melodiesoflife | Jingling Bells

"Princess Celestia and Luna rule over Equestria, and my wife Cadance rules over the Crystal Empire with me. My little sister doesn't actually have a set kingdom, but she does have a castle outside of Ponyville."

He nodded at the question and smiled. "Yeah, she can get pretty bored and ask questions all the time."

Sheena did a double-take. "Did you say 'Luna'? There's a Summon Spirit on my world with that name! I didn't think I'd hear that someone else would have it!" The names he's telling her are pretty and unique, making her want to visit his planet. After a moment of silence she smiled. "Let me guess. Since she's the Princess of Friendship, her castle is the Castle of Friendship?"

Hey, he had said she didn't have a kingdom, so it couldn't be Ponyville.

Her smile grew. "That's all right! I don't mind if she asks me questions. Although, I think I'm the one who did all the asking last time. And this time!"

"That's right, Princess Luna, the princess of the night and dreams." said Shining with a nod. There are a lot of similarities in names and such and he chuckled. "To be honest, I don't know what the castle is named other than knowing it's grown from a seed of the Tree of Harmony."

"Then totally ask away. I don't mind!"

"Princess of the Moon," Sheena murmured, recalling how her own Summon Spirit appeared to her. "Luna on my world is the Summon Spirit of the Light of the Moon, and Aska is the Spirit of the Light of the Sun." Another double-take. "Tree of Harmony?" Another tree?

"It wouldn't happen to supply your planet with any type of magical essence, would it?"

He did say the castle grew from a tree--sounded like magic to her.

"Back home Princess Celestia and Princess Luna control the sun and the moon," explained Shining. "And the Tree of Harmony created the Elements of Harmony, six artifacts that embody traits that create the magic of friendship."

"My sister and friends sent the physical embodiment of these traits back, but still retain the elements themselves."

This time, Sheena didn't even get her cup to her lips before she stared at the pony. "What do you mean 'control'? How do they control them?" Surely he was speaking figuratively, right? Being in charge of mana was one thing; moving celestial bodies quite another. "Elements of Harmony? And what traits?" She'd never heard of personality traits being elements before, but why not?

She considered his comment for a moment before saying, "They probably don't need those other items anymore because they're now the physical embodiments of the elements."

"Like they can actually move the sun and the moon," said Shining, gesturing to the sun overhead. "Princess Celestia moves the sun into our horizon every morning, and sets it every night. And Princess Luna moves the moon into position."

"As for the Elements, there is Laughter, Generosity, Loyalty, Honesty, Kindness and Magic. When the first five come together it makes the sixth which is Magic."

If Sheena had actually taken a sip of her drink, she'd be hitting Shining Armor with a spit take right now. "What? How? How is that possible?" She had seen some powerful magic in her lifetime, but nothing quite like that. Wait. "Are they connected to them somehow? Like the Spirits back home? They're connected to a different mana that only they can control?" She wasn't sure how it was possible, but it was the only thing she could think of.

She sat quietly as he listed the Elements of his world, thinking how they could be applied to those she had traveled with--and found that she could actually see one trait embodied above the others in all of them. And their resulting magic? That the peoples of two worlds who were supposed to hate each other didn't.

"That," she finally said, "sounds like something a lot of worlds need."

"As far as I can surmise, from not really being present for most of their uses, each of these traits are embodied within the gemstones, the Elements. But the users themselves, the six mares who had wielded them currently, my sister and her friends, also embody them." He tapped the ground. "Think of them as sort of amplifiers to the best facet of personality you have, and combine them into magic."

"I think so too," said Shining with a nod and smile.

Sheena nodded. "That makes a lot of sense." It also meant that they were connected to the gemstones in some way because really? There was no such thing as coincidence. Things happened for a reason. "How did they get these 'Elements' to begin with? Did they find them? Or did someone give them to your sister and her friends?" She'll ask about the magic part in a bit.

"Any way those gems can be duplicated and passed out?" she asked somewhat seriously. Maybe they could help this world, too somehow.

"They found them in the castle of the two sisters, after making a journey into the Everfree Forest. They intended to use them against Nightmare Moon, and wound up cleansing her into Princess Luna," explained Shining, given that he was in full on history at the moment.

"Afraid not. The Elements themselves are unique, and were placed into the Tree of Harmony where they were originally to prevent the Everfree from growing out of control." He added. "Maybe Twilight could get her Magic one back, but its fairly useless on its own without the others."

