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Chapter Text

"Ah fair Equestria, the place where all types of ponies lived happily until the loss of their dear Queen Faust. It was fortuitous that she left behind two heirs, Princess Celestia, who raises the sun, and Princess Luna, who raises the moon. I remember when she told me, 'They won't be ready to lead until the time is right.' I didn't understand that until now…"

Six months earlier…

It had been another glorious day in Equestria. Princess Celestia walked out onto the balcony and allowed herself a smile for a job well done. Although she would never truly get over the death of her mother, knowing that she was providing glorious sunlight to the ponies of Equestria made her feel some of the happiness she'd known before.

She closed her eyes and breathed in the warm summer breeze, yes it had been a wonderful day full of work and recreation, but now it was time to lower the sun. Then her sister Luna could raise the moon and paint her beautiful night across the heavens once more.

She allowed the power to flow from her heart and gather ready in her long elegant horn.

"Good evening Sister." Princess Luna said in greeting as she emerged onto the balcony.

Celestia turned to her sister and smiled to greet her before turning back to the sun that was bobbing low in the sky but would need encouragement to dip below the horizon for the night. The sheer force of magic caused Celestia to rise into the air, her multicoloured mane that was forever caught in an unseen magical breeze whipped about her as the magic flowed. She sent it out to the sun and with great concentration she guided the sun to bed as she floated back down onto the balcony.

"Are you well this evening Princess Luna?" She asked now her task was complete, expecting her sister's reply to be the usual, confirming she was well, before raising the moon.

Instead, Luna had something else to say.

"Tia...I am worried for Starswirl, it is coronation day tomorrow...is he ready to take Mother's place?" She asked.

"Princess Luna, you have a duty to Equestria above all else." Celestia said in gentle guidance.

"Oh… Of course." Luna replied.

She closed her eyes and gathered her magic before sending it out to the silver moon floating just below the edge of the world. She raised her front hooves high above her head, her dark wings fanning out as her magic caused her to float into the air and the moon rose, a bright silver disk that pulled the deep night behind it. Once it was in the air and darkness had spread over the land, Luna settled onto the balcony and with a flash of white light from her eyes the stars appeared like diamonds strewn on the dark velvet sky.

With her duty done she turned once more to her sister.

"How dost thou feel on Starswirl's coronation? Is he ready to be king?" She repeated her question of earlier.

"Only Starswirl can know this. Shall I speak with him before I sleep?" Celestia asked.

"I…" Luna was unsure, but if anypony could ask such a thing of Starswirl, it was Celestia.

"You guard the night, protect our little ponies from the shadows that threaten, and I will speak with our dear teacher." Celestia promised with a smile.

"You will tell me what he thinks?" Luna asked.

"I will tell you in the morning." Celestia stated.

"Not tonight?" Luna asked with concern.

"I have been awake since dawn Sister and we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow. For that I will need my rest. But Starswirl is great and wise, what more can we ask from a king?"

"You know best Sister." Luna said, looking at the floor.

"Fear not Princess Luna, all will be well." Celestia said before hugging her sister. "Guard the night well and I shall see you on the morrow."

"I shall see you tomorrow Celestia." Luna replied, returning the hug briefly before turning to gaze into the silver light of the moon.

"Goodnight Princess Luna."

"Sweet dreams Celestia." Luna replied without looking.

Celestia paused for a second wondering how to comfort her sister, but she often had these moments of melancholy and at those times she was better left alone. Celestia turned from her sister and stepped into the anteroom that led out onto the balcony. She took one last look at her sister, who with horn aglow was rearranging one of the consolations ever so slightly to make it resemble their late mother. Celestia sighed before making her way to Starswirl's library in the opposite wing of the castle.

"From one to another, another to one. A mark of one's destiny singled out alone, fulfilled." Starswirl said focusing his magic into casting his latest spell…

Once again nothing happened.

"What am I missing?" He said angrily as a multitude of books floated around him and he began flicking through the pages.

There was a knock at the door, distracting him, and the books thumped to the floor.

"Come in!" He bellowed and he levitated the fallen books into a haphazard pile as the pony opened the door.

"I have disturbed you, I can come back." Celestia said, about to leave.

"Ah Tia, please do come in." Starswirl said with a smile, he always had time for his most promising student. "I need some help with this spell."

Celestia crossed the room to the lectern where Starswirl's own personal spell book was resting open. The old mage had created so many spells in his life that this book was almost full. It wouldn't be the first he had filled, there was a whole shelf in the Royal Library full of his earlier works, and the princess was certain it would not be his last. Although it would be his last volume as High Mage Starswirl the Bearded, from tomorrow he would be King Starswirl the Bearded, High Mage Lord Protector of Equestria.

"One last spell before becoming King?" She asked curious about this new spell for Starswirl had been more secretive than usual about it.

Starswirl sighed.

"Yes" He said. "At least I intended it to be, but alas it seems it will go unfinished."

Celestia placed a comforting hoof on his shoulder, the old stallion looked tired.

"May I advise you Master Starswirl?" Celestia asked.

"I always welcome your advice Tia." Starswirl said, sparing her a smile.

"You should rest now. You have a big day ahead of you tomorrow." She stated.

"I should finish this spell." Starswirl grumbled.

"A wise mage once told me that things become clearer with rest and a clear head." Celestia observed.

"Are you using my own words against me young filly?" Starswirl snapped.

"No. I am merely quoting the wisest wizard to ever walk this world. You should go and rest. I will look over your spell. Perhaps a fresh pair of eyes is needed. I will make some notes I think might be of use to you. The coronation is an hour before sunset, it will give you time to look over the spell in the morning."

"You are right as always my faithful student." Starswirl said with a bow of his head, before stifling a yawn. "Yes some sleep is in order."

He levitated his star strewn hat from his head. The little bells tinkled as the hat floated through the air and came to rest on the wooden pony head that adorned the table in the centre of the room.

"Goodnight Princess Celestia." Starswirl said.

"Goodnight High Mage Starswirl the Bearded." Celestia replied with a smile.

Starswirl yawned before going to the door at the far end of the room that led to his bedroom.

Celestia scanned the spell quickly before flicking through the notes jotted on several pieces of parchment. As great a mage as Starswirl was, sometimes his thoughts seemed rather chaotic as he sought out the best way in which to make a spell. Of course harmony won out in the end, but you had to search out the pattern.

Celestia could see what Starswirl was searching for; it was some form of transformation spell although it was unclear what he wished to transform. After an hour she was still at a loss and the gentle snoring coming from the next room reminded her that she required rest. It was summer, which meant longer days and shorter nights. The time between sunset and sunrise were few and she would have to sleep for some of them or else risk exhaustion and being unable to perform her duty with the sun.

She would take one last look at the spell; perhaps the words would help her. She used her magic to levitate the book closer in order to read the wizard's scrawl in the candlelight.

"Hmmm…. From one to another, another to one. A mark of one's destiny singled out alone, fulfilled." She said out loud, frowning slightly.

Most spell books had a failsafe, so that when a unicorn held a book in their magic it would not be cast if read aloud. It was always the first thing Starswirl implemented in a spell to avoid accidental casting of unfinished spells. He had not done so on this occasion in his hurry to finish this one last spell before becoming king. As Celestia read the words aloud with the book caught in her magic it activated the spell. Unbeknownst to Celestia a bright aura of her yellow magic caught about the hat. The stars and moons swirled about until the hat was full of spiralling galaxies, supernovas and a moon that orbited the brim.

"It doesn't make sense. It doesn't even rhyme" Celestia said annoyed, levitating the book back to the lectern.

With a sigh she raised a quill in her magic and wrote a quick note to Starswirl explaining that she'd been unable to help him. With a heavy heart she returned to her royal quarters for sleep.

She passed one of the Night Guard, a dark coat unicorn she knew from childhood and she gave him a smile.

"Good Evening to you Knight Sombra." She said lightly.

"Your Highness." Sombra replied, bowing his head.

Celestia moved on to her rooms, unaware of the scowl the unicorn guard gave her. He waited until the Sun Princess had entered her rooms before carrying on his journey.

Luna leant her front hooves on the balcony's rail and laid her chin on her hooves as she looked out over the vast plains below Canterlot. The moon was gloriously bright above and it reflected on the surfaces of lakes and rivers below, creating a network of silver light as far as the eye could see. Even the Everfree Forest seemed magical in the silver light. It was the perfect night to come out and marvel at the wondrous night, what joy the ponies would know, dancing beneath the moonlight.

She heard hoofsteps in the corridor beyond the anteroom and she stood, still looking over the vast kingdom that she would someday share with her sister.

"Princess Luna I am here as you requested." A stallion with a deep voice said from behind her.

Luna smiled, but hid it as she turned to face the dark coat unicorn guard. She spread out her wings and struck a regal pose against the moonlight. It caused the edge of her mane to glow and highlighted her midnight blue coat.

"Knight Sombra, it pleases thine princess that thou hast graced our presence." She said.

"I am your servant Night Princess." Sombra said with a bow. "And may I say you look divine in the moonlight."

Luna laughed as she settled into a more comfortable stance and beckoned the knight closer.

"And may I commend you on such a beautiful night." He said, sweeping his hoof across the dark and silver landscape.

Luna turned to look out over the land once more before glancing at her companion. Sombra was one of her most faithful knights and he always took the time to compliment her. It made Luna feel proud of her work, and lately, lately his words had seemed more than mere lip service of a faithful follower. Luna was beginning to value his compliments, and his company.

"Yes it truly is a most wondrous night..." She observed, and looked up at the moon as she added almost hesitantly. "Especially with you by my side."

"I am here for my Night Princess." Sombra said carefully.

"You are my faithful knight." Luna said softly, turning her head to him once more, but he had moved closer and now their snouts were mere inches apart.

Luna looked into magenta eyes and felt her heart miss a beat.

"Do you trust my opinion?" Sombra whispered.

"I…" Luna cleared her throat and raised her head once more. "We value thy opinion Knight Sombra, thou knowest this."

"Then you know I say this with only you and the safety of Equestria in mind." Sombra said lowly.

"Speak your mind, I will not chastise thee." Luna stated.

"Luna, I worry for this Kingdom." Sombra said. "I worry that Starswirl is not up to the task."

"Why?" Luna asked. "Starswirl is a wise unicorn mage. I am sure he will take good care of everything."

Sombra stared at Luna, wondering how he could make his princess see why a unicorn mage toward the end of his life would not make a good king.

"Yes he is a unicorn, but he's not immortal like my Night Princess and her sister. He's already old. He should make you Queen. Think about it, Queen Luna and her Knight Sombra." He said enticingly as he gave her the smile he very rarely wore when around other ponies.

Luna smiled, touched by his imagination. Perhaps she could imagine too.

"It does sound wonderful, but I would like to change the knight to…to King Sombra." She said with a smile, turning back to the guard to watch his expression. "Then you will be by my side forever."

Sombra smiled widely over come with joy.

"I will make you happy my Princess." He promised with a low bow and carefully placed his armoured hoof next to that of the princess' hoof shod in sparkling silver.

They stepped closer and Luna began to move her wing gently to brush against his cheek.

"So...we agree that we get you next in line?" He asked.

Luna stopped and frowned.

"You were not merely imagining?" She asked.

"No." Sombra said. "I truly think you would make a magnificent queen."

"I...I do not know." She stammered, stepping away from the stallion and turning her head to the west wing of the castle where her sister now slept, dreaming of a land full of happy ponies content with life and their princesses. "Princess Celestia is older than I. If either of us were to be crowned queen it would be her. That is how succession works."

Sombra frowned, he didn't agree that a pony should become queen simply because she was the eldest. Would it not be preferable that the pony better suited for keeping order in a country as vast as Equestria were queen? In Sombra's opinion Luna had the grandeur and majesty to be the queen Celestia could never be, even taking Celestia's greater size into account.

"If Celestia becomes queen then she will outshine you, for those foolish ponies are blinded by sunlight and unable to appreciate the true beauty that is found by moonlight." Sombra said tenderly.

"Ponies will love my night and adore me as much as my sister. Celestia would never name herself queen and cast me aside. How could I do such a thing to her?"

"Because she is not fit to rule alone. She will allow you to rule along side her, but take all the glory for any accomplishments you achieve for pony kind for herself. You could rule this kingdom alone, my queen." Sombra said, moving closer to the Night Princess.

"It would not be right." Luna muttered, but Sombra could see she was wavering in her resolve.

"You know she will outshine you. Deep down you know it to be true. Even now they love her more than they could ever love you. They frolic in her day, yet shun your beautiful night. Do you think they would not do the same to you if you share the kingdom with your sister? I don't say this to hurt you, only to help you my Luna." Sombra crooned as he rubbed his cheek softly against hers.

Luna gasped and stepped away before she spun up into the air, her wings spreading wide as she made a shadow against the moon. One to inspire fear, but despite his sudden uncertainty Sombra didn't flinch away, he found every aspect of Luna compelling, even her darker side.

"THAT IS PRINCESS LUNA TO THEE!" She bellowed in the Royal Canterlot voice. "REMEMBER THY PLACE KNIGHT SOMBRA OR FACE THE WRATH OF THE PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT!" Luna's voice echoed around the towers of the castle, lightening flashing around her, as swirling dark clouds obscured the moon. "GET THEE GONE, I WOULD LOOK NOT UPON THEE AGAIN THIS NIGHT."

"Of course Your Highness. I beg your pardon Your Highness." Sombra said with a deep bow before leaving the presence of the Night Princess.

He growled in annoyance, he'd moved too quickly and frightened his princess. He would have to tread carefully to help his princess to be the queen she deserved to be. The queen Equestria needed, regardless of his place in the regime, Equestria needed a queen like Luna.

Luna slowly felt the anger leave her and as it did the clouds cleared and her hooves touched the balcony once more. She looked out over the dark quiet landscape forlornly. She felt bad that she had been forced to yell at Sombra, but he was overstepping his mark by suggesting she should go against her mother's wishes. It was Queen Faust who decided that once they were ready the princesses should rule together, day and night in perfect harmony, as it should be. It was wrong to think that night should overshadow the day, or vice versa, it went against harmony, which was important to the continuation of Equestria.

She looked out at the vast plane below, and the open sky above. She leapt from the balcony and allowed herself to fall several feet before she opened her wings and caught an updraft that shot her high into the air. She flapped her wings rising higher until she could see the entirety of Equestria from the Crystal Mountains in the north to the Bad Lands in the south and the seas that bordered the west and east. Equestria was big, one of the biggest countries in the world, possibly only rivalled by the Griffon Kingdom across the east sea, but from up here it looked so small.

The land below was a patchwork of darkness, there were very few lights. There did not seem to be more than the glow of silver reflected from the water. Luna had always known that this was the way of things, ponies worked by day when they had the bright sunlight, but at night they hid themselves away, safe inside their houses while they slept through the darkest hours. Tonight Luna felt a wave of sadness, those poor ponies were missing out on such a wondrous sight.

Why did they let the darkness scare them so? Did they not realise that their Princess of the Night protected them from the harm they could bring? Were they blind to the fact that as long as her moon glowed in the sky and the stars kept an ever-vigilant watch no harm would come to them? Princess Luna would not allow it. But still they slept.

Luna began flying toward the Crystal Mountains as she allowed her mind to drift, to weave softly through the dreams of sleeping ponies. It was part of her duty as Princess of the Night, to inspect dreams and help them should they be bad. Usually it was the highlight of her night, to see all the splendour of pony imagination, but tonight it made her feel bad, never before had she noticed the pattern.

Ponies dreamt of many things, but the good dreams took place in sun filled days. Picnics in meadows, trips to the sea, all manner of activities, but they always took place in the day. There were dreams that took place in the shadow of night, but they were dark dreams. Horrifying visions that caused ponies anxiety as they slept. They feared the dark places, they feared the night, why they called bad dreams nightmares did they not? They feared the night, they hated the darkness and they ignored the lengths their faithful princess went to that they might rest so easy.

She reached the Crystal Mountains and came to a stop, beating her wings to keep herself in place as she looked beyond the mountains to the mysterious Crystal Empire. The ponies of Equestria rarely ventured there but now and again a dignitary paid a visit to the Royal Palace of Canterlot. They were indeed ponies that were crystal, they glinted in the light and at times one could swear that things were visible through them.

The entire empire was made of crystal and the roofs and spires glinted in the moonlight, the facets catching the light in new ways as Luna drifted gently in the air. She watched the northern lights for while as the colours flared across the sky, they were not her doing, it was the work of the crystal ponies as they spread love across the world, Equestria benefited in the mutual accord. Equestria kept harmony and ensured the cycle of day and night continued unopposed while the Crystal Empire spread love.

