> Lament of Two Immortals > by InksWell > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > The Garden > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 1 The castle was quiet, the guards at their posts, and the garden was illuminated with the glow of many candles. A dim and usually eerie glow but tonight it was welcomed by the Princess of the Sun. Her usual flowing and swirling mane was a dim and dusty pink, her crown was missing from her head and she had a white flowing robe around her body. She looked up into the moon and gave an almost silent sigh. She took a seat on a rock bench that was against a gate and closed her eyes before hanging her head. She opened her eyes and smiled bitterly. Immortal, a word she hated to think of. Immortal, when she would lose the one she loved most of all? In two years? In two minutes? She laughed tiredly with a hint of bitterness then rubbed her eyes. She was stronger than this. It was for the greater good too. No one wanted to watch the one they loved die but she couldn't stop the process of age. It was all up to her father King of the dead, Solaris. She shook her head then got up and took in a deep breath of crisp night air. "Thinking Tia?" She turned around slowly then smiled lightly at her younger sister and Princess of the Moon, Luna. "Yeah Lulu. Don't you have royal duties to attend too?" Luna rolled her eyes then trotted over and looked up at her. "That can wait. How about we take a walk? You seem... spacey." Celestia nodded and both of the princess sisters trotted down the path of the gardens. They looked around the dimly lit gardens and Luna smiled tenderly at Celestia. "Tia. How about we visit the statues?" Celestia cringed lightly and looked down at Luna then nodded slightly. She personally hated that place but her sister was pleading with her with her eyes and she knew she couldn't deny her. The statues were large and towered over them set high on pedestals. Towards the heavens, more symbolic than providing an actual reason. Symbolizing their status in their hearts. Luna trotted up to the first one statue and smiled. Celestia trotted over to her then looked up high and frown slowly twisted her face. The statue was of a young mare nuzzling a baby rabbit. On her head was a horn and two wings rested folded to her sides. Her hair was done together like vines as was her tail that was pulled into a low ponytail. Her eyes reflected a soft spoken and kind attitude, her face looked happy, obviously she loved to be near her animal friend. Her cutie mark that of a planet, the planet they rested on. Celestia watched a bit distant as Luna placed her hooves on the side of the pedestal and nuzzled the muzzled of the statue. "Do you ever miss her?" "Yes Lulu. I miss them all." Celestia looked to another statue with misty eyes and smiled, not happy but one of age and weariness. The statue she focused on was of another alicorn. Her mane was cropped short, a little past her chin and pulled into a high pony tail. Her tail was cropped the same way and she was standing on her hind legs, her wings splayed out, and her fore hooves up. Her cutie mark was of the clouds and wind styled close to a certain pegasus of the Harmony Elements. Celestia sighed then looked to Luna. "Lulu. You have your duties and I must be getting to bed. Come along." Luna sighed sadly but nodded then moved back. They turned to leave and gasped silently when they found a cloaked stallion standing at the opening of the statue garden, his head turned to the Discord statue. Celestia let her magic flow into her mane and it turned into it's flowing and swirling mass. "Hello?" He looked to them and snorted softly. "Hello." "Are you lost?" He shook his head then cocked his head to the side. His face was hidden by the cloak but Celestia knew he was smirking. She could feel it. He oozed confidence but confidence in what she didn't know. "So I finally get to see you both once again." Celestia felt a cold sensation enter the pit of her belly at his mildly frightening voice and frowned slightly. This was new sensation. "Who are you? We've met before?" He laughed, a cold and dead laugh, and moved away from the statue. Strutting around it before getting to the front of the Discord statue and blowing a raspberry at it. "Yes we've met and my name is Chaos." "Chaos?" Echoed the princess in confusion. The stallion pulled back his hood and smiled at them. A slightly crazed and frightening smile. "Exactly. My name is Chaos." Celestia frowned a bit deeper before walking forward slowly. "Mister Chaos, I suggest you head back now. Somepony must be looking for you." "Oh you mean the dead guards? Or the dead maids?" She paused before glaring at him. "Just why are you here? How do I know you?" "Oh just saying hi to my dear daddy." Celestia raised an eyebrow while Luna snorted and