The Tree of Life
The Everfree Forest, a place that Celestia and Luna have explored many times. In the past, desperate to defeat Discord, Celestia's and Luna's search lead them to the Everfree, in which they found the means to end the spirit of chaos' reign over pony kind; the Elements of Harmony.
After Discord's defeat, the two sisters became the new rulers of the kingdom and they built a home for themselves in the forest so they could continue exploring the Everfree to look for any secrets the forest hid. Celestia and Luna typically went on their own when they went searching in the Everfree; mostly because the ponies of Equestria still feared the dangerous and unknown forest. And yet, the times Celestia and Luna entered the Everfree, they have never been fully able to completely explore the entire forest and its secrets that have yet to be discovered.
Lately, the white alicorn has been going off on her own to the Everfree, as if she is desperately searching for something. Luna has noticed her sister's odd behavior for a while now, and it worried her. Luna tried to enter Celestia's dreams, with no avail. She even waited to talk with her sister before she would take her place in the throne room for the day; only to figure out that Celestia left the castle, leaving Luna having to do her older sister's duties like raising the sun so that the day can begin.
The times Luna was able to find Celestia, she would be in rough shape. Celestia's vibrant pink mane and tail would be full of leaves and small branches while her pristine white coat and hooves were covered in mud. When Luna would ask Celestia about what she was doing, Celestia often replied, "Luna please, I've had a long day and I would like to rest." Luna soon figured out that she wasn't going to get the answers she wanted from Celestia.
But Luna was going to get the answers she wanted, one way or another. Today Luna was going to follow and confront Celestia.
After finishing off with her nightly duties, the dark blue alicorn headed for her room which was on the opposite side of her sister's room in the castle, their windows facing each other.
And then she waited.
It was around five in the morning when Luna noticed a large silhouette form flying out of Celestia's room. Luna waited for a couple of seconds to give her a decent distance between her and her sister.
Celestia woke up early, with the moon still high in the sky but not far from touching the mountains, meaning the moon will make way for the sun to start the new day soon. She wanted to spend more time exploring the Everfree as much as she could today. She knew that Luna would probably come to her bedroom to interrogate her about why she has been spending so much time in the forest when they had a kingdom to protect. But what Luna didn't know was that Celestia has been looking in the Everfree to find something, anything, to protect her subjects and her sister.
Making some last minute checks, Celestia made sure she was fully stocked with food, water, and supplies for her long trip. She also reminded herself that she will have to raise the sun in about an hour so that there would be no suspicions about her absence.
Heading toward the windows that lead out from her room and onto the balcony, Celestia stopped to look around to see if her sister's guards were still on patrol. Not seeing any of the guards Celestia said, "Good, the night guards must be heading out so the solar guards can start their patrol."
This is the chance Celestia was hoping for. With the night and solar guards switching patrols, she can leave the castles without anypony noticing her absence. Celestia took a deep breath and sighed thinking to herself, I hope I can find what he was talking about soon. If I don't, I will fail to protect my sister and Equestria. Celestia proceeded to unfurl her wings and flew off in the direction of the Everfree forest.
As Celestia flew, Luna was not far behind following her sister a safe distance.
They have been flying above the forest for about an hour and a half. As the sun began its ascent toward the sky, Luna began to worry. In the night, Luna was like a timberwolf in a sheep's fur among sheep, but with the sun up, Luna no longer had her camouflage. She was beginning to think that Celestia was on to her.
"What is taking her so long? How far has she explored? And what is she looking for?" Luna questioned as she continued flowing Celestia above the forest. Her questions almost made Luna lose track of Celestia, and when she noticed, Celestia was descending into the forest. Luna quickly refocused on her sister and flew down into the Everfree.
"Okay Celestia, let us see what you are hiding."
When Celestia landed into the forest, she could see why ponies avoided the Everfree. The forest had a sense of eeriness lingering about. The air was cooler from the limited amount of light the sun provided in the forest largely due to the trees catching the sun's rays with their branches, and the forest grounds being wet and muddy. This was a place somepony did not want to get lost in.
The wildlife that inhabited the Everfree was something Celestia also took notice. She had never seen any of these creatures in her life.
Some of the creatures were harmless like a round, owl-like bird with two stubby wings and a short, fan-shaped tail. Its feathers are mostly brown with a beige underbelly. It's large red eyes with beady pupils could easily be seen from a distance. It had a large black, mask-like crest, which encircles both eyes and covers the face. It had a small, hooked beak and standing on one foot. The owl-like creature would "hoo" from time to time bringing some liveliness to the otherwise silent forest.
But then there were others like a living, a bipedal boulder that attacked her when she accidentally sat on it in a cave she found. The battle didn't last long though. The boulder-like creature took itself out when it self-destructed causing it to faint. Celestia barely had time to conjure up a protection spell.
As Celestia walked about, she couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched. But every time she turned her head, she would see nothing but the thousands of trees that seem to stretch out for miles. So Celestia continued her search while being alert for anything out of the ordinary.
"Sister, STOP!!"
Celestia discontinued walking, stunned with the familiarity of the owner of the voice. It couldn't be her, could it? Celestia slowly turned her head around and when she saw the dark blue alicorn, her eyes widened.
"Luna what are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same, sister."
"Why did you follow me?"
