Sunset in the gods

by red-sun

Act II – Fallen Gods – Chapter 4

Discord had seen many battlefields throughout his life, he saw them in his visions and saw them personally, he prevented some from happening and other times he himself made sure they happened.

The march of the beasts, demons tamed and managed to pass through the gates of Tartarus the largest stampede of demonic beasts of that era, but Discord's vision helped stop the situation thanks to the joint work between the gods and the masters of the aura .

The tidal wave war, when the goddess who was the leader of the water faction rebelled against All Master to try to overthrow him, but Discord was able to predict her plans and the gods managed to defeat her. The supporters of the goddess disappeared in the lands of humans, the water gods that are born are closely watched, After capturing the leader, she was sentenced to slow petrification, the worst punishment that can be given to the gods, the goddess is slowly turning to stone, but the goddess keeps whispering 'they will come'.

The Stygian Rebellion was one of Discord's greatest achievements. Stygian also known as the heretic pillar took all his disciples to Tartarus and then returned with a demonic army. He began by attacking all the mines that belonged to the gods, he also attacked the schools of the aura. Although Stygian was not the most powerful of the pillars, he was the most cunning, with his strategies he almost managed to win, but once again, thanks to Discord's visions, Stygian was able to be stopped. Somehow Stygian fought against the six pillars but in the end he was defeated and Discord witnessed everything, before Starswirl killed Stygian he asked him 'Why?' And Stygian simply replied 'For friendship'.

The subjugation of cerverus, thanks to Discord it was possible to find the last ancestral beast that remained in the land of humans, the beast was captured and subdued thanks to the gods of the faction of the earth. Since that day the beast is used to guard the gates of Tartarus in order to prevent any future demonic incursion.

The purge of the masters of the aura, at that time the gods were distancing themselves more from the humans and at the same time they began to ask for more offerings from all the kingdoms, for some reason All Master and the council of the gods kept asking for more carnelian. Then Discord had one of the worst visions in his life, he saw the end of everything, he saw how the masters of the aura revealed themselves and fought against the gods, and Discord thought that the best thing is to let everything happen but he also saw the consequences of that rebellion and Discord went to the council chamber of the gods. What surprised Discord the most is that the Gods already plan to get rid of the masters of the aura, they only waited for the excuse to kill them all because since Cerverus guarded the gates of Tartarus the demonic incursions stopped, that is why the gods decided that they no longer needed the masters of the aura. The attack of the gods was swift and brutal, thousands of masters of the aura died that day, but when the army of the gods headed to attack Aura Prime the city where the six main schools of the remaining aura and home of The Pillars were found. They found nothing, only an empty crater, The Pillars and the population of the city were never found.

From that day Discord was no longer the same, he always believed that the gods should be a guide for humans, an example of respect and ethics, but that things had changed or maybe nothing changed and simply the gods were always like that. Then a year after the purge an incident happened, the council of the gods punished an entire city just because Scorpan came to love the humans of that city, Scorpan was punished by becoming a god of the rage faction. And as an extra punishment, the gods infused him with a thirst for violence and worst of all, he had to share that curse with the inhabitants of the city that is now known as the City of Beasts.

Discord was enraged by that, he yelled at Tirek reprimanding him for not helping and protecting his brother, he went directly to the council of the gods and reprimanded them for their actions, Discord didn't think, he just yelled at everyone including All Master. That would have cost Discord his life but instead of executing him they just imprisoned him in the dungeons until he calmed down, but when Discord calmed down he refused to leave his cell and resigned from his position as priest of the divination faction.

Discord remained meditating in his prison, at first he thought that the gods would change a bit when they saw that their best soothsayer had resigned but it wasn't like that. He found out that the goddess Cinch had taken over the faction's priestess position.

As time passed, Discord notes that the number of imprisoned gods gradually increased, none of the imprisoned gods had disobeyed any law. The only thing they did was say what they thought about the current situation in the world and what should be changed. It also seemed strange to him that no one was converted to the faction of anger, then he realized that the council of the gods was going to undo all the imprisoned gods. It was at that moment that Discord decided to escape with all the gods that were imprisoned.

Trying his best he managed to rescue all the gods who were prisoners, he even convinced a few gods from the wrath faction to accompany them. Although he gathered all the gods he could and escaped from the sacred lands, most of them didn't want to fight, some just wanted to live a normal life, others did not want to continue involved in that situation and others were afraid of All Maste and the council of the gods. In the end, with the exception of a few, the gods decided to stay together and called themselves the fallen gods.

