When Discord chooses to abandon friendship for chaos once again, Celestia and Luna must fuse together to defeat him once and for all.
Discord, the spirit of Chaos was given redemption by Princess Celestia when discovering the magic of friendship. However, his true nature gets the better of him, and once again he uses his power for his own will. The elements of Harmony are protected from him, but there was nothing saying that the element bearers couldn't be eliminated.
Realizing that Discord has no intention of stopping and has rendered the elements useless, Celestia and Luna must face Discord in a final showdown. His powers are too great for them to fight when they are in their current form, but perhaps two alicorns are not needed. Maybe only one.
That was the first feeling that went through Celestia's mind when she felt the strange power radiating throughout the air. The odd magic had been coming almost nonstop for the last ten minutes from the direction that Ponyville was located. From her balcony outside her large bedroom, she could see a single column of white light shoot up every few seconds in the sunny sky.
“What is happening there?" She asked herself.
The sound of her bedroom doors opening broke her train of thought. Flipping her head around, she watched as her younger sister Luna quickly galloped onto the balcony and stood next to her older sibling. "Tia, you felt the it as well?"
Celestia nodded. "Yes Luna, it has been happening for a small time now. I cannot get a good sense on what it is."
"It woke me up just now. I can only tell that it’s some sort of strange magic, but I can't get a full reading on it. Have you gotten a report from Twilight about it?"
"No..." Celestia quietly responded, "I have sent her several letters just now asking if she knows anything on the matter, but I haven't gotten a response back."
Luna looked back out to the flashing in the distance, becoming more curious every second it continued. "Maybe we should go ourselves to see what the disturbance is?” she asked. “Perhaps Twilight’s already there and hasn’t gotten your letters."
Wanting to figure out what was happening, Celestia nodded as she opened up her massive wings. Luna followed suit by opening her broad but shorter wings outward. Both royal alicorns flapped and pushed themselves off the balcony with a powerful thrust. Wanting to reach the strange occurrence as soon as possible, the princesses decided to fly themselves instead of waiting for the chariots to carry them to the destination.
The land passed by in a quick blur, the forest trees whistling by as the pair of alicorns flew rapidly. After several minutes, they came upon a large grass clearing set between a pair of mountains. Sensing the disturbance coming from there, they banked to the side and dropped their altitude until they were several feet off the ground. When they came to the center of the field, what they saw was not what they expected.
"Discord?"
The draconequus was lying down on his side sipping on a glass of chocolate milk. Done with it, he slapped the glass onto the ground with his tail, causing the magic burst into the sky, the same bust that the princesses had been seeing. Glancing to his left, Discord smiled at the new arrivals. "Well it is about time you both showed up! I knew that you would want to come and try to to find out what was going on."
Folding her wings into her side, Luna eyed the spirit curiously. "What are you doing here, Discord? Why were you doing that magic there?"
"Well I had to get you two out of Canterlot somehow,” he said. “If I were to do what I plan to do in that city, it would have been quite messy. I also figured Ponyville would be annoying little spot as well." Hopping off the grass, Discord's large tooth glinted in the light as he grinned, "Having you two here alone also makes it easier without your pesky guards wanting to interfere."
The princesses exchanged concerned glances at each other hearing the words leave the spirits mouth. "What are you talking about?" Celestia asked.
"Isn't it obvious? I am about to rid myself of the two ponies that originally imprisoned me in stone!” He laughed. “Why live under the shadow of you when I have the power to flip all of Equestria over on itself?"
"What!?" Luna gasped, "You plan on returning to your past ways? You agreed to abandon that horrid way of life and serve myself and my sister."
Discord chuckled as he turned his back to the two alicorns and walked several steps away. “Oh, so you think that I turned all good because I learned the magic of friendship? I must say I did find it quite nice to actually have a pony that wanted to call me their friend. That, however, was only amusing to me for about fifteen seconds. My true calling is what I was born to do, to create chaos, mishaps and chocolate rain.” He stopped and turned to face them once again, a sinister grin plastered across his face. “No matter how hard you try to control it, the very thing you are attempting to bend to your order will break free, just like I did.”
Celestia glared up at the tall spirit. “I gave you the chance at redemption so that you would be able to live free and-”
“Oh shut up with your lies about wanting to use my powers for good and all of that.” Discord snapped back at her. His tone had shifted from his usual carefree attitude to an angered release in moments. “I am clever enough to know that the real reason you set me free was because you knew that I was to escape again soon. I was sealed away for a thousand years when you two, the royal princesses themselves, wielded the Elements of Harmony with much more control and power.”
Luna’s eyes went wide when she heard that. “You… you knew?”
“Oh Lulu, did you think that I couldn’t tell the difference in the power surge that struck me? With you together, the elements were much more powerful than the use by six pathetic little ponies. How long do you think I would have been held this time, hmm? A hundred years? Ten years? Eight months? No, the truth is that you two were afraid that I was to be released even faster because the bearers, while still representing the elements, do not contain the same level of energy that you two do. Just to be careful though, I took precautions with those little ponies.”
Celestia felt her heart jump a beat when she heard him say that. “Precaution? What do you mean? Where… where is Twilight and the others?”
Grinning, Discord snapped his talons together, causing a bright flash to appear around his feet. When the light dissipated, both Luna and Celestia gasped.
Standing frozen in stone were the six bearers of the elements. Twilight stood in the center, poised with her head in the air as if she was preparing a spell. Directly behind her was Spike, his eyes wide in shock and terror. To the left was Applejack, her face scrunched up in anger as her body was crouched down in an attack position. Cowering behind the farm pony was Fluttershy, curled up into a little ball so that she didn’t have to look at her attacker. Pinkie Pie was the first one on Twilights’ right side, standing on her hind legs with her standard party cannon still held between her hooves as if to use it as a physical weapon. Rarity was off to the side, also on her back legs with one of her forehooves draped over her face as she prepared to faint backwards. The final statue was of Rainbow Dash, who was lying on her side with her wings flared out since she had been frozen mid flight.
A powerful shaking overcame the legs of the white alicorn as she stared at the imprisoned form of her prized student next to her friends. Seeing her reaction caused a loud laugh to escape Discord’s throat. “Oh Tia, you put a spell over the elements that kept me from touching them, yet you did nothing to keep the element bearers protected. After only a few days, they felt that I had become safe enough to not wear the elements all the time thanks to this little one.” He chuckled as he bent down and patted Fluttershy on top of the head. “Don’t worry, they aren’t dead, only sealed in stone just like I had been.”
Luna stepped forward towards the spirit of chaos, her eyes burning with anger and hatred. Streams of electricity began pulsing around the length of her horn as she charged her magic. “Discord, you will pay for what you did to all of them.”
“Now now, Lulu, do you think that you two alone have the power to challenge me? You both probably realize by now that when one tries to control chaos…” Discord lifted his lion paw up in the air as a blue aura began to pulse from the tips of the claws, “it only grows stronger!”
Slamming his paw into the ground, the energy rushed outward through the dirt all around him. Moments later, several large boulders were pulled up from below and lifted into the air. Chuckling to himself, Discord snapped his talons, which caused the floating rocks to become enveloped in bright flames. Moments later, the burning boulders were flung through the air towards the two princesses. Opening their wings, they jumped up above the rocks moments before they crashed into the ground where they had been standing moments before.
Luna charged first, flying up into the air and quickly focusing the magic in her horn to conjure a swirling ball of blue energy and launching it at the draconequus. Discord chuckled as he watched the attack coming towards him. “Something so simple will not stop me, Luna. You will have to do better than that.” Holding his arms out, he reached out and caught the magical sphere. Spinning around, he clutched the ball and launched it back and quickly followed with a shot of his own blue energy.
Dropping down, Luna barely evaded her own technique when the second attack came too fast to dodge. Summoning a shield, Discord’s magic struck the barrier with the force of a train, knocking Luna back several feet in the air. As the smoke cleared, she deactivated her magic to look for her opponent, but was shocked to not see him there. Moments later, the bright flash behind her revealed Discord charging her with claws extended.
“Lie down and make way for chaos, my dear!” He yelled out ecstatically.
Celestia’s beam of yellow magical blast forced Discord to conjure his own defensive shield. Frowning, he turned to see the sun princess barreling his direction.
“That was not nice of you Tia, trying to sneak up on me while I was busy.” Turning back to Luna, he snapped his claws and summoned a large glowing silver ball of magic and threw it at the lunar princess. It burst into a mass of ice, freezing her wings and dragged her down as she fell helplessly to the ground below.
Conjuring a fireball, Celestia shot it out at Discord. While it was still flying through the air, she focused her energy and teleported high above him. As Discord used his magic to blow apart the incoming fire, Celestia used this chance to try to strike with another light stream. Before she could however, Discord disappeared in a flash and ended up above her.
“Peek-a-boo! Here comes my tail!” Discord did a summersault her direction followed by his tail smacking over her head and sending her spinning out of control to the land with a hard crash.
Crawling off the ground and out of the small crater she formed, the white alicorn shook the dirt off that collected across her fur. Celestia watched as Discord slowly floated down to the ground between both she and her sister in the clearing, a grin spread across his smug face.
“You two certainly aren’t done already are we? I almost felt like I had to break a sweat back there.”
Luna glared at the cackling spirit as she stepped is direction. “I must say Discord, you really have lowered yourself with this display here. Never in the past would you have had the audacity to physically attack us like this. Does this make you feel so much more powerful than before because of what you are doing?”
“Hahahaha! Oh Lulu, this isn’t because I am trying to prove something!” Discord paused as he put a talon to his chin, “Well now that you mention that, I am proving that I am stronger than you.” Slapping his knee from his joke, Discord took a breath to compose himself. “No, I am doing this because it will guarantee my freedom. I cannot simply turn you into stone like I did to the bearers. No, both of you are much too powerful even for my magic to simply do that. I have to make sure that you are completely out of my way.”
“And killing us will be the way to your total freedom?” Celestia questioned him, “You are fool to ever think that. Even if you were to eliminate us, all of Equestria would rise together and come to confront you. Control is something that will be out of your grasp even if we were-”
“Control?” Discord interjected, “Control is never a thing I ever intended to have once you two are gone. And that is the point I’m trying to make; you two were what kept this land in order and in harmony, not those precious little elements of yours. All of the ponies that crawl about their miserable lives all look to you for guidance and wisdom. Even if I were to free little Twilight and her band of misfits, if they saw that you two were gone, they would panic and lose all form of hope in ever trying to return to the way things were, because nothing could ever go back.”
Both princesses glanced at each other from their spots and stared for several long moments before simultaneously giving a nod to the other. Seeing that Discord had no intention on negotiations, they knew they had to do what was necessary to protect their home from this beast. From Celestia’s horn a bright golden cloud billowed out from the tip, shifting and condensing itself until it formed her large sword. Luna did the same as well, except her aura split itself into two smaller units until they formed her preferred dual blades.
Discord lifted an eyebrow out of amusement. “A weapon’s duel? Oh please, I am surprised you would ever want do something so barbaric. But if you insist…”
Clapping his palms together, a large red battle axe formed between his claws, the massive head of the weapon over three feet across. Unlike the weapons of the princesses, which shifted slightly as they moved, his weapon was much more condensed and solid due to the level of magic that he could conjure and still fully control. Slumping the axe over his shoulder, Discord pointed a free claw in Celestia’s direction.
“I am going to get medieval on your flanks!”
Bursting forward, Celestia swung her long blade around at Discord, who in turn casually used one of his arms to swing his giant axe outward and strike the assault to the side. Jumping at him again, the sun goddess grit her teeth as she swung over and over, side to side at the cackling spirit as he easily countered each one of her blows. Luna quickly jumped in as she brought both blades down from above. Using the hilt of his axe, Discord, blocked both of Luna’s swords as he used his tail to reach up and wrap around her ankles. Yelping, she felt herself get ripped out of the air and thrown to the ground with a hard thud. Crawling back up, the blue alicorn lifted her blades back up and charged again.