"Why did I follow you?! Why did I follow you?! Maybe it is because every time I ask, you avoid answering me. And when I try to enter your dreams, something will not allow me to enter so I can figure out why you have been so secretive."
" Luna, I appreciate your concern, but I am fine. Please return to the castle."
"No. I will not leave until you give me an answer." Protested Luna adamantly.
Celestia sighed. She should have seen this coming. Luna was set on figuring out why she venture to the Everfree on her own. Luna was refusing to leave until she got an answer she wanted.
"Okay Luna, I will tell you. The reason I have been going to the Everfree on my own is because I have been looking for something to keep me alive."
"What are you talking about?"
Celestia looked to her sister with sadness in her eyes. Celestia wanted to keep what she was about to tell Luna a secret, but she deserved to know. Feeling tears beginning to form in her eyes, Celestia closed them before continuing.
"Oh Luna, my dearest sister. I am an eight-hundred-year-old alicorn and my time in this world is nearing an end. "
Luna's eye's widened. She knew where this was going.
Unknown to ponykind, Celestia and Luna weren't always alicorns. In fact, there was a time where they were both just normal unicorns. When the two sisters stood up to the spirit of chaos, he decided it would be fun to give the two sisters the magic of all the pony races in order to make things interesting: turning them into alicorns. In order to make his fun last, he also gave them one thousand years to defeat him or their magic would have depleted and they would have died. In the end, the sisters defeated him quickly with the Elements of Harmony.
But that was seven hundred years ago.
"There is something coming to Equestria and I fear that when it comes to attack, I will no longer be alive." Celestia continued.
"What is coming, Celestia?"
"It is a creature we have never seen before in our lives. It inhabits dreams and can cause its victims to have unending nightmares. Eventually, its victims will die from their nightmares consuming them."
"How do you know of this?"
"Because Discord has shown me in my dreams what this creature is capable of."
"Discord?! What does Discord have to do with this?! And how can he enter your dreams?! Is this the reason I cannot enter your dreams? Is it because he is somehow blocking me from entering?! That cannot be right, Discord is nothing but a statue!" Asked a bewildered Luna.
"Luna, please calm down. I will tell you what I saw in my dream."
Bong, bong, bong!
The silent night was disturbed by the vibrations that filled the air as the metal gears ground together with a metallic click.
Something stirred in the bed in the center of the sun monarch's moonlit room. Celestia awoke from her sleep and poked her head out of her bed sheets to find what had disturbed her sleep.
Bong, bong, bong!
Her ears perked up as she scanned the room for the source of the noise. Her eyes followed her ears as she looked around the room.
Bong, bong, bong!
As the noise went off for the third time, Celestia locked eyes with the noise that caused her to wake up. It was her grandfather clock. Celestia Glared at the clock...or at least tried to, she wasn't sure. Sometimes Celestia wondered why she even had the thing. As Celestia tried her hardest at glaring at the grandfather clock, she noticed the two arms the clock was positioned to.
It was five in the morning. And the sun should have been starting to rise up to start the day.
After her failed attempt at giving the clock a piece of her mind, Celestia took off her bed sheets to get out of bed. She then proceeded to start with her daily routine.
First she began her routine with a couple of stretches so that the rest of her body will be fully awake. She starred with her front forelegs and then proceed with her hind legs. She then repeated the process with her large white wings. There was a time when fixing her bed was in her routine, but her servants denied her from fixing the bed, often saying, "Cleaning bedrooms is not in one of the Princess' duties." Eventually, Celestia gave up and took fixing her bed out of her routine.
Usually, the next part in Celestia's routine was to go to brush her teeth, but she was already running late on raising the sun. So Celestia decided to raise the sun first and then brush her teeth. Celestia trotted to her window to raise the sun. Celestia took a deep breath and closed her eyes. With her horn, Celestia began to use the spell she learned from the solar court to raise the sun.
But there was a problem. Celestia could not raise the sun.
Again Celestia concentrated to begin her spell, but she wasn't able to feel the warmth of the sun as she tried to find it.
"What is going on with me?" Celestia asked herself.
" What's the matter Celestia, can't you use the magic to raise the measly old sun?" The voice echoed around the room.
Celestia's eyes widened to the side of peas as she heard the voice of an old foe she defeated long ago.
"Discord?!"
"Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner."
"Where are you Discord? show yourself! " Shouted Celestia.
"Oh come now Celestia, You aren't making any of this fun."
"I do not have time for games."
"Alright fine. But let me just tell you that you can be a total buzzkill sometimes."
With a bright white flash, the owner of the voice appeared.
The creature in question was a draconequus, made up of many different animal parts. He had a head of a pony with deer antler on the right, a goat horn on the left. He had one long fang sticking out on the right side of his mouth, different-sized pupils, a goat beard, and white bushy eyebrows. He had the right arm of a lion, the left claw of an eagle, the right leg of a lizard, and the left leg of a goat. His right wing was of a bat's and his left wing was of Pegasus'. He also had a dragon-like snake's tail with a white tail tuft.
"Well, here I am. Are you happy?"
Discord waited for Celestia to say something, but she stood still staring at him in a weird way. Confused, Discord looked at himself in a mirror and saw something off. One feature still stood out was that his coloring was off: he still looked like a statue.
