If Celestia knew how brain-numbingly, mind-twistingly boring it was to be frozen as a statue, she might have reconsidered her use of it as a “humane” way to deal with her rivals. Then again, maybe not, as Discord was pretty sure she wasn’t dumb enough to think that it was harmless. What do you expect to happen when the very embodiment of chaos is dipped in the weaponized essence of harmony anyway? Sweet dreams of fluffy bunnies and happily-ever-afters? Please. That was about as likely to happen as Tia's goody-four-shoes student throwing off her crown and declaring herself a villain!
The stone around him cracked. Discord’s attention was very suddenly drawn to the amount of magic that was being poured into his prison. A strong stone reversal spell, mixed with trace amounts of corrupted harmony magic… It was undeniably what he was feeling as it tore through the prison he was bound to. A sense of glee washed through him as he started to help it along, pushing against the stone, and allowing a peal of laughter to escape him as fresh air started to reach him once more. With one last burst of energy from the both of them, he burst with a whoop out of his confinements, and into the bright blue, oddly magically encased sky above. That could be addressed later, as could the cloaked figures floating above the bubble they appeared to be in. Right now, the only question he had, was who had deigned to save him.
“Well, speak of the devil.”
Twilight Sparkle, Celestia’s precious little student, stood before him. As she raised her head to raise a questioning eyebrow at the draconequues’ quite mutterings, Discord’s curiosity grew as he noticed how her fur was matted and her eyes dark and almost empty. The two stared at each other for a minute, he with a look of bemused fascination and surprise, while she seemed to stare at him like an interesting modern art sculpture that she was trying to wrap her head around. Not a word passed between them, before Twilight suddenly broke their little staring match to turn and walk away.
Discord blinked. This day was making less and less sense. The Element of Magic coming to save him? Canterlot under a class ten shield while some unknown enemy tried to find a way in? Were those wedding bells he heard being prepared? Yep, today made no sense what-so-ever.
It was marvelous.
“You know that isn’t very polite, Twilight Sparkle. Appearing out of nowhere and waking me up without so much as a good morning? Really. I thought your manners were better than that!”
Discord’s grin grew a little as the unicorn mare stopped at his words. He had always found the ponies that Celestia took to be her students to be quite worthy of his interest, and Twilight was no different in that regard. She had, however, been the first one he had chance to meet face-to-face, and perhaps that was the reason why she had become the most fascinating of them all. And now in this topsy-turvy upside down nonsensical day, she was proving herself every bit worth that fascination.
It had taken a little over a minute, but Twilight finally decided to respond to Discord’s jest. His smile slipped a little to be replaced with a hint more confusion as she turned slowly, as if it was too heavy to move, to look over her shoulder at him. Was that pain in her eyes?
“Good morning, Discord.”
She spoke them with such quiet serenity that she sounded nearly hollow. Or perhaps, Discord wondered, she’s so hollow that everything falls to silence. The thought was absolutely ridiculous. What could the unicorn mare that had it all have to grieve? Then again, what wasn’t ridiculous about today? Besides, as upside-down as today was, even he found it hard to believe that she who was practically the perfect ponification of logic would just randomly get it into her head to free the draconequues that had tried his best to drive her to despair. No, there was a reason to all this, and he realized with near epiphany like suddenness, that he had to know what it was.
“Hmm, perhaps morning is a bit of a stretch-” Discord said, giving a long stretch himself, as if to punctuate his statement. He yawned magnificently, before scratching his chin with faux absent-mindedness as his eyes followed the once again retreating figure of his rescuer. “And perhaps it being good is as well.”
Twilight raised an eyebrow again as Discord settled in to glide beside her as she walked. “Do you need something?”
Discord tried to match her look of curious indifference. “Oh, just pondering what could possibly possess the lovely Miss Sparkle to make her free the Dreaded Draconequues of Chaos.”
“I realized it wasn’t right for you to be locked up like that.”
“Oh I see, I see, it wasn’t ri-” Discord stopped mid-nod to double-take at what Celestia’s student had just said, “Wait, what?”
“You and Celestia were friends once, right?” Twilight asked softly, as she continued to walk on, without even pausing or turning to look at his dumbfounded expression.
“Well, yes, but that was a very long time ago- We were barely your age! Why-”
“It’s lonely, isn’t it?”
Discord’s look of confusion only grew as he stared at the back of the lilac mare that had just interrupted him with the oddest question he had ever been asked. Twilight had stopped walking now, and was just standing a few feet from the exit of the Canterlot Statue Gardens with her back to him and her shoulders shaking almost imperceptibly.
