//------------------------------// // In The Shadow of Discord // Story: Little Memories // by Skijarama //------------------------------// Rainbow Dash stood at the edge of Ponyville, looking ahead at the hill on which Discord’s statue rested. He was still surrounded by the guards Celestia had left there, although a fair few of them were missing. No doubt they had gone off to the local hotel and bunkered down while these guys filled in the night shift. The sun had still yet to come up, but if they were at all worn out from hours of standing in the dark and keeping watch, their stoic faces did not show it. She took a deep breath and set her jaw before starting forward at a slow trot. If she was being totally honest with herself, she wasn’t entirely sure what she was going to say. She had left the library mostly because the idea was still fresh in her mind, and Luna’s encouragement had kicked her into high gear. But now that she was drawing closer, the actual task ahead was starting to loom over her like the statue in her nightmare. With every step she took, uncertainty and discomfort snaked around her, choking her and making her want to run the other way. Were it not for the guards that had now noticed her, or the thought of letting down her aunt, Rainbow might have actually done so. “Your highness,” the guard nearest to her greeted with a bow of his head once she was in talking range. “Hey,” Rainbow replied, her voice teetering between casual and anxious. Her eyes drifted passed the other pegasus and locked onto the statue. “Has he done anything?” The guard shook his head. “No. He’s remained perfectly still.” “Hm. Good,” Rainbow relaxed, albeit only somewhat, before focusing on the guard again. “Spread out your perimeter to the bottom of the hill until I leave. I need to be alone up here for a little bit.” The guard blinked, tilting his head in confusion. “With all due respect your highness, if this thing’s a threat at all-” “Do I need to tack ‘that’s an order’ on to the end of that?” Rainbow asked in a deadpan, her expression flattening with impatience. “Look, just spread out, okay? I need some space to myself and I need it to be here. It’s personal.” The guard was hesitant to comply with her request, but her authority over him soon won out over any misgivings. He cleared his throat and turned to his comrades. “You heard your princess. Spread out to the base of the hill!” he barked at them with a sharp gesture of his hoof. His subordinates nodded and, without another word, they all scattered down the slopes, well out of earshot for anything Rainbow would be saying. Now well and truly alone with the petrified Spirit of Chaos, Rainbow stared up at Discord. Her muscles were slowly tensing up, and her heart was beating harder in her chest. In her mind’s eye, she could see his crimson pupils staring back at her, a twisted grin decorating his muzzle. The back of her neck tingled, and she could swear that she could hear him chuckling darkly in her ear. She quickly shook her head and focused, ready to start talking. She hadn’t come here to stare at him, after all. She paused for a second, not sure what to say or whether or not she should have thought out some kind of speech, first. But, in the end, she decided to just go with whatever came to her mind. “Discord...” she began, her voice low and cold. “The Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony. I gotta hand it to ya… you live up to that title. You flipped my whole world on its head, even after we blasted you into stone…” She lowered her head, a few bangs of her mane falling to conceal her eyes. “You put a spell on me… and oh, man, did it cause some trouble… You made me hate somepony, a completely innocent mare, to the point that I was paralyzed at just the thought of what she might do if I didn’t find her. And… because of that anger and fear, a lot of innocent ponies got hurt.” Her head low, Rainbow slowly settled down onto her haunches. “Starlight Glimmer, my family, my friends… Twilight... all of them had something bad happen to them because of what you made me do. And then the Changelings came in while we were gone and took over Canterlot. Took my family hostage… We had to run all the way to the frozen north and restore a really ancient city just so we could have a chance at taking back our home.” She suddenly lifted her head, her brows angling into a furious scowl, her eyes misting over. “Do you have any idea how miserable we were?! Every day, something came up that crushed our hopes and our resolve even more! First, it was having no idea what to do, then it was King Sombra, then Twilight’s magic exhaustion, then the treaty, then finding out we couldn’t use the heart! Every solution we had was a long shot at best!” Without realizing it, Rainbow had risen to her hooves, her wings flaring out aggressively. “We almost lost!” she shouted, her voice starting to crack with pent up emotion she had long tried to bury and ignore. She glanced down at the bite mark on her hoof, and her coat visibly bristled with rage. “And none of us walked away without scars. Twilight especially…” A gentle breeze washed over the hill while Rainbow took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. When she was sure she wasn’t going to shout again, she lightly lifted from the ground with her wings, gaining altitude and affixing Discord with an accusatory glare. “And all of that is because of what you did to me. If you wanted us to suffer, if you wanted to throw everything into chaos and mayhem, then congrats. You got what you wanted.” Rainbow drifted forward until she was right in Discord’s face, her voice calming down and leveling out. “But ya wanna know something? We survived. You made us hurt, yeah, and you started a series of events that gave me a scar I’m gonna carry for the rest of my life. But it didn’t break us! It didn’t break me! I’m still