Both Luna and Celestia simultaneously went at Discord, The colliding magical blades creating blinding flashes of vibrant light with every hit. Working together, they attempted alternating their strikes with one another; when Luna would attack from the right with a flurry of wild slashes, Celestia would bring her sword down from above to crash down onto the spirit’s head. With that failing, Celestia would bring her sword over her head and bring it down with all her strength attempting to knock him off balance while Luna struck at him from behind.
With every combination that they tried however, Discord continued to counter them without trouble. Even with his massive weapon, he was able to move it with the same level of speed and agility of a small dagger. Focusing on Luna first, the draconequus over powered her smaller blades with ease, making her stay on the defensive. Swinging and using his tail to trip her ankle, Discord used his chance to swing his axe with both arms at her head. Bringing her swords up, Luna felt the massive blow catapult her forty feet back and crash into the side of the nearby mountain.
Turning to Celestia, Discord teleported behind her and tossed the axe into air and caught it with his tail. Panicking, Celestia spun around and lifted her blade as fast as she could, deflecting the axe away from her. As Discord spun around, he caught the princess by surprise with the ball of red magic he formed in his claws and launched it into her chest. Screaming out, the white alicorn bounced across the dirt and skidded to a stop near the base of the mountain by her sister.
Laughing at his success, Discord snapped his talons once again, causing his axe to disappear in a flash. “I do say, that was more fun than I expected from the two of you, but I have had enough of this little game.” Flying high into the air, he opened up both of his palms and began charging up his magic in each. “I believe now is the time to end all order to this world and allow chaos to be the force that rules. Forever!”
(End music)
Crawling back up from the hole she formed in the mountain, Luna ran over to her sister’s side and helped her off the ground. Standing up from the dirt, Celestia spit out a small mouthful of blood and ash, she cringed from the burn mark on her chest. Before she could thank her sister, a gust of energy rushed past her and blew her mane backwards. Turning forward, her heart dropped.
The elder sister watched in horror as Discord floated high above the ground, the energy leaving his body causing the atmosphere to shift around him. The sky grew dark as the clouds pulled together high above the spirit, shifting from white to near black as the energy inside of them changed. Lighting began escaping the clouds, the bright flashes streaming across the sky and illuminating the entire area with every strike.
Luna felt like everything in her life was falling apart; she had come back from the moon after a thousand years of banishment and was able to be free of the dark power that held her. After time, she had overcome the emptiness in her life with the feeling of rejoining her sisters sided and wonderful friends she had made. Now, this one being that floated above her was about to destroy everything that she had. "This can't be happening. We have to try again." She exclaimed.
Celestia wanted to agree, but she knew it was pointless. "Luna, it... It's over." She solemnly said with her head hung low.
"No, don't say that! We can work together! We will stop him!"
“I wish I could agree with you Luna, but no matter how hard we tried, our powers do not compare to Discord." Celestia paused as she looked up to the sky above, watching the aura grow brighter from Discord's claws, "I wanted to believe that reforming him would give us the way of not see having to face him again. I was a fool for ever thinking he would change. I should have never have released him. Now he is about to destroy the very world that we had worked together to keep in balance and-
Celestia's eyes snapped wide open when she realized the words that had escaped her mouth. "Together." She whispered.
"Together?" Luna questioned, "We are already fighting him together."
Not responding, Celestia used her magic to unclip the left earring she wore, a small golden jewel attached to a thin golden chain, and levitated it over towards her younger sibling. Seeing what it was, Luna felt her chin drop in shock. "Th-the earrings of Solaris?" The blue alicorn stuttered.
Celestia nodded. "It is the only way for us to defeat him, Luna. We have to use these."
"Tia, you know exactly what will happen once we use those! There is no turning back once it’s done."
"I know that, and I am willing to do that if it is you that shall be the other half."
Luna stared in disbelief to what her sister was offering. The earrings of Solaris, one if the greatest pieces of magic ever developed in the history of their world. In the entire time of them living, the princesses had always kept the earrings close, but never once ever tested them out since the effects were permanent, never able to reverse back to normal. "You are willing to give up your life for this Celestia? You or I will never be the same after we choose this."
A loving smile spread over Celestia's face. "You are my sister. If I were to use the Earrings of Solaris with anypony, I would rather it be you. This will not only help us defeat him, it will push our bonds to the next level. Never again will we ever be apart."
Luna chuckled at hearing that as she used her magic to grab the floating jewelry. "Together in spirit and body." Clipping on the earring to her left ear, she nodded to her sister. "I am ready."
A lone tear dripped down Celestia's cheek as she nodded to her sibling. "I love you Luna."
"I love you too." Luna responded.
Standing facing each other, both alicorns enveloped their bodies in their bright aura. The glowing magic pushed outward until the gold and blue masses were nearly touching. Celestia tilted her head up into the air to allow more of her magic to mix into her area as she spoke the opening lines to the enchantment. “Abandon the life I have had as one…”
Luna did the same with her magic as she continued the second line. “To be alone in this body I will now be done…”
“In soul and in body I choose to give…”
“to begin anew a way to live…”
The magic around each of the alicorns grew higher into the air, the mass of energy pushing outward and whipping the grass backwards. The earrings on each of them began glowing brighter as they began saying the lines in unison.
“Forging this bond will last all time, and drawing together our bond divine. Combine our bodies, souls and our minds for use, forever together as one we fuse!”
In a blinding flash, the two masses of magic suddenly crashed together, shifting all around and pulsing out from the center. As the bright light in the center began to fade, the spinning mix of golden and blue magic began to blend together to form a beautiful sea of green. A moment later, A massive column of energy burst out from the top of the mix, rushing up into the sky and tearing a large area of clouds apart. As the magic began to dissipate, Discord watched in confusion as the sun moved itself to the hole in the cloud cover. After a moment, a dark shape eased its way into the path of the bright star until it completely blocked the sun out. Looking at the solid black dot in the sky, Discord realized what it was. "The moon? Why would it be out right now and blocking the sun?"
Turning back to the ground, Discord stared intently to something he saw moving in the dissipating cloud of dust. Curious, he snapped his claws to cause a small gust of wind to blow away the troublesome dirt out of his view. What he saw truly did surprise him.
It was a tall alicorn, about a full head taller than Celestia was. Set behind the long horn on the forehead was a flowing mane of shifting hues ranging from a shimmering pink, royal blue and a light green all surrounding a single thick section of sparkling midnight blue. Its coat appeared so bleached white that it was almost translucent to the eyes. Set on the new figures back was not one, but two set of long wings that tucked in one on top of the other. The ending of each long primary feather was a deep blue which would be seen on the clearest of nights. Set on its flank was a cutie mark of the sun partially eclipsed by a crescent moon.
Lifting an eyebrow at the new alicorn before him, Discord noticed the pile of mixed gold and blue royal jewelry piled on the ground at the hooves of the bare covered being. His eyes then followed to the golden earrings that dangled at the side of the alicorns cheeks, realizing exactly what had happened. "The earrings of Solaris? Hmm. Now this is something I’ve never expected to ever see happen. The last time I saw those used was between two unicorn mages over a thousand years ago. You have chosen to fuse together."
The new alicorn opened its eyes, revealing radiant emerald colored irises that sparkled in the light. The focused gaze of the new figure stared intently at Discord with no form of emotion on her face. "We are no longer the princess of the day or of the night, but now are one."
Discord took a step back at hearing the calm yet powerful voice that left the mouth of the new alicorn. The loving and soothing tone of Celestia was perfectly synchronized with the stern and demanding voice of Luna echoing behind. Working together, the dual toned speech of this being was the perfect blend of both princesses. Sneering, discord crossed his arms across his chest and glared at the figure. "So, fusing together you believe that you will have a chance at defeating me? I am sorry to disappoint you, but I doubt doubling your strength will help in the least."
"You do not know the extent of the abilities that we have attained now, Discord. Combining the powers of what we once were has given us the level of strength needed to stop you."
Grinning, discord flapped his small wings to lift his feet off the ground, "So, you wish for another bout? Alright then, I at least would like to know the name of the pony that stands before my way of power." Tapping his chin, he thought of a clever name he could call her. "What should I call a Celestia and a Luna? I think Celuna is something cute for you."
The tall alicorn closed its eyes as she trotted forward a few steps. "We are the ruler of the light of day, and the goddess of the dark night. We represent the combination of the sun and the moon." Reopening her sparkling eyes, she smiled up to Discord. "You can call us Eclipse."
Discord chuckled to himself at the name the combined princesses had chosen. "Eclipse? Such a clever little name you have made for yourself."
Turning her head, Eclipse moved her eyes until they laid upon the frozen bodies of the element bearers far across the plain. Deep inside of her chest, a feeling of hatred began to boil at seeing Twilight and her friends frozen in fear and shock. "You are a monster compared to what you once were Discord. You insulted us and claimed you never turned ponies into stone. Apparently you have abandoned that way of life and now want to eliminate anypony that stands their ground against you."
"Oh please, don't try and do a guilt trip on me." Discord sneered as he flapped his short wings. "I already told you that they aren't dead. I was going to release them after I killed you..." He looked up in the air as he smirked, "Or I could leave them like that. They would make lovely decorations around my home. Applejack looks just right for a wonderful leg rest by my couch."
Eclipse flipped her gaze back to the spirit, eyes burning with anger. "We should destroy you Discord, right here and now. We are not going to do that however, since that would only be more unnecessary violence."
"What's this? With all the claims that you have about being so powerful, you still don't want to try and stop me and-”
"Not being able to stop you was never said..." Eclipse interrupted, "Wanting to end confrontation is what was stated. Fighting you will only cause more destruction to our world, and doing that results in ruining what peace this land has."
"What are you babbling about now? You want me to stop because it is too violent for you? This is really annoying now." Discord stared angrily at the bleached alicorn ahead of him. "Speaking of annoying, how long are you going to keep referring to yourself in plural form when there’s only one of you?"
A small smirk spread across Eclipses muzzle at that, "Hmm, now that you mention that, it is odd. You see, while we do in fact share the same body and mind, both of our consciousnesses still work at the same time. With that being the case, it makes it seem like both of us are still here. It will take time for us, or I, to get used to our new form."
A bright glowing blue orb formed in Discord's talons. "That's too bad, because you are not going to have the time to get used to that new body!"
Swinging his arm forward, the ball of magic rushed forward through the air at the alicorn. As it approached, Eclipse didn't even turn her head back to the direction of the blast, but instead unfolded one of her massive wings to the side and smacked the incoming attack. The ball dissipated into streams as it broke apart from the strike, leaving Discord awestruck.
"I told you that the power from fusing has increased the power we previously had before, both magically and physically." Eclipse paused as she turned back to Discord, "As you can see, you don't have the ability to stand up against us anymore."
Discord sneered at the threat he heard. "So you can stop a simple technique of mine, bravo for you. That makes you think that will be enough to stop me? Ha! You have another thing coming your way." Conjuring two more balls of magic, he threw them both at Eclipse, who in turn opened up both wings on her right side to counter both attacks simultaneously.
Angered, Discord teleported behind Eclipse and shot off several more quick blasts. Before they reached her, he flew to the right and continued to fire a barrage of quick smaller attacks. With each blast however, a wing would swing out and smack the blast into pieces. 'So standard magic won’t even phase her...' Discord thought to himself, 'then lets test a few different spells.'
Conjuring three balls of swirling ice, he shoots them one after another at the fused alicorn. As the balls get closer, Eclipse's horn glows a bright green and shot out a beam. The stream rushed out and obliterated one of the balls into specks. Waiting till the last second, she formed shield up and blocked the balls as they attempted to spread out and freeze their target. The shield started expanding outward until it shattered the ice around it. Deactivating her shield, Eclipse opened up all her wings which seemed to blend to form two massive wings.
"My turn."
In a blur, Eclipse vanished from her spot, leaving Discord dumbstruck until she reappeared right in front of him. Before he could strike; she disappeared again in a blur, followed by unleashing a massive blow at his back that sent him flying through the air into the side of the mountain. Crawling out from the rubble, he saw Eclipse Standing there with her back towards him and one hind leg up. He was confused to what just happened; he didn't see a flash of energy that should signal when one teleports, but there was none when she disappeared. The only way for that to happen was... "No, there is no way that was just her. No pony can move that fast."
