A quick load of laundry and a not-too-serious lecture later, and we were on our way to the Canterlot Castle. Standing in our living room, I reached into my pocket and pulled out what looked to be a scrap of white fabric. It wasn’t much to look at as it was, but when I tossed it in front of me it hovered in the air for a moment. Pretty soon, it began to glow and grow, turning into a portal leading directly to Canterlot. I’ve never been able to see through the portal into where we are going to go, so every time I went through the exact location was a surprise.
Stepping through, we found ourselves in the dining hall, standing in front of a lavishly set table. “She does this every time too,” I quietly complained. “You know I don’t do well with fancy things. And I think she likes watching me flounder, too.”
Sighing, Luna just lightly touched my arm and said, “Just eat like normally, minus the trough and snorting, and plus the plate and silverware.”
Before I could defend my eating habits, Celestia strode into the dining hall. She seemed to be surprised to see us, so I guess she had been coming in to check on the preparations. “Oh! I didn’t realize that you two had arrived already! Please! Come in, make yourselves at home. There is time before dinner for you to take your things to the room and unpack. Do you need any help?”
Luna handed her three bags off to me. “No, he’s got it,” she said with a smile. “Hey, don’t drop that, or everything will get mixed up!”
I tried to juggle her three bags and my one. “You know, you could have done with five fewer pairs of shoes.”
Looking at me like I had said something funny, she said, “I’ve got three human pairs, the slippers I wear when I‘m a pony, and the ones I’m wearing. I’ve only got five.”
Giving up on my arms, I used my magic to carry two of her bags, encasing them in a silvery glow. “Bingo. I’m only wearing these because you wouldn’t have let me go through the portal without them.”
Rolling her eyes, she turned back to Celestia. “Anyways, thanks, but we’ve got it. Dinner in an hour, then?”
Celestia smiled and nodded. “All right. See you then.”
You know, I’ve never liked big houses. It takes too long to get from point ‘A’ to point ‘B’. Castles are better because they’re cooler anyways, but still. Ten minutes later, we were in the Night Wing’s top room. Celestia’s renovation crew had done a good job fixing it up since the whole Nightmare Moon fiasco. The floor wasn’t dotted with little pools of melted stone, the ceiling was above waist level, and the bed wasn’t on fire, for a few. There was a huge two pony bed straight forward from the door with a medium sized nightstand on each size. When standing in the doorway, there was a large clear window door leading out to the balcony, and to the right there was Luna’s TV and stuff. Beyond that was the bathroom, which is self-explanatory, though definitely not built for a human.
As we unpacked, we talked a little bit. Nothing really exciting, just “are we being ponies or humans“, “probably ponies“, “well then, where’s my ceremonial armor“, “I don’t know, I don’t wear it“, stuff like that. I was ready in about ten minutes, but Luna took longer, what with having to put away everything she had brought. After about a half hour, we were both ready. Both of us were alicorn again and dressed in our best. She was wearing her princess-y slippers (I don’t know what they’re called), her best crown, and a breastplate. I didn’t have a crown, since I didn’t want to be officially recognized as royalty by the public. Instead, I wore my shield, armor, amulet, and knife. I didn’t really have a fancy set of ceremonial armor, but my regular gear was good enough because it had never seen battle. Nightmare Moon had been my only fight. My shield was made from the reflective crystal from the Caves beneath Canterlot, and my knife was a gift from Death, whose real name is Ben. It has the power to change into other weapons besides a knife, (I didn’t mess with it too much, though, so I didn’t know quite how many) and the amulet was the symbol that declared me to be the bearer of the Element of Life. It was the same as my cutie mark, a moon behind a sword.
Our unpacking and dressing took longer than I hoped, but as it turned out we were right on time. Dinner was wonderful; Celestia’s chefs always did exquisitely. Yet at the same time, it was during dinner that red flags should have been going off. It was nothing really strange or chaotic, just things like food changing places on the plate or silverware appearing where they hadn’t been a moment ago. We ignored everything that happened because it wasn’t really a big deal though. Even after dinner, things went missing and were found totally out of place. Given what happened during the following days, though, we should have paid attention.
