Kerry Shire
Chapter 24
The next few days were a careful balancing act between travelling too slow, and travelling too fast. The more athletic ponies were eager to push forward at a brisk pace, but the others in the group wore out quickly, and they lost more time travelling hard for half a day and exhausting themselves than they did when they slowed down. Eventually, they found the middle ground between the two and headed steadily on to Kerry Shire.
Twilight led the way, her map sticking out of a saddlebag ready to be pulled out at a moment's notice. Rarity spent the trip commenting on the rocky landscape. She would wonder out loud what sort of jewels were hiding just underhoof that could be turned into exotic fashion. Her magic to find them had faded away, although this seemed to fuel her curiosity more than it dampened her spirits. Or at least, that was the impression she was giving. Applejack listened politely to her friend. Normally she would have changed the subject to something she actually understood or cared about, but the inane talk kept her mind occupied while things like her eyes could stay open to pick up any traces of trouble. Ever since the troll woman's cottage, they had all been much more on edge. There was no concrete reason for the paranoia, but the tension was making Applejack a lot more vigilant than she had been a few days earlier.
Pinkie busied herself chasing any lizards or birds that crossed their path, often yelling about wanting to be friends. When she could not find any animals to traumatise, she would hop alongside the others and let loose with whatever random thoughts came to her mind. She and Rarity ended up having a surprisingly detailed conversation about gems, rocks, and the boulders that dotted the landscape.
Discord's wing was still wrapped up, keeping him grounded. He did not give any indication that this bothered him, but Fluttershy suspected that, as usual, what Discord said and what Discord felt were two very different things. She had noticed the subtle rolls of his shoulders as he walked, or the brief moments of bristling feathers and fur. At first she wondered if it was something she should mention, but after thinking it over and watching him grin and make his usual brand of snide comments, she decided to keep quiet. Discord was not acting as morose as he had been, but Fluttershy had a suspicion this change in mood was a conscious one. Discord was trying to cover up how he was feeling, both emotionally and physically. He did not want them to ask how he was doing. He did not want to show his weakness. Especially not, as Fluttershy understood it, as that weakness slowly grew.
But they knew. Maybe Discord did not know them well enough to be able to tell, but the other ponies knew. Fluttershy could see it. There were no pitiful stares, or sudden acts of concern, or anything else so obvious you could describe it, but Fluttershy could still see it. A change in body language, a nervous flick of an ear, or a release of pent up energy as somepony would 'stretch their legs' or 'run to see what's up ahead'. But nothing was said. Yet the open secret between them was there. That was enough for the moment. If a time came to talk about it, they would do so. Fluttershy, however, hoped they would never get to that stage. She was worried what it would mean if things came to a point where it had to be talked about. The idea scared her. All she could think to do to handle this fear for now was to ignore it, just like everypony else.
Rainbow Dash, on the other hoof, was finding the whole 'ignoring it' thing to be a lot harder than Fluttershy. She flew over the group, scanning the landscape absentmindedly as she listened to the conversations going on below. Each lighthearted word or ordinary topic felt like somepony was plucking out her feathers, one by one. She started to catch herself giving Discord small glances as she flew. She felt like a rock had settled in her stomach, and as time passed, it slowly grew in size. It felt like it was taking up all room inside her, filling up space meant for food, or water, or sleep. Rainbow tried pushing it out of her mind. Now was not the time for one of her neurotic meltdowns, especially not one that came from insecurity and guilt. Of course, feeling guilty about feeling guilty did nothing to help.
Eventually, Rainbow Dash decided that she had no choice but to talk to somepony. It really was no choice too. At least, if she wanted her brain to stop being a mess and actually focus when they faced Blue Jay, that is. Back at Ponyville, she may have waited a long time before giving up and talking to somepony about her feelings, but with Kerry Shire just beyond the horizon and her mind distracted by pointless guilt trips, she swallowed her pride sooner than usual.
At first she thought about talking to Twilight, but Rainbow realised this was not going to make her feel better, at least not completely. She thought about talking to Applejack, or Rarity, or even Pinkie, but it was no use. As much as it knotted her insides to think about it, there did not seem to be any other way for her to get over herself. She was going to have to talk to Discord.
On the day they saw the pointed rooftops ahead of them, they made camp with the belief it would be their last before they had to face the town, and Blue Jay himself. There was a small body of water not too far from them. It was too big to be called a 'pond', but it was by no means a sprawling great lake. It lay at the foot of the mountains, with the town just beyond it. With nearby water, the landscape around them was greener than the windswept valleys they had walked through until now. There were more trees for one, and it was under a large rowan that the group took shelter. In the evening, its higher branches were thick with the calls of waxwings. Luckily, the birds settled down as the sun set, and it seemed a quiet night was ahead of them. Applejack and Pinkie pulled down some of the tree's clusters of red fruit, but finding them to be very bitter, they ended up abandoning the idea and instead focused on the food they had brought with them instead.
Rainbow Dash made the excuse that she would survey the surroundings to fly anxiously back and forth above them. She muttered to herself, trying to form a conversation in her head of what she wanted to say. She did not get very far but with the sky growing dark, she decided it would have to be now or, possibly, never. She took a deep breath to collect herself, then flew down to the others.
“Everything okay, Rainbow Dash?” Twilight asked when she landed.
“Huh? Oh, oh yeah. Yeah, we're all good,” Rainbow answered, looking around for Discord.
He was busy pulling faces at the flaxseed bread Fluttershy was trying to coax him into eating, lying cat-like with his pony friend beside him. Rainbow swallowed, fighting down her nervousness and trotting over to him.
“Hey, erm, Dingus. Do you wanna take a walk for a sec?” She said, hoping she did not sound as stupid as she felt.
