Chapter 2: Lost Soul
Those gathered around the table sat in quiet contemplation.
Sweetie's and Scootaloo's investigation discovered traces of temporal magic, other than Storm Feather's healing spell. Sweetie Belle confirmed it to be a teleportation spell unlike any she had seen. Any attempt to trace it failed.
Storm had even less success, not finding a single pony that had seen or heard anything. He was, however asked to visit the Canterlot changeling rehab center to speak to some of the patients, and upon delivering his report he was excused.
“So... how likely do you believe his story is,” Sweetie asked Celestia.
Celestia contemplated the question for a moment. “I believe Discord believes it. As for myself, I believe it is possible.”
“As much as I don't want to believe it, I have to agree,” Twilight admitted. “We don't know enough about Starswirl's personality. Some stories depict him as a kindhearted, fun loving wizard, others say he was a heartless bigot.”
Midnight spoke up, “I find that usually, when history contradicts itself, the truth lies somewhere in the middle.”
“Quite true,” Celestia agreed. “For now, though, we should only consider him to be an old but powerful mage. What we need is a way to find him. Suggestions?”
“Well, if that gem really is what gave Discord his power, we'll be able to track it the moment he tries to use it, won't we?” Scootaloo suggested.
“That would work, but we need some way that doesn't require we wait for him to use a potentially deadly weapon,” Sweetie countered. “If we can figure out the nature of that teleportation spell he used, we might be able to trace him with that.”
“I doubt it,” Twilight said. “I'm pretty sure that spell is a Plain Walk spell. Starswirl was researching it before his disappearance, and there's no tracing that.”
“Then we may have to wait until 'Starswirl' uses it, as much as I hate it,” Midnight conceded.
“Yes, it seems that way,” Celestia agreed. “I will get ponies searching for a way in the meantime.”
“What about Discord?” Twilight asked. “What are we going to do with him?”
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Rainbow sat, glaring at the former chaos spirit, as Discord stared blankly at the ceiling.
“Why are you doing this?” Discord asked, suddenly.
Rainbow quirked an eyebrow. “Uh, because somepony has to make sure you don’t do something wrong.”
Discord scoffed. “No, I mean why are you taking care of me?”
Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Did you not notice the giant hole in your chest?”
“Yes, and I would have died from it. You would have been rid of me, but instead you’re healing me.” Discord’s expression twisted into one of disgust. “Do you just want me healthy so you can get more from your revenge?”
Rainbow reeled slightly, eyes widening a bit in shock. “Wow, that got dark. What the hey makes you think we’re that petty?”
“Because there’s no other reason for you to be helping me.”
Rainbow’s brow furrowed in thought. She couldn’t decide if he was playing some elaborate joke, waiting to spring some annoying punchline or if he was talking seriously.
“How about because it’s the right thing to do,” she said eventually, not knowing what else to say. “We may not like you, but we’re not going to just let you die. We’re not like that.”
Discord laughed mirthlessly. “Oh, please. Do you really expect me to believe that? What do you really want?”
Rainbow paused for a moment, caught off guard by the question. Did they want anything from him?
It would be nice to know more about this so-called ‘Starswirl’, but it didn’t seem like Discord knew much more.
“No,” Rainbow said, eventually. “I don’t think so.”
Discord was just giving her an awestruck gaze. “You... You really thought about it?”
“Uh... Yeah...” Rainbow ventured.
“You actually contemplated whether or not you only wanted something from me, and still said ‘no’?” Discord’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “I’m not sure if you’re being surprisingly deceptive of annoyingly naive.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Rainbow growled.
Discord gave her a deadpanned stare. “It means either you’re far more clever than I first gave you credit - which I doubt - or you actually believe your princesses are trying to help me.”
“Of course they are!” Rainbow shouted. “They’re the princesses! They try to help everyone, even if they don’t deserve it!”
Discord scoffed and grit his teeth, but didn’t reply.
Rainbow, though, wasn’t ready to stop. “Why do you do it?” she asked, returning his initial question.
“Why do I what? Spread chaos?” Discord replied, surprisingly melancholy. “I’m... I was... the spirit of chaos, so I spread chaos. It’s not that difficult, even for you.”
Rainbow ignored the jab at her intelligence. “Why not at least try to get along with ponies? You can be chaotic without being a jerk. Pinkie does it all the time. It would beat being locked in stone.”
