The rocks continued to fall and Discord desperately ignited his talon in a vibrant, golden glow, the magic illuminating the outlines of the falling rocks as he tried to dodge the deadly projectiles and scream for his sister at the same time.
After what seemed like forever, the rocks ceased their rolling and all fell silent. There was nothing but two walls of fallen boulders on either side of Discord. The spirit desperately rammed himself against them.
"LUNA! LUNA! LUNA! LUNA, CAN YOU HEAR ME?!" Other than the sound of dripping stalactites, silence was all that greeted the spirit in return. With a distressed whine, Discord rammed himself up against the walls, finding the rocks to be just about glued together.
Discord gazed down at his talon, fully aware that teleporting to the other side of the rock pile would sap a large amount of power he couldn't afford to spare. Disregarding that thought, he disappeared in a flash of light, and reappeared on the other side.
And there was Luna, seeming the size of a hamster in comparison to the boulder pinning the edge of her wing down. Tears and dirt streaked her cheeks, and her filthy body was decorated with small bleeding cuts, as were his.
Discord stared in horror, finding himself mildly impressed with his sister's bravery. A boulder was crushing her wing, and yet she wasn't making a sound.. Tears streamed profusely down her cheeks and she inched back as he came near, trying to growl.
Discord was unfazed by the younger immortal's pathetic attempts to seem aggressive and threatening as he neared the boulder, ignoring her attempts to snap at him, and trying to pry the five hundred pound rock off of her. It wouldn't budge, wouldn't even wobble.
"G-get away from me!" Luna strained out between a groan of agony. Her teeth ground tearfully together as she heard the bone in her wing crack more as she shifted. "I don't want your help! Leave now! This instant!"
The god snorted both in annoyance and exasperation as he gazed down at the petulant, stubborn brat. "Leave? You do realize you'll die here on your own, don't you?" The venomous retort wasn't all that unexpected:
"I would rather die than to be helped out by you!"
A flash of pain went across the draconequus's dirt streaked face briefly, washed away with a wince. Ouch. She really knew what to say, didn't she?
Discord's lips pulled back in a frustrated snarl, baring his curved fangs at the insufferable alicorn as he threw up his hands in disgust and exasperation. "What do you want me to say, Luna?!" he barked. "What do you want me to do?! I can't go back and change the past! I can't bring them back to life! I can't erase what I've done! It's not that easy!"
"So I'm aware!" the princess screeched at him, and her voice warbled with the sudden choked sobs of her broken heart and grief. "But nothing you say will matter! I'm never forgiving you!"
"I'm not asking for forgiveness!" Discord snarled back scathingly, "I know I don't deserve it, and I know nothing I could do could possibly make up for my all-time blunder!" His face filled with mourning and his voice quieted. "All I'm asking is for you to set aside your hatred long enough for me to get us out of here."
The girl had silenced completely, her face vacant as she gazed at him and watched him draw a little closer to her. The god's eyes were glassier, wet, and Luna could see her reflection rippling in them.
"I know I don't deserve to be alive, and I don't deserve to be a part of your family anymore. I know Mother and Father were right in their decision to cast me out of the kingdom forever. Celestia never should have kept it from you, even if it was just to protect the both of us. You deserved to know what happened to your own parents."
Luna stayed silent as she gazed at him.
"There's far too much damaged to be repaired, and there's nothing I can do to fix it."
Silence.
"It's the only thing I truly regret, and regretting is all I can do now. Regretting and hoping one day you'll understand and come to forgive what I've done." Never had he poured such sincerity into his words.
As Luna remained silent, Discord took that to mean something and crouched beside the rock. Right as his mismatches hands wedged themselves under the boulder, before he could even manage to get a grip, a final blast of blue slammed into him, singing his shoulder and sending him hurtling into the rocks.
A grunt tore from his throat as the god slammed against the stone walls, small pebbles and stones getting shaken loose and pelting him from above. The spirit gave a low moan as he tried to stand, feeling his fur stiff from being burnt so bad, and catching the sight of a trickle of blood from the charred wound.
Luna laid there, her navy slits of wrath targeting him in a vicious and hateful glare. Her horn was still dimly glowing.
Disgusted, Discord threw up his mismatched hands in exasperation as he sneered disdainfully at the stupid and ungrateful alicorn, brushing the soot off of his blackened fur and wincing as his paw touched the edges of the raw wound.
"Oh, you know what, Luna? Fine! You can go right ahead and stay here by yourself! Go right away and rot under that big boulder for all I care!" he spat vehemently, just inches away from the mare's face. "Rot away and let the worms feast on your corpse! Let's see how you fare on your own."
Luna shut her eyes from the blinding flash as the spirit disappeared in a ray of white light. She was alone in the pitch black cave now, pressed against the floor, her wing feeling like it was being ground into powder. She tried to ignore the unbearable agony as she limply laid her cheek against the floor and let the tears slide off her muzzle.
