> ... Of Two Evils
>  by Ponycletian
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> 1
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	Princess Celestia was nervous. More nervous than she had been in centuries. Even the return of Nightmare Moon a mere six days ago hadn’t worried her half as much. The Elements of Harmony were unusual things, their mechanisms still mostly unknown, so anytime anything at all happened involving them, Celestia became slightly paranoid. Shining Armor, Cadence, and Luna had all given her strange looks when she had ordered that a permanent guard be posted around two statues in the gardens, with orders to report any changes every half hour. Luna, at least, understood why she had chosen those two particular statues, but Celestia could tell that Luna didn’t share her concerns. However, being thought slightly disturbed was a small price to pay to ensure the safety of Equestria, for all of Equestria would be imperilled if her concerns were true and she did nothing. 

Six days, only six days, and already the guards had missed an update. It was 11:36 at night as she rushed towards the garden, mentally preparing for the worst. Which of them would have escaped, Discord or Concord, chaos or order? From what she had seen so far, it would probably be Discord, since even though everything was quiet, he was usually unpredictable, so allowing her to learn of his escape might all be part of some elaborate game. Concord, on the other hoof, had always been direct and efficient, so she couldn’t imagine him allowing his escape to be detected, unless it was part of some larger plan. Discord could be playing games, and revenge was something he would indulge in, but Concord wasn’t usually so petty as to stoop to revenge. If he wanted them out of the way, he would simply crush them before they knew he was a threat. This calmed her slightly, since Discord was a threat that they could confront, Concord wasn’t. And, she reminded herself, there is always a chance that it was just a mistake and that neither of them has escaped. She wasn’t convinced of that last explanation, but it was important to hold out hope.

Hope, she thought as she entered the gardens at a gallop, spread her wings, and took to the sky, scanning the gardens below for any indication of what had happened. Her heart sank when she saw the statue of Discord, standing upon its pedestal as it had for more than 1500 years. She could see no sign of the guards who should have been observing the statue. Girding herself for what she might see, she turned and dove towards the place where the statue of Concord, an alicorn rather than draconequus, should be. What she saw confused her, for on the ground before the statue were the four guards, all of them asleep. As she settled to the ground, she allowed herself a little hope that maybe, just maybe, nothing  was wrong after all. Such breaches of protocol were rare, but it had happened before. 

The four guards were lying in a perfect row, arrayed before the statue, and in order to approach them, she would have to cross its line of vision. This felt like Discord’s doing, the guards were bait to lure her into some ridiculous trap, but why place them in front of Concord’s statue? Bracing herself as best she could, she strode towards the sleeping guards, but keeping her gaze fastened on the face of the statue. She realized the truth the moment the eyes of the statue became visible for they weren’t the unresponsive, stony eyes of a statue, but were grey, and cold, and very, very, much alive. Suddenly, there was a dim flash, and a gust of wind, and the stone around Concord turned to dust and blew away. What was left was a grey alicorn. Everything about him was grey, his eyes, his mane, his tail, his coat. His horn and cutie mark were the only exceptions. His horn was a fluted, transparent crystal that was illuminated from within by a subdued grey light. His cutie mark was completely black, and consisted of a unicorn horn and a quill that crossed to form an ‘x’.

“Celestia, or shall I call you Princess after all these years,” he said in an even voice that was devoid of emotion. He paused for a moment, as if to allow Celestia a chance to respond, but when Celestia failed to reply, he said chidingly, “am I truly so terrible that the Great Princess Celestia can not so much as return a simple greeting? come now Princess, what has you so worried?”

Celestia was annoyed by his taunting, but refused to accept the bait. “What have you done to my guards, Concord? You should know that I will not allow you, or anypony else to harm my subjects.” she said confidently.

Concord sounded more amused than worried as he said, “Really, Princess, the sight of four sleeping ponies is all it took render you speechless? If that is all, then rest easy, for they are merely sleeping, and will awake well rested and ready for duty. You should know,” he said mimicking her, “that I would not harm innocent ponies needlessly, and these guards are merely guilty of trusting you, something that I would, from experience, advise against.”

“The problem was always that your definition of “need” was different than everypony else’s. But if they are unharmed as you insist, then wake them, and permit them to leave. As you said, they are innocent of any wrongdoing, so please do not involve them in whatever plan you have for revenge.”

“Revenge,” Concord said, acting as if the idea had never occurred to him, “is that what you think I am after?”

“Of course, why else would you put my guards to sleep and lure me here in the middle of the night if not for revenge?”

“Why, to talk of course,” he said with a grin, which despite the genuine warmth it conveyed, caused Celestia to cringe, “for 1500 years is a long time to go without conversing with another pony, and we are, after all, social creatures.”

“That doesn’t explain what my guards have to do with anything.”

“But it does, ‘tia dear,” Celestia bridled at his familiarity, “ for if you had known that I had escaped, if I hadn’t disguised myself and used these ponies as bait, then you would have simply summoned the Elements of Harmony from Ponyville and turned me back to stone, unless I summoned you by force, of course. However, I did not think that doing so would make a very good impression, so I opted for the plan whose only cost was that four guards got a better nights sleep than they otherwise would have.” His horn glowed slightly brighter for an instant, and in a flash of grey light, the four guards disappeared. Celestia looked furious, but Concord cooed soothingly, “there, there, I just put them to bed in the barracks, they will awake in the morning refreshed and ready to fight to the death in your defense, I promise.”

“Why should I believe anything you say Concord, what makes you think I trust you?”

“Whether to believe me or not, that is your choice, and honestly, you probably shouldn’t trust me, given our history,” Concord said, his voice flat once more, “however, should you decide not to trust a single word I say, then this meeting shall be rather unproductive since you shall have to independently verify everything. But before you make your decision, consider first who among us has given the other better reason for mistrust.”

Celestia fell silent at this, trying to formulate a plan. It was important that she find some way to contact the Elements, but with Concord seemingly intent on speaking with her privately, she simply could see no way to extract herself. She was also hesitant to raise some alarm because she wasn’t sure how Concord would treat any guards who proved to be actively hostile. As far as she knew, he hadn’t harmed those guards, but that may only have been because he surprised them, but if they had tried to fight. She didn’t want to consider what would happen to Canterlot if a fight broke out between Concord and the guards. As the silence lengthened, Celestia noticed Concord doing something unheard of, he was actually fidgeting anxiously. She had never before seen the ponification of order look as impatient as he did now. She started to wonder what exactly it was that he was waiting for that would unsettle him so. Finally, it seemed as if Concord had had enough, and interrupted her thoughts in an annoyed voice.

“As much fun as all this sitting around and staring is, for the last 1500 years I have done nothing else. And however puzzling your current dilemma is, I simply can not stand to waste what little time I have watching you unravel it. Therefore, I will make you a deal, one that I think you will find agreeable. I say this because it costs you nothing and robs me of any hope of escape, even you should find those terms acceptable. Even better, as it will offer you another opportunity to betray me, and as before, there will be nothing I can do to stop it. I will bring the Element bearers here, and allow you to arm them, and all I ask for is a day in which to convince you, Luna, and the Elements that I need not be imprisoned again.”

The bitterness evident in his voice hurt Celestia, and even though she knew that what she and Luna had done had been necessary, to hear Concord voice just how little he apparently thought of her stung. She briefly considered his proposal before replying in a stern and regal voice, “I will not allow you to influence the Elements of Harmony, neither mentally, physically, nor magically. I will send them a summons, and will dispatch chariots to bring them here, once they arrive, we may speak further.” 

Concord smiled as he said cheerfully, “much better, and thank you for your rapid response. However, I must decline, your proposal is much too slow, so I will allow you to write them a letter informing them that they will be magically summoned, let us say, an hour after the receipt of the message. The time is negotiable, since I am uncertain how long it would take for Ms. Sparkle to rouse each of her friends. Any objections?”

Celestia felt a pang of fear when he mentioned Twilight for that meant that he knew who at least one of the element bearers was. She tried to sound confident as she replied, “no, I will not agree to you interacting with the elements in any way, that is final.”

Concord sighed dramatically as his smile morphed into a mischievous grin. “Fine, if you insist.” Celestia released a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding, only to gasp as, in a flash of grey, all six of the element bearers appeared between them soundly asleep, beds and all. Concord said pleasantly, “I have a revised agreement for you to consider. I will not interfere as you awaken the element bearers, retrieve the Elements themselves, and arm these six ponies in return for 24 hours to convince you, Luna, and these six ponies here, not to imprison me.”

Celestia glared at Concord, who smiled back benignly, and said, “if you think that such callous disregard of my orders will help you convince me or increase your chances at all, then you are sorely mistaken.” If her words had any effect on Concord, he did not show it. Instead he looked almost jubilant.

“My actions were not intended to convince you, but rather to get you to agree to allow me to convince you. I take it that you have decided to accept my revised offer?”

Celestia nodded slowly, and with graceful, measured movements, walked to the bedside of her faithful student. Speaking loudly enough to be heard, but in as soothing a voice as she could muster she said, “Twilight... Twilight Sparkle, you need to wake up.” Celestia smiled as her protégé mumbled something incoherent and turned away from Celestia. Even Concord seemed to be moved by this little scene. Celestia, raising her voice just a little and tried again. “Twilight, this isn’t a dream, you are back in Canterlot, and need to wake up.”

This time, the message got through to her weary student’s brain, and with a small stretch and a yawn, she opened her eyes and saw the lights of Canterlot Castle framed against the brilliant, glistening expanse of the night sky, but the thing that most interested her was the strange, grey alicorn who was smiling warmly down at her. Worry was the farthest thing from her mind at that moment, for the only thing she could think was, this certainly is a very vivid dream. That was until a very familiar voice said from behind her, “Twilight, this isn’t a dream, this is real.” 

That was when she panicked.

> 2
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	Concord couldn’t recall the last time he had had to work this hard to keep from showing emotion. He had managed to keep his benign smile in place, but only through immense effort. The spectacle had begun when Twilight Sparkle’s sleep addled brain had connected Celestia’s statement that she was not, in fact, dreaming, her still being in bed, said bed’s current location being in the Canterlot gardens, and some strange alicorn looking down at her and smiling. Her reaction to this state of affairs had been... unexpected.

“Oh no, oh no, oh no, I mean, hello Prince-oof...” she had tried to say. The frantic unicorn had attempted to do several things at once, and naturally, had succeeded at none of them. She tried to turn herself to face Celestia, stand up, and look around at her surroundings, all at once. The effect was that she became entangled in her blanket, and fell to the ground before Celestia in a wriggling lump. Undeterred by this development, her horn flared brightly, and in a flash, she disappeared, reappearing a moment later at the foot of her bed. Most likely due to her current agitated state, she had also brought along the blanket in which she had been ensnared. Losing any semblance of composure, she growled menacingly before the offending blanket disintegrated in a flash of purple light. Having finally dealt with that first pressing issue, she rose to her hooves and resumed panicking about everything else. 

Celestia tried at this juncture to soothe the increasingly agitated mare. “Twilight, calm down, you have not done anything wrong,” which puzzled Concord briefly, why would Twilight think she had done something wrong? Celestia Continued, “you are in Canterlot, summoned because I have need of the Elements of Harmony, I need your help, Twilight,” she said rather more insistently. This finally broke through Twilight’s panic, which was good because she had been in the process of trying to either teleport her bed, or, failing that, burn it. Presumably to get it out of the gardens where it didn’t belong. All of a sudden, she just froze, her face transforming from one of frenzied panic to one of thoughtfulness as she finally examined her surroundings.

“Wait, how did my friends get here, I know that I am not powerful enough to move us all at once, well certainly not this far and with the beds too. I haven’t heard of anypony strong enough to transport somepony else this far, except for you Princess,” the end of that statement sounded more perfunctory than anything else. The unicorn, still lost in her own thoughts, continued,” but to move six ponies, and their surroundings from Ponyville to Canterlot would require... I don’t even know the math to calculate the magic required.” Her voice tapered off at this, as she looked around for the strange alicorn pony, hoping for answers. 

I can see why ‘tia likes this one, this little lavender bundle of neuroses is simply hilarious, and yet despite her obvious fear of, what, disappointing Celestia, she transitioned from terror to thoughtfulness instantly. This could be interesting, he concluded to himself as the lavender unicorn’s gaze settled upon him. Spreading his wings, he flew the short distance between his pedestal and Twilight, coming to rest and immediately lowering himself into a graceful bow. Still bowing, he said, “Lady Sparkle, I am honored to make your acquaintance.” Outwardly, his face was solemn, dignified, but he smiled inwardly as he considered the confusion that his behavior must be causing the pony. Indeed, she was flustered, unused to being showed such deference by an alicorn, the only ones of which she was aware being Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and Princess Cadence. 

Doing her best to imitate Celestia’s bearing and tone when receiving dignitaries or important guests, she said, “please, rise and be welcome, but I am afraid that you have me at a disadvantage. You are clearly aware of who I am, but, meaning no disrespect, I must confess that your identity is unknown to me.” Concord could see how she quickly glanced over her shoulder at Celestia, who conferred upon her student an approving nod and smile, before returning to her furious glare once Twilight’s head was turned. 

“Really,” Concord said, feigning surprise, “surely such an excellent scholar such as yourself would know of me.” Twilight shook her head and averted her eyes as if it was somehow her fault. Maybe that was a bit unkind, it certainly isn’t her fault Celestia kept me secret, he thought, feeling a twinge of regret at having made the unicorn feel guilty. “I am Concord, Lord of Order, Knight of the Order of Equestria, Protector of the Realm, King-Regent of Equestria, and the Founder and former Emperor of the Holy Romane Empire, at your service.” Concord bowed low once more as he finished, before adding, “but please, call me Concord. Such titles as I possess mean little enough after all these years, and such formality would ruin what I hope will be a friendly gathering.”

