//------------------------------// // I found you // Story: The Secret Side Of Discord // by Lemon Pegasus //------------------------------// Discord sat at his throne at the top of the Canterlot castle. He was invisible to all at this stage, a trick he recently mastered. The silence among the air was deathly still, like something just wasn’t right. A small parakeet landed by Discord, which he noticed and gave a short smile to. The bird then flew away, over to its nest in a nearby tree. A short, devilish laugh sounded from Discord, as he menacingly rubbed his hands. He immediately stood up when he saw the carriage arrive. Discord gave a grin and attempted to hide it with his paw. Out of the carriage marched a buff, bearded Pegasus in yellow and black armour. His eyes were transfixed on the castle as he steadily marched towards the castle gates, followed by two smaller stallions in similar armour. The stallion stopped suddenly before a castle guard, stood firmly in front of the drawbridge. The Pegasus gave a salute and the guard saluted back. “Lord Lightning Star to see Princess Celestia!” the Pegasus announced in a bold voice like led. A chill ran through the spine of Discord once this was announced. Oh, Discord was going to enjoy this, very much. The castle guard nodded and turned around so that he faced the castle. He raised his hood to a unicorn on one of the battlements, who then responded by pulling a large lever. With an ear shattering sound of chains being rubbed together vigorously, the colossal drawbridge was lowered over the enormous moat that lay before the castle. The castle guard stood to one side. The entrance to the castle was very vast, vast enough probably to fit an ursa major in there! The Pegasus and the stallions that followed him marched in sync through the gates. Discord followed, still not seen by any of the ponies thanks to his spell. Within the castle court yard, soldiers lined up and at the sound of the command, they readied their spears. At the other side, stallions were lined up while a larger pony boomed commands at them in a large, powerful voice. At every command the stallions would instantly drop and perform push ups until another command was given. The small group of ponies were soon within the castle courthouse at the far end of the castle. The room was a great circle surrounded by rows of seats. In the centre of the circle was a large table with 20 golden seats along the sides. With Discord following, the ponies bowed and sat at the table. On the other side of it sat Princess Celestia wearing a golden crown with rubies embedded in it. To her left sat Princess Luna, a smaller, darker pony also wearing a golden crown, but this one was embedded with emeralds. “Now let’s not fool around, we haven’t got all day,” the Pegasus immediately said in a powerful voice, almost as if he was angry; “we wish to claim ownership of the oil site to the west of Phillydelphia.” “Yes but that oil site is on Equestrian land, it is our property!” Celestia said in a mighty but yet beautiful voice. Discord had a feeling that this meeting was going to be way too boring for his liking. He just sat there pondering of what to do while the ponies before him argued. What they were saying was just a blur of words to Discord; he was in too deep thought to understand a word of what they were saying. “Aah!” Discord said aloud as he clicked his fingers, pleased that he had come to a conclusion. Suddenly, Discord felt slightly fatigued. His invisibility spell was growing weak, he had to do the deed fast! He swiftly flew above the Pegasus and aggressively pressed his large, trunk like finger against his head. The Pegasus’s eyes instantly became spinning vortexes of black swirls, and his mouth drooped open. “Lightning Star, are you all right?” Celestia asked in a calming voice like silk. Discord returned to his seat, sat back and enjoyed the humour of it all. “IS IT NO WONDER THIS PLACE IS STIRRING UP CONFLICT WHEN IT IS RUN BY A PAIR OF SIMPLE MINDED FOALS LIKE YOU???” The Pegasus boomed aloud as he rose to his feet. Celestia was silent. Wouldn’t Discord laughed hysterically. Discord was controlling the mind of Lightning Star. Discord just loved chaos, and a war between Equestria and the United Pegasus States would certainly bring loads of it! Discord suddenly gave a loud gasp. His invisibility spell was being exhausted. He made quick haste out of the courthouse, into the courtyard and away from the castle. Just in time, his spell just now wore off. He laughed again, this time in a more devious manner. (Time Skip) “Oh I am enjoying this too much!” Discord said with a giggle to his voice. He was watching the battle take place from a safe spot up in the bell tower. In the town below, 2 mighty clans clashed within the streets. Swords hit shields, bows hit armour, and lives were taken every second. Discord laughed uncontrollably at the sight of it all, though it would be hard to hear him with the sound of battle cries and metal clashing. Discord continued laughing; even when an arrow nearly hit him but just barely missed and hit the walls of the tower. Discord couldn’t resist, he wanted to get a closer look! He clicked his fingers and his invisibility spell was activated. Discord wasted no time and flew like the wind towards the town’s streets. He stopped suddenly as what appeared to be small balls of fire shot through the air at lighting fast speeds! There was in fact a group of unicorns in yellow armour firing at a much larger group of Pegasi further up the road. Only a couple were hit, the others managed to avoid the deadly projectiles. Suddenly, Discord’s attention was drawn to a mare sprinting out of her house carrying a saddlebag over her back. She was clearly desperate to avoid this battle, and whatever was in her saddlebag was clearly larger than any ordinary belongings. The mare immediately stopped in front of a wooden cart before it curst into flames, a unicorn was aiming for her, believing she was a soldier. Luckily, the mare was able to run behind a house before she was hit. Discord suddenly heard an almighty crash, like a roar in a split second. The loud crash continued to echo for around 3 seconds after. It didn’t take long to realize a unicorn had summoned a bolt of lightning. But what happened next was heart stopping, even for Discord. The lighting had struck the house the mare was hiding behind! There was around 5 seconds of wood splintering sounds before the whole side of the building collapsed! Discord felt a chill go down his spine. One that made him feel something dreadful was about to happen, like he could sense danger. All Discord could do was watch as the enormous chunk of wood fell onto the mare like a tidal wave crashing down. The mare just had enough time to throw her saddlebag out of range of the danger before it all ended. There was a loud rumble as all the debris collapsed onto the ground at once, forming a heavy mess over the floor. Nothing was seen of the mare, only her saddlebag. Discord, being the curious cat he is, wanted to know what was in it. For a second, Discord forgot he was in the middle of a battleground. He had to act quickly, before long his invisibility spell would ware off, and the yellow armoured soldiers were quickly advancing. Discord swooped down above the saddle bag and carefully lifted it up and emptied its contents onto the floor. Discord was so shocked by what he saw he lost flight and fell to the floor. No wind blew in Discord’s mane, no ambient sounds were heard, it even seemed the battle had fell silent. Discord could only think of what lay before him. A foal! Looking no more than a few years old and slightly wriggling around in cloths and rags. Never before had this happened to Discord, but, a tear fell from his eye. Discord has watched lives end before him many times, but this time, it was different. He had witnessed the death of this foal’s mother no more than 20 yards away. And, it would have never happened if Discord had never started this whole war by possessing Lighting Star. Discord felt responsible, but no, he couldn’t! He snapped out of it, and just turned away, but something stopped him. As if there was some kind of invisible wall surrounding him, Discord just couldn’t walk away. Either he did it due to an instinct, an emotion or out of a pure cowardly manner he immediately twisted around and grabbed the foal. He held it in his paws in the way a mother would and flew away quick as a flash. He stopped at a distant ruin of a house and deactivated his invisibility spell. The area was no longer a deadly battleground, but a happy, peaceful land of pure joy and calm. Discord looked down at the baby and spotted a name tag in the rags. “Starswirl” he said out loud. He smiled and just sat there, wondering what to do. There was no way of getting around it, he was a father now! He had something he fought he’d nether have, a son!