“What?” He seemed to be using that word a lot today.
“In the statue like that. It’s lonely, right? Lonely, and cold? Without anyone being there to hear you, or for you to speak to? Just you and your own blasted dark thoughts about what went wrong, or what happened… Or why the one person you trusted the most, who you always thought would be there for you, wasn’t?” Twilight’s voice was nearly cracking now, “O-or about how the ponies you thought would always understand you,
“Turned out to never have understood you at all.”
They had said that last line together. Twilight jerked around so fast to look behind herself that she had nearly tripped over her own hooves. Her eyes quickly met the oddly still figure of Discord, who was looking at her with a new look of understanding.
“Yes, that’s quite it exactly, Miss Sparkle…” He said softly, a bitter smile passing across his features. With an almost dark chuckle he flew forward to glide beside her once again, and she gave him a bitter smile of her own as he sighed. “That’s quite it exactly.”
The two walked together in silence. The gardens passed out of view as a different path was stepped onto, this one winding down and around the back of the castle. It was surprisingly empty of other ponies, who, on a normal Sunday, would be swarming these back paths to enjoy the serenity of the palace gardens. It wasn’t as if Discord minded the lack of an audience at this moment, but rather that he was curious as to where they had all gone. A different question was burning in his mind, right now, however.
“So what happened between you and your friends?”
Twilight looked up at him with a glare so spectacularly dark that he nearly burst out laughing.
“Oh come now, Twilight, it’s quite obvious that something happened- You can’t blame this old coot for simply dying to know what it was, can you?”
Twilight looked away, her eyes dimmed. “…It doesn’t matter. At least, not anymore.”
Discord hummed, noting her reaction. He had a pretty good idea of what occurred anyway. After all, it was only natural for ponies to underestimate quite how well a simple “statue” could hear.
“What happened between you and Celestia?”
He probably should have seen that question coming. But then again, perhaps… Discord looked down, meeting Twilight’s mildly curious and already so-understanding gaze. Yes, she already had a pretty good idea as well, now didn’t she?
“It doesn’t matter anymore, now does it?” He asked softly, and she nodded with the quiet and bitter smile that hung between them.
“No, it doesn’t.”
Yes, Discord had lost Celestia. All his games, all his tricks and trials she and Luna had outwitted. In the end, it hadn’t mattered that the three had been friends for decades past, when she had become Princess, and he Chaos, it had all ceased to matter. In that moment of battle for Equestria, they were enemies, and perhaps had been for a long time before. It was then that things had changed, it was then that the Elements of Harmony had aligned with the alicorns, and it was then that everything he had ever wanted had been pulled eternally out of his reach. Yes, Discord had lost Celestia… But her student, her precious, beloved student? Celestia had made her first mistake in the chess game they’d been playing for nearly a millennia now- She had turned her eyes from her queen, who was now wandering lost and broken. Her lovely little queen, who had wandered straight to him.
Yes, Discord had lost Celestia, but her student? Her student, or rather, her little Twilight- Yes, she’d be all his... Now wouldn't she?
Well.
Shit.
This just went dark. Er. Darker.
~Skeeter The Lurker
3613046
How the buck do you read that fast O.O
Even I can't do that...
My god is this a good story! Yay for AU Twi and Discord!
3613052
I see and I like? I devour. Fast.
~Skeeter The Lurker
Discord free so soon? Depressed Twilight? Thoughts of plans and most likely Chaos to ensue? I love it! Keep up this good work.
3613066
Fair enough- I'm still impressed though XD
keep up the good work. that is all.
So good :3, moar :DD
I saw Discord in the tags and wondered how he'd come into play. Interesting.
Man, that was sooo goooooood. Hate to be a diltch but, in how long, an aproximate estimate of a guess of course, will the next one be ready?
Oh... Dear. Things have just gone from bad to worse, not just for Canterlot but for all of Equestria. I don't read a lot of tragedy, but this one has my full attention for some reason. Keep up the great work
3613206
The next chapter is 90% done, so whenever I have time to sit down and finish it... It'll be at least a couple days.
This will not end well for anyone.
May Discord rain hot tea from the sky and bring Equestria to ruin.
The ponies shall weep and moan begging release from his torment.
The royal sisters fall from their tower, the Elements of Harmony forever shattered.
Somehow I get the feeling that Discord is gonna say something like this to Twilight in order to fully get her on his side:
Haha, bravo on a twist I wasn't quite expecting. And how it will be amazing to see the fallout from here. You know, in the fallout shelter designed for the tactical magical nukes.. But bravo!
New chapter? And it's awesome?
