XIV. The Dawn in Her Fury
Fourteen:
The Dawn in Her Fury
In the colorless heart of his miserable kingdom, the Lord of Chaos reclined upon his black throne. His fiery eyes swept across his court, looking for something to entertain himself, for he had grown bored once again.
Everything was the same rotten gray. Not even Discord understood why, but the longer chaos ruled over a place—or a pony—the more it faded, losing its vibrancy until there was nothing left but a boring shell.
It had always been this way. No matter what he did to entertain himself, no matter how he toyed with reality and the lives of others, the fun would eventually fade and the boredom would return. Discord was never truly satisfied, only temporarily appeased. And that was good enough for him. Every town that fell to his chaos staved off the boredom for a little while longer. So he stretched out his domain, conquered the nations of Equestria with his insane magic, until he had devoured all the land.
Then, when the boredom started to creep up on him once again, he looked to the lands beyond Equestria’s borders. One day, he promised himself, I will make them all my game boards. Every soul will be my toy. Until the whole world is mine. And then… well, there are other worlds, aren’t there? One by one they will fall to beautiful chaos.
And what then? What if he drowned every world there was in his madness… what if he took his power to the secret realm on the other side of the sky, and conquered that too… and what if, once there was nowhere chaos did not rule, he was still not satisfied?
Discord shifted uneasily on his throne. He needed to find a new game quickly, before his thoughts could travel too far down that road.
The doors to the throne room opened and a pair of hulking white-furred creatures in armor entered, dragging a whining mare between them. Discord’s lips peeled back in a savage grin. All thoughts of boredom vanished as his once-adorable bunny guards threw the pony before the throne. It was an earth pony, of all things, a sea-green creature with a drooping mane. She cringed as the draconequus fixed her in his red stare.
“Oh, what have we here?” Discord purred.
The earth pony mare trembled, but did not answer.
“We caught her speakin’ against yer Lordship,” said one of the bunny thugs. “Talkin’ to a crowd of earth ponies about yer imminent fall.”
An amused chuckle rumbled in Discord’s throat. “Is that so?” He slithered from his throne and reared himself up in front of the trembling pony. For a moment he said nothing, just stood there basking in the light of the absolute power he had over the creature. Power he would use in a moment… “What’s the matter, little pony? Equestria has become a land of endless mirth and yet you’re still unhappy?”
The mare took a breath and found the courage to say, “We are all your playthings. You are the only one that’s happy.”
“But you could be happy, if you just let yourself enjoy the all the chaos.”
The mare said nothing, which irked Discord. He didn’t understand what there was to be so upset about? So he turned their crops into gemstones and their farm tools into walking desserts… what was so terrible about that? The ponies ought to be thanking him for bringing some beauty to their lives, and giving them something delicious to eat while he was at it! Could he help it if his subjects didn’t know what fun was if it bit them? (And sometimes it did bite them, but they never saw the humor in that, either.)
“Fine,” Discord growled in annoyance. He was perilously close to boredom. “You want to be unhappy, so be it. Take her away! But I’d get used to the chaos if I were you, little one, because it’s here to stay.”
He did not turn his back on her. He stood in the same place and the whole castle spun around him, until he was facing away from the mare.
“Not for much longer,” the mare whispered as she was being dragged off.
Discord raised a talon. “Wait.”
The bunny thugs stopped. The sea-green mare winced.
The spirit of chaos descended the steps of his throne, floated over to the mare and loomed over her. “What was that?”
“N-Nothing!” the mare said, flashing her teeth in a terrified false grin.
“That’s right… they said you were caught spreading lies… something about my fall.”
He traced a claw down one side of the mare’s face. She did not meet his eyes, no doubt regretting her foalish words, perhaps wondering what awful game was in store for her. Then, to his annoyance, a gleam came into her dull eyes and she looked at him defiantly.
“That’s right. The Elements of Harmony are going to defeat you.”
Discord blinked. He must have misheard her.
“What did you say?” His voice was low. Dangerous.
The mare beamed at him. “I don’t care what you do to me. The Elements of Harmony will defeat you.”
“And where did you hear about the Elements?”
“I’ve seen them. They freed my family from the curse you put on them.” Curse? What was she talking about? Discord didn’t put any curse on any earth pony family. Unless… was she talking about that little farmhouse where he swapped the bodies of the ponies with their pets? That wasn’t a curse. That was just a game. “Their magic is stronger than yours. And they are coming for you.”
“The Elements of Harmony are lost.” I would know if they were found again, he thought. A memory flitted on the edges of his mind, like a half-remembered dream of something that had happened to somepony else… a prince who had lived long ago wielding dancing light against a foe that ought to have been terrifying, but wasn’t, because what power could stand against the White Light? But no, he couldn’t be remembering that right. The Elements weren’t that powerful. They worked by friendship of all things. What was weaker than that?
“They’re not lost,” said the mare with a confident little smile. “They have come to us.”
