A loud drill pierced the darkness, giving it a light-source it had in hundreds of years. Behind the newly made hole, a Unicorn with grey, dirty fur and a white mane walked in. Using his horn, he cast a low-luminance spell and looked around, searching for something important. In the middle of the small cave was a pedestal, containing a book of some kind. On the left and right on some shelves were other things. He walked towards it and read the title. His eyes widened. The Unicorn immediately stopped and ran out to his boss. The Earth pony turned to him.
"What is it? If it isn't important, leave it in the garbage pile." He spoke with a gruff voice.
"Sir, I found this after drilling into a cave." The Unicorn showed him the book. The boss snatched it from his magic. Carefully looking at it, he gasped.
"Is it authentic?"
"Looks to be, that cave doesn't look touched for about seven hundred years."
"See if you can find anything else. We need to get this to the princesses instantly." He grabbed another Unicorn and thrust it into her hands.
"Deliver this to Princess Celestia immediately." She looked at it for a second.
"What is it?" She asked.
The boss growled.
"Didn't you read the title?" She looked at it. The boss spoke. "It's the journal of Starswirl The Bearded."
-Starswirl's Journal-
Celestia sat on her throne, Luna sat next to her, obviously sleepy, though she tried to play it off. The white-furred sister looked to her left and smiled motherly.
"If you can't do it, just go ahead and go to sleep, really, it will be fine." Luna yawned.
"No, we have to be here to see what will be presented to us. Cadence is on her way, but will most likely be late. Twilight is, is at her castle, but hopefully, we won't have to wait too long for her arrival with the others." Earlier Celestia sent Spike a letter, so they should be arriving soon.
"The best we can do, sister, is be there as the two main princesses. We do raise the moon and sun, after all." Celestia said. Several seconds later, the Unicorn from before walked in.
"Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, I presented to you, the artifact we found in the cave." Celestia magicked it up into both's field of vision.
"...Is this real?" Luna spoke hesitantly.
"We managed to date it back to two thousand years ago." Her boss spoke up from behind her. "Among other things, like a dirty, but still noticeably blue wizard hat and robe, adorned with stars. The top brim of the hat has jingle bells stitched. It is non-dyed, authentic. The fabric isn't even made anymore, and can't even be found in Equestria either. There is very little chance it is fake."
Celestia and Luna looked to each other. Silently conversing, they then looked back.
"Thank you for this information. We ask that you please remove any and all possessions in the cave. Was it pony-made by any chance?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Okay. carry on." They each exited. Left alone, they placed the book on the table. A familiar flashed was heard from behind them. Walking in front of them, Discord shook Celestia's horn.
"Hello, Kay-kay! And is this your sister? Why I don't think we've formally introduced ourselves again yet." He tried to shake Luna's horn, but then she threatened to rip off his paw.
"Still pissy as ever," He paused and smiled. "Anyway, do you all have anything for me? I'm bored."
"Does he normally do this?" Luna asked Celestia.
"Yeah. Just give him a coloring book and he'll be on his way." While they were speaking, Discord noticed the book. Picking it up he read the title.
"I remember this..." He said, in a hushed whisper. This brought up bad memories for him. "Where did you find this?" He asked curiously.
"It was found in a cave." Discord suddenly dropped the book in shock, only for his magic to have it levitate.
"Where?" He asked, walking up to Celestia.
"It was in the heart of the mountain." Discord had frozen up like a statue. His face showed no emotion as he did so. After a few seconds, he spoke. "Okay. Okay. That's...fine. You didn't touch… anything else?"
"We had everything else taken out of the cave, and sent to us." Discord's eyes shrunk for second before returning to normal.
"Okay. Just, uh, take good care of them. Fragile and old things can break easily." With that, he teleported out. A few seconds later, Celestia received a letter.
"It's from Spike. Apparently, it's only Twilight and him coming ." Celestia took a few minutes to think. "How long do you think it will be until she freaks out about Starswirl's book?" She asked.
"Five minutes?"
"I say two."
Discord sat silently in Fluttershy's house. Swirling his tea, he took a sip.
"Thank you for letting me stay here for a while." He took another sip.
"Oh, it's no problem. I'm just surprised a little is all."
"You're amazing." He whispered to her, now laying on her sofa. She blushed.
"Yeah right." Discord scoffed. His thoughts wandered back to the book. What was it doing in there? How did it get there? He thought back.
That wasn't there before.
Didn't it go missing with Starswirl? If it showed up there, that means either some unicorn teleported and put it there, or otherwise, the other option is tha-
"What are you thinking about?" Her hushed voiced asked, smiling. She noticed from his eyes that he was thinking hard.
"Nothing." He smiled back, canine tooth and all.
Back at the castle, Twilight and Cadance had just arrived, walking with Celestia and Luna in the hallways.
