The Contract.

by SirTreeofarbor

Dust in the Wind

Twilight was unable to turn Discord into stone, not when he had willingly gave her the option to do so.

Why on earth did he have to do that? Twilight could not her feelings from effecting her, and she felt her hate for Discord ebb. Twilight sighed while she did not harbor any like towards Discord she could not dislike him. Not only that but the fact that Discord had given her this choice made it clear to Twilight that he was not fully a manipulative jerk, and that logically he could be being if he was given a bit of trust. As these logical gears turned in Twilight's head, and well as mixed emotions of dislike and gratitude she tapped her hoof on the floor of the hall the emanating repeatedly as Discord watched, his gaze steady.

"Discord I find I cannot turn you into stone if you offer up yourself so willingly. Surly you did not expect me to do that if you handed me the Elements...." Twilight and while any doubts that the act of goodwill was a trick when a look of confusion, then joy crossed Discord's face.

No one could fake that not even Discord, Twilight though as she realized this was the first time she actually believed the feelings Discord were showing were genuine instead of a facade.

Discord began to float towards her, "Well this is a confusing surprise, here I hand you what you wished for so badly just a while ago, and you refuse it. You should be the God of Chaos, not me cause your morals are so weird." Discord said while summoning several pieces of cake, and dancing clockwork machines that began dancing. "Now let's cerebrate!"

Twilight sighed "Ummm Discord could you please put off the cerebrations for just a little longer? I have some question's that I think you know the answer to," Twilight was simply trying to be polite, his antic's were starting to not irritate her as much as they had, not to mention a certain pink pony had a habit of doing similar things...

Discord's face drooped for a moment as he removed the festive atmosphere, "I suppose we do have to get things settled a bit in terms of what you owe me for saving the entire world and all." Discord said in a sigh.

Twilight gritted her teeth, Not two moments after I decide not to turn you into stone you hold THAT over my head again. Ok Twilight focus at least you have his attention, which means you can get some answers. But what should you start with? Twilight looked at Discord, and found herself wondering where he came from one again.

"Let's just forget about the contract for now, we can deal with that later," Twilight said in annoyance, "Instead I wish to know about your past. Where are you from? What is your purpose in this plane of existence? You said earlier that you were going to leave this plane if ours was destroyed? Why did you restore the ele -" Twilight stopped as Discord put a finger to her lips.

And why does he never respect my personal space? Twilight thought blushing slightly in embarrassment.

Discord backed up and summoned two chairs as well as a bubble pipe for himself taking a seat, "I see we are in the mood to get personal I see," Discord said with a smile plastered on his features as Twilight blushed. She had to admit Discord had a flare for the dramatic that she found charming, and she felt herself smile back at Discord as he began to raise his chair up into the air and stand upon it, however his face was getting serious as he began his story of origin.

"Now then Twilight my dear, allow me to share with you my past. Or to be exact what I am allowed to tell you, higher beings than I created me on terms that I am not able to break in a similar fashion to how you were unable to talk to your princess about your deal I am not able to talk to you about mine." Discord said whilst pacing in the air.

Twilight felt her eyes widen. Discord in a agreement that he actually followed, it boggled Twilights' mind. She felt herself already getting lost in Discord's story, his voice was different when he talked of the past like he was very uncertain about it for some reason, as if he had never told the story of his past.

That is actually pretty likely, Twilight thought.

"Ummm I am not exactly sure what else to tell you... hmmm, I suppose I should talk about my purpose in terms of what I do for this world. Now you see I am the over-viewer of this plane more or less, and am responsible for making sure things are in balance.... However my contract expired about thirty seconds before you talked to me," Twilight felt her jaw drop.

"Wait wait wait you mean that you did not stop what was happening to my world cause you were thirty seconds late? Not only that but you keep balance?" Twilight said in confusion.

"Twilight dear, these contracts for me are a source of magical power quite simply eons ago I sighed my life for this plane, and was finally done. But then you came along bouncing around offering something I never expected, a new purpose. As you know Twilight I am not quite like you ponies, soon after a contract ends I fade away, my powers run dry and I become nothing but dust in the wind. While I admit I acted as if I had nothing to lose when you signed the contract I will concede that it was the other way around. I had everything to gain, and I know this no other pony would have been willing to make a deal with me. Not that this changes the fact that you are debt to me," Discord said with a smile. "You signed the contract and therefore I made the terms so I still have you in a soul binding agreement. Oh and I kept balance in a rather lose sense really my contract said not to let the world blow up but never said anything about my antics," Discord gloated, proud of himself.

