The Protoveian Judgement
What had begun as a peaceful, otherwise unremarkable autumn day, had turned into frenzy of panic for the residents of Canterlot. The statue that was Discord's prison after the Elements of Harmony sealed him back away, had been broken out of the vault the princesses had him put into in order to prevent a future escape. And now, the stone terror stood in the street, surrounded by three very powerful, very alien ponylike beings that had retrieved him. Everyone feared the worst- that he had just been defeated, only for these strangers to arrive and free him again.
The royal guard had arrived, but their weapons warped and deflected off the entities' hides uselessly. Their top unicorn soldiers found that, for some strange reason, their magic could not grasp them. The princesses themselves had arrived and were alarmed to discover that not even their power could seem to so much as touch the alien forms before them. And all attempts at communication were seemingly ignored.
The strangers were at least as large as Celestia, and their entire body shimmered like static. Their basic form looked like some kind of parody of the princesses themselves- they had multiple horns on their heads, also shimmering, that grew at odd angles and curved and spiraled wildly. Some even seemed to end abruptly halfway down their length, only to resume somewhere further along, as if part of the horn was missing. Their wings appeared as simple outlines with no substance. And while one's outline looked feathered like a normal pegasus, the other two were different. One was pointed and batlike, while the other appeared rounded and seemed to have faint lines flickering inside them like veins.
Once they had situated the statue in the center of a large plaza, they arranged themselves evenly around it and levitated it up to the level of the nearby roofs. Once they arrived, the entire sky shimmered like static over the Equestrian capitol just like they did. The ground rumbled as the visual noise spread down to the horizon, encasing the entire city in some kind of bubble.
Celestia and Luna had long given up trying to do or say anything, despite their guards' constant, desperate pleas for orders or ideas. They could only look on in terrified confusion, waiting for something, anything, to give them a hint as to what they were dealing with. Suddenly everypony went deathly quiet as a chill ran through the world and an orb of light surrounded Discord's head. After it faded, it was apparent that at least that part of him was free from stone, and animate once more.
At first, several emotions played across his face. Rage, at having been defeated again. Relief, at being freed yet again. Gratitude, albeit brief, toward those that he thought were freeing him. Then, finally, defiant glee, toward Celestia. Setting aside the question of his rescuers' identity, taunted her. "HAH! Face it Celestia, you'll never be rid of me! I won't make the same mistakes this time, I-... wait. Why can't I move?"
He seemed to try and squirm for a moment, before he realized the rest of his body was still petrified. He looked back towards the strangers floating around him questioningly, then recognition hit him. His eyes widened and most of the color drained from his face. His own look of sudden dread was mirrored by the princesses when they saw it. He seemed to try and speak, but his voice had become muted. And then, THEY spoke.
"Little Discord, you have caused some delicious waves of chaos since you were trapped here on your own," one said, its voice echoing and constantly changing in ways that made it hard to understand. Fortunately, the words also somehow found their way into the minds of everyone present, even if their ears didn't cooperate. It seemed to smile slightly, but the grin quickly faded. "But in your isolation, you have become corrupt."
"You are now an abomination, Discord. You let this world taint you, -civilize- you," another chided.
"CIVILIZE?!" Luna blurted out incredulously, echoed by some of the braver ponies nearby.
Yet despite the interruption, the strangers went on as if they hadn't heard it. "When you became isolated, you took power and ruled. Though your rule was wonderfully unpredictable, the problem remains that you still ruled. Though it was a chaotic and unstable reign, that does not change the fact that you brought a kind of order to the world. And beyond that, even after your first defeat, you controlled and manipulated the minds of others."
"You have become infected with order. You stink of ambition," the third picked up in what was probably meant to be a disgusted tone. By this point, Discord appeared to be desperately trying to plead for mercy, but his voice was still gone. "You no longer appreciate entropy for its own sake, but feed on the emotion it brings. Protoveia should never have spawned you."
Suddenly, Luna and Celestia both seemed think of something at about the same time. They shared a brief, curious glance at one another. Without a word, Luna nodded and took off back towards the castle, while Celestia turned and continued to watch in silence.
"You still have ties to primal chaos, but that only makes it more vital that you be severed, lest your corruption spread, now that the wall has broken," the first resumed. A bright, multi-colored glow flared up around the increasingly-panicked Discord. "And now is the time for your final judgement, Discord."
The three seemed to glance back and forth at one another, then returned their focus to their captive. The air itself suddenly buzzed with energy throughout Canterlot. Celestia reeled, clutching her head. Other ponies twitched and shuddered in discomfort, but only the alicorn sisters could truly detect the true horror that was being unleashed. Celestia's pupils shrank to pinpricks as she saw it happen.
The ground shook with the force of all three speaking at once, in a loud, more stable-sounding, if still echoing, voice. The words made no sense, at least most of them. But the final sentence was all too clear: "DISCORD...YOUR STAIN IS NOW...ERASED."
Discord's body was entirely released from its stone form for a brief moment. But before he could even think of trying to escape, he let out a loud, horrific scream as lines of energy pierced him from one end to the other at odd angles. Then, they began to pull apart, dragging bits of him with them. Luckily for the ponies there to witness it, there were no guts or blood visible. Whatever Discord was made of, he obviously didn't follow the basic laws of biology that all true life followed. It was more like someone taking apart a clay figure than a living being. That didn't stop his terrible, yet increasingly erratic, distorted screams, however.
The pieces faded from sight as they were pulled further apart. Streams of static-energy flowed away from where they were into the sky. His voice faded similarly. Finally, there wasn't a trace left of him- even from Celestia's perspective, which filled her with the coldest pit in her stomach she'd ever experienced. She could sense the passing of someone who died. And even while he never felt... well, right, she'd always been able to even sense Discord's presence in the world. But now he was just... gone. Completely, and unequivocally, gone.
When the strangers touched the ground, they blurred and seemed to look around as if seeing their surroundings for the first time. With disconcerting smirks, two of them bolted off in different directions, headed for the horizon. They vanished when they reached it, causing the static bubble around the city to begin fading. The last one remaining took a moment to approach Celestia. It regarded her curiously for a moment, then broke into a grin of its own and nodded at her, before bolting off into the horizon as well.
Celestia was frozen in place by what she'd felt. Her guards soon gave up trying to get any response from their princess as they eventually managed to pull themselves together and start dispersing the eerily quiet crowd.
The elder princess was convinced she would never sleep again. 'They didn't just kill him,' she slowly allowed herself to think. '...they UN-MADE him.'
*****
Meanwhile, in the royal library, the younger alicorn lay curled into a ball, eyes wide as saucers, clutching her abacus close to her chest as she tried to comprehend the very same thought. Next to her was the ancient tome she had dropped when the surge of absence hit her, now burning thanks to a similarly dropped candle. Though the fire was put out before it could spread, the only surviving record of Protoveia left in the old library, perhaps in all of Equestria, was destroyed.