"So, What is it, Celestia?" Twilight asked, before continuing with a paranoid "Is there a new threat?"
"Nothing like that. However, it is something that could be of an impact for Equestria." Celestia answered. Opening the doors, they all sat down in chairs arranged to be a circle. Luna presented the book to both of them, each getting a good look.
"Is this real or is this some kind of joke?" the Purple Alicorn asked her.
"It is real Twilight. The cave where they found it also contained many of Starswirl's other properties."
Twilight had the biggest grin on her face, Not to mention the fact that she was shaking uncontrollably due to the excitement.
"There could be so much knowledge in here! Authentic, real, possibly unfinished spells that could change the entire course of history!" She exclaimed, still trying to be courteous and not yell.
"I appreciate your enthusiasm, Twilight," Luna said. Cadence chimed in.
"Have you opened it yet?" They all peered at it.
"No, We haven't. We thought we would wait for you."
"Well, what are we waiting for!? LET'S DO IT!" Twilight screamed. Cadence levitated it over. Flipping open the book, she noticed a post-it note on the very first page.
"What does it say?" Celestia asked. Cadence read aloud.
" Any and all properties (Including this Journal, clothes, baby pictures, etc.) of me, Starswirl The Bearded, is now owned by Discord, the Chaos Incarnate. As such, I have placed a magic lock on the book. Ask his permission to use and read this Journal."
Everyone stopped. They looked around for a few seconds.
"What?"
Discord suddenly woke up. Someone said his name. The Chimera looked up from the sofa bed.
"Fluttershy?
"Yes?" A whisper from upstairs.
"I have to go somewhere. Thank you for letting me sleep on your couch".
"You're welcome Discord, have fun!"
"Did somebody say my name?" Discord asked from behind Twilight, forcing her to jump in fright and fall onto his back. He laughed and set her down.
"Were you back there the entire time?" Cadence inquired.
"No, but: 'Speak of the Devil and he shall appear.' y'know? I had too."
They all stared.
"No? None of you have heard that?" he looked around with his eye squinted "Anyway, I'm nosy, so I'll have to ask. Why did my name come up in the conversation? Finally plotting my exile, I presume?" He ringed his paw and claw evilly. "If so, I'M IN! Please let it be exile onto Mars? It's one of my favorite planets!"
"No, It's not exile," Luna replied while rolling her eyes. "There is just a note in The Journal of Starswirl that we read." Discord became immediately intrigued.
"Oh... so, my… my name came up in it?" He looked to Celestia for confirmation. She nodded.
"Read it for yourself." She handed it to him. He took the book from Celestia, read it, and set it down.
"If you all don't mind, I would like to have all his items delivered to Fluttershy's house by tomorrow, please, as there is no way to get to my dimension except by me… and several rifts in space-time. I hope that you all will bring no harm to any of it."
His visit, while quick, was enough to drive the point across.
"Why… did he… what?" Twilight couldn't speak.
"Alert Fluttershy. Knowing Discord, he'll forget to tell her."
Several hours later from atop a mountain looking over ponyville, Discord could be seen smoking, with his hands crossed on the wood railing. He looked at the sun. Spike suddenly teleported in front of him.
"You got here fast."
"Twilight teleported me. She wanted me to ask you questions, but I just wanna hang out."
"Aahh. Is this your smoking spot too?" Discord asked, one eyebrow raised. Spike laughed.
"No, I don't smoke."
Then Discord waved his hand off in a swooping motion.
"Then get out of the smoke path, I don't want to give you lung cancer."
Spike stared at discord for a second, then got to the side of Discord.
"Aren't you scared, or, worried?"
Of smoking? No, Spike, I'm not. I'm practically immortal. The only thing that can kill me is blood loss, which can only happen if a divine blade were to cut me."
"Really? How does that work?"
"Well. I'm a spirit, this is a mortal form I am assuming. What I'm doing i-"
"Discord? Are you here?" Fluttershy asked, running up the hill.
"I'm here, Fluttershy." He yelled back. She slowed to a walk.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm quite fine dear." He took another puff and the blew it out his eyes.
"..." Fluttershy had gone silent and stood next to discord, opposite Spike. Her face scrunched up in curiosity.
"You have a question, do you not?" Discord looked down to her. "Don't be afraid. Ask me."
"Why did Starswirl give you his possessions?" Discord almost ate his cigarette. Not expecting that one... He took a second to compose himself.
"Well… you see…. It's not exactly a happy story, nor is it a short one. It might mentally scar you two if I told you it." Combined by a "Oh come on!" from Spike, Fluttershy also complained minorly.
"Discord, you overblow things sometimes, I'm sure it isn't that bad."
"..."
"Can you give a shorter version, then?" Spike asked. Fluttershy looked up at him. "Why not? I always said I want to know you more."
