Lost Soul
A figure materialized into the gloom of a darkened room, the only light emerged from the edges of a sturdy black curtain.
The figure did not arrive in a flash or a bang; no puff of smoke or swirling vortex signaled his entrance, he merely stepped from the air like a ghost, he even stood some inches from the ground, though any that knew him would say this was a normal thing for the spirit.
The figure was an abnormality; he stood tall, taller than most creature except the Others, who lived so far north that even the windigos would die from the sheer cold of the place.
However it was the rest of the creature that would stun any who set eyes upon him.
His own eyes were perhaps the most normal part of his entire body. They were each a bright yellow while the irises of each were a crimson red and his pupils, which in almost any other creature would have been black, instead they were an empty white as well as being off-centered giving him the illusion of looking at two places at once.
His body was long and serpentine and ended in a twisting red draconic tail and should he ever stretch himself out to his length it would add at least another foot to his already impressive height.
His head and upper neck were that of a goat while two mismatched antlers emerged from between his ears and a single canine tooth emerged from the right side of his mouth.
Further down his body two wings emerged from his both keeping with theme and being unalike. His Left wing was a light blue avian wing covered in feathers, while the other was a bat's wing of a deep purple coloration and was noticeably smaller than the feathered wing though both were far too small to ever lift one of his size.
His limbs were similarly anarchic , his left arm was the clawed talon of a golden eagle or some such other bird of prey of that size, while his right arm ended in the paw of some great cat, a lion perhaps or maybe a cheetah.
His left leg was the cloven hoof of a bison or other species of cattle and beside it stood a reptilian leg of a lizard though one of great size to provide such a leg.
In short this creature was a truly chaotic amalgamation of nearly a dozen different creatures and that was exactly how he liked to appear.
For this Strange magical and utterly impossible creature, was Discord, a being of anarchy so powerful that some lesser beings, in their quiet whispers and hushed tales, referred to him with the title of God of Chaos.
And that was just how Discord liked it.
The Draconequus, as he referred to his own species, glanced around the dark room steadily and yet with great haste, he had no need of any sort of lighting as that provided by his own softly glowing eyes was enough.
His gaze passed over cobweb ridden furniture and empty wall sconces, their torches long since burnt out, while silently taking note of the disrepair that come to this room, before he finally settled his vision on the silhouette of a kneeling human.
It was easy to distinguish that the creature was a human the posture of it was hard to replicate except among the ape tribes of the western jungles and they did not possess the height of this creature which, if it were not kneeling, would stand almost 6 and a half feet in the measurements of his species.
"Oh so this is where you've been" the chaotic avatar began "I'm very upset with you right now. You know I just now escaped from nearly a millennia and a half imprisoned as a statue when you could have easily broken me out, and I am extremely annoyed that you didn't do so. So what have you got to say for yourself hmm?"
In response the silhouette of the human twitched slightly but an insignificant amount and if discord didn't have his great eyesight he would have missed it.
However the twitch was just that, a twitch and never for a moment did the human cease his silent vigil nor look up at the draconequus.
"Oh come now don't be like that it's not like I would actually do anything to you"
"well not anything that you wouldn't be able to reverse anyway" He added as an afterthought
Again the figure did not stir nor did it shift or twitch at the chaos "God's" speech, not a single signal came from the human to signify that it had heard anything at all.
Now the avatar of chaos was usually a fairly jovial spirit and found it off putting that his old friend was not reacting to his words 'usually he would have at least told me to go away by now.... something is wrong.'
Discord slowly began to move towards the human and as he did so was able to see what his silent friend was looking at.
Before the human, whose body was concealed by a large black hooded cloak, Discord knew that an enchantment woven into the hood meant that trying to look at his friends face to see where he was looking would just result in staring at a black void, however he didn't need to.
The entirety of the humans body positioning indicated that he was staring at two piles in front of his person.
The two piles were near identical, one being slightly larger than the other was the only difference between the two but it was what composed these piles that took Discord aback.
Both piles were made up of dust and shards of bone, the Horns, being the sturdiest bone in the body of any unicorn or alicorn thanks to their existence outside the body, were clearly visible in the piles only slightly worn down by the ages that had turned the rest, of what was assuredly two corpses, down to piles of dust.
"Sandro?" The chaotic mastermind couldn't keep the fear out of his voice nor the concern he held for his friend "please... what is wrong"
"They're dead"
Finally Sandro broke his silence and his words added to the slowly growing discontent and confusion that now possessed a strong grip on the usually random mind of the draconequus.
Though he could barely bring himself to ask and fearing what he already knew Discord opened his mouth and managed to whisper his question "Who?"
"Who do you think Discord, the lights of my life, my...my poor" his words devolved into an onslaught of silent sobs that slowly increased in volume until, after reaching a crescendo that sounded like a shriek at the heavens he collapsed back into silence.
Discord, now in a solemn and sombre mood, slowly placed his clawed hand to rest on the shoulder of his last true friend his mind desperately running through scenarios in his head which could have brought this ending without the grim theory that he had built up in his head.
He could find none.
"Please tell me... who did this?"
The Human if he had not been still before was now a statue, it was if the question had the effect of a cockatrice on him, before he began to shake violently beneath Discord's grip.
"My darling sisters" His voice was filled with venom for a moment before all the energy seemed to once again leave him taking all of his anger with it leaving his voice filled with only sorrow and pain "how could they do this Discord? to their own flesh and blood, how could they live with themselves after doing this?"