Discord fought off a shudder. With a snap of his clawed fingers and a flash of light, the mare was turned into a ladybug, which flew away in sudden fright. Let’s see your precious Elements rescue you from that.
He turned to his bunny thugs. “You two… spread the word to the rest of my beast army. I want you to search every corner of Equestria. Find out everything you can about these new Elements of Harmony, if they exist. I have to work on my… other plans.” The bunny thugs left Discord to whatever distraction he could think of to take his mind off the possibility that the mare’s warning was true. He pulled a scroll out of thin air and unrolled it in front of him. It was a map of the lands across the eastern sea, where a kingdom of gryphons was waiting, its fowl citizens whispering fearful tidings of the terrible chaos that had swallowed Equestria and praying that it did not come to their land.
It didn’t take long to learn that the mare had spoken the truth about the Elements. From the distant villages of the earth ponies to the soaring cities of the pegasi, and even closer, in the outlying unicorn towns, the rumors were spreading. Somepony was breaking Discord’s chaos enchantments. A group of friends from different tribes, led by a young white princess with a mane the color of the morning sky…
Celestia, Discord thought, lips curling. And to think, for a moment there he had almost been worried. The ladybug-mare’s words came back to him. They are coming for you. The sound of his laughter echoed throughout the gray castle.
He wasn’t bored anymore.
* * *
“They’re late,” Victory said. “Are you sure nothing’s happened to them?”
“I’m sure,” Celestia said. “I can feel my sister’s presence heading this way.”
Celestia, Victory, and Page were waiting at the place they had all agreed to meet: the ruins of Starswirl’s house. Celestia looked around at the charred remains. It was a wonder that Discord’s chaos had not transformed the whole area, as it had most of the mountainside, but it appeared untouched. As if chaos itself wanted nothing to do with it. Bitter memories—and sweet memories turned into bitter ones by Starswirl’s betrayal—crept unwanted into Celestia’s thoughts.
Page and Victory couldn’t know what she was thinking. They knew almost nothing of her past, how she was reborn as an alicorn in the very same fire that burned this house down, how before then she had lived with Starswirl as an ordinary unicorn. She thought about telling them. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust them. She knew she could trust them with her life, especially now that they were all bearers of the Elements. But she had grown comfortable with her secret by now, and maybe even a little happy with the mystique it gave her, even to her friends.
Her friends. Celestia allowed herself a satisfied smile. Why should she let her lonely past haunt her? Here she was, standing in the literal ruins of her old life, with two true friends beside her. She was fiercely proud of the two fillies. They had been so brave in the earth pony villages, especially Victory, who Celestia knew still carried the wounds of her village rejecting her. Another pony might have turned her back on the rest of the earth pony tribe, but Victory could never turn her back on anypony in need, no matter what they had done to her. It was that quality that would decide her fate, in the end.
A sudden gust of cold wind heralded their arrival. Or rather, it heralded Wind Chime’s arrival. The temperature in the air dropped as the windigo landed in their midst. She was wearing her glamour, and looked just the way she had when she first met them in the Everfree Forest: like a lemon-colored pegasus filly with a cloud-white mane. The only difference was that she had a cutie mark now.
“Ask me how it went,” Wind Chime said, grinning broadly.
“I’m guessing well.” Celestia breathed a sigh of relief. The pegasi were notorious for their pride.
“It went better than well. The pegasus tribe has a new hero.”
“And she’s so modest, too.”
“Ha! Actually she is. I wasn’t talking about me.”
“You mean… oh.” Celestia giggled. “Where is she?”
“Here, sister,” Luna said, descending and alighting gracefully upon the blackened earth.
Wind Chime gave her a deep bow, and it was only partly mocking. “Princess Luna,” she said.
Luna blushed a deep indigo. “I told you to stop that,” she said.
“Did I miss something?” Celestia asked. “Princess?”
“Everywhere we went,” Wind Chime laughed. “Every cloud town was…” Then her voice died and her ears drooped as she became serious. “First… it was really bad up there. I don’t know what you guys found in the earth pony villages, but up there…” She shuddered.
“We know,” Victory said in a hushed voice. Nopony needed to elaborate. All of them had seen first-hoof how cruel Discord’s idea of “fun” could be.
Wind Chime took a breath and went on. “So… everypony is suffering under some horrible chaos spell. There are pegasi with warped wings who can only fly in circles, and fillies who think they’re birds and fly away from their mothers, and whole cloud towns frozen into ice—not that I minded those, but the real pegasi hate it—and all the clouds are pink and stick to your hooves when you try and walk on them, and… everypony is just miserable everywhere we go.
“Then they see your sister, and the first thing most of them think is that she’s you, and Discord has done something to you, like dyed you blue for some reason. I don’t think she really liked being mistaken for you, by the way.”
“I didn’t mind,” Luna said, looking away.
“But then they find out that she’s actually a completely different alicorn…” The smile sprang back onto Wind Chime’s face. “And she does her magic thing…” The windigo moved her arms in a mysterious gesture. “…and breaks the chaos magic that has them all twisted up. And the next thing you know they think they’ve got an alicorn princess of their own!”
