Chapter Seven
"The Breaking Point"
The flood of memories faded away for a moment. Celestia couldn't help but smile when she played the story in her mind. After these events, there was a short time that seemed a bit blurred and faded in her mind. The days spent in Canterlot with Luna and Discord by her side lasted for three years. Three years of friendship and carefree times. School, of course took up some of the time. However, she couldn't recall any specific memories during that time. It was a big three-year blur, but perhaps nothing exciting truly happened in those years. Discord tried very hard to follow Orion's instructions, and almost never used his powers. Celestia could only remember perhaps a few times when he did. It was nothing especially chaotic, just maybe whipping up a cotton candy cloud for them. Life was dull in those years, but they were also the best times...she knew they were, deep down. How times change. How everything can change in only three years.
It amazed her. In a way, standing here alone before the statue, she wished she remembered more before the darker years came. At least, that's what she knew them as. It was when she and Discord were sixteen. Luna was ten. Ten. How quickly she grew, too. She had learned so much magic and even learned to fly in that time. She was still her adorable little sister, but she was indeed growing up. Celestia thought back to what she could do at sixteen. She could finally raise and lower the sun, which was a big accomplishment for her. She learned a ton of magic, and it became her passion. She always looked forward to learning new things from her mother. Sage Clover the Clever decided to also tutor her as well. Discord seemed miserable trying to fit in at school. The fact that he rarely used his powers made him very gloomy most of the time. Celestia always sympathized with him. He was always a fish out of water in Canterlot. The teasing and the bullying never seemed to cease. However, Discord seemed to become used to it and it desensitized him. His only focus in these school years was the work. Eris had taught him a little, but he was behind, and had a hard time catching up. Celestia always knew he would be even more depressed if he had to be in younger classes away from her. She did all she could to help him with studies, which was a challenge, for she had to focus on magic studies as well.
Needless to say, school was a challenge for both of them. Outside of school...was a completely different story. The summers were lazy. The world was peaceful. Celestia, Discord, and Luna would spend almost every moment together. Eventually, though, Celestia noticed Discord was failing to invite Luna when he wished for them to take walks or travel to the small lake in the garden. She didn't blame him. It was harder to spend a lot of time with her sister. Not just because of the fact that Luna was nocturnal, but that she had more responsibilities now. She was still young, but had to learn all she could from Orion. It became apparent that Luna tried a little too hard most of the time. The added stress on her was making her loose her temper very quickly. She had always had a short temper, but it was different now. It certainly wasn't fun for Orion and Solina to watch their daughter's eyes glow a scary white when she mad. It wasn't fun for any of them. Celestia and Discord grew concerned about her, but the king and queen encouraged them to not worry too much. They had everything under control.
However, Celestia always questioned what was happening to her sister. It wasn't anything she understood. These were the start to the dark years. However, Discord was there for her. And they would often spend time together by the lake or in the courtyard. Their friendship grew stronger every day. However, Celestia could see that look in Discord's eyes a lot more clearly. It was a sort of dewy light shining inside them. It looked as if he were constantly melting from the inside when he was near her. She wasn't sure how to react to it. It made her feel a bit uncomfortable. If she ever caught him staring at her like that, she would say something like,
"Why are you staring at me like that?!"
"I was doing no such thing!" he would reply indignantly. This was, of course before Dream Catcher. Yes…there was him and what happened with him too.
Celestia felt a smile spread across her pale white face when she remembered those moments by the lake. She was delighted to remember such moments. It made her chuckle under her breath. She let out a sigh and sifted her eyes up. The statue stood tall and mighty before her. She moved her violet eyes over the gray stone. It was smooth and neat. All the crevices and tiny cracks could barely be seen. It looked like the work of an artist, like the other statues all around it. Did anypony else really understand a being was trapped inside it? How could they know? How could they understand? Celestia stared at the head of the statue. Her eyes welled up when she did. Her throat started to close up on her as she fought back the tears. How could she have known the spell would not last? Perhaps it was her fault. Perhaps she didn't want it to. No. Of course she didn't want it to. Now, she must face the memories that have haunted her.
"I cannot fight you again..." she whispered. "Not again. You know it will break my heart if I have to. But...they will. You can't win. Your mother can't win. She miscalculated long ago with you. And I wish things didn't happen the way they did in the dark years. It was my fault. It was." Celestia let one salty tear fall from her eye.
