> The Secret Side Of Discord
>  by Lemon Pegasus
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> I found you
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	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!


> Child Needs
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Discord sat on his chair, wondering what to do about his new job as a parent. He had finally managed to get Starswirl to his house, a long way from where Starswirl was found. It’s not like this was going to be an easy job; Discord has had 0 experience as a parent in his lifetime, and there was no way he was going to ask someone else, they would want to take the child off to an orphanage, afraid Discord was going to wrongly bring up the child.

“So, Starswirl, what do you want to do today?” Discord awkwardly said, doing his best to sound enthusiastic. Starswirl didn’t reply, he just looked at Discord blankly. “Yoo-hoo, speak! Hellooooo!” Discord looked confusingly at Starswirl, but then he realised: he couldn’t talk yet! “Oh wow” Discord thought to himself. Raising a kid alone would be tough, but having to teach him to talk as well would just be a mammoth task.

For a second, Discord just thought about taking the baby away and leaving it with someone else, but then he saw a dove land outside his home. This gave Discord hope. It reminded him of the moment Discord watched Starswirl’s mother be crushed under 2 tons of debris. In a way, Discord felt responsible. If it wasn't for him starting this whole war, Starswirl’s mother would never have been killed.

Discord was getting desperate for a plan here, so he decided on the traditional go to game for a dad! “Where’s daddy? Here I am!” Discord said repeatedly while occasionally hiding behind the doorway to his kitchen.

Discord felt embarrassed at first, but he soon came across a burst of joy when Starswirl started to playfully giggle. Discord couldn't keep this up all day; he needed to find some toys for Starswirl, or a place for him to play. “Hmm” Discord said out loud while thinking of an idea. Then, he had one! Starswirl may not be able to talk yet, but surely he knew what he wanted!

Discord grabbed a pencil and paper and drew three separate items. He then took the sheet to Starswirl.

“Now, just point to what you would like” Discord said in a soft voice. He had drawn a swing set, a rocking dragon and building blocks. Starswirl gave an excited giggle, and pulled the sheet from Discord’s hand. He then leaped up in a little bundle of joy and took the pencil from Discord’s other hand.

Discord looked a little confused when he saw Starswirl wasn't choosing a toy, he was just drawing!
“Well that’s a relief” Discord said to himself. It was a good thing all Starswirl wanted to do was draw, or else he would have to build something for Starswirl. After all, it’s not like a part dragon, part lion, part eagle, part goat creature can just walk into a store and buy an infant’s toy!
When Discord thought about it, there was a spare room upstairs which currently wasn't being used. Discord was about to fly upstairs to convert it into a child’s room, but then he thought leaving Starswirl on his own probably wasn't the best idea. Meh, what’s the worst that could happen!

Discord started to walk to the stairs, when he heard hove-steps behind him. He turned around to see Starswirl had been following him, pencil and paper carrying around in his tiny mouth! Discord kept his eyes on the young pony and started walking forward again. Sure enough, Starswirl walked with him. Discord stopped and started walking backwards. And again, Starswirl followed his every footstep.

“Ok, you, stay here!” Discord firmly said, pointing to the floor. Starswirl just looked at Discord.
“You, here!” Discord said again. Starswirl continued to just look at Discord. Discord started walking again. He heard hove-steps again! Discord swiftly turned around and just saw Starswirl stood completely still.

Again, Discord walked towards the steps. The hove-steps were heard again. Discord smiled and turned around quick as a flash! Discord just saw Starswirl stood still again. Starswirl gave a short small on his tiny, blue face.
Discord was about to groan, but then he realised; Starswirl was only playing. He gave a mild laugh and patted Starswirl on the head. Despite a slight annoyance Discord had, it was a pretty comedic moment. 

When Discord reached the room, he slowly opened the door. Starswirl rushed in and immediately started sneezing. Wow, this room was dusty! Discord hadn’t been in this room for years, not even to clean it! Then Discord realised, Starswirl had dropped his drawing in his fit of sneezing!

Discord went over to the drawing to pick it up for Starswirl, what he saw made him skip a heartbeat. Starswirl had drawn a picture of Discord sliding down a slide, Starswirl in his arms! Discord looked down at Starswirl, just like earlier,  looked back and smiled. Discord was lost in thought when he heard a small rumbling. It took him a few seconds to realise it was Starswirl’s stomach! Discord hadn’t even thought about what he was going to feed little Starswirl!

Truly, this was going to be the biggest task of Discord’s life; raising a child. He was overwhelmed for a second when he felt Starswirl cuddle his leg.  “No, this was going to be fine” Discord thought to himself, holding Starswirl in one arm.

So, how was Discord going to feed Starswirl? One big problem was that Discord did not know how old Starswirl was, so should he be fed baby food or regular food? Really there was only one way of Discord figuring this out.

“Starswirl, how old are you?” Discord asked in a clear voice, making sure Starswirl understood every word. Starswirl didn’t answer; he just tapped the floor 3 times.

“How old are you?” Discord asked again. Just like before, Starswirl knocked the floor 3 times. Then Discord realised, Starswirl was 3 years old! He could not talk yet, so he just tapped the floor 3 times to say he was 3 years old.  Starswirl must have been rather clever to find a way of communicating without an ability to speak.

“So, Starswirl must have to eat soft and milk,” Discord thought to himself. But then raised the question, where was Discord supposed to get this stuff? Again, it’s not like he could just walk into a shop and buy some, seeing as he was not a pony, but some bizarre abomination of a creature.

Then Discord had an idea! If Discord had his own cow, he would have a renewable source of milk! And if he got a fruit tree of some sort, he could always make his own version of some baby food.

Starswirl’s stomach rumbled again. Discord was going to have to find some food fast. Then, a light bulb popped up above his head; his home was not so far from Sweet Apple Acres! He could get some apples! “Now you, stay here!” Discord said to little Starswirl, who just looked at him like always. Discord thought it would be a smart idea to lock the doors and close the windows if he was going to have to leave Starswirl on his own temporarily.

Discord grabbed his keys and locked the back door to the house. He took a quick sweep of the house to make sure no windows were open and that all dangerous or pointy objects were out of Starswirl’s reach. After being 100% sure Starswirl would be fine, Discord left through the front door, locking it behind him.

“Now, I must be quick!” Discord said to himself, and he took off over to Sweet Apple Acres. The wind blew in Discord’s mane aggressively as Discord flew full pelt to the farm. At this stage, Sweet Apple Acres was only small, maybe 10 acres. 

Discord swooped down with ease when the farm came into sight. Discord had not figured out how to perform teleportation spells yet, so he was very talented in flight, seeing as that was his mane use of transport.  Discord looked around before landing in front of a small apple tree, making sure not to be seen.

“Oh no” Discord said to himself when he realised his problem. Discord was going to need maybe 7 or 8 apples, but how was he going to get them home? He hadn’t brought any form of bag or bucket! And having to carry them in his arms would certainly slow down his flight. At that moment, Discord heard faint, southern sounding voices beyond the trees. He peeked through the leaves to see two earth ponies.

Both were wearing farm labour gear and both were male, but one was clearly larger than the other.
“Okay Lennie, you take these apples off to the barn and leave them outside the door, okay?” the smaller one said to the other.

“Sure George, I can do that” the larger one replied. The larger pony took a large cart of apples and started walking away. The smaller one trotted off to do some apple bucking.

The coast was clear, so Discord silently flew over to where the two were standing to see if there was some kind of saddlebag. The two had been talking by a cart which had now been taken away, but all that was left now was a garden fork. Then, discord noticed the barn the smaller pony had been talking about. He immediately flew over to it, hopping a saddlebag would be in there.

Discord hid behind a water mill about 20 feet from the barn. He saw the larger pony leave and at that moment Discord swooped in the barn. The barn was divided into three parts, a long path down the middle, storage for equipment on the right and farm animals on the left. Discord opened his mouth in glee and gave a short “yes” of joy as he noticed a large sack by some of the equipment.

Discord grabbed the sack and gave a short dance of happiness after accomplishing his goal. Discord quickly snapped out of his small moment of craziness and focused. He looked outside the barn door to check there was no pony around. The two ponies he saw earlier were nowhere to be seen.

Confident that he wouldn’t be spotted, he flew out swiftly and landed by an apple tree. He began picking apples and filled his sack with around 16 of them. He picked one for himself, took a bite and then left, dropping his snack on the floor. You know, just cause.

Carrying the sack made flight a little harder, but he still got home in time to see Starswirl...  was missing! Discord started panicking, where was that pony? Could he be in trouble? Was he pony knapped? Discord started frantically looking around the living room, under the chairs, behind the door, but Starswirl was nowhere.

"Starswirl! Starswirl!" He was not about to lose a child no more than a day after finding him! Then, Starswirl walked through the doorway. He looked curious as to why Discord was carrying a sack, either that or he was confused as to why Discord was trying to regain his breath after having a mini-heart attack.

> Incognito Cow
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	It was the morning after Discord found Starswirl. Luckily, Starswirl seemed to have a taste for apples. Discord had some apple slices in a mortar, mashing it up with a pestle. This is how Discord made his little baby food recipe. After mixing up 3 apples and placing them in a cup, Discord added some water to make it more like a liquid.

After stirring it, Discord brought the food into the living room for Starswirl, who was lying upside down, hooves up in the air. Discord crouched beside Starswirl and handed out the cup so Starswirl could drink from it. He righted himself and started sipping. After drinking, Discord noticed Starswirl looked rather full... but also kind of sick! Then Discord realised what he had to do. He grabbed Starswirl and gently patted his back. After a few pats, Starswirl burped and immediately looked better.

The baby food was working just fine for Starswirl, but soon enough Discord would need to find a cow for the young filly, that way he could get some milk for him. Maybe Starswirl would learn to talk quicker if he had a good supply of calcium, honestly Discord was slightly worried for him, 3 years old and not a single peck of speech, not even a mumble.

Discord again did a sweep of the house to make sure Starswirl would be safe by himself. After being certain he would be fine, he left and locked the door behind him. Sweet Apple Acres didn't have any cows at the time, but there was some in nearby field. 

He took off and flew towards the field. He only had to fly for 30 seconds or so, it was local. Discord landed in a field. There were, sure enough, cows everywhere, maybe 20 in this herd. There was a large pile of hay at one side of the field, a large cart beside it. There were no farmers about, so Discord hoped he could get away with one little cow theft.

Discord made sure to pick out a  cow and not a bull, and once he found a nice large one, he pondered as to how to get it home. Then Discord remembered the cart! Discord flew over to it. It looked large enough to hold a cow. But what if Discord was seen pulling a cow away to his house? Discord heard voices and looked up. There seemed to be a large herd of ponies approaching, probably hikers. Discord had to act fast and secretive. Then, he had an idea: if the cow was lying down in the cart, he could just cover it up with hay! Yeah sure, Discord would still look kind of weird pulling a large cart of hay, but it would at least be less suspicious than carrying a cart with a cow in it.

Discord grabbed the cart and dragged it over to the cow. He let go and signalled to the cow to try and get it on the cart, but it just stood there eating grass. Discord let out a quiet growl of anger, but he remained focused. He pulled some grass from the floor and held it out for the cow. It looked up and followed Discord’s hand. Discord slowly led the it into the cart repeating “yes, yes, good cow” in a quiet voice. Finally, the cow was in position! Discord dropped the grass and closed the cart shut. Now, how would Discord make it lie down?

The hikers were getting closer. Discord just patted the back of the cow’s legs, hoping it would work. Discord gave a “yes” of joy as he succeeded in getting the cow to lie down. He grabbed some hay and started to bury the cow. The cow rustled around before poking out his head. Great, a pile of hay with a cow head, not suspicious at all!

Discord continued to try and bury the head of the cow, but to no success. Discord looked back over the horizon. Thankfully the hikers had stopped to rest for a bit. He needed a new idea. Then, Discord remembered his invisibility spell! He had used on himself many times before, but could it be used on something else?

Discord clicked his fingers to activate the spell then he threw his hands towards the cow. It just made Discord invisible, not the cow. He tried again, and again it failed. So, Discord decided to try something else. He clicked both his fingers above the cow. Again, it didn’t work. So, this time clicked his finger while holding onto the cow, and... It worked!

Discord and the cow were now invisible. He clicked his fingers to make himself visible again, thankfully the cow remained as nothing more than a ghost. Discord dropped some hay over where the cow should be, and it floated there for a second before it shook around for a bit and then fell to the ground. The cow was definitely still there!

So, Discord grabbed the cart and started pulling it back to his house. It was extra heavy with the weight of the cow, but Discord was just managing to walk at a steady base. Then, he passed the hikers. They all looked confusedly at Discord with their sweaty faces. Discord may be a dad now, but he was still the Loki of My Little Pony. So Discord being his normal way, he said with a smug voice: “draw a picture, it’ll last longer!” before walking again. The hikers clearly felt awkward to hear this and just got up to continue their hiking.

The walk home was a long and tiring one, but finally, Discord had reached his house and stopped outside his garden. He dropped the cart and started panting, finally able to rest his arms! He unlocked the door and walked in. Starswirl was on the floor, looking rather anxious. Noticing Discord, he immediately got up and sprinted towards him, stopping a few feet away. “What’s wrong?” Discord asked, holding out a hand.

Starswirl gritted his teeth and sat on his hind legs, covering his crotch with his front legs. “Oh...” Discord said worryingly. Starswirl clearly needed to “go”. Discord flew over to his bathroom and opened the door for Starswirl. Starswirl immediately ran inside and closed the door.
“Phew” Discord said to himself. For a second he thought Starswirl hadn’t been potty trained and he would have to buy some nappies for Starswirl. Thankfully that wasn’t the case. Starswirl knocked on the door and Discord opened it up so he could walk out. “Would you like to see our new pet?” Discord said to young Starswirl, crouching to him. Starswirl opened his mouth in excitement and started bouncing around! “All right all right” Discord said, calming Starswirl. Discord led Starswirl outside to show him the cow.

> Le Plan
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Starswirl sprinted outside, so excited to see the “new pet” Discord had told him about. Then, Starswirl just stopped bouncing and sat there, puzzled. Discord looked up from Starswirl to see a cart with hay, but no cow. “Oh yes” he said to himself, the cow was still invisible. He clicked his fingers while holding the cow and it turned visible again, but Discord turned invisible. With another click, he was back to normal.

Discord looked happily at Starswirl, sweat dripping from his face after pulling the heavy cart. Starswirl Bounced around the cow in an exited manner, a huge smile on his face! “Come on now” Discord said calmly, leading the cow into his garden.
Discord’s garden was reasonably big; although he wasn’t sure the cow would have enough space. After all, wouldn’t it need a stable for when it gets cold outside?

“Oh great, I’ll have to do more manual labour!” Discord thought to himself. He immediately felt better when he saw Starswirl petting the cow, smiling. Whenever Discord saw Starswirl smile, he would always smile back. It was just what happened. Something was changing in Discord, he wasn't in the mood to blow everything up like normal, he was just... calm.

The cow seemed to have a “whatever” look on his face; he just stood there, his tail swishing about while a foal half his size jumped about cheering. What Discord saw next made him burst out laughing! Starswirl leaped under the cow and prodded its udders! The cow just gave a snort and plodded away. Discord fell to the floor, laughing hysterically!

Starswirl just looked confusedly at Discord as he laughed. Once Dhe finally contained himself (after about 30 whole seconds) Discord got up and wiped his head. Starswirl seemed to have been side tracked, and he just ran off to the edge of the garden. Discord quickly followed, and there was a large pile of wood!

“Oh yes” Discord said to Starswirl, “this is where my shed used to be, it was destroyed during a little... accident.” Of course the accident was a serious one, but he didn’t want to tell Starswirl about it, he might get frightened. Starswirl slowly approached a plank of wood and held out his hoof. He then turned around to face Discord, his hoof still extended.

Discord crouched down and saw that Starswirl had found a ladybird! Starswirl seemed fascinated by the creature, Discord didn’t care much for it but he put on some fascination so he would be giving the right attitude to Starswirl.

The ladybird flew away, and Starswirl ran inside. Discord, however, remained outside. He stared at the wood and thought: “Starswirl hasn’t got a room yet, and I have all this wood here...” brilliant! But... discord had no experience with creating furniture, how is he going to create a bed, a cupboard, a desk AND toys? Meh, yolo.

Discord decided that first of all he would need some nails and tools. Tools are off the list, Discord had a hammer and a saw inside, but he would have to buy some nails; but how? It’s not like a creature like Discord can just walk into a shop and buy some nails, last time he tried it he was on the run for weeks just because ponies thought he looked like “a guy looking for trouble.”

Discord knew that he wouldn’t be able to raise Starswirl without the ability to go out and buy supplies; he would have to do something about it. There was only one thing he could do; he would have to talk to Princess Celestia about it. Only a pony with her level of power would be able to convince everypony that Discord was not about to start WW3 every time he went out to buy stuff. But, how could he talk to her without risk? Would the guards even let him near the princess? Would Starswirl be taken away from Discord? What if they found out he stole a cow, he would go to prison for that! How was Dicord going to get to Canterlot?

But, there was no other way. Either that or he would have to move to Apple Loosa, and that was a no no. Discord’s house was between the mountain Canterlot sat upon and Foal Mountain, so the journey would be a long one, he would have to take Starswirl on this journey, there was no way he was going to leave him on his own for almost a week!

The train wasn’t an option; Discord wouldn’t fit in any of the carriages. It would have to be a road trip, featuring tents, camp fires and hiking. Still, would Starswirl’s tiny legs be able to handle such a long journey? Discord’s wings surely wouldn’t, so they would definitely have to walk and not fly. He would have to carry Starswirl.

So, check-list: Discord would need a large tent, a sleeping bag for Starswirl, some kind of large cover for himself, a temporary supply of food, drinks and some entertainment for Starswirl. Also, Discord would need a large rucksack to carry all this.
So, the camping equipment first, how was Discord going to get it? He would probably have to get a message to Ponyville to have them custom made. Discord grabbed some paper and a pen and started writing:

Dear Ponyville textiles designer
I require the following items:  1 tent 2 metres by 2 metres, 1 plastic cover 2 metres by 8 metres, one rucksack adult size.
Please right back with an estimated delivery time and prices. Send message to this address:
Foal Mountain
6 Rocky Lane
SQ5 P0NY

Discord folded the paper over and writ on one side “To Ponyville textiles designer”. Discord didn’t know the designer’s name, it would have to do. He walked outside and left the letter inside his letterbox, and he raised the red flag on it so passing mail ponies would know there was mail inside.
> When I was your age
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Discord beat the apples viciously within the mortar. It was morning and Starswirl required his bowl of... apple... mash,  like he did every meal. He just finished mixing when he heard a small thud by the door. He went to investigate. “Aah, just the mail” he said to himself. Starswirl walked in the room; clearly he also heard the mail come through the door.

It was the letter from Canterlot. The mail service ran 24 hours a day in Equestria, so mail delivery was quick. Discord opened the letter and read:
Dear whoever reads this (I didn’t get a name?)
Your required items will take 3 days to 1 week to prepare, and the total price will be 120 bits.
Payment is required within the month.
Sincerely, Petal Hoof, textiles designer

Discord smiled slightly, glad that he would be able to start the journey sooner rather than later. He placed the letter to one side and added some mortar to his scrambled apples. He served the food in a bowl and placed it down to Starswirl so he could eat it quickly.

