The screech of chair legs against the tile jolted Discord awake. He rubbed his eyes before blinking at Chrysalis. Oh great... just what I needed.
“Why do you enjoy it so much?” she asked him, sitting down.
Discord groaned as he took his time stretching. He bit the inside of his lip to keep it from trembling. His wedding band cooly traced his cheek as he wiped the grime out of his eyes.
Chrysalis kept her impatient gaze on him while drumming her fingers on the table.
“I don’t enjoy it actually,” Discord said, leaning forward and massaging his forehead.
“Why not? Beating Sombra to a pulp while he scrambles around, unable to do anything? Doesn’t appeal to you at all?”
Discord arched his eyebrows. “Would you enjoy it?”
“Duh.”
“Why? I thought you lived off of love.”
“That’s the whole reason, idiot,” she almost spat.
“Enlighten me then... I’m a tired old man,” Discord grumbled, leaning back in his chair. He glanced towards the coffee maker but his limbs didn’t want to reach for it.
“Well... I live off of love, right? It’s how I eat.”
“Yeah, and?”
“So, for me to feed off of love... It needs to be abundant. Sombra thrives off of hatred and fear. He actually creates those things, and destroys love in the process.”
“He’s not the only source of hate, you know,” Discord said.
Chrysalis’ gaze drifted to the table and she shifted her jaw before looking back. ”My subjects weren’t always starving.”
The muscles between Discord’s eyebrows contracted. “Starving?”
“Why else do you think I was in Canterlot the same time you were?” Chrysalis said in a low, distracted voice. She closed her lips and her eyes got lost in the grain of the wooden table as she traced the bones of one hand with the thin fingers of the other.
“So... “ Discord began for her. “You weren’t there just to find some lost changelings?”
She laughed softly. “Of course not. At that point, I was the only one in my particular hive healthy enough for reconnaissance. We used to feed off the ponies of the Crystal Empire. At least, my ancestors did. We kept hoping it would come back someday. In the meantime, we did small hunting missions, sneaked into towns we had never seen before, tried to make our own love. But, that landscape... it just— It’s like our food was being destroyed by something else. While I don’t have any concrete proof, I feel like Sombra’s magic had something to do with it.”
Discord listened to the clock scratch out it’s ticking. “So... that explains why you hate Sombra. But, why Princess Celestia?”
“Technically, I don’t hate her.”
“Oh, come on! You can’t even say good morning to her without that disgusted look on your face!”
“Well, let’s think, Discord: who was it that refused to boot King Sombra out of the Crystal Empire years ago?”
“You can’t blame her for—”
“Yes, I can! The previous queens of the hive recorded everything! Instead of coming and freeing the crystal ponies, Princess Celestia used King Sombra and her own sister to gain control of Equestria!” Chrysalis leaned forward, pressing her finger against the table for each accusation. “One thousand years passed and she didn’t even try to get the Empire restored. One thousand years passed and Sombra’s magic depleted our food supply. One thousand years passed and she just sat on her flank and did nothing.”
“That is not true. You have no idea what—”
“Do you know what starvation is?” she exploded, slamming her fist onto the table. She winced, holding her hand. “Just because you can’t get yourself off of her—”
The table bruised Discord’s hand as he slammed his fist down on it. His nostrils flared and his brown eyes smoldered while they remained fixed on the floor between his shoes. Slowly, he released the tension in his back and sat up again, crossing his arms against his chest.
“You don’t know everything.” He groaned and rubbed his forehead. “There was only so much she could do during that time and I'm not even sure if she knew your kind existed. She probably still doesn't know,” he added, looking at the Changeling Queen across the table. His eyes fell to her bony hands and arms, yellowing with malnutrition. She didn’t need this strain now. She needed much more than rest. “Chrysalis, give me your hand.”
Her bloodshot green eyes turned toward his own tired gaze before she took his hand. Discord could feel the sensation of her feeding as soon as her skin touched his. She could control feeding when there was distance; direct contact and hunger would make it impossible for her to resist. He just had to remember something. He had a whole store of memories to generate love from.