Suddenly she felt great warmth in her chest. It was the sort of comforting warmth only magic can bring. It was as warm as if she were raising the sun, but it couldn’t have been that. Her heartbeat was slower now. It was steady and soft. She could feel it thumping ever so gently with every breath she took. Her eyes fixed on Discord’s statue once more. Then, something caught her eye. The chest had a spot on it that was glowing on and off. His heart. She could almost feel it beating. She felt a wave of slight joy and fear at the same time wash over her. He could hear her. He knew. Perhaps he had memories too. Perhaps he was trying to talk to her. How she missed him. And how she feared of seeing him again. She couldn’t ignore the warmth in her…the warmth within him. But yet, the stone resting stiff before her was as cold as ice. So beautiful. So evil. She could never fight him again. She loved him. She still did. It hadn’t died, like she thought it did. The war raged on within Celestia. She was feeling happy for knowing she’d see him. She was also feeling angered, sad, broken for knowing what he would do when he escaped.
“I’ve lost you…” she whispered. “The real you is never returning to me. Not the Discord I knew. But you remember, don’t you? You remember who you used to be. You remember those wonderful times. But then…” she paused to swallow the lump in her throat. “Then the dark years came. I’m sure you remember them…most of all.” She closed her eyes and let the deluge of memories take over again.
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The brisk autumn air tore through Celestia’s chest as she struggled forward against it. Her new blue scarf flapped around in the wind, so much she was struggling to keep it on. She turned her head to ensure her saddlebag was wrapped securely around her waist. She cocked her head to push her pink curls out of her face. Discord was coming up behind her, fighting the sudden burst of wind as well.
“Brrr! It’s sooo cccccold!” he murmured coming up next to her.
“Ugh! I know,” she replied. “Winter is coming fast!”
“Hey Thing! Move it or lose it!” said a voice from behind them. A dark purple male unicorn with a blue and green hair trotted up in between them. He smirked at Discord and playfully nudged Celestia.
“Hey, Dream Catcher…” said Celestia quietly. “Stop calling Discord that please.”
“Oh, come on! It’s just a nickname,” said Dream laughingly. “So, Tia, are we all set on that science lab project?” Celestia and Dream were lab partners. Celestia noticed Discord didn’t seem to like that too much. His partner was an earth pony named Speckles who knew everything there was to know about science. So, he took over and did most, if not all, there was to do for every project.
“Yes. Everything is ready. It’ll be a long day,” Celestia replied nodding. The wind had died down a bit as the three walked down the street together.
“A cold one too!” Dream replied, smirking. “But that’s okay. Just cuddle up to me to keep warm, Tia.” Celestia rolled her eyes and smiled.
“Oh, stop it!” she said jerking her head to get her mane out of her eyes again.
“And I must say, that is a very nice scarf. It looks pretty on you,” said Dream politely. Celestia couldn’t help but smile. Dream was charming. He was pretty handsome too. Rude? Arrogant? Yes…sometimes. But…charming too. He was always nice to her. Always had been. Now, he seemed to make more advances on her recently. She had to think about this. It was true Dream needed to be called out on when he ganged up on Discord, but to Celestia, he was merely teasing and not trying to hurt him. Still. She had to think. Her other filly-friends had boyfriends. She was the princess and she was still single. Perhaps it was time for her to return this attention. In this moment, hearing that compliment did make her cheeks prickle with a blush.
“Thank you, Dream,” she replied smiling. “I’m flattered.”
“A sweet filly like you should be told on a daily basis that she’s beautiful,” said Dream winking at her. “But you are the princess, so you probably hear that quite often.”
“Only from my parents, actually…” she said hanging her head shyly. Her cheeks grew redder.
“Well! Shame on those who haven’t said anything,” said Dream. He didn’t say that without shooting a glance and a smirk at Discord. Discord rolled his eyes far into the back of his head and poked his lion claw into his mouth.
“GAG!” he muttered and flapped his wings to move far away from them. Celestia chuckled and sped up her gate in cheerfulness. When they arrived in front of the school, they paused. Dream cocked his head at her.
“I’m sorry if I’m….you know…being too forward. I would hate to get between you two. He’s your boyfriend after all,” he said rolling his eyes around.
“Discord is just my friend, Dream,” Celestia replied. The very thought of that made her feel uncomfortable. “There’s nothing between us accept friendship. I…I don’t mind. I…” she smiled at him and turned as red as a tomato. Dream gently put his hoof on hers.
“Good. I’m glad. I like you, okay? I’ve always liked you. We’ve been friends for a while. Remember when we were young?”
“I remember,” Celestia replied smiling on fond memories of when she was a very young filly, even before Luna was born.
“Well…now I think we could have something,” said the purple unicorn, shifting his bright green eyes downward. “Please promise me you’ll at least think about it?”
“Yes. I will think it over. I promise,” said Celestia smiling bigger. “Now you promise me something, okay? Go easy on Discord, okay? He’s my best friend! I don’t like it when you tease him like you always do.”
“I don’t mean harm, really,” said Dream sheepishly. “I thought it was funny! Really! I mean…he’s….he’s….”
“Different?” said Celestia sighing. Dream nodded. “It doesn’t matter to me, so it shouldn’t matter to you, okay?” Dream nodded.