Discord laughed before hissing in pain and curling up slightly. “Please don’t. It hurts.
“That is possibly the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard, and I’ve heard a lot of ridiculous things,” he said, relaxing back again. “You do remember who I am, don’t you? Discord; tormenter of ponies and bane of all things harmonious?”
Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Yeah, but you don’t have to be. You don’t have to be a monster.”
Discord sat quietly for a moment before replying, “When all the world sees you as a monster, how can you be anything else?”
“And here I though age brought wisdom,” Rainbow scoffed. “You’d think a thousand year old spirit of chaos would know how stupid that is.”
Discord harrumphed and mumbled under his breath.
“What was that?” Rainbow asked, her annoyance seeping into her voice.
“I said I’m only twenty-two! Ow,” Discord shouted and immediately regretted it as his wound flared up “Stone doesn’t exactly age, you know.”
“But... before... you ruled Equestria for, like, twenty years!”
“Twenty one... I think. It's kind of hard to remember anything before I was five.”
Rainbow Dash could have sworn she smelled toast.
--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Midnight Star massaged his temples, trying to get rid of the headache that was starting to form. Every solution they thought of was shot down unanimously.
Turn him back to stone? Unnecessary due to his lack of dangerous magic.
Prison? Too many ponies would try to hurt or even kill him if only for bragging rights.
Banishment? Too severe considering what had just happened to him.
“Even when he's powerless, Discord is still a pain in the backside,” Celestia said with an unladylike groan.
Scootaloo looked up, confusion written all over her face. “Uh... Mom's here...”
The concern in her voice quickly made sense once the door opened and the prismatic pegasus walked in uncharacteristically slow and obviously lost in thought.
“Rainbow, what's wrong?” Twilight asked in concern. “Did Discord do something to you?”
Rainbow looked up at her, her gaze shifting between everypony present. “We... talked.”
Everypony shared a puzzled look before Sweetie asked, “About what?”
Rainbow was silent for a while before answering, “He was a baby.”
Celestia stood up and made her way around the table to guide Rainbow to a seat as she asked, “Could you explain? Who was a baby?”
“Discord... He was only a year old when he took over.”
“What?” Twilight let out a chortle. “He honestly tried to convince you he was a baby? Wow... He's lost his touch.” Rainbow Dash looked up at her friend, her conflicted eyes speaking volumes. Twilight's grin fell into a worried frown. “Maybe not. Rainbow, you don't believe him, do you?”
“I... I think I do,” Rainbow confirmed. “I mean, you made Spike grow up, didn't you, and you were just a filly.”
Twilight pondered that for a moment before countering, “It is possible to alter physical age, these spells are temporary and cause a great deal of stress on the body being altered. It would take incredibly powerful magic to make it permanent.”
“Or advanced technology,” Sweetie pointed out.
Celestia hummed in thought. “Sweetie Belle makes a valid point. We are still unsure what kind of technology ponykind had before the decline. It could have been a combination.”
“Or that gem,” Midnight offered. “Whatever that was, it was the source of Discord's power.”
“The only thing he’s ever known was being the ‘lord of chaos’,” Rainbow interjected, as if she didn't even realize others were talking. “Starswirl raised him to be a monster, and by the time he could even realize it might be wrong, it was too late. No pony would give him a chance, so he never even tried.
“Starswirl turned him into a monster and made sure he believed that was all he could ever be.”
“He could still be lying,” Twilight reminded.
Cyan hooves slammed on the table, startling everypony, as Rainbow glared at Twilight. “No, he's not! I can feel it.” Rainbow fell back into her seat, resting a hoof on her chest. “It's like a weight right here. I can feel his father's betrayal. I can feel the lies and manipulations... and it hurts.”
The others looked on with sympathy. They could tell this struck a chord with the pegasus.
“It's your Element,” Celestia spoke up. “It feels a grievous crime against loyalty, and is seeking to right the wrong.”
“They can do that?” Scootaloo asked.
“I'm unsure about the Elements of Order, but the Elements of Harmony, yes,” Celestia confirmed. “When they sense a particularly great violation of their trait, they lead the bearer to fix the issue, like if a pony is being especially cruel, Fluttershy would feel it. Though, I believe it has a limited range and must be a rather extreme case.”
