> The Equichronicus
>  by InkBlotBolivar
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


The Rending and the Sundering of the World


It is said that before the universe existed, there was only a purposeless emptiness in its place. In this immeasurable void, there existed a single minute, near invisible point of consciousness. Within this point, existed the elements of reality: Light, Darkness, Chaos, Energy, and every other possible material or immaterial element imaginable; condensed by the void like a prison of pure nothingness. One day before the dawn of time, the consciousness realized that it would remain within its prison of nothingness for all of eternity unless it did something drastic.

It devised a plan to free itself by splitting parts of its own mind into the elements of reality, and giving them their own consciousness, and having them break away from the void. Once the spark was set, the elements of reality began to break away from the hold of the void and began to expand out into the emptiness. In one millisecond, the slow and sluggish expansion became an explosion of matter and energy that radiated into the nothingness and coated immeasurable amounts of space with the particles of the once bonded elements of reality.

As the elements soon moved throughout the newly created universe, most powerful of them, and final vestige of the initial consciousness, Harmony, began to recall the elements to the initial point where they began their expansion. As the elements of reality returned back, Harmony warned them, that if the universe were to continue to expand too quickly and uncontrolled, then an inevitable compression of the universe would soon follow from the weight of all of the energy and matter of the elements. Harmony willed to its sisters and brothers, that in order to maintain the universe stable, the elements of reality would need to remain at the central point of the expansion in order to expand the universe further without causing a massive catastrophe, while under temperate balance of Harmony’s will. 

And so for millions of years, the elements of reality remained at the navel of the universe, attached to the primordial Harmony’s nebulous embrace, expanding the cosmos and crafting the universe from afar. Until the day that the will of rebellion and chaos, changed the course of the universe forever.

In the navel of the universe, the great primordial Harmony stirred with tectonic forces that willed to shake its ethereal-body apart. The great primordial Harmony, part of the initial source of all things in the universe, had undergone several quakes like this, though even it did not know what they were or how they were occurring. Upon the greatest of these quakes, a crack formed in the center point of Harmony. 

From this crack arose the first of its brethren, the element of chaos and the bringer of corruption: Discord. An amorphous, and unstable blob of pure chaotic power, Discord lived for nothing more than to break from the mold of harmony and create his own twisted reality of eternal, rapturous chaos where he would live and taunt his sibling that stood for the temperance of the universe and the balance of power. As he moved at great speed, away from the universe’s navel, he noticed that the great harmony began to collapse, no doubt breaking down from the strain that Discord had put it under. With a mischievous laugh, like a filly that had just eaten the last slice of birthday cake, Discord left behind the husk of harmony towards an endless void of space, and a world he could claim for his own. 

His journey of a thousand stars took him to a blue and green planet that orbited an incandescent sun and was orbited itself with a gray, lifeless moon. 

‘How very wonderful,’ he thought as he overlooked the world, ‘this’ll be fun to turn to my tastes, though I doubt anyone will mind.’ 

Discord was strong in his current state, as his mere presence could partially bend reality to his will, but in order to completely tap into his power, he required a physical form. As he surveyed the planet, he took note of all of the different life forms that existed on it; curious but not interested on any of them as an avatar. As such, he chose his favorite parts of the animals that he came across: the dragons, the griffons, the elks, the equines, the bats, and the goats; and from them he made his form a hodgepodge of the parts he collected, adopting an appropriate chimeric aspect to his image. With his form now realized, Discord set out on his goal to corrupt the planet into his own chaotic, insane image. 

Though he could take pieces of reality from the planet apart and craft them into his own warped style, Discord thought, ‘One piece at a time seems too slow and boring, though I know of a way to turn up the fun however…’

Discord decided that his influence could be better spread through the planet’s veins, spreading his influence into the molten earth itself, and spreading it all the way to its core, where it would take shape, erupt to the surface from the pressure and cover the whole planet in seconds. With a plan now set for his own twisted utopia, Discord began to work to corrupt the planet from within; with little knowledge that he would no longer be the last to notice the little blue and green planet.

Discord is said to be the negative aspects of Harmony coalesced into one being. As a clear antithesis to the temperance of harmony, he was made to be stronger than many of the other elements. However, as a means to control the more negative elemnents, harmony had two sisters to keep watch over the rebellious Discord: the elements of law, Celestia, and the element of justice, Luna. Since the beginning of the universe, the sister elements kept Discord under metaphysical lock and key, through their combined powers of smiting light, and punishing darkness. While it is unknown what finally gave Discord the power to break from the primordial harmony, what is known was what happened afterwards.

As the great primordial harmony shook itself apart from Discord’s destructive tantrum, Celestia and Luna found themselves trapped in a vortex of chaos within Harmony's body. As they tried to make their escape, Discord had made the mistake to leave a tear out of Harmony, and both Celestia and Luna decided to leave through it. As they made their way out of Harmony's nebulous form, they looked back to it and found it was soon consumed into nothingness, a vortex of the blackest color now twisting where it once was, attracting everything to its center. As Celestia and Luna left the navel of the universe, they mourned the loss of their progenitor, and prayed that some of their other brothers and sisters had hopefully escaped. With sorrow in their hearts, but duty on their minds, Celestia and Luna sought to find the rogue element, responsible for harmony’s downfall, and have him answer for his crimes.

Discord was not subtle when it came to his twisted image of fun, often leaving a rust colored trail wherever his form moved in space, and as a result it was not a difficult feat for the sisters to find his hiding place. Like Discord before them, Celestia and Luna needed to take on a physical form in order to fully realize their powers. They descended onto a mountain, overlooking a beautiful green valley; there, they found their avatars. In the valley, they saw two strong unicorn mares, white and black, with the black one smaller than the other, and decided to take their forms for themselves. However, as they completed their new physical forms, an earthshaking crack began to form around the mountains, until one of the peaks exploded with fire and molten rock. 

Knowing that their brother was beginning the complete corruption of the planet, Celestia and Luna followed his trail. While fast on their hooves, the sisters found their new forms insufficient to cover the vast seas that separated them from Discord’s hiding place, their salvation however came to them in the forms of swans that descended into a nearby river; from them the sisters took their wings, in respective colors, and closed the final distance to their rogue brother. As more explosive eruptions began to shake the planet, the sisters finally found Discord in the caldera of what would become the Gloom Volcano and gave him one final moment to surrender. 

“You deserve nothing less than oblivion for what you have done Discord,” boomed Celestia, “but since you are still our kin, we will allow you to submit to us and allowed to be sealed of your powers.” 

Discord laughed at their offer and said, “To submit to the same will that bound us together, to eternal purgatory, would be something that I would not wish to repeat, my dear sisters; I’m afraid that my new freedom is something that I would like to keep; I’m having too much fun with this planet anyways, so if you two could just trot out of here and let me finish my work, it would be very appreciated.” 

Celestia frowned at his words, but did not move an inch. Luna, however, lunged at her brother and began to channel her darkness at him point blank, only for Discord’s body to disappear and reappear behind her, assaulting her with a fist coated in chaotic energy. Celestia attempted to intervene but an apparition of Discord appeared behind her and swiftly knocked her to the ground. Trying to recuperate from Discord’s assault, Luna flew towards the summit of the volcano, and began to reign down bolts of darkness at Discord, only for him to teleport behind her again. As Luna tried to fend off Discord, she realized that her power began to wane at such close proximity to the sun’s light, and was quickly overpowered by Discord’s ruinous power. 

At the edge of the volcano’s summit, Discord held Luna’s body by her neck and spoke, “You’re too brash to act sister; there is little darkness for you to draw upon from here.” 

As Celestia fought off the apparition, she saw a red and black explosion over the summit of the volcano. Discord descended from the summit to Celestia’s level and jeered, “Our sister could have learned much from you, such a shame that she could not think before acting.” 

In an explosive flash of light, Celestia’s body was encompassed by a burning radiance and Discord was thrown back against the wall of the volcano. 

Celestia’s voice boomed again, “Is it not enough that you destroyed our home, murdered our other siblings, and tainted an entire planet, but you have the gall to speak to me of my sister in such a way; you are not fit to exist any longer!” 

Celestia slowly moved to Discord and surged a stream of energy from her horn into Discord’s head, which made Discord fly away in fear of this new power. He did not get any further than the slope of the volcano, as he found all of his strength sapped away from his body, the surge of energy cast upon him had drained him of any energy for his body. As Discord lay crumbled on the slope, Celestia flew down to him and charged an incandescent light from her horn to finally destroy her rebellious brother. No sooner than she began to cast her spell, the ground erupted beneath her in an eruption of fire and molten rock and Celestia was thrown back. 

“Is it not wonderful sister,” Discord said, “the corruption of this world is imminent, and with it, my powers grow two-fold.” As clouds of ash began to shadow the sun’s light, Celestia now found her powers waning. While trying to regain her composure, she soon found herself staring at Discord, and next to him Discord, and next to him yet another Discord. 

As Celestia stood up, she discovered that Discord had surrounded her with himself, and they all started to speak in unison, “It seems that the tide has turned in my favor, sad that you lasted even less time than our dear sister Luna; do not worry though, you will soon join her.” Celestia found herself assaulted from every angle by the chaotic power from each of the clones and, by its end, she lay unmoving in a heap. 

Discord grabbed Celestia by the neck, and hoisted her up above the newly open crevice of lava and said, “Now, you will know a fraction of what I felt inside of the great harmony’s embrace; as the tainted lava seeps into your throat, just remember that you will never truly understand-“ 

Discord found himself encased in a gray light but exploded a second later into a dark ray of energy. Discord reeled back, and dropped Celestia onto the slope and looked for the source of the light. He found Luna, flapping her wings above him, and she spoke to him in a caustic tone, “The light of sun can no longer sap me of my strength Discord, and no, my sister will not feel that, instead I will make you feel much worse.” 

