The pale Earth Pony barely shivered against Obsidian's newest onslaught. The fiery projectiles impacted the stallion's skin with a black ripple, cratering the pasty suface. On top of that were the words, the scalding words that dug deeper than any weapon.
I hate you! I despise your race, your ethics, your kingdom, your land! I hate you so, so much!
The Mist Lord - as he had taken to calling himself - paced angrily, only keeping one claw steady, the claw that was firing continous shards of fire.
I hate you enough to suspend Windigoes in your soul and Hydras in your gut!
He grabbed the pony in one claw, slowly closing his furry paw around the deviation's neck. The creature didn't even bother to struggle.
Rrrrrngh... I just hate you.
His voiceless shout dropped to nothing louder than a sigh, with a dangerous lowness. He uncoiled his claws, letting the creature slump to the ground. Letting a pair of Unicorns move the wounded creature to a safer range, Obsidian's fuming was cut short as another being entered the area.
The Alicorn's bone-clad hooves still outshone any of his other creations. Such a pity it was Celestia's soul inside it.
What is it? And no bad news. I am not in a good mood.
She cleared her enchanted throat. I hate to disrupt whatever volatile expression of violence you've decided to temper your anger against.
Of course you do.
She glared at him, a twin row of spikes sliding out of her neck in place of an angrily jagged pastel mane. And because I know you won't kill me, no matter what I decide is worth telling you, I want to inform you that the two idiots that you sent out to find gemstones have returned, with nothing to show for their missing limbs. On top of that, we've had record minion losses... at least a hundred from my division, she snorted angrily, The Griffon has been mowing down our ranks, while your father has done nothing to aid us or hinder us. Your wife is at the same mutuality. Is there any way you wish to affect their desicion?
They can do whatever the buck they want. I don't care.
Imbecile, I want to remind you that I hate having to give you good ideas, but they may recollect the Elements in order to defeat you, and return the prior glory of Equestria.
I already said I didn't care! Get out of my sight! Maybe... maybe they will find the Elements... maybe this can all be over...
Kha spun, scuffing his new hooves against the ground. White scraped up like peeling skin, revealing dirt and grass and water. The once-white being had darkened considerably, only a few patches of ivory left on his flanks.
Laughing happily, he re-planned the mental map he had of his home, rubbing his side up against a solid wall that slowly revealed itself as a tree. Something like an eplosion shook the ground, and the navy Pegasus paused, eyes closed.
A second later, something small and wet spalshed on his back. He shook it off, but it was quickly followed by many more. Slowly, he opened one eye, seeing a rushing torrent of blissfully clear rain pouring from a graying sky.
"Color!" He yelled, rearing up on his hind hooves. "It's freakin' color!"
Seeing a puddle forming nearby, he cantered over, dipping his muzzle in. After a long drink, he lifted his head up, looking into the rippling surface.
A pair of black eyes looked back.
Sighing, the stallion closed them, letting the rain run down his face. With a small flicker of hope, he reopened one.
This time, a black... red-irised pupil looked back.
"We'll just keep trying," Tigejay hummed in the foggy silence, "'til we run out of cake."
You again? Haven't you... oh, I don't know... thrown yourself off of a high precipice or something by now?
"Why would I? There's no sense in crying over every mistake~"
My god! Please... please don't sing. Obsidian's ivory form materialized through his thick blanket of mist. Did you really buy that whole 'True Manticore' crap? Because I think I really pushed that too hard.
"Well... what hurt Mom?"
"IDIOT!" Obsidian roared, the sound echoing around the silence while he regained his composure. Think about it, featherbutt. I'm like the freaking god right now. Anything that can kill right now is pretty much under my control. Let's see that chicken brain of yours in action.
"Um... you killed her?"
Yes. Thank Equestria, I thought I'd have to explain myself over again. With pictures or something.
"So, why are you here, Mister Scary-Pants?"
My name is not scarypants. Obsidian hissed. You've known me since I was born. At least, your memory span should be that long.
Tigerjay stuck his tongue out. "I don't care what you say."
I hate you so much right now.
As Sunrise slept peacefully against his warm flank, Discord lay with his head on his hands, trying to remember what really made he banish him.
It was getting on his nerves.
Discord - much younger - lay on his back in the crimson throne, toying at one of the loose threads with a claw.
