//------------------------------// // 37 - Pride // Story: Just Roll With It // by sunnypack //------------------------------// Chapter 37: Pride Lapis was a bundle of repressed energy all the way back. It was as if she was trying to drown out the serious nature of our discussion with lighthearted jests and teasing chuckles. I wanted to mirror the attitude, but I found it hard to speak throughout the ride. My mind kept coming back to the unsettling realisation that the only way Lapis saw a resolution between the dragons and us was to threaten mutual destruction. Us. It was a funny thought. A few years ago I would have balked at the idea. I would have said ‘them’, ‘they’ and ‘theirs’. Now I said ‘we’, ‘ours’ and ‘together’. The notion that ponies were different to humans was only physical. It was getting psychologically harder to distinguish between them and us. ‘They’ thought like ‘us’, they talk like us. They laugh and play and cry and remember. We did all of that too. I no longer thought of them as them. They no longer mattered. I looked at Lapis and saw a little of myself. She didn’t think in terms of them or they, she wanted to think of us. How our choices affected us. Her plan, and by extension Tempora’s, was unsettling. With a start, I glanced down at my white-knuckled hands gripping Lapis’ spines and I slowly relaxed them. Was there another way?   Was there some other way apart from a promise that both sides would be devastated if they continued along that path? From the way Lapis had relayed her concerns, she felt sure that the dragons so far had the upper hand. The dragons held enormous power, and fighting them as Equestria was now would ultimately end in Equestria's loss. However, the way she said it implied that it would also take a heavy toll on the dragons too. What was driving Gripple? Why did he want to wage war on Equestria in the first place? Why do something if it would only end in chaos and destruction? I had a feeling that I might never get an answer to that question. They were immaterial at the moment, anyway. Right now, I had to concentrate on pulling through this without the whole world plunging into a cross-species war. So, no pressure, right? —————— When we arrived back, the beginnings of the dawn had broken through the clouds. Lapis gently settled me down near my home instead of the castle. Though she looked like she was brimming with questions, one look at my swaying posture, and she settled for squeezing the life out of me instead. Lapis then gave me a playful lick before taking to the air. Holding my flaming cheek in embarrassment, I stood there stunned, but shook my head, deciding the lick was just Lapis’ way of saying goodbye. I trudged back home, stumbling on the last few steps. I opened to door to meet an unimpressed draconequus. “Where were you?” Discord growled, staring at me with flinty eyes. I yawned. “A dragoness decided to make herself known to me,” I replied, pushing past him. “What?! I thought you were at the Ball?!” he exclaimed. Discord caught me by my pants as I stumbled by, causing me to swivel around to meet him. At first I was annoyed and more interested in going to bed than explaining what happened, but one look at his worried face melted me. “Look it’s some really heavy stuff,” I said, pulling away. I gestured to the couch and gratefully, he agreed. There were a few moments of silence as I covered my face with my hands and ordered my thoughts. “The dragons… there’s something stirring them up. A dragon named Gripple wants to upset the current balance. They want me to show that Equestria is a nation to be reckoned with. Lapis told me—“ my breath caught “—she told me the only thing that dragons recognise is power.” I wanted to sink in further into my couch. I wanted the couch to swallow me whole and block out the world. Instead I fought the urge to drift away and got to meat of my feelings. “I’m afraid I’m going to fail,” I said. Discord swung his legs to and fro as he considered my words. “Who’s Lapis?” he finally asked. I started, then chuckled dryly. I guess I should mention it. “Do you remember Matriarch Scales?” A nod. “She’s her daughter.” “Oh. Okay,” Discord mumbled. I sat up straighter. That’s it? “You don’t seem worried,” I said, annoyed at his nonchalance despite myself. Discord gave me a small smile, like the one I first saw him with when he first me. “I think the dragons are the ones that are afraid,” he said quietly. Then he shifted closer to me and laid his head on my shoulder. “When you’re afraid of somepony, you want to show them you’re not.” He paused. “Like T-Tempora. I think she’s scared of me and that’s