"The castle of the two sis--" Her eyes widened. "You mean Celestia and Luna, don't you?" From their conversation it only made sense. Princesses that control opposite times of day, a castle...they had to be sisters. But wait a second. "Nightmare Moon? That doesn't sound good. What happened to Luna that she became Nightmare Moon? Was she cursed?"

Sheena made a sound of disappointment. "That's really too bad. But, would the Forest really grow out of control?" She had a feeling he meant more than just a few extra trees here and there. After a moment's thought, she looked at the pony.

"Would she really need the other elements? What if she were to meet others with those same qualities? Wouldn't that be enough?"

"Yeah, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. As for Nightmare Moon, it's a long story. The basic gist of it is that over time, over 1000 years ago Luna got jealous of the ponies being out in the day and not enjoying her night, so eventually she proclaimed she was the Queen of the Night and changed into Nightmare Moon. She was imprisoned on the moon for 1000 years after she and Princess Celestia fought it out, wrecking the palace." Shining always remembered this story, having been told it by the Princess herself.

"Yeah it would. Not only the forest would grow out of control but seeds planted there by Discord before his defeat at the hands of the two Princesses even before Nightmare Moon took root, and the Tree of Harmony prevents its spread."

At Sheena's question, Shining tilted his head in thought. "It's... possible. Twilight connected once with human versions of her friends and created magic in another world. But to do it here would take a lot of effort."

Sheena stared at him incredulously. "It must have been hard for Celestia to do that. But, Luna really believed that the ponies didn't enjoy the night? When else can you take a moonlit stroll? Or dream amazing dreams? Or see the stars?" As a ninja, she had a soft spot for the night. She stopped and shook her head. "I take it she finally realized this? That the night has its own special beauty and magic?"

He did mean more than a few trees appearing. "You mean it turns into a jungle? And who or what is 'Discord'?" Other than another word for "chaos".

Sheena did a double-take. "Human versions? You don't mean people who acted like her friends, but were human in form?" She paused, only one word coming to her lips.

"How?"

"She did, but it took the Elements of Harmony to cleanse her of her corrupted power before she could know this." He grinned a little. "My sister was responsible for this."

He nodded. "Kind of, if the vines were thorns and they grew out of control all the way into Ponyville. Discord however is a God of Chaos, a spirit that embodies the power of chaotic actions. He was reformed by Fluttershy and has become one of our staunchest allies since then."

"Yeah, human versions like that. There's a magic mirror that connects a parallel universe that ponies, animals and other races we know are humans. Everyone who goes through this mirror turn into humans, and humans who go through it turn into ponies or any equivalent race."

"But she knows it now thanks to Twilight Sparkle?" She smiles. "I'm glad to hear it. It's sometimes hard to accept who you are when you're different, but it's the difference that makes you special." Yeah, how long did it take her to realize that? 1, 2, 19 years?

"How far is the forest from the city?" From the way he said it, he definitely didn't mean "right next door". Chuckling, she said, "Seriously? Talk about an appropriate name." If only things were that easy on her world. "How did...Fluttershy? How did Fluttershy reform him?"

For a long moment, she was quiet. "How did... How did Twilight find herself in that universe? Was she drawn into it?" Drawn to a strange world, how familiar did that sound?

"That's right, and she's one of our best friends. It took her a while to adjust though, since when she was cleansed, she was a young mare again with half her powers." said Shining.

He grinned a little sheepishly. "The forest itself was about ten minutes from Ponyville, but they grew fast. They were all over Ponyville and some of them made their way into Canterlot which is a hour by train. Fluttershy reformed him by being his friend, and Discord realized he really liked having friends. It took a while though, and he was still causing some minor trouble here and there."

"Well that in itself is a story. A former student of Princess Celestia returned from the human world, and stole Twilight's crown which had an Element of Harmony in there, before she and the girls returned it to the Tree of Harmony. Twilight and Spike followed behind, and wound up there for a couple of days before returning. Since then, Sunset Shimmer has been a good friend of Twilight's." He chuckled. "I wish I could have gone, but we moved the mirror to Twilight's Castle in Ponyville."

Sheena was quiet for a moment as she thought about what he said. "Young again? Sounds like she was meant to literally grow back into the pony she had been before all of the bad stuff happened." She paused. "Does she remember all of it?"

