//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Memories // Story: Love you again? // by Cynthrey //------------------------------// “What are you doing here?” the white woman asked. “I could ask you the same question,” said the chimerical being, jumping up, as light as a feather. “I asked first,” insisted she. “The ladies first,” he mockingly bowed. “I remember you that this place is my property,” he spoke confidently. “As far as I know, this place was abandoned a millennium ago, for something is in ruins after all, so although this place once belonged to you today is a place without owner that anyone can visit out of curiosity, as your dear ex-student,” he said to the princess with a confident smile, almost boastful, staring at her face. Celestia said nothing at first, she stared into his eyes, those eyes of mischievous and rogue boy. After a few seconds, she sighed in defeat. “All right, Discord, you win.” “Point for me,” drew a line on a blackboard out of nowhere as a marker. “Well? What are you doing here, so far from your palace in Canterlot?” “In shortly it's Luna's birthday. I thought I could find something here that would remind her of the good times,” your voice broke slightly for a moment, it was obvious why. “Well, I confessed, now it's your turn. What are you doing in my old home?” “~Shopping~” he practically imitated Rarity by showing up a shopping cart full of books. The alicorn couldn’t help but laugh at such a clown. “I had some hunger and because of your faithful student I can’t eat a single book from her library I thought I could come here to fill my stomach before it starts to eat on its own.” He placed a screen in front of his belly, showing his stomach holding with its hands a knife and a fork, with a napkin tied and a face between disgust and sadness. Only the God of Chaos could do such madness. This time the princess could contain her laugh. Barely. She would never understand how this crazy guy doesn’t run out of ideas. Nor did she understand how she was still surprised. After all this time, she should have gotten used to it. An object on the floor erased the smile on her face. It wasn’t just because, that thing brought too many bad memories. Bad memories for which she would give anything as long as they were vanished forever -or at least she believed that-. “You said you came to eat some books, right?” He nodded. “I'm not sure but I think that looks appetizing for a draconequs,” she pointed to the book of gold and jewelry that ‘someone’ had dropped. “Why do you think I almost drowned 5 minutes ago? I'd rather eat the entire Twilight library exposing myself to the worst indigestion there might be.” “Oh,” she sighed disappointed. With the same disappointment she took the mentioned book from the ground. If Discord had been in front of Celestia when she had put that object in her hands, he would probably have doubted his safety with the woman when he saw the hatred that burned in her eyes. Of the few things in the world she could hate, it was one she almost wanted to throw into the flames of Tartarus herself. Almost. “And what is special about that book?” The princess was so immersed in her hatred that she had completely forgotten the presence of the draconequs. Hearing her voice almost made her jump in surprise. "It's the diary of my parents, Queen Nebula and... King Galaxus. For some reason Discord felt a knot in his stomach upon hearing those names, along with a shock between a slight sense of joy and hatred. The latter prevailed in the gaze of the princess with the mention of the last name. It seemed that someone wasn’t very happy with their dad. He was curious about what might be the reason for this father/daughter conflict. He had got Rarity's interest in gossip. But with that idea he came up with a way to help the princess with her gift for her little sister. Two very juicy options: learn about a gossip or do something good for a damsel in distress. Considering his situation, he could have his days counted and he didn’t really like the fact that on his tombstone were wrote that he had been an apathetic weirdo, a weirdo who helped as he could and when he could sounded much better. Well, no pranks for the draconequs this time. Nothing excessive at least. “Uagh! What are you doing?” she exclaimed when he snatched the book from her hands. “A real pity, a book so beautiful and so useless at the same time, not to mention its dreadful taste. Well, easy comes, easy goes,” he threw the object without care of its direction and then catch it with its tail. “Hmm. Does it have any picture of you? Oh, fool of me. Cameras and photographs weren’t even thought a millennium ago. Then a drawing or a sketch,” strangely excited leafing through the book. It was enough to see Celestia's face to know that she didn’t understand that behavior at all. “Neither? Ow! I see why nobody writes diaries anymore. A book without drawings is boring, is not like that it was so easy to imagine everything that these words say and less when it comes to how someone describes the world around them.” And then she understood. In what she hated was what her sister could most desire. Oh, Discord, he never gave an answer if it was not with a riddle. As he did with her, she snatched the book from his hands and for the first time didn’t want to burn it or hide it where even Exodo couldn’t find it. "You welco-ohhh!" he exclaimed as she wrapped her arms