Twilight was clearly struggling to understand everything that had just been said, and turned to Celestia for confirmation that Concord’s claims were true. Celestia had bridled at the mention of King-Regent of Equestria, and was still glaring daggers at Concord, who seemed not to mind. Twilight, realizing that she did not have Celestia’s attention, said meekly, “uhhhhhmmm, Princess?” She seemed to be at an utter loss for how to continue, but Celestia, attention diverted successfully from her little staring match, said reluctantly, “I suppose what he said is technically true, but further discussion shall have to wait until later.”

Celestia, face composed and formal once more, looked at Concord, who smiled back placidly. “Further discussion may wait until after the terms of our agreement have been fulfilled. I am going to gather the Elements of Harmony, and you have given your word that you will not interfere.” Turning to look at Twilight, both her face and tone softened as she explained, “Concord has asked that he be given a day in which to convince us that he is no longer a threat to Equestria. A condition of that agreement was that you and the other element bearers be allowed to keep the Elements on your persons to ensure that he does not try something. So, while I am gone, and it will be but briefly, why don’t you go and awaken your friends and explain what has happened so far.” She turned back to Concord, all softness gone once more and said,” and you are not to do anything, for should you touch so much as a hair on any of their heads, you will be back in stone before you can say, breach of contract.”

Concord actually laughed aloud at this, saying happily, “surely you jest, for when have I ever broken an agreement. That wouldn’t be very orderly of me now would it, but semantics aside, be sure to inform Princess Luna that her presence is requested, for that was part of our agreement.”

Celestia, annoyed by his flippant treatment of her remark, said evenly, “I do not recall anything about involving Princess Luna in this affair, and besides, her recent encounter with the Elements of Harmony has left her tired, and unwell, and to ask her to be present for such an odious conversation would be most unkind.”

Concord’s cheery demeanor fell at these words, genuine concern showing through his normally regulated façade. “If you will recall, I was clear that the ponies I was to convince were to be you, ‘tia, Luna, and these six here. But if you feel that asking Princess Luna to visit the gardens to attend these meetings would be too taxing, then may I be allowed to visit her and ask her personally?”

Celestia was surprised by how his voice was almost pleading at the end, but said, “no, Concord. If you insist on her being present, then it will not be you who informs her.” She had spoken firmly, but she knew, by the time she started her second sentence, she knew that Concord would not be dissuaded.

Calmly, Concord said, “I do not insist that she be present, what I insist is that she be informed of my return and of my request that she attend, nothing more, nothing less. If she chooses to decline to attend, that is her decision, but I will not allow you to influence her choice, anymore than I am allowed to influence the choices of the element bearers. Besides,” he said, voice hardening into an accusatory tone, “you have never been the target of the Elements’ power, you have always been the one inflicting their punishments on others.” Concord suddenly looked sad as he finished in a weak voice, “there is nopony alive who knows what she is going through half so well as myself, and if there is anypony capable of doing something to help, then it will be me.” At that, he took off, a grey blur against the sky as he flew towards the chamber that he sensed housed the Princess of the Night.

Celestia, irritated by Concord’s utter disregard of her wishes, something that one might think she would have gotten used to, was not so irritated as to miss this golden opportunity. While Concord was off with Luna, she could gather the Elements and make a few preparations without fear of Concord harming the element bearers, the only true defense she had against his power. She set off at a gallop, unseemly for a Princess, but necessity was necessarily more important than propriety. Calling hastily over her shoulder to a confused Twilight, “I shall return soon my faithful student, wake your friends, and tell them what has happened so far, but under no circumstances should you believe anything Concord says in my absence.”

> 3
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	Concord alighted lightly upon the balcony, but as soon as he could no longer be seen from the ground, he vanished, re-appearing in front of a large set of intricately designed double doors. He noted that the the surface of the doors had been decorated so as to imitate the night sky, with the full Moon featured prominently, but being little concerned with such aesthetic qualities, turned to face one of the clearly startled guards. In a clipped, officious tone, he demanded, “do either of you have the authority to convey a message to the Princess?”

Neither guard responded immediately, so Concord repeated his question more deliberately, “I said, do either of you have the authority to convey a message to the Princess?” Not satisfied by their response, or lack thereof, he singled out the guard to his right and said, “you are to inform Princess Luna that Lord Concord requests a meeting at her earliest convenience.”

The guard, snapped out of his stupor by having received a direct command, turned and passed through the doors which promptly closed behind him. Concord had doubted that his plan would be effective, for all it would have taken was either of the guards realizing that, as far as they knew, he had no authority to be making demands. Even though he did, legally, possess the authority to give them orders, his status as King-Regent never having been officially rescinded, there was absolutely no way that these guards could have known that. Even as their ignorance served him, he bristled at the idea that royal guards would obey a pony who appeared out of nowhere and started issuing orders. Having wings and a horn surely contributed to their decision to obey him, but it was still a serious security concern.

Concord used the time spent waiting to reflect upon what had happened thus far. Overall, he felt that everything was going as planned, but if he had learned anything from his imprisonment, it was that such vague feelings were not to be trusted. Perhaps if he had subjected his relationship with Luna and Celestia to greater scrutiny, then he wouldn’t have become a statue to begin with. It had been emotions that had doomed him before, he would not allow them to do so again.

Determined therefore to scrutinize everything that had happened so far for any potential pitfalls or errors, he thought back to his escape. How he had escaped was irrelevant at this time so he considered the guards. The guards had been stationed there to ensure that should Discord or myself escape, there would be some notice. By incapacitating both sets of guards, I ensured that somepony would learn of my escape. No harm came to the guards, so neither Celestia, nor the guards themselves, have any reason for lasting anger. It was one of the most passive approaches to gaining Celestia’s attention.

Satisfied with the way that the situation with the guards had played out, he moved on to his conversation with Celestia, prior to the arrival of the element bearers. Celestia is the main obstacle to my freedom. If she is to be swayed in the slightest, then I must play this just right. She has definite expectations of how I am going to behave, so the trick is to modify my behavior just enough to make it acceptable to her, without making her worry that it is all just an act. When I revealed myself, I was arrogant, haughty, dismissive, as she would have expected. She expected me to gloat, so I did, after a fashion. Then I surprised her by being honest when she asked why she should trust me and saying she shouldn’t. What is most important is that I not seem unreasonable. I followed this by letting her see my impatience, something I would never have done before my imprisonment. Too many changes too abruptly, however, and she would doubt my sincerity, so I had to play to her expectations once more. While making my proposal, I insulted her trustworthiness, I acted bitter and resentful, as if I still held a grudge. I had to be emotionally manipulative, without being cruel, and if her reaction was any indication, it worked perfectly, since she showed guilt rather than indignation at my statements.

Pleased that he had so far managed, in his own estimation, to act as Celestia, or anypony for that matter, would have expected a pony who was just released from a 1500 year long prison sentence to act, he considered the actual negotiation. Celestia had been adamant that I was not to use magic on the element bearers, but I did not think that she actually expected me to agree. Allowing myself to show impatience again should have reinforced my image of being a different pony, at least in some ways, while my promptly ignoring her should have reassured her, as much as being ignored can reassure anypony, that I was not acting. 

His thoughts about Twilight Sparkle and the other element bearers were brief and almost dismissive. The way to win them over is the easiest since they have no preconceived notions of how I should act. So long as I remain courteous, calm, and reasonable around them, I have no doubt that they will wish to let me go. After all, it isn’t very ‘friendly’ to imprison somepony as a statue for order knows how long when said pony has done nothing wrong. 

It had been nearly 10 minutes, and the guard hadn’t yet returned. Concord, feeling genuine impatience, but refusing to show it, wondered what exactly was taking so long. It isn’t like I have all night, you know, he thought bitterly. But since he was unwilling to further violate any of the Castle’s rules for fear of giving Celestia any more ammunition, he turned his thoughts to where exactly he and Luna stood with relation to one another.

During his reign, Luna had been the only pony that he would have considered a friend. She had been willing to trust him from the start, and did not hesitate to support his elevation to regent. Celestia on the other hoof, never trusted him because she feared, not without reason, that once in power, he would never relinquish it, and that she would have been responsible for dooming her little ponies to an eternity under his rule. Celestia had done what she had to to win the war against Discord, and nothing more. Luna had done that, but since she did not view him as a necessary evil, they had gotten along far better than he and Celestia had. He believed that the real reason Celestia disliked him was because, even though their parent’s, his by adoption, had left the newly created Kingdom of Equestria to Luna and herself, the first threat they faced after becoming rulers was one that forced them to hand him all the power. Concord believed that Celestia resented this necessity, and wanted both him and Discord out of the way so that it could never happen again.

He and Luna had actually been friends, or so he had thought. During his 500 year reign, he never once slept, never took a day off, never relinquished absolute control over every working aspect of what had started as a small princedom, grown into a sizeable kingdom, and was finally acknowledged by all as an immense empire. He didn’t even eat at meals, instead nourishing himself magically as he worked. The only distraction he allowed himself was a one hour break with Princess Luna from 11:30 P.M. to 12:30 A.M. during which time they would discuss anything that was going on. She would tell him stories and observations from all around the empire, tell him her opinions on what was going on diplomatically, or politically, or even just talk about what had happened that day. Most of their conversations ended up being policy oriented anyway, but they were the only times where Concord could speak without everypony in the empire listening.

To say that he had trusted her would be an understatement, for he had actually been informed, by his personal adjutant no less, that Luna and Celestia had been acting in what he considered to be an unusual way. His response to this concern, delivered by a respected and trusted aid, had been to laugh at the poor pony. For the Emperor to laugh during open court was unheard of, certainly not having happened in living memory, but to be the object of such a rebuke was enough to permanently disgrace anypony. Concord had apologized to the disbelieving pony, the Emperor apologizing was also almost unheard of, and since that pony reported directly to Concord, the event had no serious impact on his career, at least not so long as the empire stood. And, thanks to Concord’s faith in his sisters, that would not be for long.

It had been less than a week since that incident in court when he had received a letter from Luna requesting that Celestia be allowed to accompany her to their regular meeting. Still arrogantly believing that they, or Luna at least, considered him as close a friend as he considered her to be, no thought of treachery ever crossed his mind. So it happened that when he arrived for their meeting, he found both sisters prepared and waiting with the Elements of Harmony, and before he could settle on any response, he found himself encased in stone, where he would stay for the next 1497 years, 7 months, 8 days, 23 hours, and 51 minutes.

Had this been the end of their relationship, Concord would have had no problems determining exactly where they stood, but it was not. During the years following his imprisonment, Luna had continued with their nightly meeting, only with him being a non-participatory attendee. She had apologized profusely for what they had done, saying that Celestia had pointed out that after so many years in power, after so much effort spent building an empire, that he was unlikely to give it all up just because they had beat Discord with the Elements. Celestia had also reasoned, or so Luna claimed, that had Concord learned of the existence of a power greater than his own, something capable of defeating him, then he would likely spare no effort in either destroying them or rendering them inoperable. She figured that this would involve, as a first step, killing or otherwise disposing of the element bearers, i.e. them.

Concord had found this reasoning to be sound, since at no point during his reign had he ever allowed even the slightest hint of rebellion or independence. Any such movement was quashed quickly and ruthlessly as soon as it was detected, so Luna and Celestia had cause for concern. Concord could say in his defence however, that, he had been elevated to the regency to fight Discord, which is what the proclamation elevating him had said. He only had a legal justification to rule so long as the war with Discord was ongoing, but the moment it ended, he was obligated to abdicate and return control to the rightful rulers, Luna and Celestia.

The entire conflict boiled down to a matter of trust. If Luna and Celestia trusted Concord to step down after the defeat of Discord, as he was legally obligated to do, then all they needed to do was take the Elements and beat Discord. In that scenario, Discord was gone, Concord stepped down, Luna and Celestia returned to power, and the oppressive empire of Concord’s devising would be dismantled to allow the ponies to live freer, happier lives. If however, Concord had refused to step down, then the outcome was vastly different, and not for the better. As they saw it, they couldn’t defeat Discord without deciding how to handle Concord because if Concord had learned of Discord’s defeat at somepony else’s whooves, then the existence of something more powerful than himself must necessarily be discovered as well. They were unwilling to risk Concord learning of the Elements of Harmony, killing their present bearers to prevent their use, and continuing his reign unopposed, and therefore decided that he must go as well. 

Concord’s views had been comparatively simple. He would abdicate when Discord was defeated because that was what he was legally obligated to do. It was the lawful choice, and even though the transition from his empire to their monarchy might have been difficult, he would still have been there to ensure an orderly transition, only in a subordinate position.

So for the 500 years between his fall and her transformation into Nightmare Moon, she had spent at least an hour each night talking to him, informing him of the state of the kingdom, of what was going on in their lives, and just generally voicing her thoughts. It had saddened him to realize that the reason why she was talking to a statue of a pony whose life she had destroyed through a terrible betrayal for hours each night was that she literally had nopony else to talk to. Even during the years immediately following his betrayal, when the wound was freshest, he couldn’t help but realize the toll that it was taking upon what had been his only friend. As victimized as he felt, he realized that his fall had impacted other ponies than himself as much if not more. He was a statue, incapable of movement, unable to influence the world, free of responsibilities, and utterly ignored by the turmoils of the world, while Luna was at the center of a maelstrom, partially of her own devising, and was being visibly torn apart by the experience. By the time of her final transformation into Nightmare Moon centuries later, he had long thought of her as more of a victim than he himself was, and any anger he felt had long since died away.

The doors finally opened again as the guard returned. He said, tonelessly, “the Princess bade me inquire, which star was made on the first anniversary of Discord’s defeat?”

“Polaris, the North Star.”

