//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: Discord // by PurpleWonderPower //------------------------------// Chapter 3 Finally, the day of Cadance and Shining Armor's newborn daughter's christening arrived, and Discord was still trapped in his stone prison. He felt annoyed to be missing such an important occasion. From what Celestia and Luna had said, it was one of the most important occasions Equestria had ever had. And for a draconequus who hadn't eaten in thousands of years, Bright Macintosh's apple fritters certainly sounded good. He was immortal, of course, so lack of food didn't really affect him, but it was still something he missed. Then his stone eyes spotted something coming round the corner of the palace labyrinth. It was a small class of little ponies, led by a dark purplish-pink Earth pony with a lighter mane. Her cutie mark was a picture of three smiling daisies. "Alright, my little ponies," Miss Cheerilee was saying, as she lead the little group of ponies in, "I want to start our field trip here, in the world-famous Canterlot sculpture garden. That one over there represents friendship." She pointed to a stone sculpture of three happy ponies. "This one represents victory!" Cheerilee carried on, pointing to another sculpture, which was of a pony holding a flag. "How cool would it be to have that for a cutie mark?" said Babs Seed to her friends Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. "Cool," said Silver Spoon, then chuckled, "If you were actually victoryful at something!" "That's not a word!" snapped Diamond Tiara. "What are you, a dictionary?" snapped Babs. "Girls!" scolded Cheerilee, and the three friends stopped arguing and looked back at her. "Now this is a really interesting statue," she said, pointing at Discord, "What do you notice about it?" "It's got an eagle claw!" exclaimed Silver Spoon. "And a lion paw!" added Babs Seed. "And a snake tail!" finished off Diamond Tiara. Discord almost squeed, except he couldn't while he was stone. Those fillies were just unbearably cute. "This creature is called a draconequus," said Cheerilee to her class, "He has the head of a pony, and a body made up of all sorts of things. What do you suppose that represents?" "Confusion!" exclaimed Silver Spoon. "Evil!" exclaimed Diamond Tiara. "Chaos!" exclaimed Babs Seed. "It's not chaos, you dodo!" snapped Diamond Tiara. "Don't call me things I don't know the meaning of!" snapped Babs, "And it is too chaos!" "Is not!" argued Diamond Tiara. "You're both wrong!" snapped Silver Spoon. With that, they pounced on each other and engaged in a violent wrestling fight on the grass, and then came the biting and the punching and the kicking and the scratching! The ground shook as the fillies continued to fight, and Discord's statue began to shake! Then, when Diamond Tiara's hoof lashed out and kicked the base of his statue, Discord felt something crack! Watching the fillies wrestle, Cheerilee shook her head. "Actually, in a way, you're all right," she said. The three fillies froze as she said that. "This statue represents discord," Cheerilee said, "Which means "a lack of harmony between ponies." In fact, you three have demonstrated discord so well," she added, frowning, "That you're each going to write me an essay explaining it." The three fillies' faces fell, and the rest of the class chortled. "Now let's go," said Cheerilee, firmly, "And I don't want any more fighting!" As Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon and Babs Seed followed the rest of the class, Discord heard them bicker under their breath. "It's confusion!" "Evil!" "Chaos!" If Discord hadn't been trapped in stone, he would have burst out laughing. Watching those fillies bicker and fight was the Discord-iest thing he had seen in centuries, and for a draconequus serving a life sentence in stone, entertainment was craved. Then suddenly, Discord felt something down by his stone lizard foot. A crack caused by the fillies' wrestling was slowly spreading up from Discord's feet and up to his stomach. Discord's heart began to beat faster as a web of cracks spread out all across his body, and for the first time in thousands of years... He moved! Struggling against the shell, Discord managed to get his lion paw free! He stretched out his fingers, and snapped them! Then with a flash of light and an explosion of broken pieces, the Lord of Chaos burst out from inside his stone shell, scattering the pieces across the sculpture garden! "Ooh!" he moaned, massaging his aching joints and shaking out his limbs, "Oooooooh!" He cracked his knuckles and stretched from about every angle, and finally scratched that itch on his goat leg that had been there for centuries! "Ooooooh!" he moaned, shaking out his whole body, "Does being turned to stone make a draconequus sore!" Then his eyes grazed the ground, which was, of course, littered with dust and bits of stone. "I should probably fix that," he mused, "I wouldn't want to spoil those adorable little fillies' trip." He snapped his fingers, and all the pieces of his statue vanished and the whole thing reappeared back in its place, fixed. Oh, it felt so good to do this again. Discord gave a satisfied nod, and then looked up at Celestia and Luna's castle. He took out his eyeballs and they elongated into binoculars so he could see in through the stained glass windows. There were decorations set up all over the throne room, and it was filled with thousands of ponies. "Of course," murmured Discord, in a malevolent voice, "The princess's christening. I certainly wouldn't want to miss that, now, would I?" ... The christening of Cadance and Shining Armor newborn daughter, Twilight Sparkle, was indeed one of the most important events Equestria had ever seen. Ponies from all over Equestria had come to see the new princess, ponies from Canterlot and Manehattan to Fillydelphia, Trottingham and Las Pegasus. And it was now that they were all going to see her. Twilight Sparkle was the sweetest, most beautiful baby many had ever seen, with adorable purple eyes, a mane with a mix of indigo, rose and violet, and a lovely lilac coat. Many sensitive mares broke into tears when they saw her. Cadance and Shining Armor welcomed everypony inside with the help of Celestia and Luna. And the guests included three very magical creatures called the Breezies. The Breezies were some of the most magical creatures