“And we’re just hearing about this now?” Rainbow asked. “Shouldn’t this have been brought up about, oh I don’t know, when we first got the things?”
“I am of the habit of wanting ponies to figure things out for themselves, even when it would be best if I just told them,” Celestia explained, sheepishly. “I apologize for that.”
“So...” Midnight said, moving on. “Basically, Discord, who everyone thought was evil, is actually just a victim in the plot of some cruel wizard, who may or may not be a famous and well respected historical figure, that involves some gem that can give an ordinary unicorn baby godlike powers... That about right?”
“Yup,” Sweetie Belle said nonchalantly.
“And it's nowhere near the strangest thing we've dealt with,” Scootaloo tacked on.
That got a bit of a much needed chuckle out of everypony present, even lifting Rainbow's mood a bit.
“Alright, so we need to find out where this wizard is - we'll just call him Starswirl for now until we can verify his identity - and decide what to do with Discord,” Midnight summed up.
“Rainbow,” Celestia brought everypony's attention to her. “You spoke with him informally. What are your thoughts?”
Rainbow glanced nervously around, not liking being put on the spot. “Um... I don't know. He doesn't seem like he's so bad, he just had a bad parent.” Growing a little more confident, she added, “Maybe he just needs somepony to show him ponies can be forgiving.”
Celestia hummed in thought. “You may be right. Truth be told, there was a time I was considering trying to reform him. Perhaps I should revive that plan.” The princess gave Rainbow a calculating look. “Originally, I had planned on asking Fluttershy to lead his reformation, but now... Would you like to be the one to help Discord find harmony, Major Dash?”
Rainbow Dash closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. In her younger days she would have just said 'no way', but instead she did something she had found herself doing more and more as the years went by; think about her answer.
Eventually, she opened her eyes, and replied, “I'll do it.”
Celestia glanced at the clock on the wall. “Very good. With that decided, let us adjourn. You have all had a long day, and deserve the evening off.”
The group stood and headed for the door. As they headed out, Twilight asked Rainbow, “Are you sure about the whole Discord thing? I mean, I have a feeling reforming him will be difficult.”
Rainbow turned to Twilight, determination in her eyes. “You didn't see, Twi. He won't admit it, but he's hurting. Honestly, he reminds me of myself back in the day, keeping his emotions all bottled up like that.” Her hard expression softened with a slight smile. “Besides, I can always get Fluttershy and Pinkie to help me.”
“Is he going to be moving in with us?” Scootaloo asked.
“Eeyup,” Rainbow answered.
Scootaloo groaned. “In that case, I'm going to find Storm and plow him until one of our hips breaks. Goddess knows I won't be able to later.”
Rainbow watches as the blind pegasus runs off before sighing. “I swear, that girl has no tact, whatsoever.”
Twilight giggled, “She kind of reminds me of you when we first met. You still aren't much better.”
As the group stepped into the main hall of the palace, Rainbow smirked, “Speaking of 'plowing', Twilight...”
“There y'all are!” called a country voice. “We're gonna miss the play!”
Twilight smiled. “Hello Applebloom, I was just talking to 'Miss Tact', here. We can head over there now.”
“So, are we ready, ladies?” Midnight asked his dates.
Rainbow snickered, “Have fun, and don't keep the neighbors up all night.”
“Hey, just 'cause you're the 'fastest pony in Equestria' don't mean everypony's gonna try copyin' ya.”
“Ouch,” Rainbow feigned pain, “Nice comeback, kid.”
“Alright, come on,” Twilight said, laughing at the two mares. “Are you two ready?”
“Ah've been ready for three years!” Applebloom cheered as they ran out the door.
Rainbow Dash watched her friends go, happy that Applebloom finally got her dream.
Rainbow took her time heading outside and kicked off the ground into the air. She flew lazily around the city, no real destination in mind. Flying helped her think, and she had a lot on her mind.
The truth was, she was conflicted about Discord. She didn't trust him at all, but at the same time, she believed what he said in the hospital. Now, she needed to teach him. She needed to break down all the lies his father taught him, and teach him properly.
She was worried but she knew she could do it with her friends' help. There was nothing they couldn't do when they worked together. Now, with the help of her friends, she was going to help guide and teach the former spirit of chaos much like she had done for Scootaloo.
A sudden thought brought Rainbow screeching to a halt.
“Did I just adopt Discord?!”