'"Well this is awkward." Discord said to the mirror reflecting his condition. And with a snap of his lion paw, his colors were back to normal.
"Now where were we? Ah yes, you were wondering what is going on." The draconequus answered as he focused back to Celestia.
"What are you doing here Discord? Luna and I defeated you long ago. How did you escape your imprisonment?"
"Oh that was just too rich," said Discord laughing hysterically, "No I did not escape, my stone body is still in that lovely garden you and your sister made when you built your new home."
"Then h-"
"How am I here? I am the spirit of chaos and disharmony, did you really think that you would get rid of me that easily, Celestia?" retorted the draconequus, then added, "No I am here to help you."
"Help me? What are you saying?" Celestia questioned Discord.
"Remember when you and your sister stood up to me when I ruled Equestria? Well, I was testing you and Luna to see if you two were capable of handling a big threat."
"Why?"
"Because Celestia, there is something coming to Equestria that is truly evil. Why did you think that I turned you and Luna into alicorns? To have fun?...Okay yes, I did want to have a little fun. But it was also for Equestria to have a fighting chance when that evil came."
"So you are not truly evil?" Celestia asked confused.
"Of course not. Chaos is neither good nor evil, but I guess you just assumed I was evil when you two turned me to stone with those magic rocks you and Luna found in the Everfree forest. And you know what they say when you assume you make an ass out of you and me."
At first she didn't believe what Discord was saying, she thought it was another one of his tricks. But as she listened, she heard from Discord something that she never heard from the spirit of chaos: concern.
"Discord, I'm sorry that my sister and I fought you without knowing your reason for doing so. But if you would have told about the threat earlier, maybe you wouldn't be imprisoned. "
"No Celestia, do not apologize... and besides I did go over the top."
"Then are you going to tell me what this threat is?"
"No. I am going to show you your future."
"How are you going to show me my future Discord? We are in my room."
"But that's the thing, Celestia. We are not in your room, we are in your dreams."
"That can't be right, I can't be dreaming."
"You know Celestia, if you want to know if you are dreaming, let me ask you a question. You never really remember the beginning of a dream, do you? You always wind up right in the middle of what's going on."
Celestia wasn't sure what Discord was going with this, but she answered the question anyways.
"I believe so."
"So how did you end up here?"
"Well, I just came from the...uh..."
"Think about it, Celestia. How did you get here? Where are you right now?"
Celestia tried to answer his question, but she found it difficult to remember how she woke up in her bed. Did she come from the throne room? Or was she reading a book and fell asleep half way into the book? Then the answer she was looking for hit her.
"We're dreaming?!"
"Tada!! Remind me to give you one of your favorite pastries if I ever get out of my stone prison, would you?"
"Very well then, are you going to show me what you are talking about?"
"Yes. Yes. Follow me into the throne room."
"Wait? The Threat is inside the castle?" said Celestia surprised.
"Well of course it is. It wouldn't be a threat if it wasn't in the castle and hurts the ponies you fought so hard to save." Answered the draconequus.
"We need to go now."
Discord nodded and with a snap of his lion paw they disappeared from Celestia's room into the throne room.
When they appeared into the throne room, Celestia instantly felt a dark presence. The room was the witness of a fight that was very one sided. Luna's night guards filled the floors of the battle-worn room. Some of the guards were unconscious while others seemed as if they were dragged into a world of total darkness.
As Celestia approached, she noticed one of the guards. The lavender pegasus mare seemed to be having a nightmare. She was sobbing about something from her foal-hood, mumbling, "Please, don't take my back to my father. Please, I don't want to go back there, he will tear my wings off if he finds out that I was running away..."
"Who did this to you?" Celestia asked in disbelief.
Then Celestia heard the throne room's doors open to see somepony she knew all too well, her sister, Luna. But this was not the Luna Celestia knew, no, there were some differences in her younger sister. The first thing Celestia noticed was that Luna was a lot older and larger than she knew. Another noticeable difference was Luna's mane; gone was her long beautiful ice blue mane, replaced with an asymmetrical bob styled mane. Parts of her armor were missing and dented. And Luna's body seemed to have suffered substantially; she had scars that went in deep cutting through her pelt exposing skin.
"Come out and face me you, coward!" Luna shouted at the empty room.
All of a sudden Luna became surrounded by sword-like creatures, their single eyes, which was purple with a white, linear pupil, readied their stances in the offensive of the sword-like creature's blade form, as they carried their shield in the left arm and exposed their golden blades, ready to attack. Luna, for her part, began to charge her horn with her magic ready for an incoming fight.
"Stand down." The voice said in the dark room.
Immediately, the sword-like creatures went to their defensive stance, a shield form, as they held their shield up in front of the blade, with both of their arms crossed behind the shield. They faded away, leaving the way open so Luna could continue her way to the throne. As she approached towards the end of the room, a pitch-black figure began to show itself, sitting in one of the two thrones in the room, Luna's throne.
The pitch-black figure was shadow-like. It's small head had a white fog-like ghostly plume billowing from its head covering one of its bright piercing blue eyes, with the portion on its face resembling hair. It also had a red spiky growth around its neck. It had skinny arms and long black tatters hanging from its shoulders with black, claw-like hands. It had the slight appearance of an hourglass figure and appeared to be wearing an old, ripped cloak.
