//------------------------------//
// Chapter 30: Discord the Mediator 
// Story: The Seventh Element 
// by PaisleyPerson 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 30
Discord the Mediator


Her body was already cold and dead. I bowed my head in grief, tears dripping down to melt the snow. Garble had held it together well enough until now, but he finally broke down. He sobbed uncontrollably, trying to bury himself in his mother’s scales. I slowly moved to the other side to be with him. I removed my cloak, and draped it over his shoulders. He was my responsibility now. Him and Blaze both. I didn’t expect to receive any kind of acknowledgement whatsoever, but in his distress, he welcomed himself to my open arms. I stroked his scales, repeating that everything would be okay. I wasn’t sure if he believed me, but letting him mourn helped a great deal. 
I’d have let him stay put, but now I had to think as a mother did. That was more or less what I’d become. If I let him stay here for too long, he’d freeze to death. 
“We have to go,” I reminded, gently prying him off. He sniffed, wiped his eyes one last time, and nodded. I was grateful that he offered no resistance. “I’ll come back to bury her tomorrow.”
“Don’t bother.” Garble shuffled forward a few steps, headed for the cliff base behind his mother’s body. Before I could stop him, he’d pounded an immense boulder out of the way. A rumbled from above. My ears flattened. I knew that sound. Avalanche.
Garble took to the air without me. “WAIT!” I cried. I had no wings; getting out of the valley before the landslide overtook me was next to impossible. What was Garble trying to do? Did he somehow blame me for her death? Was this his way of getting back at me? By killing me? Even so, I had to try to escape. Blaze was waiting back home. 
I sprinted for the hillside, the tremors caused by the avalanche stumbling me at times. I could feel the cold waves of loose snowflakes beginning to come down on my neck. I’d only just reached the base of the hill. I wasn’t going to make it!
I found a few hoof holds in the rock face, already covered with snow. They were buried almost as soon as I’d pushed off by the snow now pooling up over them. It was coming up too fast. I couldn’t keep up. “GARBLE!” I called. “HELP!” I was still climbing, neck deep in snow. I couldn’t find new hoof holds. I was drowning in a frozen pit. “GARBLE!”
In a flash of red, the dragon swooped down and dragged me back to solid ground. I was unceremoniously dropped to the surface, where I lay in a panting, shivering heap. I was about to let him have it, but then I realized that he was just as exhausted as I. I probably was much too heavy for him. He looked out over the white sea. 
“Dad ended up at the bottom of a landslide, too. It only seemed fitting.” I moved closer, finally realizing the purpose of the avalanche. “I know Mom probably told you that Bran was the one who killed Dad,” he went on.
“She did,” I sadly confirmed. 
“That was just the grief talking. It really was the landslide that killed him. I was there.” I almost went limp.
“I am so sorry.”
“So was I.” We looked on, paying our last respects at the impromptu funeral. I couldn’t believe all that this kid had been through. Watching his father die, and now his mother? No wonder he was so troubled! I had a lot of work ahead of me. “Are you really going to take care of us, now?”
“I will, Garble. I promised your mother, and now I’m promising you. I will always be there for you.” He only nodded, eyes still trained on the snow. When he shivered, I knew it was time to go. “Come on. Blaze is waiting.”
“What am I going to tell him?”
“The truth,” I finally answered, adjusting the cloak to cover his wings. “He has to know.” I looked him over. “Do you want me to tell him?”
“No. She was our mother. It’s my responsibility.” His head remained bowed, disheartened at the unpleasant news he knew would have to be delivered. I would respect his decision. I stood, but turned to wait for him to join me. Drawing the cloak tighter, he shuffled along behind. 
I took the markers down as we went, though I knew I would never forget this trail. Not after today. Garble wouldn’t, either. The bare trees’ bowed branches almost seemed to weep with us. Even the pines somehow looked sad. The wind sang a sorrowful tune. Nothing was said during the trip back. However, we soon spotted Blaze waiting outside the castle’s doorway.
“There you are!” he ran up as fast as his little legs would carry him to his brother. “You left me! I was afraid you weren’t coming back!”
“Get inside, Blaze,” Garble tried to order. His voice, for once, had faltered. The confident youth was no longer there. A scared, uncertain dragon stood in his place.
“Where’s Mom?” The baby dragon looked around for his mother.
“I said get inside,” Garble said, a little more forcefully.
