//------------------------------// // Sweetness and Light // Story: Discord's Little Boys // by Ascension Call //------------------------------// Discord's Little Boys DISCLAIMER: Neither I, Ascension Call, nor the co-author DinamoKiev own My Little Pony and any of its characters. It was a sunny autumn afternoon in Ponyville when Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Applejack, Twilight Sparkle, and Spike trotted down the street to Carousel Boutique carrying boxes of dressmaking supplies. They had agreed to help Rarity with moving her goods to her store, and luckily, the boxes weren’t particularly heavy, giving the six mares little trouble in doing their task. Birds chirped and sang in the trees, foals played games and laughed together in the streets, and unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies of all shapes and sizes made their way through the town, going about their business. It was a peaceful morning, and not an unusual experience in Equestria. At last, the six ponies, and dragon, reached the entrance of the shop. Rarity pushed the door open and directed her friends to deposit the goods on a counter. They did so with much relief, as the work was beginning to get tedious. “Finally!” groaned Rainbow Dash as she stretched her wings out. “That was getting real boring.” “Ah’ll say!” agreed Applejack. “But there were still some fun to be had in it. Plus, we got to help out a friend, y’ know?” The others murmured in agreement, much to Rarity’s relief. “Oh! I thought I was being too much of a bother, darlings. I’m glad to see that you didn’t think so. Again, thank you all so, so much for your help!” she exclaimed. Spike grinned, a slight blush on his cheeks. “No problem, Rarity! You know you’re always welcome,” suddenly, his stomach growled loudly, much to his embarrassment. “Say… you, uh… have anything to eat?” he said sheepishly. Before Rarity could respond, Pinkie interrupted, “Oh! I do, I do!” she cheered. From seemingly out of nowhere, Pinkie produced a tray of strawberry and chocolate cupcakes complete with vanilla frosting on each. Happily, she yelled, “Dig in, everypony!” “Um, where did you… Well, never mind then. Let’s eat!” declared Rarity. Aside from Spike, who instantly grabbed three and gobbled them down (much to Twilight’s distaste), the others each grabbed a cupcake and ate slowly, savoring the taste of the sweet, rich pastries. “Mmm mmm! Man, these really hit the spot! Thanks, Pinkie!” exclaimed Dash, much to the party pony’s delight. The others voiced their thanks as well. In a matter of seconds, all of the cupcakes were gone, and everypony in the room was no longer hungry. They say in contented silence as they enjoyed the after taste of Pinkie’s baked treats. “Now… Ah’ve been wonderin’ about something, Pinkie,” said Applejack, breaking the silence. “What is it? Is it a surprise? Oh! I do love surprises!” cried Pinkie as she began hopping in place. Fluttershy giggled at the sight. “Well… sorta. Y’see, it’s Granny Smith’s birthday in two days, and me an’ Big Macintosh was jus’ hopin’ that you cou-“ before she could finish the sentence, Pinkie squealed loudly out of excitement, already anticipating what Applejack was going to ask. “Of course I’ll throw a party for Granny Smith! It’ll be the funnest, loveliest, happiest, bestest birthday party that anypony will ever go to, Applejack!” yelled Pinkie. She then began to hop around the room at a rapid pace, knocking over dress forms, boxes, and tools in the store. “Hey! Pinkie, stop!” protested Rarity, though she couldn’t help laughing at the sight of the jubilant pony. “You’re messing up my store!” Pinkie immediately stopped, though a wide grin was still plastered on her face. “Oh, I’m sorry Rarity! I’m just… so excited~!” she squealed. “Oh, I know what I’ll do!” she hopped over to Applejack and, in her excitement, spoke rapidly. “I’ll set up a bunch of apple decorations and apple desserts… Oh gosh, it’s been a while since I’ve made apple-flavored whipped cream! Oh, and of course, the entire Apple Family’s going to be there, right? Right? RIGHT?!” Applejack smiled warmly at her friend, and assured her, “Well, o’ course, sugarcube! Ah’ll make sure to invite the entire family from all over Equestria!” Pinkie Pie giggled, “Hee hee, hooray! I’m going to have to go make preparations then!” she exclaimed. With that, she hopped over to the door and smiled sadly at her friends. “Goodbye everypony! I’m going back to Sugarcube Corner. If you want, come over for some more tasty bakies! Ohhh, that rhymes! Anyways, I’ll miss you all! Goodbye for now!” she said, as she waved. Her friends waved back and called after her as well. “See ya later, Pinkie, an’ thanks again fer yer help!” shouted Applejack. She then turned back to her friends. Spike, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Twilight were all putting the items that Pinkie had knocked over back to their original spots. As expected, Spike was being especially active in his efforts, with several boxes of fallen merchandise on his back. Applejack trotted over to help her friends out, a content smile on her face. It seemed that she and her friends would always be there to help each other out, and for that, she was grateful. All was well. In Canterlot, however, all was not well. Strangely, Princess Celestia had been asleep for hours in her bed past her usual waking time, and nothing anypony tried could wake her up. This was, of course, a closely-guarded secret, as the news that one of the all-powerful and loved Princesses of Equestria was trapped in unending slumber would only panic the public and bring endless questions as to how she reached her predicament, how she was faring, and whatnot. Princess Luna, who had remained by Celestia’s bedside since it was discovered that something was amiss, was more worried now than at any other time in her life. Outside of the room, two guards conversed. Other than Princess Luna, they were the only two ponies to know of the situation. “Honestly, I’m beginning to seriously worry,” began