//------------------------------// // Make New Friends but Keep an Eye on Discord // Story: Revisions of Past Mistakes // by SC_Orion //------------------------------// Discord leisurely sipped tea from his teacup. He repeated the name with a mix of skepticism and distaste, "Treehuger?" Discord didn't even try to stifle his laugh. Fluttershy spoke softly, "Oh yes, she's a really nice pony. In fact, I'm going to be taking her to the Gala with me." Fluttershy took a sip of her tea. Discord pulled his head back and upwards. Fluttershy was completely oblivious to Discord's dislike of that idea. After a few seconds, Fluttershy finally caught on to Discord's perturbed expression. "Is something wrong, Discord?" "Oh uh, I just thought you were going to take me is all. Bah," he batted a paw in the air dismissively, "It would probably be boring anyway. Not my style..." He trailed off, then looked at his right arm, "Oh, look at the time. Sorry, Fluttershy, gotta go!" "Wait! We haven't even had any of our Tuesday Teacakes!" Fluttershy held up a platter of miniature cakes with a hoof. Discord grabbed it and dumped the contents of it into the vest he made appear by snapping his talon. "Maybe next time, Fluttershy dear. Oh-ho did I say that out loud? I er... Hmm... Ta-ta." He put on a hat and snapped his fingers, disappearing, leaving a confused Fluttershy behind. Spike was sleeping in his basket, having a most pleasant dream involving gems and Rarity returning his love. He rolled onto his back, and felt something slivering under the covers. He cracked open an eye to see Discord right in his face. He immediately became wide awake in fear of the sudden appearance of the Spirit of Chaos. "Ah!" Discord spoke coldly with a small amount of malice, "Where's Twilight?" The still terrified Spike managed to find courage to reply, "She's in Canterlot helping Princess Celestia with the Gala!" Discord looked up and off to the side, then disappeared in a flash of white light. Spike, still terrified from the encounter wrapped himself up in blankets, attempting to hide himself. "Oh your first Grand Galloping Gala!" Rarity nearly fainted with joy as she skillfully manipulated a long, silky ribbon with her magic. "The excitement, the anticipation! I wouldn't miss this for all the jewels in Equestria!" Rarity beamed as she skillfully adorned Sweetie Belle with a bow on her back. Sweetie Belle looked happily at Scootaloo, standing across from her, they began to jump in unison and chant, "We're going to the Gala! We're going to the Gala!" Meanwhile, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were playing the card game that they and their friends had invented. Rainbow Dash looked intently at her cards as she hovered in the air. "All right y'all, keep it down. It's not like it's a life changing experience or noth-" Applejack lost her words as Applebloom entered her sight, wearing a beautiful dress. "My little sister is all grown up!" She began to cry, and grabbed Rainbow's tail, blowing her nose into it. "Hey!" Rainbow shouted in response. Applebloom ran over to Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, they began giggling as they thought about what tomorrow night would bring. One of the mirrors suddenly changed from a silvery blue color to yellow. Soon, a giant red iris appeared in the center. "This is going to be the best night ever-" The shouted and then they opened their eyes to see the mirror blink. They cried out in fear and jumped behind their respective sister, of honorary sister in the case of Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash. The mirror soon shrank down and turned into Discord's eye. Discord slithered through the air over to Applejack, "I uh... Don't suppose these adorable-" he rubbed Applebloom's chin with his lion paw, "little fillies have their own tickets to the gruesome gala, do they?" Applebloom slapped Discord's paw away and stuck her tongue out at him. Rarity cleared her throat and spoke up, "Ahem, to answer your-" she put emphasis on the next part, "-rather rude- question, they're going as our dates." she paused, Discord blinked, his mind going elsewhere. "Our plus ones!" Rarity added. "We're plus ones!" Sweetie Belle shouted joyfully. Soon Scootaloo and Applebloom ran over beside her and joined in, "We're plus ones!" Discord pulled off his horns and stuck them in his ears. He spoke with frustration. "Yes! Yes yes yes... I believe I got that!" He glared at the trio menacingly before teleporting away in a flash of white light. Rainbow Dash threw down her cards and jumped back higher into the air, "Yeah!" All eyes turned to her. A box appeared in the middle of Sugarcube Corner as Pinkie Pie finished selling a cupcake to a certain wall-eyed pegasus. "Have a wonderful, special, fantastical day!" Pinkie chirped. She started humming as she happily bounced back towards the kitchen, as she passed the box, she didn't even look at it before speaking, "Oh hi Discord, want some cake?" An exclamation point suddenly appeared in the air above the box, accompanied