//------------------------------// // To Catch a Discord // Story: The Gift // by Broman //------------------------------// Celestia walked out of day court with mild optimism. She had endured a few upstart nobles, outrageous claims on land ownership, and even dealt with a horrendous scheduling error which caused five different ambassadors to be booked for the same time slot. It was taxing, annoying, and above all else exhausting. Recent diplomatic incidents had arisen and she had to maintain the balancing act of peace between so many nations. The recent Gryphonstone elections had been causing socioeconomic upheavals, while her Cervine allies were having a territorial dispute with the Kirin of Neighpon. The stress filled cherry on top of the disaster sundae was the endless stream of ambassadors she would have to meet within the coming weeks. She would get little to no reprieve when those days come, but for now, she was at least grateful that the day court had taken recess so that she could eat some lunch. “Are you alright Celestia? You look more tired than usual.” her Captain of the Guard Shining Armor spoke while walking next to her, with the small retinue of guards that escorted her. Even though they lived in times of peace, it was necessary to be cautious, even in the most unlikely of circumstances. She turned to give him a reassuring smile. “I’m sorry if I looked troubled, Shining Armor. This day has been rather arduous.” she explained as Shining Armor nodded. “Is there anything that the guard or myself can do to help make today less burdensome?” he asked which only drew a light smile from the regal Princess. “Thank you kindly, but I rather spend as much time with Cadence and Luna for lunch today as I can before I return to the day court. It’s been too long since I’ve last spoken with them without work getting in the way.” she said and again Shining Armor nodded. “I think Cadence is looking forward to speaking with you. It has been awhile since the wedding.” he said and a small grin rose on Celestia’s countenance. Getting together with her niece would calm her worried spirits. All of this excitement in politics was getting the best of her. It would do her mind good to speak with her, even if it would be for a short time. “It has been awhile,” she said as she contemplated, “you believe they might be in the meeting hall?” she asked as Shining Armor smiled. “I’m sure they would be waiting for you now. I did tell them to meet you after your court ended for the day. Ah, there they are now.” he said as he pointed a hoof down the hall. Celestia’s gaze followed the direction of his hoof and saw both Cadence and Luna chatting together as they moved their way towards her, accompanied by several members of their respective guards. Celestia made her way over to them and greeted them when she arrived. “Cadence, it brings me much pleasure to see you here.” Celestia said as Cadence approached, sharing a hug with her aunt. “The pleasure is mine, Celestia. Shining Armor and I were able to handle the last bit of duties and assigned the crystal guards to keep watch over the Crystal Empire, it’s what allowed us to be here this day.” Cadence said as she parted from Celestia, “Luna was kind enough to share her time with me until we met for dinner.” she turned to Luna who gave a humble nod. “Tis nothing of a problem. We’ve a long task ahead of us when the night court comes. We hope it ends quickly so that we can adjourn for the morn, but it would be best if we spend time some time together in the dining hall.” Luna said and Celestia nodded in approval. “I think that is a splendid idea. Shall we all proceed then?” Celestia ask, gesturing her hoof toward the dining halls as both her sister and niece nodded in kind. “Does that include me as well?” a voice interjected making the assembled Princesses and their guards jump in surprise. The guards looked about them, wondering where the voice came from, while the three princess remained where they were. The guards looked about frantically for the unexpected assailant while the Princesses only flicked their ears in annoyance. “Discord,” Celestia said, her voice an unamused monotone reflecting the complete lack of enthusiasm at the deity's sudden appearance. He was the last thing she wanted to deal with after the day she just had. Discord hovered above them, a large umbrella in one claw and a small tea cup in the other paw. “In the ever lasting flesh, my dear,” Discord said as he descended slowly to the ground, taking a sip of his drink and sighing into it’s warm contents. When he landed on the ground he was immediately beset by the guards from each princess. They surrounded him, brandishing their swords, spears, and halberds. Each one had the intent to fight and die to protect the Princesses. Discord looked unfazed by the weapons that were pointed at him. He gave a look to each of the guards and hearty chuckle resounded from his wiry chest. “Oh please, I’m not so easily frightened by your little toothpicks.” Discord said as he placed the tip of his claw on one blade, which instantly split like a banana peel, flabbergasting the guard holding the now ex-weapon in question. Discord didn’t stop there as he flicked a spear out of the way and the weapon began to puff up like a balloon and carrying the poor guard high into the air. He took a step forward and one more guard went to intervene, placing a halberd in front of his face. Discord simply breathed on the weapon and the blade instantly curled inward, the tip of the halberd spiraling several times before stopping right in front of the guard, who looked absolutely horrified at the curled up mess he was holding. Discord looked perplexed for a moment before breathing on his claw and giving a quick sniff. “Oh, it seems I forgot to brush my