//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4 
// Story: Bearers of the Elements 
// by fluttershywriter 
//------------------------------//

	 I felt my heart stutter to a halt, then begin beating so fast that it was almost painful. My instincts told me to run away, but it felt as though I had become a concrete statue. I swallowed, my mouth growing dry. "Luna," I mouthed, but no words came out. I tried again, nudging Luna with my elbow while still keeping eye contact with the pair of yellow eyes. "Luna!"

No response except for a dreamy moan. Great, now I was completely on my own against this mysterious pair of glowing eyes, which were growing narrower and narrower by the moment.

I cleared my throat and slowly backed away. The eyes snapped open angrily. I froze. "Er, Mister—or Miss—I mean, whoever you are—hello?" A low growling was now echoing throughout the clearing, and the yellow eyes were looking more furious by the moment. I squeaked, my heart pounding. I stumbled backwards, scooping up Luna and placing her on my back. "Get away from us!" I shouted. I knew that there was no point in speaking to this creature, whatever it was, but I had abandoned logic in my panicked state.

"Tia?" said Luna drowsily. Her voice came from my back, sleepy and not the slightest bit scared. "Whaz goinon?"

The growling intensified. Then, suddenly and horribly, the creature leapt out of the bushes. I screamed, rolling into a ball and shielding Luna. I stared, transfixed, as the creature came barreling through the sky, then landed quite gracefully several feet away from me. We made eye contact again, and I felt most of my fear evaporate, replaced by fear. The creature standing in front of me wasn't a creature that you'd find in the woods, exactly, but it most certainly wasn't a pony.

"What are you?" I asked, cocking my head.As I stared at the monster-like creature in front of me, my fear continued to ebb away. He—it was definitely a he—was the strangest-looking creature I'd ever encountered, but he didn't look dangerous. He had the yellowish eyes with red pupils that I'd noticed earlier, but they looked less dangerous. He was tall and skinny, with a red spiky tail and blue wings that poked out of his back. He had a griffon claw and a lion paw, but the most bizarre thing about his appearance was the goat head. His face and neck were covered in gray-brown fur, and two curly horns poked out of his head at odd angles.

As I stared at him, my mouth half-open, he regarded me as if I was an earthworm. "Didn't your mother ever tell you that it was rude to stare?" he drawled, raising an eyebrow. 

If possible, my mouth dropped open even wider.

"Oh, don't give me that," he said, yawning and stretching. "You're startled that I can talk? Just because I'm a so-called monster?" He sank into a mocking pout. "You ponies can be so racist."

"I-I, uh, I didn't mean that—" Pull yourself together, Celestia! I scolded myself. You need to ask him the necessary questions and just get out of here. Don't let him make you feel stupid—he's just about your age, not some high-class citizen interviewing you!

Maybe that was the problem, though. I didn't have much experience talking to ponies my age, let alone strange monsters my age. But you are a PRINCESS, I told myself, wondering if other ponies had to coach themselves through conversations like I did. Just let him know that.

I cleared my throat and lifted my chin up high. "As the princess of Equestria, I demand to know what sort of creature you are!"

He smirked again. "You're a princess? I should have known."

I felt heat creep over my cheeks. "Huh?"

"You're delicate. Snobby. You look like you're not going to last a second in these woods." He listed off these reasons as though he was intensely bored. "Your companion, on the other hand—" He jerked his head towards Luna, who was sitting on my back, grinning at him with feverish curiosity. "She doesn't look like any princess I've ever seen."

"She is," I snapped, scowling at him. "And I'm not delicate. Or snobby. Anyway, you never answered my question."

He rolled his eyes, yawning again. There was a flash of light, and the next thing I knew, he was standing next to me, tracing my face with one of his claws. I jerked away, horrified. 

"What are you—"

"This isn't Canterlot, Princess. I don't have to take orders from a so-called 'Princess'." He made air quotes. "But since I am a creature of my own free will, I can tell you if I so please. I'm a draconequus."

