21: Broken Garden Ornament
Chapter 21
Sadly, today is turning out to be pretty dull.
This morning, both Loony and Sunny had their breakfast interrupted by some paperwork that apparently just couldn’t wait. I offered to help, but Loony insisted I have a decent meal.
That left me alone with only Skitter as a meal time partner, which is fine. I do enjoy Skitter's company, but her limited need for real food, meant I had no one to eat for me.
This is what led me to abandoning the breakfast table, in search of said decent meal.
"So, does Eclipse always do this?" Came the words of the nosy bug who'd followed me. Not all the time, sometimes my flowers are enough.
"Pretty much," confirmed Crescent, the thestral guard Loony keeps ordering to follow me around. Sometimes it makes me worry she doesn’t trust me. It’s been so long, that she should know I’m not going to do anything stupid. The night pony then gave me a waning smile, “everypony has their eccentric side.”
“Hey, that’s not true. Sometimes I like to just go straight to laying in the sun.” I said a little defensively. To be honest, I’ve been feeding on this statue less and less since my little poison joke farm has been coming along. It’s just nice to every now and then, go back to such a filling snack. The taste is pretty unique as well.
“Well can you hurry up. That statue is giving off some really strange vibes,” Skitter said, as a shudder ran through her body.
“It’s just a statue, why does it matter if they like to jab it with a shoe?” My guard asked the disturbed bug. Huh, did this statue always have that crack? A crack appeared to have formed since last I’d fed, running all the way from the weird pony snake’s right dragon leg, all the way up it’s snakey body and concluding at it’s neck.
“I’m not really sure why it bothers me. It just feels like the statue is somehow… I don’t know, anticipating something? You know, like it’s feeling emotions.” Skitty said, while scratching the back of her head. Does this thing’s magic aura look clearer than last time? Do the garden ponies charge it up? I’ve got to get me one of their chargers.
“This should probably be reported to Princess Luna,” Crescent said in thought, before I suddenly felt a pull on my corded tail. “You should probably stop poking that thing.”
Aww, but I was almost finished. Anyway, hooves off the tail. “Yeah okay, I shouldn’t be too greedy.”
My statement for some reason further disturbed the love bug. “Wait, are you feeding on that thing?”
“What else would I be doing?” I asked, before turning to look at her. Seeing her steadily increasing apprehension, I asked, “What’s wrong? I always do this, remember?” Ergo, everything is fine. Suppose changelings can be a bit sensitive to different things than ponies. Maybe they don’t like stuff that contains a lot of magic?
A gleeful masculine voice, suddenly came from the statue’s direction, “that’s right. Why should you stop on their account? You know what you want.”
That immediately got me to look back at the buffet I’ve enjoyed for the past few months. “Erm, Skitter, are you trying to freak me out?” Is she trying to prank me? When I turned to look back at her, the royal bug had gone very white and was just staring at the statue. “Guess not.” It was a long shot.
A steady cracking sound began to emit from the statue, as it’s aura started to become piercingly bright. Okay, this isn’t my fault, that doesn’t matter right now anyway. “Maybe we should leave?” I asked my companions, just as Crescent decided to move closer with her wings up. Guess she’s not.
Sadly, before Skitter could agree to join me in fleeing to Loony, the statue burst, showering us all in little pieces of stone. Oh well, glad that’s over with. Now I just need to get my story straight. Some foals were having a fight and knocked it over. There’s no way Crescent isn’t telling Loony what really happened.
While trying to come up with an excuse for my accidental vandalism, I noticed movement coming from where the statue once stood. To probably everyone’s horror, a flesh and blood replica of the statue was in it’s place. It was currently stretching out it’s mismatched limbs, probably to work out one of those cricks fleshies can get. Hmm, fleshies seems a bit insulting. Not important right now.
“Sleeping in stone really messes with your circulation, doesn’t it?” the strange chimera asked, showing apparent awareness of our presence.
From there, two things happened. The first was that Skitter slowly stepped backwards, while Crescent began bearing her adorable fangs and approached the creature. “By order of the Night’s guard, you are to be detained. If you resist, I will be forced to incapacitate you,” the bat aggressively informed the newcomer. Maybe he isn’t dangerous and will come quietly? You never know.