teeth this morning.” He gave another laugh before taking sip of his drink. Celestia narrowed her eyes, yet still managed to keep her composure. Discord was known for his random antics and his own twisted sense of humor at times, but this felt different. She didn’t know what he had in mind or why he was here, but the one thing she could take as a given was that his intentions were never good. “Why are you here, Discord. Do you know how much trouble you caused during Tierk’s reign of madness?” Cadence said, taking a stand before Discord. Celestia cast a glance to her niece, who clearly had not forgiven him for the betrayal. Her sister was also likely on Cadance’s side as well for she stood by her niece’s side with wings flared. “Tis true, why come now and disrupt our delegations with the other nations when we need to bring concord between them.” she said, as Discord rolled his eyes and took another sip from his drink. “Oh please, I have no interest whatsoever in disrupting anything that you propose to the other nations. Some may likely cause a war already if you fail to keep the peace. I applaud you for keeping them away from each others throats.” he said, as he held an arm out and a guard screaming as he fell from above landed right into his awaiting arm. Celestia turned her gaze to the balloon spear still up in the air, then back to Discord, as he pat the guard on the head and set the guard onto the ground next to him. “That is quite a bold statement, Discord. How do we know that you are playing a false game? You words are nothing if not filled with open holes.” “I do not have open holed words” Discord said, and literal words came right out of his mouth and hung in the air, “as you can see, they are quite airtight.” he gave another chuckle as he took another drink of his tea, only for many tiny holes to appear on his body, liquid pouring out of every pore. He then looked down to see the puddle that was around him, only to laugh it off and toss the tea set into the air, where it burst in a bright light and was replaced with a small flock of pigeons. “Enough of your tricks, Discord,” Shining Armor said, his horn glowing, ready to use his magic at a moment's notice. “What do you want?” He demanded, and this got Discord’s attention. He promptly licked two extended fingers and pinched Shining Armor’s horn, dousing the magic in quick fashion. “Oh please, I wouldn’t want to do anything bad, well, nothing intentionally bad that is,” he said, as he looked at the flabbergasted captain of the guard. His smile soon lowered and bore a more serious look, one that Celestia knew signaled that he would do something far more serious. She prepared herself as Discord stood upright and began walking towards her, “I have something that I wish to speak about with Celestia, and I would not be barred by any of your frivolous attempts at guarding her from the big scary draconequus.” He said as he continued to move. Celestia could only fathom as to what he wanted to do with her, but by all accounts, it would not bode well. As he moved, her guards barred his path only for him to snap his fingers and disappear all together. A brief second later he reappeared at her side and Celestia gasped slightly as he placed a arm around her midsection. “You’ll be coming with me my dear, a very special day awaits us!” he said as he reached down and touched her muzzle. Celestia suddenly felt faint and the last thing she saw was the shocked faces of her guards and that of Luna and Cadance before vanishing into thin air. *** “Are we almost done? It’s been nearly several hours since we’ve started and I have to be somewhere before the day is out.” Discord whined, as he continued to pace around and above the room. Zecora, who stirred the cauldron with a large spoon, simply hummed as the deity moved impatiently. “It is almost ready, my deity friend. You helped aplenty with this brew, and it will come to its end,” she rhymed as she finished stirring the brew and took a small whiff of its vapors. She nodded and gave a small smile, “The potion is ready and then we have completed the task,” she then paused to look at Discord, as she gave a peculiar look to him, “ so why is it that you wear that outfit, if I may ask?” she asked as Discord stopped and looked at his getup. He wore black pants and a long red robe that went down to his legs. His left leg was encased in metal as well as his right arm. The last thing that Zecora observed was that Discord’s mane was braided into a ponytail. He looked at it for a moment before sheepishly smiling at her. “Well this is alchemy that we are working with. Thought it may be best to play the part.” Discord explained, which caused Zecora to roll her eyes and chuckle at his antics. Discord then quickly removed the outfit and gave a whistle, to which another Discord in a tailor’s outfit appeared and took the clothing away. Discord then went over to Zecora as she procured two large vials from the cupboard. She went over to the cauldron and began to fill the contents within before sealing them off. “Once you have meet the pony you seek, there is but one thing you must do, in order to make the potion sweet,” she then handed the two potions to Discord, “a bit of your magic, will be required, in order to grant, your heart's desire.” she said as Discord looked at both of the vials of liquid with a toothy grin appearing on his face. “Oh how wonderful! I can’t wait to show this to Tia, she will be so pleased,” he said as he went towards the door. He quickly gave a knock and opened the door, not leading to the outside, but to to another world that glowed beyond imagining. Before Discord went through, however, he quickly turned and in a flamboyant manner gave a bow to the Zebra. “I thank you for all the help, dear Zecora. You may yet helped