A Recollection Of Memories

by Rutilus.Luna

A Tale of Two Fillies, or My First Lesson With Madness

Nopony knew quite what to say for a while. The letter had stated that starting next week I was to join Discord every other day in order to learn about chaos and how to properly spread it amongst the world. The same week two fillies were going to be moving into my home. Two fillies wanted by Discord.

I was excited to learn chaos though. As an earth pony I had always been fascinated by magic and Discord's brand of magic was a unique one as far as I was told. My lack of horn might cause problems although Discord had met me. He knew I didn't have magic of my own. Maybe he would give me some? It seemed like it would be within his abilities. Only time would tell however, and time told me that I had an entire week ahead of me to wait.
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Penny informs me that I should explain what happened in that one week of waiting. I don't consider it important. Reading about waiting just doesn't seem terribly thrilling. But in the interest of making this as thorough as possible I will give you the long story short.

I went to school, did homework, hung out with my friends, and waited for next week.

Satisfied? I am. Now on to the more important part.
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And my week was up. According to my parents Celestia and Luna should be there by the time I got finished with school. My training with Discord was to start tomorrow so I had the entire day to get to know them. It was nerve racking not to tell Graze and Lightning about it, but my parents had forbid me from saying anything about it to any of my friends.

Eventually I was on my way home, excited and anxious, I had no idea how it was going to go over. Were we going to get along? I certainly hoped so. My thoughts continued in that vein all the way home. As I walked into my house I found myself tackled by a midnight blue assailant.

"Hi there! My name is Luna, you must be Shears. Its so nice to be with somepony our age for once. We almost always get stuck with adults and its just no fun. Celly loves it but she just doesn't seem to know how to have any fun whatsoever and-" The pegasus rambled on and on, leaving me with no room to interject.

"Luna! Calm yourself!" I heard an unknown voice call out. As I stood up and brushed myself off I noticed that a white unicorn had walked into the entrance hall.

"Greetings, I am Celestia. You've clearly already met my sister Luna. We will be staying with your family for an undetermined length of time. We thank you for your hospitality." Celestia gave a small bow and left. I could see why my mother had said she was all business.

"Celly! You're no fun! So what do you like to do? Do you want to play some games? All I ever get to play with is Celly and all she ever wants to do is play some board game or other. Except she never wants to play any of the fun ones like Candyland, or Guess Who, or Checkers! Are you okay? You look like you're zoning out a bit there." She spoke a mile a minute.

It was difficult to follow just where the conversation would go or what to say in response. Living with this filly was just going to be a challenge.

"I like chess. Although checkers is a lot of fun. I can get my board out if you want to play?" I responded after a brief moment, much to Luna's chagrin.

"Okay. You need to learn to make decisions faster. I just don't have the patience to wait for you." Luna laughed merrily before blowing a raspberry in my direction.

I walked over to my game chest in my room. That's where I found Celestia looking at my meager book collection. I wasn't much of an avid book reader. It was mostly something I ever did when I was sick. Celestia glanced at me when I came in but otherwise said nothing. It was a little unsettling to walk into a room and have little to no reaction to your presence. When you're the class clown ponies tend to pay attention to you, usually for negative reasons.

"Luna and I are going to play checkers. Would you like to join us?" I asked, breaking the silence. Celestia jumped slightly.

"I'm quite alright." That was all she said. She just wasn't that social it seemed.

I grabbed my checkers set and went back to where I had left Luna to find her missing.

"Luna? I have the checkers set." I said loudly, hoping for her to appear. She didn't disappoint.

"BOO!" Luna cried out as she jumped from behind the couch.

I jumped and let out a loud scream. Not my proudest moment by far. I picked up the flung checkers set as Luna proceeded to laugh maniacally. Getting the game set up we sat down to play. After ten minutes or so, it became clear that Luna was not cut out for this board game.

"That move is illegal!" She accused.

"All you can move is diagonally. There is no way to cheat!" I defended.

"Well you cheated. That is my story and I am sticking to it. So I win by default." Luna declared triumphantly.

I sighed. I suppose checkers was over for the time being. I put the set back in its box while Luna headed off in the direction of the kitchen. Once all of the pieces were put away I went back to my game chest to put it back with the others. Celestia was now on my bed, reading a book from my collection. Putting the game back in the chest I turned to face her.

"What are you reading?" I asked.

Celestia looked up at me. "Algebra."

"My math book?" I asked incredulously.

"Is there a problem with that?" She seemed honestly curious. As if I would have a legitimate problem with her reading my math book.

"No. Its just the last thing I would have expected you to read. I have several good choose your own adventure books if you want something a bit more exciting." Gesturing to my bookshelf I offered a few selections I felt were a bit more interesting.

"I don't read much fiction. There is nothing to be gained from it." She deadpanned. A challenge was presented and I was going to take it by the horns. I was going to make her smile, laugh, something; my reputation as class clown depended on making it happen.

"So, other than reading, what do you like to do?" First step to any successful attack is to research the target.

Celestia gave me an odd look. "I like to read...and I suppose a few board games are alright. Luna always wants me to play them with her. Is that a trick question? None of my teachers have ever asked me that question." This was going to be a lot more difficult then previously anticipated.

"What sort of books do you like to read? What board games do you enjoy?" More information was required.

Celestia seemed to brighten at these questions. "I like to read most instructional manuals. Its so much fun to learn about advanced mathematics and language. This manual is simply review for me, but I love the later theories by Euclid and Archimedes. It's just too exciting! Don't you agree?"

There was that smile I was hoping for, shame I had no idea what she was talking about. "Uh, sure."

Celestia put the book back on the shelf and walked over to me. "It's so divine to actually have somepony that comprehends me when I speak to them. I don't have anything in common with ponies my age." After a brief, unexpected hug, she left my room with a skip in her step. I had no idea how that was going to work. I was clueless when it came to what she was talking about. Still, I had homework to do, so I had better get it done.