Discord then grabbed a bucket and headed out to the garden. He was going to get some milk for Starswirl, but, Discord had never milked a cow before! He sat down beside the cow, which was calmly grazing as if Discord wasn't even there.

“Well... here goes” Discord said to himself in a quivering voice. He slowly placed the bucket under the cow, grabbed an udder and gently squeezed. Discord was looking away, but he heard a slight squirt sound, so he knew it worked. Discord, for all his mischievous ways, was actually rather queasy at this sort of thing. He continued the pattern of squeezing, letting go, and squeezing, and letting go until the cow seemed to be “empty”.

“Phew” Discord said to himself, and he wiped his brow. He lifted the bucket and headed back inside. When Discord got into the kitchen, he was astonished!

The bowl which Discord had placed on the floor for Starswirl to eat from, was now back on the counter! Well, Starswirl couldn't have placed that on there, unless he...

Discord stood in awe as he witnessed Starswirl’s horn glow a faint blue, then the letter Discord received levitated towards young Starswirl. He had learned to use his magic! “Starswirl, well done you wonderful little pony!” he said, throwing his arms in the air! He embraced Starswirl, and who just... took it like a man!

Discord quickly looked behind him. Thank lord; he had placed the milk on the floor when he walked in. Had he kept it in his hands and it would be everywhere right now!

The hours quickly passed: Starswirl would draw in the living room while Discord planned out their journey to Canterlot on a map. Occasionally Discord would get up to fetch Starswirl his food or to make himself a sandwich. But then, there was a large rumble!

Starswirl, now curled up in a little ball, gave a high pitched squeal for a split second. Discord looked out the window: the sky was black and thunder clouds were forming. After a few seconds, heavy rainfall occurred. A storm, great. Discord was not informed of the Pegasus pony’s plans for the weather, but clearly they had messed up on the sunshine schedule again and now they needed heavy rain to make up for it.

Discord was about to curse when he felt something wrap around his leg. He looked down to see Starswirl tightly hugging his leg, shaking as if terrified. Discord knelt down to comfort him. “Oh no, the cow” thought Discord. No stable was built yet, where was the cow going to go? He couldn't leave it out in the room, if it got frost bite Discord would not know how to treat it!

Discord opened the door to check on the cow. Immediately he was confronted with the mighty sound a water smashing against the floor and the distant rumbles of thunder and lightning. The cow lied there, shivering. There was only one thing for it; the cow would have to come inside!

Discord sprinted outside, immediately getting soaked. He covered his head with his paws and plucked some grass, holding it out to the cow. The cow looked up at Discord, and just as before, he was able to slowly lure the cow inside.

For a second, he thought the cow wouldn't fit though the door, but it got in with only a small squeeze. Starswirl smiled and giggled at the thought of a cow inside in the house. For a second, Discord did too. He closed the door and sat the cow down. The cow slowly ate the grass Discord held and rested his head on the floor.

Discord then went over to Starswirl, who looked up and shook as another rumble of thunder came. He was no longer so terrified he had to cuddle his father's leg, but the violent rumbles and booms still gave him a fright. Discord took a seat on his couch, the tiny blue foal that was Starswirl soon joined him.

“Hmm, what to do...” Discord said to himself, quietly. Starswirl was frightened, but what was Discord going to do? “I know! he said out loud. Starswirl sat up, excited about what his father has in mind.

“How about I tell you a story?” Discord asked Starswirl. Starswirl looked excited and nodded his head.
“Well,” Discord started “there once was a little pony called... uhm, Tom!” he was improvising a name here. “This boy was... different to the other ponies. They made fun of him because he looked different to everypony else.” Starswirl was clearly amerced in this tale. “Now, Tom, he got very upset. One night, he became so upset that he left town. He didn’t pack, he didn’t say goodbye,  he just ran off into the woods.” The story soon became slightly harder for Discord to tell. “This boy... sat there in the forest. He wondered what to do. Where would he go, who could he ask for help? Then, he saw a small firefly.” Discord was affected, but he wasn't going to cry, HE WAS A MAN!

“This firefly ignited a spark inside young Tom, it gave him hope. Faith. Joy. Then, the firefly started to slowly fly away. Tom, the curious boy he was, followed the firefly. It guided him through the forest and over rivers, it even helped him avoid dangers that lay in the forest.” Starswirl got up and walked over to lay beside Discord. “Then, a bright light came from a break in the trees. Tom approached the light, and over the horizon was... a large town. Finally, the foal knew what he had to do. He sprinted towards the town, and... well, he became the town’s newest resident.” Starswirl just lay motionless next to Discord, occasionally letting out a small breath.

The emotions were high in Discord's mind, but he still refused to cry! For the first time in a long while, he had to fight back tears. The reason it was so hard for him to tell this story was because... it was his own story. This was the story of Discord, what growing up was like for him. How he was bullied. How he left home. How he was guided through the forest towards a town in Foal Mountain.

Discord fell asleep, Starswirl already sleeping in his arms. The storm outside meant nothing, the cow no more than 5 feet away meant nothing. This was just a quiet moment. Complete silence.
> Teaching a thing or two
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Just concentrate, Starswirl, concentrate..." Discord pointed directly at a now empty bowl, Starswirl by his side. Hope was the main fought in Discord's mind, hope that he could teach Starswirl to use his magic without any previous experience in tutoring. The tiny, blue horn glowed a smoky shade of white; abnormal. Usually a pony's magic glow will match the colour of the eyes, it should be purple...

Discord was caught off guard mid-thought, as the bowl combusted in a sudden ball of flames! The roar of the flames was like a deep dragon moan, and there was a huge burn on the floor. Well, this was a huge success! Only learned to levitate objects yesterday, now he can burn shit up!

"Very well done, Starswirl!" Discord stroked his beastly paw through the beautiful mane of Starswirl, who smiled back at him and bounced in happiness!

"You can use this spell in emergencies, kiddo," Discord hoped he wasn't being too stereo-typical here, before too long they'll be playing Baseball and football, "don't use this unless you really have to." Starswirl seemed to understand, but still, no speech. Starswirl stared at Discord, wide eyed. Did he want something? His eyes were like those of a puppy's, so, he must have wanted something...

"Uhm... would you like something?" he asked, awkwardly itching his neck. Starswirl repeatedly nodded like a bobble-head, before looking back up at his dad.

"Well, I... might have something?" Discord rose and moved into the kitchen, what he needed was a cookie! Though, as you can imagine, the lord of chaos didn't exactly spend his spare time eating little foal's snacks. There was apples, too tough for the little guy's teeth, bread, a bit boring and sandwich fillers. There was some meat?

"Uhm, do you like bacon?" Starswirl looked at Discord, head tilted. "Uhm, bacon, bacon! Do you like bacon?" ...well, clearly Starswirl has never heard of it. How a pony could go three years without it was beyond Discord, so, I guess he was going to have to unleash his mega Jamie Oliver skills in the kitchen!

Discord removed a pan from the cupboard and placed it on the plate which sat  upon the cooking spit. He would have to light the wood manually, but, Discord had a spell for starting fires. Well, he would, wouldn't he? This is Discord! With a clap, the logs burst into flames. Starswirl just sat and waited as Discord added oil, and finally bacon. So, now Discord just stood there, waiting for them to cook. The meat sizzled crazily, when, he felt something prod his leg. Looking down, he noticed it was Starswirl, who looked up at him with a gaze full of happiness.

Discord wasn't one for "naaws", but... this was pretty cute. He knelt down and picked up the weightless foal with his gryphon arm, and allowed him to rest his head upon Discord chest. He really had to fight back the "naaws" right now...

The cooking bacon remained a constant shade of pink, as did Discord's cheeks. Starswirl remained in comfort in his carer's fur, listening to the heart beet, wondering what it was.

"This... might get a bit boring, Starswirl." Discord said, lowering Starswirl to the floor tiles. The foal didn't leave Discord's side, he sat beside him, looking as if he was a body guard. Discord grabbed a spatula from the drawer and flipped the bacon over. It was now a shade of brown with red patches. The sizzling continued, so Discord now prepared a couple of plates. Meanwhile, Starswirl paced the doorway with a proud position, looking intimidating in a cute way!

The foal suddenly stopped, and stared at the plate the bacon cooked on. Discord wondered what he was doing, when, a great ember arose from the plate, leaving the metal glowing red in heat! The heat from the flame made Discord flinch, but it was over within a second! Discord looked into the plate, the bacon was perfectly cooked! What are the odds?

Discord was going to explain to Starswirl how that was a bad move, but... the bacon was cooked, nopony was hurt, and Starswirl learned to control his fire spell... (I know this is the wrong thing to do, but once again, this is Discord...)
"Well, thank you for the help Starswirl!" The tiny pony looked at him wide mouthed, clearly happy to help out. Serving up the bacon, Discord was happy to raise a first learner, anypony who was a slow poke might be a little TOO challenging...

He handed Starswirl a plate with some bacon atop, he liked watching Starswirl lift it with his magic without struggle, this pony HE raised is learning fast! He must be doing something right! The sight of the foal giving a massive smile and closing his eyes as he took his first bite of bacon was a memorable one, never underestimate the power of meat!

Like really, don't! Starswirl was on the floor right now, in some kind of blissful trance due to his new found love, Discord was hoping for some words of happiness... but... just silent joy. He grabbed his own slice of bacon and started eating, also enjoying the meat, but not quite so much he would end up on the floor.

It was at this moment that Discord realized: Starswirl knew at what temperature to shoot that fire so that the bacon was cooked just right... he knew how to cook? 

"Hmm...." He placed some bread on his plate and presented it to young Starswirl.
"Okay, can you turn this bread into toast?" It took Starswirl a moment to realize he had been addressed due to his trance. He got up, placed the bacon down, and... his horn started glowing... POOF! The bread... was gone.

"Well... it was worth a try." Guess he can't cook, it is a pretty difficult task for a 3 year old. He placed the cremated bread into the bin and returned to Starswirl, who had now finished his bacon.

He wondered what to do for entertainment... light bulb!
"So, Starswirl, you want to play a game?"
> 1v1 me bro!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Maybe this is a bad idea..." Discord thought to himself. Teaching a foal to use defensive spells in the back garden wasn't exactly on Discord's to do list. But hey, Starswirl can perform this spell now, he should at least know hot to perform it well, right? Then he can be safe if he ever needs to use it. The cow was lying behind Discord and a eager to get going Starswirl, that way it wouldn't get hurt.

Discord flew to the end of his garden and set up some make shift targets made of wood and paper dart boards. The garden wasn't exactly neat: the remains of a shed, random beer bottles from past tragedies and no attempts at decoration like flower pots or water features. Large enough to house a single cow, but certainly no billionaire playboy lawn! It would have to be cleaned up sooner or later, until then it would be what your mother would call "a bomb site."

"Now," Discord explained "try and set fire to these targets, okay Starswirl?" the foal nodded, and concentrated hard on the targets. His horn started glowing, and... a fireball shot out! It hit the center target, though it wasn't reduced to nothing more than a pile of ash like with that bowl earlier, the burn mark only covered around half the board and small flames arose from it.

Discord walked over to the next target, and gave his little pony some motivation. "Starswirl, this board called me an idiot!" Discord stood back, Starswirl looked enraged, he didn't focus like last time, he immediately flicked his horn, a great orange glow flashing for a second before there was a mighty BOOM,  and once Discord had managed to get up from the shock of the moment, he noticed the board... was gone. Along with a large patch of grass. Discord just stood in awe, what would this pony's talent be like in future years?

"Well, that went well!" So, Starswirl's magic was varied by his emotions, he could use this for now before he could teach him to use it on command. Speaking of Starswirl, the foal looked quite proud of his achievement, eyes closed, grinning. There was one more target.

"Now this target, the top half called me an idiot, the bottom half said I'm smart!" Well, it would have to do for now. If it taught Starswirl how to control his magic in a less direct way, it would damn well do! Discord took a few steps back as Starswirl geared up for a final shot, and... the wood splintered in two in a flaming wisp, the top half sizzling from the bottom up, while the bottom half -which remained in the dirt- only had a small bit of charring at the top.

"Very well done, Starswirl!" Discord clapped for the foal, who jumped in excitement. "Now, how about a challenge?" Starswirl stopped bouncing and looked confusingly at the draconequus (what Discord is), who was now approaching him.

"I'm going to see how fast I can destroy 3 targets, then, you have to try and beat my time!" Starswirl and Discord locked eyes, before Starswirl nodded slowly, grinning as if victory was guaranteed. Maybe some competition would help Starswirl motivate himself? That's what Discord thought. It would have to come later though, Discord didn't want to overwork his "star pupil."

"We'll do this later, for now, I hope you don't mind waiting." Starswirl walked inside, his tail giving off some kind of "swag walk" effect, as if he was... almost being smug!

Discord walked inside to see Starswirl jogging on the spot, looking as if he was in a Rocky montage. Though the pony was enthusiastic, it would be a shame to exhaust him.

"Starswirl, I know you really want to win, but how about you rest?" Starswirl exhaled with attitude and... held out his hoof! Despite his sudden competitive flair shining through, he clearly was going to be a good sport about this! Discord held his hand, and they shook. Starswirl walked into the living room and jumped onto the sofa, when... there was a knock at the door!

This may be an ordinary things for most ponies, but... who would visit Discord? Should he answer the door? What if Starswirl answers? What if somepony saw them practicing magic outside? "Oh Celestia..."

Discord crept over to the door and peeped through the... is it called a... peepy whole, or... I dunno, well he looked through it. There was a stallion in a suit, grey fur, blue mane. Discord though best not to answer. The pony knocked again. Wow, he was persistent. Discord locked the door just in case the pony tried to open it, just seconds after, the pony DID try to open the door!

"Is anypony there?" he called, in a stern voice. Discord walked away, hoping the mysterious door knocker would leave. Starswirl looked confused as to why Discord wasn't answering the door, well, that's why Discord thought he was confused. Either that or he was looking at something behind him. Hold on? Discord twisted around, the pony was looking through the window! He immediately sprinted away when Discord saw him! Well, shit!

Discord didn't know what to do! Should he chase him? No, that would only get him into more trouble. Hide? He would have to! And Starswirl, the pony  wouldn't know what was going on! Either way, two things were certain: 1: After Discord's history, he would surely be tracked down! 2: Starswirl would be taken away! Oh no, none of those things were going to happen!

Immediately, he sprinted into the living room and swept up his map, which he WAS going to use to find a route to Canterlot, yeah, like that was gonna happen any time soon, now this has happened! There was a forest to the north east, and a small town. Him and Starswirl wouldn't be able to live in the town due to the whole "draconequus" business (this is really racist, like, wow) though they could set up a make shift home in the forest, and maybe steel supplies from the town until they could sustain life independently. 

Wasting no time at all, Discord scooped up Starswirl in his big hand, and withing seconds he was outside in the sky! The air was cold up in the air, so Discord held his child close to his chest to keep him warm. He wished he knew what Starswirl was thinking, but if he looked down at him, he might lose concentration and spin out of control mid-flight.

"Terribly sorry, Starswirl, but we have an emergency! I hope you like road trips!"
> Mountain climbing
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Discord had been flying for what felt like an hour, the cold was starting to get to him and he was feeling exhausted with the effort of having to fly for a long period of time. Not to mention the fact that he hardly knew where he was going, the ground was hidden under a huge white cloud of snow, if Discord had flown off course he probably wouldn't even realize it. 

He knew he'd have to return to the ground sooner or later. Some large shapes soon came into view, darkened for now, but quickly approaching. With some close observation, their shape became clear: mountains. Except, Discord was in level with them? Just how high up where they?

A large patch of relatively flat rock was in sight, clutching Starswirl close to his chest, Discord swooped down to land there. He touched the cold, snow covered rock, and held out Starswirl so that he may stretch his hooves. Discord breathed heavily, flying for a full hour wasn't exactly easy. Starswirl looked... not exactly his best. His mane was a mess from the wind blowing in it for so long, he shivered a lot in the whistling cool air, and his usually smiled filled face looked more like a face of trauma!

Discord drew an arrow in the snow, facing the opposite direction he came from, so that he would know what direction to travel in when him and Starswirl set off again. His finger felt numb after having it in the cold snow just minutes after he had to hold the weight of Starswirl against the icy winds in the sky.

Starswirl's horn started to glow, "finally, some warmth" Discord though to himself. After a beam of orange and a short flame off the ground, the fire died. The stone mountain and the wet snow wasn't exactly ideal for sustained fire. The quick ember did provide a single second of warmth though, and it DID make a difference.

The sudden warmth made Discord snap back into action.
"We should find shelter before sun down, we also need wood for a fire and something to eat." Starswirl nodded, understanding the needs.  Discord lifted up Starswirl and walked forwards, towards an unknown place, the mist covered anything more than 15 feet away. It was a tedious task, having to slowly trudge through thick snow, holding a foal in one arm, covering your eyes from the snow in the other. A slope soon came into view, not too steep, and not too icy by the looks of things.

Walking down this slope, Discord felt the snow lose intensity, and after no more than 6 or so feet, he was out of the snow, and was being treated to a view that would make Celestia herself say "mother of me..."

The snow above blocked out any sort of sky, so there was just a thick shade of white instead. A large distance ahead, clearly in sight now they had escaped the snow storm, was a vast, colossal mountain. It's face was almost perfectly shaped, as if drawn by the greatest of artists. To the left was a huge cliff face, an enormous frozen waterfall trickling down the vertical stone face, reaching down into the magnificent expanse of snow. To the right, a spiked, curved mountain stretched outwards into the unknown, a pony-carved pathway in the side. Directly in front of them... a sheer cliff face. SHIT!

Discord fell back at the immediate sight of a massive drop right in front of them, landing softly yet suddenly in the snow. Starswirl remained still in Discord's arm. He looked down at Starswirl to see if he was moving, and a second later, the foal looked up at him and met his gaze. Discord smiled and patted him on the head. He sighed and got back to his feet, looking for a route along the mountainside path. "Actually, why don't I just fly? He though to himself.

"Don't look down..." He told to Starswirl, keeping his head to his chest. The foal closed his eyes, and for good reason! As soon as Discord took off for flight, he had to try and concentrate on the path and nothing but the path, as the drop below his floating paws was so vast, it would make even Hulk scared!

He wasn't flying very quickly, what with the combination of being already tired AND the fear. It wasn't so bad earlier because they were flying above the snow storm, so you couldn't actually see any ground beneath you. Now, it was very clear there was a certainly fatal drop just one slip up away. Luckily, Discord managed to reach the path and land safely. He still kept Starswirl in his arm, however, letting him run around on this dangerous path was almost as silly an idea as men into My Little Pony, can you imagine such a thing?

Walking along the path wasn't exactly calming, it was only a few feet wide, and there were no safety fences or walls, just the occasional stick... very helpful. Discord, Starswirl in hand, calmly walked along the path, trying to keep his composure. The path curved around the mountainside, so the two of them would be able to see what the other side of the mountain range looked like. After the curve, there was a single, cuboid shaped cliff with a very steep face. Beside it, a massive expanse of flat land.  They could see the sun now, well.. not for much longer, it was going to set within an hour or two! And still there was no food, shelter or wood!

Suddenly, a small object came flying out of the mountain face: a falcon! It looked tiny since it was so far away, yet it was a magnificent site, nonetheless. The black shadow of the bird looked epic along the bright aura of the sun, Discord couldn't help but follow it with his eyes. It was flying with great speed, towards... some trees! Yay, wood! 

