Discord's Escape
Chapter 1
It was an early autumn morning, this much was a fact. What kind of morning it was, well now that was entirely a matter of opinion. For Cheerilee, teacher of Ponyville's young colts and fillies, it was a fine fall morning full of cold, clean air and pretty colors. The Ponyville primary school had decided to go to Canterlot for this year's opening field trip, and the capital never looked more stunning than it did wrapped in harvest colors of gold, red, and brown. They had even been granted permission to tour the castle's royal sculpture garden, a place that Cheerilee had always wanted to visit. Heat flooded her cheeks at the very thought of the venerable old statues and the feel of crisp leaves underhoof as she lectured to young and hungry minds. Oh yes, this was a fine morning indeed.
"Come on, my little ponies," The happy purple mare piped to her students, trailing behind her on the winding path to the garden. "Best not to keep the princess waiting."
There was a suppressed groan in response. For Cheerilee's class, it was a foul and miserable morning. Today they were up from their beds before Celestia even raised the sun, packed on a train all the way to Canterlot, and forced to listen to their teacher babble all morning long. It was cold, it was windy, it was boring, and all these Canterlot ponies were gawking at them and their manically chattering teacher. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon shared looks of icy snobbishness while Snips and Snails looked to desperately wish they were back in bed. Twist's eyes were vacant behind her glasses, seeing more of imaginary sweets than the world infront, and the cutie mark crusaders seemed hardly able to find the energy for their cutie mark crusade. Oh yes, this was a foul morning indeed.
"What's so special about a bunch of stupid rocks anyway?" Scootaloo complained noisily as the wind flustered her budding wings.
"They aren't just rocks dear," Cheerilee said. "The statues which occupy the royal sculpture garden are old and mysterious things as well as works of art, artifacts from a time long past. They illustrate Equestria's history in a way that a mere book never could."
"Well, at least when a book bores you, it can do it indoors," Scootaloo whispered to Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. The three cutie mark crusaders giggled together.
"What are you silly fillies chuckling at?" Cheerilee asked.
"Aw nothin," Apple Bloom spoke up. "Just thinkin about how history can be funny sometimes."
"Oh yes, indeed it can," Cheerilee beamed. "In fact, did you know that back in the days where power was divided between Celestia and her council, it used to be considered a crime to …" The entire class, including her friends, turned evil eyes upon Apple Bloom as their teacher drawled. The smallest member of the apple family blushed profusely until she was almost as red as her bow. They wouldn't have to listen for long however. Cheerilee fell silent as the little class from Ponyville came upon the twisting iron gates to the sculpture garden. Waiting for them at the entrance to the castle grounds was an unfamiliar figure, a dark pony with an obsidian crown behind her unicorn's horn and folded pegasus wings. It was true they were expecting to encounter an alicorn, but it was the bright and familiar Princess Celestia they thought to meet, not this mysterious star maned creature marked with a crescent moon. Cheerilee's students huddled behind their teacher, remembering the tales of Nightmare Moon their parents used to tell to give them reason to fear the dark.
"Princess Luna," Cheerilee said, tenuously stepping forward. It was not just the presence of the night princess that was a surprise, her appearance was a shock as well. The Luna Cheerilee remembered seeing back in Ponyville a year or so ago was a shy little thing that would not have looked out of place behind a school desk, not this tall and majestic mare. The coloring and the markings were the same however, and alicorn magic was very powerful. "What an unexpected honor."
Loud was not the word for it. "THE HONOR IS OURS, CITIZEN!" Luna vocally assaulted the teacher. Using her superior height, she peaked over Cheerilee at her students and grinned wolfishly. Snips and Snails, started to shake when she met them with her eyes. "HELLO CHILDREN!"
Cheerilee was stunned silent for a moment. Her studies in history however had taught her that this form of address was common back in the day, so she ignored her frightened instincts. "If … if I may ask princess, what is it you are doing here? We were expecting your royal sister."
Luna said, "IN THE OLD DAYS, WE WERE CONSIDERED THE PATRON OF PHILOSOPHERS, POETS, SCHOLARS, AND ALL THOSE WITH A LOVE FOR THE STUDY OF THE GREAT AND MYSTERIOUS. WE ARE TO UNDERSTAND IT HAS BECOME CUSTOM TO FORCE CHILDREN TO LEARN SUCH THINGS, CORRECT?"
"Um, yes?"
"GLORIOUS!" Luna exclaimed, raising a silvery hoof to the air like she had just conquered a nation. "BE GRATEFUL FOR THIS MODERN BOON CHILDREN, FOR IN A PAST AGE THOU WOULDST HAVE BEEN ALLOWED TO WASTE THY COLT AND FILLY YEARS PLAYING AND MAKING MISCHIEF!" Scootaloo might have made a sarcastic comment about that if she wasn't huddled with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, fighting to not become cutie mark ground wetters.
