//------------------------------// // The Fallen Lord // Story: Land of Superpowers // by AkumaKami64 //------------------------------// Celestia should be angry…she should be. Her throne room was covered in ice and Discord had not only arrived, but all but threatened to kill them after accusing them of betraying him. But she couldn't bring herself to feel even a bit of bitterness right now for the Lord of Chaos; Or, former Lord by the looks of things. More surreal than any work of his once overwhelming magic was the sight of Discord's scarred body. He sat on a large chunk of ice with Fluttershy sitting nearby with a comforting hoof on his draconic leg. To face one's own realm turned upon them in a fight for survival, any creature would be driven to the edge of sanity and paranoia. Not to mention, the damage to her throne room was mostly cosmetic; the ice needed to be melted then dried, the windows and plants needed to be replaced and the throne needed some small repairs. Currently, said Draconequus was quickly being attended to by no less than nine unicorns: six doctors, and three guards with healing magic. They bathed his body in a mixture of golden and emerald lights as they desperately tried to heal the wounds before their patient's condition deteriorated. How it could, they didn't want to know. "You should be dead," one of the guard-ponies whispered in sheer disbelief, gaping as he watched Discord's side gashes starting to heal. Quicker than they should be, but still an agonizing crawl. "I guess I'm a Lich then," Discord joked dryly, scowling at the royals and heroes before him. "You're telling me that, in the same freak event that I lost most of my powers, you ponies started gaining your own?" he inquired in a low voice of interest and irritation, his talons drumming across his leg. "Not just ponies," Luna corrected gravely. "My possum and Celestia's phoenix were affected as well, gaining the form of a large feline and a giant mantis respectively," she elaborated, not sure if he was aware of their pets' names. "Hmph. That doesn't bode well," he remarked thoughtfully. "Yeah, imagine what the dragons and Ursa Major will get!" Pinkie Pie pointed out, sounding more excited about that than she should be. "You're not thinking small enough," Discord retorted, not the least bit amused as he rested his chin on his lion paw, the lesser of the two gashes free of ice now. "Hey, hey, careful! You'll open your wounds again if you shift around too much!" one of the doctors warned frantically. Discord paid him no mind. "If a possum can receive it, then even an ant might be able to," he pointed out evenly. "The...ants?" Twilight repeated with wide, wide eyes as horror fueled her mind. "B-b-but insects outnumber all other species by a million to one, if not more!" "Wait, so the bugapocolypse is real?!" Rainbow asked in shock. "I-knew-such-creatures-would-be-the-death-of-me,-but-I-never-imagined-the-world-as-well!" Rarity declared, hoof over her chest. "Silence!" Celestia called, just barely raising her voice as she glared at Discord intently. He returned the look, the only change being a raised eyebrow. "I can say it's safe to assume you had nothing to do with this?" she summarized. Discord's eyes darkened as the ice near Celestia's feet crackled, loud and ominous. Her shadow struck out at the ice on instinct, barely grazing it even as she maintained eye contact. Rainbow jumped back in surprise at the sound and sight, causing her wings to shoot up and zap Applejack. The scorched farm-mare twitched as she fell into the hooves of...another Applejack. "We're fine ya'll," she assured as everyone minus Celestia stared at her and herself. "...Applejack has clones. Interesting," Discord mused, actually looking at the scene a bit like his old self for a moment. He turned his attention back to Celestia with a frown. "No, Celestia, I didn't give out superpowers and allow myself to be mauled by my own home." "Good. However, this seems like something you would do as much as it seems like something you would understand," Celestia pointed out. "You want ME to make sense of this?" Discord asked skeptically. "Nonsense seems to have abandoned you for the time being," Celestia countered evenly. "Ohhhhh, that's a low blow," Rainbow remarked under her breath as Luna, Spike and the ponies looked at Celestia in surprise. "..." Discord didn't say anything for a moment, glancing down at Fluttershy. "What can you do?" he inquired idly. "M-make plants grow, I think," she answered quietly, still worried about him even as he healed. "Hmm. Of course you would be a tree...," Discord paused before looking back at the solar princess. "If we assume