LEGEND OF THE GODDESSES
Clovenshire, 1,012 years ago
Discord sat in his throne room, tossing the great blue broadsword-shaped jewel from one hand to the other, the other crown jewels flying around the room wildly.
"Isn't this great, you guys?" he said to the jewels. "I don't know yet who they are, where they came from, what they want…"
He conjured up a circular screen, through which he could see the place where his realm of chaos gave way to the natural world outside its borders, and two elderly mares slowly approaching the border on hoof.
"I just know that somepony has been seen approaching the border of Equestria and that they clearly mean to enter my realm," Discord said gleefully. "Could it be? Could they be the ones? The ones that finally give me a good challenge? It's just been so boring, just sitting here, utterly obliterating anypony who ever tried to defeat me or trick me…"
He got down on his knees and turned his eyes to the heavens, clasping his hands together. "Whoever's coming, please, please, please just be fun!"
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
Celestia and Luna stood at the border nervously. Celestia peered in, seeing the floating landmasses, windmills flying around, flocks of electric-blue worms gyrating through the air.
"By the Old Gods, what is this?" Celestia breathed.
"It's a world of chaos," Luna said solemnly. "Discord created it himself. He has absolute power, and chaos is his end, not his means. But not to fear: we have the Elements of Harmony."
"Of course," Celestia muttered. "We have them, we have been practicing our magic for centuries, we've always had strength and talent in our blood, and as you yourself once pointed out, we rule the sun and the moon."
They stepped across the border. Instantly, the sun disappeared and the moon took its place. Seconds later, the moon set in the same direction it had risen, and the sun returned.
Luna sighed. "You just had to say it, didn't you?"
"Oh, right," Celestia scoffed, "because he wouldn't have done that if I hadn't said that. What are you, stupid?"
Luna ignored her. "He wrested this power from us because we're in his domain. As far as I can tell, he is powerless outside the borders of Equestria."
"Then why are we fighting him where he's all-powerful, instead of… anywhere else?" Celestia demanded.
"Because there's no possible way we could trick him into leaving his realm, surely you can see that," said Luna. "Come."
They walked together across the brightly-colored checkered grass of Equestria. A pair of eight-foot tall mushrooms abruptly sprouted out of the ground, spraying them with white smoke.
"Agh," Celestia squeaked, squeezing her eyes shut.
Luna put a hoof to her face, noticing the huge red-and-green welts rising up on her skin and Celestia's. She grabbed Celestia and pulled her out of the cloud, and immediately began squeezing the pustules, emptying out the white pus and green venom, before hastily applying a magic spell to each welt, sealing it up, doing all of this while still walking.
Stones burst out of the ground beneath their hooves, an upward rockslide rushing over them, the huge rocks slamming against their stomachs and ribs before soaring off into the sky. Luna clutched her diaphragm, and hobbled forward on three legs, while Celestia limped on a damaged ankle.
Abruptly, it was night again, and a huge thorny vine burst out of a floating landmass overhead and dove toward them. Celestia and Luna simultaneously shot beams of magic at the vine, blackening and shriveling it. The two looked at each other smugly, before the sun came up again, revealing that an entire forest of that very same plant was looming up in front of them.
Luna lowered her head dangerously. "This is the way to Clovenshire for certain."
"He knows we're here," said Celestia. "He must. And yet all we're fighting is the landscape, painful but not difficult to defeat. He's toying with us, Luna, you can see that, can't you?"
"Well, yes," Luna muttered out of the corner of her mouth. "But don't call him out on it! Him toying with us is the only chance we have."
Luna took her saddlebags back from Celestia, who nodded gratefully. They proceeded into the forest of thorns, the sun and the moon continuing to switch places randomly as they travelled.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
They stood at the enormous iron gates of Clovenshire Castle. Luna had a fleeting thought that the gates bore an uncanny resemblance to the fence around Celestia's property in Ironbridge… then suddenly found herself dwelling on that thought.
"Here we are," Celestia said pointedly. When Luna didn't respond, Celestia shrugged and tapped the gates with her own horn. They opened wide, inviting them to step through and approach the ominous castle.
"Prepare yourself," said Celestia. Luna glared at her, irked at Celestia slipping back into her old habit of giving orders, but obliged, opening her saddlebag. The Elements of Harmony flew out of the bag of their own volition, the five jewels circling them and the pearl, as usual, floating directly between the two of them. Celestia and Luna eyed the pearl and scoffed, rolling their eyes, bitter at this shared connection and continued dependence on each other.
Thunder rang out, followed by a strike of chain lightning covering almost the entire sky, tinting the entire area with red-and-blue plaid.
Discord chuckled, his voice seeming to come from every direction at once, loud and echoing. "Oh… now that's not going to be any fun at all."
With a loud crack, Celestia's body became taller and stronger, her pink coat regaining its luster, her white mane becoming thick and pink again, lengthening, flowing as it had in her youth. She lifted her head, no longer needing to hunch over, and glanced at Luna. The changes in Luna were subtler, as she had aged significantly better, but her dusty-blue face was smooth and flawless now, and her short mane had regained all of its color.
