Stargazers

by Astarea

Interlude 1 - New Moon

Stargazers

Interlude I - New Moon

a.k.a. Why Luna speaks Middle Equish in one episode.

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Discord, Knight of Disorder, Lord of Entropy, King of Confusion and God of Chaos was free. After over a thousand years of being trapped in stone, he was finally free! It was thanks to three random fillies and the weakening of the seal that was placed over him by the Elements! So random! So… chaotic!

The draconequus stretched his entire body, twisting it in a way that would make most creatures with a spine cringe in pain. With satisfaction, he snapped his clawed fingers. A soft, velvety couch appeared right behind him and he jumped onto it. It was time to plan for revenge.

Celestia would know very soon. He could feel her wards unraveling from the assault of his magic. In a few minutes they would dissolve and he would be free to go wherever he wished again. Now what to do…

He would need to disable the Elements. He could feel that they no longer responded to Celestia and her… sister! Aha! There was his target. If Luna kept to her previous schedule, she would be asleep now. Perfect time to strike!

Discord vanished his couch, turned himself invisible and floated into the palace, stepping through the doors as if they weren’t even there. To him they weren’t, of course. Reality bent in his wake as he floated through the almost empty corridors, inflicting minor pranks upon the guards and putting suggestions of chaotic acts into the minds of servants and maids.

One thing surprised him. There were portraits, sculptures and murals of Celestia everywhere… But where were Luna’s? The younger alicorn always considered herself a patron of the arts, so the lack of any kind of creations depicting her was unsettling. Ah. Perhaps she hoarded art in her rooms just like Celly hoarded sweets in her bedside hidey-hole.

Arriving at the moon-adorned double doors of Luna’s rooms, he snapped his claws again, bending the wards placed by the Moon Princess. He entered silently, with his tuba prepared to sound- No! Bad mind! He needed to stay quiet! The tuba vanished as he willed it away.

Now, what to do with little Lu? Turn her into stone? Nah. That would be unoriginal, albeit very ironic. Change her into an earth pony? Or perhaps a different creature altogether? A human perhaps? He decided against that action too, considering it would fuel fantasies for the readers…

After a few minutes of thinking in silence, while around him bubbles with random effects popped in and out, Discord had an epiphany. What was Luna’s greatest fear? The lack of communication and understanding between her, her sister and her ponies.

Perfect! With that, the draconequus snapped his fingers once again, changing Luna’s thought processes so she would speak and think in Middle Equish, not in the Late Equish language that the world has been using for the past two thousand years. He also restored her normal appearance, since for some reason she looked like a small filly. Perhaps he was ruining Celestia’s prank on her sister? ‘Excellent’ Discord thought as he rubbed his paws together. This would cause some major chaos.

Now, he only needed to hide those pesky Elements and twist the bearers and the world would be his playground again! The draconequus vanished, not leaving a trace after himself.

Unseen by him, Luna’s eyes snapped open, her normal irises replaced by dragon-like slits. Two kinds of laughter mixed in the castle. The insane chortle of a mad draconequus and the sinister laugh of a newly awakened Nightmare.

Author's Note:

A bit of a perspective change.

If you are wondering why Luna didn't speak Modern Equish again after Discord was resealed.
Well, she did, but the chaos magic lingered for a bit, long enough for Luna to relearn it from Twilight.
Mind you that Luna didn't know anything about modern practices, no matter which language she spoke.

As to why her appearance hadn't reverted when he was defeated. Well, in this case this was a positive change for Luna and the Elements only got rid of unharmonious effects.