The guard nodded to his compatriot, and they each opened one of the doors to allow Concord entry.
Concord entered quickly, and as the doors swung shut behind him he realized that, despite his reminiscing, he didn’t actually answer the question of how he should behave towards Princess Luna. I think that it is best that I just say that what is in the past is done, that I forgive her for her decision to imprison me, and that I hope that she can forgive me my trespasses as well. Having made up his mind, he set off quickly, both eager to see Princess Luna again, but mindful also that the longer it took for him to return to the courtyard, the longer Celestia would have to prepare and to turn the element bearers against him.

> 4
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	It was dark in the Night Princess’ chambers, but not so dark as to make navigation impossible. The first room he came to was clearly meant to be a study, with bookshelves lining the walls, a large, ornately crafted desk, and a large fireplace from which a soft crackling was emanating. What drew his attention though, were a pair of cushions sitting comfortably in front of said fireplace. The cushions appeared to be the only seating arrangements present, and yet he could not readily detect Princess Luna. As he prepared to move on to the next chamber, a small rustling noise drew his attention. Perched demurely upon one of the cushions was a tiny blue filly. 

She made a sound that Concord could only characterize as a squeak as he rounded upon her. He doubted that she had really expected it to be him, and he tried to imagine exactly what she would be feeling right about now. She was clearly smaller than she had been before, having apparently been reduced to the stature of a young filly. Assuming that her physical appearance had changed due to some diminution in her magical powers, then she was likely weaker than she had been in nearly 2000 years. So, given that she was physically weak and magically diminished, she was probably terrified by the return of a pony whose life she had personally helped to ruin and whose magic dwarfed hers even at her strongest.

Realizing this, Concord relaxed, and in a mild tone of voice said apologetically, “I am sorry i’m late, Luna, how are you?” As he spoke, he walked over to the cushion next to her, and looked from it to her expectantly, silently asking permission to sit.

Luna looked at him, eyes wide with shock, and slowly nodded. Clearly, Concord thought, she was expecting some kind of retribution or hostility. Concord was aware of the importance of returning to the gardens promptly, but also felt that it would be unspeakably rude to simply ignore the feelings of the filly before him. In an effort to get her to relax, he settled into the large cushion and said, “I was delighted to hear from the gardeners, it wasn’t addressed to me personally of course, of your return to the castle. Please don’t tell Celestia, but without you around, the castle was dreadfully boring.” Smiling slightly he said in a jovial, joking tone, “If living under my rule was even half so boring as being forced to watch Celestia’s, then I think i just might be able to understand why you did what you did.”

Luna’s cushion had clearly been meant for a pony of roughly Celestia’s size, and as such was already threatening to engulf the little Princess. At Concord’s words however, she seemed to shrink down further into the oversized cushion. Concord just waited patiently for Luna to respond, but after a minute of awkward silence, he leaned over and nuzzled her lightly. He could feel her trembling as he did so, and immediately regretted having come here personally. It would have been better to send a letter, to let her come if and when she was ready rather than forcing her to face me like this. He pulled his head back and said quietly, “Luna, are you alright?”

Luna said carefully, “Concord, do you remember what happened, what we... I did?” Her unnaturally high, filly-ish voice, quivered slightly as she finished. Concord simply nodded, causing her to flinch, but when he did nothing further she continued, “and you aren’t angry?”

Concord sighed as he said, “no, i’m not angry.” He smiled ruefully as he said, “Celestia may not believe me, since to anypony who hasn’t been through that kind of punishment, it only seems natural.” He paused for a moment, and saw Luna nodding a little, “but there can be no justice for an act like that, it is simply too monstrous, so all that one can do is move on. You and Celestia didn’t, couldn’t, really know what the Elements would do, so while that doesn’t make it right, I know that you weren’t being malicious. If it makes you feel any better, I was sad that you had to experience such a punishment as well, nopony i’ve ever seen deserves it.”

“Thank you, Concord, it does make me feel better, but what about Celestia, does she know you are back?” Luna asked, voice steady now.

“Yes, she knows. In fact, she is probably waiting for me down in the gardens with the Elements of Harmony and their bearers. It has taken me slightly longer than I expected to see you.”

Little Luna was shocked into momentary silence once more, eyes wide in horror. “Does she mean to imprison you again, how did the element bearers get here so quickly, why are you here if you know she is after you?” Luna was audibly concerned, but despite her seriousness, Concord couldn’t help but feel content. His mood only brightened when he saw Luna struggling to get out of the filly sized hole in the alicorn sized pillow.

Allowing his amusement to show, he used his magic to pluck Luna from her plush prison, and placed her gently on the floor beside him. She was not amused by his nonchalant behavior and said angrily, “Concord, this is not funny, you need to do something if you don’t want to end up as a statue again. Celestia probably won’t listen to me since she is still concerned about Nightmare Moon not being completely gone. And I could have gotten out of that cushion on my own, I was nearly to the edge!”

Luna smiled sheepishly as she realized what she said, and any remaining tension broke as Concord smiled at the blushing and embarrassed filly.

Smiling, he said, “I am sure you would have made it eventually, my dear. If there is one thing about you of which I am certain, it is that you are capable of overcoming any cushion should you so choose. And, so far as Celestia is concerned, I am not too terribly worried. Even after all this time, I am not entirely without leverage. Furthermore, I seriously doubt that the element bearers will want to imprison me, since they, unlike Celestia and yourself, have no reasons to really fear or mistrust me. I expect that I will be fine.”

Luna, serious once more, said, “I wouldn’t be so sure Concord. Celestia ordered those guards stationed as soon as we returned. Whatever you may believe, even after all these years, she thought of you and Discord as a pressing threat.”

“Then I will just have to prove her wrong. But before I go back to meet Celly dearest, I would like to make a deal with you.”

Luna said cautiously, “what is it?”

“I don’t know if you have realized the extent of the damage, but I can feel that your connection to the Moon has been completely severed.” Luna looked crestfallen at these words, but Concord, not wishing to frighten or sadden her, continued, “but I could repair that connection tonight, with your permission of course.”

Luna’s face rose with enthusiasm before she remembered that this deal would probably require something of her, and given what Concord was offering, she didn’t think it would be small.

Concord, recognizing her wary look, said, “you needn’t fear, my request isn’t something huge or dangerous. I merely want information. I would like for you to tell me why, when Celestia used the Elements against you the first time, you were banished to the Moon, rather than having Nightmare Moon purged like this time. Now let me explain my reasoning. Clearly, the Elements of Harmony function differently under different circumstances. For both Discord and myself, when wielded by the two of you, they turned us to stone. When it was only Celestia using them, Nightmare Moon only got banished. More recently, when those six ponies in the gardens used them on Nightmare Moon, she was destroyed, and you returned without your connection to the Moon. What I want to know is what caused the discrepancy between their first encounter with Nightmare Moon and this last time. If they work by enacting some kind of punishment decided upon by the bearers, than besides saying that Celestia is incredibly unimaginative for using the same punishment each time, it could also mean that in the hooves of these other ponies, that I may not be turned to stone at all. Maybe it was only Celestia’s desire to be rid of Discord and myself that led to us being made statues.”

Concord’s voice had become increasingly hopeful as he explained, despite the uncertain look on Luna’s face. Slowly, hesitantly, she said, “Concord, that is an interesting theory, but I don’t think it works that way. I don’t know if Celestia would like me telling you what happened, and besides, I don’t actually know, for sure, why things happened the way they did.” Luna’s voice just trailed off, and for a moment, neither spoke.

“Anything is better than what I know now, which is nothing, since once you were gone, no one bothered to speak to me and the gardens weren’t exactly an ideal location for discussions of such important events. However, I can understand your not wanting to undermine Celestia, since whatever the outcome, you will have to continue to interact with her. Better that you be on good terms.”

Luna looked at her hooves uncomfortably for several seconds before Concord continued, “no matter. Would you mind accompanying me to your balcony, it would be best to do this in the moonlight.” 
Luna looked over at the grey alicorn and said, “what would be best to do in the moonlight?”

“Why, restoring your connection to your namesake, of course. You can’t exactly be the Princess of the Moon  without controlling the Moon now can you.”

Luna stammered as she said, “b- b- but yo- you said that I needed to answer your question for you to do that.”

Concord laughed happily as he said, “it is important, my little Princess, to pay close attention to what one such as myself says. I said that I wanted to make a deal, and that was entirely true, I wanted the information and hoped that my offer to help would convince you to accept. However, your refusal of my desired deal did nothing to prevent me from helping you, free of charge. Consider it a gift for all those hours, for had it not been for you, I might not have stayed sane long enough to devise a way to pass the time.”

Luna was grinning eagerly as she cantered past Concord, who followed after at a leisurely pace, through her bedroom, and out onto her balcony. She spun around to face him and said, “is there anything that I need to do, is it going to be any different than last time?”

Concord said, “no, you just need to lie down. Wouldn’t want you to fall over.”

Luna did so, so Concord began the spell. It didn’t take long, considering what was being done. It wasn’t particularly flashy either, the only indication that anything was happening being the slightly brighter glow of Concord’s magic. When he had finished his task, he said quietly, “I am going to head back to the gardens now, when you are ready, you are welcome to join us. I would appreciate it, if for no other reason than to keep Celestia honest.”

Luna, head spinning from the sudden rush of power, could only offer a wobbly nod in response, so she didn’t see Concord walk to the edge of the balcony and take off. 

Concord, airborne now, looked below him for the group of ponies he was to meet. He was slightly surprised to see that Celestia was just returning, and wondered what she had done that had taken her so long. Deciding to spiral down, rather than simply swoop in and possibly startle them, he began his descent. He could see Celestia distributing the Elements of Harmony amongst the six ponies.
______________________________________________________________________________

Twilight Sparkle was watching with mild unease as the grey speck that was Concord spiraled towards the ground. Celestia, noticing her expression and following Twilight’s gaze, said reassuringly, “don’t worry, my faithful student, for with the Elements of Harmony and the power of friendship, there is nothing that you can’t overcome. He is powerful and crafty, but he is not invincible.” With those words, Celestia levitated the tiara that represented the Element of Magic onto Twilight Sparkle’s head. As if to emphasize what Celestia had said, the figure of Concord, who had been descending slowly, suddenly started to gain speed, his spiral turning into a dive as he fell faster and faster. Nopony, not even Celestia, expected what came next.

Concord hit the ground.
	

	
> 5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Concord ‘awoke’ to a sensation that was both unfamiliar and decidedly unpleasant, pain. Concord couldn’t remember if he had ever felt actual physical pain, much less when he may have done so, and he was rapidly coming to the conclusion that he did not like it. He had missed many things while in stone, but pain, he concluded, was not one of them.

Pushing aside such trivial thoughts for later consideration, he tried to recall exactly how he had come to be in such physical pain, and what he was going to do about it. 

He remembered flying slowly towards the gardens and the ponies assembled therein, and then, from nowhere, an overwhelming sense of loss, of isolation, of powerlessness, and then nothing. He had actually blacked out, he realized with chagrin.

The question now, he thought, is what exactly is my current condition. Normally, my magic would have repaired such trivial injuries as I may have sustained, so why then am I still in pain?

Concord, with great difficulty, managed to suppress the pain coming from almost every part of his body, forcing it to the back of his mind. Once he had done so, and could think somewhat clearly, he realized why he was still in pain, why he had fallen, why, even now after an unknown amount of time had passed, he was still mostly incapacitated.

Concord couldn’t feel his magic.

This wasn’t entirely true, for he could feel it, like a pony standing atop a dam, he could ‘see’ the vast reservoir of power, pent up behind a wall of shimmering, shifting, rainbow colored light. And he could feel a trickle of power flowing through the metaphorical dam, but compared to what he had lost, he might as well be completely powerless.

So, that is what happened. It appears that the Elements remember me, and their opinion of me does not seem to have improved with time. Once an enemy of Harmony, always an enemy of Harmony, I suppose, he thought wearily, but lying here, I assume I am lying, helps nopony, least of all me.

Calling on that small trickle of power left him, he used it to start repairing his eyes. Progress was painfully slow, and Concord would have sighed at the terrible pun if he had been able. Progress was slow, not because he was too weak to make the repairs, but because he couldn’t use more than a fraction of the magic left him to do it. Most of his magic was focused on simply maintaining bodily functions necessary for survival, for he sensed that with the damage done to his spine, neither his heart nor his lungs would be functioning without magical assistance.

To be fair, he thought, I really should, by all reason, be dead, but death would mean little enough to a being such as myself, for that is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even death may die.

Deciding, after several  minutes had passed and his eyes hadn’t yet been rendered operable, that trying to repair the damage in his present state was pointless, he decided that he would simply have to use magic to replace his senses, for the moment. Reaching out with the newly freed magic, he could see dozens of ponies scrambling around him. Surgeons, nurses, guards, both Princesses, and the element bearers were all in attendance. Deciding that some theatrics were in order, he created a small glowing ball of light that hovered above the assembled ponies. This sudden disturbance immediately gathered the attention of everypony present, and Concord was pleased by the speed with which everypony stopped to watch.

In a clear, yet ethereal sounding voice that, to the ponies in the gardens, seemed to issue from all sides at once, Concord said, “I would like to thank you, the ponies of Canterlot who through either duty or kindness have come to render me aid. However, there is little enough that may be done by such mundane means, and it would be best, therefore, if you were to allow myself, the Princesses, and the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, some privacy. Know that, thanks to your diligent ministrations, I have survived my grievous injury, and owe you a debt that I may not ever be able to repay.”

The ponies in the garden had stopped looking around for the source of the voice, and turned, as one, to face the Princesses, seeking confirmation of the voices assertion. Celestia just stood, for once indecisive, so it was Princess Luna who, having regained her grown alicorn’s stature, nodded, dismissing the the confused ponies. It was not long before the gardens were empty once more, save for the Princesses, the element bearers, and the still unmoving form of Concord.

Concord, realizing that none of them had even the faintest idea about how to proceed, decided to take charge of the situation, metaphorically speaking. He relocated the glowing ball of light from the sky above to a position directly in front of Princess Luna and said in a firm, clear voice, “Princess, it is a pleasure to see that you have been restored to your former glory. I hope that my having been cut off from my powers so soon after restoring yours has not caused any negative side effects.”