one of them. “Princess Celestia isn’t known to oversleep, let alone do so for hours on end.” The other guard nodded, “Yeah, and by the look of things, Princess Luna’s not making any progress in waking her either.” Inside, Luna paced about. She wasn’t just worried that her sister wasn’t waking up; she had tried just about every charm that would have kicked anypony out of sleep, yet her sister remained dead to the world, and periodically, her sister’s brow furrowed, and she grimaced, seemingly because of something very stressful. Was Celestia having a nightmare? Luna pondered this before finally deciding what she was going to do. “Sister, I do not know if thou can hear me, but enough is enough. I know I promised not to use this spell out of respect for thy privacy, but these are pressing times. I am coming into thy dream!” she declared. With that, she closed her eyes, focused her magic upon her sister’s sleeping form, and attempted to transport her spiritual essence into her sister’s mind. Nothing happened. Luna’s eyes snapped open and stared. A barrier had successfully prevented her from entering her sister’s mind, meaning that a force of magic more powerful than her own was keeping Celestia asleep. Confused, Luna trained her magic on Celestia again, and attempted once more to penetrate her sister’s mind. Still nothing. Luna was now truly out of options, and debated whether or not she should just grab Celestia by the shoulders and shake her violently while hoping for the best. She lost her train of thought when suddenly, Celestia awoke and screamed a single name violently. “DISCOOOORRRRRRD!!” Outside, the two unicorn guards heard the commotion coming from inside the bedchamber, and rushed in, combat magic at the ready. “Is everything alright, Princess?” questioned one of the guards. Both of them were bent slightly at the knees in their combat stances, ready to confront any possible threats. Instead, they were greeted by the sight of a very disheveled-looking Celestia sitting upright in bed, with a slightly frightened Luna at her side. “Princess! You’re awake!” cheered one of the guards. His joy quickly turned to apprehension when he looked closely at Princess Celestia; her eyes were bloodshot, and were filled with a fear that he had seen only in the eyes of the dying or dead on the battlefield. Something, somehow, had caused Princess Celestia to fear for her life. Or perhaps, was it fear for the life of others? “…Sister, thou art safe,” crooned Luna, though she was in full panic inside. Her sister had mentioned the name of one of the most powerful, malevolent entities in all of Equestria’s history, who she and her sister had witnessed bring chaos to the land millennia ago, and had only barely managed to defeat, only for him to rise once again and attempt to return Equestria to chaos. Just last night, she had passed by his statue in the Canterlot sculpture garden. If he was still imprisoned, then why was Celestia so fearful of him? Finally getting her bearings back, Celestia whispered, “No… No. Luna…. Please, get me a quill, ink, and paper. This is urgent.” Luna and the guards merely stared at her, all curious as to what her intentions were, and what had frightened her so much. Celestia closed her eyes and explained in a low, sorrowful voice, “It was… Discord. He… he was in my dream. And he was… different; more menacing and hostile, which I didn’t think possible.” Everypony else gaped at this, especially Luna. A more menacing, hostile, and potentially more dangerous Discord had appeared in Celestia’s dream? This was definitely not good. Luna opened her mouth to inquire further. She had questions; wasn’t Discord currently imprisoned? If so, how could he have enough power to appear in Celestia’s dream, and overcome her magic? But before she could say anything, Celestia cut her off. “I’m rather certain that it was no simple dream. It all felt so real… I felt as if he was actually there. Most of it’s a blur, but Luna… h- he…“ She suddenly began to cry, much to Luna’s concern. She patted Celestia on the back, hoping to calm her down. After several minutes, Celestia regained her composure and spoke again, a hint of fear remaining in her voice. “He… he threatened to kill Twilight and her friends. No, he swore to. He swore to kill them.” A stunned silence filled the room for several moments. Luna then addressed the guards, “Go and make sure that the foul statue remains in the sculpture garden, unchanged,” they nodded and sped off, eager to help. She then turned to Celestia, “I will take my leave now, sister. I will contact Twilight Sparkle and the others immediately. Do not fear; we WILL get to the bottom of this.” She turned to leave, but a hoof grabbed her. She wheeled around to find that Celestia held on to her. “Please,” whispered Celestia. “Please don’t leave me, sister.” Luna stared, shocked at her sister’s request. Celestia had always been the independent one, and even in the face of great danger, she remained strong and unmoving. The fact that her dream had just about scared her out of her wits was very unnerving. But of course, she couldn’t leave her sister. She smiled at her, and then leaned down to kiss her forehead. “I never would, dear sister.” It was now midnight. Pinkie watched as Rainbow Dash, the last of her company tonight, flew off into the sky. She had just had a mini-party of sorts with her friends, and her stomach was full of sweets and pastries. Rainbow Dash had taken much longer to leave due to her obligation to help Pinkie clean up the remains of a massive cake that she had knocked over accidentally, much to her embarrassment. The Wonderbolt-themed cookies that she was given after her help certainly sweetened things, however. Pinkie Pie closed the door and walked over to a table, grabbing a slip of paper and a quill and ink nearby. She intended to write down a list of supplies that she would need for Granny Smith’s party. And suddenly, her knees began to twitch. “AH! Twitchy twitchy twitchety twitch!!” she gasped. “Oh no! A doozy!!!!”