//------------------------------// // The Night // Story: A Discordic Adventure // by GeekCat //------------------------------// “So...princess,” Pinkie said. “Mare to mare, what’s the best way to dissuade someone who...kind of likes you and seems a little nice, but you’re not really interested in him like that...and you want to turn them down really nicely so that they don’t cover you in boiling cheese?” Fluttershy sighed, still draped over Discord’s back. He didn’t trust her to not run off and get lost in the woods. “Well...you just tell him he’s not your true love,” she said. “True love is...something you’ll know, when you see them for the first time…” “And yet, you thought I was your true love before seeing what I looked like,” Discord said with a roll of his eyes. “Now I think we both know that that’s not true, so your reasoning is a little bit faulty, isn’t it, princess?” Princess Fluttershy scowled, making another pointless attempt to strike his back with her hoof. She sighed, and became limp. “The sooner we get to Duloc, the better,” she muttered, a sentiment Discord agreed with. “Oh, yeah. It’s really nice there, Princess Fluttershy!” Pinkie said cheerfully, a sentiment Discord disagreed with...though he made a face of disgust instead of saying anything. “I’m sure that you’ll like it.” “And...Lord Tirek?” she asked, her curiosity piqued. “The one who sent you...what is he like?” “Well…” Discord’s lips twitched into a smirk. “Creatures like Tirek are in short supply.” He winked at Pinkie, who grinned and mouthed, ‘puns?’. His grin widened, and he nodded. “Though…” he said slowly. “There are some who think little of him.” Pinkie snickered, pressing a hoof to her lips to try and stifle it. “Stop it,” Fluttershy said, sounding annoyed and pushing against his back again. “You’re just...just jealous because this Lord Tirek has more noble blood, and, and you can’t measure up to him!” Discord rolled his eyes (my, they were getting a lot of exercise today) at the weak, barely-attempted argument. “You can do the measuring yourself, when we get to Duloc tomorrow,” he said. “Then we can all go our separate ways and be done with all of this.” “Tomorrow?” she said. “I didn’t know Duloc was that close…” “It’s not,” he said. “But I want you off my hands as soon as possible, and if that means traveling through the night, so be it.” “T-travel through the night?” she said nervously. “Shouldn’t we stop to make camp?” “That’d take longer,” he said. Although resting and getting some magic back is a bit tempting… “We’re traveling through the night.” “B-b-but…” the princess said. She began suddenly squirming, surprising him enough that she dropped to the ground. Thankfully, even though she landed on her hooves, all she did was rush forward to block his path. “T-there are robbers in the woods!” “Robbers?” Pinkie said. “...Discord, stopping for camp actually sounds really good right now.” Discord sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose and rubbing at his eyes. “You two...you do realize that robbers are no match for me, right?” he said, raising an eyebrow. “I can get us through this forest without any trouble—nothing is going to stop us!” The princess’s gaze turned downwards, and her face became obscured by her mane. Discord’s eyebrow rose even more. Is she giving up? he thought. Then, her shoulders began to shake. She started sniffling, and a tiny whimpering sound left her throat. Oh, no, Discord thought as his heart froze. I don’t care, I don’t care, I don’t care… The princess lifted her head, revealing shimmering eyes with tears brimming on their lashes. Despite how much he absolutely did not care about how ponies felt, much less this one—his heart felt a cold twinge of guilt. “Ugh, fine!” he said, throwing his hands into the air. “We’ll stop for the night! Would you stop making that face?” “Yay, thank you!” she said, her face brightening. He snorted, crossing his arms and turning away. “Guess we need to find a place to set up camp…” he muttered. “I’ll go and look.” “Oh, I’ll help!” Pinkie said. Discord snorted again, storming off into the trees with Pinkie bouncing along beside him. After a few minutes of searching, a fidgety princess fussing near him as the sun sank lower in the sky, the three of them stumbled on a small clearing in between the trees. There was a cliff nearby, though the drop didn’t seem that large. The important thing, though, was the very large rocks scattered around the area. Drained as his magic was, he could still muster up the energy to levitate a few rocks! With a flick of his claws, he moved the rocks into the shape of a makeshift, one-room abode. “There,” he said. A snap of his claws, and glue appeared in between the boulders to hold them together. “Does that satisfy thee, milady?” The princess scowled, giving him an unimpressed look. “Discord...maybe we can do better than that,” Pinkie said. “It’s kind of small, and doesn’t look that comfortable…” Princess Fluttershy glanced over at the setting sun, then turned back to the ramshackle stone house. “No, no, it’s perfect,” she said, stepping forward and towards it. “It just needs a few...homey touches.” “Such as?” Discord said, raising an eyebrow. Hopefully she wouldn’t start begging him to make renovations with his magic… She glanced around for a bit, then flew over to a nearby tree. She grabbed several thick vines that were hanging from its branches, then flew back to the stone house, quickly shoving them into one of the cracks so that they draped over