Leaping out from the dirt, Discord put his palms together and fired a bright blast of fire at his opponent. As the flames got closer, he focused his eyes on Eclipse and watched her intently. As the attack got within two feet of her, her horn had the slightest glow of green at the very tip before she vanished from her place. Predicting the movement, Discord flew up into the air just moments before Eclipse was in the spot behind him once again.
Up in the air, Discord contemplated what he witnessed, "So she did teleport right there. She uses such a small amount of magic to move her body, she actually compresses it into a small part to hide the flash that gives you away. Very clever. I'll have to watch that and-
The sight of Eclipse vanishing again cut Discord's thoughts off. Flipping around, he fired a blue sphere of magic right when she appeared catching her by surprise. Summoning a shield, Eclipse blocked the attack just in time. Flapping her wings, she floated several feet back and smirked, "We’re impressed Discord, you were able to judge where we were coming from next after just after a few strikes."
"It becomes pretty predictable when you keep striking in the same way you know..." Discord sneered, "keep up any technique and anypony will figure it out sooner or later."
"Are you already bored with this? Then perhaps we should skip the warm up fighting and go right to the true battle."
Discord was a little amused by the arrogance that he heard. "Now I must say, you have really gotten your spirit lifted now. That sounds more like Luna right there."
Eclipse grinned at the spirit. "Personality traits from the past were also fused into this new form we have. It is only natural for some enjoyment to show when we bring peace to Equestria through your defeat."
"Defeat? Ha! You definitely surprised me with the new power increase that you have, but it will do nothing in ensuring your victory in this battle. The reign of chaos will only be delayed with you in the way now." Focusing the magic in his talons, Discord formed a glowing strand of purple energy. "Like you said, let us skip the opening stretch and go into the finale."
Launching forward, Discord began swinging the long string of magic as a whip. The magic shot out with break neck speed and attempted to wrap around Eclipses neck, who ducked under it and shot out her own green blast. Snapping his arm back, Discord swung downward and wrapped his whip around the incoming stream and redirected it away from him. Swinging again, he snapped his whip at Eclipse once again.
With each attempt, Eclipse dodged the snapping tip with ease. As another blow came again, she conjured her own green whip and snapped out out. Wrapping around Discord's magic, she yanked backwards and pulled the magic and spirit her direction. Spinning around, she bucked outwards and struck Discord square in the chest and sent him flying through the sky. Grunting in frustration, Discord regained control of his flight and charged back at the alicorn.
Extending his glowing claws out, the enraged Discord attempted to slash and swipe like crazy to overwhelm Eclipse, yet every time he did, a green patch of energy appeared and blocked his strike. Enraged, he then spun around and swung his tail at her, who in turn opened her mouth and clamped down hard. Swinging her head around, Eclipse chucked Discord up into a patch of dark clouds above. Flying up, she bucked out and kicked the cloud, creating multiple strikes of lightning with Discord still inside.
Bursting out of the side of the cloud, Discord was covered all over in scorch marks and singed spots. His face was twisted in anger as his palms formed dark red spheres of magic. "That is it! I am tired of this game. I am killing you now!"
Both combatants flew through the sky parallel to one another, the clouds being pulled by the current they created. Discord shot out the glowing orbs he made, trails of bright aura in their wake. Forming her own spheres of green magic, Eclipse fired back to counter, the attacks collided and exploded in a bright flash. As they passed through the smoke, both of them stared intently to the other, waiting the next move.
Diving down below, they found themselves over a large lake outside the Everfree forest. Leveling themselves out flat, both of them skimmed near the waters flat surface, forming tall wakes behind them from their sheer speed. Intent on winning this battle, Discord began firing a barrage of fireballs at Eclipse, who in turn took control of streams of water to rush out and extinguish the flames. The fire and water continued to collide, the hot steam being formed covering the entire area until nothing could be seen at all.
Eclipse stopped flying forward and lifted herself over the steam to get a better view. As she did, a purple energy whip shot out from below and wrapped around her back ankle. Yelping as she was yanked down, she quickly turned around and shot the strand with a blast to sever the connection. Regaining her flight, she used two of her wings to create a gust of wind to clear the steam. Once cleared, she was startled to see Discord no longer there.
Flipping around, she was met with Discord latching his claws around her back and on her wings, pinning her as they fell to the water below. Thrashing about, she threw her neck back and head butted Discord right in the nose. As he lost his grip, Eclipse wriggled a wing loose and swung it out to smack Discord's other limbs free of her. Turning her body around, she kicked outwards and landed a blow right in his chest and quickly shot out a beam of magic.
Summoning a shield, Discord prepared to block the beam, but as the attack came closer, it disappeared. Confused, he deactivated his shield, but the moment he did, the blast reappeared and struck him in the chest. Careening downward, he crashed into the lake with a massive splash. Bursting through the surface, he coughed out a mouthful of water as he glared at the descending alicorn.
"She really is a lot stronger than before. This is really becoming a bother for me." He sneered. Standing on the surface, he raised his arms and used his magic to create a monstrous tidal wave a hundred feet high. "Let's see you stop this thing!"
The wall of water rushed forward like a freight train, cresting over as it prepared to break over on top of Eclipse. Instead of trying to teleport out of the way, she stood there waiting as the water was nearly on top of her. Then, charging her horn, a burst of magic went out in all directions, obliterating the wave into a billion drops of water. Discord sat astounded as the water began falling down over the area like rain.
Eclipse created a pulse of magic to dissipate whatever water was left falling out of the sky. "Your level of power does not stand up to ours anymore, Discord. We already told you that the abilities that are achieved through the fusion is far beyond just adding what I was before together."
(End music)
Grunting, Discord brushed off some of the water that had gathered on in his fur. "Are you going to try and explain to me your new power up? No need to, I already know the trick; fusing together combines all of your powers and compresses them into one form."
"That is the simple idea that many believe, but the true power of these earrings is much greater. When the two beings fuse, their power is not added, but multiplied by each other."
"Wh-what?" Discord stuttered.
"Yes, the earrings focus the magic inside of the bodies so much that it magnifies to levels far beyond what could be achieved normally. That is why we always made sure the earrings were on Celestia at all times, to make sure nopony could try to use them for their own advantage."
"It looks like you’re using them to your advantage right now..." Discord growled, "You were too weak before and had to; as some would put it, cheat to rival me."
"You were the one that forced the earrings to be used in the first place, Discord. The other reason we never wanted to use these was because of the level of power that would be granted. At this much magnitude, we could possibly destroy large amounts of land, disturbing the balance of Equestria. We have to focus to make sure only a small percentage of my abilities are tapped into."
Discord growled and prepared to shoot another magic strike, but before he could, Eclipse reappeared directly in front of him. Using her tail to trip him, she followed by swinging all four wings out and hitting him again. Discord yelled in shock as he careened backwards, bouncing across the surface of the water like a rock before crashing through the forest that stood on the shore. Several trees broke in half as his body crashed through the trunks.
Skidding to a stop in the dirt, Discord crawled back up, spitting out a mouthful of salty blood. Staring at the ground for a moment, he clenched his claws together and slammed them down in anger. "How is this happening!? I’m the god of chaos, I should be much stronger than them even if they fused. How can those pathetic princesses be beating me?"
The sound of flapping wings caught his attention. Turning, he watched as Eclipse flew through the trees before coming to a landing forty feet from him. Snarling, he stood back up and focused his conjuring magic, the red glow lighting up his area of trees. Forming in each palm came a short staff with a chain hanging off the end. Attached to each chain sat a large spiked ball that crashed down into the dirt.
Lifting an eyebrow, Eclipses horn began glowing green again. Materializing in front of her face was a long curved sword over five feet long. Unlike before which were somewhat transparent, this blade was so condensed it was impossible to see through, the level of control far beyond what either previous princess was originally capable of. Standing it straight up in front of her, the sword suddenly became engulfed in a stream of bright flames.
Discord snickered at the magic. "Making your weapon all flashy. A little bit of showing off I see."
"No Discord, that is not showing off." Eclipse responded as she turned the blade on its side. In a blink of an eye, she swung it to her left, the sheer force from the swing rushing out into the forest. A moment later, every tree within a fifty foot range on her left fell over, sliced in half from the swipe.
Blood boiling, Discord roared out as he charged forward spinning his weapons in his grip. Whipping outward, the spiked balls narrowly missed their target as Eclipse dipped and weaved under and away from the attacks with ease. Rushing forward, the balls crashed into the dirt of crushed the trees in the way. Swinging her sword, she knocked away several incoming strikes and began to go on the offensive herself.
As she began swiping in wide arcs to her front, Discord tried spinning his weapons in front of himself to create a swirling shield, but when one of the chains wrapped around the swords tip, the blade shattered the opposing magic like string. Deactivating his one broken weapon, he used both hands on the remaining chain ball and whipped it above his head and brought it down.
Forming a barrier, Eclipse blocked the large ball with ease, forcing her magic out and shattering the red weapon. "Your magic is no use against ours, Discord. You should give up."
"I will not lose to a damn pony!" Discord yelled as he conjured his large battle axe once again.
Glaring, Eclipse focused her sword until it shifted into a large glowing scythe. "Then no mercy will be shown anymore."
The combatants charged forward again, their clashing weapons sending out blinding flashes of magic with each strike. As they moved through the forest, the sweeping blades sliced through every tree that got in their way. The very air was shaking from the massive force of magic that was coming from the two beings. It was a battle of the titans.
Stumbling backwards, Discord dug his talons into the trunk of a tree to catch himself. Standing back up, he ripped the tree out of the ground and threw it at Eclipse. Swinging downward, she sliced the trunk in two and rushed forward again until she was met with a wall of stone rising up from the ground. Charging her horn, she shot out a ball of energy and obliterated the stone. As the gravel fell, the enraged draconequus rushed through catching her off guard.
Bringing his axe down, Discord made Eclipse jump to the left to evade him. Whipping his tail around, he slashed out with the small glowing dagger he had hidden on the end and sliced her across the right shoulder. Wincing from the pain, Eclipse jumped back and blasted a stream of magic at Discord's face. Leaning back, the beam just grazed the hair on his chin, followed by another beam that singed the end of his ear as it past. While he focused on those, it took his eyes away from the scythe coming up and slashing towards his stomach.
Screaming out in pain, Discord dropped to his knees as he clutched at the deep gash across his belly. Eclipse used her chance and slashed again, this time digging deep into his left shoulder and part of his chest. Deactivating her scythe, she focused her magic and shot out another beam of magic, striking Discord directly in the chest and launching him through the forest. Crashing through over a dozen trees, he finally came to a stop when he smacked into another gigantic tree.
Discord gasped for breath as he laid sprawled out at the base of the tree. The deep wounds across his body were bleeding profusely, threatening to end his life soon. Every muscle felt like it was on fire, pulsing from a mix of exhaustion and pain. Forcing himself up, he leaned against the bark, wincing as the wood brushed against the wounds on his backside. "Gah! That stupid princess. I am going to kill her!"
Trotting through the trees, Eclipse stopped only a few strides from Discord's position. Her emerald eyes stared down at the crippled deity. "It looks like this battle has been decided, Discord."
Snarling, Discord dug his claws into the tree to pull himself up higher. "N-no! This battle is far from over! Chaos cannot be stopped!"
"Your magic and your body have reached their limits. You are only extending your suffering, although you deserve every bit of it." Eclipse charged her horn up until a glowing ball several inches across formed at the tip. "You used your power to cause misery for ponies every time you were outside of your prison. You care for no pony or their own feelings."
Discord watched as the magic on her horn began to grow bigger, lighting up the area of the forest. His mind began racing as he realized what was happening. 'These princesses think they have defeated me? They have another thing coming their way.' Reaching up, he wrapped his claws around the base of each horn and braced himself. "We never imagined ever coming to this."
Snap!
Eclipse gasped as she watched Discord break off both of the horns sitting on the top of his head. "What in the world has gotten into you!? Why did you do that!?"
Out of where Discord's horns were, red aura began to leak out from the holes and spill over his body. As the magic touched the spots were his wounds were, they miraculously began to close and heal themselves in real time. Eclipse felt a chilling feeling run up her spine. "Wh-what is that?"