here, I’m still standing, and after everything I went through because of you, I am so much stronger! “So if you wanted to hurt us, cool, ya did that. But if you wanted to break us, if you wanted to ruin us and get the last laugh on us, then I am so sorry to break it to ya, but you failed!” she declared, rising a few feet above him and glaring down at him in defiance. “We won, Discord! We beat you, and we beat what you caused! And there is nothing you can do about it! You can’t hurt me anymore!” “Oh, what a wonderful speech! So inspirational and uplifting!” Rainbow Dash’s eyes snapped wide open, a panicked gasp tearing out of her lungs. Her wings fell out of sync, sending her falling back to the ground on her rump with a grunt of pain. She shook her head and looked up at the statue with wide eyes and a gaping jaw. “Wha… what?” she choked out. That had been Discord’s voice. She had heard him, clear as day. So clear that it was like he had been talking inside her skull. But that wasn’t possible, was it? He was a statue! Completely inert! He wasn’t supposed to be capable of anything! “But alas, my favorite skittle, I must correct you on one small thing,” the voice came again, causing Rainbow’s blood to go cold. “Well placed words can hurt you just as well as anything else. After all, it was three of them that sent you on your little mission. What were they again…? Ah, yes. Make her pay.” Rainbow shuddered and quickly got back to her hooves, assuming a defensive stance. “How are you talking to me?! How can you even hear me?! You’re a statue!” she demanded, her wings flaring out while her eyes frantically searched for the cause of this. “Oh, pfft! Honestly, princess, use that colorful head of yours for a minute. Just because I’m trapped in a stone prison doesn’t mean I can’t hear every little thing going on around me,” Discord replied casually, and Rainbow could practically see him circling her with that smug, taunting grin on his face. “I can’t move or use any of my powers, yes, which is more than a little infuriating, but I’m not completely deprived of my senses.” Rainbow swallowed the lump in her throat, taking an instinctive step back. “Th-that doesn’t explain how you’re talking to me!” she snapped back. “You’re petrified! You can’t move your lips or breathe!” “And you would be correct!” Discord applauded her, and she could hear streamers and confetti flying around in her skull along with the sound of a kazoo. “Because I’m not talking. I’m simply projecting my thoughts into your head.” “How?!” Rainbow pressed, taking another step back. “You don’t have any of your powers! How can you talk to me like that!” “Well, I suppose I may have been exaggerating when I said I didn’t have any of my power,” Discord relented in a mocking sheepish tone. “But you see, when your beloved Twilight Sparkle died, the spell you all put on me to keep me sealed was weakened. Not by much, and it patched itself up rather fast. But in that time I was able to wiggle just enough of my power out to let me talk to the ponies who trapped me if they ever bother to come around.” Rainbow’s ears drooped, and her heart plummeted. She licked her lips, trying to keep calm and focused. “H-h-how do you know about th-that?” she stammered, shaken. “Well, I didn’t have some grand prophetic vision, like you and your friends do, if that’s what you were asking,” Discord dismissed. “It honestly wasn’t all that hard to piece it together from what I’ve overheard. Your mother dearest is quite chatty in her sculpture gardens when she’s all alone, did you know that? So yes, I know that she has amnesia, that she died, and that Celestia brought her back to life by turning her into an alicorn. Which, by the way, is a very serious faux pa.” “Sh-SHUT UP!” Rainbow snapped, lifting into the air with a flap of her wings. “She saved her life! Don’t you dare talk about it like she made a mistake!” “Alright, alright,” Discord said, his voice remarkably calm and defensive. “I can bring that up some other day.” “No, you can’t!” Rainbow shot back, her coat bristling and her confidence in the situation slowly returning. “So you can talk to me, big whoop! You’re still a statue, and it’s pretty easy to ignore you when you’re not capable of stopping me on your own.” “And how do you figure that?” “I grew up in a castle with Prince Blueblood living nearby,” Rainbow deadpanned. “I know how to ignore the stupid and the insufferable.” “Oh, I suppose that’s a valid point,” Discord lamented in resignation. “I am still a statue, and if you can ignore me, then yes, I am completely at your mercy.” Rainbow blinked, her wings slowly folding up at her sides. “Good to know you have enough brain cells in that skull of yours to see that, at least,” she spat. “And I wouldn’t count on getting out anytime soon, either!” Discord gasped. “Why, Rainbow Dash! Are you truly so willing to disappoint your beloved mother like that? After she came all this way so you could try and make me your friend?” “Yup,” Rainbow answered without hesitation. “Not like she’d be disappointed anyway.” There was a moment of silence before Discord sighed and spoke again, his tone shifting to something far more diplomatic. “Perhaps you’d be willing to consider a deal of some description?” “Forget it,” Rainbow snarled, turning her back on Discord and snapping her tail at him like a whip. “Even if I let you out, it’s gonna be on my terms, and my terms alone. Got it?” “At least hear me out,” Discord called after her even as she began to trot away. “What if I told you that I could restore Twilight Sparkle’s memories?” Rainbow came to a total stop, her heart hammering in her chest. She didn’t move an inch, and she barely dared to breathe. She did her best to ignore the idea, to shove it out of her mind entirely, but it was quite persistent. “I see I have your attention…” “Y-you can’t,” Rainbow tried, her voice hitching in her