I blinked, squinting at him. "You're a drac—a dracon—a dra-con-equ-us?" I asked, my tongue stumbling over the words. He twirled his paw in the air in dry enthusiasm. "But that doesn't make any sense. I've never come across those in my readings, and I've done intense studies on the creatures around Equestria."

"Ah, yes. Well, it's like I've always said—ponies are racist. They never have accepted other species' differences." Rapid-fire bursts of light blinded as he teleported in quick succession. Luna giggled and looked up at him with wide eyes. He leered and ran a paw through his shaggy mane. "They rarely travel because of it—which brings me to my question: why are you here?"

I backed away from him, warnings about strangers filling my mind. "That's none of your business," I said, my ears bristling. I felt a shiver run down my spine. Something about this draconequus was making my mane stand on end, and I didn't feel good about being in his presence.

Luna had no such concerns. "It's because there's a bunch of weird stuff going on in Canterlot. Like chocolate milk raining. Some ponies told us about these things called the Elements of Harmony that might be able to get rid of the chaos, but we'd only be able to find them in this forest. And since we're the princesses, I thought that we should be the ones to go searching for them." She bit her lip. "Except we don't know where they are, really. And I'm hungry."

The creature cocked his head before shrugging and pulling a glass of chocolate milk out of nowhere. My jaw dropped open. Yes, I'd seen some strange things before, being a princess and all, but never before had I seen a creature that could defy all laws of physics like this.

Luna beamed, sipping her chocolate milk. I recovered from my shock long enough to give her a reproving glance. "Luna, what do we say when somepony gives us something?"

"Thank you," she managed to say, chocolate dribbling out of the corner of her mouth. Somehow, the glass continued filling itself after she had finished sipping. Delighted, she squealed, but I tugged the glass away from her, ignoring her protests. Facing the draconequus, I put on my fiercest scowl and tossed the glass into the bushes. A small explosion occurred, which I did my best to ignore.

"I don't understand how you can make that chocolate milk appear out of nowhere or how you can teleport," I said evenly. I felt the tip of my horn begin to glow in frustration, and I chose to leave it that way in the hopes that it would intimidate this creature. "I don't really understand what kind of creature you are, and I definitely don't know if you're dangerous or not." I took a deep breath and forced my horn to grow brighter, although I was suddenly feeling incredibly exhausted. "But I need you to explain a bit more about yourself if you don't want to get blasted in the face with this magic."

He smiled smugly. "Oh, dear me," he said, his voice coated with sarcasm. He fluttered his wings and hovered in the 
air for a few moments, putting on an expression of mock terror. "I'd better explain if I don't want the pretty pony princess here to blast me in the face with her magic, right? What kind of spells will you cast on me, Princess? A pink blast of glitter? The spell of magical love? The spell of friendship?" He fell to the ground, laughing at his own wit. Luna joined him. I scowled at my sister. Traitor.

Luna curled into a ball on the ground, her eyelids drooping. "I like you," she said, still giggling slightly. The draconequus shot me a boasting look as if to say, See? Your little sister's smart enough to know that I'm hilarious.

The draconequus poked at her head playfully, teleporting around her in quick bursts. She giggled and swatted at him. "Thank you, Princess. It's good enough to know that somepony appreciates brilliance when they see it."

"Yeah." Luna smiled and curled up in a little ball again. "Tia doesn't like funny things."

That was it. I stepped closer to the two of them. "First of all," I growled through my teeth, "this is just stupid, not funny. And second of all—don't you understand, Luna? He's doing all these chaotic things just like what's happening back in Canterlot! Bad things happen when things get chaotic!" I realized that I was yelling. Blushing, I stomped a hoof to punctuate my sentence and ended up feeling like a toddler.

