The Lane of Memories

Luna had finally packed up and gone about her business for the day, which amounted to sleeping for the most part. After she was clear of the chamber, most of the torches around the room extinguished themselves. Only a sob in the dark could be heard. All the bravado she put up before her little toys was gone in an instant and replaced by the stinging pain of grief. Alexia remembered the fateful day which changed her life every second of her imprisonment, all on account of the Princess of the Sun. The day the Firstborn were felled by the traitorous alicorns.

The day she lost everything important to her.

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It was a frigid morning in winter. The Everfree was dusted with snow. Alexia looked in awe at the winter wonderland stretched beneath them. She was always impressed at how He was able to do such wonders when her power seemed minute in comparison.

“Incredible…”

“Ha! You may be able to read the minds of the ponies but it’s my job to read yours. You always seem to forget the marvellous job you did on all these creatures.” He gestured towards the gathering crowd of ponies at the Everfree Castle. They were celebrating the end of winter. Great banners strewn across the trees, balloons and everything littered the once natural habitat. “I hope they tidy up this time. It’s not fair to leave it to an omnipotent multi-billion year old man to do everything for them” Alexia stared at him wondering if he was trying to be sarcastic again.

“Ah, come on old man. No need to put a dampener on our day. This is a party! And you know what that means?” She raised her eyebrows suggestively. He merely groaned.

“Please, not the party meteors. Remember the last time?”

“Look I’ll try to aim them away from any visiting Time Lords this time though to be fair, he really shouldn’t have been there in the first place. I thought the Time Lords were against cross-dimensional travel?”

“Perhaps it was accidental. Anyway, the point is he ended up not only killed but he regenerated into a pony for goodness sakes. I really don’t think he enjoyed that little revelation as much as he could’ve.” He spoke with a voice that commanded authority not with force, but with respect. A voice tempered by eons of benevolent rule that could calm the fiercest of hearts.

“Okay, no party meteors, but I really need an outlet for my creativity. Hmm… Ah!” She exclaimed, blinking out of existence for a moment then reappearing with a number of animals’ shapes floating around her. “So we’ve got an eagle, a dragon, a pony and a few other thingies.” With that she began to rearrange the limbs and bodies of the myriad of creatures. He always seemed to enjoy watching her work, when she was inspired to do something it was like watching a great craftsman creating a masterpiece. When she was done, the… whatever this thing was stood unmoving. It was a grotesque looking thing; it had a snaggletooth, a lion’s paw, an eagle claw and a long serpentine body to name but a few of its features.

“Mind filling me in with what this is?”

“This? This is Discord.” Her smile reminded him of a madman

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She heard a clatter which startled her out of her memory.

“Who’s there? I demand you show yourself!” A tiny pony moved hesitantly towards her in the gloom. It was a small yellow coloured mare with a light pink mane and tail. She sensed a familiar power within the pony and tried to remember its significance. The benefit of omnipotence was being able to see the timeline and all the events therein. Alexia knew this one was an avatar of the Elements of Harmony and she knew the current six’s identities too. “Ah, let’s see, pegasus… pegasi… pegasuses… What is this one again…? Ah, you’re not Rainbow Dash are you? No, no, you don’t even have a smudge of rainbow on you.” The tiny pony merely eep’d. “Not Rainbow Dash, perhaps… Yes! You’re Fluttershy aren’t you?” She would’ve clapped her hands together had they not been bound in chains.

The pony now identified as Fluttershy was a very timid creature, she seemed to be frightened of the very chamber she stood in. This upset Alexia as she didn’t want her impromptu visitor to be scared out of her delicate little mind. “I would like to do you a favour, dear Fluttershy.” With that, a great light burst from the human, Fluttershy yelped in fear but to her credit she did not flee.

The two of them stood in a field, the now clothed Alexia wearing a flowing silk robe of ancient design. She took a seat cross legged on the grass. It was a peaceful moonless night time scene. “Come, join me” She patted a hand onto the grass beside her. Warily, Fluttershy walked over to the human’s side and sat beside her. “So what’s brought you to my presence?” Alexia wanted to get that out of the way sooner than later.

