The first rays of the early morning strained over the horizon. They were not rays of warmth, though. The blizzard quietly rumbled and still kept the land in a rigid state. Discord stared at the gleaming sun wide eyed and remorseful. He stood in a clearing not far off from where the fire had been. There he stood over a rumpled patch of snow where two ponies had met and sequentially parted as there were two tracks that led in opposite directions.
“One of these tracks, perhaps, belongs to Luna or even Celestia. That must mean that they are alright! But which one do I follow?” There was not much to distinguish between the two sets, so after a few moments of deliberation he followed the one leading towards the sun. Swiftly he flew along the trampled path and a few minutes past his departure he spotted a faint shadow behind the snowy veil. Too excited at the prospect of stumbling upon Celestia or surprising Luna, he crashed right into the shady figure.
“Oomph.” Discord and the figure crashed into the snow. “What is the meaning of this disturbance?!”
“You’re not who I was expecting. What are you doing wandering about my forest?”
“I beg your pardon, but I did not realize that I was supposed to be somepony else. And where are MY manners, I seem to have thrown you off from on top of me without introducing myself.”
“Oh now dear sir, I know you meant nothing by your rustic etiquette. I am the great spirit of chaos, master over this forest. You may call me Discord.”
“Well, Discord, if you are as great as you claim, tell me this. How do you manage to go about this forest without a head injury when you can barely make your way through without crashing into somepony? For the record, my name is King Sombra. Pleased to make your, er, affiliation.”
“A king, you say? Hmm, I might have guessed a joker, perhaps a squire. King of what, though? A resolute mound?”
“If you could imagine, I rule over a land that, in comparison to this appalling place, is a utopia!”
“You dare insult my wonderful land? My domain spans for hundreds of acres! How big is yours? A mile and a half square?”
I’d like to tell you that their chatter boiled down to productive talk, but I tell you this now, colts are colts and stallions are also colts. It was true then and it’s true now. We never grow up!
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“Soarin, you can’t possibly expect us to believe that Discord, the spirit of chaos, and King Sombra were really disputing something as silly as that!”
“Indeed, Soarin! Wouldn’t they be disagreeing over something else like who had the bigger-“
“RARITY! Please show some discretion!”
“I don’t know, I think Rarity might have been on to something there. Hehe!”
“Rainbow Dash.”
“Yes?”
“Just… let me get back to the story. And yes, they certainly were arguing over menial things like the size of their KINGDOMS. Not anything else. Sheesh, I’m surrounded by too many mares, and I never thought that could be a bad thing.”
“Hehe, I think Soarin is embarrassed!”
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“It is tragic but I really must be off. You see, I initially intended on running into another pony, i.e. not you, and I wish to go find her.”
“Her? Is my new friend enamored by a certain mare? I’ll have you know that I’ve met two running around this place. In fact, I just parted ways with one who called herself Celestia.”
“Celestia?! Which way did she go?”
“My, my, she sounds like more than just an acquaintance to you.” Sombra grinned. “Follow me. I’ll show you back to where we last met.”
The two bickered all the way back to the last place that Sombra and Celestia had met. It was almost a game to see who could outwit the other, and I must say that Sombra gave Discord a tongue challenge.
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“Haha, ‘tongue challenge’ sounds naughty!”
“Rarity…”
“What, dear? You said it!”
“I shall try and avoid such innuendos.”
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Discord looked around. “The only set of tracks here are the ones we just made! Which way did she go?”
“The snow must have covered them in the last hour. It was dark and still snowing, but I believed it was in that general direction.”
“Sombra, your wit is whet, but your navigation skills are duller than your horn. I will head off in this direction and perhaps you could go that way to see if you might find somepony.”
“Discord, I’ll just ignore that jest since you are so love-struck. We’ll meet back soon.”
The two parted ways, and after such a convergence of prideful wit, it was probably for the best that they separated.