The Hag, the heroes, and a few other things

by Amaranthine Thought


End 3

Nopony noticed my realization, nor the resulting worries I gained, as we went to the gardens. I can only imagine that they were preoccupied with their own thoughts as we went to confront Discord.

I feared what I was going to find. I didn’t want to see the results of my ignorance. I didn’t want to see what I had done to him. I didn’t want to face him at all, yet, I knew that I had to. But more than anything else, I feared what I thought was inevitable.

I feared what I thought I was going to have to do to him.

We entered the gardens, and I barely paid attention to it. It was pony-made nature, and it had nothing to me. It was beautiful, filled with flowers, set with care, tended to with care, but it had nothing. It was only lifeless plants and flowers and bushes and statues, and finally, Discord.

He stood in his own spot, and looking upon him, my heart felt heavy; the empty feeling of the garden seemed to lend to that sorrow. He still had that look of kindness on his face, he still reached out as if to hold something close and dear.

It hurt, seeing that.

We approached him, and gathered around him. I noted varied emotions present; the regret on Fluttershy, the mild apprehension on Rose, the stern face of Celestia, the angry glare of Rainbow, the slightly pained look of Twilight, Pinkie’s blank stare, Rarity’s mild tension, and Applejack’s determined eyes.

For a few moments, nothing happened. Then Celestia turned to me.

“Hag.” she called, and I startled faintly at her voice, brought from my painful thoughts. As I looked to her, and the rest looked to her and then to me, she told me, “If you would.”

I stared for a few moments before I firmed my shaking soul. I walked toward his stony form, to stop a few steps away, closer than anypony else. I knew that the rest were behind me, waiting, and watching.

I stared up at Discord, uncertain for a few moments, before I acted.

“I call thee, the Order.” I whispered, closing my eyes, feeling it answer me. “Bind and restrain us, I, Hag, the caller, and he, Discord, the one whose name I know.” A moment more passed before, feeling the gazes of the rest, I added, “Hide us from others’ sight.”

I felt the order respond. I opened my eyes, and saw the glowing circles appear around us, the power manifesting. With a sudden sound, the chains of The Order snapped around me, and then him. I heard the others gasp, but by then, The Order was done, and I and he stood alone, shrouded in mist.

“Discord… free yourself, and speak to me.” I said.

The shift from stone to flesh was almost confusing, swift and silent. Almost so fast and smooth that one might be unsure that he had been stone at all, and not simply mimicking it. He stared at me, and weakly asked, “Emeline? Is… is that you?”

I shook my head. “I am she no longer, Discord.” I told him. “I am but Hag now; no more, and no less.”

He seemed unsure; many emotions present in his odd eyes. I saw him glance at the chains that bound us and frown at them. Then he looked to me, and his confusion was obvious. That it was confusion, and not anger, made my heart bleed worse.

“…What is this?” he asked me first, lightly shaking the chains that bound him.

“This is The Order, Discord.” I told him. “It is the rules and power that all spirits and avar are bound to. The same to which you too, are bound, in ignorance or knowledge.”

“You called this.” he said, watching me. “Why?”

“I have restrained us both, that we might speak without action.” I told him, and I noticed the hesitation in him when I said that. As he failed to respond, I chose to continue, “After we parted, Discord, I spent months of time in travel, seeking the elements once again.”

“I know that.” he said. “…Something happened to you though. What?”

“…Much.” I told him. “But of all that happened to me, I gained knowledge and insight. And I realized something, Discord.”

“…What was this realization… Hag?” he asked, slowly and uncertainty, thoughtful.

“I realized that I was being a terrible thing.” I began, his uncertainty painful to me; I knew all too well the pain I was going to give him. “I realized that I was hurting things that didn’t deserve it. That I was breaking, had broken, something that shouldn’t have been broken.”

“…And I led you to believe that I was what I am not because of it.” I finished, and I saw something like understanding come to him; he was denying it though, not certain, not yet ready to believe it.

