Equestria: The night before the Reign of the Princesses

The snow-white unicorn stood tall in front of her sister, her horn sparking in anger as she faced the creature before her.

“What did you do to our parents?” She snapped, yellow sparks fizzing at the tip of her horn. Her sister cowered behind her, her wings fluttering uneasily. The creature in front of them chuckled, his bright yellow eyes shining.

“They’ll live,” he said, floating lazily in midair. “Perhaps, not in this dimension, but they’ll be just fine. You two, however, I’m not so sure. The natives are furious, and ponies as small as you? They’ll tear you apart in a heartbeat. Unless, of course...” he trailed off, shaking his head. “No, of course not. You couldn’t handle it.”

“Handle what?” The unicorn asked, tilting her head.

“Power. But it’s too much for such little ponies. With the power, of course you’d be able to calm the natives, and even rise above them as their leaders, but you couldn’t possibly rule all of Equestria.”

“Do you doubt our abilities?” The unicorn asked, standing taller.

“Tia, perhaps we should not...” The pegasus began, but her sister shot her a look.

“Quiet, Luna. No one can insult our abilities. What would mother and father say?” Tia held her head high and faced the creature. “We would like these powers, if you would give them to us. Anything to protect us from the natives’ wrath.”

“Now, now, as if I would give these powers away for nothing. Oh no, in return, you must promise me a favour. I will choose when I ask the favour, and I will choose what it is. If you deny the favour, I take the powers back. Agreed?” The creature held out his pawed hand and Tia carefully lifted her hoof.

“And what of our parents?”

“I won’t do them any harm.” The creature promised. Tia placed her hoof in his paw and the creature snapped his fingers. Bright surging lights flashed around them, and searing heat shot through Tia’s body. Pain shot through her back, and behind her, Luna was crying in pain. Tia gasped as she watched a horn slowly protrude from her sister’s head. She turned around, even more surprised to see the wings growing from her back.

“Enjoy,” the creature cackled. By the time the light dimmed, the creature was gone, and Celestia and Luna were left standing together, their new power surging around them. The beginning of the Princesses Reign.

Equestria: 2000 years after the beginning of the Reign of the Princesses

Celestia leaned against Discord, sighing as the moon climbed higher into the sky.

“It’s beautiful,” she whispered.

“Not as beautiful as you, Tia, darling,” Discord replied, stroking her mane gently. “It’s a shame it won’t be around for much longer.”

“The night has only just begun, my love. We still have many hours of night time left.”

“That’s not what I mean, darling. I mean the peacefulness. The drab, boring, uneventful night sky. I’ve decided to cash in my favour.”

“Your favour?” Celestia asked, her eyes narrowing as she faced Discord. “What are you talking about?”

“You remember the terms of your powers, correct? You do me a favour when I ask, or you lose everything. Well, the time has come to cash in my reward. Equestria is far too dull under pony rule. Don’t you think it would be a bit more fun if it, oh, I don’t know, rained chocolate?” Discord snapped his fingers and a large pink cloud covered the castle, large droplets of chocolate milk staining Celestia’s coat. She glared, using her magic to remove the stains and the cloud.

“I cannot allow that. Things are run in an orderly fashion to ensure each pony living in Equestria receives all their basic needs. This cannot be done with chocolate rain. Besides, I thought I already granted your favour.” She indicated the golden band around the base of her horn.

“That isn’t a favour, dear. I simply courted you, and you fell for me. I asked you to be my bride, and you agreed in an instant. That’s no favour, love. My favour would be ruling Equestria my way. You would, of course, be the Queen of Chaos, but I would have most of the say as I understand chaos much better than you, Tia, darling.”

“Discord, I will grant you anything else, but I cannot allow Equestria to fall into chaos. These ponies have put their faith in me, and I cannot just abandon them.”

“You gave me your word, Princess. Now, if you would be generous enough to kindly hand over your rule to me, unless you’d like to lose your magic?”

“You wouldn’t take my magic. We are to be married.”

“I would still love you if you were merely a unicorn. It would be a shame, though, to outlive you. I’m sure it won’t come to that, though, my love.” Discord locked eyes with Celestia, and, with a heavy heart, she bowed her head.

And thus began the Reign of Chaos.

Equestria: Three weeks before Princess Twilight Sparkle’s Coronation

“You’re a clever one,” Discord whispered in Celestia’s ear. She shook her head, trying to get the ‘newly reformed’ Discord out of her study. “Turning me to stone after granting me all of Equestria.”

“Luna made me do it. I never broke my oath.”

“I’ve always loved that about you, Tia. You’re so determined to be in the right, even when you know you’re in the wrong. Did you defend yourself this way when you sent Luna to the moon?”

“She has agreed it was for the best. I had no choice. Just as I had no choice in turning you to stone.”

“You’re just lucky I’m reformed now, or I’d take all that power back for myself. But where would the fun in that be? You’d just call your little Elements of Harmony and put me back into that dreadful stone prison.”

“You make a wise decision,” Celestia said, turning her head away.

“You took off your ring,” Discord noted, touching the base of her horn.

“I no longer recognized our relationship. There was no need to wear the ring. You had become someone I no longer knew.”

“I’m still the same Discord you fell in love with all those years ago, Tia. I just wanted to bring some fun into Equestria, but you weren’t having any of that.”

“It was harming my subjects.Your focus was on changing the nation I worked so hard to build. You only cared for me so you could overthrow me.”

“Of course not, Tia. I was going to make you my Queen, not overthrow your nation. But no, you had to run off to Luna and turn me to stone. And then throw away the ring I got you. I saved for two centuries to have it custom made, too.”

“Whoever said I threw it away?” Celestia whispered. She unlocked the top drawer on her desk, removing a small black box. Discord took the box from Celestia’s magical grasp and opened it, surprised to see a golden band, exactly the right size to fit Celestia’s horn perfectly, with a sun engraved in the golden surface. There were three stones set into the ring. One a pale pink, one a deep purple, and the other a bright pink. Kindness, Generosity, and Magic. Her Elements.

“You kept it,”

“I had hope.” Celestia said softly. “Hope that maybe one day, the Discord I loved would return.”

“He never left, Tia, my love. He’s just been lost for a while. But he’s here now, and he’s not leaving again. If you’d like to give him another chance...” Discord took the ring from its box and slid it onto Celestia’s horn. “...he’d like to try again.”