//------------------------------// // Chapter Ten: Confrontation // Story: When You Were Young // by Art Inspired //------------------------------// Confrontation While all the guards kept a close look out for Discord, Chrysalis played her diabolic mind games as though nothing was fallacious about tampering with a draconequus’s emotions. Her words, for a week now slithered through his head and churned his outlook on life. The more he resisted, the less his good nature became. Undesirable thoughts of actually taking revenge on his two once close friends began to entice his train of thinking, and draw it from its noble tracks. His opinion of his memories turned from reminiscence, to dissatisfaction, and the Queen forced him to believe she was his only friend. She would just fed on his love, his eyes turning to bleak sage pigmentation. “What’s wrong, fiend?” she asked, wrapping her words around his heart to play puppet master. The Blackbird Forest never did have much sunlight, for grey clouds always blackened the sky even when Celestia’s gift to the world shined the brightest. “I miss my friends,” Discord admitted longingly. “They don’t miss you,” Chrysalis said. The more she approached her pet, the more she resumed her explanation. “Don’t you remember how that witch threw you out the window? You said it yourself. Her gaze was more spiteful than anything else you’ve ever encountered. Why try and tell yourself they're your friends when they were just out to stab you in the back?” Discord’s eyes became paler with every question, signaling that his mentality was turning cruel and dark. As he fought the thoughts, Chrysalis just made things worse with her enchanting lies. “Why not join me in some revenge?” she offered. “It would teach them a lesson!” Discord’s only surmise was that if he did take his revenge out, he would want it to be in a secluded environment where no other pony would be harmed but them, which showed the last fragment of rectitude left in his soul. Once he proposed this, the changeling agreed to it, and the two left the forest shortly there after. With them entering the rocky gorge, cracks of hard soil, dried and barren was their field of judgment. Discord raised his claw with a straight pose. His chaotic energy shrugged through the wrist and eventually reached his palm. Then, he snapped his talons. Just like that, he'd summoned the two princesses. Celestia stood, her sister laid on her back, obviously sleeping. Celestia, confused and worried about what just happened brought her line of vision to the two creatures. Discord stood next to the changeling Queen, giving the two sisters a sneer. “Discord, there you are!” Celestia said in relief, but still puzzled by what was befalling her. As her sister raised her head to see she wasn’t in her room, she saw the twin front of them and jumped to her hooves. “Discord,” she said in an excited tone. However, the second she caught sight of Chrysalis, she couldn't help but to wonder who she was. As she asked, the changeling laughed. “That’s right! You were asleep through the whole thing,” Chrysalis mocked. Luna turned to Celestia to ask, "Who is this?” Celestia asked, “You remember the wedding for Cadence and Shining Armor?” Luna had been informed about it, but never actually saw the perpetrator who almost crashed the party. She slowly looked at the being, and asked “That was you?” Chrysalis just giggled, and confessed, “Maybe...” Celestia stared into Discords eyes, and yelled, “Discord, snap out of it!” She'd continue, but at that time, she was momentarily paused by his powers beginning to show just then. Pink clouds of cotton candy began winding in circles. “She’s tricking you into believing lies! She’s only using you to gain power through your love, and controlling your thoughts to abuse your mentality! You have to wake up!” Despite Celestia's plea, Chrysalis put her hoof on his shoulder, and she said to him, “It’s time to end this.” Discord agreed, and used his now fully developed powers to raise several pillars from the ground, each resembling hooves. As Celestia and Luna looked around the world that was lowering before them, Discord lunged forward. Celestia reacted by flying towards him, and as his claw and paw grabbed her hooves, Chrysalis began firing her magic at Luna who was already taking off. Celestia and Discord fought in midair while Chrysalis chased Luna around the spaces in between the hoof pillars. Celestia wished to try and stop the battle, for all the chaotic happenings were polluting the draconequus’s mind and sending his whole perspective out of alignment, but there was nothing she could do. With Luna landing on one of the lower hooves and Chrysalis floating above her, she flared her green spell at the blue mare. Luna returned fire. Sparks flew in random directions, but the two’s magic was caught in one huge battle royale. Meanwhile, Discord tossed the princess he fought into the air, his claw manifesting red lightning. Celestia braced herself. It came in harsh and struck her wing. The scorch mark on the feathers sizzled, and Discord’s eyes blinked. Something made his chest hurt, but at the time, his rage still blinded him. Out of nowhere, Luna soared above Discord’s head and landed with a thud next to her sister. The two had been bested, and Chrysalis landed next to the green eyed fiend. Celestia looked up. His whole being was now corrupt, and this would be the one chance she got to attempt to return him to the kind friend she knew was still in front of her, just in his subconscious. With her laying on the hard, rocky pillar, thunder surrounding the clouded skies, one single phrase was muttered. “Discord… no matter what you do… I love you.” The draconequus’s shoulders went limp, and his eyes began to blink. “What… did you say?” Celestia gulped, and said, “Even though you don’t know it, the mare you are with has been controlling you. She disguised herself as me, and… did something to you, didn’t she?” Discord looked at the Queen with suspecting eyes, and asked, “Is this true?” Celestia didn’t let her speak by immediately claiming, “She’s a changeling! She takes the form of somepony you love and steals your love for her. I should have known when I noticed that guard had disappeared, but now I know this isn’t your fault… but if this is it, just know… I love you.” Queen Chrysalis chuckled, and said, “Destroy them, now Discord.” But the being just stared at the two sisters, contemplating his choice. “Discord, I gave you an order.” His body whirled to the puppet master and force pushed her into the air. As she caught herself, her horn illuminated, showing her disappointment. “Oh, ho, ho! WRONG CHOICE!” The sparkling ray of destruction shot out from her horn, but Discord just pointed his claw forward, as if he was going to catch something. The green beam struck his palm, though he remained perfectly still, not even budging an inch. His whole body absorbed the impact, and as the orb of chaotic energy surged in his claw, he pulled his arm back before thrusting it forward again. The magic inferno was shot back and headed straight for the Queen. As it almost struck her, it stopped and floated there. The radiant light shined in her eyes, and before she knew what happened, it fired bright flairs outward, sending her packing to the farthest reaches of Equestria. As her screams died down in the distance, Discord stood there, his claw extended forward, eyes closed and green aura lighting his whole body.