“…I don’t understand.” he said, wondering, watching me closely, noting my own discomfort, the regret I showed him. “Believe you to be what you are not? What do you mean…?”

I watched him a moment more before I looked away from him, unwilling to see his face. That alone made his suspicions worsen. After a few moments, I finally managed to tell him, “I made you think I was what was going to make you win.”

A moment passed, and then I felt his sudden rage, his abrupt denial. I could hear the chains rattle as he struggled within them.

What he was feeling is nothing simple to describe. I’ll try, but Discord is no being so easily understood; I might fail to actually explain him at all, but I will try.

Discord is something very, very old. He is his namesake, Discord, the opposite of the harmony that ruled Equestria; the two had been at odds since who knew when. I don’t know how long the history went, but one day, he fought harmony directly, and harmony had won; the first time he had been stoned.

A thousand years or more later, and he finally broke free, into a new age, into an age where he found harmony weaker, at least so he thought. Unlike facing the twin alicorns, he faced the bearers, mortal ponies, weak, susceptible ponies. The moment he broke free he had acted to seal his success, stealing the elements and corrupting their bearers. Yet, they overcame him, and he, in his arrogance and feeling victory finally in his mismatched hands, failed to notice until it was far too late to do anything about it. Once more, he was turned to stone, his victory snatched from him, and harmony had taught him a harsh lesson:

That anything, even a flawed, mortal pony, could wield it to overcome him.

It might be impossible to know the sort of effect that message has on an immortal being like Discord. He had felt himself unassailable, that his powers and manipulations were perfect. To have the bearers break free of his control, to have them resist his powers and all that he had done, to have them gather before him and overcome him, mortal ponies one and all…

His pride had been crushed underneath harmony. With that loss, he knew that he was never going to win over it, even though he was almost its match.

Soon after, Celestia offered him a chance at life yet, if he would agree to become reformed. Given to Fluttershy to be watched and guided, Discord had agreed, because what was life in a prison of stone forever? And despite his loss, Fluttershy was still a mortal, still easily manipulated, and it was simple for him to have her promise to not use her element against him. To but promise to be her friend, and she willingly gave up her element, and thus rendered the bearers unable to stop him.

Yet, Discord must have failed to see the effects his crushing defeat had wrought in him, and the invisible bindings he had gained. Despite everything he soon did, Fluttershy kept him as a friend, and refused to see him as the thing he was, not even when he was actively harming something.

And in so doing, she gained a hold on him. Something she finalized when he finally went too far for even her legendary tolerance. Even then, she refused to use the elements against him, and he thought himself free.

But then she took her friendship back, and he had suddenly realized that she had taken the one thing he had ever been given. A gift he had not wanted, a gift he had thought worthless, a gift he thought nothing to him. But with his pride shattered, with Fluttershy’s powerful insistence on their being friends, with her kindness breaking into his odd heart, he realized what had changed in him.

He found that he valued her friendship, and that it was the sole thing he had ever valued. The one and only thing that anything had ever willingly given him.

Thus, Fluttershy bound him tight with the invisible and immaterial chains of friendship, and Discord had despaired of it all. Though he lived, though he acted, he was bound and kept and he knew it all too well. The pet of harmony.

And yet, despite that knowledge, he had slowly begun to find a new way. He had slowly accepted his newfound life, though he often struggled with it. He took what he was offered, and soon, he learned to enjoy the little he was given, instead of hungering for all that he was denied. He was becoming something not quite himself.

And then he had met me.

And I became his friend, and freed him from the bindings that everypony else had kept on him. I gave him the world I had cared nothing for, I encouraged him to be himself. I freed him, and renewed him at the same time.

And even better, I was fighting his sworn foe, harmony. I was breaking its strength, battling to end its reign. I was ensuring that he would never be defeated ever again.

I became his friend, and freed him. I fought his foe, and became his ally. I empowered him, loved his power, loved his mind, laughed with ever mad thing he could think of.

I became everything he ever dreamed of.

