Rainbow Dash lives an exciting life and is swiftly becoming the most daring, awesome pegasus in all of Equestria. She would gladly give it all up, though, just to confess her love to Applejack.
"But I am not you," Discord said. "Nor am I a good pony... or a good dragonequus... or a good anything." He looked up, his yellow eyes glazed over. "And for the first time in eons, this... bothers me. It gnaws at me that... that I can't understand your passion... the thing that makes you suffer for love... to be acknowledged by somepony whom—for all of your narcisissm and pompous braggerty—you hold on a pedestal so far above your own self that you'd be willing to give up every other awesome thing in the world."
He waved his talon through the starry night's breeze.
"With a single wave of my hand, I could create the mare of your dreams. Even as weak as I still am without my other parts. And it wouldn't have to be Applejack. She'd be your perfect partner through the sheer charm of chaotic spell-casting that I'd toss your way. You could have every wish fulfilled: somepony to hold you close at night, to give you someone to cry comfortably in the presence of, to treat as both a trophy and an object of worship."
He sighed, hanging and shaking his head.
"But that just wouldn't cut it for you, would it? Because—beyond all the barriers of power and awe—you're still too true... too real... too awesome to accept an illusion as anything but... aren't you?"
Rainbow Dash gulped. She merely nodded.
Discord's nostrils flared. He hugged himself, gazing towards Ponyville. "I don't know what's worse... the fact that I predicted that response... or that I'd be almost disappointed if you didn't. I've hung out with you so long, playing this silly game, that I almost root for you in this... despicable quest that keeps killing yourself... more and more with each passing day. We both know what you want... what you deserve. But I can't think of a way for you to get it any more than you want to. And... and even if I tried to help you... you just wouldn't accept it? Would you?"
The pegasus didn't respond.
"I've... I've been doing it wrong. I've always been doing it wrong. My power—it is a crutch. For eons, I never imagined so. But if this is what I can expect from all mortals... this courage and sheer patience... then... th-then..." Discord swallowed a lump down his throat. "I feel like a loser... a clueless fool who's been missing out on a more proper and fun game. A game that everypony else has mastered. Well, maybe not you, but I'm not certain I've got the fortitude to go at it any longer. I... I'd have to start lower. And when compared to the most awesome pegasus alive, that's nowhere near to your level."
Rainbow bit her lip. "What are you s-saying...?"
"I... I'm not entirely certain what I am saying." The creature was shivering at this point. He ran a talon over his antlers, gnashing his teeth. "You've taught me so much... shown me so much... and yet I understand so very little. Maybe... just maybe if I were to live it... in your horesshoes... or something quite similar."
Discord shrugged.
"... ... ...maybe I just might finally come to understand. But not as Discord... and neither as 'Lancie.'"
He sighed, hanging his head.
"Those last shards are best kept where they are. Lost beyond the Wasteland where no ambitious or evil pony will get ahold of them." He gritted his teeth. "Better yet... I won't be getting ahold of them. I'm... not certain I can trust myself to gain absolute power again. I wouldn't enjoy losing all that I've gained... and I wouldn't be proud of the monster that nopony on this mortal plane would have the werewithawal to defeat at this point."
"Lancie...?" Rainbow began to tremble.
"I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash. But until I can get my head straight, I shouldn't be around anypony. And until you can learn to straighten things out in your own life, I shouldn't be around you either." He stood up straight, raising a pair of talons. "You've got your iced lavender, my final gift. Stars know, all of my other gifts have only made your life more hectic."
"Lancie!" She ran forward.
"Good bye. And good luck." Snap!
Flash!
Rainbow ran through an empty cloud of dust and noise. As her vision cleared, she scuffled to a stop, standing alone and breathless at the top of the hill. She gulped... sniffling once and twice before murmuring to the wind:
"... ... ...back at ya."
Silence.
With a shudder, Rainbow Dash turned around. She spotted the potted plants of the rare, glowing flower. Clenching her jaw, she reached in, hugged them to her chest with numb forelimbs, then took off.
FWOOSH!
On strong wings, Rainbow flew south, heading straight for Sweet Apple Acres.
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Well this will certainly be interesting. Now time to see how everyone else will react to Dash disappearing during a crisis without telling anyone where she's going. I'm sure there will be more than a few awkward questions to be asked.
Not much to say here but...
PLOT DEVELOPMENT!?
These past few chapters have been amazing. This seems like a bittersweet (but more sweet than bitter) ending to the arc.
He could've at least cured her illness.
Oh well. So long, and thanks for all the references.
And now Lancie leaves Rainbow. Wish he could have at least cured her illness beforehand, but I guess one can't have everything.
6587326 Especially when Sunset tells them exactly what she was doing. I can just picture their facial expressions.
Damn...you can practically feel the cold breeze blowing in the silence right after he leaves...
And with that, Discord has been written out of the story for the next thousand chapters, when he'll turn up just in the nick of time to cure Dash once and for all.
Aren't the Flim Flam brothers still alive to get them? or did I miss their deaths?
No more Lanciedashery...
Whelp, time to cure AB. And hopefully get some nuzzly nuzzles from AJ.
If RD doesn't eat one of the three cureall plants....
Bye bye, Lancie. This was quite moving, and certainly has impacted Discord far beyond how Fluttershy did in the original series. I'm curious what he'll do next, and what the next obstacle will be since most of the villians in this arc have been killed mercilessly.
So long, and thanks for all the chaos Lancie.
6588029
Were they said to be cure all plants?
or just an ingredient in the antidote for Applebloom's snake bite?
...okay yes, I just double checked.
So I doubt just eating it would be enough to cure Dash, she'd need to have a special medicine made.. assuming of course that there are any left after making Bloom's antidote.
And something tells me Discord only gave her enough to save Bloom.
I'm going to miss that dude. Lancie was always such a huge part of the story. I think I'm going to miss these little shard hunts.
We have the iced lavender, it's Apple Bloom saving time! And I want to know how Applejack reacted to Dash disappearing on her.
This is worse than Applejack rejecting her.
I catch up on everything Discord has to say, but now I have to wait to see if Applebloom survives?
B-But...but Lancie!
"Then, Achilleus, beat down your great anger. It is not
Yours to have a pitiless heart. The very immortals
Can be moved; their virtue and honour and
Strength are greater than ours are,
and yet with sacrifices and offerings for endearment,
With libations and with savour men turn back
Even the immortals
In supplication, when any man does wrong and transgresses."
- Homer, The Iliad (line 496-501)
This is so perfect, such a PERFECT Discord line. I really like the way he's become a fan of hers in spite of himself. Guess the fella has some soul searching to do know.
Considering how wide his vision is and how long he's been around, I'd like to think he'd consider the chance that someone someday will stumble across the chaos shards. But perhaps he wants nothing to do with them, including destroying or hiding them. Perhaps at this point he doesn't know what he does and doesn't want to leave up to chance. He's quite the deep little comic relief.
7073228 I agree, that line was perfect. It was expected predictable he hates that, and yet After everything they've gone through together He couldn't stand to have heard her answer any differently...
I hope.. i hope he comes back soon.
“The lions sing and the hills take flight. The moon by day, and the sun by night. Blind woman, deaf man, jackdaw fool. Let the Lord of Chaos rule."
-- Robert Jordan, The Wheel of Time.
6587634
Last we saw them they were alive and kicking *and* in the right area.
Eh, I'm sure we've seen the last of them.
Ok. . . . NOW I’m weeping. That was. . . . THe most emotional thing. . . .