Romance and the Fate of Equestria

Chapter One Hundred and Four

Twilight stood silently in the center of the library as Celestia paced back and forth anxiously, biting her lip, trying to find the right words. Finally she sighed and faced her student directly.

"Twilight," she said simply.

"Yes, Princess?"

"Your current project…" Celestia said tentatively. "You gained an interest in romance partly because of how you saw your brother and Cadance use their love to defeat the changelings. Correct?"

"Yes."

Celestia nodded. "So I thought. In that case, now may be the time for your studies to come full circle."

"Princess?" Twilight said uneasily.

"I believe the changelings plan to move against us again," Celestia said grimly. "They've been seen, masses of them, armies, in the northern wilderness. If they cross the borders into Equestria, it will be a war." She stared at Twilight tightly. "This. Must. Not. Happen. Twilight, no good can come from war. Especially not now, when our attention needs to be focused on stopping Sørmur dï Mitgaeard.

"Cadance and Shining Armor posed a strategy, based on his tactical training and her knowledge of changeling society, and I agree with it. They said that our best hope was to send a small party, who use stealth to sneak past the changelings' front lines… and eliminate their queen, giving the rest of the colony no incentive to move against us." She smiled wryly. "They asked me to inform you that they ceased thinking it was a good idea when I mentioned that the spirits of the Elements of Harmony are a 'small party', and the Elements themselves, a power sufficient to remove the queen from play."

Twilight inhaled sharply. "You want the six of us to go among an invading army and 'eliminate' their leader?"

"Yes, Twilight," Celestia whispered. "I am deeply sorry, but that is the only sound strategy. I would do it myself, but I must devote every waking hour to our other problem, Mitgaeard and Vorpal Blade and whatever else.

"There's a room in Canterlot Tower called the Hall of Scrying. It's lined with mirrors, each of which has a twin somewhere in the world. With these magical mirrors, I can contact the possessors of the others, which include my fellow goddesses. In centuries past, when I had some time to myself, I'd go to the Hall of Scrying, contact Kolassa and Annihilara via their mirrors, and we'd arrange and perform doo-wop numbers. Those days are long-since over… for the longest time, I've only used the mirrors in times of emergency.

"Luna is there right now. You see, Kolassa is available and free twenty-four hours a day, but for the rest of us, we each have real affairs of state to attend to and we never know when we might get an opportunity to communicate. So somepony needs to be there, waiting for that, planning for that, at all times, to serve as a go-between, and since I'm the only one who possesses all of the mirrors, Luna and I need to take that role. Of course, Annihilara would also be available at all times, but we haven't been able to reach her. Obviously, she's always had the ability to evade any sort of detection, but I just don't understand why she'd want to stay hidden now… I thought we had come through to her at the Gathering…"

Celestia trailed off, then cleared her throat and continued. "The point is, I'm in the middle of this very exhausting period of planning and coordination, and I simply don't have the time to personally break through the ranks of an army and battle its leader. I'm wracked with guilt over this, I can assure you, but this is something I need you to do, my sweet Twilight."

Twilight frowned deeply. "Princess, how will we be able to use the Elements of Harmony? They're with Discord."

"Discord will go with you," Celestia assured her. "Protecting you, as he is meant to. And the six of you will still have access to the Elements' power while they're within him."

"Activating the Elements while they're still in Discord's body?" Twilight gasped. She furrowed her brow as she considered for a moment. "Will that hurt him?"

"No, of course not," Celestia said in surprise. She beheld Twilight with interest. "That's your first question? The first thing you wonder is whether using the Elements will cause harm to Discord?"

"I'm not a monster, Princess," Twilight said softly.

Celestia beamed. "Of course you aren't. You've come to care very much for him, haven't you?"

"Yes," Twilight said sincerely. "He's my friend."

Celestia put a hoof to her heart, her smile widening almost comically. "That's wonderful, my darling."

Twilight frowned contemplatively. "What did you mean about my love studies coming full circle?" she asked. "Defeating the changelings doesn't seem like it would involve love this time around. Unless you're asking me and my friends to bring the ones we love along with us?"

"No, Twilight, I wouldn't ask you to do that," Celestia chuckled. "But love may yet hold the key to this mission. If I may be permitted to talk about myself a bit more, did you ever wonder why I've never been married? Why I've often said, over the course of this path in your studies, that love is outside my realm of experience?"

"Well," Twilight said uncertainly, "I always assumed you'd never fallen in love because the idea of taking one husband after another, as centuries go by and they get old and die while you remain, would be… depressing."

Celestia closed her eyes and bowed her head. "Mm, no, that's not it," she muttered. "I believe it is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. Having a husband would bring me a great deal of joy… but the truth is this: my affections are not mine to give away."

"Huh?" Twilight said blankly.

"Centuries ago, I met somepony who completely captured my heart. Captured it and held it… I was so deeply in love… but that love was doomed immediately. I knew it could never happen. Frankly, I was glad it could never happen. It just wasn't right. But all the same, I can never love again. As much as I long to, I cannot. My heart was stolen from me, and I cannot get it back… no matter hard I try." Celestia's lip quivered, and a single tear streaked down her face.

Twilight stepped back in shock. "Princess, I… I'm not sure I understand. At first it sounded like you were saying you had experienced a tragic love, but at the end… you made it sound as though somepony literally stole your heart and your capacity for love. So what are you trying to tell me?"

Celestia opened her eyes and forced a smile. "You will understand when the time is right, my sweet. You're the sharpest pony I've ever met; you'll figure it out."

They both straightened in surprise as a door creaked open on the library's first floor. Discord poked his head out of the small room. "Um, pardon me?"

