Luminous Atonement

by Metool Bard

Prologue: Musings of the Moon

Prologue:
Musings of the Moon

From her personal balcony in the royal palace of Canterlot, Princess Luna watched as her sister's sun began to set over the horizon. As she basked in the orange-red glow of the evening sky, she felt uneasy. Something was on her mind, and it wasn't her upcoming duties, which would begin as soon as the sun completely disappeared.

To this day, he remains my greatest mistake, she thought, breathing a deep sigh. A mistake I never had a chance to correct. And now, he means to come back. Why? Just what is he planning? Could it be that the legends are actually true?

She shook her head. No, of course not, she assured herself. That's just a silly story cooked up by the other beasts of Tartarus. But still, after all that has happened in the past few weeks, I cannot help but worry...

"Beautiful view, isn't it?"

A sly voice brought Luna back to reality, although she could not see where it came from.

"Of course, I always thought it would look more beautiful a few degrees to the left, or maybe if it descended to the north for a change. Just to spice things up a bit," the voice continued. "But then again, you-know-who would probably get all persnickety and gripe on and on about how there has to be an order to things. Almost makes me wonder why she chose to free me in the first place."

By this point, Luna knew full well who it was. "Discord," she said as she continued to stare off into space. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Sure enough, the Master of Chaos himself appeared before the princess's eyes. "You mean besides myself?" he asked. "Well, I always found you to be better company than your stick-in-the-mud of a sister. Although you still rank below the phoenix in my book. No offense or anything, but that bird just knows a good time when she sees it."

"I'm glad you and Philomena are getting along so well," said Luna, her expression still passive.

Discord raised an eyebrow. "Hey now. Why the long face?" he inquired, pulling on Luna's muzzle and stretching it out to emphasize his point. Luna shot the draconequus a glare, and he sheepishly released her, snapping the muzzle back into her face. She shook herself and recovered from the odd experience.

"Discord, have you heard of the recent events from Tartarus?" she asked.

Discord placed his eagle talon to his chin and stroked his goatee in thought. "I can't say that I have," he said thoughtfully. "But then again, my cousin and I haven't really been on speaking terms since I switched its heads around that one time. Seriously, that Chimera really can't take a joke."

"I'm not talking about that," said Luna, shaking her head at the absurd answer. "I mean did you hear about the recent breakouts from Tartarus?"

"Oh. That," said Discord. "Just for the record, that was not my fault." He then struck a thinking attitude again. "Of course, maybe it would be kinda fun if a few of those creatures managed to slip past that three-headed hound. It certainly would give that uptight sister of yours something interesting to..."

"Don't even think about it, Discord," Luna interrupted, shooting the chaotic creature a warning glare.

"Oh come now, Lunatic," said Discord playfully, patting the starry-maned alicorn on the back with his lion paw. "A draconequus can dream, can't he?"

"I thought I told you not to call me that," Luna growled through gritted teeth.

"Hey, I didn't call you a lunatic," said Discord. "Trust me, that award already goes to that twin-headed pet of yours."

"And it's him that I'm worried about," said Luna darkly, turning her attention back to the sunset. "Tartarus is supposed to suppress dark magic, and yet Orthrus found away around it. He's trying to come back."

"I don't see what the problem is," Discord said with a shrug. "So he managed to summon a genie from Saddle Arabia and use her in a couple of crazy schemes. Big deal."

"Discord, it was because of those schemes that he almost broke out," said Luna.

"Oh pshaw, Lunatic," said Discord with a chuckle. "'Almost' only counts in horseshoes." To illustrate his point, he summoned a horseshoe out of nowhere and tossed it at Luna, landing a dead ringer on her horn. "After all, I almost spread chaos all over Equestria, but you don't see me sitting on the throne."

Luna turned around and raised an eyebrow as she saw the Discord was actually sitting on a throne. Discord cleared his throat and made the throne disappear with a snap of his fingers. "Well, you get my point," said he.

