//------------------------------// // Chapter 2- The Forests of Everfree // Story: The Discord Chronicles: The Era of Chaos // by DJ-PonRainbowFireJack //------------------------------// Chapter 2 The Forests of Everfree And so their friendship began. Some might say that Celestia took Discord under her wing out of pity, but they would be mistaken. She was truly intrigued by him. Their first encounter had challenged her intellectually and magically and she craved more. She never knew what to expect from her new friend and the unpredictably of him was exciting. One day Celestia, Luna, and, of course, Discord met once again in the courtyard of the palace. They had yet to venture beyond its walls, not because Discord had not suggested it many times, but because Luna’s reason always won out over Discord’s persuasion. As much as Celestia wanted to venture beyond the city limits of Canterlot she would not do without her little sister and Luna was steadfast and strong against Discord’s coaxing. It always had taken a lot to move Luna on anything. Celestia herself was the only pony to ever convince the younger Princess to change her permission, and even then the occasion was rare. But Discord had a charm about him that Celestia suspected could affect even the most stubborn of ponies. It certainly affected her, and she wasn’t exactly capricious herself. “This palace is so boring,” Discord complained, flipping onto his back dramatically. “Can’t we push the boundaries just this once?” He addressed Luna when he said this, as Celestia had already gotten to her feet, ready to take off. Luna frowned. “We’ve been through this. Everfree is alright for you. You live there and embrace the danger. We are ponies and it is dangerous. It would be terribly unwise.” Celestia bumped her sister with her flank, causing the younger pony to fall to the ground with a thud. “Come off it, little sister. You don’t care about the danger. You just don’t want to get in trouble with father.” Luna scowled. “That is not true. I don’t want to die.” Discord laughed an eerie sort of laugh that sent chills up the princesses’ spines. “Oh, please, Luna, do you really think that I would let anything adverse happen to you? You should know be better than that by now. Besides, if you think the stable, predictable world of the ponies is beautiful at night wait until you see the majesty of a night in the forests.” Discord winked at Celestia who grinned back in approval. She couldn’t believe neither of them had thought of it before now. Using Luna’s love of the night was obviously the best an most effective way to convince her of anything. Celestia could see her sister’s hesitation and knew that a victory was underway. Discord was truly a genius in many respects. “Well… I suppose… as long as we aren’t separated… and nopony catches us… well… just this once.” “YES!” Celestia whooped. She turned a few flips in the air in celebration. Discord snickered and looped through the air with her. For a few moments their joy was joined in chaotic harmony and a spark was ignited. It fizzled and burned bright, then faded into a faint glow as they happily floated to the ground, but the essence of the spark still resided in their hearts and shimmered in their eyes. “If you two are done gloating now,” Luna sniffed, “I want to do this before I lose my nerve.” “Onward, my friends!” Celestia chanted. “Onward to our destiny!” “And a wonderful destiny it is indeed!” Discord added as he slithered easily over the palace wall. “Come, sister,” said Celestia. “I need to cast an invisibility spell over us so that the guards do not see our exit. Luna, entirely accustomed to Celestia’s advanced use of magic, took a step closer and allowed her sister to cast the spell. Her horn glowed bright and engulfed the pair in a brilliant ball of light. Discord watched hungrily from his perch right over the wall. Her magic was so strong and so different from his own. Oh, the things he could do with such power… When Celestia’s magic faded away there was nothing. The two royal ponies were rendered entirely invisible and allowed to fly over the heads of the guards without being noticed. Discord kept to the shadows as he sped along toward his home until they were all standing a the edge of the Everfree Forest. The darkness gloomed from the forest and a slight wind whirl around their hooves. Discord looked unconcerned, but even Celestia was starting to feel a little nervous. She exchanged a look with her sister and saw the same doubt in her face. Was this a good idea? There was no time to decide, for the next moment Discord was slinking into the forest and they