play ignorant, Princess! It doesn't suit you." Discord hissed, suddenly dropping his playful demeanor. "We both know the truth. Love is irrational and destructive. Love spurned or betrayed or abused has caused far more suffering than I ever could. Wars have been fought, atrocities committed, crimes and transgressions. . . all for an illogical attachment to another."

He drifted around her, as light as a breeze. "Has it never struck you as odd that half of your written songs describe the joys of love, while the other half describe the devastation of heartbreak? It is a delicious irony that your greatest source of happiness is simultaneously your greatest source of despair. All love is pain, Princess, if you just wait long enough."

"Y-you're wrong. Love. . . love is worth the cost. . ." Cadance's response lacked conviction, and her voice shook. Her life and her destiny had always centered around spreading love to those she met. Discord's words apparently had managed to touch upon the deepest doubts hidden in her heart.

Lyra watched in horror as the Princess's eyes unfocused. No! Lyra took a panicked breath and forced her legs into motion. Even though every fiber of her being was desperate to run away from this scene, she launched herself towards Cadance, hoping to spare her soul from the monster's touch. Lyra ran. She ran harder and faster than she'd ever run before, her hooves thundering beneath her. She wasn't going to let the Princess doubt her own self-worth. She was a kind soul, and she didn't deserve that kind of pain.

But the faster she ran, the more obvious it became. Lyra wasn't going anywhere. A glance down showed her the treadmill that had appeared beneath her, and her heart skipped a beat. A glance back up showed her she was already too late.

Discord had a claw against Cadance's forehead, just behind her horn. "Love is just one type of madness, you know. . ." He muttered into her ear. "It's probably kinder to let loved ones go."

The Princess shook her head slowly, but not in denial. As her features crumpled, she gently curled herself up in the grass and held herself. Her delicate frame shook with suppressed sobs, and the color began to fade from her coat.

Lyra finally found her voice. "You MONSTER!!!" She shouted at the top of her lungs. She managed to leap safely off of the treadmill, only stumbling a little. "You horrible, despicable, heartless, ugly, cheap, foul-smelling, vindictive monster!" With her telekinesis she plucked Discord out of the air and dragged him towards her. Strangely, he weighed nothing. "Change them back!" She shouted right into his face.

"Hey!" Discord said, offended. "I am not ugly. And. . . hehehahahahah. . . you think I'm the monster here? Really? HahahaHAHAHAHAA!!!!! Oh my dear little Incidental Unicorn Number Two, you haven't even seen the real monster!" He snapped his fingers, and there was a flash of green light off to the side. "Isn't that right Princess?" Once again, he sneered the title. "Or should I say 'Queen?'"

Lyra didn't want to look. But she looked anyway. Shining Armor was nose-to-nose with a glossy black carapace, acid-green eyes and a mane that drifted like cobwebs on the breeze. With an incoherent roar of rage and hatred, Shining directed his attacks against the new threat. Lyra, meanwhile, tried to contain the scream that threatened to bubble out of her throat.

Queen Chrysalis. Lyra still hadn't come close to healing the scars left on her mind from the last time she'd seen that face. And she'd taken Luna's place in Canterlot? Since when?

There was no hope left for any of them.

As the ground beneath her began to deform, and nearby trees lifted into the air in defiance of the laws of gravity, Lyra Heartstrings covered her eyes and waited for the end.

Comments

[whoofian]

Well, can't deny I saw that one coming a mile away.

[battlemaster893]

3534751
I kept debating which was which.