The Lost

by Lux

Ends and Beginnings

Chapter 15 – Ends and Beginnings

Princess Celestia, after tending to her emotionally drained sister, turned towards her student. Twilight stood frozen in amazement at what she had seen, both from the memory and what happened to Luna. Knowing that Discord had the power to corrupt a Princess made the unicorn understand a question that had been buried in her mind ever since she and her friends had faced Discord. There had been part of her that questioned how Discord was able to so easily turn her and friends into their corrupted forms. But now, she realized how she had underestimated his power, just as the younger Luna had in that memory.

“Twilight,” Celestia said, “Are you all right?”

“Oh,” she said, snapping out of her thoughts, “yes, I’m fine. How’s Luna?”

“She will be fine. The memory that she showed us was very emotionally taxing for her.”

“Why was it so bad?”

“Even now, Luna blames herself for letting her guard down. She feels that she could have done something – anything -- to prevent Discord from taking advantage of her. I think that, after all these centuries, that there is still a part of her that thinks that she failed me and almost doomed Equestria. That, and the fact that she became Nightmare Moon, have taken its toll upon her mind and heart. I hope that in time she will learn to forgive herself. But I digress. Now I will show you how this story ends and how, against all odds, we defeated Discord.”

With a glow of her horn, Celestia revealed another scene. Twilight found herself back in the throne room where a younger princess Celestia paced nervously back and forth.

“Where is she?” she asked, looking towards the opening where she expected at any second to see her sister appearing. By the look on her face, it was obvious she knew that something was terribly wrong, as she knew her sister would never dawdle with such an important task.

“Hello, Celestia,” a familiar voice said as a shadowy silhouette appeared in the opening.

“Twist,” she said angrily, “What have you done to my sister?”

“That’s no way to treat a familiar acquaintance,” he said with a chuckle, “and the name isn’t Twist anymore. Don’t you remember how you sent him away to die, alone outside the borders of Equestria? Well, now I have returned, and with this new form I decided that a new name was in order. I now call myself Discord: it has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?”

“Where is my sister,” Celestia said with an angry tone that seemed to echo like thunder throughout the vaulted room.

“She’s right here,” Discord said with a smile as he stepped aside. What Celestia saw made her gasp. There Luna stood, but not the bright and cheerful sister that she knew and loved. This one was grey in both her appearance and her emotion. Her head hung low as if some unbearable weight was on her shoulders.

“Luna, speak to me! What happened?”

The younger sister looked up at her sister, and all Celestia could see was pure sadness and anger in her eyes. It was as if the flame of joy had been snuffed out in the princess, replaced by only darkness.

“What did you do to her, you monster?” Celestia said as she turned towards Discord.

“I told her the truth -- that you wanted to be the only ruler of Equestria, and that you have you’re your dear sister hostage so that your glory would never be diminished by anypony. Not even her.”

“How dare you feed her such lies,” Celestia said, “you know that I would give my kingdom -- even my life -- for her.”

“Ah well, I’m so glad you said that,” Discord said as he merrily strolled towards Luna’s throne and sat in it, “You know that I could do the same thing to you that I did to your precious little sister. But I, being a merciful lord, choose not to. Despite your countless rejections, I still have feelings for you. And so, I offer you a choice.”

“A choice,” Celestia said, “what choice could you possibly have for me?”

“It’s simple really. Choose the throne or choose your sister. If you choose the throne, you can rule with me: order and chaos side by side. You sister will be cared for, of course, but you will never see her again. Or, you can choose your precious Luna and relinquish the throne and all your power to me. But of course then you and your sister will be banished. I would see to curing her however. After all, why upset the happy family?”

Twilight watched as Celestia looked at the sister that she loved and at Discord lounging on her sister’s throne. It appeared as if her mind was doing battle between her duty to protect Equestria and her duty as a sister. She couldn’t bear to see the kingdom she worked so hard to create fall to chaos, and she couldn’t bear to see her sister in this depressed, lifeless, joyless state.

“Take your time,” Discord said, “for you see, I win either way.” With that the creature gave a maniacal laugh that was tinged with the sweet taste of victory.

Celestia collapsed to the ground as she took hold of her sister. She hugged her as tears welled up into the Princess of the Sun’s eyes.

“Awww…. Such a touching scene,” Discord said as he magically produced a tub of popcorn as if he was a spectator to a show.

“Luna, I’m so sorry. I’m sorry if I did not listen to you. I’m sorry for the times I was not there. I’m sorry for what he did to you. I miss you so much, little sister. I’m lost without you. Now I have to either lose you or the kingdom and it tears me apart doing either of those things. I just wish you would come back to me. Please come back Luna. I love you.”

Celestia closed her eyes and curled up with her sister, resting her head next to hers. She began to cry uncontrollably as tears rained down upon the Princess of the Night. Yet, unbeknownst to Princess Celestia at the time, as the tears of the princess fell upon her sister it seemed to slowly wash away the grey and clear the mind of the princess.

“I love you too, big sister,” a soft voice was heard by Princess Celestia that made her eyes open with a shock. She looked down in amazement to see that Princess Luna was back to her normal self.

“Luna, are you ok,” Celestia said softly so as not to attract Discord’s attention.