Twilight sighed so she had actually been taken advantage of much more than she thought before.... but now she realized Discord looked nervous as if she would be angry that he had told her the truth... Not to mention from what he was saying his life may have been over had Twilight not signed. For some reason Twilight could not get too upset, partly due to the fact he had given her a choice not long ago, and partly because she would do the same to save herself if she was in the same situation.

"What about the elements, and why did the world fall into such disarray so suddenly?" Twilight questioned a look of interest on her face.

"Well nothing lasts forever, magical objects fade and grow weaker as they are used more. Oh and your "world" is just one big magical object that is just linked with the elements. Which is why I had no choice in terms of restoring one or the other. Restoring the world around you is the same as "fixing" the elements much to my distaste," Looking at the elements in disgust. "You have no idea how much I hate those things they make me feel like... myself," Discord's voice had grown dark for a second and chills ran down Twilight's spine.

Twilight thought about it for a second and realized how odd that sounded could he mean that he felt like himself while he was in stone? What does that mean?

"Umm Discord what do you mean about that?" Twilight asked a bit fearful of doing so. The tension in the air had grown heavy in a instant, and she was not used to that dark tone in Discord's voice.

Discord suddenly realized what was happening and he quickly snapped out of it, "Oh nothing dear, anyway we have to get to Ponyville quickly now after all we have things to do," Discord said suddenly joyful as Twilight felt slight confusion at the mood change.

"Umm do what exactly?" Twilight asked poking her hoof into the chair under her as Discord floated over her and patted her head affectionately.

"Why you need to pack your things of course, we have to go to some different planes of existence to get you settled in terms becoming my student," Discord said as if he was talking about the weather.

Twilight simply felt her mouth fall agape.

Author's Note:

Well I had a hard time writing this one and rewrote it several times before uploading it. However I feel like I am going in the direction I wish to go here.

I hope you guys enjoy it regardless.

Man I could have just written a simple story about a walrus but I had to pick something like this ~_~... Ah well I love trying to write this... ^^

Comments

[EsotericPhantasm]

I posted your story in some more groups. Be sure to join them.

[SirTreeofarbor]

2826752

I am simply saying that Twilight is flustered by whatever Discord was doing at the moment Discord's in that moment, not that she has actually been Discord's student which is why the "I have barley talked to Discord" line is there.

Also I will admit I am more than likely at fault for the confusion as unlike chapter one which has been edited by my editor chapter two is unedited and therefore a victim of my fractured mind ~_~). Anyway sorry for the confusion I will edit this paragraph now.

[Sapphire Secrets]

Good job with this chapter, but I would like to start with an apology. I'm sorry that it took me so long to get to reading this, I blame camping, fireworks, and whiskey!
But to the actual help... okay first with the questions that are getting to me the most!
Where do the royal sisters stand in all this? It seems that they were somewhat dusted over and/or out shined by the Elements of Harmony... I don't quite remember if you re-wrote the part where Celestia admits that Discord is older than she (and by extension Luna), but I do recall that she didn't appear to have an agreement quite like the one Discord manages to vaguely describe now. She in fact seemed to be putting the pieces together that Discord may have some sort of connection with the Elements but she couldn't quite push herself to figure out anything past that. Does she (and Luna by extension again) have some sort of 'contract' as well but doesn't come to terms that Discord may share some variation? Was Celestia lying to her faithful student due to censorship from a contract similar to the silence Discord and Twilight are forced to face, making any form of explanation too hard to even attempt, and as Discord would put it, "sometimes a lie is easier to take"? Maybe she had even figured out that Discord had an agreement like hers, but again was trying to hide this from Twilight? Did the sisters and lord of chaos all sign a single contract that would be void if any stepped out of place (again Celestia lies to Twilight) which would be explaining why the sisters didn't seem able to fix the meteor coming their way? Okay enough of the questions aimed at the sisters... Let's move on to the two the story is really aimed at.
I am somewhat confused about Discord's stand at the problems that caused the contract to begin with.. He told Twilight he had been out for ten minutes. He also says here his contract expired 30 seconds before Twilight spotted him. Why didn't he do anything about the world caving in around them? He seemed aware of the incoming meteor before the contract was gone, couldn't he have sent it away before his powers were gone? Why was the world caving before the contract expired? Does having this contract with Twilight give him the same amount of power as before? When was the last time he signed a 'soul binding contract' since he had said it had been awhile? The one he mentions here doesn't sound like one that binds souls... unless it was with Celestia (And possibly Luna) which I know somewhat contradicts the higher beings creating him, but possibly Celestia, Luna, and Discord were created by a higher being... say Harmony; who sometimes appears in other stories (and is known by other names but I shall say google Lauren Faust Pony if you don't understand who I mean) and is sometimes portrayed as a mother of sorts for the three characters in question, say she created them and let them go off to do whatever they pleased, and maybe the trio signed an agreement of sorts to create the world that they all inhabit now, which doesn't completely contradict what Discord said since he didn't actually say whom the contract was with. This might also explain why the pony sisters didn't seem to be doing much to stop the end of the world as they knew it - they couldn't. Maybe that could explain why the elements were broke and Discord was freed - Discord needed to replenish his bit of power in the Elements that had been drained over the years from use and sign a renewed contract to make the world work once more. The sisters free Discord to accomplish these two things as a bargain for his freedom - but before the sisters could explain Discord flew off. He gets found by Twilight who is a representative of Harmony, so a contract with her (instead of the sisters) can save the world and all he has to do to finish the job is put his third of the power into the Elements? Unless you have a cool way to do a take on this, I would happily have these ideas all pushed aside for something you were planning on writing.

