//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: Autonomous Reflection // by Crystalline HP //------------------------------// Canterlot Castle was mind-numbingly still. With the uppermost chambers completely devoid of life at this late hour, there was no general murmur of conversation regarding the everyday issues of Equestria, whether they be apple shortages in Ponyville or the suggestion of inconsequential changes to the official Royal Guard uniform. Only the gentle breeze echoing through every grand corridor fought to defeat this illusion of time coming to a halt. The noiselessness was sickening; five consecutive nights had been allowed to pass by undisturbed, a totally unacceptable number in his eyes. But as the intruder poked his head around the second most sacred doorway in Equestria, the opportunity to change all that was presented to him on a golden platter.   Princess Luna stood regally on the modest balcony outside her equally modest chambers. Of course, this was the lifestyle she chose to lead nowadays. Healthy, clean, but humble. Bathed in the moonlight provided by the very orb which she rose to begin the night, she cut an impressive figure against the horizon. But not for long. The princess did not move, the only sign that she was still awake being the occasional swish of her hypnotic mane. Well, that and the cup of tea on the table beside her occasionally floating upwards, supported by her magic so she could silently sip its contents. Luna did not look at the cup while she drank, instead choosing to gaze endlessly into the cloudless sky. Perfect. She won’t realise a thing until it’s too late. The moment the mug touched the table again, he made his move. Creeping unnoticed across the room to the balcony proved all too easy thanks to the heavily carpeted floor muffling his mismatched feet. Now mere inches away, he produced a vial of a fine, white solid and reached over, slowly pouring the reagent into the liquid. The entire sample dissolved almost instantly. His timing couldn’t have been better. Seconds later and the cup rose once more, and the Princess of the Night drank the spiked contents. Luna gagged and spat so forcefully he wouldn’t be surprised if several of her teeth were now keeping the flower beds company in the palace gardens eighty feet below them. She span around, breathing heavily with a fiery adrenaline that made her pupils blaze even more magnificently than normal. “Who goes there?” Her eyes narrowed. “Show yourself; your Princess commands you!” But her assailant wasn’t there anymore. Instead he was now sat behind her on the balcony ledge, the spot he’d picked to teleport to at the exact moment Luna had turned around. Just when he estimated her tension to be at its peak, he touched her neck and quickly but softly drew a line across it with a pointed claw. Luna screamed and whirled around once more, coming face to face with the aggressor… “BAHAHAHA! Priceless!” Discord almost fell off his perch. “Oh, my dear Luna, you do entertain me so!” He burst into another fit of laughter upon seeing that he had stunned Luna into a delightful silence. Finally, the realisation that she had been both manipulated into behaving in a very undignified manner and also outright tricked seemed to bring her to some of her senses . She scowled heavily as her breathing slowed. “Discord! What foolishness is this?” The draconequus vanished and reappeared lying on her perfectly uncreased bed, stretching languidly in a melodramatic manner. “Foolishness?” Discord repeated innocently. “I prefer to call it playful chaos. Besides, is it so hard to believe that I just wanted to talk to my old friend Luna?” A month had passed since his apparent reformation, the day when he had gained his first friend in Fluttershy. Sticking around in Ponyville had provided light entertainment for a short time, but he had quickly grown to find the combination of his new pegasus companion and the quiet town itself to make for an astoundingly boring lifestyle. Charming Celestia into letting him stay at Canterlot Castle for a while had been easier than he had expected, although he had a hunch that her favourable decision had been influenced by her prediction that a new member of royalty would soon join the ranks. Unsurprisingly, that prediction had come to pass a week ago. Indeed, Discord had observed the coronation of Princess Twilight Sparkle from the front row of the throne room among honoured guests. How he had endured Prince Blueblood’s dolphin laugh all day without turning him into a tuna sandwich, Discord still wasn’t sure, but at least Celestia had allowed him to design the appearance and persona of the unicorn into whom he transformed, along with inventing his own backstory. Later in the evening he had especially enjoyed eavesdropping on a conversation between two particular mares about him, mainly because he had earlier told one of them he was the menu’s fish course, and the other that he was actually a plumber who had no idea what was going on. His cutie mark