//------------------------------// // VI - The Journey Ahead // Story: Snickersnatch // by SpiralWriter //------------------------------// [Snickersnatch] By: Quisky Chapter Six: The Journey Ahead "Thank you, your majesty!" With three subjects groveling away from her, Princess Celestia's Sun Court had ended on a rather cheerful, if not tiring, note. Once again, a petty dispute that could've been settled in a lesser system or amongst themselves had to be brought to the attention of their wise ruler. Two ponies, both earth, claimed their stake on the same plot of land, saying it belonged to their ancestors, only for a goat to come in and say the same thing. After hearing all three sides and digging up some old records, they had found it belonged to none of them. The rightful owner had been contacted, and the three 'cheated' out of their land grumbled away. She was just glad it didn't come to blows, those two ponies along with the guards present would be in the hospital for a couple days because of a goat. You never wanted to fight one without being prepared, their hooves could hit like iron and their headbutts is like getting rammed with a engine behind it. The regal white alicorn stood up from her throne, stretching briefly to work out the kinks in her muscles that had built up during the hours of sitting down. Though her royal tasks her menial physically, they did exhaust the patience and mind sometimes. Luckily, she has had millenniums to work on that. Her hoofsteps echoed in the halls as she made her way towards her private study, every guard and staff member she passed either saluting or bowing her presence. She only nodded and smiled gently at them. Occasionally, she would run into her fair sister on the way so that they might have a nice chat before the exchange of day and night occurred. This was just so an occasion. Down the hall as she made her own way towards the throne room, Princess Luna's midnight blue form nodded and smiled at her sister, her mane of the cosmos embodiment flowing with the movement, even with no wind around to blow it. Celestia returned to smile as she approached, affectionately nuzzling her. "Greetings, dearest sister. Did Sun Court go smoothly today?" "It did. Nothing interesting happened other than a fight almost breaking out among two ponies and a goat." "Our money would have been betted upon the goat." Luna chuckled. "Mine as well." "Oh, did thou meet the jabberwocky today? He did not proper greeting etiquette, but he seemed very . . . reverent when speaking to us." Celestia nodded. "I did, and i gave him his task." Luna allowed an expression of disappointment to cross her face. "An assignment to 'investigate changeling sightings'? Why dost thou not tell him the truth, Tia?" A tired sigh escaped the sister of the sun's lips. "Several reasons. One, the bureaucratic waste I would have to wade through if the nobles did not get their way." "A pox upon the nobles, they are not worthy of their bloodline." "Agreed, but would you like to sit through an hour's worth of them nagging at your ears?" "We would simply have them put in the dungeon or executed." ". . . That's still not acceptable these days." "We know, we still would have done it if it ever fell upon the Night Court." "Plus, there is always the prophecy." At this, the Night Mare raised an eyebrow. "You do not wish to tell him of his role? This will have repercussions, sister." "I know Lulu . . . I know. He will learn, just not now. It is too early." ". . . Very well." Another nod and brief hug between them, and they were off, Celestia to lower the sun, Luna to raise her moon and precede over Night Court. Celestia approached the door to her own study, opening it and closing it behind her with a quick thought of telekinesis. When she turned around, she saw Discord lying amongst a pile of her throw pillows, a rose in his mouth, candles lit around him, and seductive jazz music playing from seemingly nowhere. "Helloooo, Celestia." Discord growled, waggling his eyebrows. He was replied with a telekinetic slap that sent him sprawling, extinguishing the candles, and making the music come to a record scratch. "Tcht. Kill the mood why don't ya?" The spirit of disharmony grumbled as he removed a pillow that had gotten stuck upon one of his horns. Celestia only shook her head in disgust. "What do you want, Discord?" She said, annoyance dripping along every word. "Still haven't forgiven me? It's been nearly a decade since my rehabilitation, you'd think one would let go of a grudge countless centuries old." He stood up, dusting himself off. "I have, it's just that every time you show up, it's either you joking around or to steal cake from my pantry. Just make your own!" "But I lack that certain touch only your Canterlot chefs can create . . . plus it's more