The Rejected 6

by ArtichokeLust

Canterlot

Lightning Dust and Discord were suddenly standing near the entrance to Canterlot castle. Discord looked at a specific, empty spot of pavement and made a "hmm" sound.

"That's usually where she parks her carriage," Discord said, more to himself than to Lightning. "So I guess we'll just have to wait."

Discord looked up to the sky, waiting for Celestia to arrive. Ligntning Dust decided to look up as well.

Discord was sitting on a lawn chair playing paddle ball out of boredom. Lightning dust, however, hadn't moved at all.

She couldn't take it anymore, "You know that hug thing was a misunderstanding right? You jumped to conclusions."

"I know." Discord didn't take his eye off the paddle ball.

"...What?"

Discord was following directions in a medical malpractice book. The section that the book was opened to was labeled, "Basics of stitching", and had a picture of a doctor using a needle to sow pony skin together. In between the pages were a few pieces of cloth meant to be sown together using various methods of stitching.

After reading a few directions Discord tried to thread the needle, but every time he thought it would go through, it didn't. Frustrated, he slammed the needle into the cloth. It surprised both Discord and Lightning Dust when blood started to spray out.

Discord, still covered in blood, stood across from Lightning Dust holding a sword in each paw. Lightning Dust widened her eyes a bit.

Discord threw a sword to Lightning Dust, she caught the hilt in her mouth and spat it into her hoof. Discord ran at Lightning and screamed,

"GGGLLAAAAAAAAAADDIIIUUUUUUUUU-"

"You can't die right?" Lightning interrupted.

"Not from being cut. Why?" Discord stopped.

Lightning stood up on her back hooves and spun, swinging the sword towards Discord. He blocked it, causing his sword to move off the the side. While he was defenseless, Lightning Dust lunged forward and cut off the arm holding the sword while laughing.

Discord was lying on the ground covered in blood, still bored. He pushed himself around in a circle with his hind legs as he looked up at the sky. Oh yeah, his arm was back on.

Lightning Dust was sitting down and using her front hoof to wipe blood off her face.

"Aaaaaugh!" Discord sat up and held his paws to his head. "I can't take it anymore!"

"It's been less than a minute." Lightning dust raised an eyebrow.

"Exactly!" Discord exclaimed, standing up, "This is far too long to stay in one place."

Lightning Dust and Discord were wandering around the Canterlot maze gardens to cure their boredom while waiting for Princess Celestia. To Discord, it was a nostalgic stroll, every bush bringing back some memory out of his seemingly endless life. To Lightning Dust, it was her version of beauty; it represented a challenge like nothing else. The skyscrapers of Fillydelphia couldn't compare to this! Still, she held herself back and simply walked next to Discord, enjoying the secret tour of Canterlot.

"I have a question," Lightning raised a hoof, breaking the silence. "You're called 'Discord' ritght? So why are you working to destroy the thing you're named after"

Discord looked down, trying to think of a good way to answer...

Finally, he said. "'Discord' was a name that was given to me for my actions, like many pony names. It doesn't decide everything I do."

With nothing else to do, Lightning looked at Discord curiously and asked, "And what actions were those?"

Discord struggled to explain again "...Well, you see ... in large battles, opponents are usually given names that give some idea of their strategy. And Discord is what fit my strategy the best, " He explained.

"Wait, battle?" Lightning did a double take, She had never heard of any battle before! "What battle!?"

"Er... about a thousand years ago, me and Celestia had a disagreement over something stupid and I got imprisoned in stone for the rest of that time..." Discord shrugged.

"Well... that sucks." Lightning Dust raised her eyebrows a little, trying to fathom it. As she did so, her opinion of Celestia went down a bit, "What would be so worth fighting for that you'd risk that?" She asked.

"I... don't remember..." Discord thought hard, resting his chin on his claws. All he could remember were the various birds and school filly's that went by him in his entombment. The furthest back he could remember was about 700 years ago, when there was still that rage and sadness, the only reason he "remembered" the battle was because of books and ponies. He was sure he could remember if he allowed more of that old emotion into him, but he didn't really want to do that. He liked being carefree.

It was strange though. He never remembered hating anypony, so he wasn't quite sure where the hate was directed.

Lightning noticed that was more of an 'I don't care to remember' than an 'I can't remember'. But she didn't push the subject.

Suddenly Discord didn't want to be in the garden anymore.

He laid his paw on Lightning's back.

"Eep!" she clenched her teeth and widened her eyes in fright.

They teleported from the garden to the very top of the castle. Since it was night, they didn't have to worry about being seen. Or at least, that's what Discord thought.

A cold, damp tree root wrapped around his torso from above his arm.

"You are going to betray your friends," it said before vanishing. Discord wasn't aware his duplicate could even speak, and who else had a tree root for a paw?

Discord and Lightning Dust turned to look at the creature, but found nothing.