and blocked the entrance. “A door,” she said, looking quite proud of her work. He snapped his fingers, making sure the vines stayed in place, and making the green curtain a little thicker. “Anything else?” he said dryly. “No, thank you. This is good,” she said. “And so...good night, you two.” She pulled back the vines and stepped inside. “Oh!” Pinkie said, stepping forward. “Would you like any bedtime stories? My Granny Pie had lots of stories that put me right to sleep and gave me good dreams—” “Nonono, thankyou, goodnight!" the princess said, her words as quick as her closing of the curtain. Both Discord and Pinkie blinked in surprise at her sudden end of the conversation. Once Discord had recovered from his shock, he blinked and then snorted. With a flick of his claw, another large rock that he hadn’t used in the structure moved over and began to move in front of the princess’s vine curtain. “Discord!” Pinkie said. “What?” he said innocently. “She wanted a door, didn’t she?” Pinkie gave him an unimpressed look, and he dropped his claw with a huff, the boulder stopping to the right of the vine curtain. “I was kidding,” he said with a huff. “I swear, you ponies...no sense of humor.” He headed off into the forest, searching for a berry bush he had seen a while back, while Pinkie rolled her eyes at him. Hours after the sun had set, and Pinkie and Discord had eaten their fill of berries and cupcakes, the two of them were lying on their backs near the small cliff, looking up at the night sky. “And...over there,” Discord said, pointing to another constellation. “That one that looks like the time I stole three wheat fields. It was fun, seeing the farmers’ confusion and watching them all accuse each other…” He drew an imaginary picture in the stars, one of him reaping wheat and shoving it into a burlap sack. “Uh-huh…” Pinkie said. “You know...when I asked if you knew stories about the stars, I thought it’d be connected to the constellations that are really there. Or about what futures you can see in the stars!” He sighed, rolling his eyes. “There’s no real constellations—just ones that ponies made up and decided must be the true ones. And I don’t read the future from the stars—or palms or tea leaves!—unless I’m trying to con someone. And who needs money when there’s magic?” Still, he found and traced out another constellation, this one of him running a fortune-teller’s stand and tricking a long line of ponies into believing their lives were terrible...while lightening their wallets and saddlebags. “I’ve had a little fun infiltrating fairs that way, but there have been better times,” he said aloud. “Like going on the rides, and eating all of the sugary, greasy food?” she asked. “That’s my favorite part of going to fairs!” “How surprising,” he said snarkily. “Say, Discord,” she said. He turned his head to her, and she smiled. “What are we gonna do when we get our chaotic dimension back?” “Excuse me, our dimension?” he said, his eyebrows raising. “Yeah, you know!” she said. “When we’re through with saving the princess and Tirek gives us a reward that may or may not involve all the other creatures getting in trouble…” “‘We’?” Discord said, eyebrows rising even more. He scoffed. “Pinkie, there is no ‘we’ in this. No ‘our’. This is about me, and my dimension!” He jabbed his thumb against his chest, narrowing his eyes at her. “But to answer your question,” he said, glancing back up at the stars. “The first thing I’m going to do is to build a wall. Several walls, even.” He lifted his hand, tracing ideas between the stars. “Perhaps one around the door, and then one behind the door for good measure…” He rolled on his side, turning away from her. Pinkie’s mane deflated slightly, her ears flattening. “That’s harsh,” she said. “Real harsh…” A second later, she stood up and walked around, looking him in the eyes again. “You know what I think?” she said. “I bet that this wall idea is to keep somepony out.” “What, did you think it was to play racquetball with?” Discord snarked, scowling and rolling onto his other side. Even before he finished moving, Pinkie had bounced over to make eye contact again. “Are you hiding something?” she asked. “Drop it, Pinkie,” he growled, rolling onto his back to look up at the stars instead. The twinkling stars, that didn’t try to question him or annoy him… But a pink muzzle entered his vision. “Is this a straw-draconequus thing?” it asked. “No, it’s a ‘drop it already, Pinkie’ thing!” he snapped, lips curling back to show his fang. “Why don’t you want to talk about it?” she asked calmly. “Getting things off your chest would make you feel better…” “Why do you want to talk about it so badly!?” he said. “Why are you blocking?” she asked, still as calm as ever. “Why can’t you just leave this alone!” he hissed. No matter which way he turned, Pinkie bounced or stepped around to meet his eyes. “I just have one question!” she said. “Who exactly are you trying to keep out, Discord? Just answer me that?” “Everyone, alright!” he yelled. “Now would you drop it?” Pinkie’s ears flattened back, and she shrank back a few inches...until a smile spread on her muzzle. “Thank you,” she said, sounding smugly happy. “Now we’re starting to get somewhere…” “Oh, for the love of chaos!” he said, standing up and throwing his hands into the air. Neither of them noticed the vine curtain of the princess’s temporary house being pulled back, or the teal eye watching the two of them carefully. Discord turned and stormed away from Pinkie, towards the cliff’s