Sadly, the weird, snakey pony looked down at my aggressive guard and smiled, before saying, “ol Moony still has it out for little old me? Sending out her toy soldiers. I’m touched.” So, Loony knows this guy. Wait, this can’t seriously be that Discord guy Crescent told me about, can it? Wouldn’t a guy like that be kept somewhere more secure or, I don’t know, be executed for his crimes?
A second later, the ex-statue proved his identity by the incredible amount of magic I sensed building up within him. He then raised his taloned hand and snapped, releasing said magic. One moment, my bat winged protector was standing before us, the next there was a small plastic toy replica, which Discord proceeded to pick up.
“Isn’t it fun playing with toy soldiers,” he said in a wistful tone.
In response, I attempted to mimic Crescent’s combat stance as best I could, while simultaneously trying to figure out how to get me and Skitter away from one of Equestria’s most powerful villains. My first idea for escape was probably patented by Celestia. Diplomacy one oh one, commence conversation. “Where’ve you sent my guard?”
Discord casually lifted the toy in his paw before posing it’s forelimb to wave at me. “She’s right here my boy. I thought you’d enjoy some freedom from your handler.” Okay, we need to get that toy off of him, before we escape. Maybe we can convince him to shoe it over?
Skitter clearly wasn’t working down the same train of thought as me, as a sudden blast of green energy flew past my helmet. It would have collided with the lizard pony’s head, if it hadn’t once again clicked it’s talon causing it to disappear. The creature’s disappearance left behind the word “POOF” hanging in the air as tangible letters, which did exactly what they said once the magical blast collided with them.
Thankfully, Skitter’s actions met us with some success, as Crescent’s toy form had been dropped in the creature’s panic. Wasting no time, I immediately galloped up to the toy and picked her up. Really hope this isn’t the real Crescent.
I then looked back to the shoot first, ask questions later bug. She appeared to be a little out of breath and her horn even had a wisp of smoke pouring out. Skitty was clearly looking around to see where Discord could have gone. “Skitter, we need to find the Princesses.”
She only looked at me for a moment before continuing to look at our surroundings, “Keep your guard up. That thing’s probably going to ambush us.” That’s probably the right call. It’s probably best if we stand together and wait for a little bit. Better to be stabbed in the front and all that.
It only took a few seconds of us standing back-to-back for the hybrid to make his move. Said move was a little confusing, as he first announced his presence by saying, “Wow, your pet bug is really unruly.” This was quickly followed up by his reappearance with a fly swatter in front of Skitty, which he promptly hit her with.
Seeing as this was some all-powerful being, I panicked at what this apparently harmless weapon could do and leapt at the aggressor. Thankfully, it seemed Skitter was completely unharmed by the attack, as she also did the same, mouth agape in an attempt to bite her aggressor. Suppose they have fangs for a reason.
Our simultaneous attack was met with failure, due to the creatures irritating ability to teleport, leaving us both staring up at him in the sky above. We could both clearly see him bending the swatter, as if inspecting it for possible reasons why it was ineffective.
“Look Discord, She’s my friend not my pet. Anyway, you know we can’t stop you teleporting away? Why not just leave in peace?” I called up to him, before whispering to Skitty, “get behind me, he might try something else if we engage.” The gesture was pretty much just a courtesy, as this guy could apparently teleport anywhere. Wait, maybe I should put myself on Skitter? Magic doesn’t really work all that well against me.
Skitter, however ignored my call and again fired another blast at our attacker, while rubbing a newly formed bump on her head. She then shakily said, “don’t worry about me, I can keep him back.”
Discord seemed to ignore our exchange and responded to my initial statement. “Not with that attitude my friend,” he said in a schooling tone, while slithering around the green energy bolt. Those blasts contain, so much magic. Wish I’d eaten more today.
The gathering of yet another huge quantity of magic made me feel even hungrier and alerted me to what was going to happen next. In an attempt to halt the effects, I moved straight in front of Skitty, before a loud snap was heard.
Did I stop it? No magic seemed to hit me. Looking over my pauldron showed just how ineffective I’d been. Where the royal bug had previously been standing in all her glory, was now a tiny bug pony with large antenna and incredibly fast beating wings. I’d have said she was pretty cute if the situation wasn’t so dire. So, this guy’s magic just instantly happens to the target? How’d you beat that?