“Where is she?”
“Please, Blaze?” I tried. He seemed to already know that something was wrong, but Garble still had to tell him outright. His tail dragged and his wings drooped as he moped back indoors. The fire had been renewed with Blaze’s own ruby red flame, and we all crowded around it to dry off. No one said anything for a long while. 
“Mom’s still coming back, isn’t she?”
“She’s dead, Blaze,” Garble outright but insensitively told him. The hatchling’s eyes grew wide and wet with fear. 
“No...” he whispered. “Mom can’t be dead! Where’d she go? Garble, where did she go?”
“SHE’S GONE!” Garble shouted, grief taking hold. “She’s gone,” he repeated more quietly. Tears welled up in Blaze’s eyes, and I pulled him close. 
“Shh,” I cooed. “It’s okay.”
“No, it’s not! She’s gone!”
“I know, baby. I know.” I let him cry, rocking him in my arms. 
“Who’s going to take care of us now?” I cast one last look at Garble before answering. 
“I promised your mother that I would.”
“You? But you’re a pony.”
“That makes me no less capable of taking care of you.” He still looked unsure. “Blaze, I can promise you this. As long as I live, I will always be here for you. Okay?” He searched my face for honesty before finally sniffing. 
“Okay.”





“Any sign of her?”
“No! It’s like she fell off the face of Equestria!” Rainbow swooped in for a landing from her last patrol. The six friends had combed all of Canterlot looking for the gray earth pony. Even Celestia had commissioned ‘missing’ signs to be posted around Equestria. She hadn’t returned home, but she wasn’t anywhere else, either. Rainbow Dash, who thought she knew her so well, had checked every place she thought she may find her, including the edges of the Everfree. 
“My animals haven’t seen her, either,” Fluttershy spoke up, greeting a committee of the forest critters. 
“This doesn’t make any sense,” Twilight groaned. “Where could she be?”
“Um, I have an idea,” Fluttershy started.
“She couldn’ta gone far,” Applejack muttered.
“Uh, excuse me?”
“Well, she’s nowhere in Canterlot or Ponyville. How much farther could she have gone?”
“Could I just-”
“She’s had two days of travel time. I might be able to whip up some calculations to estimate...”
“Hey!” Fluttershy murmured at the top of her lungs. Such a dramatic increase in volume from a whisper to a murmur finally attracted the attention of her friends. 
“What is it, Fluttershy?”
“Uh, well, I thought we could ask Discord.”
“Discord?”
“He might know some kind of way to track her. He’s her friend, too.”
“I don’t know...”
“He did attack Canterlot...”
“He was only helping Acrylic. And besides, you promised we could release him as soon as Princess Celestia performed her spell on Acrylic. That was too days ago, and he’s still locked in stone.”
“Fluttershy’s right. We did promise,” Twilight sighed.
“I still don’t like it.”
“This could be our chance to get Acrylic back. Don’t you want to take it?”
“I guess...”
“Alright, girls. Let’s get our elements and head back up to the balcony.” Most of the ponies had forgotten to take theirs off, but Acrylic’s harsh words had caused Rainbow to leave hers behind. Rainbow didn’t cause any delay in the procedure, for she zoomed back to her room where the element had been left and made it back just as the others did. 
“Alright, ladies. Formation!” Twilight directed. The six mares formed the V shape without delay, and Twilight activated the elements. Somehow, the flashing lights and rainbow seemed rushed and unceremonious as they freed the draconequus from his stone prison for the third time. He bellowed upon the release. 
“You girls must stop doing that,” he complained, stretching out the kinks in his neck. “Especially you, Fluttershy. I thought we agreed you would never use your element against me.”
“And I thought we agreed you were going to stop spreading chaos,” she countered.
“I changed the guards back to their proper size in the end, didn’t I? And this time, I do believe it was you ponies spreading more chaos than me!”
“Us?”
“There’s nothing more chaotic than changing who somepony truly is. Especially when that somepony is your friend.”
“That’s exactly what you did to us when you turned us against our elements,” Twilight realized with a start.
“I never thought I’d say this, but... they’re right, you know,” Rarity sorrowfully put in.
“Yeah, well... now we need you to help us get our friend back,” Rainbow indignantly put in. She refused to accept that she’d done such an awful thing.
