What Bound Them

by Headless

22: What Broke Them

No one spoke for what felt like an eternity after that. No one even moved.

Then, slowly, Compass became aware of a low grating sound, like two pieces of jagged metal being scraped together. The mass of scales that she had been half-hiding behind began to move. Spike was attempting to haul himself to his feet.

It wasn't a simple thing. One of his wings was still pinned beneath his torso, and the other shifted in a way that had to be excruciating. She couldn't tell the extent of his injuries - his scales were too thick for that - but she knew that there had to be at least a few broken bones. He tried to stand anyway.

"Spike, no," she said, reaching out to set one hoof against his arm. "Don't. You'll just hurt yourself."

The dragon ignored her. Its one good eye was fixed on Discord, and there was a smoldering, volcanic light in it that told her he wasn't listening.

"Why?" His voice was a molten rumble of rising anger. "Why would you say that to her?"

Discord watched as Spike struggled to right himself and frowned. "Really?" It wasn't really a question. "You don't understand? I said it because it's true. You know that better than anypony, Spikey-Wikey." There was a slight barb to the last two words, but it was followed by a heavy sigh and a snap of mismatched fingers. "Allow me."

Compass felt the space in front of her fold in upon itself for a moment, and then Spike was standing upright. It wasn't a particularly stable upright - his right foreleg was held off the stone gingerly, and the rest shook visibly with every second - but it was upright nonetheless. His wings hung useless on either side of his body. She could see that the broken one was twisted into what had to be an even more painful position now, but Spike ignored them.

He heaved himself forward awkwardly, trying to leap at Discord. He didn't even make it halfway before gravity caught him and pulled him back down to the floor, but the roar he let out while making the attempt was still enough to shake the rafters.

Discord merely sighed and snapped his fingers again, leaving Spike suspended in mid-fall. "Really?" he said again. "Is that what this has come to? Talk about shooting the messenger. Or baking them alive, as the case might be."

He slid out of his chair, which vanished behind him with a quiet pop, taking his bathrobe and glass with it. Then he folded his arms over his chest again and gave Spike an exasperated look, apparently unperturbed by the dragon's writhing and continued death glares.

"Come now, Spike," he said, sounding mildly annoyed. "If our relationship was going to come to blows, it would have done so a long time ago. And besides, it's not as though you can actually hurt me. This is why it was so important to tell her that. You ponies are all so predictable, even when you're dragons. You see something that hurts you and your first response is to try and hurt it back, no matter how valid its point. Even Fluttershy had her moments."

He turned his back and flicked his serpentine tail, and the space around Spike twisted again. When it cleared, the dragon was back to his normal size, with both of his wings tightly bandaged and bound to his back. The set looked surprisingly professional. "But I have never been one to hold a grudge," Discord continued lightly. "Except for all those times that I did. But that's beside the point."

The field of magic around Spike dissipated, and the dragon dropped heavily to the stone floor with a grunt of pain. He lay there for a moment, panting and glaring at the back of Discord's head, then said, "Then what is your point? Why would you hurt her like that?"

"Aside from the fact that it's true, you mean?" Discord gave Spike a disapproving look over his shoulder. "Because your precious princesses never learning that lesson for themselves is the reason things are the way they are. I had hoped that Miss Faithful Student might be intelligent enough to figure out the consequences of not accepting that. If she had, this whole mess could have been avoided."

Compass saw Spike trying to force himself upright again and moved forward to set her hoof on his shoulder. "Don't," she said quietly. "Lie still. You're hurt."

The dragon twisted his head around sharply to look at her, and she flinched involuntarily. He was still glaring, and the raw anger in his eye was enough to make her blood run cold. But she didn't look away, and, slowly, Spike's expression began to soften.

He took a few deep breaths, then looked back to Discord. "Fine," he said. "Fine. You say that your lesson was important. Why? How was hurting her like that supposed to help her? What happened while you were locked up in there? Where is Twilight?"

"Oh, so you're willing to listen now." Discord spun on one leg and spread his arms wide, grinning again. "Wonderful. I had so hoped that you would see unreason eventually. But the easiest way to get you to understand is to show you."

There was another flare of pain from Compass' horn as Discord warped causality around himself once again. When it faded, he was standing in front of a large white canvas that was suspended in midair. A few feet away was a small double-reel film projector.

Discord flicked it on with one claw. "Now, I wasn't there for quite a bit of this," he said, waving his stubby arm, "but what sort of lord of chaos would I be if I let something like the space-time continuum get in my way?"

"Just get on with it, Discord," growled Spike.