The tiny mare muttered something incomprehensible.

“Didn’t quite catch that, my little pony.”

She squeaked then hid her face behind her mane. Alexia sighed.

The nervous pony spoke in a voice barely higher than a whisper. “Well um, if that’s alright with you, I’d like to hear the rest of your story first.” Alexia looked at her confused. Had she been talking out loud when she remembered that moment?

Solitude did have a habit of turning you mad.

“Well, if you insist. I can’t really promise you a happy ending though. I can stop this illusion to let you go back and you’ll never have to see me again.” She offered Fluttershy a way out. If she so wished, she could leave and never come back.

“I can’t do that. You see, I love all animals, no matter how big or scary they are um, except dragons. I’m…” She mumbled something that Alexia interpreted as “I’m scared of dragons” With a wave of her hand she bid Fluttershy to continue. “Well, you see, my friends and I were all visiting Canterlot when we saw the Princesses walking through the castle together looking all shifty. So Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle and I followed them and found you here. I saw how much you must be hurting and I wanted to help you.” Alexia was humbled by this mare’s dedication to kindness.

The two Firstborn had created the Elements of Harmony and placed them in the hands of pony kind. Discord was created to be their antithesis. Their counterbalance. Without chaos, society cannot evolve. Without order, it cannot thrive. The two gods saw to it that there was a balance between the two where possible. They had also made it so that a living avatar of each Element was around at all times. When one passed on, another was born, ready to continue the cycle. Fluttershy truly embodied the Element of Kindness so it seemed this power had gained a will of its own and chose a new avatar on its own.

“So you snuck around the Princess’s back and came here to try to help me, the prisoner?” Alexia laughed a little at this. She wondered if Fluttershy was even aware of her status as prisoner. She stopped herself from laughing too much to allow Fluttershy to continue.

“Well um, yes. I saw you were chained up, those shackles must really hurt.”

Not after the first twenty years.

“You could say I’ve become ignorant of the pain now.” She rubbed her illusion’s wrists and felt nothing. Granted a great deal of her power had been drained but she still possessed such a vast reserve which could easily weave powerful illusions to rival the mightiest of unicorns.

“Oh you poor thing…”

“Would you truly like to hear the rest of my story now?” Fluttershy nodded. Alexia dispelled the illusion returning them both to the dark cavern.

“Before you do, one moment please. Girls?” From the gloom, two other ponies walked up to stand beside Fluttershy. One was a purple unicorn with a darker mane. The other was a cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane. “These are Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash, my friends. Girls this is-“

“Alexia”

The two new arrivals looked at each other in a mix of apprehension and fear. They were aware of a creature down here but they couldn’t get close enough to hear it talk when they watched the princesses.

“Umm hi Alexia, I’m Twilight”

“And I’m Rainbow Dash, the greatest flier in all Equestria!” She struck a dramatic pose for emphasis then performed a few loops in the air before landing next to her two friends.

“We all heard that part in your story. You created Discord, didn’t you?” Alexia could only nod her head. “How could you create something like that because you were bored!?”

“To preserve balance was my true meaning. I did not create him on a whim though I may have enjoyed my work a little too much. The world was full of harmony but without chaos, or in this case, Discord, you would never reach your full potential. You had to overcome the hardship to achieve true peace. I know he was a cruel being but trust me when I say I had nothing but the best of intentions when I created him!” She was almost pleading to the mares, hoping to find some measure of understanding for the atrocity she committed between the three. She hung her head low in defeat clenching her eyes shut. Just then however, she felt a pair of hooves wrap around her. She opened her eyes to see Fluttershy hugging her.

“It’s alright, you didn’t mean it. Nopony holds it against you.” The first true act of kindness she had received in over a millennium. She wasn’t sure what to make of it. The young mare let go and flew back to join the two others. A solitary tear escaped the ancient god’s eye, unnoticed by the guests.