“They just want somepony to help them,” Luna said.
“They were calling her ‘Princess Luna’ in every town we visited.”
“It has a nice ring to it,” Celestia said, trying to catch her sister’s eye. But Luna seemed suddenly very interested in her hooves.
“Anyway, so the pegasi are coming around. They believe in us. Mostly Luna, but in the rest of the Elements of Harmony too. They saw how some of the things Discord’s chaos has twisted could be put right, and they have hope. But… there were things that even Luna’s magic couldn’t fix…”
“I know,” Celestia said. “If we want to undo all that Discord has done, all the Elements have to work together.” She gave the windigo a curious look. “You did not show them what you really are?”
It was Wind Chime’s turn to blush, though only a little. “No… I didn’t want to scare them. The pegasus tribe has a lot of stories handed down about my race… and none of them are good.” She changed the subject: “How did it go in the earth pony villages?”
“They trusted me more quickly than I would have thought. I think Page and Victory’s example is what made the difference. The earth ponies are desperate enough to cling to any hope… even friendship.”
Celestia looked up toward Canterlot, the twisted city. Even from here she could feel the wrongness of Discord’s magic. He knows we are coming, she thought. Her eyes narrowed. Good. All the good they had tried to do in the villages on their way was like putting out tiny fires while a great blaze raged in the distance. But now they were coming to it, the source of the flame, and Celestia nearly quivered with anticipation.
There was a streak of impurity in her thoughts. Like a dark thread woven into a bright cloth, it stood out. Thousands of ponies were waiting for somepony to save them, whispers of the Elements of Harmony were spreading throughout Equestria, and Celestia cared—so much—about helping them. But she also wanted to beat Discord for what he did to her.
She could still remember what it was like, to have all her feelings forced out of her, to be left a walking, talking husk. To love nothing, not even Luna. And she could have lost her forever! Discord had done all of that to her. For fun. He deserved to suffer.
“Will it be enough?” Page asked.
Celestia wondered. They were still only five. To defeat Discord they would need the power of the Element of Magic. They had each other, and they had tried to stir up the hearts of the pegasi and the earth ponies, to give them hope, but was that enough?
“It will have to be,” Celestia said at last.
The little company of friends prepared themselves for the trek up the mountain from Starswirl’s house to the city. They were headed into the heart of chaos. The sky overhead shifted between night and day so fast that they entire city was bathed in the dim glow of a perpetual flickering twilight. The mountainside turned to solid chocolate in places, but when Celestia and her companions drew close enough it changed back into stone beneath their hooves. A shield surrounded the Element bearers, protecting them from Discord’s chaos.
Nopony said much of anything as they went. Each of them was lost in her own thoughts. Celestia was trying to think of all the ponies Discord had tormented, to keep her mind off her own secret desire for personal revenge. Victory was thinking about the earth pony tribe, and wondering if they would really be friends with the unicorn tribe. Wind Chime felt a cool confidence. They would win, and she would come to live with the ponies in Equestria, and she would see her friends every day, and nothing would ever separate them again. Page was more afraid than the others. Would the Elements really work against Discord? She wished there were some way they could have practiced before facing him, maybe approached this whole enterprise a bit more scientifically. Luna worried for her sister more than anything. She had already seen Celestia lose to Discord once. They could not afford to lose again.
The city of Canterlot was a mess. It didn’t even look like a city anymore, so much as a foal’s cluttered playroom. Mad ponies spilled their way through the crooked streets, chased by twisted creatures that used to be animals. And sometimes it was reversed, so that the animals ran, and the crazed ponies chased them. The buildings were all upside-down, or made of giant cards which fell apart as the group drew near, revealing huddled families of transformed ponies. A few still had enough of a memory of what they were to cry.
The tears of her subjects found their way inside Celestia, into her heart, where they fell like rain, soft and sad and weak… the gentle beginnings of a terrifying storm.
Further in, the madness of the city gave way to something worse. The heart of Canterlot was completely drained of color. This was the end result of Discord’s chaos, which treated the world like a toy, but like a careless child went too far and left it broken.
“What’s wrong with them?” Victory asked.
Celestia knew. “They are like I was.”
“It’s horrible,” Page said.
They entered the courtyard of the castle, which was empty except for the tree that used to be a pony, the first of Discord’s transformations. It was gray and wilted now. As they drew near to it Celestia felt the life within it cry out to her, a silent scream. She shuddered but pressed on, not even sparing a sideward glance now that she was so close to her goal.
The friends entered the throne room, and stood before the Lord of Chaos.
“Welcome home, Princess,” Discord said in a honeyed voice. “Do you like what I’ve done with the place?”
“I do not,” Celestia replied.
Discord opened his mouth to say something, but just then his eyes fell down to Celestia’s neck where the Element of Generosity gleamed, and a shadow passed over his face. “So… the rumors are true after all.”
“It’s over, Discord.”
