//------------------------------// // Encampment // Story: Mind of a Princess // by AppleJared //------------------------------// Dear Diary, I woke up the next morning sweating from yet another bad dream I had. Let’s just say that Harry saw me. When I walked outside it was warm and sunny. The morning dew was still present and the grass outside looked greener than last night. Everything seemed great. That is, until Discord spoke up. “My, my princess. When did you become a late sleeper?" he said. "You know your mother would not approve of these lifestyle choices! Oh, and when I say your mother, I of course mean Celestia. Do you even have a birth mother?" I didn't even give him the pleasure of a response. Of course I have a mother. Idiot. "No matter," he continued. "I am here to tell you that while I can talk with you whenever I want, I won’t be talking much. You may think that me not talking may be a blessing, but remember that chaos is my home turf and you are practically in my old stadium; right outside the laws of Equestria. You will need my help; which is exactly why I won’t be giving it to you every time you think you need it. You’re a princess now, remember? You have to learn to fix things by yourself. You will be making all the decisions that will play how your life goes from now on." He went on. "Know this: If you do somehow get into life-threatening trouble while on foreign soil, I might give you advice on how to not die. Other than that, good luck. To clarify, I won’t save you from death, I’ll just talk to you when you’re about to die. I don’t want to put too much pressure on you but your biggest foe dwarfs that of Harry and you will meet her soon enough." "One more thing," he continued. "You brought up that you don’t believe that I would be submissive to Celestia for good reasons. You couldn’t be more correct. I’m getting something out of this. A small part of the reason why I did what I did, is so I can be there when you went nuts. And boy, what a show that was." "Good luck, Twily.” And just like that, Discord left my head-space and paranoia set in. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As the day started winding down, the paranoia from Discord's words slowly left. Nothing bad happened, though I knew it would eventually. Usually I never took Discord at face value but he seemed like he was being serious so I prepared myself mentally for whatever might happen. Being prepared physically was a different story. Dark clouds were closing in around the mountains and temperatures dropped before I found another cave. It was well into freezing temperatures by the time I rested my head. Winds were rising as well. A storm was brewing. Earlier in the day I something bit me on my back-right leg and it was starting to swell. I couldn't see what bit me but it hurt pretty badly and I was getting worried when it got hot around the wound. It was clearly either getting infected or it was a reaction, or both. Still, it didn't hurt too bad and I could walk without pain so I kept on. A few minutes later and my leg started to go numb. I knew at that point I should not walk anymore. The valley I was still in had many boulders on the ground level that had fallen down from the surrounding mountains. I found one with a flat surface and plopped down on top of it. I took a look at the leg again and it had swollen to a frightening degree. The bite itself was small, but the swelling was half the size of my hoof. If I were bit by a species that resided somewhere in Equestria, I would know how to fix this. Whatever bit me was not native to Equestrian lands and it looked nothing like a bite I had ever seen before. I knew it would be bad. Then a thought occurred that was almost as painful as the swelling had become. "Discord would probably know." It hurt. In fact, admitting that Discord could save my life was more painful than the bite had become. I almost got a headache from the very thought that I would be indebted to Discord for any reason whatsoever; though to be fair the headache could have been a side effect from the bite. After some thought I would not allow myself to die out here from a big bite. I, dare I say it, needed Discord. "Discord, are you there?" I quietly called out. No response. "Discord, I could use you right now." Still nothing. "DISCORD!! I NEED YOU." I screamed as loud as I could. If I had to amputate my leg I would make it all the way back to Canterlot just to kill Discord. "Yes yes yes, Twilight," he groggily responded. "You know, there is a time change between us. I am still in bed, for sun's sake. Whatever nonsense you have planned, it will wait until morning." I could almost hear him roll over in his bed. "Discord! I'm being serious! Do you think I want to ask for your help?" After some pause he said, "No, no you wouldn't. Alright Twilight, what is it?" "I have a bite on my leg and it's really swollen. I don't know what bit me and the bite itself doesn't look like any bite I've seen before. As much as this pains me to just say it, please help me Discord." "You're really asking me for help?" he asked with disbelief. "Give me a moment Twilight, I want to savor this moment." "Please," I responded, with more than a hint of sarcasm. "Take you time." After a few moments, he spoke up again. "Well Ms. Sparkle, looks like I get to teach you the lesson today. Just by looking at it I can see that it was not an insect. This bite has two holes instead of one, meaning this was most likely fangs. The bite isn't deep enough to be from a snake, so we can rule that out. I'm thinking spider bite at this