Discord did not always stay with the fallen gods, sometimes he traveled alone to be able to live with humans, other times he returned to the caravan to visit his friends.

But one day he had a vision in which he could only see the void and Discord did not know what to do. He tried to come up with plans and strategies so that the vision would not come true, but the only thing he achieved was to advance or delay the event that he saw in the vision. He even traveled to Tartarus to see if he could find a solution with Ahuizotl the last diviner demon, but he also had the same vision.

Not finding a way to avoid that future Discord decided to change his approach and decided to only delay it until he found a solution and for a while it worked but he knew it would only be a temporary measure.

In one of his trips he went to the barren lands of the east, a wild area where there is only desolation, wild human tribes and where they were neglected because those lands served as an example of what a world without gods would be like. In those lands is where he met two little girls, Celestia and Luna, both orphan girls who, despite their young age, knew the area very well and Discord hired them as guides. At first Didcord traveled with the two girls so as not to feel alone during the trip, and before he knew it he had struck up a friendship with both of them.

When Discord decided to leave the eastern lands and was going to say goodbye to Celestia and Luna, he was going to give them both some food and some gold, but in the end he didn't like the idea of leaving two little girls in such a wild and dangerous area. So Discord took them to Equestria because in every other kingdom they turn orphans into slaves. But when he left them both in an orphanage his vision changed abruptly and he noticed that the future of the void was delayed considerably, but to be sure he didn't see them again for a year.

When he returned to Equestria to visit them, Celestia and Luna became princesses when they were adopted by the king of Equestria. After Discord visited them whenever he had the opportunity, he would never forget the fun times he spent with them. Discord could say that it was the happiest time of his life.

But those days had to end, the day the next ruler of Equestria was going to be chosen Celestia and Luna asked Discord if he had any divination to choose one of the two sisters as queens, but unfortunately he couldn't. Ever since he escaped from the holy lands of the gods he has been using his power to obscure the vision of the gods and as a side effect he has only been able to keep the last vision he had, if he tries to make any divination, then he would have to erase his current vision. And he couldn't afford that, if he didn't keep his vision he couldn't see the changes.

Discord chose Luna, not because she was smart, strong or a great leader even though she was all of those. He chose her because she challenges that bleak future more. After Luna Celestia's coronation she went on a trip because despite all the luxury of being royalty she was a free spirit.

When Celestia returned from her first trip, she had become a powerful swordswoman. But what surprised Discord was that Celestia was being trained by an aura master. Discord wanted to ask for the teacher's name but when he was about to ask he noticed that the future changed to a more devastating one, so he decided not to ask.

On one of Celestia's trips she had returned to the barren lands of the east. But when he returned to Canterlot she had with him a little girl of six or seven years old and Discord couldn't help noticing Celestia's motherly smile, she hadn't seen her so cheerful since the first time she ate cake. When Discord asked Celestia if she was sure she wanted to adopt the little girl, Celestia didn't hesitate to answer that she was. And Discord's vision changed again and in that bleak future he saw a redheaded teenager and Discord understood that perhaps the key to avoiding that future was the little girl.

Discord had planned to go find a god from the healing faction when he found out about Sunset's health problems to help her, but it was Sunset herself who told him not to do it, that disconcerted Discord, then Sunset told him that she had divination powers, but for a human to have visions was extremely rare and the visions of humans were small compared to the visions of the gods, but Discord knew that human diviners could see small details that the gods always ignored, Discord decided to trust Sunset.

One day when Discord was leaving Canterlot to continue his journey, he saw Sunset in the garden of the Canterlot palace, Discord noticed how Sunset took care of the flowers, Sunset told Discord how her friend Princess Cadence had her own garden in the Crystal Palace, Sunset also told him that she wanted to put something in the middle of the garden to make it more beautiful, he promised to bring her something when he got back.

A few months passed and Discord returned to Canterlot after arranging some issues, he remembered the promise he made to Sunset so he started looking for something for the garden that the little girl was doing. Discord doesn't know why but when he saw an old statue of a horse standing in a derelict part of the Canterlot slums he thought it would be the perfect gift. He would never have felt so sad about that decision.