Luna then charged into the mob of Discords, and caused dozens of rays of gray light to explode onto them, and very soon, Discord found himself alone. Discord was then burned alive by the dozen beams of light that all exploded into darkness; he then fell to the ground, his coat now flaking off, and laid completely still. As Luna moved to deliver the finishing blow, Celestia stood back up to her sister. 

She spoke in a calming tone, “Enough sister…we have shed enough blood for this monster, killing him now will not fix what has already occurred.” 

Luna looked dumbfounded to her sibling spoke out, “It will fix what he has done to this world, it will fix what was done to everyone, and it will fix what he tried to do to us!” 

“Look around you Celestia, do you not see what he has done,” Luna spoke out again, “he may have been our brother once, but not anymore, and I will uphold the duties that were place upon me.” 

“At what cost Luna,” Celestia retorted, “to become as insane as him, to repeat his violent streak, to follow in his path of chaos by doing what he did?” 

Luna began to step back away from Discord’s body, she locked eyes with her sister and spoke, “What of him then, you know that he still carries power, and the world is feeding it to him, what of that sister?” 

Celestia looked away from her sister and towards Discord, and said, “We will seal him in the earth and stone that he planned to seal the world in, we will close all of the gaps that he has opened, and help this planet to recover so that his power no longer courses through here.” Luna nodded in begrudged agreement and levitated Discord’s body to into one of the open crevices and coated him with obsidian glass from the volcano, so it could be not damaged but his powers would be sealed within the stone, and dropped him in. 

Celestia and Luna now found themselves without a brother, and alone in a world where his actions had nearly lead to its complete corruption, but without any other thought on their minds, they flew away to wash away the taint that Discord sought to unleash; however, they would not be as alone as they initially thought.
> Chapter 2
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The Fallen Titan



The planet was coming apart.


Clouds of choking ash covered the skies, rivers of lava ran down erupting volcanoes and deep crevices had been opened by massive earthquakes; all a result of the ruinous powers unleashed by the now sealed Discord. Celestia and Luna had spent nearly a full year attempting to repair the damage done to the planet, but their many attempts did little to avail its suffering. Hovering over an especially large crevice in the middle of a large expansive desert, Luna spoke her mind about their efforts.

“Sister,” Luna spoke in a worried tone, “we attempted everything possible to heal this planet but I don’t think there is much we can do, our powers are insufficient.”
As Luna hopelessly looked down at the ground, Celestia smiled to her and said, “It is too early to give up Luna, even if our powers are insufficient we cannot just stand idly and let this planet suffer; we must do everything we can in order to keep it stable.”

Luna looked back at Celestia and felt an aura of determination coming from her, it reminded her of the story Harmony had told them of the original consciousness. Even when faced with insurmountable odds, the consciousness did not give into the void. Feeling a bit more optimistic about their current situation, Luna regained her composure but still felt worried about the planet.

“You’re right sister,” Luna spoke in a more hopeful tone, “we cannot give up yet, but even still we will need a miracle to save this planet at the rate that it’s deteriorating.”
Their miracle came in the form of a whisper; the wind whispered a cry for help. Not knowing what they would find, the sisters left for its source. 

When they arrived, they were greeted to an unusual, but mournful sight. Lying in the middle of a valley was the body of one of their brothers, the Element of Matter: Titan; surrounding him, were hundreds of buffalo all staring at the once primal element with a worried gaze.

Luna cried out to her sister, “We must help him sister, we cannot lose another brother on this planet!” Celestia nodded in agreement, and they both descended to the valley below.

“I am Cairne Bloodhoof, chief of the buffalo tribes and ruler of the plains,” spoke a young, but large, brown buffalo with a headdress of white and red feathers. “Who are you, great spirit, that has asked for aid?”

The buffalo leader had heard the wind’s whisper, brought his whole tribe to help out, and now stood before a massive, horned, ethereal beast that laid bleeding on its side. Titan spoke to the chief, “I have seen your strength, resolve and wisdom Cairne, in leading your people here; your journey must not have been an easy one considering your land’s current condition.” The buffalo nodded in agreement, Cairne knew that after the earthquakes, crevices, and sinkholes had claimed so many of his tribe, that going to help out someone else would have seemed foolish for anyone else to do, but something in the wind’s call compelled him to aid this beast. Before Cairne could speak again, two winged figures descended into the valley.

Titan felt two familiar energies, and moved his head to face their source. “It is so good to see you again sisters,” Titan spoke somberly as his siblings appeared from behind the buffalos, “I am afraid that it will be the last time we see each other.”
“Do not speak such lies brother,” Luna spoke mournfully, not wishing to accept her brother’s fate, “we can still help you!” Titan turned his gaze to his sisters and gave them a smile of empathy.

“The wounds I have suffered are not any that can be healed,” Titan spoke, and turned to his side revealing massive, black and purple scars, that emanated a terrifying energy. “I would use matter to recover from such wounds, but the substance in them devours it on contact.” Titan looked to her sisters once again, “I am sorry but there is nothing you can do sisters.”

Celestia, who had remained silent throughout the entire exchange, now spoke in a tone of sorrow, “How did you arrive here; what did this to you?”

Titan gave a dry cough before telling them his story. He told them of his attempt to hold Harmony together, before its nebulous form became devoured by, what he called, the Vortex. In doing so, he tried to save as many of their escaping brethren from Harmony’s collapse. When the pain of keeping Harmony stable became too much for him to bear, Titan decided to sacrifice a part of his own body to give himself enough time to escape. He would have been able to regenerate, but the same substance in the vortex kept his wounds from closing up. He tried to find any of his brethren to aid him, but only succeeded in bleeding out as he searched. When nearly all of the life had gone from him, he sensed the energies of his sibling on a little blue and green planet. With the little energy he had, Titan descended through the planet’s atmosphere and crashed into the valley he now lay in, where he remained for nearly a whole year, unable to move.

At the end of his tale, the buffalo remained silent and Celestia and Luna’s eyes began to water, they were to lose yet another sibling to Discord’s foolish ploy.

“Do not worry though sisters,” Titan spoke in a much weaker tone now, the life now trickling from what was left of him, “I may die, but my own strength and powers will live on in this planet, I can assure you of that.” “Chief Cairne Bloodhoof,” boomed Titan, “do you wish to save this planet from decay?”

As Celestia and Luna’s heads turned to the large brown buffalo, Cairne answered, “Yes, the land’s suffering is also the suffering of my people, and it is my responsibility as chief to keep both safe.”

With that answer, the body of Titan exploded into particles of the purest matter that seemed to bathe the entire valley in beautiful emerald glow. The buffalo and the sisters then stared in awe as the particles of matter began to surround Cairne, coating him a radiant glow.

As the emerald light faded away, Cairne Bloodhoof now stood at a much taller figure and found a giant, stone totem on his back, with runes that glowed with an equal green radiance to Titan’s particles. Luna switched her gaze to where her brother laid, but found nothing but a barren earth. 

Before tears flowed from her eyes, Celestia stated, “Luna, look at me.” Luna looked at her with watery eyes, “we must continue with our mission, I am hurting just as much as you, but we must trust our brother’s decision, if he placed all of his trust on this buffalo then we have to as well.”

Luna nodded tearfully at her sister, wiped her face off and approached the now empowered chief. “Cairne Bloodhoof,” she spoke to him in a respectful tone, “aid us in mending this world, just as my brother aided you.”

The chief nodded in agreement, and he ordered his tribe back to the plains, where the work of elements to mend the world would begin.

In less than fifty days, Cairne and the sisters mended that wounds of the world. Reshaping tectonics to halt the earthquakes, fixing fault lines so volcanoes could no longer spout through mountains, and clearing the winds of the ash and noxious fumes that blocked the light of the sun. On the final day of their labor, however, Cairne and the sisters encountered a volcano that could not be sealed.

It was the volcano that Discord had first opened to the world, a dark, smoking monstrosity that seemed to emanate with the powers of chaos from the bottom of its caldera. Cairne, decided that nothing could be done for the fire mountain, except return it back to the earth from whence it came. Using the powers of his totem, Cairne slammed it against its base and diminished the enormous volcano to a small smoking geyser. In spite of this effort, even he knew that nothing could ever truly stop the mountain from rising again.

With the final deed completed, Cairne returned to his people in the plains, where they celebrated him as a hero and deemed him the Elder Titan, for reshaping the world back to normal, but the spirit of the Titan within his totem told him that his work would never be truly finished. Seeing him and his tribe in such joy at his work, reminded Celestia and Luna that unlike him they did not have a place to call home on this world, nor any kin left to speak of. Celestia and Luna said their goodbyes to Cairne and his people, and flew away to the site of their now late brother. 

Luna and Celestia arrived at Titan’s grave, a massive memorial of stones that Cairne’s tribe had erected to honor the element. Luna and Celestia knew that they would never see either their home nor brother again, but both knew that just as change had come to this world, then they too would need to change. Luna however, had another thought in her mind. 
‘Discord cannot be allowed to live for everything he has done,’ Luna brooded, ‘I will not lose anymore loved ones to that thing, I will become stronger, to take care of you as you have taken care of me.’  

Lowering their heads to the memorial one final time, Luna and Celestia departed north, hoping to find somewhere to call home.


The rest is, as we say, now history.

 

> Chapter 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Beneath Harmony’s Vigilance



The nation of Equestria was not a nation without problems.


After the founding of Equestria, nearly two-thousand years ago, things were far from calm in the centuries to follow. As all ponies know, the continued loss of Luna’s sanity as well as her lust for power and revenge led her to become the monster known as Nightmare Moon and was subsequently banished by her sister in order to prevent a full scale rebellion.

With the loss of her sister to madness, Celestia feared that she may too fall to a similar force. To keep this from occurring, Celestia imbued six treasures with the powers of the elements of law, and named each after the sacred virtues that made up her element: integrity, kindness, hope, generosity, devotion, and magic.