Yet even here, with that wonderful display across the midnight sky, it was clear everypony was asleep. She turned to look east, perhaps she should fly across the sea, would the griffons be asleep? What about beyond in Saddle Arabia or the land of the zebra? Did nopony stay awake?

Luna turned back to Canterlot and glided slowly, beating her wings sporadically to keep in the air or alter course, but otherwise allowing the winds to carry her. As she approached Canterlot it too was mostly in darkness, but on one of the lower balconies of the castle a solitary figure stood looking up at her beautiful night.

One pony appreciated her work, he always had since they had been foals together and Luna was first learning the intricacies of her calling. Sombra had always liked her night, and she knew he always would.

When he saw her glide overhead he ducked quickly back inside to return to his guard duties. Luna smiled sadly as she landed on the balcony of the highest tower. At least one pony liked her night…

Chapter Text

Luna spent the night flitting through sleeping minds, there had to be one, just one pony that dreamed of the night as something more than a time of darkness and fear. She had once asked her mother why the ponies slept in the night, was it because it was something they hated?

"No Luna, you are mistaken." Queen Faust had said gently as she glided above the sleeping kingdom with the dark coat filly. "Ponies sleep at night, because they have toiled all day. The pegasi with the weather, the earth ponies growing food and the unicorns in their various occupations, they are merely exhausted. They like the night, fall in love under the full moon, or watch the stars together when they can. You will see in their dreams how much they love the night."

"But that is a lie Mother, they do not love my night. It is something to be ignored at best, or at worse to be feared." Luna whispered into the night. "They hate my night Mother. If they hate the night does that mean they hate…"

She closed her eyes, refusing to cry, she had picked a bad night to enter dreams. Come winter and Hearth's Warming Eve they would be dreaming of beautiful frosty nights as they huddled together by the festive logs. Yes, there would be times they appreciated the night. Even in their dreams.

Luna heard the light hoofsteps of her sister and she quickly rubbed a hoof across her eyes to clear the tears. She rose swiftly into the air to lower the moon so Celestia could raise the sun. She left quickly without returning Celestia's greeting. She did not wish for Celestia to know that she was upset; it would serve no purpose than to worry her elder sister on this important day.

Celestia frowned as she watched her little sister retire for the day. She had never seen Luna act in such a rude manner. However it was something she would have to discuss with her sister later, perhaps she would feel better after sleep, but for the time being the sun needed raising and there were many tasks that had to be completed before the coronation.

She gathered her magic and concentrated on the sun, lifting it up above the horizon and light flooded across the world.

Luna ignored everypony as she made her way back to her room. Perhaps it was rude but she was tired. Yes, merely tired, she would sleep and feel better. When she arrived at her rooms she found Sombra waiting for her in the shadows. He stepped out and gave her an apologetic look as he held a moon poppy in his mouth; it was slowly closing now the moon was retired for the day.

Luna remembered how he had been the only pony to marvel at her night and she smiled as she used her magic to open her door. She motioned with her head that he should follow her before she entered her study.

Sombra followed her into the cosy study that was decorated in midnight blues and purples. Glowing stars offered ambient lighting to cross the room. Luna sat down at her table and used her magic to turn up the light emitted by a lamp shaped like the moon.

"Please sit." She said, indicating the cushion on the other side of the table.

Sombra sat down opposite Luna.

"I saw thee last night." Luna whispered as she poured water from a silver pitcher into a crystal chalice.

Sombra took the moon poppy in his magic and levitated toward Luna, it opened when it was near her.

"Forgive me Night Princess, I should not have left my post." He said solemnly.

"I do not blame you admiring my night." Luna said as she poured water for Sombra too before accepting the moon poppy from him and tucking it behind her ear.

"You get better every night." Sombra stated before taking a sip of water. "I think it's not possible that you can outdo the night before, but somehow you manage."

"You flatter me good knight." Luna said with an amused chuckle as she levitated an apple to her mouth and took a bite.

"I would not compliment if it was unfounded. You know that." Sombra said, the corner of his mouth turning up slightly.

"Oh yes. I remember well how you would criticize me as a child. 'Lulu is so incompetent at shadow magic she might as well be putting on a show'." She joked, imitating the squeaky voice he'd had as a colt.

"I was young and jealous. Old Sourswirl the Grumpy always favoured you." Sombra said with a nostalgic smile.

"I am a royal princess." Luna replied with a grin before finishing her apple.

"Of course nopony could touch Celestia." Sombra said darkly.

"I bested her with shadow magic." Luna said with a frown.

"Yes. My Princess of the Night excels where the Sun Princess fails." Sombra said intensely.

"I wish you would not say such things." Luna whispered sadly.

"What things?" Sombra asked with confusion.

"Celestia is my sister and I love her dearly. It pains me when you speak ill of her." Luna replied firmly.

"Then let us talk no more of her and talk of you instead." Sombra suggested in the hope of lightening the mood.

"Very well." Luna agreed.

"What ails you this morning?" He asked.

"Nothing, I am perfectly healthy." She replied, hoping to avoid lying by skirting the truth.

"In body perhaps, but not in mind. You are saddened greatly and I wish to know why in the hope that I can raise your spirits." Sombra said sincerely.

"It is nothing." Luna insisted, shaking her head before levitating a cupcake from the cake stand and eating it in one bite.

"I know you Luna."

"It is…" Luna began, but trailed off, biting her lip as she contemplated revealing her findings to her most faithful knight. "I noticed last night that even in their dreams ponies do not picture the night." She said quickly, and she realised that she did wish to discuss this with somepony and Sombra had always understood her more than anypony else. "They like to imagine the day, but my night is not for them. Do they hate it so much that they would shun it even in dreams? Do they hate me?"

"Oh Luna, how could anypony ever hate you?" Sombra asked, aghast at the very thought.

"I represent the darkness of the night, of course they hate me." Luna said with an edge of bitterness to her voice.

"You represent the beauty of the night, our protector against that which would threaten in the dark. Even if they fear the night, they do not fear you. They do not hate you for you are their princess." Sombra said in gentle, soothing tones and it made the Night Princess feel all the better.

"Thank you." She said with a smile, but she then succumbed to a big yawn. "Now you will forgive me, but I must ask you to take your leave. I should rest before the coronation this evening."

"If you and Celestia were wise you would oppose Starswirl's rule, but I understand if you feel unready to take on the responsibility." Sombra stated, and paused a moment as if waiting for Luna's protest, but it did not come and so he continued. "I merely think that you'd do best not to allow him to become too comfortable in the role, he might not want to give it up when the time is right."

"Starswirl has been loyal to our family for many years, why would he turn on us?" Luna demanded.

"Not turn on you exactly, but he will not want to relinquish control. It's pony nature." Sombra counselled.

"Mother trusted Starswirl, Celestia trusts Starswirl and I trust Starswirl." Luna said firmly.

"If you insist." Sombra said rising to his hooves. "I will see you at the ceremony, Your Highness." He added with a bow.

"Fare thee well good Sir Knight." Luna replied.

With another bow the unicorn left.

Luna stood and crossed her study. She levitated the moon poppy from behind her ear and sniffed it for a moment, she loved its scent and she was certain Sombra knew they were her favourite flower. She levitated a book from the top of her bookshelf; it was held closed by magic locks only she could unfasten. She opened it and flicked to the first empty page. She lined each page with blotting paper from her desk and then carefully placed the moon poppy between the pieces of paper. She closed her diary, fastening all the locks then lay it down flat on a shelf before placing some heavy books atop it.

With that task complete she entered her bedchamber, where with the thick curtains drawn, it was as dark as she liked it. She climbed into bed and under the twinkling starlight that drifted across the ceiling she fell asleep.

General Butler knocked at the door, but there was no reply. He knew his instructions if this were the case. He very softly opened the door and stepped inside, moving as quietly as one could with hooves on stone. The mage was still asleep, a moving lump beneath the blanket.

It was dark in the room despite the fact the sun had been up for an hour. Moving with the breakfast tray balanced carefully in his mouth, General Butler made his way toward the bed stand. Moving by memory since he couldn't see the floor, but the old mage was habitual and believed in a place for everything and everything in its place.

However the mage had not been as neat as usual because something caused General Butler to trip over, the breakfast tray crashing to the ground with so much noise. He looked back to see what he tripped over and was certain he saw a dragon's tail whip away out of view.

The curtains flew open, flooding the room with bright sunlight.

"What is going on?" Starswirl demanded.

"F-forgive me Your Eminence." General Butler stammered as he cowered on the floor, Starswirl was known for his temper. "I tripped."

"Over what?" Starswirl demanded, standing over the cowering butler and raising his bushy white eyebrows.

"I…it was a dragon tail." General Butler said quickly.

"No dragons in here." Starswirl growled. "Clean up this mess and have fresh breakfast brought to me by the time I've finished in the shower."

"O-of course, Your Eminence." General Butler stammered, still cowering on the floor.

"Get up and act like a stallion." Starswirl growled. "Honestly all you young bucks are made of jelly these days."

In a flash of white light General Butler disappeared to be replaced by an exact replica made of lemon jelly, a similar colour to his coat. Starswirl blinked, what happened? One moment the silly stallion had been cowering on the floor and…

There was another flash of white light and General Butler was back.

"Just…just get this cleaned up." Starswirl muttered before walking off to his bathroom.

General Butler looked up as the mage left, and shook his head as if to clear it. He was certain that Old Starswirl had a long red dragon's tail with a little white tuft on the end, but when he looked back it was just his old bushy white one. General Butler put it down to the stress of the situation before he quickly set about clearing up the mess from the fallen breakfast tray.

Starswirl applied shampoo to his mane and luxuriant beard. He had hoofponies willing to do such menial tasks for the soon to be king, but he'd spent a hundred years tending to his own hygiene, he wasn't about to let other ponies start doing it now. Normally he used his magic to run a comb through his mane and beard to tease out the tangles, but not this morning. This morning he found himself running his fingers through his mane and beard to tease out the tangles.

He froze. Since when did he have fingers?

He moved his forelegs down so he could view them. He no longer had hooves, the right had become a lion's paw the left a bird's claw of some kind, and somehow Starswirl knew it was an eagle's claw.

"What in the name of Faust!" He exclaimed.

No, he would not let transformation rule him! He was the master of transformation! He'd perfected transformation spells!

He closed his eyes and concentrated; with very little effort those strange appendages were hooves once more. He checked the rest of his body to be sure, but everything was in place. He gave a sigh of relief before finishing his ablutions.

By the time he emerged from the bathroom he was feeling a lot better. He even found himself humming lightly as he went out into his study where the clumsy butler was setting his breakfast out on his dining table now he was up.

Starswirl sat down and eagerly levitated the silver dome away from his plate, licking his lips in anticipation. But then he frowned as he let the silver dome clatter to the floor.

"What is this?" He demanded, pointing a hoof at the contents of his plate.

"Your Eminence's breakfast." General Butler said carefully, Starswirl was unhappy, but he wasn't sure about what and had no quick fix for the situation, he'd have to wing it.

"Are you trying to be funny?" Starswirl demanded. "What is on the plate?"

"A boiled egg and bread soldiers as Your Eminence ordered." General Butler replied.

"No. I wanted pancakes and lots of sticky syrup, some cotton candy…" Starswirl began.

"C-cotton candy?" General Butler asked incredulously.

"Is there an echo in here?" Starswirl demanded. "Yes, cotton candy. Like the foals have at the fair. And why is this milk white?"

"Because that's the colour of milk?" General Butler said uncertainly.

"Because that's the colour of milk without any chocolate in it." Starswirl corrected. "Take this back to the kitchen and bring me what I ask for."

"Yes Your Eminence." The confused pony said with a quick bow before collecting everything up once more and left to get the High Mage's new order.

Starswirl felt restless. It had to be nerves; today was a big change for him. He was no longer merely an advisor to the ruler, he would be the ruler and that was something else entirely. He stood and began pacing his study, letting his thoughts wander for a minute. He stopped, his ears pricking up as he heard something…no, it was nothing. He began pacing again. Yes! There! A dragging noise? He stopped, and it stopped. He started walking once more, there was definitely a dragging noise coming from behind him.

He turned quickly to see what it was, and a pile of books on a nearby table went flying. He turned once more and that's when he caught the flash of red tail, much like a dragon's tail. He took aim and fired a bolt of magic toward it; no dragon would enter his rooms uninvited.

He let out a growl of pain as the magic blast sent a shock wave through his body. Had he misfired? No, no the tail had been hit, there was a black scorch mark on the red scales. He reached out gingerly with his hoof and touched the tail. It was his!

"No, no, no, I am the father of the amniomorphic spell, I control transformation! It does not control me!" He growled and he concentrated once more to push his body back into its proper shape.

Starswirl was beginning to feel wary, something just didn't feel right today and he could not put it down to nerves. He needed to feel his normal self, dress the part of Starswirl the Wizard before he had to don the royal robes for the ceremony.

He pulled on his wizarding robe of light blue moons and yellow stars against a blue night sky and pulled his hat onto his head. The familiar tinkle of bells with every step he took helped to calm him somewhat. Yes he was feeling his old self once more.

General Butler returned with a new tray that he lay on the table.

"Thankfully the unicorn who makes cotton candy was in the courtyard ready to make treats for all the colts and fillies and was able to provide us with some." General Butler said proudly as he revealed the plate of sticky pancakes, cotton candy arranged in a bowl, and a glass of chocolate milk.

"Cotton candy?" Starswirl demanded. "Do I look like I am five years old? Where is my egg? Where are my soldiers? And why is there chocolate in that milk?"

"I…but…you…but…" The butler stammered, Starswirl had a temper, but he wasn't senile, or one to play tricks. He might grump and groan when you got something wrong but he never created reasons to yell at you. There were usually enough reasons with Starswirl.

"Just leave it and go." Starswirl growled. "I want to be alone this morning for quiet contemplation. Nopony is allowed to disturb me, is that understood?"

General Butler nodded and hurried from the room.

"When will we get to see the king?" The Duke of Muleton demanded.

"Starswirl is not the king yet." Celestia said, trying to soothe the irate mule.

"He will be and we wish to pay him homage." The Duke said haughtily.

"And you may do so, after the coronation ceremony. The feast held afterwards will give everypony the chance to speak with the king and pay him any homage they see fit." Celestia informed the Duke.

"You Equestrians…." The Duke sneered as he clomped away.

"Oh dear, I hope I didn't upset him." Celestia said in dismay.

"Permission to speak freely Your Highness?" The pegasus guard at her side asked.

"Commander Lightning Shield, you served Mother well for many years and have vowed to protect my sister and I, never feel you have to ask for permission to speak in my presence." Celestia assured him.

"Thank you Princess." Lightning Shield replied before speaking his mind. "The Duke is just sore 'cause he thinks Muleton has priority to trading rights over all the other countries. He thinks getting in early with Starswirl, I mean His Majesty will make sure he gets his hooves on the riches Equestria has to offer. To be honest I think he'd sooner see us all dead and him take over than have to keep kowtowing to you alicorns and such. But that would be a little pointless."

"Why?"

"Well not like he can start a dynasty being a mule and all, who would inherit from him?" Lightning stated.

Celestia put her hoof to her mouth to suppress her giggle.

"Perhaps you speak a little too freely Commander." She admonished for she felt she aught to as a princess.

"Just saying as I see it." The pegasus said with a shrug.

"Then you think we should watch him?" She asked with serious concern.

"Maybe not constantly, but I wouldn't eat any food he gives you." Lightning advised.

"I will bear that in mind." Celestia replied. "Have you news of Starswirl?"

"Still not letting anypony enter. Last I heard he'd put a magic lock on the doors."

"Oh dear. I should go and speak with him. He may be my wise old mentor, but he is still a pony and even he can come down with a bout of nerves."

"Would you like me to come with you?"

Celestia considered for a moment.

"Perhaps it would be best that you see the Duke comes to no harm. Perhaps steer him away from the griffon delegates, I doubt they would be best pleased if he speaks to them as he did to me."

"Will do Your Highness." Lightning Shield said with a salute.

"Thank you Commander." Princess Celestia said with a nod of her head before leaving the Receiving Room where she'd spent most of the day attending to impatient delegates who wished to see the old mage before he was crowned.