Focusing on not slipping on this -probably illegal- pathway, Discord made his way towards the forest. It wasn't that far away, so it didn't take that long to get there. Discord shivered slightly, he had forgotten about the cold. Of course, it wasn't as bad now they weren't in the snowstorm, but it was still bucking freezing!

After another curve in the mountain, the path to the trees was now a straight line. Approaching them, Discord noticed, it was certainly not forest. There was, at most, 12 trees? They stood 20 foot in the air, their evergreen leaves covered by snow, staying completely motionless and silent. The falcon that was seen earlier sat upon a high up branch, Discord covered up Starswirl for his protection. Well, there were trees... but they didn't exactly have a hatchet.

There was a sudden shuffle in Discord's arm, he looked down to see Starswirl trying to get down. Discord let him down, but he stayed close, keeping a watchful eye on the falcon as well. Starswirl stood in front of a large tree, he took a few steps back, as did Discord. His horn started glowing... glowing brighter... before a bolt of flames shot from his horn and made a clean slice through the thick trunk. The tree fell in the opposite direction, giving a great roar as it fell. The leaves shook for a few seconds, shaking off snow as soon as it hit the floor with great contact.

Well, that happened. Discord remained having a watchful eye on the falcon, which suddenly took off and flew... through a wall. Maybe the high altitude was making him see things? Discord walked towards the -somehow fly-through-able wall, and noticed there was a hole in it where the bird flew through. He poked it and noticed, it was just made of snow! Starswirl stood by his side, and noticing Discord put his hand clean through this wall of snow, he sprinted through!

Discord gave a "no" of distress, before charging through the snow himself, to find... a cave. It was relatively large, large enough for himself and Starswirl to sleep inside. Starswirl was admiring the cave walls (rocks are cool), and the falcon stayed perched upon a ledge. Well, shelter sorted. The falcon suddenly swooped out, Discord dodging out the way as it flew off into the sky.

Discord lifted Starswirl out of the cave and walked over to the fallen over tree.
"Can you cut a small log off, for firewood?" he asked Starswirl, putting him down. You didn't have to ask him twice, his horn charged and an ember arose, slicing clean through the log, leaving a conveniently sized log. Discord grabbed it in one arm, and broke off a branch with is other. After leading Starswirl back to the cave, he placed down the log and used his own spell to set fire to it, Starswirl had done plenty before now.

The cave was illuminated by the warmth and blissful light of the fire, Starswirl seemed to be enjoying it, well, he was just about to fall asleep...

Suddenly, the falcon returned! And landed by the entrance, and flew out immediately after. It took Discord a second to notice, it brought them a dead rabbit! ...Why would a falcon deliver food? Eh, free meal, whatever! It was a good thing Starswirl was drifting into a sleep, the sight of a bunny corpse would probably scar him. Discord took his branch and, with slight reluctance, pressed it down the throat of the bunny so it remained there. He then held the rabbit over the fire and allowed it to cook.

It was slow, but a good opportunity to warm up in front of the fire. Starswirl didn't look back until the bunny was no longer a bunny, but just a tasty looking piece of meat. Once Discord was sure it had been cooked, he removed it from the flames and used his claw to slice it in two. After removing the bones, he handed some meat to Starswirl, he held it with his magic and hungrily ate the meal. Discord just now noticed, the falcon remained outside, by the entrance, looking away.

"That bird gave us this food, we owe him..." Discord thought to himself. as he cut off some meat and through it to the entrance. The falcon approached the meat and pecked at it with hunger. After eating, it didn't long to fall asleep, Discord didn't even realize he had until he was already dozing off. Starswirl joined his side and slept beside him, the warmth of the fire rocking him to sleep (not literally).
> To the Hollow Shades
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Discord sat and waited outside his small cave, the charred wood inside leaking black smoke from the fire. Of course it took Starswirl more time than usual out here, how often are you forced to "do your business" out here in these conditions? Finally, Starswirl approached Discord after appearing from behind a tree, walking much more steadily now he wasn't on a full bladder.

The pathway along the mountainside now was going downwards, soon enough the two of them would be on the ground and out of this cold weather. Discord exhaled heavily as he got to his feet, he then proceeded to lift up Starswirl into his big arm and set off down the path, all the while that same falcon watched them from some kind of nearby perch. What was the deal with that bird? Well hey, free food, don't argue with it!

Honestly, this path must surely be going against some kind of "Equestrian Rule for Path Safety" law, or something! Multiple times, Discord almost slipped off due to the thin paths and lack of safety fences. Still, it's not like taking the risk of flying down was much of an alternative... or was it? Discord peeked over the edge, took one look at the colossal drop, and immediately had the traditional Big Macintosh "Nope" reaction.

Well, that was that, the path would have to do. It hugged close to the mountain, Discord occasionally having to lean on the cliff face to make the corners. The route of the path was simple and complex at the same time, in a way. It never detached from the rock-face, which made it fairly simple, but since said rock-face took on such a crazy, winding route, multiple times the path would curve around only to appear facing back in the same direction.

The cold weather was improving the further down Discord and Starswirl traveled, and it wasn't very tiring since it was a downhill journey. The time didn't exactly pass quickly, just walking with a repetitive pattern -step, step, step, step- with such similar surroundings all the time -rocks, sky, falcon, rocks- was not what one would call "a good time."  This effect was reflected upon Starswirl, he looked pretty darn bored in Discord's arm, occasionally sighing or playing with his mane.

So, yeah. Step, step, step, step... it felt like an infinite cycle, and all because one random business pony saw Discord with Starswirl. Though Discord didn't know what was going on there, he was certain that -oh Celestia! Discord was in deep thought, and had lost concentration!  He was now in mid fall, after walking straight over the edge! Discord faced directly upwards, watching the path slip away from him, Starswirl clutching his torso, terrified! It all happened so quickly, Discord did not have time to take flight before his back suffered a great CRUNCH and he rolled clumsily down a steep cliff face. He finally stopped falling.

He just lay there for some time, before he was hit by an enormous jolt of pain in his back. He groaned in agony, as he attempted to get up. He looked in his arm, Starswirl was not there! He continued moaning, it was like somepony was crushing his back with the force of a Woolly Mammoth, but Discord tried his best to shut it out as he looked around for Starswirl. He had landed on a ledge about 20 foot below the path. The ledge looked stable, and was large enough for a pony to build on! Soon enough, the sight of the small, blue pony came into Discord's spinning, blurred vision.

Starswirl laid there, facing the opposite way, inches from the edge. His mane was messed up and filthy, scratches littering his back. Discord slowly and desperately crawled towards him, pain jolting through his body with each step, yet it could not be any worse than the pain he would feel if he abandoned Starswirl; the tiny, innocent foal wouldn't last a day on his own!

After slowly trudging through burning pain and dirt, he finally reached young Starswirl. Now he was closer, he could see that he was shaking, as if traumatized beyond belief.
"S-Starswirl..." Discord desperately tried to get a reaction from the foal. He only lowered his head into his chest and started shaking more, his breathing sounding out of control.

Discord groaned even more as he tried to get up so he could get a good look at Starswirl. He placed his weight on his strong, bear like arm. He then slowly slotted his bird-like claw under the small body of Starswirl, and lifted him up. Kneeling back, more pain shooting through him, he now had Starswirl in his arms again. Turning him over, Discord noticed that Starswirl was hiding his tiny head under his hooves, and... he appeared to be silently crying. There were bruises all over his body, a large one by his eye. A cut ran across his shoulder and torso. In all of Discord's life, he was not ready for such a moment of heart break. He felt responsible. This didn't have to happen, none of this had to happen, this child could be enjoying himself in his REAL home with his REAL mother right now, but instead, he was suffering.

Discord looked up, he couldn't stand to look at this painful sight for longer than he had to. The forest was now in sight, an army of ever-green trees in the distance, representing hope and shelter. Yet, here stood Discord and his injured child. He had to get up, he had to. With a mighty heave, and a great moan, he got got back to his feet. He breathed heavily as the pain died away, Starswirl still lying in his arms, distressed.

He took one step forward, then another, then another, as he slowly approached the cliff-face. He fell from a path 20 foot above him, but there was part of the path closer towards him, just an arm's reach up. He stretched his arms up and safely placed Starswirl on top. He then grabbed onto the ledge, and flew himself up. He landed beside Starswirl, he continued shaking. Discord couldn't allow him to just sob. He picked him up, and... tried.

He placed his hand on Starswirl's head and held him close to his chest. He then repeated the words "it's all okay, it's all okay..." Starswirl continued crying. "We're going to get out of here, we're going to find a house, and we're going to be safe... together." As much as Discord hated saying stuff like this, he felt as if it was his duty to try and calm Starswirl at this moment. It very much warmed Discord's heart to hear him finally stop crying, to feel him stop shaking, and to see him embrace his chest. 

Holding Starswirl close to his body as he could, Discord continued the journey. It was much slower now they were covered in bruises and hurting, but it certainly did not stop them. It didn't stop the falcon either, who continued watching them as they traveled. It was still the most repetitive thing imaginable, having to walk for ages and ages downhill. At least they had a target now the trees were in sight. It was getting dark, the sun still high in the sky, but late, nonetheless. 

The path was flattening out now, the flat ground becoming ever closer, but... it was getting to Discord. Walking for so long, getting injured, having to skin a dead rabbit... it was making him... dizzy. No! The trees were in sight! As were the lights of the town inside the forest! Suddenly, he was falling again.
> A new home?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	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.
> The Cycle
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Opening the door with his left arm, Starswirl held in his right arm, Discord slowly walked in to his new home. Unbelievable, this was a pretty cool gig!  The house was split into four sectors and two floors. Front left, a living area with large sofa, front right was a bedroom. Back left was a kitchen and dining room, back right was a bathroom. The upper floor had a balcony looking down on the living room, as well as another bedroom, an extra bathroom, and an extra room for storage or office work. 

Discord stopped trying to keep hold of Starswirl, the foal was thrashing about in excitement, desperate to explore! Discord put the pony down, and he immediately sprinted to examine the place, being amazed at all the things you'd find in a normal house, yet the excitement of a new one seemed to be taking control of him.

Discord closed the door behind him, still in awe at this place. He had literally just been given this house, just like that! Not only that, but he was in "acceptance central!" Jeez, what would this place's brochure be like?
"Hey guys! Are you either a Minotaur, dragon, draconequus, gryphon, pony, phoenix or any other creature who is looking for a house free of charge? Then come on down to Hollow Shades, where your neighbor can breathe fire and everyone is somehow friendly!"

Discord decided to look for Starswirl, of course it didn't take him long, just listen for the sound of a foal bouncing on a new double bed! He looked like he should be laughing, but instead he just happily bounced and grinned, mane swishing about in the air. After noticing Discord, he just looked at him for a few seconds. Then... more bouncing!  Cause baby Starswirl don't give a sh*t! 

After leaving Starswirl to his top quality , 5 star entertainment, Discord checked through the various cupboards. There were already stocked with every day essentials like frying pans and towels, not to mention there was a garden outside with enough space for some small decorations, would surely Starswirl would love!

Of course, they wasn't any food. I mean, if the house was pre-stocked with food, it would just go out of date! It was a good thing he was starting work tomorrow, tonight he didn't need anything. Neither did Starswirl, he was clearly full of energy! Speaking of Starswirl, would be able to draw here like he loved to at home?

Discord looked under one of the office desks, paper and stationary stuff! He left it out on the table so Starswirl could come in the room and doodle whenever he wanted. When Starswirl wasn't drawing, he'd probably That would be a good opportunity for him to learn basic skills like speech and math, and maybe he'll learn some more advanced stuff like cookery and next level spells!

So, Discord in work, Starswirl in school, the cycle would probably go: Get up, nomnom, Starswirl goes to school while Discord earns that pay check, mid-day meals, more work, pick up Starswirl, return home and mess about, meal #3, sleep and repeat!

This was actually hard to believe! What are the odds of stumbling upon a perfect life by chance? Starswirl came running down the stairs, Discord turned to face him, but he quickly had to turn his head again as the small yet joy filled pony sprinted past him and leaped onto the sofa, landing upside down, rolling around before facing Discord. It was for moments like this that Discord kept the foal! He looked: adorable!

Discord didn't really know what to do right now, so... time to be social! Suddenly, there were three knocks on the door. Yeah, ponies knocking on Discord's door doesn't have a very good track record. But hey, he was in a new town now! This door didn't have a peepy hole like his last house's door, so he just opened up. Stood there, was a black pony, quite tall, holes in her legs? Holes in her horn, and a blue mane? It took Discord a moment to realize, she was a changeling!

"Hello, sir" Sir? Discord loved being called sir! "You've just moved in, right? We're the neighbors!" Oh, goody!
"Oh, please, come in!" Discord budged out the way and invited her in. She seemed like a nice pony, despite her "off" appearance.

"Have a seat, miss..." Oh, the most cliched moment in the book.
"Chrysalis, my name is. Some people call me queen, I don't call myself that though." What? A queen? The changeling sat on the couch and Discord sat with her.

"The name's Discord, m' lady!" he said, holding out a paw for a hoof-shake. Chrysalis shook, finding the "m' lady" joke rather funny.

"So, what's the little guy called?" Starswirl was drawing on the floor, drawing... very good, actually! His pencil work must have been a lot steadier now he could use magic.

"He's Starswirl, very hyper-active, fast learner!" Discord answered her. The foal continued drawing, Chrysalis looking... oddly concerned.

"So, what brings you here?" She asked.
"How do you mean?" Discord replied, it seemed as if there must have been a clear reason as to why he was hear.
"Most folk who come around here are on the run in some way, and almost always they never actually did anything wrong, this the case with you?" Discord actually believed this was true, you know, apart from the years of torment and chaos he had been giving Celestia! W

"I had to come here because I was afraid the princesses would offer Starswirl here would be taken off me." he didn't hold back as he spoke, just like Starswirl, he don't give a sh*t!

"Of course, it's understandable. My children already were taken..." Well, that escalated quickly. "All of them, just like that." Discord couldn't help but feel somewhat sorry for Chrysalis. He wanted to know more, so he patted her on the back and reassured her.

"Don't worry about it, you'll get them back!" Discord seemed to have lit a flame of Chrysalis at this point.
"Oh, I'm getting them back! Every one of them! What right to the princesses have to take my children? They just needed a place to stay, food to eat... now... I feel their pain. I am drained." She started sobbing. "I'm left with nothing." Wow, great neighbors! Starswirl, noticing Chrysalis, got up from his drawing and groomed Chrysalis's leg using his soft face. This made her grin slightly.

"Look, if you say you're getting them back, I reckon you will one day." Discord wasn't all that good at cheering ponies up, but at least he tried, at least he didn't just let her suffer.

"Thanks, that helps." She managed to regain her composer. "I just want to see them again..." Or not. Oh Celestia, would he? He would! He would have to! With reluctance, Discord... hugged Chrysalis. He hardly knew her, but he knew what it was like to raise a child, losing many of them must be a huge pain on her. She hugged back slightly. Of course, Discord was happy to finally let go.

"Uhm, sorry. You looked sad." Awk-ward!
"No no, it's fine! You're a nice draconequus, and I've met a few. The ones I've met were all sons of-" *cough cough!* Discord interrupted Chrysalis and pointed out there was a foal in the room.
"Oh, right sorry..." Discord was about to let loose his comedy genius!
"No no, it's fine! You're a nice changeling, and I've met a few in..." Discord spoke sarcastically, Chrysalis loved it, laughing out loud!

"Oh Discord, it's been nice seeing you." She got up from the chair. Dammit, they were just bonding really well!
"Of course, I'll see you... uhm..." huh, when would they see each other again?
"Whenever?" Perfect"
"Whenever!" Discord opened the door for her, like a gentleman. "M' lady, right this way!" Chuckling all the well, Chrysalis waved goodbye and left. Closing the door behind, Discord felt like an absolute douche! He smacked himself in the face! He turned to Starswirl and quickly made his point.

"Starswirl, let's get some sleep, I clearly need it!"
> You just got schooled
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	This morning seemed to start well, Discord expected to awaken to either a sofa, or a poorly kept bed in a messy room. Instead, he awoke to a thick quilt and a soft mattress, in a very good quality room. Bookshelves, a cupboard, a cabinet unit, a beautiful firefly lamp. Not only that, but that it was warm, unlike the chilly place he once lived in.

He slowly and lazily awoke from his bed, moving his sheets away, giving a big yawn into his bear-like paw. He walked slowly and clumsily towards his bedroom door, remembering not to put too much weight on his leg. He felt like he was on holiday: happy to be in a new place, yet waking up was still gonna make you look like a zombie!

He grabbed the door handle and dragged it down, before pushing open the door. And he was greeted by screams. Great. That's how he wanted to start the day. Hold on, screams! Discord immediately flicked into action, and sprinted for his front door. He desperately pulled at it, but it was locked! He quickly snatched the keys off the nearby kitchen table and sprinted back to the door, before rapidly unlocking the door. After giving it a mighty shove and stepping outside, Discord saw countless unicorns run by him, sprinting for a tall building that was being consumed by a mass of fire! Unicorns started surrounding the building and desperately cast water spells on the building, but the couldn't cast too much otherwise the structure might be damaged and collapse. Pegasi rolled up on the scene, attempting to put out the blase using rain clouds, yet the fire was spreading too quickly.

What could Discord do? He didn't know any water spells! And he sure as hell wasn't about to save a baby from that burning building, that's the most cliched thing to do...

Without warning, Discord was almost knocked off his feet by... Starswirl??? He was sprinting towards the building, looking determined! Of course, Discord may not be at that level of cliche, but Starswirl had no response to that kind of stuff! Discord immediately started running after him once he saw him speed by, but Starswirl was inside the building before Discord could catch him! Not only that, but if Discord tried to fit through there, he'd be turned to John De Lancing roast!

He desperately called "Starswirl, come out from there, you'll get hurt!" Repeatedly, but to no prevail! He flew up the side of the building, looking for some sign of the foal, all he got was the occasional glimpse of blue, yet what he really needed was an opening so he could enter and find that foal! What Discord did next was a T-shirt moment!

He finally got clear view of Starswirl, he was in the center of what appeared to be a nursery on the top floor. There was a window behind him, and a window between Discord and Starswirl. The building suddenly started groaning like crazy, and was falling to one side! It was now or never...

Discord, in full Michael Bay style, charged right through the window, caught Starswirl mid flight, and flew right out the other window, glass flying every where all the while! He covered up Starswirl's tiny body with his free hand as the windows smashed. The building gave a final groan before it collapsed, Discord hovering no more than 10 feet away as it fell into a pile of dust. The flames were put out under the weight of it's own rubble, and Starswirl seemed to have something on his horn... a ring?

Discord was going to take it off his horn, but he immediately pulled his finger away when it was burnt after touching it. Supposedly, Starswirl couldn't feel it's heat since it was on his horn, specifically. Discord then decided to stop floating above this pile of debris as if he was a lord of chaos... actually... no no, moving on!  He landed beside the crowd of ponies, and immediately Laba showed up, looking very VERY pleased!

"D- Discord... Starswirl... have you any clue what that is?" Discord had no clue, question is: did Starswirl? Laba clearly did.