by a strange sound. The top of the box opened and Discord cautiously stuck his head up out of the box. Pinkie rushed over to him, and Discord pulled his head away from her and smiled awkwardly, "I can give you a list of all the flavors we have ranging from delicious to amazingly delicious!" Discord jumped out of the box and stepped against the wall. Pinkie put out her hooves, trapping him against the wall, and smiling. Discord looked slightly terrified and equally creeped out, "Actually Pinkie... Who're you taking to the..." He stammered with words, and then scratched a spiral pillar with his claws, "Oh you know what-" he took a moment to calm down, "I am famished..." He started flying over Pinkie towards the counter, "I'll take all the cakes!" Pinkie did a double take, he eyes became pinpoints, "All of them!?" "Why yes, I'm going to need all my energy when I'm dancing at the Gala." As Discord Spoke, Pinkie was throwing boxes into the room from behind the counter. She seemed to move faster than the speed of light as she darted around. "If I decide to go that is. Oh, by the way, are you bringing... Anypony?" he asked. Pinkie dropped a cake into a box, "Oh of course! I was gonna ask my mom because she's my mom, but she didn't want to go, so I decided to take my sister! Maud!" Discord stared unhappily out the window. Discord suddenly caught sight of a strange green pony walking with Fluttershy. A flashing red light suddenly appeared over his head. "You know what... Cancel my order!" He spoke forcefully, disappearing in a flash of light. Pinkie Pie looked around the room filled with cakes that had already been boxed, "You want none of the cakes now!" She shouted with exasperation. Fluttershy giggled lightly, "Oh my, hmm, you are funny." Discord extended his neck and his head appeared in between the two, he glared at Fluttershy, "Well, I guess every being is funny today." he growled. Fluttershy was oblivious to Discord's disdain. Discord swam through the air and landed on his two mismatched feet. "Oh! How rude of me," Fluttershy began, "Discord, this is Treehuger. Treehuger, this is Discord." Treehuger stepped forwards, "Radical to meet you... I'm really digging your vibe..." Discord turned around to face her, he leaned in close to her, as he spoke his eyes flared red, "My vibe?" "It's a complement." Fluttershy whispered. Discord pulled his head back, almost completely changing his demeanor. "Oh well," he chuckled lightly, "I'm sure it is..." He leaned forwards, "Well I must be off." He suddenly disappeared in a flash of white light. Fluttershy looked confused for a moment before Discord reappeared, "It has nothing to do with Treehuger, nothing at all." He chuckled before teleporting again. A second later he teleported back. "Have fun at the Gala!" He forced out, then teleported again. "Righteous." Treehuger smiled. The door to Discord's house suddenly opened of it's own accord. With a flash of light, Discord appeared in the center of his living room. He scowled at nothing in particular, "Oh Treehuger, you're such a good-" "Hello, Discord." Eclipse cut him off. Discord jumped in surprise, having not realized Eclipse had somehow made her way into his chaos dimension. "What? How did you get here?" Discord quickly asked. Eclipse pointed to her horn with a wing and smiled, "Magic." "Yes... Well... Right..." he deadpanned. "What do you want?" "I came to see if you wanted to be my date for the Gala." Eclipse smiled. Discord did a double take. After a second he composed himself, "Really?" Discord stroked his beard and thought for a moment. A light bulb suddenly appeared over his head, "That must mean I end up causing chaos at the Gala... Oh he he..." "Yes, but Celestia enjoyed what you did." "What?" he asked flatly. "It... Nevermind. She did send you two tickets, but the mailpony... Ran into some issues..." Eclipse chose not to elaborate. "I see... Very well then! I shall come to the Gala with you as your-" he smiled, "-date." Eclipse suddenly regretted using that particular word, then smiled regardless. "Well, the Gala is tomorrow evening, we have about a day before we need to go... Perhaps we could talk?" "About what?" Discord asked. "Oh, come on, Discord. You're the Spirit of Chaos. I'm from the future, surely it must be killing you to know what I know." Eclipse teased. Discord stroked his beard for a moment, "Are you going to tell me?" he asked with a hopeful smile. Eclipse smiled, "Nope!" Discord deflated. Literally. Eclipse walked over to Discord and picked him up with her magic, and sat him down on the couch, then took a seat beside him. They sat together in silence for a few minutes before Discord spoke up, "Why are you doing this?" he asked with a certain genuineness that made Eclipse smile broadly. "Come now, Discord, surely you can figure it out." She waited a moment before banishing her happy mask, allowing her true feelings to take the forefront of what she was about to say, "I outlived almost everypony I knew, Discord." She lowered her head sadly, "All my