…
That night the staff all left for their vacations, so the next morning when I was the first up, I was the only one up. I woke up earlier than I usually did, so I had some time to kill. I didn’t do much, just took a shower and brushed my teeth at first. Honestly, though, I had a whole castle to myself for an hour or so after that, so really, it wasn’t my fault I began to goof off. It’s instinct! You just can’t be in a castle by yourself without sliding down the banisters that run three hundred feet down the central spire of the wing. And with the aerial dexterity that my human body gets, I could fly back up to the top and skip all the stairs.
I was all set to go down for a fourth time when Luna woke up and came out into the hall. Well, she yelled at me, I got startled, and instead of sliding down the banister like the happy-go-lucky child I am at heart, I fell down half the stairs in the Night Wing. I guess I was pretty loud, despite having had my wings tucked for air resistance, because by the time I got to the kitchen, Celestia was up and asking if everything was all right. I made something up about tripping and falling in the room and went about making breakfast.
It is almost impossible to make a solid breakfast with the stuff they had there. Luckily there was milk, so I was able to put out cereal with the hash browns and oatmeal. Looking at the table, though, I felt a little inadequate in comparison to the feast that had been there the night before. I made a quick trip back to the apartment and grabbed all the cereal I could and made a color-coded pyramid, but it still lacked a little. It worked out nicely though, and breakfast went by smoothly, and dishes were quick as well.
It was after breakfast was over and the dishes were done that things actually began going wrong. Celestia had us join her on a morning walk through the palace gardens and statuary. A ‘continental’ I think she called it, which was weird to me, since there were no cars with extra tires involved. It was a nice walk, except all the flowers were facing away from us, like they were trying to ignore or presence. The animals all ran away at the sight of us as well, letting out the wrong cries as they did. I swear I heard a fish chirp as it dove back underwater. As we wove our way through the statuary, each of us was jumping at shadows. Each time we passed a statue, it appeared as if it were a different position than it usually was. When we got close to Discord, Celestia stopped us.
“All the oddities we have seen this morning are symbolic of the exact kind of chaos that Discord loves. I am going to check the encasement that the Elements of Harmony have placed on him. If something is wrong, I just want you to realize that things could go very wrong very fast.” Luna and I each nodded gravely, realizing that if he were to get loose it would be very difficult to stop him.
As we approached the statue, his heart began to glow with a soft red light. A low, monotone chuckle filled the air, and our hearts sank. It wasn’t just a coincidence. Discord was loose, or at least had some sort of power again. As our faces drooped, his laugh could be heard echoing through the gardens again. The statue never moved, but the grassy area next to it did. The blades grew brighter and darker in color, creating the image of his face. He was smug, like he thought that he had already destroyed any chance we had of beating him again. “Well, well, well.” he said, his voice lilting a little bit with each word. “Look who’s here to pay me a visit, the princesses of do-gooders themselves. Though I must admit, I’m not wholly familiar with your friend here. What’s your name again?”
I took a step forward, placing myself partially between the princesses and the face of the maniac in the grass. “I’m Adam, and I want to know how you have any abilities outside of your stone body.”
“Oh, yes, that’s right, Adam. Now, as I recall, you were responsible for the downfall of that Nightmare Moon character. Yes, terrible shame, she had so much potential. Well, I guess if we didn’t weed out the weak ‘villains’, the world would get cluttered up with too many of us. So, to answer your question, you are the reason I have any sort of power outside my body. Didn’t you know?”
Half expecting Celestia to hurt me in some manner or get suspicious (she thought I was behind Nightmare Moon’s return for a while), I quickly asked, “And just what do you mean by that? Are you trying to tell me that my disrupting the fabric of time and space has caused enough celestial unrest to weaken the chaos-repellant bond placed on you by the Elements of Harmony, thus allowing you to begin to break free of your shell?”
He looked somewhat surprised that I had gotten all that so quickly, but the self-confident air in his voice only diminished a little. “Actually, yes, that’s exactly what I’m telling you. Good gracious, you just made that all up on the fly, didn’t you? Which one of you two thinks she’s in love with this fellow again?”