The ball bobbed expectantly, and Luna said, “none whatsoever, I am fully myself again, but Concord, what exactly happened, and is there anything we can do to help?”

Celestia looked concerned by Luna’s final words and said contentiously, “are you sure that we should be helping? This could be some stunt to garner sympathy and convince somepony to open themselves to his manipulations. Just watch, he will say that in order to help, one of the element bearers will have to remove their Element, or somepony will have to channel magic to him directly. Either choice would leave us exposed, unable to resist his magic. At least this way, we need not fear any reprisals either physical or magical, and now that we know that he can communicate magically, I see no reason to alter this current, safe, arrangement.”

Luna snorted unhappily, but did nothing to contradict her sister, so everypony present, Concord included, was surprised when a quiet, uncertain voice said, “I think that we should help, after all, it is our fault that he fell and got hurt.” Fluttershy said this, but realizing as she finished that she had just disagreed with Princess Celestia, stammered out an apologetic, “if you don’t mind my saying so, your majesty.” And having concluded, looked shamefacedly at her hooves, awaiting a rebuke.

The ball of light that was speaking for Concord said calmly, in a voice devoid of criticism, despite the harshness of his message, “I do find it interesting that despite the fact that I seem to be the repeated victim of your actions, Celestia, I am the one who is not to be trusted. You make me King to fight your war, then because you fear that I may not step down when it is won, you imprison me in stone for 1500 years, without waiting to find out how I would react. Then I return, and without harming anypony, wait peacefully for you to come to me and ask that I be allowed to talk. This is refused because you fear that I will do order knows what, so I go so far as to summon the element bearers and allow you to arm them, despite the fact that they alone can defeat me. And now that, as a result of my generosity and forbearance, my body lies utterly broken and lifeless save for my constant magical exertions to keep my heart beating and lungs working, I can not be trusted for long enough to repair the damage caused by your actions.”

Everypony, even Celestia, was stunned by Concord’s description of events, and were chilled when Concord concluded in a brutally emotionless tone, “Celestia, if I had, at any point since my return, wanted you dead, then you would be, and there would be nothing that anypony could do to stop it.”

For minutes, nopony spoke, nopony moved, there was no sound, save for the quiet breathing of the assembled ponies, and even that was strangely muted. Finally, Celestia said uncertainly, fear evident in her normally even voice, “Twilight, would you please take off your element.” 

Twilight, still in a kind of shock from having heard Celestia spoken of so harshly, could do nothing more than obey silently, her mind refusing to formulate words. The moment that the tiara left her head, surrounded by a purple aura, several things began to happen at once. The first thing to happen was that the small ball of light disappeared, simply vanished into nothingness. The second thing she noticed was that the light inside Concord’s horn changed. Ever since he had landed, the light inside had been different. It had gone from a pure, even grey light to a roiling maelstrom of shimmering rainbow light encapsulating a small speck of grey, as his magic had been bottled up. Now, the rainbow light had dissipated, leaving only the strong grey light to illuminate his strange crystal horn.

Soon though, changes became more obvious. Concord’s limbs started to move as bones mended, muscles and tendons reconnected, and the bruises and other discoloration disappeared. In under a minute, the lifeless husk that had been Concord had been completely repaired, reinvigorated, and almost shone with power. Twilight wondered whether or not Concord was causing that last part intentionally, or if perhaps the rapid use of so much magic simply showed.

Concord, hale and hearty once more, looked around, using his restored eyes, and realized that it was morning now. He must have been unconscious for several hours, a testament to the severity of his injuries. The second thing he realized was that he still had his magic. Perhaps Twilight was simply surprised by his rapid recovery, or was just waiting for Celestia’s orders, but regardless of the reason, for this moment, he was himself.

Walking with measured, dignified strides, he approached Celestia who looked relieved and frightened in equal measure. Sure, nothing had gone wrong so far, but now Concord was walking towards her in a way that she found menacing.

Concord smiled inwardly at Celestia’s discomfort. Perhaps now she will realize that she is being paranoid, but I must not overdo it. Stopping before her, he looked at her impassively and she stared back defiantly.

Then, he hugged her, and whispered, “thank you, ‘tia, for trusting me this once.”

Celestia, to her credit, received the hug and did not falter, remaining stoic and calm despite the unanticipated display of affection. Concord withdrew shortly, and, in a voice of cheery indifference, as if he hadn’t been dead mere minutes before, said, “well, I do believe that some introductions are in order. The Princesses and myself are rather well acquainted, and I had the distinct pleasure of meeting with Twilight Sparkle,” at this he inclined his head towards the lavender mare, “ but, as to the rest of you, please allow me to Introduce myself. I am Concord, Lord of Order, Knight of the Order of Equestria, Protector of the Realm, King-Regent of Equestria, and the Founder and former Emperor of the Holy Romane Empire, at your service.” He again swept into a low bow, directing it towards the five unfamiliar element bearers. 

Rising, he said, “and as I hope you have been informed, I have requested, and Celestia agreed, that we spend today acquainting ourselves with each other so that you may determine on the morrow whether or not to return me to stone.” With a flick of his horn, and a slight flash, nine plush, comfortable cushions appeared, colored for their intended occupants. Two alicorn sized ones and six pony sized ones appeared in a semicircle, at the focus of which appeared Concord, seated comfortably on a grey cushion of his own.

Smiling disarmingly he said, “please, be seated, there is no need for formality. We should be, if not friends, per se, at least not enemies. Oh, and Celestia, I have a little letter here for you. I hope that you can forgive the delay, since I have been rather indisposed for the last 1500 years. But, as the saying goes, better late than never, right.” 

At this, a scroll appeared, neatly furled on the Cushion intended for Princess Celestia. Concord smiled serenely as she levitated to her, delicately broke the seal of the Kingdom of Equestria, and read the short proclamation it contained.

I, Prince Concord of Equestria,  on this, the 28th day of the sixth month of the 2013th year of the Equestrian Era, do hereby abdicate the throne of Equestria. The war with Discord which caused my elevation has concluded satisfactorily, and my duty has been fulfilled. Therefore, it is with greatest pleasure that I announce and formally  proclaim the end of my reign and renounce any claim to the Crown of Equestria. May the Kingdom continue to prosper under the stewardship of its true and rightful rulers, Princesses Celestia and Luna of Equestria.


Concord’s smile widened further as Celestia, having reread the letter, sighed gratefully, and with careful poise, lowered herself delicately onto her cushion.
> 6
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Celestia’s decision to be seated was what finally broke the tension that had been steadily growing since Concord’s awakening. Luna had been surprised several times during the last several minutes, from Concord’s description of Celestia’s past treatment of him, to his blunt declaration that they were only alive because he didn’t want them dead, to the hug, which was completely unlike Concord, and now, this. Luna couldn’t even imagine what Concord could have written to make Celestia look so... relieved? She did not have to wait long to learn though, for Celestia, having reread the letter once again, finally levitated it over to her impatient sister. 

The element bearers, apparently taking Celestia’s acquiescence to Concord’s request as permission, if not a tacit order, started to seat themselves on their cushions. By the time everypony was else was seated comfortably, Luna was positively beaming at Concord. This letter had, in a single stroke, answered the single largest concern that she and Celestia had had prior to their first confrontation. And, while the letter was mostly a formality, since Concord had been in no position to assert his officially higher status as King-Regent for more than a millenium, it was still hugely gratifying and reassuring. Concord, being an entity aligned so heavily with order, while not being absolutely bound to obey the law or his word hadn’t, in their entire history, gone against either. This letter, while not being a guarantee that he would behave, was the strongest restraint they could hope for, short of sealing him away once more. 

Furthermore, she and Celestia were the legal rulers of Equestria once more. Practically, this made little difference for they had acted as such during the entire period of Concord’s imprisonment, but it was of great legal significance. There was no power in Equestria that could legally deny their sovereign rule of Equestria. A technicality, to be sure, but a reassuring one nonetheless. Luna’s grin moderated itself, slightly, remembering that a certain amount of decorum was expected of a Princess by her subjects, and she carefully took her seat. Luna thought triumphantly, HAHA, cushion, I have vanquished thee.

Everypony being seated at last, Concord said in an even, yet cheerful voice, “now that everypony is comfortable, and there are no more urgent matters to attend to, I would like to make my case as to why I should not be imprisoned.” He paused to make sure that he had their undivided attention before continuing, “I have spent 1500 years as a statue, not for having committed any crime, but because of fear that I may commit one. I had not, at any time during my reign, broken any Equestrian laws or edicts, and everything was done in pursuit of a goal given me by both Princesses.”

Celestia, still serene, interrupted at this saying, “while technically true, Concord, your presentation is slightly misleading. He violated no Equestrian laws because he was the one creating them. While he did usually obey those laws he had made before, he was not above altering them to suit his needs. And,” she said, turning to look at Twilight, “as you may recall my saying earlier, his definition of need did not always align with everypony else’s.”

Concord was silent during Celestia’s rebuttal, but nodded calmly as she finished. “It is true that I was capable of changing laws to allow me freedom of action, but as Celestia herself admitted, I deviated from established law infrequently, only during what I considered crises.”

Twilight Sparkle frowned slightly at this, and said cautiously, “so, and please correct me if I am wrong, but you are saying that you committed no crimes because you did not break the laws, but since you made the laws, and could remake them at will, that distinction loses all meaning. But,” and she hesitated at this, “were your actions just? So far you have spoken as if just because you obeyed the laws, you did nothing wrong, but laws are not what define right or wrong.”

Concord grinned, pleased by the mare’s response, and said, “quite the philosopher aren’t you Ms. Sparkle.” Twilight blushed slightly at this, but did not look away. Concord said, “you are correct, but morality is a fickle thing, liable to change and is heavily dependant upon those in power. My power, being nearly absolute, meant that rather than being subject to morality, my subjects tended to accept my own moral code as their own. By modern Equestrian standards, I may be guilty of many wrongs, but you can not tell me that many of those wrongs only became wrong because of Celestia’s influence. Celestia will say that my actions were wrong because they are wrong under a moral code that she herself has shaped. So, tell me please, where is the justice in that?”

Twilight, not satisfied by this said, “but will you deny that there are some things that are just wrong, some things that can not be waived off as mere reflections of the times?”

“I will not deny that there are some things that have always been thought of as wrong, but I will deny that there is any inherent moral value to an act. Just because something has always been considered wrong does not make it wrong, it only means that everypony thinks it is wrong. Times change, my dear, and ponies change with them.”

It was the cyan one who spoke up at this, hovering as she started to speak. “Yeah, yeah, but even after all this time, I know that the griffons still hate you, so you must have done something to make them so angry. So tell us, what ‘not wrong’ thing did you do to them?” Her tone had become increasingly belligerent and she had crossed about half the distance between the others and Concord before stopping to return to her seat.

Concord, still calm, said politely, “I will explain momentarily, but I would appreciate it if you were to introduce yourself so that I know whom I have the pleasure of addressing.”

Concord’s polite reply seemed to unsettle the cyan pegasus, who replied, “I’m Rainbow Dash, the Element of Loyalty and the fastest flier in Equestria.” Despite her uneasy start, she had finished confidently.

“The griffons are likely still upset that I dropped a star on their last King,” he said, and turning to Luna and Celestia, he said enthusiastically, “tell me, do they still burn me in effigy each year?”

The element bearers were stunned by the dismissive way that Concord had admitted to dropping a heavenly body on somepony, and then moved on to ask if those ponies, or griffons in this case, still hated him for it.

Celestia responded, in a self-satisfied tone, “no, Concord, they do not. They abandoned that ancient practice, but only recently, as an offering of friendship, a sign of the improving relations between Equestria and the griffon tribes. They realized that by burning the image of an alicorn each year they were making it more difficult for their subjects to accept that I was not an evil tyrant intent on their destruction.” Concord’s face fell slightly when he heard that they had abandoned that age old tradition, so Celestia said, “however, if it’s any consolation, they replaced it by burning your flag, so as not to engender ill will towards myself or Luna.”

Satisfied that he had not been completely forgotten, he turned back to the elements and said, “I suppose that I should probably elaborate about dropping a star on their King.” He received several quiet nods and continued, “shortly before my untimely demise, the Holy Romane Empire, or the Crystal Empire as it is probably better known today, was engaged in several wars of conquest. You may have heard something about the war with the griffons since one of my generals wrote a very good history of the conflict. Commentarii De Bello Griffico, began, ‘Griffica est omnis divisa in partes tres.’” When nopony reacted, he continued, “I was trying to incorporate the griffons into the empire, but they were highly individualistic, and refused to surrender. The individual tribes were utterly incapable of confronting even a single legion on their own, so realizing this, they decided to unite. They chose a King, gave him command, and set out to destroy my army. I say ‘my’ because they were part of my empire, not because I was leading them personally.”

“Having unified behind a competent, if arrogant, general, they began to push my forces back. My general was brilliant, but given that he was deep in territory that had been friendly, but suddenly turned enemy, and was seriously outnumbered and surrounded, he asked me personally for reinforcements. I reasoned that, if I could demonstrate to the assembled forces of all the griffon tribes, the futility of resisting my armies, then perhaps the entire conflict could be ended with less bloodshed. This in mind, I personally took the field in defense of my army. I made it very clear to every griffon in the region that they had drawn the personal attention of the Emperor. I offered to meet with their King, personally, to try and work out a peaceful resolution, but when we met, he proved himself to be more arrogant and unyielding as myself, but without the power to back him up. He decided that he would just attack us and wipe us out. He made his plans, arrayed his troops, and issued the order to attack. As soon as they began to advance, I decided to remove that arrogant imbecile from command and, as I said earlier, dropped a star on him. Actually, all I did was throw a fireball at him from the sky, an actual star would have been wasteful and left nothing alive to witness. That it was a star that struck down their King was just a rumor that I did nothing to dispel.”