had changed randomly throughout the ceremony, although at one point Luna had pulled him up after catching his fake flank depicting Celestia on fire. As for his view of the newly appointed Princess herself... To him, at least, not much had changed. The development was interesting at best. To say it was unprecedented would be a lie, but Discord was nevertheless going to ensure he remained quietly updated on Twilight’s life. A minority did not agree with her holding the prestigious title, and this, combined with the likelihood of her making early diplomatic errors due to inexperience, could lead to some chaotic opportunities. Regardless, what matters right now is that everything is just so much better here; after all, getting on Luna’s royal nerves is a top priority.  He guessed that his target was now wearing the desired irritated expression, although it was difficult to tell with his eyes closed. “Remove yourself from my chambers,” he heard Luna state above him. “And I don’t recall ‘playful chaos’ being an item present on your list of permitted magical acts.” Discord groaned loudly and sprang up from the bed. “Have you seen the pathetic scroll your sister calls a list?” With all the gentleness of a pouncing Timberwolf, he dug a claw inside his ear and poked around for a few moments.  A rolled up piece of parchment emerged, which he allowed to unfurl in his hand. All five lines of it. “I mean, you might as well ban me from eating paper! Celestia’s even written the thing in an oversized font just so it looks bigger than it is!” Discord went to stuff it indignantly back into his ear, but then thought better and ate it instead to emphasise his previous point. He saw Luna’s mouth curl into an amused smile. Then her face returned to the stoic impassiveness practiced daily by royalty. “You should think yourself lucky that my sister and I allow you the freedom to so much as move,” she said firmly. “Never mind poison my beverages.” “Poison?” Discord mimicked again. He scoffed and waved his lion paw dismissively. “You’re overreacting, dear Princess.” He coughed up the same vial, caught it and shook the last few remaining particles right in front of her face. “Just half a hoof of ascorbic acid.” “Acid?!” Luna gasped in disbelief. “You… You could have decomposed my mouth!” Discord tutted loudly and wagged a claw inches from her nose. “Now, now, let’s not get all prejudiced. Why is it that whenever anypony hears the word ‘acid’, they suddenly start squealing like their manes have been drowned in the stuff?” He chuckled at Luna’s suitably confused face. Now it’s time to break that pathetically thin layer of patience and awaken her rage. Just like old times… “This lovely powder I added to your drink is actually a very important mineral which everypony needs, unenlightened one. A source of Vitamin C, to be precise. Here, let me show you!” Discord snapped his eagle talons and chaos ensued. Princess Luna suddenly wished she had gone back to bed. As if rejecting her wishful thoughts, the sheets from that same bed flew off and began to weave themselves into a new shape, whilst the mattress hardened to create a sturdy work table. Discord grabbed a nearby banana and used it as a foot pump to raise this new surface to a comfortable height. Her other belongings were morphing in all sorts of bizarre ways: the teapot she had just been using lost its lid and straightened out into a transparent beaker, a quill minding its own business turned into a spatula, and her prized painting, the beautiful work of art depicting Celestia and herself at peace together, decided to grow legs and scuttled across the room to leap happily onto the recently created worktop, acting as a makeshift tripod. This is absurd! What is that cretin planning? The bed sheets finished their transformation. They had crafted themselves into a colourful laboratory coat, which Discord then donned along with a pair of goggles that five seconds ago had been two separate light bulbs. The draconequus curled his lower body upwards to rub all four limbs together. “I just love a bit of midnight science!” Luna gritted her teeth, but did not let him see. “Stop!” she commanded. “Return my chambers to –” “Quiet, quiet!” Discord whispered with glee as a zip materialised over her mouth to clamp it shut. “I’m doing stuff.” Calmly, the Princess vapourised the zip with her magic. “Would you like me to inform my sister of what you have wrought? I am sure Twilight Sparkle and her friends have some time and the Elements of Harmony at their disposal.” Her power play didn’t work. Discord shrugged, busy pouring water from a bottle all over the floor so he could turn it into a Bunny Burner. “Go ahead. Slaughter me for trying to teach you something useful.” He inhaled deeply before blasting his nostrils over the beaker, resulting in an undignified mess landing within. “So, you just start with a little glucose and hydrogenate it to sorbitol, then…” Luna’s ears and eyes lost track of Discord’s words and limbs respectively, the latter flailing