A crooked smile. “Still the valiant princess of light? How dull. For a moment there, I thought I’d taught you a thing or two about loosening up. It’s not too late, you know. You could still join me. I’ve got plans for the gryphons that will make you laugh so hard you’ll cry. And after that, there’s an experiment I’d like to try in the Crystal Empire. What do you think would happen if my chaos should touch their precious Crystal Heart?”
Celestia imagined all the color washing out of the Empire in a moment, and felt sick. “Nopony is ever going to find out.”
Golden light pierced the gray gloom of the throne room. Celestia’s horn glowed with incandescent magic. The Element she wore around her neck blinked and pulsed with soft sunshine-colored light. Luna’s moon-shaped pendant glowed a gentle blue. For the first time in a thousand years, the Elements of Harmony awakened. Discord’s eyes widened as he stared at the five lights gathered against him. And for a moment, he worried.
But only for a moment.
A flimsy rainbow thread glittered faintly between the glowing pendants, but Discord saw its weakness. His face lit up with joy as he measured the power that stood before him and found it lacking.
“Is… is that all?” he crowed.
Celestia concentrated, felt the emotion flowing from her friends like rivers that mingle together and become a mighty flood. It reminded her of the way lives melted together in the phoenixes’ well of light. They were connected. But the flood wouldn’t come. The power was there, an ocean of it, but it swelled on the other side of a vast gulf. It would take a bridge to bring it into the world. That was what the Element of Magic was, she realized. It was what made the other Elements work, the key that opened the floodgates of Harmony. And without it…
Discord laughed. “What a hilarious joke, Celestia. Maybe you’re not as boring as I thought. All these whispers that the Elements of Harmony have returned to the world, that my defeat is imminent, and this is the best they can do? Why don’t you all sit back and let me bring a touch of chaos into your little lives.” He slipped from his throne and approached them, reached for Page, his claws extended…
“Celestia…” Page whimpered. They knew too well what his awful touch could do to a pony.
Celestia growled and summoned her magic. You… will… not… touch… them! Tinged with rainbow hues, her spell discharged and struck the draconequus in the chest… but was deflected, thrown up into the ceiling of the castle. The force of the spell blew a gaping hole in the gray ceiling and all the floors above it. Stone crumbled and fell into the throne room in a cloud of dust. Through the hole the sky above Canterlot was visible, its flickering day-night-day-night light pouring into the gray chamber.
Discord was unharmed. He reached out with a claw and touched Page’s head. She swayed on her hooves and for a moment Celestia thought she might faint. But she stood.
“N-No!” she said, shaking her head as if she were trying to clear cobwebs from it. “You can’t take my colors away from me.” It was true; she was unaffected by his touch.
Discord took a step backward in surprise. Then he realized that it must be the power of the Elements protecting them. But even if he could not poison them with chaos, that didn’t mean he was powerless. Their gambit had failed, even though it offered them some limited protection. The five of them were not enough to defeat him. Even Celestia’s alicorn magic he had barely felt. Her sister, the blue one, might try something, but after their last encounter he would be ready for her illusion magic. They were not getting away, not this time.
“Oh? I bet I can,” Discord said, and drew a rabbit out of thin air. Like a twisted magician he reached down the creature’s throat with his gryphon’s talons and drew out a hat that was somehow bigger than the rabbit. And from the hat he drew a cage with a cloak thrown over it.
Celestia and Luna felt the twisted life force within the cage and knew what it was instantly. They averted their eyes.
“Careful! He’s got a—” But Celestia’s warning was too late. Discord pulled the cloak aside and three ponies met the eyes of the cockatrice.
Victory, Page, and Wind Chime stood still and gray, as colorless as if Discord’s chaos had infected them. Their faces were frozen in expressions of shock—a look of horror on Page’s, who had known what she was looking at the moment she saw it, which was a moment too late.
Luna paled. “N-No!” It was too terrible. She couldn’t look. She turned away from their petrified friends.
Discord howled his triumph. The gray castle was filled with the noise of his dark laughter. “Oh, the look on your face!” He doubled over in a fit of giggles. “Let’s see if your Elements work now.”
Luna stared helplessly at her sister. Celestia’s breaths were coming out in shallow bursts. Her lavender eyes stared ahead at nothing.
Hours before, Celestia could not have imagined it was possible to hate the draconequus more than she did for what he had done to her. Now that hatred was swallowed, like a mere raindrop fallen into the infinite sea. Her own pain was nothing. All the dark anger she had felt before paled and ran before this new, brighter fury. Discord, Celestia thought. He had made all of Equestria miserable, had made her subjects cry, and had turned her friends to stone where they stood… but this made all those crimes seem almost forgivable.
Discord continued to laugh, ignorant of the danger. Luna saw, though, and took a frightened step toward her sister. All five Elements of Harmony continued to glow, even the ones on the necks of the statues.
“That child…” Celestia whispered. She meant the cold-blooded creature in the cage. “What have you done to her?!”