“Their King having been dealt with, I returned to the capital to get back to work.”

After a few seconds of silence had passed, making it clear that he was finished, he was suddenly bombarded by questions from the ponies before him.

A yellow pegasus said quietly, but with evident indignation and concern, “but if you left, then what happened to all those ponies and griffons? Just,” she gulped uncomfortably, “killing their King wouldn’t stop the battle, why didn’t you stop it!”

Rainbow Dash demanded, “why would you just run away, leaving your soldiers to fight the griffons? That doesn’t sound like a very brave thing to do!”

An orange earth pony said indignantly, “that don’t sound none too sportin’ if y’ask me. It ain’t fair to jus’ go around destroyin’ anythin’ ya don’t like! ‘Specially without warnin’ em first!”

Twilight said in a reasonably controlled voice, “why exactly were you trying to subjugate the griffons anyway, was any of that even necessary? And if it was, why didn’t you just bribe them, or something? Surely you didn’t have to kill them to get them to join! And failing that, why not just teleport your army away if you are so powerful, why did they have to fight at all?”

Finally, the pink one, who for some reason gave Concord the chills, said in a cheerful voice that contrasted jarringly with the topic being discussed, “I bet that you could make some incredible fireworks. You know what fireworks are great for? Parties! And with you making shooting star fireworks, it would be best party ever!”

Concord was slightly unnerved by the pink one, not only was she acting strangely, but she just felt... wrong. Shrugging off his concerns for the moment, he said in a clear, loud voice, “please quiet down, most of you have reasonable questions and I will be glad to answer them, but first I think it is time to finish the introductions.” Rainbow Dash was sitting on Concord’s far right, the next pony, from right to left, was the yellow pegasus, followed by the pink earth pony, then the orange earth pony, then a white unicorn, then Twilight, followed finally by Princesses Celestia and Luna, in that order.

Concord looked directly at the yellow pegasus, who seemed to shrink from his gaze but spoke nonetheless. She said, “uhm.. my name is Fluttershy, and, uh... I represent the Element o...” her voice trailed off

Concord, smiled reassuringly and said, “I’m sorry Fluttershy, but I didn’t catch the last part. Which element are you?”

“Kindness,” she squeaked before looking down at her cushion uncomfortably.

“It is a pleasure to meet you Fluttershy, Element of Kindness,” Concord said politely, and turned his gaze to the next pony, the disturbing pink one.

“HI! I’m Pinkie Pie, but my friends just call me Pinkie, or sometimes Pie, or sometimes AAAAAARGH leave me alone i’m busy.” She said this all in one breath, her cheery inflection never lessening in the slightest. “I represent the Element of Laughter and I love to throw PARTIES!” As she said this, she pulled a noisemaker from nowhere, causing Concord to flinch visibly, and blew it while confetti similarly appeared from nowhere.

Concord’s response was far less measured than his response to Fluttershy had been. “Yes, Pinkie Pie, understood. Stop That This Instant!” he said with exasperation as Pinkie continued to pull various things from nowhere, balloons, noisemakers, confetti, cakes, all seemed to be just materialising at her whim. Concord felt something he couldn’t remember feeling since before the Brother’s War began. He actually missed Discord at that moment. With a sigh, his horn glowed and the offending party supplies returned to the nothingness from which they had come as he turned his attention to the next pony, the orange one.

“First off, please allow me t’apologize for our friend Pinkie here, sometimes she just gets a little carried away. Secondly, my names Applejack an’ I represent the Element of Honesty. It’s a pleasure ta meet ya Concord.”

Concord smiled at this and said politely, “I hope you will believe me when I say that the pleasure is mine. And, so far as Pinkie is concerned, no apologies are necessary, she merely reminded me of someone and I let my emotions take hold.” He then turned his attention to the white unicorn who was next in line.

The unicorn rose delicately, with exquisite, practised grace, and stepped off her cushion onto the stone courtyard. Once on firmer footing, she lowered herself into a deep and respectful bow saying in a respectful, measured voice, “King Concord, my name is Rarity, and I have the great privilege of representing the Element of Generosity. If I may, I am honored to make your acquaintance, your majesty.” 

In response to this formal greeting, Concord rose also, saying formally, “please rise, Lady Rarity, and I fear I must correct you in one small detail.” Rarity did indeed rise, but looked nervous when he mentioned that she needed correcting. “Your mistake is understandable, given that the change occurred only an hour ago and was not shared with you as of yet, but I feel that you should know that I am no longer King of Equestria, but merely Prince Concord. In fact, I am not even a crown prince, as in my letter of abdication, I also renounced my claim to the throne. So I beg of you, Element of Generosity, for surely it is generous to bestow upon one such a lofty, and altogether undeserved title, that there be no formality between us.”

Rarity looked slightly taken aback, but quickly regained her composure and said politely, “as you say, uhm, Prince Concord.” She smiled nervously as she said his title, and was calmed when he smiled back and said simply, “Concord will suffice so long as I may call you Rarity.” She rapidly agreed saying, “of course, uhm, Concord.” having said that, she resumed her seat gracefully.

Concord turned his attention to Twilight who looked back uncomfortably and said, “well, you already demonstrated earlier that you knew who I am, so should I...?” Her voice trailed off uncertainly, and Concord nodded and said, “I told you what I know of you, but I think it would be appropriate if I learned about you from you, rather than from others’ gossip about you.”

Twilight gulped and said, “well, I am Twilight Sparkle, but you already know that, ummm... I am the Element of Magic and...” she said,casting a nervous glance at the Princess seated serenely beside her. Her uneasiness vanished when she received an encouraging smile from that Princess, and continued confidently, “and have been the personal student of Princess Celestia for more than 12 years.”

Concord smiled warmly at the sight of this interaction between teacher and student, and replied, “thank you Twilight Sparkle, Element of Magic, and personal student of ‘tia dear. Allow me to again express my delight at making your acquaintance.”

Celestia bridled at the use of that familiar moniker from their past, and Luna snickered in a most undignified way at her sister’s displeasure. Celestia realized that Concord was trying to lighten the mood by being less formal, but it still annoyed her to be treated like she was a filly in front of her subjects and more importantly, Twilight.

Concord, satisfied that he had gotten a response from Celestia, said calmly, “now that the introductions are well and truly out of the way, I would like to propose breakfast, preferably a breakfast prepared by the castle staff rather than myself since I have not eaten in 2000 years.” He received several disconcerted looks at these words and said, “I was a very busy pony, understand, and it is easier to simply nourish myself magically than to take the time to eat. But since this is the closest thing to a day off i’ve had in literal ages, I was hoping to indulge a little.” 

There were some understanding nods, and Celestia, understanding that everypony else was probably hungry too, agreed. Her horn flared as she magically commanded that several of the castle’s servants attend her in the gardens. This done, she said calmly, “they are on their way, so Concord, why don’t you begin answering those questions while we wait.”

“With pleasure,” Concord said with genuine delight in his voice, for it wasn’t very often that he was able to explain his choices, normally, he had made choices and simply moved onto the next choices. This should be fun, he thought happily as he said, “which question should I answer first?”
> 7, Part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Concord decided, after a tense half minute spent waiting for somepony to speak up, that he would deal with them from right to left, just as he had the introductions. This had the added benefit of allowing him to answer the question he thought most important, Twilight’s, last. 

Having settled this dilemma, he turned his head to face Rainbow Dash and said, “I suppose that we will start over here again. You wanted to know why I left my soldiers to fight the griffons after I had killed their King. Several reasons, but mostly, I was no longer needed. With their leadership dead, and many of the individual tribal leaders had been with their King, the griffons were incapable of organizing to handle the legion, whose morale and confidence were bolstered to incredible heights by having received a visit from the Emperor. Especially since I was known to leave the capital approximately once every 30 years, so for me to show up was a singular honor. You may think of that as cowardice, but understand that I left not because of fear or concern for my own safety, but so that I could get back to essentially filling out paperwork. If you think that there was anything that the entire griffon army could have done to harm me personally, then you are mistaken.”

Noticing that there were several ponies standing patiently just outside of earshot. Rainbow Dash did not look pleased about what he had said, but didn’t seem to be able to come up with a rebuttal. Celestia nodded to the serving ponies, and they approached to take their orders. 

Concord had not been exaggerating when he said he had not eaten in ages, but this meant that he did not know what he wanted to eat. Thinking of the time he had spent surveying the gardens, he realized that there was something that he wanted. When a nervous server approached him and asked what he wanted, he replied quietly ,so as not to inform the others, “I would like a cake prepared, if possible.” The server nodded, not knowing what else to say to this unusual breakfast order. Concord said, rather self-consciously, “I have had nothing to eat in 1500 years, but I have been forced to watch countless weddings, banquets, and gala’s, so for my one day of freedom, I do not believe that a cake is too unusual a request.” Although delivered quietly, the server bowed hastily, eager to remove himself from the unfamiliar alicorn’s presence.

Once everypony had placed their orders and the servants had withdrawn, all attention returned to Concord once more, who cleared his throat and addressed Fluttershy.

“You are correct that my actions did not prevent the battle even though I could have either ended it, or avoided it altogether had I wanted too.” Each element bearer looked unnerved by this statement, by the idea that he would have allowed those ponies and griffons to die if it was within his power to save them. Celestia looked faintly triumphant, this admission doing much to undo what progress he had made with the six young mares. Concord was inwardly amused by Luna’s confused expression. He knew that she was wondering why he would be so tactless as to come out and basically confess to what the elements would think of as murder.

“I would like to provide you with a few of the possible alternatives to handling the conflict the way I did. I could have invaded the minds of every single griffon there, crushing their will to resist.” This elicited looks of revulsion and horror from the elements, as he had expected. 

“Another possibility was that I simply disintegrated them. It would have been quick, painless, and posed no risk to my own little ponies.” This cheery alternative did nothing to brighten the ponies’ disgusted expressions.

“You suggested that I could have teleported my own forces away, and while this is true, it would have done nothing but delayed the conflict. I hope that you will, for the moment accept that this war was necessary, as I will explain when I reach Twilight’s question, and that battle was, therefore inevitable. So if I had teleported my own forces away, then the conflict would have been delayed, but there is no guarantee that the griffons, fully informed of the danger of my intervention, might not have been so foalish as to amass all their troops for a pitched battle. The next conflict might have been a well laid ambush that I would be unable to prevent. As it was, the outcome was relatively bloodless since the griffons panicked and scattered before the legion could inflict any serious casualties.”

Nopony seemed to have anything to say to this, but Fluttershy seemed particularly upset by his suggested alternatives to handling the battle. Concord, not wishing to dwell on that particular point, not feeling that there was anything to be gained by discussing it further, deliberately moved on before they had time to recover.

He decided to not just move on, but to completely ignore the question of the disturbing Pink Pony, whose mane was strangely limp, like a deflated balloon. Turning therefore to Applejack, he said, “I understand that you may feel that what I did was unfair, but I would just like to point out that I waited until after they had given the order to attack. We were the defenders, and they could have at any point until then decided against antagonising a being such as myself. They brought that battle upon themselves, and from the descriptions of what I could have done to them, I think you will agree that I was kind in only targeting their leader.” 

Concord finished in the same even tone as he had begun, but as he finished, Fluttershy said angrily, “NO, do not say that! Do not insult my Element by calling what you did kindness! A kind pony wouldn’t go to war to subjugate creatures weaker than himself! A kind pony wouldn’t launch fireballs at or send legions to attack creatures that couldn’t defend themselves! A kind pony wouldn’t sit in a garden talking calmly, evenly, comfortably about forcibly crushing another living creatures will, or describing how painless it would be to disintegrate thousands of living, thinking, beings! If this is what you are like Concord, then you are many things, but kind is not one of them!”

Fluttershy broke down when she finished, sobbing quietly to herself as she buried her face in her hooves. Nopony else breathed for a second, surprised by the vehemence and certainty clear in Fluttershy’s voice as the Element of Kindness rebuked the Lord of Order. Then, each of the elements glared en masse at Concord for the time it took to rise and make their way over to their disconsolate friend. Celestia, feeling truly jubilant at hearing her own thoughts expressed so clearly by Fluttershy, forced the smile that had appeared on her face into a look of considerate concern. She rose hurriedly, and made her way to the spot where the five mares were trying to console the still sobbing Fluttershy.

Concord himself remained motionless, face impassive, even as Luna cast him a nervous glance before rising to join Celestia and the others. Concord had miscalculated, and he knew it. The intended effect of his words was to make him sound moderate, restrained, and reasonable. To portray his decision to use less than his full power as a sign that he was not a power mad tyrant without restraint, but rather a calm and careful ruler intent on protecting his own soldiers while minimizing the harm to the enemy as well. He had underestimated the amount of compassion that the yellow pegasus could feel, even towards the griffons in the hypothetical situations he put forward. So instead of looking calm and reasonable, he looked cruel, heartless, and manipulative for having even imagined those alternatives, and he was at a loss for how to recover from this miscalculation.

Such was the state of affairs that persisted until breakfast arrived. Fluttershy sobbed, the other elements consoled, the Princesses reassured them that it would all be fine, and Concord calculated. No, Fluttershy, I suppose I am not a kind pony.
> 7, Part 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Concord spent the 15 minutes before the arrival of everypony else’s food deep in thought. He understood what had gone wrong, he understood why it had happened, what he couldn’t decide was what to do about it. 

He had spent the time since he returned constructing an elaborate disguise, of sorts. Ponies are, by and large, emotional creatures, and this means that the easiest way to control or manipulate them is through their emotions. He had also realized that there was a strong logical argument to be made for imprisoning him again. Therefore he had decided that his best option was to approach the ponies in such a way as to play on their emotions rather than their logic, hoping that their emotions would overrule their logic, as was not uncommon. While this approach was the most likely to have a positive outcome, it had one significant drawback. Namely, that Concord was not, himself, a very emotional pony, and would necessarily have to act in a way that was unnatural to him.