found beyond Equestria. They were pony-like creatures, but were not much bigger than a newborn foal. These three had been called upon by Princess Celestia to come to the christening. The first, Apple Bloom, was a beautiful yellow, with a crimson mane redder than a fresh red apple, and big shiny eyes the colour of sweet apple cider. The second, Sweetie Belle, was pure white with a slightly bouncy mane and tail, striped with greyish mulberry and pale rose. Her eyes were as green as the fresh summer grass. And the third, Scootaloo, was orange with sparkling violet eyes, and a cerise mane and tail, which was slightly frizzy in places. All three of them had beautiful translucent wings nearly twice the size of them. The Breezies fluttered up to Princess Cadance. "Your Highness," said Apple Bloom, her voice squeaky and high-pitched like all Breezies, "With your permission, we would each like to bestow a gift on your daughter." Cadance bowed her head, and the Breezies all hovered over the cot. Apple Bloom was first. She raised her hoof, and yellow magic glowed around Twilight. "Twilight Sparkle," said Apple Bloom, "I give you the gift of beauty. May you be adored by all in Equestria among you, forever until the end." She lowered her hoof, and moved aside to let Sweetie Belle give her gift. "Twilight Sparkle," said Sweetie Belle, casting her magic, which for her was pearl white, "I give you the gift of song. May your voice be sweeter than sugar, and be heard and loved by all of Equestria." Finally, it was Scootaloo's turn. "Twilight Sparkle," Scootaloo said, "I give you the gift of bravery. May you have courage in your quest to guide yourself and make Equestria an even better place." Celestia rose from her throne. "And so," she said, smiling, "It is my great honour to announce the beautiful daughter of Shining Armor and Princess Cadance, and Equestria's newest princess. Twilight Spar—" Suddenly, a strong gust of wind whistled through the throne room, ruffling everypony's manes. The room fell quiet, and Celestia's eyes darted around. She could sense that something was wrong. Then, a soft, malevolent laugh echoed through the room. "Did you miss me, Celestia?" a ghostly voice murmured, softly, "I missed you." Then the throne room doors opened, and out stepped a cloven hoof, then a lizard's foot. Ponies gasped as a tall figure strode down the red carpet, his shadow casting over the crowd. As he strode past the lit candlesticks, the candles flickered and went out. He gazed around at the other ponies, looking pleased at the looks of shock on their faces. Then his eyes fell on the princesses and his expression darkened. "Well, well," said Discord, in a dangerous voice. "Discord," breathed Celestia, "How did you escape!?" "How I escaped is not important," replied Discord, "What matters is that I'm here. This certainly seems to be a very important day for you princesses. And I'm sure it was only the excitement of the royal christening that made you forget to send your old pal Discord an invitation." He strode towards the cot that held Twilight Sparkle. The three Breezies leapt in front of it, but before they could do anything, Discord raised his hands as if controlling two puppets, and flung the three Breezies onto a white mattress that he had just conjured up. "And this must be your lovely little princess," Discord purred, looking into the cot. He levitated Twilight out of her cot with his magic and clasped his eagle claw around her, making her giggle. "Oh, she's adorable," Discord laughed, pressing Twilight's cheek to his own and stroking her under the chin with his lion paw. "Don't you dare touch her, Discord!" shouted Celestia, "Guards!" "Hey, hey, I'm not going to hurt anypony," said Discord, easily, placing Twilight Sparkle back in her cot and patting her on the head, "I'm just here for the christening. And I, too, shall bestow a gift upon the child." "Whatever your gift is, Discord. we don't want it!" snapped Celestia. Discord gave the royals a deadpan look. He raised an eyebrow. "Too bad." He raised his hands in an elegant pose, and they glowed with sickly yellow magic. The same magic swirled around Twilight, lifting her up into the air. "Twilight Sparkle," Discord purred, with a malicious smile, "You will indeed grow with the gifts of beauty, song and bravery, and be adored by all the ponies of Equestria." "Thank you, Discord," said Celestia, between her teeth. "Oh, I'm not done yet, Cay-Cay," purred Discord, giving her a devilish smile. He turned back to Twilight, and clenched his eagle claw! The yellow magic began to swirl around her like a tornado, blowing her mane around. "Before the sun sets, on her sixteenth birthday," Discord chanted, his voice becoming dark and threatening, "She will prick her hoof on the spindle of a spinning wheel, and she will fall into an eternal sleep-like sleep!" "No!" cried Cadance! She ignited her horn, and fired a glowing beam of magic at the draconequus. He raised an eyebrow and caught the beam of magic in a baseball glove. "You're just like your Auntie Celestia, Princess Cadance," he said, dangerously, "Always so predictable." He turned back to Twilight and clenched his fist again! Darkness flooded the room, and Discord's magic illuminated in the middle! "I cast this curse to last until the end of time!" he chanted, his voice becoming dangerous again, "And no power in Equestria and beyond, not even mine, will be able to change it!" As he cast his curse, there was a blast of magic that sent everypony tumbling to the floor! Celestia leapt to her hooves, only to see Discord's curse sink into Twilight. "Ohohoho!" laughed Discord, with a malevolent grin, "This," he rubbed his hands together, gleefully, "Is going to be fun!" And with that, he snapped his fingers, and vanished. It was then that Cadance and Shining Armor made the decision to send Twilight Sparkle away. It was a difficult decision, perhaps the most difficult decision anypony had ever made, but it had to be done. Princess Celestia entrusted the safety of Twilight Sparkle with Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, and ordered them to take her far away from Canterlot for sixteen years and a day. She also ordered every spinning wheel in Equestria be locked away in the highest tower of Canterlot Castle, in Cadance's fear that Discord's curse would one day come true. And as for Twilight Sparkle, well...