"Maybe I was too harsh." Of course not! The spirit had killed her parents after all. Did he really expect she could forgive him so easily? What he had done was unforgivable.
That doesn't mean you needed to blast him into a wall and burn him when he tried to help you, a meek little voice inside her mind chided her. All he tried to do was get that boulder off you.
"I'm sorry," the princess found herself sobbing into the black, cold cave. The only sound that greeted her in response was her own anguished echo and again the dripping of stalactites. Although unbeknownst to the weeping mare, a certain mismatched form was clinging to the ceiling above her. He had never left.
"I'm sorry," Luna wept again, letting the tears pour down her face, and stain the rocks and dirt beneath her.
It's just too hard to believe. I want to, but-but I can't. She wanted to forgive him and she wanted to love him. She wanted to believe they could go back to being the loving siblings they once were, but the girl had dreamed of it too often and it didn't seem as if it could become a reality. Even with the burning anger and hatred she felt for him all these years, she had missed him. Equestrian gods, she had missed him. She was just terrified of setting herself up for another broken heart.
The flash appeared once more, and Luna's swollen, flooding eyes slowly drifted up to his pained form. Discord said nothing as he stood in front of the injured alicorn and held out one of his hands.
Luna stared into his face and found herself unable to remember the last time it radiated with such sincerity...and compassion. Gone was the malice from his face, the last thing she could remember seeing before he was stoned. Gone was the mocking smirk and venom. His eyes were no longer manipulative, had lost the luster to hurt. They were now simply eyes.
The princess stared into her brother's deep, vermillion eyes, her own navy blue irises aquifer in their sockets and continuing to produce her hopeful tears. After seemingly ages, Luna extended a trembling hoof and gave a pleading sob as she gently touched her brother's hand for the first time in thousands of years.
A soft feline paw gently fell on her hoof, and it was joined by her other hoof pressing sincerely on top. The two stared at each other silently for a few moments before allowing themselves to smile lightly.
Discord clutched onto his sister's tattered hooves, leaning over to gaze at the boulder trapping her wing entirely underneath it. He spared a talon to thoughtfully scratch at his beard as he pursed his lips. He could probably just pull her right from under the rock, but...
"Lulu, how serious are you about keeping your wing?"
"....My wing? Pretty serious."
"That's what I thought." Discord circled the boulder, dropping down on all fours to intensely study it, and ignoring his sister's weirded out gaze as she watched him walk around her over and over again. "I wonder how heavy this thing is."
The entity hopped back a few steps and poised his mismatched hands, letting them alight in a cosmic, golden glow that encased the entire boulder. A hopeful lilt was heard in his small gasp—before the boulder promptly landed back down with a harsh thud, causing Luna to howl in agony.
"I'm sorry!" Discord squeaked, his hands flying to his mouth sheepishly as Luna tried to tough it out and hold back a few sobs. "Okay, I guess lifting it by magic isn't going to work. At all."
Discord hovered above the boulder, dropping to perch on it as he suddenly found himself absolutely exhausted. He was nearly out of magic. That teleporting spell had taken nearly all of it out of him, and the levitating spell – and such a heavy boulder – had sapped all but a drop.
The spirit gazed down at his filthy, glowing talon. It was spurting with its final magic juices, and Discord knew he had only shot left.
"...Lulu, how would you fancy being crushed by a giant jello cube instead of a giant boulder?"
"...Excuse me?" Luna demanded flatly as she focused a deadpan look on her older brother, who was grinning like an idiot. Well...speaking figuratively. "I don't like the idea of being crushed to death under either if you don't mind."
She stared cautiously as the draconequus gleefully ignited his talon once more, and immediately Luna felt the boulder beginning to shift and morph. She whined as it trembled and pressed down on her injured wing, surely turning the remnants of the dislocated bone shards into powder.
With several more quivers the boulder transformed. In its place wobbled a squishy, green jello mold. Luna was still moaning in pain, but was now retching from the feel of the cold slime on her trapped appendage.
"Delightful and delicious~!" Discord chirped. "It's perfect for a food supply, wouldn't you say~?"
"GET ME OUT OF HERE!"
The spirit rolled his eyes insufferably. Typical. Nopony could enjoy a large, heaping serving of gelatinous goop like he could. "Alright, alright, keep your horseshoes on." He flexed his fingers and cracked his knuckles as he dove towards the jello mold and wedged his hands underneath it, getting a grip.
Luna tried to contribute as much as she could, gingerly worming her body out of the heaping pile of green goop. Discord pulled upward with his fingers, creating a small fold at the bottom of the jello that was big enough for Luna to slide her wing right out. The alicorn took a light hold of the floppy limb with her teeth and gently eased it out, just as Discord lost his grip on the five hundred pound jello.
Luna shakily straightened herself and fluffed the dust particles off her only good wing. She felt sick by the sight of the floppy, limp wing. It was obviously broken.
"Are you hurt?" Discord blinked as his sister glared daggers at him. He giggled. "Besides the wing I mean."
