The clinking of silverware against plates was the only noise in the otherwise completely silent library. Twilight bit her lip as she watched Celestia, in her mortal guise, silently swallow a mouthful of pancakes. Her teacher's left front hoof was held off the ground in a sling, and several bandages wrapped around her chest. Several small cuts lined from her shoulder to her flank, where Discord's tail spines had bitten into her flesh, though thankfully that was all the damage she had sustained besides the broken leg and a few large bruises.
"...Maybe it isn't going to be so bad." Celestia's silverware froze in midair, and though her mane shadowed most of her face, Twilight could tell she was holding in a sharp retort. The lavender unicorn cleared her throat nervously, swiftly stating, "Er! I mean...that came out wrong. What I was saying was that maybe we could find a solution or something! That could help, or maybe we could track down Discord or-" Celestia set her fork down with a soft clang and Twilight's muzzle snapped shut as the disguised alicorn slowly stood.
"Twilight. His magic is gone. He's been completely sterilized of anything that could help us track him, and we have no idea which way he went, how long he was moving, and if he changed direction, which direction that change would have been in." Celestia stood with a resounding clack of her front right hoof and she frowned at her student. "You still don't fully understand what you did wrong, Twilight. Neither you nor your friends understand." She hung her head, slicking her ears back against her head as the fight drained out of her. "And...that's my fault."
"I guess I just can't grasp it, Princess. He never had a cutie mark, we couldn't have taken it away from him. I don't think it's possible to remove a cutie mark! In all my studies I've never even heard of the theory that a cutie mark could be taken. Let alone one that didn't even exist in the first place. It just doesn't make sense." Celestia's look could have turned a cockatrice to stone, and Twilight winced.
"Twilight, just because somepony hasn't thought of it yet doesn't mean it's impossible!... Everypony has magic inside of them, no matter their blood. Pony, buffalo, griffon, dragon- they all have it in them, somewhere!... Except for Discord. He doesn't anymore, because I was afraid." Twilight tilted her head and stepped closer. "Afraid of what, Princess?"
"Afraid of what could have been. It was foolish Twilight Sparkle. I should have known to trust you...I feared that if you, or the friends you had found, discovered the true nature of those Elements, then one of them would become corrupt, and try to use the Elements' powers for their own. While the conduits need to work in tandem in order to reach their full potential, they can still accomplish massive feats on their own." Twilight sat down, swallowing, then gestured for Celestia to do the same, and took a deep breath.
"...Then why don't we start by getting that out of the way...? What are the Elements, truly?" Celestia heaved a deep sigh, and despite the youth of her mortal guise, she looked far older than a thousand years.
"The Elements are just magic amplifiers. One of the most powerful of their kind, but still, just amplifiers. They're called the Elements of 'Harmony' because they work in tandem with each other to reach their full potential. They bounce magic off of each other, with more force on each echo than the last, until it's released. This release is powerful enough to accomplish nearly anything. Including...sterilizing a being of their magic." Twilight slicked her ears against her head and began to chew on this new information.
"Celestia...?"
"Yes Twilight?"
"....I still don't understand, but I am trying..." Twilight swallowed back the tension in her throat as she stood and began levitating atlases and maps in from the library into the kitchen, and continued, "...While I'm trying to wrap my mind around this...do you want me to try organizing some search parties? He was exhausted when...it happened, and according to Fluttershy, he wore out extremely quickly even after waking up. He's got to be somewhere in Equestria still, right?" Celestia took a deep breath and nodded, and Twilight spread out a particularly large map of Equestria, and quickly brought in several red markers from the library as well, beginning to cross off the largest cities of Equestria.
"We know that he doesn't want to be near us. He's afraid, upset; I'd wager he doesn't want to be around anyone." Twilight offered a half-hopeful smile to her teacher.
"We get rid of the places we know he wouldn't go, and we search the areas he might have fled to! Like for instance, I know he wouldn't want to go to Canterlot, or here, so we can cross off our areas!"
"What I wouldn't give to be in Canterlot...Doughnuts, dictionary pages, and chocolate milk...perhaps even strawberry milk, if I felt adventurous." Discord lamented softly.
He was walking. He didn't know where, or which direction he was going anyway, or if he was even going to be able to continue. But moving seemed like a better idea than simply sitting in the middle of a wasteland and waiting to rot.
Or rather, it seemed like a good idea at the time. Now? He was cursing himself vehemently. He'd forgotten how tedious and monotonous walking was. Or running, or jogging or anything. He'd never known what it was like to walk with weights attached to his legs either. Behind him dragged three pieces of Twilight's basement floor, still bound to him with the chains that held him. With no magic to slip out of the bonds, his physical strength was all he had at the time to resort to, though now in hindsight it might have been better to wait until the chains had been removed before bolting. The last chain, attached to his injured front right leg, was gripped in his tail, to prevent any more tug and trauma to the already wounded limb. For the larger half of the morning, he'd been gnawing and clawing and kicking at the shackles 'round his ankles and wrists, and all he had to show for it were two broken claws and a coppery, metal taste in his mouth. And a horribly painful, sore right shoulder that throbbed wildly whenever he dared to move it too far in any direction.
