Those Forty Years

by Spell Writer

Eternal 9 - Hero vs Hero

Unity hardly got a hoof out the door before a jolt of familiar energy hit her. Her eyes widen as she feels Discord teleport near Canterlot. Her very presence likely prevented him from teleporting right in front of her, but this. This is a problem. If Discord is still active, the spirit council has a proper majority. Unity's eyes sharpen as she squints. "Change of plans. It seems like my brother wasn't defeated after all. I don't know if it was one of his tricks or if he was freed by meddling." She bites her lower lip, mind racing as she tries to think of what to do.

Then it hits her. If Discord was free, why is he here instead of getting her sealed with the rest of the spirits? With a proper majority, they could all come down and dispose of her with ease. Even with her full strength, she couldn't beat all four of them.

Unless. Discord wants revenge. He doesn't WANT the others to get involved, so he's going off script on purpose. A grin appears on Unity's face, a half-cracked smile full of malicious intent. That means that she does have a chance here. She could easily defeat the other three with Twilight's strength and the pseudo Elements of Harmony. It's just Discord's ability to negate her own and vice versa that would shift the tide. If it's just him, this will just be a repeat performance of earlier. "Well, Your Majesty. We have a spirit of chaos to subdue. This time permanently." Unity giggles a little as she flashes her horn, the duo teleporting violently. The teleportation left behind a charred spot in the castle, which would begin to ooze and fester a dark liquid. Almost as if the castle was becoming ill, the ooze started slowly spreading across the area, cracking stone and destroying the castle as it spread.

---

Celestia, Luna, and Discord wait, having spent the last few moments looking around the small village they appeared in. Celestia and Luna used their authority to quickly evacuate the villagers. Some refused to leave, of course. But the small hamlet was now mostly deserted except for the two Alicorns and a single Draconequus. Luna nervously readies herself as Celestia stands tall and proud. Refusing to show any weakness in her poise. With his half-lidded eyes, Discord looks at his arm, which is suddenly covered in wristwatches. Each wristwatch was pointing at a smiling face of his sister. "Hmm. She's here." He says simply as the group is greeted by a large burst of green magic. Celestia steadied herself for the battle to come.

Luna simply sees the state that her mother is in, her heart twisting in pain as she cries out. "Mom!" But both Celestia and Discord block her run forward. One with a claw and the other with a wing. Unity tsking a little to herself as she sees the two younger alicorns.

"I wasn't expecting the daughters. You masked their presence, Discord. How unlike you to think ahead. Maybe you have matured." She says with a snicker.

Discord shrugs and chuckles a little. "I suppose it had to happen eventually. But let's be honest here. We should really get on with this." He says with a serious expression. Few things would ever make Discord take things seriously, even in battle. His sister, however, is one of those things. He knows he cannot win with half-measures.

Unity perks up and smiles. "Well then, if you're so excited to have a repeat of earlier. Then be my guest!" She smiles as she flashes her horn. The pseudo Elements of Harmony appear around her.

As the Elements appear, however, they begin to jostle and shake, to the surprise of every creature around. Eternal's lip curled up a small amount, even with the hopeless facial expression forced upon her countenance. The Elements shake and jostle as they suddenly start to be pulled from Unity's presence, stopping in a small group between the two parties. The Elements of Magic, Generosity, and Kindness crash into Celestia suddenly with great force. Followed up by Loyalty, Honesty, and Laughter crashing into Luna. The two alicorns yelping as the stones quite literally magnitize to their dirty regalia. The gems glow gently as the regalia begins to glisten and glow, cleaning itself and becoming proper jewelry for princesses of a country.

There is only surprise among the two spirits. Before Unity yells out loudly in realization. "Twilight Sparkle. You prepared THIS far ahead?!" She says with a noise that can only be defined as a guttural growl of hatred. "FINE then. If we're doing this the hard way. Then we do this the hard way!" With a stomp of her forehooves and a glow of her horn, plates of magical armor appear on all four hooves. The impact of her stomp caused the area to shake, causing the disoriented alicorns to stumble. Unity yelling out. "Give me back those Elements and surrender. Even without them, Discord can't win. None of you can beat me. I am the hero of this story. I will bring the world to harmony by force if I must!"

Discord cracks a smile and laughs a little at his sister, which soon transitions into full-blown hysterical laughter. "Oh, sister." He says as he starts to keel from his laughter, several floating mouths laughing with him. "That sounds like what a villain would say." He smirks, almost cockily, at Unity. "Congratulations, Sister, I knew you had it in you. You've officially become the very thing you hated."

With that, Unity's temper snaps as she charges forward. "Discord is mine. Keep your adopted spawn off of me." She says curtly to Eternal, who, unable to disobey, flies directly at the two sisters. Discord smirked as he suddenly teleported to the side to avoid his sister's attack, revealing a thin orange portal he kept hidden behind his body. The female spirit flew right through with her momentum.

Discord nods. "I'll keep her busy as long as I can." The two alicorns nod their heads before focusing their attention on Twilight yet again. Discord jumps through the portal, which closes behind him in an instant.

Finally, the three alicorns clash. Luna and Celestia use all their strength just to block Twilight's initial charge.