Leaning his head against the tree, Discord enjoyed in the bliss of unleashing his true power. "After all these years, all of that talent bottled up can finally be used. I wonder if I will even be able to recall what will happen after everything."
Eclipse stared confused at him. "Your horns contained your magic?"
"Heh heh heh, oh Eclipse. You thought my horns were just little fashion accessories?" Discord asked with a chuckle. He stood up from the tree as the energy covered his entire body, seemingly rejuvenating his strength. "My horns acted as moderators, controlling the amount of magic that I could ever tap into. Now that I have removed them, every ounce of power of mine is free and at my disposal.”
The energy began rushing out from Discord, creating a powerful gust past the princess. "I had to moderate my power, because I cannot fully control the level of energy. This form of mine has the ability to send all of Equestria to the bowels of Tartarus. Despite the risks this imposes, I will take that chance to make sure you do not see the light of another day. My true power... IS INFINITE!"
Discord's body became engulfed in a massive explosion of red energy, shattering the tree behind him into splinters as it began expanding outward from the center. Opening her wings, Eclipse dashed out through the trees and away from the growing column of magic as it obliterated everything within a two hundred foot radius. Once outside of the range, she turned around, to which her eyes went wide as she watched the magic swirling in a tight bubble, the force ripping out trees and pulling them with the current. The next moment, it burst high into the atmosphere, the overpowering red glow from it casting its light upon the land as the blast radius grew by almost double. Massive bolts of lightning shot out from the clouds all around the energy mass, illuminating small area of sky. The level of energy was far beyond anything she had ever thought possible. Then in a flash, the magic dissipated, giving view to an even more shocking sight.
Standing in the base of the crater was Discord, his body nearly doubled in height and in mass. His once normally slim arms were engorged with large muscles sticking up through his scales and fur, ending off with long curved black claws. His normally short and stubby wings had grown out to spread over twenty feet, his dragon wing lined with sharp spines. Hanging down from his head and neck was a scraggly black mane like that of a manticore., the matted hair covering his entire upper body. His muzzle was lined with razor sharp teeth sticking out past his lips, along with his single tooth that had grown to over a foot and a half in length. His eyes had lost their normal comedic tone and had turned into solid red orbs, their glowing gaze burning through the air. He resembled what some would believe to be the true form of a demon.
Lifting his massive head, Discord focused his eyes up to the alicorn hovering in the sky above the destroyed forest. Stepping forward, his clawed feet crushed down into the ground with a loud crack. Whipping his wings backwards, a powerful gust of wind rushed out behind him, pulling the dirt along with it. Inhaling deeply, he threw his back and let out a ear splitting roar. The force from his mouth created a shockwave that ripped up large chunks of dirt and rock as it rushed outward.
Eclipse felt her heart beating rapidly as she stared at the monster that had once been Discord. The pure power that was radiating from his body could be felt from her position in the air. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she prepared herself for what would be the final battle for either her or him. The fate of all of Equestria would be determined this night.
Hovering in the sky, Eclipse stared down at the creature Discord had become. His sheer change in size and stature was enough to cause the bleached alicorn's pulse to increase inside of her chest. She watched as the dirt that was pulled off the ground from earlier fall to the earth at the speed of a light feather, held up from the sheer amount of aura emanating from the draconequus. In fact, just hovering in the air she could almost feel the atmosphere shake from the sudden change in pressure.
'His power has exploded in comparison to what it was before...' She whispered to herself, 'if we knew that he would change like this, we would have stopped him before he did that.' Never once did it cross her mind that his power was being controlled through his horns because Discords horns did not glow when he used any of his power. An increase in power is unheard of, since a unicorns power is cut off when their horn is removed.
Increasing the pace of her front set of wings, Eclipse lifted her forebody away from the ground to keep her chest facing her opponent. She charged her horn just in preparation, the long bone becoming enshrouded in the emerald glow of magic. Looking down, the solid red eyes of Discord simply stared right back at her, almost seeming to gaze through her soul. She watched him intently, checking for any form of movement that would signal him ready to come onto the offensive. A pulse of magic or a muscle flex to show that-
Faster than she could register, Discord’s wings catapulted him off the ground into the air, creating a crater in his wake. Eclipse's eyes went wide as the large deity rushed towards her. Reacting on instinct, she created a shield around herself just before Discord’s claws reached her face. Massive sparks of magic ricocheted off the barrier as he pushed his talons against the obstacle stopping him. Pulling his claws back, Discord roared out into the night as he brought his head back before throwing it forward mightily into the shield.
Eclipse winced in shock as a small crack formed across the top of the shield from the impact of his headbutt. Seeing him preparing to hit it again, Eclipse teleported away to give herself a moment. That however didn't last as Discord shot through the air towards her spot nearly as fast as she reappeared. Seeing she had to fight back, Eclipse formed a large block of magic below her hooves. Lifting it up, she kicked it out and launched it at the incoming spirit to slow him down. That didn't work as Discord clenched his lion paw into a powerful punch, shattering the magic.
The alicorn watched in shock as Discord opened his jaws in an attempt to latch down onto her throat. Tucking her wings in, she dropped down and dipped under the spirit just before he bit down, but his long tail whipped down and wrapped around her throat before she could get away in time. Gagging at the sudden tightness, Eclipse quickly slipped her hoof between the tail and her neck and pushed out to give her enough space to slip out. As soon as she was free, she quickly encased her right wings in magic and swung backwards, striking Discord away from her and encircling herself in a shield again.
Roaring out in anger, Discord threw his taloned limb out and backfisted the shield with enough strength to throw both it and Eclipse towards the ground. Eyes wide at the approaching ground, Eclipse increased the density of her barrier just before it crashed through the ground, splitting the floor and forming a fissure thirty feet across. As she stopped and flew out, she saw Discord already coming down her direction. Forming a condensed ball of magic, she shot it up into the air.
Discord's eyes suddenly glowed brighter, then blasted blood red beams out from his irises. The two opposing attacks collided in between the two combatants, the clashing magic swirling in a massive mess of colors that warped the air around them before going off in a bright explosion and lighting up the sky. The shockwave from the blast was strong enough to send Eclipse several feet back through the air before she was able to steady herself. Flapping up, she gazed back up into the sky at the creature she was facing. 'What is with his power? It's as if it is a completely different aura than before.' She whispered to herself.
The glow in Discord’s eyes began to shine once again as he flapped his wings in a powerful gust towards the alicorn beneath him. Gritting her teeth, Eclipse charged her horn once again and launched up to counter his attack. Both opponents flew faster and faster at each other, their own magic glowing brighter as they neared the other one. At the last moment, both unleashed their power in a blinding flash that enveloped both of them, the large shock wave traveling in every direction. The trees below shook so hard some were near snapping from the concussive force.
Rising out of the smoke, Eclipse shook her head to try and clear her blurry vision. As she began to refocus, she attempted to fly backwards to get herself away from the large cloud, but she was too late. Discord burst through the cloud with his paw tightened in a tight fist. Before she could even think to cast a shield, a powerful hook into her right cheek struck her full force. Eclipse felt her body fall down to the ground again, crashing through several tree trunks and landing *!* the forest floor.
Crawling to her feet, Eclipse spit out a small amount of blood onto the ground. She used her to tongue to rub against the split on the inside of her cheek made from the impact against her teeth. Feeling the cut on her mouth made her wince at the initial touch, so she began using the particles of magic flowing through her bloodstream to begin closing up the wound. Glaring, she used her multiple wings to brush off chunks of earth that stuck to her fur. After she was done, she looked up into the sky at Discord, who was still hovering in the air. "So Discord, it seems you have gotten stronger with your change. Does it please you to see us injured?"
Discord gave no response as he stared down below, all that was coming out of his throat a deep, rumbly growl. Eclipse tilted her head in confusion. "Are you not even going to answer us now?" Once again, Discord didn't talk. Has he really changed to where he can't understand us?' Eclipse thought to herself, 'his body shifted to this form, but has his mind been altered as well?'
Flapping her wings, Eclipse picked herself off the ground and flew up above the trees. As she increased her elevation, she noticed how the terrifying red eyes of Discord never left her form. His once always grinning face grinned no more, but instead had become a mask of pure hatred and anger. The comical eyes vanished behind the dark form that took over him, as if a demon from Tartarus had possessed him. "Discord?" She asked out loud. "Are you even there anymore?"
Cautious, she slowly approached the deity in the sky. "Discord, answer me if you can hear me." Her tone was now more stern, expecting him to finally answer from her demanding him. Once again, he just stared back at her, his face stripped of any form of knowledge of the question. Sighing, Eclipse increased the strokes of her wings to lift her several feet higher. "You are gone, aren't you?"
The draconequus did respond after the last statement, but not in words, instead with action; his mouth slowly opened up, revealing his line of serrated teeth in his jaws. From the back of his throat a deep red glow began to creep up into his mouth, streams of red smoke trailing out and around his snout. Eclipse eyed the strange new sight with caution, unsure exactly what was happening. As the glow began to become a visible ball of red aura, the bleached alicorn started to pump her rear wings to slowly pull herself away from Discord. Her heart rate increased a few paces as his mouth opened up a little more, showing nearly all of the glowing sphere in his throat. Yet nothing could prepare her for what happened next.
Discord quickly opened his mouth to full stretching capacity, followed by a blast of magic erupting out from his throat. Eclipse gasped in shock as it rushed at her, teleporting just milliseconds before she was struck. Reappearing forty feet away, she turned to watch the attack race across the sky at a speed almost too fast to even see as it headed straight for a mountain in the distance. The moment it struck, the entire mountain exploded in a column of red energy. Boulders disintegrated instantaneously in the unimaginable level of magic.
A small chill ran up the fused alicorn’s spine at the sight of the destruction. Her multicolored mane blew behind her as she looked up at the column of magic stretching into the sky. Her fear of what had happened to Discord grew by the second as she witnessed the power he had now. If she didn't stop him here, she had no idea what he would do to the rest of Equestria. Her eyes then floated over to Discord while she conjured her sword again. Taking a breath, she set her sight on what she had to do. "We cannot let Discord unleash his power upon the land. This must end today."
Rushing forward, she brought the sword over her head to slice Discord down the center, but he reached out with his talons and physically gripped the blade in the center. Eclipse felt her heart skip at the act. "Wh-what? impossible."
Discord grabbed her sword, which at this power level should be able to cut through nearly every material in existence. Yet despite this, he was actually holding onto it without the weapon even breaking the skin. Before she could fully contemplate the situation, his powerful grip increased, causing the sword to sputter and pulse until he clenched fully, shattering the blade into hundreds of small particles. Eclipse watched in horror as her magic was broken with seemingly no trouble by Discord’s power. 'That was the same level of power we used when dueling him in the forest. His own magic shattered against ours, yet now he can stop it with his new body.' She shakingly thought to herself.
Flapping her wings, Eclipse tried to fly backwards away from Discord, but in an instant he vanished in a blur before reappearing to her right. Reaching out with his paw, he latched onto her her head and launched her across the sky into the face of another mountain. The stone shattered from the force of her body colliding into one side before completely passing through the other face of the mountain. Eclipse yelped in pain as she tried to come to a stop in the air, her body bruised and cut from the intense impact experienced. Trying to mend her pain would have to wait as she saw Discord flying towards her again.
Grunting, she pushed her wings as hard as she could to stabilize her flight pattern back to normal. Charging up her horn higher than she would before, Eclipse created an arc of magic and swung upwards at Discords body, yet his eyes once again shot out his lasers and clashed with the incoming attack. Flying right through the bright explosion, the enraged monster extended his claws out towards the alicorn to slice her open and end her life.
Teleporting away, Eclipse quickly made another shield around herself and flew through the sky. She had to give herself some space between herself so that she nay decide what to do, but Discord immediately took off after her. Wanting to try a new strategy, she lifted her elevation up into the clouds high above the ground to swim right into the dark mix of thunderclouds that had built up high into the atmosphere. "If the center of that cloud contains enough energy, perhaps he can be stunned long enough to hold him for a sealing spell."