Sorry for my wall of text... Looking forward to more Sorry if I repeated questions, I left the computer for a long time and came back to finish the second half.. apologies...

[SirTreeofarbor]

2834436

Whoa, just whoa.

Ok now for the royal sisters, that is actually going to be a plot point in the later chapters and I will more than likely include those two in the character list. In other words most of those questions are in the "Stay tuned" phase of things. That being said you brought up some points that I will take into account in the next few chapters that will tie into together, so thank you for bringing all those up ^^.
'Now on to these other questions.
" Why didn't he do anything about the world caving in around them? He seemed aware of the incoming meteor before the contract was gone, couldn't he have sent it away before his powers were gone?"

Yes he could of but in chapter one he states that he is not in the mood to fix the issues. Plus why would he fix it if it will not matter to him after his contract expires? Quite simply by the time the world of ending he was clocking out and did not have to do his job anymore... As for why the world was ending it is just the magical power of the world running out here is the line that sort of explains it.

Well nothing lasts forever, magical objects fade and grow weaker as they are used more. Oh and your "world" is just one big magical object that is just linked with the elements. Which is why I had no choice in terms of restoring one or the other. Restoring the world around you is the same as "fixing" the elements much to my distaste," -Discord

In other words the magical object that is the world has run out of power and Discord simply restored it's magical energies. Much like a person services a engine instead of making a new one. ALSO this I plan to touch on in greater detail when Twilight starts to be Discord's student. I just decided to bring it up here cause it is a important detail in this story that shall be brought up several times.

Contracts can be of many different natures, and Discords was a creation contract instead of Twilight's type of Contract again lightly touched on here but details coming. Again a important part of the story.

The speculation about what the higher powers are..... Plot point yadadadadada I have a plan for that as you readers gain a batter understanding of Discord's origin story. You will find out much more about Discord's creation contract in the future so that will more than likely address those questions.

As for the last few questions and ideas as to how Discord got free and why he was where he was relaxing, however he is not like the Royal sisters at all in terms of where he is from... However he related to the royal sisters (again will address that later)Do not worry I will explain EXACTLY what happened and who got him there in due time.

Hope this all makes sense. Also I am glad that you have a wall of questions that is what I intended this chapter to be for! To set up a bunch of future plot points that will be answered as the story progresses and have them be molded into choices as well as center points for conflict and understanding.

[Sapphire Secrets]

2834984

Awesome! And I just wanted to point out those things so the story can continue to progress smoothly, but it seems you have things under control here. Again sorry for my wall of text, which mainly stemmed from nit picks and those nit picks kinda.. expanded into other questions. -sigh- I question to much!

Anyway off to work on my little story, which is pretty much what would have happened if Celestia gave Twilight the task of dealing with Discord instead of Fluttershy. I hope to Luna it turns out okay but I am second guessing myself on every single line since I am queen of run on sentences. Maybe I shall find an editor who can put up with my writing style