//------------------------------// // 13) Storytelling Time // Story: Learning ABCs - Adorable, Bothersome, Chaotic // by Isopod //------------------------------// "Miss Sparkle?" Doctor Stable called for the purple mare as he entered the otherwise empty room. "Present and ready to go!" Twilight chirped as she got rid of her hospital gown, ready to leave. Unbeknownst to her, Discord was awake, floating in the air by the window of her room, sunbathing and waiting for her to come out. "... Right, err, I'm sorry to inform you that the tests didn't turn out quite the way we expected; we'll have to run a few more of them." Stable informed, rechecking the result a bit uncertainly. The expression of anxiety he was wearing erased the happy smile off Twilight's face. "Oh, so I have to stay here even longer? Is something wrong?" Their conversation also attracted the attention of the draconequues, who was curiously peeking into the room. "Don't worry, it is nothing serious - we just want to make sure you're not still sick, or maybe even in worse condition than we know." How is that not serious, Twilight thought. Unfortunately, re-testing might take some time and we're extremely busy. It'll take just until the evening, at worst." Twilight let out a saddened 'oh' as Doctor Stable apologized to her and left the room. Head down and her mood suddenly flopping, Twilight sat on her bed. If she at least had somepony sharing a room with her, it wouldn't be so lonely. And she had already read all the books the hospital had to offer. Some of them multiple times. If only her friends weren't all busy on this exact day. "Why so serious?" She perked up the moment the mischievous draconequues finally showed himself as he nonchalantly leaned his elbows on the window sill, his body hanging outside. "Discord! I thought you were still asleep!" She jumped giddily off the bed and trotted over to him. "Nah, I've been trying to gain some color with the little help of Celly's Sun - what do you think?" He extended his claw effeminately - whatever spell he used, it was now pink. It took Twilight a moment to realize he was talking about Celestia and she laughed. "It sure does look like Princess Celestia's work," she notices, "it looks like the pink of her mane" Discord let out a curious sound as he observed his arm with that thought in his mind. "Yeah, I suppose you're right. No good then." SHe frowned at his words as his claw got its old color back. "When did you first meet Princess Celestia?" Twilight suddenly asked as the question popped into her head, without much purpose to it. Discord's eyes widened a bit in surprise as he didn't expect her to ask something like that but then he laughed excitedly. "Oh, it is quite an amusing story! Wanna hear?" "Do I?" Twilight questioned back with an equally excited smile, immediately jumping on the bed and making herself comfortable. Discord sat up on the sill and cleared his throat. "Long long ago, there was a funny, charming, incredibly handsome and on top of all modest Prince, named Discord." He started, his feigned modesty already making Twilight giggle. "Now, Prince Discords' favorite thing in all world was doing whatever was opposite of normal," he continued, "which the ponies, afraid of changes and frightened by anything out of ordinary, called Chaos and proclaimed it evil - they weren't all wrong, mind you; Prince Discord was often quite naughty for the purpose of having selfish fun." He admitted with a mischievous wink. "One day, while the Prince was turning a nearby river into a flow of tasty, cold, thick chocolate and filling it with cherries, he noticed a pony, drinking from the river. But it was no ordinary pony. It was an Alicorn called Celestia, who many ponies loved and adored thanks to her continuous and quite successful effort to maintain what the citizens of Equestria cherished the most - Harmony. So, of course, as she took a drink from the river, Celestia was quite surprised to realize it tasted much like delicious chocolate. That's when she saw the Prince for the first time." He paused and smiled the silliest, goofiest smile he could as birds and butterflies erupted from his hands. "And then they fell in love at first sight, got married, had tons of cute little ponies and lived happily ever after!" He abruptly finished; he himself was doing his best to try and remain serious as he delivered a fake ending, while Twilight was laughing out loud. "Oh come on, Discord!" "Fine, fine... so anyway, the Princess saw the Prince of Chaos for the first time but immediately knew who he was, having heard of his naughty deeds and the way he liked to pull mean pranks on everypony. What do you think the Princess said to him upon seeing him?" "Hmm..." Twilight pondered for a moment or two. "Well, knowing Celestia, she probably said something noble and refined, and she probably sounded tough and strong... something like... 'It is time to put your chaotic wrongdoing to an end!'" Twilight's gentle smile as she imagined strong Princess Celestia saying those words melted into a confused grimace as Discord started to laugh. "Not even close my dear." He snickered. "Not even close." ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ "Hey you! Yeah you, you jerk! What are doing? This is the river that runs through several cities, duh! You can't just ruin everybody's water source like that! Sheesh, what is wrong with you?" The Alicorn yelled out in frustration, flying over to the mismatched Spirit who was amused by the sight of a very flustered Alicorn. "Oh? Whatcha gonna to do about it, anyway?" The jolly Spirit laughed, his voice young and boyish. The Alicorn gritted her teeth. "You shouldn't be doing this! It is forbidden!" "Says who?" "Says me!" She snapped. "Some ponies down there want water, not your chocolate milk!" "But it is so tasty." He defended and summoned a glass to grab some. "Here, have a sip." The Alicorn hastily pushed his lion hand away and the young Spirit chuckled, flipping his mane as he suddenly took on a bit different approach. "Come on, you're too much of a beauty to be frowning like that all the time!" "I'm warning you, Prince Discord!" Young Celestia threatened, ignoring his flirty advances. "I have powers too, you know!" "Let us test them, then." Young Discord replied with an evil snicker. In the next moment, the two were in air, shooting at each other with beams of light and balls of fire, trying to tackle each other constantly and unsuccessfully. It didn't take long though, before the powerful Spirit subdued the inexperienced Alicorn by spell binding her wings long enough for her to fall and even taking away her horn, which left her in a state of utter panic. "Oh. I didn't know I could do that." The Spirit chuckled, his eyes wide with surprise as he observed the panicking Alicorn. "M-my horn!" "I do believe that is a permanent effect. Oops!" He playfully added in the end, making the Alicorn eye him dangerously. "Liar! Give me my horn back, now!" "Calm down dear, calm down - don't you know of the magic words?" The Alicorn gritted her teeth again, her face flushed with both anger and embarrassment. "Hmm. I guess your horn is mine then." He waved dismissively as he laughed and turned around to leave. He didn't expect a strong kick of Alicorn's hooves in his back and in next moment he was tackled to the ground. "My horn. Now." The Alicorn didn't give up. The Spirit chuckled underneath her strong firm hooves but winced when she stepped on a very painful stop near his wings. "Ow ow ow, fine fine, you can have your horn back." He snickered through the winces and did a small clap of his hands. Above him he could her the Alicorn sigh with relief as he horn popped back into existence. "Now you shall come with me, and I'll present you to the Equestrian court - they'll be more than happy to learn of the Chaotic Princes' surrender." "Surrend--- bwahahahaha! My dear, dear Alicornian friend, I never surrender!" With a click of his finger and a last laugh, he disappeared, his voice echoing in the air. "Once you grow up and become stronger, come and find me so we can play again. Until our next meeting, Celestia!" His disembodied voice greeted. "H-how do you know my name?!" The Alicorn demanded but got nothing more than a playful laughter in response. Frowning and stomping her hooves, she swore to become the most powerful Alicorn to have walked the Equestrian lands, all for purpose of putting Chaos out of lives of the ponies she loved so much. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ "And that's how Celestia and I met! Little did she know she was as equally loved and famous for her goodness just as I was hated and infamous for my Chaos, so naturally, I knew her name well!" Discord finished with a laugh. Twilight joined the laugh but only shortly, being pretty fascinated by the story. "That was so interesting! I had no idea Princess Celestia was so-- eh, I mean--" "Celestia was a child too, Twilight Sparkle. She wasn't always as wise as today." The Spirit knowingly said. Twilight shrugged. "I guess that was to be expected but it is really funny to think about her that way!" "Too bad I never got to know Luna too well. She was quite seclusive." "Miss Sparkle?" They were interrupted once again by Doctor Stable; judging by his smile, he was delivering some good news. "Tests seem to be alright. We can let you go home now." "What? But you said it would take long time!" "But... it's been a few hours already." "Oh." Twilight stared at the Doctor a bit confused, then shrugged. "Oh well, thank you!" She giddily replied, before bidding Stable goodbye. The moment he left the room, Discord took her in his hands and flew out the window, gently putting her down on the grass. "Time really flies fast when you're having fun, huh." Twilight observed, noticing it was already four in the afternoon on the clock tower. For some time, they aimlessly wondered Ponyville, Twilight not feeling like going home and Discord simply making her company since he didn't think of anything better to do. "So, you mentioned Princess Luna before. You didn't know her well?" Twilight asked, still curious about how well Discord knew the Princesses. "Oh, no, not really. I mean, Celestia and I met many times after our first encounter and had countless fights." Discord reminisced like he was talking about some good old memory. "It was loads of fun; well, for me at least. Your Sun Princess was a feisty, stubborn creature. Still is, in fact, only with a certain... finesse." He remarked. "Luna joined her in her quest to put me 'out of business' when she was old enough and strong enough - them together against me was a bit harder to handle, so the fights turned more serious each time we clashed. Thus Luna never really got to know that teasingly charming side of me." He continued without modesty. "Only the aggressive one. And the rest of the story..." he gave Twilight a meaningful smile, "...is history as you know it." Twilight fell silent; feeling she might've gotten too serious as she remembered the