had no choice but to follow him. It was dark and quiet in the dankness of the trees. Every bush seemed to rustle with some sort of unidentifiable creature. Celestia kept her eyes and ears alert for any sign of danger. She would not let her adventure end in harm. “Why so quiet, my dear princesses! There is nothing to fear here! I am truly the most terrifying thing in these woods!” Celestia snorted. “If that’s true then there is no reason why ponies should fear coming here. You aren’t scary at all!” Discord glanced at Celestia out of the corner of his eye. “If you believe that, my Princess, you are either very brave or you do not know me at all.” “Why is that?” Luna asked. “Because I represent everything there is fear in this forest. I represent the unknown.” Celestia truly didn’t know how to interpret that statement, so she didn’t try. She knew there was nothing to fear of Discord and if there was nothing to fear from him there was nothing to fear from these woods. Her doubts began to ease and her fear faded away. Without the block of caution to cloud her vision she began to see beautiful things that she had missed before. The way the wind blew and rustled the leaves without anypony to guide it, the light from the setting sun shimmering delicately through the canopy. Perhaps Discord was right. Perhaps a little unpredictability was all anypony needed. “Stop,” said Discord. He held out a clawed hand to keep the two princesses from going any further. Celestia cocked her head. Why was he stopping them? Their location didn’t look particularly special and they were entirely alone in the woods. “Why are we stopping,” Luna asked softly, as if she thought if she spoke in normal tones she would wake some sleeping beast. Discord smirked at the girls. “Where we are about to go is very different from even these woods. Are you sure you want to see it?” “Something more than the Everfree Forests?” Celestia asked eagerly. “I didn’t know there was more.” “Silly, naïve, princess,” Discord crooned teasingly, patting Celestia on the head. “There is so much to the world that even I have yet to experience. Wonders and magics yet undiscovered… We will never stop learning.” Celestia scowled at Discord’s demeaning nature, but she knew that he was right. There was always something to be learned. There was always some new discovery just around the corner. You couldn’t learn those things holed up in a castle, learning from stories and books. You had to experience them first hand to truly understand the gravity of the world around you. That was a lesson that, though she almost forgot where she first heard it, she would hold on to for centuries to come. “Well, then, yes! I’m ready for anything. Lead onward, friend!” Luna gulped, but didn’t argue. She seemed to be trying very hard not to come across as the wimp with the group. She was, after all, the youngest. But default this meant she had much to prove. Discord smiled at both girls and flipped a rock on the forest floor. A strange spinning portal swirled up out of nothing. It was almost hypnotic in a way. Watching the way the circle spun make Celestia feel a little light headed. She wrenched her eyes away from the spinning portal and stared at Discord in uncertainty. “What is this?” “This, my dear, is my home. Enter at your own risk.” The three passed through the portal in a blur of colors and shapes. As soon as her head cleared Celestia stared around in her wonder. The world she was in now very clearly resembled the Everfree Forest, and yet it looked nothing like it at all. There were still towering trees and rippling winds, but everything was wrong. The large mansion that had appeared before them was floating in the air, upside down. The sky was filled not with a beautiful sunset, but with fluffy pink clouds. The trees were weighed down and drooping with oversized acorns and, just a few feet away, a rabbit grazed in the bushed on high, spindly, hoofed legs. This wasn’t right and it made Celestia dreadfully uncomfortable. Spontaneity was one thing, but this utter disregard for everything natural was another. “Welcome to my home, ladies!” Discord said happily, longing in one of the pink clouds above them. “Beautiful, isn’t it?” “It’s creepy,” Luna said honestly. Discord sighed melodramatically. “I suspected that you would say that. Ponies just don’t understand the magic of this place. But really, you must get in the spirit of things. Here…” He grabbed a handful of the pink cloud and stuffed into a cone made from and oversized, blue leaf from a nearby tree. “Try this… it’s cotton candy.” “Cotton candy?” Celestia raised, her eyebrow