//------------------------------// // A new home? // Story: The Secret Side Of Discord // by Lemon Pegasus //------------------------------// He couldn't remember what happened next, he just collapsed. There he was, walking, when he collapsed. Discord awoke, his vision blurring at first, darkened as well. He was facing up, but not up at a sky, up at a wooden roof! What? Where was we? Looking around, he saw Starswirl opposite him, sleeping in a bed, mostly hidden under thin white sheets. There were candles illuminating the room, and a firefly lantern in the center. There was a bedside table beside Discord, as was there one beside Starswirl. There was a cabinet on the other end of the room, not too far from a red door. There was a single window, not made of glass, but just a hole in the wooden structure. It actually took Discord all this time to realize: he was in a bed! He laid upon a think, blank mattress. A long white blanket covered the bottom half of his body, and... he was bandaged! There was a large cotton wrap around his stomach, and there was another bandage on his left arm where a large cut had been. It now became clear that ponies must have been outside! Discord could hear happy conversations and ponies of all sorts of accents! He didn't know where he was, he wanted to retrieve Starswirl, and get out! Arising from his bed, Discord noticed another bandage on his leg. This was no doubt a hospital, but even if he had been patched up, there was still the worry that Starswirl would be taken from him. He managed to get up without trouble, as appose to having to struggle to his feet back in the mountains. However long it had been, it had been long enough for a recovery. Discord still leaned to one side, one leg not quite healed. However, clearly not a full recovery. He limped over to Starswirl's bedside, and... poked him. He didn't move for a few seconds, but soon enough, he started wriggling around under his sheets. He then turned to face Discord. Starswirl's large cut had been bandaged, and his bruises had gone down. He smiled at Discord, and immediately leaped to his hooves and cuddled Discord, stood on his hind legs atop his bed. Discord hugged him back, but this didn't seem like your average hug, Starswirl looked as if he was worried for Discord's well being, and now he was relieved... "Well, it's good to see you're better again." Discord looked to his left, where a unicorn stood, door wide open. He had a white fur and a short grey mane, he also wore an apron with a red medical cross on it. The pony closed the door and approached Discord. "Look, I don't know where we are, are who you are, but we want out!" Discord sternly said. Starswirl, trying to imitate this, faced the unknown pony and sternly stamped on his bed, eyes closed. "My name is Laba Veseliba, great name I know, and you are in Hollow Shades emergency rest. We take creatures here if they need emergency rest, funny enough. And, you and your child certainly looked that way, freezing out there in the bitter rocks, completely out cold." Discord was in Hollow Shades, the place he was looking for! Well, that's one trouble out the way. "My child? What makes you think he's my child if we're two very different species?" Discord asked, though he did believe he was a daddy. "You may not be the biological father," the doctor replied in a foreign yet clear accent, "but it certainly looks as if you're like a dad to him." Discord's heart stopped. Not literally! "He came running into our town, looking very anxious. He didn't speak, but he did lead a number of ponies to your motionless body! He wouldn't leave your side, you know! He even tried to wrestle on of use in an attempt to get back to you!" Discord looked at Starswirl, who just grinned back at him, his usual response. "...are you going to take him from me?" Starswirl responded by cuddling Discord and giving Laba puppy eyes. "Heavens no! What a cruel thing!" That was a relief. "Yes, all other towns would do that, but we don't live by their rules. We allow any creature to live here, and we allow any pair to be together if they're happy that way! Clearly the other towns simply can't get over their racist and homophobic society..." This was a big shock to Discord. Yes, what this town was doing was morally right, but it was illegal! "Aren't you worried the Royal Guard will find out?" Discord asked, Starswirl now under his covers, for... some reason. "We are very afraid. Despite how happy everypony here is, it is illegal. But, why should harmony be against the law? Besides, we have guards on watch 24/7 just in case some of us need to make a run for it." Hold on: this pony had no problem with Discord raising Starswirl? And apparently, neither did the town? "May we... see the rest of the