Luminous Atonement Chapter 13:
Discord's Kangaroo Court
Right before the Furies' eyes, Discord disappeared in a burst of light. Judge snorted.
"Come back and fight, tyrant!" she shouted. "You are right to fear us, but no matter where you go, we will hunt you down!"
Discord's laughter echoed throughout the forest, causing the Furies to stand at full alert.
"Oh, that is rich," said the voice between chuckles. "I wouldn't dream of running away from you. You're just so much fun."
"We'll see who's laughing once your guilt takes hold," Judge snarled. She then summoned a thundercloud and pounded it with her gavel. The resulting bolt revealed Discord, who was hiding right behind them.
"Oh, wait. You're serious, aren't you?" said Discord, not the least bit perturbed. "You really think I'm afraid of you? Well, news flash: I'm not. Even if you use whatever magic you have to revert whatever I change, you cannot hold a candle to the Elements of Harmony."
He then snapped his fingers. Suddenly, he was wearing a nice suit and tie and holding a microphone and a set of cards. Three podiums appeared before the Furies, each of them marked with their respective names and housing a red button.
"Speaking of the Elements of Harmony, here's a little pop quiz," said Discord, looking at the card in his paw. "How exactly did I corrupt them? You have thirty seconds."
"We are not playing your game, you monster," Jury spat.
The sound of a buzzer resonated from behind Discord.
"Terribly sorry. Not only is that the wrong answer, but you didn't even buzz in," the draconequus said. "You get a penalty."
"I told you, we're not—"
Jury's proclamation was interrupted when the podium in front of her exploded. When the smoke cleared, she was covered in soot.
"Now, anypony else want to try?" Discord asked.
Judge banged the button with her gavel.
"Yes, Judge."
"You used deceit, trickery, manipulation, and your dark powers," Judge said coldly. "And for that, you will be punished."
The buzzer sounded again.
"Eh, that's technically correct," said Discord, throwing the cards away. "However, it's not the answer I was looking for. The correct answer is: I showed them the darker sides of their Elements. Things about what they represented that they found distasteful. I showed them that the truth is not always what we want it to be."
He snapped his fingers, and a mirror appeared before Judge. It showed a vision of the Furies stuck to each other, held together by cotton candy covering their wings. Then, without rhyme or reason, she found that the vision had come true. The Furies struggled against their bonds until Jury summoned a thundercloud that cut them loose with its bolts.
"I showed them that comedy is tragedy plus time."
Discord snapped his fingers again, and several heavy objects fell from the sky onto the Furies' heads. Executioner was the first to emerge from the rubble, and used her strength to free her compatriots.
"I showed them that when you truly treasure something, it's difficult to share."
Once again, Discord snapped his fingers. Several sharp gemstones rained from the sky. Jury summoned a cloud that absorbed them and flung it at Discord, who simply moved out of the way.
"I showed them the heart-wrenching dilemma of choosing between two loyalties."
Discord snapped his fingers, and the Furies found themselves in a vision of a crumbling Cloudsdale; the same one that corrupted Rainbow Dash. They darted every which way to avoid the tumbling towers before they found themselves back in the woods confronting the Master of Chaos.
"Your trickery and sly speech cannot fool us!" Jury barked. "We are harbingers of justice! We cannot be corrupted, no matter what you do!"
"Well, you got me there," said Discord, a wide grin appearing on his face. "But that's only because you delusional fools have your heads shoved so very far up your own flanks that you already did the work for me! I don't need to corrupt you! You already are corrupted! And the fact you don't realize it is just hilarious!"
Discord degenerated into a fit of laughter. The Furies, however, were not amused.
"You are out of order!" Judge roared, pounding her gavel against a thundercloud. The cloud shot several rings of lightning which latched themselves onto Discord's wrists and ankles. "As if a monster of chaos could understand anything about true justice. Speak not of what you can never possibly comprehend."
"Besides which, you neglected an Element in your little confession," said Jury.
"Oh, right! I'm glad you reminded me," said Discord. He then stuck out his tongue, which turned out to be a miniature version of Discord. The mini-Discord snapped its fingers, and the bonds on Discord's limbs disappeared.
"Thankth," he said to the miniature version of him.
"S'aright," said the mini-Discord before reverting back into Discord's regular snake tongue.
"Now then, where was I?" the draconequus pondered. "Ah, yes! There was indeed one Element that resisted my tricks and confronted my visions. She claimed to be weak and helpless, but oh, she was anything but. I had to cheat in order to corrupt her. And now, here you are doing the exact same thing. And don't tell me that you're doing what I could not, because that'll just make the irony all the more sweeter, and I would not be able to contain myself."