"Now, now, hold your small horses," said the chimera, waving a finger. "It has to warm up first. It's an antique, you know. Peeping through time doesn't come quickly."

As he said it, a flickering, unsteady beam of light began to shine from the projector and onto the makeshift screen. Discord gave a satisfied "ah" and, quite suddenly, was sitting in a lounge chair with a bucket of popcorn in his claws. "Here we are," he said brightly. "This is one of my favorites."

And the film began to play.

---

A unicorn with a coat so deeply blue that it was almost purple sat atop a grassy hill. Overhead, the stars shone brightly, reflected in her eyes.

For a long time, she simply watched them, looking up at the moon. Then there was the soft sound of approaching hoofsteps on the grass, and she looked around.

"Luna." The white alicorn approaching her gave a soft, somewhat hesitant smile. "I was hoping I would find you here."

Luna said nothing. She simply watched in silence. After a while, the alicorn sighed and lowered herself onto the ground beside her.

"I wanted to talk to you," she said. Neither of them made eye contact. Instead, they both turned their gazes upward, to the stars. "About my decision."

The unicorn frowned. "I do not want any more apologies, Celestia. You have said enough of them already. None of them change the fact that you did this to yourself without even speaking to me beforehand."

Celestia's wings spread. They didn't go far; the motion seemed to be automatic rather than a conscious effort on her part. She still didn't lower her eyes from the sky. "I know," she said. "I'm not here to apologize again. I already told you why I chose this. Why it's necessary. I came to ask you something."

Luna sighed quietly, then, finally, turned to look at her sister. Celestia was taller now, more graceful, and her mane flowed with a magic all its own. She hardly resembled the unicorn that Luna had grown up loving.

"What?"

Celestia frowned, and, with a soft rustle of feathers, settled her wings in against her sides once again. "I wanted to ask if you would join me."

Luna stared.

The alicorn plunged on quickly, as if she were afraid that her younger sister would cut her off and storm away if she didn't get it all out at once. "I found a way to cast the transformation spell on you," she said. "You know how important this is. If nopony stops him, things will only get worse. And all the damage he's done already... we can fix it, Luna. We can do something that really matters. Together."

She looked away again and shook her head. "I don't want to do it alone," she finished quietly. "Not without my sister."

A moment later, Luna's forelegs were around her neck, and the unicorn was sobbing against her coat. Celestia blinked, looking astonished, then lifted her free leg to return the hug.

"I-I thought you want to leave me," Luna whispered through her tears. "When you d-didn't tell me what you were planning..."

"I never wanted to leave you," Celestia answered softly. "Never." She spread her wings and folded them around her sister, pulling her in close. "I didn't know if I would ever be able to find a way to cast the spell on somepony else. If I had told you that, you would have asked me to stop." She shut her eyes. "And I would have said yes. I love you, little sister."

"Then why?" Luna pulled her head back and frowned up at her sister, eyes still swimming with tears. "Why did you do it if you thought you would have to leave me?"

Celestia shut her eyes again. "Because the world needs somepony to protect it," she said. "And even if it hurts me to do it, even if it means leaving you behind, I cannot ignore that."

For a while, the two of them sat in silence. Then Luna nodded, slowly.

"I understand," she said. "I was just frightened that my sister had forgotten that I need her as much as everypony else does."

Celestia smiled. "Never. You are my sister, Luna. I will never stop loving you."

At that, the unicorn broke into an uncontrollable, childlike grin. "And I love you, sister," she said. "So long as you need me, I will be there."

The two of them looked back up to the night sky. "Together," Luna murmured, "we will do something that really matters."

---

Now it was day, and a light-blue unicorn with a white mane was seated on a small bench. Around her, exquisitely-kept topiary bushes in the shapes of various animals mingled with ornate birdhouses and marble fountains. In the distance, she could make out the glittering spires of Castle Canterlot.

The grandeur made her nervous. She felt out of place here. Her mane was frizzy and uncooperative nowadays, and her once-beautiful velvet cape was tattered and threadbare. She hadn't even considered wearing the hat.

"Trixie Lulamoon?" said a voice behind her.

Trixie jumped off the bench. When she turned and saw who it was that had spoken to her, she sank into a deep bow. "Y-your Highness," she stammered. "It's an honor."

Princess Luna sighed, but she was smiling, at least. She waved a hoof. "Please, stand," she said. "There is no need for such formalities. I did not call you here to speak as a princess."

Trixie picked herself up off the grass and dusted a few stray bits of dirt off of her hooves, then raised her head. She still looked nervous, but now there was curiosity in her gaze, as well. "Then why did you call me here, Your Highness?" she asked. "I'll be honest. I was expecting an extremely overdue lecture on that whole amulet thing."