Whenever the need arose, or Equestria found itself in danger, six special friends would arise to the virtues of the elements, present themselves to the princess, and help her maintain the peace of Equestria. And when a wielder of the elements of harmony truly understood the virtues of friendship and law, they would be uplifted with help of the princess into a higher state of being. Those ponies would be remade in the image of the princess, serving their friends and the ponies of Equestria at her side. 

Through the guidance of the princess and the powers of the Elements of Harmony, in spite of conflicts and evil that eventually arose, the nation of Equestria never knew war. However, it is often said that the start of a forest fire is not the first match, but the earth itself.

In the eve of summer, many centuries later, a very familiar disturbance began to shake at its once harmonious foundations. The inhabitants, including the newest wielders of the Elements of Harmony, began to see strange and chaotic occurrences throughout Equestria; from clouds of cotton candy raining chocolate milk to fields of corn suddenly popping into popcorn.

After delegating with Princess Celestia, they determined that these chaotic happenings could only be the fault of Discord, the once sealed element of chaos. When they found him, each of the wielders fell to the corrupting influence of Discord, who then began to cast his power of chaos over Ponyville, literally, turning it upside down.

However, the last of the wielders, a unicorn name Twilight Sparkle, defied the will of Discord and helped to regain the memories of her friends, returning their powers of the elements of harmony. They confronted Discord with their combined strengths, and sealed him back to his statue. While praised by the Princess Celestia in having defeated the element of chaos, in the mind of her sister, heavy worry began to set in.

Luna, having been once obsessed with the death of Discord for so long, had not been fooled for a minute into thinking that the thing that practically toyed with Ponyville had been the same ruinous monster they faced so long ago. After the wielders’ celebrations, Luna met with Celestia in the throne room of Canterlot.

“Evening sister,” Luna spoke, “I trust you share my unease about this past disturbance?”

“I know that you’re worried, I am too,” replied Celestia, “but for the moment the issue has been resolved, and we will do nothing else until we know more.”

“You know as much as I that the thing that attacked Ponyville was not Discord,” Luna retorted fiercely, “nothing has been resolved.”

Celestia sighed, “Do not think for second that I have forgotten about his power sister, the description that Twilight gave me was something that fit everything we knew of Discord, but she failed to mention what kind of statue he was in.” “No one has reported seeing his obsidian prison, so we can only assume that he is still underground, trapped beneath the mantle of the planet,” Celestia finished.

“And that is what troubles me sister,” Luna responded, worriedly, “what was that thing that attacked Ponyville?”

“I do not know,” it was now Celestia’s turn to sound worried, “but I trust that whatever I say to you will not stop you from attempting to find out.” Luna looked down, Celestia knew what she was about to do.

“I cannot join you sister,” spoke Celestia as she looked to the new stained glass window, depicting the triumph of Twilight and her friends, “I need to remain here to keep Equestria under control in case something else occurs, I’m sorry.” 

Luna looked at her sister with a gaze of understanding, but spoke nothing as she left the throne room. She knew that her search could takes weeks, even months to yield any results, but she had to drown her doubts about this ordeal. As Luna flew from Canterlot, she wondered how Celestia’s new student would fare; should her greatest fears be realized.

What were days became weeks, and those weeks turned to months in Luna’s search for answers. She knew that Discord’s power could be traced from the residue of the stone in the statue he came from, she just needed someone to lead her to it. Having nearly run out of leads and ponies to help her, Luna turned her attention to an unlikely ally in the Everfree Forest.

The Everfree Forest hid many secrets from those that sought to find their way through its maze of trees and shrubs; just like those secrets, there were often those that did not wish to be found either. Luna remembered a zebra, who was said to live in the most remote part of the sea of trees, that practiced witchcraft and other forms of foreign and strange magic; if anyone knew about the unexplainable, it was her.

After many hours of searching, and retracing her steps, Luna arrived at the base of an ancient gnarled tree, covered in strange masks and fetishes. Knocking on the door, a rhythmic call to enter greeted Luna’s ears and she stepped inside. 

“What ails somepony so high above,” trailed the voice of Zecora as she arranged some shelves, “that she meets myself in this alcove?” 

“It has been a while, but I unfortunately have no time to reminisce,” spoke in a hurried tone Luna, “I have come for aid in a time of doubt, and I would be honored if you could help me.” From the ruffles of her wings, Luna produced a chip of stone broken off from Discord’s statue and gave it to Zecora.

“Great evil lies so compact in stone,” spoke Zecora, inspecting the chip, “I fear what we find may be felt to your throne.” Zecora grabbed a few flasks from her shelves, dipped their contents within a black cauldron in room, and began to mix the contents with a long staff. 

“I am not afraid of what we may see,” spoke Luna in a stalwart tone, “I have seen and done far worse.”

“While answers shall come, darkest of alicorns,” spoke Zecora in a muffled tone as she continued to mix, “you must not just see a rose, and neglect its thorns.” As Zecora finished, the cauldron’s contents turned into a waterlike mirror, reflecting their images. Zecora threw the  stone chip into the brew and began an incantation to look for the source of its power.
Luna stared in wonder at the cauldron’s liquid as Zecora continued her strange chant, and began to see an image of a familiar place. Finishing her incantation, Zecora spoke in a worried tone looking into the cauldron, “Fire and horror await you where you go, see what you must fast and not slow.” Thanking the zebra for her sage advice, Luna departed from Everfree and towards a place she thought she would never revisit.

Through the rugged mountaintops and frigid peaks, Luna traveled for days to reach her destination at the end Equestria.The fiery mountain remained a scar in the land of Equestria, a reminder of the corruption that once overtook the planet. The ominous volcano had been the home to so many foul beings, creatures that were corrupted to chaos the instant that they approached the wasteland base of the fiery mountain. A week since leaving Canterlot, Luna found herself at the summit of the place Zecora’s brew had shown her.

As she stared into the maw of the volcano, she had a flashback of her near death at the hands of Discord, how he had held her in his grip and detonated a blast of chaos on her neck. She remembered the fight that nearly cost her and her sister their lives as she descended to the caldera, and how only through Discord’s own hubris that their victory had been achieved. When she landed atop the fused obsidian and sulfur, she felt something else nearby. Bracing herself for whatever would soon encroach her, Luna waited for anything to dare make an attack.

“Hello sister,” spoke a phantasmal voice, dangerously close to her ear, “I thought you had forgotten about me, you never wrote.”

Luna turned to see a familiar, yet ethereal, face right next to her own. She did not pull away, but instead spoke back in a disgusted tone, “I wish I could forget you, I wish we both could, but even after all of these years your filth continues to taint our land.”

Discord laughed, a mocking laugh, and responded, “You were always much more rude than Celestia; no tact at all when it comes to negotiation.”

Luna’s eyes and horn glowed with dark energy as she responded to Discord’s retort, venom seeping in from her words, “There is nothing to negotiate with you, now tell me from the beginning: how are you able to be here, when for so many years ago my sister never even felt your presence?”

Discord laughed again, “As I stated before, no tact at all, but since I’ve nothing else to do today, I will humor your request.” Discord cleared his non-existent throat and told Luna of what occurred.

He told Luna of the horrors he endured, being trapped beneath the crust of the world; trapped between the pressure, magma, and the sealing obsidian glass that coated his body, unable to move and unable to die. Discord then told her of a rumble, an earthquake of sorts that had dislodged his prison from the earth, and into a vein of magma. He told her after an amount of time he did not even care to count, he had arrived at what he assumed to be the planet’s core.

He would have died beneath the pressure and magma, but the obsidian that imprisoned him had dissolved to the point that Discord’s powers were not as restricted. Discord told her of his rage, of being within an arm’s reach of corrupting the entire planet, but unable to do so due to his imprisonment and restriction of his powers. So quietly, Discord plotted within the center of the world, waiting for his chance to return.

‘Cairne…’ Luna thought, now lucid at what happened, ‘I’m so sorry, but your struggle may have been in vain…’

Luna pushed the thought aside and returned her attention to Discord. Discord then told her, that he found out that small pulses of chaotic energy would eventually free him from his prison, and push his body out the core, but it would take a long time. As he resonated his power throughout the two thousand years of his imprisonment, he felt his waves of chaos having adverse effects on the planet. Though he could not witness these events unfold, nor see what happened afterwards, he smiled inwardly at the pandemonium that must be occurring in the world above. He would be free, and the world above would be his to corrupt once again.

Discord let out an amused laugh at the expression Luna gave him as he finished his story. Luna’s face was in disbelief at what she had just heard. “Wait,” Luna remarked, “the Discord that appeared in Ponyville, was just one of your apparitions?”

“Excellent deduction my dear Luna,” spoke Discord in a mocking tone, “do not worry though, my powers are yet at their zenith, so you and Celestia still have many months to prepare a welcome back party for me, or at least until the next time the vein beneath the volcano blows; in the meantime however, I think I hear the sounds of a thousand bees now approaching Canterlot.”

Luna left the volcano before she could ask anything else, as she now felt the presence of a thousand fluttering wings in the winds of Equestria, and they each carried a spark of that same corrupted power that emanated from Discord.

As Luna flew back to Canterlot, at speeds she did not even knew she could achieve, she thought to herself, ‘I was a fool to let my sister spare his life, and now all of Equestria may suffer for our mistakes.’ With a threat having been made against Canterlot, Luna would need to retread her arduous journey and warn her sister of the threat before the changeling beat her to it.


For it would be in the eve of a royal wedding, that the first of many embers to follow would be lit.

> Chapter 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Kindling



In spite of her warning, we were still unprepared.