in a seemingly random manner yet somehow always managing to do what he wanted. Halfway through the bewildering experiment, Discord gained a pair of flip flops, and at one point Luna swore he gave the spatula a name. A stray thought wondered how the God of Chaos could possibly know so much about such a structured and linear practice. She shook her head to snap herself out of her reverie. This was neither the time nor the place for such irrelevance, especially when that place was her room disguised as an idiot’s alchemy lab. “Discord, you will halt this nonsense now, lest I—” “And TA-DA! Ascorbic acid!” Discord played hot potato with a second vial containing the same white powder. He then popped off the lid with his single tooth and threw the contents straight into her face. “See? Completely harmless.” Luna’s composure began to crack. “Discord.” Traces of the Royal Canterlot Voice crept involuntarily into her speech. “You shall rectify your folly immediately.” Mumbling something about the potential dangers of scurvy, at last Discord sagged and everything began reluctantly shuffling back to its original position, turning back to normal so slowly it was as though her possessions had developed a grudge against their old forms. The spatula waved at Discord, to which he replied “Oh, goodnight to you too, Lyra!” Having magically cleaned her face of the acid while this was happening, Luna seized control of the situation the moment her room looked like nopony had ever touched it. “State your intention or leave.” Her voice was still thick with anger. She swallowed and quelled it; if Discord knew he was getting to her, she might as well have painted an enormous red target on her flank. “So formal, Princess.” He grinned, causing Luna to cringe inwardly. Evidently her growing temper had not escaped him. “You don’t need to be nervous around me. After all, we’re the best of friends now!” He casually flicked her mane, forcing her to hold back from striking him for his outrageous disrespect. Luna quickly backed away. “Leave, Discord! I must guard the night!” “Yes, that’s another thing with you and your daytime sibling: working twelve hours a day, every day.” Discord floated outside to the balcony and spread his stubby arms wide. “Take a holiday! Go somewhere...nice.” The draconequus landed softly and gave Luna a terrible smile. “I heard the moon is nice this time of year.” Luna’s blood boiled. Her powerful horn sparked with excess energy, every second now a battle to keep herself in check. I will not let him win, nor will I harm him. I will not let him win, nor will I harm him… This thought was the single barrier preventing her magic’s dam from bursting and channelling every last bit into Discord’s ugly body. “Get out,” she hissed. A pause stunted the tension. “...Oh, alright then.” Discord clicked his talons again and he disappeared. The Princess blinked. Was that it? Alas, no. “Hey, heads up!” a voice shouted from the beautiful night sky. Or rather, it had been beautiful, at least until a silhouette of Discord’s talking face had manifested on the moon. Luna cursed his mockery of her very symbol, but knew this was only an illusion; even Discord did not wield the power to teleport at will into space. His physical form is still in the immediate vicinity... I cannot allow his patronising theatrics to continue! “Ahhh, it’s brilliant up here!” Discord called, an eerily accurate echo in his voice for one merely pretending to be on the moon. The shadow of his face grew smaller to allow space for a projection of Discord’s entire body, which started quite literally moonwalking. “Join me, Luna! Get your precious sister to send you up here!” She shook with undiluted rage. Luna could feel it now. The darkness that still lurked inside her.     She hadn’t agreed with Celestia. When her sister had uttered the words “Discord” and “free” in the same sentence, Luna had outright refused. The simple thought of him roaming around stirred too many bitter memories. But Celestia had insisted on her consent before acting, suggesting that the mare who had once assisted Luna in practicing modern speech, a pegasus called Fluttershy, might tame him. Deep down she knew that the sun goddess’s reasoning had made sense, but in a way Luna still wanted none of it. She would never trust Discord. Finally, after spending weeks suffering under the thorny decision of either guaranteeing the continuation of Equestria’s long-standing peace or putting faith in Celestia, Luna had chosen the latter. How could she not? After all that she had done to break her sister’s heart… My sister, who was given no choice but to banish me for a millennium because of my selfishness and jealousy. My sister, who apologised to me for the thousand years I deservedly spent alone. My sweet, sweet sister... Discord’s shadow morphed into a silhouette of Luna’s face. “You know, Princess, it’s so good here that I might just stay a little while longer. Let’s say – oh, I don’t know – a thousand years?” “DISCORD, THOU SHALT FEEL MY WRATH!”