chuckled. "Who?" "Discord." "Impossible." Luna said before laughing. "Well two thousand years makes you forget about some stuff huh?" Celestia frowned once again, looking at him in confusion. "You're not making any sense. Who are you?!" He snorted before rolling his eyes, smirking lazily at her as he magically lifted his cloak from his body. Celestia froze in shock, her eyes looking to Discord's statue then the young alicorn. Back and forth for a few minutes. "I-Impossible." "Not when papa Discord has his way. Should I call you Auntie?" Her eyes hardened and she snapped out, "Why are you here?!" "So pushy. Fine. I'm here to take Daddy's statue and summon him, then steal his power and kill you both." They looked at him in shock and he smiled crazily. "Didn't expect me to tell you the truth huh?" Celestia tossed her head then growled at him. "I will not allow that. You must be insane." He smirked then encased her with his energy. "I can hold you off until my minions do my work. Plus if I'm the child of Discord of course I'm insane!" She broke the energy surrounding her with a toss of her head and snorted. "I don't boast often but when I do I say that I'm an immortal goddess. You may be immortal yourself but that doesn't mean you have the skill to take me on." Chaos smirked slyly then shot a blast at her, prompting her to duck under it and charge forward. He smirked then melted into the ground and she slipped, sliding down the stone path before crashing into a gate. She quickly regained her bearing and turned just in time to watch as he blasted Luna in the stomach and into the statue of the nature alicorn. Her eyes narrowed dangerously and she shot her own blast of energy at him. He easily dodged it then yelled, "Now Dusk!" She frowned in confusion before gasping in pain as the back of her head was hit by something very heavy. She pitched forward but caught herself and shook her head violently to clear it. She looked back quickly then gasped in shock at the stallion behind her. He was dark lavender coated with a short bowl cut style purple mane with two streaks through it. She was shocked into silence since the stallion resembled her number one student, Twilight Sparkle. She slowly got to her hooves and the copy smirked. He shot a blast at her and she dodged it but was tossed through the air and into a tree. She rolled over to her hooves and gasped at the rainbow maned stallion smirking down at her. He floated an inch or two above the ground, his wings flapping lazily. His grin seemed to widen as the lavender stallion galloped towards her at full speed. She quickly got up, bounced sideways and grabbed the stallions in her energy. She tossed them back then looked to Chaos, who was instructing two more copies. "Who are these stallions?!" "Oh just my Elements of Disharmony." He smirked as the Discord statue landed on the ground and disappeared, he waved his hoof lazily. "Come along boys." He shot a blast at Celestia, who dodged, and used that as a cover to run. Celestia growled in anger before looking to Luna and rushing to her side. She used her magic to place her on her back and took off as fast as she could out of the gardens. Luna needed medical attention. This was really REALLY bad! > The History of Equestria > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 2 Celestia paced in the medical room in distress and looked to Luna. She was physically fine but the blast had sapped her magic, causing her to sleep until her magic could regenerate to a safer level. She grimaced at the too clean smell in the room, the tidiness around her, and the rhythmic beep of the heart monitor. Her thoughts were in a jumbled disarray and chaotic mess. She glared at the device, the beeping was starting to make her a bit angry. She sighed softly, calming herself, and took a seat at Luna's bed side. The castle was in high alert until Luna was in a more stable condition. She laid her head on the bed next to Luna's then drifted off, exhaustion taking her body to dream land. Her eyes slowly opened, what felt like hours, later and she looked up at the unicorn doctor, who was looking over a chart. The unicorn smiled at her when she noticed she was awake then said, "Good morning Princess." "How is Luna?" "Oh the dear is just fine. She woke up an hour ago. She's been waiting fro you to wake up." Celestia turned her head then smiled at her grinning sister before nuzzling her. "Oh I'm so glad you're alright." "You should raise the sun." Celestia blinked then chuckled, nodded. She walked over the the window to her left then used her magic to grab the sun and place it in it's allotted place. She trotted back over to Luna and nuzzled her briefly before sighing deeply. "I need to close the court today and call the Elements of Harmony." Luna nodded then slowly got up, wincing as her stiff body pulled a bit. "We will close thy