"She is being punished by her guilt," said Judge. "It's not the same."
"And her guilt just happens to be her polar opposite who stands against everything she stands for, is that it?" said Discord, folding his arms and raising a skeptical eyebrow. "Let's not forget that she's not to blame."
"Not to blame?!" parroted Jury. "She freed Orthrus from Tartarus!"
"Yes, because you told her to," said Discord.
"Her kindness told her to," Judge corrected. "That was her crime. She chose to be manipulated. You, however, use your sinister powers to make ponies behave however you want them to!"
There was suddenly a catchy ringtone coming from Discord's side.
"Excuse me, I have to take this," he said, taking a phone out of his pocket (which he randomly acquired). "Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Oh I know. Okay, bye!" He then hung up and turned back to the Furies. "That was the pot calling. The kettle says you're black."
Judge's eye twitched. "Say that again, tyrant. I dare you."
"I'll take that dare," Discord shot back. "You use your powers to manipulate ponies; I used my powers to manipulate ponies. If there's a difference, please show me, because I'm not seeing it."
"You use your powers for the sake of your own sick enjoyment," said Judge with a snort. "We use our powers for justice!"
"And that somehow makes everything you do right," said Discord with a snicker. "Y-you really don't realize how ridiculous you sound right now, do you?"
"You can never understand!" boomed Jury, pounding a thundercloud and sending bolts Discord's way. Discord bobbed and weaved around the bolts, but still managed to get scraped by a few.
"Oh, wait. You're serious about that?" he said, ignoring his wounds. "Alright then, let me laugh harder!"
He then burst into guffaws, holding his stomach and wriggling through the air.
"Stop laughing in the face of justice!" Judge ordered, banging her gavel against a thundercloud. The lightning zapped Discord's deer antler, sending shock waves through his body.
"Ooh, I felt that one," he said with a smirk as he recovered.
"You're about to feel more," Jury snarled. "Stop your nonsense and allow your guilt to consume you."
"I have a better idea. Let's both confess something that we've done wrong," said Discord, clearing his throat. "I admit that I was manipulative. I admit that I corrupted the Element Bearers. I admit to spreading chaos all across Equestria. I even admit to attempting to manipulate the goodwill of one who accepted me. There. Your turn."
Judge raised an eyebrow. "Our turn?"
"I just confessed all of my crimes," said Discord. "Now let me hear you confess to yours."
Before Judge could retort, Discord laughed. "Oh wait! You can't! Everything you do is already justified because you do it in the name of your so-called 'justice!' You three are just too funny for words! I could listen to your hypocritical double-talk for epochs!"
He then straightened up, and all humor and mirth disappeared from his voice. "There's just one teeny tiny little problem. You're hurting my friend."
The Furies stared at Discord blankly.
"We've already been over this," said Jury. "She's..."
"I didn't say you could speak," Discord snapped, buttoning the one-eyed pegasus's lip closed with his snake tail. "Now, as I was saying. You're hurting my friend. She's the one pony who resisted me. The one pony who would accept me. The pony who taught me the magic of friendship. And you have the gall to hypnotize her into doing something she would never do in a million years, and then punish her for it claiming to be acting in the name of 'justice?' That is something I cannot and will not tolerate. Now, I consider myself to be a rather easy-going fellow, but even I have my limits. If you give me any more of your delusional nonsense, no matter how funny it is, I'll make you regret it dearly. You may speak now."
The button disappeared from Jury's lip, and the three Furies stared back at the draconequus with contempt.
"We are immune to your mind games, tyrant," said Judge. "No matter what you say, you cannot corrupt justice."
"Each of your crimes will be punished," said Jury. "And after you, Princess Celestia and all of Equestria will follow. Nopony escapes the wrath of the Furies!"
Executioner pounded her hooves together and cracked her neck.
Discord sighed. "I tried to warn you," said he. "Now, it's time for you lovely ladies to see yourselves the way I see you."
He snapped his fingers, and three thunderclouds appeared before the Furies. They each produced a lightning bolt, which caused them to cast long shadows. From the shadows, several clones of the Furies emerged, advancing towards the original trio and speaking in a monotone daze.
"The ends don't justify the means."
"You are not really the Furies."
"Orthrus controls you."
"You are no different from Discord."
"You are hurting Discord's best friend for no good reason."
"Vengeance is not justice."