The life force of every creature is unique, like a cutie mark. No two are alike. Though Discord’s power had twisted it, Celestia recognized the life force that burned within his pet, and she knew it belonged to no cockatrice. She could never forget the one who sacrificed herself to bring her back to life. Nor could she forget her daughter, the heartbroken phoenix child Philomena.
And no one harmed an orphan in Celestia’s kingdom.
The princess reached for the heavens in her wrath, the sky that chaos had left flickering between day and night, and brought their cycle to a sudden stop. All across Equestria, from distant farms to towns built in the clouds, ponies looked up and saw that order had returned to the heavens. Hearts filled with wild hope. Celestia’s noon sun blazed in the sky. Its light shone down through the hole in the castle, a beam of amber that swam with flecks of gold.
Discord’s noticed none of this in his ecstasy. He had done it! He had broken Harmony at last, turned three of its Element bearers to stone. The upstart princess could do nothing to him now. He was more powerful than the mightiest alicorn, and if her magic was any indication, she was far from that. The spell she shot at him was only half as strong as he had expected it to be. Equestria was his, and soon the gryphons and the Crystal Empire. And Celestia… she was just so angry in her powerlessness, could nopony else see how hilarious that was?
Eyes closed to the naked daylight streaming into the throne room, Discord threw back his head and howled his laughter.
Celestia rose into the air, held aloft by magic, then spread out her ivory wings and looked down on the draconequus with eyes of flame.
Suddenly afraid for her sister, Luna flew up to her. “Sister?”
I will undo him, Celestia thought, and the thought was made of fire. “I can…” she whispered.
No, she couldn’t, Luna realized. Even at the zenith of her power. Celestia had fury and magic in abundance, but she needed one thing for her power to be complete.
Somepony to share it with.
“We’ll do it together,” Luna said. There was a brief flicker of surprise in her sister’s eyes as Luna pressed her forehead against Celestia’s, crossed horns with her, their magic intermingling. Both their eyes closed. For a moment, they were suspended in the air, a halo of sunlight around them…
The Elements of Harmony came alive and burned with color. Rainbow light shimmered between the airborne alicorns and the statues of their friends. And there, in the heart of all that light, a flash of violet as the power of Magic found its way through the souls of Celestia and Luna. Their eyes fluttered open, full of white light. They looked from one another to Discord, saw how weak a thing chaos really was, and loosed all their passion against it.
A storm of fury and love slammed into the draconequus while he laughed, silencing him instantly. All his colors fled, like shadows from the dawn, and his serpentine body turned the same gray as the poor creatures under his spell. The ever-shifting spirit of chaos hardened into a cold statue where he stood.
The power of chaos shattered. The cold blood of the cockatrice Philomena boiled and her scales and feathers caught fire. In a flash, the cockatrice burned away into ash and the phoenix spread her wings and leapt into the air in a streak of flame. With her dark spell broken, the statues of the Element bearers cracked and dissolved, freeing them.
A sizzling rainbow surrounded the wielders of the Elements and exploded. The horrible gray was washed out of the castle. In the courtyard, a tree became a red pony once again. Everypony in the castle was restored, then the city. On and on. Prismatic light leapt from pony to pony, building to building, between animals and plants, ran along roads and rivers, soared through the air. All of Equestria was aglow with it.
* * *
Far away, in a tower in the Crystal Empire, Starswirl the Bearded looked out his window saw the horizon aflame with color. So, even the Lord of Chaos has fallen. A weary smile crossed his lips. My faithful student, you found the lost Elements of Harmony. He watched in wonder for a time before turning back to his work. But will it all be for nothing in the end? A large hourglass filled the center of the room, surrounded by scrolls that were filled with the scribbles of a magic formula. The wizard sighed. Time will tell.
* * *
The light of the Elements dimmed at last. Their work was done. The friends collapsed into each other’s arms and wings. It’s over, Celestia thought. We’ve won.
Celestia looked over to where Philomena was perched. She couldn’t tell what the young phoenix was thinking. Celestia disentangled herself from her friends’ embrace and opened her mouth to call out to the firebird, but before she could get a word out a flock of phoenixes poured through the hole in the castle and surrounded the child.
Forgive us, Princess, said a phoenix with a golden helm. We could do nothing against Discord. It shames us that one of our own released that horror onto your world.
“You mean…?”
The draconequus was our prisoner. Philomena let him out… to destroy you.
“Oh.” Celestia’s ears drooped. Even after all she had been through, she could not find it in herself to be angry with the little phoenix. “What are you going to do with her?”
She will be tried by the phoenix court. Do not fear… she will not be able to harm you again.
“I wasn’t worried about that.”
The phoenix bowed its head toward Celestia and her friends. The others followed suit. Wielders of the Elements of Harmony, we have waited for your coming for a long time.
“They can talk!” Page said in excitement. Of course that wasn’t written in any of her books.
The phoenixes took Philomena away, vanishing in a swirl of red flame. The whole time, the little phoenix never took her eyes off of Celestia. Fiery tears fell onto the castle floor, though whether they were tears of guilt or rage or some other emotion, Celestia couldn’t tell. She felt a twinge of uncertainty and worry which spoiled what should have been the moment of her greatest triumph. No matter what the child had done, Celestia felt responsible for her. Would the phoenix court be merciful? She wondered, and her doubt grew.
