A Rough Decision
The Tree of Harmony, it was a thing of beauty. An elegant tree made of crystal with five glittering gems at the end of each limb.
Celestia and Luna often wondered how the tree got there. They had discovered the tree after searching the land and were so awed by it that they had to put their home near it.
The two sisters could sense great power coming from the tree. They wished to know more about it, but they feared even touching such an old relic. It felt wrong, violating such a powerful thing, yet they needed to know the source of the great power that drew them.
“What do we do?” Celestia asked
“I don’t know sister.”
“It feels wrong to mess with it. This is the most famous tree in all of Equestria.”
“We’re just starting to learn this land. We have no idea what threats this world holds. Shouldn’t we learn to harness this magic.”
“You are right, but it feels wrong. I feel we would be destroying something sacred of this land.”
“We are the leaders of Equestria. We need to protect the citizens that live here; the power in this tree could help us.”
“We hopefully will not have to protect them against anything.”
“And what if we ever do?”
“If we are forced to we will, but only if we are forced.”
“Of course,” Luna sighed, “I’m going to the castle.” Luna flew out of the ravine leaving Celestia alone with the tree.
This tree. The tree of harmony. It was something older than time. Possibly older than her and Luna. They should not use it.
Then there was the fact that we are still learning something new about this land every day. We have been here for a good amount of time, but still, we don’t know all the secrets that place holds.
When we first found this tree, we were drawn by its power. Then we got our cutie marks which are the same as on the tree. It was as if we were meant to use its power.
Celestia took one last look at the tree and flew back to her castle.
She went to her room and got out her journal. Journaling was the best way to keep track of her life. Everything was going so fast. First, Everypony was pushed out of their old home by the windigoes. Then, She and Luna became the princesses of Equestria. Then they got their cutie marks and Starswirl disappeared. It was so much to keep track of.
The ponies of the land looked up to the princesses. Anything they wanted would happen, anything at all, but she and Luna were such young ponies. Sure, they were the most powerful ponies in Equestria and could control the sun and the moon, but they barely knew anything besides what Starswirl taught them.
Now they were forced to make decisions on their own.
***
A few days later, Luna and Celestia met back at the tree.
“I think we need to learn more about this tree. It has cutie marks on it; it’s made for us, but we can’t just mess with it.”
“What do you say we do?”
“I still say we shouldn’t touch the tree, but we do need to get to know this tree. Somehow, whatever created it knew we were going to be here.”
“So how do you say we study it?”
“I don’t know. I wish I could say I did, but I don’t. We can think about it. Surely, we’ll figure something out.”
They stood for a second. Then Luna broke the silence.
“Let’s go explore. It has been forever since we last went on an adventure. We have been so busy with other stuff; we need a break.”
“It is true.” Celestia put a hoof to her chin. “Let’s.”
They flew out of the ravine, silently observing the grace and beauty of their land. When the tribe leaders took them to this foreign place, nopony knew what to expect. The journey was long and hard, but in the end they were rewarded with a land of absolute majesty. It had everything they needed, and they loved every bit of it.
Celestia and Luna continued to fly past open fields, rolling hills, and dark forests to a lone mountain in the middle of the country.
They went there every time they need a break from daily life. It gave them a clear view of the whole land. From there they could see the distant snow-peaked mountains to the north and flat plains to the south. They could see dense forests in one direction; along with hot desert sands in another.
“Beautiful is it not?” Luna said.
“It is. I imagine a time when ponies cover every part this country. A time ruled not by hatred, jealousy, or sorrow, but by friendship and love. A day when the ponies of this land can rule themselves, and we can just be sisters.”
“That will be a time,” Luna sighed, ”I look forward to those days.”
“But, we must rejoice in these days as well. They may not be the best; there are hard times, but we are learning something new about this country with every day that goes by. Those days will come, but for now, we must focus on today.”
“I realize that Tia. I only wish it was not so tiring running a country.”
“It is, but we will get better at it. I know it’s scary and daunting; the two of us leading on our own, but I know as long as we’re together we are invincible,” Celestia said.
“I guess you're right. If only we could make a decision about the Tree of Harmony.”
Silence fell between the two.
Celestia went back to watching the land. She drew her attention to the clouds in the sky.
She looked around for any pegasi but she wasn’t too surprised when she didn't see any. They were all, most likely, working on Cloudsdale. She wasn’t sure what drew her attention, but a lone cloud caught her gaze. At first glance, it looked like any other cloud in the sky, yet something about it seemed off.
“I’ll be right back.” Celestia flew to inspect the cloud.
As she got closer, she could see the cloud was pink. Clouds were supposed to be white. Why was this one pink? She poked it with her hoof and found it sticky.
Something’s off. She flew back to her sister.
