Stop Patronizing the Sun!

by Foal Star

chapter eight: Desert of Memories

Princess Celestia was treading through what seemed to be a desert for what felt like days along her trek. She struggled through the hot, burning sand as memories from her long-forgotten past flew through her like gusts of wind; along with conserving her mental energy to not focus on the images around her, she also had to deal with the desert itself. The sands hitting her body felt real, along with the hot sat hitting her eyes and searing her body. Not only that, despite this not really being her body, the desert's heat felt real with it pressing down on her so oppressively. She hadn't endured such intense heat since she and her sister had to travel through the badlands. The mare was determined to get through this no matter what; she was focused entirely on finding this missing personality of hers. So, she continued her trek smashing her hooves against the burning sand and with sweat continuously blinding her vision. As she continued to trudge through the desert, various memories of hers flew in front of her. Old forgotten memories of when she learned how to fly, memories of her foalhood with Luna, even memories of Starswirl the Bearded being like a father to her. Some super embarrassing others were quite hilarious, especially ones of her playing pranks on Luna. They were all so lovely and warm it was rather saddening to see all the times they spent together were now lost to time…being over a thousand years old, memories like those become harder to recall. However, they still linger inside her, even if she couldn't entirely remember the details. However, she couldn't stop to reminisce; she couldn't tell how long it was since she started this journey, but every second she wastes is another moment her real body is controlled by some rouge personality.

Her journey through the sea of sand dunes eventually came to an end as she came upon a colossal pyramid. It was massive with the stones made of a marble white, and the top had a statue of herself made of gold. She was dressed in a toga standing above with her forehooves out and wearing a circlet over her head. The princess alicorn slowly trotted through the front doors, and standing before her was a stone sarcophagus. It was quite massive; taking the entire length of the pyramid's base, she slowly crept over to the odd structure. She poked it with a hoof and whispered to herself. "Huh? Is my missing personality in here?"

She gasped, then took the top of the sarcophagus and grunted as she heaved and pushed the stone slab to the side with a crunch! Celestia breathed heavily as she looked down a dark hole, but a flight of stone steps leads down into the darkness. The princess gulped as she slowed to walk down the steps with only the clop of her hooves echoing around her; she was somewhat nervous. But it wouldn't be the first time she explored a dark, mysterious pyramid…her cheeks became red as a few memories came to mind in how she and Luna would go off to see if they could find traces of any other alicorns. She never did…they only ever found was ruins. They have a rough idea something terrible happened way before they were born…but they never really figured out who their parents were or why Starswirl decided to raise them?

Those thoughts dissipated as her hooves hit soft grass; the mare found herself in a small peaceful-looking valley. It was a green field with crystal blue skies; a few trees and flower beds spotted around; there was a river rushing by, and sitting in the middle of this peaceful valley was a young filly. She looked exactly like her when she was a small foal wearing a little toga; the filly looked up to her with a smile. "Hello, you're the host personality, right?"

The princess alicorn smiled and replied, "yes, I am…so…um, you're my cutie mark?"

The filly snickered behind a hoof. "Well, that's the simplest way of explaining what I am."

She waved a hoof and patted a patch of grass nearby. "Come, sit down."

Celestia trotted over close to the other version of herself and sat down in the cool grass as asked, but she wanted to get her out of here and save her body. So she replied abruptly. "look, I don't mean to be rude, but my body is being taken over by a rogue personality. I need your help to take it back."

The filly gave a sigh, "I can help you, but first, you need to rediscover who you really are. Only then will we have the strength to reclaim this body of yours."

Celestia sighed, rubbing her forehead. "look, again, I can rediscover my cutie mark alter my body is being taken over as we speak."

The little filly rose up as she replied, "I know, and it's taking over because you lost focus of who you are. I think you need a reminder."

"Wh-"Celestia tried to ask what she meant by that by the sky above disappeared as an image of a filly version of herself. She was hiking through the Everfree forest in a rainstorm and taking a young Discord by the claw. The princess vaguely remembered these memories, but it was blurry, and it was rather hard to focus on.

"Now pay attention, because I'll show you this only once, then we'll go." The little filly snapped back. Celestia just gave a sigh as she stared up into the sky and watched.

---

Over a thousand years ago…

It was late at night with a mysterious storm brewing overhead rain was pouring down on the dark and mysterious Everfree Forest. Celestia took Discord by the claw and led him through the forest, huffing and heaving. The little filly's pristine white coat was covered in mud, her mane was full of sticks and brambles, and there were more than a few scratches and bruises covering her body. She led a younger version of Discord with his stubby claws and strange body; they were headed towards a looming castle down from a valley. The rain pounded overheard as it landed around the two younglings they were trailing through the woods. They walked through the mountain trail because it was late at night, and then they continue through the mountain pass, and they walked through late at night. They wanted to get back to the tower before he noticed they were gone. The princess of the sun was somewhat nervous as the filly seemed rather worried she and Discord were going to be in trouble. She looked back at the little draconequus as he looked down as the rain dripped from his face on the ground below. The filly looked back towards Discord with a smile on her face and cheered him on. "Hey, we're going to get there in no time."

"It doesn't matter if he hates me…" Discord just stood there heaving as he grumbled under his breath.

Celestia stared back at the draconequus with a worried look; she knew that Starswirl was rather harsh on the little lord of chaos, but she never knew that Discord took his scolding so personally and whispered, "no, he doesn't hate you; he just can be a jerk sometimes."

The young lord of chaos stomped a foot down and snapped. "Yeah, right, he hates me! All he does is yell at me! That's why I ran away; I didn't want you to come after me!"

Celestia eyed her friend as she replied, "you really thought I was going to let you wander off on your own?"

Discord crossed his claws in front of his chest and snapped, "I didn't ask for your help."