She seemed to shake her head in a daze, before Discords swatter appeared next to her. “See now, she’s the perfect size.” Discord laughed out from above.
An eep escaped the now tiny bug pony, who immediately darted towards me, likely hoping for safe harbour. I attempted to let her land on my back, but she had other plans, flying straight through one of my eye holes. That was pretty disconcerting, but under the circumstances I’m okay with it.
From inside my helmet, a tiny voice said, “Okay, I’ll hide with you.” Really should have put myself on her before she was shrunk.
Well, seeing as everyone else is out of action, it’s diplomacy time. “Okay Discord, there’s no need to do anything to us. you can just leave freely.” I repeated once again. If he leaves, I can go and warn the Princesses. If he get’s close, maybe I can grab him? This is going to go badly.
Another snap had the strange hybrid appear Infront of my faceplate with a megaphone. “That’s the best part, no reason is required to do anything when chaos is involved.” The creature then cast an eye on my toyified guard, before winking at me and speaking in a mocking tone, “but, if you really want a reason. Celestia always said to help out one’s friends.”
He then popped into the sky above me. “Well anyway, ta ta for now and all that. I’ve got a date with some irritable royalty.” A poof later and the lizard pony thing was gone.
Oh, thank goodness. Really thought I was a goner. While pretending to let out a breath, I tapped my helmet with a shoe. “Skitter, he’s gone. You alright in there?”
A slight scratching sensation began after my question, followed by Skitty suddenly filling my vision. She’d apparently decided to stick her head and forelegs out of my eye hole to survey our surroundings. Upon deciding the threat had past, the little bug sagged and said, “This is the worst. Why did I have to come with you?” Suppose that’s what friends do.
Above us, the once clear sky started to darken as clouds started to form. Huh, thought it wasn’t going to rain until tomorrow? Ah the weather forecast is never right. “Erm Skitty, you’re a shapeshifter? Can’t you just change back?” I said with a small amount of hope. Maybe she can fix Crescent as well?
“Hmph, don’t you think I’ve tried?” Was the squeaky offended response, followed by an irritating wing buzz. Welp that’s that idea ruined. I could try draining the magic, but it doesn’t look like there’s a clear gap between their own and the weird stuff. Maybe given time?
While I mused on what to do, the rain began to fall. Coating me in a strange brown liquid instead of water. Well, this is disgusting. Better get Crescent into shelter. With a quiet, “hey” from Skitter, I pushed her back through my eye and opened my faceplate. This allowed me to more easily carry them both.
“Sorry Skitty, just needed to get Crescent into storage,” I said while starting to trot back to the castle. As an afterthought I added, “could you avoid poking out of my eye? It’s really distracting.”
A muffled “Fine” ensured Skitter would behave herself, while I went in search of Loony.
“Don’t worry, Luna will have you right as rain in no time.” Just not this rain. Wait are those clouds pink?
More strange things continued to occur as my journey continued, not least of which was the path suddenly changing to soap. The unexpected change, caused one of my four shoes to slip out from under me, resulting in a quick tumble to the ground. This did not end my journey. In fact, far from it as the fall somehow accelerated me down the path faster than was intended. The journey only slowed when the bottom of the stairs to Canterlot castle where reached. My speed allowed me to roll right to the top dumping me upon the carpeted inside.
A disorientated, “think I’m going to be sick,” came from my internal passenger.
In a panic I quickly opened my faceplate ready for the little bug. “Just aim outside.” All that rolling probably wasn’t the best for her. At least Crescent isn’t feeling sick, if she’s feeling anything at all. Don’t think about that, I’m sure she’s fine.
After no mess occurred, I closed my faceplate and looked around the castle corridors. Many of the staff appeared to be sprinting around in random directions, likely running from or to something. This really doesn’t look good. Might as well keep going, Loony’s supposed to be in her office at the moment.
With that in mind, I continued to my goal, while occasionally trying to ask a panicked pony what was going on. Aside from replies of, “the end of days,” nothing much of importance seemed to be known.
It didn’t take long to see why the ponies where panicking so much. At the next bend, I was met with the first of many major alterations to the castle's structure. A large staircase. Now, a staircase on it’s own isn’t something to be too scared of, but this one, that had previously never existed, was so tall it should have clearly pierced the castle’s roof. I would have turned around to find another way, but the start of the corridor leading to my destination was clearly visible at the top. So, with some trepidation, I galloped up the stairs.