court Tia. You contact the Elements of Harmony." Celestia nodded then trotted out of the room and off to her personal chambers to compose her letter. After a brief shower and breakfast, Celestia composed and sent her letter off before setting out on a walk around the castle statue gardens to look for clues. She passed a few guards and dismissed them, before setting off to look around. She paced restlessly until a black mist came before her and Luna popped out. "Thy court is cancelled sister." Celestia stopped her pacing and looked up into the sun. She closed her eyes then opened them quickly. "They're here." Suddenly Twilight and the other Elements appeared in a puff of lavender smoke and Twilight galloped over to Celestia and nuzzling her in worry. "Are you okay?" "I am fine my student. Did you bring the Elements as I requested?" Twilight nodded and levitated several jewels from her saddlebag to the front of her. Celestia took the jewels in her magic and closed her eyes. 'Please let this work.' She thought nervously as she poured all of her energy into the jewels. Suddenly a bright light caused the Mane Six along with Luna to shut their eyes and stumble back in shock. After a short second it went out and they all looked to see Celestia on her side and her mane no longer it's swirling mass but a dusty pink. Her eyes were shut and she looked to be unconscious. "Princess!" They rushed over and she groaned, slowly opening her eyes. Her vision spun briefly and she gulped thickly. Ugh. She hated feeling this weak. "Did it work?" She croaked out her vision spinning again as she tried to move to her hooves. Twilight frowned then looked to the jewels and almost fainted in shock. Their were two copies of each jewel! Well the copies looked different but they were still copies! She looked to Princess Celestia and nuzzled her neck. Princess Celestia winced then finally and slowly moved to sit up. She smiled at Twilight then looked towards the jewels. Her gaze darkened for a short second before she looked away and to Twilight again. "I have a secret to tell all of you. Sit around." The mares gathered around her slowly and she smiled tightly at them. "Back when I was still a young mare I had more siblings...I had an older brother and more younger sisters to be precise. I along with my younger sisters forged the Elements of Harmony. Discord was our eldest brother and ruled with no reason or sense in his actions. He was a terrible tyrant and with the using of the Elements of Harmony, we set him in stone and I took the throne since I was the second oldest." "What happened to your siblings?" Fluttershy meekly whispered. Princess Celestia winced as she heard the question then closed her eyes in pain. "Shortly after I set him in stone the others pleaded to get the same release and....how could I deny them that?" Both princesses looked down and Celestia looked up at Twilight after taking a short while to compose herself. "Twilight. We must release them. As you can see...we kept them here. Their are five others. Terra, Sky Storm, Industria, Sea Foam, and Harmonia." She looked at the shocked Elements and Twilight frowned in deep thought. "Wait...what about Princess Luna? If you all wielded the Elements then Luna should have one. Their should be another one." "Magic my dear. She could use the Magic Element too because she forged it. When we fought and defeated Discord she was the original wielder, but she was injured by one of special guards. I used the Element in her place so she could rest." They nodded in understanding and looked to the statues scattered about the gardens. "What do we have to do?" Twilight said in determination. "The wielder of the Element must place the Element around the neck of the former wielder. A fairly simple process really. In this order. Miss Fluttershy you first to Terra." Fluttershy gulped and nodded slowly, ducking her head in shyness. Celestia grinned at her, as encouragement, then trotted over to the nature statue and nodded to it. Fluttershy fluttered over to and in front of Celestia, glancing up at the kindly face of the mare nuzzling the animal. She gulped then grasped the Element necklace and fluttered up. She slipped the necklace on the statue then quickly moved back to her friends. Celestai gulped nervously, hoping and praying the necklace would work. She grinned happily as the statue pulsed and took a step back. It pulsed again, a low beat tempo, and Celestia gasped when a whisper came from the statue, growing louder as seconds past. A soft singing came and everyone watched in awe as the grey stone of the statue melted away and a brown alicorn was in it's place. Continuing to sing, the alicorn smiled and nuzzled the now living animal and looked up then gasped softly. "Sister?" She looked to the tearful Celestia to Luna then the awed mares. "Um, Tia? What's