A/N: Just wanna say that I'm not a fan of the show and even less of a brony. That being said, many might wonder why I wrote this in the first place. The answer is simply this: I'm bored. Anyway, please don't hesitate to leave any comments, praise, suggestions, corrections, death threats etc. since this is my first time writing in this fandom and I'd sure appreciate the help to improve my writing. I hope you enjoy.
Setting: This takes place sometime after Discord (and after Princess Luna's banishment) is imprisoned for the first time. So, Twilight Sparkle and the gang will not be making an appearance. Sorry.
Warnings: Not sure where I'm going with this or if I even want to make this more than a one-shot so for now, I'll keep it T for language and some mention of darker/adult themes in the (maybe) future.
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It started innocently enough at first, like most things often do, with an occasional passing glance out her window. Just to make sure he's still there, of course.
Her eyes would sweep over the gardens and pause for just a fraction of a second longer on him before going on her way. Hours or maybe even days would pass, he couldn't be sure, before her eyes would search him out again. It wasn't an intentional gaze. Not at first. More like her eyes couldn't help being drawn to his still form like an interesting curio; foreign and disfiguring the beauty of her gardens.
Discord lived for those moments... and hated them with a passion. It was infuriating, frustrating and... and frusfuriating is what it was.
Whether intentionally placed there or not, since he wouldn't put it past her to add insult to injury, he had the perfect view of her balcony. Placed just far enough away to see into the flickering firelight of her study at night, but close enough to see the casual glance of her eyes whenever they landed on him. Since Discord couldn't fix his gaze elsewhere, he watched his only jailor night and day like a sentinel gargoyle.
Well played, of course. There he was, the very embodiment of chaos imprisoned in stone, surrounded by perfectly trimmed hedges like a cheesy lawn ornament and ogled at by any passing pony. A punishment he wouldn't wish on his worst enemies. He wouldn't have ever pegged her to have such a vindictive sense of humor.
Time passed. Days turned into weeks, and weeks stretched into months until he could no longer recall just how long he had been imprisoned and only noticed the passing of time with the seasons. The leaves turned colors, withered away and died. The gardens slept under blankets of shimmering snow, only to be reborn again with the spring. A never ending, weary cycle he longed to break and make his own. And all this sped past in mere moments, for years are nothing but a blink of an eye to an immortal such as himself, but whenever her eyes would catch his... time slowed to a crawl; an everlasting eternity where time pierced his soul with a painful clarity. He often wondered if it was all her doing.
Since he had little else to do with his time other than grow mold and collect bird droppings, he watched her. Her comings and goings, the few visitors she invites up to her study, the long hours she spends reading by candle light. Just... watched her. Waiting for that everlasting moment and see if he could see the trick to it. But there were no strings behind that magic. Nothing. Just the lonely, daily routine of her life, broken occasionally with a glance out the window. He thought that would be as far as it went, her eyes searching for his. Those small moments to wake him from the passing years... but he wouldn't be so lucky.
Apple blossoms littered the neat gravel pathways in the garden, marking the beginnings of spring when it happened. One moment he was barely aware of the world, lost deep within the stone, and the next moment she was there, looking quietly up at him. She didn't say a word, merely dragged her eyes over his still form before they settled on his. Again the aching torture of time settled into his heart and the world slowed to a stop. Blossoms hung in the air. All sound of the wildlife around them dulled, like music from another room; soft and distant.
It was at that moment he realized, she knew he was aware; alive and kicking with a thousand year long itch, restlessly churning his power beneath the bonds of stone. Perhaps she's always known... or maybe it was her intention all along since she did have a thing for doing away and imprisoning those who displeased her. He, forced to watch the orderly way of the world go on around him – Princess Luna trapped within her namesake, far away from the world she longed to be apart of. Celestia sure was making a regular old habit out of it. Her cruel twist of irony was almost admirable.
As soon as that everlasting moment began, it was over with a blink of her eyes. She stepped past his line of sight and sat down in the soft grass and it wasn't until he heard the familiar, rustling sound of parchment, did he realize she was reading a book beneath his shadow. The nerve.
He spent hour after torturous hour listening to each turn of a page and wasn't given the privilege to watch her. Instead, he imagined the face knows perfectly by now since he's spent far too much time watching her and too little time doing anything else. He pictured the way her brow furrowed and shadowed her face in the dim firelight at night while she read. The pensive worry that falls over her eyes like a veil when she returns from court. The countless façades she hangs by the door. Too often is she made to harden her face with a calm mask of serenity and false smiles over the loneliness that licks at the surface.
And she was lonely. Lonely in every way imaginable for that's the price immortals must pay. They're both imprisoned in a sense, he muses. The only difference is that only he can see the bars.
The sun sank below the horizon and the ceaseless turning of pages finally relented. Her hoofs clattered softly on the gravel and she stood before him. Again time stopped. Eternities might have passed; stars born and blowing out their final, fiery deaths a million times over in the stillness of the night.
Be at peace.
Her words reached through the stone although she hadn't uttered a sound. There was no anger in her eyes. No nostalgia of all those years ago before their last battle. Only a weary sort of sadness that bordered on pity. And that would not do. He would not be pitied.
What a laughable contradiction, telling chaos personified to be at peace. You can't wish for peace if you've never known chaos. It's foolish to even try, Princess.
“You're wrong, Discord,” Celestia spoke aloud to the empty garden. “I too, know chaos.”
And with that, she left and time continued on as if it hadn't hiccuped at all, sprinting twice as fast to pick up the slack. Discord watched her go and wished the gravel path would respond to his power, slither up like snakes and devour her whole. What does she know. He could show her true chaos... now wouldn't that be fun?
Time passed from their not-quite exchange and he hoped it would be the last of it. That she'll never bother him again and leave him to his imprisonment... but he wouldn't be so lucky.
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A/N: If you've read this far, that means you've suffered through my writing! Congratulations. Thanks for reading and drop me a review and lemme know what you think.