Luna laughed quietly. "Well, that is, in a way, what I called you here for," she admitted. "But I have no intention of lecturing you." She stepped over to the bench that Trixie had so recently vacated, sat, and continued, "I simply want to talk, as one pony to another. And please, call me Luna."

The unicorn blinked, now looking entirely lost. "Er. If you say so, Your- Luna." She shifted uncomfortably on the spot, obviously unsure of what to say next. Eventually, she asked, "So what is it that you wanted to talk about?"

"Your dreams." Luna wasn't looking at her. The alicorn was staring off towards a particularly ornate topiary bush. It depicted a swarm of parasprites following a frizzy-maned earth pony. How the gardener had sculpted each of the dozen individual instruments into the bush, no one would ever know.

"My dreams?" Trixie blinked again. "What about them?"

Luna smiled gently again. "As Princess of the Night, it is my duty to watch over the dreams of all my subjects," she said, turning to face her visitor. "And yours have... interested me."

The magician swallowed hard, trying to keep the slight panic out of her voice as she asked, "Why?"

"Because," Luna said slowly, "they are very similar to my own."

Trixie gaped at her.

Luna just smiled again. "I know what it is like to spend every night alone," she said, her voice surprisingly gentle. "I know what it is like to be treated as somepony to be feared, tolerated due to another's mandate rather than actual friendship. And I know what it is like to live a life constantly overshadowed by another."

She stepped off the bench and took a few steps towards the unicorn. Trixie noted with some surprise that the princess seemed almost as nervous as she was.

"So I called you here to see if..." Luna frowned, took a deep breath, then finished, "If you were interested in being friends."

For a few seconds, Trixie just stared at her. Then she grinned.

"Friends? With a princess?" She nodded. "I think I'd be okay with that."

As if on cue, they both started to laugh. It was as much out of sheer embarrassment as it was of anything else, but they laughed nonetheless.

"So... 'constantly overshadowed', huh?" Trixie said, after a while. "I didn't know you felt that way about your sister."

Luna shrugged. "I love her dearly," she said, a note of sadness entering her voice. "But yes. It is true. But she is not the only pony whose life constantly overshadows my own."

The two of them set off into the gardens, walking side-by-side among the topiary bushes. Almost all of the prior awkwardness had vanished as Trixie said, "Really? Huh. I kind of thought being Princess of the Night would be a pretty nice thing."

"It is not all perfect," Luna admitted. She gave Trixie a crooked smile. "You are not the only one who sometimes feels jealous of Twilight Sparkle."

"Ha! Yeah." Trixie huffed slightly, blowing an errant strand of mane out of her eyes. "I mean, I don't plan on repeating the amulet thing any time soon, but it does suck reading all the news about her. Did you hear about last month, when she..."

---

Castle Canterlot was dark now. Luna stood on the balcony of her tower, looking up at the stars.

Normally, the sight of her handiwork filled her with pride. Tonight, though, the ponies in the streets below were still clearing away the remains of the funereal procession, and the memory of Spike's expression as he left for Ponyville was still fresh in her mind. She had arranged a handful of stars into a new constellation, shaped like a trio of diamonds, in memory of the mare they had buried scant hours before.

All she felt as she looked up at them was emptiness.

There was the sound of soft wing beats, and Celestia rose into view. The elder alicorn looked exhausted, both physically and emotionally. Luna knew that her sister had been fighting back tears just as hard as anyone else all throughout the ceremony.

"I can't sleep."

"I know." Luna looked back up to the stars, expression blank. "I expect that Cadence has also elected to refrain from rest for the night. She and her husband looked quite downcast when I last saw them. I expect that they will be spending the night in one another's embrace."

"Yes." Celestia lowered herself to the stone floor of the balcony, crossed her forelegs, and let out a long breath. "I don't think that anypony is going to sleep well tonight. Perhaps not for a long time."

Luna still didn't look down. Below, there were the soft sounds of Canterlot at night. A few late taxis made their way through the streets. Doors opened and shut. Occasionally there was something louder, but nothing that she hadn't heard before. Luna had stood guard over the night for centuries, and the sound of her city asleep was almost soothing to her during her vigil.

Tonight, though, it seemed wrong. The sheer normalcy of it was an affront to the enormity of what had happened. The world itself should have been in mourning.

"I do not look forward to visiting Spike's dreams," she murmured, almost to herself. "He was not ready for this."

Beside her, Celestia sighed and put her head down. "He would have lost her eventually," she said quietly. "We all knew it would happen. She was a unicorn, and he is a dragon. He'll lose all of them, eventually."