Even with everything that was happening, Eclipse wanted to somehow stop Discord without killing him. One reason for the unknown factor on what his body would do in death, including something as extreme as self destructing. Another reason was the simple fact of killing; Even with the single reason of him attempting to kill her, she truly did not want her own conscious to be tainted with the fact she had to kill another soul.
Passing through the dark cloud and coming out the top, the alicorn watched as Discord was closing the gap between her and him. Taking control of the clouds, Eclipse forced the large cloud tighter and tighter together until it was only three feet across. Sputtering with electricity, the small cloud practically ummed with power as Eclipse launched it down at him, forcing it to detonate right by his body. Twelve lightning bolts burst out in a powerful display, seven of them striking their target directly across his form. As the voltage spread throughout him however, Discord tightened his body into a ball before throwing his arms out to the side, expelling all the electricity in two enormous columns of lightning.
Eclipse almost stuttered her flapping due to the display. In a blink of an eye, Discord teleported again right in front of the stunned alicorn and grabbed her by the throat, freeing a loud gasp from her. Pulling the tall pony right up to his face, the draconequus growled at her, his fangs dripping saliva as if he was a voracious timber wolf prepared to devour its next meal, something that seemed was going to happen as he lunged forward towards her face.
Eyes wide, Eclipse created a chain around Discords throat and arm and pulled them apart, keeping his snapping jaws just inches away from her muzzle. Growling and snarling, the beast continued to try bite and latch onto her face, sending a terrifying chill up Eclipse’s spine. Holding her breath as the grip around her throat tightened, she tried to speak up as much as she could. "D-Discord, *cough* listen to us. Stop this."
Her words went onto deaf ears as the beast continued to bite at the air, chunks of saliva flying out of his mouth from his savage assault. His soulless eyes began to glow again as he prepared to attack her once again from this range. Halting her pleas, Eclipse saw with open eyes exactly what had happened now; Discord was no longer a conscious being now. He had become a beast with no soul or motives, except the goal to kill her and perhaps everything else that stood in his way. He was long lost to what he was before and perhaps would never return. Now she understood why he subdued his power.
Tilting against the death grip on her throat, she thrust her head forward while slicing down with an immensely condensed line of magic. The bright line of aura cut down Discords face and across his right eye, making the beast scream out in pain from the gash across his retina. As she felt the claws loosen around her, she kicked out against his chest and broke free of him. Flying away once again, she stopped to cough several times, clearing her throat from the tightness she had before. Looking back, she watched as Discord turned his face towards her, a deep red slash across his face and shutting his eye closed. His teeth glinted in the light coming from inside his mouth.
"So... It really is going to end like this then." Eclipse said. "Death for either you or us."
Eclipse closed her eyes as she began to focus her power. From her white coat, a light emerald glow began to form around her body outward. The aura soon spread until every inch of her body was covered in it, casting a light across the sky. Ever since the beginning when she first fused, Eclipse had been holding back on the level of magic she was using in fear of what kind of damage would happen from her unleashing it. She didn't even know the limit of her strength in the form she had now. At the moment however she knew holding anything back meant the risk of losing her life and her home.
In a quick flash, a ball of energy completely encircled the alicorn, totally blocking her out from Discord’s sight. The large beast tilted his head in curiosity, watching the swirling aura pulse around his prey. His claws retracted and extended out several times in preparation to hunt down the pony before him once again. Steaming drips of saliva ran off the long fangs hanging out of his mouth as his bloodstream was filled with adrenaline, making him ready to kill.
The ball around Eclipse burst outward from the center, revealing the alicorn. Her white coat had gained a light golden glow that radiated along the surface every few seconds. Her mane had nearly double the length it was before, the deep blue coloring filled with golden stars throughout the length and sparkling like the night. A plasma chain forty feet long was wound in a tight fashion by her side leading up to a long double bladed scythe writhed in blue flames.
Eclipse turned her head towards Discord. Opening her eyes released a rich emerald glow coming from her irises and rising above her head. The determined gaze she sported was more focused than anything she possessed at any other time in the existence of both bodies she had before her fused form. Her horn cast a powerful glow as she flapped her shimmering wings.
"Alright Discord, you want to finish this fight? Then lets end it now!"
Discord roared in anger at the sight of the alicorn in front of him. Opening his mouth wide, he charged another large sphere in his mouth. Seeing the incoming attack growing, Eclipse formed a large green ball at the end of her horn. The two godlike entities released their attacks simultaneously, the collision lighting up the darkened sky. Colliding with each other, the two forces burst into massive columns of red and green explosions, expanding outward and leveling the forest in a quarter mile radius.
Blurring into view, Eclipse raced through the sky towards Discord, the draconequus flying at her as well. The two collided in the clouds, each body pushing and kicking with all their strength. Ducking under a claw swipe, Eclipse kicked out with her back legs away from him. Gaining a small space between them, she conjured a net and shot it at Discord, wrapping around his wings and halting his flight. Growling, he shot out his eye lasers and cut through the green material.
As Eclipse dived down at him, her front wings became encased in a silver aura that covered the front face. Flipping forward and throwing her wings to her side, long blades launched out from her wings and barreled towards Discord. The monster blurred out of the way before the attacks struck him, causing the white blades to miss as they shot down into the forest and cut down every tree they passed through and disappearing underground before stopping. Reappearing behind Eclipse, he swiped his claws at her neck but was stopped by the plasmic chain of her weapon. Eclipse wrapped his claws tightly and pulled him down while flipping behind him. Throwing a loop around Discords throat, she stepped down on his back and pulled against his windpipe.
Growling and gasping at the chain, Discord thrashed around attempting to throw her off his back. As she pulled harder, Eclipse put one of her hoofs against his head and stepped down, pushing him further against the chain. Suddenly, Discord teleported out of her grasp before reappearing at her side and grabbing her head with his talons. Teleporting again and pulling Eclipse with him, Discord reappeared in the mountain range to the north of them. Diving down, he slammed her face into the side of the nearest mountain while flying parallel with the stone. Eclipse yelled in pain as she was dragged against the rock, the mountain crumbling behind in their wake. Using her strength, she stuck her hooves against the edge of the mountain and kicked off, forcing both of them off. The sudden change caused Discord’s grip to falter, causing one of his talons to slip inside of Eclipses mouth, which she bit down with all her might.
Screeching in pain, Discord let go of her and flew back several yards. Eclipse caught her breath after she was released, the right side of her face cut horribly and her eye shut. Taking the chain she had in her magical grasp, she began spinning the scythe to her side so fast it was just a blur, creating bursts of wind in its wake. In an instant, she brought it over her head, releasing the length of chain and slashed down diagonally at Discord. Dodging it just in the nick of time, the weapon cut through the air with so much force, the mountain two hundred feet behind was sliced in half down the center. Thousands of tons of rock slid off the top as it tumbled down the side of the bottom.
Out of the corner of her eye, Eclipse saw Discord charging her again, prompting her to launch her still spinning scythe his direction. Barrel rolling to the left, he dodged the weapon and prepared to shoot another blast from his mouth. What he didn't notice, however, was the sudden yank on the chain by his face, pulling the scythe back towards Eclipse with deadly speed. With no effort, the razor sharp blade sliced through Discords left arm, removing everything from the shoulder down. The spirit screamed in pain as his taloned arm dropped from his shoulder and tumbled through the air. But not even the stream of blood rushing out his amputated limb was enough to stop his attack from being released.
The large red sphere rushed right at Eclipse, who spun the scythe over her head and sliced down, splitting the incoming attack into two lesser spheres that passed on either side of her. Each collided with the ground nearly a mile away, their own blasts nearly as large as the full one from before. She looked back at Discord, but to her shock he was already on top of her. His still good arm slashed at her chest, his long claws carving deep streaks across her body. She screamed in pain, but was silenced by his closed fist slamming above her head, which sent her plummeting into the ground. Not giving her a chance, Discord fired another energy ball from his mouth directly on top of her, engulfing his target in the enormous blast.
The column of red suddenly exploded in a bright flash of green, dissipating in the upper atmosphere. Down inside of the crater through the clearing smoke, Eclipse hobbled up from the ground, her body now showing the wear she was receiving; over a third of her coat was stained black from the heat of the previous blast. Her face along with most of her body on the right side littered with massive cuts and bruises dripping lines of precious blood. The rear wing on her left side hung limp to the ground, the bone broken and popped out of its socket. What was hurting her the most however was the burning sensation in her chest and head; the intense levels of magic she was wielding was draining out at an alarming rate, causing her body to start shutting down due to the strain it was putting on her body.
This massive power given from the earrings was also a double edged sword to the wielder.
Seeing his prey weakened, Discord dive bombed Eclipse to finish her off. Arm stretched out and claws extended, he roared in exultation to his victory in sight. Gritting her teeth, Eclipse summoned her scythe once again and launched it up at Discors. The draconequus wasn't going to fall for the returning blade a second time, banking his body to the left as the scythe past by him. Yet Eclipse had played the spirit, channeling her magic through the chain, encasing both the weapon and herself in green aura.
In a flash, she and the blade suddenly switched positions, her being in the air and the weapon on the ground. Taking hold on the chain, she whipped it up hard and forcing it up at the shocked Discord faster than he could react. The burning blade tore straight through his good shoulder and severed the left wing off, forcing him to spiral out of control to the ground. Using her three good wings the white alicorn dived down to the ground and landed directly in front of the bleeding Discord. Conjuring a dozen chains she quickly shot them out and wrapped one to each of Discords limbs and tail with the rest of them tied around his body.
The enraged spirit began thrashing against the sudden restraints holding his body back. Lurching forward and back, he roared out as the chains stretched and pulsed against the strain being put on them. Pulling with all his might, Discord clenched his arm to the point of his muscles tearing through his skin, until the chain finally snapped from the pressure. Eclipse eyes went wide in shock by the sight before her. "He is still strong enough to break the magic... You truly do astonish us, Discord."
Shooting out several more chains, Eclipse launched them out and bore them into Discord’s back and latched them into the ground, pulling them down and forcing him towards the ground. Discord used his paw to push up against the force digging into his skin. Even held down by so much, he was focused on nothing but attacking his target, the predatory instinct taking over all his actions. Eclipse was sweating now from everything that was happening; partially from exhaustion because of the strain on her, but also because of fear at Discord breaking free. She knew that if he did at this point, there was no way she could stop him.
Pulling against the restraints on his hind legs, Discord lifted his head off the ground and opened his mouth once again in another attempt to strike. Seeing the glow come from his throat, Eclipse grunted in pain as she created another chain and forced it into his mouth and tied around the back. The moment she did, her mind pulsed in agony from the strain from her magic caused by holding him down at this force and the new chain holding back the pulsing attack in his mouth. A thick stream of blood trickled out of her nose due to the strain put upon her, but she refused to let up in the slightest.
Lurching his head forward, Discord tried to force his attack out of his mouth, but the chain in his jaws was holding it at the back of his throat. He screeched in anger as he increased the power of his energy, trickling out the sides of his muzzle and lighting up all around him. Even the chain in his mouth was beginning to melt against the power, causing Eclipse to shake in fear of her defeat. "No... This can't be it." Her fear suddenly changed when the ball inside his mouth began sputtering, pulsing erratically. Discord’s eyes went wide in an expression he had not shown once during the entire fight with the alicorn; something not even the princesses would expect from him.
Fear.
Forced against the chain, the energy in his mouth had become too unstable, and detonated in a flash inside of his muzzle. The explosion expanded outward and sent Eclipse tumbling across the ground over a thousand feet before skidding to a halt. Gasping for air, she forced her head around to see the massive crater she was just ejected away from and saw the ground smoking, charred, and stripped of any form of life.
Even looking there right now she couldn’t believe what had happened; her eye released a single tear that dripped down her cheek, leaving a clean trail down her bloody fur. the fear she had gripping her heart had faded away in that instant.
Pushing up on her strained legs, Eclipse lifted off the dirt and stared in disbelief at the entire scene that had taken part in front of her. The spirit of chaos Discord was dead, killed after his unstable magic erupted inside of him. While his death may not have been directly her cause, the alicorn felt part of it was because she ordered his freedom in order to try and change his perspective on life.