Luna sighed. "Discord, I'm the one who gave Orthrus those powers when I was Nightmare Moon, so that he would be able to defeat his brother Cerberus. It may have been a thousand years, but I still remember how powerful he was back then."

"And how is that relevant to now?" asked Discord. "You're not Nightmare Moon anymore, Lunatic. Well, except on Nightmare Night, but that's more of a parlor trick for the kiddies. I always liked that, by the way."

Luna gave an exasperated sigh. "Discord, do you take anything seriously?"

Instead of answering, Discord snapped his fingers. In a flash, Luna's wings were on her head, and her horn was sticking out of her back.

"Hey!" Luna exclaimed in annoyance.

"Ask a silly question, get a silly answer," Discord said with a shrug, using his magic to revert Luna back to normal. "I'm still not sure what you're so worried about, Lunatic. Even if Orthrus tries again, I'll be surprised if he comes up with a scheme that doesn't have a gaping hole in it. Honestly, if his best idea of escape is to put his hopes in my cousin the Chimera, he's out of his mind, both of them."

Luna said nothing, but continued staring off into space. Discord sighed.

"Look, Lunatic. If it makes you feel any better, I don't want anything to do with your little pet," said he. "He's just too grouchy for my tastes. He needs to appreciate the finer things in life, like chocolate rain and buffalos doing ballet. At the very least, he needs a hobby to distract himself from his frustration of not being able to overthrow you on the off-chance you defeated your sister all those years ago."

Luna gave Discord a sideways glance. "That's just a legend."

"Oh, don't be so naïve," said Discord, folding his mismatched arms. "The Chimera wouldn't have agreed to try and help Orthrus escape if he was just planning to go back to serving you. Well, ignoring the fact that you're no longer Nightmare Moon, of course."

"Great. Now you've given me more reason to worry," said Luna with a sigh.

"If you wanted me to sugarcoat things, you should've told me," said Discord, donning some coveralls and producing a paintbrush out of nowhere. He then coated the rim of the balcony with some sort of sparkling paint. "Go ahead, try it."

Luna simply rolled her eyes and sniffed Discord's handiwork. Indeed, it did smell sweet. Tentatively, she licked the banister, and sure enough, it was sugar.

"Well? What do you think?" the draconequus asked. "Feeling any better?"

Luna paused for a moment, looking back at Discord. Finally, she smiled. "Slightly," she confessed. "Although I still wish you'd take things more seriously."

"What, and become an uptight stick-in-the-mud like your sister? Thanks, but no thanks," said Discord.

"Oh, that reminds me," said Luna. "Celie is having Fluttershy over to look after Philomena and Cerberus while she goes to Appleoosa for a summit with the buffalo tomorrow. I thought you'd might like to know."

Discord's ears perked up, and a gentle smile crossed his face. "Well now. That is a surprise," he mused. "I will give your sister this, Lunatic. She may be an uptight stick-in-the-mud, but she can be quite thoughtful when she wants to be."

"I'll let her know you approve," said Luna just as the sun completely set. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some duties to attend to."

With that, she stretched out her wings and took off into the air. Discord watched her leave and shook his head.

"She worries too much for her own good," he muttered to himself. "Well, I know where I'm going to be tomorrow."

He then snapped his fingers, and disappeared in a burst of light.

Comments

[octavia1997]

lovely story sir. keep it up

1000000000000 spikes and fluttershys
love this so much

[PrinceOfNigeria]

Sounds like a great story so far, keep up the good work!

[Metool Bard]

2062807 Thanks. I intend to.

[Wildebeest]

I love how Discord calls her 'Lunatic'

Actually, I'm pretty amused by Discord's antics in this chapter in general. He reminds me of the Genie from Aladdin, with an extra dash of mischief.

[Metool Bard]

2068820 Thanks. I actually had a lot of fun writing this chapter (especially with Discord's dialogue), and I'm glad it shows. I honestly didn't have the Genie from Aladdin in mind while writing it, but I can definitely see the connection now that you have pointed it out.