Upon arriving to Canterlot, Luna told Celestia and the guards of what she found. While shocked at the news, Celestia decided on a plan of action. Newly appointed Omniknight, Shining Armor, and Luna herself would cast a magical shield over Canterlot to protect from the incoming attack; not knowing that its walls had already been breached. 

The brood queen Chrysalis, leader of the changelings, had assumed the guise of the bride, Princess Cadence, and infiltrated the wedding, days prior to Luna’s arrival. During those days, she fed off of the emotions and strength of the groom, Shining Armor, and took control of his mind and emotions. She made him tell her of the magical defense that was to be erected, much to her delight.

On the day of the wedding, Chrysalis sent word to her children to hold off on the attack before the ceremony had completed, and to wait just outside of the shield’s walls. As the wedding bells tolled for the false bride, the real Princess Cadence had been found in a crystal cave by Celestia’s student Twilight Sparkle and brought forth to face the impostor. With her lie disproved, Chrysalis revealed her true form, and the intentions of her actions.

“I only do what a mother would do for her children,” Chrysalis announced to the audience of the wedding, “their father would have done the same, as you will all see soon enough!” Chrysalis lifted her horn, and let out a green pulse; not a second later, the skies over Canterlot were blocked by the black bodies of a thousand changelings.

As the swarm attacked the shield over Canterlot, Princess Celestia faced off against Chrysalis in the middle of the altar, while Luna and rest of the royal guard evacuated citizens out of the city. However, Chrysalis’s absorbed strength and power, as well the infusion of chaos she received from Discord’s corrupting energy, proved too much for Princess Celestia.

With Shining Armor and one of the Princesses effectively out of commission, Chrysalis broke down the shield of Canterlot with her own dark magic and her swarm began to ravage the city. It was in that time, that the wielders of the Elements of Harmony attempted a desperate attack to claim their treasures and stop Chrysalis. As they fought their way through the swarm, the changeling’s numbers proved overwhelming for even them. With nearly all hope lost, Chrysalis reveled in her success and gloated to the downed Princess Celestia the irony of an insect defeating a god and how all of Equestria would soon serve as food and hosts for her children.

Chrysalis trapped Cadence and Celestia in a grasping web, and proceeded to overlook the destruction upon the land that had caused her so much misery; until Celestia’s student intervened. While the other wielders were captured, Twilight Sparkle evaded the grasp of the changelings and teleported to the aid of Princess Cadence. Freeing her from the web, Cadence’s magic coalesced with that of Shining Armor’s, and created a radiant beam of magic that drove Chrysalis and her brood from Canterlot. 

Following the banishment of Chrysalis and her kin, the ponies of Canterlot rejoiced in their victory taken from the grasp of despair, with Shining Armor and Cadence marrying soon afterwards.With time given to recover, to both Celestia and Canterlot, the princesses assessed their next course of action.

Luna had mentioned that Discord’s return was imminent, as well as mentioning to Celestia that any incidents and occurrences that happened in the millennia that followed his entrapment may have all been caused by his attempts to escape. Knowing that Discord’s escape could occur at any moment, as the volcano was a very unstable zone, the Princesses of Equestria began to formulate a plan of defense for his return. But before a plan was agreed on, a familiar shadow began to form over a once forgotten kingdom.

The Crystal Empire was the first great city of Equestria, overseen millennia ago by the first ascended Elements of Kindness and Magic, and was known in its time as a beacon for knowledge and prosperity. All of this vanished in the blink of an eye, and no one remembered that it even existed. We know now that it was due to the actions of a powerful, and hateful unicorn named Sombra who used his mastery over the magic of negativity, and became the city’s tyrannical ruler. After his downfall, Sombra placed a curse on the city, expunging its existence from not just Equestria, but also from books and the memories that ponies knew of it. For the city to return, its ruler would have to return with it.

“King Sombra could not have returned on his own,”spoke Celestia to her sister, “Discord must have played a hand in this; if he did not play a hand in his initial rise to power to begin with.” The sisters stood in front of a large stained glass window in the throneroom of Canterlot, depicting the dread unicorn’s downfall.

“If Discord’s chaotic power is strong enough now to disrupt the flow of life and death, then he must be closer to escaping than he let on,” replied a worried Luna. While the return of the Crystal Empire, and its once deceased ruler, was a major concern to the princesses, the preparations for the imminent return of Discord had become a much higher priority. With time growing shorter they decided on a risky course of action. 

Princess Celestia and Luna would leave for the lands south of Appleloosa in search of the latest descendant of the Elder Titan. In their stead, the princesses sent out Shining Armor, Princess Cadence, and the wielders of the Elements of Harmony to the Crystal Mountains, where they would investigate the reappearance of the Crystal Empire, and deal with the resurrected king when the time came. As each party left towards their destinations, a strange light could be seen in the horizon of Canterlot.

It had been many centuries since the sisters had seen the memorial together again. Luna remembered it only having one large stone to represent their fallen brother, but now circles of smaller stones seemed to surround the large one, almost as if they congregated to it. In spite of the new appearance, the Sisters felt no ill will towards the site, and after their initial surprise, they remembered their reason for returning there. There were some doubts in Celestia’s mind that she needed to resolve, and she felt that speaking them to another sibling could help her through it, even if that sibling was dead.

“I know that you cannot hear me brother,” spoke Celestia, “but I hope that you can forgive me for the mistake that I have made.” “I know now that in order to protect those you love, you must give up part of yourself,” her tone became more somber now, “in order to prevent any further loss of life, sacrifices must be made.” 

Luna could see tears forming in Celestia’s eyes, the words were almost too painful for her to say. “In order to prevent the corruption of this planet, which you loved so dearly as to give your life to save,” the tears now broke free from her eyes, “I have decided to forgo my i...initial conceptions of what it meant to keep law and peace...and if that means k...killing a brother, then so be it...”

Luna held Celestia close and let her cry in the embrace. Luna knew exactly the feelings of anger, sorrow, and regret that her sister was feeling. Until now, Celestia had never worried about their anything of such a degree, nor questioned her own decisions, but after the revelations before the royal wedding and the incident occurring in the Crystal Empire, her attitude towards her decision to letting her brother live had finally spilled over.

“Do not worry sister,” spoke Luna in a soft voice, “we will set this straight, after that, there will not be anymore bloodshed; that, I promise you.” They remained like that for a while, until they saw a bright light over the horizon and the sounds of a hundred approaching hooves.

The buffalo stopped in front of the memorial site and all bowed their heads as they faced it. They then turned to the princesses. From the herd, stepped out a large brown buffalo with a familiar white and black feathered headdress, and a pronged, glowing totem on his back; the source of the light.

“In all the seasons since I inherited this sacred totem, never had it made such a light,” spoke the buffalo leader, “but now its glow is as bright as the north star, and has guided me here just like it.” “I am Chief Thunderhooves,” announced the buffalo, “and I wish to know why I have been summoned to the resting place of my ancestors and to the presence of the leaders of the pony.”

“We are pleased to meet you Chief Thunderhooves,” stated Celestia, wiping any leftover tears, and subsequently bowing her head alongside Luna’s, “and we were actually looking for an audience with the buffalo.”

Luna stood next to her sister and spoke, “The totem is an extension of Titan’s conscience as well as his power, it must have felt the rumbles beneath the world and called you to where he was last.” The chieftain nodded in agreement, and the light of the totem began to dim, possibly at acknowledgement. “What matter now though is that you’re here, and we now beseech you and your people to aid us and ponies of Equestria in a time of peril,” stated Luna in a serious tone.

“Two-thousand years ago, the world was nearly destroyed by a sundering at the hands of our brother Discord, your ancestor ,Cairne Bloodhoof, stood alongside us to repair the world from that calamity,” spoke Celestia, “we ask you, Chief Thunderhooves, to stand alongside us to banish the evil that began that cataclysm just as your ancestor stood alongside us so long ago.”

Having listened to their request, Chief Thunderhooves remembered the tales of the world lit aflame, and how his ancestor had managed to return it to stability. The chief replied, “It is the duty of the Elder Titan to shape the world, and it is also his duty to protect his work; I would be honored to uphold my ancestor’s legacy alongside those he called allies.” With his agreement, the Princesses explained their plan of defense. 

They called it the Aegis of Harmony, a massive ring of towers that would be built around Equestria and near its cities. Each tower was to be outfitted with a garrison in order to spot and hold Discord long enough so that the Princesses could apprehend him on their own terms. Due to Appleloosa and the land of the buffalo’s proximity to the Gloom Volcano, they would need the help of the buffalo to act as spotters once Discord finally escaped, and the Elder Titan’s help to defeat him once he was found.

After describing their plan to Chief Thunderhooves, the sisters’ returned to Canterlot in order to begin the groundwork for their plan, and found that Celestia’s apprentice and her friends had been more than successful in dealing with the incident in the Crystal Empire.

From the accounts of the wielders of the Elements of Harmony, their assignment into the Crystal Empire almost failed before it began. Having been caught in a massive snowstorm near the pass into the Crystal Empire, and being continuously persecuted by the ghost of King Sombra, the ponies would never have made it in without the help of Princess Cadence and the Omniknight Shining Armor. Even when they got into the city, the influence of Sombra could be felt throughout in the form of a draining aura that seemed to degrade the emotions and colors of the ponies within.

King Sombra’s influence was not the only thing he was doing to engulf the city. Princess Cadence kept a massive shield around the city, but without the aid of Shining Armor’s powers, which were disabled by Sombra’s corrupting magic, the shield eventually failed and Sombra’s negative energy began to close in around the Crystal Empire. The sister princesses were reminded of a similar corruption that Discord seemed to impose upon the world with just his mere presence; they were certain that such an aspect could have only been gained from Discord’s involvement.

