Learning Is Magic

by Lucky Penny

Lesson 1-Compromise

The light sprang up again and there on the brink of the chasm at the very crack of Mount Gloom, stood Fillro, black against the glare, tense, erect, but still as if she had been turned to stone.

'Mistress!' cried Snow Sable.

Then Fillro stirred and spoke with a clear whinny, indeed with a whinny clearer and more powerful than Snow Sable had ever heard her use, and it rose above the throb of Mount Gloom, ringing in the roof and walls.

'I have come!' she said 'But I do not choose now to do what I come to do. I will not do this deed. The horseshoe is mine!'

And suddenly as she set it on her hoof, she vanished from Snow Sable's sight. Snow Sable gasped, but she had no chance to cry out, for at that moment-

"Discord!" cried out one of the Royal Guards from outside of his chamber door.

The guard had been knocking and shouting loudly for what was now well past 10 minutes. Discord was however far too busy with writing his latest fan fiction story to bother with responding to the guard's commands. He continued typing rapidly on the computer's keyboard while the guard's voice grew louder and more irritated.

"Discord!" he exclaimed again, "The Princess has been waiting for you in the Throne Room and your attendance is needed. You were supposed to meet with her over an hour ago!"

Silence remained from within his room, except for the strange clickety-clack noises that emanated and could be heard from outside. The guard was quite use to Discord's tricks and mischief about the castle, but now was not the time for them.

"Very well, you leave me with no other choice," the guard warned, "On the count of three, I'm taking this door down!" he stomped his hoof at the ground, snorted loudly, and began to count.

"One...Two..." he waited for one last moment before shouting three and then began to charge.

The door then suddenly opened by itself with ease as the guard attempted to slow his speed down, but it was already too late. He skidded across the room and then crashed into the old bookcase. Some of the large books fell onto his head following the bookcase itself which collapsed right on top of him.

Discord, who had been sitting over at the desk in the corner of the room the whole time, turned his chair towards the guard.

"Oh! I didn't even notice your presence there, Flash Sentry. You should really learn how to knock properly before entering. It's very rude to just barge into other pony's rooms like that!" Discord chided.

He began gleefully chuckling to himself over his perfectly performed joke. Flash was of course unamused as he struggled to push the bookcase off himself.

"Do you realize how dangerous your 'silly' prank was? I was nearly crushed to death!" said Flash enraged.

"Ah, but you weren't were you? So everything worked out fine, and you are alright. Besides, doesn't that alone make you more appreciative and aware of life?"

Discord began to spin in circles in his chair while Flash continued to scowl at him.

"Not really, no. It just makes me more aware of how devious you truly are."

"Now don't be so glum about it. You're wearing a suit of armor there, so you were never at risk of being fatally hurt anyway. Relax yourself," huffed Discord.

He turned his chair back around to the computer and began typing once again. Flash was about to further scold him, when he then noticed the strange cubic object on the desk.

"Excuse me Discord, but what is that-that thing?" asked Flash curiously. He began to further examine the strange object forgetting for a moment what he had come to do in the first place.

"Why this, naive Flash, is called a computer," said Discord with a sly smile.

"A-computer?" repeated Flash puzzled.

"Correct," and with a snap of his fingers, the computer vanished into thin air. "But your world is clearly not ready for such- chaos," he said with a quiet laugh.

With another snap of his fingers, he made the desk suddenly disappear and a cloud hammock placed where it once stood. Discord settled himself comfortably into the hammock and gave a loud yawn. He pulled out his eye mask and stretched his claw out for a glass of chocolate milk to appear in his grasp. He began to gulp it down loudly as Flash waited impatiently for him to finish.

"Now," Discord began. "What does our Princess want with me?"

"You were suppose to meet with her in the Throne Room awhile ago, remember?"

"Oh, right...that," he said while grumbling unhappily. He gave another loud yawn and said, "Well can't it wait? As you can see I'm quite busy at the moment. Perhaps I could meet with her tomorrow-maybe...no."

He turned onto his side away from Flash and began to snore loudly.

"Come on now Discord, I know you're not really asleep! We must go immediately to see Princess Celestia. She has been waiting for you all this time, and said she needed to speak with you, that it was urgent-"

His ear suddenly perked up with interest as he sat up quickly while removing his eye mask.

" 'Urgent' you say? Now I wonder what dear Princess Celestia could ever possibly want of me? That is indeed...curious," he said while smiling crookedly over at Flash who had then felt a sudden chill along his spine.

"Come along now, we must hurry," said Flash.

"Very well," and in a puff of smoke, he had vanished from sight.