Upon reaching the top of the monolithic stair case, my joints were slightly aching making me glad to lack the fragile muscles of a pony. They would probably have had to rest half way up, or of just outright collapsed. Looking ahead, it was clear I’d arrived upon the castle first floor, after travelling more than ten times that distance. Okay, don’t question it. Loony knows what to do, hopefully.
Progressing forward into the corridor, I nearly tripped over a few strange hazards now welded into the floor. After accidentally smashing one of these strange objects, it turned out they were light fittings and upon looking up, the ceiling was now carpeted. So, this guy’s flipped the room upside down? That’s probably fine, just ignore the maids running away on the ceiling. They’re probably fine. They seem to be navigating this place pretty well, seeing how they’re managing to run down a corridor that was constantly narrowing. That weird chair running after them is a bit worrying though.
More hazards had started to present themselves on my floor/ceiling, in the form of random ceiling beams, which I had to clamber over and upside-down doorways I had to jump through. At least no furniture had come to life on the floor/ceiling. Am I the one on the ceiling then?
A few more strange occurrences stood out to me. Starting with how many of the room’s doors had shrunk so small not even Skitter could fit. Another hallway leading to the throne room, was entirely blocked by a green jelly like substance. That made me think of the changeling hive and how it had nothing on the castle’s new impossible geometry. That was a thought I neglected to voice, for fear of offending my little passenger.
Regardless of these hazards, I heroically ran with my tail between my legs, straight towards Loony’s office. The tiny hope that she would know what to do fuelling my actions.
Upon reaching her office, it became evident from the crashing sounds, that some commotion was going on inside. Okay, it seems Loony needs help. Right, I’ve got this. Kicking the ceiling door open before charging in, had me immediately fall heroically onto my head from the now celling. As I regained my bearings from having my world literally turned upside down, I saw a curious sight.
Loony was currently having a literal fight with the previous night courts paperwork. “Loony!” I shouted just to inform her of my appearance, before forming a blade to strike at the threatening paper enemy. Slicing the first sheet that came near enough only resulted in two sheets of paper now flying irritatingly into my face. Help! The papers getting me.
A moment later, a spell originated from Loony’s direction engulfing the paperwork in flames. That was way more effective than my sword attack. Well, it’s the thought that counts. The two little bits of paper attacking me where then easily dispatched by a quick application of magic absorption.
Loony seemed to eye the smouldering papers with a hint of disappointment. “We had just finished filing those documents,” she said before greeting me, “ah, Eclipse, thou must be aware of the on-going issue by now, yes?”
“Yeah, that Discord statue in the garden has smashed… somehow.” She doesn’t need to know it was my fault... yet.
Apparently, from the way her eyes became pinpricks, the pegacorn wasn’t aware of that fact. “Discord is free? This is worse than We feared.” She then regained her resolve, “Come, we must find Our sister. She will assist us.” Wasting no time, we both bolted out of the room towards the throne room, where hopefully Celestia resided. This time, thankfully, going via the floor.
I was about to warn her that the quickest route was blocked by a giant piece of jelly, but Loony didn’t seem to care. Without even slowing down, she ignited her horn and sent a lance of energy through the gelatinous barrier, clearing our path most efficiently. Really need to figure out if I can do that sort of stuff.
As we galloped past various ponies, Loony occasionally called out, “guards regroup in the courtyard, wait for Shining Armour.” Or in cases of the general staff, “Go to thy designated safe areas. We have this under control.” They really need a PA system. There was also the occasional blasting of furniture, that had come to life and started harassing the ponies. It’s probably good to show the average Joe that the Princess is fighting for them.
Upon reaching the throne room’s rear entrance, Loony halted for a moment to straighten her crown, before opening the door, letting us both in. Hopefully Celestia is here and has already started coming up with a plan.
From the look of things, that was exactly what had happened. Sunny, was not the only pony present inside. Six other familiar ponies were gathered together in mid conversation with her.
“Twists and turns? That’s it! I bet Discord hid the elements in the palace labyrinth,” Twilight said, in answer to a question I must have missed. Wait a second, Discord has the elements! Aren’t they the weapon that was used to defeat Loony last time? Hope he doesn’t know how to use them, he’s already powerful enough.
