“I still don’t think this is a good idea.”
“You’ve made that abundantly clear, dear sister, yet you insist on watching.”
“I cannot resist such a resounding opportunity to say ‘I told you so’.”
Celestia shot a sharp glance in Luna’s direction, her usual countenance in disarray of its regal status as she hid the pressure of her teeth gritting together. “It’s past your bedtime, dear sister.”
“Don’t you ‘dear sister’ me! You know as well as I do that this is only going to end in disaster.”
“And I guess then that you must have a better idea?”
The stars in Luna’s eyes lost their shimmer as her gaze moved to the floor. Her hooves scuffled slightly, but she had no response to offer.
“I didn’t think so.”
“But I—”
“Stay if you must, but I’m tired of hearing your complaints without solutions. This will work. Just wait and see. Have I been wrong in these matters before?”
Luna lifted her hoof in the direction of the garden, or what was left of it. A sign now hung above the central archway, deeming the area ‘Discord’s Domain’, with a smaller sign underneath left to mock the princesses with a few crudely drawn caricatures and the words ‘NO PRINCESSES ALLOWED’ sprawled across in misshapen letters and lack of functional font.
“As a matter of fact, yes,” Luna insisted. “And forgive me if my recollection is a bit off after the last several centuries, but it was about him before as well.”
“Well then, we must learn from our mistakes. Isn’t that right, Nightmare Moon?”
Luna stamped her hoof firmly against the marble floor, and a hairline crack began to form across the tile. “Don’t you dare mention that name around me!”
“Then you should know why I must give him a chance to redeem himself, as I did you.”
“… Fine. Do as you wish. I will leave you to your trivial efforts, as it is, like you say, well past my bedtime.” With a slight huff, Luna turned her face upward in defiance of her sister’s attitude and made her way to the door.
“Sleep well, dear sister. I’ll do my best to keep the events in the… domain to a dull roar.”
Luna leaned her head back instead of facing her sister and spoke just below yelling as she made her final words clear. “See that you do. Should I wake up and the moon be made of cheese again, I’ll banish you to the sun for a millennia and see how you like it.”
“Duly noted.” Celestia winced a bit as the massive doors to her chamber slammed shut with the force of Luna’s magic. She wondered to herself if perhaps she was a bit harsh on Luna for speaking her mind, but then again it certainly wasn’t the first time Luna had brought up the cracks in this plan during the past month. She turned her gaze back to the remnants of the garden, and fixated herself on the white unicorn nervously standing in front of the entrance.
Oh, please… Celestia’s train of thought suddenly derailed as she wondered who a princess might pray to in such a situation. Please prove her wrong.
***
The sign struck her as less than welcoming, tacky even. Such crude lettering and vulgarity hardly seemed inviting to a pony of her stature, even if that stature was all just a figment of her imagination. I… I can do this. She could do anything, couldn’t she? Even tackle the god of chaos, all on her own.
Rarity could not find heads or tails of the situation. It was the elements that locked Discord away before, so how could she expect to do so without the aid of her friends? Looking back at the entryway to the garden, the lettering seemed to rearrange itself to read ‘certain doom’, and she couldn’t tell if her mind was playing tricks on her, or the tricks were Discord’s doing.
Celestia had trusted her. That had to mean something, right? She wouldn’t trust her with a responsibility she couldn’t handle. Or was this meant to be some sort of punishment? Her mind wracked with questions, but the longer she contemplated, the more she realized she wouldn’t find any answers without facing the challenge before her. She gently placed her hoof along the barrier containing the garden, and it rippled with energy, parting for her and allowing entry.
Beyond the veil was a world beyond comprehension. A world she had seen before, yet never made sense of. How could she? This was the reign of chaos and disarray. No respect for the laws of gravity or thermodynamics, with a flair for humor and hedonism. It was a world turned upside down, and then thrown in a blender. She’d almost prefer to be colorblind that gaze upon a world where stripes, polka dots, and plaids were all thrown on top of each other.
“Oh this is simply dreadful,” she muttered to herself.
“Really? I find it quite endearing,” replied a deep voice behind her.
“Well of course you would you—” Rarity suddenly jumped as she came to the late realization that not only was she not alone, but she had recognized the voice immediately.
“Well I’m glad I’m not easy face to forget,” Discord chuckled. “Welcome, my dear. Please, make yourself at home.”
“As much as I appreciate the…” Rarity gazed about at the blatant felonies against the laws of design around her as she contemplated the horror of having to stay in such a place, “…hospitality, I don’t have any plans on staying longer than need be.”
“That’s a shame, dear. After all, I put so much work into putting all this together just for you. Do you not like it?”