that...whatever this is took away ALL my powers and gave me new ones, then I can tell you one thing: it's not just one power and there is little indication of any limit to what they can do. I think it's safe to assume that everypony probably has at least two, but those two could be almost anything..." "How many do you possess?" Luna inquired with a head tilt. "At least six, maybe more," Discord answered with a shrug. "Six?!" Twilight repeated in shock. "And here we thought it'd be eleven," Pinkie murmured to herself, stroking her chin as Twilight gave her an odd look. "Just can't ever stop being over the top, can ya?" Applejack asked in amusement, still holding up her other self. "Wouldn't that imply that the stronger individuals would get more powers?" Celestia inquired. "Yes, which means Tartarus is going to be a mess if it reaches down there. Still, ponies have more magic in their body on average than most races, so I'm going to stand by my Two-Power rule for ponies. You Alicorns though are bound to have several more," Discord elaborated as he let loose a mighty roll of his shoulders. The doctors and guards all flinched back as the ice on his body shattered off him into snowy dust. "Thank you for your help, docs," he said, wincing as he stood up. Fluttershy rose with him, flying to keeping her hooves on his shoulder supportively. "But I'll handle the rest from here." "Sir, please! You need bedrest and a proper hospital visit!" one of the doctors pleaded desperately as the former Lord of Chaos limped forward, his tail dragging behind him. "And what would a pony know of tending to a Draconequus?" Discord inquired, chuckling at the silence as he waved dismissively and raised his claw to the air in the same motion. The whole room grew tense as he slowly brought it down, literally tearing a hole in reality to expose a swirling vortex of grey and black. "...What was that about losing your powers?!" Rainbow asked with an eyebrow twitch. "My claws are razor sharp, okay! They can cut through space, apparently. How else do you think I got here?" Discord snapped in tired annoyance. "Discord, where are you going?" Fluttershy asked softly. "Your place, where else?" he asked with a fake smile, as wide as he could give her. "I wasn't lying about passing out and I'm about out of time." "You are welcome to stay here if you wish, Discord," Luna offered as she stepped forward. "I'll take my chances with the cottage next to the forest of death, thank you very much" Discord shot back coldly as he stepped through before a response could be made, leaving a worried Fluttershy watching as the portal repaired itself. "...I always thought I'd pay my right hoof to see that fella brought down to earth and given some humble pie," Applejack commented offhandedly. "I think I preferred him the other way," Rainbow pointed out, Applejack nodded. "...When did you absorb the clone?" the pegasus inquired, getting a shrug from the earth pony. "I think it's best if we let Discord recuperate before asking him for help again," Twilight commented cautiously. "Agreed. Discord is in a troublesome place as far as his mind goes. He has lost a great deal of his power, a part of his identity and will need time to heal his paranoid mind as well as his body after...whatever he faced in his own realm," Luna stated with a heavy sigh. "Two powers...?" Celestia muttered, glancing back at the non-Alicorns in the room. "This situation already looked dangerous with just one." "He could be wrong," Twilight offered with a shrug. "Discord is the exception in every case. While I wouldn't be surprised if Alicorns got two or three more, he may have overestimated ponies. For once." "...Forgive me, your highness, but didn't your pet have light and transformation powers?" The group turned towards the group of guards and doctors that had healed Discord who had been conversing with Fluttershy. "You raise a good point, Doctor...?" Luna inquired with a head tilt. Being an immortal goddess meant she had little reason to meet with a medical expert. "Hoofin Smart, Princess," he introduced with a nod. "Though, I suppose that might just be a result of their bond with you and your sister." "Doctor, if you don't mind me asking, could you tell me a bit about what you learned regarding Discord's physiology?" Twilight requested a bit too eagerly. The doctors and guards looked a bit uncomfortable. "Apologies, Princess, but what we learned was more puzzling than it being a mystery. Logic, by all rights, applies to that one without his chaos magic to bend reality to his will. And yet, by all logic, he should have never survived this long. He should have been in too much pain to