why she’s so scary around me. She’s much better now, because you showed her she shouldn’t be scared.” “But she’s still so unreasonable about you!” I huffed. That was bringing back some unpleasant talks. Discord nudged me from the side and chortled at my indignation. “And she’s always going to be like that. All you have to do is just enough.” Suddenly, Discord yawned. I shied away from a beam on sunlight that hit me square in the eye. The dawn was well and truly on its way. “I was up all night, but now I know you’re safe, I’m going back to bed,” he murmured. I finally noticed Discord’s sagging posture and the bags under his bleary eyes. I was so wrapped up in my own problems that I had completely swept Discord’s feelings under the rug. Up all night, just waiting for me. I suddenly had a vision of Discord sitting in the kitchen, as he stared at the clock with only the sound of its tick keeping him company. A prickling sense of guilt crawled over my skin. “Hey,” I said, and he glanced up at me. “Thank you.” I tried to inject as much feeling as I could into those two words. Discord gave me a warm smile, accepting the kind-of apology with a small nod. He shifted wearily from the couch and trudged towards the bedroom. “Are you coming?” he called back. “Yeah, yeah,” I replied. “In a minute.” I concentrated on his retreating steps, a beat that tapped out a similar rhythm to my heart. Alone, I contemplated what Discord had told me. “Just enough, huh?” I mumbled to myself absently. From the side, I felt an uncomfortable lump. Frowning, I withdrew the crystals that Tempora had left with me. A dragon kept their magic within precious stones… I felt a small smile play upon my lips. “Thanks Discord. I think I’ve gotten my answer.” —————— I got barely any sleep before there was knocking at the front door. With a jolt, I realised I had fallen asleep on the couch. My hands reflexively clenched, but I suddenly couldn’t feel the crystals. Eyes wide open, I nearly started panicking until I saw the two crystals on the table. Funny, I must have left them on the table after experimenting with them a little. Bang, bang, bang! The pony on the other side of the door must be getting impatient. “Coming, coming!” I yelled, trudging to the door. Muttering, I opened the door. “Harmony!” Celestia greeted. I looked around. Where was Luna? Celestia saw my look and answered the question for me. “Luna’s still sleeping,” she said. “She’s still young.” I chuckled. “Aren’t you tired?” Celestia shook her head. “No!” she said quite happily. “I like to get up when the sun rises.” Ah, an early riser. I can never get used to somepony like that. My body made that fact quite clear with a yawn. “You want to come in?” I asked. Celestia practically shoved past me to get the kitchen. “Food!” she said imperiously. I waited with crossed arms. “Please?” she added with wide eyes. I rolled mine, but gave up resisting when she added slightly quivering lips. I suspected she was pretending, no, I knew she was faking it, but dang it, she knew my weak spots. “Okay, okay, what do you want?” “Something new!” One of the advantages of being an alien is that you can name new foods whatever you wanted. I only realised this when Celestia asked me what a fruit punch was when I made it. I was about to tell her it was a fruit punch, when Discord interrupted me and told them it was a ‘smoothie’. I mean, he wasn’t far off, and by his smug grin, he probably enjoyed the name more than I did. So I just went with it and we now call fruit punches, smoothies. I any case, I was going to make something new, and I was going to name it. I scanned the pantry, lamenting the lack of foodstuffs. There wasn’t much that survived the transition to Equestria and things from Earth would quickly expire in the meantime. The only thing that survived was the canned foods, and I kept them jealously locked away from prying foals. I suspected Discord knew where they were, but I was saving them for a special occasion in the future. Like if I saved the world or something along those lines. It had to be really special. I settled on making something resembling pizza. I don’t know what you would call pizza ingredients on bread, I guess it’s closer to a sandwich, but I’m going to call it Harmony’s bread. Because I can. “What’re you making?” “Chaos bread!” With an exasperated huff, I turned around to spot Discord grinning at me and waddling over to the table. I had sneaking suspicion that he had been listening into the conversation and waited at the staircase to interject at the right moment. He settled into a chair and pounded on the table in much the same way Celestia