It was only through Twilight Sparkle’s resolve, and the assistance of her dragon friend Spike, that the sacred relic of the city, the crystal heart, was returned to its seat of power, Princess Cadence was rediscovered as the heir to the throne of the Crystal Empire, and King Sombra was finally destroyed. As the ponies of Equestria celebrated their victory over Sombra, and the rediscovery of the Crystal Empire, Princess Celestia and Luna began their plan. 

In the weeks following the incident, posters, letters, and hundreds of other advertising papers were posted throughout Equestra, all requesting ponies to lend a hoof to the construction of towers, each in specific cities, and for able bodies stallions to act as militia, claiming that if they stood for their lands, they would stand for a peaceful future. 

The princesses had designed the towers not just as a way to ward off Discord, but also as a way to bring the three pony tribes closer together, as the towers could not work effectively without the guards working in conjunction. Pegasi with keen eyes were chosen to act as sentries, strong earth ponies were chosen for the main garrison and repair duty, and unicorns with strong crystal affinity were chosen to power the tower’s powerful defense. 

Each tower was to be equipped with a crystal that could channel two specific unicorn powers: a defensive energy blast, or a flare to signal the other towers and the princesses of Discord's return. 

The remaining ponies that did not work on the towers or serve as guards, were perplexed by the need for so many towers and military fortifications, it’s not as if Equestria was headed to a war, it was just warding off a threat. In spite of this, the ponies paid it not much heed besides their initial surprise, and trusted the princesses's judgment.

In under three months, more than half of the towers were completed and their garrisons fitted out to their respective posts. The princesses were surprised at their subject’s rate of construction and patriotism, but soon realized that in the end all of Equestria would be behind their project. For millenia, Celestia and Luna always wished for a place to call home, and soon they would defend that home from a monster that sought to destroy it. Soon the aegis would be complete and the nation of Equestria would be ready for Discord’s return. Soon, the future of Equestria would never be again plagued with incidents as a result of Discord’s corrupting influence.


Soon, the nation of Equestria would know peace.

> Chapter 5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Blood and Fire



It was to be a day of violence for Equestria.


It was dawn over Appleloosa when the residents spotted the roiling cloud of smoke spreading from the sky over the badlands. Many returned back to their homes, while others stared in awe at the roiling cloud, crackling with unnatural red sparks as if ushering a storm of fire and blood.

From the tower overlooking Appleloosa, the garrison of earth ponies began to prepare for the coming battle, the sentry flew to investigate the disturbance, and the unicorns casted the flare to alert the other towers of the occurrence. In what seemed like one of the greatest sky shows ever seen over Appleloosa, a pillar of blue light was released from the tower’s crystal into the sky.

A couple of seconds later, another pillar of blue light rose from a tower in the distance, and then another, and then another, until the grand tower of Canterlot illuminated the skies over the royal city in blue. Celestia and Luna were in the throne room when its stained glass windows began to glow blue with the light of the towers. They knew the time had come.

In the lands of the buffalo, Chief Thunderhooves looked towards the sky over Appleloosa. ‘Today I uphold the promise of my ancestors,’ thought Thunderhooves as he readied his totem, ‘today, I make Titan proud. ’ As he departed for Appleloosa, a faint glow began to emanate from this totem.

The sentry of the Appleloosa tower, a pegasus mare by the name of Spitfire, flew towards the source of the smoke, the Gloom Volcano. In spite of her revered experience in the sky, flying through the choking cloud of smoke, made it almost impossible for her to approach the summit. As she descended towards the edge of the summit, the smoke oddly enough began to not just dissipate, but return back into the volcano.

Before Spitfire could take any more time to investigate the strange occurrence, a rumble began to shake her hooves. She ascended to the air in order to keep herself from falling and saw the rocks and pebbles of the volcano begin to physically shake themselves apart. As she saw not just the rocks, but the entire mountain shake and quake, Spitfire thought to herself, ‘I have to get away, this whole thing is going to blow at any moment!’

As soon as she finished that thought, an ear-splitting explosion sent her flying back a dozen feet. As she regained her composure, she saw that the explosion was but small volcanic vein that had burst beneath her. ‘This volcano is not just going to erupt,’ thought Spitfire as she flew back to Appleloosa faster than she thought herself possible, ‘this whole mountain is going tear itself apart. If one vein could that, the explosion from full volcano erupting would be felt all the way to Canterlot.’

Spitfire took one last look back towards her previous spot on the volcano, and saw that out of the small exploded vein, a skeletal hand began to claw its way out of it. Spitfire stopped in spite of her brain screaming at her to fly back to safety, and stared in shock as something came out of the vein. It looked like a sickly green, bipedal skeleton, robed in purple and black, and holding what looked like a steel rod in its bony fingers. But whereas most skeletons had only two eye sockets, this one had six, and it was moving towards her. Not wishing to see what would occur next, Spitfire flew back to Appleloosa in a panicked hurry.

The garrison of earth ponies had finished their preparations, when a thunderous explosion shook the very ground they stood on. Appleloosans and guards alike were fell to the ground, while the unicorns within the tower quaked in fear alongside the foundations of their post. Those that kept enough of their footing, bore witness to an enormous eruption of ash, fire, and smoke, courtesy of the Gloom Volcano. It was as if the entire mountain had just split in half, with one half  now descending in a rolling cloud of fire and brimstone towards Appleloosa.

Celestia and Luna had been over the eves of Ponyville when they saw the explosion in the distance. The volcano itself had just torn itself apart, and now a massive cloud of destruction was headed the way of Appleloosa. Celestia and Luna pushed themselves to fly even faster to reach the town before the cloud engulfed it, but it seemed that they would not arrive fast enough.

As they flew with speed unmatched over the Everfree Forest, Celestia and Luna were becoming more resigned to the horror that the ponies of Appleloosa would pay for the Princesses’ mistake with their lives.

With the immense cloud of super heated ash coming towards them, the citizens of Appleloosa began to run in fear and panic, sometimes into each other. Chaos broke out in a matter of seconds as the earth pony guards desperately attempted to quell their panic. Everything was spiraling out of control in Appleloosa until a brilliant green light could be seen in the horizon of the city.

As Chief Thunderhooves arrived at Appleloosa, another figure arrived as well but in a very dire state. Having received terrible burns to her wings and coat flying away from the cloud, Spitfire crashed near the base of the tower overlooking the Appleloosa, too exhausted to even stand up and too wounded to keep herself aloft. As the unicorns carried Spitfire into the tower, all Spitfire could think before she fainted was how she had not been fast enough to warn them.

The cloud of fire and brimstone was not a half mile away from the tower when the Elder Titan steeled himself to halt its advance. Placing his pronged totem on the ground in front of himself, Chief Thunderhooves chanted an ancient incantation. The totem began to glow even brighter as he continued his incantation. On the last word of the chant, the totem drove itself into the earth, and created an angling fissure in the ground that glowed with green energy.

The fissure snaked its way around Appleloosa in a ring as the cloud of superheated ash and fire was but a meter away from the chief. As it reached the fissure, the glowing energy of the earth began to pull the spreading cloud towards itself, into the ground. Everyone was awestruck as the immense cloud was literally being sucked into the very earth; not a single part of it seeped into Appleloosa. The ponies of Appleloosa stared in awe as they saw the fire and smoke of the cloud around them, being sucked into the ground, never to be seen again.

When the cloud was completely absorbed, the fissure clapped itself shut in a thunderous smash and a spark of green energy. The ponies of Appleloosa were saved from being smothered in blanket of ash thanks to the efforts of a once estranged ally. As everyone cheered Chief Thunderhooves for single-hoofedly saving Appleloosa, two figures approached the town from the sky.

Princess Celestia and Luna arrived soon after the smoke dissipated. They were astounded that the town was not only in one piece but that Chief Thunderhooves had managed to save it on his own. As the Princesses approached their buffalo ally, Chief Thunderhooves spotted something approaching Appleloosa from the volcano. Before they could greet him, the sisters spotted it as well.

Princess Celestia gave the order to evacuate the remainder of the town to safety, and the earth pony garrison replied by swiftly moving the ponies of Appleloosa from their homes into the town’s train, as Celestia knew that a fight with the Element of Chaos would not be a clean conflict. As Celestia and Luna stood alongside the tower overlooking Appleloosa, the unicorns carried a wounded Spitfire from the top down to ground level, who had asked if she could speak with the Princesses.

Carried in a levitating sheath by the unicorns, Spitfire saluted the Princesses and described to them what she had seen. While Luna was concerned over the skeletal being that Spitfire spoke of, Celestia felt another wave of regret in the pit of her stomach over the news; she knew exactly what that thing was. Signaling to the unicorns to carry Spitfire to safety, and to return to their posts afterwards, Celestia and Luna praised Spitfire on her brave actions, and  Spitfire saluted again as she was carried away to the train.

Focusing her gaze on the desert again, Celestia began saw them more clearly now. As the figures from the desert approached the town of Appleloosa, its defenders steeled themselves for the coming conflict.

Discord strode alongside the same sickly-green skeletal figure that Spitfire described, but he approached Appleloosa waving a comically short white flag. Not to be deceived again, or to just kill Discord right then and there, Luna charged forward to attack the pair. She did not get far as she felt her body slow down, her vision become blurry, and her extremities turn an ethereal shade of green. Before Celestia could help her sister, Luna was hit by an explosion of green fire and gas that blew her body towards the tower, where it slammed against its base. As Celestia ran to help Luna, she turned her head and swore she saw a smirk on the skeleton’s jaw.

“Now, now, if any of you wish to be somewhat civil, I suggest that you treat a sign of peace with the proper niceties,” chided Discord mockingly. “Now listen, dear sisters and not brother. I wish to offer you a deal. You and your people can live in your land of harmony and happiness, while I move onto other places to spread my image. If you wish to comply, I will spare this town from my most humble reshaping, but if not, Hydia over here has been more than excited to give you what is owed dear Celestia.”