"Except Twilight," said Luna. Her voice came out a bit sharper than she had wanted it to. Celestia didn't seem to notice.

"Yes. Except Twilight."

The calmness of that voice, the pure gentleness of it, stirred something in Luna. It wasn't a pleasant something. She flinched at the familiar sensation and attempted to force the memories back down. Anger, fear, sorrow, jealousy; these were the enemy.

Worse, they were part of her.

She forced her tone to remain quiet and level as she asked, "Is that why you cast the spell on her? To spare him?"

Celestia gave her a confused look. "No. I made Twilight the way she is because we need her."

Despite herself, all Luna could think was that we should have been I.

Once again, silence reigned. Overhead, a few of the Lunar Guard flitted across the moon.

"What if we needed somepony else?" she asked, after a while.

Celestia shut her eyes. "Luna..."

"No, sister. Listen to me." The princess of the night finally tore her gaze away from the sky overhead and looked down at her elder, frowning heavily. Her eyes were brimming with tears, but her voice was steady, and she stood straight and tall. "You know of whom I speak. You know what I would ask for them. And you know why I ask it. But twice now, you have denied me."

She lifted a hoof and pointed to the diamonds in the sky. "If you do not do this," she said, "then one night, I will be forced to stand here and place her symbol in the stars. Perhaps that does not mean much to you, but I do not know if I can stomach that, sister. I have precious few friends among the ponies of Equestria, and I do not care to bury another of them as we have Rarity."

Celestia sighed again. Her eyes were still shut, her face tight and strained. Then, slowly, she stood.

"The answer is no, Luna," she said flatly. "It has been every other time you've asked, and it always will be."

"Why?" Luna hated to hear herself begging, but she couldn't stop it.

"Because," said Celestia, her voice becoming sharper as her eyes opened, "Trixie Lulamoon, for all that I believe she is a good friend to you, is not like Twilight Sparkle. She is self-centered, arrogant, manipulative, and dangerous. She has proven to be a danger to the citizens of Equestria in the past, and I do not trust her not to repeat such actions if given access to power like that."

Luna felt her muscles tense involuntarily, felt her body trying to curl in on itself like a filly attempting to escape the stern gaze of the schoolmaster. She lowered her gaze to the floor of the balcony and felt the tears slip down her cheeks.

Celestia sighed. "I'm sorry," she said. Her voice was gentler now. It cut all the deeper for it. "But we both knew the price when we set out on this path. That's why I asked you to come with me, Luna. I need someone that can stand by my side. I wanted it to be you."

There was a rustle of air as the elder alicorn stepped forward to embrace her. Luna shrank back, biting her lower lip and keeping her eyes downcast.

Celestia stood there for a moment, wings outstretched in the act of folding around her younger sister, then sighed and stepped back. "I'm sorry," she said again. "It isn't easy, I know. But... try to understand. Twilight was a special case."

There was no answer.

"I love you, Luna."

Her tears were dripping off her muzzle now, falling to the stone below. She couldn't bring herself to answer. A few seconds later, she heard the sound of wings fading into the distance, and knew she was alone once more.

In the darkness, illuminated only by the wan half-light of the stars overhead, Princess Luna raised her eyes to the diamonds she had placed in the sky and wept.

---

Celestia gradually became aware that there was somepony else in her bed.

Since assuming the mantle of Sun Princess, she had never found herself in need of a clock. Her innate magic told her that it was still well within Luna's time to be in charge of Equestria. That meant nopony could enter her bedroom while she rested.

She groaned. Without even rolling over or opening her eyes, she snapped, "What do you want, Discord?"

There was the sound of a page turning. Discord obviously had a book with him. That would also explain the fact that somepony had turned on her bedside table lamp. Even through her closed eyelids, she could see the yellow light that flickered from it.

"Hm?"

Oh, yes. Discord's voice. Nopony else could make a single syllable so infuriating. Celestia ground her teeth together, then said, rather more loudly, "What do you want?"

"Oh, of course. My apologies. I really should have explained myself before imposing." The draconequus shifted on the mattress, and Celestia felt the blankets being tugged away slightly. He was under the covers, less than two feet away, if she wasn't mistaken. The fact that his voice came from a slightly greater elevation than her own meant that he was sitting up, too.

She waited for him to continue, but he didn't. Eventually, she sighed, opened her eyes, and glared up at him. "I thought I told you to stay out of my bedroom unless invited," she grated.

Discord was, indeed, sitting next to her. He was wearing a pink nightcap with an equally-pink fluffy pom-pom in addition to his usual expression of self-satisfaction, and was holding a book entitled Murder On The Friendship Express.

