//------------------------------// // An Abdication // Story: The Origin of a Legacy // by QuiteNiceDynamite //------------------------------// Captain Steel Hooves stood shocked, the most shocked he’d ever been. Discord walked sadly out of the makeshift hospital to the sound of quiet murmurings of confusion from the soldiers behind him. The soldiers asked various questions about the strange situation they had just witnessed. “What was that about?” One soldier asked. “Was that really Discord?” Another asked. “No, it couldn’t have been him.” A third pointed out. “It was probably an illusion he created to trick us into going outside.” Reckoned a fourth soldier. “Aye.” Steel Hooves agreed after composing himself. “It’ll more than likely be a trap knowing him.” The soldiers started to make quiet noises of worry behind him, wondering about what Discord could have been planning. “But.” The Captain silenced his troops. “It may not be. You all saw how he was acting. Even an illusion of Discord could never show that much emotion. He didn’t talk sarcastically either, and he always does that.” “What are we going to do Captain?” Asked one of the worried soldiers. Steel Hooves thought, and he thought hard. He retreated to a corner to think while his soldiers watched his every movement, his every emotion. Steel Hooves’ face twitched slightly as he thought. Discord may have reformed himself and was meaning to have a proper talk with the ponies of Canterlot, but would Discord honestly do something like that? He wondered in his head. Steel Hooves remembered how Discord had sadly sighed as he walked away. Could you fake an emotion like that so sadly? He pondered. But it could be a trap, and if the wily Discord pulled off such a sneaky trick, Steel Hooves would be responsible for the deaths of every single pony left in Canterlot. What to do? What to do? “Let’s sort this out.” Steel Hooves said as he approached a nearby table to plan his method of attack. Discord wandered sadly back to the Castle, he couldn’t consider it as his anymore, he hadn’t earned it, he could never earn it after what he’d done. The sun had started to go down as night approached, but ponies still lined the streets, watching their overlord walking back to the castle, kicking a rock along in front of him as he walked, staring morosely at the ground, his head hung low in shame. “What’s he doing?” Whispered various ponies as he plodded past them, he didn’t even cast a glance towards them. This Discord, the depressed, reserved and unsarcastic Discord, frightened the ponies of Canterlot even more than the Discord they knew; the terror-inducing, confusion-making agent of chaos that had been their ruler for the last half-year. The ponies were unsure what to make of his unusual behaviour, “What’s going on?” Many would ask. “What’s wrong with him?” Others would ponder. Ignoring their questions, Discord disappeared into the dark shadows of the huge main hall of Canterlot Castle. He bolted the door behind him and stood there in the dark silence. He continued to feel sorry for himself, wondering how he could atone for what he’d done, when he suddenly had an idea. He sat on the castle throne and clicked his fingers, opening a secret cell. Captain Steel Hooves stood at the table, surrounded by his troops, those injured and those healthy, but committed nonetheless. Steel Hooves drew a simple blueprint-like design of the castle by placing a pencil in his mouth and stencilling the design onto the large piece of paper in front of him. “Corporal?” Steel Hooves asked, “Yes, Sir?” Replied the young NCO. “I want a head count, and for each platoon, I need to know how many stallions we have that can fight.” “Yes, Sir.” The corporal replied, then he ordered the healthy troops into their platoons while the nurses continued to tend to the wounded. Steel Hooves continued to consider his options in his head. Do I bring everyone? Or just the troops? Or only the civilians? He thought while he scratched his head aggressively, hoping he’d come up with an idea. “Sir?” Asked the Corporal to raise his Captains’ attention. “Well? How many we got?” Steel Hooves asked without turning, still considering a plan. “First Platoon’s down to nine, while Second’s got fourteen and Third’s got seventeen.” The NCO reported. Only forty. Steel Hooves thought. “You’re head of First aren’t you, Corporal?” The Captain asked. “Yes, I am, Sir.” Replied the trustworthy young stallion. “Good. I’m gonna need you and your men for this to work.” Admitted the Captain. “Men!” The Captain shouted. “Gather round!” The soldiers that were healthy enough to fight, forty-two in all, including him and the Corporal, crowded around the large table. “Let’s get down to business.” The Captain said. In the dim light of the hospital, Captain Steel Hooves outlined his plan to his eagerly listening soldiers. “Right.” He started. “I’ve decided that we should bring everyone, us and the people. I know it’s a risk, but if only we go, Discord may react badly. After all, he may be trying to be civil, and if we don’t show that we trust him, he could flip.” Steel Hooves grabbed the pencil, and holding it between his hooves, pointed at the plan of the castle, specifically at the front door. “I’ll walk through the castle doors first, then the two platoons will follow me, and the civilians will follow you. Make sure you protect them, you have swords, but they’ll be unarmed, so they’re gonna be a lot more scared than you are. We have to be an example to Equestrian military by protecting our people.” Steel Hooves looked around the room with a steely glint in his eye; he expected each of his soldiers to lay down their lives for an innocent if they needed to. He then looked back down at the castle plan and pointed to the south side of the castle Discord was residing in. “Third platoon will go through this rear entrance, I know there aren’t many of you.” He said as he glanced towards the nine soldiers that made up Third platoon. “But the more troops we have in the hall, the bigger numbers Discord’ll think we have. When we enter the main hall, you go around the back and enter through the back door. We’ll distract Discord, so you don’t have to worry about him. Be ready to attack if it goes nasty, we need the element of surprise. But if you aren’t needed, don’t come in, ‘cos Discord’ll think that we weren’t trusting