"REGARDLESS, WE HAVE DECIDED TO TAKE UP OUR SISTER'S ROLE IN INTRODUCING YOUNG SCHOLARS TO THE ROYAL CANTERLOT SCULPTURE GARDEN!" Luna was smiling sincerely.
Cheerilee's ears actually perked up at that. "Really? It would be fascinating to hear from somepony who was actually alive during so many historical events."
"YES, WE ARE ANXIOUS FOR IT AS WELL!" Luna trumpeted joyously. "HOWEVER, IT IS EARLY MORNING AND FIRST WE MUST INFORM CELESTIA OF WHAT HATH HAPPENED TO OUR KINGDOM UNDER OUR WATCH THIS NIGHT. BEGIN THY TOUR WITHOUT US, AND WE SHALL RETURN SHORTLY! HUZZAH!" Luna's dark wings shot out to her sides, and there was a palpable gust of wind as she took flight. She made towards one of the high spires of the castle in the short distance and was there within seconds.
They all sat dumbfounded, watching Luna for a few moments. "Well, won't that be interesting? Come on class," Cheerilee said, trotting through the tall iron gates into the sculpture garden. The twisting paths of the courtyard spread before them full of splendid and wonderful things. The hedge maze stood bushy and enigmatic in the center, and statues of ponies great and majestic towered up around them.
Diamond Tiara spoke up. "She's not really coming back is she?"
"I don't see why not, she said that she would. Quite loudly in fact," Cheerilee chuckled.
"Uh, she's not gonna eat us is she?" Snips asked in a nervous nasally voice.
"Now Snips, she's not a monster. She's just having," Cheerilee paused, "A little trouble fitting in. Now come on, let's get going," She raised her hoof and pointed it in the general direction of a certain singing Draconequus statue.
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"How I loathe being made of stone," The mind of Discord thought from within his flinty prison. Oh, and HOW he hated it. Stone was unyielding, unchanging, and pedantically law abiding; all the most boring properties in the whole universe in one substance. No elbow room at all, and absolutely no fun to be had. Anything else he would have been able to slither out of in time, but not stone. You can't make bargains with something so utterly apathetic, you can't play games with that which refuses to make a move. It was his perfect prison and his perfect torture. And being that Discord's mind was now made of that horrible unmoving substance, he was doomed to be forever frozen thinking this one line of thought: the contemplation of his own entrapment.
"How I loathe being made of stone."
"How I loathe being made of stone."
"How I loathe being made of stone."
"How I loathe being made of stone."
"How I loathe being made of stone."
"I really must think of something cleverer to think of if this happens to me again."
A pause.
"Did I just, yes I must have. Oh my, I'm doing it right now. Cogito Ergo Discord. It seems that my mind has finally been freed from that wretched, petrified state. Woohoo, time to dance. Hmm, it seems my arms and legs are still made of stone. Well woohoo regardless, I'm just going to imagine myself dancing."
Discord's mind shuffle was interrupted however when he began to hear sounds from the outside, muffled by his stone ears but no longer muted. It sounded like his favorite noise: arguing ponies.
"Confusion"
"Evil"
"Chaos"
It was like music, a beautiful cacophony of sound. Oh, if he was feeling good before, now he was in an excellent mood. He wanted to hear more, but the quarreling pony voices were getting fainter. Fire and acid burned in his newly awakened thoughts. He wanted to hear more! "Now now Discord, play will come later. Find a way to release yourself fully and you can conduct a veritable symphony of chaos," he promised himself.
Discord let his senses extend outward. The first thing he came into contact with was, rather obviously, his prison. He was still stuck in stone, but the pressure was gone. For whatever purpose, the active binding influence left by the elements of harmony was missing, meaning that all that held him was a layer of crumbly rock and old caked on magic, and that weakened. Why, he was held by hardly a thread. In his excitement, Discord tried to break out through a show of brute strength. The stone heaved a little, but try as he might it would not shatter. Okay, so maybe it was a strong thread.
"That's alright, all I need is help from a little more outside chaos, like what those three darling fallen angels were singing to me." Discord continued to probe. He could feel new cracks in his prison through which he could look and slip a proverbial claw to influence the outside world a bit. He let his mind expand outward again, through the fissures in the stone, and to the world around. The sun was shining bright and stinking of Celestia's influence, and all around him were a bunch of happy growing things marching through the predictable drivel of their life cycles. Oh, how the world needed him, but focus.
There were a number of other statues around. He casually wondered if they were also victims of the alicorn sisters, but he doubted it and he didn't really care anyway. He sensed a hedge maze, a pathetic farce of the art form. Far too predictable; he doubted the paths even changed.
And that's when he found them. Six little fillies and two colts. Children were so prone to conflict that it would almost be no fun to drive them to it. Almost.
Had anypony been close enough to the cracking Draconequus statue, they might have heard a dark laugh echoing forth from its rotten core.