“I’m not here to play your games, Discord.” Rarity shuddered as she recalled the last round of tricks he had played on her. That hideous rock… No! She swore never to speak of that again.
Discord chuckled again, and stared at Rarity quizzically. “Games? Why I haven’t the slightest clue what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t toy with me, you beast. I’m far from the element of patience.”
“That’s right… Generosity, was it? Why, what makes you think I don’t understand a concept as simple as that?”
“Simple?!” Rarity yelled, her eyes swelling with anger at the offensive statement. “Now see here, you ruffian! I will not stand idly by and let you deride my elegance and poise in such a manner!”
“Now, now, now. Calm yourself.” With a flash, Discord became a puff a smoke and a reflection of Rarity appeared next to her, mocking her tone through his voice. “Such anger is not befitting of a lady.” He quickly flashed back to his original form, stumbling a bit as the transformation made him dizzy. While he had accomplished much in his preparation time, it was not without great cost and sacrifice to his well being on account of the braces that bound him.
“Foolish demon, your imprisonment has made you weak and feeble. Banishing you back where you came from shall be an easy task. I guess Celestia was right that this should hardly require the aid of friends.”
“Banish me?” Discord stared at her before breaking into a fit of laughter. “My dear Rarity, your princess has played you for a fool.”
“Don’t you dare speak of her like that, Discord. She is a thousand times the ruler you could ever be.”
“And you believe her that she sent you here just to put me back in my stone cold prison? But it was her that released me in the first place.”
“She what?” Rarity screamed as she turned her head back to gaze through the barrier at the balcony where she could feel Celestia’s gaze watching her every move. “That can’t possibly be true.”
“Well, I’m far from the element of honesty,” Discord said with a shrug, “but I think you should take a moment to question where your loyalty lies, milady.”
“I’m not going to be so foolish, Discord. I fell for your tricks once, but never again. Your slander will get you nowhere, and your treason will have you banished. Even if she did release you, she sent me to undo it, and so I shall.”
Discord heaved a sigh and shook his head. “You’re as fabulous as you are dense. Fine, go ahead, do as you will. I await my punishment.” He offered a come hither wave as let out an exaggerated yawn.
Rarity took offense to this proud display of confidence and decided she had enough of Discord’s lies and disarray. Her horn began to glow as she concentrated her various levels of rage and emotion into her magic and charged it to seal away the monster yet again.
A smirk edged past her lips as she saw the fear in Discord’s eyes as her magic neared release. The blast struck its target and the dracoequus screeched in pain as his body froze back into the magical granite that had contained him yet again. Rarity took a bit of pride in her handiwork as she caught her breath, exhausted from the concentration of magic she had released and breathed a sigh of relief at the ease of the task.
The ground rattled a bit, and Rarity’s relief quickly dissipated. A crack formed down the center of the statue and the rock suddenly split into thousands of pieces, Discord peering back out with a laugh. “Kidding! Oh, you should have seen the look on your face! You really thought it was going to be that easy, didn’t you?”
Discord continue to ramble on about how apparently hilarious he found the situation, but the shocked unicorn didn’t seem to hear a single word. She stood still, her mouth agape, shocked that she had failed. It had all seemed so simple. Did she cast the spell wrong? Was she not powerful enough? No, Celestia wouldn’t entrust her with the task if she didn’t think she could succeed. And why did she suddenly taste… popcorn?
Rarity shook her head as she came to her senses and saw Discord laying on his side, a bag of popcorn in his claw as he went back and forth between tossing the kernels into his own mouth, and trying to toss them into her own maw as it hung loose in shock. “Oh good, you’re back,” Discord poured back the rest of the bag into his mouth and swallowed it in a single gulp. “I was getting bored.”
“You– but I– You should be—”
“Weren’t you listening to a word I said? I wasn’t toying with you. You really should question your princess, but there is time for that later.” The creature towered over her as he stood back up on his mismatched legs and stretched his back, making Rarity cringe at the sound of his back cracking. Worse yet, it sounded mysteriously like the sound of… popping kernels?
Discord began to make his way away from the entrance of his playground of sorts and unsorts. He beckoned for the unicorn to follow with his oversized paw, “Come, my dear. We have much to discuss. I assume you want to know the real reason Celestia sent you here, correct?”
“I don’t need to hear any more from you! I’ll ask her myself.” Rarity turned away in a huff and stormed off back to the castle. As she approached the barrier, she raised a hoof back against the aura, but before she could touch it, she felt it collide with a second aura in front of the one she had passed to enter. The magic rippled, but didn’t part to grant her passage, and she shuddered with fear as Discord’s heavy laugh rang through her ears.
“No, Rarity… I insist.”
ZENQ EL, IWOLLB PECQ, USIY PMIY YKQ BQMA.
Q = E