Discord cocked an eyebrow at her, but stood up all the same. “Well. That's rather rude. But if you need to have some girl talk then yes, I suppose I could-”
“No no! That's not what I mean,” Rainbow hurried to stop him. “No I meant, d'you wanna take a walk. With me. Like... the two of us. Go walking... so we can talk....”
Discord's expression stayed where it was but he said nothing. He did, however, sit back down. This was probably not a good sign. Rainbow suppressed the urge to sigh. One sentence in and things were already awkward.
“Is something wrong, Rainbow Dash?” Fluttershy interrupted, putting down the bread.
“No,” Rainbow scratched the back of her head with a foreleg, “but I wanted to ask something,” She turned back to Discord. “Or... I dunno.... maybe tell you something?”
Discord watched her for a few moments before breaking eye contact and sticking his muzzle in the air. “Well, regardless if it's one or the other, I'm rather tired tonight. Perhaps we could save it for, oh, say, tomorrow morning?” He tapped his chin with a frown. “Then again, we'll probably be a little busy tomorrow. How about next Tuesday?”
“No, no it's gotta be now!” Rainbow insisted, fighting to keep her voice down. She gave the rest of the group paranoid glances, hoping they were busy with their own things and were not listening to what looked to be turning into a bit of a disaster.
Discord, seeing the nervous shifting of hooves and the anxious looks, found his curiosity peaked. He threw Fluttershy a subtle expression, pursing his lips in a silent question.
Fluttershy caught the look and stepped forward. “It sounds like it could be important. Are you sure nothing's wrong, Dash?”
Rainbow gave her wings an irritable half-flap. “No, nothing's wrong. Everything's fine,” She stopped at this, frowning. “Well, I mean everything is fine with us but... I guess maybe they're not so fine with me? I think? Argh! Look! Just get off your keester and come with me for a sec, will ya? I really gotta talk to you about something!” The last part was once again directed at Discord as Rainbow turned and started trotting away in a random direction, looking over her shoulder to see if he was following.
Fluttershy watched her go before looking up at Discord as well. “Uhm... I think, maybe, she might be serious.”
Discord gave a groan. “I can't say I'm really in the mood for this,” He turned to Fluttershy. “Can't you go talk to her instead?”
Fluttershy gave him a gentle smile, “It sounded to me like she wants to talk to you. Rainbow Dash doesn't really... uhm... do the 'serious talk' thing. At least, not like Twilight or Applejack. So it really must be important. I think you should see what she has to say.”
Discord grumbled something but got up to follow the pegasus anyway. “If she's not an enthusiastic talker either then this promises to be one enthralling conversation.”
“You don't have to answer anything you don't want to, okay?” Fluttershy said, sitting down as she watched him go.
He gave her a hangdog expression before he and Rainbow Dash walked off. Once they were further away, Fluttershy's smile sank as she watched them with concern.
After they had walked an arbitrary distance in silence, Rainbow stopped and finally turned to face Discord.
“Okay, I don't really wanna talk about this and I'm pretty sure you don't really want to either, but if I don't say anything I'm gonna go completely nuts! So do me a favour and shut up for a sec or two while I get this out, okay?!” The sentences came out rushed and aggressive, as if she was expecting him to cut her off at any second.
Discord, however, said nothing and gave her a look which could be described as saying 'you may or may not have my attention.'
Rainbow gave an aggravated sigh and carried on, “Okay, so this whole wing thing of yours,” She waved a hoof at his injury, “And this whole 'oh no, my magic's kinda killing me' thing. I gotta ask; is the magic thing the wing thing's fault?”
Discord's frown deepened at this. “I don't follow.”
Rainbow grunted and started pacing in front of him. “Okay, let's try a different approach. So, the magic thing... no... No, let's say the 'I'm not doing so good' thing. Is that because you got shot?” She came to a stop, turning to frown at him.
Discord tilted his head at her. Part of him was anxious to steer the conversation away from the sensitive subject of his magic and his sudden mortality, but Rainbow Dash's disjointed rambling was not giving him much to grab hold of and twist in his favour.
“You're asking if my wing is bothering me? I must say, I'm not so sure I enjoy the limitation, but I suppose it is giving me a nice insight into how some ponies have to-”
“No no no!” Rainbow shook her head. “No! Just listen, will ya?! I'm asking if getting shot in the wing is the reason you've been not so great lately and looking kinda spent! Is that so hard to understand?!”
Discord blinked at her. He found himself suddenly, honestly, curious as to where she was trying to go with this. “It certainly didn't help, if that's what you mean.”
Rainbow Dash sunk at this, dropping her gaze and instantly switching from annoyed to miserable. “Oh... I was afraid of that.”
“It helped realign our priorities, though,” Discord went on, unfolding the wing as much as its bandaging allowed and looking it over. “I can't remember if I mentioned it, but I wasn't so sure of how I was doing until I had that arrow, point it out to me, so to speak.” He turned and grinned at her.
Rainbow didn't look amused. If anything, she looked even worse at hearing this. “Yeah... the arrow....” She kicked at a tuft of grass idly, her ears flat. “You got that when those wackjobs tried to get us in their forest, right?”
“Yeeeeesss?” Discord raised an eyebrow at her.
Rainbow kicked at the grass a little harder, “I didn't see or hear you get hit when we were running. Did you get hit when we were talking?”
Discord sighed, he was starting to sound bored. “Yes. We were talking, they started shooting, and they hit me.”
Rainbow lifted her eyes, just enough to be able to look at him. “I didn't see you get hit but... I remember... we were talking and you kinda sorta, almost tackled me out of the sky for a second there.”