She knew Discord was to break out again soon, and instead of waiting for that chance, she entrusted Twilight and the others to try and change him to be good. While in fact it was successful in the beginning, she should have figured that he would eventually grow tired of this lifestyle and want to return to his ways. A backup plan should have been put in place to lock him away again if he tried to act upon his old habits of chaos. But no matter how much she planned, no matter what she contemplated doing, she never expected the events of today to ever unfold in her lifetime.
Discord had actually planned on killing her to rid the land of its rulers. Never before had he ever gone to the extent of taking the lives of ponies, yet that all changed when he wanted complete freedom from them. While he did come close to success though, his own power led to his very demise, its immense power too far unstable to control and taking his own life. While coming out victorious in the battle, success wasn't the idea that was inside of Eclipse’s mind as she looked around herself. Her heart not only cringed at the pain coursing through her veins, but from the sight of destruction that surrounded her form.
Several areas of field more than a half mile in diameter each were stripped bare of any form of life, the large craters still smoldering from the magical blasts. Multiple mountains through the landscape lay in rubble from the mix of physical impacts and explosions that rocked the very air. Eclipse then took note of the mountain that she completely sliced in half earlier, sending a cold, uneasy crawl up her spine at the sight of her own wrath upon the world. The amount of power she was wielding wasn't meant for a being to use for personal purposes, and that all showed in the massive battle the once split alicorn had to participate in.
Not wanting to spend any more time in this now desolate spec of land, Eclipse shut her one good eye and focused. Picturing the location to where Twilight and the others were, she enveloped herself in aura and teleported. In a quick flash, she disappeared and reappeared back on the field in which her two halves first fused. As soon as her hooves touched the ground, she quickly laid down onto her belly in exhaustion. Breathing heavily, she grimaced at the feeling of having a simple teleportation spell so draining, yet she knew she didn't have a choice; whatever happened to her body she would have to deal with for now.
Opening her eyes, she looked up to the group of stone figurines that were Twilight and the rest of her friends. Before she walked over to free them however, she froze in the spot. 'Wait... How are they going to react to everything that has happened?' She asked herself in fear.
With Discord betraying their trust and attempting to turn all order upside down, what would they do when she tried to tell them that she killed him? But more important than that was what would they do when they saw her? How would they even believe that she was once both princesses from before in one body now? No pony would simply accept a creature like her; a four winged alicorn with powers far beyond anything else in the world... A thought which she knew would be hard for most to accept. Or would it be fine? She couldn't tell honestly, but knew she had to find out at this moment. "Whatever happens... It's meant to be." She solemnly whispered to herself.
Casting out a cloud of magic, Eclipse drifted it over towards the group of figurines and spread it out. The green aura slowly crept over the stone surfaces of each statue, growing out until all surfaces were covered fully by it. The magic suddenly tightened its grip on the stone, squeezing it stronger every second. Large cracks began to form across the surface of the figures, until they all burst in a bright flash of light. Almost instantaneously the light faded, revealing the forms of Twilight and the others all lying in the grass. As soon as she heard a groan, Eclipse sighed in relief. "They are alright. Good..."
---
Crawling to her hooves, Twilight moaned in pain. "Uhh, my head..." She winced as she rubbed her temple, "wha... What happened?"
Spike quickly lifted his head off the ground, his face in a daze. "Twilight... I- I already re shelved the books." He grumbled before passing out again.
"Spike!" Twilight's wings sprang out in shock at her friend. Jumping off the ground she quickly ran over to him. "Spike, are you alright?" Seeing him open his eyes again gave her a wave of relief. She looked to her side and saw her other friends beginning to stir. "Girls, you all okay?"
Applejack grunted as she sat up. "Twi... What in tarnation happened?" She mumbled while shaking her head. "Ah had the craziest dream."
Standing up next was Rarity, her eyes spinning while trying to focus. "Oh, my aching..." She screamed as she looked down at herself. "What in the world!? I fell asleep on the grass! My coat is going to..."
"Just shut up Rarity." Rainbow Dash growled. The Pegasus popped her neck as she stood up. "That wasn't a dream. Don't you remember what happened?"
Twilight sat quiet for a moment before everything started coming back to her. "Wait... Back in Ponyville at the library when-
"Discord."
They all turned back to Fluttershy sitting up from the ground, her head hung down low. "He tricked us into thinking he was our friend and attacked us." She said between whimpers.
"Now I remember!" Pinkie Pie growled out, her forelegs crossed in front of her chest. "That big meanie made us all think he was nice and then he turned around like a batch of icky cupcakes!"
Rainbow bared her teeth in anger. "When I find that creep, I'm gonna pound him so hard that he will wish he were a statue again!"
While she wanted to agree with her friend, Twilight suddenly realized something. "Wait... I do remember that Discord was charging a spell when he tricked all of us at the library. That was there and then everything went black... So how did we end up here?"
"There's no need to worry about anything anymore."
All of them froze to the strange voice that echoed in the air. They all turned and gasped at the sight of the mysterious figure slowly trotting towards them. The tall alicorn was unlike anything they had ever seen. Its tall bleached body and multiple wings weren't that of any pony that Twilight recognized. But what caught her attention the most were the massive amount of cuts that were spread across the pony’s body, multiple trails of blood leaking down her fur. "Who... Who is that?" Twilight stuttered.
"What kind of pony is that? I've never seen an alicorn like that before." Rarity stared in awe at the tall pony, her eyes drawn to the shimmering mane flowing out from her head. "Ooh, what a dazzling mane she has. It’s gorgeous!"
"How can y'all look at that when she's some strange pony?" Applejack rolled her eyes at her friends’ stylish sight. She focused back onto the alicorn as it came to a stop in front of them. "Is she a friend?"
"I... I think so." Twilight whispered, "She doesn't look like somepony we can't trust." Deciding to find out, she slowly made her way forward to the mysterious pony, but the sudden yank on her tail forced her back onto her rump. Yelping out, she turned around to see Rainbow spitting her tail out. "Rainbow, what are you-
"Don't trust her Twilight!" Rainbow yelled out as she pointed a hoof at the strange pony. "She's probably another one of Discords tricks he's playing on us. Just look at her. She is just like something that he would make."
Twilight turned to look at the mysterious figure, but was shocked to see it give a look of pain. It wasn't a pain from the injuries on her body, but from the words that were said of mistrust. "Rainbow, I don't think this is something he did. Maybe she was the one that helped us."
"Look Twi, we just got... Whatever happened to us from Discord, and we are lucky to be fine. But I'm not going to let that happen to my friends again. If that means not trusting some odd pony, than that's fine with me."
"Your loyalty to your friends is truly strong, Rainbow, and We do admire that from you." The alicorn said, "We assure you though that we are in fact, an old friend."
"Oh yeah? Well how come I've never seen you before?" Rainbow snarked at the pony. To her surprise it only brought a chuckle from the alicorn.
"Yes you have... In fact, you have seen both of us before."
"What?" Spike said from behind, "both? There's only you."
"There is one now, but we were two before this morning. Our name is Eclipse, and we were before your princesses."
"WHAT!?" All the ponies and dragon gasped out at the sentence the alicorn just stated.
"But how!? You can't be the princess! You just... What!?" Twilight stuttered out.
"This is... It can't be real. Y'all can't fuse with another pony." Applejack said. "And y'all ain't the princesses. Ya just..."
"You may not think so, but we are telling the truth. We are the princesses that you have known this whole time." Eclipse quietly whispered.
While the others sat in shock, Twilight began recognizing the two voices that were blending with each other. Not only was it that, but the deep midnight blue feathers at the end of the long white wings also familiar in look to the ones that Luna had. To top everything off, the multicolored mane had all of the colors that the princesses had all blended into a single mass of hair that danced together in the air. "Wait... You... You are them." She whispered.
Eclipse smiled at seeing her former student recognizing her. "Thank you Twilight. We know it is confusing for you to understand at the moment, but we hope you will all understand why we had to do this to stop Discord."
"Stop him?" Fluttershy questioned. "You were able to stop him without the elements?"
Eclipse nodded.
"That. Is. Awesome!" Rainbow Dash yelled out. "You were able to whip his butt with just your magic. That is so cool. Hey, where's Discord now? I wanna see the look on his face, haha!"
While the young Pegasus was thrilled about the victory, she noticed the uneasy look on the alicorn’s face. Rainbow looked back to her friends in confusion before turning forward again. "Princess, you okay?"
"Girls, you must understand that we had to do what was necessary. Discord refused to surrender no matter how much we pleaded, so we had to stop him."
Utter silence fell over the mares and dragon that listened to what Eclipse just stated. They didn't need her to tell what she had done to stop the chaotic deity. Twilight swallowed and gave a slight nod. "It's... It's okay princess Celes... I mean, Eclipse." She was going to have trouble getting used to this. "You had to do what you had to. Are you okay though? Those cuts should be looked at."
"They are alright at the moment, Twilight. What we need from you-
Eclipse suddenly lurched forward before stumbling back a few steps before a stream of blood erupted out of her mouth. All of the ponies screamed out in fright at the sight. "Princess!" Twilight screamed.
Spitting out the copper flavored liquid, Eclipse tried to breathe in, but her chest felt like it was going to burst from within. Before she could even think on what was going on, her body went limp, forcing her to fall hard onto her stomach. Unable to use the strength to keep up, she rolled over onto her side and collapsed onto the grass. "Princess!" Twilight screamed as she ran to her side.
Dropping to the ground, Twilight lifted Eclipse’s head up into her lap. "Princess, tell me what’s wrong!?"
Creeping her eye open, Eclipse looked up into the panic filled eyes of the young alicorn. "Twi... Twilight..." She said between breaths, "we... We aren't going to make it."
"No, don't say that! I'll get you help!" Closing her eyes, Twilight focused to teleport both of them back to Canterlot. To her shock however, her magic wasn't activating. "Wha- what's wrong? I can't teleport!"
"A side effect to Discord. *huff* You are still recovering from his magic." Eclipse whispered. Coughing several times, she couldn't stop the lines of blood dripping out of her mouth.
Panic began to set into Twilight seeing that she couldn't help. "Okay, okay. Uh... Fluttershy get over!" As her friend quickly sprinted over, she took a breath to calm her nerves. "Listen, I need you to do what you can to help her. You are the best here at healing injuries right now. Rainbow, I need you to fly and-"
A wing brushing up her side froze the words coming out of Twilight’s mouth. Looking down, she saw Eclipse slowly moving one of her wings forward to stroke her. "Princess..."
"You are doing well, Twilight, but it won't help. Our body *huff* is shutting down from the inside. We used too much magic in the fight for our body to handle."
Twilight's jaw fell open in horror at hearing that. Her princess was going to die in front of her if she didn't get help. "Then we can go get the guards! They can get you back to the hospital so you can get fixed and-
"It's too late for that..." Eclipse quietly muttered, "By the time they arrived... We... will be gone."
Not knowing what to do, Twilight just stared down at the dying alicorn beneath herself. Tears began to slowly drip down her cheeks and onto Eclipse’s face. She looked back to her friends standing back, all of them with blank expressions on their faces at the situation. Twilight turned back to the alicorn beneath her. "Princess, please... There has to be something we can do."
As she scooted her body forward, Eclipse winced out in pain but pushed through it until she rested her head against Twilights stomach. Her breathing was coming in raspier gasps as the pain in her chest grew. "Just... Just stay with us." She nuzzled the purple mare’s chest in comfort. "Just stay with us."
Unable to contain herself, Twilight's sobs began to escape her throat in quick gasps. Seeing not only her mentor, but her teacher’s sister like this only made the pain inside of Twilight's heart grow stronger every moment that passed by. Feeling Eclipse shiver beneath her, Twilight shifted her body so she laid on the ground facing the crippled alicorn. Unfurling her wing, she laid it over Eclipse’s neck to give her some comfort. "Don't worry, I won't leave you now."
While the feeling of pain was coursing through her body, the warmth of Twilight's body on herself brought Eclipse a sense of peace knowing that she was safe. "We are glad you are *huff* alright. You don't know how worried we were when we found you in stone with Discord."