Luna, who had remained in her alicorn form since changing last night, stepped forward protectively. “He is my husband, and I suggest you speak to him with a little more respect. What is your game this time, Discord?”
Discord chuckled like he was getting a bit too much pleasure from watching her come to my defense. “Oh, ho, hoo! Someone is a bit feisty, isn’t she? Well, keep a hold of this one young lady! And you are the lucky man, aren’t you Adam? Especially if you go for that kind of thing. Which I do. Isn’t that right, Celestia?” he added, raising his eyebrow and giving what was supposed to be a seductive look.
Much to my surprise, Celestia spat in disgust. “Stop giving me that look, Discord, it looks like your trying not to vomit. I know I am. Now quit stalling and tell us what you plan on doing next so that we can put your sorry butt back in its stone sling.”
This time Discord look downright stunned. “My goodness, Tia, what has happened to you? You used to be upbeat, proper, and optimistic. This is so out of character!”
Celestia’s expression didn’t get any happier. “I’ve had a very bad past few years. Ever since the return of Nightmare Moon and the revival of the Elements of Harmony, things have gone steadily downhill, with a new villain rising to power every year or so. I’ve had quite enough of it. Now either you shape up and get back in your prison, or prepare yourself to be forced back there.”
All of us were stunned. I really thought that Luna was going to faint. Discord just spat out random letters and syllables for a little bit before saying. “Well, I was going to allow you to participate in the first game, but not anymore! You’re a real buzz-kill nowadays! So, that leaves you two. Which of you is it going to be?” he asked, turning to me and Luna.
I was about to step forward, but Luna beat me to the punch. “I will. I am the only one of the princesses you have not played a game with, so I will be first. What is the game?”
“Well, I don’t quite know that yet,” he said, a hand appearing in the grass and feeling his chin as if he were in thought. “You see, that would take some amount of thought, and with my being the Spirit of Chaos, that would be almost as out of character as poor little Tia’s outburst. Last time I did plan was when I played with those dratted ponies from Ponyville, and we know how well that turned out. Let’s say tomorrow. Tomorrow we can begin the game. That will give me enough time to think of one of my favorite games that would be suitable for a wild one like you. Plus, I’m going to have to think of something for your dearly beloved.” As he spoke, his face broke back into his regular, sick, satisfied smile. “Ooh, I think you’ll be the best player I’ve ever had. Finally! Another bipedal to play with! I may have to look into the history of your world and find something to play there! Well, I have games to plan and tricks to play. Toodles! Until tomorrow!”
With that he vanished, leaving the three of us looking at a patch of grass next to a lifeless statue. Celestia spoke first. “Well, there is nothing we can do now but wait. There is no way to defeat him but to beat him at his own games until we can strike him down. He seems to have learned this time though, so I don’t know what extremes he will go to.”
I wiped the entirety of my face with my good hand. Suddenly I was feeling very drained. “But isn’t there also the possibility of his watching us for the rest of the day and figuring out our weaknesses and playing off of them? I mean, he does seem to have the ability to be anywhere and everywhere at once?”
Celestia nodded slowly, beginning to look tired as well. “Yes, he could be watching us now, even. What we really need is to figure out a way to communicate without his being able to know what we are saying.”
Luna spoke next. “Dear, doesn’t you portal only allow through who and what you want?” I nodded not quite getting it. “Well, we can all go back to our place for a while. We will spend the night there and try to figure something out while there.”
“Oh, one last itty bitty thing,” Discord’s voice crept back to us. “I won’t forbid you from leaving Equestria, but if you do, I will have to bring my game up a notch in order to assure myself that you cannot discover a way to cheat. Ta-ta!!”
Celestia sighed. “Dear sister, it is your choice. Tomorrow is your game, after all. If you feel you will be able to handle the challenge of one of his more difficult games, we can go.”
Luna nodded. “Yes, I believe I can. We will go back and figure out our next step from there. Dear, please open the portal.”
Reluctantly, I tossed the portal out in front of us, thinking of our destination. The familiar white glow did not comfort me like usual, though. It was foreboding. We had a rough few days in front of us, no doubt.