mortal friends... Celestia... Cadance..." Discord looked surprised at hearing that, but he knew not to interrupt her. After a few seconds Eclipse continued, "You... Both you and Luna know what it's like to be alone for a very long time... So do I. For the first hundred years or so, ponies were still alive from before I ascended, so I had friends. After that generation died, making new friends was much harder. Ponies would only see the crown I wore, the wings upon my back, and the horn upon my head. They would look at me like I was so perfect..." Eclipse sighed, "Cadance kept my brother alive for over a hundred years. When he died... His death drove Cadance mad with grief... You actually handled Fluttershy's death better than she handled his death." "Over the next hundred years or so, I tried to not blame Celestia for making me an alicorn. I wanted to be with my friends, but they were gone. I started to... resent her for it. Before they passed, I had tried to convince her to make them alicorns too. I... Failed. They all grey old and died, while I stayed young. We grew closer, Discord. After a while, we became best friends. You may scoff at the idea now... But give it time. I know what friendship means to you... I know what it meant... And means to me..." Silence filled the room as both of them thought about what she had said. Discord pulled Eclipse against his slender body, and hugged her comfortingly. Eclipse laid against him, not caring what the others would think if they would see her now. Soon, tears began to fall from Eclipse's eyes. Discord summoned a towel and gently dried them away as they fell. After Eclipse had finished crying, Discord began to speak, "I was trapped in stone for several thousand years... It is not a fate I would wish upon anypony. I would not have wished it upon even Princess Celestia back when I was trapped... Absolute stillness... For thousands of years... For a being of pure chaos..." he shook his head. "Every minute was torture... I was so happy when I broke free, thinking I would be free to reign once more... But then you and your friends came along... We had our fun, and then you managed to defeat me... Fortunately I wasn't trapped in stone as long that time..." "Fluttershy is my first friend I have ever had. The rest of you didn't really give me a chance, but I can see them starting to turn around... Slowly. But you? You do actually care about my feelings." Discord waited, making sure that they were both emotionally stable before starting again, "Well, not that we've got that sappiness out of the way..." Eclipse chuckled, "Thanks for hearing me out. And don't worry, we can have some fun at the Gala..." Eclipse smiled devilishly. That caught Discord's attention. Discord and Eclipse walked into the Gala in unison, they immediately grabbed the attention of everypony present from the unexpected entry they made together. Discord wore a tuxedo, and had a top hat and monocle on, whilst Eclipse worse an indigo dress nearly identical to the one Twilight wore, save for being larger and having a dark circle emblem surrounded by yellow rays on her chest. Soon everypony returned their attention to what they were previously occupied with, paying the pair no mind. As they walked towards the stairway to greet Princess Celestia, Twilight approached them, she smiled happily until she got close enough, then she scowled. "Eclipse? Why did you bring him here? He'll ruin it!" She spoke quietly. "You look beautiful, Twilight." Discord commented, immediately throwing her off track. "I.. Uh... Thank... You... Discord." she stammered out. Eclipse smiled, and they walked past her, and approached Princess Celestia. Celestia put on a slightly forced smile as the pair approached, Eclipse could tell it was forced, but Discord couldn't. "I'm surprised you took Discord as your plus one, Eclipse." "Oh, I know how much you enjoy a little chaos at the Gala, Celestia." Eclipse winked. Celestia's eyes darted to and fro, then she leaned in and spoke softly, "A little chaos is fine, but do not cause too many problems, Eclipse. We are keeping an eye on both of you." "Where is Luna anyway?" Eclipse asked. Celestia opened her mouth to speak, then closed it, before opening it again. "She is... Preoccupied." "I see." Eclipse nodded, then turned to Discord, "Shall we go conspire with our friends?" "Oh, I'd be delighted to!" The Grand Galloping Gala, the social event of the year for Canterlot's elite. An opportunity to partake in gossip, and attempt to get the favor of Princess Celestia. For once, most of the attention of the Gala was directed not to Princess Celestia, but towards an alicorn and draconequus pair. They stopped just outside the door before entering another room, they could hear the music being played from the other side. It was classical, it definitely featured Octavia's playing, both of them agreed it was too high end for their tastes. Discord smiled, and opened the door. There was the sound of a record failing, and the music and the music immediately became something more intimidating as the pair walked in. Everypony had heard the door open too, and had turned to look at the pair who were now walking in stride. Eclipse was trying her absolute best to not break out laughing, while Discord was walking nonchalantly. The pair eventually found Fluttershy with Treehuger, and approached them. Discord's mood went south. 