In response to Twilight’s remark, her mother unexpectedly bowed towards her and said in a dire tone, “good luck my little ponies, the fate of Equestria rests in your hooves.” Seriously, just those six ponies? We need to marshal the entire guard.
Ignorant to the weight Celestia had placed on her, Twilight unwaveringly said, “Thanks Princess, we won’t let you down.” The six regular, civilian ponies then ran in a group out of the throne rooms front door.
With the conversation concluded, the Moon and I wandered over to the Sun. “Sister, dost thou truly believe the element bearers will be able to thwart Discord’s cruelty?” Loony asked. Of course she doesn’t. Sunny has clearly got some sort of amazing plan. She always has a plan.
Celestia decided it would be best to dash my hopes immediately. She turned to her sister, put a hoof on her shoulder and without looking her in the eye said, “you know as well as I do, that without the elements there is no hope of defeating him.”
Oh damn. At least they don’t need me to do anything. Does that make it worse? Knowing something terrible is going to happen and you have no way to affect the outcome. To distract myself from the distressing thoughts, I began reviewing the redecorated throne room. Almost every single window, once baring some image of pony folk lore, now possessed an image of that chimera. He can do so much without ever being present. Well, this has further worsened my mood.
“We cannot leave the bearers to their fate sister. There has to be a way for us to help,” Loony spoke up heroically.
“Yeah, I’ll help as well,” I followed up, taking a step forward in support of Loony. Even if some of those ponies are quite annoying. When the countries at stake, you sometimes have to suck it up.
That caused Loony to turn to me with a thankful expression before saying, “thy help would be perfect. Thou may make all the difference.”
Really wish I could gulp right about now. That creature just batted aside Skitter and Crescent like they weren’t even there. I couldn’t do anything to help them, I’m no secret weapon. “I’ll try my best.”
“We know thou will,” she replied, before biting her lip and then bowing her head towards me, “per chance would thou do us the honour, of allowing us to don thee for this event?” That’s probably a good idea, less chance I can mess up if Loony’s leading me around.
“Sure, just hang on a sec. Just gotta drop off some cargo.” That gained me a curious look from both the sisters. They were pretty surprised when my faceplate opened up, revealing my tiny passengers. “Come on Princess, you’re going to have to come out.”
The one passenger who could move, took a quick nervous glance around, before reluctantly collecting the toy soldier and flying into the air. “I’d have helped too, if I wasn’t so tiny.”
Celestia was the first to recover from her surprise and smiled down at the disappointed bug, “We appreciate any offer to help from our valued allies. I am certain you would help if you were able.” The sunny mare then pointed to her throne, “for the moment, I would prefer it if you remained where it is safe and easy for us to find you. Your new, adorable breezy form may be difficult to locate when this is over.” That’s Sunny, always looking at the big picture.
Skitter licked her lips quickly, likely savouring a quick meal of Sunny’s sympathy, before complying by heading towards the large chair. “Thanks Princess. Wish I could just change back. It feels like a part of me is missing.” Skitty complained mid-flight.
“I am sorry, but you will have to experience this for a little longer. Discord’s heinous magic is quite difficult to break. When my student returns, the elements will return you to your former glory.” Sunny said sympathetically, still apparently believing Twilight would save the day.
Now free of my cargo, the Lunar diarch began the process of donning me, which is pretty quick now to be honest. I practically put myself onto her as she moved her limbs around. Just as I moved my helmet over her head she thanked me, “We art glad thou trusts us enough to take thee into battle.” Huh, to be honest more trust is probably needed the other way around. She kind of has to trust I won’t possess her.
Her words then led me to another thought. So, are we going to be leading an army against this guy? Maybe if he has a lot of targets his magic isn’t as effective? Still, he can so easily target individuals. The army will probably be beheaded instantly.
“I’d probably follow you anywhere,” I said in an attempt to boost her moral. The only time we’ve ever fought anything, was against some changelings that were probably only just strong enough to harm her and she almost lost.
With the donning complete, Loony wandered over to her sister and reviewed the tiny bug on the throne. “Thy new form is very fetching, perhaps thou should keep it. It would work wonders for diplomacy,” she finished with a laugh.
Skitter’s only response was to appear embarrassed, while moving to hide behind said throne with her toy companion.
