At long last, the final guests of the gala were greeted by Mother and I, meaning that we could stop standing at the top of stairs. I experimentally moved my legs and could feel the strain of standing.
“Oh sweet mother, I felt that would never end.” Celestia groaned before smiling down at me, “Let’s go get something to eat and sit down, my little light.”
I followed mother into the main hall where ponies were dancing. Alongside the dance floor were rows of tables carrying all sorts of dishes. From what I had overheard from the servants, dishes from all across Equestria had been brought here for this event and it showed. Salads with every possible vegetable, bologna sandwiches, various cheeses, olives and party foods, oatburgers, various drinks from fizzy to alcoholic and more desserts than I had ever seen in my life. Apparently Applejack and her extended family were well renowned for their varieties of apple sweets and deserts and all I wished was that I could sample them all, but I wouldn’t have time or stomach for it tonight.
Since ponies did not eat meat, that meant bacon was permanently off the menu and while a part of me was trying to make me remember we asked for a second chance at life, another very large part of me was about to burst into tears over it.
After Mother loaded up two plates, we sat down near the back on some cushions to enjoy our food. I watched as mother used her horn to magically lift some food to her mouth. I looked at an apple on my plate and thought that I could try that as well. Trying to remember what I did against Blueblood, I concentrated on the apple and began thinking of lifting it… but nothing happened. Next I screwed my eyes shut and thought even harder about lifting the apple… but nothing happened. Then I started staring at it as hard I could at the apple, thinking about lifting it harder than anything else in my life… and a yellow glow surrounded the apple and it lifted off. My eyes widened.
“Are you trying to lift this, my little light?” I heard mother say and I looked up to see it was her horn lit up. “Awww, It’s alright little one, when you’re older I will see to it you have the finest tutors in magic, including Twilight. While her studies go into the extreme, I can’t think of a better pony to teach you how to use magic.”
I smiled at mother as I started eating the apple. Once again, I gave silent thanks to Faust for giving me this chance; for giving me a mother that genuinely and truly loved me and was already planning to give me the best she could offer me. I couldn’t deny that all thoughts of my old mother were already fading from my mind as while she had treated me like an accessory at best and dirt at worst; Celestia treated me like her whole world.
From here, sitting with my mother, eating wonderful food and watching the spectacle that was the gala, I began to understand what Auntie Luna had said about ponies loving this time of year.
After eating and dancing, the party spilled out into the royal gardens, which were still incredibly beautiful even at night. As I sat on a cushion, a firefly flew in front of my face. As it swayed to and fro in front of me, my foal instincts took over and I started to chase it. I eventually came into a clearing and suddenly the firefly I was chasing disappeared. I froze as I looked around, suddenly realizing how dark it was and that I couldn’t see mother or anypony else.
“Really? I didn’t expect you to fall for that one.” A dark voice went.
I spun around as I saw a massive amount of fireflies. The fireflies came together to form a tall creature that took on an appearance all its own. The creature was multi-coloured with oddly shaped and sized limbs with yellow eyes and red pupils. If I was my adult self I may have found him goofy but in my foal state, he was the scariest thing I had ever seen. I opened my mouth to scream but it was quickly silenced by a pacifier from the bizarre creature.
“Ah ah ah, we can’t have that.” It said mockingly, “You and I need to talk, so how about we you agree to be calm and talk… fair?” It offered its hand to me but I slapped it away and spat out the pacifier.
“Like hell am I gonna do that.” I yelled and then stopped. I had just spoken but this body hadn’t allowed me to talk before “How did you do that?”
“What a mouth you have.” The creature said, conjuring a roll of tape “I surprised your mother allows you to talk with that mouth.” The creature disappeared and reappeared behind me. “You should consider being nice to me… maybe an invite to your birthday party or two?”
The creature conjured a desk with me sitting on the chair with a load of letters. It was there, written on the invitation in front of me, that I learned the creatures name. Discord.
“You’re Discord?” I fretted, trying to get away from the creature but he simply teleported behind and blew a party horn in my face.
“And he’s absolutely correct, tell him what he’s won…” Discord said, prancing around like a gameshow host. “However that’s not the reason for you to be nice to me. It’s that I know your secret.”
I froze, “What do you mean by secret?” I asked.
Discord quickly looked around before reaching in close and whispering.
“I know you’re a human.”
I felt a lead ball drop in my stomach. It knew. Suddenly a thousand worst case scenarios starting playing out in my head. I didn’t even want to think what would happen if this chimera told mother about this.
“How do you know that?” I whispered frantically. Discord just laughed.
“I live in the space between dimensions, I know everything that passes through around here.” Discord said “Especially when Faust decides to send a soul through the divide when Celestia became pregnant.”
“You can’t tell anyone that I was a human.” I said
“Why not?” Asked Discord, teleporting around the area.
“Because it’s a secret.”
“Well I like telling secrets.”
“Well this one you definitely can’t tell… Please you can’t tell mum, I don’t want to lose this as well.”
I felt the tears well up as I sat back to start crying. Discord looked down at me with sympathy and conjured a tissue.
“Listen, I’ve turned over a new leaf recently, earned a good reputation with your mother and others, so how about we play a game?” Discord said, conjuring an hourglass. “If you can give me a reason why I should keep your secret before the time runs out, I promise that I will never tell a soul about what happened. Your time starts now.”
The hourglass turned and my mind started racing. The usual myriad of ideas I had wouldn’t work against Discord. He didn’t need power, he didn’t need clearing for any crime nor did he need or want for anything if he could just conjure anything he wanted. The seconds ticked by and I started growing angry with myself… but then, I had it.
“You have nothing to gain from telling ponies about me.” I said and Discord stopped the hourglass, confused.
“Pardon?”
“You said it yourself, you said that my soul came into this world when mother got pregnant. I’m more pony than human, so telling anyone would be pointless. Also, you turned over a new leaf recently and you are good terms with ponies, including my mother. Why would you intentionally hurt her by telling her that secret? Nobody with good intentions would make someone unhappy like that.”
A slow smile crossed Discord’s face. “Well played, Prince Mythic Light, well played.” He snapped its fingers, making the hourglass disappear. “At least Faust brought over someone with at least some intelligence for whatever purpose she has for you. I will not tell anyone about your last life or cause any harm to you… other than a few tricks here and there.”
Then his face became serious “But I warn you, if you think about causing harm on this world or hurt a certain pony I care for greatly, I will show you why I am called Discord. Are we clear?”
I gulped and nodded, too scared to speak. Discord leaned close before recoiling with a smile. “Wonderful! Now we better get you back to the party before somepony notices you are gone.”
Discord clicked his fingers and I found myself teleported back on my cushion before chasing the firefly. I tried speaking but my mouth wouldn’t work, I guessed it was just a charm Discord put on me.
“There you are, my little light.” Mother went, coming over to me “Right where I left you. Come on now, it’s time for bed now.”
Mother lifted me onto her back and started walking towards the palace. As I watched the ponies around me, I saw Discord at the back, winking at me, I waved goodbye as I watched it take an umbrella and start flying away.
Now that’s just showing off I thought before curling up on mother’s back.