Discord made a noise and rolled his eyes, “Oh, you were fine.”
“Yes...” Rainbow nodded softly. “...I was.”
“Look, are you going anywhere with this, Rainbow Dash? I wasn't joking earlier when I said I was tired, you know.”
Rainbow Dash was silent for a moment, trying to think of how she could get herself to say the next sentence out loud. Discord crossed his arms, waiting impatiently. He looked like he'd already written off the conversation and was just waiting for the right moment to turn and walk away. Rainbow gathered herself, and finally asked the real question on her mind.
“Were you hit by that arrow because you pushed me out of the way?” She tried her best, but couldn't get herself to look him in eye. She could feel her cheeks flare up.
If Discord noticed, he did not comment though. He stroked his beard, watching her with something like confusion.
“I thought you already knew the answer to that,” He shrugged, “But if you want it to be clear, then yes. You were so busy being delightfully irrational, I doubt you would've even noticed if it had hit you.” He gave her a proud grin, lacing his fingers together and looking extremely pleased him himself.
Rainbow Dash however, looked mortified at this. She stared pale-faced at him for a moment before she seemed to deflate, her head and shoulders sagging. “So it really is my fault...”
Discord twisted his head upside down so he could look her in the eye, still grinning from ear to ear. “Not too shabby, wouldn't you say? And without the bookworm Princess prompting me! I really do hope you won't forget to mention that to Celestia. Not that I care much what she thinks of me, but if I'm going to start doing impromptu acts of heroism I'd at least like to rub it in her face a little. All in all, Pretty good if I do say so myself.”
“No it's not good! It's not good at all!” Rainbow bounced back up to her hooves, glaring at him. “My stupid hotheadedness got this whole mess spinning out of control! Okay, yeah sure, losing your magic and stuff isn't my fault, but if I'd just opened my dang ears instead of yelling like a bratty teenager we wouldn't be having any of this... this weirdness right now!”
Discord's smile melted away at this. Slowly, a frown grew in its place and he straightened up again.
“Ugh!” Rainbow slumped down to a sit, smacking a hoof against the side of her head. “I can't believe how dumb I am!”
“Let me see if I have this straight,” Discord interrupted. “If I hadn't done something the way I did, you would almost certainly have found that arrow through you instead. So, I unconsciously did something to help, and you consider this to be a bad thing?”
“Well yeah! You got hurt didn't you?” Rainbow looked up at him again with a frown. “I'd say that's pretty bad!”
There was a pause as Discord stared at her with clear shock, his frown hardening. He then shot out a paw, finger in the air as he turned to head back to the others.
“Don't move,” He said as he went. “Stay right there.”
Not waiting to hear any protests, Discord marched back to the remaining group of ponies. Fluttershy blinked at him as he walked past her without a sideways glance. The others were busy finishing off what was left of their supper and discussing with some nervousness what might be waiting for them in the town ahead. Discord cut straight through them, heading for Twilight who was going over her map. She barely had enough time to register he was standing in front of her before Discord picked her up, tucked her under an arm, and marched back the way he had come, ignoring the stares from the others.
“Hey, what-?! What the heck are you doing?!” Twilight yelled when she got over the sudden action. “Discord! Put me down!”
She struggled and flapped her wings but Discord did not even acknowledge her, and Twilight found herself unwilling to actually try and kick him. She was pretty sure if she did he would let her go, but even so, she found herself unwilling to do it.
Discord walked back to where Rainbow Dash sat watching the scene with blank confusion. He stopped in front of her, plopping Twilight on the ground between the two of them rather unceremoniously. Twilight scrambled for a second before she managed to roll herself right way up again. She sat up and immediately rounded on Discord.
“What was that suppose to be?! You know, you could try this thing called 'asking' at some point in life! Rather than just running up to ponies and-!”
“Explain this to me, Twilight, because clearly I'm not getting it!” He cut her off, sounding aggravated. “So, we face a big monstrosity and I don't protect Rarity because my focus was elsewhere, and this is bad, right? But then Rainbow Dash here,” he shot out an arm towards the pony in question, causing her to flinch away as if his paw would bite her, “gets nearly run through with an arrow from some ponies with questionable ideals and I actually find myself protecting her from this... and now she says this is also bad!” He threw up both his arms in a show of defeat. “Do me a favour and please explain it, Twilight. Because as much as lack of logic and complete nonsensical behaviour is my bread and butter, I would prefer it if it was not used to paint me as the villain from every angle!”
“Wait... what?” Twilight blinked.
“I didn't say it was a bad thing!” Rainbow quickly argued back at him. “I mean... I don't think you were the guy doing something bad! It's bad, but it's because of me, not you! You actually did something pretty awesome back there!”
“So why are you acting as if I'd just pulled the plug from your raincloud?!” Discord snapped, gesturing wildly.
“I told you! Because it's my dumb fault you're hurt more than you should be and I feel bad about it!”
“So I should've just ignored you and you'd feel better?!” Discord ran a claw over his face.
“Wait wait wait! So... let me see if I got this right,” Twilight held out both her forelegs, as if to physically silence them. “Discord got hit by that arrow because he was shielding you, Rainbow Dash?”
Rainbow sunk in place in response.
“And now you feel bad about it because he got hurt,” She turned to Discord, “And you're...” She paused, “You're... well... Discord.”
Discord gave a noncommittal shrug.
Twilight's gaze lingered on him for a second, and Discord could almost hear the gears in her head turn. After a moment, she broke her stare and gave a sigh.
“Alright, well, first of all; Discord, you did the right thing,” She turned back to him, this time with a much softer expression. “You looked out for somepony who was in trouble and tried to help. It's sad you got hurt because of it, that's not something I think anypony wants to happen to the pony helping them, but that doesn't change the fact that you did good.”