I closed my faceplate at that. “Erm, I don’t think we should poke fun at our comrades in a time like this.” Even if she is adorable right now.
“Thou art correct,” Loony began in a chided tone, before changing her tune, “this insult to our allies will be paid for in blood.” Maybe that’s a bit too much in the other direction. Ah, it’s probably fine.
“So Sunny, what’s the plan?” I asked while turning our shared head in her direction. Come on chess master, how do we stop Discord?
The pony in question stopped to visibly think before saying, “it is likely Discord is trying his best to distract the element bearers from their goal. Therefore, the best thing for us to do, is to ensure his attempts are unsuccessful. Thus, giving my student and her friends the time they need. Slowing him down should not be too difficult.” From the resolved way she was standing, it appeared she didn’t quite like her idea of standing in front of Discord’s gun. Why would she? It’s a terrible idea.
“Is there really no better options than just distracting him?” I asked. Hopefully Loony has a better idea.
True to form, she was quick to answer, “fret not, together we are more than capable of striking down the fiend when we find him. He shall be no match for the three of us.” She finished with a hoof stamp to emphasize her words.
Sunny appeared to almost roll her eyes at Luna’s statement. “That is effectively the same plan. We will of course try to subdue him, but it may be better to just drag the fight out.” Celestia then sighed before asking, “are you two ready?” Sunny took Loony’s nodding of our shared head as both our confirmations. “Okay then, we haven’t a moment to lose,” she continued, before speaking in a voice normally reserved for an angry moon pony, “WE SHALL PUT A STOP TO THAT DISCORDANT CREATURE, ONE WAY OR ANOTHER! WE SHALL JUST HAVE TO FIND HIM FIRST!”
“Wait! can we call the guard?” I cried out, after the call that would shatter any flesh and blood pony’s ear drums. Well, if that shout was for why I think it was, there likely isn’t time. Still, having the numerical advantage would have counted for something, right? He couldn’t take us all down and even then, what a distraction that would cause.
“I cannot place my little ponies in harm’s way like that,” Celestia said determinedly, before both sisters moved to the throne rooms centre to await the apparently inevitable. Aren’t we risking the element bearer’s lives at the moment?
A few minutes of silence passed at a snail’s pace. “Erm, do you really think this guy will show up?” I couldn’t help but ask. If he knows the elements are the only threat, why would he even come here?
Celestia looked in our direction a little, before again scanning the surroundings, “of course he will. Discord will likely take great pride in taking down those whom have apparently wronged him.” From the way she spoke, she seemed a little uncertain in her assumption. She’s probably wondering if he’s already taken out Twilight.
A moment later, a frighteningly familiar laugh started to echo around the large room. This was quickly followed up by a familiar cruelly energetic voice, that seemed to come from all directions. “Oh Celly, did you ever think about what would happen if I found you first, spoil sport?” Well, seems he heard Sunny’s distraction.
Off to my side, Sunny had a brief look of triumph from her plan’s undesirable success, before standing back-to-back with us, waiting for the chimera to show himself. Seems she knows this bad guy pretty well. Everything’s going to be fine. The two big pegacorns are going to get rid of the mean chimera. Wish life was that easy.
The vindictive voice started up again, “Oh look, you went and found your sister. How was the family reunion? Was it explosive?” This time it originated from one of the many stained-glass depictions of the creature. The depiction had apparently come to life and was now waving at us. So, plan distraction is a go?
A quiet, “this again,” emanated from our side, while Loony looked around for our enemy. I turned our head towards him, just to give a slight helping shoe.
Once Loony had identified which window housed the aberration, she immediately opened fire with numerous small blasts of dark blue magic. Each one shattered a single window, resulting in Discord just moving to another. As he passed through a window, he created a number of different strange depictions. Including but not limited to, Celestia eating thirty cakes, Luna’s moon being made of cheese and a few heroic looking ponies having their armour changed to pots and pans.
This is probably pretty distracting, but from the cacophonous laughter it likely isn’t doing anything but wasting her magic. Maybe it would be best to see how long we can distract him with words? That way, when the battle of magic attrition occurs, we can last a little longer. No way will my batteries outlast that guy’s.
Upon finishing my thought, Luna halted her magical attacks, leaving just one final window intact. Said window, contained the smug serpent pony’s form. Ah, I get it. It’s so we know where he is.