"I don't known old friend, I truly don't" he was silent for a moment "But I promise you, even if it takes to the end of time, I will help you avenge them."
"Then you will be waiting an eternity, I have no interest in vengeance"
"what you can't be serious they killed your"
"I know, but when one follows the path of the avenger they should dig two graves, thus I have no interest in revenge for, while I would most likely succeed in my task to destroy them, I would also most likely die whether accomplishing my goal or soon afterwards from my wounds or some no name taking advantage of my weakened stat to slay me and avenge those I had just defeated."
He turned his hood to look up at Discord purple eyes burning so bright they were visible even through his hoods enchantment.
"And then what hmm? with both them and I dead the only evidence that my poor little stars had ever existed would be your memories, and can you honestly tell me that you would remember them for even a year without me around to remind you?"
"..."
Discord's uneasy silence was all the human needed as an answer, though the human had to give him credit, looking into the chaotic beings eyes he could see evidence of extreme internal conflict.
Finally he turned away from Discord and returned his eyes to his dearly departed "No I shall grieve and I shall remember, It is all I can do"
"Fight with me"
"What?" Sandro had expected Discord to disappear after his final words but it seemed that was not to be
"Fight with me against the princesses. Together the two of us could shatter Equestria and bring them down" then glancing again at the remains of the two lights of Sandro's life "we could set their souls to rest properly where they belong in the Golden Grove."
"Why would you need my help? I don't know how they defeated you last time but you won't underestimate them this time and you outclass them both in every way, even together." he batted a hand at the draconequus "Go, deal with them yourself and leave me in peace."
All this was said without emotion, just a constant droning monotonous speech that showed Sandro had lost all patience with talking.
"I know it is hard my friend, but you must do something, I would not be able to bear watching my last true friend wither away from grief"
Sandro let out a short chuckle at Discords choice of words before returning to his empty tone.
"Then don't watch, Just leave me to my wounds"
"wounds? are you hurt as well"
"My soul is Discord. You know of those people who say that, after they lose someone close to them, that it's like they have a void in their heart." he was silent for a moment
"It's not like that...
The void Is always there waiting inside of us all, watching for a moment to consume you. And those people you care about, they're the bandages that hold you together, and, when you lose them that void starts growing and festering until it swallows you whole."
"And I am more than willing to let it" he finished.
The statement stunned the chaotic avatar, to see his once so lively friend sapped of all his previously endless happiness.
'just another reason to bring that prismatic haired bitch to heel, maybe banish her to that precious sun of hers for a few millennia while forcing her to watch everything we do in Equestria, that could be fun'
'No bad Discord' he both mentally and physically slapped himself 'You can come up with all of your punishments later, right now you last friend is in need of your help'
"You know Sandro, it's like in all those old stories, the ones that really meant something" the spirit of chaos took on a suspiciously Irish accent "full of darkness and danger they were, and sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy, how could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad happened. But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow, even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you, that meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Sandro, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn't. Because they were holding on to something."
"And what am I holding onto Discord? The pitiful idea that there is still some good in this world? that's a truly foolish notion. Any good that this world had left in it died with my daughters." He spoke with a certainty and conviction in his voice that any would be hard pressed to match. To him this wasn't and opinion, it was the truth and he had nothing more to say on the matter.
The draconequus sighed and massaged his forehead, taking sips from a glass of strawberry milkshake while he did so.
He needed a way to make his friend see things from his perspective, after all eve if he could defeat Celestia and Luna and the element bearers on his own(well the elements might has well be ticked off that list as he had already stolen and hidden those away) having someone on his side immune to the power of the elements of harmony and willingly.
However he also cared for Sandro like a brother, and his brother's pain was Discord's pain as well.
'How to convince him, he doesn't want revenge and he's given up on the world'
"So what will you do if the Princesses find out your alive and come here to finish you?"
"And what could they take from me? my life? that would be a mercy" he reached up a pulled down his hood, breaking the enchantment concealing his visage from Discord.
"Look at me Discord, look at what I sacrificed, What I did to myself so that I could live with them forever, so that I could watch my daughters grow up, So that I could be there for them"
"I've got nothing left to lose" His last words were barely a whisper.
Discord was stuck stunned and partially horrified at what his friend had become, however his mind finally caught up to what had been said.
"Then what would you fight for, what would you give up your life for?"
Discord was getting desperate now but for Sandro...Those words triggered something inside Sandro.
"What would you give up your life for? beyond your fear of death what would you actually give everything to protect?"
"You, our sister... and our daughters"
That conversation had been so long ago before Discord had gone mad with power before his sisters had...
"I'm sorry but this has to be done, maybe one day you'll understand but it has to be done, do you hear me it has too."
Slowly Sandro rose from his kneeling position, turned to Discord and lifted his hood so that it once again covered his horrific visage.
"You really want to know what I'll fight for?" he paused "I'll help you, but on one condition... when we've beaten them when Celestia and Luna are broken at our feet and their precious little house of cards has come crumbling down, Before you kill them or whatever you plan to do with them, I want to be able to look in their eyes and ask them Why, no more no less, but I want to be able to hear why they did it, to see the truth in their eyes and know that why they did it was necessary."
"I'm right behind you on that old friend"
"then we have an agreement?"he asked extending his hand towards Discord
Discord's response was to reach out and using the claws of his feline created a small cut on his avian hand, before firmly grasping Sandro's extended Hand.