Have this:
Sweet celestia
I sense a bit of shipping coming up.
Me gusta
Have me hooked. Can't wait to see where this goes
3613052 Trifle not in the ways of Skeeter, for they are confusing and not for our mortal minds.
Poor Chrysalis...
This earned my interest, my like and my fave, excellent job.
Eta to next update? Don't mean to be a diltch bag, just a question. Riddled with love, and loved with riddles. Which is to say are you dead, and if yes how dead? Like super hero dead, or just super villain dead?
Love
Black
3772423
"Got laid off and is having some RL struggles" dead?
Which is to say, not dead at all, just stressed out and unable to write for the time being. The sad part is, i only have a page left to write for the next chapter, so i could probably finish it in just an hour if I could only get my brain working. Hopefully that'll be soon, but, well, I'm not holding my breath.
Pinkamena had it spot on...
Twilight doesn't know how to handle a bad break in relations. That's the whole point. It's not that she is right in freeing Discord, she just doesn't know how to respond after being shunned by everypony.
Very interesting observation.
I like where this story is going. Apparently you're somewhat busy, so I won't press too hard, but...
...any new info on that next chapter?
3926197
Not really, no. I'm just really burnt out at the moment. I was so determined not to let my readers hang on this story and yet... *sighs* oh well. That's life for you I suppose.
3934888
reactiongifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/joey-shrug.gif
That's alright. While it's good to practice punctuality with stuff like this, it's ok to remember every now and again that this is something you're doing for fun. Realistically, your readers don't really owe you anything. So while it's definitely in your best interests to be courteous to your readers, I think it's always far more important to take time to reestablish yourself when you need to, especially if it's for something that absolutely requires your attention, such as irl circumstances. If you don't first deal with that stuff properly, then your overall writing quality will surely suffer from it sooner or later, and nobody will be happy with that. Especially not you. And trust me, if your readers are really worth the effort you put into bringing forth new chapters in a timely manner, they will understand when you need a break.
Regardless, I don't doubt that they're still anxiously awaiting to see what you've got coming up next. I know I am. But I'm also sure that whenever it arrives, it won't disappoint. So for now I'm alright with waiting just a bit longer.
"You used to be friends once, right"... You might want to explain how Twilight reached this conclusion. There's no real evidence of it prior to his agreeing. Was it something Celestia said? Something familiar in the way they bickered? What?
Can you say "most obvious scheme ever?"
I find the basic concept of this chapter ludicrous – I can't imagine Twilight freeing Discord for any reason, even under this level of duress – but beyond that I am very interested in what's going to happen next. I was going to gripe about how there's no way Twilight could free Discord on her own, but given that this has been a decidedly non-harmonious day, I imagine he'd be a lot stronger and the seal a lot weaker, so maybe it's plausible.
Still, this decision feels a little... contrived.
Wow, to do that... she must be really hurting. Like, hell on earth hurting.
I don't think a better name for this chapter is son of madness/chaos not the daughter one.
5238082
Oh it hurts morw then you can imagine
4474311
Or it could be Celestia one day did something that drove Discord to broke heart and then madness.
I can totally understand where their mutual sympathy comes from.
After all, Darkness beseeches Darkness.
The broken shun the light that play games over their faults, and seek the unjudging shade of the shadows, where not even the truth or light dare to tread.
For, in the shadows lies another truth, a colder, more cynical truth that does not perform dances in the Court of Candor, but strikes home with the might of an executioner's axe, slaying innocence and dispelling naievity without abandon, destroying that which needs to be corrected for the sake of equillrium.
Oho, no. Dear sweet Celestia has just cast away her Queen on the board, straight into the hands of the Dark Jester of Truth. And he...he can really swing an axe~
Would Discord even bother to help Celestia against the changelings, or would the both of them fall victim to his antics, alongside his queen?
9371548
OH MY GAWD!! THAT WAS SO DEEP... and sorta dark... I love it
9108000
i imagine like tia did with luna after discord, she became enthralled and drowned in the limelight. conforming to social norms/expectations. social norm doesn't allow for something like iscord. it is... uncouth/ghastly so she adhered less and less to discords brand of fun. and kept up her mask more and more. constantly adhering to what was accepted.
headcanon, don't take seriously. but give this type of conformism a couple decades, and it eventually becomes the norm instead.
And now we have Styg... Sorry. Pony of shad... No, still doesn't work... Help me out here. What do we call Twilight, who sought an alliance with Discord after being betrayed?
Well.... Twilight is...broken? That's the only word I could describe of what Twilight feels right now, sadness would be a huge understatement.