//------------------------------//
// Wounds of Fear 
// Story: Royal Duties 
// by biasedeyes 
//------------------------------//

Their party got several strange looks as they wound their way through the streets toward the palace. Lumen and Veris were taking more care to keep the pace to one more reasonable for the shorter-legged Equestrians, waiting and turning back. Discord seemed quite pleased with himself, swimming through the air and popping out from around corners the group had yet to walk around. The rest of the group had to deal with moving their luggage and themselves at a brisk pace, while being the center of unasked attention. Six Equestrians at once was probably remarkable enough for Saddle Arabia, but two apparent alicorns made it a spectacle. Most ponies just watched silently, but Twilight was surprised when she caught an egg someone lobbed at her in her telekinesis.
Twilight stared at the egg as the group walked on. It was an unfortunate fact that even in modern times Equestrians tired of debate would sometimes fall back to the primitive expedient of embarrassing their opponents by hitting them with food. Still, even then, it was always baked goods, cakes and pies. She shivered as she considered the mindset necessary to throw eggs in enmity.
The walk continued uneventfully as they walked through dusty streets, as long as you didn’t count the constant stares of Saddle Arabians as eventful. And it wasn’t, really, though Twilight was still uncomfortable at being the center of so much attention. The buildings grew taller and less cramped, and soon they were nearing the open grounds and greenery that surrounded the palace.

As they reached the large, empty road that ran along the side of the palace they could hear the low murmuring of a crowd, and a booming voice that echoed from the walls around the corner.
“Oh!” exclaimed Lumen “This way! The shah is giving one of his speeches!”
Veris muttered a couple words in Arabic, which, as far as Twilight understood, translated to ‘he’s not’. She frowned. She’d have to brush up her Arabic more.
They rounded the corner and soon joined the crowd which clustered in the street around a wide balcony from which the largest Saddle Arabian Twilight had seen yet was addressing them. He was a light, sandy brown, dressed with a golden circlet and flanked by guards. He wasn’t taller than them, but had a build far thicker than the thin frame Twilight had come to expect from Arabians. He was speaking in Arabic, but she thought she caught the words for ‘mighty’ ‘pride’ and ‘strong’. The crowd certainly seemed to be enjoying itself, cheering as the shah’s words grew more impassioned and he began to make gestures to accompany them. He paused for a moment, and a zebra came out from the depths of the palace with a stack of scrolls, took up something in their mouth, and buried it in the shah’s chest.
It took Twilight a moment to process that what she’d just seen was a knife stabbed into the shah's heart. In that time the zebra had fled back into the palace, followed by the guards, and the shah had slumped out of sight. The audience’s mood changed instantly to extreme anxiety. A few tense moments passed before a guard came back out and yelled (unintelligibly to Twilight) a few sentences in Arabic. Whatever it was, it didn’t improve the crowd’s mood. The Saddle Arabians began to mutter and mill about. Twilight had to dodge a hoof that would have hit her face. Seeing that her earthbound friends were suffering similarly, she put up an impromptu shield around them.
Not a moment too soon. The guard barked out another sentence Twilight couldn't translate, and the crowd frantically began to scatter. She winced as a stallion leapt to the top of shield before jumping off, but the shield held and protected them from countless hooves and knees besides.
When the street had almost emptied, Twilight sighed and dropped her shield. Rainbow, Pinkie and Fluttershy were hovering just overhead, the ambassadors a few hooves away, staring through the group with wan expressions. Discord was rolling on the ground, laughing.

He straightened when the shadow of six mares fell across him. Twilight had brought out her crown and summoned the elements around her friends’ necks. Her head bowed as she concentrated on the will to bring her friends together. Even Fluttershy looked prepared to petrify Discord, face empty of expression beyond a slight, thin-lipped frown.
“Whoa, whoa!” came a surprisingly old-sounding voice from Discord, suddenly wearing a pink dress and bonnet with lace. “That had nothing to do with your poor, harmless grandma Discord there.” Discord slithered up into the air, clothing vanishing in the process. “It's just… you don't do anything chaotic for a while, because you're 'reformed’, then you do something, but it's ruined by a purple demigod, so you're like 'Discord! Are you really lord of chaos, or just some viscount?’ And you put a brave face on it, but you're worried you’ve lost the spark. And then you see someone else's idea of causing chaos, and it's so puerile, you just  have to laugh.” Discord glanced around at his audience, and saw the faces of six uncomprehending mares, slightly calmer now, but still in various states of anger. Even Twilight hadn't followed the dialogue past where she was pretty sure Discord had called her a demigod. It was probably a deliberate attempt to get under her skin, but it was working.
“Ahem. You see, the position of shah is ceremonial,” Discord continued, watching their faces for a reaction. “most of the… Oh, nevermind! I can see you wouldn't understand anyway!” he snapped, turning mostly away from them. Then he turned back and focused on the six friends, adopting a more serious tone, “Just trust me when I say this little bump in the road won't make a difference to Arabian governme-”
Suddenly his eyes swept over Twilight's, and their gazes locked. They stared at one another for a moment. Discord's eyes widened and his eyebrows raised.
“...eennnnt” he finished. Twilight could swear she saw a smile pulling at the corner of his mouth, and groaned inwardly. She didn't want to wonder how far she could trust Discord while dealing with ponies who used weapons.
"Okay, we trust you." she finally said.
Discord moved his gaze back to Twilight's friends and the ambassadors, who had joined them. He really did break into a smile then, perhaps because everypony seemed merely upset rather than angry, with the notable exception of Applejack, who seemed ready to kill him with her bare hooves.
“Well, now that we've established my innocence in that unfortunate event, let's get somewhere safe! To the palace!”
Eight pairs of eyes stared blankly at him. Lumen lifted a forehoof in front of his mouth, hiding his face partially as he spoke. “Ahem, I was actually thinking we'd, ah, avoid the palace, due to what, ah, just happened…”
“Nonsense!” said Discord, rising up in a tight corkscrew through the air, “I'm fairly certain the palace has the most guards, and given how skittish your populace seemed just now I’m sure our Equestrians would like to be well-guarded. That is, unless you think all the guards are all as loyal as the standout we saw on the deck?”
“No…” started Veris angrily.
“Excellent, the palace it is then! That is, if the august Twilight agrees with my advice?” Discord dripped out of the air in front of Twilight, bringing his face just below her eye level. They had another staring contest, Twilight glaring into his unnerving red irises. She couldn't, however, find a fault in his logic. She sighed and turned away.
“Yes. Let's go.”


The ambassadors’ worried faces slipped out of view as they turned to lead the Equestrian delegation to the palace. They set a slow, reluctant pace. Discord hung smugly in the air for a moment before setting off and running smack into an orange hoof. Applejack stepped around from the side, keeping her hoof pressed to Discord’s body. Her brow was furrowed over gleaming eyes. He tried to pull back, but found that he was being held from the other side as well. Applejack's horn was glowing, undoubtedly activating her telekinesis.
“List’n here buster,” started Applejack, “I dun much know wha’cher tryin’ to pull wit’ yer advice bizness, but jest know Ah’m watchin’ yew.” Discord started to give an elaborate shrug, when she continued, “Oh. And one other thing. Yew. Are. Not. My. Granny.” She punctuated each word of the last sentence by poking her hoof into Discord. Discord was proud of his skin. It weathered the extremes of chaos, while causing minimal discomfort and being incredibly stylish. Nevertheless, he distinctly felt every prod. He sagged slightly as Applejack released him and hustled to rejoin the rest of the group.