***

Meanwhile in the Throne Room, Princess Celestia was pacing anxiously until Discord had finally arrived with galloping Flash not too far behind. Heavily panting from his run, Flash Sentry bowed before the princess, apologizing for his delay, for which she then pardoned him for. Celestia then ordered for Flash to return to his original post, leaving Discord and herself alone together. She turned to find Discord who was fixated on one of the painted window panes. He stared at the image of himself during his defeat against the two princesses.

"That was quite an eventful day, don't you agree?" he said with his attention still on the painting, "You must take pride in the display of such lies."

"There are no lies," Celestia retorted calmly, "You are only bitter because of your mistakes, all of which were made by your own terrible choices."

Discord scoffed by her explanation and transported himself within the painting.

"Ah true, but it would seem you left out parts of the story. How very convenient of you to let your subjects perceive you as the perfect leader and of course I as the villain," he remarked before leaving the painting and appearing in another directly across. "I wonder, would your subjects still worship and love their princess if they were told the truth behind it all?" he said while grinning at Celestia, for he was enjoying her discomfort of the conversation.

"Enough Discord!" she exclaimed, "This meeting isn't about you or our past."

"You're right, Celestia. That's all water under the bridge now," he vanished again from sight only to re-materialize into the floor.

"So tell me, what then is the reason for this private rendez-vous?"

"I need you to teach Twilight Sparkle in the next level of magic. She needs to be prepared for anything that is soon to follow for her."

Surprised and puzzled by Princess Celestia's request, Discord rose out from the floor and stood before her.

"Me? But you are already Twilight's mentor! Besides, it's clear she is already a very gifted and powerful mare. What more could I possibly teach that would further her progress?"

Princess Celestia's voice grew suddenly quiet, as if some invisible presence was listening.

"I'm afraid I can no longer teach Twilight in magic, Discord. My magic-" she stopped abruptly, unable to finish her statement.

Discord, confused by Celestia's answer, opened his his mouth as if ready to speak when he noticed something in her eyes: it was fear. He realized and understood why she really could no longer teach magic. He stared in disbelief, and as much as he wanted to ask questions, Discord knew that there was nothing that could be done, nor anything to be said further about it.

"But how can- why would Twilight need a teacher still? She's an alicorn after all!"

Celestia walked past Discord and towards the window behind him. She gazed silently into the darkness of the night as she retreated deep within her own thoughts.

"The Shadow Forces have returned Discord. That is why you must become Twilight's new teacher."

For a moment, his expression revealed fright, but before Celestia could notice, he gave her a taunting sneer and rolled his eyes.

"You must be mistaken, that's impossible. Your age seems to have finally gotten the best of you, princess."

Celestia stomped her hoof at the ground, angered by Discord's impudence.

"I know the signs and I have seen them myself! The Everfree Forest has been stirring viciously-...the return of the Crystal Empire and King Sombra, the heavy darkness I have felt in the air, It has come back!"

He began to ponder while stroking his beard, for he was trying his best not to show his distress. But even Princess Celestia herself could see through Discord's facade.

"Well," he began to say, and with a snap of fingers, two large suitcases appeared before him on the floor. "The way I see it, this has little affect on me. Unlike the rest of you ponies, I am not bound to this soon-to-be appetizer world."

With another snap, a road map appeared in his claw as he began examining and carefully marking specific destinations.

"I hear Honolulu is nice during this time of year-"

"How can you be so selfish Discord?"

Celestia's voice bellowed against the walls of the Throne Room, echoing the word 'selfish'. Discord turned to Celestia, his expression had turned suddenly very dark. He approached Princess Celestia, his eyes intensely focused into hers.

"I'm 'selfish'?" His voice had become more serious and vicious.

Celestia sensed the menace in his tone, forcing her to slowly move away from him as he continued to approach her.

"Let me enlighten you, your majesty, in what selfishness really means."

Discord began to inflate in size, clenching his claw in contempt. He continued to grow until he was just nearly touching the high ceiling.

"Selfish is when you exile your friend to the hostile Swamps of Corral! Selfish is when you banish your only sister to the moon for a thousand years!"

His appearance now started to change too. Spikes appeared along his tail and back, as did a much larger set of fangs. His claws and talons were now twice as long than before, and Celestia now found herself trapped in a corner with nowhere to escape from Discord's wrath. However, she remained strong and stood her ground, waiting for any moment of attack.

"But by far," he continued, "The most selfish and cruelest thing you could ever do, is turn a friend- a good, old friend- into stone for several centuries, forcing them to listen and watch the ever changing world! Do you realize how maddening that was? You want to know what the worst part of being turned stone was for me, princess?" he asked with his voice cracking. Celestia, unable to look directly into Discord's eyes, lowered her head in shame and remained silent.

