Autumn

by canonkiller

Singing

"You know, Luna, I am proud of you."

The Moon Queen couldn't move. Every nerve seared with pain, and her fur felt like it was made of fire. And somewhere, close, there was a voice. It was gentle, comforting, but stuck in the almost-silence normally held for the summer wind and the falling of snowflakes. She tried to respond, to ask what was going on, but her breath burned across her dry mouth, and her tongue was doing nothing but taking up space.

There was some sounds of movement, and in a sudden, cold spasm, her mouth was filled with snow. The burning pain down her throat subsided as she struggled to swallow, the icy hunk settling in her stomach as remnants melted over Luna's tongue.

"Can you move?"

Luna tried to open her eyes, placing her front hooves on the ground and trying to stand. Her grip failed, and she toppled sideways. Something warm and soft as fresh spring grass was under her, pushing her back upright with strong shoulders.

"There's a good reason that you shouldn't exert yourself, my niece. Please, be calm."

She trusted that voice. It sounded like home and spring and happiness, and she liked those things. "What's going on?" She rasped. "Where am I?" Niece?

"You are safe. What do you remember?"

"I was drowning... drowning in snow..."

"And you went into a cave, remember?" The voice insisted. "And then you passed out."

"Who are you?"

"My name is unimportant. I need you to try and open your eyes."

Luna lifted a hoof to poke her muzzle. It was simply dried tears, basic eyes gunk. As she scraped it off, she thought about the pain. Mostly, why that pain had occured.

When she opened her eyes, there was no sudden light. It grew brighter slowly, as if her eyes opening was slowly pushing back the shadows. Soon, she could tell she was in a small cave, a steamy ground spring on one side and a tunnel on the other. Between them, there was a golden wolf, with a set of birds' wings folded neatly at her sides. There was something between her paws, hidden like it was behind bars as she sat patiently.

"Good." The wolf was the speaker, her lips drawn awkwardly back, despite the fluency of the words. "You're seeing everything okay? Focusing properly? Motor skills functioning, at least. If not uncoordinated..."

"I'm fine." Luna interupted. "Now, what's going on? Other than the fact I'm talking to a winged wolf, which in itself wouldn't be weird, except were underground and I seem to remember excrutiating pain."

"Luna..." The wolf glanced down at the solid shadow hidden behind her paws. "There's something you have to know. And even if you don't like the words, it's happened, and you can't stop it. Okay?" She nodded.

Moving one paw, the wolf swept the bundle from between her legs, skidding it across the damp stone and in front of the Queen in one fluid motion. As the object slid to a stop, it growled.

Luna's pupils shrank as she glanced between the bundle, the wolf, and herself. "Wha-but-no-this-I-didn't-"

The wolf raised a paw, and Luna cut off her babbling. "I know it's not the outcome you wished for. It's not even up to you. And I know how bad this will be. For both you, and this impending battle. And I can take this," she pointed a paw towards the growling lump, "and dispose of it, if you wish."

Luna grabbed the bundle in her teeth, ignoring it's increased snarls. Moving it as far away from the wolf as she could, she glared at the calm creature.

"No. It's-"

"He's."

She almost snarled at the wolf herself. "He's mine. You can't have him."

"That's your choice." The canine had an added hint of venom to her voice now. Helping had not been out of kindness. "Good luck finding your way home, by the way."

And, much softer than Discord, she faded out, leaving a warmer hint in the air before icy wind began whistling through the tunnel. Suddenly, the spring stopped bubbling, turning still and cold as the temperature in the cave dropped. Luna shivered, looking at the bundle she had not expected to recive.

It looked exactly like it's father, other than the eyes, which looked like hers. But there was no way of hiding the sire from the eyes of ponies everywhere. She sighed before lifting the kit-foal-cub in her teeth and walking out of the tunnel. The cold seeped into her bones as she stepped out, the snow once again biting into her coat.

Closing her eyes, she started walking.

"Discord?" Sunrise called out. "Are you here?"

The nurse sighed. "We should be getting back in. He has nowhere else to go. He'll be back, trust me."

The pony began plodding back through the snow. Sunrise sighed before jogging after her. There was just too much waiting.

The draconequus in question stuck his out from the branches of the tree, making sure the miniature search party was gone before climbing down. His tail was painfully bent from being pushed into an odd angle as he had launched into the branches. Grumbling, wishing he was still above most physics, he streched it back into shape.

He thought about the hideout he had kept until the cold had really hit. Trying to measure the teleport distance, he started walking. It wasn't as cold as it had been on the night he finally gave in, but it was still cold. Absentmindedly rubbing his arms, he shuffled through the snow, leaving deep trenches that would have been easy to track, if not for the snow filling them back in.

Discord's ears pricked as he heard something through the wind. Not voices, but cries. Pained, hopeless cries.

And despite his nature, he sped up, almost on all fours as he dove through the snow. And the cries became louder, closer.

"Luna?! What are you doing out here? You'll freeze to death!" He exclaimed, seeing the Alicorn kneeling in the snow. He moved to pick her up, only flinching slightly when the Queen moved away.

"P-p-please g-g-g-go..." She shivered. "I-I-I-I-I'm f-f-f-in-n-n-n-e..."

"You're not fine." Discord insisted, lifting the frozen Alicorn in his arms. She was shivering, as fast as if she could shake out of her own skin. "I'm bringing you to the tent. Is that okay?"

She might have nodded, but it could have just been a stronger tremble. He accepted it anyway, stumbling back the way he came.

Sunrise was on her way down from the roof when Tigerjay came out of nowhere and landed on the beam below. "Sunrise! Sunrise, there's no need for you to come down. Go straight home!"

She glanced behind her at the treefort. "Why?"

"Just trust me! And hurry!"

As he flapped back over the tents, Sunrise leaped up the wooden rails, every claw fitting every grip, finding each hold with weeks of practice, not checking her speed as she changed to vertical, shimmying up the post and climbing fast. It wasn't long before she was standing on the wide, tarp deck of her home. The door was open.

Suddenly cautious, Sunrise pressed up against the wall, moving forward only enough to be able to see around the edge of the doorframe.

A golden paw pulled her in. "Good. Tigerjay found you."

"Discord?!" Sunrise began struggling against the paw that was holding her. He had her pressed against his chest, absentmindedly stroking the crest on her head. It took a while for Sunrise to realize he was crying, and she stopped fighting.

"What's wrong? What happened?"

"It's Luna..."

"What about her?"

"I found her out in the snow. I brought her back, but all we can do is wait. If she doesn't recover... her life is not the only one on the line..."

"What do you mean?!"

He lowered Sunrise to the ground, walking into Sunrise's room. Confused, she followed.

There was something on her bed, small and fragile, and that didn't look at all like it belonged in the small, wooden room. It was a miniature, skinny, stumpy version of Discord. And it was sleeping peacefully, twitching occasionally.

"WHAT IN EQUESTRIA?!?!" Sunrise shrieked, being swiftly cut off by a paw over her mouth.

"Shush! When he's awake, all he does is growl." Discord hissed, glancing over at the mini. It just rolled over, leaving a dip in the fabric where it had been lying before.

Sunrise struggled to keep from yelling. "Whatisthatandhowdiditgethere?!"

"Well, it's a long story..."

Comments

[mccall12]

Baby Discord! Wha