"Fine, but this will still hurt your head a little bit."
"Yes!" Spike pumped his hand in the air. Discord threw away his cigarette.
"How is that a good thing?"
Spike shrugged. "Twilight is paranoid I'll get hurt emotionally. Even though, as I explained to her a hundred times, I'm about only five years younger than her, and she's in her late twenties! Something that will 'make my head hurt' is probably a good thing right now." Discord thought, and then nodded in understanding.
"Oh yeah! I've been there before. Celestia won't let me create a separate universe populated entirely by blind people with a TV in every room that says 'You see this thing here? I'm not going to explain it but it is quite amazing to look at.' "
"Oh, no, I totally get you, Discord," Spike said. They laughed for a seconds after.
"Oh, well, alright. Here is the short version. You know how I was trapped in stone because I left Equestria in a state of 'Unrest' and 'Agony?' " He said. They both nodded. "Yeah… most of that was a lie."
Silence.
Discord went back to smoking, carefully keeping the smoke away from both of them. Five minutes later, The small shock that was on their face slowly faded away.
"Is.. that all?" Spike hesitantly asked.
"Well, Yes." Discord replied in the most serious voice he could muster. He examined their faces of confusion. "I'll - I'll tell the whole story, though, If you two canhandle it." Discord winked.
"I can handle it!" Spike said. "I watched my own house explode!" Discord and Fluttershy stared at him.
"Twilight needs to let you out more" Discord looked down at him. He looked to Fluttershy, who he was still a little worried about. "Are you sure?"
"I can tap out at any time, Discord, I want to know more about you." He smiled.
"Thank you both. I think deep down I need to tell this story anyway. It's been weighing on me for a few years, especially last year was his birthday."
"Whos?"
"Starswirl's." He answered. "There is one thing we'll have to do before we start the story though."
"What?" Spike asked.
"Watch this." He snapped his fingers, and they teleported back in time. When they arrived, It was Discord's first stone entrapment.
"What are we doing?" Fluttershy asked.
"Why looking for clues of course!" He said, putting on a green striped shirt and a notepad in his hands, and then walked up to past Luna, inspecting her magic.
"Why are we looking for clues?" Fluttershy voiced.
"Because this," He waved in a general motion. "is all fabricated. The idea is to figure out what spell it is before we get the real story." The fake past him laughed, in the same pose that would eventually trap him. As they powered up the elements, Discord noticed something quite peculiar.
"That's it!" He exclaimed.
"What spell is it?" Spike asked, remembering for later to ask Twilight about it.
"It's called a Vision Lock spell" Discord clapped his hands together. "It's one of the hardest spells to do, though if done correctly, the idea is that it will 'lock' what vision you want to lock. It's a giant memory-erasing spell, what you think or what you wanted to happen; Everyone will believe you. It taps into magic so that whenever someone goes into that time period, It will project a fake video of what happened."
"Wait, Why would Celestia do that?"
"Oh, I have a pretty good idea why. We'll explore that later. Fir,st we need to find a spell that wouldn't be affected."
"But, wouldn't all magic be affected?"
Discord looked at Spike with a smirk.
"Not exactly, different typ ofes magic is practised at different areas and different times. We need to find a time travel spell that was practised before the spell was cast; That's how it works."
"I can probably find one in the journal tomorrow, that stuff hasn't been touched in hundreds and hundreds of years."
So the trio had agreed to the plans and began hiking their way back home. Discord trailed behind fluttershy and spent the night at her house, amongst the almost constant growls and bird noises in her living room.
When sunrise had arrived, Starswirl's belongings were in the yellow pony's door mat. Discord slowly awoke and began creeping about, trying not to wake her. He opened the door as quietly as he could and snatched up the box. From inside, he set the box down and rifled through it. At the very bottom, obviously trying to be hidden, was the aged black-brown leather book. Discord picked it up and dusted off the cover, which held Starswirl's Cutie mark in a much lighter, but still aged leather. Sitting down on the sofa, he began reading. An hour later, Fluttershy woke up. He made breakfast and had a table set up, though it only had one chair.
"Are you not going to eat?" She asked, her soft voice reaching the room faintly.
"Don't need to, I can live off the energy of the universe till the sun blows up, and then some after."
"The sun's going to blow up?!" She asked worriedly.
"You'll be long dead before that happens. No wonder Kay-kay didn't tell you though, she'd lie and mislead about anything it seems." There was a knock on the door. Opening it revealed Spike, who had a handful of books in his hands.
"Being the assistant to Twilight Sparkle, a hero, and the friend of the princess of the sun has its perks. I got these in a sealed vault." The purple dragon set the rest beside Discord and began skimming through one. Fluttershy split her breakfast into three and sat beside Discord on the right. Spike took a bite of his muffin, chewed, and swallowed.
"This is really good Fluttershy!"