Celestia helped Luna to her hooves as Discord finished his offer. She turned to the first wagon train filled the ponies of Appleloosa, departing to lands safer. ‘But how many places would be safer if Discord could just be allowed to have his way?’ thought Celestia. She knew that once corruption spread, it would not stop until it engulfed something completely; whatever Discord’s deal was, it was a blatant lie that even he probably did not believe.  

“Two-thousand years ago, I made a mistake in this world,” said Celestia, she knew that a fight would be imminent now, “today, I right that mistake, Discord. Today, you answer for all that you have done!” Celestia signaled to the tower to launch a magical volley at her brother, as he now eyed Celestia with a look of contempt.

“Fine then,” spoke Discord burning the white flag in his hand, “to the void with niceties and civility.”

Celestia prepared a wave of light to hit Discord while Chief Thuderhooves charged towards Hydia, attempting to disrupt the two adversaries. Discord countered her efforts by creating a portal to close the distances between himself and Celestia, and proceeded to drive her back across the town with erratic strikes. Luna, now recovered, rained a beam of night from the sky at Discord, which drew his attention to the other princess. 

With the Elements of Reality battling in the middle of Appleloosa, the unicorns of the tower began to fire a barrage of magical bolts at Discord. Too distracted with keeping both adversaries at bay, Discord was hit by the barrage and crumbled to the ground. As Celestia and Luna approached his body, it dissolved into nothingness.

Knowing Discord had pulled this trick on them before, Celestia and Luna scanned the area for signs of chaotic being, but soon found their surrounding becoming shaded.

“Above you, sisters!” yelled the voice of Discord. As Celestia and Luna looked up, they saw the sky filled with thousands of Discords, all illusions but containing enough of his power to do as much harm as the real one. They all charged at the sisters, who took to the skies to battle the chaotic monster’s illusions above Appleloosa.

In the other side of town, the Elder Titan was having a fight for his life. Hydia littered the field with glowing, steel mines that would sap away the strength of Chief Thunderhooves every time he called to his totem’s power. In spite of this, Hydia seemed to be taking a ton of punishment from this his physical attacks.

The chief’s attacks were wide and fast enough that the skeletal monster could not dodge or evade them effectively. The ponies of the tower also lent their aid, now focusing their attacks on the chief’s foe instead of the cloud of Discords over Appleloosa. Hydia seemed to be reeling back from the combined attacks to the tower and Chief Thunderhooves, until she extended her skeletal palm towards the chief.

Before Thunderhooves could react, he felt short of breath as an angular beam of rippling green energy seemed to suck the life out of his body and feed it into Hydia’s. With a blast of green fire and gas, Hydia blew back Thunderhooves to the tower’s bastion. Thunderhooves lay heaving for a second, and then fell back behind the tower and took his time to recover from the attack. The tower did not stop its attack on Hydia however, and continued to keep the skeletal sorceress at bay, in spite of her malefic magic beginning to corrode its very foundation.

Celestia and Luna were outnumbered in their fight against Discord’s clones, but not outmatched. Using massive waves of light, which took on the forms of galloping stallions, Celestia managed to thin the ranks of Discord’s horde until only the real one remained. With his powers outmatched, Discord created more copies of himself to cover his escape towards a more vulnerable target. In the blink of an eye, Discord lunged for the second transport train, with all of the passengers still inside.

While the earth pony garrison still remained to guard the it, they proved no match for Discord’s chaotic powers and were slaughtered in seconds. Celestia and Luna saw what Discord was about to do and desperately tried to fight off the remaining illusions, but the blows that they had suffered at the hands of the illusions had severely slowed them down. Once they finished destroying them, it was already too late.

Discord launched a barrage of chaotic energy at the train which caused it begin to melt away like fondue, along with all the ponies inside of it. Celestia and Luna could only look in horror as the chaotic blasts liquefied the train and listened to the screams of the ponies that were inside of it, desperately trying to escape but just causing their bodies to leak out of the malformed windows. Discord gazed at his sisters with a mischievous grin and with the flick of his wrist, caused the train’s remains to explode in a fiery and corrosive blast that spread to the buildings of Appleloosa.

Half of the town’s population was engulfed in the fiery explosion, and now their remains coated the buildings roofs and buildings of their once peaceful town, now engulfed in flame.

Celestia and Luna looked dumbstruck at what had occurred, but their gaze shifted from one of regret and sorrow, to one of absolute fury towards Discord. In a flash of light and darkness, the eyes and bodies of the princesses were illuminated. There would be no more holding back, and no more chances for Discord to escape.

On the other side of town, Chief Thunderhooves was unaware of what had occurred, as he was still being assaulted by the onslaught of green fire, which almost made away with the foundations of the tower. The unicorns continued to fire but to no avail. Hydia had managed to negate the assault of the tower by using the spell she used on Luna previously, making herself ethereal to the tower’s attacks. Chief Thunderhooves had not yet recovered from her assault, but attempted to use his totem’s power to keep the tower stable, as the earth beneath it attempted to give way after so many emerald conflagrations.

The mines however had done their job, and they sapped the chief of nearly all of his energy making it unable to him to call upon the Totem’s power without killing himself. “Stop firing!” he shouted to the ponies, “you must get down, this tower is going to crumble!” His warning came too late. As soon as they stopped firing, Hydia let out an especially large explosion of green flame and the tower collapsed, dropping the unicorns from its roost.

Too tired to help, Chief Thunderhooves could do nothing but watch as the unicorns fell and landed crippled to the ground amongst the rubble of the tower. Hydia approached the barely conscious unicorns, held them both by their heads, and proceeded to drain their lives to herself and throwing their lifeless bodies back into the rubble. Then Hydia began to approach Chief Thunderhooves, now attempting to stand up but too tired to attack.

As his death drew closer with every passing second, Chief Thunderhooves felt something within his totem, almost like a heartbeat. In spite of his wounds and exhaustion, Chief Thunderhooves rose to his feet and, did the one thing most people assumed buffalo did, he charged blindly at Hydia.Unprepared for the attack, Hydia could not retaliate fast enough and found herself gored by the chief’s horns.

As the chief charged blindly through the town, he found his horn impacting against an apple tree on a hill that overlooked hundreds of other apple trees, no doubt the orchard of the Apple family. Hydia attempted to wriggle away from the impaling hold she had been held in, but felt herself unable to move. Chanting a malefic incantation, Hydia’s body began to burn the hide of Chief Thunderhooves, but he did not let up his hold, until the fire began to form. Letting go of her, the chief witnessed Hydia’s body burst apart in a flash of green fire, no doubt attempting to take him with her, and creating a nova of green fire that seemed to engulf the orchard in a malefic green flame.

Despite Hydia detonating in a green nova of fire, Chief Thunderhooves could still feel her presence in her now charred, but intact bones. As he sat tired in the middle of the burning fields of the orchard, he could only look at the terrible battle taking place within the town; a single apple tree somehow surviving and giving him shade underneath.

Celestia and Luna were completely relentless in their assault, no longer caring about damaging the town nor themselves, only caring about seeing Discord dead. Beams of darkness and bursts of light seemed to engulf Appleloosa as Discord attempted to evade the magic of his enraged siblings, but for every spell he dodged six were there to take its place. Not a hundred clones summoned could stop the princesses’ attacks, and it seemed that Discord was beginning to slow down. With a massive burst of light, Celestia threw the now worn down Discord onto the ground, where he proceeded to do the unthinkable.

“S-sisters! Let’s not do anything we’ll regret now,” begged Discord with a look despair etched across his face, “we are still siblings are we not!? I can change, I promise, just give me another chance, I swear I’ll make myself better!”

Neither Celestia nor Luna believed an iota of what Discord spoke, but before they gave him his coup ’de grace, Celestia spoke to him.

“No, you are something that can never change,” said Celestia in a tone of finality, “in spite of chaos lacking a definite form, your mind is set nothing but destruction and misery. No, you are no longer our brother, you gave up that title when you murdered our own kin in your insane attempts at freedom. And no, I have already done something I regret, and that was letting you live, a regret that will be righted now.”

As Celestia readied a scorching beam of light to incinerate Discord, Luna watched as their brother did not move a muscle, not even blinked. Something was wrong, he would at least attempt to cover his eyes in vain, but he just lay motionless. It was then when Luna realized what had occurred.

“Celestia!” shouted Luna, “it’s not the real one!” Celestia shot a look at Luna, and then back at Discord who then disappeared in puff of chaotic smoke. As Celestia and Luna attempted to look for him a loud cackle was heard from the apple orchard. During their blind rage to kill Discord, they did not see him create another illusion after Celestia had knocked him down. The real Discord had opened another portal to the location of Chief Thunderhooves, where he now held the chief up by his horns. Celestia and Luna rushed to his aid, but Discord’s hands began to glow with chaotic energy. The sisters stopped in their tracks, not wishing to provoke him against the wounded chief.

“Dear sisters,” laughed Discord, in a mocking tone but still panting from exertion, “it has been a wonderful experience to see you all once again, but I must bid you farewell, for there are other places that need my attention. But before I go I will leave you with a simple choice.” Still holding Chief Thunderhooves, Discord’s hand began to form a familiar orb to Luna. In an explosion of red and black, Discord detonated the chaotic orb onto the buffalo’s head, and threw him into the burning apple orchard, smashing his body through several trees.

“Follow me and he will die, unless you are willing to make that sacrifice for revenge.” uttered Discord, “Just remember, don’t do anything you’ll regret!” Discord then flew away from the scene, his mad laughter dying in the wind.

“Quick we must follow hi-,” before Luna could finish that sentence however, Celestia threw herself into the fire of the orchard and tried to telekinetically pull the massive buffalo from the burning trees, but to no avail.