even speak, let alone sit upright! Too much blood was lost, bones had punctured organs, muscles had been torn, and amputation should have been needed for at least one of his wings. Yet he appears able to walk it off," he explained helplessly. "Perhaps Discord possesses a powerful regenerative ability from recent happenings?" Celestia suggested with a raised eyebrow. "A very powerful one, if so," Smart admitted, shaking his head. "I'm sorry, Princesses, Ladies, but we are ALL in uncharted territories now," he informed gravely. "Now, if you'll allow us to go, we need to return to the medical wing." "Yes, thank you for your services good sirs," Luna agreed with a nod as the group of nine left. A very pale Fluttershy rejoined them, to Rainbow's concern. "You okay, Flutters?" she asked, wanting to wrap a wing around her. "Y-yes, I ju-just wanted to ask them advice on how to h-help Discord, but..." she trailed off with unshed tears in her eyes, "I don't know how to help him." "...It's best if you just be there for him, Fluttershy," Celestia said, sighing as stress rolled off her. "I trust Discord to survive even this, but I'd rather not face him with powers that windigos could only dream of, if his fears get the best of him." "You...think Discord might hurt somepony?" Twilight asked in concern. "He's mortal now- or more mortal than we've ever seen him," Luna mused. "It would not be unexpected for him to lash out at a perceived threat before his sense of vulnerability subside." "Okay, putting Discord aside for right now, what the buck do we do?" Applejack inquired. "We should alert the public-" Twilight started. "No," Celestia interjected. "Not yet. I want to send a message to all the border towns and cities, to see if anything odd is going on there. I'd like to know how far this has spread before telling everypony the situation." "Wouldn't that put ponies in danger, not knowing about this?" Twilight inquired. "Discord's paranoia is not unreasonable. Imagine how ponies will react if they're all looking over their shoulders, wondering who does and doesn't have a power," Luna countered. They all wanted to deny that but remembering past events, like Zecora moving in, reminded them of some issues that ponies had as a species. "Twilight, I need you and your friends to keep an eye on Ponyville and the forest wildlife. It might give us some idea of what to expect long term," Celestia requested, frowning in worry, "But don't hesitate to evacuate the town if something too powerful attacks. We don't know all of what we're dealing with yet. We won't for a long while." Twilight nodded determinedly...before her stomach growled to her shock and embarrassment. Luna smirked as her sister smiled fondly while Twilight's friends had a giggle at her expense. "I believe you can stay for dinner and the night if you wish. I'm sure there are many long days ahead for us all," Luna invited sagely. Meanwhile Discord collapsed to the floor the moment he got through the portal, groaning and almost roaring as he clutched his sided. A thin sheet of ice spread around the wooden floor of Fluttershy's cabin as he wretched in pain. Where once a endless well of wild chaos surged in his chest, now only a sphere of ice remained. He almost welcomed the pain, if it helped him ignore that. Never had he envied ponies or even Alicorns. They would only feel a gain from this, never that something was taken out of them and replaced with.....something else. It would take him a while to accept something so....solid as a part of his being. A smirk forced itself onto his pained face as he held out his talons in front of his face, a blackness about it. On the upside, there was some variety to it. That helped, that helped a lot. He breathed, deep and slow, before passing out as the pain subsided. What could have been minutes, hours, or days later he frowned in his sleep. He fell on the floor, why was he on something soft now? He poked open his eyes, finding he was on the couch, covered up in a blanket. Thankfully, neither were frozen. He heard something scrapping and glanced to the floor. There was Angel Bunny, grumpily cleaning the ice off the floor with a small broom, breaking it up with the handle. Discord scowled. Fluttershy wasn't home and he probably would have noticed the door opening, let alone being picked up, so... "Ho te buck id you ge me on tis c'ouch?"" Discord mumbled in a tired, slurred voice. The bunny just glared at him without so much as a bit of chitter before going back to work. Discord didn't have the strength to bother further so with a flex of his digits, he shattered the ice. Hopefully that would make the job easier on the little guy....