“Aw, chased her off, have you?” Discord rolled over in a cloud hammock. “That’s not my problem. Why don’t you find her yourself?”
“Because none of my tracking spells are working,” Twilight begged. 
“Well, that’s because you’re searching for a pony that doesn’t exist anymore.”
“Huh?”
“Think about it. The Acrylic you knew is the one your spell will be searching for. But then you changed her. She’s not the same, now. You won’t be able to find her like that.”
“Then how am I supposed to know who she’s become to be able to find her?”
“You won’t.”
“Please, Discord. Can’t your magic detect her?”
“Sorry. Not even I can do that.” He was surprised to look down on the genuinely mournful faces of the ponies. He sighed in frustration. What a softie these mares had turned him into! “But, I may be able to get a message through to that stallion friend of hers. Porch Wood, wasn’t it?”
“Torchwood.”
“Whatever. What’s the note?” Reading glasses suddenly appeared on his face, a scroll and ink-dripping quill in claw. The ponies looked at each other, hoping they wouldn’t have to be first. “Well, come on. I haven’t got all day.”
“Dear Torchwood...” Rainbow began. Then she came to a stop, tapping her chin.
“Ooh, such poetry, there. Shall I leave it at that?”
“Look, it would be a lot easier if I could just tell him myself. Can’t you bring us to him?” Rainbow asked. Discord rubbed his chin.
“I can bring you to him,” he finally decided.
“What?” With a snap of his paw, Rainbow Dash and Discord were gone. 





“A little head’s up would be nice,” Rainbow growled, rubbing her head. 
“As I recall, you’re the one that requested it,” he shot back. “And look at that! We’re already here. Make this quick; I’ve got quite a busy schedule planned out for today.” He glanced down at a wrist watch and referred to a planner for emphasis. 
Rainbow finally had a chance to look around her. The scene almost caused her to melt. Thestrals of every shape and size were gathered in the clearing. Tents lined the tree lines, with a roaring, multi-colored bonfire placed in the center. It was a pitiful sight. This was where Acrylic used to live? It looked like she’d been brought up in a refugee camp. Perhaps most astounding of all was seeing the chocolate coated stallion Torchwood sitting off in the distance, dragon wings spread wide for the world to see. One by one, locals began staring at the stray pegasus. Discord was nowhere in sight. The disapproving glares caused her to gulp. She finally headed to the one place she knew would be safe.
“Hey, Torchwood!” The stallion turned around, and froze. Quite a group had gathered to see what the outsider was doing in thestral borders. She attracted even more attention upon calling out the name of one of their own.
“Rainbow Dash? What are you doing here?”
“I-” She was taken aback by his angry tone.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
“I’m here because of Acrylic!” Even more gasps rippled through the crowd. Rainbow realized her bad choice of words as soon as they came out of her mouth.
“No... she promised me she wouldn’t tell you!”
“No, no, no, she didn’t tell me. It’s just... there’s been some... trouble.”
“What kind of trouble?”
“See...” her voice cracked. 
“Come now, Torchwood. Don’t you read the news? Your girlfriend has made the headlines of every newspaper in Equestria!” Torchwood yanked the offered newspaper out of the draconequus’s claws, not questioning where he came from. His eyes grew wide at the featured picture, then even wider upon reading the matching article. 
“No...”
“I’m afraid so,” Discord hummed, swinging up onto his back in the air. “Though in my defense, I did try to stop it. It only got me turned to stone again.”
“You deserved it!” Rainbow shouted back. Angry murmurs were sweeping through the crowd as the Ponyville Confidential paper, Canterlot Daily, Vanhoover Gazette and many more of Discord’s offerings were passed around. Torchwood was unmoving, petrified in sheer shock. His parents gasped upon reading the headlines: Wedding Gone Wrong. Thestrals are BACK? Dark Duo: Changelings and Thestrals Crash Royal Wedding. On the front of every paper, an image of frightful Acrylic in full thestral form could be seen fleeing royal guards. 
“She exposed us!” an angry voice called from the crowd. An angry mob would have formed if it wasn’t for Rainbow’s interruption. 
“She saved you! If it wasn’t for Acrylic, the Changeling Queen would have taken over all of Equestria by now! That means you, Mister.”
“Where is she now?” Torchwood demanded.
“That’s just it. We don’t know,” Rainbow admitted.
“How can you not know?”