"Stop doing that!" A tiny voice squeaked.
Dropping the string, Discord rolled over, looking across the empty courtroom. A small Alicorn stood there, navy hooves sliding slightly on the smooth stone. She cantered up, skidding to a stop with her tiny wings flared.
"Come on! You know daddy hates it when you do that."
"He's not my dad." Discord grumbled.
"Corona's trying his best." A second female voice hissed as a slightly older Alicorn waltzed in, pink mane limp around her neck. "Which is more than I can say for you."
"Great, you're here. I needed a pony princess to help me solve my thread picking issues." Discord drawled, glaring at the white filly.
"Please don't fight again." Luna whispered. "I don't want daddy to throw the sun into Equestria."
"Puh-leeze, Luna," the draconequus growled, "he's just scaring you into behaving. If he had the power to move a billion tons of burning gas and flame into a collision course with the planet, he would have done it a long time ago."
Celestia took the chance. "Like when you were born?"
Discord's yellow eyes filled with rage. With a voiceless roar, he kicked away from the cushion, the impact lauching the golden throne backwards as he jumped forward. There was a single moment where time seemed to stop as Discord hung in midair, eyes locked on Celestia's purple ones. Then he was falling, landing on her fleeing back and rolling her onto the ground, lion paw raised, claws outstreched in a killing stance, the white filly beneath him staring up in terror, limp under his weight.
And then he was thrown aside, wings barely missing being speared by the new fighter's sharp horn. The scarlet Alicorn lit his mane in ethreal golden flames, standing over his daughter with hatred in his eyes. He was quite imposing to Discord's young eyes. A coat that seemed to glow with embers, a flaming mane edged with charcoal-black patterns, golden eyes burning, magic braced and ready to fire, wings spread imposingly, feathers shimmering with Alicorn magic.
"D-daddy, he-"
"I know what he did." Corona interrupted his eldest. "He attempted to assasinate the future Queen."
"Pssh, she can't even order a bunch of ants around." The draconequus snarled, holding his quickly-bruising side. "If she's going to lead Equestria, I'm taking it over."
Discord quietly stared off into his memories. Nopony took any notice to what he had said. Did they ever wish they did? Did they even remember?
Corona stared daggers at the child, who glared back with equal ferocity. Something changed then, some deeper spark of fire in Discord's eyes, that made Corona flinch and back up. The young draconequus growled, the noise suddenly much more ferocious than it had been before. A pale yellow aura lit up around his claws, startling everyone in the marble room.
"Go home, you little misfit. Equestria is no place for the likes of you." Corona hissed, shutting his wings and pulling Celestia off to the side, leaving room for the 'assasin' to pass. Discord didn't move, just silently, subtlely checked where his magic had centered. His claws.
"I think Equestria is just perfect for me, actually." The power seemed to change him then, aging him in centuries, letting his patchwork form tower over the Alicorns thousands of years before it should. Celestia stared up, wide-eyed in terror, while Corona tried his hardest to keep from running.
"D-D-Discord?" A small, terrified voice asked. Something was... hugging his leg, hooves only reaching a quarter-way around. He looked down, so much more powerful than he had been before, horns scraping massive ditches into the ceiling.
Luna's tear-filled eyes met his giant ones, and some mental dam broke, the rage-fueled power rushing out of him. He shrank, watching as the fear in Celestia and Corona's eyes turned to shock, and then to hate. The filly didn't let go through the entire transformation, her tiny hooves clinging to his scaly leg.
"What have you done?" Corona growled.
"I didn't mean-"
"I know exactly what you meant!" The first Alicorn snarled. "You were going to kill all of us so you could rule Equestria!"
Discord lifted one eyebrow. "You're kidding, right? Why is everything about your friggin' kingdom? Little sunflower-butt there could rule over this stupid hunk of land for as long as she wants to, and I'll be pleased as long as you're dead when she does."
"Guards!" Corona yelled, almost immediatly flanked by two blue-maned Pegasus. "Throw him in the dungeon. As far away from the outside as possible."
They trotted up, restraining Discord's childish body easily, holding him up against a white face. "Yes, sir."
And it was there, surrounded by criminals and rogue myths, that Discord learned to channel his powers, yellow eyes lit up by a golden light.
Discord rubbed his eyes with a paw, not surprised when he put it back down soaked with tears.