//------------------------------// // Chapter 9 // Story: Discord // by PurpleWonderPower //------------------------------// Chapter 9 Soon after she went home that first night, Twilight started to visit the Everfree Forest every few days. Discord had altered his magic-proof barrier so it would allow Twilight to get in, and as the weeks passed by, the pair began to really grow on each other. Somehow, some way, Twilight Sparkle had found her way into Discord's cold stone heart, although it was not as stone as it had been fifteen years ago. At first he had been very reluctant to let the princess he had cursed into his life, but now he felt different. Every time he thought of Twilight, he smiled. She felt like a very special person to him. Somepony he cared about a lot. "Other creatures fly," said Twilight Sparkle, when she and Discord were sitting under the rainbow waterfall that led to his house, "But I can't. I never knew how. Every time I try I end up crashing to the ground. I can just never seem to get these wings to do what I want them to do when I want them to do it." She opened her purple wings for Discord to see. She began to flap them, and hovered in the air for a few moments, before her wings went wonky and she wobbled and crumpled back down. "See?" she sighed, sadly, standing up and brushing the dirt off her wings, "I'll never be a real alicorn. You know...I always hoped I might be something special. But I guess—" She was abruptly cut off as Discord pinched her lips shut. "You are special, Twilight," said Discord, cupping her face in his hands, "Don't you ever forget that." Twilight smiled and put her arms around him; Discord thought it was weird at first, but soon found warmth in her hug. "You know," said Discord, pulling Twilight off him, "I have wings too. I could teach you how to fly if you want." "Really?" Twilight said, "You'd do that for me?" "Of course," said Discord, smiling, "What are friends for?" He pinched her cheek between his finger and thumb. Twilight laughed and pushed him off. "So what do I do first?" she asked, eagerly. "First we need some open space," said Discord, snapping his fingers. They both vanished and reappeared on the pink grass. "Now open your wings, Twilight," he told her, opening his own. Twilight spread out her beautiful lilac alicorn wings, looking very majestic. "Now what?" she asked. "Just flap," said Discord, "Not too hard, but just hard enough to get into the air." "OK," said Twilight. She began to flap her wings slowly. "A little faster," said Discord, "A little bit faster." Twilight did so, and soon she rose off the ground again. "You're doing great," said Discord, encouragingly. Twilight beamed at the praise, but her wings suddenly went wonky, and she crumpled back down onto the ground. "I don't think I can do this," she said, sadly. "You just need some practice," said Discord, encouragingly, "Try again." At first it seemed to be a lost cause, as Twilight had never been able to keep balance, and for the first few minutes, she was only able to hover and then flop back down. But as Discord taught her how to keep her wings even as she flapped them, she began to lose some of the klutziness and managed to stay in the air for much longer. Before long, she was able to fly much higher. They practiced for another hour, and by then, Twilight was making smooth dives and curves, able to turn in the air and get her wings to do what she wanted. Twilight dove smoothly through the air, then with a slightly wobbly landing, her hooves touched the ground again. "You're a natural, Twilight Sparkle," said Discord, smiling as he landed beside her, "I'm proud of you." He ruffled her mane, affectionately. "Just a bit more practice and you'll be flying like a regular alicorn in no time." Weeks turned into months, and Twilight was never disappointed by the excitement and magic of Discord's home. Nor was she by him. He always had another surprise up his sleeve. Whether they felt like having an upside-down picnic on a cloud, playing a game of chess with giant living chess pieces, or diving into one of the water pools inside a magic air bubble to see all that was inside there. Anything was possible in his home. Discord also continued to teach Twilight how to use her wings, and in a month or two, she could fly just as brilliantly as any other pegasus. "Hey there," Twilight said to Discord, one day, landing smoothly on the checked grounds on the other side of the Plunderseed vines and folding her wings. "Lovely to see you again, my dear," said Discord, scooping her up in an embracing hug. "Great to see you too," said Twilight, smiling, "I brought something we can do today." She levitated a large box out of her bag. "It's my favourite board game," she said, "Ogres and Oubliettes." "I do like games," admitted Discord. Normally he wasn't a big fan of not-so-action-packed activities such as board games, but if it made Twilight happy, then he was happy to play it. "How do we play?" "Well," said Twilight, happily, sitting down on the ground and opening the box, "This is my character, Princess Twilight Sparkle," she said, levitating up a hand-drawn board piece of a purple alicorn in a crown and a blue dress, "I'm the king and queen's daughter, and next in line for the throne." As she said this, Discord began to feel very uncomfortable. After all, what Twilight didn't know was that she was, in fact, a princess. And that she had been born to royalty. Thinking about this only reminded him more vividly of what he had done fifteen years ago. "A...princess, you say?" he said, uneasily. "I know, right?" said Twilight, rolling her eyes. She placed her piece on the board. "I've been kidnapped by an evil supervillain called the Squid Wizard, or the "Squizard" for short," she chuckled, holding up a card piece with a picture of a squid holding two wands, "The Squizard possesses very powerful evil magic, and has an army of evil skeleton ponies. He kidnapped me to make me his bride and take over the land. That's where you come in. Your character is basically the knight in shining armour." Discord's eyes snapped open! "Shining...Armor?" he said, uneasily. Twilight gave him a weird look. "Um, yeah," she said, slowly, before going back to the game, "So first you have to make your character. What do you want to be? A magician, a swordsman, an archer? Which one?" "I don't mind," Discord answered, "You choose." "Then how about an archer?" said Twilight, happily, getting out her felt tip pens and starting to draw a picture of Discord in a green archer's costume. Discord conjured up a fan and