Spike was at the rear of their band, walking a ways behind. Discord walked next to him, speaking in a whisper as they neared the end of the forest. "He's getting stronger." It wasn't a question. "You need to lay off the magic for now, maybe even take a backseat in the battles. We can't handle him yet, though I'm still of the opinion that we can't handle him at all."
Spike growled low. "So what, we leave her to live her life as your brother's servant? Not happening."
"Last I saw, she had accepted and was enjoying her new home."
"Well I don't."
"Don't lie to me, this is selfish. You want her so badly, you'd doom the world to have her."
"No, I want her safe and happy."
"So she'll be happier with you dead as opposed to her imprisoned. You are not that stupid. She would sacrifice her own life to keep her friends happy."
"I could never be happy without her."
"So it is selfish desire."
Spike growled. "Fine, so what if it is. This is the only thing I can think of to do. We have to beat Shadowfang no matter what, and I don't know how. This way, I win. Shadowfang is locked away for all eternity and Rarity goes free. Free to live her life."
"Knowing it was at the cost of yours."
"But she can be happy."
"No, just free. She's happy now, knowing you are free. When I said selfish, I ment you and her, not you and Equestria. She is happy and you are not, switch places and switch emotions. You would be happy and she would not."
"What about Shadowfang, he will emerge soon."
"And the orbs keep him at bay. Only if we have distance from Rarity though."
"What about after I'm dead, and his power moves on."
"We bury you with the orbs, he's trapped. I'll make sure it's a nice corner of Tartarus."
Spike frowned and hummed. "I'll think it over."
"You won't, but hurry none the less. He took over for a moment there before you passed out. Don't think I didn't notice. We have to play this right, all of the world hangs in the balance."
Spike chuckled. "Wow, an ex villain worried about the world."
Discord laughed. "Yes well, have you met Fluttershy?"
Spike looked slyly up at Discord. "Celestia had no part in it?"
Discord looked sadly down at Spike. "Whether she did or not is of no matter anymore. That ship has sailed, along with my hopes."
"Never know, maybe it hasn't."
"Not after all I've done, and all she's endured because of me. Plus her heart belongs to another."
"I hate to sound harsh, but he's gone for good. It can never happen.
"Just like you and Rarity are supposed to be."
They walked in silence after that.
Form stood with his back to Twilight, seething. She for her part sat straight, waiting patiently.
He put his hands against the wall and growled. "Why would you interrupt my court like that?"
"I need answers, and you have given me none. Why have you not answered my summons or my request?"
"This is my palace, I ask the questions."
She just gave a blank, uncaring stare to his back. "And I answered."
"Good, now, why must it be me you question? Could Celestia not answer your questions?"
"She has what she can, but I need more data, which she says only you can give."
"Like what?"
"Tartarus magic, as well as binding and separation magic."
He spun around and gave her a questioning look, and regretted it. Her eyes burned with intelligence and curiosity like he had only seen once before. He quickly looked away. "I will have my best mage attend to you and your needs. My secretary, as she is now, will be at your disposal. You two are friends so that will help."
He went to leave but Twilight appeared in the doorway. "Tell me about her."
"Her who?"
"Lilly." Form tensed but said nothing. "I know the two of you were close, and that I'm her successor, I want to know more about her. See if she had a library or something that could help with this. I want to know what happened to her. Everypony I could think to ask, either said they don't know or to ask you. I know that it may be personal, and I've been hesitant to ask about it, but this situation makes it pertinent to know."
Form sighed and raised a hand, a chair and cushion rose from the floor. He sat in the chair and motion for her to take the cushion. "For Celestia. She asked the impossible of me. She asked me to spare Spike, but if I were to see him, the evil of Shadowfang still alive, I would gut him mercilessly. But it seems everyone thinks you can find the impossible solution to spare Spike and kill Shadowfang. So I will tell you about Lilly, but I must tell all of the story, not just hers."
"All the story?" Twilight scratched her head. "You mean Shadowfang's?"
"Yes, but also the Living god's as well. We must be ten and represent five pairs of opposing ideas, pieces of the Eldest God."