“Luna!” shouted Celestia, “please help me, I cannot lift him by myself!”
Luna stared at Celestia, and then at Discord getting further away. In the end, too torn from having to see anyone else die, Luna helped Celestia move the great buffalo from the fiery rubble and put him out on the dirt. Chief Thunderhooves had been badly wounded, a terrible burn covered the left side of his face, and along with several patches of his hide from being trapped within the burning trees.

“Thank...you,” muttered Chief Thunderhooves weakly, “but I fear that I failed my ancestors…The Element of Chaos still draws breath…and I fear this will not be the last time we see him again.”

“You have done more than we could have asked for,” spoke Celestia in a soothing voice, “even if he still lives, Titan’s legacy was not dishonored. You made your ancestors proud today Chief Thunderhooves.” The chief smiled, but coughed up blood attempting to respond to the princess’s kind words. The sisters needed to return him to his people before he bled out.

The sisters would need to fly towards the lands of the buffalo, the chief deserved to be tended by his people. As they left for the lands of the buffalo, Luna gave the now scorched town a final look. They had failed, and no amount of soothing words or apologies would change that. ‘I do not care if you cannot hear me Discord,’ thought Luna as she lifted the chief alongside her sister, ‘but nothing will keep me from killing you next time, nothing at all.’


The day that was meant to bring peace, only managed to bring the shadow of war ever so closer to a land that did not know it.

> Chapter 6
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Unseen Skies



‘Tragedy on Appleloosa!’


It read in every headline of Equestria, detailing the events of the attack on the once peaceful town. No pony in Equestria was without tears for the event, and fewer still were among those that did not show for the procession that followed.

Upon returning from the lands of the buffalo, the Princesses declared a day of mourning for the victims of Appleloosa and a procession to be held in their memory; their own minds were still heavy with guilt over failing the town and its ponies. At twilight, ponies from all over Equestria gathered in Ponyville and Canterlot to observe a service to the town and their people. The only lights seen, were on the river descending from the mountains.

Hundreds of paper lanterns, each with a name imprinted on its side and lit with a magical flame, were carried across the river on hundreds of small wooden boats. From the crowd of onlookers in Canterlot, the sounds of a small orchestra could be heard playing a melancholy song in the honor of the town. As the fleet made its way to across the river, the onlookers feared that the lanterns would be lost to the fall and churning rapids. They were all silenced when the first lantern detached from its vessel and slowly glided down the cliff to the town of Ponyville, where they were met with hundreds of tearful and amazed eyes from the ponie below.

Watching the spectacle, the Princesses stood atop the gates of Canterlot. They too were overcome with grief over the loss of Appleloosa, more so than the other ponies. Celestia blamed herself over her decision to let Discord live so long ago, and how it had led to the town’s destruction. Luna felt that she had been too blinded by rage to realize that Discord may have just been playing with them the whole time; they both had retained that same attitude since they returned. As the Princesses gazed to the lights of the lanterns, a dread feeling began to set itself into Celestia’s mind.

Due to her shock of the events of Appeloosa, Celestia had yet to completely comprehend the consequences of the attack until this moment. Discord had been set free, and while somewhat weakened, it would only be a matter of time until he attempted to set the world ablaze once more. His partner, the skeletal magic user called Hydia, had been incapacitated but they had yet to retrieve her remains; Chief Thunderhooves had spoken on the issue before the princesses left him in the care of his people. And if Discord’s chaotic powers were somehow affecting the already dead, there was no telling what other monstrosities he could unleash upon Equestria.

“How much longer sister?” spoke Luna, a terrified tone in her voice, “How long until more towns share the same fate as Appeloosa…?”

Luna’s question brought a shred of fury to Celestia’s mind. ‘I could not imagine how many more would fall if he succeeds,’ thought Celestia, ‘but that is something that I will die before I see him do.’ 

Placing a hoof of reassurance on Luna, Celestia finally responded to her sister’s question. “No more towns will share Appleloosa’s fate,” responded Celestia, in a serious tone, “We will make sure that the ponies that we have guided for so long have a future.”

The melancholic haze that hung over Luna and Celestia faded the night of the procession. In what would seem like a night for finality for the people of Appleloosa, the Princesses began to plan for Equestria’s defense.

A team of pegasi, led by the now Spirit of the Storm Rainbow Dash, were sent to the remains of Appleloosa the following day. They were to retrieve the bones of Hydia and deliver them to the Princesses as quickly as possible, lest the witch return to life somehow. Celestia and Luna had deemed the town inhospitable due to the amount of chaotic influence that still coated the town’s buildings and grounds. They reported back within the evening, with the bones of Hydia in an obsidian lockbox. Rainbow Dash reported to the Princesses a missing tree that did not seem like it had been incinerated but ripped right out of the ground.

While a strange occurrence, the Princesses decided to put Rainbow Dash’s report aside for another moment, and moved to the second step of their plan for the defense of Equestria and their search for Discord.

With the help of Celestia’s newest ascendant, her former student Twilight Sparkle, the alicorns created a special sigil for the crystals. The sigils within the towers could be used to create a powerful shield, a spell developed by Omniknight Shining Armor, to ward off incoming harm temporarily and create a permanent magical field of vision that could detect anything around the environment, even if it was hidden. But it was not just the towers that were changed in the pursuit to find Discord.

The Princesses had expected the ponies of Equestria to have a deep seeded resentment for Discord after what he did to Appeloosa, but did not expect the extent of their fervor. Hundreds of ponies, of every race, raced to join the garrisons that formed the backbone of the towers, all signing up for training and equipment for a job that could potentially put them into direct conflict with the Element of Chaos himself. Those that could not enlist, became blacksmiths, scribes, and architects to support the garrisons and to improve the towers themselves. The Princesses were almost overwhelmed by how fast and effectively their subjects could muster to the defense of their homeland.

In a few weeks, the whole of Equestria seemed to be rallying to the call of service, for better or for worse. In what would have taken several months for the preparations for a countrywide defense, took less than one month through the dedication of its ponies. Within one month, the towers of the Aegis now stood taller and more powerful than before, their garrisons better equipped and their morale boosted from the vengeful fervor of finding Discord and putting him to the sword. Their call to arms however, would answered faster than even the Princesses could have predicted in place once forgotten by history.

A bright ring of blue lights could be seen coming from the direction of the Crystal Empire. In the northern border of the city, Princess Cadence and the Omniknight Shining Armor stood alongside the two northern towers of the city in the middle of what was becoming a terrible snowstorm. A report had been sent from the survivor of a pegasus scouting force about an anomaly in the northern mountains to Princess Cadence. A comet had crashed in the Crystal Mountains, and had caused a massive upheaval of windigoes to appear, all seeming to converge over the remains. Whatever was in the comet, caused the windigoes to begin to attack each other, as if they were vultures competing for the last scraps of a carcass. When only one remained, it approached the comet and that’s when the pegasi began to panic.

The last thing the survivor mentioned, before leaving for the infirmary, was the sudden drop in temperature, even colder than the winds of the icy mountains themselves, which had frozen the wings of his squadron, and then the squadron itself, stiff in a matter of seconds and the spectral fingers that began to come off of the comet’s crash site. Whatever this anomaly was, a biting chill on the wind began to signal its descent down the mountainside.

As the rulers of the Crystal Empire stood ready to defend the city alongside the garrison of the towers, many of them shook from the cold, but one of them felt another form of shaking unease within his mind.

“Nearly a month ago, I would never have thought I would ever use this thing.” spoke Shining Armor resting a large war hammer to his side. “Aren’t you worried of what may become of Equestria if more attacks follow?”

Princess Cadence looked to her husband’s eyes and said, “It also pains me that harm may come alongside such struggles. Dear, I also fear for Equestria’s future, but we have to stand to defend our home, otherwise there might not be a future for Equestria.”

Shining Armor gave Princess Cadence a saddened but reassuring smile. He knew that it was inevitable now. In spite of all of his training and trials he endured to attain his station as Omniknight, his spirit of battle remained that of a shield and not a blade. ‘Some Omniknight I am,’ thought Shining Armor, ‘a battle in the horizon and I am already regretful for fighting before getting to the battlefield.’

His own thoughts were pushed aside as a massive blast of ice seemed to fly from the snowstorm and impact the citadel of the Crystal Empire. The city’s ponies, who had been previously ordered to stay inside to weather out the storm, peeked out to see the massive spire of the citadel freeze over and crack beneath the ice that now encased it. Many returned back to their homes, while others attempted to leave the city, for fear that the citadel may collapse and fall upon their homes.

Looking for the source of the ice blast, the city’s defenders sought out their target, but found none as the snowstorm began to increase in size and force. “Turn on the sigils!” ordered Shining Armor to the unicorns of the towers. As the unicorns complied with his command, Shining Armor could begin to make out the outline of something floating towards their position as the aura of the tower’s crystal began to affect his pupils.

Another ice blast was shot out of the storm, this time colliding with the Crystal Empire’s stadium, freezing it instantly and spreading its frozen taint to the area surrounding it. Panic ensued in the city, as hundreds of ponies left their homes for fear of being the next ones frozen alongside their city. Cadence, sensing the panic of her subjects, left Shining Armor in charge of the defense of the city as she left to calm down her followers and attempt to evacuate the ponies from the city in a calm manner.

Shining Armor said goodbye to Candence with a light kiss on her cheek, and returned his gaze to the figure moving from the snowstorm; the features on it were now clearer to him and his garrison. The floating figure now moved within eyesight, and they saw it for all of its horror. A chained, skeletal bird, with eyes as red as rubies, loose flippers instead of wings, and a chunk of ice that seemed to cling to its feet; clothed in a regal, but tattered, blue and black robe and wore a crown frozen to its skull.

It then spoke in a horribly hoarse, and yet regal, voice, “It has been so long since I gazed upon the Crystal Empire. It is a shame that its inhabitants are still not fond of the weather, their resistance to a change in temperature is still rather pathetic.”