And it was all a mistake. All an accidental lie. Then, bound in the Order with me, he realized that I was no longer the pony he had thought I was. He realized that now, I was working against him. He realized that now, I was a part of harmony, that I worked with the crystal tree he hated with all his being. That I had repaired what I had broken and now stood in defense of it.

Imagine that. To be offered everything, to think that you had it, only for it to suddenly be snatched away by the same who had given you it. To have it not only snatched away, but for more than what was offered to be taken with it.

NO!” he roared, and I winced, hearing his rage, his pain. “No, this… this cannot… be!” I couldn’t look at him as he raged against the chains that held him, unable to break them despite everything he tried.

“Discord,”

“I trusted you!” he screamed. “I trusted you and you tricked me! You tricked me! I, I was, I was so, but now, now, I, I,” he roared suddenly, screaming with strange, discordant, sounds, screaming in rage and denial and pain.

I finally looked to him, and he seemed monstrous indeed. His scales were sharp, his claws glinted with something dangerous, his face and body shifted into something fearsome. He raged in the chains, unable to break them, but I never saw anything struggle so much against the Order before.

Finally exhausting himself against it, he panted, his eyes flashing in hate and rage. Glaring at me soundlessly in the Order’s chains.

“Discord…” I began, my eyes teary. “Discord, I never meant to do this to you.”

“But you have.” he hissed at me darkly, his eyes flashing red, his tongue forked and flicking out. “And what fate do you plan for me, Hag?” he spat.

I cried then, watching him, hearing him. I felt what was coming was inevitable, and I almost felt that I was going to not be able to do it at all, despite my assumption that there was no other choice. I felt I was going to have to banish him. An act harsher in the Order than it is amongst men and ponies.

Banishment, for a spirit, meant more than simply leaving a land or place. The Order would ensure that they would never return, that they could never return, by erasing them. Wiping their existence away until they were simply gone; spirits have no soul that would survive such a thing. They would simply end.

And with all my heart I did not want to see Discord banished. But all I knew then told me that I was going to have to. I knew that I had broken him beyond repair, that, in my ignorance, I had turned him into a monster worse than what he had started as.

Yet, before I could begin to tell him that, the Order wiped my tears for me, and in the few instants of clarity, I saw his own eyes, glaring in hate and flashing red, with their own tears in them.

That, and that alone, gave me the tiniest glimmer of hope; the finest hope that, just perhaps, Discord might yet be spared. And I seized onto that hope with all I had.

“I want your best, Discord.” I told him, and I saw him hesitate, confusion struggling to break through the anger. “I want to see you happy.”

“…What?” he asked, greatly confused, and I acted swiftly, before he could return to his rage.

“I meant it when I said I was your friend.” I told him. “I meant it every time I laughed at your chaos. I meant it when I said that I would never restrain you, but do you recall, Discord, the exception to that offer?”

“…The exception?” he murmured, watching me closely, thinking.

“So long as your antics remain harmless, and so long as you cure them after a time, then I said you could do whatever you wished to.” I reminded him. “Whatever you could imagine to do, I gave and still give you permission to do so, so long as you put it all back.”

I saw a flicker of understanding in his odd eyes, and I saw his form slowly reverting back to normal, and I grew hopeful.

“I want to see you happy, Discord.” I repeated. “I want to see your chaos, I want to hear your laugh, I want to see your smile. I want your best, but you have to understand that your best is… not what you are.”

“…What do you mean?”

I thought for a moment, struggling to put the idea into words. “Back in my home, Discord, spirits were nothing like you or the others. They were almost thoughtless; they had but one being, and they are unable to be anything more than that. But you’re so much more than that.”

“You’re Discord, as you told me. You represent discord, you are the spirit of chaos. But you’re so much more than just that. You have a being beyond just what you are. Back home, spirits could never be more than what they are, but here, you, and the rest, all of you are more than what you are already.”

