Autumn

by canonkiller

Morning Light

"RISE AND SHINE, EVERYPONY!" Discord yelled, one hand holding a small red foghorn. "DON'T MAKE ME USE THIS!"

Sunrise looked at him through a half-closed eye. "I thought your magic didn't work down here."

"It didn't. But I found the lock and opened it. Chaotic as ever, people! Full power, once again!" Turning the glowing stones to a daylight-ish level, he conjured up a larger foghorn, which hit the ground with a titanic thud. Spinning like a carosel, he happily kicked down with his hoof, setting off the thundering noise and practically vibrating the teeth out of all in the cavern.

Sunrise bucked the offending item out from under him, sending it into the wall with an echoing clang. Discord pouted before disappaiting both horns.

"So, now that we're all awake, I'm teleporting us somewhere a bit more comfortable. I needed you all to be conscious to prevent any side effects; missing limbs, trading wings, internal bleeding, external bleeding, soft hoof, slipperfoot, etc." He paused for a second, before adding; "Just thought you should know." He flicked his talons, and all present vanished in a brilliant white flash.

The Shard dug deeper into Obsidian, tearing away painlessly at his body, while he drew away from it, into his mind, his sane sanctuary.

The Shard had no motivation of it's own. It took the reasons of others and distorted them. Sky had wanted to lead his tribe. Obsidian... Obsidian wanted to be with Sunrise.

This was not the kind of thing the Shard wanted.

The light died back down in a massive cavern. The floor seemed to be lit with a warm orange glow, emenating from somewhere below the stone.

But on the surface, made of gleaming gemstones, was an entire city, an underground Canterlot. The underfloor glow was reflected millions of times, lighting every inch of the castle, and the town around it.

"Discord... why is this here?" Sunrise looked up at him, trying not to form theories.

He rolled his eyes. "My mother always wanted to take over the world. She couldn't. So she stole people's cats and disrupted the number of mosquitoes and built a kingdom for her alone. I think she was one apple short of a bushel."

"And the floor is glowing why?"

"Because that's the core of the earth." He sauntered off into the town, leaving Sunrise kind of stunned. "Is anyone coming? These things haven't been lived in since forever. There might be some cleaning needed."

Nothing? Nothing? You want nothing?

Well you won't leave, so yeah. Nothing.

Sad. Should want. Want is good.

Screw off.

Somewhere dark and quiet - at least, as far as she could tell - Scootaloo lifted her newly-rainbow-maned head. She felt woozy, but couldn't tell if her vision was blurred at all, something Rainbow had taught her meant a concussion. Years of stunt flying eventually pounded a bit of knowledge into her thick skull. She knew her name, how old she was, the names of close friends...

And had no idea where the buck she was.

Something moved invisibly in the shadows beside her, with a sound like a cloud hitting ground.

Something brushed her tail. She jumped, falling on her knees.

Something touched her nose.

Something stifled her screams as it smothered her face.

Sunrise found Discord floating near the top of the cavern, a thick conjured mist hanging disconcertingly around him. She flew through the confusing fog, landing with a soft thump on his cloud. He didn't bother to take his eyes off his feet.

"Hi."

"Hi."

He sighed. "I miss him."

"So do I."

He shifted suddenly, his arms pulling Sunrise into an unexpected hug. The draconequus's muzzle shuddered on her shoulders as he cried. "He's going to die, I know it. He's dead, and he died alone. I never said goodbye. I never..." he trailed off to sniffle, "I never told him his mother's last words."

"I didn't know you were there... when it happened."

His voice became distant, and Sunrise could almost picture his eyes glazing over. "I was, though.

"She was just lying there. And despite... what had happened... between us... I was by her side. I rarely wasn't. But, the day she opened her eyes, she saw herself, all black and frozen, and the drips, and then she saw me... it was like she couldn't scream. It was barely a hiss of air as her mouth opened, as she threw herself against the headboard, struggling against all her bandages to get away. It was...

"Heartbreaking.

"I couldn't believe she was that scared of me. I couldn't believe what I had done. What part I had played in making it happen. It was a big part.