Closing his eyes, he could almost feel an infant squirming in his arms, bawling her precious little lungs out. A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. Love was easy if he pictured looking down into her bright blue eyes once she was calm and awake. He lifted her to his shoulder and felt her heartbeat as she continued to wriggle around. He hugged her. He hugged his daughter; his beautiful baby girl. She would learn to call him Daddy. He would watch her grow—
The smile dropped and pain seized his chest. He opened his eyes and let go of Chrysalis’ hand. Her fingers still felt thin, but at least her skin wasn’t such a sickly color. Discord’s eyes stayed fixed on the edge of the table.
“I’ll bring Sarah...” Chrysalis said gently, rising from the table. As the door closed behind her, the pain in Discord’s chest ebbed away to numbness. His thumb ran along his fingertips and his eyes stayed on the edge of the table.
He hadn’t watch his daughter grow up. Instead, he was frozen in stone for fifteen years. All those years he spent thinking she was dead. Would he have fought harder if he had known she was alive? Had he given up on her? She had gotten her cutie mark without him watching. She had fallen in love and had her first heartbreak without him able to comfort her. She had grown up without him. Discord traces the grain of the wood. Nothing. He didn’t feel it. He didn’t feel any of it.
“Daddy?” Sarah said, walking over to him. He looked up at her, blinking mechanically a few times. His mouth was a straight line that he didn’t feel like bringing to a smile. Sarah wrapped her arms around her father and rested her chin on his shoulder.
“I love you, Daddy,” she said, hugging him tightly.
He sighed as the numbness seemed to dissipate somewhat. Rising, he returned the embrace.
“I love you too, Screwball.”
Discord sat at the head of Celeste Marlowe’s bed, massaging her scalp. Any moment she could come back completely and just end all of this. This whole game would finally be over.
She was crying. Tears were flowing from her eyes even though she was catatonic. How much had she heard and understood from his and Twilight’s conversation? Still, crying could mean that she was close to coming back completely. They had been so close and then Twilight had to come and try to save her. Then again, Twilight had no way of knowing that Celestia was, in a sense, already dead. At least she was out of the room now and Discord could concentrate properly. Climbing into dreams was never easy. If Celeste was having a nightmare...
Discord shivered as his hands continued to play with Celeste’s hair. Perhaps she would remember how this had calmed her before. Perhaps the dream would be an easy one to enter. She was so close. This could be over if he was successful. He watched her eyelid intently, waiting for the REM cycle to begin. He hated being patient. They were so close.
Back. Forth. Back again. Her eyes watched an invisible tennis match. Discord sighed and placed his hands on her temples, closing his eyes and bringing his forehead to rest against hers.
Here goes nothing...
Celeste knelt on the ground of an autumnal forest, tears streaming down her face as her fingers curled around handfuls of dead leaves. Discord could see from her eyes and feel through her mind.
This is a nightmare, he realized. Well, at least it's something.
They can’t find him. Why can’t they find him? She thought.
Celeste felt a strong hand on her shoulder and looked up with tearful eyes at her father. “No! I don’t want to leave! I have to find him!”
Her brother... she had to stop searching.
An older man, her father, pulled her back. “We have to go. We’ve been searching for hours and everyone is starting to tire out... We’ll keep searching tomorrow, Celeste.”
She frantically scanned the ground, searching the pine needles and small weeds below her for any clue.
“Aidan!” she screamed.
Every shout around her from her other relatives gave her hope that they had found him. No, they were just calling his name as she was. Even with everyone searching they had no found him yet. What time was it? They had been searching for hours without he help of moonlight. He was too young to be lost like this.
“Aidan!” she cried desperately, running without any clear sense of direction.
The woods echoed with the call of her brother’s name. People were searching everywhere. She could hear Selene calling for him while openingly sobbing.
“Aiden! Please come back! Please!”
“Aiden!” Celeste yelled, her flashlight shaking in her hand. They were only partway into the woods but she wanted him to hear her. He was too young to be lost in the woods. He must be terrified. She shouldn’t have left him with Selene!
How could things have gone so wrong? I only tried to help you!
“Aiden! Come back!” Celeste heard her father shout. Perhaps he would just be by another campsite?
“Is someone staying in the camp? Just in case?” her cousin Melody asked.
“Aiden!” she shouted again. The chorus of her brother’s name was pumping adrenaline through every inch of her body. She had to find him. She had to find him. It was her fault. She shouldn’t have left him with Selene.