throat. “You can’t get her memories back. That’s not something you can do!” “Rainbow Dash, you’re smarter than this,” Discord countered smoothly. “Even if it annoys me to no end to say so. But in case you forgot our last little adventure together, I was able to completely flip all of your personalities, and I was capable of putting a compulsion into your mind that lasted well after I was in stone, if your testimony is any indication. Restoring some dormant memories would be as easy as snapping my paws.” “But… why would you offer that?!” Rainbow asked, her mind racing. “You hate us! Why would you help us? Help her?!” There was a short pause in the wake of that question, the words seeming to echo around them far more than they should have. Then, quite to Rainbow’s confusion, Discord began laughing. It was a disbelieving sound as if he had just been told a truly absurd but hilarious joke. “Hate you?! Oh ho, I don’t hate you, Rainbow Dash, or any of your friends,” he dismissed casually once his laughter died down. Rainbow shuddered, the echoes of the laugh remaining in her skull. She snorted with skepticism and narrowed her eyes. “Oh come, now,” Discord continued, sounding offended. “What in the world would I stand to gain from hating you? It’s not like I can have any fun playing with something if I don’t like it.” Rainbow’s skull tingled, her pupils dilating with anger. She took an irritated step forward. “Play with…? We’re not toys, Discord!” she snapped, flying right back up to his face. “We’re ponies! We have feelings, hopes, and dreams! We feel pain, we feel fear, and love, and a whole bunch of other things! Just like you!” “Exactly! All of that passion is what makes you all so fun to play with in the first place!” Rainbow growled deep in her throat before slowly backing away and touching down on the ground again. “Look, just answer my question. Why are you offering to give Twi her memories back?” “Oh, very well. You see, Dashie, I am making my offer because I don’t much like being trapped in a stone prison block,” Discord retorted as if it were obvious. “It’s cramped, claustrophobic, and so incredibly boring. But I’m not so foolish as to think that I am in any position to make demands. I know you have me at a disadvantage, and I’m trying to negotiate a fair deal.” Rainbow narrowed her eyes. “A fair deal? So what? You give Twi her memories back and then go on another chaos rampage?” she asked in disbelief. “Tempting, Discord, but no thanks.” “Oh, it’s tempting, is it?” Discord asked, and Rainbow immediately regretted her choice of words. “Well, then how about I sweeten the deal by swearing to leave Equestria for as long as you and your friends live?” Rainbow hesitated, her eyes widening in surprise. Discord went on. “You would never see me again, and your girlfriend would finally be able to love you back and give you all the hugs and smooches I imagine you want from her. And in the meantime, I get to stretch my wings, go on a holiday, stop in a few remote resorts, and just take the next several decades off.” Rainbow was silent for a few moments, her mind racing. Twilight’s memories restored and Discord buzzing off for the rest of their lives? It sounded almost too good to be true. But… if it was… She screwed her eyes shut and forced herself to focus. She reminded herself of everything Discord did, of the lies he had told them before, of how he had twisted them all into being the polar opposites of who they were supposed to be. With her distrust restored, she glared up at him again. “And how can I trust that you’ll honor your word if we let you out? How can I be sure you won’t turn around and ruin us the second we let you out?” “Because you have the Elements of Harmony,” Discord replied begrudgingly, sounding like he was sulking and pouting like an indignant child. “As frustrating as it is, those pretty little gems make it quite difficult for me to break my word to you for more than a moment before all of it is undone.” Rainbow frowned, her brow furrowing in thought. She’d always been under the impression that Discord wouldn’t underestimate them again, and that if they had to try and stop him, he would win outright. But he had just admitted that they could still take him down if they had to. So either he was lying, or he legitimately feared the power they possessed. And if the latter was the case, then was it possible that he was serious about restoring Twilight’s memories? Rainbow’s expression became more and more strained the longer she thought about it. She could almost see it; Twilight looking back at her, her eyes at long last lighting up with the recognition that she had grown so accustomed to for so long. She could imagine them sharing a warm embrace, a tender kiss, even. It was a beautiful image, and Rainbow’s heart fluttered in her chest at the prospect. She wanted it, she had wanted it so badly ever since she had learned of Twilight’s condition, and now it was possibly in reach. Twilight could finally have her memories back, their lives could get back on track… they could be together. Again. ...But was it worth the risk? “...I… I don’t…” Rainbow stuttered, her ears drooping with indecision, her bravado and cold exterior crumbling into dust. “Go on and think about it,” Discord suddenly stated, his voice starting to grow distant. “maybe drink some cider or whatever it is you do to loosen up. Just remember… I am the only chance Twilight has of getting her amnesia cured. I am your only chance at getting the mare you love back…” Rainbow felt something in her mind break, like a string being cut by scissors, and just like that, she knew the conversation was over. She stood there in silence, occasionally opening her mouth as if to say something. But nothing came. Soon, the sun began to rise behind Discord’s statue. The shadow he cast was long and dark, and Rainbow was right in the middle of it.