raised. “Yes… filled chocolate milk. Try it.” Celestia took is carefully and nibbled at the end. She instantly brightened. It was, indeed, chocolate filled cotton candy. “So… if the clouds are filled with chocolate milk… does that mean?” Discord smiled and nodded. “Chocolate rain.” Celestia gasped and whirled around to face her sister. “Luna! Did you hear that! This place comes with chocolate rain!” Luna did not look impressed. Her face was filled with discomfort and distaste. “Discord, we should go. You promised me that I would get to see the forest at night.” Discord chuckled. “Don’t worry yourself over it, Luna… Here time is at a standstill. I can manipulate it to suit my will. When we return to the forest it will be exactly as we left it.” “I think we should head home, Discord,” Luna snapped. She wasn’t sounding at all like herself. Being in Discord’s home seemed to truly be bothering her. “She’s right,” Celestia agreed, recognizing her sister’s obvious distress. “We ought to go.” Discord sighed. “Well, if we must, we must.” He snapped his fingers and the portal appeared once more. They all passed through it quickly and silently, though Discord lingered for a moment as if he didn’t want to leave. The pull of his friends was stronger, however, so he passed through the swirling circles and closed the portal behind him. Discord’s promise proved true. It was almost as if they hadn’t left at all. The shadows were the same, the sun was in the exact same location in the sky. Celestia felt a shiver run down her spine. Wherever it was the Discord lived, it wasn’t natural, not at all. They walked back in silence until the sun fell over the mountain top. The moment darkness enveloped them Luna stopped walking and gasped. “My goodness… It’s so beautiful!” Discord laughed. “I told you so.” Celestia snorted. “I can’t see a thing,” she complained. Her night vision had never been up to par. But Luna could see. Luna could see so clearly and it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. The moonlight glistened off the shining rocks on the ground and created a kaleidoscope effect off the leaves. A soft breeze rustled through the forest and whistled past them. The music of the night enveloped her sensed and brought her such a sense of serenity that she could have stayed there forever. “Sister, when it becomes my duty to raise them moon my night will look like this.” “I’m sure it will,” Celestia replied, but before she could say anything else the peace of the moment was interrupted by a crash and a growl. Luna squeaked and hide behind her sister. Discord’s eyebrows furrowed and he slithered in front of the two sisters. “Uh-oh… looks like we have company.” A large creature prowled it’s way out of the forest. It was a huge, bear-like creature, taller than half of the trees. It was an Ursa Major, one of the most violent beasts in the Everfree Forest, or at least the Princesses had been told. It was impossible to vanquish. Celestia could feel Luna shaking behind her. She, too, was frozen with fear, unable to remember magic that might save them. The Ursa Major prowled closer, growling and snarling. It crouched down the pounce… Discord lunged toward it and grabbed it’s face boldly. He bore down on the beast, staring into it’s eyes furiously. His pupils contracted and his eyes began to swirl much like the portal had done. The Ursa Major’s vision locked on to Discord’s and it seemed to go into a trace. It’s eyes swirled and it’s face grew slack. It’s colors began to fade into a dull gray. Soon Discord broke away and pushed the beast from him. The Ursa Major blinked once, then trotted in the other direction, gentle and docile. Celestia was amazed. She could battle with the best of them, but never had she seen magic that could alter the behavior of such a fearsome beast with little or no effort. The defeat of an Ursa Major was indeed no small feet. “How did you do that?” Discord glanced over at Celestia with a little discomfort. “I have the power to alter a creatures very nature. I took away the beasts violent nature.” “That doesn’t seem ethical,” Luna commented. Celestia rolled her eyes. “Shut up, Luna, he just saved out lives. You should be more grateful.” “I am, but still… It seems wrong to change the things that define something’s very existence.” Celestia shrugged. “Perhaps, but I am not complaining. Discord, you have saved us. How will we ever repay you.” “No repayment necessary, my dear. I am simply doing what any friend would do.” From that moment forward Celestia and Discord were inseparable. After all, he had saved her life. Nothing he ever did could nullify that. Nothing.