//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 - A Discordant Meeting // Story: A Thousand Years of Eternity // by Outcast4Ever //------------------------------// "Luna! What brings you to the moon? Did you finally decide to visit the barren wasteland you have control over? Love the new look, by the way. It's much better than that old boring blue coat and light, unmoving mane." "So this is where the Elements imprisoned thy soul after turning thee to stone. How original of them to send us here as well." said Nightmare, not even bothering to turn around. Discord moved out of the crater he had taken refuge in, walking forward until he was directly beside Luna. "Oh, they didn't bring me here, Luna. You did." At least, I'm pretty sure it was you. That's the only possible explanation. Nightmare Moon stood silently in the dim starlight. The glow of her magic helped add to the limited visibility around them, though there was nothing particularly special about where they stood. Discord was completely right; this was a barren wasteland home to craters and perhaps a small mountain or two. The two of them were easily the only living beings for many light years. "How did we bring thee here, Discord?" she seemed to growl. She would be better off with no company than that of the being beside her, and you could tell she thought so with her tone. "Now Luna, that's no way for friends to treat each other. Lighten up a little. Seriously." Another growl escaped Nightmare and she bared her gleaming fangs with an otherworldly hiss. "We have no patience for thy tricks, Discord." Her expression seemed to soften as she smiled. "So, we suggest thee tell us how we brought thee here." "Oh I have no idea, Luna. But while we're on the subject of how we got here, I believe you mentioned something about the Elements of Harmony, yes? Why did they send you here of all places, or even need to imprison you in the first place? It wouldn't have anything to do with your fabulous new look, would it?" Nightmare Moon found it hard to contain her growl and keep a smile, though slight, on her face at Discord's irritating attempt at conversation. All she really wanted at this moment was to be alone to plot her revenge, since she obviously wouldn't be in the company of her guards for some time. "That is of no concern to thee, Discord." she couldn't help but growl as his name left her lips. Though they had the common goal of bringing down Celestia, his name still left a bitter taste on her tongue. They were enemies, and always would be. "Oh but it is, dear Luna. For you see, if the Elements sent you here that means you're no longer connected to them. Their magic will weaken, and I will once again be able to rule over those pathetic ponies. If you had tried to do the same thing, I see no reason why we can't work out an agreement of so-" She decided then and there she would find a way to rid herself of him for good, and cut him off. "There is naught thee can offer us. Thy powers are worthless, as are thee." Discord pouted. "I'm insulted, Luna. Here I thought we could be friends. But no, you had to go and tear that down before it even started. Maybe that's why no one appreciated your nights. Celestia was kind and tried to make friends with her subjects. You, on the other hoof, don't really care about making friends." Nightmare's face fell and Discord smirked. "I'm right, aren't I?" She steeled herself and cut off the glow from her horn, staring intently at the near darkness around them. "Thou know naught about us, Discord." "That's not how I see it, dear Luna. For you see, though my body is trapped in stone and set up like an ornament in your gardens, I still know more about each pony than you ever will." He paused, waiting for it to sink in. "I was free to roam out here, Luna. I had complete control over my senses, my emotions, my powers. I could do whatever I pleased, learn whatever I wanted, and there was nothing those precious Elements of Harmony could do about it." He was flat out lying at this point, but Nightmare Moon was none the wiser. He was, after all, the master of trickery and manipulation. It was difficult for most to detect a lie from him. Only those who were trained to detect lies and had fallen victim to his lies would be able to recognize it, and still with difficulty. Luna met neither qualification, and would be easily tricked because of it. Darkwing watched the stardust dance before him, unable to do a thing about what he was witnessing. He was sure he knew more than his fellow guards about the true reason they were here, and how they had been sent here at all. Trace magic from the Elements of Harmony - artifacts that would, without a doubt, be written off as legends in the years that would follow this occurrence - had remained mixed with Celestia's(he still downright refused to refer to her as a princess at this point). Thanks to this she was able to send him and three others into the stars to aid their queen in her escape after a millennium of endless darkness, something Nightmare Moon had wanted so greatly. But that wasn't all, not even close. Not only were they sent to be among the stars, but they were each connected to a star themselves. They were bound to them and could only be free for short amounts of time, leaving their queen lonely for most of what would be day in Equestria and all through the night. If it wasn't for Discord. When the stardust allowing him to watch his queen had also moved to show the form of that creature, he had let out a low growl. It also didn't help that he could hear most of what they were saying. From what he could tell, Discord was trying to figure out what had gotten her sent to the moon. He was also continuously referring to her as 'Luna', which only served to cause his anger to flare each time he heard that name. Darkwing truly preferred the name Nightmare Moon as it seemed to fit his queen far better than 'Luna' ever had, so to hear her not even bother correcting the monster beside her was infuriating. And then there was that last statement. Free to do whatever he wanted? Oh, please. It had to be a lie! He had been imprisoned by the Elements, trapped in stone for all eternity. There was no way the Elements would have left him with his power, and Darkwing could clearly see that. Then again, Nightmare Moon had never had any first-hoof experience with Discord aside from when she had confronted him as Luna with Celestia by her side, and all she did then was use the Elements to