“Indeed," Discord's voice bounced over the walls, the tone casual.
Twilight blinked. Waited. Then turned around.
“Uh, could you… uh, get us to where Silverline is?”
Discord blinked back. “Who?”
“Silverline. The pegasus that’s been helping us. He’s part of the Sheon army. He’s injured somewhere in these catacombs. We have to find him before we can return to the others. Please teleport us to him.”
Discord sputtered a laugh, throwing his head back, before he caught the dangerous look glinting in Twilight’s eye. “Oh, I’m sorry. It’s just… It doesn’t work that way.”
The alicorn stared at him. “But… But you teleported here.”
Sighing, the draconiquus held up his hands. “I wanted to see what you were up to. I can’t want to check in on somepony I’ve never met before, now can I?”
Twilight gaped up at him, her heart sinking. Then she realized something. “Wait a minute… You mean you just wish or want something enough and… your magic works it out?” It was sounding eerily close to what had been happening with her magic lately.
Discord gave her an odd look. “Well, of course! How did you think I was doing my magic?” At her expression, he asked in a confused tone, “How do you use magic then?”
“How I always have. With spells.” Her eyes narrowed. “You ate some. Remember?” The feeling of her books being mishandled was one thing. Knowing bits of them were eaten… Twilight still suffered from the occasional nightmare.
“Oh, yeah, that did happen, didn’t it?” Discord murmured idly, trying to ignore the dangerous look that was quickly returning to Twilight’s face. “Sooo, you have to memorize spells, do you? Sounds boring.”
“Discord.” The tone was low and deadly.
“Alright, alright,” he surrendered with a sigh. “So what books do you need?”
“Uh,” Twilight hadn’t expected this, having been so fixated on the page eating that she forgot that the draconiquus could transport spells from her own library. Her mind fumbled for titles and spell names. Finally she murmured, “All You Need to Know About Shields and Jelly Making Spells.”
Discord gave her an odd look. “Jelly Making-“
“Don’t ask,” Twilight bit out, having used up more than her fare share of study time a few years ago on that very question. As it turned out, the author just really loved jelly and had kept some recipes nearby her own magic research. Which ended up in her manuscript and getting printed when the publishers didn’t separate them. Strangely enough, it was a Canterlot best seller.
Discord gave her a smile, shrugged, and snapped his fingers. A pale yellow covered book popped out of the air over his outstretched paw.
Twilgiht eagerly grabbed it with her magic. “Oh, Discord, thank you!”
The draconiquiss shrugged again. “It was easy, don’t mention it.” But the alicorn caught a very small smile of pride on his lips.
She flipped through some pages until she found what she was looking for. A spell that could counter against a shield. She licked her lips and filled her lungs with air, carefully murmuring the unfamiliar phrases under her breath. It was long and by the time she was done, her fatigue and grown considerably, her legs beginning to feel rubbery. Thankfully, it had done its job. It had pushed against the green wall until it collapsed in on itself, leaving the passageway clear.
The floating candles Discord made to hover around them and provide light forced the shadows around them to shift and dart. More than once Twilight had made Discord snuff out the lights, both frozen in the dark, the alicorn straining to hear anything, any sound besides her own breathing. But all she ever heard were the gentle drips of water echoing throughout the passages and Discord’s impatience. It hummed nearly as loud as her heartbeats.
“Okay, we can move again,” she relented for what seemed like the hundredth time. It had really only been about four thus far.
The candles lit up around them, the change in lighting making the alicorn squint for a moment or two.
“Must you be so panicky?” Discord griped dramatically. Seeing her face he quickly added, “princess.”
Twilight sighed, flinching at how her small breath echoed and magnified in the enclosed space. Even the click of her hooves against the stone felt impossibly loud. “You can’t teleport us to Silverline, I’m not leaving without him and I’m far too exhausted to go looking for a fight.”
Even with the ease her new form seemed to give towards magic, learning a brand new spell still strained her. That coupled with the painfully long day was enough to make her eye lids droop and she shook her head more than once in an effort to clear it from drifting into a half dream.
“Be on the lookout for other shielded rooms,” she whispered, her mouth feeling heavy.
Discord sniffed behind her. “I can fight, too,” he muttered to himself, just loud enough for her to hear him.
Twilight tried not to think too hard on what might happen if she had to rely on Discord’s abilities in a fight. He’d probably turn all the changlings into frogs or small clown ponies on stilts. She actually feared far more for the changlings than for herself. As powerful as changlings were, she doubted they had ever come across anypony like Discord, who actually wasn’t even a pony at all, but a draconiquus. She wondered if they could even change into his form. She hoped not.
Twilight frowned in thought. Now that the idea was in her mind, she realized that the creature behind her was the only example of a draconiquus she knew. Briefly she wondered if they were all like Discord. She nearly dismissed that notion straight away, as such a reality would surely have ended the world by now if it were true. But then another idea came to her. Her steps slowed. Were there other draconiquus at all? She’d never even heard of any. Anywhere. Not even rumors.
“Twilight,” Discord whispered loudly, snapping the alicorn back to the present.
She glanced back at him, noticing the candles around them had dimmed, and saw him pointing in front of them. She faced forward and squinted into the darkness. She smiled. A faint green glow was radiating off a far right hand wall up ahead. It was another shield.
Looking both ways, Twilight trotted towards the light eagerly. But she stopped short and backed up as soon as they come to the shielded opening and her eyes glanced what was inside.
Silverline was laying on the floor, seemingly unconscious, a tall dark figure standing before him.
“Who was that?” Discord whispered into the alicorn’s ear, having been pushed hastily back by her sudden retreat.
Twilight swallowed. “Somepony I never wanted to see again. Chrysalis, queen of the changlings.”