We will take the draconequus with us as well, the phoenix said. His powers are sealed for now, but I doubt you want him anywhere in your realm.
“Wait,” Celestia said, as several of the phoenixes moved toward the statue.
What is the matter?
“What do you mean, his powers are sealed for now?”
The power of Harmony has imprisoned him, but without a true bearer of the Element of Magic, the prison is imperfect. It is possible that one day he will find a way to escape.
Celestia shivered. “How long might that be?”
Centuries at least.
“That is a long time.”
Not so long for a phoenix. The firebird gave her a meaningful look. Or for an alicorn.
Celestia took a breath and shook her head. “Thank you, but no. I have a better place for him.”
Princess?
A glint of the fury she had felt earlier came back into Celestia’s eyes. “I will place his statue in the center of my garden. The one the orphans play in. He can watch, every day, throughout those long centuries. He will stand in the very center of their happiness and know what our victory meant. That is his punishment: to see their joy and hear their laughter as generations play their games in his shadow.”
As the princess commands, the phoenix said, and with a bow and a flash of flame, he and the others were gone.
“That was amazing!” Victory said.
“Are you sure about this?” Wind Chime said, prodding at the statue of Discord with a hoof. “You could just throw him in a cellar of the castle to gather dust.”
Celestia shook her head. “I don’t want anypony to forget.”
“I don’t think anypony will ever be able to forget him,” said Luna.
But of course, they would. Peace casts its own spell, and eventually Discord’s mad reign would be lost to the minds of ponies. Even Celestia would think of him only occasionally over the centuries. The petrified draconequus would wait, frozen in dark laughter, for the day he would be free once more.
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It's always nice to see an update.
Oh, barf. Celestia, Celestia, Celestia, Such an overrated harlot. I would love nothing more to see her, her ponies, and the entire Brony fanbase just drop dead.
3316353>>3316433
Since you both hate bronies, you should both get off. Get off this site now, because no one wants you here. Unless the second comment is sarcasm- and I can't tell, because sarcasm is hard to read through text- then you should both just leave. I don't even know why either of you registered.
3316485
3316433
I don't think you two know who you're talking to...
So Sombr-Starswirl made it to the Crystal kingdom.
3316590
I'm pretty sure I actually do. Some idiot wasting his time on a site that he supposedly hates. Just leave. No one wants you here.
3316601
Heh heh heh...
Yet another ignorant one...
Well that was a nice bit of story progression and some development between philomeenah and Celestia. So,apparently Celestia feels like she should be philomeenah's mother? Is this a resurgance of the pheonix who saved her's personality?
Find out next episode of...Celestia in Excelcias!
3316353
>Oh, barf. Celestia, Celestia, Celestia, Such an overrated harlot
>Overrated
That's not how you spell Luna,Mr.Observant.
And even with that,what are you trying to accomplish by commenting here if you hate the entire fanbase?
Whatever,thanks for the update,Kolwynia.
3316634
A goal your little Brony minds can not comprehend. However, I will tell you this: I was hated on many sites, and soon this site will know my cleansing wrath as well, starting with this pathetic story. Though this comment will likely be deleted, take heed of this nonetheless.
3316658
Whatever. You're not worth anymore of my attention. Looking at your profile, I can guess your age at about thirteen. You're blocked, by the way. Hopefully, a mod will ban you.
3316433
I think I went a little overboard with that, didn't I?
A really nice story, given Cadences backstory in the comics, but its a pity about teh cutting of the canon Celestia backstory to compare against.
Also, Starswirl is still confident even after a totally reality twisting god was flipped off like a rubber egg on a plastic sheet?
You only think that way, After youve got something you Know is more capable, not whiles you are still researching it, unless you are totally completely barking nuts.
Then again, its said that the difference between insanity and genius is which box the shrink ticks.
I'm pleased to say that my patient waiting has been rewarded! The leadup to harmony's confrontation with chaos got me all excited.
but even for what I love about this chapter... darn it, I hate to criticise (especially you since you've been so nice to me) but I feel like Discord's defeat seemed a bit anti-climactic; it was over with him putting up much less of a resistance than I expected. Of course, in the show he did exactly the same thing, just sat there and invited the mane 6 to take their best shot.
Oh, one other small thing:
It was great seeing all of the lands corrupted and then healed: made me think of hallowed and corrupted ground in Terraria.
You had me going for a moment with the petrification of Celestia's friends, that was a real OMC moment
Minor gripe aside, every time this updates my heart gets all fluttery
I think there's an "and" missing there.
3316658
Just a warning post for anyone who decides to reply to this guy, the goal that he's claiming you can't comprehend is to troll.
Either that, or he has no goal. I know I was like that when I was 13.
3316658
do you crusade for the glory of Bacon and to purify the griddle of life for its holy greasiness?
or do you torment the souls of the Internet in the name of your false god Anonymous?