“Very well, my little ponies. Get comfortable as I’m about to tell you my story”

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“So this is what you’ve been working on then huh? Your answer to the delightful Elements of Harmony is a creepy looking mutant? Well I guess if he’s as weird as he looks, he might just be up for the job.” He shrugged his shoulders and watched as Alexia released the spirit of disharmony onto Equestria. The following weeks were referred to as the darkest days of Equestrian history. Discord took control of the ponies and ruled the land with disorder and chaos. The two gods knew that the elements would be capable of defeating him, this was their intention; the great plan. The ponies would unite together and use the combined power of harmony itself to defeat the chaos and true peace would be restored.

“You lack creativity, old man. This thing’s a work of art. I gave it the ability to warp existence itself, how cool is that?” She grinned like a maniac. He merely sighed.

“Yes and look how he’s using it.” They watched as Discord turned a pair of ponies into bunnies and a pair of bunnies into ponies.

“He’s having a little fun yes, but when the people rally together to defeat him then we can all have a nice celebratory utopia, don’t you think?” She placed her hands on her hips in a triumphant pose

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“So your intentions truly were to use Discord as a catalyst for advancing Equestria?” This time it was Twilight who spoke out.

“Indeed, we believed that by exposing you to the unbridled chaos of Discord, we could get you to unite and become a world without borders. True world peace...” Alexia seemed to sadden at this, knowing what had happened. “But it didn’t exactly work out to plan.”

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“Discord!” An unexpected turn of events. The two gods could only look in horror as the alicorns stood up to Discord alone instead of the people uniting together to defeat him. Worse than that, they wielded the Elements of Harmony.

“Ah my little ponies, come to bask in my magnificent glory have you?” Discord was as cruel as he was self-obsessed. He loved the sound of his own voice. He loved his ability to create chaos with but a thought.

“We’re here to defeat you and depose your wretched rule of chaos.” The one they had named Luna spoke in a very strong regal voice. As though she thought shouting at Discord would defeat him.

“My my, what a set of lungs you have my dear.” Discord chucked as the pair of earplugs he had materialised plopped out of his ears. “You know, I don’t really like it when people barge into my home and start saying they wish to kick me off my throne.” His voice began to grow more sinister. “You believe truly that you two are a match for me?”

“Perhaps not alone Discord, but together with the power of harmony, we can defeat you!” Celestia, ever the zealot when it came to harmony and friendship.

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“I’m fairly certain you can work out what happened then.” The mares all knew the story of Discord. Celestia had told them about him when he freed himself from his stone prison.

“So you’re saying you didn’t want Celestia and Luna to defeat Discord? But that’s what led up to them becoming the co-rulers of Equestria! Are you saying it was a mistake that they are now the princesses?” Twilight was forever loyal to her mentor.

“Yes, I didn’t want them to rule. I wanted the ponies to be free of all sense of ownership. I know Celestia and Luna are great rulers but they are not part of the plan. They shouldn’t have even been able to use the Elements, only the avatars of the Elements can. The princesses must’ve used sheer force of will to command them to obey.” She spoke with practiced ease. This was a speech she had been forced to use many times when Celestia had asked why she had created Discord and why she was against the alicorns ruling. They had remained silent after this. Celestia must’ve done a good job mindfucking the ponies over the last millennium, the human mused.

“I want to free her.” Fluttershy said without even a warning. Her two friends stared at her in disbelief, Alexia herself barely believing it either.

“Oh come on, Fluttershy! This thing has been kept here by the princess for a thousand years and you don’t think she had a good enough reason to do it?” Rainbow Dash was the Element of Loyalty after all, seems her loyalty to Celestia rivalled Twilight’s. “You’ve not told the important part yet, get to the point! Why did the princess imprison you down here?”

“Short answer? Because I tried to destroy the universe.”

The three young mares simply stared at Alexia with their jaws practically touching the floors. She often wondered why everything wasn’t quite as cartoony as her precious ponies were; it was so much more entertaining.