When she reached Starswirl's rooms there were two guards stationed outside the door, but they weren't needed if Starswirl had placed a magical lock on the door. She smiled at the guards and they didn't move to block her as she stepped up to the door. Despite the fact that Starswirl now outranked her, she was closer in shape to the pony they'd been trained to obey. She pushed the door, but it was indeed locked and a quick inspection of her magic made it clear she wouldn't be able to counter them. She lifted her hoof to knock.

Starswirl stood at the shrine he'd hastily constructed as the objects in his room floated about as if they had a mind of their own. He wasn't willing it to happen, but he could feel the magic flow from him. How was that possible? No, he could not have unicorn dementia, he was in complete control of his power, as he always had been. Wizards like him did not succumb to the travails of old age!

He looked up at the picture of Queen Faust in all her regal glory. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, placing his hooves together as if in prayer.

"Please give me strength to get through this day." He whispered.

He felt the weight of the world beneath his hooves and everything in the room obeyed gravity once more. The door suddenly flew open and Celestia stumbled in.

"Master Starswirl?" She asked in concern.

He didn't reply, just stood at a dresser with a couple of candles arranged each side of a portrait of her late mother. He had his head bowed and was concentrating hard on something.

"Starswirl?" She said a little louder, stepping closer and noticing the mess in the room.

It was as if the old mage didn't hear her, he was lost in a world of his own, still garbed in his wizard robes when he should already be in his royal robes for the ceremony.

"STARSWIRL?" She yelled, adopting the Royal Canterlot Voice that she seldom used because it was so loud.

His eyes snapped open, in the reflection of the glass that covered the portrait he could see his eyes. They were no longer pony eyes. They were the eyes of some beast, the whites a sickly yellow and the pupils themselves red. There wasn't an iris in sight. He let out a groan of annoyance that scared the princess who was carefully approaching him

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'll come back." Celestia said backing away, worried about her mentor, perhaps the stress was too much for him.

"No, it's okay Tia…please come in" He said, daring not to turn around as he placed his hooves on the dresser and closed his eyes.

Celestia approached Starswirl, looking around at the mess and taking note of the fact that he still hadn't turned to her. He must be in a panic; sometimes unicorns could have magical surges that could cause a mess when they were too anxious to think. The more powerful the unicorn the bigger the outburst. Perhaps it was best not to rush him. She decided to start on a subject that didn't concern the coronation.

"Luna didn't greet me this morning. She seemed…possibly angry, but I'm leaning more toward upset." She observed.

Starswirl's eyes snapped open as he frowned, what did Luna have to do with this? He was certain Celestia would have said something about the mess; his best student had always been the most observant pony, seeing things that others could not. To his relief Starswirl found his old blue eyes staring back at him.

"You know Luna, she does have these dark moods at times." Starswirl said, finally turning to the princess. "I'm certain she'll be in better sorts after she has slept."

Celestia frowned for a moment, certain that a long sharp tooth was protruding from the right side of Starswirl's mouth, but no, she was surely mistaken.

"Well what is it my dear?" He asked expectantly.

"Sorry?" Celestia replied.

"Was it only Luna you came to talk to me about, or is there something else on your mind?"

"There's nothing that worries me apart from the fact that you'll be late for your own coronation if you don't make a move." Celestia chided.

"I won't be late." Starswirl assured her.

"You're not even wearing the right robes!" She admonished. "Allow me to help you."

Before Starswirl could protest she levitated his hat over to the pony head he liked to place it on and lay his wizard robe over the back of a chair. It was strange but Celestia had never seen Starswirl without his robes, as far as she knew he never removed them. She never considered that his cutie mark would be a tornado. Funny, she would have thought it would have contained stars or at least a moon, something more magic orientated. A tornado seemed better suited to a pegasus, but perhaps that's why Starswirl wore his robes constantly, he made his own destiny counter to that fate had bestowed on him.

"But…" Starswirl protested.

"Once the crowning ceremony is over you can come and change into your wizard robes, but for now you must wear this." Celestia stated as she took up a red robe trimmed in gold and placed it around Starswirl's shoulders. "You look very regal, Your Majesty." Celestia said bowing so low the tip of her horn touched the ground.

"Honestly Tia, I wouldn't ask that of you and Luna. We all know I'm not really a king, just keeping the seat warm." The old mage said uncomfortably.

"But you are our wise master and that deserves more adulation." Celestia stated as she continued to bow.

"Someday you two will be ready and you'll wonder what you ever needed old Starswirl for in the first place." Starswirl said with a laugh.

"We will never stop needing you Master Starswirl." Celestia replied as she stood up straight.

"Now enough of this, I'm blushing harder than a school filly on Hearts and Hooves Day. You have to get ready yourself."

"Of course." Celestia said with another bow. "I will see you at the ceremony, Your Majesty."

"Your Highness." Starswirl said with a nod of his head, as he made sure the robes completely covered his body.

Thankfully Celestia left without further ado, leaving Starswirl alone. He raised his left hoof; he'd had a feeling like pins and needles down his leg only moments before. He felt a tight knot in his stomach when he saw it was an eagle claw again. He managed to force it back to normal before turning his head up toward the portrait of his predecessor.

Dear Faust…what's happening to me? He thought, tears pooling in his eyes.

Chapter Text

The darkness was thick around her, and oh how she feared it? Why should she fear darkness? It was part of her night. No, this was not her darkness! Not her beautiful night! This was the primordial darkness the other ponies feared. Never had the Night Princess been so afraid of her natural element before. This was darkness she couldn't control and that was why she feared it.

"Princess? Luna? Where are you?" A voice echoed out of the darkness.

She spun around, her mane moving wildly, swirling up to be lost in the starless sky.

"My Princess?" Despite the fear that now tinged it, Luna finally recognised the voice.

"Sombra?" She called, her own voice seeming lost in the vast void of darkness. "Where are you?"

"Here." He called, sounding nearer.

Luna turned and Sombra was behind her, holding out his hoof.

She reached out to take it, but he was pulled backwards suddenly, and he was sinking into the darkness beneath them. He was struggling as if trying to get out of a mire that was claiming him fast. Luna tried to move but she couldn't do anything, merely watch helplessly as the shadows swirled up around him to pull him down all that sooner and he let out a strangled scream.

"No!" Luna cried out as the scream continued.

The scream slowly turned into a dark chuckle as the darkness evaporated and Sombra stood there, taller then he usually was. The telltale sickly green aura of dark magic cascaded from his eyes, tinged at the edges with roiling purple and black. So much magic barely contained, and ready to be used at a moment's notice. His black mane that usually flopped into his eyes was now swept back into a crest on top of his head, held in place by a dark crown. His beautiful unicorn horn was now some strange twisted thing tinged with red. He wore royal robes and armour as he stared haughtily down from the dark crystal rock upon which he now stood.

"Bow before your king." Sombra growled.

"Never!" Luna cried and she let out a blast of her light blue magic.

It lanced through the apparition and it vanished. That's all it was an illusion.

There was a throaty chuckle that echoed through the darkness, it turned into a full belly laugh as if somepony was having fun.

"Oh poor little Moon Princess who nopony loves." The voice taunted, she did not recognise this voice but it felt familiar in a way she could not describe. "Crying on the shoulder of the first colt to show her affection."

"THOU WOULD BE WISE TO SHOW THYSELF OR FACE THE WRATH OF THE PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT!" Luna bellowed as lightening began to illuminate the dark landscape.

"Temper, temper dear Princess. It might get you into trouble one day. And I should know, I have seen the future and it's gloriously chaotic." The voice chuckled again as screams and noises of destruction echoed around her.

"Who are you?" She demanded.

"I don't really know yet." Th voice chortled. "I'm still trying to make up my mind, there's so many names I could choose. It's just so difficult."

Discord! Discord! Discord! The word echoed around the dream as if many ponies were whispering it all at once.

The voice that had been talking to her laughed out loud as the dream around her began to collapse, Equestria falling with it into chaos...

Luna sat up quickly with a gasp. That dream had been terrifying. She almost wished somepony else could guard dreams so she would never have to face that horror again. She clambered out of bed, almost tripping over the sheets that had wrapped themselves about her used her wings to steady herself as she kicked the sheets away.

She stepped into her bathroom and patted her face with a damp flannel. She heard a knock on the outer door of her rooms. She quickly trotted out into the study, the servants were yet to arrive, that meant she was up too early. She was not ready to go back to sleep, not after that dream.

She used her magic to open the door when she was half way across the room. Knight Sombra was on the other side, and Luna froze. But no, this was not the apparition from her dream. He wore armour yes, but it was the white iron of her night guards, his horn was just a unicorn horn and his dark hair fell into his magenta eyes because he wasn't wearing his helmet. Luna felt so relieved that it was the real Sombra that without thinking she glided across the room and threw her hooves about his neck, hugging him as tightly as she could.

Sombra was caught off-guard; Luna was never one to express her emotions so physically. He lifted his hoof and patted her shoulder gingerly, unsure if he should return the embrace.

"It is you my good knight." Luna whispered in his ear. "My faithful Sombra, you would never turn on me. Would never demand I bow to you."

"Of course not." Sombra said with a frown as he now returned her hug. "Why would you think that?"

"I…" Luna sniffed and pulled out of the embrace, moving away from him, over to her table.

Sombra stepped further inside and Luna closed the door.

"It was only a dream." She whispered. "I know them to be mere illusion, but it felt real. I thought I had lost you for good. I…"

"You will never lose me." Sombra said faithfully.

"Do you promise?" Luna asked softly.

"I swear that I will always be faithful to you Night Princess. If I ever betray you let divine powers strike me down and cast me in shadow." He said, bending his knee as he made his vow. "On my word as a Knight of Equestria, and on my word as your most ardent admirer."

"A-Admirer?" Luna stammered.

"Are princesses not supposed to be admired?" Sombra asked as he rose back to his hooves.

"Of course we are, but… How thou speaketh good sir it makes thine princess thinks perhaps thou talk of…of…" She stammered with uncertainty.

"Of love?" Sombra asked.

"Yes." Luna replied.

"I do not presume to love a princess beyond what is permitted of a lowly squire such as myself." Sombra said, bowing his head.

"Yet you are not a lowly squire." Luna whispered. "You are a Knight of Equestria and you were raised as my equal."

"Only because the late Queen took pity on a poor wretched orphan, but I am nothing and I would not presume to have a place in your heart beyond dutiful affection." Sombra stated, his head still bowed and he did not witness the scowl that crossed the face of the princess.

"How dare you presume to know my affections?" Luna snapped. "If we were to take your view my sister and I would never marry for nopony is worthy of us. Unless you count old Starswirl of course, but as thou said, he is an old stallion past his prime. I doubt he has the stamina left to make an ideal husband. Now leave my presence." She said, turning her back to him.

"What do you want from me?" Sombra demanded, and Luna turned back to him in curiosity, he had never used such a tone with her before.

"I have no idea." Sombra continued. "I step forward and you accuse me of overstepping my bounds. I stay cautious and you accuse me of presumption. If only I knew your thoughts and affections then perhaps we could both be happy, but I do not. I am nothing but a humble unicorn and you a magnificent, regal alicorn, why should you hold any affection for me? I am nothing."

"It is difficult." Luna said turning away from him in sadness. "I do not see you as a lowly unicorn, if anything I am unworthy of an honourable knight such as thee. I do not deserve your friendship for the constant torment I put you through. If you were wise you would stay away from me and only interact when duty permits it."

"And if I'm unwise?" He asked, placing his hoof beneath her muzzle to guide her to look at him.

"Then I would be happy." Luna whispered, looking into his magenta eyes and seeing nothing but love and kindness there.

Luna leant closer to him as he leant closer to her. Luna closed her eyes to better capture the moment of what was looking to be her first kiss. Their breaths mingled, their lips a hair's breadth away.

There was a knock at the door and they quickly jumped apart as the pony opened the door and came in without invitation. Luna looked down at her hooves, unable to look Sombra in the eye after their encounter.

"Will you go and see how proceedings are…proceeding Knight Sombra?" She asked, searching for a plausible excuse.

"As you command Night Princess." Sombra said with a sharp bow before leaving.

Luna watched him from the corner of her eye as he passed Celestia on her way into the room. The pale alicorn stopped and watched him out the door with her eyes as a smile slowly crept across her face. It grew when she saw her sister's shy demeanour.

"And what were you two conspiring about?" She asked with a wink.

"Nothing that concerns thee." Luna said flatly.

"Come Luna, please don't let me find out from all the court gossips, you know how they love to twist tales."

"Nothing happened." Luna said firmly. "We were disturbed."

"Then I apologise." Celestia said solemnly.

"Perhaps it was for the best. I was allowing my heart to run away with me. I should listen to my head." Luna murmured.

"Sometimes the head is wisest, but when it comes to love you should at least allow your heart to have a say." Celestia advised with a smile.

"And how many stallions have you loved?" Luna asked grumpily.

"You'd be surprised." Celestia said with a grin. "Your much older sister is not as boring as you think her to be."

Luna gave her an unimpressed look.

"Very well, I will stop my teasing, but you should not let your head enter into this matter. Why should we not choose the stallion we wish to marry? I for one have no objections to Sombra becoming my brother-in-law. I know he is not very fond of me, but I know he is loyal to you, he always has been. Even when you were foals together."

"No. He did not like me then, he always teased me." Luna said with a dismissive laugh.

"As young colts often do when faced with a filly they cannot admit they like." Celestia said lightly. "Luna, you have known him all your life, I have watched the affection between you grow. However you wish to proceed with him I will not object, although I would advise discretion until you are ready for the gossips to dissect every aspect of your relationship. But do not allow them to discourage you from forming a true connection with Sombra, and perhaps the next ceremony we hold will be a wedding."

Luna giggled as she looked away blushing.

"You would have me wed and with child before I have even kissed him." She observed.

"Then I won't mention it again until you are ready." Celestia said with a smile as she nuzzled her sister's cheek. "Now come. You're not ready. We're due at the chapel in half an hour."

"Half an hour?" Luna gasped. "Why did the servants not wake me?"

"Never mind, we will find out later." Celestia said, for there was no time to worry about such things. "Allow me to help you with your dress."

It was only now that Luna noticed that Celestia was wearing her gown of palest pink silk, it was a simple cut but embroidered with gold thread and a copy of her blazing sun cutie mark on each flank. Luna went into her bedroom where her own gown of midnight blue silk decorated in silver embroidery and bore her crescent moon cutie mark was placed ready on a dummy-mare. She allowed Celestia to help her pull it on and fasten it into place.

The sisters then stood side by side as they looked into Luna's mirror.

"I think we are ready." Celestia whispered.

Luna nodded and the royal sisters made their procession to the chapel where Starswirl would be crowned. They had to enter the side room where Starswirl was waiting. He was sweating a little, and kept scratching at various parts of his body. He hated these royal robes; they did not suit him at all.

"Your Majesty." The sisters said in unison as they bowed to him.

"How come you two look like royalty and I just look like some Hearth's Warming ornament gone wrong?" He grumbled.

"You look very regal Master Starswirl." Celestia assured him.

"If you would stop scratching." Luna added.

"Ever so truthful Luna dear." Starswirl said with a sarcastic edge, but Luna decided to take it as a compliment, she'd always prided herself on her honesty.

There was a knock at the door.

"Come in." Starswirl yelled.

A guard opened the door.

"The ceremony will commence when you are ready." He said.

"Well." Starswirl said, straightening out his robes. "Let's get this over with."

Starswirl stepped out into the corridor and the sisters stepped out behind him. They used their magic to raise the long train of the royal robes. Starswirl took another deep breath and then nodded to the unicorn guards at the door. They used their magic to open the doors and a fanfare began.

Starswirl began walking up the long aisle, past ponies of different ranks, and dignitaries of many shapes and sizes, be they horses, griffons or zebras. There were dogs who horded gems, and even a crystal pony or two. There was even an earth dragon hunched up in one corner, she had proved to be a friend to Equestria and not as gruff or outright nasty as the sky dragons. The black dress she was wearing went well with her purple scales and green spines.

At the end of the aisle the noble ponies of Equestria stood in order of rank. They formed two lines that led to the throne, which had been moved to the chapel for the crowning ceremony. In front of the throne stood a stern looking unicorn, the Master of Ceremonies and the only one eligible to crown the new monarch, a tradition that had carried over from the royal unicorn family when they conceded rule to Queen Faust.

Starswirl stopped at the bottom of the steps and bowed to the Master of Ceremonies.

"Art thou the unicorn mage known as Starswirl the Bearded?" He asked in a booming voice that carried to the ponies at the back of the chapel.