“Long story short, these ponies thought they could ‘purify’ Acrylic by removing her wings, and now she’s fled the city. She’s quite good at disappearing, if she can even fool the Princesses,” Discord unceremoniously blabbed but in an almost congratulatory voice.
“What?” Torchwood gasped. 
“...and her cutie mark kinda... disappeared in the process,” Rainbow winced. 
“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?” Torchwood looked about ready to tear into the pegasus. Indeed, he reared, ready to smash into them. His comrades were more than willing to do the same. Discord teleported both of them out of Midnight Armor Sector Two before they were mobbed. 
Torchwood’s hooves dug only into the swampy soil. Angry flames crackled where he landed, instantly sucking all moisture from the surrounding ground. It looked cracked and dry where he left it. He snorted in fury. How dare they? Before, he’d been willing to accept the ponies as Acrylic had been, but this was the last straw. This was proof that they would never be accepted into their society. Acrylic and her hope to rejoin society had become something of an icon to the thestrals. A symbol of hope. That hope was dead. They would never be welcomed by the other ponies as his dear mare had dreamed. So, Torchwood thought, we’ll just have to take it ourselves.





After dropping Rainbow Dash back off with her friends, Discord was left to his own devices. Of course he’d heard Acrylic when he was trapped in stone. Now it was time to visit her. The first place in the Frozen North he’d check was his own castle, of course. That run down ruin was where he used to reside before he ruled Equestria. Unfortunately, the spell that had caused his being turned to stone... normalized the place. Rather than going to the trouble of fixing it all up when he returned, he’d decided to start fresh in the Everfree (or rather, over the Everfree on a floating island of a palace) where he was close to the thestrals. He found that they quite an enjoyable breed, once you got to know them. But that was beside the point. The point was that his old castle would serve as the perfect shelter from somepony so desperate to hide, and it would be the first place he looked.





It was day three of living in the dusty old mansion. So far, the boys and I had been treating each other more like roommates, though on occasion I sometimes did have to mediate when things got a little rough. 
Though the mansion was immense and seemingly infinite, it felt like close quarters. None of us wanted to leave the warmth of the fireplace. We’d all been camping out there. Whenever the boys did leave the room, though, I asked that they at least wear a scarf to wrap themselves in. Garble complained at first, but then realizing that no one was paying him any mind, seemed to find a black scarf he wasn’t completely embarrassed to wear. Blaze had a smaller red scarf, but sometimes went as far as to add mittens and a toboggan to match. The hat did have to be rather long and stretchy to cover his spines, however. I, on the other hoof, had done my best to hem the cloak to my tastes. I was no Rarity, and the edges seemed ragged where I tried to shorten it to keep it from dragging on the ground. I’d taken to wearing the cloak even in the living room; its long cape covered all but my legs, which meant that I wasn’t constantly reminded of my missing cutie mark and wings. 
There was a little preserved food in the mansion’s pantry, but that wasn’t going to last long. The dragons didn’t care for the vegetarian diet, either. Surprisingly, I found no jewelry in the entire castle they could pry gemstones from. A bachelor must have lived here. 
I was trying to fashion a set of boots out of some old scraps so I could go out and see what food I could find when a voice interrupted my work.
“Yaah! I sure hope you aren’t thinking of wearing that getup.”
“DISCORD!” I abandoned my work and pounced the draconequus. My cry had attracted the attention of the dragons, who now looked on from the doorway. “You got my message!”
“Of course I did. You don’t quite know how to ‘whisper,’ do you?”
“I guess I hadn’t quite come off of yelling at Celestia,” I blushed. Discord had been eyeing my cape all this time. He couldn’t hold back any longer. 
“May I?” I knew what he wanted. I shut my eyes and nodded. He gingerly picked up the edge of the cloak and peeled it away. “I didn’t quite believe it when they told me it’d taken your cutie mark, too.”
“Well, it did,” I accidentally snapped. He dropped the cloak and backed away, claws raised to signal for peace. 
“Who is this guy?” Garble demanded. 
“Oh, look! You have friends to accompany you in your exile. How adorable!” He pinched Blaze’s cheek before he was swatted away. 
“Blaze, Garble, this is Discord.”
“Spirit of Chaos,” he added with a mock bow. Garble wasn’t quite sure what to make of the creature. 
“Yeah... okay.”