"You and Discord, order and chaos."
"Yes, but also you and Cadence. Logic and emotion. Celestia and Luna, society and individuality. We also had labor and whimsy, as well as compassion and desire. They alter slightly with each new incarnation but still as opposites. We also elect a sort of king, the high god or goddess. Celestia holds that position now, but before her my brother held the position."
"Wait Discord!" She stood up so fast that the cushion went flying across the floor.
Form chuckled at her reaction. "Yes, Discord. We both are by far the oldest, older even than Celestia's predecessor. I hate to say it, but he is also the smartest. Not like you and Lilly Pad, but he can keep up which is more than I can say. Pride and his sense of extravagance was his downfall, and all of ours.
"Before the age of ponies was the age of dragons. They had a hierarchy with the regular dragons of today as the warrior class, celestial dragons ruled as nobles, and wyverns as the lowest class. Drakos were considered a subspecies, fit only to serve as slaves. Celestia and Luna came into power at around that time. Now we as the gods hated the practice of slavery and sought to end it.
"Backtracking real quick. I was not just close to Lilly, I was in love with her, and her I. My brother married us, and Celestia, her pupil much as you are Celestia's, was her maid of honor. We were happy for centuries, even had a son on the way."
"I assume she was a hoomane as well."
Form threw his head back in laughter. Tears filled his eyes but Twilight knew it was not from mirth but sorrow. "No, not human, she was a harpy. Half Human, and half bird, but it never mattered to us, our love was full and unwavering. She loved to fly, would spend hours in the air. She would do this thing, where she would fly up and use the clouds for diagrams on particularly hard problems. Quite a few times she'd run into something while looking it over. She was gorgeous with her hair pulled up in a bun, squinting her eyes intensely at whatever problem she had." His eyes glistened as he spoke, a soft smile on his lips.
His began to tap in an odd pattern. Smile gone, he lowered his head. "Everything changed when Greytooth appeared."
"Greytooth?"
He gave a single nod. "He was Discord's prodigal pupil. He had become tired, wanted to expand and become an Old god. Retire if you will, Lilly Pad and I were to join him. Greytooth was to be my successor, so he met with Lilly and learned more about us. We never told him these things, but I know now, he knew. He was a grey drakos. Unbeknownst to Lilly and I, he was Discord's answer to the slave problem. Because of my brother and Lilly, he had become a powerful mage.
"He consolidated the drakos and abandoned the dragons, declaring that they were not even of the same species. This of course infuriated the dragons. War was waged. We as gods decided not to intervene, as per our mandate, but four new additions found a loophole. They were not just gods, but royalty, and their nations sided with the drakos."
Twilight sighed and shook her head. "Celestia and Luna."
"Yes, and the alicorn rulers of the ancient Crystal Kingdom. Star Light and Eclipse, compassion and desire. During the war, Eclipse met the drakos leader, Greytooth, and fell in love. The two became inseparable, on and off the battlefield. They would both visit us for guidance and help, we saw something of ourselves in them. He like Lilly, and she like me. Eclipse was naive at times though, sometimes forgetting about those around her, and failed to notice that Greytooth was not alone in his affections for her. Star Light too loved her, and honestly was more than a little unstable. In her confession to Eclipse, she lost all reason from her rejection. The death was a mystery to us, but Greytooth seemed to be fine. Heartbroken and devoid of his jovial nature, but fine. He threw himself into the war, while secretly looking for her killer.
"One day, we entered our hall, the secret meeting place of the Living gods, and found Greytooth. He declared himself one of us, and demanded a position. We all were stunned and some outraged, but Lilly saw more. A pony was with him, calling herself Night Light. Greytooth, it seemed, had indeed created a new form of magic. He and Night Light were immortal. He had stolen the life and power of Star Light, having known she was responsible for the murder, and given her body to the corrupted essences of Eclipse."
Twilight gasped and covered her mouth with both hooves. "No! Don't tell me, Eclipse is Nightmare?!"
"She is indeed."
"So Greytooth, he's, oh no. He is, isn't he?"
"Yes, Greytooth on that day declared himself to be Shadowfang."