"Well, well, well. This is an unexpected surprise, the Princess of the Night has come to grace us with her presence." Announced the pitch-black figure in a mocking tone. "Have you come to see me turn your kingdom into darkness?"
"You act a high and mighty as you sit there mocking me. But are you just sit there or are you going to fight me?" Luna shot back.
"An amusing thought princess, but there is no point in engaging in battle with you, I have already won." The pitch-black figure answered while turning its back to Luna. "Now leave, there is nothing you can do."
"NO! " Yelled Luna as she charged her horn, "I WILL NOT GIVE UP! NOT BEFORE I FIGHT YOU!" Then Luna shot a bolt of lightning toward the pitch-black figure hitting it in it's back.
In an instant, the sword-like creatures reappeared around Luna in their blade form and lunged forward to attack. But the attack was halted by a strong telekinetic attack. When Luna saw this, she saw that it was the pitch-black figure who she had attacked was the one who stopped her attackers with its hand and eye glowing blue. It flung the sword-like creatures away from Luna, throwing them into the walls of the room, eventually disappearing into nothingness.
"Very well Princess Luna, I gave you a chance to leave, but now you will get your wish."
The pitch-black creature vanished from sight. Luna had to become alert; she had no idea where it will strike. As she tried to figure out where it went, the shadowy form reappeared behind Luna. One of it's claws glowed black with a purple outline. The aura grew into a large claw, and the shadowy figure struck Luna with it. Luna fell on to all four as she felt the claws sink through her back, just barely missing her wing joints. "I need a way to disable his ability to disappear or else I will not last long." Luna thought to herself as she struggled to get back on her hooves.
Again the pitch-black figure reappeared to strike at Luna, but this time Luna was ready for it. She flew up into the air as the shadowy figure attempted to attack her from below. Luna then pulled a one-eighty spin charging her horn as she searched for the pitch-black creature. From out of the shadows, the creature attacked again and when Luna saw an opening, she discharged her magic in front of the creature, landing a critical blow at the creature. The pitch-black creature retreated into the shadows as it tried to recover from the direct hit.
"Lucky hit princess, but will not land another so easily." said the voice over the throne room hall.
Luna simply smirked at what she just learned. Luna noticed that the creature of darkness would only spring up to attack anywhere the room was darkest. That gave Luna an idea. If she is able to brighten up the room with a light spell, the pitch-black figure will have nowhere to hide. Luna began charging her horn while keeping an eye out. Her dark blue horn began to light up as she concentrated on finishing the spell. In a short distance, the shadowy creature became aware of what the night princess was doing, rushing towards her. Just as Luna was about to finish her spell, the creature of darkness jumped out of the shadows behind Luna. Aiming for her horn, the creature crouched together and then extended its arms quickly, making a wave of purple circles come out of its body and hit its opponent. The spell diminished as Luna was hit. In its place was the screams of pain the night princess felt as she fell onto the throne room floor, crushing her wings as she landed on top of them.
"I told you that I had no reason to fight you. You are weak. The power I gain from your little subjects makes me invincible. You never had a chance." said the creature of darkness as it approached the incapacitated Luna.
"Now let's see how well the Princess of the Night is able to fight off her own worst nightmares." The pitch-black creature put its hands together and formed a purple and black ball in its hands. Then fired it at Luna. When the Luna was hit, a pink bubble appeared around the night princess's body that soon disappeared and made Luna fall asleep.
"This was a waste of my time," said the pitch-black creature as it left Luna to her worst fears. "But now with her out of the way I can continue my campaign to bring darkness into this world."
"My brothers, now is the time to put my plans in motion." The creature called out. As the creature called, thousand of ghost-like creatures began to appear around the castle walls. Some of the ghosts were purple with a gaseous body with a round head with a pair of disembodied hands, each hand had three pointed fingers and their eyes were large and triangular with small pupils. Others had a dark purple body with a pale blue, gemstone-like eyes, they also had a red gemstone on their chests and their back had two blue gems and another red one. And the sword-like creatures also returned by the thousands. All of the ghost-like creatures were grinning from ear to ear. " Spread fear among the inhabitants of this kingdom, do not leave a single pony from your grasp until there is nothing left, then we shall do the same to the other kingdoms of this world so that we can claim this world for ourselves." Cheering could be heard throughout the castle as the ghost-like creatures flew out as their master ordered them to start their attack.
"LUNA!!!" Celestia screamed as she helplessly watched her fall to the pitch-black creature. She started galloping toward her unconscious sister, but the more she galloped, the further her sister appeared. Soon everything else began to fall apart. The guards faded away and the throne room's floors and windows shattered until there was nothing left but a black space of nothing. Only then did Celestia stop galloping, collapsing onto the empty space and began to let her tears flow out of her eyes.
"As you can see, that is the threat I was talking about." said the draconequus in a deadpanned voice.
"Where am I Discord !?" Celestia demanded.
"Oh you are at the castle, but at the same time you aren't." answered the draconequus.
"Enough with your riddles, show me where I am for not being there to help Luna!"
"Very well then, I will show you," said Discord. "But you may not like what will see."
With a snap of his eagle claw, Celestia and Discord appeared at the castle gardens.
"Why are we here?" Celestia said confused.
"We're here to see you of course." Answered Discord, "Come now, follow me."