Discord simply took the statue and placed it in the middle of Sunset's garden. He would return the next day to see the surprised face of the little girl. When Discord awoke in the morning his vision changed once more, but what he saw was not a bleak future of emptiness, he saw a future of hope and he saw Sunset in that future but he noticed something different about Sunset than he saw in the previous vision, as if she was another person.

Discord went to the castle garden but he was still disconcerted by the vision, when he got to the garden he saw the princess touching the statue with a smile, Discord was happy to see that Sunset liked his gift, It would take a while for Discord to understand what Sunset meant when she said 'thank you for giving us a future'.

---

PRESENT

“Divinations and visions are not something you can easily change. Do you know what the trick is to change a possible future? I could give you a long and complicated explanation about the details of how divinations and visions work, but I will tell you the simplest, you must first understand that a vision is the result of how the flow of time goes. They understand? But they are also the consequences of the decisions you make. That is why the determination you have to carry out a decision is the second most important thing to change the future. But the most important thing is that there must be a possibility, and here is the trick because if there is even the slightest possibility, the future can be changed. Any questions?". Says Discord to a trio of Diamonds Dogs that he was talking to.

When the three Diamonds Dogs raise their claws to ask, Discord interrupts them. "I'm not going to predict what I'm going to eat tomorrow." And the three diamond dogs lower their claws.

“And if the future changes for the worse or simply to a scenario that you don't like?” Sunset asked as she stood next to one of the diamond dogs.

Discord is silent for a while. “How long have you been listening?” The god asks.

"Almost from the beginning of the story you were telling." Sunset replied. "But please answer my question." Sunset says seriously.

“That's the tricky part, as I said before if you want to change the future you will need determination, but only the one with the vision can know if he is changing the future. So the moment you decide to take an action you have to be sure that you will do it but when the vision changes and you don't like what you see then you have to change your mind no matter how determined you were to comply with it”.

“So you just have to change a decision that you are determined to comply with?” Sunset asked.

"Yes".

After hearing that response Sunset stands up and leaves.

---

Discord finds Sunset meditating, Discord could tell that although patience wasn't exactly the redhead's specialty, effort is. "I see you're still training as hard as ever girl." But Sunset remained silent. “You know, in order to relax a bit, I always find a random group and I like to explain anything complicated to them. What do you do to relax?"

"Then I am a possibility." Sunset said ignoring what Discord says.

"It's a way of saying it."

"So maybe at some point another person will appear who can improve the future you saw?" She asks Discord.

The god notices a small hint of anger in the girl. "Maybe yes, maybe no, I don't want to explain everything again."

"It doesn't matter, it's better that way, at least I know that my achievements were due to my own effort and not because I was destined, and if your vision changes again then I just have to try harder."

Discord stands in front of Sunset. "What are you scared of?"

You promised me that it would be me, that you would never give up on me!! And you're just telling me that no matter how hard I try, it's not my destiny?!! That destiny belongs to someone else?!!

"Would you replace me if you found someone better for that future you talk about so much?" After a long time of silence. "Why do not you answer me".

"Sorry, I was just delete my vision." Discord replied.

"What?! Just a moment ago you were talking about how you need to maintain that vision in order to be prepared for possible changes! And you just delete it?! because?!"

“I have let this vision guide my life, I have dedicated decades to ensure a better future for the world, I erased my vision because I no longer need it, it is true that there may be someone who can achieve a better future but personally I prefer to bet everything on you Sunset Shimmer ”.

"Because?" Sunset asks again, surprised by Discord's response.

"At first it was because I believed that it was my responsibility as a god but since I started traveling I met other humans who were not masters of the aura, normal and simple people who lived only worrying about how they would get the livelihood of the day, because I met people who, despite having achieved great status, continued to be the same, because I made a promise, because I saw what you achieved in the mines, because I believe in you and... and because she decided to believe in you”. Discord says sadly as he walks away.

"Discord!" Sunset calls out to the old god before he leaves. "I want to clarify something, I'm not exactly a good person, the reason I do this is not because of some act of kindness or because my other self asked me to, she gave me her identity because she said that I could achieve what she couldn't and that in exchange I would have what it takes to achieve my own goals”. Discord notices that the redhead is raising her hand pointing to a rock "I'm going to fulfill the deal I made with her, and also...". Sunset's hand begins to shine and a rock begins to levitate, surprising the god. "Thank you for having faith in me."