Softly, the draconequus- or whatever he was now, he was NOT him at this point in time- swore to himself as he looked to the sky, scowling at the sun and screwing up his muzzle.
"Thanks for making this so pleasant, Princess Sunnybutt. Couldn't have just let some clouds drift in front of your big ball of fooey, nope! Had to be a shiny rainbow friendship day, didn't it?" Discord plastered his ears against his head as he glared to the sky, then pouted. "You know, I don't even care that you aren't the Princess of Cloud Poffs, would it have killed you to...to...oh I don't know! Make the sun not awful today??? You're spiteful, you know. And mean!" Silence greeted his verbal attack on the princess of UV radiation damage, and he scoffed angrily then stood.
Only a few minutes later, he stopped himself and released a loud groan as he sat himself down yet again, twisting his neck as he ran observational eyes over his environment. Again, just as last night, nothing but rock, and dirt stretched out around him, and like last night, his chest constricted as the sheer loneliness of the situation pressed in on him.
"...What am I doing...? Lost, no magic...no sign of any food or any drinks, and I haven't got the strength to fly anywhere...and alone." His eyes drifted to his shoulder and he bit his lower lip fearfully, swallowing a lump in his throat that felt far too much like the kind one gets when about to cry. With a hiss, he lifted an aching paw and weakly let out a soft whine as he was greeted with the sight of dirt and scrapes covering his pads. Tiny bits of fur had torn off at some point, and between his third digital pad and metacarpal pad, there was a rock embedded in the skin. He winced, and carefully maneuvered until he could reach the offending stone with a claw from his injured arm, digging at the irritated flesh until it finally came loose, followed by a well of blood.
He was unprepared for the wave of nausea that hit him, and he swore to himself angrily. Since when was he afraid of blood?
"It's because it's your own blood." Discord's high pitched scream easily reached the decibel at which glass would shatter, and he launched himself at least five feet off the ground straight into the air, limbs rigid and his pelt standing on end like a startled cat's. He landed hard on his paws, immediately releasing a sound that was definitely not a strangled whimper, and crumpled to his right side, further agitating his poor shoulder. With a cry, he flopped onto his other side and slumped down, breathing heavy for a moment, before looking around. Above him stood Celestia, in all her solar glory, and she smiled down patiently at him. He hissed as he stood, and with a lash of his tail he turned to face his back to hers.
"What do you want you sun marked horse?" He rasped softly. Celestia's enchanting giggle wrapped around him, and he felt his entire body run cold then fiery hot again.
"To let you know just how far you've fallen." His neck twisted and his head turned to look at her, exhausted gold and red eyes malevolent and hateful, but Celestia took a few graceful steps towards him, undeterred. Discord forced himself to his feet, backing away and bristling and baring his teeth like a wild animal would. Dimly, a part of him realized he hadn't acted this way in a millenia, and a smaller part of him felt embarrassed that he was so easily shaken by a few hoofsteps towards him. He flattened his ears against the back of his head.
"Look at you, Discord. You're hauling your living corpse through a desert. There's nothing left of you." Celestia altered her course so that she curved around his side, leaving a circle of hoofprints around Discord as his wings flared involuntarily.
"I'm not dead yet! I just..." With a shake of his head, Discord gnashed his teeth together in a wicked snarl. "When I get my magic back, you'll wish you had kept me trapped in that statue, Celestia!" Celestia's infuriating laugh dug into his ears, under his skin, making it crawl, and his pupils sharpened into razor thin slits.
"When?? Oh you silly draconequus, you aren't getting your magic back, ever! Don't be ridiculous. Just take the cards fate has dealt you. Look at you. Exhausted and injured, sickened by the sight of your own blood simply because for thousands of years you've been deluded into thinking you had none to spill!" Her mirthful lavender eyes bore into him, still comforting and patient, and he hissed angrily. "We gave you the chance to reform, Discord. We gave you the chance to go along peacefully. The only one you can blame this whole mess on is yourself you know."
"Quiet!! This all happened because you were too afraid of your precious little ponies knowing the truth about your so called Elements of Harmony."
"Afraid? No, no Discord. I was curious. I wondered what their pretty little mortal minds could cause to happen." Discord lunged with a screech, and Celestia swiftly jumped out of the way, watching as he stumbled and fell to his side and rolled twice across the ground before going still, then she walked up and playfully pat his head, right between his horns, like a mother watching her child play. It burned just to think that she felt so in control, but his muscles were screaming and his body ached. With a heave, he tried to push himself up, only for his one good front leg to collapse under him, and he let out a pained groan. Celestia once again laughed, and the sound burrowed into his head, echoing in his ears even as his throat tightened and he felt water well at the corners of his eyes. His vision edged with darkness as he began to cry softly, his entire body trembling weakly.
"Oh Discord, my poor little draconequus, don't cry..." Celestia gently dabbed at his eye with a gold-clad hoof, smiling sweetly. "Don't cry, Discord. You brought this on yourself." Her soft, innocent giggle followed him beyond the barrier between the waking world and the dream, and continued even into his dreamless unconscious.