Last Ditch
Chapter 1: When Rain Falls Up
Max Kodan
"Noooo, not AGAIN!" Twilight Sparkle cried. Her ire only grew as she stared out the library window at the weather. The rain "rettap-rettip"ed as it flowed up the window pane and detached itself, shooting up into the sky, only to slow to a stop and evaporate into the dark clouds above. This meant only one thing: The return of the unwanted dream-visitor that had been popping into the purple prodigy's head every few nights.
"Is that any way to welcome an old friend, young unicorn?" The towering image of the draconequus dubbed Discord lay, arms crossed, atop one of the bookshelves. He rolled over and slithered around Twilight, mismatched legs barely touching the ground, equally mismatched arms reaching out to grab a yet still mismatched tail. The strange creature started quite literally chasing his own tail, swooping in circles around Twilight's legs as he spoke. "After all, I just came here once more to offer you that thing." In a flash of light, he had teleported himself across the room, now leaning on a bookshelf, a pair of spectacles perched so far down his nose that they couldn't possibly be helping him to see. In his taloned hand he held a thick book with an extravagant cover. It seemed to be black velvet, with a barely legible title stitched with what appeared to be golden thread. "The answers to everything."
Twilight wasn't quite sure if her foe had actually said the words aloud or if the title of the book had echoed in her mind so loudly that it took on an audible form. Every time he brought that book out, she heard the same thing. She had been tempted, once, but the more he lourded his posession of the book over her, the less interested she became. "It's just a dream, Twilight," she told herself once more. "He's in your head, and you can push him out if you want."
"Oh, come now, you don't think it would be that easy, do you?" Discord chuckled, flicking the book closed. The slam echoed around the dream-world, reverberating time and time again. "Let me let you in on a secret, my little pony. Do you know what the universe was before? Back in the beginning? Before land and law and order?" He pressed on without letting her answer. "Me, of course! Discord! Absolute wild, crazy, fun! Do you know what that means?"
"Well, I-"
"It means that I've been here! I've seen everything that's happened! I know how order, harmony," He intoned with palatable distaste, "came to be." A grin spread across his face as he tossed the book haphazardly behind himself, where it disappeared in a puff of smoke. He leaned forward and spread his arms wide, bringing his face uncomfortably close to Twilight's. "I am the Alpha and the Omega. And the Theta." He pulled himself back, crossing his arms once more, apparently in deep thought. "Oh!" He snapped his fingers and straightened up. "But you know, my personal favorite was always the Upsilon! I love being the Upsilon. Can you imagine the fun you could have with that one?" He spun around in a circle and re-emerged with a top hat and a cape. "Hello! I! Am! UPSILON!" he cried ecstatically, tossing his arms in the air in an extravagant gesture of pure glory.
"Get to the point, Discord. I'm getting tired of listening to you." Twilight narrowed her eyes, hunkering down as if she was going to fight the draconequus head on. She hadn't been swayed in the least by the long story, but she knew that the demi-deity was just getting started. However, for some reason she was unable to simply think him away, so she was a captive audience.
"So here's the deal, Evening Glitter," he began
"Twilight Sparkle," the named intoned rebelliously.
"Yes, that. Here's the deal. You trot your little magic mane over to my glorious memorial, and free me, and I'll- Now, don't look at me like that, let me finish! I'll let you in on the secrets of how the universe began. I'll tell you the origin of harmony, and the source of all magic. You're a studious type, don't you want to know?" His eye gleamed as he grinned, bringing himself close once more in the blink of an eye. The sharp claws of the lion's paw slid out, at the same time threatening and casual. "I can tell-" he shifted a bit closer. "You-" he blinked his eyes and when they opened, an entrancing spiral replaced his irises. "Eeeeeverything."
Twilight awoke with a start, rolling over and out of the bed, pulling the blanket with her. The cry she let out made Spike mimic the action. The unicorn looked around rather frantically, seeing as she was in nearly the same place she had been at the end of the dream. Her eyes finally rested on the window nearby. The rain pitter-pattered against it, running down and off the window pane. She sighed in relief.
"Wh-what happened? Who's there? What time is it?" The tiny dragon stumbled around, an apple-marked blanket coiled around his head.
"It's...it's nothing, Spike." Twilight stood and stared out the window, in the direction of the memorial park. "Just a dream. A really bad dream."