"What?" he said, putting on a look of mock surprise. "You mean 'come see me any time' doesn't count as an open invitation? Well." He snorted, snapped his book shut, and frowned. "You do have my deepest apologies."

Celestia groaned again and draped one foreleg over her eyes. "I am trying to sleep," she muttered. "I know you want something. What is it?"

"Other than to spend time with you? Not much." Discord reached out and patted her shoulder with his lion paw. "I thought a bit of bonding time might do us both some good. Besides, I'd rather not have your sister rooting around in my dreams just about now."

The paw was still on her shoulder. She debated telling him to remove it, but decided that she would rather not deal with the half-hour sidetrack to the conversation that was sure to result in. Instead, she asked, "Bad dreams?"

"No, not at all," Discord said brightly. "In fact, they've been quite pleasant lately. Pinkie Pie features prominently, and upon having said that, I wish that I hadn't. Rather embarrassing."

Another groan. "Please don't tell me you're saying what I think you are."

"Oh, I know, it's awful." Discord sighed. "Sometimes, though, the alliteration just doesn't come."

There it was - the familiar sensation that her brain was dribbling out of her ears. And this was supposed to be her resting period.

"Just tell me why you're here, Discord," she grumbled. "I'm not in the mood for this."

"Well, honestly, I'm surprised you haven't taken to napping at other times as well," the chimera said. "I mean, letting her watch your dreams? It doesn't feel entirely safe at the moment."

Celestia lowered her foreleg and set her glare back into place. "What are you saying?"

Discord raised both of his mismatched arms, looking far too innocent. "Oh, well, you must admit that your sister has not been particularly sociable lately. How long has it been since she did anything other than sit up in her tower and stare at the sky? I'm just not comfortable having such a socially isolated pony potentially attempting to psychoanalyze my dreams."

"Luna is under a lot of stress," said Celestia flatly. "We all are. Running Equestria is not easy, Discord."

"I never said it was," answered the monster, lowering his arms again. "But then, you have somepony to confide in. Other than myself, I mean. Who does she have?"

Celestia narrowed her eyes. "My sister has me," she snapped. "She always has me. She knows that."

"Of course. Of course." Discord nodded. "Silly of me, really, to think otherwise. After all-" he broke into a wide, wicked grin "-we all know that you two have never so much as squabbled in the past. The perfect sibling relationship."

Slowly, Celestia lifted herself up on her forelegs, her glare growing even more intense as she brought her eyes up level with his. When she spoke, all the icy, detached disdain that she had learned from centuries of politics was brought to bear in two simple syllables.

"Get out."

"As you wish, m'lady." And, with a twist of space that made her eyes water, he was gone.

Comments

[TheMessenger]

Low blow Discord, you twisted bastard. I hope the story breaks him at some point.

You know, character development.

[Jet Lignite]

I believe Discord is really pushing his luck. Sooner or later it's going to run out, immortal or not.
Spike has a lot of pent up anger and other negative emotions. It is only a matter of time before he blows his top. Might even burn down everything in the process.

[Aura Zero]

In this story, I like Discord. He is really not doing anything but helping and telling it how it is. I find it dumb that they take offense to the things he said so easily.

[Headless]

3878907 That's the idea. Discord is, in essence, The Jester minus a bit of public goodwill. Because, hey, he might be right, but that doesn't mean you want to hear what he has to say - and since he's Discord, it's okay to treat it as if he simply meant to offend, right?

EDIT: Of course, it helps that he does intentionally deliver these things in a rather trollish manner most of the time, because, well, he's still Discord. But I'm just going to stop myself here. I could ramble on for pages and pages about Discord, because the possibilities his character offers, both within the show and in this story, are amazing, and the myriad ways his relationships with the other characters could shake out are all awesome.

But going much more into detail about how I, personally, choose to represent him for the purposes of What Bound Them would be getting into too much of "telling the audience how they should feel". So that's as much as I'm going to say, except to note that HEY GUYS TODAY'S CHAPTER MAY BE LATE

[Firedon]

3878257 It might seem like a low blow. Well, it is. But it's necessary. If only Celly had learned his lesson.
Also, it only occured to me now. Nothing of this has to be true, right? I mean, I know he's reformed and all that jazz, but the fact remains that if he wanted, he could always fool them all. All that they know of the past right now comes from him.

[Oak Stride]

"I thought I told you to stay out of my bedroom unless invited,"

Does this imply that there might be a time when Princess Celestia would invite Discord into her bedroom? That is wrong in so many ways

[MustacheMerlin]

4561828 I ship it.

[Admiral Q Ponyform]

Celestia, bad move, very bad move