“Ah yes, I can imagine it now,” the stained-glass creature began pensively, with a thought bubble appearing above it’s head. “Ol moony comes in and breaks everything, so Celly has to go and clean up her mess.” The thought bubble formed a scene of a foal Luna, accidentally breaking a vase and an adult Celestia fixing it, while ponies yelled at her.
“Our situation has improved quite considerably since the elements found us,” Luna stated resolutely. She then looked to her sister for a moment, “We are glad our sister managed to get through to us.” Celestia returned the look with a smile, before re-joining us in staring at the threat.
“Oh yes, when the sun used the elements to make the moon exactly how she wanted,” Discord said cruelly. His stained-glass window’s image morphed into that of a golden pegacorn connecting puppet strings to a happy dark blue one.
Hope Loony doesn’t think that’s the truth. From the way her stance faltered slightly, a nerve had clearly been touched. In an attempt to minimise the damage, I whispered, “You know your sister doesn’t manipulate you. Most nights we do what you think’s best.” Most of the time when Celestia comes to see Loony, it’s just to gossip about random things. Luna’s the one most interested in talking shop (Even if she seems to hate it way more).
As my words tickled Luna’s ears she shouted back, “’twas not like that. We know now that eternal night could never be allowed to happen.” That’s why education is important. On a side note, this distraction is going perfectly. If he only hurt’s our feelings, it’s a small price to pay for victory.
A cruel laugh was suddenly emitted from the puppeteering pegacorn. “No? why not? Suppose it would have been incredibly dull if the world was left lifeless and all that. Chaos doesn’t even matter without life. But, that sense of freedom you would have had. It’s not surprising you couldn’t give it up without the elements altering your mind.” Wow, really hope that’s not how the elements work. Weren’t they used against Discord before? He seems like he’s still our enemy.
In retaliation for the perceived slights against Loony, Sunny sent a single blast of golden energy through the final window. With her horn still smoking she simply said, “the elements of harmony are a benevolent force. Their use only showed my sister the folly of her actions.” She then took a step closer to us. “Your Discordant words cannot divide us. I know my sister would never turn on me and even if we did disagree again, the elements would never be needed.”
A faded laugh echoed across the throne room. “That’s what you’d like to think, isn’t it?” seemed to drift in on the rooms new found draft.
The Princesses failed to reply to the chimera’s fading remark and both stood ready for his next move. Rather worryingly, no move appeared to be materializing, as once again a good few minutes passed without any hint of chaos. “Did you get him?” I decided to nervously ask, with a miniscule amount of hope that it was true.
Loony gently tapped my chest piece, while destroying my hope, “’tis unlikely simply breaking a window could harm the draconequus.”
“Then… where is he then?” I asked, while looking over to a slightly perturbed Sunny.
She had started to tapping a hoof on the ground, while glancing through what remained of the same window Twilight was earlier. “Discord was never an easy being to comprehend at the best of times,” was all she chose to say.
It seemed he hadn’t gone too far, as a sudden alarm clock went off just outside that same window. The draconequus then appeared, holding an excessively large pocket watch. “Well, would you look at that?” Discord said, while putting said watch in an invisible pocket. “It appears the element bearers have failed my little game. Seems like I get to spread even more fun.”
Celestia appeared to look worryingly past discord, towards the aforementioned hedge maze. As if on cue for us all to be looking at it, the hedge maze appeared to dissolve into nothing.
Sooo, does that mean the element bearers are dead? Hopefully not, as apparently that was our one hope. Plus, some of those ponies were quite nice. Rarity had actually invited me over to hers again.
I felt Loony’s concealed mouth drop open at the sight, before both sisters looked at each other and resolutely nodded. Upon turning back to Discord, Celestia lowered her gaze to the ground, while Loony slightly lowered her posture. They can’t be giving up? Seriously?
As if to compound my fear, Discord appeared just as surprised, before returning to his flippant behaviour. He began flipping a coin, which landed displaying a white flag. “Surrender? I wouldn’t have bet on that if I was encased in stone for a thousand years.”
There has to be a way out of this.
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Discord feels very nonchalant and almost melancholy about this. Did him draining discord allow a different side of him to show? Also, please call Luna 'Luna' or at least something better then loony all the time. I can't think of a more insulting nickname based on her past and personality.