unpleasant destiny he was given, Discord decided to let her in on a little secret. "But you know..." He looked around as if he was going to spill something confidential, then said in low voice: "I believe Luna thinks I'm a riot!" "A riot?" "Amusing! Darling! Easy to laugh with." Discord complimented himself without a pause. Twilight furrowed her brow. "You just said she never got to know you well!" "Ah," Discord wisely started, "but those two days I spent at their lovely palace once you all set me free were quite eventful!" Twilight's eyes popped wide open. "Really? Tell me, oh please, please, please!" The Spirit laughed and waved his hands defensively as she approached him eagerly. "Alright my dear, you'll hear everything, don't you worry. Let's go for a fly though, I need to stretch my wings." He didn't need to tell her twice; she immediately got on his back and he gently flew into the bright blue sky, starting his story. "As you may remember, back then I was pretty agitated about loss of my powers..." ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ "This is breaking of ones' civil rights!" "You're no civilian, Prince of Chaos." Celestia said calmly, feeling slightly guilty that Discord's rage brought so much satisfaction to her; by now he tried to destroy most of the guest room with a click of his finger, only to every time painfully realize he couldn't do that anymore. He proceeded to angrily rip the drapes on the bed, flip over the writing desk and do just about as much damage as possible to the room but her reaction was nonexistent. "Settle down!" Celestia finally said, her command followed by a spell that forced him to hold still. With a resigning sigh, he finally sat down and continued to fume on the luxurious carpet. "Listen to me. Luna and I did our best explaining you your situation and unless you're completely delusional - which I'm certain you're not - you should understand we're doing you a favor. It isn't exactly wise of us to release the number one enemy of the kingdom just to give him another chance, especially since the majority of the citizens are against it." Discord said nothing, instead just eyeing her in pure rage. Celestia sighed. "I did what I could. I'll leave you alone for now. Think your situation through and do it thoroughly... please, Discord." With those words, Celestia left him alone to let his frustration out on poor pieces of furniture. But he had enough of that. He wasn't usually the one to let his anger out in this way but the entire situation got out of hand for him and he helplessness he felt was... it was maddening. Brought back with no powers? Just what were they thinking? What was he supposed to do then? He might as well go live in the mountains and start a bloody rock farm. Without his powers, he was nopony. Just another civilian that happened to look like a spell gone wrong. Just another- His ears caught a faint sound, similar to a breeze but when he turned around the door were closed. However, thousands of years old Disco-sense was tingling. He wasn't alone. "What in Tartarus do you want, Lunnie?" He finally asked, not even eyeing the Alicorn. After a moment of silence, Luna's magnificent starry mane came into his view as she made herself visible. "It is Luna, not Lunnie." The Princess of the Moon replied, oblivious of the joke. The bad mood he was in stopped him from laughing at her attitude. When she approached him and simply stared at him, he finally snapped. "What?" Luna just kept looking at him; it irritated him greatly. "What?!" He repeated, this time quite aggressively. But Luna didn't seem frightened. Then she finally spoke. "You look much different than the last time I saw you." Discord raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you see enough of me while I was a statue?" He bitterly asked. Luna blinked. "That is a different matter. What I mean is, back when we defeated you. Back when I was still much of a child." Discords' eyebrow again popped up. "Meaning?" "You were more frightening back then." The answer was both surprising and anger inducing. Discord stood up tall and towered over the pony in the same manner he would have used back then. Back then, she would gasp in fright, call for her sisters' spell or, if she dared, try using one of her spells only for him to mock its weakness. This time, she didn't even blink. In fact, she seemed to be wondering what was he doing. "Is something wrong?" She finally asked. "What isn't." Despite the pessimistic reply, he smiled, albeit not happily. "You grew up, Luna." The Princess of the Moon returned the smile kindly. Discord flew over to the window, lost in thoughts. "You never took me and my sister too seriously, now have you?" Luna asked as she joined him in observing of Celestia's maze garden. "Nah." He replied lazily, without hesitation. "Well, not until the day I realized getting out of the stone was not an easy feat. Once I realized I'll be trapped inside for quite some time, I decided you may represent a bit of a threat." He praised with a bitter chuckle. Luna laughed softly. "Well, those times are behind us now. My sister and I didn't free you because we're bored you know." "Whatever do you mean by that?" Discord asked as he looked over to her. Luna let out a soft hum as she thought her words through. "While we didn't exactly... know you very well... we do think there is a chance we could... in time,, of course" Luna started carefully and very surprisingly aded, "I personally think you actually seem to be quite a fun person