Sniffling back several tears, Twilight laid her head into the crook of Eclipse’s neck. "You risked your life to save us. Why? You didn't have to do that, princess."
"It is our duty to protect the citizens of our land. And *huff*, it’s more important to save the ones *huff* we care about.”
Eclipse suddenly coughed erratically, her body curling into a ball as she cried out from the pain inside her. Crying in fear, Twilight instinctively gripped around the dying pony tighter. After a few moments, Eclipse slowed her movements before becoming almost still, the only movement the slight rise and fall of her chest. "Twilight..." She whispered, "We need you to promise us something."
"Yes, what is it?" Twilight quietly asked.
"We need you to, *huff* watch over *huff* Equestria now."
Twilight's eyes shot open in shock from the request. As she sat for a moment however, she realized what she was destined to do. She looked back to her friends, who were all crying from the situation in front of them. Wiping a few stray tears away, she leaned back down and embraced Eclipse. "Yes. I will do my best to look after everypony."
A small smile appeared on Eclipse’s muzzle. "We know you will. You *huff* are a princess, and a true friend. You have the pure heart meant for *huff* taking care of others."
Inside her chest, Eclipses lungs began to falter, making it hard to breath. After several seconds her heart began to weaken as well, her pulse slowing down to only few beats here and there. Knowing it was her end, Eclipse forced her body closer to Twilight and rested her chin onto the mare’s forehead. A single tear fell down her cheek as she shut her eye. "Goodbye... Twilight.
In her grip, Twilight felt the breathing stop inside of the alicorns chest in front of her. Clenching her eyes shut, she clenched her embrace as she felt the life slip away from her friend. Tears poured down her face as screamed out into the cold sky.
"ECLIPSE!"
In an instant, Eclipse could her mind begin to grow blank, her thoughts impossible to recognize anymore as she lost sight of everything. The last single thing she could recognize was the cry of her name. After a few moments, everything to her went black.
That was the only thing that Eclipse was sure about. Nothing in her body was in pain any longer, and despite her experiences she felt almost comfortable; no doubt this was due to the fact that she had recently perished. However, it was worth it in the end when she managed to put a stop to what would have been an era of chaos and destruction due to Discord’s transformation. She felt horrible to leave her treasured subjects, the Elements of Harmony, behind in to fend for themselves, but she knew that Twilight would keep her promise and lead Equestria into a bright future.
As much as she mused upon what how her faithful student would handle her new job, Eclipse couldn’t stop coming back to why she still felt conscious after supposedly dying. Opening her eyes, she stared into an endless void of black, no form of light or shape in sight. "Where... Where are we?" She asked out loud, somewhat surprised that she could hear her voice outside her head.
She turned her eyes down to stare at her hooves, now deeply interested in the fact that she could see and maneuver them. Her head then turned to gaze down at her body, surprised, but not sorry to see that not one spot on her body showed the injuries from her battle. Her white coat was pristine and spotless, almost clean enough to be reflective. Even her one wing which was severely snapped before was perfectly healed, the limb and feathers in perfect order to their natural form. "What's going on?"
"Well look at what we have here... It seems you have decided to join me."
Eclipse felt a cold chill run up her spine in response upon hearing a voice that she would be hard pressed to forget.
"No, it can't be..." She stuttered as she turned towards the direction she heard it. To her horror, the spirit of chaos was floating there, his body back in his original form.
"It's so good to see you again princess, I was growing lonely in here." Discord chuckled as he floated towards the frozen alicorn. "You didn't think you could make it through that scuffle without me, did you? We can only fight more."
"What are you talking about?" Eclipse quietly asked, slowly moving back away from him.
"I think it would be nice that we could continue our little duel in a place like this. Why have us fight in the physical world where there is death to limit us? How about we go on here in the afterlife, where our bodies won't give out due to the amount of pain that we could sustain. We can really see who is the most powerful between us."
Before she could move back anymore, Discord launched forward and coiled his long tail around her chest. She screamed out as his tail tightened its grip around her, squeezing her chest nearly to the point of being crushed. She tried to swing her hooves forward but Discord quickly grabbed them his claws. "If you think that I will let you beat me like last time, you're mistaken."
Grunting in pain, Eclipse tried to focus her magic, but nothing was happening. "Wh-what's going on?" She gasped in between breaths.
"Hmm... It seems I forgot to mention how magic doesn't work here in death. Looks like it will be just you and me locked like this for eternity." Discord chuckled as he increased his grip on Eclipse. "Even though you may have kept my chaos from spreading through the land, what do you think will happen that you are gone?"
Eclipse’s eyes widened as he mentioned that. "What? What are you inferring?"
"Don't you remember my actual plan? I never wanted to take control of Equestria. I wanted to remove you from control and watch the land itself fall apart in panic. Without the princesses, chaos would spread even without my involvement. And now that you are here, it's seems that I have won."
"NO!"
Thrashing backward, Eclipse felt her head smack into a pillow behind her. Shooting her eyes open, she found her body wrapped tight in a mess of bed sheets. "Wha-what? Was that...just a dream?"
Panting hard, Eclipse slowly unravelled her body out from the tight covers and sat up. Shifting her eyes back and forth, she noticed she was no longer on the field she collapsed in, but what seemed to be a small yellow room. Several monitors were set next to the bed she was in, multiple IV lines and cables strung out and hooked into different spots on her body. She then noticed the clipboard that was set on the rest right next to her. "Canterlot emergency care..." She read in the small print in the corner.
Sitting up a little bit, she winced as her injured wing pushed up against the dresser on the side and knocking something off. Looking back, she noticed that one wing wrapped in a thick cast and sticking out to the side. Her eyes then shifted to the ground to see the bouquet of flowers that were knocked off. She also noticed how the flowers were all wilted and dried up. "How long have we been here?"
The sound of the door of the room opening up broke the confused alicorn out of her thoughts. She turned to see a fresh bouquet of flowers coming through the opening, followed by a face she didn't expect to see. "Twilight?"
As soon as she saw the alicorn up, Twilight's eyes shot open as she dropped the flowers onto the ground. She just stared up to Eclipse in amazement, her mouth slightly hanging open. After a few more moments her mouth started to quiver, a few tears running down her face. "You're... you're awake..." She whispered out.
The two stared at each other for what seemed like eternity, their gazes locked onto the other. Twilight was the first of the two that moved, slowly trotting towards the bedside. Before Eclipse could say anything, Twilight jumped up and threw her hooves around the white alicorns chest. "I'm so glad you're okay! I was so worried about you!" Twilight buried her face into Eclipse’s chest as she weeped. "Please don't ever scare me like that again..."
Eclipse wanted to try and speak, but her own breath was catching in her throat from the emotions bubbling inside her chest. Wrapping her hooves around the small pony on top of her, she pulled her closer into the embrace. "It's alright Twilight, we are here now." The two of them sat quiet in their hug for another few minutes, enjoying the comfort of the other. Suddenly, something in Eclipse’s mind made her sit back. "Twilight, what happened? All we can remember is being on the field, and we collapsed."
Letting her hooves unwrap from Eclipse, Twilight leaned back and wiped a few stray tears from her face. "When you stopped breathing after you fell, I thought you really had died. But when I checked your pulse it was still there. It was so faint I could barely feel it, but it was still there. Rainbow flew as fast as she could and got the guards to help carry you back to Canterlot."
Eclipse could not believe what she was hearing; she had truly believed she had died after that battle and was sent to the afterlife. Now she was learning that she had miraculously survived afterward. "Twilight , how did you save us?"
"I... I honestly don't really know. When we got you to the hospital, the doctors did their best to try and help, but they said that they couldn't even operate. They kept you in special care for the first few weeks, then they-
"First few weeks!?" Eclipse yelled. "How long were we unconscious for?"
Twilights hoof rubbed the back of her head."You... You were unconscious for five weeks."
Eclipses mouth held fell open slightly in disbelief. "Five... Five weeks?"
"Yes you have been."
Both Eclipse and Twilight turned back to see the doctor standing there in the doorway. "Your majesty, you're awake now. I'm so glad you're alright. You had us worried for a while." The brown stallion came in and adjusted the glasses on his face. "How are you feeling?"
"We... We're fine. Thank you. Doctor, can you tell us what happened? We aren't sure what is going on." Eclipse questioned.
The doctor sighed and adjusted the glasses on his face. "I honestly wish we could tell you the full facts, but even I don't have the answers." He trotted over towards her and looked at the monitors. "Blood pressure is good. Your heart rate has been stable for a while now and-
"Doctor, can you please just tell us?" Eclipse asked a little impatiently.
The stallion closed his mouth and turned away from the machines. "Oh, sorry... Anyway, I'll keep this simple. After Princess Twilight was able to get you here, we quickly did a magical pulse test through your body to see the extent of the damage. Several of your organs like your stomach and liver were damaged from internal bleeding due to you injuries, but the worst was all from yourself."
Eclipse tilted her head in confusion. "Ourselves? What do you mean?"
"Magic exhaustion will happen to a pony when they push themselves past their physical limits. This can result in loss of consciousness, ruptured blood vessels, or even comas if pushed hard enough. In your case, it is much more serious. With such a massive amount of energy you were using, your body was actually shutting down from strain. One body with a multiplied magical force was simply too much to handle at full power."
Eclipse sat silent for a minute as the doctor told her what had happened. Her own power had nearly killed herself just by using it. "It did feel painful to even use our magic towards the end, like it was making my mind break."
"If you had forced yourself to keep using much longer, you would have died. When you stopped using it for a time, your magic began to act on its own, forcing your mind and other systems to stop responding. It seems that when you passed out though, that it was your power actually was saving you."
"What?" Eclipse sat up higher in the bed to his words. "How did that help us? It nearly killed us?"
"Magic is used when you choose to activate it. In your fight, you kept pushing yourself more and more at your own choice. Once you actually stopped, your magic activated on its own accord. Your mind and other organs were sealed in aura and put into an almost comatose stasis to recover . We couldn't even access them to operate on, it was resisting our efforts. We only sealed up your external injuries that you had and kept your fluids stable." The doctor removed the glasses from his muzzle and scratched his brow. "I have never seen magic work like this with a pony before... Although I have never had two alicorns fused into a single body before. There is probably so many things about your power that we won't understand."
That statement made Eclipse sit back up in the bed. She forgot about having to explain this to the rest of Equestria; both princesses suddenly forced into the body of one. But then she remembered being stuck in a hospital bed for the last month after being brought by her own guards. "Doctor, you've... known about us like this, correct?" She quietly asked him, "Does this bother you?"
"Your highness. Princess Twilight explained it to all of us the moment she arrived." The doctor grinned and lightly chuckled. "I'll admit it was interesting at first, but we have been waiting for the moment you woke up. I can't tell you how many times guards have come in to check up on your condition and see if you had awoken."
The large alicorn sat quiet in her bed as she took in the news; she had expected the ponies to be cautious of her new form, yet they were exactly the opposite. They were anxiously waiting for the chance for her to come back and be the ruler she was. With everything she was hearing, she couldn't help but cast a small smile. "We are grateful that you were worried for us, and thank you for the care you gave us."
"You are most welcome, your highness." The doctor gave a small bow to her direction.
Twilight smiled and hopped off of the bed. “I will go and tell the others that you are up now.”
“No, wait Twilight…” Eclipse quickly said. “We believe it would be best that we be the ones to announce this to the city.” forcing herself up, she slowly made her way onto the floor below by her former student. “Gather up the city tomorrow for a special presentation. We will be there to greet them ourselves."
The next day seemed to come almost instantly. Eclipse stood alone in the hallway leading out towards the palace balcony. She stared at the mirror on the wall as she looked over the new jewelry given to her. Strapped to her chest was a deep green breastplate encrusted in golden jewels throughout. Her horseshoes were made of midnight blue glass, its surface radiating in silver sparkles. Finishing off her wardrobe was a new crown created of solid emerald, its deep green hue glowing through her shifting mane. It was truly a magnificent set of royal garments for her to wear.
