Discord was curled on the bed, positioned exactly out of reach from the little demon that he had accidentley spawned. It was asleep, for now. But one move, at it would sink it's needle-teeth into his hand, or whatever was closest to it's mouth.
"I hate ponies." He muttered.
The little creature lying peacefully in front of him shot onto it's feet, growling. Too loud.
As Discord slowly moved away, trying to look unthreatening, the little creature stood up on it's hind legs. Eyes narrowed evilly, it pointedly replied with, "Hate."
"What did you just say?!"
Seemingly pleased with this reply, more words were added. "I hate you!"
"You little runt!" He growled, lunging across the room. The little draconequus yelled out one more "hate you!" before leaping off the bed and vanishing underneath. Discord slammed into the wall.
There was to sound of claws on wood, and it scrambled out the other side of the bed. "Runt runt runt! I hate you, runt!" Scampering away, it's claws gouging the wood, it vanished into the next room. The once-element of Disharmony face-pillowed.
"Hate runt hate runt ponies hate runt little!"
Sunrise screamed as Discord flashed into existence in front of her.
"It's driving me insane!" He yelled, drawing his claws down over his ears. "It won't stop talking!"
"I wonder who that reminds me of..." Sunrise muttered, looking down at her paws.
"What?"
"NOTHING!" She quickly replied, eyes glancing up at him.
He was silent, raising one eyebrow suspiciously, but shrugged it off and started hovering beside her. "Is there anything known to shut me up?"
"Stone." She joked.
"That could work..."
"Discord!"
"What?!" He stuck his paws out in front of him. "You said it! I simply approved it."
"You're annoying."
"I'm taking that as both an understatement and an insult."
"Good."
"I hate ponies!"
And from somewhere across the dome, another call anwered; "Hate!"
Discord's pupils shrank. "Dear Equestria it's found me! Quick, hide!" He lunged behind her, his recovering powers twisting his body until it was virtually inivisible. "Run!"
"It's fine. You're just overreacting. You might be bad, but there's no way it's worse."
"It issssss..."
"Can it fly?"
"...It doesn't exactly need to..."
A sparkle of light flashed above Sunrise, taking the shape of a small draconequus before falling onto the dragonness's scaly back. It shook out it's fur, looked around, and purred contentedly. Rubbing up against her side, it wove between her front legs, purring and looking up at her through a pony's eyes.
"You're adorable!" She scooped it up in her front claws, hugging it as it purred and rubbed against her scales. "See, there's nothing to be worried about."
"That's what you think." He replied, unbending from wherever he had gone. The second the cub-kit-foal turned to look at him, it's little eyes narrowed and it started hissing. Disord drew back. "Eeeugh."
"Oh, he's just being silly." At Sunrise's voice, the growling changed to purring.
Discord's jaw dropped. "No. No no no no no. Not you."
Still purring while casting sidelong glares at the stunned draconequus, the cub-kit-foal didn't speak up.
"Come on, Discord. He's adorable. Have you named him yet?"
"No. I was think something along the lines of 'Little Runt', 'It'... you know, something along those lines."
"He needs a real name... how about Apollo? Or Oranges? Orrrr..... Obsidian?"
"Obseedan!" It mimcked. "Obseedan!"
"It doesn't need a name..."
"OBSEEDAN!" The cub-kit-foal, now aptly named, leaped at his father, staring into his unnerving eyes. "You named Little Runt! I named Obseedan!"
"Okay! Okay! Your name is Obseedan!"
"No Obseedan, Obseedan!"
"That's what I said!"
"You said Obseedan! My name is Obseedan!"
"Discord," Sunrise interrupted, "I think he means Obsidian."
There was a slight pause. "I knew that."
Somewhere far beyond the reach of any magick, may it be that of Chaos and the neverending abyss or of Light and Alicorns and Elements, there was a long, rolling meadow, the grass just tall enough to avoid being sharp, while short enough for the smallest foal to see it's mother; the sky as clear as a sapphire overhead, dotted with sparse clouds only for the purpose of patches of shade; the air clean and fresh as the spring-fed rivers tracing their odd, weaving paths through the warm soil.
Two Alicorns stood silently, looking out over the calm plane, regal stature far less than imposing.
"Well? Is it everything you thought it would be?"
The recipent of the question looked up at where the sun should be, but there was nothing. The light seemed to simply be, not really being shone from one place as it was just there. "No."
"Why not? This is the ultimate Utopia. Clear skies, clean air, fresh grass... there are many species that need what we now have."
"Then give it to them." The other snarled. "Those species are dying, and we're just here, prancing about in everything they can't have, and we'll have it for eternity! That's not even close to fair!"
"Life isn't fair, sister. You have to learn that."
"Well, it can be unfair to us! We've been raised in disgusting perfection while everypony else has to work their flanks off just to feed their foals! Can't we have what they have and they can be happy instead?"
"Luna, these decisions aren't yours to make."
"Yes, they are! I'm the daughter of two Spirits! I'm just as much of a Goddess as you are!"
"And Discord, if you can even remember him? You know, the Element of everything evil, that you ever-so-nicely released from imprisonment and then had a foal with? Him? He's a God. Just like us."
A navy hoof swung, and there was a fleshy thud as it connected with the jaw of the white Alicorn. She stumbled - gracefully - and turned to face her sister, blood running from her lip. "Fighting will not help, Luna. We can't die. You can't kill me."
"I can hurt you!" Twisting, she battered her sister with her wings and back hooves, landing on the opposite side as blood bubbled through the multiple cuts on Celestia's flank. "I can hurt you..." Luna repeated, her voice breaking with tears instead of anger.
"Luna, please..."
"I can hurt you as much as you hurt me!" Sparkling tears ran down her cheeks, blurring her vision. The blows were strong, but slow, losing fuel. "One thousand years... trapped on some barren, cold stone... so... so far away..."
She stopped attacking, but backed away from the once-Queen still standing in front of her.
"Please, this does nothing..." The wounds were already closing, the blood evaporating into the fresh air and leaving only the faintest copper scent before vanishing completely. "And if you run, you will be running forever, going nowhere, but it will take you just as long to come back!" She raised her voice on the last few words, tilting her head up.
Luna listened, forgetting about keeping up her gait. Her hooves tangled, and she fell to the ground. As she held her front hoof close, willing for the bone to mend faster, she looked up at her sister.
Celestia had started walking as she fell, and was standing over her, looking down at her like she was some vile insect instead of a sister. Those calm, gentle eyes, and the warm flank that had protected her from many a bad dream were distant ice now. The gentle wings that sheilded her from Discord's wrath were tightly folded.
There was no solar warmth here.
She had to look away from her older sister, her gaze landing on the golden shoes on the Alicorn's delicate hooves. Instinctively, she looked at her own hooves, far too small and young to be lying amid this eternal summer. But here she was.
Rolling onto her back and kicking up at the exposed throat of her sister, she forced the older Goddess away, scrambling to her hooves and galloping away, silver shoes silent on the grass. With every step, every section of her gait, pain raced through her. Not her hoof - that had already healed. But every thump of hoof connecting with grass meant that her sister was not following her.
Looking back over her shoulder, she saw her. The pure, white, perfect Alicorn, calmly watching as the gaping wound across her neck sealed. She had not moved.
"The sun must set, in order to rise!" She called out, her voice sounding the same as it would as if she was running alongside.
But she wasn't getting further away.
Luna would never be far away again.