//------------------------------// // Chapter Two: Discord Comes to Canterlot // Story: The Kingdom of Discord // by The Pirate Prince //------------------------------// The celebrations continued for a few moments before coming to an unexpected end. Pony ears strained and turned, searching for the mysterious sound that had no obvious source. The sound itself shouldn't have been unusual, hooves coming together in applause. But it was distinct over the noise of the crowd and seemed to be everywhere, like somepony was clapping was right beside both ears at once. Canterlot quietened, leaving the slow, sarcastic clap the only sound in the city. Eventually, that too ceased. "I suppose congratulations are in order.” A smarmy voice spoke up from the rear of the balcony. The group turned to face the grey coated pony leaning back on the castle wall beside the door. Wonderbolt stepped forward, wings outstretched with fire in his eyes. “Who are you?! Where are my men?!” There should have been an honor guard on the balcony. Had they just disappeared, or had he simply been so distracted that he hadn't notice their absence? “Oh relax. They're fine.” replied the blank-flanked stranger, standing up and moving between the bride and groom. “As for me?” He raised himself onto his back legs, forelegs outspread. “I! AM!” A moment passed, then another, and another. “Wha-” began Wonderbolt. “DISCORD!” Impossible lightning struck from the cloudless sky. Ponies' turned from the intense light and covered their ears from the deafening boom. Where the mystery pony had once stood, now was the draconequus form of the chaos spirit. He stretched his arms then leaned to the princess. “What do you think? Too much?” Without waiting for a response, Discord jumped onto the battlements of the balcony. With a flash of light, a wireless microphone appeared in his eagle claw hand, despite electronic audio equipment not being invented yet. “Ladies and gent-” He moved the microphone away from his mouth. “Wait a minute.” “Mares and Gentlecolts!” He began again, his voice echoing through the city and over the countryside. “Today you came from out of your little homes to celebrate a change in your ruling class. Little did you know how big change this day would really bring. Rejoice, for Discord, spirit of, well, discord, has come bring fun and chaos to your boring little lives. In celebration, everyone take the day off.” The spirit paused for dramatic effect, spoiled by Puddinghead. “Um, everypony already has the day off.” She explained. “Oh.” replied Discord, legitimately surprised. “In that case, have tomorrow off as well.” From the crowd, a pony's solitary cheer was quickly extinguished by the glares of his neighbors. The microphone disappeared into the state of non-existence it had came and the spirit teleported back to the rear of the balcony. “Well then, lots to do, can't stand around here all day. Platinum, Boltie, sorry I can't stay, but I've got a throne room to decorate. Still, tradition is tradition.” Another flash and the chimera disappeared from the balcony. A second flash made the group look up to see the a small mountain of rice appear above them. It hovered, suspended in the air for a brief couple of seconds before enveloping the bride and groom. Wonderbolt pulled himself out of the mess, either no one had told Discord the rice wasn't supposed to be cooked or he just didn't care. He shook his head, dislodging rice, peas and cooked prawns off his helmet, and turned to the two ponies helping his wife out of the mass of food. “Clover, get up to the libary and find out everything there is to know about this thing. Councilor Puddinghead..” “Former-Chancellor Puddinghead.” She interrupted. For some reason, the councilor preferred being referred to by her former title. Everypony had long accepted it as one of her eccentricities. “Former-Chancellor Puddinghead,” Wonderbolt corrected himself, “ you're with me. I'm going to confront this Discord, and I want it to be backed up by the authority of a council member.” He turned to his wife. “Platinum, please stay here and keep an eye on the guests. Especially the foreign representatives, we don't want an international incident.” “I'm a council member too.” Platinum argued. Wonderbolt sighed and kissed his bride, “Please Princess. I don't want be dragging you into danger.” “Oh, so it's perfectly fine to drag me into danger, huh?” Puddinghead interrupted, her voice layered with pretend outrage. “It's not your wedding day.” Wonderbolt replied in good humor. He turned and marched back into the castle. He was greeted by a group of guards running down the aisle. “Sergeant, get a search party together, we've got four missing guards. The rest of you, follow me.” The Princess watched her husband leave the room before snapping out of her daze. “Well, I'd better get our guests to safety.” “Princess,” Clover spoke up for the first time since the ceremony, “if you find Cookie, can you send her up to the library. I'll need her help.