Experimentally, Luna attempted to slowly extend her wing—only to draw back with an agonized squeal as it shot electric waves of pain up the entire appendage, and up her spine. She gasped and nearly collapsed on her poor brother, but his tail floated up and supported her just in time.
"Mhm, it's definitely broken." Although Discord tried to convey some concern into his words and watching eyes, he couldn't seem to wipe off that grimly satisfied smirk on his face. It wasn't that he enjoyed seeing his little sister in pain, but more so the fact that finally in a potentially fatal situation he wasn't the one to suffer the worst!
"What are you smiling at?" Luna snapped, and Discord's grin deflated like a pricked balloon. She watched him suspiciously, and the two began walking. Now it was in total silence. Neither knew what to say to each other.
Discord floated above his sister and grinned by how angered that made her since she couldn't join him up there. It was just like when they were kids: he was tormenting her again. Luna's navy eyes blazed angrily up at her older brother, but when the spirit abruptly sprang his serpentine tongue from his mouth and crossed his eyes, the alicorn burst into a peal of unwanted giggles. Her laughter was cut short by a gasp of pain that tore from her throat as she stumbled.
Discord gave his little sister a wry smile, swooping down to her level and helping her to her feet. "Drunk, Lulu~?" He chortled at the livid glower she shot to him, but it was interrupted by the spring on of tears as she lifted her hoof.
Discord gawked. Adorned across Luna's blue hoof was a large, raw looking cut from where a boulder had slashed her. It already looked like it was becoming infected, and it was slightly inflamed. No wonder she couldn't walk.
The princess watched as her older brother floated there in the air and twiddled his dusty goatee thoughtfully. After a few moments, he smirked, startling her as he swooped towards her and leaned in close to her face. "What would you prefer, Lulu? To be carried in my arms or a piggy back ride?"
The princess sputtered, but before she could protest against his indignant offer, she suddenly found herself perched up against the tickly fuzz of his back, and with nothing else to do, she reluctantly wrapped her arms around his waist, shock coursing through her at the first indirect hug she had given him in eons.
"Brother, how do we get out of here?" The younger immortal had to tighten her grip around Discord as he halted sharply, his breathing seeming to cease for a few moments at the address. Just as quickly though, the warm smile replaced the shock—followed by one of his famous Discord smirks afterwards.
"Hohoho, we don't!"
Luna's teal eyes widened considerably as she snapped her head to look at him sharply. "What?" Discord stared blankly at her and began to laugh.
"I figure it would seem a little obvious, dearest, dumb sister, Discord crooned affectionately, grinning as the alicorn gave a childish pout. "We're both trapped in a cave, magicless, and with no way out. Of course we're going nowhere."
"Soon we'll be able to," Luna assured him, although not entirely certain herself. She absorbed her strongest magic from the moon itself, and had no way of knowing if these rocks would block off any light entirely. If she couldn't absorb her magic from the night and Discord was completely out of it himself, then they would both die.
"For now..." Discord swerved in his step and walked back to the large mound of jello still wobbling at the side of the cave walls, and decorated with specks of dust and sand. "I really do think the two of us should eat something." His claw carved out two large chunks of the gelatin, and he passed some to his baby sister and sat to nibble his own.
Luna slid off her older brother's back and up against the jello, thankful for the comfortable, smooshy (although albeit, slimy) seat. She began chewing at the green goo, finding its taste far more appetizing than its appearance.
"Isn't jello almost completely water with just a little bit of flavor? It hardly counts as real food."
"Oh picky, picky~ Typical of little Lulu, the one that scrunched her face up at everything when we were kids," Discord drawled. "Didn't like her veggies, would never touch her alfalfa, didn't like custard, and didn't like ice cream." He was about to continue with his list, but giggled as Luna nudged him sharply in annoyance.
All of a sudden, a loud screech was heard from the back of the cave, frightening the two right out of their fur as they whirled around in time to see the looming, towering shadow...with very distinguishable features. The shadow had a sharp, protruding beak, and the two watched with frozen eyes as feathers fluttered off the large wings that spread. Discord backed up with his sister.
"If that's another bucking basilisk, I swear to the Equestrian gods I will eat my legs." Pathetic jokes aside, he and Luna were very aware of the mortal danger they were both in. In general they were easily in danger of being killed with a basilisk as their foe, but trapped in a cave with no magic? There was no hope.
Luna's chest tightened and began to twist in knots of fear as she found herself limping behind her older brother for protection, just like when she was a young filly. The siblings pressed tightly together, regarding the approaching threat with terror.
The threat appeared, barely more than the size of a small puppy, flapping its wings and strutting its way out into the open. It gazed up at the baffled, still siblings, and tilted its head.
"Bawk-ark!"
Luna and Discord just stared at each other, unblinking, for several minutes. Finally, the both of them collapsed onto the cave floor in absolute hysterical laughter as the chicken began pecking at the drops of jello on the floor.