"I am he." Starswirl replied.

"Then venture forth in good will."

The Master of Ceremonies stood out of the way and allowed Starswirl to climb the steps; the princesses lowered his robe then took up their positions either side of the throne. Starswirl stood in front of the throne waiting patiently.

The Master of Ceremonies went through the various tasks of anointing Starswirl with the sacred oils and giving to him the sceptre and orb of office. The Master of Ceremonies took the crown up in his magic and held it over Starswirl's head.

"Dost thou solemnly promise to govern all the ponies of the Kingdom of Equestria and Principality of Trottingham, the Province of Muleton and Stronghold of Cloudsdale, and of your Possessions and other Territories to any of them belonging or pertaining, according to their respective laws and customs?"

"I solemnly promise so to do." Starswirl replied.

"Woulds thou to thine power cause Law and Justice, in Mercy, be executed in all thine judgements?"

"I will."

"Woulds thou, to the utmost of thine power, maintain the Balance of Harmony and see that Harmony should continue and be preserved throughout the kingdom of Equestria? That thou woulds to the best of thine ability encourage harmony among unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies alike?"

"All this I promise to do." Starswirl stated.

"Then in the name of Harmony and the customs of Equestria I crown thee King Starswirl the Bearded, first of his name."

The Master of Ceremonies lowered the crown onto Starswirl's head. The old mage gave a sigh of relief as he sat in the throne and became king. A cheer went up from the congregation while Starswirl sat a few moments longer. He then placed the orb and sceptre back onto the ceremonial cushion. He stood and there was another cheer.

"If everypony would care to make their way over to the main hall, the feasting will begin in half an hour." He announced.

There was muttering between the dignitaries, they wanted to speak with the new king now, but Starswirl wanted nothing more than to don his comfy wizarding robes once more.

"I will see you all later." He said with a salute before teleporting away in a twinkle of white light.

Celestia regarded the scene curiously, she had seen Starswirl teleport many times before, and he had always disappeared in a flare of light blue magic, the colour of his aura. She didn't have time to ponder on this for long because the Duke of Muleton was already demanding attention.

"What is the meaning of this?" He demanded.

"Did I not say you would have chance to speak with him after the ceremony?" Celestia asked. "You will have that chance at the feast."

"This is unacceptable, how dare you mess us around like this!" The mule snapped.

"THOU UNGRATEFUL WHELP HOW DARE THEE ADRESS OUR SISTER IN THAT WAY? THOU SHOULD COUNT THINE SELF LUCKY THOU WERE GIVEN AN INVITE TO ATTEND, LET ALONE HAVE AUDIENCE WITH THE KING!" Luna thundered.

"I…wh…I'll have you know I'm a Duke." The mule said haughtily.

"THOU ART NOTHING MORE THAN A SELF PROCLAIMED CHARLETON. SHOULD THOU CONTINUE IN THINE HARRASSMENT OF OUR SISTER WE WILL SEE TO IT THAT THOU WOULDS BE BARRED FROM CONVERSING WITH THE KING, FOREVER!"

"Are you going to stand there and let her speak to me that way?" The Duke demanded of Celestia.

"OUR SISTER IS FOND OF THE ROYAL CANTERLOT VOICE AND WE ARE NOT ABOUT TO CORRECT HER FOR STATING A FACT." Celestia replied, before clearing her throat. "Now please, if you would all care to make your way to the great hall the ceremony will continue."

Before anypony else could protest Celestia caught Luna's eye and they both teleported from the chapel. Luna followed Celestia's magic trail and found herself in Starswirl's study.

The new king was trying to pull the royal robes off over his head without unfastening them first.

"Allow us to help thee." Luna said, using her magic to unfasten the string.

"Did I hear the Royal Canterlot Voice?" Starswirl asked as he extricated himself from his robes.

"That rabid little mule who calls himself 'duke' spoke dishonourably to my sister." Luna said firmly.

"Ooh, I wish I could have been there to see the look on his face." Starswirl said with a gleeful chuckle that caused the sisters to exchange a glance.

Starswirl pulled on his wizard robes and gave a sigh of relief as he placed his hat on his head also.

"They will require you to wear your crown." Celestia stated.

Starswirl grumbled, but instead of removing his hat he placed the crown over the top of it.

"They cannot say you do not wear it." Luna said with a shrug.

"Quite." Starswirl said, raising his bushy eyebrows. "Now tell me my dears, was there something else you wanted?"

"We have thought up something to entertain the masses." Celestia said.

"We have?" Luna asked with a frown.

"Indeed we have." Celestia insisted. "Sunset is in half an hour, perhaps we should make a show of the occasion."

"How?" Starswirl asked.

"As I lower the sun, Luna can raise the moon. As they pass in the sky you teleport between us to make your grand entrance to the feast." Celestia explained.

"Sounds good, but where would we do it?" Starswirl asked.

"The grand balcony faces the direction of the sunset and the moonrise this evening." Luna said.

"Very well." Starswirl agreed. "I'll wait in the room above and teleport in when the time is right."

"We will go and inform the guards so that the balcony might be prepared." Celestia stated. "Come Luna."

The princesses teleported from Starswirl's library to where the Captain of the Day Guard was stationed. The white unicorn bowed to the alicorns when they appeared. Celestia explained their plan to him and he immediately set out to prepare everything.

Five minuets before the setting of the sun the princesses called the congregation into the great hall. The doors of the grand balcony were open and there was a stand set up with two brass signs, one representing the sun, the other representing the moon. The sisters stood in front of their respective discs while the dignitaries and others clustered around the doors curiously.

"Our friends and dignitaries, lords and ladies, fillies and gentle colts, all our faithful subjects." Celestia began.

"WE INVITE THEE TO JOIN IN OUR MERIMENT TO MARK THIS WONDEROUS OCCASION, TO WHIT THE ASCENSION OF STARSWIRL THE BEARDED TO KING." Luna bellowed.

The Royal Canterlot Voice had been drilled into Luna when she was a filly by the Dowager Duchess of Canterlot, Princess Platinum. The old duchess had taught the alicorns deportment and proper conduct as foals. Luna had taken every lesson the old unicorn had taught them to heart and found it difficult now not to use her lessons. Even when ponies complained or heckled sarcastically that she should speak up.

"The feast shall begin at the day's end." Celestia announced.

"LET THE REVERLY COMMENCE." Luna finished.

Both Sisters prepared their magic. Celestia rose into the air, her wings outstretched, her front hooves raised as Luna bowed her head. Celestia slowly descended to the balcony, dragging the sun with her, as Luna rose into the air, bringing the moon into view. As the two celestial bodies passed each other in the sky there was a flash of blue magic, a burst of fire works and Starswirl appeared between the two sisters, his robes and beard flowing dramatically as he struck a pose against the sunset. The sun disappeared and the moon stopped to float above, the stars twinkling into being. The jewels on Starswirl's crown glittered against the deep blue of his wizard hat. He'd found a way to be both king and mage.

He paused for a moment between the two sisters, then together the three royals made their way to the golden throne. Starswirl sat in the throne while the sisters stood either side of him.

"Well? What are you all waiting for, get on with the party." Starswirl commanded.

"They are waiting for you to address them Your Majesty." Celestia whispered.

"Well, you're all my faithful subjects, thanks for attending, now party to your hearts content." Starswirl said.

The sisters looked at each other.

"HAST THOU ALL LOST THINE SENSE OF HEARING? THE KING HAS SPOKEN, MERRIMENT IS AT HOOF. WHY ART THOU NOT ALREADY ENGAGED IN ACTIVITIES OF GREAT JOY?" Luna declared as she rose into the air on her great wings and glided over to the royal musicians. "COME NOW FILLIES AND GENTLE COLTS, WE REQUIRE MUSIC, MUCH REJOICING IS TO TAKE PLACE THIS NIGHT. WE SHOULD KNOW FOR WE ARE THE PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT."

Those assembled laughed but were still unsure of what to do even after the band had started playing one of the many traditional quick steps for a lively start to the evening. Luna glided back to the throne and bowed before it, her intention had been to ask Starswirl, but from the glower he gave her she knew he would not dance, even at his own coronation.

"SISTER IT LOOKS AS IF WE MUST SCHOOL THESE PONIES IN HOW TO CONDUCT ONESELF AT A PARTY." She declared.

"INDEED." Celestia replied, before bowing to Luna in return and the two alicorns made their way to the centre of the room. "Would the minstrels kindly play Eternal Harmony?"

The music changed into something more akin to a waltz and the sisters bowed to each other once more, before they began circling. Slowly at first with the odd little canter or jump, a change of direction now and again, but soon they left the floor, twisting and spiralling around each other in perfect synch. It was a display in dancing of the cycle the sisters ensured continued in the heavens. They landed with the last flutter of music and bowed to each other once more.

With the ice broken and the minstrels beginning another number, ponies took to the floor in order to dance. Celestia and Luna remained dancing near each other for a while longer, but Celestia gave Luna a small smile before feigning a sigh of exhaustion.

"I think I will sit this dance out." She stated.

"But you like dancing." Luna protested.

"I do, but I think perhaps somepony else would like to dance." Celestia said as she nodded her head over Luna's shoulder.

Luna turned her head to see to whom Celestia referred, it was Sombra. He was wearing his dress uniform because he wasn't on duty tonight. As a Knight of Equestria he'd had an invitation to the coronation and following celebration. He was standing with a group of ponies but looked bored with their conversation. She looked back to Celestia who motioned for to go ahead before bowing once more to Luna and leaving the dance floor.

Luna took a breath to steel her nerves; she was unsure how Sombra would react when she asked him to dance. She turned around and began to walk toward him. She caught his eye and he watched her curiously. Luna smiled and he returned it, shifting his weight to make a move.

"Your Majesty." Somepony said as they stepped into her path.

She looked down to find that the Duke of Muleton was bowing low before her.

"We are a princess, therefore thou should address us as Highness and not Majesty." Luna said tersely.

"Forgive me Your Highness." The mule said in a syrupy voice. "I admired your dancing, I'm quite the mover myself and since your sister has decided to sit this dance out, may I…"

"I…" Luna began, but the Duke had placed a hoof on her shoulder and began leading her in a dance. "Why wouldst thou dance with us when we insulted thee before?"

"Oh, you are so graceful, and what can I say. I love a mare with spirit." He said with a wide grin. "Much more of a challenge."

"Challenge?" Luna asked.

"To tame of course. Can't have my wife talking out of turn." He said cheerfully.

"Then we fear for thine wife." Luna said dryly.

"Oh, but there's no need to be afraid." The Duke crooned.

"Why would we be afraid? We are the Princess of the Night, we fear nothing." Luna said dismissively.

"Then you won't fear for my wife." The Duke said almost gleefully.

"Excuse me?" Luna demanded.

"All I need is to finalise things with the King and your sister…"

Luna shook her head and felt rage build within her. In a blast of magic, she teleported away from the Duke, and reappeared on the highest balcony from where she usually watched her night.

Celestia watched as Luna quickly teleported away from the Duke. She looked to Starswirl and he appeared to be thinking hard about something. She stepped closer to whisper to him.

"Starswirl, the Duke of Muleton has upset Luna. I should go and…"

Starswirl held out his hoof to stop Celestia and shook his head before pointing to Sombra who was attempting to leave the hall unnoticed. Celestia understood, allow Sombra to comfort Luna, give them the opportunity to allow their relationship to grow. It was something Celestia had discussed with Starswirl some time ago when she realised they held an attraction to each other. She wished to know whether to intervene and point out that they held a flame for each other, but Starswirl had advised her to give them space to come to the conclusion themselves. Then something occurred to Celestia, Starswirl's hoof felt different…

She glanced down to find an eagle claw resting against her front leg. She gasped and looked up at the king. He frowned for a moment until Celestia dropped her eyes. He looked down and gasped himself, quickly pulling the claw back inside his robes. He closed his eyes for a moment then placed his hoof down on the ground.

"Are you well Master Starswirl?" Celestia asked in concern.

"It's nothing, just the stress of the day." Starswirl assured her. "A little random magic but I'll soon have it under control."

"If you are sure." Celestia said, still feeling concern.

"I believe the Duke wants a word with you." Starswirl said to change the subject.

Celestia looked back toward the dance floor to see that this was true. The Duke was heading purposefully toward the throne.

"We must show kindness to all creatures of this world." Celestia whispered under her breath, remembering her mother's teachings before lifting her head to greet the Duke with a smile. "Is Your Grace enjoying this evening?" She asked.

"Yes." The Duke replied. "Now that I finally get to speak with the King."

"What do you want?" Starswirl growled, and Celestia tried not to show alarm at his tone as the incautious mule stepped forward.

"To offer you my fealty Your Highness." The Duke said with a low bow.

"Majesty." Celestia whispered in the Duke's ear.

"Majesty?" He asked.

"You address the King as Your Majesty." She explained.

"Your…."

The Duke was cut off when a mare across the room screamed.

"The punch…it's chocolate milk?" She exclaimed.

"What's wrong with that?" A little filly next to her asked and jumped up on the table to lap it straight from the bowl.

"I'm lactose intolerant. If all the punch has changed to milk…." She trailed off, her face turning green as she clutched at her stomach.

Slowly the mare began to inflate like a balloon, floating slowly up to the ceiling to bounce against it. She looked aghast, flailing her hooves about wildly, but they were nothing but sticks attached to a balloon. Celestia looked to Starswirl, as Grand High Mage it was his duty to dispel such things, but he was looking up at the mare, chuckling. Celestia sent out her magic and brought the pony back down to the ground where a medic pony was waiting to escort her to the first aid post.

"If chocolate milk in the punch wasn't bad enough, just look at the ice sculpture." A stallion sneered to his mare friend.

"Is that jelly?" She asked, scrunching up her nose.

"Yippee!" The same white filly that had gorged on chocolate milk yelled as she leapt into the jelly and bounced for a moment before sinking into the gloopy goodness and devoured it from within.

"Who let this filly in here?" The stallion demanded.

"Filly?" The filly squeaked as she poked her head out of the jelly, "HOW DARE THEE YOUNG COLT, WE ARE THE DOWEGER DUCHESS OF CANTERLOT!" She yelled in the Royal Canterlot Voice, but it did not have the same effect as when the princesses applied it.

At the same instant another group of ponies had noticed the new confectionary added to the buffet table.

"Chocolate milk? Jelly? How common!" Prince Gold Crown of the royal unicorn family said haughtily, "Whatever next? Piñatas and party hats?"

There was a flash of white light and suddenly everypony was wearing a party hat, they all had clashing colours, and there were many piñatas around. Starswirl chuckled gleefully, sitting up in his throne to get a better view over the head of the Duke.

"Your Majesty, I offer you my fealty. I will serve you as long as you require me." The mule promised, ignoring the commotion behind him.

"Is that so?" Starswirl asked. "You will serve me? Forever?" He let out a belly laugh that shocked those close enough to hear, Starswirl had never laughed like that. They were certain the old mage didn't know how to laugh. The assembled ponies were beginning to feel uneasy.

No matter how she tried, Princess Luna could not calm her mind. She was angered by what the stupid Duke had said. She knew his words were a lie; Celestia would never sell her off to some…some…obnoxious cretin who was only nobility because he claimed his farm a new country and himself duke. Mother should not have humoured him.

"Night Princess, may I join you?" Sombra asked.

"Please." Luna replied.

Sombra walked out onto the balcony and stopped beside her, looking down at the many courtyards, all ablaze with light this evening.

"What did that obnoxious mule say? Must I protect the honour of my Princess?" Sombra asked, and Luna realised it was one of those rare instances Sombra was attempting to use humour to counter her mood.

Luna laughed and stepped closer to the stallion, but still resisted the urge to enfold him in her wing.

"He is merely stupid, what can we do about that?" She asked.

"He still upset you." Sombra said with concern.

"I allowed him to upset me." Luna said with frustration. "He said he had designs to marry me and only had need to finalise the arrangements with Princess Celestia and King Starswirl. I know they would not do such a thing to me, especially after my sister's words this evening."

"May I ask what those words were?" Sombra inquired.

"Celestia stated that she has no objections should we wish to… That as long as we conduct ourselves accordingly… That as long as we are wary not to feed the court gossips… That should we…"

"We?" Sombra asked, unsure of whether Luna was slipping into her Royal Canterlot Voice.

"You and I." Luna clarified.

"She has no objection to me?" Sombra asked doubtfully.

"She cares not if you hate her, as long as you are loyal to me." Luna explained.