She gave him a look. "Only ten minutes? It sounded like it was ten miles away!" She couldn't help laughing good-naturdly. "Still, that must have been horrible because the town really wouldn't have had any warning, would it?" Her voice becomes softer. "He hadn't had friends up until then? That's...kinda sad."

She kinda knew how he felt. A little.

As she listened to him, she began to shake her head. "Shining, is there something special about your world? Because this has to be more than just coincidence. True, your sister is the Princess of Friendship, but..." She paused. "Is there a prophecy about her?"

She was being dead serious.

"Somewhere around the line, she regained her powers as well as her previous physical age. But yes, Princess Luna regained her strength within the year." He shrugged. If this was IDW, he'd have more of a actual statement on that.

"It didn't. And no, Discord treated his friendships like they were obligations. And when he felt the sting of Tirek's treatment of him, he joined our side."

"Well... okay, besides the ponies in charge of weather and plant growing, Celestia and Luna moving the Sun and Moon and everything, I don't THINK there's a prophesy. I heard rumbling among my men though that Celestia was grooming my little sister to be her successor but..." He shook his head. "Everything is hearsay of course. I don't know any details and I've never been privy to Celestia's most inner thoughts and ideas."

Sheena was quiet as she grew thoughtful. After a long moment, she said, "On my world, we can share mana with others. It's only done in emergencies, when it looks like the other person may die from total loss of mana." Her words were slow, as if she were still forming the idea and question behind them. "Since they were sisters, do you think it's possible Celestia shared her power with Luna? Replenishing the power she had lost with a little of her own bit by bit?"

She shook her head. "Friendship was like a job to him? Something he could just quit at any time and not be worried about it?" She made a sad, scoffing sound. "Let me guess: Tirek either betrayed him, or just pretended to be his friend, right?" She knew how that felt.

Listening, she hummed a little in silence. No prophecy, but that still didn't account for all of the things he had told her had happened. As she thought about everything and everyone involved, she noticed something.

"Hey, Shining Armor. Did you ever notice something about their names? Celestia, Luna, and Twilight's? They're all names that deal with the sky, and 'Twilight' is the time between day and night."

And that couldn't be a coincidence.

"There's an idea. It must be similar since they both control the heavens right now," said Shining thoughtfully.

At her spot on question, Shining made a face. "Yeah, he did. Both happened but my sister helped solve his issues."

Shining blinked for a moment. "Huh, you're right. Come to think about it, there's three mares with similar names. One of them was Celestia's former student Sunset Shimmer, and then there's Starlight Glimmer, my sister's student. Maybe there's a connection now."

Sheena had another thought. "If Luna controls the moon now, who controlled it while she was gone? Celestia? Maybe..." She hesitated. "Maybe Celestia gave her back her own power after somehow taking it?"

The ninja shook her head sadly. "You know, I've never met this Discord, but I kinda feel sorry for him."

Her eyes widened. "Celestia, Sunset Shimmer, Twilight Sparkle, Starlight Glimmer, Luna." She said them in that order for a reason. "Day into night, with Twilight in the center. I'd say there's definitely a connection."

"Celestia. And that's the most likely case." said Shining. "Both sisters can control the heavens, but they specialize in either one."

"Yeah well, I still haven't forgiven him yet," said Shining grumpily.

"... huh. You're right. Man, whoever named these kids knew what they were doing," said Shining in realization. "That's like a whole celestial orbit."

"Two sisters sharing the light of the Day and the Night. That had to have been overwhelming for Celestia when she had to do it alone." Which made Sheena think her theory about the Princess somehow taking the ability from her sister in order to do so. "Did she know her sister would come back?"

Sheena chuckled warmly. "That's perfectly understandable, Shining. Somehow, I have the feeling you will, though."

The ninja nodded. "The only thing missing is the time before the dawn. Before Celestia raises the sun." It was an odd thing to say, but it also made a lot of sense.

"1000 years was the projection time, on the date of the Summer Sun Celebration," said Shining. "Most of the guards knew about the legend being real."

"I'll get over it. Now that he's better placed to earn friendships, I can rest easier." he said with a wry smile.

"Time before the dawn... Moondancer then. She's a pony who looks awfully a lot like my sister, but with a different color scheme."

Jingling Bells

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OMG that icon...

Shining has some of the best expressions in the IDW comics

He definitely does. I like the peekaboo one, too.

Re: He definitely does. I like the peekaboo one, too.

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