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Celestia was going to kill Discord. She was going to flambé him with her sister, sizzle them both, put them both in a world of pain for doing this to her. It hadn't taken long to discover Discord had gone after Luna. Celestia had returned to the palace with a few guards, only to find a frantic Fluttershy flitting around like a bug on fire and shouting for Discord.
The princess vowed to kill them both the moment she found them, and after she had smothered them both with hugs.
Even though in the back of her mind Celestia was still wondering where her student had run off to, she hadn't been overly concerned with it all. She figured the mare had gone back to Ponyville, and she'd address the whole "black magic thing" after Luna and Discord were safe at home.
"Luna?" The princess neared a suspicious looking bush at the outskirts of Everfree, watching as it twitched and quivered, and a hopeful lilt fluttered in her heart as it did. As she ran towards it, a large rabbit hopped out of the bush, and it stopped moving completely.
Celestia blinked back tears and sat there despondently, watching the rabbit's retreating back until it disappeared completely. Something flashed above her, and she tilted her head up just in time for a rolled up scroll to bonk the end of the snout. Enveloping the scroll in a violet hue, she unraveled it. Her heart filled with dread as she gazed at every word.
Dear Princess Celestia,
I know Twilight told me she was going to see you sometime this morning. She left at around six this morning and said she wouldn't be long. I know it only takes a couple hours to get to Canterlot and back again and it's nearly seven in the evening now! I'm very worried about her because she hasn't come back yet. I was wondering, if she is there, could you please at least get her to send me a message?
Your loyal subject, Spike.
Celestia stared in horror, the words continuously replaying in her mind like an unwanted record: she hasn't come home yet. Where had she gone? Had she gotten held up somewhere? Was she injured? She knew Twilight—it wasn't like her to just leave Spike to worry like that.
The tears the princess had been containing that day finally unleashed themselves in a small flood and a few soft sobs. She forced herself to regain her composure, exhaling shakily as she poofed an inkwell and a quill up, and quickly scribbled a response to the dragon.
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Twilight cantered on with throbbing limbs throughout Everfree. She never realized just how long the woodland area stretched for, mostly because she had never tried reaching the end of it. It was nearing sunset, and temperatures were dropping. Her eyes burned from her cry that day, and it was difficult to see where she was going.
I have to be near the end of the forest by now. Twilight had thought that for hours though, and the line of trees didn't seem to have changed at all. If anything, she was just seeing more of them, plus several streams and lakes.
I don't think I'm even close to leaving Equestria. No, she wasn't even out of Everfree Forest yet. She wasn't even certain where Equestria ended and a new land began. Equestria was a country—it was huge!
I need to find a place to sleep for the night. It wasn't night yet, but it was getting there and Twilight was already completely exhausted. She hadn't slept in days. That horrible book had eaten away at all her sleep for countless nights, even before she decided to finally tell her mentor.
Tiredly, Twilight trudged on through the dark forest until she finally reached a small clearing, and a good cave to take shelter in for the night. Against all common sense and instinct, the mare entered the dark, foreboding cave.
It seemed safe enough, cozy and with enough lumps of moss to sleep upon. Orangish-red moss. Moving moss. Twilight backed up. The 'moss' looked up at her, leering its menacing yellow eyes in the darkness. Two smaller pairs of eyes, innocent and curious, blinked up at her.
Twilight bolted from the cave with a shriek, and the mother manticore immediately followed; its paws thundering against the ground as it roared and gave chase to the terrified unicorn. It didn't register in the distraught Twilight's mind to enact a spell to simply send the beast away or lull it back to its cave. All she could do was run and eventually wrench out a terrified scream.
The blackened silhouette of the manticore pounced at her with a feral snarl, and the weeping unicorn futilely fought to push against its shaggy chest with her shaking hooves, twisting her head from side to side as the beast drooled down onto her face.
It was right then that a colossal blast slammed into the feline hybrid from the angelic form hovering above the two on the ground. She soared through the air, her wings slicing through the clouds as she just about dive bombed the manticore. It didn't have a chance against her.
Twilight scrambled back on all fours, watching in awe as her teacher obliterated the beast without earning a scratch herself. Beaten and bleeding, the feline finally backed off after giving a few more threatening snarls. When Twilight was certain her mentor was distracted, she tried to escape. Immediately, Celestia roughly grabbed her in a powerful spell, turning her to face her.
"L-let me go!" Twilight sobbed, as she kicked and struggled in her mentor's grip as if she were a toddler trying to get away from a designated bedtime. "I have to leave!"
"You have to leave? Where, pray tell, are you going?" the alicorn princess demanded sharply, tightening the firm hold on the unicorn. "Have you been in Everfree all day? I've been searching for you everywhere! What is the matter with you, Twilight Sparkle?"
The lavender mare wept as her teacher glared down at her, eyes demanding an explanation. "I...I had to get out of there. I had to...to leave Equestria!"