They were both young again, appearing to be on the brink of adulthood. They still lacked their magical gold and silver auras, but they could nevertheless feel the strength of their youth returned, their magical power escalating, their minds sharper and quicker.
Discord appeared behind Luna and leaned forward to whisper in her ear: "Luna."
He disappeared before she could catch a glimpse of him. He reappeared in front of Celestia, caressing her chin with his talon and nuzzling her nose with his. "Celessssstia," he hissed.
He was gone in a puff of smoke. "Do you two like games?" asked his echoing voice. "My game is simple and has only one rule: whoever keeps their sanity wins."
There was a click, and suddenly Celestia and Luna were standing in complete blackness. They exclaimed in surprise, and both of them starting looking around wildly.
"Luna, are you there?" said Celestia, looking straight at her.
"Celestia?" Luna called out frantically, looking all around. "I… I don't understand… it's pitch-dark, but I can see my own hooves as clear as day…"
"Where am I?" Celestia demanded. "Am I alone?"
"I'm alone," Luna whispered. "Alone in the dark and the silence until he comes for me…"
There they were, standing right next to each other in a void of nothingness, but unable to see or hear the other.
Discord appeared before them, standing erect. "Hello, Lulu!" he said brightly. "Why so scared?"
Luna stared at him in horror as he slithered up to her; Celestia remained unaware of either of them. "You fear the destruction of all things," Discord whispered, putting two of the fingers of his talon on her head, walking them all over her scalp. "Why be so afraid of what you can't change? After all, everything has to end someday, why shouldn't it be because of you?"
"No…" Luna squeaked.
"But of course, I control the sun and moon now," Discord said thoughtfully, reclining on her back. "So why would you try to overthrow me? The cycle will be in good hands when you die if you leave it to me. You won't have to go to your deathbed knowing that half the world will slowly burn to death while the other side freezes painfully. It won't happen."
Luna gritted her teeth. "It will."
"It will? Oh, right, because that's what I do to my subjects. How could I forget? Oh, well, these things happen and there's nothing you can do about it. Let's see what else is bothering you…"
Discord scratched Luna between the eyes with his single fang, and his entire body entered her mind through the small scratch.
Everypony you ever knew is long since dead, he whispered from one corner of her mind.
Your father never loved you, he said from another corner.
Your beloved cousin Annihilara will never find happiness.
You'll never have a good relationship with your sister.
He reared his head within her mind. You'll never be loved or remembered as much as Celestia.
He snapped his fingers. She cried out in pain and fell to her knees. Her eyes went blank and white, and she sat there, her expression blank, staring straight ahead blindly.
Discord jumped out of Luna's head. "Disqualifiiiiiiiied!" he sang. "Next?"
He dangled upside-down in front of Celestia's face, and she gasped, now able to perceive him.
"What about you, Celestia?" he mocked. "Do you plan to use those Elements of Harmony against me? How do you propose to do that when that sister of yours hates you so much? Will you have to trick her again?"
"I never tricked her," Celestia said coldly. "The Elements wouldn't have worked if I hadn't sincerely bonded with my sister all those years ago."
"Oh?" said Discord curiously. "Then what happened after?"
"I did what had to be done to save the day," Celestia said with confidence.
"And getting your little sister's hopes up and then kicking her to the curb was the way to do that?" Discord pondered, backing away and stroking his beard thoughtfully. "I'm so confused. Are you saying that no matter how close you want to be to her, you'll always push her away?"
Celestia didn't respond.
"Look at you," Discord remarked. "You had every intention of just going to your grave content about the life you had, just letting the sun stop after you died so everypony can watch the world burn. What kind of pitiful, evil old geezer are you? You've always seen yourself as some sort of legendary hero, but you are not."
He came up behind her and whispered in her ear. "You are death, the destroyer of worlds," he said seductively. "You might as well be Sørmur dï Mitgaeard, seeking to turn the earth into an orb of lifeless glass… or the Beast, raining bloody armageddon. A creature of pure horror and destruction, that's you. Say the world does turn on without you, and everypony finds out that you didn't care what would happen after you died. Your name will go down in history as an apocalyptic devil just like those two…"
He summoned up an image of a bronze statue, of Celestia flanked by the serpent and a cowled, hunched-over creature with spider-like legs.
"And me?" said Discord, displaying another statue, a golden one depicting himself. "Oh, the world will remember that you were stopped by me. I'll be the hero, worshipped as I rule my country, perhaps expanding my country's borders. I could, you know, if I put together an army or some such… My world of chaos might not be largely approved of… but at least the population of the world won't all be DEAD."
He slipped his forked tongue into her ear, and followed it with his entire body, slipping his serpentine form into her mind.
You know you're not as amazing as you say you are, he whispered mentally.
In ponies' memories you will live forever, and that terrifies you, came another whisper.
You've always known what ponies really think of you, and you hate it.