"She said that?" Sombra asked in disbelief.

"Yes. My sister is not the difficult mare you think her to be. She is kind and generous, if only you would allow yourself to know this." Luna chided.

"If it is your wish then I will do my best to alter my view of Celestia." Sombra promised.

"Thank you." Luna said with a smile, but then she frowned. "We must return to the great hall immediately."

"Why?" Sombra asked.

"I have no idea, but Celestia feels worry for something, we may be needed." Luna stated.

When Luna and Sombra returned to the great hall it was utter pandemonium. Ponies were running around the great hall in a panic. Colourful party hats were crumpled underhoof as multicoloured fruit bats flew in rainbow formations across the ceiling. In various places were heaps of rotten fruit combined with what may have been the remains of piñatas.

Luna rushed over to Celestia as the latter was trying to bring order. She shook her head to Luna; the ponies were in too much of a blind panic. Luna took a deep breath and gathered the night shadows around her to give more power to her voice.

"BE STILL!" She bellowed and lightning crackled through the hall.

It didn't quell the ponies' fears, but it was enough to make them cower on the floor and not run about blindly, making matters worse.

Starswirl had been watching the utter chaos and giggling the whole time. He was chuckling now as everypony cowered away from the dying storm. Luna landed next to her sister, giving her a questioning look. Celestia was uncertain herself, but she knew that Starswirl should be retired for the night before anything else went wrong.

"King Starswirl is a monster!" The Duke, who still stood next to the throne, yelled into the midst of the sudden silence.

"No I'm not." Starswirl said in a low dangerous voice.

"Look at his eyes! They're yellow and red!" The Duke yelled, pointing a hoof at the King.

"Many ponies have yellow and red eyes." Starswirl replied in a soothing voice.

"Not like that." The Duke yelled and the sisters saw it too, that Starswirl's eyes were now mostly yellow with red pupils that were different sizes.

It was the look of concerned horror on the faces of his former students that snapped Starswirl out of his happy haze and he realised that everypony was looking at him in horror as they still cowered on the floor. The great hall was a mess.

"There's nothing to be afraid of." Starswirl said in a calming voice, lifting his hooves to encourage peace, but it made matters worse.

Starswirl's hooves were now a lion's paw and an eagle's claw. He closed his eyes to concentrate, forcing himself back into his usual shape. He managed it, but it was too late, the Royal Guard already thought he was an impostor and were moving in to arrest him.

Starswirl closed his eyes, and without thinking teleported as far away from Canterlot Castle as he could.

The ponies were in panic once more, but Celestia slumped down onto her rump as she looked at the place Starswirl had been.

"What…happened to you?" She whispered.

"Sister?" Luna asked softly.

"Oh Luna, what has happened?" Celestia asked as she placed her hooves about her sister and gave her a hug. "What is to become of Equestria without a ruler…"

Luna bit her lip on her reply, the sisters would have no choice but to take their mother's place, it would not help at the moment. Celestia's question was rhetorical, the shock was still raw, but soon they would need answers…

Chapter Text

Far away in the Frozen North there was a flash of light half way up a glacial peak. Starswirl re-appeared and took a moment to catch his breath in the frozen air. He stood up, shivering because of the cold, and sighed as he began walking in no direction in particular. In any direction that would take him further away from the ponies he might harm with the random magic and occurrences that seemed to be plaguing him. As if on cue, from out of nowhere a song spilled from his lips accompanied the music that drifted on the wind.

"The snow glows white on the mountain tonight,
not a hoofprint to be seen."

He looked back at the icy white landscape, so lonely and desolate, even the northern lights were nothing but a distant smudge of colour on the night sky.

"A kingdom of isolation,

And it looks like I'm the King.
The wind is howling like this chaos deep inside,
Couldn't keep it in; Faust knows I've tried."

He shook his head irritably.

"Don't let them in, don't let them see,

Be the good mage, the king you aught to be."

He repeated the mantra he'd used for most of the day.

"Conceal, don't feel, don't let them know;
well now they know…"

Starswirl's front hooves became the lion paw and eagle claw once more but instead of forcing them to become hooves again, he threw them up above his head, letting the change happen.

"Let it go, let it go,

Feel the chaos deep inside"

Starswirl snapped his eagle claw making an ice sculpture of Celestia and one of Luna.

"Let it go, let it go,
as I feel my sanity slide…"

He let out a laugh with a slightly manic edge as he circled the cold, silent effigies of his former students.

"I don't care what the ponies might to say,

Let the chaos reign…

He spun up into the air, revelling in a moment of weightlessness, yes; chaos was much more powerful…

"Harmony is over rated anyway."

Starswirl unpinned his robe and it was caught by the wind before being carried off into the night.

"It's funny how some distance,
Makes everypony seem small."

He mused, as the whole of the pony civilisation seemed nothing but a distant constellation from up here.

"The conventions that once suppressed my power,
Will hold me back no more."

He stroked his beard as he wondered at his capabilities.

"It's time to see what I can do,

To test this chaos and break through."

To his delight he turned raw chaos into solid matter and it was at that point he realised,

"No harmony is left for me, I'm free!"

Starswirl created a multi-coloured moving staircase and rushed up it.

"Let it go, let it go,
I'm at one with things weird and odd"

The air around him shimmered with ghostly images of half remembered creatures from childhood pony tales.

"Let it go, let it go,
Should I try floating carp or cod?"

Shoals of fish appeared and began swimming through the air.

"Here I stand,

And here I'll stay."

Starswirl declared as he slammed his back hoof down and formed a giant multi-hued spiral.

"Let the Chaos reign…"

He felt the power growing within him, eager to be released.

"My chaos flurries through the air into the ground."

In a flurry of chaos finally released, he began to rise up on a spiral of magic.

"My soul is spiralling in twisted matter all around."

Pink and purple spotted beams broke forth, building walls, archways, and doors…

"And one thought falls in place just like a broken glass,"

There were cotton candy clouds to constantly rain chocolate and the ceiling left the sky visible.

"I'm never going back; the past is in the past."

He declared firmly as he stood up tall in the centre of his mighty palace. Starswirl removed his hat and threw it out of the nearest window.

"Let it go, let it go."

His white mane turned black as his form change. His body got longer and thinner, the fur on his body changing to brown, although it remained grey on his face and elongated neck, his eyes returned back to the yellow and red they had been earlier, as a large pointy tooth grew out the right side of his mouth.

"I'll rise like a chaos god."

His back hooves changed, one becoming a goat's hoof, the other a crocodile's foot, and it was so much easier to stay up on them, giving him more height. Wings sprouted from his back, one a bat wing, the other a blue Pegasus wing, now he had the magic of flight. A long red dragon tail replaced his pony one it had a white tuft on the end. An antler on the right and a blue goat horn on the left side of his head replaced his unicorn horn. The only things left of the original Starswirl were his white beard and bushy eyebrows.

"Let it go, let it go.

That goody-good mage is gone."

Starswirl burst onto out onto a balcony, the sun was beginning to rise and he was crackling with so much power.

"Here I stand,
In the light of day,
Let the chaos reign…"

He threw his limbs wide as fireworks burst overhead and a flock of polka dot doves took to the air.

"Harmony's over rated anyway!"

He turned and with a flick of his new serpentine tail he slammed his palace doors to the world.

Back in the almost empty throne room of Canterlot Castle, Princess Celestia continued to hold onto her sister for dear life. Princess Luna was worried; Celestia hadn't been this upset since their mother had passed away.

"Sister…what do we do?" Luna asked in a whisper.

Celestia straightened up and dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief.

"I don't know." She whispered. "I simply do not know."

Suddenly light flooded in through the windows and the two princesses looked quickly toward the balcony which was still open.

"Are you…?" Luna began.

"This is not my doing." Celestia replied. "We must rectify it however."

She strode out onto the balcony and glared at the sun as it dared to rise without her doing. She took a deep breath, gathering her magic and pushed it back down below the horizon. The moon still floated in place never having sunk.

"Now stay until morning." Celestia spoke to the sun.

"What do you think this means?" Luna asked.

"That something very bad is happening and I fear our old mentor is to blame." Celestia replied with deceptive calm.

"Surely he cannot…" Luna broke off as the sun rose once more. "It is the time of night; the sun should know its place!"

"The sun knows its place sister, but a greater magic is taking hold. If we do not act fast…"

"What's going on?" Somepony demanded and the sisters turned to find a small contingent of the delegates were gathered behind them just inside the great hall.

"We are uncertain at present." Celestia replied.

"Looks like Equestria crowned a monster. Always knew you ponies couldn't be trusted." King Garrick of the Griffon Kingdom scoffed.

"If you would forgive me Your Majesty." Celestia said politely. "But King Starswirl is not a monster."

"Then what happened here tonight?" The griffon demanded.

"There could be many explanations." Luna stated. "With a unicorn as powerful as the King a bad case of the flu can lead to sporadic outbursts of magic. It is nothing that will not rectify itself."

"I should hope so; Grandmamma Platinum is right now abseiling down the tapestries." Prince Gold Crown said aghast.

"Where to?" Celestia asked.

"This way." Prince Gold Crown said, before walking in the direction of the doors.

Celestia followed him and all the delegates followed her in turn. Luna fell behind when she saw Sombra standing guard by the door. She walked up to him and without a word indicated that he should follow her.

"Where are we going?" He asked when he was certain nopony would hear.

"While Celestia is engaged with the dignitaries I think we should go and investigate." Luna replied.

"How?"

"Starswirl was always meddling in this new spell or the other, even Mother worried he may some day bite off more than he could chew." Luna explained.

"You think that day has come?" Sombra asked.

"Unfortunately yes; and now Equestria is paying the price." Luna said before quieting as they neared Starswirl's rooms to find that two ponies still stood guard.

They approached the door and the ponies barred their path.

"Stand down, let the princess pass." Sombra ordered.

"We can't let anypony pass, by order of the king." One of the guards said gruffly.

"Then you have not heard?" Sombra asked.

"We can not let you pass." The guard insisted.

Luna shook her head impatiently. She gathered her magic and including Sombra in the spell, teleported inside Starswirl's library. She turned to the door and cast a locking enchantment upon it; only Celestia would be able to open it from the outside.

"They will not be happy." Sombra observed.

"They can remain that way; we are in a state of emergency." Luna said. "Forget them; we have to look through the library. His latest spell book is somewhere in here…" Luna trailed off when she took in the mess of Starswirl's study.

"It seems we've come to the right place." Sombra observed, knowing as well as Luna how neat the old mage kept the things he wasn't using.

"Indeed." Luna agreed. "Let us begin."

Celestia followed Prince Gold Crown out into the royal walk way where numerous tapestries lined the walls. There was indeed a filly making good progress toward the top of one of the banners. Celestia caught the filly in her magic and levitated her down to the floor.

"WHAT DOST THOU THINK THOU ART DOING TO US? WE ARE THE DOWEGER DUCHSS OF CANTERLOT!" She yelled.

"Forgive me Your Grace." Celestia said with a bow. "I only wished to seek audience with you."

"WELL, VERY WELL."

Celestia had been assessing the filly and now knew how to restore her to her current state. Celestia surrounded the filly in the golden glow of her magic and with a little concentration a veil of gold surrounded the filly, enveloping her until she was completely obscured. There was a crystalline whine that increased in pitch as the feel of magic intensified, then with a whoosh the magic fell away and an old mare floated to the ground.

The Dowager Duchess of Canterlot, Princess Platinum, shook her head, her once deep purple mane, now paled to a soft lilac with age, bouncing about her face. She opened her eyes and squinted at the pale alicorn before her.

"What has happened?" She asked.

"May I seek counsel with you Your Grace?" Celestia whispered.

"Of course child." Princess Platinum replied. "IT IS THE COMMAND OF THINE PRINCESS THAT YOU GO NOW AND AWAIT OUR SUMMONS."

Instead of waiting for the others to leave the two princesses returned to the throne room and closed the door on anyone who would disturb them. Lightning Shield took it upon himself to ensure that nopony entered the throne room until his Sun Princess had called them forth.

"What is happening?" Princess Platinum asked as she looked out of the window. "Is it raining cats and dogs?"

"We are unsure Your Grace. Something has happened to Starswirl and we know not what." Celestia confided.

"Well this is what comes of naming a commoner as king." Princess Platinum said snootily. "I advised the Queen against it, but she was certain the elevated mage would make the ideal leader. Leadership is not merely who has the most power; one must also have the capability to command. It is something you and your sister have in abundance, the old mage was never meant to rule. Yet who am I to denounce the word of the Queen, she was certain Starswirl was the one to lead us, but truly, she should have handed the rule to you and Princess Luna. Then we would have avoided all…this…"

Both mares looked to the window once more as the sun rose.

Celestia sighed and trotted out onto the balcony to put it back to bed.

"What should Luna and I do?" She asked, once the sun was down once more.

"I believe you already know." Princess Platinum replied.

"Seek out Starswirl, beg of him to return with us and embrace harmony once more. Failing that, to curtail his chaos, to rein it in so that it affects only a small amount of land he has decided to claim." Celestia announced, before adding in less sure tones, "I hope he will return to us…"

"Princess Celestia, you are the Sun Princess, beloved of your mother and wise beyond your years. Do you really think you need a silly old stallion to instruct you? Do you not know, deep in here?" And with that the old mare placed a hoof over the Princess' heart. "You are ready to rule, you and Luna in harmonious diarchy and not as seconds to a mage who has worked hard to separate himself from others?"

"It was Mother's wish that he should rule until we were ready." Celestia stated.

"Were you unready or merely acquiescing to your mother's wishes?" Princess Platinum asked.

"I never considered it, for it was Mother's last wish." Celestia admitted.

"It was, but how about now?"

"It would be better if Starswirl would return. Luna and I must go to him."

"What of Equestria?" Princess Platinum inquired.

"We must go to him regardless. If we do not go to him how can he reverse this chaos? Equestria depends on us finding Starswirl."

"That is true." Princess Platinum replied. "However you would leave the throne empty if you were to both go."

"If we were to elect a trusted comity comprising of Commander Hurricane, Private Pansy, Chancellor Pudding Head, Smart Cookie, Clover the Clever and Your Grace we would be leaving the country in safe hooves while we attempt to rectify the situation."

"I will call on the old guard immediately." The Duchess promised.

"And I will go seek Luna and discuss the matter at hoof." Celestia replied.

"What do you plan to do once we find Starswirl's book?" Sombra asked as he and Luna picked their way through the books and instruments strewn on the floor.

Luna paused and frowned, she had not thought that far ahead, only to find some information for when Celestia required it.

"Find relevant information for my sister, I am certain she is already formulating a plan, but a little fact finding will not hurt." Luna stated.

"What would you do my Princess?" He asked.

"What do you mean?"

"If you were to make a plan, what would it be?"

Princess Luna looked up to her moon and it reflected in her eyes, making them shine.

"I would find a way to save him. He is not evil, merely caught in something beyond our knowing. From what I know of Starswirl, he does not wish this chaos upon us, this is a spell gone awry. That is why we must scour his books and find what spell could cause such a change, and then track him in order to counter whatever spell has taken hold of him."

"What if it is something that cannot be dispelled? You know as well as I how the old mage enjoyed experimenting." Sombra said.

"If there is no cure then we will have to appeal to him to find sense once more. Everypony deserves a chance of redemption." Luna explained.

"Some ponies are beyond such help." Sombra stated.

"I dread to think of a day that should be true." Luna said with a shudder. "It would truly break my heart to think there was somepony wholly evil and with no hope of seeing the light once more."

"You truly believe everypony can be redeemed?"

"Yes." Luna said firmly. "Now enough of this distraction, we must find out how this happened."

Several hours had passed before Celestia managed to track Luna down in Starswirl's library thanks to ponies stopping her at every juncture to ask what they should do about the stampedes of cats and dogs in the streets, the lime custard that was now flowing through every watercourse in the city and the groups of angry pegasi stomping around as their flight magic failed them. There were still two guards stationed outside Starswirl's library. They stepped aside as Celestia approached the door and after a short inspection, she countered the spell Luna had used to seal it.

She found Luna inside, Knight Sombra was with her and they sat in the middle of a wall of books. A familiar boos was open in the air in front of them, caught in the blue aura of Luna's magic. They looked up when Celestia entered.

"Sister. What do you know about this spell?" Princess Luna asked as she levitated Starswirl's latest book toward Celestia, it was open toward the back, Celestia knew which spell it was without having to look, but she did so to be certain.