fun to steal from you anyway." He chuckled, plopping himself back down in the pillow pile. Celestia merely rolled her eyes and went over to her desk. She'd rather sit there than with him anyway. "C'mon Celly, let's reignite that old flame we once had going. Sure, we're not everybody's OTP, and we start some flame wars every so often on the internet, but that doesn't mean we can't at least try." He cackled. "No." She replied flatly. "Fine. You've always been a bore anyway, sunbutt." He crossed his arms, sounding more like a pouting child than anything else. "Why are you even here, other than to mock me?" She dared to ask, shuffling papers around on her desk to appear busy. Trying to actually get some work done around him is as useless as a leave fighting against the currents of a tornado. "Eh, mocking's good enough, but I wanted to check up on my little side project." ". . . The jabberwocky." "Dismay, but we got into an argument over that with it ending with him sticking his fists into my eye. It's just Oddjob." "Why would you want to see him?" She asked cautiously. "I did sorta bring him here, so I do feel partly responsible for the tyke." "You? Responsible?" "I know, the word burned my tongue just by being spoken. Look, I'm not going to do anything that might mess with your little 'plans' and 'prophecy' and whatnot." He added an extra enunciation of mockery at the words beginning with p. "Just wanna help move him along, that's all." "Very well. But if you do anything to-" "Thanks Tia! Ciao, my lovely lady!" Discord hopped up, chuckling madly and disappearing with a flash of light. " . . . What did I just allow?" A small note popped out of midair in front of her to land right on her snout. You just allowed me to possibly change the course of Equestrian history. -Discord, Lord of Stuff Randomly Combusting The moment she finished reading the note it incinerated itself into ashes. I was perfectly fat and content. I reclined back into the well-cushioned and perfectly plush bedding, patting my full stomach, letting out a belch that sent cinders into the air. I had been offered the luxury of royalty, and I would be damned if I didn't try to eat the royal family out of house and home. I hadn't realized just how truly hungry and thirsty I was. With the day ridden out and the daze of being de-petrified gone, the one true thing that I could rely upon called out to me: the gurgling of my stomach. I went right to ordering upon the arrival within the room that I would be spending the night in, apparently it was made for guests who were much larger than ponies. I didn't bump my head upon the doorframe, and the bed was actually big enough to fit my whole body with room to spare. The castle staff, or more likely indentured servants, didn't mind my appearance in the slightest. Either my story was known to them, or they were simply accustomed to the castle having irregular guests. Either way, they brought me the food I requested, and I was happy. Would've tipped them too if I still had a bit to my name. I never truly knew what happened with that sum of money I received way back in Appleloosa . . . Piles of fruit, sweets, and various other edible substances came towards me in platters. I did crave meat, but I knew actually ordering it would probably sicken some of them, some I kept myself from doing so. Being an omnivore around herbivores still would take getting used to. Down my gullet it all went, a countless rainbow of flavors satisfying my hunger. From the sultry-sweet tang of strawberries and watermelon to delectable cakes and pies, especially apple and pecan. As for the drinks, I ordered mostly juices and water. Rum would've been on the list, but working up a hangover was not advisable when I had some seemingly important stuff to do tomorrow. "Could you pass the quiche, please?" "No prob, mate." I absentmindedly reached out and handed a plate of the stuff to an awaiting hand beside me. "Thank you, Oddy." Discord said. I smiled and nodded briefly at him before jumping right out of the bed and slamming into the nearby wall in panic. "You!" I almost screeched. "You as well. How are things?" He casually asked, nibbling at the plate of food passed to him. Before I could actually assault him with my newly acquired big-hittin' stick, it seemed to have disappeared from the holster across my back and into his paws. "Very nice weapon you have here." The draconequus noted as he examined it. "Very durable, good for knocking some teeth out of people you don't like. But that's not the only use it has . . . the question is, why give it to a pup who doesn't even know how to do magic? This nifty little branch should belong in the hooves of Equestria's Archmage." "Give it back, or you'll end up charbroiled." I said, growling to rev up the heat inside me, sending tendrils of heat and flames to whip out from betwixt my fangs. "There's no need for us to fight." He shrugged and tossed it over to me, and I caught it, gripping it tightly in my hands. "And why's that? Afraid you'll lose? I'm not letting you take over Equestria this time." "Hmm . . . you're a little late on the uptake." He snapped his claws, bringing forth from nothingness into reality a laptop. Technology, huh. Hadn't seen that in a while. It landed on his lap, and he began to tick-tack away on the buttons. "Here, this should get you up to speed." He turned the screen towards me. ". . . 