//------------------------------// // Chapter 14: An impossible desire // Story: Gusty the Great book 1- The beginning // by Dianabel //------------------------------// Once again, Bray returned to the same corridor he went before. Since he saw nobody around, he took the key to open a door, which led to some stairs. Slowly he entered and closed the door from the inside. He stared at the stairs and sighed. Although he wasn´t very old, he wasn´t young either, so going up these long stairs everyday exhausted him. “Come on Bray, you can do this.” he said to himself before going up stairs. After a few minutes, he finally got to the top. He breathed in and out before unlocking the door. “Alright lad, time to-” But it was just one hoof step on that room and chaos hit. He yelled when he realized that there was floor no more. Luckily, he floated so he didn´t get hurt. He looked around, seeing through the floating, upside down furniture. And if Bray wasn´t dizzy enough, the room was rotating. His headache got worse when he noticed something hitting his head. “Ouch!” “Excuse me.” a flying book apologized, to which Bray widened his eyes. “Excuse me.” another flying book said hitting Bray again. “Pardon.” “Permission please.” Losing his patience, Bray growled. “STOP PLAYING GAMES AND GET OUT OF WHERE YOU ARE YOU BRAT!” “Oh, is that any way to ask things?” a young voice said mischievously. Bray´s ears perked up. “Where are you?!” “I could be anywhere. Under the table, on the ceiling… All you have to do is search!” “I don´t have time for playing this weird and stupid version of hide and seek. Just come out from wherever you are!” The young voice giggled maliciously. “If you say so…” “Good. Wait a minute. Normally this takes more convincing.” What Bray didn´t realize is that a big threatening shadow appeared behind him. The shadow gave out a small chuckle. “BOO!” it exclaimed while touching Bray´s shoulder. The donkey gave out a high-pitched screech. While he panted, he heard laughs coming from the shadow. In a flash, it transformed into a small creature with a serpentine like body. It looked like a dragon, but it was no dragon. It had the horn of a goat and a deer, but it was neither. It had the head of a pony but it didn´t look a like a pony in the slightest. Its arms, legs and wings were mismatched as well. It had the paw of a lion and an eagle´s claw, a pegasus and a bat wing, and a dragon and a buffalo leg. Bray always thought it was a very odd combination but not as odd as its personality. The young creature laughed. “Oh, you should have seen your face and reaction. Priceless! Ha ha!” Bray growled. “DISCORD!” “That´s me.” Discord said with a smile as he flew upside down to Bray´s face. “Stop messing around and put everything back to normal!” “Geeze, I´m glad to see you too.” Discord said somewhat upset. “Yeah? I would be glad too if you didn´t do this every time I come to visit you.” “It´s just my way of saying hello and inviting you into my humble room!” “You call this a room?” “Yup.” “You´re going to have your room like this when your father comes?” Discord widened his eyes. “Wait. Today´s monday?” Bray nodded. “Well, considering how you have your room and the way you use your magic, I´m not surprised that you didn´t remember. Now for your father´s sake, make your room the way is supposed to be.” Discord rolled his eyes. “Fine.” Discord snapped his fingers but instead of ordering the room, he made it more chaotic by adding more elements, such as a volcano. “What are you doing? I told you to order it!” “I´m trying.” Discord replicated. “I just don´t…” Seeing that Discord was about to snap, Bray put his hoof on his claw. “No! How many times do we have to tell you?! Don´t snap without thinking! Otherwise you´ll make it worse.” “But how do I do that?” Bray raised his eyebrow. “Are you seriously asking me that question?” “I know what I have to think,” Discord said in self -defence. “but then new ideas for my room come to my mind continuously.” “Then don´t listen to them. Just focus.” “Alright, I´ll try.” But once again, Discord did the opposite they ordered him. “Make your room still.” Bray ordered. Discord snapped his finger and the room stopped rotating. “You father appreciates gravity.” Discord nodded and snapped his fingers. Afterwards, everything fell back into their place. Seeing that they were about to fall, Discord summoned two pillows to land on but by doing so he also summoned candy. Bray sighed. “Take out the candy.” Discord did as told. “Now, will you make your books books again?” Bray said while looking at the flying