"That is a spell he was working on last night. I read it aloud to see what happened, but nothing did. It's unfinished." She asked.

Luna turned the book back to herself and looked down at the words, frowning slightly as she read over them again.

"Is it possible the spell affected Starswirl?" Princess Luna asked.

"How would it affect him?" Celestia asked in reply.

"It is a transformation spell." Luna replied.

"That is true." Celestia agreed, growing thoughtful.

"Perhaps it still had an effect but being incomplete it did not have the desired effect." Luna theorised.

"And this has caused his transformation?" Celestia asked.

"Yes. The spell has caused this change and there is no counter-spell. What in Equestria are we meant to do?" Luna asked with great worry.

Celestia managed to pull a smile to her face.

"We save him." She announced. "We will track down Starswirl and we appeal to him to see sense. We remind him who he is and what he means to us. He will know we still care about him and he will become our wise mentor once more."

"Do you think it will work?" Luna asked hesitantly.

"We can only hope." Celestia replied as a flash of lightning outside the window was accompanied by the sound of frogs croaking. "We will set off within the hour."

"I will go and prepare." Luna promised.

"We will meet in the throne room and depart from there." Celestia stated before leaving the library.

"I must go and prepare." Luna said to Sombra.

"Please my Princess, allow me to accompany you." Sombra requested.

"I think Celestia means us to fly, it is the fastest method to track Starswirl." Luna stated as she and Sombra left the library.

"Forgive my bluntness Highness, but nopony can fly at present." A pegasus guard stated.

"What do you mean?" Luna asked.

"Well." The pegasus leapt into the air and spread his wings, he flapped for a moment and gained several feet of air before his wings folded in on themselves and he crashed to the floor.

"I see." Luna said, and she spread her own wings, inspecting them for a moment before leaping into the air and beating them. Like the pegasus guard she too managed to gain several feet before a force outside of her being caused her wings to fold. Although she fell to the floor as the guard had, she managed to land on her hooves.

"Very well." Luna said, "Knight Sombra, would you please accompany me?"

"To the end of the world Night Princess." He replied with a bow.

"Then go and prepare, meet with my sister and I within the hour in the throne room and we shall set out to track Starswirl." Luna announced.

"Yes Princess." Sombra said.

They separated to go to their own rooms to prepare while Lightning Shield left his post and made his way to the rooms of the Sun Princess.

Celestia was busy packing her saddle bags with what she thought she would need on her quest when she heard a knock upon the door. She had sent all the servants away but hadn't appointed a guard at her door since it would indicate that she was present. She endeavoured to ignore it but the knock came again.

"Come in!" She called.

The door opened and a brown pegasus in the gold armour of the day guard stepped in and stood to attention.

"How may I help you Commander Lightning Shield?" She asked.

"I am here to volunteer Your Highness." He said with a salute.

"For what?" Celestia inquired, feigning ignorance.

"To help you find the king." Lightning Shield replied.

"I appreciate the gesture Commander, but I must decline, you are needed here." Celestia said as she continued to pack her saddle bags.

"Not really." Lightning said with a shrug.

"It might be dangerous." Celestia warned.

"I'm expendable." Lightning replied.

Princess Celestia looked sadly upon the pegasus that he should think this. She placed a hoof on his shoulder.

"Nopony is expendable." She said solemnly. "But if you insist on accompanying me then thank you, I will appreciate the help."

"It'll be an honour Princess." Lightning said.

Celestia smiled.

"If you are coming then please meet Luna and I in the throne room in three quarters of an hour."

"Yes Your Highness." Lightning Shield said with a bow before he left Celestia's rooms.

Celestia continued with her packing before making her way to the throne room. Princess Platinum was present with the other members of the emergency council, Clover the Clever, Chancellor Pudding Head, Smart Cookie, Commander Hurricane and Private Pansy.

"Thank you all for coming at short notice." Celestia said.

"It's the least we could do Your Highness." Clover the Clever replied.

"Though getting here was harder than it should have been." Commander Hurricane said gruffly.

"It wasn't so bad." Private Pansy said softly.

"Bad? What's so bad about it? Have you seen all the free chocolate milk? Smart Cookie, make sure you organise a team to collect as much milk as they can for later?" Chancellor Pudding Head ordered.

"Sure thing Chancellor." Smart Cookie replied with a put upon sigh. "I'll have a team on that as soon as we get back."

"Good." The chancellor said with a nod of her head.

"So you want us to watch over Equestria when you're off trying to get that no good wizard back?" Commander Hurricane asked as he began to absentmindedly flap into the air only for the magic that seemed to be binding pegasus flight at the moment to send him back to the floor.

"Master Starswirl is not a 'no good wizard'. He didn't do this on purpose." Clover the Clever stated.

"No." Celestia agreed. "This is some spell placed upon Starswirl and it's up to my sister and I to find him and counter it. That is why I asked if you would be kind enough to oversee Equestria while we tackle this threat."

"Makes sense." Commander Hurricane conceded.

"Rest assured that Equestria will be in safe hooves until you return." Princess Platinum declared.

"I'm sure it will be." Celestia replied with a smile.

The doors opened and Commander Lightning Shield trotted in.

"Commander Lightning Shield reporting for duty, Your Highness." He said with a salute.

"Lightning Shield, hey? You're Thunder Blast's son?" Commander Hurricane asked.

"That's right." Lightning Shield confirmed.

"Flew with me in the Griffon Wars back before the forming of Equestria. Best tactical flier I ever knew. Nice to know his son got a high rank in the palace guard."

"Commander Lightning Shield is one of our most loyal guards; he's even volunteered to accompany us on this dangerous mission." Princess Celestia stated.

"Definitely take after your father." Commander Hurricane said proudly.

Lightning Shield nodded.

Luna entered the throne room along with Knight Sombra.

"Princess Luna, you've made it." Celestia said with relief that they could soon depart. "Is Knight Sombra accompanying us?"

"Yes." Luna confirmed.

"Good. I'm sure you will be of much help."

"Your Highness." Sombra replied with a solemn bow.

Celestia smiled before turning back to the Emergency Council.

"We will take our leave. When we see you next hopefully it will be under calmer skies." She said.

"Please bring our mentor back." Clover the Clever requested.

"We will." Celestia promised. "Whatever it may take we will bring him home to Equestria."

With that, the two alicorns and their guards set out on their journey. They stepped out of the castle into a world of chaos. There were stray animals running everywhere, things falling from the sky that shouldn't, things falling to the sky, citizens acting in ways that could only be described as bizarre. The chaos was almost hard to bear.

"How will we track Starswirl in all of this?" Luna asked.

"Princess, look." Lightning Shield said, pointing his hoof.

Through all the chaos there was something constant, a pathway of bright pink and purple polka dots that led out of Canterlot and to the plains below.

"We follow the polka dot path." Celestia stated.

"That is the strangest pathway I have ever seen." Luna said.

"Then it seems like the right way to take now." Celestia replied.

"It does Sister." Luna agreed.

"Then without further ado." Celestia announced and the party set out following the path down the mountain before heading to the north.

Chapter Text

The party moved as fast as they could manage, but huge swathes of the land had been turned to various things that were hard to walk through.

"It would be so much easier to fly." Lightning Shield grumbled as he struggled through a patch of maple syrup.

"If only we could." Celestia said, attempting to remain positive despite the fact that she was now covered in pudding, cotton candy, chocolate milk, and this latest obstacle, maple syrup. Some of it was on her wings; her flying would be hindered even if they could take off for more than thirty seconds.

"Yuck! What would I not give to have a road made of soap again?" Luna observed as she flapped her own wings forlornly.

"Or a nice warm bubble bath." Celestia said.

"Oh yes, that would be wonderful." Luna said with a sigh.

Finally they reached road that was made of dirt once more. Now with firmer ground they could move faster.

"It's going to take us forever to catch up with the king this way." Lightening Shield stated. "Look how long it took us to reach the base of the mountain, and it looks like the polka dots are heading north."

"We can't fly and I dare not teleport in this." Celestia said as she looked out across the distance they had to traverse with worry.

"We might end up inside a mountain or such with everything out of place." Luna added.

"Princess watch out." Sombra yelled as he bumped Luna to the side a moment before a pie the size of a house landed where she had been standing.

"Thank you Knight Sombra." Luna said, feeling relief but her heart was still beating fast at the near miss.

"It's kind of funny." Lightening Shield said as he poked a hoof at the pie. "As random as this magic is, for the last hour everything has been food related."

"It's lunch time." Celestia replied. "Starswirl is obviously hungry."

"Good job he's only hungry." Sombra said under his breath.

"Let's not think about that at present." Luna said perturbed.

"Quite." Celestia agreed. "Come, hopefully we can cover several miles before we rest for the night."

"If we have control over when that may be." Luna said as the sun shot across the sky and vanished before the moon rose bringing the night.

"The sun and moon are still our domains Sister." Celestia said firmly.

"Then why are we not controlling them?" Luna demanded.

"We can see by moonlight. Trying to take control at this point will only lead to us exhausting ourselves." Celestia said warily.

"Are you sure?" Luna asked.

"Yes. We shouldn't concern ourselves with the trivial; we have to go to the root of the problem. Once we have reasoned with Starswirl then we can put the world back to right." Celestia explained.

"Of course." Luna agreed.

"Your Highnesses, up ahead!" Sombra gasped.

There was a thick tangle of vines, spiked with purple thorns that blocked the path ahead. They stretched for miles in either direction; it would take an age to travel around them.

"Sister, is that…" Luna began.

"The Everfree Forest has broken its bounds." Celestia finished.

"I thought that the balance of harmony kept it at bay." Luna whispered.

"But harmony has been disrupted, chaos rules at present." Celestia said with the mild annoyance that she had not thought of this sooner.

"It's going to add hours onto our journey time." Lightening Shield observed.

"Not if I can help it!" Luna said firmly with a stomp of her hoof, and lightening flashed overhead.

Luna's horn glowed as she built up the magical potential before sending a bolt of light blue magic into the heart of the vines ahead. There was a hiss and squeal as if the plants were in pain. The vines retreated, leaving a path ahead.

"Come." Luna said, motioning with her head.

"Be careful." Celestia said and followed her sister as she readied her own magic, she didn't trust the plants. "Commander Lightening Shield, keep to the centre of us. Knight Sombra, would you be so kind as to bring up the rear."

Lightening Shield moved to the centre, although he felt disgruntled that he couldn't do much to help since he had no magic to wield. Princess Celestia and Knight Sombra readied their magic for defence while Princess Luna opened a path ahead with her magic. They were making good progress, but the thorn forest seemed to go on forever.

They'd travelled about half a mile when Luna's magic suddenly stopped cutting through the vines ahead. In fact they thickened and the vines behind suddenly closed in. Celestia shot a ray of golden magic through the vines that were closing in behind. Sombra shot a beam of magenta magic to the vines ahead, but it was no use, the vines were closing in fast.

Lightening Shield took to the air, there wasn't much room but he got enough leverage to kick at the vines. They reeled back slightly, creating a big enough hole for them to leap through.

"Sir Sombra." He called.

Sombra nodded and leapt through the gap.

"Clear." He called.

"Your Highnesses." Lightning Shield said as he pointed to the hole.

"Luna." Celestia said, shooting at a vine creeping across the floor.

Luna leapt through the hole, followed closely by Celestia. Lightening Shield made it through just as the vines began to close the gap.

"This way." Sombra called and he blasted another hole through the vines.

They moved in this way, unicorn magic, alicorn magic and pegasus mite, creating the pathway they needed until they stumbled out onto a plateau. A big full moon overhead cast silvery shadows on the gulf filled with swirling mist. Across the canyon was a castle, tumble down, covered in moss.

"What is that?" Sombra asked, his breath showing on the cold air.

"Mother's castle." Celestia replied. "It's where we lived before she became Monarch of Equestria."

"How did it get into that state so soon?" Sombra wondered.

"Without an occupant the forest could encroach upon it, causing the castle to become a jumbled ruin in no time at all." Celestia explained.

A howl came from the forest, followed by others.

"Timberwolves!" Luna exclaimed in fright.

"Come, we must press on. The forest looks normal toward the north. We can find the road again." Celestia stated.

They pressed on, through the Everfree Forest that seemed almost as peaceful as Whitetail Wood compared to the thorns they had to go through earlier. Still it took them hours to find the road again. The sun and moon had changed over several times but now the sun was up and it lit their way along the road north. They'd been travelling for many hours however and it was time for sleep.

Lightning Shield scouted ahead for a perfect campsite, one that would put them out of sight of the road, but not too far away. He found a spot and they set up camp. The guards took watch between them, even though Celestia insisted her shield would protect them. Anything but basic magic was failing, so a shield spell might fail and the guards would rather be safe than sorry.

They set off once more on what would have been the next morning, but the moon was still up, the sky dark. They began along the road again, making it five miles before they encountered another obstacle. Where the village of Neighbourough should have been there was now Ponydimonium. Every building was floating in some capacity, but the villagers didn't seem to notice. They were throwing a big street party, held on the back of a giant purple dragon. The dragon was caught in a syrup pit and couldn't get free. It was thrashing about, but it only made it sink more, and the ponies on its back continued their party.

"Help me!" The dragon called, and Princess Celestia recognised her voice.

"Sapphire?" She called, and galloped around to the dragon's head.

"Princess Celestia?" Sapphire replied. "I'm stuck. I can't get out of this, whatever it is, and these ponies, aghh." She winced as a big earth pony danced on her head. "Are giving me a headache."

"I'll break this party up!" Lightning Shield announced.

"Be careful, you have no idea what these ponies might do." Celestia warned.

"Will do Your Highness." Lightning said with a salute before he leapt into the air, beating his wings furiously to gain as much height as he could before they inevitably folded once more.

He made it onto the upper part of the dragons tail and scaled her back until he reached the partying ponies.

"Ok ponies, party's over." Lightning called as he jumped up on the table.

The ponies ignored him.

He charged up to the head of the table where a stallion with a paper crown on his head was sat.

"I said the party's over!" Lightning said firmly as he hit the cup out of the stallion's hand. "Now all of you get down, or the dragon will eat you like bugs."

The ponies ignored him.

He butted the head pony and he tumbled backwards. Lightning continued this until the pony slipped off the side of the big dragon's body. The stallion opened a big red and white umbrella and drifted down to the ground.

"Party's moved!" The stallion yelled from the ground and all the other ponies leapt off the dragon, floating down on umbrellas.

They moved in a single line, following the head pony over to a nearby meadow where they set up tables and chairs and began their party anew. Lightning moved fast to buck all the furniture off the back of the dragon. Then he leapt off himself, his wings holding long enough for him to glide safely to the ground.

Now without the ponies on her back, Sapphire was able to drag herself out of the syrup pit. She slumped down when she was clear, taking a moment to catch her breath. The two princesses worked fast to clean all the treacle from the dragon's purple scales.

Once she was clean Sapphire pushed herself to her feet.

"Thank you." She said with a bow. "I didn't want to hurt the ponies, but they wouldn't leave me alone."

"We understand Lady Sapphire." Princess Celestia said as she bowed in return.

"Where are you all going?" Sapphire asked.

"We are following the chaos trail north in the hope it will lead us to King Starswirl." Princess Luna explained.

"That's what I was doing too." Sapphire replied. "Perhaps we could travel together. If you all hop on my back I will get you there faster. I believe we are going to the Crystal Empire."

"We would be ever so grateful." Celestia said.

"Then hop on." Sapphire said as she lay down on the ground.

Helping each other the four ponies scrambled up onto the big dragons back. Once they were safely on her shoulders she began walking forward on all four legs. She began to pick up speed until she was running almost as fast as a pegasus could fly. The miles fell away beneath her claws and within hours the party found themselves on the border of the Crystal Empire.

"Where are the northern lights?" Luna gasped.

"The crystal ponies must be feeling agitated." Celestia replied. "They cannot power the Crystal Heart if they're unhappy."

"Of course." Luna said sadly.

"I think this is the place I should leave you." Sapphire said. "The crystal ponies are not keen on dragons after that whole business with old Snork up in the Crystalline Mountains. Besides, if he knows I'm here he might take exception."

"We would hate you to be in harm's way." Celestia said. "Take care on the road dear friend, hopefully we'll have this all fixed soon."

"Good luck." Sapphire wished them before she darted back down the road lest Snork sensed her presence.

"Shall we?" Celestia asked and began walking toward the path that led down to the vast plain of the Empire.

"We're just strolling in?" Sombra asked.