rapidly fanned himself, feeling very guilty. Princess Twilight. Shining Armor. Evil magic. Wicked supervillains intent on taking over the land. Who knew board games could be so painfully reminiscent? "There," said Twilight, putting Discord's piece on the board, "Now let's play!" Suddenly, Discord was sparked with an idea. "Yes, let's," he said, with a sly smile, "And I think I know how we could make this game even more fun." "Ooh!" exclaimed Twilight, eagerly, "What?" With a snap of Discord's claws, there was a flash of blinding light, and they were both standing on a life-size board, surrounded by dozens of huge ten-sided dice. Discord was dressed in his character's green archer's outfit, and Twilight was dressed in the same ballgown as her piece. "Whoah...I'm Princess Twilight?" exclaimed Twilight, looking down at herself, "And you're..." she looked up at Discord, who strung an arrow from his quiver into his bow, "Awesome! You made the game real!" There was a stomping sound from behind them! The two friends whipped round to see an army of skeleton ponies marching towards them! They were being led by a squid the size of Discord, wearing a bright red wizard's cloak and holding two glowing magical wands! "The Squizard!" exclaimed Twilight! "There she is!" shouted the Squizard, "Guards! Get me Princess Twilight Sparkle!" Twilight gasped! "I suggest you stay back and let me handle this, Twilight!" Discord said, firing an arrow at the Squizard's minions, "You are just a little princess, after all!" "Little princess!?" exclaimed Twilight, "No way!" With a flash from her horn, she teleported out of her princess dress and appeared in the air next to Discord, before zapping a dozen skeleton ponies with magic from her horn, burning them to a crisp! "I want some action!" she declared! Discord grinned. "I knew you'd say that!" The weeks passed, and the two's friendship just grew and grew. One time, Twilight was examining the creatures that lived in the up-flowing rainbow pool beneath Discord's house, when the Tatzlwurm popped out of the ground beside her. No longer afraid of the creatures who lived here, Twilight patted it on its head, and it gurgled happily. She waved as it sank back into the ground, then suddenly felt a torrent of sticky chocolate milk rain down on her! She coughed and spluttered, then whipped round to see Discord grinning at her over from a tree, controlling the cloud with his magic. He gave her a playful little wave. "Oops!" he said, grinning. He was suddenly met with a glob of chocolate-coated cotton candy in the face! Twilight laughed! "Ha! Gotcha!" she declared, pointing her hoof at him. Discord wiped the cotton candy off his face and gave Twilight a devious grin. "Oh, it is on now!" he grinned, snapping his fingers and conjuring up another dozen pink clouds. He seized a handful from one and hurled it at Twilight, hitting her right in the mouth! She licked her lips, then spread her wings, flew up to a cloud, and gave it a firm buck with her hooves, sending it flying through the air and splattering over Discord! He quickly retaliated, and they both engaged in a messy cotton candy fight, pelting each other with sticky globs of chocolatey cotton candy! Soon they were both sitting in an enormous pile of cotton candy and chocolate milk, laughing so hard they cried! "Ohoho, my stomach!" laughed Discord, clamping his hands around a cramp he had from laughing so much, "I haven't laughed this hard in eons!" "I've never laughed this hard!" laughed Twilight, tears of laughter streaming down her chocolate-coated face! Discord wiped the tears from his own cheeks, and his eyes wavered over the mess of chocolate and pink fluff that was covering a dozen square metres. "Oh dear!" he chuckled, peeling a sticky clump of cotton candy off his arm, "It seems this has become quite the...sticky situation!" Twilight burst out laughing again! Her laughter was infectious, and soon they were both in hopeless hysterics! "I think that's enough disaster for now!" chuckled Discord, "Let me take care of that!" He snapped his fingers, and the mess of chocolate milk and sticky cotton candy vanished in a flash of light. Twilight giggled and got up. "I can never have too much fun here!" she laughed! She flew up to Discord and gave him a big hug, which he returned. "Oh!" exclaimed Twilight, remembering something, "I almost forgot!" She flew back to the rainbow pool and picked up her saddlebag, which was lying on the bank. "I have something for you," she said, flying back over to Discord and opening up her saddlebag. She ignited her horn and levitated two shiny white objects out of it. Discord recognised them as two of the white gems from the Tree of Harmony. They were both attached to long strings. "They're BFF necklaces," said Twilight, flying up so their faces were level, "I made them last night." She levitated one of the necklaces around her own neck, and one around Discord's. Discord held his own necklace in his eagle claw and looked down at it. He felt very touched. A tear managed to escape his eye and trailed down his face. "Do you like it?" asked Twilight, anxiously. Discord wiped the tear from his eye. "I love it," he said, taking Twilight in his arms and pressing her head against his chest, "Friends forever, Twilight?" "Friends forever," replied Twilight, hugging him tightly. That night, Discord visited Twilight's cottage and headed to her bedside. She was resting peacefully with a smile on her face, probably having a nice dream. Discord smiled. He had never thought he would care about anypony else, but he had been wrong. And it was time to remove his curse for good. Before anything happened to his first, and very special friend. Discord towered over Twilight and raised his hands. "I revoke the curse I placed on you many years ago, Twilight Sparkle. Let it be no more." The same sickly yellow magic from the day he had cursed her shimmered around her body and began to drain out of her. But instead of leaving her body, it blasted Discord away and re-entered Twilight. As the curse faded back into her, Discord heard the whispers saying the very words from the day he had cursed her. ...I cast this curse to last until the end of time. And no power in Equestria and beyond, not even mine, will be able to change it... Tears filled Discord's eyes as he stared down at the purple alicorn he cared so much about. In that moment, he felt nothing but guilt, and wished there was some way to change what he had done. "I'm so sorry, Twilight..." he whispered, staring at the BFF necklace she had given him, "I'm so, so, sorry."