//------------------------------//
// Chapter Four: Discovery 
// Story: Discord's Return 
// by The_WolfGirl 
//------------------------------//

Chapter Four: Discovered

I paced in circles in the entrance way of my cottage, waiting for Discord to come and collect the Elements of Harmony. I looked out the window and stared at the rising sun. It made me think, what if Twilight Sparkle had informed the Princesses of my theft. Luna would surely hunt me down, if only to see if I truly was another alicorn. 
I left my pacing and unlocked a door, hidden behind a bookcase. Trotting down the steps, I lit the torches that lined the stone walls. I reached the bottom of the stairs and walked through another door, sealing it behind me. I stared at the shrine around me. In pride of place were six small statuettes with a painting hung behind them. The original bearers of the Elements of Harmony. Celestia and Luna, of course, the only ones who went down in history. Then there was my brother and I, nopony ever knew we bore Elements once. Then, two ponies that had been corrupted by darkness and the lure of the Elements power, Discord and Sombra. Celestia was our, one-time, leader, as the Element of Magic, she was the center of our powers. Luna, always so sweet, the Element of Honesty. My brother, Kindness and I, Loyalty. Sombra and Discord were Generosity and Laughter respectively. 
We had even had relationships, love that bound us together. I used to always tease my brother for crushing on Celestia. Luna and Sombra would often sneak out on hidden trysts. Discord and I, well, he tried to win me over. Once upon a time I lived for the parties he threw, and afterwards, the romance we hid so desperately from the others. Then he tricked me into killing my brother, and I helped to seal him in stone, before leaving Canterlot, leaving Celestia alone, to write the history books as she wished.
“Brings back memories doesn't it?”
I spin around to stare at Discord, standing in front of the open door. I sigh and merely nod my head at him to follow me as I walk up the stairs. “Come, the Elements are this way.”
Discord nods and follows me slowly up the stairs. I levitate the Elements out of their hiding place and place them in Discord’s mismatched hands.
“Broken Rose, are you really there?” A voice interrupts Discord and I. Discord vanishes in a soundless puff as another alicorn walks sedately through the door. “It is you, where have you been, Rose?”
The dark blue alicorn wraps her hooves around me, fluttering her wings in delight. “Hello, Luna. Art thou here to arrest me, or bring greetings?”
Luna looks at me in surprise, taking in my weary expression and drooping wings. “Are you telling me that you really did steal the Elements of Harmony?”
I look out of the open door and shout, “If thou wishes to hear what I have to say, simply come inside, Celestia. Where we not once friends?”
The white alicorn steps into my cottage, her pastel mane flowing out behind her. “Hello, Broken Rose. Why did you take them?”
“I had a debt to pay. I am still loyal to my friends, no matter how cruel they may have become.”
“Is that what you called loyalty, what you did to your brother?”
“I have told thee many times over. `Twas dark magic that twisted my mind and made me see mine brother differently. I know I deserve to be punished, why doth thou think I left Canterlot.”
“Stop it you two,” Luna glares at us, her smaller form seeming to expand with the amount of energy coursing through her veins, she turns to stare at me, “Who did you owe a debt to, Rose?”
“Discord,” one name that is destined to be my downfall, and the downfall of Equestria if fate has its way.
“Discord is sealed in stone, tell the truth!” Celestia’s mane slashes my side, ripping open a gash that bleeds rapidly.
“I am, try to kill me if thou wishes, you know thy cannot,” my legs shake and I collapse to the ground in a disorderly heap. I raise my head in defiance, “I am the only true immortal here, and thou knows it.”
“You can’t die, but you can still be tortured!” Celestia’s mane whips around me in fury. I cast a single glance at Luna, standing to the side, seemingly afraid of her elder sister.
Luna runs into the fray, “Big sister, stop it. You know it’s wrong, just stop!”
Celestia glares at her sibling, as if she is about to attack, then the fire of battle dies in her eyes and she stops her relentless beating. Both alicorns stare at me, now covered in fresh wounds, a pool of blood around me, melding into my mane.
“It was Discord, he is back and he’s somewhere in Ponyville.” I lower my head and close my eyes, looking forwards to a long rest.