'I need to keep him preoccupied...' As Discord opened his mouth to say something at Treehuger, Eclipse muzzled his chest, completely throwing his off track. Off in the distance, above Canterlot Castle, a single flash of lightning appeared in the sky, the sudden and unexpected illumination caused a shadow of a tall pony to fall onto a guard standing watch at the Restricted Archive entrance. He immediately turned towards the unexpected visitor, "Halt! Who goes there?" he spoke in a commanding voice. Both he and his partner raised their spears threateningly. The two poor unicorn guards never stood a chance. The pony threw off her cloak, and flared out her wings. The alicorn immediately threw the two guards aside, and snapped their necks with telekinesis while they were unconscious. She approached the door and tore it out of the wall, opening the building up. She silently lowered the door to the ground, alerting anypony else could cause issues. "Don't you think the lightning is a bit dramatic dear?" Rarity asked with a unnerved frown. "Just because I'm reformed does not mean I still don't like drama." Discord replied. "Eclipse can I speak with you for a moment?" Twilight asked. Eclipse obliged and followed her away from their friends. "Why are you encouraging him?" Eclipse smiled lightly, "If you had seen last time... This is organized chaos compared to what he did last time. He almost sent Treehuger..." Eclipse shook her head, "That's not important." Eclipse frowned, "Hmm, when I first arrived here... I was the one who was serious, and you were cheerful. It seems our roles have reversed tonight." "And what is that supposed to mean?" Twilight tone conveyed irritation. "Relax. The night doesn't have to be perfect..." Eclipse paused, "I'm going to go get a drink..." The Forbidden Archive was surprisingly poorly defended. Not that it would have made much of a difference. Only two guards, and they were the ones she had already killed. The vast library seemed to stretch on forever, it ran beneath Canterlot, stretching into the mountain that the city resided on. A vast, nearly uncountable number of bookshelves were within the archive. The bookshelves held copies of every single book or spell known to exist. She had been unable to obtain the spell book for what she had been seeking last time, having destroyed the archive in the battle. finding the book could take a while. Time was something she did not have, however. There was a Grand Galloping Gala going on, so Princess Celestia and Princess Luna should be busy for a while. A while, however, might not be long enough to search the vast vault of forbidden knowledge. Using her magic, she did a few quick scanning spells, searching for a particular spell. Her magic search found several books of interest, they were a ways apart, fortunately she could teleport. She channeled magic into her horn and teleported to the first book of interest. The first book was something of very little interest to her, she determined it contained information on casting a spell to strip an alicorn of their alicorn status after several minutes of reading. She put the book back and teleported to the next location of interest. She examined the bookshelf she stood in front of intently, attempting to find the title that would indicate what caused her spell to indicate this area. After several minutes of searching, she failed to find anything of interest. She decided the spell must have not worked properly. She lit her horn and cast her spell again, then teleported to the third location. Only to appear right behind Princess Luna. Princess Luna was alerted to her arrival by the popping sound, she turned around just in time to see a flash of light as she teleported away. Princess Luna quickly cast a spell to search for life inside of the forbidden archive, but found none. After a second, she realized that she had not even sensed the two guards outside the archive. She quickly teleported outside the archive, horn prepared for immediate combat. "I see you all appear to be enjoying yourselves." Princess Celestia spoke as she walked over to the table where the group of friends were occupying. Twilight walked beside Celestia, her eyes darting between Eclipse, Discord and the elder alicorn she stood beside, half expecting Discord to do something too much. "Oh, why yes, of course Princess Celestia." Discord answered with a smile as he slithered through the air and curled around Twilight's body. Twilight did not appear to be enjoying it, but she didn't say anything. "I must say I'm surprised you're behaving so well tonight, Discord. Aside from... Mixing up the music, and that clap of lightning." "Oh yes well, I'm reformed, you