shoot a rainbow at him and freeze him in stone forever. At least, he hoped it would be forever. He wasn't so sure, because when Discord had mentioned their power weakening he had definitely not been lying. With a whirlwind of thoughts in his mind, he waved a hoof through the stardust images and laid on the cloud of it below him. It was surprisingly soft and, though he never would admit it, he was rather tired after being up through the night in its entirety. He felt his eyelids growing heavy as he lay on the bed of shimmering stardust, and soon gave in to sleep. Nightmare Moon stood silently. Her eyes were closed and inviting true darkness, not the semi-darkness of the moon surrounded by starlight. Discord's words drifted through her mind on a loop, making themselves known over and over, until she had no choice but to re-open her eyes in an effort to stop them. It seemed to work, but she had a caught a flaw with his statement. "If what thou sayest is true, how is it that thou were brought only by us? Surely if thou had thy powers thee wouldst have been able to cometh here without the aid of one such as us." Discord frowned. There had been a flaw in his lie?! Something like this had never happened to him before, and he was clueless as to how he could respond without digging himself a crater in the barren landscape surrounding them. So, he stayed quiet. A tense silence quickly grew between them, Discord thankful he still had the voices in his head to take the edge off the silence surrounding him. As he stared at Nightmare Moon, she glared at him through narrowed eyes that glowed in the semi-darkness. She was waiting for him to reply, to dig himself deeper into what she now knew to be a lie. When no reply was forthcoming she smiled a dark, evil smile. "So ye do dareth lie to us. Well, now thee will learn what we do to those who deceive us." she said with a light, almost cheery tone. She was smiling as she slowly moved closer to Discord, her horn beginning to glow a deep purple and her mane surrounding him in a flowing wave. Discord simply watched, paralyzed with fear. Any normal day he would have just teleported away from her mane's magical grip, but that was impossible without his powers. So he stood as still as a statue, watching and waiting for what would come next. Nightmare soon vanished into the cloud of smoke that was her mane, flowing around Discord with ease. Her vaporous form now surrounded him and was moving in closer to his snake-like body. Specifically, near his head and neck. She wrapped herself tightly around his neck, some of her mane flowing upwards and covering his face. He gulped and tried to wiggle out of the ethereal grip, to no avail. The mist had somehow solidified, taking on the form of a large serpent with scales the color of the night and a bright white crescent moon on its forehead. It wrapped around him even tighter, it's head behind his as it hissed in his ear. He began to choke, gasping for the strangely present, life-giving oxygen that filled the air around them. He was immortal, yes, and therefore unable to die from sickness or old age. Being strangled was, however, a different matter entirely. As this realization came to him, he suddenly became very frightened. While not new to Discord, this emotion had been rarely felt in his nearly six thousand years of life, and never had it been felt to this extent. He had been in his fair share of fights when he was much, much younger, and even a few more recently (by an immortal's standards, anyway), but never before had he come so close to death. So, yeah, it scared him to be this close to the end when he had lived for so long and thought himself invincible. Still, he managed to collect his thoughts rather quickly and choke out a plea. "Dear... Luna... why-" The nightmarish serpent tightened its grip and hissed. "Itssss not Luna!" It snapped, its fangs coming close to taking the tip off his ear. "Our name issss Nightmare Moon!" "Alright, alright!" he croaked, his breaths ragged as he tried to pull in as much oxygen as possible. "My dear... s-sweet Nightmare Moon.... Why is it... that you w-want to... hurt me?" The serpent's grip loosened the slightest bit, allowing a bit more air to reach his lungs, though not nearly enough. It seemed to be in deep thought, staring at him with bright, glowing teal eyes that were the only indication that it was, without a doubt, Nightmare Moon that was strangling him. His lungs still burned for want of air, as the piercing stare seemed to burn into his soul, and he couldn't help letting out a quiet yelp as the serpent's grip tightened once more. "We wish to harm thee sssimply becaussse thou annoy usss." Hissed the serpent Nightmare, and Discord pouted. "Is that really... anything to s-say... to a friend?" he choked out, beginning to get dizzy and still struggling to get air. The serpent paused and loosened its grip once more, to a point where he could breath easier but nowhere near the freedom her needed to escape. "Dost thou really think of ussss assss... friendssss?" the serpent hissed quietly, staring at him with that piercing gaze. Except this time, it seemed to burn more with longing and sadness than anger and Discord allowed himself a small, sincere smile. "Well, I would have less trouble believing that if you were to, I don't know, let me go?" he suggested, and the serpent immediately set him down on the rocky surface of the moon, though it still sat almost uncomfortably close, watching him. "Sssso, are we friendsss or not?" "I would say that we are, wouldst thou not?" The serpent smiled and disappeared into a cloud of purple smoke. Within seconds the mist took on the form of Nightmare Moon. Her fangs shone in the dim starlight and her eyes glowed just like the eyes of her serpent form. "Yes, we are friends." Her magic suddenly grabbed his throat and pulled him towards her until he was mere centimeters from her face, and gleaming fangs. "However, if ye so much as think about deceiving us again, it will be the last thing thou ever does." "Understood, my dear Nightmare Moon." Discord said, his smile replaced with fear as he stared at her dazzling fangs only centimeters from his throat. "Good. Now, what shall we do to pass the time 'til nightfall?" "How about we have a little fun?" "What dost thou propose we do for 'fun'? If thou hast not noticed, we are trapped in a 'barren wasteland', as thee put it." "My dear Nightmare, there is still much you have to learn about friends, isn't there?"