Despite on what was going on, the garden itself was beautiful. Flowers ranging from bright blues to soft yellows covered the entire garden; it must be around the middle of summer with all these flowers. On opposite sides of the garden, there were two large garden fountains, on the left was a statue of princess Celestia and to the right was a statue of princess Luna. Celestia also saw a statue of Discord not too far from the fountains. As they came to the center of the garden, Celestia saw a statue of a sun made of white marble that stood the largest statue in the royal gardens. Nearing the large sun statue Celestia spotted something else under the giant statue; a casket.
"Discord," Celestia began,"why is there a casket in the center?"
"I don't want to spoil it for you, Celestia. You will see soon enough."
When they arrived at the center of the gardens, Celestia became horrified of what she saw. Inside the white casket was somepony she did not expect; herself. In the casket laid an older looking Celestia with a pink and a couple of white streaks in her mane. Her face was old and wrinkled, her muzzle had a smile as if she was at peace. And at the bottom of the casket there was a plaque that read:
Princess Celestia:
Savior to ponykind
a caring leader,
and a loving sister.
Celestia collapsed to the ground covering her eyes with her hooves unable to look at her deceased self as she began tearing up. How can this happen? Why is this the future?
"H-h-how d-did I die?"
"You will die in your sleep peacefully, unlike your sister. Luna will find you in your bed after she realizes you did not raise the sun after an hour or so. I believe she will also make a festival honoring your life, what was it called...the Summer Sun Celebration? Hmm, I can't seem to recall exactly."
"Why? Why do I have to die?" Celestia cried out.
"Now, now, Celestia, there is a way to prevent this from ever happening." The draconequus said pulling out a box of tissues from under his pegasus wing and placing it next to Celestia."There is a way to stop you from dying."
Celestia looked up at discord and glared at him. " If you really think that I will believe a word you say about preventing my death, then you are sadly mistaken."
"Fine. Don't believe me. I will just have to show you...again." Discord said sighing.
For the second time tonight, with a snap of Discord's lion paw, Celestia and Discord disappeared from the castle gardens. In a flash of white light, Celestia and Discord appeared in the middle of a forest.
Celestia seeing what will happen to her sister and to herself, was starting to get irritated with Discord yelled, "And now pray tell, are we now?"
"Where do you think we are?" Replied Discord ignoring Celestia's outburst.
Celestia gave a cold glare at Discord before looking at her surroundings. The trees were tall and old but still seemed to have life in them. The grass felt soft under her hooves, Celestia noticed that there weren't many patches of dirt where they stood. There was also a lake in front of them, the water being so clear they could see a small school of a medium-sized fish with large, heavy reddish-orange scales swimming in the lake.
"We are in the Everfree forest," Celestia answered.
"Correct. Now, I want you to look across the lake and tell me what you see."
Celestia focused her attention to what Discord wanted her to see. Across the lake, there was a small hill with a large white tree with a blue "X" near the top of the trunk and all of its branches growing upwards but had no leaves.
"All I see is a dead tree on a hill," Celestia told Discord.
"Ahh, but you can never be more wrong Celestia", remarked Discord. That right there," pointing to the white tree with his eagle claw, " is your solution to your little problem. The tree's power will let you live happily forever after."
"So how do I use the tree's powers?" asked Celestia confused.
"It is very simple actually...every one thousand years the tree releases its life energy into all the living things around it. You just need to be there when it happens or you will not have a second chance at it." Explained the draconequus.
"In other words, if I am not here when the tree gives its energy away the future you showed me will happen regardless." Concluded Celestia and Discord nodded.
"But you may want to start looking, you don't have much time to spare." Warned Discord.
"How long do I have?"
"Well let's see...today is Thursday and there are seven days in a week, sooo...you have about a month to find the tree."
"What!?!?!" Celestia yelled astonished. "Damnit Discord, how am I supposed to find the tree with so little time!?"
"Well I thought that you worked well under pressure seeing as you and Luna found the elements of harmony to defeated me so quickly,", Discord said with a small smirk in his face.
"But that was different, you pushed us to the point of desperation when Luna and I found the Elements." Then calming herself continued, "But that no longer matters, my attention now is to find the tree and use its power to change Equestria's future." Celestia then gave a small smile at Discord. "And I believe I also have you to thank. Now thanks to you I can save and protect my sister and Equestria from that monster."
"You can thank me when all of this is over. Remember Celestia, if you do not find the tree, then.....well I guess I don't have to remind you anymore what will happen if you don't." Discord told Celestia. All of a sudden large ringing sound went off and Discord pulled out a clock shaped as himself out of nowhere, "Oppise, dupise! Will you look at the time, it's almost time for the real you to get up. Gee, time passes when you are trying to help."
With a snap of his eagle claw, the world around Celestia collapsed; and Celestia woke up just as the grandfather clock in her room rang to get her off of her bed. Celestia got out of bed, not bothering doing her routines and trotted towards the windows. She looked at the still night before sighing and hesitating before closing her eyes. Celestia's horn began to glow in a golden aura as she searched for the sun. She relaxed when she felt her magic embrace the sun as she lifted it upwards. Celestia did not open her eyes until she felt the warmth of the sun touch her eyelids; and when she opened them, she could see the dense forest looking back at her. "I have to find that tree." was all Celestia said as she opened the windows, flying off into the Everfree forest.