around his neck without warning. “You are a genius!” “Did you doubt it? You offended me, Celestia. And right now you're also hanging me... Would you mind letting go? I've been too close to suffocation too many times for a single day.” “I am sorry. It's just that I'm very happy. Luna often asked me about our parents but I have never been able to talk to her enough about them and now, with this book, she can even know how they saw her. I just hope I have enough time to find the right pages.” “Well, maybe you should go back to the palace. I mean, you sent the sun to sleep almost an hour ago, and if your sister doesn’t find you and finds out that I was with you I think I’ll spend another millennium as a garden gnome.” “You're right, in both respects. Will you stay here?” “No. I think I'll eat average food for a while, until I'm past the trauma of dying from a book. I suppose I'll take you out.” She nodded and they started. Again they wandered silently through the corridors of the ruins. Celestia constantly gave slight glances around her, recalling her previous life among those walls. Her life with her mother, her father, her little sister, Starswirl the Bearded and a certain young man who was always with her until a terrible day. Like everything, that shattered castle had had its good times and bad times. In the midst of her memories, she thought that everything would be more bearable, being sure that she wasn’t alone in that place. It doesn’t hurt to chat a little. Unfortunately, she would soon wish she had never met Discord. “Can I ask you something?” He nodded in response. “You said you came here looking for food and I was wondering: why you came here for books instead of having a meal with Fluttershy?” “It's better for me to stay away from Fluttershy. Only until a certain issue is resolved," his voice trailed off. “Oh, did you argue or dislike each other?” “The problem isn’t WITH her. It is ABOUT her and with respect to my feelings FOR her.” She petrified. She could feel as if something in her were beginning to break. Then he continued. “I think that, due to my draconequs nature, I’m incapable of loving without dying and with Fluttershy nearby I just put the rope around my neck. I don’t want to hurt her but if I leave just because I’ll achieve just the opposite, if I tell her everything, she will feel terribly wrong because she unintentionally made me suffer and if I stay with her I’ll most likely die sooner or later and I don’t even want to think about what would she do if she comes to discover that everything happened because I fell in love with he-…” *Paft* The diary of the kings sounded as Celestia fell to the ground. If had she had a darker skin color, instead of her white porcelain complexion, he would have clearly noticed the paleness of the princess. Her expression was a blank canvas. Her eyes were wide open, empty and lifeless. It was as if a black hole or something had deprived her of any emotion. The light of the moon made something shine glitter down her cheek. A tear. While her body had been transformed into an alabaster sculpture, a thousand thoughts collided in her mind. Was he in love with Fluttershy? All this must be a nightmare. Had HE been right? No, it couldn’t be possible. All this time had she lived a lie? “Hey, are you okay?” This was the last straw. First he destroyed her and now he asked her if she was fine. Could he be more hypocritical? Could he be crueler? Could he be more monstrous? She tried to wipe away the tears but she brusquely pushed his hand away with a slap. “What's wrong with you?” he spoke annoyed. “WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU?!” she yelled at him and cried even louder. In a blink she flew away. She felt too bad to be able to say anything to him. As much as she wanted to curse him and all his ancestors, she didn’t even have the strength to emit an audible cry. She just wanted to be as far away from him as possible. Of that castle. Of everything. He did not care where, he just wanted to be where no one else could hurt her. She couldn’t stand more pain. For a few minutes, Discord stayed there, analyzing the scene and wondering what the hell just happened. Before his neurons could synapse. He tensed. He couldn’t move, think or feel anything at all. His five senses vanished as if they had never existed in the beginning. The first to return was his touch, in the worst possible way. It was as if his soul had been torn by a wild beast, merciless and hungry for blood. Had he been lacking in judgment, he would gladly have ripped out all the organs in an attempt to get rid of that pain. Not a thousand words could describe perfectly what he felt, but it was enough to bring down his dead body in life. The hit was strong enough to give him back control over his body and the four missing senses, intensifying his suffering. His face transmitted as clear as day all his grief. His eyes were almost out of their sockets and his teeth were so tight that anyone would think that at any moment they would end up broken by so much force. He wanted to scream. He wanted to ask for help. Nothing came out. The pain deprived him of the voice and in a short time it was depriving him of his conscience and, apparently, also of his life. He was going to die. He would die alone in that place abandoned and separated from everything and everyone. The same as he had emerged. If only he could see Fluttershy one