At this, Twilight gave him a warm smile. Discord shifted in place and crossed his arms again. He grumbled something nonsensical at her in response. He tried not to wonder if Twilight had ever actually smiled at him before now. Because he didn't care. And it wasn't worth thinking about. So he didn't. Because he didn't care what ponies thought of him.
Twilight turned to Rainbow Dash, her expression slightly more serious. “I know it has to feel bad Rainbow, but wouldn't you have done the same thing for somepony?”
“Heck yeah!” Rainbow answered immediately, looking almost insulted that Twilight even had to ask.
“So, don't beat yourself up so much, alright?” Twilight smiled again, “We know you have our backs. You should let us watch yours too, right?”
“I guess so,” Rainbow said with a huff. “I just wish this whole stupid thing that happened wasn't so... stupid.”
“Eloquently put,” Discord said, apparently to a passing katydid.
“I say it's best to just accept that it happened, acknowledge the remorse, be grateful for the kindness, and move forward,” Twilight said to Rainbow, turning to head back. “Come on. We have our work cut out for us tomorrow and I think we should all get some rest.”
“I had every intention of doing so before this little comedy of errors, believe me!” Discord said irritably, turning to follow after her.
Rainbow Dash watched them for a moment before she took off. She dipped slightly when she got close to Discord, just close enough so he could hear her.
“Just... sorry about the wing, okay? And... thanks.”
She did not wait for a reply as she flapped her wings and headed back to their camp, landing close to Applejack and loudly demanding her share of supper. Twilight headed back for her map and blanket, although Discord noticed she gave him a look over her shoulder before she did. He could not quite place it, but it was not anger, and although it did look a little confused, it did not look like the irritated confusion he was use to seeing from her. Whatever the expression was, it made him feel a little uncomfortable. Although, to his personal horror, it did not make him feel particularly bad.
Discord walked back over to Fluttershy. Before she could say anything, he scooped her up before clambering to one of the lower branches of the tree. He anchored himself with his tail as he settled down for the night, Fluttershy hugged in his arms.
“What did Rainbow Dash want?” Fluttershy asked after a moment, wriggling softly to get herself into a more comfortable position. She looked down at her discarded saddlebags, wishing she had closed them before the nightly assault of Discord.
Discord made a soft, scoffing noise at this. “Your friends are all insane.”
“Oh?” She turned to smile at him. “Is that... good?”
To her surprise, Discord seemed to take the question more seriously than she intended, frowning to himself as he thought it over. He sighed, apparently giving up as he curled in on himself a little tighter.
Almost insultingly, the next morning came just as normally as always. The cacophony of waxwings in the tree had everypony awake at nearly the crack of dawn. The noise and anxiety of what was waiting for them destroyed any chances of getting a few more minutes of shut eye, and soon the small group was busying itself with what had become the normal morning routine. Manes and tails were combed, blankets were rolled up and tucked away, food was passed around and one last look was given to Twilight's map.
“What d'ya want us ta do when we get there, Sugarcube?” Applejack asked. Checking their route that day was more an act of habit than anything else. With the pointed roofs of the town in sight, it would have taken conscious effort to get lost.
Twilight made a noise as she rolled the map up. “The first thing we should do is take note of what the town actually looks like. There's no telling what condition the buildings are in if it burned down once. If anything goes wrong and we need to take cover, I don't want us to run into something that will collapse on top of us.”
“I could do a sweep over the place if you want,” Rainbow Dash offered.
“No,” Twilight turned to her. “I think it's better if we don't split up. Bad things tend to happen when ponies split up in a place they don't know with something or somepony dangerous around. I'd suggest you fly overhead, but keep us in sight and don't fly ahead. If you see anything suspicious, let us know right away.”
Twilight turned back to the huddled group of ponies as a whole, “We need to find where Blue Jay is keeping this stone. If he's using it at the moment, and seeing as my magic isn't working he probably is, there should be some indication of a spell. And if it's reaching all the way to Equestria, it has to be a pretty powerful one too. Keep your eyes open for Blue Jay, but it's the stone we're really after. I'm guessing we'll find him when we find it, but I don't want us to expect that to be true and get ambushed instead.”
“I've had quite my fill of ambushes,” Rarity agreed, scrunching her muzzle.
“If we find Blue Jay first, don't try and take him on immediately,” Twilight carried on, a serious expression on her face. “I don't think he'll answer anything we say, but we have to at least try and see if we can get him to tell us where the stone is and to stop what he's doing.”
“Yeah,” Rainbow rolled her eyes, “I'm sure that'll go great for us.”
“If he doesn't want to stop this, we need to subdue him somehow,” Twilight gave Rainbow a dirty look but went on. “I'd like to say we can try and find a way to trap or capture him, but if he's still got his magic and none of us do, I don't think we'll have much of a choice other than to hit him with the elements.”
At this, Twilight opened her saddlebags and started pulling out the elements in question, handing each pony her matching artifact. She stopped when she reached the one shaped like a butterfly, looking around.
“Uhm... Where's Fluttershy?” She pulled a face. “And where's Discord for that matter?”
“Pretty sure they're still sleeping,” Rainbow Dash said, getting to her hooves. “I'm gonna guess Fluttershy's awake though, and Discord's giant flank is just squashing her. Again.”
“He couldn't possibly have slept through that noise this morning, could he?” Rarity asked, looking rather impressed.
“If he can sleep through Dashie's snoring, he can sleep through anything!” Pinkie said brightly.
“I'll go get 'em.” Rainbow sighed, taking off.
“Gettin' that load outta bed is gettin' harder every day!” Applejack grumbled.