"...What was that?" Lightning asked.

"That's probably the second me. He's just trying to stir up more chaos like I instructed. Just ignore him" Discord crossed his arms and furrowed his brow. He didn't like being used for food, he didn't like being disturbed like that, and most of all, he didn't like being lied to for convenience. His only real friend was Fluttershy, he was still reluctant to call any of the others friends. But even so, he would never betray any of them.

"...Wat?" Lightning Dust gave Discord a bemused look.

...He didn't have anything better to do while waiting, so he started explaining the situation.

"Did you ever read articles on some of the strange things happening in Ponyville?" He asked.

"How could I not? That town sees more action than any other," Lightning lazily smirked at how ridiculous that was.

"Well, do you remember reading one called the "Pink apocalypse"?" Discord asked.

Lightning looked down at a small statue in the distance. "No, I think I missed that one."

"Well," Discord led into the sentence, "Apparently, Pinkie Pie found a way to duplicate herself."

"Huh..." Lightning suddenly remembered the high-energy pink pony. If there were several more of them... well... that would be more cute than an apocalypse. She didn't see any problems with it.

"So I simply asked her how she did it," Discord finished.

Lightning paused.

"Wait-a-minute," she slurred while smirking, she was definitely getting tired. "The spirit of chaos had to ask a pink party pony for help?" Lightning was amused at the thought.

"Yes," Discord didn't see what the problem was.

"You didn't just already know?" She asked, still amused at this un-god-like creature beside her.

"I can't just know everything," Discord scoffed. "Information has to come from somewhere, and the best place is usually straight from other ponies."

"other ponies? You're not a pony." Lightning teased.

"Shut-up."

They were quiet for a while, enjoying the view. Canterlot was definitely much more beautiful than Fillydelphia. At night, the city lit up like the stars, and the white ground and plants were bathed in the golden fire.

Suddenly discord felt a slightly sweet and salty taste enter his mouth. It was small in taste, but somehow its intensity was much larger. It reminded him of Twilight Sparkle when she was studying. Twilight wasn't anywhere near Canterlot... but there were probably many more scholars like her in Canterlot. Discord turned his head back to the beautiful city below him. Suddenly, he wanted to see it upside-down.

"What should I flip..." Discord asked himself.

Lightning sat up, excited at the idea, "That thing!" She pointed at a random tree that led to Canterlot castle.

"And the others around it?" He asked, testing her.

"Nope, just that one." She answered.

He liked her style.

Discord was interrupted from changing things in a way that would drive anypony with even slight OCD crazy. The carriage containing Celestia was returning.

"There she is!" Discord stood up. "Finally!"

He poofed a letter out of thin air and handed it to Lightning Dust.

"Here, give this to Celestia, or her guards if they stop you." He said.

Lightning Dust took the letter in her mouth. She was excited! She finally would get to meet the pony who ruled all of Equestria! And since she was drunk with lack of sleep, she didn't think that she might appear threatening, that the letter Discord gave her might have been in kindergarten grade writing, or that it could just be a picture of her assassinating Celestia.

She flew as straight as she could towards the carriage, only deviating from her path to dodge buildings.

Discord let his mind go back to that taste... No, it was way too intense for most ponies...

Lightning Dust flew next to the carriage as it approached the ground.

Princess Celstia opened the letter from the sleep-deprived teal mare. On it, there was a picture of Celestia sitting in her carriage, tearing off her bikini and top hat while everypony and Discord laughed at her. Unamused, she let the paper she was holding combust into flames.

Seeing this, Lightning Dust gave a disheartened look.

"Discord sent you?" Celestia deadpanned.

Lightning Dust simply nodded her head, trying to hide her fear at Celestia's apparent anger.

Celestia sighed...

She furrowed her eyes while staring directly at Lightning Dust, "...what?"

"uh..." Lightning shrank back a bit, "I can come back later if you're tired."

"No... just... get it over with...." Celestia didn't change her expression.

Lighting Dust hesitantly flew into the seat next to Celestia's. She liked flying and didn't want to impose, but she was way too tired.

Lightning smiled, "Well, I just wanted to know what kind of pony it took to rule all of Equestria." Suddenly, she went back to her slightly scared expression, "But you don't look too good right now, so I'd be fine with it if you decided you wanted to talk later."

Celestia sighed, "Discord promised you an interview with the princess?" She raised an eyebrow.

Lighting Dust shook her head up and down rapidly.

"...Fine..." Celestia sighed.

Lightning smiled, making a squeaking noise, then fell asleep.

hmm, Celestia started to feel better after that smile, maybe this won't be as bad as Discord's other antics...

Author's Note:

Sorry I took so long to add a new chapter. Work, school, etc. happened.

Comments

[Pete100]

Finally, he said. "'Discord' was a name that was given to me for my actions, like many pony names. It doesn't decide everything I do."

Really?