'Keep Calm and Flutter On'? What the everloving fuck is that other than an adorable quip hinting towards a Fluttershy-related episode?" "It's where I become reformed. I'm a good guy now, at least, good enough." ". . . I don't believe you." "You don't have to." "Your only proof is a website that you could've conjured up yourself. You are Discord the Liar, y'know." ". . . It's the MLP: FiM episode list on wikipedia. Contrary to public belief, They don't just let anyone edit any page." I eased into a slightly less hostile stance, but nevertheless, I had to keep vigilant. This guy tricked me more than a con-artist at a two-bit carnival show. "Okay . . . say I believe you. Does this mean you're allowed out in public? That you're accepted? What do you even do now that you're not spiraling the whole world into insanity?" "Not really, some still shy away. It's probably due to my overwhelming handsomeness though. As for what I do, most of my schedule consists of righting wrongs, popping into business that isn't mine, and screwing it up at the beginning only to save the day near the end, in which we all laugh forcibly as the screen fades out to black. Then the credits roll!" He cackled in that old, maniacal way of his, but it sounded much less threatening, a tad less evil, still all the crazy though. ". . ." "It's okay if you don't believe me, I've come to understand friendship, and it takes some. You'll warm up to me!" He grinned, yet I still felt no warmth from it. ". . ." ". . . Bah! Well maybe I don't want to be your friend! I have plenty! Fluttershy, that old hobo down the street who plays cards with me . . . though he usually ignores me and rambles to himself. Tom the Boulder . . . but he's a rock and rocks don't talk normally. Fluttershy . . . Sheogorath . . . no, not him. We usually end up fighting over who's more chaotic and end up destroying several alternate dimensions. F-Fluttershy . . ." "Sounds like you have a whole lotta friends that mostly consist of one yellow pegasus." I chuckled. He turned on me with a sour look upon his face. "Don't mock me, she's all the friend I need." Then his features softened. "She's absolutely wonderful." There, right there, I felt something different about the spirit. He sounded sincere and almost kind with those words. They were just enough to get me to believe him . . . only a tad. "Good, glad you have a friend, Discord." I retracted from my fighting pose, putting my stave back in its holster, it sliding in neatly. "Hey, sorry we got off on the wrong foot pal, considering we both have no actual right feet." He stood up after finishing his plate, eating that as well before trotting over to me, still slightly taller. I calculated in my head that in height it was Discord, Celestia, myself, Luna, then all the other shorter species. But . . . was I almost eye level with him now? His arm wrapped around me , and I tried not spazz out and start punching. "Here, I'll teach you a little trick to start out your magicking ways." He flicked my forehead. "Even though I could do anything I want from the very beginning, the same can't be said for you. From what I know, little baby unicorns always start out with levitation, and that takes concentration and knowing how to form the aura around the object." ". . . And?" "And that's pretty much it. Why are you asking me for help? I'm not a unicorn." He laughed once more at his own joke as I only rolled my dichromatic eyes. "I'll be seeing you Oddjob." He stepped away. "You'd better get some sleep my boy, you've got a journey ahead of you, and it's not going to be easy." With that and a flash of light, he disappeared, along with all of the food that I still hadn't eaten yet, and my stomach grumbled for more. I sighed as I opened the door to my room to try and catch the attention of some staff members nearby, but when I looked out into the hall, it was utterly dark save for the dim moonlight filtering in through the windows, no sight of any living creature around. I looked back into my room, a small numeral clock overhanging the bed, telling me that it was well past five in the morning, leaving me only two hours of sleep before I had to start. . . . How long had we been talking?