The Worst Event in Equestrian history had begun.

---

The battle began. With strikes flying between both sides. Twilight's magic against Luna's magic, and Twilight's physical strength against Celestia's.

A beam of intense, mastered magic fired from Twilight's horn crashes into Luna's magical shield. Sparkles and shards fall down around her as a crack forms from the strength of the beam. Luna grimaces a little as the feedback from her spell hits her, sweat beading down her forehead.

"Mom! Stop! Please!" Luna yells out as Twilight suddenly disappears. A yelp escaped Luna's mouth as she could feel her mother's sudden appearance behind her.

A loud crack and grunt from Celestia rings out as she blocks the incoming strike from Twilight. "Huh?" rings out from Celestia. The weight of the blow knocked her back, sending both alicorns flying backward in a heap. They can only barely catch themselves in the air after a short tumble. Luna had to instantly bring up her cracked barrier to block Twilight's follow-up attack.

But now they were on the correct side of the battlefield. After all, their objective wasn't to win. It was to save their mother.

Celestia looks at Luna worriedly, who pants a little, tears running down her cheeks. Yet, Luna gently smiles after the short cry and nods. Resolute. "Celly, I'm ready. Don't worry about me. Let's save Mom." She gives a wink, even if her eyes are watering with both fear and sorrow. Luna was ready, and Celestia.

Celestia had to trust her sister. "You better be okay." She then gives Luna a quick hug. Before she quickly dashes towards the castle with a swift beat of her wings. Twilight perks up as she sees what's happening. With a quick teleport upward, she nearly strikes Celestia's fleeing form with a blast of magic, which is blocked yet again. Luna, tearfully smiling behind her barrier.

"I'm your opponent, Mom. But don't worry." Luna tilts her head and smiles softly. "We'll save you no matter what!"

A pulse of magic flows out from the castle as the pacification spell begins in earnest. The sky behind Luna becomes a dark purple as Equestria's growth begins to be stifled by the magic. Luna grunts a little as entire concepts are removed from reality. Nonmagical electricity? Phones? Planes? All the tremendous technological advancements they made in the last centuries began to fall apart one at a time. Disappearing entirely.

But she didn't have time to worry about it now.

The battle would continue.

---

Celestia exhaled in relief as the beam was blocked behind her, taking flight towards their castle, gasping as she saw large, black vines beginning to grow from the city. Ponies flee from the town in a panic as the growth starts to overtake everything. She quickly looks up at the castle, then down to her subjects in danger. With a frustrated yell, she dives right down and rescues as many ponies as possible. "Go go! Scatter! Do not go south! Quickly!"

"Why is this happening?!" Says one pony in a panic.

"I don't know," Celestia says honestly. "But please. Run. Do not worry about the castle. It may be lost, but we will survive."

With the tiny droplet of magic she has access to, thanks to Discord's healing. Celestia struggles greatly as she forces a portal to open. A pulse from the pacification spell shortly removes the spell's formula from existence afterward, causing the portal to shimmer.

"NO!" Celestia says, worried. Without the portal, the ponies wouldn't be able to escape safely! The element of generosity begins to glow brightly once the formula is removed. The portal begins to solidify as the element of harmony protects it from the effects of the pacification spell. "Quickly! I can't open another one, every creature in!" She says as she rushes around, helping every pony from the city escape into the portal. Flying around, digging ponies out of the rubble with her hooves, and carrying them off of heights as the vines and dark trees begin to destroy stone houses and the walls around the city.

Just as she thinks the evacuation is over, she feels something pulling her wing. She looks around in a startle as she sees some small squirrels pointing into the rapidly growing forest.

"Oh no." Celestia rushes right into the forest. With a fast trot, she quickly escorts all the critters and creatures of Canterlot into the portal, too. By the end, the ivory alicorn is sweating and panting from the portal spell, her horn burnt out entirely as the magic ends. With the end of the portal comes the end of that spell, wholly lost to time. Even then, Celestia forces herself to move forward, her horn cracking and chipping with each step.

Celestia's vision blurs lightly as she forces herself to move forward. Only stopping when she hears a little peep. Her ears perked up gently as she saw one critter who missed the portal. A small, young phoenix.

Celestia stumbles over and kneels down. "I'm so sorry, little one. I don't have the magic to get you out of here." She says with a defeated sigh. She could have sworn that the phoenixes from the royal gardens escaped, but she supposes she could have missed one. Now they're both stuck. The phoenix tilts her head and flies up onto Celestia's back. Giving another little Peep.

Celestia tilts her head as the element of kindness begins to glow. "You want to come? That's why you stayed behind?!" She shakes her head suddenly and looks at the phoenix. "Wait. Why can I understand you?!"

"Peep"

"No. I've never been able to understand critters! This is new to me." Celestia says with a huff. "Still, I don't know about-" She then sees the battle in the distance and the pace of the growth around her. "Actually. I think you would be safer with me." The Ivory Alicorn giggles nervously. "What's your name?" She asks the phoenix with a worried smile.

"Peep"

"Philomena huh… I like that. Hope you don't mind some death-defying adventures with an alicorn that can't use magic anymore." Celestia says with a weak smile.

