Tales of Discord

by Moelogroc

Prologue

Twilight Sparkle walks through the Canterlot Statue Gardens, one statue in particular in mind. She finds the statue in the center of the hedge maze, with nopony else around. “Discord…” She approaches the Draconequus, the words of Princess Celestia coming to the forefront of her mind. “Discord is the mischievous spirit of disharmony. Before my sister and I stood up to him, he ruled Equestria in an eternal state of unrest and unhappiness.”

Twilight stands before the statue, looking into the mismatched stone eyes. “What were those times like? What did you do to those ponies so long ago? And why do none of my books talk about you?” She rears up on her hind legs, placing her front hooves on the statue. “Why are you so hard to find out about?”

How nice of you to ask, Twilight Sparkle.

Twilight steps back in surprise, falling over onto her back. “D-Discord!?” She stares at the statue, which remains motionless. “Calm down, Twilight. You’re just imagining things! That wasn’t him, he’s right there, encased in stone!” When nothing appears to contradict her claims, she sighs in relief, looking at the statue. Out of curiosity, she places a hoof on the statue, looking into its eyes. “Discord?”

Ah, there you are. That was rather rude of you, leaving me alone like that. And after wak-

Twilight drops her hoof, Discord’s voice cutting off as soon as she loses contact. “Oh no! I have to tell somepony! One of the Princesses, preferably! They’d know what to do!” She turns and gallops away from the statue, eyes wide with fear.

She teleports back to the statue, placing her hoof on it once more. “Alright, Discord. What do you want?”

Me? You’re the one with the questions, Twilight. I’m just the one with the answers.

“Answers? You can answer my questions?” Her eyes light up at the prospect of more knowledge, especially about Discord and his rule.

Yes, I can. But I won’t. Or rather, I will answer half of them.

“Only half? But I have so many!” She looks pleadingly at the statue, her eyes wide.

No, you had four. I'll answer two.

“What?! But I have more than four! I want to know everything!” She stamps her hoof against the ground.

You can’t always get what you want, dear Twilight. But if you try, sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need.

“Ugh… fine. My first question is-“

Ah ah ah, who said you get to choose the questions? I’ll only answer the ones I want to answer.

“But that’s not… oh, never mind. Fine, any information you can give me will help. As long as it’s reliable.” She sits down, keeping her hoof on Discord.

Twilight, would I lie to you? Well, yes. I would. But I won’t lie now. I’ll give you simple, straight answers. After all, you’re a simple and straight girl.

“I am not!” Twilight scowls at Discord.

Oh, fine. You’re not straight.

“Hey!”

ANYway… Your fourth question, “Why am I so hard to find about?”, is simple. Because Little Woona didn’t want anypony to find out about me. She began a massive cover-up operation to hide everything even remotely related to me. Which is sad, because I was in a lot of really good stories.

“Princess Luna? What about Celestia? Surely she would share her sister’s opinion?”

You don’t have a sister, do you? And don’t call me Shirley. As for Celestia, well, that answers your third question. “Why do none of your books talk about me?” Well, books can’t talk, silly. And as fr why I’m not in any of your books, it’s because you’re not looking in the right books.

“But, Princess Luna’s cover-up…” Twilight tilts her head in confusion.

Celestia kept a copy of a book for herself. She would later put it away in storage, because she didn’t read it, or something like that. I don’t know how her mind works. The point is, there is a book out there that tells all about my time in Equestria. Would you like to see it?

“A book? Yes, I would! Oh, please, show it to me!” Twilight hops up and down in excitement, unintentionally running her hoof up and down the statue’s stomach.

Oh, a little to the left… right there! Ah, that feels good…

Twilight sits down abruptly, her whole face turning beet red.

Aww… Now, the book. I don’t have it.

“You don’t? But… how can I read it if I don’t know where it is?” She looks at Discord in despair.

By going to where it is. I know where it is, even if I don’t have it. There is a section of the Royal Library, a section more off-limits than the Startwirl the Fuzzy section.

“Starswirl the Bearded.”

Whatever. You need a key to get in, and there’s only one copy of the key. Luckily, the monk who guards the room has it.

“A monk? Seriously?” Twilight narrows her eyes at Discord, doubting him.

Yes, seriously. Just get the key and open the door. The book is the only thing in there. You can read to your heart’s content. Oh, but lock the door behind you. It’s off-limits to all but the Princesses or the monks. So, you won’t be allowed to be there.

Twilight looks at Discord, weighing her options. She lowers her hoof, not wanting Discord to influence her decision. After a moment of thought, she puts her hoof on the statue again, a desperate gleam in her eye. “Okay. Where is this forbidden section?”

****

“Oh, hey Twilight! Anything I can help you with?” The Guard smiles at Twilight, who glances around nervously.

“Oh, yes, actually! I was just- hey, what’s that around your neck?” Twilight smiles widely, a little too widely for the Guard’s comfort.

“Huh? Oh, it’s just a necklace. A key-shaped necklace. What did you need?” The guard grins nervously, looking around. Nopony else is in sight.

“Oh, I was just looking for a copy of the ‘Alchemical Encyclopedia Vol. III’. Do you have one?” She looks at the Guard innocently, twiddling her hooves.

“Oh, uh, sure.” He looks at the directory behind him. “It should be in-“ He looks at the directory, his eyes becoming hearts. “I never realized how much I loved this piece of paper...” He doesn’t notice the key float off his neck, surrounded by a purple aura. “Oh, Dewey Decimal System. Our love was never meant to be!”

Twilight runs off with the key, finding the hidden passage Discord told her about. “The ‘Want-It, Need-It’ spell. Works every time!” She enters the vault, a small circular room with just enough room for her to lay down with her saddlebags beside her. She closes the door, locking it and sealing herself within the vault. She finds the hidden compartment in the wall, removing a leather-bound tome from within. “Alright, Discord! Let’s find out what you did so long ago…”

She places the book on the floor in front of her, and begins to read, her quill copying the words into a blank book she had brought with her.

Comments

[neutralmilk]

You have sparked my interest. Track! Thumb! Etc!

Oh and nice Airplane reference in there