know. That and Eclipse suggested not actually causing chaos to cause chaos. Something along the lines of by not causing chaos, you would think something was up, thus resulting in more chaos." Discord slithered back to his former position beside Eclipse. The door on the other side of the room opened, Princess Luna briskly walked inside, and scanned the room looking for her sister. Anypony who knew her well enough would quickly realize something was wrong from the relatively rapid pace of her actions. She jerked her head across the room several times before she found her sister. Princess Luna quickly made her way across the room, "Sister." Princess Celestia turned around, surprised to see Luna at the Gala. She quickly realized something was wrong, "What happened?" "I... Am not completely sure. Somepony broke into the other archive..." Eclipse tilted her head a barely noticeable amount to the left. Luna's eyes glanced around the room momentarily, "We should discuss this away from the party." Luna's eyes briefly made contact with Eclipse's eyes as she turned around to follow her sister to somewhere more private. Twilight looked conflicted for a moment, but chose to stay with her friends. "What was that about?" Rarity asked. Eclipse watched Celestia and Luna leave the room. She knew that by the 'other archive' Luna was referring to the Forbidden Archive. Something must have happened there, she has a suspicion about just what, but she would need to confirm it. "I have no idea." Twilight answered, then looked at Discord. Discord rolled his eyes, "Oh sure, just because something goes wrong it's always Discord's fault. I'll have you know I've been with either Eclipse or Fluttershy this whole time." "I'll be right back. I need to do something." Eclipse casually left the group, heading for the nearest exit. After she was outside, she lit her horn, and cast a teleportation spell, she appeared outside the Forbidden Archive an instant later. It was immediately obvious something bad had happened. The door had been ripped from the wall,and two guards, both unicorns, were limp on the ground, their necks at odd angles. She felt a pang of sadness at the sight, two lives, taken before their time... And then, she felt annoyance. Annoyance at Luna for not having the guards replaced already. She left the fault unguarded to get her sister. It was understandable, but still a mistake. Or, an opportunity in her case. Despite the sadness of the situation, it did give her an opportunity to look for the spell book she needed without alerting anypony. Provided that Celestia and Luna did not find her inside the archive. She did a quick calculation, she should have enough time to find what she was looking for if she used a spell to locate the book. Provided there was a book on it. She lit her horn, and concentrated on her spell, and the spell she wanted to find. A few seconds later, with a flash of magic, she completed the spell. She smiled as the spell located the book she was looking for. With a flare of magic, she teleported to the general location of the book. She reappeared starring at a large, no, a massive bookshelf. She didn't need to count to know it must have contained hundreds of books on different subjects, some of which were related to dark magic, others were completely harmful backup copies of normal books, in case something were to happen to the one in the Royal Archive. So many books... So much knowledge was held within the Forbidden Archive. She started reading through the titles, looking for a certain one of interest. Seconds turned into minutes as her eyes lingered on the title of many books for longer than she intended. She even took a look at a couple of books, before eventually forcing herself to focus again. Eventually her eyes came to rest upon one word. The title of the book she was looking for. Ascension. She rubbed her hooves together and gently levitated the book out from it's place. She softly put it on the floor and opened it, taking a peek at it to confirm it was the book she wanted. It definitely was what she was looking for. A broad smile started to grow on her face. She inhaled deeply and then exhaled. She would need to study the book carefully, but even her most liberal estimates said that Celestia and Luna would arrive soon. She was running out of time. She quickly teleported the book into a pocket dimension she could access later, when she had time to study the book. The book disappeared in a flash of light. Now she just needed to get out of the Forbidden Archive before Celestia or Luna showed up. She turned around on one hoof, smile plastered on her face as she charged her teleportation spell. Only to be greeted by two simultaneous flashes of light. Light yellow and night blue. Two alicorns stood before her, both with their horns charged and pointing at her. Her smile immediately left her face, and she swallowed as she took a step back. Almost immediately a expression of shock and confusion made itself known upon their faces. "This looks bad, doesn't it?"