"V... that's my engagement ring," well dayum! "I thought for sure it was going to be forever missing... your child saved it!" Discord was shocked, shocked beyond belief. How did Starswirl know Laba's engagement ring was in there? He looked down at the foal, who was using his magic to give the ring to Laba, who held it with his own magic now.

"I have to say, this is a wonderful thing you have done!" Laba finally managed to say. "Your child deserves a million cookies for his brave work! Speaking of which, everyone, run along!" The crows started clearing. "Off to work, off to work..." Oh yes, work! Discord had a job now as lookout, but he wasn't going until Starswirl had a place at school. He called for Laba.

"Laba," the doctor turned to face him "could you please point us towards the school? And, how exactly will Starswirl here get a place?" Discord would have to get a map or something for this place, he was living here now, and he didn't exactly know his way around...

"Well, the school is right," Laba pointed to a building just down the road, only a short walk "there. You should be able to get a place just by walking in and introducing your foal, we're not fussy..."  Discord thanked Laba for the directions and headed towards the building. It was one of the larger buildings in Hollow Shades, yet the structure was still mostly wooden. The pointed roves were lined with a small layer of stone, and there was a single small door beside the courtyard, which was only small, probably large enough to fit only a dozen or so fillies or foals.

He walked through the gate-less courtyard and entered through the small door. He saw the sight of a large classroom, chairs and tables neatly aligned, recent pieces of work decorating the walls. However, the room was empty, except for a single teacher. This Pegasus had a bouncy looking, fluffy mane, brown in coloration. Her fur was yellow, and she wore a pair of half moon glasses. She approached Discord calmly and introduced herself.

"Hello, sir" Aah yes, more of the sir! "I am Miss Bud, I teach art here! And, what might your name be?" She seemed very polite, and she didn't seem at all intimidated by Discord's large size... that's a first.

"I'm Discord, and this is Starswirl!" Starswirl waved playfully, Miss Bud waved back and gave a timid "hi!" "He tends to learn very quickly, and... seems to have some sort of supernatural connection with rings..." What other way could he put it? He was a super foal, here to save the day by clearing the streets of red hot engagement rings? Uhm... no.

"Well, he looks excited!" Miss Bud informed him, Discord placing down Starswirl, he just stayed by his side. "Is it okay if I leave him here with you, I have work." Crossed fingers...

"Sure!" Yes! Fingers un-crossed, score one! "Remember to pick him up at 3pm, okay?" 3 pm, that was fine for Sir Discord of Hollow Shades. Yes, he liked that name!

"Sounds good!" Starswirl pawed at Discord's leg, he was going to have to leave him! Discord looked at him... he shouldn't have. Puppy eyes, no! Not the puppy eyes! He would have to brave it... Crouching down, he spoke to young Starswirl.

"I trust the ponies here, Starswirl, so you should too! You'll have a lot of fun here, and I'll be fine! Besides, at one point or another we'll have to part ways for good, so this isn't all that bad by comparison!" Well, he tried! It seemed to work, Starswirl gave Discord a BIG cuddle, and after Discord got up, Starswirl seemed happy to join Miss Bud's side. With a farewell to the two of them, and a wave to his child, he could now see what his new place of work would be like!
> Earn that pay check
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	So, Discord had to go to work... where exactly? A job as a lookout could be anywhere along the walls -which were thick and wooden and stood 3 meters high- so... would he just patrol? On that, there was a call to action!

"You're the new guy, right?" Discord saw that a male pegasus was calling for him, flying just above the wall. Yellow fur and a black mane. "Draconequues, name of Discord. That's you, right?" He sounded very calming, like one of those guys you'll here in a trademarked Sky box set up video.

"Yes, that's my name, feel free to ware it out." Discord replied, believing "don't ware it out" was simply too common for a new cool cat on the block to say.

"Yeah, well, you're with me, I'll be your sweet talker." Made sense, his voice was almost hypnotic! "Fly up here, I'll tell you how we work." Discord glided up to the pegasus, now... not being able to look away!

"Snap!" Discord suddenly regained focus and spoke. 

"Uhm, what? Snap" Why would a pony just randomly say snap?

"My voice isn't naturally this calming, it's enchanted so attempts to make guards just walk by would be more successful." That explains a lot. "My eyes are enchanted to do the same thing, that's why you were so intrigued to look at me just then" That also explained a lot. Discord and this pegasus now started flying at a leisurely speed by the inside of this wall, making sure to hide most of their bodies behind said wall so any passers by should be none the wiser.

"So, here's how it works:" Hello and welcome back to another tutorial with Discord, today we have guest star: Pegasus with calming voice. "Me and you will patrol the wall, keeping a look out. If somepony is seen, the lookout -that's you- will cast an invisibility spell and watch him to see if he is just going to move on. If not, inform me, and I'll convince him to leave. If he's persistent, you go get help from a group of guards scattered at various points around the wall, they will cast a memory spell on the pony and take him elsewhere." Sounded simple enough, he was getting paid for this?

"So, for how long do we do this?" Discord asked. He didn't want to be working long past when Starswirl finished school.

"We have arranged a timetable so that working parents will finish their shift when school ends so that they may attend to their children." Yay, if only work in real life was like this. "You will have a lunch break at 12 o'clock then you come back here at 1 o'clock." Well, this seemed easy enough. Just flying around, chatting. Nothing really happened,  as this Pegasus had told him, not much happens around the walls. Lunch break came and went, not like 

"So, in case I'm captured and interrogated by a Canterlot guard, I'm going to have to give them a name!" Discord  said to his pegasus companion. 

"You can tell them Spiral Dust is coming to kick their plots." Sprial Dust? How odd!

"Why the funky name!?" Discord asked, having no idea that this may come off as quite offensive- hold on... where was he? Discord was shocked by the sudden appearance of some yellow and black swooping around him, as if blowing in the wind, yet the air remained still. Suddenly, the dust came together and took the form of the once again flying Pegasus.

"I was born in the middle of an apprentice school, at the time there was a shape shifting spell being cast in the other room, which was bounded upon my tiny body. Now, I can cast that same spell despite the fact I don't even have a horn!" What?

"I don't think it works like--"
"Somepony's here!" Discord and Spiral Dust ducked behind the wall. Discord activated his spell to make himself invisible and looked over the top of the wall.  Walking by was a group of hikers... oh, it's the ponies who Discord saw while he was "borrowing" that cow! They just walked by, taking no interest...

He got deactivated his spell and returned to the side of the wall, out of view.
"False alarm, no interest." Spiral dust flew to his side and exhaled, relieved.

"Good, we haven't suffered a security breech in a long time, most ponies take no interest." One happening in hours upon hours of waiting, what fun! 
"Anyway, your shift is over..." What? That didn't seem like THAT long, then again, don't complain about relatively short shifts, right?
"Follow me, I'll take you to where you can collect your payment." Discord followed Spiral Dust back to a small building with a pony at a desk inside, sat there, ticking names.  This pony had a white mane and blue fur, and supposedly was a mare, and unicorn as well.

"Spiral Dust, Discord. Shifts are over." The pony ticked two names on her list and handed the two of them two pouches, each containing... payment? Discord took the pouch and shook it. Yeah, payment!

"I'll see you tomorrow, Discord?"
"Yes, yes, you will." Discord waved a farewell to his new found Pegasus buddy and made his way back home, to his surprise... a pony? Yes, ponies walking around was normal, but this one was sneaking around, yellow helmet, examining every detail of this place... who was he? What was he doing? Discord saw him call something before...

Boom.
> The Walking... ponies...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	It was a sudden flash of yellow and orange, as one of the distant walls was blown open as if it was nothing, before a storm of royal guard flooded in! Laba's and Spiral Dusts's fears were coming true, they were under attack! Discord had one goal on his mind right now: find Starswirl and leave as soon as possible!

He was around 50 yards from the school where Starswirl would surely be, but he wouldn't be able to get there before a pony caught him! Creatures of all kinds fled in to defend their village, there were unicorns performing magic duels and pegasi wrestling mid-flight! Whole groups of guards were swept up by one huge Manticore which pounced at them from behind a nearby building, roaring and snarling as it battled the attackers! Discord only realized that a guard was charging at him moments before it took a swipe at him with his magic-mounted long-sword! Discord managed to grab the handle of the sword mid swipe, before wrapping his huge hand around the pony's neck and lifting him to eye height, before growling at him and launching him a great distance like a super athlete! He kept hold of the sword, might come in handy.

He sprinted for the school, no more guards making their way towards him now that pretty much the entire village's supply of soldiers and armed creatures had rolled up on the scene. Discord was about to make a leap for the door, when three armed guards stood before, spears drawn. Discord slowly backed away, before one yelled "get him"! Discord was ready to swipe at them, when there was a green ray shot at them and they were all consumed in a green ball before imploding, as if sucked into a void of some sort. It was Chrysalis, she had come out to defend her village like many others had, not only that, but Laba was mid duel with a guard too! He seemed oddly skilled with a blade, he was easily a match for the guard he did battle with, who was overpowered within seconds.

Now he was clear, he swung open the door and sprinted inside. The room was very much empty, though there was equipment scattered about as if there was a class happening before this attack started. There was a moment where Discord stood there for a moment, not much happening, before he was knocked to his feet, and the noise from outside came back to him! He managed to get up and twist around, now face to face with a stallion wielding a battleaxe using his magic! Discord used his sword to block a mighty blow from this axe, before Discord's was disarmed with a clever twist from his foe! Discord stood their, defenseless, the stallion was about to attack, before a great ball of red transformed the stallion into nothing more than a puddle of ash! Discord looked to his left to see: Starswirl! He stood in the doorway, facing Discord, clearly he had cast a fireball on the attacker to defend him!

Discord called to his foal, before he ran at him, right into his embrace. Discord couldn't waste too much time though, you know, there was kind of an invasion going on! One problem, holding Starswirl in his arm was a HUGE risk, Starswirl -weird as it may seem- would likely be safer running beside Discord! He knelt down and held his child by the shoulder.

"Stay close to me, now. If you're attacked, use your spell. If I'm attacked, run! If Laba or Chrysalis or one of the village residents is willing to care for you, go with them. If a guard captures you, call for help, okay?" Starswirl nodded, clearly having a brave moment. 

Discord stood by the door, hearing dozens of battle cries and crashes of metal against metal outside. Starswirl stood by his leg, ready to run outside. Discord held out of his hand, counted 3...2...1... and, hold on... why doesn't he just fly... problem! Solved!

Discord dropped his sword and took Starswirl in his hand. He then sprinted outside and straight into the middle of a Hollywood battle scene! Well, Hasbro studios -more like- but you get the point! He readied for take off and shot into the skies like an arrow from a bow, before... he... started falling! His wings were glowing a feint green, he must have been shot by a flight jinx! And now he was plummeting towards the ground without any chance of slowing, Starswirl as well!

He was about to hit the ground, when within a flash, he was flying horizontally off the ground, before landing clumsily onto his feet, just managing to keep his balance. A familiar yellow pegasus landed beside him: Spiral Dust!
"Good to see you again, sort of..."
"SORT OF?" Did he have any idea how many bronies would pay big money to meet him?
"Well, we're in the middle of a battleground, so it's hard to be happy..." Okay, that was a fair point...

"So, do we have a plan?" Discord asked, of course if they didn't they were screwed... then again, weren't they already?
"Yeah, run like the wind!" Well, it was something! "We are out numbered, and we have no experience! We're bailing like it's going out of fashion!"

"Hold on, you're going to just abandon your fellow villagers?" 
"What fellow villagers?" Discord looked around. Yeah, good point, by now there was just an army of celestial guards and no more villagers! Not only that, but they were charging at Discord and Spiral... yeah, now would be a good time to leg it!

Discord and Spiral sprinted to the gate that stood a not so great distance away! Discord wasn't used to having to sprint, especially while carrying a foal, usually he would just fly! After a number of turns, they eventually came to the gate! Spiral flew ahead to crack open the huge wooden gate, which heavily swung open with great force! Discord ran through and fled into the forest, Spiral Dust following, as well as way too many guards!

Suddenly, he sprung an idea! He grabbed Spiral dust and clicked his fingers before ducking behind a bush. The guards all ran by, not at all knowing where the three of them were, thanks to that invisibility spell Discord just cast! Continuity!

"Hello? Where did you go..." Discord would find him and make him not invisible, but... where was he? Well, damn!
"Spiral Dust, I cast an invisibility spell on me, you and Starswirl! I don't know where you are, so..." Discord leaned against a tree, Starswirl in his other hand. "So, come near this tree and I'll try and find you!"

"Uhm, which tree?" Actually, there were in a forest! This was going to be harder than expected.
"Hold on, I got this." Wait, who was that? Discord said nothing, and that wasn't Spiral Dust's sweet, buttery voice... that sounded like Laba! Hold on, it was Laba! The unicorn stood beside a bush, his horn glowing, before an almost silent blue pulse shot out of his horn and revealed Discord's, Starswirl's and Spiral Dust's location. Spiral Dust was stood by a different tree.

"I managed to escape, as well as bringing a few residents with me." A group of ponies revealed themselves behind Laba, including Chrysalis! There were only three of them other than Laba and Miss Chrysalis abyss. An orange, male earth pony with a black mane. A light green lady earth pony with a dark green mane. And a red, male pegasus with a brown mane. He seemed to be carrying saddlebags. 

"You also cast an invisibility spell? Clever. Anyway, we were prepared for an event like this. We have a series of tunnels under Ponyville which a friend of mine has been keeping clear, if we can get there." Hold on, Ponyville? Isn't that a really long way away?

"Uhm... why Ponyville?" Discord asked.
"Well, if you're looking for a group of fugitives, the last place you'd look is directly under Ponyville! We'll be safe there, hidden, if nothing else." Actually, that was a fairly good point. "Friar here brought a map." Using his magic, Laba lifted a map from the red Pegasus's saddlebag, supposedly he was the one called "Friar."

"So... we have a long journey ahead of us?" Discord asked, as if he hadn't already endured quite the journey.
Laba replied "I guess we do" before checking his map. "And I believe we have our route..."
> Outpost #1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"So, if we travel with enough speed, we should reach the first outpost in foal mountain before night." Laba explained, as they walked together. Discord, Starswirl, Laba, Spiral Dust, Chrysalis, Friar and two other ponies who's names were currently not known. Discord thought to himself, "what would be ideal names, for now?" Hmm... how about Chocolate Orange and Poison Ivy? Perfect! Might need some slight alterations when they were actually talking together, but until then, comedy gold!

"So uhm, we just... walk?" Discord asked, I mean sure they didn't have anything better to do, but what about eating? Drinking? Cleaning? Doing your business? And what about stuff for Starswirl to do, he's a foal, he needs entertainment and walking for a week straight isn't exactly fun!

"We walk, yes." Uhm... was that it? "As for food, drink, cleaning, doing your business and entertainment for the little guy, well... I don't really know." That was weird, can he read minds?

"There should be some rations at the outpost. Some firewood, water, tinned food and blankets."
"Hold on!" Discord just remembered, between Hollow Shades and Ponyville there is Foal Mountain, which he recalls being a nightmare to get over... "How will we get over Foal Mountain?"

"We'll go through it, not over it." Discord felt a chill go through him for a second there, as if a thousand Disney fans all screamed at him.
"There is a canyon we can cross through, one that's so thin it isn't written on all the maps of Equestria. It is in this canyon we'll find our first outpost, and hopefully those rations." 

"And, if we're found? Celestia's secret ops are probably looking for us right now..." A certain draconequus carrying a certain foal asked.
"If we're found, well we'll just have to stick together and cast another invisibility spell until the coast is clear." Laba replied. Actually, that was a good idea...

Come to think of it, how much of this fan fiction have I wasted just stating that ponies were walking? ...Not enough!

The walk wasn't as repetitive or boring as treading through that infinite path that ran through Foal Mountain, the occasionally laughs of pony's conversations lifted morals, even if you had no clue what they were laughing about. A couple of ponies came to chat with Discord, Laba did, Chrysalis did, even Chocolate Orange!

"So, what's your name?" Discord asked him.
"Well, my name is--"
"No, don't tell me," Discord was going to make the guess of a lifetime, "is it Terry?" I feel your face palms, bronies!
"No." Damn!

"My name is Sam Blue." Though his name didn't resemble his orange fur, or his black mane, it did match his cutie mark, which was some blueprints. "It matches my talent, which is in design, particularly mechanics." It was nice talking to Sam, even if his sense of humor was questionable.

"Hey, what do you call a pony with a plank on his head?" Sam asked Discord.
"Uhm, I don't know." Discord replied, preying for a reply that wasn't the least funny thing he ever heard.
"Edd Wood!" Discord internally face palmed. "What do you call a pony with two planks on his head?"
"I... don't know!" Here came round two...
"Edd Wood Wood!" What? "What do you call a pony with three planks on his head?"
Discord thought it was pretty obvious. "Edd Wood Wood Wood?" he guessed.
"Yes!" Score one for Discord. "What do you call a pony with four planks on his head?" Unbelievable...
"Edd Wood Wood Wood Wood?"
"Well, I don't actually know." How could he not know the answer to his own joke? "But I bet Edd Wood Wood Wood would!" Oh my Celestia...

Sam was laughing out loud at this point, Discord thought it was pretty funny, he just mildly laughed. Starswirl sat in Discord's arm with his head in his hoof, head bouncing as if he was laughing, but no sound. He couldn't even laugh? Was something wrong? Discord raised Starswirl's chin with his finger, who looked up at him and grinned, before planting the side of his face into Discord's chest. Clearly, he was feeling just fine. Come to think of it, Laba was a doctor, maybe he could have a look at Starswirl?

"Well, there it is," Laba announced. Discord looked up, not even realizing that while that joke was being told, he was walking straight for an enormous mountain, with a large crack growing straight down the middle, only wide enough for single file. "I'll go in first, Discord can you go last? It's just that, you're more intimidating than us, so..." Discord took that as a compliment!

"Sure, mum!" The group laughed at this, and one by one, they crept through the small path that was this so called "canyon."  The sides of the rock were littered with varying colors from all the layers of stone, and many fossils were lodged into the faces, as well as a number of roots.

"The outpost isn't too far through hear, just keep going forward. Not that you'll get lost when there's only one route..." Friar announced, in a voice that was similar to that of one of those TV cooks who yell at people because their chicken was burnt on 1% of it's surface.

It was a good thing too! Discord didn't want to have to walk through here for much longer, his skin constantly brushing against the rough rock face, the dry air, the rocks that constantly stuck into his feet. Not just that, but he was kinda thirsty! Odds are, he wasn't the only one! He swore Starswirl licked his fur a couple of times...
It was getting dark as well, a number of times there was a change in the rock face that meant you couldn't see the pony in front of you.

"We're here," Laba announced. "And look at that, rations!" What a relief, Discord was looking forward to rest after all that walking, not to mention the raid...

Laba stood outside a simple hole in the rock face, signalling the group inside. "Plenty of room, everyone in, before it's so dark ponies start smooching while we can't see them." Discord was last to enter, other than Laba who followed afterwards. The room was... very large, actually! There was easily enough space in the rounded center of the cave to sit every pony, plus space for a fire. The roof seemed to travel upwards into a winding chimney so smoke could escape. There were passages on either side of the walls, which Laba announced to be toilets.

"Stallions on the right, mares on the left. There is extra room for sleeping up this slope," he pointed to a sloping path which led into another room, "I'll break into the rations and we can have a rest." Laba used his magic to crack open a large wooden box, revealing gallons of water in large plastic barrels, as well as canned food and blankets. There were also dry logs and a tinderbox, and a pot for cooking the food in. In another, smaller box there was plates and cutlery as well as water bottles and a.. combat knife? ...Well, better to be prepared...