"You had to what?" Celestia demanded incredulously. "You had to leave Equestria? Why-why would you try to leave Equestria?"
"The-the black magic," Twilight warbled, tears seeping rapidly from her eyes. "I used black magic! The-the punishment is banishment."
"And when was it the law you decided the punishment?" Celestia asked gently as she eased the bubble containing her student to the grass and dispelled it completely. Twilight didn't try to run again, and only buried her face into her hooves.
"I-it's the law though," the unicorn sniffled out. "I-I had to. I knew I-I didn't deserve to be your student and that I-I didn't deserve to live here."
Celestia bit her lip to desperately keep it from twitching. She didn't want to hurt the mare's feelings, but the truth was it was hard to contain her laughter as she gazed over at her adorable student. "So let me get this straight. You...disowned yourself as my student, and then you...banished yourself from Equestria?"
Those wide, filly eyes quivered with tears as she nodded, and she blinked in confusion when Celestia started laughing.
"Oh, Twilight. My dearest Twilight, you are just...adorable."
The mare tilted her head, hopelessly confused as her mentor guffawed a few more times, bursting into further peals as she gazed over at the unicorn.
Celestia cleared her throat and tried to regain her composure and maintain a stern frown. It quivered ceaselessly for several seconds before she managed to go stern once again. "Twilight." She took her child's face in her hooves. "It is not up to you to decide on your punishment. It never was when you were a filly, and that is still the case today."
"What is my punishment then?"
"Twilight, the two accounts of black magic were an immobilization spell, and a dream seeking spell. The first spell, although one of the worst of the spells, was for the sake of saving Equestria. That I took into consideration and it is in fact the reason you are not in a dungeon right now. The second spell borders a very thin line between black and white magic. Due to the fact it is not entirely black magic, in a royal trial, if we'd have one, you cannot be tried for it."
At her student's prying, wide eyes, Celestia bent the girl's head down. There was a sudden white flash, and Twilight jolted violently as she felt something briefly surge through her. She wasn't sure what it was; it didn't hurt and she didn't feel weak...but she didn't feel complete.
Experimentally, Twilight glanced over at a few leaves strewn about in the grass. When she tried to levitate them her horn didn't even spark. Painfully, she gazed up at her mentor. "How long?"
"Three weeks," Celestia answered solemnly, and bent her head to give the little mare a motherly, loving nuzzle. "On your feet," she ordered gently, picking up the mare by her scruff and setting her back on the ground. "We need to find Discord and Luna before nightfall."
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"I spy with my little eye something that is grey."
"It's the rocks."
"Amazing! Now, I spy with my little eye something else that is grey!"
"It's the rocks."
"Yay! I spy with my little eye something that is grey!"
"It's the rocks—and the next one, just to guess, is it the rocks?"
Discord's mouth hung agape as he gazed up at his little sister perched behind his antlers, stunned and impressed by her telekinetic abilities. "How did you know that?"
"A lucky guess," Luna smirked lightly, amused by her brother's typical idiocy. She glanced down at the fluffy chicken that seemed to have decided to follow them all this time, blinking as it stared up at her as she stared down at it. "So what should we call the featherball?"
Not even a beat. "Barbara."
Luna unleashed a bridle of fizzing cackled behind her hooves as she gazed down at the disturbed looking chicken and back at her brother. "Barbara?"
"What? It's a nice name~"
As the siblings ventured further to the front of the cave, they at last bumped into the hard surface of the rock wall. Discord glanced up at the boulders, and was hopeful to see the tiniest sliver of moonlight; barely a stream the size of a thin string.
"It's night time."
"Is it? I feel no different." Luna slipped off her older brother's back, wincing as she landed on her injured hooves. She latched her front hooves like mountain picks into the crevices of the sturdy boulders and boosted herself to look up through the tiny hole. Sure enough, she caught a glimpse of the moon.
"If we moved this one rock blocking a lot of the moonlight, do you think you'd be able to absorb..." He snickered, "your moon power?"
Luna ignored his mocking and wriggled her hoof through the tiny crack, grasping the boulder from the other side. Her other hoof grabbed the boulder and gave it a fierce yank. Instantly, her hooves were joined by a pair of larger hands...and a chicken.
"I think it's coming!" Discord grunted out, able to hear and feel the rock grinding. With a fierce yank the boulder moved aside and two more rocks tumbled down. A large beam from the moon flooded into the cave and encompassed Luna fully.
The princess's eyes sparkled as her entire form dimly emanated a silver hue for a few seconds as Luna felt the strength return to her body, pushing her up to a sturdy stand. The pulse of power flowed through her frame and strengthened every limb. Instantly, her horn began to glow with a blinding, whitish blue light as indigo sparks flew from it.
Discord tackled Barbara and dove out of the way just as a humungous, deafening blast was heard behind him as every boulder was obliterated to the size of pebbles and dust. The cool night air filled the cave. He glanced over at his sister, slack jawed.