“ Smart Cookie was Puddinghead's former assistant and Clover's best friend. While unicorn scribes had gone into Equestria to record everything they could learn from the other races, Cookie had volunteered be acting head librarian. She found the job a welcome change to dealing with the eccentricities of the former-chancellor and decided to stay permanently. ----- Wonderbolt led his men through the corridors of the castle. “He said he had a 'throne room to decorate.' The council chamber would be a good place to start.” The Equestrian government was headed by a council of six ponies, together representing Unicorns, Pegasi, Earth Ponies, The Science and Magic Society, The Military and The Industrial Union. A Unicorn corporal used his magic to bust the door open and the party moved into the Council Chamber. The chairs sat undisturbed in around the semicircular table. “All clear, Commander.” Wonderbolt turned to exit the room. “What are all of you doing on the ceiling?” A voice called out from above them. They all looked up to see the chaos spirit sitting, upside down, on a large, ornate throne made from gold. “We're not on the ceiling, silly, you are. There aren't any doors up there.” Puddinghead giggled. Discord looked up at his feet and then to the floor. “Ah!” The throne dropped like a stone, with Discord still sitting in it. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!.” Inches before he collided with the stone floor, there was a flash of light, and Discord was sitting on his throne, secure on the ground. With his hands over his eyes; he looked through his fingers (or rather, the eagle claw and lion paw equivalent of fingers.) Moving his hands from his face, he stood up, brushing himself with his hands. “That never happened, got that?” Puddinghead broke the silence by falling to the floor in laughter. Wonderbolt stepped over her. “What are you doing here? What is your purpose here?” Discord teleported behind the commander. “What do you think? It's rather fancy, but I don't think it's really me.” A flash and the throne was replaced with a mountain of skulls. Another, and it was replaced by a three legged stool. A fish bowl, a large blue ball. Finally, he settled on a large, red die with white spots; it had two faces showing four and a single face showing 7.5. He teleported himself onto his new throne. “Well, that will do for now. Sorry, what were you saying?” "Who are you? What's going on? AND WHERE ARE MY DAMN SOLDIERS!" Wonderbolt's voice echoed through the domed chamber, patience was not one of his greatest strengths. "Ok, alright. No need to shout." The spirit removed the ears from his head and threw them unceremoniously over his shoulder where they promptly exploded. He then reached into a small briefcase that had appeared by his feet and pulled out a replacement pair. "Like I said, I'm Discord. If that's not enough, may I suggest you invest in a dictionary." He spoke while replacing his ears. "What?" Discord stopped rearranging his head and sighed. A flash of light, and a large, open dictionary appeared in his hands. Simultaneously, a monocle appeared over his left eye and a pipe appeared in his mouth. "Discord.. Discord.. Disclosure, disco, disconnect. Ah, here we are. Discord: A lack of agreement or harmony." He looked back at the ponies then looked back down to the book. "Also, it's a combination of musical sounds that strikes the ear very harshly. Huh, I didn't know that." He looked back again to the ponies. "I'm a spirit, here to rule over your pony kingdom, bringing with me disharmony and chaos. Is that simple enough for you to understand now?" "Why us? What did we ever do to you?" "What did you do?" Discord laughed. "You created me! I was born because of you. This city, this country! Did you really think you could upset the status quo without consequence? Ponies, coming together, living together. You changed the world, and the world changed in retaliation." While speaking, Discord stood up from his die throne and paced towards his new subjects. "Only, it would appear that not every reaction is equal to the action. And now Chaos will reign and I will rule." "No. You will not." Wonderbolt replied, his face inches from the draconequus' "Equestria is a free country, and we will not succumb to your tyranny." With a strong flap of his wings, the pegasus rocketed his helmeted head into the spirit's face. ----- Clover was surprised to find the door to the library open and the lamps lit. “Hello? Anypony in here?” “Clover, over here.” Smart Cookie called over from behind a bookshelf. “When that thing said it was a spirit, I figured you'd race up here to look it up.” Cookie explained once Clover had telekinetically relived her of the stack of books she'd been carrying. “Cookie, you're a star!” She placed the books on the desk and split them into two piles. “Lets get to work.” “Sure thing CC.” “I told you to stop calling me that.” Clover the Clever replied automatically, her eyes fixed on the pages of her first book.