~


My eyes open to the ceiling of my bedroom, I look to my right and see Luna, gently sleeping in one of my reading chairs, an open book on the ground in front of her. I slowly examine my body, despite the beating Celestia dealt it, it has managed to heal itself quite fully. I sigh and crawl out of my bed, casting longing glance at the warm covers as a cool breeze slices through my bedroom. I flutter my wings and wince, letting out a gasp of pain as I realize that my wing is still broken. 
Luna sits up suddenly, staring first at my bed and then at me, before flapping her wings and landing on the floor of my room.
“You’re awake, are you feeling okay?” Luna steps up to me. For every step forwards she takes, I take a step back. Eventually, Luna stops trying to advance.
“Thine sister dealt me a fair beating. Was it she that healed mine wounds?”
“Yes, my sister felt guilty for attacking you unjustly. She just, didn’t want to believe that Discord had returned. She’s in Ponyville right now looking for him. Rose, I… want to ask you something.”
“What?”
“If you are so loyal to Discord that you would steal the Elements of Harmony for him… why would you tell Celestia where he is?”
“I am not loyal to Discord. Just because I stole the Elements of Harmony for him, does not mean that I wanted to.”
Luna looks confused, she remembers how stubborn I was from before she was cast to the moon. “How would Discord get you to do something you didn’t want to?”
“He stole mine horn,” I turned into the doorway and walked out of the room. 
Luna chases me out and careens to a stop as she stares at the doorway. I turn my head and stare at what I see in the entrance to my home. I crane my head down low, my eyes never leaving the figure in the shadows of my hall. 
“Luna, go into the kitchen and leave through the back entrance,” Luna stands still, her legs locked in place, unable to move. “LUNA,” my voice is hoarse from my attempts to whisper loudly, without alerting the intruder.
Luna starts and begins to creep towards the back of my cottage. I hear the back door open and take a step forwards to mask the sound.
“What art thou doing in my house again, Discord?” The mismatched figure turns around and steps into the light of my main room.
“You sent Celestia after me. I saw her in town, she was looking for someone. I had to call in sick to Twilight to avoid her. Didn’t matter anyway, she found my house, walked right through the front door.”
“Sounds like someone else I know. Thy should remember, she and Luna interrupted our meeting,” I leave out the part of Celestia attacking me, Discord does not need to know I am weakened. 
“So, you told her where I was to save your own skin?”
“Thou remembers Celestia’s temper, she does not suffer fools or liars gently.”
Discord comes all the way into the light and I see gashes and wounds all over his body. One of his wings looks like it is broken, I look at my own wing and sigh in relief when I see that it is not as noticeable as Discord’s broken wing. I sit on one of the armchairs in the room and Discord does the same, wincing as his wing touches the back of the couch. He leans forward and rests his head in his paw.
“I did not realize Celestia had attacked thee. Did she find the Elements of Harmony?” I hold my breath, hoping that the answer will be a ‘yes’.
“No, I hid them in our secret place,” Discord smiles at me, “You remember that. Where we went to hide from your brother and Celestia?”
I smile at the memories of hiding in the mountain cave, a whispered laugh escapes my lips. “I remember. I did not realize that our clubhouse still stood.”
Discord laughs loudly at this, “You try bringing down a mountain!”
My smile dies as some of Discord’s wounds seem to flicker out of existence suddenly. “Discord, art thou using a glamour to gain sympathy.”
Discord’s laugh dies and his eyes grow cold. “Guess I let my guard down, my bad.” 
I get off the chair and begin to canter towards the door. Discord’s magic piles up a wall of furniture in front of me. Instinctively I open my wings and flap once to get over the obstacle. In my panic to get away however, I forgot my broken wing. It betrays me and I hear a loud cracking sound in my right wing as I fall to the ground screaming. I see Discord’s face leering at me as my vision turns into a tunnel and my brain turns off to save me from the pain.