me with the most important detail for this event, that I am planning that is,” he placed a claw to his mouth and gave a small chuckle, “before I leave, if anypony asks where I’ve been, just say that I helped you with a few things and went off on my merry way.” he said before bowing once again and quickly going through the door. The door slammed shut and the glow disappeared as well. Zecora gave a deep sigh and returned back to her place of meditation and settled herself for the day. “I do not wish to know, what Discord is planning, but I do hope, that there will be no misunderstanding.” she said to herself as she went back to her daily cogitation. *** “I can’t believe I was able to get such a good deal,” Fluttershy said softly as she looked at the bundle of carrots in her saddle bags. She left right after cleaning up after her furry friends and went straight towards the Ponyville market. She had been shopping for several hours, mostly looking at what the shop owners had to offer and had occasionally bought a few things for herself. When she came to the carrot stall it turned out that the owner, Carrot Top, had more in supply and was selling whole bundles of carrots at a cheap price. Fluttershy smiled at the fact that she got such a wonderful deal, “Angel Bunny will be very happy when I bring these home,” she said as she continued down the streets of Ponyville. “Hello Fluttershy,” she heard a familiar voice say and she turned to face it. “Oh hello, Twilight,” she greeted her friend as Twilight came up to her. “Nice to see you here. What bring you out here on this fine market day?” Twilight asked as Fluttershy gave warm smile. “Oh, well I heard of a good sale today and I was able to get a bunch of carrots for Angel Bunny. He’s going to be very happy when he gets these.” she said as Twilight nodded to her, “So what brings you out here? Anything in particular that you need?” She asked as Twilight lifted a small bag filled with quills and papers. “Celestia and Luna are having upcoming meetings with various leaders and they want me to help them back at Canterlot.” “Sounds like it could be challenging.” Fluttershy said, as Twilight waved it off. “Oh I hope for the fun opportunity. Since becoming the Princess of friendship, I have had many responsibilities, and I have to do my part in not only helping Ponyville but for all of Equestria.” she said with a hint of enthusiasm. Fluttershy nodded in approval. Twilight was always the problem solver, so meeting with foreign leaders shouldn’t be a problem. Fluttershy was about to bid her farewell went Twilight added, “So Fluttershy, I’m going to meet the girls at Sugarcube corner before I leave, want to come along?” she asked and Fluttershy nodded. “Sure, I don’t have to go home until later.” Fluttershy said as the two headed off to Sugar Cube Corner. After a short trip through Ponyville the two were already inside Sugarcube corner, where their friends were happily waiting for them. “Hi girls, how is everypony?” Twilight said with a jubilant voice, clearly excited to be off to meet the Princesses, and their friends all greeted her in kind. “Doing mighty fine, Twilight. Yer off to go to Canterlot I reckon?” Applejack said as Pinkie Pie joined her as well. “Is it going to be very busy, like a giant party of leaders busy?” She said as Twilight chuckled at their remark. “No Pinkie, it’s not going be like that. However, I will be busy over the next few months, so I’m hoping to learn as much as I can.” “Don’t you already know all of that Twilight? You got your own castle and everything.” Rainbow Dash said as Twilight shook her head. “It’s not as easy having a princess in a castle. There more to it then that Rainbow Dash. There is much authority when being a leader, and many tasks to perform in order to meet everypony’s needs.” “I for one agree with Twilight,” Rarity said as she waved a hoof through her mane, “Dealing with royalty means you have to be exceptional to fit the role of your peers. Even dress the part from time to time.” She said, to which Twilight simply rolled her eyes and giggled. “Yes, even dress for the part as well, Rarity.” Fluttershy remained silent as her friends continued to discuss on a number of topics. Sometimes she would join in the conversation or sit idle and remain quiet. She always found it comforting when she was around her close friends. After several minutes of talking the doors to the shop opened and Fluttershy saw Spike coming in. “Hello Spike, nice to see you.” Fluttershy said, as he gave a big smile. “Hello Fluttershy, nice to see you too,” he said as he turned his attention to the rest of the group. “Twilight, I got the train tickets. We should be leaving soon,” he said as Twilight nodded. “Thank you Spike,” she said as she turned to the others, “Well I guess I’ll be off. I’ll have much to do while I’m gone.” she said as everypony began to say her farewell to her. Fluttershy was going to wish her well when she noticed Spike’s cheeks began to widen. “Spike, are you-” she began until a jet of flame came out of his mouth and a letter appeared above his head. Seeing this, Twilight grabbed the letter with her magic. “Strange, I was not suppose to get anything from Celestia until I was there myself,” she said as she opened the letter and began reading its contents. “What is it Twi? Something wrong?” Applejack asked, as Twilight continued into her reading. “It’s from my brother,” Twilight said as she continued through the letter, her eyes growing wide more horrified by the second from its contents. “Twilight, what’s wrong? You looked nervous.” Fluttershy asked, wondering what Twilight was reading. After another uneasy moment, the letter dropped to the floor, revealing the haunted look on Twilight's face. “It’s Princess Celestia. She’s been kidnapped.”