point. The the type of swelling going from the colors red and blue, I'd say our culprit would be none other than... pause for dramatic effect... a wild mountain spider, probably the yellow kind. From the amount of swelling, I'd say you've been bitten over an hour ago. You are a very lucky pony indeed if only for the fact that I was here for you." "...And how do I fix it??" I almost begged. "Oh well, that. The only way to counter-act the mountain spider bite is very painful. You'll have to find a patch of mountain tulips and crush them until their liquid comes out of the flower, then pour into your bite. It stings, so I've heard." To my relief, it didn't sound that hard to fix. I could withstand some pain, especially if it meant saving my life. "Great!" I announced. "I'll go find some of those tulips." "Wait just a moment," Discord said. "There is a catch to this. You have to find tulips that match the color of the spider that bit you. If you use the correct color, the wound is healed. If you use the wrong color tulip, the wound will become irreversibly infected causing the wound to become fatal. Personally, I think your bite is from a yellow spider, but the blue spider species is equally popular in that area you are in." "Wait," I called out. "Why can't you come here and check it? Isn't there any way you can know for sure?" "I'm afraid there is no way to know for sure, and I'm not allowed to visit you in person while you're gone. In fact, I'm sticking my neck out for you by just using telepathy." In that moment, I realized two things. The first being that I could actually die out here. Sure, I had thought about it while up at the cabin, but I never thought I would really face death like this. I didn't want to go out from a spider bite, not like this. Secondly, I knew that Discord was really here to help me. I would have never thought Discord could be anything other than a nuisance; an everlasting problem that wouldn't just go away. But I'm sitting here, almost in tears, knowing that Discord has legitimately tried to save my life, when he could have just as easily went back to bed or ignored me in the first place. All he's done is try to help me. Maybe there is good in Discord. Maybe... maybe he can be a good friend. The rain started to fall as I made my way up the mountain I was closest to, going towards the nearest patch of flowers, hoping they were tulips. Hoping they were the right tulips. "Thank you Discord, for helping me. I guess you can go back to bed now." "Oh, whoever said I got up? Now be a good filly and don't interrupt me for a while." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mountains. Dammit. I'm still only in the mountains. Every time I wake up I think I'm going to be back in Ponyville, even Canterlot. I keep thinking Spike will be in his basket next to my bed snoring. Honestly I keep wishing I was back home. I wake up and there's nothing but these mountains. I'm not sure if I actually like the fact that I can talk to Discord. Talking to myself was less irritating, at least. I woke to numbing temperatures and gales of wind that was bending the trees outside. I ran out of food last night and the water outside has all but frozen over. I went outside to find a small amount of sleet falling from the skies. Nothing too dangerous and sharp but if this gets worse, I won’t be able to travel. The good news is: I see several smoke pillars in what looks to be about 10 miles distance. If I get there as fast as I can, I should make it there by nightfall tonight. Thank the stars that the bite is gone. Everypony gets what they want. I wanted to go away. Life brought it to me like room service, wrapped up in a nice bow. I never want to go away every again after this. There is a problem that I have put in the back of my mind that I need to get off of my chest. If what I find tonight doesn’t like me, I won’t stand a chance against whatever it is. I never took any combat lessons in my life that didn’t involve my unicorn magic. There is a small chance the encampment understands the weight of authority that an Alicorn bears, but it would mean nothing to barbaric species. Even worse, it could very well be a roaming tribe of changlings who could very well know me from the Battle of Canterlot. I’m sure they would have a bone to pick with me. In fact, they might take a few of mine out for torture. I can’t think that way. Whatever happens, happens. I sure as Tartarus won’t freeze out here alone, and I'm not going to die of thirst and starvation. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I’m getting close to the encampment right now. About a mile away to be exact. Things seemed to be going well; then I heard his voice. “Why hello there, Twilight.” “Discord. I thought you didn’t want to speak to me.” “Well as long as you aren’t too boring, I thought I’d drop by.” “How about you make yourself useful and tell me what I’m about to find, Discord?” “Hmm, let me think about that… No. I like surprises. I’m sure you’ll love what you’re about to stumble upon!!” “THAT’S NOT FUNNY DISCORD. I COULD DIE OUT HERE!” “You almost did once, which makes this even better, princess. I’ll be watching the whole time, by the way. It’s sure to be VERY entertaining.” “That doesn’t make me feel any better.” “It wasn’t supposed to. This won’t either: what Celestia has failed to tell you is that when one is thrust into royalty-hood, one has to make many hard decisions. You’ll be making those decisions very soon. Your life, and your future will depend on those decisions. Good bye, Twilight Sparkle. For what it’s worth, good luck.”