He stepped out into the main library and approached them. "Hola, Tia," he said brightly, saluting the princess.

"Dis," she greeted him wryly in return.

He chuckled and glanced at Twilight. "So, she's on a mission and you're not going with her… again, is that right? Oho! It won't be long before all the ponies in Miss Cheerilee's class realize I was right about you."

"Don't make assumptions about me, Discord," Celestia said playfully. "You don't know me nearly as well as you think."

"Oh, don't I?" said Discord. "What is it you're doing right now? That's easy: you're not telling her what she needs to know. You're giving her just enough veiled remarks about what she should expect for her to be utterly confused but maybe figure it out herself at the last possible minute. Now, I know why I do that, but would you care to explain why you do? You know, giving her a puzzle to solve instead of just telling her what she ought to know? Why do you do that?"

"Because, my dearest nemesis, that is how I roll," Celestia said pleasantly.

"Hmhm," Discord giggled. "Of course it is."

Twilight looked back and forth between the two of them. "Wait a minute… what?" she whispered to herself.

"Listen, about the part of the plan where I protect them," Discord said with sudden seriousness. "I don't think that's possible. You know my mother put a curse on me, sealing away all of my powers until I became a king."

"Yes," Celestia agreed. "What of it?"

"Well, it's just that on the day I broke the curse, I found out there's another clause: I only have power within the borders of the country I govern. If you take me outside of Equestria, I'll be powerless again."

"Really?" Twilight gasped.

"Yes," said Discord. "You saw the state of chaos in which I ruled Equestria? Well, it only applied to Equestria. Apart from my hijacking of the sun, on account of Celestia being within my jurisdiction, the rest of the world was unaffected."

Twilight bit her lip and furrowed her brow, deep in thought. "Discord, that can't be right. That sea of ice where we battled your mother, that couldn't possibly have been in Equestria. And your powers were working just fine. The limited version of your powers you get with the Elements attached, of course, but still you put up a good fight. It was a very impressive display of magic."

Discord looked stunned. "Wait, you're right. But how?"

"I don't know, but it was magnificent," said Twilight. "And… amazing. Truly."

"Clearly, the curse no longer applies, Discord," said Celestia. "You didn't lose your magic when I took over Equestria from you; you were still able to see and hear what was going on, not only around you, but everywhere. So the curse must have been broken completely. Perhaps the restriction to one kingdom only applies while you rule a kingdom… or perhaps the curse is only in effect while your mother is imprisoned."

"Oh!" Discord realized. "It's the second one, I remember now. I told you that long ago… Yes, even after I lost the throne, the status of my power stayed the same: I didn't lose it, but I was still restricted to within the borders of Equestria, but, once my mother freed herself… then I was able to influence the wider world. Of course. Can't believe I forgot about that…" He frowned pitifully, slouching. "I think I'm losing it a bit. There's only so much brain in which to fit a million years' worth of memories and knowledge, and with so much less magic in me, I must be losing some of my capacity…"

He sighed and stood up straight again. "But I will have the power to protect Twilight as she goes after the changeling queen, yes. Curses, maaaan," he scoffed. "You know what this world needs? It needs curses that aren't written by lawyers."

"Indeed," Celestia chuckled. It was silent for a moment as Celestia shot an interested glance at Twilight, then turned back to Discord. "She knows who your mother is," she stated.

"Yes," Discord said simply.

"Were you somehow coaxed or tricked into telling her?"

"No. I managed to keep it to myself, but eventually I decided she'd earned the right to know. I'm surprised you didn't tell her."

"I had already enslaved you to my will, Discord," said Celestia, grinning sheepishly. "The least I could do was to afford you some personal privacy from issues you're sensitive about."

"…Mm-hmm," Discord said blankly.

Twilight continued staring at them, confused at their interactions. "No, surely not…" she mumbled. Aloud, she said, "So when do we leave?"

"Immediately, if you can," said Celestia. "Gather up your friends and get them ready. This is going to be the deadliest thing I've ever had you do, my love, and I hope you don't resent me for that… or that at least you can forgive me later. I'll be praying for your safe return."

"You'll be praying?" Twilight inquired, smiling slightly. "To whom?"

Celestia laughed. "It's just an expression. But if I could pray for you, I would."

"Thanks, Princess," Twilight said softly. "Discord, are you ready? Let's get everypony prepared as quickly as we can."

"Aye-aye, Captain," said Discord. Twilight trotted out of the library, and Discord followed her, strutting and sauntering.

"Discord…" Celestia called. He turned to her. "Good luck to you."

He bowed. "Thank you."

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Endnotes

So… for the entire story, I've been saying that when the changelings were defeated, they went across the border in the northwest part of Equestria, around the vicinity of Vanhoover… because that's how I remembered it happening, them being blown in a northwesterly direction. Recently, I re-watched the episode and I realized that, to anyone familiar with Equestria's geography, it's clear that they went south—plus, you can actually see them entering the area, clearly seen on the map but yet to be truly depicted on the show, known as the Badlands. Oops. Ah, well, too late to change it now. At this point, it's become way too plot-relevant that they're connected to Vanhoover and other northern areas.

Another gaffe I just noticed, this one an error in my own continuity: in Cadance and Shining Armor's first appearance in Chapter 12, Cadance mentions that they have a house. In all subsequent appearances, they're living at Canterlot Castle. Ooh, that was so embarrassing! Of course, the question I have to ask myself is "Who gives a damn?" And the answer, of course, is "Just me". All of you guys are fine with it and never would have even noticed. And hey, it wasn't nearly as embarrassing as completely erasing Chapter 17 from existence and having to rewrite it. That one's gonna haunt me for years.