3316485
I shall private message you a list of reasons for why that's not sarcasm.
3316277 Thanks.
3316598 Yep, Starswirl made it there. (He is not Sombra though, if that's what you were thinking.)
3316632 Next chapter has a lot of Philomena. It should be a bit more character driven and less flashy rainbow epic magic.
3316634 Welcome. (Wow, my story has attracted its first ever troll. Time to scratch that off the bucket list.
)
3316742 I'm watching the comics closely, and trying to hold them as canon as far as this story is concerned. As for Starswirl. He's not confident in his power. He knows Celestia could defeat him in a one-on-one confrontation. He is confident in his views of magic and his plan to do something (we don't know what yet) to assault Celestia's friendship/Harmony-based magic.
But yeah, he might be a bit crazy too. It's what happens when you give in to cynicism.
3316743 Thank you.
Yeah, the Discord stuff was a bit hard because I was trying to fit everything into the show's canon. So the sisters had to be the ones to defeat him, while still holding to my conceit that there were other Element bearers besides them. And Discord had to be turned to stone in that particular pose... (Though he could have been singing instead of laughing, I suppose.) Agh! The good news is that the eventual confrontation between Celestia and Nightmare Moon will be less straightforward (while still staying true to canon) and have a bit more surprise to it. I hope.
Thanks for reading, everyone!
Next up: Philomena on trial! (And did something good actually come out of Discord's mad reign?)
3316772 Thank you!
I sure am happy when someone notices the details. Even though the Luna thing was not a surprise, hopefully it was satisfying. 
I foreshadow so much, but I'll try to pull out a few surprises in the chapters to come.
Thanks for reading!
"You shouldn't always trust the authenticity of quotes you find on the internet."-Abraham Lincoln.
but seriously, did Starswirl actually ever say that or you just make it up?
3316658 why are you on a brony fan base website if your anti-brony? unless... seceret obsession? ;) lol
3317162
I believe it is something he said in this story. If my memory is correct, he said it to Celestia. So yes, in the context of this story, Star Swirl did in fact say it.
-Lumino
3317228 I meant outside of the story but you still answered the question as written so good for you I guess.
Huzza! Update!
While I'm glad to see this arch done, I do wonder what shall come next. I'm guessing Sombra, but don't forget about little character/world building parts! I absolutely love seeing great world building, at least when it's not forced.
3316893 Bloody good chapter. Celestia and Luna whooped Discord so hard... not to mention the pacing and description was spot on and I am loving Celestia characterization. I'm a little worried about Philomena now... but hopefully everything will go over well.
BTW. I've practically finished 12th chapter. Will send you link soon.
3317228 Yep.
3317276 I'll try not to neglect the little things. Next chapter focuses on Philomena and how Equestria deals with the aftermath of Discord's reign. The Sombra arc may not be very long. (This story was actually started before the Season Three premiere, so originally there would have been no Crystal Empire, but it's an important part of the world now and will get addressed. Also, it will be fun to see how Celestia learned the "dark" magic she taught to Twilight.) The next really big focus is going to be on Celestia and her friends starting to grow up into teenagers and how Luna became Nightmare Moon.
3317380 Thanks!
Next chapter has a lot of Philomena. Hopefully readers are satisfied with how that goes down. 
(Looking forward to Chapter Twelve of PC:TCQ. Glad it's not quite done 
; it gives me time to pre-read Inky Jay's next story first.
)
3317816 Sounds good to me!
Though you did have Sombra did send that assassin after Celestia, so don't forget about 'em!
Soooo goooooood!!!!!
MOAR!!!!
I'll be honest... I think the phoenixes (Philomena especially) are my favorite characters in this 'fic. As such, I am very much looking forward to the next chapter
3318948 Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about that.
(In fact, our young assassin should pop up in the next chapter.)
3319124 Glad you like them! The phoenixes still have some important things to do in the chapters ahead.
Thanks for reading! (And commenting! It makes my day.)
3320954 I figured he'd appear, especially since you specifically mentioned him in this last chapter once or twice. Huzza for foreshadowing!
3321091 Thanks!
Hope you like where the story goes from here.
Im on chapter 9 atm and wow Hasbro should lean to make movies and make one out of this, its awesome.
3322530 Thank you!
So...awesome...
3317816 Just keep in mind that Sobras downfall and the vanishment of the crystal empire should happen after nightmare moon banishment, if you take one thousand years literally rather than an approximation.
After all it would be expected that if the empire disappeared for 1014 years that the ponies simply say one thousand.
On other note I'm in awe with how you can make this interesting despite we all knowing how it would end, very impressive.
~Leonzilla.
3372820 Thank you very much!
I'm not going to take the 1000 years literally because it looked like Luna was there with Celestia when the princess told Twilight Sparkle the story. So Luna will still be Luna for the Crystal Empire arc.