Please, Celeste, it wasn’t your fault.
The chorus echoed and rebounded in the night. It was so dark now and she needed her flashlight to see where she was stepping. Hopefully the battery would last her. They had been searching for so long already.
“Aiden!” she heard her sister shout. They would find him soon—they had to. He would be found or he would be waiting by the tents.
Hours of the chorus of Aiden’s name went by. The call for him to come back or go to them or yell out surged through the forest with no response. The police sirens could be heard stopping and Celeste assumed they left their vehicles to begin searching the woods with them. She stopped to look at the time on her cell phone. 8:38 P.M, they had been searching for over 2 hours.
“Aiden!” she yelled, her flashlight by her side, turn off for now. She would have to turn it on soon. Her eyes were beginning to protest in the dim twilight.
He had to be somewhere around here. He couldn’t have gone far. She could hear her maternal aunt shouting off to her right a little farther in. What if he was calling back and nobody could hear over their own shouting? A three-year-old’s voice could be easily lost among the noise.
She stopped to listen but only heard the chorus of voices.
“Aiden!” she called. They would find him soon. It wouldn’t be long. He couldn’t have wandered far. At least the sun was still out and they could see the forest somewhat clearly. Darkness would be coming soon though and they needed to find him before then.
Darkness... shadows. No, Sombra wasn’t here! A little boy just disappeared without magic.
“Aiden!” she heard her relatives calling. They were bound to find him soon. He couldn’t have gone far. He was probably on a trail, maybe trying to find one of them.
“The Sheriff is coming and bringing a few men with him,” her uncle announced.
“Did someone call the police?” her cousin, Alexander, asked.
“Aiden!” her aunt Mary shouted
“Everyone stay within sight of each other! We don’t want to lose anyone else.”
Celeste breathed deeply before calling again for her little brother... he was way too young to have gone far in the woods. Everyone shouted around her, calling, calling, calling over and over again, almost like a chorus singing his name...
“Be careful!”
“We’re going to head over to the river. You take the other direction and head towards town. He couldn’t have gone far.”
“Aiden! Where are you?” Celeste called. the trees were slowly thickening but there was still a decent amount of light coming through.
She put her phone in her pocket and held the flashlight in her hand. It was 6:00 PM and they didn’t have much time to find him.
Celeste entered the woods, checking her phone quickly.
No! Not Yet!
Everything faded to black again. Discord had been kicked out of her mind. One dream, or nightmare, at a time was all he had. At least now she could hear her brother’s name. She had described this nightmare over and over to him, but living it personally was something different.
His shaking fingers faintly traced her cheek. Shallow breaths crossed his lips as he felt the dryness of his eyes sting with a wave of tears. His hands were so heavy. Her wanted to comfort her, calm her. He was so tired.
Get to bed. Stand up and get to bed. You can’t help her like this.
Discord pulled his arms back until his palms rested against the bar of her headboard. He pushed himself up, feeling every muscle in his body ache as he looked back down at the woman lying in front of him. A bitter laugh came as he shook his head. Except for the shallow rise and fall of her abdomen, she could easily be mistaken for a corpse.
“What was it you said to me... that started all of this?” he said. “Well, I guess it wasn’t just that ...” He stretched, groaning again before sitting in the chair where Twilight had been moments ago. “Still, if you hadn’t talked to me then... I wouldn’t have done something as stupid as this.” he laughed again. His eyelids felt so heavy, but talking... talking felt so good. He hadn’t been able to talk to Sarah in what felt like eternity.
His eyes fell to her pale lips. Can I really kiss her now? A groan went up from his chest. Of course I can’t. His hand shook less as he touched her cheek with the back of his fingers.
“Where was I?” he mused aloud, lifting her tender hand in both of his. “You asked me... ‘Were you a mistake too?’ that night.” He looked down at her pale fingers as he laced them with his own. “I made a mistake with you. When I ask myself if I would make that same mistake all over again... I know my answer would be no.”
His own voice seemed to echo in his ears as he sat, surprised at what he had just said. He ran his hand lightly across the back of hers, hearing the words that had come out of his mouth over and over in his mind. Yes, he had meant it. He took her hand from his and gently bent her wrist up to face him. Tenderly, he placed a kiss there before returning her fingers to rest upon the blanket.