Lyra shouted into the void, her voice disappearing into the black infinity without even an echo.
“Discord! I know this is you!”
There was no response.
“Just because this one’s black, doesn’t mean I can’t tell it’s some weird Chaos dimension!”
The silence sucked her words into nothingness.
“Come on! Enough with the games!”
A voice directly behind her said,
“Games, eh? Well, isn’t that interesting?”
Lyra jumped with a cry of surprise and turned quickly to see Discord smiling above her, mismatched teeth clearly visible. She pawed the ground, ready to charge.
“Oh yeah? What’s interesting is I’m about to kick your-”
“Lyra, Lyra, Lyra. Must everything be a competition?” Discord waved his claw and tutted. “Can’t we just have a talk?”
Lyra eyed him suspiciously. She trusted Discord about as far as she could buck him, but... she wasn’t going anywhere, it seemed, and she wasn’t sure she could actually win. She relaxed and sat on her haunches.
“Okay. Talk.”
Discord clapped his claw and paw together in delight.
“Oh goody! Let’s start with that “she wasn’t sure she could actually win,” why don’t we?”
Lyra’s mouth opened in shock.
“How did you know what I was-”
“Ah-ah-ah, it’s still my turn.” Lying back in the air as if reclining on an invisible chaise longue, he conjured a pair of spectacles from the air and put them on, affecting the air of a psychiatrist. A long couch popped into existence under Lyra, knocking her legs from under her and leaving her lying there like a patient. “So, Lyra. You really like to win, don’t you?”
Lyra’s response was wary, every muscle in her body tense with caution.
“So? What pony doesn’t like to win?”
Discord nodded in agreement.
“Very true. But you really like to win.” He leaned forward, looking at her over the rim of his glasses. “Enough to sacrifice anything. Am I right?”
Lyra’s eyes narrowed.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Discord laughed, a hearty chuckle.
“Oh, come on, Lyra. You were ready to abandon everything you’d ever protected and join the Empire just because you were about to lose.”
“Don’t you even think of going there!”
Lyra jumped up from the couch, bristling with anger, but Discord waved his paw and her mouth was literally zipped shut. With a second wave, he sent her tumbling back to her seat. He narrowed his eyes, and his voice momentarily dipped into a register she had heard once before, when he had held a claw to her throat and threatened her life.
“I said... it’s my turn.”
Within an instant, his expression had returned to its usual irreverence.
“As I was saying... You turned your back on the city. You abandoned your... ugh... your closest friend, and you joined the enemy you’d been fighting for, ooh, years. And why was that? Because you were going to lose. Not because you felt undervalued or whatever claptrap you spouted at little Bon-Bon, but because you were making no headway against the Empire, and you just couldn’t stand that, could you?”
Lyra had stopped struggling against the mysterious forces that held her in place and was now glaring at him balefully.
“Aww, don’t look at me like that, I’m impressed! But it raises a question. If you were willing to shut out your heart completely for the sake of victory...”
He locked eyes with Lyra, meeting her blazing stare with a simple grin.
“How far would you go for total victory? What would you give if you could have the recognition you so dearly crave? Everypony admiring you? The music never leaving you?” Lyra flinched as he spoke, looking away. Sensing his opening, Discord snaked through the air, coiling himself lightly around the couch in a twisted mockery of an embrace. “Somepony loving you?”
Lyra’s eyes snapped open and she stared into space as Discord’s words hit home. How was he doing this? How was he looking inside her, reading her, taking her apart and showing her the pieces?
Discord broke away, hovering nonchalantly several feet away.
“It’s because I’ve seen the script, my dear, and it goes into a lot of detail. Now...”
He snapped his claw a final time with relish, and Lyra’s mouth was freed.
“Your turn.”