Luna stood there baffled as Celestia told her about her nightmare. By the time Celestia finished, she was openly bawling her eyes out. Luna did the only thing she was able to do at that moment; comfort her sister. Luna trotted to her sister and reached over to her putting her forehooves around Celestia's neck and wrapping her to a close embrace with her large dark blue wings.
There was something bothering Luna, though, why would Discord block her from entering Celestia's dreams? Celestia seemed to have calmed down a bit when Luna asked, "Sister, I still do not understand how Discord blocked me from entering your dreams?"
Celestia took a deep breath as she let go of Luna before starting, "That is because Discord wasn't the one blocking you from my dreams, I was."
"You? Why would you block me from entering your dreams? Celestia, I could have helped you." Wondered Luna.
"Because I did not want you to panic when you saw what will happen to yourself in the future." Answered Celestia.
"Celestia we are sisters I will help you to the end, no matter the circumstances." said Luna nuzzling Celestia.
Celestia returned the gesture."I know you do Luna and for that I am thankful."
"So then, what are we going to do now?" asked Luna.
"I am not sure" Celestia responded. For the past few weeks, Celestia has been unsure to where the white tree was at, failing every time to find some clue to where the tree could be found. Celestia was starting to wonder if she will ever find the tree. But now with Luna helping her they might have a chance.
Three hours later.....
"Uhhh, Celestia we have been walking for hours. Can we rest for a minute?" said an agitated Luna.
Celestia and Luna have been walking through the forest all morning. It was now mid-day and they haven't found any trace of the tree. Celestia understood what it felt like to be looking for something that could change Equestria's future and not being able to find it. Celestia has been looking for the past few weeks.
"Very well, we can rest for five minutes and then we can continue our search," Celestia told Luna.
"Are you sure Discord wasn't lying to you when he showed you that future?" Luna asked as she sat down near a large tree root.
"I know that trusting Discord may not be the best thing to do. Then again Discord can be unpredictable, so I can not be sure."
Luna was about to answer until she and Celestia felt something powerful nearby. Celestia looked over to her sister and signaled her to get ready and to be alert. Even though what they felt was powerful, Celestia could feel whatever that was near was also losing strength. It must be the tree Discord was talking about. As Luna and Celestia found the lake, there was a small hill with a blue and black, quadrupedal, cervine creature with an eight-horned set of antlers extending out from its head, four on each side. Each horn were pale blue and the protrusions the same blue as its upper body. It had a slim, fluffy black tail where the blue stripe ended. Its legs were fashioned like blades with forward-pointing "hooks" at the tips, creating a cross shape, with the main "edges" trimmed with the same color as the horns ; the trim on its forelegs further map a crude sword-like pattern: a long blade, a cross-guard, and a hilt. Celestia and Luna trotted near the creature.
The cervine creature spotted Luna and Celestia. It's horn turned pale gold adorned with a colorful, three-part glowing protrusion twining through the horn (orange, red, purple, and teal-blue), one side mirroring the other. Luna thinking it was getting ready to attack started charging her horn just as well. Celestia gave her sister a stern look as she shook her head at Luna, and Luna canceled her spell.
What is your purpose here? Inquired the cervine creature.
Celestia and Luna were dumbstruck. The creature is able to communicate? And with telepathy at that! Celestia remained quiet for a while as she was still trying to figure out what was going on.
After regaining composure, Celestia decided it would be better if she told the truth to why they were here. "We are sorry for trespassing, but we have learned that a threat is coming to our kingdom to cause harm to our citizens. The problem is that I will not be alive to help protect my kingdom and my sister when the threat comes. I have been told that there is a tree in the Everfree that is able to help me with this predicament."
So you are the ones Discord sent? Asked the blue creature.
"How do you of Discord?" Luna replied back.
I know of him because it was I who sent him to search for anyone capable of handling a threat. But seeing as he is not with you two I can presume that he went too far. Luna and Celestia could only nod at the last part.
"Do you want us to release him?" Wondered Celestia.
No, answered the cervine creature, Leave him be. Discord must learn that there are consequences for his actions. Celestia heard Luna sighing in relief.
"So you know where my sister and I and find the tree?" Celestia asked wanting to change the subject.
Yes, for it is I who you are looking for. communicated the cervine creature.
"How can you be the thing we are looking for, you are giant deer, not a tree. Just who are you?" said an astonished Luna.
I am known by many names, Life, Yggdrasil, but you may call me Xerneas.
"Then the reason you sent for us is because you are going to die?" Asked Celestia in a sad tone.
I am immortal, I can never truly experience death. When I give my life energy, I transform into a tree to take slumber for a thousand years. It was I who gave life to the Everfree forest to protect my kind from the same threat that will attack your kingdom. Explained Xerneas.
Celestia began pondering. How can Xerneas know of the pitch-black creature? He must know more about the creature than he is letting on.
"What do you know of the Pitch-black creature Xerneas?",Asked Celestia," And what is it?"