The only two family members you have left both still despise you.
From the center of her mind, he laughed. You fear death; the thought of it turns you into a simpering child.
"Stop talking," Celestia said tonelessly.
Her horn sparked yellow, and she hurled him out of her brain. A golden barb shot from her horn into his mind.
"AGH!" Discord cried out.
Suddenly, they were no longer in the darkness; the three of them were now in Discord's throne room. Its walls and floors were made of huge black stones, with a red velvet carpet leading from the door to the huge throne, the back wall above the throne home to the crown jewels and a pair of lava flows.
Discord stumbled backward, landing on his throne. "Ah, my head…" he said weakly.
"You think your mental barbs will bring me down," Celestia hissed. "You think you can enter my mind and learn my secrets. You can't do that without giving me your secrets too!
"Pathetic little white worm," Celestia sneered, marching toward him. "You think your mother will love you if you prove that you have power that's worth something? She'll never want you, not as long as you represent chaos. You can't change for her, you'll never be what she wanted."
"You shut up now," Discord spat, still clutching his head in pain. "We share a mind now; I'm going to tear yours apart piece by piece."
"No you won't, because I know your game," said Celestia. "It's a game I play too. Sharing your mind with me was a mistake that will cost you. Aging me back to my prime—I haven't thought so clearly in years, what were you thinking?"
She looked to Luna, still collapsed on the ground, her eyes white and jaw slack. "I see you made my sister's mind snap," she said casually. "Let's see how you like it. You are a warped and sinister being of chaotic energy, but you will never be…" She choked on her words briefly, and tears streaked down her face. "…as cruel and sadistic as I am," she finished quetly.
She tossed her head, and Discord was slammed against the wall, clutching his temples. "AAHH! It stings… and burns so much…"
Tendrils of magic slowly seeped out of Celestia's horn and latched onto Discord's mind.
You miss who you were when you first became Discord; you can't get that Discord back, she whispered mentally.
You pushed away the only being who ever loved you, said another of her mental intrusions.
You're no different from your mother; just the other side of the same coin.
Everything you've worked for in the past hundred thousand years is about to be ripped away from you in a single second.
She walked up to him and thrust her face directly into his. There's nothing in this world for you to live for.
"No!" Discord cried, writhing in pain. "NOOOOO! You can't have harmed me… I'm omnipotent! I work at the speed of thought!" He stared at her, his eyes rimmed with tears. "How can you have done this to me?"
"Maybe you just think slowly. Maybe that's how your mother got you. After all, if you were able to think quicker, wouldn't she have never been able to catch you?"
Celestia disconnected herself from Discord and walked back to Luna, tapping her on the head. Luna's eyes returned to normal and she looked up. "Sister?" she said pitifully.
Celestia sniffled, still crying uncontrollably. "The Elements," she whispered. "Defeat this evil with me."
Luna nodded and stood up slowly. The great pearl of the Element of Magic came crashing through one of the throne room's windows, followed by the five gems, and they started orbiting around the two sisters.
Discord stood up, squeaking in pain. He sighed in exhaustion, and looked down, realizing that he was suddenly standing on top of a stone pillar, and his feet and tail were fused to it.
The sisters' eyes glowed white, as the pearl glowed brighter and the gems swirled around faster and faster. His body started turning to stone, from the feet up.
Discord forced out a grin through his fear and exhaustion. "But only now have I truly won," he said.
He struck a pose, spreading his wings, then putting a hand over his heart and extending the other dramatically, getting into the pose just in time for each of these parts of him to be encased in the pale stone. His head came last, freezing him in a squinty-eyed, diabolical cackle.
The Elements of Harmony clattered to the ground, and from the statue of Discord, a huge wave emerged, restoring everything to the way it had been before, the castle going from black stone back to marble and mahogany. Out the window, the landscape was healed, blue skies and green grass, everything back to normal.
But one piece of Discord's magic remained. Celestia and Luna were still young, the elder sister's mane still floating magically.
"Well…" Celestia remarked. "We're young again."
"So it would appear," Luna whispered, examining herself.
"That buys us some time to look into immortality, as Stellaris suggested," Celestia said eagerly.
"Indeed."
"After all," Celestia joked, "I don't want to go down in history as the pony who killed all life of the entire planet."
Luna stared at her blankly for a moment before realizing she was joking. "Oh… heh," she chuckled weakly. She shuddered. "Oh, sister… he got into my mind, he had these feelers in me… he whispered to me, as if we were having numerous conversations at once, attacking my consciousness and agitating all of my deepest and most primal fears. Seconds felt like hours. Did he do that to you too?"
"Um… no," Celestia lied smoothly. "I defeated him before he could do any such thing."
Luna's ears drooped in disappointment.
Celestia stepped up to the statue of Discord, taking to the air to tap on it with her hoof, then pressing an ear to his heart.
Deep within the statue, she could hear him chuckle evilly. She backed away frantically, dropping to the ground.
She couldn't hear him anymore, and she smiled in relief. "Good," she muttered. "All right then."