“Yeah,” Twilight agreed with a soft frown.
Once they finally got a complaining Discord off his branch and back on his feet, the group gathered their bags and headed down the dirt road once more.
The road they were following could barely have been called a road anymore. The hard sand under their hooves told of heavy traffic that once used it, but the wild grasses and weeds that sprang up all across it and the complete lack of cart tracks or hoofprints made it clear of how long it had been neglected and forgotten.
As they got closer, they were able to make out the details of the buildings. There was little left to properly distinguish what some of the buildings actually were at one stage. Their walls were all made of the same, rough-cut mountain stone, but the windows and doorways stood open and bare. Some of their roofs had nothing left but the heavy wooden rafters. Others, made from thinner logs stacked closer together, were mostly intact although gaping holes could be seen in a few of them. Pottery and unidentifiable pieces of clay and porcelain lay scattered across the ill-kept streets. Through the open doorways they could see inside some of the houses, although most of the insides were just as covered by wild grasses, flowers and weeds as the streets and gardens. Broken or crumbling chairs, bed-frames and various shelves and cupboards lay empty in the exposed rooms, or sometimes in the overgrown gardens and open doorways.
The stone and wood that remained all had black streaks and trails on them that seemed burned beyond just stains to actually having been baked deeply into them. But there was no ash, no smell of smoke or fire, no heat, and no glowing embers. That there had once been a fire was clear, but the cool mountain wind, the smell of heather and chamomile flowers, the slow flying beetles and the far off calls from meadowlarks all painted the picture of a town very long abandoned and forgotten.
Twilight was not convinced. The empty town was eerie, and the sounds of nature were calming, but she was not buying into this picture of normality. Somewhere in this town, a very dangerous pony was busy tearing the world she knew apart at the seams. She just had to find his weapon for doing so. Her mind was, out of habit, running through all the spells she had memorised over many years of study, trying to think of something she could use to home in on the Stone of Null's location, although she knew it was no use. Her horn had refused to work at all ever since she had sprung the lock in Falabel. Even a simple locating spell was beyond her right now.
Unless...
She turned an eye towards Discord who was strolling near the back of the group, looking around at the scenery with large, curious eyes. He looked like nothing in this world would have made him happier than to run rampant in this abandoned playground, sticking his nose quite literally into every corner and crack and pulling apart every discarded personal belonging left behind by whoever had lived here. Pinkie seemed to share his enthusiasm, hopping in wide circles with continuous cries of 'what's this?! What's this thing?! What's that?!'. Fluttershy was perched on Discord's head, hiding herself behind his horns which she clung to with her forelegs, ears flattened as she whimpered to herself.
Twilight sighed and gave up the idea. She had no doubt if she asked him the right way with the right words, the two of them could try and pool their magic together to find the stone, but somehow, it seemed like it would not be worth the risk. Twilight frowned at this thought and ran it through her mind again.
It would not be worth the risk.
She drew her lips tight, thinking the phrase over. Eventually, she blew out a soft breath.
'No. I guess it wouldn't...' She thought.
She turned to Rarity instead, knowing the question was pointless before she even asked. “Rarity, can you get any trace of the stone in this town at all?”
“I'm really sorry, Darling,” Rarity gave her an apologetic look. “I've been trying to do so already, actually. But I just can't seem to pick up a trace of anything. And I know that isn't right, because a few houses ago I noticed a rather lovely jewelry box and I didn't need my horn to tell me those were garnets on its lid. But my horn hasn't so much as flickered,” She gave a dramatic sigh. “My one great magical talent and I am utterly useless at it!”
“Yeah yeah yeah, I'm moved to tears over here,” Rainbow Dash flew lower to pull a face at her. “I'm trying my best, but it's hard to get a good look around without going higher. You sure you don't want me to just do one sweep of the place, Twilight?”
“I'd rather not, Dash,” Twilight said, “I don't like the idea of this guy getting a clear shot of you or splitting us up.”
Rainbow Dash groaned but resumed her flight over their heads.
“So, what's the stone look like, huh?” Pinkie bounced closer, grinning with excitement.
“You saw the picture didn't ya?” Applejack nudged her. “It's this triangle thing with a hole in it. Right?”
Twilight nodded, focusing on the surrounding buildings.
“Yeah, but how big is it gonna be?” Pinkie continued, hopping backwards to grin in Applejack's face. “Is it gonna be like a giant boulder? Or maybe it's like a river rock! Or maybe it's the size of an entire mountain!”
“If this Blue Jay feller could carry it off, then I don't think it's gonna be mountain-sized,” Applejack answered with a lopsided smile. “If ya ask me, I say it's probably gonna be the size of these things.” She tapped her necklace with a hoof.
“What makes you say that?” Rarity asked, trotting a little closer to include herself in the conversation.
“Well, Oggie said some folks say it's a seventh element or somethin', right?” Applejack went on. “Now I dunno if it is or not, but if some ponies think it is, I don't think it's gonna be that much bigger than these.”
“But nopony had seen the elements until we found them in the old castle,” Fluttershy said from her perch. “Maybe they weren't sure how big the other elements were when they said it was one of them.”
“There's pictures of 'em, ain't there?” Applejack went on.
“Yes, but Twilight's book about them is pretty rare... isn't it?” Fluttershy said. “I don't really know how many other ponies even really knew about the elements before we found them. Most ponies didn't even really know who Nightmare Moon was outside of a holiday and a strange pattern on the moon.”
“Poor old Luna,” Discord added with a sigh. “Banished away for a thousand years, and when she came back, nopony even remembered her.”
“Hold up a sec,” Twilight interrupted, coming to a stop.