“Luna, I feel there’s something wrong with that cloud.” She pointed at the pink cloud
“What is it sister?”
“I don’t know. It seems way out of place.”
“That is weird. What do you think it is? Some weird cloud we’ve never seen before?”
“I don’t think so; I have not heard any of the pegasi talk about such a cloud, and I would think we would have seen it by now.”
“We should tell them right away.”
The two sisters went to Cloudsdale where they were met with an odd sight. There were more of the same weird fluffy pink clouds. Many had trapped several of the pegasi; however, that wasn’t the weirdest thing they saw. The whole of Cloudsdale was upside down supported by literal flying pigs.
It was without a doubt an odd scene, and Celestia had to make she wasn’t dreaming. She closed her eyes and counted to three. When she opened them, nothing changed.
“What do you think Luna?”
“I’m not sure what to think, but we do need to help them.”
The two went about freeing the ponies from their sticky prisons. After getting a piece of cloud in her mouth, Celestia found it was made of cotton candy which only added to her confusion.
When all the ponies were freed, the two sisters asked if anypony knew what caused this weird event. None had. They all said the clouds randomly appeared out of nowhere; It defied all logic. Clouds didn’t appear out of thin air, and they sure weren’t made out of cotton candy.
“Tia, it’s getting late. I know you want to figure this out, but we need to go to sleep.”
“There is still time in the day. We could stay up for a bit longer.”
“Tia, We have been up for hours. It will be much easier for us to solve this problem with a full night’s sleep.”
“You think it might be a big problem?”
“Yes, did you not?”
“I thought it was a weird, but I am not sure if I would call it a problem. It still could be a part of this land that we haven’t seen before.”
“Maybe it is, but either way we need to rest, and I need to raise the moon.”
“Ok, good night sister.”
***
The next morning Celestia woke up on a bed of cards surrounded by a checkered floor.
“Luna!” Celestia called out. Where was she? How did she get here? Where was Luna?
“Luna!” Celestia called again. No answer.
She got to her hooves and looked around. She needed to find her sister. She needed to find out where she was.
She couldn’t see anything thing familiar. There were no trees or landmarks she could see. Even the ground she walked on was the strange checkered floor.
Ahead of her, she saw the tree of harmony. It was the only familiar thing in this land, so she headed for it.
“Sister, can you hear me?” She tried calling again.
“Yes, I am over here.”
“Thank goodness.” Celestia walked towards Luna’s voice. She was glad to hear something familiar; however, after seeing Luna, she wished she hadn’t.
Luna was shrouded in black. She carried a reaper's sword and looked like a something out of a nightmare.
“I was glad to your be sister,” Luna said right before she swung her sword.
Celestia woke up in a cold sweat. She was still in her castle; everything was fine.
Luna rushed into Celestia’s room. “Are you okay, sister.”
“Yes, I am fine. It was a bad dream, that’s all.”
“That’s good. I think you need to look outside.”
Celestia walked outside with Luna where she was greeted with a scene exactly like her dream.
“Where are we?”
“I don’t think we moved, but something happened; everything looks different.”
“What do you say we do?”
“We need to find out where we are. Maybe others are around her. We can’t be the only ponies here.”
Celestia and Luna flew to get a better vantage. From there, they could see the whole world was just as chaotic. In the middle of it all, they saw a floating structure.
They flew over to see what it was.
When they were closer, they could see it was a throne. On it sat the strangest creature they had ever seen. Celestia immediately recognized it as a draconequus from the books she read.
“Oh, what do we have here.” The creature said. It disappeared and repaired a split second later, right next to Celestia. “Ooh, an alicorn. Fun”
“Where are we and how did we get here?” Luna said.
“Well, I think you should ask your parents about that second question. As for your first, you are in Equestria, but I might change it to something else. How does Discordia sound, or maybe Chaosville.”
“You're lying. We are not foals that can’t tell the difference two places.”
“I am many things, but I am not a liar. You are in Equestria.” The creature pointed up toward a big sign that said: You are in Equestria.
“You are lying,” Luna repeated.
“I’m not.” The creature snapped and for a split second everything was as they knew it; then it snapped again turn things back. “I really like what I’ve done to the place; it’s a perfect shade of purple.” It snapped again causing a tree to explode. “Oh, where are my manners. I’m Discord.” It extended its paw.
“As the princesses of Equestria, we command you to stop this at once,” Celestia said.
“Not into handshakes I see.” Discord pulled its paw back. ”You need to understand I’m the leader of this country now, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”
Celestia glanced at Luna, who responded with a nod. They prepared their horns and fired. A bright beam hit Discord straight in the chest.
Celestia could hear Discord’s screams.
After a few seconds, they stopped.
In front of them was Discord, laughing his head off.