The whole group sat and exchanged stories as the canned food boiled over a crackling fire, which illuminated the room in a warm, bright light. Starswirl's face glowed in reflection to the flames, Discord's just sat and watched the fire burning away. The bottle of water he was given was downed quickly, and his thirst was now quenched. Starswirl drunk much slower, but still thirstily. Toddler ponies could hardly chug down drinks, could they?

"Order up," Laba started preparing food onto plates with forks "there should be plenty of food for every pony to refuel their energy for tomorrow." Discord couldn't be happier to have a plate of pasta and beans handed to him, and although it might sound bland, it tasted great after such a bad series of events. The group was silent as they ate, all of them in bliss, Starswirl also looked to be enjoying his meal, even if a stray bean made it on top of his muzzle...
Discord was tired, ever pony looked tired.

"Sleepy time?" He asked.
"Sleepy time." Laba replied, as he started handing out blankets and small cushions. Discord reveled in the fact that Starswirl abandoned his quilt for Discord's personal comfort, walking over to him and lying beside him, head facing Discord's heart. It was a reviving moment, seeing everypony refueled with food and water, all warm thanks to the fire, all restful as they lay they under quilts.  The moment lasted all the way until Discord finally closed his eyes and... wait for it... fell asleep.
> Out in the open
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Discord woke up in not the most comfortable state, you would too if you had to sleep on hard rock. It was smooth though, and the blankets helped. Not to mention that there wasn't exactly time to stand around and moan about it. He got to his knees groaning and stretching, Starswirl closely mimicking him. He ran his paw through his mane and smacked himself in the face, which he often did to help wake himself up if he wasn't feeling his best. Starswirl again mimicked him, falling over when his hoof slapped into his face. He quickly got up, unhurt by the mild slap.

None of the other ponies were fully awake, though they were just waking up, a couple of them rubbing their eyes as they got up to stretch their sleepy limbs. They were all snapped back into action when Laba informed everyone:
"We have to travel with more speed today," Discord's immediate thoughts were thoughts you would experience when given homework, "urgh!"
"We will be in the open for most of the day, and we will cross two railroads. If we are being hunted, this will be when we are most vulnerable."

Well that's just fantastic! Still, at least three of them knew good combat spells, they wouldn't be hopeless. Laba reached into the box of mysteries -aka the rations box- and pulled out some cans, which pictured boiled potatoes on them... Maybe they contained meatballs!

The fire from the previous night was now just a pile of ash in the middle of a circle of rocks. Sam and Friar collected the ash in a jug and chucked it outside while the unknown green pony poured water into a metal bowl, soon Laba followed by tipping in some small potatoes, making humorous watery drum beats as they landed in the pot. Discord caught a glimpse of Chrysalis as he looked around the stone room, who... Winked at him? Let the ship sail!

Friar, now back after emptying the ash, grabbed some logs from THE BOX OF MYSTERIES -aka the rations box- and placed them in the centre of the stone circle where the ashes once sat. Discord chipped in by clicking his fingers and igniting the logs. It suddenly became apparent to Discord that there was a digging sound in the room, like somepony was pawing away at some dirt. He looked beside him to see that Starswirl had found a patch of ground made from dirt and not rock, and he appeared to have found something... Sure enough, a small patch of metal was now poking up from the dirt, which was quickly lifted from it's grave as Starswirl used his magic to rip it from the ground. Starswirl now admired what he found, and so did Discord, it was a high value amulet!

It appeared to be an upside down metallic triangle with a ruby inside, with wings and a unicorn head with glowing red eyes also being depicted. It was no doubt an amulet that would sell good, clearly a lot of hard work had been placed in this piece of jewellery by the creator. And the ruby was very well cut, not to mention the whole thing appeared to be solid metal! Supposedly it would be worn around the neck with a black and red ribbon that hung behind the amulet's wings, though Discord had no intentions on wearing it, if it was damaged it would lose value!

The thing that troubled Discord was: who would bury an item that would sell for so much money? Was it dangerous? ...Probably not, maybe a pony just left it here and forgot about it. Starswirl seemed happy to hand over the amulet to Discord, smiling at his find. Discord gently took it in his paw and hastily hid it behind him when Spiral Dust called for him.

Preying Spiral Dust hadn't seen the amulet, he answered his address. He didn't want any pony to see it as they may take it for themselves.  
"Have some water, we have quite the road ahead of us" crisis avoided! Spiral Dust approached Discord from across the room and handed... Uhm, hoofed (?) Him a bottle of water. Discord took the drink and, as oppose to taking a gulp, he gave it to Starswirl. The unicorn used his magic to hold the bottle and remove it's cap before drinking like a gentlecolt, that's a surprise, Discord thought he might drink thirstily. All well, good mannered foals for the win!

Discord noticed Laba removing a pot from the fire, and he then saw him serve up potatoes on small plates. "Breakfast is served" Laba announced, before handing out the meals. He must have added some sort of spices in there while Discord was admiring the amulet, they tasted pretty good! They didn't last long, Discord's mouth could easily fit in a dozen of these potatoes at one time, so chewing was very quick.

After Starswirl had eaten, Discord took a drink and got to his feet. It felt good to stretch his legs after he had been sleeping. They would be setting off soon, but what Discord hadn't thought about was how he was supposed to hide the amulet while walking. His mane certainly wasn’t thick enough to conceal an amulet of this size, neither was Starswirl’s at such a young age. Thankfully, Celestia had answered his imaginary calls. Yeah, no voice message like last time!

“There is a rucksack in here so that we may carry some goods,” started Laba “Discord, would you mind carrying it? You are the strongest.” Well, Discord loved to hear that! Not only did he now have a place to hide that amulet, but he was now labeled ‘The Strongest!’

“Well, since you are clearly in need of a being who is muscular and hench, I guess I’ll just have to step in.” Discord spoke in a proud voice. He was quite strong, after all he did lift that carriage and cow a while back, but right now he was pretending to be like an Arnold Schwarzenegger with wings. The ponies in the room giggled at his small joke as Discord placed the rucksack on his back, Starswirl hiding the amulet being his own back while he did so.

Discord returned to Starswirl carrying the bag and sat beside the foal. He then removed the bag and looked inside, secretly placing the amulet in a convenient hidden compartment. The bag had water, canned food and some blankets. Helpful, but only a day’s worth.

“We shall set off now” said Laba in a raised voice, a command that quickly had all the ponies to their hooves. Discord was already up, wearing the rucksack, carrying Starswirl. One by one, they all left the cave, Discord at the back, Laba at the front. The group continued trembling through the narrow passage that ran through this cliff, though it didn’t take long before they left the dusty walls and rocky ground and entered a forest. The trees were pretty far apart, it wasn’t a very dense forest. The grass grew pretty high thanks to the sunlight it received, and wildflowers were dotted all over the forest. Fungi grew from the occasional trunk, and once or twice a bird would take off. However, it was not a silent scene like you would expect. There was a distant sound, like... a battle!?

It must have been! There were sounds like swords clashing, cries and shouts of stallions, what else could it have been? Laba signalled for the group to be silent, before whispering to Discord:
“Can you go invisible and scout ahead?” Well he didn’t really have a choice, the well being of his friends PLUS his child were at risk! He didn’t reply, he dropped his rucksack, put down Starswirl, clicked his fingers and turned invisible. He didn't talk partly because he didn't want to draw attention, but also partly because he was kinda tired after walking through that canyon…

Now invisible, he soared above the tree tops to get a view of the scene. They was still around 30 yards of forestry to go through, after that there was a large patch of emptiness that stretched out as far as Discord could see. But, standing within that emptiness, was hundreds of ponies engaged in combat! Blue armored Pegasi swooped in on the yellow armoured unicorns and swiftly sliced into them, allowing them all to fall with quick, effort free swipes. The unicorns struck the pegasi with jolts of lightning sent from their horns, catching many of them off guard mid-flight. The unicorns seemed to have many advantages: better armor, ranged attacks, less effort required for said attacks. It just happened that these yellow armored unicorns were also the soldiers Discord’s group had been avoiding: The Celestial Guard.

He returned to the ground and made himself visible again, lifting Starswirl into his arms. He signaled for everypony to gather round, now huddled together, he explained the situation to his group.
“The exact guards we are hiding from are around 40 yards from here…” The group looked shocked at this, yet they didn’t gasp as to stay silent, “Plus, it’s completely open ground out there, there’s no way of going around them without being seen. But, I have a plan…” The ponies now depended on Discord’s ability.
> No pony's land
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	He wasn’t sure if he could do this, would it require more energy for more ponies? Not only that, but there many things to take into account here: what if somepony accidently bumped into a soldier, what if the spell wore off, what if a single pony was revealed? It was the best chance they had.

“I can cast us an invisibility spell,” Discord hoped his words were going to inspire some confidence, “Me, Spiral Dust, Friar and Chrysalis can fly overhead while invisible, maybe carrying a pony each.” It wasn’t very safe, but it would have to do. It didn’t help that he didn’t really know how physically strong these other fliers were. Somepony else could carry Starswirl while Discord carried a heavier non-flier.

Laba seemed to like this idea, but who would go with who was a difficult choice. After all, it could either end or save a pony’s life. The decision was eventually made with speed yet silence, not that they would be heard if they spoke anyway, hearing a pony from here over all the chaos of the battle would be a task in itself.

Discord would be carrying Sam Blue, him being the strongest. Chrysalis would carry Starswirl, mainly because she and the foal had met before. Friar would have to carry Laba and Spiral Dust would carry mysterious green mare, aka, Poison Ivy.

"After we pass the guards, we should eventually reach a set of train tracks. Every pony take a stick and stick it face up by the tracks once you've got there so we know a group has made it back. Once four sticks are standing, we’ll know everypony is okay.” Laba explained. It seemed simple enough, and there wasn’t really an alternative since they wouldn’t be able to see each other the whole time.

The biggest concern was the distance they would have to cover. The train tracks Laba was referring to would take quite the journey to reach on foot, now they had to fly over while escorting ponies PLUS they had to remain quiet. Still, full YOLO style, Discord decided to go for it. Either that or they would have to take a much bigger risk.

So, each pony… uhm, Draconequus and Changeling in the case of two particulars, teamed up with their chosen partners. Laba and Discord cast invisibility spells upon the group, with tiny white flashes, the ponies faded until completely see through. Discord still felt his paw on Sam’s shoulder, but he could see no sign of a pony being there, apart from four patches of flattened ground where his hooves were.

Feeling a pony’s body to decipher where the front legs were wasn’t exactly on Discord’s to do list, but he had to do it. It was awkward, though made less awkward by the fact he didn’t have to look at the, most likely, red face of Sam. Already in the air floating above him, he got a good grip on Sam and lifted him. For a second, he almost lost control due to the weight on his back -from the rucksack- counteracting the weight he was lifting. He managed to regain control, still keeping a firm grip on Sam.
He slowly started rising out of the leaves and wildlife, and gave sight to a view of of many trees dotted ahead of him, as well as an empty landscape filled with battling ponies, just as before. He started getting ever closer to the scene, and it all got to him in a way. These ponies that were all dying, ponies with lives, family and emotions, were all seeing their ends before him. Discord, arguably, was responsible. He hoped Chrysalis was making Starswirl look away at this point, that poor foal wouldn’t be able to stand the sight of stallions dropping like this, like they were inanimate objects that were out of use, being thrown away.

He didn’t know how Sam was handling this, what he did know is that he was showing no signs of fatigue despite the weight he was carrying. He had a job, a mission! He was going to complete it…

Way too much land here was being used to end pony’s lives, it seemed to be an infinite sight, ponies killing each other like this -in their numbers- was a sight to be in awe at. It didn’t even stretch out for THAT long, but an illusion was created that made it appear to last longer than it actually did, no doubt due to the shock.

The air was deathly still despite the pace at which Discord flew, almost as if nature herself wanted no part of this scene. It occurred to Discord that the odds of reaching the tracks without drawing any attention were pretty low, plus there were four groups, so it seemed almost guaranteed that at least one pairing would get caught somehow. Luckily, the odds of it being Chrysalis and Starswirl were safe, Chrysalis was a talented pony and was only carrying a small weight. Friar and Laba… well, Laba could probably cast a spell or two on Friar to keep him going. Sprial Dust and mysterious green pony -aka Poison Ivy- well, those were odds to worry about.

Luckily, the end of the enormous herd of  ponies was in sight. It was a relief to finally get a break from this horrible sight, for the eyes to finally have a break, and to finally see more than death. Have I spent too long describing the battle? ...All well, continuing: with the end now in sight, Discord picked up the pace, flying with slightly more speed now. The extra speed made Sam feel slightly lighter, though the rucksack was still quite the weight. The crowd was now dropping in density… less… and less… and less.. until they were free. No more soldiers. There was also a train track in sight, adding to the feeling of relief. It would have been even greater if Discord knew how the other ponies were doing. As much as he wanted to look back and catch a glimpse of them, A: they’re invisible and B: he might risk dropping Sam.

It wasn’t until now that Discord realised, his spell wouldn’t last much longer! Parts of  him were regaining their colour, and he could feel the sweat start to drip from the effort… He would have to stop quick! Thankfully, the tracks seemed to be on a slightly raised bit of ground, giving Discord and Sam something to hide behind when they got there. Well hey, at least that meant they could rest up. The tracks were now in close proximity, and Discord started lowering himself gently so as to not injure Sam. Not a moment too soon, his feet touched the ground. He kept hold of Sam with one paw and clicked his fingers, allowing the spell to deactivate. The two of them then ducked behind the raised ground.
“Well, that was fun” Discord sarcastically spoke, not even an adrenaline junkie would have liked that!
“Well, if that’s your idea of fun, I won’t question it!” Sam replied. Discord almost forgot, he removed his rucksack and took out a long, strong stick. He firmly placed it in the dirt. Come to think of it, he wouldn’t have to, he was right there in plain sight! All well, at least he was listening!

Before too long, a couple of ponies took form beside Discord, as did a second stick poking up from the ground. The white fur and grey mane soon made it clear that it was Laba, looking just fine, and beside him was Friar, looking rather tired. They spoke quietly, they were a good distance from the battle, but still best to be safe.

“Nopony else back yet, just us?” Laba asked.
“So far.” Discord replied. Soon enough, a small patch of dirt was forced inwards as if a stick had been pressed into it. With a quick spell from Laba, it was revealed that Chrysalis had placed her stick in the ground. And she had Starswirl! But, he looked… broken.

“I think you need to look at him.” Chrysalis handed, uhm… hoofed (?) We’ve had that problem before, but he was… hoofed, to Discord. He took the foal gently into his arms. Starswirl immediately clutched the body of Discord, he must have been in shock at that battle. Sorrow was Discord’s main emotion as he attempted to comfort Starswirl by holding him close, lightly petting him. Friar sooned disrupted the silence.

“So, what about Spiral Dust and Ivy Twist?” That must have been the mysterious green pony’s name, at least Discord got the Ivy part right! His original names were better, but whatever! Actually, this was a fair question. Discord feared these two would be the most likely to end up in trouble… oh Celestia…

“Oh, hold on.” Discord spoke, noticing what appeared to be a slightly noticeable cloud of dust heading his way… No doubt, it was Spiral Dust. The cloud swiftly made it’s  way behind the group and took the form of Spiral Dust, looking concerned and with a large cut on his face.

Sam approached him and started speaking with him “Hey, Spiral Dust, good to see you back! ...umh,” he noticed there was no sign of Ivy Twist, “Where’s…”
Spiral Dust looked down at the floor. He had to transform for a reason, he must have lost his invisibility. As for Ivy Twist… well, odds are there was no way she could have escaped. Discord didn’t even know this mare’s name until just earlier, yet he could tell the mare meant something to these other ponies. Still, no time for mourning!
> Catching up
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Well, there were a pony down, but they still had a task at hand. Discord looked behind him, there were some trees not too far away. Laba spoke up.
"The second outpost is within those trees, and it's underground," So... how would they find it? "There is a yellow trunked tree in front of the trapdoor to help us find it." Honestly, Laba could definitely read his mind or had his own version of the Pinkie Sense or something! He didn't sound any different when he was speaking, but you could tell by looking at him that he was changed.

It was also pretty obvious that he was affected in the way he walked, his head was held low and he walked at the back at the pack instead of at the front with Friar, who had the map. They were walking towards the forest, which would shortly be covering them. Occasionally Discord looked behind him to make sure they weren't being followed, every time Laba looked the same way. A bad way.

He couldn't just watch Laba suffer like this, we was the closest this group had to a leader, if he fell, the rest of the group would follow. He slowly joined his side.
"Hey there, home dog!" Laba didn't reply. Probably wasn't the best way to greet a distraught pony... He did reply, eventually.

"Hello." Honestly, Discord was hoping for a bit more. He wasn't sure why, but he talked to him like he was a child.
"So, what's on your mind?" He asked, trying to sound reviving.
"Your foal, Starswirl. He has a unique talent, saving my engagement like that," Laba replied. What did that have to do with anything? "The ring... was for Ivy." Well, that's depressing. Discord had never been in a relationship before, so he didn't know what it would be like to lose a mare. However he did know what it was look to see a friend look really sad around him, and he wanted it to stop. 

He COULD say "What would she want if she were still here," but that is one of the most stereotypical, textbook lines in existence! Right behind "You won't get away with this," and "I will have my revenge!" So, he went for something more original (amv by Lemon Pegasus, do not steel).

"I don't know what Ivy was like or what she meant to you," Discord began his pep talk, "What I do know is that you are the closest this group has to a leader. Do you know what happens when a leader falls apart?" Laba hesitated, and spoke.

"The group falls apart as a result." He didn't look up, though he sounded clearer. Discord wasn't done yet.
"The leader has the responsibility to look after his teammates and the teammates have the responsibility to look after their leader. If one of these responsibilities is ignored or forgotten, well, you know what happens." Discord was actually quite good at this, damn son!

"The group falls apart as a result." Laba raised his head a little. Discord didn't want to continue, but he had to if it meant bringing Laba back to good condition. He was running out of points to make, though.

"Imagine this as a building without cement. The leader is the cement, one teammate can be the bricks, one the supports, bla bla bla. However, if there is no cement, what happens to the building?" Discord liked visualizations, they made things easier, there's a tip for your maths tests! Laba held his head high and said:
"The building falls apart." Had Discord really done it? Was someone finally gonna put his face on a shirt? Now, he may have gone a bit overboard, but Laba didn't seem to care!

With some new found enthusiasm, Discord asked "Who's ready?"
Laba quickly replied "I'm ready!"
Discord wanted to make sure he was cool, and repeated "who's ready?"
Again, Laba replied "I'm ready!"
Now, with more volume, Discord asked for the final time "Who's ready?"
And with even more volume, Laba replied "I'm ready!" Starswirl, who sat in Discord's arms, seemed quite happy to hear the two of them say this, not sure why, perhaps the foal had a sense of spirit even at his young age?

Laba picked up the pace and took his stand at the front of the pack, like he had the last few days. He seemed to have calmed down, though Discord had never seen him like that before. Perhaps there was a side to him that had not been seen before, or perhaps this was all part of some random kid's story, and he just made an obscure reference.... nah!