“Yes, sister, I’m fine. Let’s finish this once and for all.”

“This scene is too boring,” Discord said careening his next to get a better view, “Have you made your decision yet, Princess.”
“As a matter of fact I did,” Celestia said as she stood up defiantly.

Discord’s face turned from a look of victory to one of pure surprise as he saw Princess Luna, now uncorrupted, standing up as well.

“Actually, we did,” Luna said looking at her sister then back to Discord.

“No,” he shouted, jumping off Luna’s throne and facing the two, “This can’t be happening!”

“But it is,” Celestia said, “After giving it some thought, I have decided not to accept any of your choices.”

“In fact,” Luna said, “My sister and I have a third choice for you. We will have our love, our kingdom, and our harmony. And you will have nothing!”

“So you really think you can defeat me,” Discord said with a smile, “Do you realize how powerful I now am. Ponytopia lies in ruins because of me! What makes you think that any magic you have will defeat me?”

“Because we have help,” Celestia said coldly, “from the Elements of Harmony!”

Suddenly the six Elemental stones appeared from the Princesses, encircling them and lifting them off the floor. Discord could only watch frozen in terror at what was taking place. All his plotting and victories and his dreams of ruling Equestria in the name of chaos were about to be shattered, and there was nothing he could do to stop what was to happen. The elements began to whirl about the two princesses, forming a bubble of pure energy as they floated in the air. Then suddenly the six stones in unison fired a colored beam of magic towards the center, producing a rainbow beam that was directed towards one target.

Discord cried out in pain as the energy of the Elements struck his body. He could only watch as slowly his body began to be encased in stone. He tried to move, to somehow escape his fate. But as the stone engulfed him, he knew that he had lost. With a deafening thud, the statue that was once Discord crashed to the ground in a fitting tribute to his reign of terror.
The bubble around the Princesses then expanded outward, through the walls of the castle and outward into the surrounding city, restoring it from its chaos. Finally the two Princesses returned to the ground as the Elements became dormant. The two looked upon the statue that was once Discord, partly amazed that they had defeated him and happy that Equestria was free from his power.

“We did it,” Luna said.

“Yes we did, sister,” Celestia, “but there is much work to be done before Ponytopia is at peace again. Come, let us go to the balcony so that the citizens know that we are safe and Discord has been defeated.”

The scene then faded back to the familiar study in the castle at Canterlot.

“So now you know what happened,” Celestia said, “Through love and the power of the Elements of Harmony, Discord was defeated and Equestria was saved. Yet, it still took time for Ponytopia to be fully restored, and for its citizens to be at peace once more. Then, there was Luna. Although Discord was defeated, the seed of his corruption still existed deep within her mind. And that corruption would lead to another time of sorrow, when she became Nightmare Moon and I had to make a painful decision. But that is another story for another time.”

“Have you finished the story, sister?” Luna asked as she rose from the couch.

“Yes Luna, I have. How are you feeling?”

“Much better now, thank you. So Twilight, have you learned anything from what happened?”

“I actually learned many lessons. First, do not let others intimidate you into doing something you are against. Second, beware of trying to achieve too much power until you learn to successfully control it. Last, but most important of all, always follow your heart and never forget the true love that you have for others such as your friends and family.”

“Those are wise things to remember,” Celestia said with a smile, “But just in case you do forget part of this story sometime in your busy life, I took the liberty of copying this story down for you. You may certainly share it with your friends so that they may know the truth about what happened long ago as well.”

With that, the Princess used her magic and brought forth from a shelf a book, giving it to Twilight.

“Thank you, both of you, so much for sharing this story,” said Twilight.

“You are very welcome,” Luna replied. “Now, I think that after such a stressful story, we should indulge ourselves. How about we see if there are any pastries in the kitchen to partake of? What do you say sister?”

“That would be wonderful,” Celestia said, “Will you join us Twilight?”

“Yes, I think I can go for something sweet,” she said as she followed the two Princesses out of the study, bound together by sisterly love, as it was in the past, and how it should be for all time.

The End!

Comments

[Lucky424]

Interesting. The very thing that had made Twist do this to himself is what defeated him in the end, and thus can only mean he didn't
really live her.

Also, "But that is a story for another time"??

Does that mean a......Sequel?!?!?!?

[Lux]

Don't you want to know how Luna became Nightmare Moon? (Spoiler Alert!)

[Lucky424]

You are now being keenly observed, purely scientifically ,
denver.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw719_131041198826.jpg
So I can be informed of the creation of this possible continuation
of events pertained to in this script!!!

Or, I'm watching you so I can find out when you start it!!

[canonkiller]

That story was cute I liked it, and if you're doing a Nightmare Moon one, I'll be looking out for it!

[Lux]

There are a few stories I want to do before the Nightmare Moon one, but reat assured, I have a list of all stories, and that one is on there!

[Lux]

Yes, the concept of "The Lost" was inspired by Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, namely how Voldemort came to be. Villains aren't often born evil, but become evil through some reason. This goes for Darth Vader, Voldemort, Princess Luna, etc. So I wondered how Discord turned evil.

[Lux]

2398204
Perhaps. I admit that I may have missed a few chances to make her voice more "Royal Canterlot" like.