“The cold horse is made of hate and anger, but he feels gratitude and happiness and even kinship. The other breaks any promise, refuses any bond, care nothing for anything, but it will still act on its own desires and even on the behalf of others, if it’s asked correctly. And if those spirits are more than their being, then I know, Discord, that you are as well.”

He watched me, curious, wondering, thoughtful, and I delighted, seeing him not angry. My heart rose and I smiled as I continued to speak.

“You found value in friendship, Discord. You found value in something that is set against your very being. Even after you met me, even after you thought yourself freed, you found happiness in being near me, and you found happiness in my own joy, just as I did yours. You are something more than but a single word: you are more than simple discord.”

“And with all my heart and soul, I would see you become all that you might become. I want to see you delight in your life. I want to see you laughing and happy and joyful, I want to see your chaos and ridiculous ideas. I want to see you never have to struggle or fight, and I know that the power lies in you, Discord.”

He said nothing, watching me for a long time before he looked down and away slightly, a faint frown on his face. We both waited in that silence, hidden by the mist of the Order, for some time until he finally looked back to me.

“…Will you be there, Hag?” he asked me, and I smiled at him.

“Like I told you so long past, Discord; this body isn’t long for this world.” He hesitates, a little saddened, and my grin grows. “But… that’s this body, after all.” I added with a wink

Discord blinked and I laughed. Seeing his sudden confusion, mixed with hope, I laughed all the more.

“If you but knew the things I learned.” I told him, still chuckling. “If you only knew what I have been given. Discord, I made this body myself; I chose this life. I chose to be aged. I chose to be mortal. But even now…”

“I am more than this simple shell of flesh and blood.”

I smiled at him as he stared at me, not really understanding, but he knew I was telling him the truth.

“Come the day when I finally pass, Discord, I won’t leave you. I’m not sure what will happen then, but know that, throughout the centuries, I will be there with you, forever your friend.”

“…You did it.” he murmured, shocked, though he hesitated, unsure, and asked me, “But, but how?”

“That is my own secret, Discord.” I told him. “Mine to have, mine to keep. The others are waiting though; I think that somepony is trying to work out how to break through the mist.”

With a faint rattle, I hold one hoof out to him, offering him it.

“Once, you asked me if we were friends.” I told him. “Now, I ask you the same. Are we friends, despite all the time past, all the knowledge we have gained?”

He grinned massively then. Wordlessly, he reached out to grab hold of my offered hoof. I felt the Order accept it, and in a sudden instant, the chains were gone, and the mist dissipated, leaving us standing in the garden, pony holding hands with the draconequus.

At least that was true for all of a half second before Discord lifted me up and seized me in a great hug, twirling in place, laughing in joy.

“Old mare!” I yelled, despite everything, the rest watching in varied levels of shock from the short and brief views I had of them as he spun.

Discord stopped, and held me out as though I was some sort of infant in front of him, his odd eyes sparkling with happiness. “Discord.” I growled, unhappy then, more so now; this was humiliating. “Put me down.”

He chuckled as he delicately placed me back on the earth, and then he looked at the rest, still smiling.

Before anypony, even Celestia, could speak, he did so first:

“I offer my utmost apologies for my actions during the past year.” he said. “If there is any remaining trouble, I offer to clean it up, good as new.” Celestia opened her mouth, and he added, idly glancing at his claws, “If you want any more information, I refer you to Hag: my dearest of friends.”

That had them all look to me, and I looked back, unsure how to respond to their collective gazes. Each one asked a different question. I chose the simple route, and focused on Celestia.

“We had a long talk.” I told her, and then added, “Discord is willing to do whatever it might take to prove himself, princess. And if he doesn’t, I’ll give him an earful and he’ll do it anyway.” I finished.

“…I suspect I shall have to ask you more later.” Celestia said, thoughtful. “Where do you go now, Hag?”

“To find the other half a heart broken in two.” I told her, and to my mild surprise, she only nodded, as if understanding.

A short time later, and I was leading Rose towards Honest. It wasn't hard to find him; he had kept the scales.

And I could always find the scales again.