"The worst part in being turned to stone was having to listen to your pleas for forgiveness and apologies over-and-over again, each and everyday!" He gripped his ears and gnashed his teeth, as if he was experiencing some great physical pain. "It made me lose my sanity! How could you do something so cruel, so...selfish!"

Discord began inhaling sharply, realizing he hadn't felt such emotion in many years. Both he and Celestia alike, were shocked by such capabilities. He stared at his claws and then back down at Celestia, remembering where he still was as he attempted to regain his composure. He shrank back down to original size and appearance giving a sad sigh. He walked back over to where he last left his luggage and picked them up.

"It just doesn't matter anymore," he muttered. "The Shadows will come, and there is nothing we can do to prevent It from devouring this place...good-bye Celestia."

But as he was just about to vanish, Celestia cried out, "So that's just it then? You are just going to let Equestria be destroyed, your home?"

Discord said nothing and shrugged with nothing more to say. He gave a salute and turned away from Princess Celestia.

"What about Fluttershy?" she asked.

"What about her?"

"You do realize if you leave and the Shadow Forces take over, she too will perish along with everypony else."

Fluttershy, Celestia knew, was the key to Discord's sensibilities. He could never do anything that would risk potentially harming or disappointing her in any way. He groaned bitterly, aware that Celestia had won this argument.

"Very well, I will teach Twilight Sparkle and take her on as my student. But only if you swear the following oaths to me."

Celestia scowled, upset by how at such a critical time like this, Discord could still be so unreasonable and stubborn. However, with no other choices available, she nodded her head in agreement.

"The first oath," he began, "Is that you must swear to never use the Elements of Harmony or any other means of magic on me."

"But Fluttershy already swore to never use her element on you," she corrected.

"Indeed, but that's Fluttershy! We both know now you could very easily cast some other spell on me, or even convince some pony like Twilight to do so. So you must swear this oath to me, that you will not use or convince others to use any form of magic on me." Celestia nodded her head, agreeing to his terms,

"I swear," she said.

"The second oath," continued Discord, "Is that you must promise to allow me to teach Twilight my way. So no more letters on the lessons she has learned or any means of contact to you."

"Absolutely not!" challenged Celestia, "Twilight is-"

"She is my student now," he interrupted with a playful grin, "You asked me to be her teacher and this is the only way she can ever hope to advance to the next stage in magic. If she is to have any chance of success against The Shadows, Twilight must be completely dedicated to her studies with no distractions."

Celestia became outraged by his demands. She refused to lose connection to her most beloved student, and knew Discord was doing this as a way to begin harming their relationship as she continued to stubbornly deny his request, unable to swear to the oath.

"These are my instructions, Celestia. If you refuse them, Equestria will be devoured and if there is any chance for its survival, compromises must be made!"

As difficult as it was for her to admit, she knew he was right and lowered her head in defeat.

"Very well, I swear," she said quietly under her breath.

Discord clapped and laughed gleefully at how he was finally after so many years, able to humble Celestia's pride. Celestia then asked if that was all, which had Discord think to himself for a moment. Then with a mischievous smile, he said-

"How 'bout a kiss to seal the deal?"

Celestia gasped in disgust.

"Oh never mind, I take it back. Sorry I've been reading too many fan fictions lately. Besides, I bet you are a terrible kisser anyway," he drawled.

He gave a chuckle and then leaned in close to Celestia's ear as he whispered with a playful nudge, "Although, perhaps a kiss from your little sister Luna would-"

At that remark, Celestia became very angry and bucked him hard in his stomach, causing Discord to fall quite loudly onto the floor. He coughed and moaned heavily while gripping his stomach in agony.

"Alright, alright!" he sputtered, "I get it, I took the joke too far. Sheesh, sorry!"

Celestia stood over Discord who still remained curled up on the floor; her face was displeased and threatening.

"Enough now, I've made plenty of oaths to you. I promise to not break any of them, however-" she moved her head closer Discord's, their muzzles nearly touching each other. "Should you not follow and keep to your own promises in teaching Twilight, or allow any harm to come to her, I make a final promise to you that the consequences will be severe."

And with that said, she turned away from him and made her way out from the Throne Room.

"I suggest you get yourself together and hurry now, Discord."

"Of course," he said, smiling weakly, but with a faint glint of harsh steeliness in his eye. "Be down in a minute."

Celestia gave him one last glare before finally leaving as she made her way forlornly to Ponyville.