For the first time, the Furies showed genuine fear. They backed away from their shadowy counterparts, but soon found themselves completely surrounded.
"N-no. No, this can't be happening!" Judge shrieked. "Chaos shouldn't have power over justice! This is impossible!"
"Oh, didn't you know, my dear?" said Discord. "With me, anything is possible. After all, I'm Discord, the Master of Chaos. I don't believe I need to say anymore. Now then, I think you three have overstayed your welcome. Goodbye forever, and don't let the door hit your flanks on the way out!"
The shadows of the Furies began to converge on the original trio, grabbing at them and dragging them down. With howls of panic and fright, the three pegasi clawed and struggled in vain as they were dragged down into the shadows, never to be seen again.
"Well, that was fun," said Discord, dusting off his hands. "Now to tidy up the mess they made."
He looked over at Princess Luna and Nightmare Moon. The two mares were locking horns, and neither side seemed to be backing down.
"Hey, Queen Meanie!" Discord called out. "If you think this night is going to last forever, I've got a bridge to sell you!"
He snapped his fingers, and Luna leapt out of the way just in time. Sure enough, a large suspension bridge landed on Nightmare Moon, causing her to disappear into shadow. Luna panted heavily.
"Where *gasp* were you?" she inquired.
"Just taking care of business," said Discord. "Speaking of which..."
He then looked over at Fluttershy, who was still being bullied by her Guilt. He smiled and walked up to the impostor.
"What do you want?!" the dark Fluttershy snapped.
"You've been cruel for far too long, my dear. Time to be kind," said Discord, poking the shadow in the head with his eagle talon. "Arrivederci."
And just like that, the specter disappeared. Discord then turned to Fluttershy, who was still cowering on the ground and crying her little eyes out.
"It's alright, dearie," Discord said sweetly, lifting her chin with his lion paw. "Those hypocrites can't hurt you now. Not after what I did to them."
Fluttershy looked up at Discord, and found herself speechless. She then noticed Angel hopping over to her and giving her a pat on the head. She turned back to Discord, and a new set of tears marred her vision. In a flash, she flew straight at Discord, throwing her forelegs around him and sobbing into his chest.
"Um, Fluttershy? I'm, really not good at things like this," said Discord awkwardly. "Hmm. Angel, can you help me out here?"
Angel gave Discord a soft smirk and a wink. Discord sighed.
"Ah, the heck with it," he said, wrapping his mismatched arms around the weeping Fluttershy. "Th-there there. It's alright now. I'm right here."
Fluttershy tried to speak, but all she could do was hiccup and snivel.
"Shh. No need to cry, dearie," Discord said softly. "The Furies are gone. Their lies cannot hurt anypony anymore. Least of all you."
As Luna caught her breath and watched the scene before her, she couldn't help but get misty-eyed herself. "Philomena, am I seeing what I think I'm seeing?"
Philomena nodded and cawed.
"I-I was so scared," Fluttershy whimpered. "I-I didn't know what to do."
"I know, I know," said Discord, continuing to comfort her. "But remember, you're my friend. And no matter what, I would never let anything hurt you."
"R-really?"
"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."
Fluttershy looked up at Discord and smiled through her tears. "I'm not even going to ask how you know about the Pinkie Promise," she said, giving the draconequus a big squeeze. "Thank you so much, Discord."
"Well, that's what friends do, right?" said Discord with a chuckle. "You taught me that."
He then set the timid pony down and pulled on the white tuft on the end of his snake tail. The tuft turned into a handkerchief and respawned, and Discord used said handkerchief to dry his friend's eyes.
"Well, at least we've stopped the rumors," said Luna. "But now what do we do? The Furies were our only lead to Orthrus."
"What about the Kraken?" asked Fluttershy.
"I doubt he'd be willing to tell us," said Luna with a sigh. "We don't have much to offer him."
Discord placed his paw to his chin and stroked his goatee in thought. "You know what, Lunatic? After my little tete-a-tete with the Furies, I think I've had my fun."
"Meaning what, exactly?" inquired Luna.
"I'm now willing to take you directly to Orthrus."
Luna gave Discord a half-smile. "Glad you came to your senses," said she. "And before you ask, I am indeed ready to face him."
"I am, too," Fluttershy pipped up. "We can't let him carry out his plans."
Philomena squawked in agreement, and Angel gave Discord a salute.
"Alrighty then!" said Discord, recovering his jubilant demeanor. "All aboard the Discord Express! Last stop: Orthrus!"
With that, he snapped his fingers, and they all disappeared in a burst of light.