books. “But make sure that they don´t-” Bray didn´t finish his sentence as all the books fell on his head. “If this had happened with your father, he wouldn´t visit you next Monday.” “But you´re not my father.” Discord remarked. Bray rolled his eyes. “At least everything´s back to normal. As it should be.” Bray said while heading to the door to lock it. “Well, firstly, I´m a creature of chaos so of course anywhere I´m in is going to be like that. And secondly, want me to use my magic but whenever I use it you scold me. What is it that you want?” “Because the way you use it doesn´t make any sense.” Discord scoffed. “What´s the fun in making sense?” “Say that to your father and you won´t be that cocky, I´m telling you that. Anyway, did you revise today´s lesson? Or because you lost track of time you didn´t check? Either that, or you were too lazy to do that.” Discord narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms, upset by Bray´s remarks. “I did revise it.” “Really?” “Yeah!” “Then let´s check that.” Bray picked up a book. “What was today´s lesson?” “Uh… The beginning of Tambelon?” “The birth of monsters!” “Oh! The birth of monsters.” “Ok.” “The birth of monsters begins just when the Congregation,” Discord raised his paw and claw and slammed against the floor. “falls. Alright? I´ll go on.” Meanwhile, Bray raised his eyebrow and blinked estranged. “And the story behind this is that da-” he shook his head. “I mean father! Uh… he was planning to take his kingdom. Or was it empire?” he asked himself, to which Bray massaged his forehead. “Kingdom! That´s right kingdom, which he later turned into an empire because he wanted to, because he could and because he felt like it. Anyway, but he had problems because he had the congregation, which he absolutely hated. So… we know what he did in order to get respect and allies.” Discord took out a cabbage and cut its leaves. Then, he took out a match. Bray gasped and blew it. “What do you think you´re doing?! As you said, we already know what happened. You don´t need to set the castle on fire you idiot!” “I was just going to set the leaves on fire. You know, so I could eat it afterwards?” “I thought you didn´t like cabbages.” “I can eat anything.” he took out a fork and a bowl full of paper. “See? I thought you knew that.” “Don´t tell me those are pages from a book.” Discord looked from side to side. Bray sighed. “Let´s just go on with this. The sooner we finish, the sooner I can leave this… chaos.” “Thanks! I´ve been practicing on it.” Discord said genuinely excited. “Not good chaos. Stupid chaos.” “Oh.” his ears dropped. “Go on with the lesson please.” “But father also had to get rid of the ones who took everything away from him. And so, he got an idea.” Discord split in different animal parts. “Why not mixing dead bodies of different creatures and creating scarier ones with them?” he built himself again as he explained. “They would be his army and use it to scare and punish ponies he would and still rules over.” “What creatures did he create?” “Many! From cockatrices to chimeras. Including me, his biggest failure!” he giggled. Bray widened his eyes. “He called you that?” “Yup.” “Oh, you´re not a failure.” “Really?” he asked surprised. “Just a not so frightening monster like all his other creations.” “But I am scary! I frightened you when you came in here.” Bray laughed. “Maybe. But that, my dear, was a prank. Pranks are not a way of domination. But don´t worry, you´ll get there one day. Maybe a little too late but you´ll get there.” As Bray walked to the door, Discord looked at the window, lamenting that his desire wasn´t still coming. Unless the idea he just came up with convinced Bray. “I can practice if you take me out there.” Discord pointed at the window. “Are you crazy?! Do you know what your father would do to me if that happened?” “Well… I´m not getting scarier if I´m cooped up here, am I? Besides, it would enable me to study ponies.” “You want to study ponies?!” “Yeah. I´m always seeing them from my window and I wonder, what makes them tick? Once I discover that, I´ll know how to scare them in the future! Besides… I think there´s something out there that I don´t have here. I would like to know what that is.” “No offence, but they would eat you up alive on your own.” “But not if I go out with him. Maybe he could teach me how to scare ponies.” he said with a big smile. “You´re going to ask him?” “Yes!” “HA! Good luck with that.” he said while opening the door. When he saw Bray opening the door, Discord smile dropped. “Wait, you´re leaving? So soon?” “Darn right I am!” he said