"Peep!"

"That's what I like to hear!" Celestia’s resolve further strengthened now. "Come, Philomena! We have a country to save!" She says as she rushes forward with her new friend. The phoenix flew ahead of her, the gentle, warm sparkles of magic coming off the magical bird. Celestia feels refreshed as she trots through the powder, her horn gently glowing as the chips and cracks start to repair. With all of that complete, the Element of Magic begins to glow.

---

Luna never thought she'd taste blood again. Here she is again, though. It's not much of it. After all, a purely magical fight is usually all just feedback damage from spells hitting spells.

Still, her mother was incredible at magic. Could she win? Would she have to hurt her mom to stop this insane stuff from happening?

Luna just giggles to herself. "No. Luna Sol Sparkle doesn't give up anymore." She smiles a little at Twilight.

"Mom." She says as she blocks another blast. The magical spells always being enough to shatter her barriers in a single blow. Followed by a quick teleportation spell to avoid the follow-up strike.

"I know you can hear me in there. So. While we fight, just listen, alright?" She says as she avoids attack after attack. Another shield crackled from a beam striking it. Twilight could end the fight whenever she wanted. After all, Luna has no defense against time magic. Thus, Luna long picked up that her momma was fighting against the control over her, preventing the use of anything too dangerous.

"I'm sorry. I'm sure Celestia is, too. We were so happy to have a mom that we didn't notice all the bad stuff happening to you. We weren't able to see through Unity's plans." She swiftly dodges a beam. Luna grunting. The beam was so much faster and hotter than Daybreaker's.

"But." she sighs, "I'm also sorry about something else. I read your journal." With that statement, Twilight freezes up as the element of honesty begins to gently glow.

"I. I know what's going to happen. Between me and Celestia. This. This spell wasn't only for you, was it?" She says with a smile and a head tilt as she watches Twilight stiffly standing on a cloud. Luna smiled a little.

"You always taught me that even at the darkest moments, we should always have a smile. That we shouldn't be afraid of the future." Luna looks downwards as she lands on a cloud. "It's okay, mom. I'll be fine." She says with a smile. "Because I know you'll save me in the future!" She says with a tearful yet wide smile. "I'll always be your daughter, regardless if I'm Nightmare Moon or Luna Sparkle! So you better not do this again!"

The Element of Laughter begins to faintly glow. "I will save you. No matter what. I will not abandon you here. Mom, consider this a rescue mission. Celestia and I will save you from Unity, and then we can all be a happy family now AND when you go home!" She then glows her horn as all three Elements swirl around her, synchronized with Luna. A three-colored rainbow flashed out. Forcing Twilight to block for the first time in this battle. A little smile of pride appears on Twilight's face as her light pink barrier cracks under the weight of the pseudo artifacts' magic.

Two battles rage on, three minds having the same thought at once.

"It's up to you now, Celestia."

"Run, my little sunshine."

"Get moving already!"

Celestia feels a rush of adrenaline as she heads into the overgrowing castle. Philomena would land on her horn, the gentle glow from the phoenix lighting the way forward.

Author's Note:

Writing combat is a pain. Luckily, I can keep it short!

Bio for today! Celestia Sol Sparkle! Since it's about Celestia, Twilight will take over the note-taking!

Princess Celestia Sparkle:

Title: Twilight's Sunshine

Celestia is a fun one to write. She's not the haughty princess she was in the comics, thanks to being raised by Twilight, who basically always kept her humble, being such an imposing presence. Princess Celestia is the eldest of the two sisters and the wielder of the Elements of Magic, Kindness, and Generosity. However, the Element of Laughter does resonate with her sometimes, too~! Compared to her sister, she's a bit more impulsive, much preferring to go on exciting adventures that are full of danger and chaos! Celestia learned how to rule directly from Princess Twilight and leads with love and care. This pretty much always put her at odds with Unity. She is a purified alicorn, meaning there isn't a shred of darkness in her anymore. You can thank Luna for that.

Twilight's Notes:

This is Princess Celestia, my daughter. When compared to the Celestia of my time, she's... honestly about the same, just younger. She's impulsive, silly, and fun. Celestia loves to play jokes and prank her sister. She loves cake and sweets to an obsessive degree, to the point where sometimes Luna and I get sick of eating so much sweet stuff. But even then, Celestia is my ray of sunshine, and I'll always care about her. Now and even when I go back to the future. It's gonna be fun to see if I can still make her embarrassed.

Luna's notes:

This is Celestia! My big sister! She's the greatest magic user (Aside mom) and the nicest big sister you could ever ask for! She's always willing to help me in my times of need and is always watching out for everyone, even Mom. Secretly, she's super excited to open her school in the future, even though Mom refuses to tell her any big details. Celestia handled most foreign policy for Mom while she was under Unity's control. Nowadays, though, she gets to be a teenager like any other pony, and I think that's great. She does still help in Government stuffs though! Don't think she's slacking!

Comments

[Blood Rarity]

[MatTheBook]

Unity may be powerful with the influence of Twilight, but there is something way more powerful that she'll never get!