Yeah, the fact that everyone already knows what's going to happen is one of the big challenges I face with this story. I try to counter that by surprising readers with my take on certain things, like Luna's origin. And there are a few mysteries that even the show never fleshed out. (How did Celestia lose her connection to the Elements of Harmony, for instance?)
Thanks for reading (and for commenting!).
3393834 Ha ha! You're right. I imagined that they were trekking through kind of thick jungle/forest and Wind Chime was in the lead so she saw it first. I should have been more descriptive there and actually shown the jungle foliage being peeled back like curtains to reveal the castle. My bad.
Thank you for your kind words, and for reading! (And commenting!) I hope, my descriptive gaffes aside, you are enjoying the story!
3316353
Why so mad?
We aren't harming your sad little life. Apparently stress lowers your lifespan. It would be a tragedy if someone with your genius died of a stress-induced heart attack.
So, what is the romance tag for? Who is Celestia paired up with?
3454137
It's a mystery for the moment. (And since she's still a filly at this point in the story, the romance elements are a ways off. 
)
Thanks for reading!
3454313
Actually I didn't read, my question was a precursor to that possibility. So i'll just leave this on to read later list, for now.
I usually find chapter length to be an excellent indicator of writing prowess. As such, many of my favorite stories average 10k or higher. They have the best storytelling ability and they keep my attention the best by far. Stories around this one's length - 5-7k per chapter - are not terrible, but so many of them drown in spelling and grammar mistakes, and overall crappy storytelling, especially compared to the larger stories.
This is an outlier. I can safely say that Celestia in Excelsis is one of my favorite stories, either that I've read recently or that I've read ever. The beginning didn't suddenly thrust us into the action, the ideas are original and well-thought-out, the presentation is brilliant, and I haven't been kept on the edge of my seat this much since I read The Sweetie Chronicles: Fragments.
All in all, good work, and I can't wait for the next chapter
3519821 Thank you very much!
(One of these days I have to read The Sweetie Chronicles.)
The next chapter is a bit delayed, mostly because of school.
Thanks for reading!
3521934
Do it. It's fantastic.
Well... how does the season four premiere affect this story, take your time.
3521934 ME WANNA NEXT CHAPTER!!
And dont' worry about season 4 I still want this!!!
3528224>>3528334
Well, I've been laboring with the Sword of Canon suspended over my head since the beginning. I dodged it in Season Three, but it looks like it's finally come down.
I could have written around most of the stuff revealed in the show, but they had to go back and give us a canon past. The discovery of the Elements, the defeat of Discord, and the confrontation between Celestia and Nightmare Moon are now officially as described in Season 4. And that is... not how Celestia in Excelsis describes a couple of those. (At least I was spared a canon Starswirl.)
Which leaves me a few options. I could keep going with the story as is, and ignore the revelations of the S4 premiere. Officially add the Alternate Universe tag. But the spell will be broken and the whole idea that, "Hey, maybe this is how it all actually happened!" would be gone forever. I feel like a lot of the magic of the story would be lost in that case.
I could re-write the discovery of the Elements and the defeat of Discord chapters to make them conform to the show, scrub my spirits of Harmony and add in the Tree of Harmony instead. This would take time and for all I know the show would throw another wrench in my plans while I was doing it. I feel like this would not be very satisfying to the readers that (I hope) are a bit invested in the characters and what they went through to find the Elements in my story.
I could say that the potion Twilight drank only showed her part of the truth. (This only partially works, since the Tree is very real and it still shows an official How The Elements Were Discovered that CiE contradicts.)
I was thinking about this even before the premiere, since a couple of my FIMfiction friends had sent me the S4 info with a worry that it would mess up the story. (Right now, I'm swamped with school work and probably won't be able to update the story for a few weeks more anyway.)
I have something else I can do, which may change the format of the story up a bit, but it might help to make the whole thing feel a bit less Alternate Universe later on. I'll think about it.
Thank you for caring, guys!
How about that season premiere, huh?
The truth is, I always feel sad when fans get so caught up in their own headcanons that they can no longer appreciate actual developments in a show anymore. My story may have been Alternate Universed, but there was a lot to love in this episode (Nightmare Moon versus Celestia! Wow!), and I really liked it. What did you guys think?
My personal favorite part: Discord acting as Twilight's "teacher" and not helping so that she could learn a valuable lesson.
It's funny because it's so in-character, and because it's a parody of Celestia's oft-criticized "chessmaster" teaching style, but it also proves true, in the end.
And now, to quote Brad Pitt, "What's in the box?"
3530677
Continue on. We want to see your vision come true... and while you may detract from canon, by this point its rather unavoidable and you might as well say AU as of Season 4. In some ways I like the Season 4 canon events... but I like yours better.
3530677
Well, in my own humble opinion, I would suggest just to go ahead and bite the bullet and make it a true AU.
I really think the most difficult thing to do is to do a long winding narrative in canon for a work that is still ongoing, because the creators can always throw a curve-ball at you that'd be too difficult to reconcile.
At the same time, I believe you are a strong enough author to be able to reconcile your vision to whatever the canon wants to do within itself.