excited. “And I always leave at this time. I thought you knew that.” “But don´t you want to play-” he ran to the door. “No, I don´t. Goodbye!” he blew the door and locked it. Discord sat down. “How dull. Pff!” Suddenly, he noticed a pink butterfly flying around. It landed on the table. “Huh…” Discord smirked. As a cat, Discord slowly approached it. Whenever he felt it was noticing him, he hid behind a chair. He sticked his head out a little and quickly, he hid again. Then, he roared as he jumped to the table. The butterfly flew away. “I scared it! I scared it!” he exclaimed excited. “Too unfrightening? Ha! I don´t think so.” However, the butterfly landed on his nose. “What are you doing? You´re supposed to be scared you dummy. Roar!” he raised his paw and claw. But the butterfly was still on his nose. “That didn´t scare you, did it? Hmm… How about… This!” After snapping his eagle claw, a cloud of pink cotton candy appeared. Quickly, the butterfly flew away. “Ha ha!” Unfortunately, the butterfly landed near the puddle of chocolate. “Oh, come on!” His mood changed when he noticed that the butterfly drank a little. “Oh, I get it! You need energy to fly away for the next scare. Fair enough!” He soon realized that this was the perfect moment to scare the butterfly, as it was distracted. He mischievously giggled as he prepared to jump in the puddle of chocolate. “BOO!” The butterfly shook his wings immediately. “Where are you going?” he laughed. He chased it, trying to catch it. But the butterfly was flying too high. “Oh wait!” Discord stopped running. He looked at his wings. After struggling to shake his wings, he finally got off. “Better! Now, where are you?” He took a quick glance of the room. He spotted the butterfly at a corner of the ceiling. “There you are!” he said before flying to it. Though he failed multiple times at catching the fly, Discord was having lots of fun. So much, that without realizing it, his magic went out. The floor turned into soap, the chairs started walking and the bed turned into a bouncy castle. As it was exhausted, the butterfly rested on front of the door. “Gotcha!” “Good morning Discord.” a deep voice said. Discord froze. He looked up and saw Grogar right in front of him. He quickly closed his hands to hide the butterfly, leaving enough space for it. Afterwards, he gave a few steps back. “Oh… Um… Good morning, father.” “I see you decorated your room in a disastrous way.” Discord turned around and saw what he created. “Oh!” he exclaimed genuinely surprised. “How did that happen?” “You happened. Normally, I´d order you to put everything in order again, but seeing you still take so much time, I´ll do it myself instead.” After he ignited his horns, there was an expansion of magic that turned everything back to normal. “I can´t believe this. After almost a thousand times of explaining this simple task to you, you still have trouble doing this. Pathetic.” Discord did not answer nor made a movement. Grogar raised an eyebrow suspiciously while looking at the curious position of his paw and claw. “Discord, are you hiding something?” “No.” “Then why are your paw and claw like that?” “Because…. I like to join them together?” Discord smiled to lessen the tension of the situation but Grogar was still serious. “Open them.” Discord bit his lip. “I…” “Open them!” Grogar raised his voice. Discord whimpered slightly. Slowly, he opened them, revealing the butterfly which flew away. Grogar ignited his horns and blasted its wing off. Discord widened his eyes and looked at the butterfly with worry, seeing that it wasn´t moving. “Now it won´t bother us.” he looked at Discord and noticed his face. “Are you seriously feeling bad for a butterfly?” “Me? No! If I did, I would be weak.” “You´re already weak. But feeling bad for others makes you weaker. Do not make yourself more of a failure, Discord.” “I won´t, father.” “That´s right. I see you´re a smart head. Bray has told me that he has asked your lesson and that you´ve memorized it. In your own ridiculous way but at least you know the lesson. Now, shall we review your magic?” Discord nodded his head. He stretched his index fingers, pointing to the floor. He closed his eyes to focus better. From the noises he made, Grogar could tell that Discord was struggling. He narrowed his eyes. Suddenly, a thunder came from Discord´s fingers and hit the floor. Discord smiled excitedly. “I did it dad! I did it!” he jumped excited and hugged his foreleg. Grogar widened his eyes. He shook his head to take Discord off. “But not fast enough. You´re faster at doing magic that is useless