How about eating Discord magic? If he is able, than that would be very big snack. XD And since he can eat spells (he devoured spell prisoning Discord) he could devour spells casted by Discord... I think.
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While it's likely that he can eat his magic, there's just too much of it to simply eat all at once. It's like going into a fully stocked and staffed buffet and saying "eat all of the food here, you have 30 minutes." His magic would probably regenerate faster than it could be eaten, judging by his spellcasting.
As for eating the spells cast on others, it specifically mentioned it was hard to tell where his magic began, and their magic ended, so it's a viable solution if you've got time and patience, but not in the heat of battle.
Of all the ways this could have gone, surrender was not what I expected. Maybe it's a ploy? Maybe Eclipse will meet up with the elements and help them find the elements and use them, giving twilight a lesson on "suits of living armor are people too"?
However this ends up going, I'm looking forward to it.
Awesome chapter, I wonder if Eclipse, would be turned into cardboard or plastis peace or armor or corrupt him into coerce him into becoming Discord Armor and used his stored magic to boost his own.
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What if he doesn't eat it but redirects it? Like "eat all of the food here, you have 30 minutes" but you throw it all on the floor instead?
Something like everytime Discord snaps his fingers, fireworks goes off?
Maybe ironman there will take fluttershy's place as discords first real pal
Good chapter
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While I could see him using himself as an energy conduit like that, there's a few issues with him doing that as he is now.
We don't know his maximum throughput/bandwidth, or how much he could pass through himself at a time, though we can guess that his maximum storage is quite large, giving even alicorns a solid boost to their reservoir.
On his own, he knows very few spells that actually use magic, so he would need to be on somebody so they could cast spells to keep the mana flowing. (This idea inspires a great many darker timelines where he sucks the magic, and then life, out of all those he's doing battle against, creating an aura of death, powering up the user further and further. Like tirek, but actually effective.)
And third, we don't even know for certain he can eat discord's magic. He fed on him as a statue, so there's a chance that he was just eating the seal that kept him stoned.
Honestly, I'm kind of wanting to see twilight put him on just to see how hard she'll cast magic.
But he is written so well. Seriously, I could practically hear his voice in those lines.
That's it! Keep him off-guard! Out-chaos the demigod of chaos nothing could go wrong!
Kinda disappointed it didn't react fast enough to encapsulate Skitty, but a second change to combat with Luna is good too.
Now to test some limits, much more haphazard than Twilight's attempts!
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If she's cool with it, I would be.
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I like the theories/ideas people are coming up with. :)
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I'm glad I did him justice. :)
You have no idea how long it took my brain to figure out what he was going to say.
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Not sure anyone can out chaos a spirit of chaos.
Saying that, if making a mess of a situation is chaotic, Eclipse could probably give it a try.
Huh. I'm all caught up, and for the first time since 2017, I have no more stories in my "read later" list. I feel kinda... Lost.
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Don't worry, there will always be more to go into that folder. Mine still has 1591 stories in it. You will find your way eventually. :)
I'm glad you enjoyed the story enough to get this far.
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Yeah, lots of languages besides english have male or female forms built into all of the nouns, and even though "confidant(e)" is an english word, it's inspired by latin and french and they do that.
i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/014/033/The_More_You_Know_0-0_screenshot.png
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so far i am, at first i started to slow and more had to keep reading out of force once he was captured, just the kinda thing i've seen in a lot of stories, but the possession of luna flipped that on it's head, i was expecting a good few boring chapters of castle life and such, you really found a way to blow that out of the water fast lol, i loved it. anyway currently on chapter 6, will continue reading soon, got a few things to do today
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To be honest, the first few chapters are probably the weakest. I like to think the quality increases the further you go.
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Yes
gotta admire your efforts at getting the characters as close to cannon as possible,m tis a hard task to be sure.
also to be honest i did not expect this outcome, i honestly thought eclipse was eating discords magic not the element magic trapping him. was expecting a completely different outcome when he broke free
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I didn't have a problem with the first few chapters.
Monk
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Thanks, I'm glad. :)
No matter how you write Discord he kinda is always right...
Discord sure is a unpredictable and yet to follows certain with difficulty to deal enemy.
Personally I like the Q like Discord off all versions I read so far.