That was the root of his problem. Concord had been trying to project an image of himself that conflicted with his nature. This had come apart when his more calculating nature had shone through, as it had when he had deliberately mentioned those horrific scenarios as evidence that he was not unreasonable, that he was actually being very moderate in his handling of that threat. While nothing he had said had been inaccurate or unreasonable, it had instead been too accurate and too reasonable. He had showed everypony that his actions had not been done out of kindness or respect of the rights of other living creatures, but out of expediency. He had sounded like a pony who would have gladly mentally enslaved potentially millions of griffons, or simply eradicated their entire race, had it been more efficient to do so. And, Concord had to admit, that was not too far from the truth. The fact was that he had imposed a strict code of conduct upon himself which he would have hesitated to break, but he could not deny that to him, the morality of the act was never even considered. He had considered how every other living creature in the world would react to his decision, but never the rightness or wrongness of the act itself. He was a practical pony, not a kind one.

Being aware of both the nature, and the cause of his current problem, all that remained was to decide how to proceed from here. The looks that had been cast him from the eight other ponies made it clear that there was little enough sympathy after his misstep. Even Luna, who had been at least a tacit supporter, didn’t seem to be able to just forget what he had said, so he decided that it was time to abandon this charade, for the moment at least. 

This incident would, at the very least, have made them suspicious of Concord’s behavior, so rather than continue this act, he would allow them to see him as he normally was. He would try to avoid saying anything so blatantly heartless as he had before. After all, he had only said it to evoke a sense of horror, at which he had succeeded, only to realize that the horror wasn’t at the situations themselves, but at the pony cruel enough propose them. He wouldn’t try to disguise his nature anymore, and would have to hope that, so long as he did nothing to worsen their opinions of him further, they were emotional enough to decide to not imprison him once more.

Mind made up, Concord stood majestically, abandoning the casual, relaxed attitude that he had previously displayed. The cushion vanished, and Concord stood proudly, drawn up to his full height, making him slightly taller than Celestia, face drawn and emotionless, eyes hard and calculating. He looked for all the world like a statue, proud, dignified, powerful, remote, and cold.

Celestia and Luna were the first to notice this change in Concord’s demeanor, and despite their differing opinions on how to handle Concord, on this change, they both agreed. 

This was bad. 

This was very bad.

They felt they were no longer looking at a normal pony who happened to be incredibly powerful, which is what Concord had been trying to show before. Now they were looking at the entity which had, in five hundred short years, subjugated, through diplomatic skill and military prowess, the entire known world. An entity whose will knew no equal, and whose means were limitless. This was no longer the Concord that they remembered from their foalhoods together. They were looking at Emperor Concord, Lord of Order. This was the thing that they had feared so much that, despite their long history and all he had done for them, they had betrayed it without giving him a chance to stand down. 

Luna was chilled at the abrupt return of this side of Concord’s personality that had thus far been absent. She knew Concord better than anypony else, and knew that if his behavior before had been unusually light hearted and relaxed, which restrained though it was, did constitute a dramatic shift from before, then what she saw now represented the other extreme. The Concord of mere moments ago was not a threat, represented Concord at his best. Now, however, Concord was a threat that nothing save for the Elements of Harmony could confront, and Luna was frightened by that realization.

Celestia was also chilled by Concord’s transformation. Not a literal transformation, but by abandoning his nice pony facade, he took on an altogether frightening aspect. She knew how to make ponies scramble to kneel before her, to make them fear her displeasure, and despite her recognizing exactly what Concord was doing, she found herself wanting to kneel, to appease the pony before her. Concord was very good at instilling fear and awe in his subjects and always had been. Part of it was the knowledge that his face wasn’t a blank mask, put on to conceal his thoughts or feelings, but that he genuinely did not care about anything around him. She had seen him execute ponies guilty of treason, announce celebrations for military victories, receive news of natural disasters, or learn of the death of a pony close to him, all with that same expression of cold, ruthless indifference.

She knew that this was what frightened her about Concord, the thing that made her want him to stay a statue for all eternity. It was the knowledge that Concord was Order incarnate, and that he was without mercy, without pity, without remorse, and that there was nothing she could do to stop him. If Discord, Chaos, was like a whirlwind, bringing change and uncertainty, then Concord, Order, was like a mountain, bringing stability and certainty. But where Discord’s Chaos was unpredictable, the outcome uncertain, Concord’s order was frighteningly predictable, and like a mountain, anything caught underneath it was, inevitably, crushed.

Celestia, despite Concord finally doing as she had wished, finally showing himself for the cold, dispassionate, and ruthless monster he was, had hoped that the element bearers could have been spared this. She also regretted now that Twilight had not yet replaced the Element of Magic upon her head. Now that Concord was behaving as his old self once more, she no longer felt that anypony was safe without the Elements’ magic to protect them, and yet she was worried about what he would do if either she or Twilight tried to do anything.

The element bearers had finally succeeded in calming Fluttershy down, and when the food finally arrived what felt like the longest 15 minutes anypony present had ever experienced, everypony except Concord was ready to eat. The various meals were levitated in by unicorns, and were placed on the ground before each of the hungry ponies, all of whom began to eat immediately, relieved at having something to distract from what had been happening. When the same servant who had taken Concord’s order before approached the now menacing grey alicorn, he almost fell into a bow. When Concord failed to notice his presence, he said, “excuse me, my lord.”

Concord pivoted with startling precision, and with a few long strides, towered over the servant. He said in a coldly formal tone, “rise and deliver your message.”

The servant rose quickly and said in a voice that only trembled slightly, “the kitchen staff wishes to apologize for not having completed your order, but require more time to prepare a cake from scratch. They are preparing it as we speak, but it may be several more hours yet.”

The towering figure did not react in the slightest, but said, “very well, you are dismissed.” Without even waiting for the servant to acknowledge his dismissal, or to bow as he departed, Concord turned and walked calmly back to where he had been standing before his thoughts had been interrupted.

Everypony else ate in silence, some occasionally casting anxious glances towards the now standing Concord. If anypony thought it strange, however, they kept it to themselves, choosing to avoid antagonizing him further. Fluttershy especially looked upset, but now it seemed more like she regretted having hurt his feelings rather than being displeased by his statements. If Concord noticed any of this, however, he did not deign to show it.

After having allowed the ponies to begin their meals, Concord said in a clipped tone, brooking no argument, “the question asked by Ms. Sparkle, namely that of the reasons behind the conflict, is of great importance and goes directly to the heart of the issue. However, in order to understand why I was fighting the griffons, you must understand the nature of the overall conflict, of which the war with the griffons was only a minor part. And in order to explain the overall conflict, we must investigate the events following the founding of the Kingdom of Equestria by Celestia and Luna’s parents, who would be its first King and Queen.”

Everypony stopped eating at this, and looked directly at Concord, curiosity replacing whatever other emotions they had been feeling. Still allowing no time for interruptions, Concord continued, his voice still devoid of expression, “Equestria was founded 2013 years ago by two alicorns, King Radiant Dawn and Queen Vernal Glory. Despite their names, which may indicate some connection to the Sun, or Spring respectively, alicorns are not inherently immortal, supernaturally powerful beings. They are simply ponies who are imbued with the gifts of all three tribes, and although alicorns are rare, they do occur naturally. It had been established practice that alicorns only married other alicorns, since that was the only way to ensure that their offspring would also be alicorns, but the downside of this practice was that inbreeding caused the never very large alicorn population to slowly dwindle until Radiant Dawn was the last of the alicorns. That was until Vernal Glory was discovered, and the two were married, and from this union, Celestia would eventually be born. That will be significant later, but what matters now is that the last two alicorns known to ponykind were united in marriage, and they set out to unify the disparate pony tribes into a single Kingdom.”

“Without there being any other alicorns to really resist them, and the common belief that alicorns were inherently better, due to possessing the traits of each tribe, most ponies agreed to follow the couple willingly, and the few groups who resisted were coerced into compliance eventually. In this way, Equestria, the first major nation was founded. It is from the year of its founding that we calculate the present year, so technically, Celestia was born in the year -4. This matters because on the day that Equestria was formally proclaimed, two strange foals appeared at the castle where the new King and Queen resided, with their young filly, Celestia. One of those foals was myself, and I appeared as a grey alicorn, this being the same body that I was found with. The other foal was Discord, a draconequus, the first and only known specimen. We were taken in by the King and Queen for several reasons, not the least of which was that we were both exceptionally powerful, and they hoped that we would help to cement their rule. This is how I found myself a Prince of Equestria.”

“Six years passed in relative peace, and then royal family expanded with the birth of Princess Luna, and everypony was relatively happy. Discord and I came to realize slowly just what made us different from other ponies. I could feel how strongly ponies believed in order, how organized a life they led, how loyal they were to authority, and I was able to draw power from these feelings. Discord meanwhile, came to realize that he was attuned to chaos. He revelled in rebellion, in disorder, in conflict, and he drew power from these feelings and chaotic events. We theorized at the time that we appeared when we did because the founding of Equestria represented the birth of a deliberate search for order and structure by the ponies, and since it was headed by two alicorns, I took on their form. Discord conversely, was an amalgam of all those who resisted the expansion of order. And we appeared where we did because the King and Queen of Equestria were at the epicenter of the conflict between order and chaos. We both realized our natures, and being good little colts, told our adoptive parents. Learning of the conflicting natures of their children, for they treated us as such, they changed their plans for the future.”

“Eight more years passed peacefully, with no major catastrophes or conflicts to distract the King and Queen from domestic life and the future. They had decided that the best thing they could do, both for their family, and the country, was to raise these ponifications of Order and Chaos. They had hoped to instill in us values that they thought important, justice, fairness, restraint, moderation, duty, et cetera, while at the same time, trying to prevent either of us from ever taking the throne. They realized that neither of us would be willing to sit idly by while either Order or Chaos took over, so they dedicated themselves to preparing Celestia and Luna to become the rulers of Equestria so that neither I nor Discord would either need or want to. The final part of their plan involved betrothing myself to Princess Luna, and Discord to Princess Celestia, in the hopes that the bonds of marriage would lessen the likelihood of either of us turning on our partner. They also hoped that by pairing Celestia, the more orderly and authoritative sister, to Discord, the embodiment of Chaos, and Luna, the more friendly and compassionate sister, to me, the embodiment of Order, that they would be moderating influences, preventing us from being too extreme in either direction. And by ensuring that both Luna and Celestia would be co-rulers after their eventual deaths, they hoped that neither of us would feel that the other was too powerful.”

Concord paused to allow everything he had explained so far to sink in. Both Luna and Celestia were blushing at the mention of their respective betrothals. Celestia looked especially discomforted by the curious expression on Twilight Sparkle’s face as she looked at the Princess about whom she had just learned so much. Twilight realized that she now knew more about her mentor than anypony else had for possibly more than a thousand years. Concord too remarked this strange, nonverbal interaction between mentor and student, and filed it away for future investigation. However, if he was right in what he was starting to suspect, then he may have found a new tool to work with.

Concord decided that he had waited long enough and continued, voice still impassive.

“This plan may have worked, but there is no way of knowing for sure, since long before any of it had been finalized, before any of the marriages could occur or educations be completed, Discord changed everything.”

“For no reason that we were ever able to detect, Discord killed Radiant Dawn and Vernal Glory, and fled from the castle, the original Canterlot. He killed them by turning both of their brains into cotton candy.”

Both Celestia and Luna had known this was coming, but neither had expected Concord to deliver it so bluntly, as if reciting a math formula, rather than referring to the cruel murder of two ponies he had once purported to love. They both winced, and lowered their heads dejectedly, at which point Twilight leaned her head over and nuzzled Celestia’s side consolingly. Celestia was surprised by this act, but appreciated it nonetheless. It had stung worse at the time, especially since it had been her fiancé who was responsible, but the pain was still there.

Concord continued, despite the emotional pain his words had caused to his listeners.

“Why he fled, we do not know for sure, since he never allowed himself to be questioned about their deaths or face trial for his crimes. What is known is that he left Canterlot and began causing problems for everypony everywhere. Neither Celestia nor Luna were capable of stopping Discord, and they knew this, but they wanted to hold to their parents’ plan that neither I nor Discord should hold the throne. They refused to take any serious action for more than a year, watching as Discord wrought havoc all over Equestria and the surrounding lands. Finally, however, Discord did something that the Princesses couldn’t ignore or repair. He started to manipulate the Sun and the Moon, throwing all of Equestria into chaos at once, and they were powerless to stop it. Realizing that they were out of their depth, they decided to ask me to intervene, and I refused.”

Concord was surprised when he heard gasps from all six of the element bearers at these words. They were either engrossed in the story, or were once again incensed at his cruelty, or possibly both. Either way, he continued evenly.

“I refused because I was unwilling to confront Discord unless I had the authority to actually fight Discord. I would not help to start a conflict, which I expected using my power to directly counter Discord’s would do, without the authority to carry that conflict to its conclusion. I said that I would only oppose Discord if I were appointed Regent, and given full control of the Kingdom of Equestria for the duration of the war. Luna and Celestia were indignant at first, followed by suspicion that I really only wanted to be regent so I could be in charge, and finally desperate that something be done. Once I was appointed Regent, I wrested control of the Sun and the Moon from Discord, and invested the Princesses with the power to control them so that they could resist Discord’s influence on their own. My expectation was that Discord, once he realized that we were in open conflict, would realize that he should never exert himself too much at any one time lest I be able to overwhelm him while he recovered. By tying the Sun and Moon to Celestia and Luna respectively, and thereby allowing them to use the magics inherent in those bodies to resist any of Discord’s magic, I ensured that Discord could no longer influence them without weakening himself enough for me to defeat him directly. With the Sun and Moon safely under the control of the Princesses, I was able to turn my attention to actually fighting a war with Discord. I had also gained a pair of immortal champions, whose powers would be rivaled by none save for Discord and myself, and since it was their Kingdom that I was protecting, I also thought that their loyalty would be assured as well. In a way I was right, their loyalty was assured, only their loyalty was to Equestria, not to its King.”