rather than what will determine your future. And don´t call me dad. You know I don´t like it.” “Sorry.” “You are forgiven. Let´s see what else you can do.” Discord conjured up magic in his paw and claw, pulling an object to them. “Very well. Now, tell me. What´s a cockatrice?” “It´s a chicken mixed with the body of a dragon. If you look at him in the eyes, you turn into stone.” “And a manticore?” “A lion with dragon wings and a scorpion´s tail.” “A bugbear?” “A mixture between a bear and bee.” “What about a chimera?” “A goat, tiger and a snake mashed into one.” Grogar nodded. While he was thinking more questions to ask his son, Discord looked at the window, gathering lots of courage to ask him one question. “Father?” “Hm?” “Can I suggest you an idea?” Grogar narrowed his eyes, which intimidated Discord. However, there was no turning back. So, he continued. “Look. I might be young, but my mind is older, so… I was thinking…. Um… What I´d like to suggest is…” “Stop messing around and get to the point.” Grogar said directly. “I don´t have time for nonsense.” The excitement slowly built inside Discord to the point of getting out. “Ugh! I want you to take me to the outside so I can learn about ponies!” Grogar´s ears perked up. “Excuse me?” he asked angry. “But of course, if that´s stupid idea like most of my ideas, we could just forget about it.” “You want to be around ponies.” Grogar hatefully said. “No! I want to explore the outside because I feel that there´s so much I could learn. I know there´s something out there, far from home that I don´t have here. In here, somewhere deep inside of this flesh, an emptiness began to grow lately. A longing I´ve never known. Maybe by knowing what scares ponies, I´ll be scarier. In that way, I might fill that emptiness.” “That´s such a stupid argument.” “I disagree. Don´t you spy on ponies to know their weaknesses?” “I am the ruler of an empire, of course I must know my slaves´ weaknesses. But not because I´m curious about them or trying to fill something. Besides, we both know that your scares would be personalized pathetic pranks.” That is not scary.” “But… I´ll have to start practicing someday.” “Indeed. But you´re still wasting your magic in candy and games, and another bunch of stupidities. You wouldn´t survive on your own out there.” “But by your side, I could-” “I haven´t got time for that Discord!” Discord looked down. Grogar sighed. “Discord, can´t you understand? I´m doing this for your own good. Do you know what would happen if you went out there? They´d revile you as a monster.” “But I am a monster. You always say that.” “Yes. But since you´re weak, you wouldn´t be able to defend yourself. Ponies will be able to attack you. They will hate, scorn and jeer. They´d throw you stones, try to kill you or shun you! The world is cruel and wicked. It´s I alone who you can trust. I am your only friend.” Grogar smirked as he put his hooves around Discord´s face, which for some reason, discomforted him. “I, your creator, the one who had enough mercy let you live instead of destroying you. The one who protects you! How will I be able to do that unless you stay in here?” “You´re my one defender.” Discord mumbled. “Exactly. Be faithful to me. Do as I say, obey and stay in here. Don´t ever ask to leave, again.” Discord sighed. “Yes father. I´m sorry.” “You are forgiven. But remember, this is the only place where you´ll be safe and accepted.” Grogar said before leaving. Discord looked down, feeling ashamed of having asked. When he turned around, he noticed that the butterfly was still alive. He gasped and ran to it. He looked around before snapping his finger. He made himself as small as the butterfly to check the butterfly´s state better. He clenched his teeth when he noticed that its wing was broken. “Don´t say a word about what I´m going to do.” he told the butterfly. “It would ruin my reputation” He conjured up a handkerchief and wrapped it around the butterfly´s broken wing. After that, he made himself big again. He picked the butterfly in his lion paw. He looked around the room´s wall, looking for a space in which the butterfly could have entered. “There it is.” he said when he found a small crack up on the wall, near the ceiling. He approached it. “Can you fly?” he asked the butterfly. Though it had some difficulties, the butterfly managed to fly. “Good. Now go away. At least you can” Before leaving, the butterfly rested on Discord´s nose once again. “I… also had fun playing with you.” he smiled sadly. “Goodbye.” he bid farewell as before he watched how the butterfly flew away in the sky.