Xerneas closed his eyes and became silent as if he tried to find the best way to explain what he knew. Xerneas opened his eyes as he began to transmit his thoughts, The pitch-black creature of which you speak of is Darkrai, a Pokémon like I. Darkrai has the power to create and infiltrate nightmares. It is feared by many of the other Pokémon because of it's powers, so I have taken upon myself to protect the other Pokémon. I have faced Darkrai countless times, each time failing to defeat me. But now it has set its eyes on a new target, the ponies of Equestria. With my life coming to an end, I knew that I will be unable to fight Darkrai, which is why I sent Discord to find somepony who were willing to protect their own kind. Although I did not expect Discord to send alicorns. But no matter, now that you are here I can help you.
"When you er... sleep and give off your energy, will we become immortal as well?"Wondered Luna.
I have the power to share eternal life, not immortality. While you will no longer die from old age, you are still vulnerable from death itself. So tread carefully when you face Darkrai, he will still be able to kill the both of you. Stated Xerneas.
"Will it also make us powerful?" Wondered Celestia.
Yes it will, I believe you also have first hoof experience in that regard. The unicorn king in the Crystal Empire had Darkrai's power with him when you fought him to save the Empire.
Celestia and Luna could not believe what they heard. All this time they believed that King Sombra was just a very powerful unicorn, but they never expected to learn that a Pokémon was the cause of King Sombra's unnatural magic. This information made Celestia wonder something, " If Darkrai's Powers caused Sombra to have unnatural magic and become evil, will your powers do the same to us?"
I understand your concern, and yes, it can happen. When a pony combines their magic with the power of a Pokémon, the pony's magic can become more sensitive with emotion. If you show anger, hatred, and envy your magic will reflect the negativity in your heart, just as it happened to Sombra. But so long as you remain pure at heart you will not have to worry.
Well that's comforting, thought Luna, But still, if Xerneas' powers are able to help Celestia who am I to complain?Luna knew how important this was to Celestia. Celestia would take any risk so long as it saved Equestria. And besides, even if Celestia and herself weren't able to defeat Darkrai, at least they will have gone down fighting together.
Very well then, said Xerneas looking up at the sky one last time which was blocked by the branches of the large trees and then looking down at Celestia and Luna, Let us begin.
Celestia and Luna nodded. Xerneas' horns began to shine brightly in the seven colors of the rainbow. His body also started to shine in a bright white light, forcing Celestia and Luna to use their wings to block off the light and closed their eyes. Celestia and Luna both began to feel Xerneas' power coursing throughout their bodies. They could feel their magic as well as their fiscal strength getting stronger.
The light soon died off and Celestia and Luna opened their eyes. They were surprised as they turned to face each other. There were differences between the two princesses'. Celestia's pink mane and tail were now a rainbow of colors of light green, cyan, violet, and pink. Luna's mane and tail turned to a partially translucent, rippling and sparkling night sky. Then Celestia and Luna looked to see a large white tree with a blue "X" near the top of the trunk and all of its branches growing upwards with no leaves in place of where Xerneas once stood.
"Is that Xerneas?" Asked Luna looking at the tree in sadness.
"Yes Luna, it is." Answered Celestia putting her ears down and looking at the tree as well, "Xerneas has given us his life to give us a chance to defeat Darkrai. Come Sister, let us return to the castle to prepare for Darkrai 's attack on the kingdom."
Luna nodded as she spreaded her wings to take off. Once Luna was out of sight, Celestia took a moment to look at the forest. The old trees that had empty branches were now full of green leaves. The patches of dirt around the area were now covered in grass. And all throughout the forest flowers bloomed with their beautiful colors. Celestia trotted to a small area where it was full of blue flowers, and she pulled some of the flowers with her magic. Trotting back, Celestia returned to where the white tree stood and placed the blue flowers in front of it. "Thank you Xerneas, for allowing me to have a second chance," said Celestia before she flew back to the castle.
In the next one hundred and ninety years, signs of Darkrai's attack were becoming more frequent. The ponies started having nightmares and little by little as the ponies began to fear the night. With Discord no longer causing problems, the equestrians started looking at other outlets for their problems, namely princess Luna. Cults against the night princess began to rise, ponies became fearful when Luna came to visit their towns, and soon after the ponies began to ask Celestia to remove her sister from the throne.
Luna tried her best to appeal to the ponies. She started making constellations and meteor showers during the night to show that the night can be as beautiful as the day as well as trying to enter their dreams at to stop them from having any more nightmares. In the end, the Equestrians rejected all of the things Luna did saying that it was just a trick so that they would turn against princess Celestia and not her. After a time, Luna began to hate her sister.
Celestia woke up early in the morning, no longer waiting for her grandfather clock to wake her up. She has been noticing the way Luna has been treating her lately (giving her the cold shoulder, barely talking to her, and just plain avoiding her) and it worried Celestia. She was doing her best to stop the harassment the ponies have been causing her sister, with little results. As she reached to the large golden doors of the throne room, she sighed as she opened the doors to speak with her sister.
The throne room was empty. No guards. No ponies from the night court. It was just Celestia and her sister.
"Luna? Where is everypony?" Celestia asked looking around the room.
"...."
Luna did not answer. Instead, she kept her head down and her eyes closed. Celestia trotted closer to the throne in order to figure out what was going on with her sister.
"Luna, plea-"
"Why do your ponies hate me, Celestia?" Asked all of a sudden.
"They are your ponies as well and they don't hate you Luna. They are just afraid." Answered Celestia.
"Afraid of what exactly, Darkrai or me? Because I am having trouble figuring that out." Wondered Luna as she brought up her head and opened her sapphire eyes to look at Celestia.