“Before I move on to the actual nature of the war, since Discord and I did not fight directly, I am offering you this chance to ask any questions you may have about what I have explained so far.”

Concord fell silent then, as he waited to hear what the ponies thought of his explanation so far.

> 8
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Concord waited for somepony to speak up, given that he had just revealed details about Equestria’s founding that had been lost to history since the dissolution of his empire. the only pony to show any significant reaction was Twilight Sparkle, who turned towards Princess Celestia and addressed her rather than Concord. Twilight said anxiously, “is what he said true, Princess, about how you came to control the Sun and the Moon, and that you went to him for help?” 

Concord was pleased when Celestia confirmed sullenly, “yes, Twilight, it’s true. We did go to Concord for help against Discord,” her voice became almost pleading, “there wasn’t anything else we could do. Discord was destroying everything our parents had built, and if he hadn’t been prevented from meddling with the Sun and Moon, then there may not have been any life left anywhere. We had no choice Twilight.”

Twilight looked like she would be sick, but continued with her question anyway, saying “and what about what Concord said before he was healed?” She paused, as if hoping that she wouldn’t have to finish her question, but when Celestia didn’t show any hint of comprehending what she was alluding too, she had to continue. “Concord said that you attacked him, imprisoned him, without giving him a chance to stand down...”

Celestia, realizing what her student meant, felt both ashamed and saddened, and said in a subdued tone, “yes, we did imprison him without warning him first.” Her voice lifted defensively as she continued hurriedly, “but that was our only choice. Since he returned, he has been acting nice, look at him now, this was what he was like all the time. Ruthless, cold, distant,” she said this last like a curse, “and if he had realized that we could stand up to him, then there was no telling what he would do. He hadn’t known about the Elements of Harmony, so we only had that one chance to stop him.”

Twilight and her friends seemed to be being won over by her impassioned arguments. Concord had to admit that she played for sympathy far better than he had. He decided, therefore, to change the topic. He needed to remind the elements that he was the wronged party, that they had abused his trust, not the other way around as Celestia would have them believe. He actually felt a slight twinge of remorse when he considered what he was about to do, but it was swiftly brushed aside. He asked, tone still frigid and formal, “Ms. Sparkle, would you kindly ask the Princess how she managed to gain access to me without arousing my suspicion?”

Twilight was clearly worried about what she might hear, her mental image of Celestia had already taken a severe beating, and she wasn’t sure if she could stand any more. But despite her trepidation, she nodded to Celestia, urging her to answer. It was at this time that she noticed Princess Luna, who had curled up into ball and had turned away from the rest of the group.

Celestia felt her heart sink, and she was unable to think of any way out of the question. Quietly, tremulously, she said, “Luna wrote a letter asking if I could accompany her to one of their nightly meetings.”

She stopped at this, hoping that that would suffice, but Concord didn’t let her off so easily. He asked, “do you remember what my response was?”

Celestia nodded, but couldn’t bring herself to say it, the words catching in her throat.

Concord however felt no such discomfort, and said clearly, in a ringing voice, “Of course I have no objection to ‘tia’s attending our meeting. It has been far too long since the three of us got together informally, and I look forward speaking with you both. Eternally yours, Concord.”

Concord’s spirits rose as he saw the effect that this recitation had on the Solar Princess, how she lowered her head still further, unable to meet the eyes of either Concord, Twilight, or any of the elements. Concord followed this victory, voice still steady, “and when you confronted, alone in my personal study, wielding the Elements of Harmony, did I lift so much as a hoof in my own defense, did I make any attempt to stop you or harm you?”

Celestia could only shake her head as Concord’s words brought memories of that night flooding back to her, making her relive one of the worst nights of her life. The worst had been the night of their parent’s death, which had shattered her hopes for a peaceful and happy future with a happy family. The second night had been the night when she had been forced to banish her own sister, the only remaining member of her family and her closest companion for a thousand years, to the moon, knowing that she was not strong enough to undo the damage that she was largely responsible for. The night of Concord’s imprisonment was third, for although she had realized that it was necessary, for what they risked through inaction was the future of all life, for there would be no stopping Concord if he refused to step down. They had the chance to ensure that all creatures could live free, happy lives, without being subjected to the rigid and invasive policies that Concord implemented. But even knowing that it was necessary, that the stakes were too high to take any chances, it had hurt her, and Luna especially who had been genuinely close to Concord, to betray his trust, his friendship, like they had.

Concord realized that he had made his point, that he had thoroughly exposed their treachery, their betrayal, and that the elements, even if they did not like him, were more doubtful now than they had been at any time before that imprisoning him was right. Concord realized also that if he continued to attack Celestia and Luna this remorselessly, persisted in forcing them to relive this traumatic experience in front of those ponies who they respected and whose opinion they valued, then he would lose any sympathy they had for him. For Luna, these six were the ponies that had rescued her from her despair and isolation, and who had brought her back from a nightmarish imprisonment within her own mind. For Celestia, these six ponies were the ones who had returned her sister to her, alive and well, and were the successors to the Elements of Harmony. And in Twilight Sparkle’s case, she was the only pony in living memory who had gotten so close to the Princess personally and Celestia truly seemed to cherish their relationship. He had made his point, so it was time to move on.

If there had ever been a time for Concord to show a compassionate, caring side, then this was it, and Concord knew it. Relaxing his posture, softening his expression, and letting a hint of sorrow enter his voice, he said, “I understand that you were only doing what you felt you had to do. I understand that you felt frightened at the prospect of my refusing to step down, I understand that you only wanted to do what was best for Equestria. And I will tell you what I told Luna, shortly before I restored her broken connection to the Moon.”

He started to close the distance between himself and Celestia, who had started trembling earlier but was calmed by his words. Luna also, who had been sobbing quietly, returned to a seated position, and watched as Concord drew closer.

“What I told Luna was, that I knew that you were doing what you thought you had too, what you thought was right, and that I was largely to blame for your not trusting me, and that I forgive both of you, and hope that you can do the same for me.”

Celestia was stunned by these words, overwhelmed by a sudden rush of conflicting emotions. On one hoof, she felt an incredible sense of relief, like the weight of a mountain had suddenly been lifted from her back. Concord was forgiving her, he said that he understood why they had done what they had, why they felt it was necessary, that he was partly, if not mostly responsible for their mistrust. While on the other hoof, she was incredulous. She and Luna had betrayed his trust, imprisoned him in stone for 1500 years, and systematically dismantled everything he had worked for during five centuries of constant conflict, and he simply wanted her to believe that he was over it, that he held no grudge or desired revenge. He must think that she was a newborn foal if she would fall for such an obvious ploy. While Celestia was struggling with these opposing sentiments, Concord turned to Twilight Sparkle, intent on pressing his growing advantage.

He had closed the gap between himself and Celestia as by the time he finished speaking, and turned now towards Twilight Sparkle. Lowering himself to the ground, so that his head was roughly level with Twilight’s, her being on a cushion giving her some added height, he said in a respectful tone, “and to you, Ms. Sparkle, I must give my deepest thanks. I know that you originally removed the Element of Magic at Celestia’s request, but that you have not replaced it speaks volumes. That you have been willing to trust me this long, despite all I have said and what you have heard, means more to me than any words will ever be able to express. All I can say is that anypony able to call you a friend is truly blessed.”

Since he was already lying on the ground, he did not have much room to work with, but when he finished speaking, he lowered his head until his muzzle was touching the ground as a sign of respect. Twilight was speechless, as was Celestia, who had recognized, in this moment, that further debate about his sincerity was meaningless. There was no way that she would be able to convince anypony that he deserved to be imprisoned now. Concord had won his argument, and perhaps it was for the best. If he was being sincere, if he truly did mean everything he had said, then to imprison him again would be the definition of evil. And so long as he seemed genuinely willing to let bygones be bygones, she didn’t see any reason why she couldn’t let go of the past as well.

Concord lifted himself slowly from the ground, and walked over to Princess Luna who was smiling wryly. She stood as he approached and leaned in to whisper in his ear, “why didn’t you give that speech first, it would have saved a lot of time and sorrow.”

Concord returned a smile of his own, although his was tinged with a hint of sadness, and whispered back, “you know as well as I do that they had to learn about last time. My whole argument hinged on my not having done anything truly wrong, on my being imprisoned, not for a crime I actually committed, but because of the possibility I might commit a crime. But if it makes you feel any better, I do wish that I could have convinced them without bringing any of that up, for your sake at least.”

Luna, still smiling, whispered, “it doesn’t make me feel any better, “and she grinned wider when she saw his face droop a little, “but not for the reason you think. Whatever ‘tia may believe, I know you wouldn’t have made us relive that if you didn’t have to. Cruelty for its own sake never was your style.”

Celestia was growing impatient, not liking the way her siblings were having a whispered conversation less than a meter away. She may have been willing to give Concord a chance, but such secrecy was causing her paranoia to rear its head once more. Clearing her throat, she said in a mock serious tone, “come now, children, is there something you would like to share with the class? It is impolite to whisper like gossiping school fillies in the company of guests.”

Everypony laughed at this, including Concord and Luna. Luna blushed at having been called out on her foalish behavior, but Concord took the statement in stride, saying warmly, “but ‘tia, what could possibly be the harm in a little gossip between friends? It has been a terribly long time since I have had anypony to talk to after all.”

Celestia was annoyed by his playful tone, and said seriously, “the possible harm is not the point, you are still a Prince of Equestria and should act like it, and besides, it is a little early to start celebrating isn’t it, considering that nothing has been officially decided.” When Celestia said the word “celebrating,” there was a sudden pop which was followed by a stream of multi-colored confetti. With reflexes that managed to impress even Concord, the white unicorn, Rarity, lit her horn, and held the disturbing pink pony down while the orange earth pony hastily stuck a hoof over Pinkie’s mouth to keep her quiet. Applejack said in a hushed, but insistent tone, “tha Princess said it’s a too early ta start partyin’ Pinkie, so hush.”

Concord grew serious immediately, and a tense silence descended over the group, except for Pinkie who seemed to want to keep talking despite the hoof covering her mouth. He nodded solemnly and walked over to stand in front of Princess Celestia once more. He lowered himself into a bow befitting of a pony awaiting the Princess’ decision about his guilt or innocence. Celestia, gratified by this decorous behavior, adopted the familiar role of a ruler dispensing justice. In a lofty, clear, and official sounding voice, she said, “Prince Concord of Equestria, please rise and receive your Princess’ judgement.” Concord rose, but kept his head lowered to a point below that of Celestia’s who had not risen herself. “I, Princess Celestia of Equestria, find you innocent of any crimes against the Kingdom of Equestria. However, due to the history and reputation you acquired prior to your last imprisonment, you will not be able to resume, immediately at least, your former position and duties as a prince. The terms of your release will be negotiated at a later time, but until then, go in peace.” The formal part done, she said immediately in a lighter tone, “not really, you need to stay here until we decide what to do with you.” 

Everypony laughed at this, even Celestia, realizing that the hardest part of the process was over. For better or worse, Concord was here to stay, and she could only hope that this decision was not going to spell ruin for them all.

Finally, the decision pronounced, Concord said, “now, I do believe that this is the appropriate time for celebrations.” He forced himself to grin, to cover up the grimace that had formed, when he saw Pinkie Pie bounce more than a meter in the air, and hover there for nearly 5 seconds, feet flailing, as a startled Applejack stared confusedly at the spot where Pinkie had previously been anchored.

Concord turned away and did his best to ignore the antics of the pony that he decided to rename, mentally at least, Discolight, since she was just like Discord in temperament, only less destructive. So far.

As he looked around, he saw something that made him laugh, and declare cheerfully, “it appears that the preparations have finally been completed on my cake. How serendipitous. It is ready just in time for the party.”

For indeed, rolling towards the group was a large, five layered cake. He turned to the rest of the ponies, and noticed Celestia eyeing the cake greedily. He couldn’t bring himself to tell everypony the line that occurred to him at that moment, but he thought that the setup was just too perfect to pass on it entirely. Making his way over to a still smiling Luna, he whispered, “forgive me, but I do believe that I am about to both have my cake, and eat it too.”

And with those words, and a wry chuckle from Luna, the two joined the group around the cake.
> 9
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*Author’s Note* 
Later in this Chapter, I will be coining the term Prancish, which is merely meant to describe the language of the ponies of Prance (France). That little detail in hoof, Allons-y.

Concord was thoughtful as he took his first bite of food in 2000 years. The cake was undoubtedly excellent, as anypony who knew anything about the culinary arts, or cakes in general, would attest. Concord however found it to be rather bland, unsatisfying, and generally disappointing. Perhaps I simply expected too much, he thought absently as he walked towards the pedestal where he had stood for more than a millenium. I can only hope that freedom does not prove to be so disappointing.

He could feel the confused gazes of the other ponies upon him, and he realized that he was being jarringly inconsistent. His behavior had undergone so many radical changes in the last hour alone that he himself was having difficulty determining how he actually felt. He may have been attuned with the concept of order, but he was a pony like any other, with emotions just like any other, even if he was better than most at controlling them. Being free from the expectations of leadership meant also that he was able to actually show the emotions he felt, and right now, he was depressed. 