The others all turned to her, the conversation instantly forgotten. Twilight had her head lowered as she frowned to herself. Her ears twitched as she shifted her hooves from one to the other, feeling the ground.
“Is something wrong, Twi?” Applejack asked after a few moments.
“Do you guys feel that?” Twilight answered without looking up.
The others all looked around the area, tilting their heads for any stray sounds and pawing nervously at the ground.
“I can't feel anything,” Rarity said after a while.
“Not sure I do either,” Applejack added, turning back to Twilight.
Twilight turned her attention away from the ground to look at the rest of the group. “None of you feel that?” When they shook their heads, she turned back to frown at the space between her hooves.
“What is it, Twilight?” Rarity asked.
“I don't really know,” Twilight said as she slowly started to walk again. “There's something rumbling in the ground. It kinda feels like a pulse. Or some kind of energy.” She looked back at them, speeding up slightly. “Come on. I think I can follow it to where it's coming from.”
The group fell in step behind her as Twilight started her slow tracking for the source of the pulse. Sometimes she would stop and make a u-turn, always heading for where the pulse felt strongest. After a while, Discord reached up and lifted Fluttershy off his head. He put her down and gave her an absentminded pat on the head before he moved to walk beside Twilight, watching her as she frowned at the ground.
“Getting warmer?” He asked as he fell in step with her.
“Kinda,” She answered, turning her head slightly to give him a sideways look. “You don't feel anything?”
“Well, I am feeling a bit hungry,” Discord said thoughtfully.
“You know that's not what I mean,” Twilight sighed, turning back to glare at the ground.
Discord shrugged. “I'm afraid I'm not feeling much beyond that, actually.”
He watched her in silence for a while as she continued her slow, swaying path to the source of something only she could feel. Discord cleared his throat.
“You know, if I were to try and get some nosy intruders off my lawn-”
“Celestia's lawn,” Twilight corrected him, not really paying attention.
“Fine. Celestia's lawn then. Regardless, if I were to try and get some annoying interlopers out of the way without immediately turning them into a collection of houseplants, I'd see if I could lure them to a playing field more in my favour.”
“Like a hedge maze?” Twilight said, still focusing on her task.
“Yes, Exactly!” he grinned widely with a nod. “But of course, I'm not sure our dear Blue Bird friend has the patience or grace of skill to neither grow or take care of a maze... but I'm not so sure we should let that convince us he wouldn't try a few other tricks to, quite literally, lead us astray.”
Twilight stopped at this and looked up at him. He had laced his fingers, putting his forefingers against his mouth with a wide smile and large, innocent eyes.
“You think it's a trap?” Twilight asked, turning to face him properly.
“I'm sure I wouldn't know,” Discord flapped a claw at her, as if to wave away the issue. “I'm afraid so many years of distrust and disdain has made me rather wary of sudden turns of good luck. Much like suddenly feeling an energy ripple telling us where to go.” He eyed her curiously, waiting to see her reaction to this.
Twilight gave a hard frown, thinking it over with a soft noise.
“But why is Twilight the only one who can feel anything?” Rarity asked, walking closer. “I may not be an alicorn, but I am a unicorn and I can't feel any sort of pulse or whatever it's suppose to be.”
Discord shrugged at this, “Personally, I like to single Twilight out of your little club of harmony and friendship. Partly because, being the element of magic, she's not exactly lacking in the power department. Of course mostly it's because her disproportionate reactions to things are endlessly fun! But I think the first reason might be one others out in the world may share with me.”
“He's got a point,” Applejack said. “A muddled, rather rude point, but a point all the same.”
“Why thank you,” Discord widened his grin at her but she ignored him.
“Maybe... maybe we should look for the stone somewhere else,” Fluttershy mumbled, looking around skittishly before she moved to hide herself against Discord's tail. “I mean... what if Discord's right? What if we're just getting led to a trap?”
“Aw, but if we don't go this way we'll never know what's giving off Twilight's weird psycho waves!” Pinkie argued, Tail waving back and forth eagerly. “Besides, if it's magic psycho waves, why can't it be the evil rock thingy? There's not a lot of other stuff around that gives off magic anymore, right?”
“That Blue Jay pony could have left us a magic trap or ward of some kind,” Twilight said, although it sounded more like she was thinking out loud than arguing with Pinkie.
“Wouldn't it have been better to set one up right at the town's entrance, then?” Rarity asked. “Why create such an elaborate trap if you just want to keep ponies away? It seems like an awful waste of energy for something simple.”
“Unless he's toyin' with us,” Applejack grumbled.
Twilight thought for a moment longer before she looked up, seemingly coming to a conclusion.
“Hey Rainbow Dash, are you hearing all this?” She called.
“Yeah I heard ya,” Rainbow answered, landing back down. “It's kinda hard not to being only a couple of feet above everypony.”
Twilight gave a nod. “In that case, what do you think? Do you see anything like a trap ahead of us?”
“I'm too close to the ground to see over these houses,” Rainbow said. “From what I can see, it doesn't look like anything interesting's ahead at all, but I really can't tell.”
Twilight nodded again. She seemed to be struggling to come to a decision. Eventually she sighed to herself and said, “Do you think you could fly up just high enough to see if there's anything dangerous up ahead? Not too high, we just need to know if this is leading us into a trap.”
“I'm on it!” Rainbow said with a wide smirk, clearly happy to get into the sky.
She flew up above them before going into a hover, doing quick, short darts in every direction as she looked everything over. The others waited in silence for her to come back down, eyes and ears listening closely for anything that might sound like something approaching them. It was not long before Rainbow Dash flew back down.
“I dunno if it's a trap or not,” She said once she landed, “But there's definitely something weird up ahead.”