“Now I’m curious. What are dragons doing this far north?”
“We were moving away.”
“Isn’t it a bit early for the next dragon migration?”
“We left the flock.”
“Ah, drifters, I see. Running away?”
“I’d never run from anyone!” Garble indignantly stomped. 
“Mom wanted to move,” Blaze sadly recalled.
“Where are you hiding a dragon that size in a place like this?” Discord asked, looking around as if expecting to see the dragoness pop out of the shadows.
“Discord,” I hissed. Upon attracting his attention, I shook my head to tell him to cut it out. He finally realized what I meant. 
“Oh.” Blaze shivered, and took a step closer to his brother. Garble slowly accepted him under our watchful gaze. I pulled Discord aside. 
“Their mother charged me with the responsibility of their upbringing before she died.”
“Oh, poor you.”
“This is no joking matter, Discord,” I chided, dead serious. “I can’t care for them properly here. There’s no food; they have to wear those ridiculous clothes indoors just to keep from freezing to death. Do you know of anywhere else I could take them? And a safe way to get them there?”
“Hmm...” he thrummed in thought. “Safe for them, yes. But not for you. It would be all too easy for somepony to find you. No, I’m afraid if you want to keep a low profile, you’ll just have to stay here.”
“What am I supposed to do for them?” I sighed.
“I didn’t say that I couldn’t help,” he interrupted. “Infinite food supplies aren’t too hard to conjure up. And heating? No problem.” A smirk was plastered on his face as he snapped his fingers to perform the magic trick with his eyes shut. Rather sophisticated looking ventilation ducts appeared out of nowhere on the walls, and a gust of warm air washed over us. Garble instantly yanked the scarf off, realizing what had happened. “I believe you’ll find a fresh food store in the pantry. You dragons prefer gemstones, right? I’d check the cellar, if I were you.”
“What cellar?”
“You mean you haven’t explored my marvelous castle yet?”
“Your castle?” Garble snorted, folding his arms.
“Too cold,” I answered, choosing not to question his choice of words. 
“You don’t have to worry about that anymore. Follow me!” Discord practically dragged the three of us around the palace, giving us the grand tour. I got the idea that he lived here long ago, which was reinforced by how well he seemed to know the castle. Every so often, he stopped and made a few renovations, disappointed to see what a state it had ended up in after so many years. Blaze seemed quite entertained by the magic, and started making special requests. The first time Garble tried to make a ‘suggestion,’ he was answered with a flat “No.” Those two weren’t going to get along. 
“And this used to be the office, but if you give me just a minute, it will be the most extravagant art studio in Equestria!” he grinned, looking down at me.
“Thank you, Discord, but no,” I declined.
“What? Why not?”
“That’s not who I am, anymore.” I sadly looked back at the cloak, and uncovered my blank flank. “I used to be a great artist. No more.”
“Sure you are. And you don’t need a tattoo to tell you that.”
“It’s more than just a tattoo, it’s a cutie mark! You know that.”
“Same difference. The point is, you earned your cutie mark because you painted, not the other way around. You’re still more than capable of wielding a brush.” A suit of armor materialize on his lithe body, and behind the protection of a tiny metal shield, tried sparring with me using a long-handled paintbrush.
“It hurts,” I shook my head. “It hurts too much.”
“Well, you’re going to need something to do in your spare time. And it looks like you’re going to have a lot of it.”
“It’s a big place. Somepony has to maintain it. And kids are a lot of work; I don’t think I want to know how much harder dragons will be,” I teased, nudging indignant Garble.
“Oh, all right,” he caved. A mischievous look gleamed in his eyes. “But now that you mention it, I do believe it’s about time to begin preparing dinner for the young ones.”
“Huh?”
“You’re the one who wanted to be the stay-at-home-mom.”
“Uh... okay.” Baffled that Discord of all creatures would bring up such a trivial matter, I stumbled off. Since when did he think about dinner times and... structure? Even the reformed Discord liked disorder and chaos. Still, he had one thing right. I’d chosen this, so I needed to start thinking about those ‘trivial matters.’ 
I found my way back to the kitchen, slightly overwhelmed at the idea of cooking. There was a reason why my special talent hadn’t been in cuisine. Still, I knew a recipe for gemstone casserole. My jaws would no longer take the incredible strain of crunching a gemstone; I’d just add extra green beans for myself.