"Luna please don't lis-"
"And how can I not Listen, Celestia?!?! Everypony from Trottingham to Vanhoover wants to impeach me for something I had no part of!!!", Yelled Luna cutting off Celestia again.
Celestia remained silent as Luna continued, "Everypony believes that it is I who is causing their nightmares! Even though I have done my best to help them, they continue to put the blame on me!" Tears started to form as Luna went on, "Last night I had to witness the death of a filly because I was unable to do anything to help her get rid of her nightmare. But no more. No more will I continue to appeal to ponies who no longer respect me. If they want to fear me, then I will give them a reason to."
Luna's horn began to shimmer in a dark blue light as she casted the moon over the sun causing an eclipse. Luna then casted another spell on herself engulfing her in a black sphere. The black sphere soon shattered into pieces revealing a black alicorn with sharp teeth and turquoise eyes with the pupil resembling that of a dragon's. The only thing Celestia recognized from the black alicorn was her sister's cutie mark; a crescent moon. Celestia took a couple steps back as she realized what just happened to Luna, When a pony combines their magic with the power of a Pokémon, the pony's magic can become more sensitive with emotion. If you show anger, hatred, and envy your magic will reflect the negativity in your heart, just as it happened to Sombra., Xerneas' words echoed in Celestia's head. "No", mumbled Celestia in disbelief.
"Luna please stop what you are doing!" Pleaded Celestia.
"Luna?", answered the black alicorn, "I'm afraid Luna is no more. I am Nightmare Moon! And I shall bring fear among the ponies of Equestria starting off by killing their precious sun princess!" Nightmare Moon charged her horn and shot a black beam of magic at Celestia.
Celestia trotted slowly with her head down and ears flat against her head as she moved about the halls of the new castle being constructed into the side of a mountain. After Celestia defeated Nightmare Moon, she left her castle home; no longer wanting to reside there to remind her of what happened.
Lately, Celestia hasn't been feeling the same. With Luna banished into the moon, she wondered how she was going face Darkrai. The signs of Darkrai's arrival were starting to become more frequent, and the ponies still blamed Nightmare Moon when something bad happened. She was beginning to fear that she could not do anything to stop Darkrai.
Celestia arrived at her bedroom chamber doors. But before she could open the doors, the doors sprang opened as a wave of confetti blew out of the room. Celestia yelped in surprise as she tried to get out of the way.
"Congratulations on defeating Nightmare Moon Celestia!"
"No," mumbled Celestia as she shook her head, "Not Him. Not now."
"Oh yes, It is." Replied Discord as he appeared in front of Celestia with a party hat on top of his head.
"I am dreaming again aren't I?" Celestia deadpanned.
"I say, I'm impressed", remarked Discord, "Knowing when you are dreaming is not easy."
"What are you doing here?" Asked Celestia as she walked into her bedroom chambers.
"I hope you don't mind if we started the party without you." Asked Discord pointing to five other Discords in the room, also wearing party hats. "Oh and I brought a special cake for the occasion," said Discord pointing to a mooncake on top of the round table stool.
"This isn't a victory Discord." snarled Celestia,"Darkrai is still coming and I don't know what to do."
"Oh you don't have to worry about that, Celestia, you'll figure something out sooner or later."
A thought came to Celestia and then she mentally slapped herself for even thinking that. Could it work? She decided to ask anyways, " Discord what if I use the Elements to free you from your stone prison? Perhaps you can help me with Darkrai."
"I'm afraid that's out of the question Celestia," responded Discord while taking a slice of the mooncake, "You lost the connection to the Elements when you banished Nightmare Moon. So even if I wanted you to free me, you wouldn't be able to."
All hope seemed to have left Celestia as she realized that she will have to fight Darkrai on her own. How can she defeat an enemy that could easily overwhelm her?
"Oh come now, don't feel down." Discord told Celestia,"If it makes you feel any better, I will be rooting for you."
"What are you talking about?" Asked Celestia.
"I'm just saying that it will interesting to see who will come out on top seeing as you no longer have Luna to help you. The fate of Equestria rests on your shoulders. If you prevail, you will save Equestria and the world. But if you fail, this world will be full of darkness. Everypony is counting on you Celestia, you don't want to disappoint them, do you? But I have already taken so much of your time Celestia, so I will take my leave", said Discord as he snapped his lion paws together making the world around them disappear.
Celestia woke up in her bed with cold sweat all over her body. She looked around her room to see that Discord was no longer in the room. She stumbled out of her bed as she trotted to the balcony. Sadness began to overtake her as she looked up at the moon, now occupied with creators shaped as a mare, her sister, banished from the rest of the world. Celestia counted Luna lucky, she will not have to deal with whatever the pitch-black Pokémon had in store for Equestria. "Luna I do not know if you can hear me, but I wanted to say I'm sorry. I'm sorry for not doing more to stop the ponies from blaming you for their nightmares. I know now that it was Darkrai causing them to fear you. I also understand how it must have felt fighting Darkrai on your own. I am facing a similar situation now. If I am unable to defeat Darkrai, I beg you to please find it within your heart to save the ponies from this monster just as we once did together...Goodbye, Luna. I love you." conversed Celestia to the moon as she looked at it one more time before entering the castle.