Luna and the draconequus were both staring at me like I was a lunatic. It was Luna who spoke up first. "There are two different types of chaos," she said simply. "There's bad chaos and good chaos. Bad chaos hurts ponies, but this kind of chaos is the funny kind." She grinned and flew over to the draconequus, wrapping herself around his leg. "I'm calling him Discord."

The draconequus blinked. "What—are you talking about me?"

"Yeah." Luna said this as if it was the most obvious thing ever. " 'Cause it doesn't sound like you have any other name, and Tia says that 'discord' is another word for chaos. And since we're on this trip because of chaos—" She snuggled into him cheerfully "—I'm gonna name you Discord."

The draconequus spluttered, a blush spreading over his face. "That's—that's ridiculous! Are you insinuating that you can just name me, like I'm some sort of common household pet? Because I'm not! We draconequui have a long, noble ancestry, and none of us have names! It's a tradition!"

"That's a dumb idea," said Luna bluntly, frowning. "I want you to have a name, and Discord sounds like a good name."	

His eyes grew wide with frustration. "You can't choose to let me have a name! It doesn't work that way! I refuse to let some pony princess name me. It disgraces the entire tradition of—tradition of—you can't just—"

I felt a grin begin to spread over my face. "I think I agree with the draconequus, Luna," I said, deeply enjoying the blush spreading across his face. "Such a savage creature like this shouldn't have a name. Only ponies are supposed to have names. I don't think that this creature is deserving of something as important as a name."

He clenched his paw and his claw into fists. "That's—fine! I don't care if you name me at all! It's a stupid idea, anyway." He scowled at Luna, and for a moment, I got a vision of him as a child, sticking out his tongue at her as if he was a schoolfoal in a fight with her. I resisted the urge to laugh.

Luna smiled smugly, clearly pleased that she had won the argument. "Okay, I think that Mr. Discord should stand guard until the morning while we sleep. Then, he can guide us through this forest so that we can find our way to the Elements." She curled up on the ground again, smiling contently and yawning.

"Wait, what?" I blinked, shaking my head. "I never said anything about this . . . this draconequus leading us through the forest. Where did you get that idea? Look, we've met him, you gave him a name—what else do we have to do? I personally have no interest in being watched by a complete stranger while I sleep."

"Don't flatter yourself," muttered the draconequus—Discord, I guess—while rolling his eyes. I glared at him and turned back to Luna. To my dismay, she'd managed to fall asleep.

Discord crossed his arms. "I didn't know that it was possible to fall asleep that quickly," he said snidely, inexplicably glaring at me. "I didn't know that princesses, of all ponies, could fall asleep that quickly."

I felt myself begin to blush. "What does that have to do with anything?" I snapped, both confused and irritated. What was this creature's problem with me being a princess? Didn't he know that I could have him burned at the stake merely by suggesting that possibility to one of the royal guards? "Besides, what are you so annoyed with us about?"

"Annoyed? I'm not annoyed." He seemed genuinely confused for a moment before regaining his ridiculously casual posture.

I took a deep breath and rolled my eyes, trying to remember what my manners specialist had taught me in the lessons on how to behave when dealing with a difficult pony. As far as I could remember, she had never covered anything on speaking to sarcastic draconequui. "Well, it was lovely meeting you, Mr. Discord." I curtsied, feeling ridiculous. "Unfortunately, if Luna and I want to find the Elements, which we do, we're going to have to get a good night's sleep. In order to do that, we are going to have to ask the present company to leave. Thank you for your time." At a loss for words, I curtsied again.

Silence hung in the forest for a moment except for the chirps and squeals of animals. I glanced up from my curtsy, feeling my cheeks grow hot. Discord was smiling, rolling his eyes and clearly stifling his laughter. "This isn't funny," I snapped, dropping my formal disguise.

"Speak for yourself," snorted Discord, shaking his head and wiping a tear of mirth out of his yellow eye. He turned serious, or at least as serious as somepony as disturbingly random as him could. "You know, though, your sister does have a point."

