Twists and turns; petrified ponies encrusted with overgrowth of untended vines littering those very twists and endless turns; an eerie feel surrounding the elegant majesty of the Canterlot Castle. But why? A dark, looming hedge maze entangled around the overcast of the castle’s base; but why? No pony knew, no pony understood; why would the princess construct such an eerie attraction beside their mighty palace. It was simple when one would really think about it… It was irrational.
Not a pony would set foot inside that cursed maze this early in the day, so the single resident within the twisting hedge walls made no attempt to cloak itself. Its hodgepodge of four limbs moved slowly against the soft tufts of the grass below. Rarely did he ever get peace outside of his own lair, so the time to relish in what little he had now was short. With a whip if a crimson tail, it cocked its awkward head. “…Why am I walking?” he questioned himself in a hushed tone.
With a sharp snap of his neck he frowned as if looking at himself. “To be fair,” holding a lion paw up, he gestured around him, “You’re in a maze, so you have to walk out… flying or magic would be cheating.”
Snapping back to his original spot, he groaned. “Fair? How dull…” but he knew ‘he’ was right so he made no other objections against himself as he ventured down the winding path.
Abominable flaps of his awkward wings along with the soft presses of his feet to the grassy turf became the only noise that existed in the dismal maze. Gradually, his yellow and red eyes began to droop limply, growing tired of this dull act of venturing through a maze. Drooping lazier, duller, and gradually by each passing second. But, as he took in an overdrawn sigh into his slacked muzzle, his flapped cow ear twitched at a sudden sound.
Chatter. Chatter in the maze no less. Chatter from the other side of the wall more so. In a slithering manner, his long body whizzed down the path faster so as to hook his long head around the end of the wall, peering his eyes hungrily to where this noise came from. His teeth showed into a crooked smile as the sight came to him; two little earth ponies standing by one of the many statues placed throughout the maze. “I swear the exit was right here!” one of them said, her voice betraying what calm she was trying to show.
“Come on! If we don’t hurry, it’ll find us!” the other started to panic.
“You believe that pony tale? Princess Celestia’s guards only made up that story to keep fillies and colts from coming in… there’s no such thing as a draconequus.”
That crooked smile across the beast’s face grew wider as he held in a chuckle, pinching his leg with the talons of his other arm to stifle it. “B-But—“
“But nothing. Now let’s hurry… this place gives me the—“ just then, a sharp snap echoed through the hedges.
Both of the ponies turned to the origin of the sound behind them, only to see the statue of the mare behind them had started to rattle about. Both of the ponies grew stiff while the statue only grew more animated, the overgrowth that had settled onto the curves of the statue snapping off as if chains off of a captured beast. Slowly, the statue began to move its stone limbs and move from off of its pedestal, causing the dirt floor beneath the two ponies to rumble ever-so. The two only looked up at the animated statue, into its empty eyes as it crouched down to their level, leaning in with the sound of stone scraping against stone. “…Boo…” it said with a stiffly moving mouth in a boomingly low voice.
The air became filled with the sharp scream of the two ponies as they turned tail and dashed in the opposite direction, ignoring the hedge wall completely and just cutting rough swabs through the obstacles for the quickest way out of the horrifying maze. If the two had stayed for just another moment, they would have heard the escalated cackling of the draconequus that inhabited the maze.
Discord, a name dubbed onto him by the first to ever meet him, Princess Celestia. A fitting name for a draconequus; meshes of different beasts blended into one seamless construct. He alone lived within the confines of that twisting maze; shielding his appearance from prying eyes. However, it wasn’t by his choice, but a courtesy done onto him by princess Celestia. Many feared the idea of such a monstrosity; of an abomination.
Discord reviled in his laughter while he began to float into the air and closer to the living statue. Resting his lion elbow on the head of the statue, he wiped a tear away from his eye. “Ponies. Always good for a laugh… oh,” looking down the path, he noticed the rips through the hedge that the two ponies had made, seeing the open field outside of the maze through the gashes, “Would you look at that? Seems we have an exit,” he commented to the statue, “…Well I’d love to stay, you seem like an interesting pony, granite a little hardheaded, but either way I’m expected at the castle; Celestia wanted…” tapping his fist against the head, he chuckled once more.
In a quick slithering speed, Discord scurried himself through the new passage, brushing his lengthy body against the leaves and broken twigs. In moments, he had found himself on the outskirts of one the outer hedge’s walls. Around him were the shapes of more elegant statues then the ones that were scattered about within the twisting labyrinth. Unlike the ones that he usually found around him, these statues were carved from marble and had been cut clean of the overgrowth that decorated the maze statues.
After a short look, Discord picked himself up onto his two hind legs with a shift of his scaly red tail. “And I thought it would take longer to get out…” quickly, his attention was lost from the statues in favor of the massive castle out to the side of him; more so what he saw moving towards the castle.
Guests to the castle were not foreign in any means of the word; Celestia would have many parties and assemblies. But what interested Discord about the sight was how unnatural it looked. How often could one say they saw a wizard with bells on his cloak walking besides an alicorn hiding beneath the cast of an umbrella?