She shifted her shoulder to adjust the position of the breastplate clasp, but the movement caused her to wince. She turned back to look at her injured wing that was awkwardly folded at her side.While it was still broken, it had healed enough to be removed from the cast it was wrapped in. She looked back to the mirror as she let out a small sigh. “It looks like we will have to deal with it.” As she looked towards the doors leading outside however, she felt a small shaking in her knees.
While she had believed a day would be enough time to prepare herself, now she wasn’t so sure about this. Going out to face her subjects in her current state would possibly dim their hopes and cloud their minds with fear and doubt over her weakened form. But before she herself could feel the same way, Eclipse shook her head and held it high with her chest out; she may have endured a great deal from her latest battle, but that doesn’t mean she will be forever helpless. The only thought that plagued her mind other than her condition was the fact that she was to spend the rest of her endless life as a powerful being that had been made between two sisters who wished to act in the best interest of their beloved country.
Taking a deep breath, Eclipse carefully trotted out to the balcony to look down at her subjects. The crowd of thousands burst out into a loud applause moment she came into view to them, causing her jaw to fall open slightly in awe to the response from them. Twilight, who was already waiting there in her own regalia, trotted over towards the newly arrived princess and smiled. “They are all waiting for you now.” the smaller alicorn happily said.
Eclipse felt happy to see her young friend giving her the chance to show herself in front of everypony. Shaking her head one last time, she made her way out to the golden railing that surrounded the balcony edge. As soon as Eclipse looked out to the crowd below, the ponies burst out even louder than they had before. Smiling once again, she took a deep breath before beginning her planned speech.
“My little ponies, we’re happy to see that everypony is safe and sound after our long period of absence. We apologize for filling you all with worry over the past five weeks, but we’re delighted to announce that we shall continue to watch over you all.” She was relieved to have her introduction rewarded with a raucous cheer; it was as if they ignored her battle scars entirely. “Furthermore, our rule shall be aided with the help of our newly-coronated princess Twilight Sparkle.” The aforementioned pony perked up at the call of her name.
“We must know you are grateful to see us like this, but you are truly confused by what we are now. We cannot truly explain what will happen from now on with both of your princesses sharing one form. Life will be different for all of us from this point. What we can assure you is that we promise that no matter what happens, we will do everything in our power to protect this land. No matter what it may be, no matter how powerful it is, we will stop any kind of threat that dares show it face in the light of day, or in the dark of the night. It will be a cold day in Equestria when we give up protecting every single one of you. No matter if it be the cold steel of a sword or even beasts from the darkest caverns, we will not let it harm one pony while we are breathing!”
Screams of joy rang out from the massive crowd of ponies at the powerful speech that Eclipse delivered to them. She herself took a step back from what she just gave, glancing back at Twilight who trotted up to to her. “It looks like life will be different now…” the purple alicorn said, “... But I believe you will do great… Eclipse.”
A small chuckle escaped Eclipses throat. “So you remembered to call us by our new name?”
Twilight smiled back at the comment. “I’ll admit it is a little different not calling you by Celestia or Luna, but I think I can get used to you as one.”
Eclipse looked up into the sky as she contemplated what Twilight said. “Yes, we are as one now. The names Luna and Celestia may not be used anymore, but don’t ever forget that they aren’t gone, but inside me. We live as one, and as long as we work to protect Equestria, we will fight as one.”
The cool breeze gently blew through Eclipse’s mane as she sat on the roof of the palace. In the calm evenings before the night, she always enjoyed the view from the very top of the castle back when she was only Luna. For some reason now it felt even better knowing that she technically wasn't alone when she was up here. She glanced down to the sun and moon design on her breastplate, gaining a warm feeling in her chest from the sight of it.
With a warm smile across her muzzle, she looked up into the sky and cradled the sun in her power. Gently guiding it down below the horizon, she switched her power and took hold of the moon and brought it up into view. Putting it in its place, she watched as the land became covered in its light glow, admiring the tranquil feeling it gave off, and another night of her new life.
"Our new life..." Eclipse whispered to herself, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes.
It had been a week since she had left the hospital, and she loved the way things had turned out. After receiving a wonderful warm return from the citizens of Canterlot, Twilight (along with Pinkie Pie of course) went on and made a massive party in celebration of her recovery and as thanks to saving them. And Cadance had returned from the north to visit her. With everypony she loved together, it was wonderful.
But for some reason... Something was wrong.
Eclipse knew it wasn't with herself or the others around her. She couldn't be happier with her life. She had wonderful friends and family that would always be there for her no matter what. Even with all these great things however, it felt like something was not right. As if there was a danger was approaching from the shadows, but she couldn't tell what it was.
"Is it just the thought of us together like this forever..." She sighed to herself, "to never be two ponies again? No... It's not that." She then turned her eyes down to the large gardens below the castle, specifically the now empty spot next to the fountain.
Where Discord used to be.
A small shiver crawled down Eclipses back at the memory of what happened to him; offered a chance at redemption for the years of chaos he put over the land, but that wasn't enough for him. He chose to try and kill her and threaten the land she swore to protect. But what bothered her the most of it was what Discord had said to her was correct. The elements weren't the ones that united Equestria together, but them. If something were to happen to them, everything the god of chaos said would be true.
After barely making it through that battle with him, Eclipse knew there were so many things she now realized in her life. Not only did she see she was lucky with her battle, but she had nearly killed herself in the process. If she did come across something strong again, she may not have the second like she did before. If the worst did happen, only Twilight and-
"Wait..." Eclipse sat still for a moment, a sudden idea popping into her mind. "Perhaps that is the thing bothering us. Maybe if..." A smile spread across her muzzle as she thought of it more, "yes. That is what we should do."
Standing up, she opened her two sets of wings and leaped off the roof. She quickly glided through the air down to the balcony several stories down. Gently landing on the tile, she walked towards the open doors leading to one of the large guest suites and chuckled to what she saw; both Twilight and Cadance were sitting down on separate cushions, both of their faces covered in green face cream while Twilight placed curlers through the others hair. The two of them were still oblivious to Eclipse standing there as they laughed together.
Cadance giggled as she felt her hair pulled up and wrapped around another piece. "Oh my gosh, I feel like I am back in Canterlot high doing this. What made you ever do these kind of things?"
"Actually, Rarity is the one who really showed me this." Twilight said as she clipped another curler into her sister in laws hair. "It was a funny thing how it happened."
"I just think its so funny seeing you doing this. I mean, you used to be so into books that you never did these kind of things."
"And so into her studies she hardly ever got out when she was younger." Eclipse added as she walked up to the two of them.
Both young alicorns quickly looked up and smiled at the new guest. "Princess! What are you doing here?" Twilight asked as she stood up from her pillow.
"I was just coming back from lowering the moon and saw you two in here. So I figured that I could come in here and see you both."
Cadance levitated a rag and wiped off the mud over her face. "You wanted to talk to us aunt Celes-" she stopped herself mid sentence, a beep blush growing on her cheeks from her mistake. "Sorry, I'm still getting used to that."
"No no, it's quite alright. It is..." Eclipse gave an annoyed frown to her niece. "Why do you always mistake us for our one half? Why not the other?"
Twilight scratched the back of her head with her hoof and chuckled. "Well... You do look like Celestia more overall."
"Well, alright then." After a small laugh, Eclipse walked closer and sat in front of them. The next moment though, her face lost its small smile as she looked to the two ponies before her. "Actually, we need to speak to you about something important."
Both Twilight and Cadance exchanged confused glances, taken aback by the sudden change in tone from her. Both of them finished cleaning off the face cream they had before sitting at attention for her. "Is something the matter?" Twilight asked.
"No, nothing is wrong. It's just..." Eclipse sighed, making sure she said the right things. "Look, back when we fought against Discord, we realized something very important about ourselves. If you are never prepared for anything, you may not be able to stop it. There will be times in your life when you will face dangers that cannot be faced the ways you have before. You may not have the chance to use the Elements of Harmony, or the Crystal Heart to help you."
Both Twilight and Cadance flattened their ears against their head, knowing that if it weren't for what Eclipse just mentioned, they would have never stopped Nightmare Moon, Discord or Sombra without them. They were nearly helpless when they didn't have those items of defense at their leisure to use.
"The same goes for us with Discord..." Eclipse flicked her ears, jingling the Solaris earrings hanging on, "if it weren't for these, we wouldn't be here to be telling you this. We cannot always allow ourselves to have to rely on outside defenses all the time."
"But... What are you trying to say?" Cadance questioned. "Where are you trying to get at?"
Now, Eclipse couldn't help but smile. "This is what we came to tell you. We want you two to begin training with us in combative magic."
Twilight's mouth fell open in disbelief to what she heard. "Wh-what? Combat magic?"
"Yes Twilight. While originally you may have been taught it wasn't needed for you, we realized it is perhaps an important thing to learn." Eclipse got up from and trotted over to their sides, wrapping a set of wings around each one. "You must learn so that when the time comes, no matter how far into your future it may be, or hopefully never, you are ready."
But what threat are you worried about that you want us to learn this?" Cadance asked.
"We aren't saying there is, but for when the time comes that there really is, you are prepared. You must be ready to protect not only yourself, but all those around you that you love."
After a few seconds, a large grin spread across Cadance's face. "Alright then. I'll do it."
"Me too." Twilight said as well. "Who knows, maybe I won't need the elements anymore. I can do it all myself now."
Cadance rolled her eyes at her sister in law’s joke. "Okay Rainbow Dash. You go and guard all Equestria."
All three alicorns shared a laugh together, enjoying the warm embrace the three of them shared. After a moment, Eclipse spoke back up. "Perfect then. Practice starts tomorrow."
"This will be good, but maybe not too necessary just so you know." Twilight said with a smirk. "I mean, you already beat Discord, and don't know what else would be that tough."
Miles from the peaceful city of Canterlot, a very different tone drifted in the air. The great desert beyond the borders of Equestria sat vacant of almost all life, dry wind whipping dust over the barren land. No plants grew in this place, the land still destroyed from the great battle over a millennium before the princesses came to rule the land.
Sitting alone in the sandy wasteland, a single mountain rose from the ground. It's solid stone face was unlike anything that was found in the desert. That was because it didn't naturally come from the land like the other land masses. The deep red rocks across the face of the mountain was so shiny it almost appeared to be glass, the surface smooth and flawless. All except for a large crack over the very top.
Spreading out like a spider web, the crack grew out until a chunk the size of a golf ball poked out and fell off the mountain face. The empty space revealed a hole leading to the dark, hollow interior inside the strange landmass. As soon as it was revealed however, it was filled with a bright yellow eye staring out to the moon in the sky.
A deep laugh was heard as the mysterious eye stared up to the bright orb, relishing the light it gave. "Amazing, it's been over two thousand years since I have seen the moon. Seems smaller than I remember."
"I don't care about a moon. I just want to feel something else than this damn rock all around me." Another voice said from the darkness inside, this one sounding like a female. "The moment we our out of here, I will get the meal of a lifetime."
"Heh heh, I agree with that one..." The first voice said as he moved his eye out of the way, his pitch black claw reaching through and scraping at the surface. "I can feel the spell weakening already. That only means one thing."
"Yes it does..." A new, cold voice spoke up from the blackness of the mountain. "Discord is dead."
The claw slipped out from the hole as its owner moved out of the way, allowing a new green eye to look through. The new eye stared out to the barren land that was the desert before it. A deep sigh was heard as the mysterious being looked out to the world before it. "The spell over us still won't wear off for sometime. When it does though, there will be no stopping us."
"Yeah, now that Discord is gone, that is one less obstacle in our way." The first voice said from behind. "I just wish I was the one to slice his throat open for betraying us."
"It doesn't matter. He is gone and his magic dissipating is enough to destroy the prison. Knowing him how he was, he was foolish enough to keep the secret after so many years, and that secret died with him."
"Still... to think Discord could be killed." The first voice laughed in the darkness at the idea. "That is something I never expected. I really can't wait to see that creature who did it. Perhaps I can give it a thanks for it before I kill it."
"That time will come soon. And once it does, nothing will stop us from taking our world back." The deep green eye narrowed as it stared out to the blowing sand, almost picturing the deceased draconequus in the night.