more time. If he could tell her that he loved her and say goodbye to her. Then his death would be quieter but not necessarily less painful. Everything was getting dark. He could see how his surroundings were consumed in deep darkness. He felt heavy, less tense and, above all, weak. His time had come to an end. “... Look!” Or not? “Oh, for...!” another voice. “This is not right! He is too pale!” that first voice turned out to be Twilight. “Discord! Discord, please! Say something!” the second voice turned out to be his beloved Fluttershy. Even dying, he was glad. Fluttershy had cradled him in her arms, prey to worry. She spoke to him hoping that he would respond. Even a joke would have calmed her down. But nothing came out. The poor man hardly breathed. He tried to pronounce her name but nothing again. Not even his lips was able to open. At least in his state he couldn’t see the yellow pegasus crying. Twilight felt so impotent. One of her friends was dying and she didn’t know what to do to calm one of her best friends. She looked away in an attempt to calm down enough to think of some solution to this horrible situation when the book on the floor caught her eye. When she took it in her hands and realized what it was she was on the verge of a heart attack. “The Diary of the Kings,” she murmured, self-absorbed. She leafed through its pages, stunned and almost feeling unworthy of having in her hands the most sacred book of Equestria. It was said that it couldn’t be found by chance or by force, but rather by both. That if were used a search spell and what was wanted to find was linked to the book and it was not the book itself it was a matter of time before found the diary. If directly searched, the book would have teleported on its own to any other place. Whoever was in the Castle of the Two Sisters was a miracle or a curious play of fate. She didn’t return to the terrible reality until she saw a writing in the last pages. They mentioned. A memory spell? She remembered reading about the subject in Starswirl's book that Celestia had sent her. It used to be applied to the worst criminals and their families so that, if they had been betrayed, they couldn’t make a vengeance on their informers and on families used to be applied so as not to have to live with the shame of sharing blood with such despicable people. They were powerful spells but conditional and simple, so they were easy to reverse. Just had to pronounce them backwards to cancel them. An idea crossed Twilight's mind like lightning. Maybe the spell had caused Discord to forget something vital about himself. If she returned his memories maybe, just maybe, they could save him. If they failed. At least dying with his restored memories was better than dying with memories of a millennium petrified and a few of years living with new friends. “Fluttershy.” She turned to see her. Tears welled in her eyes. “I think I know how to save him.” “How?!” she asked hopefully. “In this book they talk about a spell imposed on Discord...” she stopped thinking what he was about to say. “If I turn it over... I can save him,” she tried to pause as little as possible. If she had shown doubt, she would have broken Fluttershy's frail heart. She didn’t have the heart or the coldness to tell her that maybe that spell was useless and there was nothing they could do. “Do it. Please, do it,” she instantly prayed hopefully and worried in the middle of her crying. Twilight nodded decisively. She placed her hand on Discord's forehead. The poor man was so lacking in life that he hadn’t even understood the words of the winged young women. He was still trying to understand what they were referring to with a spell but his thoughts didn’t go beyond having that word echoing in his head as he was fading. “~Arutan orev et artsnom. Erarebil airomem. Ieid mecum tidiv mumina idnetrever medae. Iut eri.~” With those words spoken, Twilight's hand lit up with such power that even in Ponyvilley someone must have, no, it is certain that someone saw that light. When that blinding brightness vanished, a portion remained in the eyes of the draconequs, which were now fully open. Although it wasn’t long before they began to close slowly. “Twilight?” Fluttershy asked alarmed. “What do we do now?” She didn’t answer. She just stared at the inert body of the friend who had valued so little. Wondering if she had done the right thing. It took her a while to return to reality, answering in a low voice. “Wait.” ~ The bright light of the sun bothered him in the eyes. Who had changed the batteries in the sun? Why hadn’t he thought to do that before? He should remember it for future days. When he finally focused a little more, the scatterbrained Discord became aware of more important things. Wherever he was, it wasn’t in the ruins of the Castle of the Two Sisters, at all. It was at the foot of a tree in what appeared to be an immense green meadow of tall grass. He looked at the sky so that his eyes would come across a landscape even more beautiful than the one in front of him. He could see several incredibly close planets in the blue sky and although it was day some areas even showed galaxies of wonderful colors and a kind of aurora borealis crossing the sky from horizon to horizon in various directions. Such a scene was impressive. He had never seen anything like that in his life. Never. In his life. His eyes widened at the realization. “Am I dead?”