He had been elated when Celestia had said that he would not be imprisoned again, the desire for freedom overwhelming all else, but now that he actually considered his position, he felt uncertain of himself for the first time in his memory. Before now, he had always known exactly what to do. Maybe not exactly how to do it, but he had never felt so useless or unnecessary before. When he had been a foal, he had been supposed to learn about how to fit in with society, about what it meant to be a Prince and what how he was expected to behave. As he grew older, he was expected to learn how to be a ruler, or how to properly manage a Kingdom. Things like statecraft, diplomacy, politics, economics, and other lessons important for leaders. Those studies had been interrupted by the war with Discord, and his goal then had been to defeat Discord by any means necessary, and if that meant building a global empire, then so be it. But now, he was a Prince of a Kingdom that couldn’t acknowledge his return. A statespony who no leader would trust. A leader that nopony trusted in command. He felt as if his new found freedom was crushing the life out of him, for he literally seemed to have no purpose in life.

He sighed, and in keeping with his current train of thought, the light in his horn flickered slightly, and the alicorn Concord was replaced by an average looking grey unicorn stallion, with the same cutie mark as Concord, but with a normal looking horn and no wings. Then, his horn was surrounded by a dim grey aura, as any other unicorn’s horn would be when using magic, and suddenly the pedestal was no longer empty. It once again held a statue of a proud alicorn stallion, and Concord reflected sadly, I suppose this statue is all that remains of that Concord.

Concord turned and walked back to the group who had been watching him silently, unsure what to say or do. Concord made no effort to disguise his unhappiness as he drew nearer, and said in a weary voice, “I really must thank you for all you have done for me today. I know that to you, it may not have seemed like you did very much, but your presence allowed Celestia and I a chance to talk without her having to fear my reaction. I would be more than willing to return you to your homes and businesses now that this unpleasant situation has been resolved, and if there is anything I can do to help compensate you for your time, please do not hesitate to ask.”

None of the element bearers reacted at once, prompting Concord to say, “please do not hesitate on my behalf, I am trying to get used to the idea of being free once more. One of the side effects of being a statue for so long is that I stopped thinking in terms of things I wanted to do, and thought rather of things that I shouldn’t do in order to avoid being made a statue again. Now that I am no longer being threatened with immediate petrification, I find myself rather at a loss for what to do. I understand that you may want to help, but there really isn’t anything for you to do, so please, allow me to return you to your homes. It really is the least I can do.”

They seemed to be moved by this, Rainbow Dash was the first, and she just stepped forward and nodded, and in a flash, she was gone. Applejack went next, then Fluttershy, then Rarity, and Concord didn’t really give Pinkie Pie a choice in whether or not to go next. Finally, when there were only the four of them left, Concord turned to Celestia and said, “I believe that now is as good a time as any to discuss my living arrangements for the near future.”

Celestia nodded solemnly, and suspected that she knew why he had kept Twilight with them, rather than sending her home like he had the others. Twilight looked anxiously towards Celestia, likely suspecting Concord’s proposal would involve her, but not being sure what exactly to expect. Luna seemed more interested in Concord’s strange behavior than she was in where he would be staying. She was the one to speak next, even though what she said wasn’t related to his living arrangements. 

“Concord, this behavior is most unlike you. Your strange behavior earlier today made sense in the context of your trying to avoid imprisonment, but why are you acting this way now. I don’t see what you have to be so upset about, but I also don’t see what you stand to gain by acting so unhappy.”

Concord sighed, and said in a slow, but more controlled voice, said, “I am starting to realize that just because I am free, I am not truly free.”

Luna did not look satisfied with his answer and said, “what do you mean, not truly free? You are just as free as anypony else, unless there is something that you haven’t told us.”

Celestia shook her head and said in a voice as weary as Concord’s had been, “no, Luna, he is right. Although he may no longer be a statue, he is by no means as free as anypony else. Unfortunately, you can not use your own experience returning from banishment to judge Concord’s current position.”

“Why ever not ‘tia, we were both imprisoned by the Elements, but we have both been freed from our confinement and returned to live peaceably in Equestria. I do not see why we are so different.”

“Because, no other country has any reason to fear your return while every other country has every reason to fear Concord.”

“What do you mean they have no reason to fear my return? I may not have been in control of myself, but I nearly destroyed all life by making night last forever. I realize now that nothing would have survived, so I don’t understand how you can possibly say that they wouldn’t fear me. If anything, they should fear me more because I would have killed them all, inadvertently of course, whereas Concord only wanted to incorporate them into his empire.” Luna felt, even as she was saying it, that it was odd to be complaining that her world ending tantrum didn’t inspire enough fear. She realized how that might sound to the young Twilight Sparkle and to Celestia who had experienced it first hand.

Fortunately for Luna, Celestia realized that she was not complaining about not being feared enough, but rather at the perceived injustice of her getting escaping universal hatred despite the fact that her crime would have been worse. Celestia therefore said, in an embarrassed tone, “Luna, none of the other countries know that you were responsible for the long night, they thought that it was an accident.”

“A.. an... AN ACCIDENT! What do you mean an accident? How could they possibly think that after I prevented the Sun from rising for more than a week?”

“I never told anypony that you did it deliberately because I knew that you weren’t yourself. I told everyone else that you were banished for trying to usurp the throne, and that the long night was a result of my trying to learn how to move both the Sun and Moon. Sure this made the other countries nervous, but they had thought it a purely internal affair. They never had reason to believe that you were behind the Moon not setting.”

“So you mean to say that you covered up everything that I did as Nightmare Moon, and that that is why I can just return to the throne as if nothing happened?”

Celestia could only nod, aware that what she had done was wrong and unfair, but still glad that it meant that her sister wasn’t thought of as a monster. She would probably do it again, too, if she had to, which she hoped she never would. She felt immeasurably relieved when Luna cantered over to her and threw her forehooves around Celestia’s neck.

“Thank you, ‘tia. Thank you for protecting me, even if I didn’t deserve it.” Celestia nuzzled her sister’s neck, thankful once more that Luna was back.

Twilight had watched everything that was happening with a kind of guilty pleasure. She knew that everything she was seeing wasn’t really meant for her. She knew that she was watching three of the most powerful beings to ever have lived discussing some of the darkest moments in their past. And she felt both honored by the trust that they were showing in her by allowing her to be present, but also guilty for being so interested in everything that was going on. She knew that she should want to respect the Princesses’ privacy, and she did, in that she would never even consider doing anything to violate their privacy, but still.... So long as they were revealing forgotten secrets from Equestria’s past, was it wrong that she didn’t want them to stop?

The tender sisterly moment drew to a close when Luna ended the hug and took a step back from Celestia, who turned back towards Concord. Concord had stood completely still and silent during their entire exchange, seemingly lost in his own thoughts. Celestia said calmly, “I suspect that, from your earlier statements, you have already realized that you can’t stay in Canterlot in any capacity whatsoever. If any of the other races learned of your return, there is an excellent chance that they would attack just to ensure that we were in no position to support you should you try to conquer them again. We, “she said indicating herself and Luna, “will, of course, do everything we can to ensure your eventual return to your rightful place by our side, so long as you conduct yourself well, but you must understand that it may be years before anything changes. Our relations with our neighbors are delicate right now, especially with the griffons. I can't even imagine how they would react to news of your return ”

Concord merely nodded and said, voice weary once more, “I understand, of course, that getting everyone to overcome a fear and hatred that has been ingrained in their societies for over a thousand years will be difficult and time consuming. It's of great importance, therefore that we decide where I shall be staying during the interim. I do have a proposal in mind.”

Celestia nodded, and said, “you understand that it is her decision, that I will neither force, nor even request that she do this. It is her choice and her choice alone.”

Concord smiled at this, saying, “I understand, but I do not think that it will be much of a choice.”

Twilight felt positive that they were talking about her, but she wasn’t completely certain what ‘choice’ they were talking about. She interjected as respectfully as she could, “excuse me Princess, but I am not sure I understand what you are saying?”

Concord replied evenly, saying, “Twilight Sparkle, what we are saying is that I would like your permission to reside with you in Ponyville until such time as I am able to return to residence in Canterlot, or until you ask me to leave.”

Twilight was too stunned to speak for several seconds, but when she regained her voice, she nearly shrieked, “are you CRAZY? You, living with me in Ponyville, that would be a terrible idea. I mean, what would my friends think, having an all-powerful spirit of order following us around, and what would everypony else think. And would I be responsible for making sure you behaved, I mean, could I somehow make sure you didn’t do something wrong. No! No! No! No! No!”

She looked frantically between the grinning Concord, who seemed to find her panic amusing, to Celestia who was, to Twilight’s chagrin, also smiling. Still upset, she continued, “am I the only pony who sees all the ways this could possibly go wrong?”

Concord laughed gently at this and interrupted, saying, "yes Twilight. I do believe that you are the only pony who sees all the ways this could go wrong. Not only that, but you seem to be seeing, not only all the ways it could possibly go wrong, but also all the ways it could NOT possibly go wrong.”

Celestia chuckled at this, and said reassuringly, “why don’t you calm down, my faithful student, and tell us what concerns you. Let us see if we can’t find an arrangement that you find suitable.”

Twilight, seeming hardly reassured at all, simply stood there, breathing erratically as she tried to order her thoughts. Concord saw her distressed state and said, “how about if I outlined my proposal, and we can proceed from there.” Twilight nodded cautiously, almost afraid to agree lest she find herself agreeing to the actual proposal on accident.

Calmly, so as not to further distress the panicky mare, Concord began. “I would come to reside in Ponyville in my present form, and while I would keep my name, since it is not an entirely uncommon one, since in Prancish it simply means harmony or peace, I would act as your assistant. The story would go that I am also a student here at the academy who the Princess thought would benefit from some time spent outside of the academies walls. To that end, she assigned me to help you with your studies in the Magic of Friendship, while simultaneously furthering my own magical education under your expert tutelage.”

Twilight’s breathing was more regular now, and she said, “you said that you would be my assistant, but I already have an excellent assistant and your magic, as you have already demonstrated, is much stronger than my own so I doubt there is anything I can teach you, so why do you need me?”

“Because, Twilight Sparkle, I have not been outside of the Canterlot gardens for 1500 years, and I spent 500 years before that building an empire, and I spent my youth as a Prince being groomed to rule. I need you because I have literally no experience being anything that even vaguely resembles a common pony, and I have only ever had three friends in my entire life, and I have at various times either fought, or been attacked by all of them, so I could also use a little help in that department as well. And besides those personal reasons, this arrangement has other benefits as well. residing in Ponyville would mean we, but I really mean I since you would be living in Ponyville whatever your decision, would be close to Canterlot without being exposed to Canterlot society and scrutiny. I want to live by Canterlot for several reasons, not the least of which is that I feel that it is important that Celestia, Luna, and myself make a concerted effort to build a relationship that will not fall apart the moment one of us becomes suspicious of the others, and proximity helps with that. Further, me residing with you means that Celestia will be able to have a pony she trusts keep an eye on me, and don’t bother denying that you wanted that as well Celestia.” Celestia did indeed blush and look slightly guilty, but Concord ignored her confirming his accusation and continued, “and there is one final aspect that I think will make this arrangement mutually beneficial.”

Concord smiled knowingly as he said that, and looked directly into Twilight Sparkles eyes, saying, “I have first hoof knowledge of almost everything that happened during 500 of the most tumultuous and formative years in Equestria’s history, and I am willing to share all of it, with you.” These words had an almost electric effect on the young mare, all of whose reservations about the arrangement were forgotten, buried under the sheer weight of questions she was simply dying to ask. She almost passed out from considering all the possibilities, imagining having THE pony responsible for shaping 500 years of nearly forgotten Equestrian history to herself. The thought of all that knowledge was simply too much, but if she thought he was finished, she was mistaken.

Concord had merely been pausing to let the bookish unicorn consider the implications of his offer, but he wasn’t quite finished. His already pronounced grin turned into a full smile as he said enticingly, “and Twilight, would you believe me if I told you that magic, not just one particular type of magic, but all magic, is also under my control as well.”

The poor unicorn didn’t stand a chance. Faced with the promise of untold quantities of lost history and magical secrets, she fainted, a happy smile dominating her face.

As she lay there, Concord, Celestia, and Luna all broke into fits of uncontrolled laughter. The pent up stress from earlier that day and all their anxiety about the future finally found an outlet thanks to Twilight Sparkle. It was fortunate that Twilight stayed unconscious for as long as she did, for they couldn’t have stopped laughing if they had wanted to.

Not long after they stopped laughing, and a kind of easy silence settled over the three, Twilight began to stir. She was groggy at first, and mumbled some incomprehensible gibberish, but quickly regained her senses. She looked at Concord and said, “so just to be perfectly clear, you are saying that you will live in the library and assist me as I study the Magic of Friendship, and in return for me letting you do this, you will let me ask you about Equestrian history and will teach me what you know about magic.”

Concord, just to play with Twilight’s frazzled nerves said hesitantly, “well, there is one other thing I would like.”

His words had the desired effect, as Twilight was clearly frightened of what he would ask for, given that the rest of the deal seemed too good to be true. He let her worry for just a little while before saying, “I would appreciate it if you would, from time to time, fill me in on some of the details of modern Equestrian history, given that I have been rather removed from it.”

Twilight was so relieved to hear this that she almost collapsed to the ground once more. History lessons, all he wants in return offering me access to vast quantities of forgotten, priceless knowledge of both the history of Equestria and the nature of magic, is the guest room in the library, help making friends, and history lessons. Her horn lit and she pinched herself, just to make sure that this wasn’t some dream or hallucination before saying, “I can do that, so long as it doesn’t distract from my other studies,” she said trying not to sound too eager, and failing.

Concord, still smiling warmly said, “do we have a deal Ms. Sparkle?” 

Twilight’s response was an enthusiastic and delighted, “yes!” which was followed by another, and another, and another. And Concord found himself watching as Twilight Sparkle pranced delightedly around him chanting, “yes,” for all the world like a little filly who had just received her heart’s desire. And as twilight slowly transitioned to night, the only sound to be heard in the Canterlot gardens was the excited chanting of the exuberant Twilight.