The smug princess stood cockily and waved the smoke away from the tip of her horn with her hoof. She held her snout up in the air with playful snootyness and arrogance as she strut by him. "And that is how we do it alicorn style~" Her attitude was abruptly shattered as her knees buckled at a surge of pain in her leg.
With Barbara on his head, Discord reached down and gathered his little sister in his arms, propping her against his shoulder. He had to smile at her slightly droopy eyelids, the day's events getting to her. "I'm not used to see you falling asleep at night."
"We're taking the chicken?"
"I don't see what qualms Fluttershy would have against Barbara, and we certainly can't leave the poor thing in this dark, nearly food-less cave. We're almost out of jello!"
The exhausted Luna gazed up at the hen with its talons perched at the very tip of Discord's antler, and she pulled back into his warm chest slightly, finding herself drifting off in his warm fur as Discord took to the skies.
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"Rest, my princess. You have been searching Canterlot since early this morning. I have a party of guards who will search the night."
"No...I can't. I-I have to find them." Celestia trembled on her unsteady legs and was only held up by a certain unicorn pressed against her side for support. Dripping mascara stained her fur from more than one breakdown of tears, and her eyes were heavy.
Celestia had been searching ceaselessly since after following Twilight. She searched every square inch of Everfree, behind every bush and every tree. They were nowhere in there.
"Princess, I'm sure the investigation can be held up long enough for you to get some sleep," Twilight advised, pressing her cheek against the larger mare's torso and gazing up with wide, quivering eyes. Another hoof had a near hysterical Fluttershy tucked under it.
Twilight's request fell on deaf ears as the princess just stood there and stared, unmoving. Her violet eyes were locked on the approaching, hobbling form of a certain draconequus, looking very sore, but very much alive. Curled securely into his chest was a certain little alicorn with her wings draped over her peacefully as she slept. There was a chicken on Discord's head.
Discord braced himself for the beating as Celestia galloped towards him. He was nothing short of shocked as the tearful princess grasped his face in her hooves and caressed it."Oh my gosh..."
Discord opened his mouth to respond, to defend himself, but he was abruptly cut off as that size twenty, metallic hoof slapped him across the face. The draconequus tumbled back as the sting erupted over his cheek, jolting awake Luna as he slammed into the grass.
"Where the hay have you two been!?" Celestia roared ferociously at them, gripping her poor little sister in a grip of iron and shaking her until her teeth rattled, and Discord wondered if her brain would by pried loose. "Do you have any idea how worried I've been?! How scared you had the entire kingdom?!"
Luna tried to tumble something pathetic out of her mouth, but any explanation died with a grunt as she was continuously shook until Discord finally stilled the furious alicorn. "Sister, I-I wasn't that far! I was in one of the old diamond caves." Her mouth clenched shut tightly with a suppressed squeal of fright as Celestia leered at her.
"You were where?!" the princess thundered, her rage growing as she suddenly seemed ten times taller than the cowering sibling and draconequus. "Those caves have been forbidden for years! They are unsafe!"
Luna reached back and sheepishly took a gentle hold of the tip of her wing, letting it flop back limply to her side. "Yes, something I learned the hard way." Her eyes roved guiltily down to the inflamed gash striped across her hoof, and her sister released a frustrated and worried huff.
"Discord!!"
Discord's eyes snapped up in time to widen to the size of dinner plates as a certain saffron and rosette blur begin charging at him at full speed. His battered body wasn't sure how much more tackle hugs and probably furious swats it could endure! He held up his hands desperately. "No! Nonononono-"
The weeping pegasus tackled the groaning spirit onto his back, intensely nuzzling into his chest amidst his pained protests, and bawling like a malfunctioning sprinkler into him. Discord tried to pry her off, rolling onto his stomach and pushing himself up--only to yelp and splay back onto his stomach as her wrathful hoof smacked his tail end. "Wha-oww!"
"How dare you just leave like that...!" Fluttershy squeakily raged at him, her high pitched, furious screams barely more than an ultra sonic whisper. "You could have gotten badly hurt...! You could have been killed...! You worried me right to death...!"
"Hold on a sec-oww-oww!" The spirit scrambled quickly away from her rampaging hoof, standing with a scowl. "Why am I suffering all the abuse? I tried to play the hero today~! Little Lulu would have been left for the worms and apparently the chickens if I hadn't found her."
Said chicken gazed up at the group of ponies, and then went right back to clucking and pecking at the ground.
Their anger having diminished completely and replaced with solid concern, both the pegasus and alicorn checked over 'their little ones' closely, experimentally probing at the injured wing and cuts until the two whined in protest.
"Are you hurt, sweetie?" Flutterwrath had gone back to being the Element of Kindness as she nuzzled his torso and looked up at him worriedly. Discord pulled back in annoyance, not feeling very compassionate to the pony that just hit him.
