THE SHE WHO CHANGED EVERYTHING

"Eternity before I met you is nothing compared with the eternity of
being without you after I have discovered that you exist."

Pretty

He didn't know what exactly she was. It startled him to see her. She did things and was things he had never seen before.

She had a body, but it wasn't round like planets and stars. It had four limbs, all planted firmly on the green. It had a pink river coming from top and bottom. The round top had two round openings, and they were full of colors, too. She had a pointed shape on the top, and more angular shapes along her sides. But what was most curious was that she could move, of her own accord. She didn't sway with the breeze, though her pink rivers did, and when she moved her limbs they propelled her. He'd never seen anything move but the spin of stars and planets, and the star and moon's daily cycle across the blue above. He'd never seen anything move that he hadn't made move first.

He had to know her.

He approached her, trying to make sense of her shapes and colors. What is it? he wondered.

One of the shapes on her round top moved. Her body went rigid now, like she was surprised.

"Who's there?"

He nearly fell over, could he have done such a thing, with shock. What in the world is this?

"Show yourself!"

He circled round her, studying her top. The things that had just happened seemed to come when she moved one of her openings. What IS this?!

At that moment, the pointed shape on her top began to glow, and he felt the most startling sensation. He didn't like it at all, and he resisted, but he had never faced this before; what was he to do? Suddenly the pain flashed as he collided together, and he let out a roar—a sound—and hit the green.

A shadow fell over him, and when he opened his eyes (when he did what?), he saw the creature. She tilted her top to the side.

"Oh, my… what kind of pony are you?"

Her words, for that was what they were, sank into him, imbued with a kind of power he didn't recognize. He became aware of himself, that he was constrained, forced into a shape. Not just a shape, but many shapes all smashed together, holding him inside. He felt something else new, too: fear.

"What have you done to me?" he cried, his own words expelling from his new body. "What have you done? What have you done?"

"I've brought you peace," she told him. "When I felt you, I recognized an entity of discord. I couldn't possibly have left you to suffer so."

"Discord?" he repeated stupidly. He'd never heard the word before, but it felt like home.

"Disharmony," the creature explained. "Disorder. Chaos."

Chaos. The word meant something to him. He could recognize it as himself. "You are mistaken," said he. "I am all those things. I shall set myself to rights, and you will never do this again."

Now it was her turn to be startled. "But you must not be serious. Who would choose discord over harmony?"

"Did you not understand me?" he demanded sharply. "I am Discord."

He attempted to show her. He would destroy this body and become himself again, shapeless and colorless and all-powerful. But when he made to do so, nothing happened. Clutched by fear and by anger, he whirled on the creature and shrieked again, "What have you done to me?"

"It is far better this way, Discord," said she. "You would violate the natural Order."

"The natural order is disorder!"

But it was useless. It didn't seem to matter that he was right. He couldn't do anything. He was without power, with form, and without purpose.

"Come, Discord." She smiled at him, the first he'd seen. "Walk with me. You will see what I say is true."

He wanted to argue more, but he knew it would get him nowhere. It would be better, he thought, to pretend to be agreeable until he could trick her into releasing him. It was that pointed shape, he remembered, and glared at it as he followed the creature. Perhaps if I stole it, I could use its power to destroy this body.

As they walked, she spoke. "My name is Celestia," she told him. "This world is my domain. It is I who raises the sun every morning and lowers it at night."

"The sun?" he asked despite himself. "Do you mean the star?"

They both glanced up at the star, but she did not seem to see what he saw. "This is the sun. The stars belong to the night."

It made no sense to him; this 'sun' ruled this world, and yet the creature did not recognize it for what it was. Perhaps this was another part of her 'Order,' whatever that was supposed to be.

"Do you move the moon as well?" His tone was new to him: it was insincere, mocking. She did not recognize that, either.

"I did, once, until my sister came to assist me. Her name is Luna, for the moon, as mine is Celestia for the sun."

"You keep saying this word. 'Name.' What is that?"

She glanced askance at him, and smiled as if she found his words amusing. "You are Discord, yes? Then you know nothing of organization. Names are the orderly way of organizing things. Like the Sun, the Moon, or the Sky, the Ground, the Mountains, the Sea—"

"Sky? Sea? What are all these?"

Celestia looked up. "That," she said, "is the sky."

He looked up as well. "You mean the blue above? You call it 'Sky'?"

She nodded. "And this, below our hooves, is the ground."

"The green below?"

"The green below."

He considered this. Ground and Sky. "What are the others?" His curiosity was piqued now. When was the last time, before he'd met this creature, before he'd come to this planet, that he had had the opportunity to be curious? He already had learned everything about the cosmos. Looking back on it, he found his previous life, though he had been content in his ignorance, to be incredibly boring to him now. "You are a Celestia, I am a Discord, and that is a Sky, this is a Ground?"

"Ah, no, see, I am not a Celestia. My name is Celestia, but I am also a pony. Just like your name is Discord, but you are a—"

There was an awkward pause, but he didn't notice; instead he asked, "Pony? What in the world is that?"

"It is what I am. My sister Luna is also a pony. We have different names so as to distinguish between different ponies."

His head—is that what the top was called?—was awhirl with the new information. "Where is this Luna Pony? I should like to see her as well."

Celestia laughed. "In due time, you shall… She is sleeping now."

"Sleeping?"

At this she seemed not to know whether to laugh or frown. "You really know nothing, do you, Discord?"

He bristled. "Nonsense! I know the very composition of the stars, of the planets, of the galaxies." He threw his arm out toward the sky. "I know what all of these things do when left be or when they collide. I know which stars will make colors when they die and which will not. I have seen the inside of holes in the universe, passed through the center of a star; I have seen atoms down to their quarks. I have known eternity. I know things you'll never understand."

His speech over, she decided on the smile, though it was small and teasing. "Very well, my Master of Chaos. You know things I will never, it is true. But you know nothing of order, or harmony, and so… I will teach you."

Teach me? What does she mean? But he said nothing. He was sure he'd learn soon enough.