"We come in the name of peace." Celestia replied. "Besides, it's the only safe route into the northern mountains. We either walk through the Crystal Empire or traverse the steps with the risk of falling into hidden ice canyons."

"The Crystal Empire it is then." Lightning said cheerfully as he began to follow the Sun Princess as she continued on her journey down the mountain.

Luna spared a smile for Sombra.

"Come my Knight, they cannot deny us passage, and if not, at least we asked." Luna said before she began following her sister.

Sombra paused for a moment, he felt uneasy, but he couldn't explain why. He sighed and began following the others regardless, for he had vowed to protect his princess.

Chapter Text

Celestia, Luna, Sombra and Lightning Shield reached the floor of the vast frozen plain and looked out toward the Crystal Empire. It sparkled as the sun rose, but it looked bare without the shimmer of purple, green and blue in the air. As the ponies crossed the tundra to the crystal arch entrance of the Empire Celestia prepared their reasons for entering in her mind, but there were no guards on the gate.

The party entered cautiously, the two Canterlot guards on alert to any danger that might befall the princesses, but the Empire seemed devoid of ponies.

"What should we do Sister?" Luna asked in a whisper, speaking any louder seemed wrong in the unnatural silence.

"We make our way to the Palace to announce our presence." Celestia replied. "Then we continue on to the Northern Mountains."

"Very well." Luna said.

The four ponies continued on their way along the wide main avenue toward the tall, delicate looking palace. Sombra felt a shiver through his body, and an odd feeling he had been in the shadow of this jagged castle, it had a wonderful dark light in the moonlight. The crystals were singing…

Lightning nudged Sombra with his shoulder. Sombra blinked and looked at Lightning Shield with a frown.

"You were away with the breezies." Lighting whispered.

Sombra cleared his throat, straightened up and concentrated on protecting his princess. Yet, the crystals sang…

They were nearing the palace when Sombra turned his head quickly to the left as if he'd heard something. He leapt behind a wall to investigate. There was a small yelp and a small pegasus filly scrambled out from behind the wall. Sombra followed her, frowning slightly.

She wasn't looking where she was going and ran straight into Celestia's front legs. She fell on her back and looked up at the alicorn in fear. Celestia smiled and lowered her head nearer to the filly.

"Hello my dear, can you tell me where everypony has gone?" She asked.

The filly shook her head, her yellow, pink and purple mane falling into her purple eyes.

"What is your name?" Celestia asked kindly.

"Mi Amore Cadenza." The filly whispered.

"The princess?" Luna asked, coming to stand at her sister's side.

The filly didn't answer.

"Why are you out here alone?" Celestia asked. "Where are the other ponies?"

The filly shook her head.

"There's no need to fear us child. I am Princess Celestia and this is my sister, Princess Luna." Celestia said gently.

The filly gasped and jumped to her feet, looking up at the two alicorns with their flowing manes. She'd heard of them, the princesses of Equestria, the neighbours of the Crystal Empire who controlled the day and night. She was in awe for a moment, her mother never allowed her to meet other royals.

"Are you really from Equestria?" Mi Amore asked.

"Yes." Celestia confirmed with a nod.

"Are you having trouble there too?"

"We are. That's why we've travelled here, we're following the chaos in the hope of tracking down the one responsible." Celestia explained.

"Oh, well that would help a lot. Everypony else is hiding out in the palace basements." The filly said, pointing to the palace with a light pink hoof. "They think it's safer."

"Why are you not with them?" Luna asked.

"Every building in the empire has turned into rock candy and all the leaves of the crystal berry bushes are taffy, this is not an opportunity I'm about to pass up." Mi Amore explained.

The filly walked up to the nearest wall and lined up her hind legs before bucking the wall. There was a loud crack and a chunk of pink crystal fell away. Mi Amore turned around and bit into it.

"Mmm raspberry." She said as she crunched the candy. "Want some?" She offered the other ponies as she held up some smaller pieces in her hoof.

"Thank you." Princess Celestia replied as she took a piece in her magic and levitated it to her mouth.

Princess Luna and Lightning did the same, but Sombra declined. Mi Amore shrugged and tossed the last piece in the air and caught it in her mouth.

"It's very good." Luna observed. "However it may be prudent not to eat your kingdom."

"I know, but it tastes so good." The little princess said, blushing slightly. "I guess I should take you to everypony else now."

"That would be wonderful." Celestia said with a smile.

Mi Amore smiled in return before she trotted onto the avenue.

"It's this way." She said and led the older ponies to the palace.

Instead of leading them to the front entrance she led them around the side of the palace to a door near the back. Two crystal ponies stood guard outside the door. They stood to attention when they saw the party approach.

"Hello Alexandrite, hi Zircon." Mi Amore greeted them.

"Princess?" Zircon asked. "How are you outside?"

"I needed some fresh air, but that doesn't matter." She said, brushing the matter aside. "I met these ponies outside, they want to help put the Crystal Empire back to order."

"Who are you?" Zircon asked.

"I am Princess Celestia, and this is my sister Princess Luna. We come from Equestria." Celestia replied. "As Princess Mi Amore stated, we are here to rectify the situation with the chaos."

"I will ask the queen if she will speak with you." Alexandrite stated before he stepped inside the door.

A minuet later her returned.

"Queen Amore will see you, but your guards are to remain out here." Alexandrite informed them.

The princesses looked at each other for a moment, Luna shrugged, for she had no objections. Celestia nodded to Luna before turning to Alexandrite.

"Very well." She said and took a step forward.

"Your Highness, I must object." Sombra exclaimed, placing his hoof on Luna's shoulder. "We don't know who is in there."

"Fear not Knight Sombra, we will be safe." Luna assured him with a smile.

"I feel strange here, as if something bad will happen." Sombra insisted.

"We appreciate your concern Knight Sombra, but we are visitors in this land and so we must abide by their rules." Celestia said.

"The Crystal Empire is not a threat to Equestria, we will be safe." Luna added.

Sombra had no choice but to back down, although it was against his better judgement. Luna gave him a smile before she followed Celestia into the basement of the palace. It was full of crystal ponies bedded down for the time being, day and night were out of balance and that left everypony confused over when they should sleep.

The sisters were led down the centre of the room to the doors at the end. There were another two crystal guards standing either side of the double doors. Alexandrite nodded to the guards and they opened the doors. Alexandrite motioned for the princesses to go ahead.

Celestia and Luna stepped through the door into the makeshift throne room where Queen Amore was sat upon her throne. The throne to her right was empty. She remained seated as the princesses approached the foot of the throne, but she was a queen, she had no need to show deference to her visitors.

"Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, please excuse the absence of my husband, King Light Shine. He is attending to matters of state." Queen Amore announced. "To what do we owe this pleasure?"

"We are following the trail of chaos north in the hope of rectifying the situation." Celestia replied.

"We are not responsible for this trouble." The queen said haughtily.

"This we know." Luna said flatly. "We know who is to blame. Have you perchance seen a grey unicorn stallion pass through here?"

"When you say a grey unicorn stallion, do you speak of Starswirl the Bearded?" Queen Amore asked.

"Unfortunately yes." Celestia answered solemnly.

"Was he not crowned yesterday? I vaguely remember our ambassador to Equestria was attending some ceremony or other." Queen Amore said thoughtfully.

"Yes." Celestia confirmed.

"And now he's gone mad with power?" Queen Amore inferred.

"We are not certain what ailment has befallen our King, but we intend to find out." Celestia replied.

"I see." Queen Amore replied. "Starswirl has not passed through the Empire, however a scouting group discovered a new castle in the northern mountains. Beryl?"

A green tinted crystal mare stepped away from her desk in the corner and stood to attention in front of the throne.

"Would you be so kind as to fetch Chiastolite for me?" Queen Amore asked.

Beryl bowed before she disappeared through a side door.

"Chiastolite lead the scouting mission, he will be your guide." The queen announced.

"Thank you Your Majesty." Celestia said, bowing her head.

"We will provide food for you and your guards before you set out. It is not a good idea to venture into the mountains on an empty stomach." Queen Amore stated.

"You are too kind." Celestia said with a bow.

The side door opened and Beryl returned with a dark crystal stallion wearing a thick winter coat. He pulled a carrot from his pocket and bit into it as he stood at ease next to Beryl.

"Chiastolite, would you be so kind as to lead the princesses of Equestria up into the Northern Mountains and guide them to the castle." The queen requested.

"As long as I don't have to go too close to that place." Chiastolite said with a shudder.

"You only have to take us to the point where we can see the castle, we can go on ahead from there ourselves." Celestia explained.

"Ok. I'll take you to within a mile of the castle, but I'm not going closer than that. You think the chaos is bad here? You ain't seen nothing yet."

"That will be fine." Celestia assured him.

"Then it is settled, Chiastolite will guide you." Queen Amore stated. "Beryl, would you please arrange food for the princesses and their guards and have it taken to them in the courtyard."

Beryl bowed and disappeared through another door.

"If you would care to wait in the courtyard Your Highnesses, Beryl will not be long."

"Thank you." Celestia and Luna said simultaneously.

Dismissed from the presence of the queen, the princesses returned outside where Sombra and Lightning Shield were stood waiting for them. Chiastolite had followed them and Sombra gave him a wary look.

"This is Chiastolite, he will be our guide." Celestia said, introducing him. "Chiastolite, these are our guards, Commander Lightning Shield and Knight Sombra."

"We are going into the mountains?" Sombra asked.

"Yes." Luna replied. "A castle has appeared there, Chiastolite will lead us there. However we are to be fed first."

It was at this point the door was opened and Beryl led out a crystal pony wearing a chef's hat that pulled a food cart behind her.

"This is the food Her Majesty promised you." Beryl said, bowing to the princesses.

"Thank you." Celestia replied.

Beryl nodded then looked around the courtyard.

"Is Princess Mi Amore out here?" She asked the guards.

"She was here a moment ago." Alexandrite said with a frown.

"I'll organise a search party." Beryl said with the sigh of someone who'd done this task many times before. "She is always running off." She said as if in explanation before entering the palace once more.

Princess Mi Amore Cadenza galloped across the tundra, the wind pulling at the fluffy purple scarf around her neck, her hoof steps almost silent on the snow. The earmuffs kept her ears warm. She held a lantern in her mouth and it cast a yellow glow on the snow in front of her. In the moonlight the Northern Mountains loomed up ahead but she didn't slow down until she rounded an enormous rock that hid a hole in the side of the mountain. It was big enough for the filly to walk through with her full saddlebags.

Crystals that lined the tunnel walls amplified the lantern light and it let her know when she had to turn or when there was a steeper incline, although the tunnel always led upwards. It was a path inside the mountain that kept you safe from the cold and the snow. Now it kept the chaos away, not that the little princess had a problem with the chaos, but having to walk through a custard puddle wasn't so nice.

"Permission to speak freely Your Highnesses?" Sombra requested.

"Always fair knight." Luna replied.

"You should not be made to eat outside. This is a slight upon you." He declared.

"Queen Amore is merely exercising her power of rule." Luna replied warily before attempting a smile. "Perhaps we can find merriment in the situation by pretending we are having a picnic."

"Yes Night Princess." Sombra said with a bow, but he was still clearly angered by what he considered an insult to his princess.

"We should eat and set off soon." Celestia announced. "We are close now to Starswirl. I want nothing more than to put this situation to right and we can return home."

"And to be able to fly again." Lightning said wistfully as he spread out his wings, remembering how it felt to soar through a summer sky.

"Yes." Celestia agreed. "Let's eat."

The four ponies helped themselves to food from the cart.

"Will you join us Mr Chiastolite?" Celestia asked.

"I'm good thanks." He said, pulling another carrot from his pocket and biting into it.

Celestia shrugged before eating her own food.

Once they had finished they set off for the Northern Mountains. Celestia worried slightly if they were ill prepared because Chiastolite was pulling a sled behind him piled up with equipment. It was too late to worry, they had to journey on through the cold and the snow in the hope of reaching Starswirl and convince him to return.

It took about half an hour but she finally reached the end of the tunnel and it came out on a flat plateaux. It used to be empty but it offered a good view of the entire world below the Northern Mountains and was a good place to have a picnic. Now a big castle took up most of the plateaux. It was a patchwork castle, a turret from here, crenulations from there, as if someone had made the castle from scraps.

She tucked her lantern inside the tunnel, the dragon didn't mean to but he sometimes turned things into other things and she needed the lantern to get back. She checked her saddlebags were still secure on her back before trotting over to the castle. She climbed the patchwork steps up to the enormous doors. She pushed at them and a little door about her size opened up and she walked inside.

"Mr Dragon!" She called, and her voice echoed around, distorting to become deeper as it bounced around the inside of the building. "I brought you food."

There was a flash of white light and the strange patchwork animal appeared, standing on his hind legs, one was a goat's leg the other a lizard's leg. He looked down at her over his grey muzzle, his yellow eyes with different sized red pupils holding her in place for a moment.

"I told you not to come back." He said gruffly.

"Don't be silly Mr Dragon, I'm your friend." She said with a smile.

"No. You're a naughty little filly who doesn't listen to her mother." The creature said with a scowl.

Mi Amore paused as she was taking her saddlebags off her back.

"How do you know that?" She demanded.

"Oh it's simple Little Princess." The creature crooned as he circled her with his long serpentine body. "No mother in her right mind would allow a little filly blank flank to come all this way up the scary mountain on her own."

"It's not that scary, and I don't have to come through the snow or anything." Mi Amore said with a shrug as she dumped her saddlebag on the floor. "Anyway, I brought you food."

"Why?" The creature demanded.

"Because you have to eat Mr Dragon." She said firmly.

"I'm not hungry." The creature said as he teleported so he was standing once more.

"Yes you are." Mi Amore replied. "It's raining chocolate milk outside and all the chairs have turned into giant donuts. That means you're hungry."

"Or bored." The creature said with a shrug.

"Well if you're bored I could sing you the song I have to learn for the Summer Crystal Ball." Mi Amore said, a little shyly.

The creature considered for a moment, the filly had come all this way, and she did bring him food.

"Very well." He said and snapped his fingers and now he was sat in an auditorium while the little filly was up on a stage. "Sing away Little Princess."

Mi Amore giggled before she cleared her throat. Then she began to sing the traditional song to tune the crystals for summer. The creature watched her in amazement, she had a good voice for such a little filly, he was certain that once she was grown her talent would be superb.

He glided up to her once she had finished, clapping his hands enthusiastically.

"What a wonderful cadence you have there little princess." He said, pinching her cheek. "In fact I think that's what I will call you from now on, Cadence." He mused as he hoisted the filly into the air.

"But my name is Mi Amore Cadenza." The princess said, frowning as she crossed her front hooves.

"But it's such a mouthful don't you agree Little Princess?" The creature asked as he placed her back on the floor.

The princess considered for a moment, and then nodded her head.

"Yes, Princess Cadence sounds more friendly." She said with another nod.

After a moment she glared at the creature.

"Are you going to eat your food now Mr Dragon?" She demanded.

"Why do you call me Mr Dragon?" He asked with a frown.

"Because you got a dragon tail, and you're big like a dragon." Cadence explained.

"But I'm part pony too." He said defensively. "Actually I've been thinking about this, what I should call myself."

"Aren't you already called something?" She asked.

"No. I…I changed and now I'm something new." The creature explained. "I need a name for what I am and I was thinking perhaps, draconequus."

"Dracone-what?" The princess asked, scrunching her nose in confusion.

"Draconequus." The creature corrected her. "Dracon from dragon and equus from horse. It's the closest I can get to dragon pony. What do you think?"

"It's very hard to say." She stated.

"But it's a good name, yes?" The creature asked hopefully.

"Yes." She said looking thoughtful. "But I'll think of a name for you that I can say."

"Fair enough." The draconequus said with a shrug.

"And I can think of it when you're eating your food." The princess said sternly.

"Fine." He said, rolling his eyes and they reappeared in the entrance hall. "What did you bring me?"

"Some crystal berries and some rock candy and some taffy. I did try to get you some cotton candy but the cook wouldn't make it." Cadence said apologetically.

"I can make my own cotton candy." He said, and snapped his fingers, and cotton candy appeared in his claw.

He licked at it, but it held no satisfaction, it didn't seem real and it fell apart to vapour.

"Maybe you should stick to real food for now." Cadence suggested, pointing to her saddlebag.

"I think you are right." The creature agreed with a sigh.