“You…” Twilight.

“Tried to…” Fluttershy.

“DESTROY THE UNIVERSE!?” And Rainbow Dash, ever the loudmouth.

“Eeyup…” She sighed.

Dash was shaking with rage while the other two just seemed confused.

“Why would you do that, huh? You made the entire universe apparently and then you decided to destroy it!?” Hearing it from someone else never felt good. Dash flew up to the human’s face. She could see the eyes barely contain the tears but that didn’t quell her rage. This was a goddess who had a responsibility and betrayed it on a whim. To Dash, it was a travesty.

“Rainbow Dash, I-“

A crack echoed through the cavernous chamber. Dash had punched her. The other two mares could only look on in horror as they feared for her safety. Even bound by such powerful magic, this was an incomprehensible entity. All three of them were aware that it was capable of scattering their atoms into dust without any difficulty. But the reaction they got was completely unexpected. A half laugh, half sob escaped from the human.

“I deserved that one.” She spoke softer now, no longer full of confidence.

“I’ve got plenty more.” Not a doubt in her mind about that. Betrayal was a crime to Dash: loyalty to your duty and your friends above all else. “Gonna tell us why now?”

“Sorry everypony but that’s all I can say right now.” Alexia had said more than she had done in over a thousand years. These mares had been able to connect with her on a level that the always business princess couldn’t do but she couldn’t reveal all her secrets or their brains might turn to mush. Dash flew back to the other two who had recovered from their shock somewhat. Dash and Twilight made for the stairs but Fluttershy sat fidgeting where she was.

“Umm, I still want to let you go.”

“If you really don’t like me being stuck down here I won’t exactly argue.” Alexia longed for freedom, she was sick of this hellhole and if manipulating Fluttershy’s kindness was an exit, she wasn’t going to go and say “Oh you know what, I quite like my harsh imprisonment! You just leave me here for another thousand years!” Fluttershy’s words stopped both Dash and Twilight in their tracks.

“Come on Fluttershy, you can’t be serious? Twilight you don’t agree with this do you?” Twilight didn’t answer.

“Nopony deserves to be shut away like this forever, even if they aren’t a pony.” She seemed to be tapping into that strange confidence that arose in times of great need. She flew directly to where one of the shackles clasped around Alexia’s wrist. She was horrified to see it was cutting brutally into the flesh, blood both old and new covered her arms. “This looks terrible!” She couldn’t help but sob at the thought of another creature being in such pain for so long. “I’m going to free you! I don’t care about what you did or why you did it, this is wrong!” With her new found resolve she began to buck the chain while maintaining her flight. Fluttershy was neither a strong flier nor kicker and she struggled to do both at the same time. Twilight noticed this and following he friend’s noble example began to levitate a loose rock in the chamber over to the other shackle, striking it repeatedly.

“I agree Fluttershy; I think she’s paid her penance.” Twilight was going against her beloved mentor’s wishes. It pained her very soul with every strike but this treatment was worse. Alexia was genuinely touched by these two showing such compassion for life that they would free an enemy from its torment against the wishes of their beloved rulers.

“I dunno what to do with you girls sometimes…” Rainbow was loyal to her friends, she chose to help them and face the consequences together. Her assistance seemed to help as the shackle around the human’s right arm was released leaving her dangling painfully from one arm. Fresh blood poured from the still trapped arm. The sensation of a new pain seemed to awaken Alexia properly, she felt alive again. When the other three shackles that held her legs and left arm broke, she began to fall into the abyss but was stopped by a violet glow surrounding her whole body.

Twilight levitated her over to the ground beside her. When she released the glow, Alexia landed on her feet but as soon as they had made contact with the floor her legs crumpled beneath her. Lying unceremoniously on the ground was a naked ancient god who couldn’t stand up straight. Alexia felt true happiness once more; she revelled in the sensation of freedom. Only one thought remained in her mind at this point.

“Wouldn’t happen to know where I could find some clothes?”