"There's the tree." Laba informed the group, and he pointed towards a tree not to far ahead that had a pale, yellow trunk. Other than that they were no distinctive features. It stood just as high and wide and the leaves were the same dark, green shade.

Approaching the tree, Discord noticed a large bush beside it, facing the opposite way. The leaves were densely grown together and small red berries poked out here and there. Laba approached this bush and, using his magic, shifted away a part of the leaf filled mess. What was revealed was a simple, wooden trapdoor. It looked old yet well kept, with very little scratches or splinters on it's smooth, brown surface. The curved, metallic handle glowed a shade of white as Laba lifted it open.

The door squealed slightly as it swung open on it's hinges, revealing a steep staircase that appeared to lead down to some kind of bomb shelter! "We must face away as we walk down, otherwise we may fall" said Laba, already making his way down the staircase. One by one, all the ponies entered. After Laba, Friar entered, followed by Sam, Chrysalis, Spiral Dust and Discord entered last. Closing the trapdoor behind him, Discord made his way down the steep, creaking stairs.

Turning around, Discord noticed how well built this place was. The walls appeared to be made of solid, carved stone, and there was a hood carved compartment in the wall for storage. Within said compartment was a box, just like the previous BOXES OF MYSTERY! Friar's horn glowed as he lifted the BOX OF MYSTERY (over used? No? Okay) and placed it down, lifting the lid off with ease. This case contained air beds and blankets. More water was in there too, and some firewood. No food was in there, there was enough in the last box to last until now. Speaking of which, Discord removed his rucksack and placed it on the soft, dirt ground. 

Discord quickly flicked the zip open, checking the secret pocket to make sure the amulet was okay... it was. He pulled out a few cans of food and handed them to Laba, who took them off him with his MAGIC, MAGIC, MAA-GIC! *cough cough* anyway...

Discord grabbed a water bottle from the rucksack, took a drink and gave the bottle to Starswirl. The foal sat beside Discord and used his magic to take a sip. He then gave it back to Discord, who passed the bottle to Spiral Dust. The pegasus sat beside him, and he took the bottle, giving a grateful nod.

Discord realized, he hadn't heard much about Friar. Come to think of it, Starswirl and Spiral Dust were the only ponies here he really knew well. 
"So, why is it that you guys had to go to Hollow Shades?" The group seemed to take interest "We were all there for a reason. Friar, shall we start with you?"
> Ripe turned spoilt
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Story time, is it?" Friar started. His voice reminded Discord of some kind of war hero, but with a little joker thrown in. "Fasten your seat belts." That's right, Friar back story, how many friars could Friar fry if Friar could fry friars?

"And you're sure your ready?"Friar's pale red father was persistent. "You can wait until the next enlisting, you don't have to go now!" His black mane was starting to sweat, it was just as big a moment for him as it was for his son.

"Dad, I have been waiting since I was five years old, I'm enlisting!"  Friar had only just turned 16 last month and the royal guard had started enlisting more young recruits last week, he was seizing this opportunity! And with the recent conflicts involving a herd of  changelings, the Celestial guard needed him! More than 10 years of preparation had led him to this moment, if he turned back, all the study and physical exercises will have been for nothing!

Friar's dad gave a sigh. "Alright, now don't be worried." He started adjusting the collar on Friar's neat, brown uniform. Traditionally, the royal guard would wear armor of a yellow color, but newer recruits would wear a brown army uniform with black trousers and holsters until they had passed all three of Celestia's schools. There was one for physical endurance, one for wisdom and tactics and one for courage and bravery.

Knocking away his father's hoof, he made his way towards the grand hall where the other ponies wishing to be enlisted would fill in their forms and be assessed. He didn't look back for his father, he knew exactly how he would look, worried. He had been a soldier ever since he was Friar's age, the main inspiration behind why Friar wanted to enlist. Supposedly, he was nervous because he knew what hard work it was and hence he was concerned for his son.

He didn't feel, in any way, nervous as he walked through the large, marble archway and into the enormous hall. The roof was insanely high up, three more stories could easily be built in this one room, if it wasn't for the giant stained glass windows that lined the walls, depicting legendary scenes of past defeats and predictions. The light shining into the room created colorful sparkles on the tough stone floor, thanks to the bright colors in the windows. 

At the far side, sat at a small table, was a pony in the traditional yellow armor, white fur with a brown mane.  He seemed to have a large pile of paper beside him, though Friar couldn't tell exactly what it was from this distance. There was only a couple of ponies -wearing the same uniform Friar was-  lined up, as Fiar wanted to get there early. Maybe 30 minutes was a bit much, but all well. Friar started approaching the short line. Even though he had no nervousness on entry, his nerves started to build as he got closer. 

Taking his spot behind the pony in front of him, Friar held all his nerves back. He wanted to sweat, but he wasn't going to let himself. He wanted to shake, but he wasn't going to let himself. He stood smart, proud and powerful. He could only hear the ponies talking in front of him, one asking questions, one answering them. The line got shorter. Not only that, the pony stood in front of Friar was the only pony standing between him and the questioner.  The pony asking the questions had a very commanding voice, one that was deep and clear. The pony he was questioning sounded like he was nervous but trying to hide it, probably what Friar was about to sound like. He just now noticed his physical superiority to the pony in front of him, maybe all that training HAD paid off.

It was a long wait. Odds are it was the nerves, making time seem slow and painful. It was self-warfare, a battle Friar's mind was going to win. Soon enough, the pony walked outside. Friar just now realized there were more ponies behind him. He slowly stepped up to the pony sat at the table. 

"Name." The pony demanded a name. Friar took a deep breath, thinking "don't fuck this up, don't fuck this up..."
"Friar Swift." Friar was shocked, he sounded very confident! He spoke clearly and boldly, his nerves weren't shining through! His big secret probably wasn't going to help calm  him, but he doubted his sexuality would come up as one of the questions.

Every one of the pony's questions were answered with pride and strength, Friar showing no signs of slack. 
"Race?"
"Pegasus."
"Age?"
"16"
"training?"
"all my life, by my father, who works here already."

Soon enough, he had passed. Every question, absolutely nailed! Friar would happily leap into the air and shout "nailed it, hell yeah!" but, you know, that would probably get him kicked out right there on the spot. He was given the order to walk outside and take a seat. He did so, walking outside to reveal a magnificent view of Canterlot from a high up balcony. He could admired the view later, for now he had a seat to sit in! There were many seats lined up, 6 rows of 10 seats. Not many ponies were sat down, as we gathered earlier, he was very early. He took a seat away from the other ponies and waited.

He just now realized, the new security laws! The changelings have put the guards around here on high alert, the unicorns are requested to occasionally look into the minds of other ponies near the castle to make sure they are genuine. If they found out... he just had to focus on something else. "Don't screw up, remember your training..." There was a commander stood not too far away.

"Leave." Friar's heart was in his mouth. "You, second row back, out!" This was not fair, nor was it ethical!
"Sir, with all due respect, I wish to enlist, I have been training for over a decade!" The commander looked unaffected. 
"You don't fit qualifications, hate to see you shag a man on the front line." The other recruits started laughing. He shouldn't have, but Friar stood up.
"Sit down, idiot." Friar was not about to.
"You're not my commander just yet!" Hello hello, banter! The commander stepped forward "What can these men offer I can't?" Friar made a good point. The commander didn't seem to let up.

"I'm not asking you again. We don't want you. Piss off." Friar, honestly, was happy to go. He wasn't going to leave without a quick remark first. He stepped onto the edge of the large open balcony, or whatever you might want to call it, a platform? He stood at the edge, faced the commander and said,
"Those hats look for feminine than I ever will." Apply ice to burned area. Friar leaped off the balcony and swooped towards his home, his flying giving him a chance to think. 

"All my life I was training to be a member of the royal guard. Now that I can't be, what else can I do? What will I tell the guys back home? If they find out, will they abandon me?" The wind whistling past his ear drums and blowing his mane everywhere didn't exactly help him gather his thoughts.

His house was in sight, a simple two bedroom home. Nothing to shout about, it was very similar to the houses neighboring it, simple box shape, triangular roof. Closing in, he landed steadily onto the cobblestone road. He took a deep breath. Approaching the door, he was thinking about what to say when he was asked why he couldn't get in... The door swung open. He slowly walked in, heart racing. His dad sat in his green patterned chair. The pegasus looked up at Friar with both surprise, and glee.

"You're back! ...And, quite early, do they no longer give smaller tests and information on the day of recruitment?" He sounded enthusiastic and confused.
"Yes, and they've also hired the minimum age for recruitment to 18," Friar replied, the dad looking puzzled, "Suppose they didn't want anypony who hadn't matured on the guard following the incident with the changelings?" That was actually a plausible argument! Hooray!

"Well, they never told me? Surely they would have announced a thing like that..." Friar hated it when his heart was in his mouth, it tasted weird, "But... I guess there is nothing we can do about that, you'll just have to wait." That was a relief. "Anyway, I have a shift in an hour, I must get ready." He arose from his chair and marched upstairs. Friar, in need of a rest, sprawled himself out onto the couch. He was suddenly overcome by a barrel of rage. Training all his life and a completely unrelated factor get's him the boot... how could they? What is that saying about the modern Equestrian society? He felt ashamed for wearing this uniform, he didn't want to be seen in it. He unbuttoned the coat and threw it onto the floor, followed by the holster and the trousers (or pants for you 'Muricans).  He exhaled lazily. What now?

He must have fallen asleep. He didn't wake up until his dad returned. The dad returned to his chair, turning on the firefly lantern, as it was now dark, Friar must have been sleeping for a while. However, it was late Autumn, it got dark rather early.He looked serious. Great.

"The minimum age for enlisting is still 16," He said. Friar, just give your heart a bed in your mouth, he seems to be there a lot, "I asked one of the guards, they told me that. So, I checked with the lad who was signing ponies up. He tells me you were failed enlistment because one of the commanders discovered a flaw with that new mind reading spell that's being used for security purposes." Friar got up.

"Okay, what about it?" Friar spoke in sounded different since he had just been sleeping, but he still knew what he was talking about. The dad seemed to as well, and he sounded mad. 
"What about it? It's just that my son is a liar and a sinner, yeah what's wrong with that?" Friar was going to stand his ground.
"Why do you think I lied to you? This society is so homophobic, we are ponies too, we have emotions too! Honestly, what's your problem?"
"Get out-" Great, losing your life dream and getting disowned in one day. What next? Just like earlier, Friar was glad too. He got up, and immediately he cursed his dad.

"Don't speak to your father like that!" He responded.
"...you're not my farther." Friar headed to the door, no tears what so ever coming to his eyes, only a goal: don't look back.
"Wait... I over reacted," Oh, hello? "Let's talk about this." Now he had a decision to make. Whatever life awaited Friar, surely it would be more accepting. Really, there was no decision. He didn't speak another word, he just walked out, only to be pursued.

"Friar... I can... I don't know, there might be a way to make you... normal!" That was a very insulting thing to say. Implying homosexuality is not "normal."
"And what's normal, stranger," Friar chose his final words carefully, "insulting your offspring for being individual? I think I'll take my chances elsewhere."
"You leave you're not coming back!" That's cliche number... is it three, of this chapter?
"...That's the idea." An Friar flew away, into the darkness.

"And you found Hollow Shades later that night, correct?" Discord asked him. Friar's story was a good one.
"No. Laba found me. He then took me to Hollow Shades." Laba seemed to be a common hero, here.
"Looked tired, hungry, wet, the lot," Laba responded, "Get some rest. We'll need it for tomorrow, we're heading for Rambling Rock Ridge."
Discord lay back, resting his head on his pillow. The ponies had eaten while Friar was telling his story. They had also drunk and given out blankets as well as pillows, all thanks to... THE BOX OF MYSTERIES! Or is it just mystery? Eh.

Starswirl came to Discord's side, snuggling up to him like a puppy, staying close to him for warmth and purely to be with his father. Discord would never disown a child, how Friar's father had the nerve was beyond him, but perhaps there was more to it than he was told, it was a pretty personal subject to touch upo--- he fell asleep.
> Feeling blue and for good reasons
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Every pony awoke well, rest being easier now they were somewhat used to sleeping on a soft blanket on a hard floor. Discord slowly arose from under his blankets, Starswirl stretching his legs has he yawned, eyes still closed. The foal slowly got to his hooves and shook his head in an attempt to wake himself up, making his mane rather scruffy, not that it mattered, a pony's hair style wasn't exactly the top priority of a fugitive.

It appeared that Discord was the last of the group to get up, Laba was already cooking a pan over an open fire, crackling as it illuminated the room and caused bubbling sounds to arise from the pan. Starswirl started walking tiredly like a zombie, where to... Straight into a wall! There was a small bump sound as he hit the stone the wall, and another as he fell back onto his hind legs. He didn't look hurt, though Discord still checked his head when the foal wandered back to him, he was getting better at this parenting business. Luckily, there was no bump, cut or bruise.

Starswirl was about to walk into another wall, but Discord stopped him, advising he just sit down.
"Starswirl, how about we just sit down and wait for breakfast?" Starswirl joined Discord's side and fell onto his legs into a sitting position. Clearly Discord had got more sleep than his foal had. He stroked Starswirl behind the ear, who -to Discord's amusement- started twitching his leg like a puppy!

Breakfast was soon served: sausage and beans (I believe Equestrians DO eat meat). Discord, for a change, ate with some manners and self control. He felt like he shouldn't act rude in the presence of the first ever ponies he'd consider genuine friends, plus he wanted to set an example to Starswirl. Though he didn't realize it, he was changing! He was becoming more mature!

The story from yesterday was an interesting one. Not only did it help pass the time, but it said a lot about Friar: he had moral judgement, he stuck by his beliefs and he is willing to make the hard decisions. Since it worked so well for Friar, what about Sam Blue, the teller of the infamous "Edd Wood Wood Wood would" joke?

"So Sam," Discord began, in between mouthfuls of food. "What about your story?"
"What about yours?" Discord was slightly confused here... he just had the tables turned on him!
"I think mine is pretty obvious. A draconequus trying to raise a foal? Not likely Celestia will let that happen!" Yet, he still nailed that comeback!
"...Well, guess I'm next then..." Sam replied. Hopefully this story would continue into the next walk. It would be over Rambling Rock Ridge, no doubt a journey like that would get very tiring and tedious before too long. Suddenly, the ponies in the room started laughing. What at?

Discord looked beside him to see that a sausage was stuck on the tip of Starswirl's horn. Discord wanted to laugh... but didn't. Starswirl didn't seem to realize there was a piece of meat impaled on the end of his glowing blue horn. Discord gently removed it and placed it on the foal's plate. Clearly, Starswirl just though Discord had given him one of his sausages. Every pony in the room gave "aaaw"s of delight as Starswirl used his magic to give it back to Discord. He should have been embarrassed, but he wasn't. He took it, stroked Starswirl under the chin and enjoyed the tiny yet meaningful gift he had been given.

"So how about it, Sam?" Laba asked, "Tell us your story. Give us something to listen to while we walk." The group got to their feet, Sam started his story.

The crowd applauded Sam and cheered for him with glee, the occasional pony whistling in delight. This was one of the proudest moments of his life. The invention of the piston was a success! He stood atop the stage in his neat shirt and tie, bowing at the massive crowd of ponies who also dressed smartly.

"This moment is a huge step in Equestrian engineering. From this day fourth... we enter a new age!" He announced in a bold and enthusiastic voice, in response he got a wave of pure joy and excitement! The two pistons beside him pounded away within their casket, pumping the water which allowed the doors to open. Small, wooden doors, but doors that can now be opened and closed using engineering. A lot more could be done with this. And he knew it. Transportation, weaponry, factory machinery...

Sam Blue, his presentation at the Canterlot engineering department finished, walked off stage feeling proud at what he had accomplished! He was going to be famous! He might even be able to finally get ponies off the ground! In fact, with the money he would receive from this technology, he might even get enough off a budget to work on those old blueprints for fully functional wings for earth ponies! 

He made his way out the maze of marble walls and corridors, being congratulated by every other pony he passed. Every time, he would give a nod back and a "thank you." Every time he received feedback like this, he felt slightly more confident in his work. Finally, the door out was in sight. He approached it, walked straight out the already open large, white doors and stepped outside. The sprawling city of Canterlot not too far ahead, maybe a two minute walk. He loved the view of the city from high up on the castle, but the hall where he was presented was on the ground floor, so today he was not treated. Still, he did manage to get that design published! And now, he was going to be a successful engineer!

It was dark now as he wandered down the streets, getting close to his house. His parents would be so glad! He didn't mind having to live with them, besides, now he was full time engineering, he would be able to earn enough to get his own house! His thoughts were shattered right there on the spot. There was an ear piercing shriek of pain, and it sounded like his mother's voice! He sprinted with more haste than he ever had done before, straight towards his house, which he could now tell had a wide open door! Why would the door be open at night? Had somepony broke in?

Finally entering through the wooden gate and straight through the open doorway, he was cursed with a sight he never wanted to remember, yet one that would haunt him every night. In his warm, inviting house, a place of safety and good memories, his mother lay. Her yellow mane was pale of color, her grey mane limp and lifeless. She lay, facing the other way, in his father's hooves. He was sobbing, tears running down his red furred face, sweat dripping from his black mane. He tried many times to communicate with his wife... but to no avail. Sam stood in shock. He just now noticed... a large patch of red on his mother's fur. The same red color could be seen on his father's hooves. When his dad finally saw him, he said but a few choice words before paramedics and police burst through the door.

"I... didn't do this. I swear..." Sam watched his mother's body be taken away, out into a hospital wagon, time slowing down yet everypony appearing as a blur. Only one thing was certain, the way he said it, the way he looked: his father had not done it.

Clearly, he was the only who thought that. This was a short while ago, about a week, and he now sat in the questioning room. The amount of times he had to repeat "My dad has not done it, he is innocent" would be uncountable. How the police came to the conclusion that his dad had done it was beyond him. When he asked, he was simply informed that he was at the scene covered in his wife's blood.
"Yes, but if my dad had been clutching my dead mum desperately trying to keep her alive, of course he'd have some blood on him!"
"Clearly you have nothing more to say to us. If the investigation team does not find evidence proving otherwise, your dad will be considered guilty and he will be sentence to death." Sam Blue again froze. Equestria was a different place at this time, the death sentence was not uncommon and the police force had little to work with in terms of scientific development.

He had to go back to an empty home that day. His mother somewhere in a body bag, his dad behind bars. His face did not change, nor did his intentions: "find proper justice for my dad, find the killer. But for now, I have to find out how to stop him from being killed."

Discord and the group wandered over the expanse of empty desert land and rocks, immersed in the story.
"And every night, for 5 days, I would stand outside, campaigning for justice," Sam continued "No pony believed me. They all believe my dad was guilty. I didn't."

There was now another crowd, a different kind of crowd. A crowd of merciless ponies all wanting to see this pony hung. The station upon which Sam's dad and the executioner stood upon was made of thin wooden planks, with stairs up at the back and left side. Sam's dad had his eyes closed, standing upon a platform that would collapse upon pulling of the large stone lever to the right. The executioner wore a black mask, and stood completely still as an announcer read aloud the charges upon which Sam's dad were being hung. Sam stood in the audience, planning his actions: "if I go in from the left, I might be able to trip over the executioner and cut that rope using the dagger." Sam had a knife ready on his belt, disguised under a coat.  The final words were being spoke. Sam progressed further through the crowd. The drums started picking up speed. Sam was now only a few meters away. The announcer stopped reading. "Now or never."