“It’s funny; You think you can defeat me, the spirit of chaos. I wish we could keep doing this; however, I have things to do. I don’t want you getting in my way, so get out of my sight.”
The two sisters were suddenly in a different part of Equestria.
“What are we supposed to do?”
“I don’t know. We threw our strongest attack at him, yet nothing happened.”
“We need to find more about this creature.”
“How?”
“Let’s try to find our castle. Maybe one of my books has something on this creature.”
The two sisters made their way back to their castle. It was confusing trying to navigate the chaotic country.
On their way back they saw other ponies. Celestia saw all color drained from them; they were miserable. She vowed then and there that they would defeat Discord for destroying their home.
***
Years later, the sisters were still trying to learn all they could. They were held up in their castle, which, thankfully, had not fallen to Discord's magic.
They had tried to defeat the draconequus several times, and several times they had failed.
But, they learned a lot from their experience. They had read books about their land, especially those about the tree. They still weren’t where its power came from, but they learned it was powerful enough to keep the native vegetation from ravaging the land.
it was this power that kept their small castle safe from the chaos of the outside.
They tried to find books about Discord. Sadly, they found few on him, and what they did read described Discord as a being possessing a power beyond anything Equestria had seen.
Celestia knew what they had to do. She knew the tree itself had power. She also knew the gems held a powerful held an equal magic. If they were to take the gems away the place should be fine.
Celestia walked to Luna, “I think I know how we can stop Discord.”
Luna, who had been tracing circles on the floor, perked up. “You do!”
“Yes, follow me.” Celestia led Luna out the castle toward the Tree of Harmony,
“Discord has so much power, and we have tried to defeat him so many times. How is this time going to be different?”
“We’ve tried many things, but there is one thing we haven’t tried.”
Luna gasped, “The tree of harmony!”
Celestia flew to the tree gathering the five gems in her magic.
“Are you sure?”
Celestia knew her sister was nervous about using the elements. The books had warned about the havoc the vegetation could do on the land. She knew the risks they were taking, but their backs were to the wall.
“We’ve managed to discover the only means by which we can defeat Discord.”
She used her magic to gather all the gems. Then, the center of the tree opened, exposing a sixth gem; this one a six-pointed star.
“Even without these elements, the Tree of Harmony will possess a powerful magic. As long that magic remains it will continue to control all contain all that grows here,” Celestia said
She turned around. For a fleeting second feeling like she was being watched. She shrugged it off as nerves. This was not the time to get scared.
“Let’s go reclaim our land.”
They flew out of the ravine.
They saw Discord, on his throne. They had tried so many times to defeat this evil creature. Every time coming up with failure. This was their last chance; they had to defeat him for the sake of every pony that was ruined by Discord's chaos.
Luna and Celestia walked up to Discord.
“Oh, this so much fun. How about a game of pin the tail on the pony?” Discord said.
Celestia watched Discord; he looked so giddy as if he was king of the world.
He came out of nowhere. No one except him. How do you prepare for something unpredictable? Something that had the power to bend and warp the very fabric of reality. His whole goal seemed to be to create as much chaos as possible. He didn’t care about how other ponies felt.
But, this chaos was about to the end. She and her sister were going to bring all this to an end once and for all.
“Playtime is over for you Discord.”
“Oh, I doubt that.”
Celestia couldn’t let his words distract her. It was just more nonsense.
Celestia and Luna pulled the elements out of the bag
Celestia hoped the power of these gems from the tree were enough. They were enough to hold the magic of the forest; surely, they were enough to defeat Discord.
“Oh, what do you got there?”
“The elements of harmony.”
“With them, we will defeat you.” Luna finished Celestia’s sentenced.
Celestia poured all her magic into the elements. They spun in a giant flurry surrounding the two sisters.
As Celestia continued to fire her magic into the gem, she could feel the power of their love radiating from her sister making her push harder.
The two sisters touched their horns together, making a beam shoot from the gems hitting Discord encasing him in a stone prison.
Celestia stopped her magic and put the gems back into her back. She walked to the statue and tapped it.
“Is it over?” Luna asked
“I think so.”
Celestia stared at the statue; Luna walked over to Celestia and embraced her.
It was over; it was finally over. The land was a wreck, but they didn’t have to worry about Discord anymore.
“This land obviously has great evil. We must be ready to defend this land.”
“We will be ready, together. Nothing will defeat us; not now that we have the elements of harmony.”
“I’m sure we will learn about these elements as time goes on. We have much to learn.”
“Yes, but for now, let us fix the wreck that this land has become.”
The two sisters took to the skies. Using the elements, they mended their broken land.
The two flew over and settled down on their mountain. Maybe everything wasn’t perfect in the world. Maybe they would have trouble later on, but for now, they were just two sisters.