to have around." Discord laughed loudly at Luna's words. "Well, this is interesting! Just how did you conclude that?" He asked, genuinely intrigued. "Well, for one," Luna began, "while many of your powers were obviously serving to deliver some sort of sadistic fun, I couldn't help but notice it wasn't the majority of your chaotic repertoire, so to speak. In fact, some ponies loved it... the day when the sea descended down the mountain chain to the North, chasing off the absolutely devastating heat... the bubble homes that many took as the chance to travel for a while... showers of vanilla rains, self-explanatory..." "I've upgraded it to chocolate, you know." "So I've been told. Good call." "What can I say, " the Spirit replied, waving his hands, "I had plenty of time to pick my favorite forms of Chaos; Celestia never liked them." He added in the end in a tone that clearly gave away just how 'highly' he thought of Celestias' distaste for his powers. Luna gave away a giggle that he didn't miss. "What are you laughing about?" He growled, thinking she was mocking him. But with a smile, she continued: "You're a funny character, Discord. If you weren't such an evil doer, you and many other ponies could probably get along." Discord wasn't exactly sure if he heard her right but her silly, confident smile said he did. "Do tell me, Princess Luna, do you think you and I would get along?" "It is a fair possibility." Luna replied. "You seem like a nice guy. It is the usage of your powers, your chaos, that make you monstrous... in the eyes of public, eyes of my sister and eyes of your own. But not mine. I see things many hide... and I know what you hide, Discord." Discords' face contorted into a grimace that clearly said he found this situation way too intrusive and perhaps even dangerous to his own well being. Luna laughed. "I'm not threatening you. I'm just being informative. But I should take my leave, you're clearly upset." Before exiting the room, she added: "Hopefully you'll get along with the Elements of Harmony; I hear some of them can be quite demanding." ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ "Demanding?" Twilight repeated but Discord just shrugged. "I don't really know what she meant by that. Then again, you guys are quite a handful. Who knows, who care~" He sang out, gripping Twilight's front hooves so she wouldn't fall and spinning through the air. After a lengthy session of flying that left Twilight quite dizzy, they got back into the library just in time for dinner, which Twilight wrapped up quickly - her stay in the hospital had only worn her out and she just wanted to sleep. "Phew, what a day!" The unicorn sighed as she climbed into her bed. The Spirit had disappeared somewhere, most likely to find himself a place to sleep somewhere outside, as he tended to do. Spike was already snoring and she knew she was going to be asleep soon, her eyes slowly closing as she made herself comfortable, the golden-red orbs dancing before her ey-- Wait. She opened her eyes again to be met with Discord's slightly amused gaze as he floated above her. At this point, she wasn't even surprised anymore. He startled her countless times in all sort of ways. "What is it, Discord?" She asked, half entertained, and half wanting to sleep. Then she got an unexpected answer. "I want a bedtime story." "... You mean... Like a fairy tale, or something?" The mare asked, frowning and getting a frown in return. "Funny." He descended next to her on the floor and leaned onto her bed. "No, I meant a story from your life." "Oh!" Twilight was mildly surprised. The fact he even had any interest in such a thing as stories from her life was just...unimaginable. "Are you serious?" She asked, making him sigh impatiently. "Come on, I talked so much about myself today, I figured I want to know something about you!" "Oh. Umm, OK, uh..." Twilight shifted nervously. Seeing she wasn't sure what to tell him about, Discord pointed to her flank. "How did you get your Cutie Mark?" "Oh, now that's a good story! You see, I was on this exam..." So Twilight told him of her Cutie Mark. And after than mentioned she was indeed one of the gifted students. And after that told him about how they brought Luna back to normal after her one thousand years long banishment, as Discord naturally missed that story. Then about all the things that had happened back on the wedding of her brother ("So, how is Chrysalis these days?") and then started with a story of how and why she moved to Ponyville. She was telling him all these stories with so much passion because he didn't seem to get bored with her tales - he'd let her talk, then asked questions if he didn't understand something, or wanted to know something extra and sometimes friendly teased her or joked about the events she told him of. She never even noticed how invested they both were, her into telling, him into knowing. Alas, she started to yawn, sleep overwhelming her as she recalled the experience with parasprite invasion. The Spirit seemed equally tired as he stretched and curled himself up on the floor and bidding Twilight good night. "Sleep well, Twilight Sparkle." "Good night, Discord." Twilight said gently as she leaned on her pillow and observed the Spirit as he slowly departed to Dreamland. Twilight fell asleep some time after, not even realizing she was staring at him the whole time until her consciousness slipped away into colorful, pleasant dreams that faithfully depicted the interesting stories she heard that nice, sunny day.