He picked up the crystal berries and ate them. They were nice, but not sweet enough for him. That was strange because he had always found the crystal berries to be really sweet before. He ate them and then the rock candy and the taffy until he felt full. Now when he snapped his fingers the cotton candy he conjured was more satisfying and he offered some to the filly.

As the filly ate the cotton candy he started testing his power once more until fish swam around the room, streamers fell from the ceiling and pies floated about the place. Cadence looked around at the wonderful sight, but it was really chaotic. And there was noise, lots of noise that seemed so discordant.

"I've got it!" She announced jumping up and down in excitement.

"Got what?" The creature asked turning back to the filly and the balloon he'd been conjuring floated away to the other side of the room.

"What I'll call you instead of dracone-thingy." The princess said with a smile. "I'll call you Discord."

"Discord? Why?" The draconequus asked with a frown.

"Because you bring chaos." She stated waving her hoof around at everything he had conjured within the room.

"It is a good name." The creature conceded. "But I don't think I'd feel comfortable with it."

"Oh. Ok." She said, looking down at her hooves with a pout.

The creature looked down at the disappointed filly.

"But I have no objections to you calling me Discord if you like." He offered.

"Thank you Discord." She said, hugging him. "You know, you're the bestest friend I've ever had."

The creature once known as Starswirl felt sad at the thought of being the filly's best friend. She shouldn't think of him as a friend, he could never be anypony's friend. He would have to find a way to change the filly's mind.

Chapter Text

Chiastolite led the Equestrian ponies through the snow. The blizzards were strong, almost forcing them back down the mountain, but he ploughed on up the incline, looking ahead for the tell tale signs of chaos. The Equestrian ponies made no complaints about the cold conditions, and he had expected it from the princesses, most ponies didn't like the mountains. They forged on regardless, determined looks on their faces. They meant to bring an end to this chaos.

Suddenly Luna gave a yell as the pack snow gave way beneath her hoof and the fine white ice crystals went flying into the hundred-foot gulf below. Sombra was immediately at her side, pushing her back onto firmer ground. Luna caught him in her magic before he himself slid over the edge.

Celestia turned back in that moment to see Luna and Sombra clamber up onto a boulder. Both of them looked ruffled and Celestia felt worried.

"Sister, what happened?" Celestia asked.

"The floor gave way, but my Knight Sombra came to my aid." Luna replied, smiling at the stallion in question.

"As you saved me Night Princess." Sombra said with a bow.

Luna giggled as she blushed, before clearing her throat when she noticed the adoring look Celestia gave her.

"The peril has past now." Luna said in an overly formal voice.

"Thank goodness." Celestia said with feeling.

"Do you want me to walk ahead to test the path?" Lightning Shield offered.

"Thank you Commander, but I think that may not help, it was merely bad luck that I happened to step on the loose snow." Luna stated.

"It would be so much easier to fly." Lightning said wistfully looking up at the cloud heavy sky.

"Unfortunately that is not an option open to us." Luna said, almost snapping.

"I know Night Princess, but I do miss flying." Lightning replied.

"As do I Lightning Shield." Celestia said warmly.

Lightning smiled at the Sun Princess.

"Are you ready to go on, or do you want to continue with the tea party?" Chiastolite asked in annoyance.

"You will show respect to the Princesses." Sombra growled as he charged the guide.

"Up here there's no such things as titles, only frozen ponies if they stay in one place too long." Chiastolite said, unfazed by Sombra's reaction. "So unless you want to become an interesting looking ice sculpture, I suggest you hurry up."

"You will show respect." Sombra said firmly.

"Knight Sombra, be at peace." Luna said softly, brushing him with her wing. "Chiastolite is the expert and we should adhere to his advice."

"There is no need for him to be so disrespectful." Sombra said, narrowing his eyes.

Chiastolite rolled his eyes.

"Will you please follow me before you become pony-cicles, Your Highnesses." He said, motioning with his hoof.

"Was that so difficult?" Sombra asked as they began walking once more.

Once there was enough room Lightning Shield moved up beside Sombra.

"Is there something wrong?" He asked.

"Other than the King spreading chaos?" Sombra replied.

"You're a lot more short tempered than usual." Lightning observed.

"This is dangerous, I long to be back in Equestria where my Night Princess will be safe." Sombra said with worry as he watched Princess Luna carefully traverse a narrow path of ice.

Lightning Shield looked to the knight for a moment, and then chuckled as he moved back to his position on the left flank. They followed Chiastolite around the curve of a mountain and there ahead of them, half way up another mountain was an enormous castle, it was colourful to say the least and flakes of chocolate ice cream snowed down around it and strange objects littered the path in front of them.

"This is as far as I go." Chiastolite said. "If you keep following the path you'll reach the castle."

"Thank you for your help Chiastolite." Celestia said with a bow of her head. "We can carry on from here."

Chiastolite nodded before he turned around and began his journey back down the mountain.

The Princesses and their guard walked on toward the castle.

"That cliff will take forever to scale." Lightning said.

"Permission to scout ahead to see if we can find an easier route up the mountain?" Sombra asked.

"You are too kind." Celestia replied.

The two guards saluted before they went ahead of the princesses.

"Do you think Starswirl will see reason?" Luna asked as the princesses continued at a slower gait.

"We can only hope." Celestia replied.

"You think he will not?" Luna asked in shock that her sister would lose faith.

"As we draw ever closer my confidence wanes." Celestia admitted. "However we must hope for the best. We will make Starswirl see reason."

"Yes." Luna agreed.

They were near the mountain when Lightning galloped back to them.

"We have found another route up the mountain." He said.

The other route turned out to be a polka dot stairway. The stairs were moving upwards toward the plateaux where the castle stood. Near the base of the stairs were two snow mares, the princesses were shocked to find that they were perfect copies of them.

"Why do you think he made these?" Luna asked in a whisper.

"We should take it as a sign that he longs for our company." Celestia replied, also whispering. "We may convince him to return just yet."

Celestia turned toward the strange moving stairs.

"Let us go up." She said and trotted forward to where the stairs began.

"Are you sure it is safe?" Luna said with worry.

"There is but one way to find out." Celestia said with determination and stepped onto the moving stairs.

They moved at a swift pace, but it felt safe enough although she had a moment of uncertainty when she reached the top. The stairs disappeared into the floor and she shuffled slightly as she stepped from moving ground to still ground. She looked back to see that Luna was now making her way up the stairs.

"Careful when you reach the top Sister." She called.

Luna nodded and passed the message back to the guards who were already stepping onto the moving stairs. Soon all four ponies had reached the top and now they crossed the plateaux to the door.

Cadance sat on a big purple cushion eating cotton candy while she watched the dragon she'd named Discord create wonderful things from nothing. There were miniature pigs that flew about on cobweb wings, shoals of colourful fish swimming through the air, swirling around the little princess until she giggled and they darted away. Discord was concentrating on building a tower of cards; the cards were the size of doors.

"Oh, we had some visitors to the Empire today." She said.

"You did? How wonderful." Discord replied as he prepared to put the top two cards on the tower.

"Yes. They were princesses too. From Canterlot." She informed him.

Discord gave a start and the whole tower collapsed.

"What?" He demanded, rounding on the filly.

She whimpered and shrunk away.

"Sorry." Discord said, clearing his throat and settling onto his feet. "From Canterlot you say?"

"Yes. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. They said they were following the chaos to find who was responsible." Cadance explained.

"Did they happen to say what they would do to the one responsible?" The former Starswirl asked carefully.

The filly shook her head.

The former Starswirl considered for a moment, and then he heard voices from outside. Without knowing how he accomplished the feat he found himself floating outside the castle. Celestia was at the top of the staircase, Luna was already ascending and behind her were two guards. He could remove the stairs, but he that would lead to Luna and the guards falling, and he had no intention of hurting anypony. There was only one thing left to do.

He returned to the filly and smiled at her.

"This visit has been pleasant, but it's time for you to leave now." He said as he snapped his eagle claw and the filly's saddlebags appeared on her back.

"But…" The filly began.

"No buts." The former Starswirl said, floating her toward the door. "I have guests and you're not invited."

Cadance tried to protest but she was already being transported to the door.

Celestia and Luna stepped up to the door, but it was locked.

"You know how to counter all his locking spells." Luna whispered.

"Perhaps he has formulated new ones." Celestia replied. "There is only one way to be sure."

She prepared a spell to inspect the door, but before her magic touched it the door swung open. There was a moment of confusion where they were certain some creature was visible, but a flash of white light almost blinded them. Celestia blinked away the after images as she stepped forward into a now empty hall. Her hoof falls echoed in a discordant manner.

"Master Starswirl?" She called.

There was no answer but the floor beneath her hooves began to move, pushing her back to the door. Celestia galloped and then leapt onto a part of the floor that wasn't moving. Luna landed beside her while the guards tried to find their own route into the castle.

"Please Starswirl, do not push us away." Celestia called.

There was no reply, but it felt as if the entire castle was listening to them.

"At the very least show yourself." Luna hollered.

"You will not like that, believe me Night Princess." Starswirl said in a chiding voice, it moved around the ponies as if he was circling them.

"Why would we not like you to show yourself?" Celestia asked.

"Did you not look upon me with horror but several days ago?" Starswirl asked. "When that foalish Duke declared me a monster."

"It was a shock, but we will not be afraid." Celestia promised.

A rumble of laughter echoed around the room.

"Please Starswirl, if you are still our great mentor, come face us. We will show you no hostility." Luna assured him.

"I am not your mentor and I am not Starswirl." The voice said firmly.

"Then show yourself and let us be the judge." Celestia said defiantly.

Starswirl chuckled, his laughter bouncing around the walls.

"You consider me your equal? For only an equal can judge me." Starswirl stated.

"We are not here to judge you, Your Majesty, but surely we are entitled to judge our own feelings." Celestia said.

"Show myself to you? Find out your reaction? I suppose I will know then." The voice around them mused. "Prepare yourself."

"You cannot shock us." Celestia said.

"Then what can I say other than; fillies and gentlecolts, put your hooves together for the creature formally known as Starswirl the Bearded."

Cotton candy clouds swirled around, lightning flashed and stars showered out of a central flash of light. Rising up onto its hind legs was a creature that seemed created from different animal parts, but there was something familiar in the grey pony face that looked down at them with yellow and red eyes.

Luna shrunk back slightly, but Celestia recognised the creature as Starswirl and she moved closer to him.

The former Starswirl was laughing, ready to gloat about Luna's reaction, but Celestia approaching him caught him off guard. Why was she not afraid of him? He shrank back himself, floating up against the wall.

"There's no need to fear me." Celestia said gently as she slowed in her approach.

"Fear you? Hah!" The creature said, throwing back its head. "Why would I be afraid of you?"

"You tell me." Celestia replied, edging ever closer.

"No! Stay away! I want to be left alone!" He said urgently, waving Celestia away with a lion paw.

"Not even Starswirl the Bearded truly wished to be alone." Luna said, coming to stand beside her sister. "Even when you were in the midst of great works you wished to share your knowledge with willing students."

The former Starswirl shook his head, unable to answer.

"You don't really seek isolation." Celestia insisted.

The former Starswirl looked between the two sisters then in a flash of white light he vanished. He appeared a moment later on the other side of the room. The sisters turned to face him, along with the guards who were keeping close to the sisters if there was trouble but not so close as to spook the creature.

"You really should stay away from me, please!" Starswirl beseeched. "Of all the ponies in all the world, you two are the most dearest to me, my prized pupils, the diarchs of night and day, such power. It was an honour to teach you and I grew fond of you both. That is why I ask you to leave. Go away from this place before my chaos affects the harmony you must keep. If night and day are thrown into disorder then the rest of harmony will soon follow. Do you really wish to risk your calling?"

"We would not be worthy of our calling if we do not help our friend." Celestia said.

"Friend?" The former Starswirl asked incredulously. "I was your friend?"

"We still consider you our friend." Luna said with a smile.

"Why does everypony keep saying this? Friend?" He growled as he raised the lion paw and eagle claw up to his horn and antler. "Friend? Why does everypony keep saying this? Why do they call me friend now…now I am this?" He demanded, indicating his mismatched body.

"It can be fixed." Celestia said.

"Fix the side-effects of my constant meddling with higher magics?" The former Starswirl demanded, for this was the reason he had formulated for his transformation. "How many times did I transform myself into some other creature? Is this not an inevitable result of the over-use of magic? All magic takes its toll on unicorns, not like you precious little alicorns who can perform great feats without fear of magical backlash. Why look at you both, raising the sun, raising the moon, a task that once took twelve unicorns to achieve, knowing that one day their magic would run out."

"You were the one who knew we could raise the sun and moon." Celestia stated.

"Yes. I saw the power in you, and how I would have loved such power in days past. I strove for that power and more fool me, I have that power, but…" He broke off into a manic chuckle. "I can't control it."

"You must have some control, or you would not be able to create this castle from nothing." Luna said as the sisters moved closer to the former Starswirl once more.

"Yes I have control, but it's very limited. That's why you all need to leave here at once. That goes for you too Little Princess, it's not safe for anyone to be here, other than me in my own madness. I'll stay here in this chaos of my own creation, making these marvellous abominations to my heart's content, and you go back to your precious little harmonious lives. Return to Equestria, be the rulers you were meant to be, and forget there was ever a pony named Starswirl the Bearded. Live in your harmony as he prospers in his chaos." The creature crowed as he spun circles in the air.

"You have no idea." Celestia whispered as the realization hit her.

"No idea of what?" Starswirl asked, stopping mid-spin to look at her.

"We cannot return to Equestria and revel in the harmony." Luna said.

"Yes you can. It's easy. Just walk out the door, and fly due south." The former Starswirl said as he moved his eagle claw in the direction of Equestria.

"We would if we could." Celestia said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" The creature demanded.

"Nopony can fly." Commander Lightning Shield stated.

"Can't fly?" The creature scoffed.

"Yeah. Watch." The pegasus said as he leapt into the air and spread his brown wings.

He flapped up into the air, but after a few seconds they folded in and he dropped to the floor.

"But…" The creature stammered.

"That's not the only problem." Celestia said in apologetic tones. "I know not how, but you have left a path of chaos between here and Canterlot. There are places along the way wilder than the Everfree, which itself has broken its bounds."

"No!" The creature exclaimed.

"There are rains of chocolate and shoals of air fish. There was a treacle pit we had to avoid and ponies gone mad. This we witnessed on our way here." Luna stated.

"But how? I teleported to take this uncontrollable magic away, why did the chaos follow me? Why is it outside of my area? It's supposed to remain here! It must stay here!" The creature was panicking.

A wind began to whip around the room, stars sparking out of the air in random bursts, creating strange things that lasted only seconds before they dispersed once more into the swirling storm of chaos.

"It can't be true." The creature said, almost begging.

"It is Mr Discord." Cadance said in a small voice as she moved closer to the draconequus. "Where do you think the rock candy and taffy leaves came from?"

"Where?" He asked the filly in a soft voice.

"The buildings in the Crystal Empire and the leaves of the crystal berry bushes." She replied.

"No!" Starswirl yelled, as the chaos swirled like a nebula within the hall, it was becoming hard to stand within it.

Without thinking Lightning Shield leapt toward the little crystal princess and butted her toward a twisted carving of a tree. The corner created with the wall offered some protection from the universe that threatened to explode within the hall.

"You can stop it, I am certain." Celestia shouted over the noise of the chaotic wind.

"I thought I had it under control, but I haven't. I never did." The creature growled, putting his hands to his face in despair.

"You can control it." Celestia said. "You are Starswirl the Wise, Starswirl the Strong Willed, Starswirl the magnificent, and many things besides."

"No, no, no, no, no…" The creature kept repeating.

"We believe in you Master." Luna said, "And you know I always speak the truth."

"Your faith in me is misplaced." He said through his teeth as the chaos built within him, he could feel it greater than it had ever been, he wanted the fillies to leave…

"You can do it." Celestia said firmly, stomping her hoof.

"I CANNOT!" The former Starswirl screamed, his voice echoing up through the castle and around the mountains until it was heard in the Empire below.

That scream of rage and torment, of the helplessness against the tide of turmoil within, broke the dam. Shards of raw chaos burst outwards from him. Most hit the walls, turning the checkerboard patterns to deepest black, like the depths of space, within stars collided and knew ones were born. It was the raw chaos of creation, which turned something from one state to another.

One shard flew straight toward Celestia.

"Sister No!" Luna yelled as she leapt in front of her sister.

The shard of pure chaos rocketed toward the princesses and there was nowhere to escape. Celestia's horn began to glow, brighter than the sun…