“Okay. I’m sorry. And after school I’ll go find him and apologize.”
“Good!” said Celestia beaming bright. She giggled when Dream leaned forward and kissed her lightly on the cheek. “Come on!” she said quickly. “We’re going to be late!” They both cantered off into the school building.
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Discord burst out of the building, his head spinning and his mind in a complete fog from the long day. He secured his backpack on his back and trudged forward. He wasn’t sure what day it was. It didn’t even notice how cold it was. He forgot his name a couple times. He pressed his lion paw against his head trying to get rid of the pounding headache. Suddenly, he heard a voice from his right.
“Psst! Hey! Discord!” He turned his head to look. He saw a male purple unicorn beckoning him to come closer. What was his name again? Oh, right. Dream Catcher. Wonderful. Discord sighed and dragged himself over to the unicorn to see what he wanted. He wasn’t exactly in the mood for him right now. He just wanted to nap for….forever. He followed Dream to the back of the school. “I wanted to talk to you, Discord,” said Dream leaning up against the brick wall. “You’ve got competition, buddy! Get over it. And you know, I think Tia is opening up to me. How about that. So…you should let it go now. Accept the fact that she likes me, not you. She wants me to be all buddy-buddy with you. Wants me to say how deeply sorry I am for calling you what you are….THING. You know…if I even remotely saw you as something above dirt, I’d be on my knees groveling at your feet right now. But…guess, what? You are nothing to me. You are dead to me. So, I’m not going to act like I care, because I don’t. I just care about Tia, that’s it! So…you stay away from me, and I’ll stay away from you…got it….THING?”
Discord swallowed hard and stared down at the ground. He felt a burning fire inside him. It was growing stronger and stronger. Dream was the most horrible creature in the world. What did Celestia see in him?! He was such a fraud! Discord felt his throat close up on him and hot tears blurred his vision. He hated Dream. HATED him. His fists clenched tight. His backpack slid down from his shoulders and fell on the ground.
“Uh-oh…am I making you mad?” said Dream smirking. “Go ahead and bring on the waterworks, Thing! I’ll enjoy the show. Want to whip me up some popcorn?” Discord felt his heart beat so fast, he thought it would explode. His stomach churned and he breathed uncontrollably fast. He couldn’t speak, but sounds came from his throat. Sounds of hurt. Of pain. Of anger. Of hatred. Hatred. Hate. Hate. The only word that crossed his mind. He shifted his eyes up and clenched his teeth. Dream Catcher raised an eyebrow at him and continued to throw insults at him.
“What are you trying to prove?! You’re worthless. You’re useless. You’re hideous. You know she’ll never love you! No one loves you!” That was it. Discord couldn’t take it anymore. He didn’t even know what he was doing or how he was doing it, but in that moment, he felt a powerful surge of energy come over him. Flashes of white appeared over his eyes. Lightning surged from his hands and shot out at Dream Catcher. Discord could only feel sheer power. He didn’t even know what was happening. White suddenly covered his eyes and he couldn’t see anything. He could hear agonized screams. He could hear sparks flying and lightning severely zapping Dream. This wasn’t a simple shock on the flank. This was so different. There was anger in it. Hate. Hate. That word stood out in his mind so prominently for some reason. How much time had passed? Hours? Minutes? Seconds? He didn’t know. All Discord knew was there was a frightened voice screaming behind him. Celestia. He could never mistake her voice.
“DISCORD! STOP!” He couldn’t say no to her, even though he wasn’t sure of what he was doing. He breathed out slowly and felt the energy leave him. His vision was restored and he collapsed in a disoriented, dizzy state. Dream Catcher lay on the ground, white bolts still crawling over his fur, shocking him and making him twitch and whimper in severe pain. It was no small zap. It was severe. Celestia immediately rushed over to Dream. He was moaning and crying. Discord pulled himself up and saw the damage he had caused. He felt his heart drop like a stone. What had he done?! Orion’s words flooded his mind. No powers. No powers. And yet he did use them. He used them so much it had happened….he hurt somepony. Hurt him. He should’ve walked away. Should’ve ignored it like he had for three years. Tuned it out. Forgot it. Forgot about Dream. He felt tears well up in his eyes when he saw Celestia’s face. She was staring at him in shock. Disbelief. Pain. Fear. “Dis….” she whispered. Tears were streaming down her face. Discord couldn’t find words to speak. He slowly approached her. “Stay away…” she said in a cracking voice. Her whole body trembled and her eyes grew hard. Her face was pale. Her words cut him deeper than anything would’ve. She was afraid of him. Discord felt tears stream down his face. His chest tightened. It felt like a knife had been jabbed into it. He turned away and flew away. He flew and flew and didn’t stop flying for anything. And he didn’t look back.
TO BE CONTINUED...