"Just a few scratches other than your hoof marks," he muttered sourly, and again his eyes roamed over to his little sister as he cringed at the look of her injuries. The broken wing wasn't that bad, but the cut looked just horrible. "It's Luna you should be worried about."
The night alicorn frowned at him, about to snap that she was fine, until her sister gently grabbed and inspected her injured hoof as she tried to pull away.
"Indeed, I'll take her to the infirmary immediately," Celestia agreed, and the concerned flecks of violet became narrowed, angry slits. "And then I'm going to have a talk with her." She began dragging the hapless immortal away, but paused at the look she was giving Discord. "Go say good night and good-bye to your brother."
Luna's eyes snapped up in horror. "Why good-bye? You going to kill me?"
Celestia tried to remain stern and stoic, but found she was unable to resist a small, twitching smirk and a compressed chuckle. "Hardly; he and Fluttershy are going home in a few minutes. The doctor has discharged them." She paused as she thought of Luna's question and said ominously, "but maybe I will."
Luna nervously slid out of Celestia's crushing, mother hen grip, and slipped over to her brother's side as Celestia and Fluttershy went back to talk about both her and Discord's idiocy of that day.
"I fear for my fate, brother."
"I'm guessing either Celestia screams at you until your ears fall off or beats you until your body parts fall off~ I'll be sure to listen out tonight to see if I can hear the oh-so royal and kind ruler screeching louder than the howler monkeys."
Luna shuddered briefly and turned to smirk up at the spirit. "And what do you think your sentence will be?"
Discord gazed over to where Fluttershy was still talking with Celestia, and making her way back to the palace. She spared a glower over to Discord and he shuddered. "It's hard to say with Flutterwrath."
Luna gazed up at her brother, and her eyes shone gratefully. "Thank you, brother....for everything."
Discord stared down silently at his sister, finding his mouth unable to form any words in a response as he stared at her. At last, he nodded silently and extended a teasing, brotherly paw to flick her forehead.
Luna prodded his chest teasingly with her own hoof, and slowly turned to limp back to the palace, giving her older brother a final, gentle smile, before disappearing inside.
Discord stared at the door even as his sister slipped through it, his gaze only broken to gawk at the limping Twilight coming up next to him, tattered and dirty. He giggled loudly at the sight of her. "My word! You look as if you've been trying to steal a meal from a harpy!"
Twilight gave him an embarrassed smile and shook the twigs from her mane, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "I feel like I have. You're close though; it was a manticore that came after me."
"You journeyed off to Everfree? Looking for Lulu and I, I presume~?"
Twilight hesitated. "...Not exactly." At his inquiring stare she turned her head, mildly ashamed. "I..I was running away. I was leaving Equestria." She could feel his perplexed, blinking stare. "I told Celestia about the black magic." Discord nodded, stroking his goatee in understanding, but nodding for her to go on. "I felt as if I had shamed her and Equestria. So I thought it was best if I'd just go. Th-the punishment for black magic is banishment anyway."
"Mm, yes, for the third offense," Discord pointed out and raised one of his large, bushy eyebrows. "I figured you of all ponies would know that. You know everything about magic after all. Besides, the dream spell borders black magic, but isn't so entirely. What did you think running away would accomplish anyway?"
The purple mare took a few soft inhales to hold back her tears. Surprisingly, Discord waited patiently. "Can I ask you something?" She didn't wait for him to answer. "When you realized you killed the king and queen....what did you do? What did your guilt make you do?"
Instantly, there was a stone cold silence, and the air hung with Twilight's instant regret as she fumbled to take back her words. Discord wasn't looking at her, but he sat beside her and stared off into space with a distant look.
"...A spell from Alicorn's Power is what killed Mother and Father," he began quietly, "and when I realized that, I thought it could also bring them back. Before I ultimately made myself indifferent to it all and set to launching this world into madness, I spent my time trying to fix what I had done. Try to fix what the spell had done."
Twilight watched as the spirit's facial expression began to contort briefly into a look of pain, and then a sad smile washed over his face as he shut his eyes.
"But I couldn't. I had not yet been ready to use that book when I tried that spell on them...so it killed them. Because I was still not ready, there was no way I could resurrect them. I knew there was no fixing what I had done. There was no forgiveness, and there was no point in dwelling. I merely went back to my plans, hardened my heart, and told myself what was done was done."
"Y...you never meant to kill them," Twilight said softly, "and you tried to bring them back." Her voice seemed to hold the tone of a dawning revelation.
Discord smiled grimly and turned to the mare. "My dear...that does not mean that I'm not a bad guy. I am a bad guy. I still did what I did for my own personal gain, to hurt, to corrupt. I wanted the land and I was willing to do anything. Even to hurt my own family."
"You've shown you're not all bad," the unicorn desperately whispered. "You've shown you're not a total monster. You saved your little sister, you protected and nearly gave your life for Fluttershy. You were willing to protect Celestia and Luna with your life against that basilisk! I heard everything—I heard you nearly gave every ounce of your magic and life force when you stood between them and the beast. Celestia said that the spell should have killed you. So why didn't it?"