"Huh? About what?" I blinked, taken aback. Since when had Luna had a point about anything?

Discord rolled his eyes. "You princesses really are unintelligent, aren't you? Well, perhaps not your sister. After all, she was the pony who came up with the idea of—"

"What are you even talking about?" I snapped, rubbing my forehead to soothe my splitting headache.

He widened his eyes and teleported within an inch of me, running a finger up my cheek. I cringed away. "What I'm saying is that maybe it's a good idea to let me lead you to these Elements of Harmony that you talk about. I've been living in these woods my whole life, and I know every nook and cranny like the back of my paw. Or claw. Or hoof, if that's what you prefer." He held up his paw and claw. Both of them turned into a hoof for a split second before Discord shuddered and turned them back into their natural shape. "Ugh. I don't understand how you ponies can stand having hooves."

"I . . ." I shook my head to clear the image of his fists turning into hooves. "It's just, well, I barely know you and you're expecting me to let you lead me through this unknown forest. And if you'll excuse me, you're not exactly making the best introduction." I took a deep breath and went on, the words tripping over my tongue. I didn't want Discord to interrupt me now. "And it's not just me that you're going to be leading. You're going to be leading Luna, too, and I don't want to make the wrong decision. She could get hurt by you." I ducked my head, then glanced up at Discord, wondering if I had been too dramatic. He raised an eyebrow.

"Hurt? By me?" With a flash, he was suddenly dressed in a fancy suit and a top hat. "Do I look dangerous to you, Tia?"

I scowled at him, hating myself for blushing. "Don't call me Tia."

He widened his eyes in mock innocence, his suit and hat disappearing. "But Luna called you that!"

"Well, Luna's different." I found myself wishing that my glare was more terrifying. Underneath his mature, condescending gaze, I suddenly felt as though I was about Luna's age.

Discord sighed elaborately. "I think that we should just ask your sister what she thinks about me. You know, seeing as she's clearly the smart one in the family." He teleported over to my snoozing sister and poked her in the head. She jerked awake, shaking her head.

"Huh?" she blinked, her dark blue eyes looking fuzzy and confused. "Tia?"

"Nope." Discord picked her up, putting her on his back. To my surprise, I felt a stab of jealousy that I chose to identify as protectiveness. I grabbed her and placed her on my own back. Discord glared at me, but went on. "Luna? Your sister thinks that I'm intimidating and might end up hurting you. Do you agree with her?"

Luna yawned, fluttering off of my back and curling back up in a ball on the ground. "No," she said. Then, as if I wasn't there, "Tia's being dumb."

I sputtered, highly irritated. "What do you—"

"She thinks that you're dangerous even though you're not," she went on, yawning. Her eyelids drooped, but she went on with her tirade on my stupidity. "You're not scary, even though you're a monster. Just 'cause you can do magic doesn't mean you're gonna hurt me or Tia. Besides, you're probably Tia's age. And she could beat you up if she wanted to." With this, she yawned again, closing her eyes.

Discord and I were both miffed, to say the least. "Like she could really—" began Discord before cutting himself off. He turned to me, a pleased smirk on his face. "See?" he said, crossing his arms and grinning.

I groaned. "Fine. But if you lay one paw on my sister, so help me, I will—" I gave him the most terrifying scowl that I could and let my horn shimmer as dangerously as I could. 

Discord stared at me flatly for a good five seconds before rolling his eyes and transporting so that he was lying on the ground. "Right. Because I really care about hurting two pony princesses." Yawning, he closed his eyes and snapped his fingers. A pillow appeared beneath his head, and a thick, plush quilt covered his body. I blinked, then groaned and curled up next to my sister.

This is a bad idea, my heart warned me. I pulled Luna closer to me and closed my eyes, trying to fall asleep. But even though I could hear Discord's snores, assuring me that he couldn't hurt us, it was nearly time to raise the sun before I fell asleep.