going on? I thought I was supposed to stay a statue." Celestia shook her head then nuzzled her side, tears rolling down her cheeks. "C-Come down sister." "Oh sister. You know I don't have my crystal." "Oh yes." Celestia said with a soft red blush on her cheek. She levitated her crown off her head then took a golden round jewel from the crown and placed it in a groove on the thigh of the mare. "Thank you for keeping this safe hon." The mare said as she fluttered off the pedastal and landed on the ground gracefully. "Who are these mares dear sister?" "The new Elements of Harmony, sister." "Splended." Terra was a deep brown mare with a long green and vine like mane. Her eyes were brown as the dirt, her cutie mark was of the earth and in the center of her cutie mark was a golden jewel that shined in the light. "So nice to see you mares. I am Terra, Goddess of the Earth." The mares bowed and she flushed brightly before her mane covered her face. "Oh goodness...don't bow please." The mares rose and Terra smiled at them lightly then her eyes drifted to the other statues. "Why am I out of my slumber?" Celestia shook her head lightly then said, "I'll explain later when the others are out of their statues. Next is you, Miss Rainbow Dash. Place the Element on Sky Storm's neck." Rainbow did the same as Fluttershy had done, but this time to another statue. Suddenly the statue exploded violently and a blue alicorn shot up into the air. "Hell yeah!" A rough voice screamed from the heavens. Celestia blinked then laughed softly, yelling into the air a minute later, "Sky Storm?" A blue alicorn shot down but stopped a foot from the ground and looked at Celestia with a grin. Her mane was like fluffy cotton candy clouds as was her tail. Her eyes were sky blue, her cutie mark was of clouds and a tornado going down like a thunderbolt. Similar to Rainbow Dash's. She lazily circled Celestia's head then landed and grinned at up at her. "Wow, you've grown sis!" Celestia smiled and nuzzled the alicorn before nodding to Rarity. "Miss Rarity, you're next." Rarity nodded and trotted over to Celestia, a bit nervous. They trotted to a metal statue and Celestia smiled. "My next sister, Industria." Rarity looked up at the metal statue then levitated her Element from around her neck to the neck of the statue's and watched in awe as the statue began to move. It jerked and twitched, causing both Celestia and Rarity to take a set back. Suddenly the metal on the statue rusted away and a silver mare was in it's place. The mare in question tossed her head and sneezed. She grimaced at the mess on her head then whined almost silently, "My mane...Ugh...What's going on? I'm not frozen?" The mare looked down and smiled tenderly at Rarity. "May you look simply fabulous!" The mare was silver coated, her mane a rusty brown and pulled back, her eyes a deep silver red mix and her cutie mare was of a steam of black smoke behind a crossing hammer and screwdriver. She was smiling and moved off her pedestal. "Ahhh such a refreshing nap. I suggest if we ever do go back to being stone, please give us cushions." Celestia smiled softly, nodding slightly, then nodded to Applejack. "Your turn Miss Applejack." Applejack trotted over to Celestia and was lifted high by her magic. Applejack shuddered nervously, always nervous about magic, then looked up at the stone mare. She tossed her Element around the mare's neck and they moved back, Celestia setting her down. The grey statue cement turned into water and slowly splashed down, revealing a sea blue mare, who shook her head to shake the water from her mane. Her wet mane was a sea green and her eyes were a coral blue-green. Her cutie mark was one of a shark doing a flip. The wet mare smirked then shook her head like a dog. "Nice to be moving again. Why am I up dear sister?" Celestia smiled and shook her head. "All in due time sister. Finally Miss Pinkie?" Pinkie squealed in excitement then bounced over and tossed her Element onto the last mare's neck. The statue exploded into a cloud of pink smoke and laughter began to spill from the cloud. Celestia blinked in shock before chuckling in good nature and trotting over, lifting a young alicorn from the cloud with her magic. The alicorn had a greying coat and an unusual vibrant hot pink mane, her eyes were red and her cutie mark was of a set of weighted scales. "Nice to see you in good spirits Harmonia." "YAY! Hi Celly!" Celestia flushed lightly but grinned to her excited sister and said, "Now let us head to the War room. We have much to discuss and a ritual to perform." The Mane Six frowned but the alicorns nodded though Luna scowled a bit as the ritual part was mentioned. "Must we dear sister?" "They need their power." "I know but I like being the second oldest sister." Celestia laughed softly then shook her head and set off at a brisk trot.