him, and it could go all wrong.” After laying out his plan, Captain Steel Hooves looked at his troops and spoke. “I know that the odds are bad if it goes wrong. And there’s a high chance of it going wrong. If you come with me, I want you to be committed to the cause and ready to fight. But I won’t force any of you to go. If you want to back out, say so now.” Steel Hooves looked around his troops for anypony that wouldn’t go, and he would respect their decision, whatever it would be. But nopony stirred until a Private spoke up. “We’re with you, Sir! Till the end!” Steel Hooves grinned as he inspected his troops. “Till the very end.” He responded proudly. “Arm yourselves, let’s go!” Steel Hooves ordered to the sounds of the valiant cheers of his troops. Steel Hooves led his forces down the streets of Canterlot, followed by the average citizens of Canterlot. A few of the citizens tried to avoid going, but they were assured by the soldiers that they would be able to escape if all went wrong. The massive line of ponies eventually reached the castle doors. Steel Hooves looked to his left and saw Third platoon arcing around the back of the castle. The Captain took several deep breaths at the doors. Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale. Please let this go right. He thought to himself as he turned and faced the ponies behind him. For their sake. He composed himself again and knocked on the door. He entered without waiting for an answer. “Discord?!” The Captain shouted into the darkness of the main hall. It’s a trap. Came the thought from his subconscious. The Captain shook such thoughts from his mind; he needed to trust his enemy. With a quiet click of Discord’s fingers, the hall lit up. Steel Hooves shaded his eyes from the sudden change in light, peering past a hoof. Steel Hooves spotted Discord sat hunched on the floor, in front of the throne. “Ah, Captain.” Said Discord, still staring at the floor, a hint of depression in his voice. “It’s good to see you. And the others?” Discord enquired, still looking at the ground. “They’re here.” Said the Captain as he approached the sorrowful Discord, his soldiers following him, and the citizens followed them. Discord finally peered towards his visitors. “What about the rest?” He asked. “Oh, I’m sorry, the troops you wounded are still incapacitated in the hospital.” Steel Hooves growled angrily. “Don’t play me for a fool, Captain. I’m talking about your Third platoon.” He muttered morosely. Steel Hooves eyes widened as Discord said that, it seemed he knew all. “Call them in, Captain. They would be no use coming through the rear door anyway, my minions would have already destroyed them if I had wanted them to.” Discord had just said that he didn’t want to kill Third platoon, so Steel Hooves trusted him and called his Third group in. “Corporal!” Steel Hooves yelled. “Get in here!” The nine stallions of Third platoon trotted out from the halls’ rear door and filed into formation with the rest of their comrades behind their Captain. “Now that we’re all here.” Discord started. “I’ll start.” “From the bottom of my cold, wretched heart, I apologise for my actions when I arrived six months ago. Not only the physical damage and death, but for the psychological damage I did to all. I release my ‘minions’, back to you.” Discord clicked his fingers and his minions finally escaped his cruel spell, their red eyes reverted back to their normal colour, proving their freedom. The freed ponies then ran back to their families and friends, many cried tears of happiness as they were finally reunited with their kin. “I know that a life given back can never make up for a life taken.” Discord admitted. “But anything I can do for you can’t do any harm.” He sadly mumbled, wiping the odd tear from his yellow eyes. Discord tilted his head to the right, looking at the wall. The ponies watching followed his gaze to the empty wall, wondering what he was looking at. Discord clicked his fingers again, and the light blue wall glowed with a door-shaped light shining from within. The gloomy Discord looked back to the crowd and said poignantly. “I give you your Princess.” Many ponies began to chatter nervously at the mention of their beloved Princess. "Is it really her?” Many asked. The bright door shape disappeared and revealed a tunnel with twisting stairs leading deep into the earth. And from within the darkness, a bedraggled, but still elegant, Princess Solaria emerged. The crowd of ponies, soldiers included, let out loud cheers as their Princess appeared, ponies shrieked with delight as their once perfect town regained their loving royalty, to lead them out of the dark days again. Princess Solaria approached Discord; and he began to cry tears of sadness. “I’m sorry, your Highness. I can never repair the damage I have done to your town.” “Discord.” The Princess said in her quiet, soothing voice. “You can’t repair what you’ve done. You can’t bring back those you killed, but you have done right today by releasing me and your minions back to their own world.” Discord looked down at the beautiful Princess. “I deserve whatever punishment you see fit to give me. Do not hold back, I deserve to suffer gravely for what I’ve done.” He admitted while weeping tears of self-hatred. Princess Solaria replied. “I shall not kill you, Discord, those aren’t my methods. We will discuss your punishment later. These ponies will be wanting a celebration. “Okay, Princess.” Said Discord as he pledged himself to the Princess. He then willingly shut himself in the place he had imprisoned Solaria as he awaited his fate. The ponies and soldiers all ran out of the castle to have celebrations and parties in the streets, all except one. Captain Steel Hooves bowed down before his Princess. “Your Highness.” he saluted. “Captain.” Solaria stated. “It’s time we discussed Discords’ fate.” “Yes, your Excellency.” “Where are the Elements of Harmony? I plan to imprison Discord for many years in a stone statue, he deserves to suffer.” Solaria growled angrily. “I have a search party on their way to the Changeling Kingdom to retrieve the Elements right now. They should be reaching the outskirts in a few hours.” He reported. “Good.” Solaria said simply. “Update them, tell them about Discord. They’re in no rush.” She ordered. “Yes, your Highness.” The Captain said as he grabbed his radio transmitter.