The alicorn filly trotted over and wiped some mud from Discord's face with a hoof. "I know Starswirl can be tough on you, but that's how he shows he cares for you. You want to be my prince when you grow upright?"

"But what if I never live up to his standards, so why should I continue?" The young lord of chaos asked, looking up with tears running down his face.

Celestia was a bit confused as she asked young draconequus. "What do you mean?"

Discord just plopped down in the muddy dirt and grumbled, "I'm thinking of just going out on my own... that's why I left? I want to be myself; I don't need parents or friends. I can figure out how to live on my own."

The young alicorn looked over with tears in her eyes as she responded, "but what about me? I thought we were best friends?"

Discord seemed to look a bit ashamed at what he said and responded, "I'm sorry…I left you a note and explained things."

Celestia stood there in the rain with it running down her face as she snapped, "you're my best friend, and you're the one thing that I care most about. If you're leaving, then I'll leave with you."

Discord looked up, somewhat surprised, as he quickly replied, "you're not serious, right?"

Celestia came close and pulled the little draquenous and held him close. "Hey, it's ok. I'll always be here for you."

They stood together, hugging in the rain as she took him by the claw. "Come on, we can get back in time! Before he even notices, come on!"

"Seriously, stop! I didn't even decide if I'm still leaving or not!" the lord of chaos cried out.

"Oh, shut it! If you want to leave after that's fine! But for right now, we still need to get out of this rain!" Celestia shouted as she ran through the woods. She was determined to get back to the tower before Starswirl noticed, and then they were trailing through the woods and were heading back as fast as they could. She wasn't going to give up on Discord; he may be a prankster and never pay attention in any of their classes, but he was her friend, and at the very least, she'll make sure he's ok. But they eventually made it deep in the woods as they came through the forest with the rain pounding down on them.

As they neared the castle, Discord tried to tug his claw out of her grasp and cried out, "no, stop! He'll catch us, and we'll both be in big trouble!"

The alicorn filly looked towards him and continued, "it's fine, I don't care if he catches us! As long as you're with me!"

The rain was now started to dissipate, now coming down as trickle as he asked, "why do you care so much?"

The princess paused as she stared at the young draconequus and wondered why he was so clueless; she liked him a lot. She wanted him to feel better about himself as she replied, "no, your good, and I won't let you just go! I will never give up on you or anypony everypony has a right to be happy no matter what! I'm going to make sure you can see that one day!" She held out a hoof, and he held it to Discord as the sun appeared in the back; he wiped the tears from his eyes, the alicorn smiled down him. As he had a small smile appear on his face, she didn't notice the cutie mark appear on her rump as they went to the castle together.

---

Celestia looked down at the young filly as the memory disappeared above; she had tears in her eyes as those memories were something she has almost completely forgotten about. She wiped her eyes and then turned to see that she was now standing in the original valley with the ivory tower on one end of the valley and the golden throne on the other side. The princess was somewhat confused about how she got here, and then she turned to see the goddess version sitting by her. "Well seems like you enjoyed the show."

Celestia snickered as she replied, "so my entire legacy…my destiny, was tied with Discord since the beginning… he's the key to me returning back to normal."

"That's half of what I was trying to show you; the other is that you inspire others to better than themselves. Discord would've turned out a lot worse if you weren't in his life." The goddess filly explained.

Celestia just sighed as she stood up on her hooves and stretched her body. "Well, then I have to inspire Discord to turn me back to normal?"

The filly gave her a wink. "you'll figure it out, now let's give this other version of me a piece of my mind." She held out a hoof, and they flew up to the top of the ivory tower. There they turned to the other personalities standing about, all whispering in a hushed voice. But upon seeing the goddess version of herself, they all bowed in unison before her. The filly held up a hoof. "rise, please, but I do appreciate you all…even you, Sunbraker."

"Haha, don't make me laugh." The firey alicorn snapped back. The goddess smirked as she lit her horn and pointed it at the mirror as she dragged the prissy alicorn filly screaming and shouting, "Hey, stop that! What do you think you're doing!"
There she scowled, seeing the goddess, she started to sweat and then the filly got angry and stomped a hoof on the ground. "Seriously! How did you get out!"

The goddess rolled her eyes, "please, the desert of memories? Yes, it's vast, but my pyramid is connected to the host personality; the more she traveled through the desert, the closer I got."

The filly pounded her hooves on the ground as she started to throw a tantrum, "ugh! darn it! I was having so much fun! why do you have to ruin everything!"

The little goddess rose in the air and unfurled her wings as her eyes glowed with power as she roared, "silence! you are a virus to this body and I have every right to purge you here and now!"

The little filly personality started shake all over in fear of this goddess as she turned to the host Celestia with tears in her eyes and pleaded, "d… don't let her destroy me…I... I'll be good I won't try to take over, I promise!"

The host Celestia looked down at the quivering filly she knew there would be no way to ever know if she would try to take her body over...but she was merciful and had pity for this personality that shouldn't have existed. "Alright, you can stay, but I need to ask you didn't do anything too embarrassing with my body? Right?"

The other personalities all got quiet and looked down while Dawnbreaker burst into fits of laughter; all Celestia could do was groan, knowing when she took over again, she was in for a surprise.

The little goddess however flew down and clopped over and explained in a concerned tone. "You are the host, so I won't harm this trespasser. However, I need you to focus whatever you see when you return is just that superficial; you need to focus on getting your cutie mark back and making amends with Discord. Those two goals should be your priority."

The primary personality didn't say anything back and slowly nodded. She turned to face the mirror before her; Celestia gulped and prepared herself as she stepped through to retake her body find her cutie mark and confront Discord.

Comments

[guardian soul]

Where is the cover pic from?