“Weird how?” Twilight asked.
“Well, it's kinda hard to really describe,” Rainbow said, sitting down on her haunches and indicating with her forelegs as she spoke. “It's kinda like a really big bubble, but it's on the ground, right in the middle of what I think is a courtyard or whatever? But it's just sitting there in the middle of it going all 'whom whom whom', you know what I mean?” She looked up to make sure Twilight did. Getting a nod from her, Rainbow went on. “And there's like these water ripple things on the ground around it but it's not actually in water. I dunno. It's like glowing with this really white light.”
“Pretty sure that's what we're lookin' for,” Applejack said.
“Did you see a stone of any kind?” Twilight asked.
“I dunno, I couldn't see anything like that around the place, but the bubble thing seemed more important than anything else. Maybe if I got closer I could look for it I guess.”
“No. I think maybe, we should go see what this bubble is all about,” Twilight said, rubbing her chin with the back of a hoof. “It sounds a bit like a magic shield, but I've never heard or felt a shield give off a pulse before. Did you see anypony around?”
Rainbow shook her head. “Place looked pretty deserted, but if I gotta guess, I'd say that creep's hiding around here somewhere. If I were him, I wouldn't want a giant throbbing bubble out of my sight for long.”
“Right. Then we're heading for this bubble,” Twilight turned to the others. “Keep your eyes open everypony, and don't get too close. We don't know what this thing could be.”
As the group made various noises of agreement, Twilight turned her attention back to the feeling of energy under her hooves, leading them towards its source.
Rainbow Dash's description of the bubble turned out to be pretty accurate. In the middle of what looked to be the town centre, like an overturned fishbowl, sat a throbbing ball of light. It didn't exactly make the noises Rainbow Dash used to mimic its throbbing, but there was a soft, held note over the sound of everything else around them. It was not that it was loud as it did not technically make much noise at all, but the high pitched sound seemed to take up all space in the town centre, like a background trill you could not find in a large room, or the ringing of your ears that happened for no reason.
There were no signs of any pony interference with the bubble. No open spellbooks, or enchantment circles or threads of magic connecting it to anything else. It just seemed to exist, completely free of anything around it. The only thing that had a connection to the glowing ball was a small shape in its centre. The speck of black contrasted sharply with the white light around it as it hovered a few feet above the ground, spinning lazily in place but never once shifting from its position. It looked like it was made from onyx or obsidian, cut into the shape of a triangle with polished, rounded edges. In its centre was a perfectly round hole. If it had been an ordinary gem in a jewelry store, it might have been considered quaint, but pretty. Or perhaps the word was elegant.
The group stared as one by one their attention was drawn away from the large encompassing bubble to the more important dark triangle spinning inside it.
“That's gotta be it, right?” Rainbow Dash said, landing beside Twilight, her eyes locked on the object in front of them.
“Looks like it,” Twilight nodded weakly.
“Wow. It really kinda does look like an Element of Harmony, doesn't it?” Pinkie piped up, “D'you think they're right? What if it is another Element?! I mean, it really does look like one, right?!”
“It's not,” Discord said.
Pinkie turned to him with a pout. “Aw, why d'you have to spoil the fun so quickly? You don't think there's even the teensiest, tiniest possibility it might be another Element?”
Discord was only half listening. There was a hint of confusion on his face, but otherwise he wore a hard frown, looking dead serious.
“It's not an element, I can assure you that,” he repeated, not looking away from the stone.
“Discord?” Fluttershy looked up at his face as she leaned against him. “What is it?”
Twilight tore her gaze away to look at him as well.
Discord's frown flickered ever so slightly.
“I... don't know,” he said slowly. “But... I've seen it somewhere before... once... a long time ago...”
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No, don't do it! IT'S A TRAP!
Is remorseful about a long chapter when people would be more upset with a short one..Ill take an 8000 word chapter over a 1000 one thank you very much.
enjoyed this immensely
*vibrating with excitement*
Just spotted the one typo ;
I'm move to tears - moved
Another great chapter. Don't mind the length at all, I like the odd few longer chapters. The entire second half was so .... ominous, really giving of this feeling of dread with so many warning flags. Next Chapter ASAP please
Yess! I've been anxiously waiting and I may have screamed in excitement when I noticed a chapter was added haha. I can't wait to know what's going to happen next!! I'm so hooked on this story, it's just perfection. I'm so on edge right now though haha, you left us on such a cliff hanger. I'm so excited for the next chapter!
He shouldn't be capitalized.
Discord is so cute when he's in denial
Is that foreshadowing? Is Discord going to fall asleep and never wake up?
Why do I get the feeling that the sentence means so much more than that
mouth
The rainbow dash and discord part was pretty sweet, and I love the second part. Great story!
I may or may not have made a weird squeaking noise when I saw this fic had a new chapter.
But ooooo, I wonder what the deal with the stone is? Its shape reminds me of the stone thing from Coraline.
artfire.com/admin/product_images/thumbs/59992_product_133287769_4_thumb_large.jpg
I for one loved the length this chapter had to it. and that ending oooH! you make me want to keep tracking this story every time you post a chapter! I look forward to another in the future, but take your time and enjoy the story your weaving. ^^ I know i am.
They finally found the item that they was looking for, but the antagonist is not with it. I getting a suspicious vibe from the whole setup. I think Discord may be right about it being a trap.
On another subject, it is a warm sight to see Rainbow feeling sorry and regretful for poor Discord's condition. It is a sign showing that she is starting to open her heart to him.
C&Cs will be PM.
Update YAY! I'm pleased to come back to this story, you do great work. Don't stay away too long.
5311552
Perfect
Also man oh man, can't wait to hear this all come together!