"And when the nurse rushed in, explained, calmed her down... it took three needles, Sunrise, three... then she could look at me. I didn't miss her shiver. The nurse did. She just smiled and left. What in Equestria was she thinking? Leaving the unlikely child-owning couple who may or may not hate each other alone in the room? Nurse's training should be more in-depth.

"And when she looked at me, the hate and fear in her eyes was overwhelming. Even I couldn't bay emotions that strong. I had to look away. She saw, with those burning eyes, she saw. She understood I knew what I had done was wrong, but...

"Why... how could you do this?" Her voice was barely a whisper, almost vanishing under the electrical hum of the equipment. "To me... and to my sister?"

"I... didn't think..."

"You never think, Discord. You never have." Luna's voice still managed to spear through any emotional wall, despite the frailty of the speaker. "You never thought that this was a problem. You were born through this method. You would not see it as wrong."

"I was never taught..."

"Respect? Caution? Grade Eight Health?"

"I know what I..."

"No. You don't know. That's the problem. If you knew, none of this would have happened. How old are you, Discord?"

"Twenty...ish..."

"I was supposed to die at close to two-thousand years. Not two-hundred."

"Don't say that."

She sat up, wincing in pain, but remaining upright. "I am going to say whatever I want, Discord, because I'm the Queen now that Celestia's dead. You... are nothing. Until I die, you are nothing. And it should have been that you would stay nothing after my death, that Crimsonleaf - who has been straining to learn the Celestial Magic - would be King. Have you not realized what you've changed?" She was crying, silver tears running down her cheeks, splashing with small glittering puffs onto the sheets. "You're going to be King now."

"I don't..."

"Just like you've always wanted."

Discord was speechless, leaning back in an odd mix of shock and what looked like casual smugness. Luna comprehended the latter.

"You insolent oaf! You've endangered all of Equestria! And there's nothing I can do about it."

Discord really wished that Luna's voice was stronger, that the Nurse could hear the verbal pummeling and put an end to it. But he was speechless, not to mention scared to leave.

"Celestia... she was stronger than me. She always has been. If it had been her that night, and if I was the dead one, she would have put you back in stone. But I'm not that strong. I've never been strong enough to correct my mistakes."

"Luna, please..."

"I'm not Luna, Discord. I'm not the one you used to play with in the garden." The anger in her eyes faded, and she closed them, lying back down slowly. "I'm not the Princess you used to know."

"You are." He didn't know how he was talking, his mind was still reeling. "You are the steadfast, stubborn, quick-witted strong filly-become-mare you are. No time can ever take that away. There is no change."

She opened one eye, fixing him with a gentle, sad stare. "There is, though. The Discord I used to know was a lie. You told me. You did this to Celestia too. You... your gentle, friendly, playful, sensitive side, the side that was more imp than demon... it is gone. It never was. There is change."

Discord looked back, closing his eyes slowly before looking outside at the darkening sky, thinking about Crimsonleaf's power. He stood up slowly, pushing the chair back into place, before walking to the doorway. He looked over his shoulder, moving one claw out to the switch.

"Goodnight, Luna."

He flicked the lights off, leaving the Alicorn's glowing gaze. The only way Luna knew that he left was the soft click of the outer door closing.

"...but she didn't let it go."

Sunrise let him hold her, feeling a draconian flame that matched her own burning in Discord's chest. "I understand." She whispered. "I understand."

"But you don't." He pushed away from her, walking away and lying down on his side against the far side of the cloud. "My mother... the reasons she had me were all wrong. And... I thought I loved Celestia. Nopony told me about the difference between a crush and love. But Luna...

"A thousand-plus years with nothing to do give you a lot of time to think, Sunrise. And I thought about Luna... a lot. And I realized... I really did love her. And now, with Obsidian long past gone...

"I have nothing left."

Comments

[StrongBad_21]

>>IceOfWaterflock
Sorry about my last comment, I was unprepared for the scene it played in and got too imersed (which is a good thing...?) also, I just had some difficulty in reading the chapters properly, it was simply not set in a format I was used to, whic is why I would have wanted a repost. But then again, it's your story, so have fun with it.

[canonkiller]

148092

Yeah, I know the spacing's not the usual but I found it easier to type it that way without extra blank lines. It also helps when downloading chapters - instead of solid text, there's a five-space blank between paragraphs. Thanks for the feedback!