edge. Pinkie followed after him as he sat down, feet dangling over it. “What’s wrong with the world, anyway?” she asked. “I mean, there are so many nice creatures, and good friends, but all you want to do is shut them all out. Why?” He looked over his shoulder at her and scoffed. “Oh, sure. The world is full of nice creatures and good friends for ponies,” he said. “But when a draconequus approaches, even if it’s a young cub-foal-hatchling?” His voice raised an octave in pitch, and he clenched his fists. “Ah, help! Run away! A scary, ugly, dangerous draconequus!” He sighed heavily, his shoulders and ears drooping. “They judge me before they even know me,” he said, his voice back to normal. “That’s why it’s not worth trying to give the world a chance.” Back inside the rock shelter, the teal eye widened...and then looked down, full of guilt. The vines swished closed as the princess retreated back into the darkness, still having gone unnoticed. Pinkie also frowned, her ears flattening as she looked down guiltily. After a few moments, she looked back up and slowly approached him. “You know…” she said. “When I first met you, I didn’t think you were an ugly, dangerous draconequus.” He glanced over at her. “...yeah, I know.” He turned his attention back to the night sky as she took a seat beside him, just a few inches away. “...so,” she said. “Do you have any other stories about the stars? Maybe with earth ponies in them?” “Eh…” he frowned and looked at the stars, then pointed to a few dim ones near the moon. “There’s, ah...Shrill Song. The loud and annoying.” “I think I see it,” she said, narrowing her eyes. “The one that looks like she’s climbing up the side of the moon, right?” He paused, then shrugged. “Yeah, sure. Why not.” He chuckled. “Let me guess, she used a rope to climb her way there from the earth?” “Mhmm!” she said with a nod. “And she’s using it like a tightrope!” She drew her imaginary picture between the dim stars. Discord chuckled, putting his hands under his head and leaning back against the ground. “Heh...I oughta try that sometime…” He yawned loudly, showing off his wide collection of fangs, and let his eyes drift closed. He must have been more tired than he thought, especially thanks to all the magic he had been using...as soon as his eyes were closed, he already felt his body and mind going numb. He pushed away from the cliff edge, and heard Pinkie yawn and lay near him right as he drifted off to a dreamless sleep. Duloc was completely silent as the moon shone overhead, the polished walls and streets glistening under its light. The night air was cold and still, aside from the shuffling of knights patrolling the streets in search of troublemakers, ruffians, and magic users. Aside from them, most of the kingdom’s citizens were asleep, or at least lying quietly in their homes in hopes of drifting into slumber. But one creature was very much awake, the clopping of his hooves muffled on the rug of his bedchambers as he paced back and forth. “So, we have a dress,” Tirek said to himself...almost. It wasn’t directed at the large mirror he had ordered to be brought into his room, but the alicorn inside still had to listen. “We’ve guessed at her size, but all ponies are basically the same, anyway.” Twilight’s feathers ruffled, but she grit her teeth and bit back a comment. “We’ll start baking the cake once she’s here...cake will keep the crowd pleased, I believe,” Tirek continued, pacing from his bed to his balcony. He paused there, staring out at the starry night sky. “That...beast better not dally on this task.” While his back was to her, Twilight sharply glowered at him from behind the glass pane, her horn flickering with rage-filled magic she knew she couldn’t release. She had been experimenting whenever no one was watching, and doing calculations in her head whenever she suspected someone was. But it all came out the same—she couldn’t just push her way through and into the outside world. Tirek needed to be defeated in order for her curse to break. And as far as her scrying spells could reach in this form, she knew she couldn’t defeat Tirek alone with her current...predicament. And if she tried, well, she’d probably get a close view of how Grogar’s Crown worked. Her scowl deepened. Tirek’s gaze flicked back to her, and she quickly shifted her expression into one slightly more neutral, with the light on her horn dying out, though she couldn’t completely hide her disdain. She’d just have to keep thinking and come up with a new plan, that was all. Hopefully whoever he sent to rescue Princess Fluttershy would fail, or at least take a long time...for both her sake, and the princess’s. “Twilight,” he said, turning and trotting back towards her mirror. “How many creatures in the city can officiate the ceremony? To make the Crown work?” She bit back a sigh. Of course she was here to answer his questions. She closed her eyes before she ended up rolling them at him, her horn glowing faintly as her scrying spells scanned over the kingdom. For each spell she cast, she resisted the urge to see exactly where Princess Fluttershy was right now. Even after Tirek had finally chosen who should officiate the ceremony and gone to bed...she couldn’t risk her spell leaking onto the mirror itself. If Tirek saw her secret… The thought made her shudder. She didn’t even want to think of what would happen to her, how Tirek would react. So she closed her eyes and allowed her image to fade from the mirror, falling into as deep of a sleep as she could.