I find Discords confusion about helping and nit helping people very intriguing. Half of me things he's being difficult on purpose, half of me thinks he is only just learning what its like to have someone care about you.
So much love for this!
Oh also, no apology needed! I love a big honkin' chapter! It certainly felt good to read. Never limit yourself on purpose. A good ling chapter beats an awkwardly split one! Let those character speak as much as they want to!
5319217 It's very simple really: imagine the potential one would possess if they lived forever in a universe as vast as ours.
Not to mention the seemingly realistic notion that infinite universes may be popping into existence on various planes and branes or whatever theory you go with.
People give into despair far too easily. Even that which could grant them endlessness beyond the scope of their comprehension they manage to turn negative with a flippant and irrational argument. They really need to get their serotonin levels checked.
dun dun duuuun!
its Discords ex wife!
ok another great chapter! and i cant wait for what might be the end game!
also was i the only one expecting Discord to get a little peck on the cheek as a thank you? XD
The 'r' should be capitalized.
This sentence bounces from past tense to present tense and back and the 'either' should be 'neither' or you can change the 'nor' to 'or'.
Interesting chapter and I can't wait for the next one.
Ok, so I finally managed to get caught up on this fic.
First off I have to say that I absolutely love this thing, the fic I mean. I won't say it's perfect, because nothing ever really is, but haven't noticed any real flaws while reading it. Seriously though, the premise is simple, and it has been done before, but the execution of it all amazes me. The pacing is perfect, it goes from high to low exactly when it needs to, I never feel like I'm missing anything, and I never feel bored reading it. The exposition and characterization are sublime, you're telling me everything I need to know about the story and characters in a way that makes it all that much more interesting; it's all very natural and, most importantly, it's subtle. I'm not even going to mention the ilustroy and choreography, it's all great.
Really, I could sit here forever singing you praises, but none of us have any time for that do we. I will say, however, that I notice that you seem to doubt yourself a lot in the authors notes. Normally, I would say to stop doing that and just to trust yourself, but to be honest it seems like you've found a winning formula with this thing. If it's not broken then there is no need to fix it, is there?
Just keep doing what you're doing, and I'll just keep on reading.
Cheers, Null
Intriguing, Discord's seen it before. I'll take that to mean that some of the lore if not all of it is at least partly correct.
Wonderful, as usual! I'm seeing some more hints that I was right about something... I hope so! I love your writing, no apologies needed, you have fabulous instincts for how long/short to make a chapter.
One thing though, the only grammar mistake I saw was that there is a double negative when you really don't want one:
"But of course, I'm not sure our dear Blue Bird friend has the patience or grace of skill to neither grow nor take care of a maze..."
It would need to be "either grow or take care of a maze". The way it is right now is saying that he doesn't have the skill to not grow a maze.
Keep being awesome, I can't wait to read the next chapter!
Hi. I haven't caught up yet ( I'm at chapter 12) but I wanted to comment on what an excellent job you are doing with storytelling here. I myself am a big mythology and legend buff and am quite impress with what you are weaving into the story. Its interesting and even if your mythology clashes with the cannon now established its still very well done and works really well as fantasy adventure story. I'll wait to give more detailed comments when I catch up.
I hope this story was not suspended
5487188
Pretty much. God-like power, but not a full deity, unless the setting calls anything in that general power range 'gods'
Although, I did come across a story a while ago, with Discord being the Grand Creator of Everything, and thereby God-Capital-'G' to Equestria. Delightful concept, poorly executed.
I believe Rainbow Dash had a moment of enlightenment!
*sigh* wish she would say that out loud in other stories too.
The thing is probably actually an egg for some sort of overlord daemon, it's absorbing the magic until it's hatching.
5460304 Not at all. I just had some real world things to deal with and then the Holidays. Just regular hangups like that
5486934 Aw dude, yeah D: I'll replace that 'Man'. You're totally right! Sorry about that.
Hey guys, Sorry for the delay
Just dropping a comment for those who might check back here every now and then. I've finally started working on this thing again. A new chapter should be up in a week or so, then I'm gonna try and work on it more actively again. 
We're close to the end, so hopefully there shouldn't be any more hectic hiatuses any more. Sorry for the wait, and thanks for being patient!
I'll be with you guys again soon!
5483247
Except you're missing something major here. She bore the Element of Laughter.
Either Luna's confusion over the concept of fun came from her failure to understand how what Twilight was describing could be fun, or it came from memory loss suffered from Nightmare Moon. But it is literally impossible for past-Luna to have been as humorless and serious as current-Luna is because she was the Element of Laughter. Celestia had Magic, Kindness and Generosity, and Luna had Laughter, Loyalty and Honesty.
5487188
You need to define god, though. How is a god different from a spirit? In Japanese, they're the exact same thing.
Discord is consistent with being a minor Greek-style god; Eris, the Goddess of Discord in the Greek myths, didn't do anything Discord might not have done. I tend to think Discord is not as immortal as Greek gods, but Norse gods aren't immortal, and Discord's abilities aren't inconsistent with stuff Loki might have done, either.
Discord is not a God god, but almost no gods belong on that tier; you basically have to be Yahweh to get a capital letter. I don't think Discord is the creator of anything, but Loki wasn't, Eris wasn't, Set wasn't, Coyote wasn't; creator gods are actually a lot more rare in mythology than you'd think.
They call him the spirit of disharmony, and I think that is accurate, but I also think it's accurate to call him the Equestrian god of chaos; he has god-like abilities and he's identified with a specific principle, the way a god is. Since, depending on the religion you're looking at, there might not be a difference between a god and a spirit, I don't know that we need to make the distinction.