"Oh no it wasn't m-" Discord stopped her.
"Yes, Fluttershy, this is a welcomed meal." He winked and went back to work. Four hours later and they had skimmed through half the books there.
"Alright, so we have a list of the potential ones that could work, all except the journal, Spike, could you hand me that?" Discord said as he chewed on his cup. The purple dragon handed it to him and he skimmed through it, only looking at the spells chapter.
"AHA!" He said. "Found one." He wrote the spell down and continued to skim through the spells. Nothing that important. Next, he studied every single one and tested them on simple objects. Apples, pumpkins, a dry martini. Alas, not a single one worked, until…
"Alright, this is the one from the journal. This is our last shot and I'm certain it will work, I just want to know if you all have your wills written in case we blow up." for an example he blew up Spike and put him back together. "You don't remember anything, do you? Or did you feel anything?" Spike looked up at him with dead eyes.
"I HAVE SEEN THE EXTINCTION OF THE HUMAN RACE, THE HEAT DEATH OF THE UNIVERSE, I HAVE SEEN AS MOMENT BY MOMENT THE SCREAMS OF A THOUSAND CHILDRE-" He was quickly put to sleep by Discord's snap. He looked Fluttershy, shock still on his face.
"Yeah, he's fine." Spike woke up completely fine minutes later as they prepared weapons "Just in case". Discord was disappointed and Fluttershy was relieved. And frightened. But also relieved.
Discord was pacing, he was worried about trying the spell but was also wondering about the repercussions of his actions. If Celestia found out that he told them, it would be disastrous. That depends, though, on if she even remembered the truth herself. I mean, there's no way she would use a memory-erasing spell on herself and her sister, right? It made no sense to him.
"Thinking again?" Fluttershy's soft voice made it's way into his brain, breaking his concentration. He breathed a heavy sigh.
"Yes, though I hope it doesn't ruin the spell if I'm so focused on other things." He paused. "Alright Spike, we need an empty room with nothing in it except a floor, ceiling, and four walls, even length."
"Why?"
"For the spell, you nincompoop. It says so in the journal." Spike rolled his eyes.
"Can't you make one?" Discord stopped reading.
"...Good point." with a snap of his fingers, the trio found themselves in an empty white room. Discord clapped his hands. "Are you all ready?" They nodded. "Good." He took out the journal, read it again, and recited the spell. "Oh Sahrot Gein, mu demander que hi ofan nous aan manière wah vue faal vod ol nii lost, ko vahzen ahrk honnêteté, ful mu aal apprende wah mindoraan un histoire!" A grass field filled their vision and a sky of blue above them could be seen.
"Any moment now," Discord grabbed a pair of binoculars. "He's a comin'" Fluttershy looked up at him.
"Who's coming?" Discord pointed at the sky.
"Me." at just that moment, the sky turned to red as a portal opened from the heavens. Out of said portal came a burning ball of light, hurling at the ground. The ball hit the ground with such velocity that it formed a crater ten miles deep, leaving cracks all over the crust around it. When it was over, the being of light stood up and screamed in pain, the bright white of it's becoming an oozing, gooey black as it continued screaming.
"What's happening?" Spike asked.
"It's my punishment. My sister, Harmony, cast me out for trying to overthrow our father. Using her magic, she forced me onto equestria as a prisoner, never again allowed to enjoy the splendors of the heavens, unless I am forgiven." The black ooze that was once a great arch-Angel hardened in an egg-like structure.
"Why is this important?" The dragon spoke up. Discord put a hand on Spike and Fluttershy's chests.
"Just wait." Discord snapped his fingers and time fastened, until several days later. He snapped them again and time normalized, several ponies galloping in the wind. They stopped at just before the three, examining the egg. "They can't see us by the way." He said. The ponies drew their swords and was ready to attack it before someone said: "Halt." A large male Alicorn, a crown upon his black mane and and a red robe white coat walked in front of them.
"Who's that?" Fluttershy asked.
"The king of Equestria at the time, or, as I call him" The King rapped against the egg with his sword, breaking it open. He looked, reached in, and pulled out a brown furred Chimera with red irises and yellow scleras. "My foster father." The king looked at the boy up and down and then laughed a hearty laugh.
"I say we kill it!" One pony in the back said. The others joined in.
"It's a demon!"
"A monster!"
"It's going to kill us all!" The king shook his head.
"No, for this being is only a foal, barely a few weeks old at that. I shall raise him alongside my son, as this foal, whether he be a pony or something else, is a foal nonetheless and that proves his innocence." He looked at the foal again and whispered. "Yes you shall do mighty things for our kingdom, and I think you'll make a great brother." He turned around and carried the foal to their kingdom. Discord looked back at the castle in the distance.
"Alright, the story's not over yet, we're just getting started." In an instant, they teleported into the castle.