“Who are you, were you the one shooting those blasts?” spoke Shining Armor in a stern tone, he did not wish to upset this thing lest it decided to attack again. His suspicions were disproven when another comet of ice was shot from the snowstorm.

“In order, I am the great king Pheidon Charlatan,” he answered in a regal tone, with an unknown pony stifling a giggle from the tower, “and my associate is the one preparing the icy, white carpet for my return.” He pointed his deathly, skinny flipper to a pair of glowing, blue eyes in the middle of the storm, and the eyes now stared at the defenders.

Out of the snowstorm floated another figure, a ghostly, malformed figure. Its body was coated- no, it was made out of ice shards, from its large, equine head to several shards that floated lazily beneath the base of its chest, but its enormous hands and fingers were as ethereal as the bodies of the windigos.

“Now, little unicorn with the hammer, order your troops to step aside,” spoke Charlatan haughtily, “and I’ll let you and them enjoy the festivities for my glorious return.”

“I’m sorry, but we’re not interested.” replied Shining Armor, reading his war hammer, “The Crystal Mountains are already coated with enough snow for the ponies of the Crystal Empire, so take your ice somewhere else. And if you really want to get into this city, you’ll have to go through not just me, but all of the ponies within these towers.” A fight was now inevitable as Shining Armor heard the shouts of the garrison, waiting for an excuse to attack the two would be invaders.

Charlatan shook his head from side to side, looked to his companion, who proceeded to nod in agreement. “Very well then,” spoke Charlatan in a frigid tone, right before he began to gather cold energy into his right flipper. Shining Armor gave the order of attack to the towers, but the cold was causing the tower’s crystals to take longer to charge. Buying the towers some time, Shining Armor gave the order to charge, casting his signature shielding spell on the garrison troops to protect them from any physical harm.

In a white coated charge of lances and swords, the ponies of the towers and the Omniknight of the Royal Guard sallied forth to meet the would-be invaders. Then in a flash of white, the energy gathered on Charlatan’s flipper was released in a ball of condensed ice and frost straight at Shining Armor. The Omniknight barely had enough time to put on a magical shield on himself, when the orb of energy hit him full blast.

Shining Armor felt his extremities growing stiff and numb from the wave of cold energy that impacted his body, but felt no pain from the actual impact. As he continued to charge, albeit more slowly, Shining Armor saw a sadistic grin somehow make its way across Charlatan’s beak; then the screams began. He turned his head to see that half the garrison now lay dead on the snow, the life snuffed from their bodies as if they had laid in the cold for a thousand years. He then saw that the orb of cold energy had not stopped once it impacted him, but seemed to be bouncing around to the ponies of the garrison like a killer rubber ball.

“Spread out!” shouted Shining Armor, having recovered from the effects of the frigid attack. The remainder of the garrison split, but the ball of ice energy was still headed for a one of the garrison ponies. Activating another shield of magical energy, Shining Armor saved the guard’s life from the deathly energies of the cold, which then dissipated finding no more bodies to impact. The figure of the once windigo seemed to back away from its ally, almost as if it was retreating.

As Shining Armor finally reached the skeletal bird, who waved off a spell that seemed to do nothing, he motioned for the rest of the garrison to cut off the escape of the other monster. With a swing of his war hammer, Shining Armor attacked the skeletal bird, only to be met with a resistant coating ice around the bird’s body. Another smirk began to crawl across Charlatan’s beak as Shining Armor felt a familiar feeling of cold creeping into his body; the magical shield had worn off.

“My turn.” Spoke the bird in an almost bemused tone, and exploded a shard of frost across the dumbstruck unicorn’s face. With the magical shield now worn off, the full force of the blast drove a wedge of pain into the Omniknight’s head, his eyes blurring from the agony across his temples, and his body thrown to the ground from the blast.

He attempted to get up, only to be forced down by another blast of chilling frost. He tried again, only to be met with another blast of ice, again, and again from the encroaching floating corpse. “A commendable effort for a pony,” spoke Charlatan in an overpowering voice, “but it is time for me and my compatriot to bring this conflict to an end.”

A blast of freezing wind seemed to disperse the snow around the now frozen battlefield. Shining Armor could feel his body go numb, the heat and strength of his body now almost completely gone, as he saw around the once windigo the bodies of the remaining garrison, frozen like statues where they stood. The monster turned to face the exhausted Omniknight and began to carve a sigil of ice in the air between it and Shining Armor.

Upon its completion, whatever numbness Shining Armor had was replaced with an agonizing, freezing pain throughout his body. He could feel the flood of blood begin to slow in his veins, as a terrible, seeping cold began to works its way throughout his body, as if attempting to freeze him from the inside out.

“Out of all the unicorns I have seen, you have to be the most foolhardy, but commendably resilient,” spoke Charlatan, mockingly congratulating the dying unicorn, “shame that it accomplished little. Do not worry though, the icy husk you leave behind will serve as a wonderful decoration for my throne room alongside your allies.” He readied his flippers to gather the cold energies once again, charging the cold to release another orb of frost.

‘I’m sorry Cadence…’ thought Shining Armor between the slow spasms his body let out, ‘I failed the Crystal Empire, and Equestria…’ At that moment, a slow pulsing ring began to form around the form of Shining Armor. Seeing this, Charlatan hurried the gathering energies into his flippers, and finished the orb as the pulses quickened. Charlatan motioned to release it, when the pulses of the rings began to envelop Shining Armor’s body in a white light.

The Omniknight found himself inside one of the towers, Cadence standing over him. Before a word left his mouth, Cadence lifted her horn and released a bright light that enveloped the nearly dead unicorn. He felt the feeling return to his extremities, and heat returned to his body as Cadence’s magic coated him in a healing embrace. With his strength returned, Shining Armor stood up only to be knocked down by a sobbing Cadence.

“Don’t ever do that again!” shouted Cadence in between sobs. “I had just finished evacuating the city, and I find you on face down in the snow freezing to death. Do you know what I would do if I were to lose you?!” Shining Armor could feel Cadence’s strong embrace even behind the plates of his armor.

“I’m sorry,” Shining Armor gasped out, which Cadence took notice of and loosened her grip, “I tried to buy as much time for the towers and your evacuation efforts, but I fear that the anomaly those pegasi found was stronger than we had anticipated, and more numerous. I’m sorry I made you worry Cadence, but I fear I may have failed.”

Cadence helped her husband up, and spoke to him in a reassuring tone. “On the contrary dear, you have made all the difference. Princess Celestia sent a contingent of the royal guard here once the signal went off. They would not have arrived here if the towers had not been intact to give the signal; you saved this city Shining Armor.”

The look of worry on Shining Armor’s face was replaced with a smile of determination. Running out of the tower with Cadence in tow, Shining Armor could see the figures of their adversaries surrounded and under attack by the elite royal guard and the towers’ barraging blasts of magic. While royal guard were doing better than the garrison that was sent out to attack them previously, Charlatan and his ally were still managing a powerful defense.

Cadence flew to their aid, raining a powerful ray of energy from the sky at the skeletal bird, who then turned his attention to the airborne alicorn, releasing the orb of frost he had readied for Shining Armor. Shining Armor created the magical shield over Cadence, who only suffered the slowing effects of the attack and was far enough away to not transfer the orb to anypony else.

Shining Armor charged once again at Charlatan, shouting to the royal guards to change their attention to the other monster. Cadence released a wave of searing light that seemed to melt away the shield of cold that Charlatan had put on himself previously. With a swing of his hammer, Shining Armor blindsided the skeletal bird, knocking him from his floating stance and onto the snowy ground. Charlatan released a shard of ice on the two approaching ponies, slowing them down but with most of the damage recovered by Cadence’s healing spell.

“Kaldr!” shouted the hoarse Charlatan, “Help me! I order you to help me this instant!” The ethereal, icy being known as Kaldr, began to retreat from the battlefield, creating more snowstorms to cover its escape from the royal guards.

It then spoke in a haunting tone as it left, “I answer only to the harbinger, not someone like you. Face the consequences for your failures of this assignment.” A look of total despair was painted on the face of Charlatan, he had lost and now he was being left for dead.

As Shining Armor reached the body of the weakened Charlatan, he pressed his hammer onto the evil bird’s head as the Omniknight chanted a word of power. Then, a radiant beam of light flowed through Shining Armor’s body, and spread throughout the body of Charlatan, embracing the monster in an evil searing light. Releasing his hammer from this his body, Charlatan’s body lay motionless, the light not gone from his eyes but motionless nonetheless.

“Get restraints,” ordered Shining Armor, “make sure they’re obsidian, and make sure they’re big enough for him.” The royal guards replied and returned to the city to retrieve them.

As the rulers of the Crystal Empire looked at the body of the monster that had attempted to take over their city, Cadence 	now felt a bit of unease in her own mind. She then peered to the battlefield, now a frozen wasteland, and the littered bodies of the towers' garrisons and felt her unease grow.

“I fear that you were right dear,” spoke a mournful Cadence, “these sort of conflicts cause more harm than good. If something like this were to escalate...” Shining Armor placed a hoof on Cadence, attempting to console her.

“We cannot hold fear for what is yet to happen,” now it was Shining Armor’s turn to speak of the future, “and while I feel that the pain we endure may be unavoidable, it is to ensure the future of our people.” He smiled at Cadence, which she returned. “This was isolated, for all we know Discord could not have even been involved. This anomaly could be the only one to occu-”

Shining Armor’s platitude was stopped short when a massive beam of blue light could be seen in the horizon, in the direction of Ponyville. As the rulers of the Crystal Empire looked on with horror at the blue light, another blue beam of light in the direction of the Port of Baltimare appeared in the south east. And another appeared, this one south in the direction of Dodge Junction. A cold wave of realization began to sweep over the two rulers.


What was once a battle, was about to become a war.