town?" He was curious as to what this place was like, having to hide a secret while holding so many ponies. "Of course, but don't put too much pressure on that leg! And avoid leaning on your back." Laba opened the small red door, the floorboards creaking as he exited. Discord picked up Starswirl and kept in his arms, he didn't know what it was like out there. Walking out the door, he noticed that it was morning, it was just turning night when he collapsed. Not only that, but this place hadn't gone very far in terms of advancing in architecture, all the buildings seemed to take the same wooden structure, except for a few tall, towering ones that had a large cone at the top. Every building was separated, and the roads weren't paced at all, there was just grass.To the right, there was a town square, Discord must have been close to the center. The town square was the only place to have actual roads, but even those were only neatly calved and smoothed pebbles in the ground, creating a mostly stone flooring. Directly in the middle of the town square, was a fountain, depicting a dragon with wide, spread out wings. Although the buildings weren't much to shout about, there were all sorts of ponies -well, creatures- walking around! In this time period, the other towns like Ponyville and Canterlot were only inhabited by ponies. This place had gryphons, changelings, even larger beasts like Manticores and Orthros's! And... was that another Draconequus? And on the other end of town, there were fillies and foals all learning together outside, their teacher was a Minotaur! "I take it you're surprised?" Discord noticed that Laba was stood beside him. "...very surprised." Were these ponies not afraid to have all these creatures running around them? Clearly, they thought of them as no different from any other pony! "So, Discord, there's an uninhabited building to the East of here, number 8 School Road. You may stay there if you like." Hold on a second! "Uh, did I tell you my name, or..." Discord couldn't recall introducing himself, yet somehow Laba knew his name! "Mind read spell! Are you not a talented spell caster?" Well, this was awkward. "You're not? But you're a Draconequus! Your species is known for it's magical talent!" Maybe, but Discord wasn't raised by other Draconequees's, so his knowledge of magic was limited. "I... know a flight spell? As well as a flame spell, and I can turn invisible!" Discord did know some magic, he was going to make sure Laba knew that. "But can you do this?" With a flick of his horn, a key appeared in front of Discord, from out of no where! "Summoning spell, make anything appear anywhere. And what about this:" And... he was gone? "Well, can you?" Discord jumped, Laba was now to his left! He was just to his right! Teleportation! Must have been! "Well... no, I can't." Discord admitted, and Laba gave a sarcastic tut tut tut. "Well, that's the key to your house. Remember, 8 School Road! No charge." What? A free house, just like that? "Uhm... you're just giving me the house?" There are acts of kindness, then there's down right weird. "You need it, don't you? Just take it!" Well... free house! "If you're interested, there are magic classes on later today, by the Southern field." Hmm... magic classes, maybe Discord could learn a few things, maybe Starswirl could too! Speaking of whom, the foal seemed to be kicking his legs to some distant music... well then. "Well," Discord started, "Let's go have a look at the new house, shall we?" Starswirl snapped out of his musical trance and nodded. "Oh, and, Discord? Do you need work?" Work? Discord could earn some money??? "Uhm, yes, actually. But somepony will have to look after Starswirl." Leaving the foal in the house alone wasn't exactly ideal. "No problem, what if we had Starswirl go to school while you work? Then, you can come home from work in time to pick him up?" If only getting a job in real life was this easy. "Uhm, sure!" They talked while walking over to Discord's new crib "What can I get a job as?" "We need somepony on watch during the day, just somepony to keep a look out in case some traders or, Celestia forgive it, the royal guard show up." Seemed simple enough. "And, if somepony does show up?" Alert one of the nearby "sweet talkers." We call them this because it is their job to talk away any traders or guards. Ooh, we're here!" The house was fairly large, wooden, like the rest. It had a large, triangular shaped roof, and a small balcony. The small brown door had a wooden patio and a fence on the outside, as well as a small sign post that read "8 School Road, Oak House." Laba started slowly walking away. "Think of the job as payment for the house, you may start tomorrow." He called back to Discord and Starswirl. Well, that was easy.