did when she demanded I make some food. I was getting serious deja vu here. “Food!” he added. “Come on!” I groaned. “Discord, can’t I name something for once?” Discord shook his head, still smiling as he rocked slightly in his chair. I was going to tell him off because the stool wasn’t really stable, but then I decided that watching him fall off the chair one day would be a more amusing resolution. I still made them… whatever I was going to make. I’m not calling it ‘chaos bread’. That sounds ridiculous. I set one down for Celestia… but withheld Discord’s portion. “Hey!” he said. “You haven’t asked for it nicely,” I told him. Discord looked confused for a moment, before he realised what I meant. “Pllleeeeeeeease?” For some reason the way he said it irked me even more. “Oh alright,” I said, passing over the plate laden with the unidentifiable food object. When Discord gets down to it, he can pull a pretty good Celestia-face. That’s right, I thought darkly, while studying Celestia as she curiously poked the bread-thing. I called it Celestia-face. She glanced up at me and smiled sweetly. “Thank you,” she said, lifting the bread in her telekinetic grip. I take it all back. I’m sorry I thought anything bad about you. Why are you so darn cute?! Stop it. “I like this chaos bread,” Celestia said, chewing the bread thoughtfully. “It tastes crazy, but it binds together so nice.” Discord giggled at my expression. “Really?” I said. “Chaos bread? You’re going to keep that name?” “What?” Discord replied. “Got a better name?” “I was going to call it Harmony’s bread, ‘cause, you know, I made it.” Discord and Celestia shared a knowing look. “That’s a bad name,” Discord sniffed. “How is that better than chaos bread?” Celestia added. “Sounds kind of full of himself,” Discord said. Celestia nodded. “Soon he’ll be naming things all over Equestria.” She gasped in mock horror. “What if he names everything he makes?!” Discord snorted with laughter. “Like ‘Harmony’s Haven’?” “I didn’t come up with that!” “Or ‘Tree of Harmony?’” Celestia continued. “Hey, it’s not named that!” Discord nodded. “That does sound awfully arrogant.” I flung up my hands and huffed. I wasn’t really angry, but weren’t they laying it on a little thick? I wouldn’t… name everything after myself. That’s— I mean it would be nice to have stuff named after you, but I wouldn’t— Okay, I’ll admit it. It would be awesome having stuff named after you. Embarrassing. But it’s still awesome. “It’s like you two really want to cook for yourselves,” I grumbled in mock-anger. Celestia harrumphed. “We have cooks,” she said haughtily. “They cook better than you.” Discord made a waving motion that stopped when she said that. He cast a worried look at me. “Really?” I said mildly. Celestia looked like she sensed she said something wrong, but didn’t know what it was. “What?” she said. “It’s true.” “Well,” I said frostily, moving to the kitchen sink and washing my hands. I didn’t really need to, but I didn’t want to look at Celestia right now. “I wouldn’t want you to eat my rubbish.” I turned back to see Celestia’s expression in a weird mix of vexed and distraught. “It’s not rubbish,” she said hastily. I almost relaxed, until she added, “But it’s not better than the cook’s.” Discord made an almost inaudible sigh. I had to struggle to maintain a grip on my anger. If she didn’t like my food, why ask for me to cook it. “I suppose you could do any better, then?” I shot back. I made a sweeping motion to the kitchen behind me. “You know your way around this, then, Princess? Cook for yourself, could you?” Celestia glared at me. “I don’t have to know how to cook. Ponies do it for me,” she said. “So you think I’ll just do whatever you tell me to do?” I said incredulously. “Don’t you always?” she answered. I flexed my jaw. “I guess you could just eat whatever the cooks give you, then. You don’t have to come by here anymore.” I flicked a hand. “I don’t cater to spoiled Princesses. Get your precious cooks to cook for you.” “You—“ she started, but she stopped herself. “Fine!” Celestia stormed out the house, slamming the door behind her. Discord stared at me with wide, damning eyes. He didn’t say anything. All I heard was the chair being slowly scraped back and his quietly retreating steps. He left the half-eaten bread on the table. I stood alone in the kitchen, wondering why I was standing so still. Wondering why I was just staring at the table, not really taking in anything at all. Wondering why I didn’t scream, or yell. Wondering why I just numbly picked up the dishes and began cleaning up the mess. I guess I didn’t know how to react. To our first fight.