Two Worlds Collide

by RainstormRiddles

Prologue

Celestia took a deep breath, trying to allow her mind to catch up with her.

It was storming outside, the rain was loud as it pelted the balcony beyond her bedchamber. Not a magic storm, thank goodness, just a natural one. All would be inside tonight. Aside from the rain, the tick of a grand clock was all there was so be heard in the still room. It was peaceful, serene. A complete contrast to the inner chaos of emotions of the one mare in the room.

Celestia closed her eyes and nodded to herself. It had finally begun.

Before her lay a glass display, a deceptively secure thing despite it's flimsy appearance. A red velvet plaque angled towards the observer, displaying six brilliant gems nestled into it. Each was a different, vibrant color: violet, cerise, cerulean, autumn orange, soft pink, and magenta. Five were identical in their facets, elongated hexagons akin to popular jewelry. The sixth took the form of a six pointed star, five of which pointed to the other jewels in the display. But the star was no bigger than the rest as if to proclaim it held no significance without the others. Thus was the nature of the elements of harmony.

To anyone else, the elements looked as they always did: cold lumps of stone. But this evening there was a difference, a difference that Celestia could see clear as day despite her physical vision telling her otherwise.

She turned her head towards the glass door of the balcony, looking up at the sky shrouded in heavy clouds. "It's happening, sister," she said, then smiled. "An element is born tonight."

This was a good thing, but it was also a hard thing. She was overjoyed and wrapped in melancholy. But she was not surprised.

For many years she and her sister Luna had been bound to these elements. They'd been so close, fighting together for the good of their world. Together they birthed an era of great peace for all of pony kind. And in this peace she, the great Princess Celestia, made her greatest folly.

She took a shuddering breath, allowing herself to acknowledge the pain that came with this occasion.

Proud, bathed in the light of her citizens, Celestia had turned a blind eye to what she then considered her gloomy sisters petty concerns. After all, it was all little things. So what if she was always the first addressed? If a few towns threw some festivals in her honor? Memories now tainted with the bitter edge of shame. Oh how she'd reveled in her glory, and she paid dearly for her negligence.

The ponies that remained in Equestria blamed Luna for the rise and fall of Nightmare Moon and the great collision that followed, but Celestia knew better. She knew the truth.

She continued to gaze at the elements, not really seeing them for the moment.

She was to be blamed just as much, if not more, than Luna. The elements were forgiving, but they can only allow for so much leeway. They both had many years to come forth and heal the gap that they both knew was forming between them, but they didn't. They didn't and they broke. Yes, the elements are forgiving, but when they are turned and used against each other there is no more harmony. And with the last of the harmony between the sisters shredded, the elements could no longer be tied to them.

The night she had to banish her sister to the moon was the last night Celestia was able to call on the elements of harmony. Since then, she could still fell slivers of the old connection, but the jewels were cold to her. No longer did the fill her with the song of warmth and passion and power and drive. The were a hum in her heart now, a song with a lost voice. For nearly a thousand years...

She'd waited all that time for something to change with the elements, for the change that must come eventually. She didn't know how the change would come about, only that it would. Would a pony or group of ponies have to first prove their worth? Was there already potential bearers out in the world, ready to connect with the elements should thy face them?

Now she understood. The connection is destiny set at birth, but what the future bearers are to do with the connection would be on them. And even though she always knew in her head that this would happen one way or other, a small part of her heart had defied her and secretly whished, hoped, that maybe she and Luna could repair their friendship and restore their connection... but no.

Now before her was evidence that the elements were finally ready to move on. In the pit of her soul, Celestia could feel that one of the elements had drawn even further away from her, going from a hum to barely a whisper. And when the element joins with it's new bearer, she knew it would go silent.

Celestia smiled as she examined the elements, truly studying them now as apposed gazing past them. She wondered which of the elements it was, but had no real way to tell. She felt a spark of excitement at the idea of a new foal meeting the world for the first time, unaware of the great things yet to come. The great things her or she would do.

Already Celestia felt like a mother eager to see the child grow, and as she fondly looked at the elements she eagerly anticipated the arrival of the rest. With the first already binding to another, the rest would soon follow. And Celestia was ready to see them passed down.

"They will right our wrongs, sister," Celestia said out loud. "And I will give everything I have to see them succeed."

No reply came, as it hadn't for a millennia.

"A new era is about to come. It's going to be hard. It's going to hurt. It is going to change everything. And it will be beautiful."

Comments

[Pete100]

It was storming outside, the rain was loud as it pelted the balcony beyond her bedchamber. Not a magic storm, thank goodness, just a natural one.

Is there a difference?

She turned her head towards the glass door of the balcony, looking up at the sky shrouded in heavy clouds. "It's happening, sister," she said, then smiled. "An element is born tonight."

What does she mean by that?