The grim, solemn look fell from Discord's face, and it was replaced with a mysterious glint in his eye, and a smirk. "There are a few theories for that, dear Twilight. I'm going with the theory that I simply had far more magic than Celestia thought she gave me. This is an old pony tale: when a god or a goddess is in mortal danger, they will be given a burst of power by the gods and goddesses above if they have done enough in their life to be granted a second chance."
Twilight had a small suspicion that there was one more theory he wasn't telling her, and he realized she caught on like the smart filly she was.
"This is part of the pony tale," he muttered, "and that's when...when a magical being is fighting for the sake of others, they will be given a burst of power from the goddess of love. How strong the power is all depends on how much they love the one they are protecting. If they don't personally care about the one they are protecting than the magic burst will be nothing more than a spark. The more they love them though, the stronger the spell. If they love them enough, no matter the foe you are facing, there is no way it will beat you."
The air lapsed into silence once more as Twilight processed the information given to her and an embarrassed Discord tried to pick up whatever shards of dignity he had left from saying that sentence.
"Frankly, I choose and believe the first theory," Discord smirked, "where I'm just far more wonderful than Tia thought I was~! The other two are far too disgusting to even think about."
"I choose the second or third," Twilight said with a slight teasing grin, smirking as Discord's face reddened. "I believe either the gods saw some redeeming qualities in you, or it was ultimately your love for the princesses and Fluttershy that gave you-"
With a humiliated scowl, Discord abruptly knocked the mare into the dirt, kicking grass up into her mane. His ears perched back in annoyance when Twilight only laughed, her suspicions confirmed.
Discord whirled away from the mare and tried to ignore the feeling of a red flush creeping up his face. He tried to wrench it away, but failed. He didn't care what she thought. Of course it was a lovey and snuggly pony that chose the second and third theory. Wasn't it possible he had that amount of power because he was just better than Celestia?
"Or perhaps your parents were the gods that decided to give you a second chance."
A cold shock washed over the draconequus, as if he had been submerged in sub-zero temperatures. His breath locked in his throat as he turned to the mare. When he tried to shake off her words and the look on his face, he found he couldn't.
Twilight snapped out of her thoughts and gave a slight giggle, standing with the spirit. "I'm just glad my conscience is clear and I don't have to worry about my mentor hating me. She forgives me." She gave the spirit a slightly sad, but accepting smile. "I've come to terms you will never forgive me, but I'm alright with that."
Discord was silent for several moments and watched Twilight begin trotting through the wet grass and stopping to wait at the front of the palace for her friends. "Well," he began, and the mare turned to him. He was going to kill himself for what he was about to say. "...If Celestia and Luna could forgive me for killing their parents, then..." He trailed off and glared at the ground.
Twilight's eyes shone with wet, exuberant joy, and the annoyed and embarrassed spirit angrily knocked her over with his tail. She didn't even care.
"Alright, we're all ready to go," Fluttershy informed as she began trotting out of the palace with a saddle bag dragging into the dirt. Two crunchy, cinnamon scented cookies poked out of the top of the saddlebag, but as a certain feline paw reached for them she smacked it. "No, no dessert for you for a week! And you are most certainly staying inside tomorrow!"
Discord's eyes grew glassy and owlish, nearly watering from her cruelty. "Harsh." He blinked down at a certain little unicorn that was still smiling gratefully up at him. "Cut it out, Twilight!" he hissed, "I'd hate to have to forgive you and then dunk your head in a vat of caramel all in the same night!" She got the message.
"When we get home I want you to go straight to bed," Fluttershy said in between yawns that said she should be the one going to bed instead. "You still need to take it easy, you know." She rolled her eyes as Discord mimicked her jabbering jaw with his paw, and she nudged him hard in the side.
"Bed, no cookies, no playtime—I get it, Mommy," Discord drawled in annoyance, hovering there on his back as the trio made their way down the hill. "I have one question though..."
The pegasus trotted on and suppressed a groan, certain she wouldn't be fond of any question he wanted to ask her. It couldn't be good. It was probably a negotiation on his punishment, an inquiry if cinnamon buns counted as dessert, or-
Abruptly, something white and fluffy was shoved in her face, its beady eyes blinking curiously and its beak pecking at her face.
"Can we bring Barbara~?"
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(Discord has a pet chicken named Barbara. That's the funniest thing ever. Well, every character has a pet, why not him?
This has to be one of my favorite chapters due to the sheer detail in it. :lol: And the many situations, and Discord again being treated as a punching bag.
I didn't have my proof-reader for this chapter, but I think I did well. :D Microsoft Word didn't give off any alerts (not much anyway), and I edited through it about eight times.
Next chapter synopsis: With things finally settled between Discord and the princesses, Fluttershy and her friends set to re-kindle the flame between Discord and Celestia. Things don't work out as planned...)