The executioner tripped onto his face from a mighty blow delivered by Sam, an attack from below. He now leaped up onto the stage, two meters high, a challenge to climb onto. As he got up, he noticed the announcer running at him. He managed to draw his dagger. He charged at the announcer and felt the knife drive into him, not really caring he just killed a pony, his goal was to rescue his dad by any means! He was about to cut the rope, he stood on the platform, reached up and- he fell. Just like that he fell to the ground, now under the stage. He looked up in horror. A pair of legs dangled beside him. The lever had been pulled...

The crowd now ran back to the safety of their homes after witnessing a murder. Sam took his chance, among the chaos, he sneaked away. Blending in with the crowd, he ran to a back ally. He checked to make sure he wasn't followed... he was not. He could hear a voice shout "find him, find him!" He would have to leave soon. He looked down at his knife.
"You tried to kill my dad. What does it matter if I killed someone." he dropped the blood stained knife and ran for the Canterlot gates, ready to leave and find somewhere more discreet to live.

"And I found Hollow Shades not soon after," Sam finished his story "So, yeah. Sounds like some kind of super hero tale..." Except a super hero wouldn't kill a pony and think nothing of it, Discord though to himself. The group was now entering a cave. They had been walking a while. They had reached the next outpost before sundown. 

"Now story time is over, we need rest. You all look very tired." Laba soon said as he reached for the rations box in the cave-turned outpost. Discord didn't notice it, but he was very sweaty. So was Starswirl. That's what happens when you walk through Rambling Rock Ridge! The other ponies looked just as sweaty, Chrysalis looking the funniest as sweat dripped from one hole to the other down her legs. Discord was happy to sit down, Starswirl lying flat out on the stone floor, clearly not caring if it wasn't hotel level comfort.

"Luckily, we were aware you would all be sweaty when we built this outpost so there is extra water in this rations case." The guard all quietly cheered, not showing too much enthusiasm since they were exhausted from walking through hot, exposed land. Every pony drank thirstily from their bottles, even Starswirl sacrificed some of his young charm for a good swig or two of water.

"I imagine there's not much left in that rucksack, Discord?" Laba asked him. Discord didn't reply, his mouth was full of water. Swallowing, he removed his rucksack and opened it up. There wasn't much in there, as expected. 
"A can or two of food and some blankets." He announced, secretly checking to make sure that amulet of his was still where it should be: it was.
"Well, not to worry. Guess what I have?" Every pony in the room looked up, amazed. Laba had pulled CANDY BARS out of the rations box! Every pony in the room full on cheered at that moment! After all that working, the sweet taste of sugar upon their tongues was a delightful experience to say the least! For Starswirl especially, he entered a phase similar to that bacon trance he had a while back. He was motionless, slowly eating away at his candy bar. Enjoyment at it's best, right there!

The delicious tasting snack, the rest, the water and the lovely curry meal that followed soon had ever pony fast asleep. Morale in the group took a massive leap that night. Who would be next?
"Spiral Dust, your story tomorrow?" Discord asked him.
"...sure. Prepare yourself."
> Breaking news!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Waking up by now in a different environment was expected, no longer was it a surprise to wake up, look around and see nor a bed nor window. Ever since the attack on Hollow shades a few days ago, Discord would wake up with Starswirl close by, the group would work together to cook up some food (though that was mostly Laba's job) and they would set off on a journey. It just so happened that last night's journey was through pretty rough environments, good thing they had Sam Blue's story to take their minds off the dust and open heat. Today would hopefully go in a similar direction. Spiral Dust's time to shine, he would talk while the group walked through the Everfree Forest. There were rumors that it was a dangerous place, but just that, rumors.

By now I could probably copy and paste the scenes in the outposts and get away with it, but I won't! The morale in the group was very high as they sat in the cave, exchanging witty comebacks they came up with from past experiences!
"Okay, so this mare is all bitchy and stuck up," Discord recalled hearing Chrysalis exchanging banter with Laba and Sam.
"Okay..." Laba replied....
"And she says to me: 'you're so weird, why don't you get work in beauty and earn lots of money like I did' you know, trying to show off..." It was great seeing Chrysalis in such a great mood, she seemed like such a serious pony, but they're all sassy lassies at heart!

"And I respond to her: 'yeah, and look how you turned out!" Chrysalis, as well as Laba and Sam started laughing, "and she just walked away!" Well, that must have been a funny moment. All the while, Starswirl seemed to take an interest in Spiral Dust's ability to shape shift into a pixel-like dust cloud, completely immersed as Spiral Dust entertained him with his unique talent.

"Mr cloud, I believe you have a story to tell all of us?" Discord sarcastically said to Spiral Dust. The cloud of dust spiraled into the ground and reformed into the shape of the yellow furred, black maned pegasus that was his sweet-voiced friend.

"How about we talk while we walk?" Spiral Dust suggested. Come to think of it, probably best.
"Breaky is ready anyway." Laba announced. Hey, every time I say that Laba announced something, take a shot!
"Did you just use slang," asked Discord, "breaky?" Laba seemed like quite a mature pony and he just used slang!
"Ay boy, kiddo, yippidy doo, yolo, we all need to let lose now and then." Laba replied. Oh no, was he gonna start singing wearing lip stick while sharing a drink with Friar or something? Hopefully, "letting loose" would only go as for as it just did.

So, "breaky" was served on paper plates from the rations box- cough cough, I mean: THE BOX OF MYSTERIES! It was good to be able to eat some genuinely tasty food, what with the candy bar last night and now canned ravioli! Starswirl seemed to enjoy it, he ate hungrily, occasionally dropping a piece of pasta on accident despite the fact the spoon was being controlled by magic (you know something's up when you still spill your food when you're using magic to hold the spoon).

Laba suddenly noticed something... what it was exactly wasn't known. He appeared to be looking at Starswirl, who was simply eating his breakfast, what was abnormal about that? Laba's horn glowed slightly, before Laba spoke to Starswirl.
"Hey, Starswirl, watch this:" Starswirl took interest, the curious foal he was. A small white orb arose from Laba's horn, which glowed and slowly rose to the roof of the cave, Starswirl observing it with amazement the whole time. The orb expanded in an almost silent poof, painting a beautiful picture of the night sky onto the roof. Laba seemed focused on Starswirl though...

"Those are all the stars visible from Canterlot observatory," Starswirl was in awe, Laba was staring... at his neck? "Starswirl... can you speak for me?" Starswirl did not speak, he just looked at Laba, probably wishing he could talk. Discord spoke up.
"He's very young, he can't speak yet." Laba signaled for Discord to walk over to him. Starswirl noticed Discord walk away, but he didn't seem to care that much, he was smart enough to know that Discord was going no where walking in Laba's direction, seeing as he sat in front of a wall.

Discord joined Laba's side, Laba whispered to him.
"Starswirl, as he ever spoken to you? A laugh or a scream, something?" he asked Discord, who shook his head. Laba looked concerned.
"Look at his neck," Laba requested. Starswirl was looking directly at the roof, his light blue neck exposed. It was very smooth and it... went in a bit? Half way down, there was a small area where his neck caved in slightly. Discord hadn't noticed before now, he didn't see much of that area and it was only slightly visible.

"Uhm... is it about that part where his neck goes in slightly?" Discord asked, Starswirl not really caring since he was transfixed on a quadrant of stars. Other ponies in the room enjoyed their meals.
"Yes, it is," great, just great, "that's where the voice box should be. It's not uncommon to have foals from unhealthy parents be born with undeveloped organs and it's not the first time I've seen a foal with undeveloped vocal chords... uhm..." He was holding back.
"Speak up, Laba. Spit it out." Discord wasn't going to let this slip, something was wrong with HIS foal!
"...He may never talk."

"And... is that, certain?" Discord wanted the best for Starswirl, if he couldn't talk... that would set him back a while with his English skills.
"How old is he?" Laba asked. Discord quickly replied,
"Three." Laba shook his head.
"No signs of speech by this age, dent where his vocal organs should be... your odds are slim, to say the least." This was a tough thing for Laba to say and a dreadful thing for Discord to hear.

"...How do I tell him?" Discord was concerned as to how he should break the news to Starswirl. 
"I'll help you if you need it." Laba's offer was kind, though it was one Discord denied.
"Thank you, but... I think this should be a father-son thing." Discord wasn't going to tell Starswirl yet, maybe when he was older.  He would find out sooner or later, but for now... there was too much going on already.

"We'll be setting off now." Laba announced (take another shot) "and we'll be heading through the Everfree Forest so keep your eyes peeled." The group got up. Friar putting on his saddlebags followed by him helping up Sam and Chrysalis getting up rather quickly thanks to the energy she gained from that funny little moment she was saying earlier. Spiral Dust got up last, stretching his legs and wings.

Discord joined Starswirl's side again, avoiding showing any change in emotion. He put each of his arms through the belts on the rucksack, lifted Starswirl into said arms and headed outside the cave. The cave faced in the direction the group came from: towards a mass of sand and rocks. In the other direction: a lush collection of trees! Quite the change of scenery.

"Now would be a good time to start your story, Spiral Dust." Discord was hoping that it would last the whole journey. If they were entering the Everfree Forest, Ponyville should follow! Spiral Dust replied:

"Ladies and gentlemen, fasten your seat belts. Spiral Dust's story shall now begin"
> A heist?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Are you feeling any better?" Spiral Dust asked his friend.
"I feel worse, if anything." His friend Rock Climb had been taken to hospital yesterday after a nasty accident caused him to badly injure his legs. Now, he sat on a mattress in the middle of a white room with a pale blue floor, a beside table to one side and a simple firefly lamp a couple of feet away.  His right hind leg was in a massive cast, keeping it out stretched. His friend spoke in a tired voice.

"The nurse said she'll be back with the test results any minute. Can you stay when she comes? I know you have work soon, but it might be bad news." Spiral Dust nodded and reassured his friend with a boyish head rub.

"Sure, M-C Stone!" Rock Climb laughed.
"You're not gonna live that down, are you?" Spiral Dust shook his head, smiling as Rock Climb laughed a bit more. It was an inside joke. Not too long ago, Rock Climb had a rap off against Spiral's dad and lost! At that moment, a mare in white uniform with a red medical cross on her chest entered the room, gingerly closing the door behind her. Spiral Dust now noticed that she had a sheet of paper with her, supposedly there were the results.

"We have the results," called it! "And... it's not good news." The pony hoofed (handed? I dunno) the sheet to Spiral Dust, who had a look, then gave it to Rock Climb. According to the image, there was something in Rock Climb's leg, who studied the sheet much longer than Spiral Dust did, that shouldn't be there.

"The bump in your leg, and the scar, is due to a tumor. We can have it removed, but it will be costly," Rock Climb's face went pale with shock, "without surgery however, it may worsen and spread to other areas. We may even have to..." Spiral Dust stopped her there. He knew what she was going to say and so did Rock Climb. They would have to amputate his leg. Rock Climb gave a deep sigh and covered his face with his hoof. Spiral Dust sighed.

"...we just payed off the mortgage, as well as our bills for this week. Then there's the university bill we just paid back most of..." This was a concerning moment. "I'm not sure we can pay for that..." The nurse gave a blank look back, she wasn't going to perform surgery without payment.

"We'll have to do more tests, Spiral Dust," The Nurse spoke gently yet with assertion, "I'm afraid I must ask you to come back later." Spiral Dust didn't want to go, but who was he to argue with the ponies who were there to help his friend? He rubbed his friend's arm as reassurance and said his goodbyes.

"I'll visit again soon, okay?"
"Okay, please do. Goodbye now."
"Goodbye." He made his leave, making his way through the maze that was: Cloudsdale Health Center. Eventually leaving through the wide doors that stood at the front of the large building, he immediately felt stressed out, on the verge of shouting. He didn't fly home, he needed a walk. An expensive hospital bill to pay.... no money to pay it with. Anypony passing by would probably tell he wasn't exactly in the best of moods. He ran through ideas in his mind.

"A loan? No, that would only make things worse once I have to pay it back. Must he have the surgery? Your best friend, an enthusiastic mountain climber losing a leg, of course he needs it!" He stood in front of his home now. "...steel it?" He entered his home. Not the best of houses, but it was home! There was a single couch in the living room and a not-so-big dining table with a wooden chair. He collapsed into his couch.

"No! Breaking the law like that, what a dumb idea!" ...or was it? "...if I can get a group together, NO!" Spiral Dust kicked his couch, battling with his own mind. "Still. If I'm never caught, if I did it at night time maybe, nopony would know it was me..." He stopped the battle. "Is there really an alternative? Besides, it isn't out of greed! This is to pay for my sick friend's care!" He sighed and hid his face under his hooves. "...I'll need a team. I've never done this before..." Now, where would he find a group of ponies who would help him rob a place? You couldn't exactly walk into a bar and find a poster that read "robbers for hire" could you? 

"Unbelievable." Spiral Dust was staring right at a poster, in a bar, that read "robbers for hire." Unbelievable! They must have been rookies or something, surely this wasn't a very discreet thing to do! What if the police found this? The title at the top was followed by a description.
"If you need some teammates to help you rob a store, steal from a bank or break into a pony's house, write to this address!" There was an address underneath. Now that really WAS dumb! Nope! Nope, he was walking away! Too obviously a trap or a prank!

He ordered a drink and sat down at a stool with a plane red cushion.
"I'll take an Applejack Daniels." The barmare grabbed a pint glass, placed it under a beer tap and pulled it back, a hissing sound arising as golden whiskey started pouring from the tap and filled the glass. The sound stopped, the glass was full. The barmare hoofed (still not sure about this phrase) the drink to Spiral Dust who gave her 2 bits for the drink. 

"You need work." A deep voice was heard in Spiral Dust's head. "You need a team. I can provide." Spiral Dust communicated with this imaginary voice using his own.
"How did you know? And isn't telepathic communication banned?"
"Yes, but I honestly don't care. Turn around, and we'll talk for real."

The group was far into the dense growth of the Everfree Forest.
"I turned around to face a pony who... come to think of it, kind of looked like an older version of Starswirl." Discord's mind clicked at that moment.
"What? How?" Discord looked down at Starswirl.
"Light blue fur, unicorn, white mane. Must have been talented with his music if he could use telepathic communication." Spiral Dust seemed to noticed the similarities between Starswirl and the pony he met, but it couldn't have been him! This was years ago! Discord was in deep thought, could this have been... Starswirl's true father?

"Spiral Dust, did he mention having a child, or wife, or something!?" Discord had to know! Why... he wasn't sure, but he had to!
"Didn't mention anything like that," Spiral Dust seemed to understand what Discord was getting at, "Though, he didn't tell me much about him. We were only doing a job together. I'm afraid, there's no way of knowing if he was Starswirl's true father." Discord sighed.
"So, the story."

This pony looked at Spiral Dust and, using that telepathic ability of his, levitated his drink beside his own, implying he wanted Spiral Dust to sit with him. Spiral Dust hesitated for a second, but he soon joined this mysterious pony's side.
"We'll communicate through our minds," the pony began the conversation, "that way nopony will overhear us."
"Okay, how did you know I need work?" Spiral Dust replied, taking a swig of his drink.
"We're talking through our minds, how did you think?"

"What, you read my mind? And I'm supposed to be cool with that?" 
"You were reading the poster. You ordered a drink. You look stressed. You clearly need work, I just needed to be sure." Spiral Dust didn't know who this pony was or anything about him. What he did know was: he did in fact need work.

"Alright, yes I need money, and I need it fast! Can you provide?" Talking through their minds felt weird, but it was a lot more incognito than a random poster on the wall giving away an address!
"Good. I know a job that we need an extra guy for. Night job, store heist, low risk, high take." This was a pretty good deal, in that case.
"Sounds good. But I need to know more than that..."
> Denied
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Follow me back to my place of work, I'll show you the plan. If you're in." Spiral Dust was not going to back out now.
"Sure, but, one quick question: is that really you're address on the poster?" The unknown pony shook his head.
"That's the address to a D.I.Y store, pay no attention." 
"Wait!" Spiral Dust finished his drink, "Okay, now we can go." Him and the mysterious pony got to their hooves and made their way out the bar, entering the vast expanse of clouds that floated as the awe-inspiring city of Cloudsdale.

The two ponies continued to talk through their minds, their minds, readers, THEIR MINDS!!!!
"So, I don't believe I got a name?" Spiral Dust had to trust this pony, if he didn't even know his name, how could he?
"Call me Nova Surge." That is the coolest name Spiral Dust had ever heard!

"Hold on," Discord interrupted, "The phrase 'Nova' relates to stars, a swirl of something is like a surge..." Discord was thinking up his own head canon!
"Suppose it does," Spiral Dust replied, "But, we can not be 100% sure if it was his dad, unless we somehow bump into him!" A ridiculous coincidence wasn't going to happen this time.
"Discord, every time you interrupt me you have to smack yourself." Great.
"Urgh!" Discord slapped himself, Starswirl looked up at him, confused. Back to the story:

After a short journey -maybe a two minute walk- Spiral Dust and Nova Surge arrived at a simple sports shop! Was this the place, or did Spiral Dust accidentally get a job stocking shelves?

"Uhm, a sports shop" He asked. It was a block shaped building of large size, a bold sign reading "Nova Sports" in blue letters. In the store's curved windows, footballs and baseball gear was advertised, as well as some flight outfits for competitive racing events.
"Well, who would suspect a simple store owner performs jobs of a more dangerous type?" Nova replied through his mind spell. They entered the store, which was... very well maintained!

It certainly looked better than most stores, every piece of gear looked freshly polished and made with professional quality, and every shelf was neatly organised, not a single out of place item. It wasn't cramped either, there was plenty of space for three or four ponies to easily walk between each isle, isles that were labeled neatly and looked like ones you would find at a place selling a gold ball for one thousand bits, but no, these products were not only priced well, but priced cheap! A very high quality store selling very high quality products at prices that would be found at your local Poundland... Spiral Dust knew exactly how Nova Surge paid for this place! Did I just write an entire paragraph advertising Nova Surge's store?

"Yes you did."
Great, you're talking through MY mind now?
"Stop talking to me, the readers are getting mad."
Oh yeah, anyway:

Spiral Dust followed Nova Surge as he led him into a back room, the blue door reading "staff only" placed behind the counter. He was now in a fairly large room stacked with boxes of stock, not exactly as organised as the rest of the store!

There was one door that had a "private" tag on it, apart from that, it looked just as simple and plane as the others. The only odd thing about the door was the keyhole! It didn't look as if any sort of key would fit it, there was a just a strange, swirled pattern under the handle! Nova's horn started glowing, he then lowered his head and aligned the tip of his horn with the bizarre keyhole. Through the small, blue glow from Nova's horn, Spiral Dust saw the swirl pattern slowly spin and click into place. The handle then glowed from being grabbed by Nova's magic, and it was pushed down before the door creaked open.

Nova didn't open the door very far, as if hiding something. He made his way into the room before moving aside so Spiral Dust could come in. As he did so, he noticed that the curtains in this room were all closed, all light coming from two firefly lamps on either side of the room.

The room seemed to have pictures all over the walls, drawings linking together key photos, some followed by lists of equipment. Nova asked Spiral Dust a few questions.
"You won't tell police?"
"No."
"You're in?"
"Yes."
Suddenly, there was a sound like a blunt thud, and Spiral Dust collapsed.

...

He didn't know how much time had passed, in reality it probably wasn't THAT long. The bigger question was less about how much time had passed and more about where he was! Once the blurred images and darkness had faded away, he seemed to be in a blank room. He got to his hooves. The walls were all white, as well as the floor. There was no furniture, not even a toilet or bed. All that WAS there was a solid looking white door at one side of the room, and a small fan providing air on the other side. 

He looked around, searching for anything that might provide an escape. All that was in here was a large solid door and some tiny holes in the wall so air could come in. Oh, if only the ponies here knew about his ability! You were all probably looking forward to some high energy chase scene, but... Spiral Dust had other means of escaping!

He twisted in the air and morphed into a colored cloud, floating on the air like some sort of boat on the surface of water. The holes in the wall were easily small enough for him to fit through in this form. Within a quick flash , the spiraling cloud of dust pulled itself through the tiny air holes with minimal effort. He reformed once outside. He was in a courtyard of some sort, with tall stone walls surrounding the expanse of cloud that stood outside this monster of a building, which appeared to have rainbows forming around it... what kind of building was this?

Although, there were other matters at hand here: there were guards. Walking around. Two of them, at the moment, wearing black and brown armor patrolling the grounds, wielding spears! This must have been some sort of high-security prison or hidden research base! Whatever it was, Spiral Dust had to get out! Especially now one of the guards had seen him.
"Hey, you! Stop there!" Spiral Dust was NOT going to stop though. Cue awesome music, maybe... Vinylicous by PON3?

As the guards charged at him, Spiral Dust leaped forward and morphed into his cloud form, catching the guards off-guard! Ha! I kid.
The guards had no clue where Spiral Dust had gone, but the pegasus had already morphed back into his physical form behind the guards, and gave both of them a mighty kick! The guards fell flat on their faces, allowing Spiral Dust to soar into the air and dive-bomb them from above! It was a very quick move that seemed to happen in a blur, though it was obvious when he collided with the skulls of these guards that this was a successful attack! There was a great force running through his legs and spine from the impact  of the collision, though he didn't feel anything was damaged.

As the guards lay there motionless, Spiral Dust looked around to make sure nopony else was there. There, unfortunately, WERE other other guards out here, but they were quite a distance away and hadn't spotted him yet. Spiral Dust attempted to fly over the wall, which stood something like 20ft high! It was made of a very simple stone material with no pattern or attempt at decoration, just a simple stone wall! He was flying towards the rest of Cloudsdale, a good few healthy feet above this stone structure. He was expecting to be able to just fly over it, it was just open air, why shouldn't he be able to? But... he slammed into a barrier of some sort, a plastic thud sounds arising when he collided with the nothingness that seemed to stop him!

"Ouch!" He said to himself, rubbing his head. He prodded at the air in front of him... as a wise man once said, there's some kind of force field in the way! It was like a window of some sort, you can see through it, but you can't walk through it... There had to be some kind of way out! ....Right? He got in here somehow, if there's a way in, there must be a way out!

He looked behind him and came face to face with a monster of a building! It stood really tall and looked so plain, not a single window! It connected to a large box of a building, like some kind of prison! It looked abandoned, but all the guards surrounding this place would suggest otherwise! Speaking of which, it would appear a handful of guards on the Eastern front had seen him... and now there were charging towards him... and the unicorns there were shooting at him... "THIS ISN'T HOW I WANTED TO SPEND MY WEEKEND!"

Spiral Dust how to fly very quickly to avoid all the shots from these unicorns, bolts of lightning and balls of fire shot at him many times a second! He didn't want to have to fight all these ponies, he wanted out! Flying faster than he ever had done before, allowing all the heavy winds to blast into his face, he patrolled the grounds and searched for an exit, avoiding shots the whole time.

Eventually, after making a huge glide around the colossal building, he saw something: A large metal gate that was solid and black. Something like that wouldn't just be slapped on there for no reason, it must open!

He swooped down, towards the gate, just now noticing he was being followed by three or four pegasi! They all seemed to be desperate to catch him, the looks on their faces made that clear! Now just in front of the gate, Spiral Dust -with lightning speed- morphed into his cloud form and swooped through the gap under the enormous metal gate. He returned to his original form once outside the gate, hearing crashes behind him as the pegasi that followed collided with great force against the heavy metal plating.

He took some time to catch his breath before leaping off the cloud this building stood upon and gliding towards the rest of Cloudsdale. He had made it out. But he hadn't escaped.

There he sat on his couch, in his house, enjoying some cider. It was quiet. He rubbed his eyes.
"Well, great. I'll be dammed if I remain living here..." he was about to go pack when there was a knock at the door. He put down his cider and tiredly walked towards the door, it was late by now.

Spiral Dust peeked through the... I still don't know what that hole in the door you peek through is called, I'll Google it. Huh, just a Peephole. So, Spiral Dust looked through the peephole with curiosity... it was the police. Heart in mouth, he retreated for the back door. He just managed to get a peek of a police....horse, walk past the window. More escaping? Really? He made his way upstairs, hearing more knocking on the door followed by a deep voice. What he said was not heard, Spiral Dust wasn't paying attention.

He entered his bedroom. A single bed and cupboard was all the furniture that was in here, Spiral Dust didn't exactly have the capability of living in luxury. He made a run for the window, only opening it slightly so he wouldn't draw any attention for the 5-0. He then took a deep breath and transformed into his cloud form, we need a proper name for that... his... , dust form? Eh, it'll do.

While in dust form, Spiral Dust glided out the window and stayed close to the wall so no police-horses noticed an obvious cloud of dust flying away. He stayed close to the ground while slowly gliding away, the 5-0 not noticing him. The darkness helped. The police continued knocked at his door, despite the fact he was now 5 blocks away.

He need to gather his thoughts.
"Okay, the police are after me. I need to get away from here... what about Rock Climb? I can't leave him... I will be back for him. One day."

"So eventually I found Hollow Shades. It took a while, what with the huge distance to cover. I was going for Manehatten, but, Shades was much better!" Suppose that was the end of Spiral Dust's story.

"Well, how about that." Discord stated. Laba interrupted.
"Guys... problem! Big problem!"
> Caught.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	And indeed, there WAS a problem. A BIG problem. The path was just about to open up to Ponyville, but... a pony stood in their path. White fur, blue star on the chest, yellow armor. It was a member of Celestia's royal guard. The group locked eyes with the single pony. A huge group, a single enemy, this should have felt like an easy encounter: it did not. The group felt trapped, stuck, surrounded. But there was only a single pony. Laba stepped fourth.

"Good morning. Is there trouble in Ponyville?" Clearly Laba was playing it cool, quite clever actually, maybe this pony had not been told about the group yet? No such luck.

The group was suddenly under attack, from all angles! The call of a guard shouting "now" made that obvious. There was only a split second to react when there was a circle of pegasi and unicorns crowding them, the pegasi dropping nets from above and unicorns using their magic to throw nets onto them.

Discord's attack came from above, four pegasi attempting to capture him with a simple string net designed to hold a pony, but Discord wasn't a pony, was he? The net only covered his face before he grabbed it and duck, swinging the four ponies AND the guards attached with ease. Making sure to have a tight grip on Starswirl in his other arm, Discord swung the net and ponies at a group of other pegasi before they could capture Laba in a net. Laba managed to stun the pony that the group had a stand off against earlier, and now he was going to fight off the others, just as Discord was going to!

The mighty draconequus (made slightly less mighty by the fact he was carrying a foal) charged for a group of pegasi that held Friar under a net, swinging at one of the guards with a mighty uppercut of justice! I know, exciting, isn't it!?

Starswirl keeping his head close by Discord's chest the whole time, not looking, Discord spun his hand on the spot multiple times, a small fireball arising from his finger every time it returned to face an enemy and charging up it's flame while it swung away from them. The fireballs all hit their targets with minimal effort, colliding with their fur and stunning them, Discord had the ability to influence a stunning ability into his fireballs since HE conjured them. The group of pegasi guards now on the floor, Discord grabbed the net that covered Friar and within a few seconds of embers, the entire thing was burnt into nothing, Friar remaining unharmed. The pegasus got to his hooves with a helping hand from Discord (I can say that because Discord actually has hands! Yay, no hand-hoof trauma!) and he joined the fight. 

Spiral Dust seemed to already be tackling the attackers, no doubt his dust-morphing ability allowed him to escape from his net with ease. Every time a pony made a tackle for him, he could evade by morphing, and the attacker would collapse onto the floor as if he was attempting to tackle the air. Spiral Dust's story told of a moment where he had to fight off two well-trained ponies by himself, that encounter would certainly be helping him out right now.

Friar proceeded to help Spiral Dust, Laba was helping Sam Blue, so... Chrysalis! The lady changeling was trapped under a net with four unicorns holding her down, her horn glowing red, which Discord recognized as a magic trapping spell, a spell that prevented it's victim from using their horn and hence prohibiting magic use. However, the down side to this spell was that it required concentration from the caster in order to remain, therefor if Discord attacked the caster, the spell would be broken.

Discord did the same trick he did earlier: swinging his fingers and casting fireballs with every successful swing. The unicorns had no time to react before they were caught off guard and flung over by searing hot yet rather small balls of flame, the red aura coating Chrysalis's horn disappearing once the flames hit. 

Chrysalis's net burst in a flash of green immediately, none of this being Discord's actions, all of it was due to Chrysalis's rage. She swiftly got to her hooves and shot grim seeds of green energy at the unicorns, who were turned to nothing but bones within split seconds, Discord watching in awe. Though, he felt slightly bad for Chrysalis, she must have been embarrassed. The other members of the group had stunned or knocked out the attackers, Chrysalis... disintegrated them.

The attackers were all overpowered now, clearly they had underestimated the skill of the group. Sure, they were all bruised and cut, but the guards weren't even moving! Discord looked around to make sure no more guards were standing... but, something was off. There were supposed to be 4 ponies around Friar, he WAS attacked by four after all. There was... only three. Where had the fourth gone? It was at this moment that Discord remembered: his stun fireballs lost some of their potency since they were delivered by flames, they would lose their effects within mere seconds if they hit the mane of the pony instead of their solid body! If one of Discord's shots was shot inaccurately, and it truly only hit one of the attackers on the mane, they might have gone away by now!

"Guys, I think a guard has gotten away, we need to get to this shelter quickly!" Discord tightened the straps on his rucksack and looked down at Starswirl, who remained with his head burrowed in Discord's embrace. It's time, once again, for Laba to announce something.

"All right everypony, follow me, and do NOT lag behind!" Laba started running in the different direction you'd have expected he would. Ponyville was straight ahead, but Laba ran to the left, going around the town. Every member of the group followed, Sam Blue, Friar, Spiral Dust, Chrysalis and finally Discord. 

Ponyville had many differences back then, but the only one Discord could see right now was this enormous wooden barrier surrounding it, with pointed tips topping the barrier to prevent ponies from climbing over (though a pegasus could easily fly over). 

It was too late! A group of pegasi guards had tracked down the group and were now swooping in on them! It was at this moment that Discord decided: sod the rucksack! He placed Starswirl down and removed the rucksack, giving it a mighty swung before it was launched into the air and collided with a pegasus, who plummeted to the ground. The contents of the rucksack spilled open from the impact of hitting the pony and plummeting into the ground, exposing some sheets, cans and the amulet. Laba noticed this amulet and immediately used his magic to hand it over to Discord, who grabbed it, confused. Laba then spoke over the chaos of this second attack.

"I don't care how long that's been in the rucksack, who put it there, or how long it's been there! But put it on! Quickly! Discord did not question Laba's intentions, this was clearly important. he took the ribbons and wrapped them around his neck, awkwardly clipping them in place.

Discord was now wearing the amulet. And it felt good.
> Unwanted throne
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	For a second, Discord's eyes grew a dark purple, almost black, before fading in a mist back to his regular eyes. He was filled with a surge of energy, like he had just consumed a brew of pure adrenaline. Noticing his group being attacked by a herd of pegasi guards, he let his rage take control.

There was a sound like a sonic boom, only quieter, before the pegasi seemed to... shoot away from the scene! Like arrows from bows, they shot away three times as quickly as they arrived, flying away against their will into the skies and out of sight. Making a whole group dart away like that would be no easy feet, a pony of high talent would have to do that... or, draconequus of high talent?

The group stood in awe. None of them knew who performed that remarkable feet of magic... except Laba.
"I thought so," Laba began, "that's no ordinary amulet, that's an Alicorn Amulet!" Discord looked puzzled. Sure there was an alicorn being portrayed on it, but that's like being given a table and then have somepony say 'that's no table, that's a wooden table!' It made no difference! Laba seemed to get that Discord had no clue what that meant...

"An Alicorn Amulet gives gives it's user untold abilities! It was you who just did that spell, wasn't it? The amulet let you do that!" The other ponies had no response, "Although... there is a risk that comes with it. You might be corrupted." Well, quite the risk there, Laba, jeez!
"Uhm... isn't that a little too high a risk?" Discord asked. "More to the point, how do you know any of this?" Laba hesitated, before speaking in a lackluster fashion.

"Because I paid attention in Enchantment Arts, that's why!" He sounded like he was in a hurry now, "As for the corruption-" Laba ended the conversation there, "Look, this is not the place to discuss it! Take it off, but keep it with you, only put it back on when you need it!" Laba started running again, the group closely following him. Discord removed the straps on the amulet, expecting to feel the energy drain from him... it did not? Either way, he held the amulet tightly in his hands as he kept up with Laba's pace, minimal effort required thanks to this new found energy boost. Having to carry Starswirl at the same time would usually be a burden on Discord, it did not affect him at all! The foal was not even mildly weighted, a pillow would have been heavier than this! Though weirdly, less cuddly!

Laba stopped suddenly beside a large wooden trapdoor, one Discord recognized as a vintage sewer door. They were here! Laba swiftly used his magic to lift the heavy wooden sheet, before... one spell changed everything.

Discord fell forward, the very thing he had been fighting for this whole time falling out of his grasp.  He landed hard on the grass, looking up through his bruised face to see... Starswirl. He lay on the ground. Motionless. Burnt. There, like a tombstone, he lay. The foal that once sat on his lap. The foal that would play alongside him. The foal that taught him so much about himself. The foal that changed his life... lay there. Hurt. Possibly... dead.

Discord got to his feet. This was ironically just like the moment he found him. Innocent, small, in need. Just like before, everything went silent. And just like before, all he could do was look in shock and horror. He attempted to call out to his foal... but he couldn't. A fireball hit his back. Bad move.

His eyes started to glow a dark red. All he had done for this foal, all the struggles and all the work was just destroyed! He had done nothing wrong! Neither had Starswirl, what did he do!?!? Why did he deserve that!?!? He got to his feet. Any observers would be in awe at the fury he was presenting. He let the amulet drop out of his hand. Laba timidly spoke.

"...D-Discord... we can help him. I can help him. Don't do this." Discord heard none of that. All he could hear was a crowd of voices in his head.
"Avenge him. Avenge him." He clenched his fist. Before... everything changed. Everything. The once green grass now was covered in blue checkered patterns. The blue sky was now purple. The mighty wooden wall was reduced to pathetic piles of grass. Many houses lifted themselves with mighty moans from the ground and stood in the sky, not moving. And it all happened in one big flash of red. Discord was now drunk with power, though he did not know it. He wanted one thing: revenge. And he was going to get it!

The mighty draconequus, eyes glowing dark red, was high in the sky, floating down to Earth like a tyrannic God. He landed on the diamond ground and started approaching a group of attackers. They flew at him, spears at the ready. Within a flash, they dropped. The armor fell to the ground, as did the weapons. Now, they were just fish. Fish that flew without care among the birds, birds that now had spiraling beaks and red and blue striped wings.

He looked up at the sun, staring directly into it's heat. His eyes did not burn, he could stare right into it... straight into it's soul. If it was not for Celestia's rule, this wouldn't have happened. It was time he took charge. He pointed at the sun, a new group of unicorns charging straight at him, some guards, some angry villagers. A mighty, roaring black bolt of lightning shot into the sky and straight into the sun. The mighty symbol of power glowed purple for a second, mighty shocks striking off of it in earth shaking screeches of pain, before... it sat there... now a mild shade of blue. Discord had paralyzed the sun. Hopefully, Celestia would notice and come to Ponyville, so then they could meet... one on one.

Exactly how much time had passed was unknown. With the sun frozen, one could not tell if a day or a week had gone. One could not sleep, as body clocks were messed up big time, meaning ponies never had the energy to do anything. Anyone who tried to stand up to Discord faced a judgement like no other. It was a state of eternal suffering for all. He was the ruler of his village, anyone who tried to leave could not, as Discord had put up barriers using his magic. They were his toys, Ponyville was his playhouse. Yet, in the sewer, one pony still had faith in Discord. Laba.

"It's the amulet," he explained to the group while he tended to Starswirl, who lay on the hard, moist, cold ground of the sewers. "It only corrupts the weak minded. However, upon removal, the amulet loses effect anyway. It must have stayed with Discord. Why, I'm not sure... maybe it's because the amulet could feed off so much more pain in Discord's draconequus soul to feed off, hence the magic can sustain itself even when removed from it's main source of power." He checked for a pulse on Starswirl... he felt a few pumps.

Meanwhile, Discord sat there upon his newly crafted throne, enjoying the scenery. He sensed something. Somepony was there.
"Celestia." he thought to himself. And somepony else. "Her sister... Luna. Finally... they have come." He laughed in mockery.

"This is so much fun!" he noticed the bright, shimmering tail of Celestia. With a quick mind spell, it was in his hand, "how about a game of pin the tail on the pony?" He held it up as a sign of power and to humiliate the princess. To add to the insult, he clicked his fingers and brought up a little snack... some Everfree Seeds. The princess of the sun was a tall, white alicorn. She wore a yellow crown and her mane waved in the air with multiple colors. A majestic being, yet one that was coated with bruises and cuts. She said a few choice words.

"Play time is over for you, Discord!" She and her puny little sister stepped forward. Her younger sister was a dark blue color,she had a blue flowing mane and a moon cutie mark. She wasn't as tall, therefore even easier to laugh at!

"Oh, I doubt that!" Discord replied, enjoying his snack. He purposefully spilled some seeds, his messy eating habits only proving to mock the princesses even more. "Hungry?" He bribed the princess of the day with a held out hand of seeds, laughing inside as a seed hurtled towards her thanks to a simple levitation spell, hitting the alicorn on the head before falling to the ground. The same then happened to Luna. Discord loved this humour, he had forgotten just how satisfying chaos was.

"...Suit yourselves." He continued eating. He saw the princesses use their magic to open their saddlebags. They pulled out 6 gems, all of them different colors, one of them star shaped. What good were they?

Dropping his light snack, he taunted the princesses,"Ooh, what have you got there?" The gems started spinning around the princesses.
"The Elements... of Harmony..." Celestia told him. The gems picked up speed. Luna then spoke,
"With them we shall defeat you!" The gems formed a purple glow. WHAT!? They were going to defeat him with fancy spinning gems and a light show??? He laughed hysterically at this!

"You should see yourselves right now, the expressions on your faces! So intense! So sure of yourselves!" He laughed some more. By now, he had to close his eyes because of how much he was laughing.
"Hilarious!" More laughing. And then... he was stuck there. For eternity. He had lost.