A while later I finished up and headed into the kitchen. My mother and Celestia were preparing dinner for everypony, just a simple base salad with plenty of room for any personal additives. In my family tastes varied wildly and we found is was just easier to add our own sauces and toppings afterwards rather than try to please everypony and fail.

"Dear, will you please go get Luna and your father? Dinner is nearly done and it's time to wash up. They should be out in the backyard." My mother asked shortly after I walked in. Good timing on my part I felt.

So I made my way to our backyard to find father and Luna doing...something. They were just sitting in the grass staring at each other. It was a little discerning. A little hesitantly I walked towards them and made my presence known.

"Father, Luna, dinner is almost ready and its time to wash up." Instantly Luna shot inside the house, leaving a confused me and a sighing father behind. "What were you two doing?"

"We were trying to meditate. One of the previous caretaker's started doing it with Luna as a way to help her focus. All she did was fidget and nearly doze off though, so I'm not sure whether or not we'll continue it." My father explained with a loud yawn. Seemed he had the same trouble staying awake as Luna did. We set off towards to the washroom to clean up, making idle chitchat along the way.

At the dinner table everypony ate in mostly silence. Nopony knew what to say to each other. On one hoof it was calming to know that my parents were just as lost in this situation as I was, but on the other hoof, when your guidance is just as confused, what do you do? Fortunately, Luna seemed to know the answer.

"So, what are we going to do after dinner?" Luna asked, breaking the silence.

"Normally we give it a half hour to sit and then we all go to sleep so that we can all wake up early." My mother replied.

"What? But that's boring! What about going and catching lightning bugs? Or cloud watching, or playing a game? There is so much time left in the day!" Luna burst out unexpectedly.

"Luna, mind your manners." Celestia shot a look at her sister.

"But Celly-" Luna began.

"They're quite the lively bunch aren't they Lily?" My father asked my mother quietly, who just gave a small laugh in response. If Celestia or Luna noticed what my parents had said, they had no response; instead continuing to bicker back and forth.

"Luna, this isn't something that you can just decide to do. We have to make sure that its okay with our caretakers." Celestia let out an exasperated sigh. Luna looked at my parents expectedly, who in turn looked at each other, and then all three of them proceeded to look at me.

"I'll leave it up to you champ. Are you willing to accept responsibility if Luna stays up and breaks something?" At the time my father's expression was unreadable. Looking back I can acknowledge that it was a type of savage grin. He was testing me and we both knew it. Normally we always went to bed at the same time. This would be my first time staying late.

"Totally." I was not about to let this opportunity pass by. My parent shared a knowing smirk before choosing to allow us to stay up late. Luna let out a whoop while Celestia facehoofed. It was going to be an interesting night staying up with these two.

After dinner was done we put away our dishes and proceeded to the back yard. Luna took off for a small flight, leaving me with her sister. For a while we just sat and watched as Luna soared through the sky, without a care in the entire world.

"Have you ever wondered what it would be like to fly?" My subconscious thought slipped out.

Celestia gave me an somewhat amused look. "Not terribly, to be truthful, I've always been nervous about being any higher then a couple of feet. My hooves are firmly on the ground and I am content with that."

"My two best friends are pegasi, and its odd to be the only one amongst the group that is grounded. I wish I could just join them from time to time." I mused.

"Maybe there is a spell out there that would allow you to fly? If only temporarily. I don't know any that would grant such a feat, but I also wouldn't be surprised if such a thing existed." Celestia said.

"That would be truly awesome. I had no idea that unicorns could do something like that with their magic." I had never had much of a reason to look at magic with any degree of depth, Celestia was the first unicorn I knew personally. There were a few around town, but they were easily the least common.

"Magic can do so many things, it would be an impossible endeavor to attempt to learn it all. One would need immortality for such a feat. I can dream though." A peaceful silence fell between us again. Looking back towards the sky Luna was missing.

"Celestia, where did your sister go?" Alarms sounded off in my head, we had only looked away for just a moment and then she had disappeared.

"BOO!" Both Celestia and I jumped out of our skin as Luna reappeared behind us. "Really now, how long were you guys going to just zone out? We've already been out here for an hour."

A quick check of the clock confirmed Luna's story. I had no idea time had flown by so quickly. Grinning sheepishly we all went to lay down to go to sleep. The two fillies were completely different and yet clearly related, two sides of a single bit I suppose. I looked forward to getting to know them better while they stayed here.
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The next morning was rather harsh. You end up getting so accustomed to sleeping and waking at a certain time that when you stay up just a little bit later, waking up at the same time you normally do is rather unbearable. I enjoy my sleep and was not pleased when I didn't get my usual amount. If Celestia's disheveled state was anything to go by, she felt much the same way as I did. Luna on the other hoof was perfectly chipper. My parents had a rather difficult time hiding their amusement at Celestia and my misfortune; by having a hard time hiding it, I do mean that they found it hilarious and promptly let us know with a small chorus of laughter.

Today was my first day of training with Discord, although nopony had any idea when it was supposed to actually happen. The letter had stated that it was going to happen today, but no other details. I suppose he just wanted to make another grand entrance. Maybe he would foalnap me again; it was hard, if not impossible, to say what he would do. Whatever his grand masterplan was, I had school to get to.

It was close to the end of class when Discord made a spectacle of himself. My teacher had just collected our assignments of the day when the classroom when completely dark. Not dark as in the lights were off mind you, dark as in light simply ceased to exist. A maniacal laughter filled the void as bright flashes of light made it impossible to detect where the source of the sound was located. Small cries and whimpers could be heard all around the classroom before light was restored.

"What a bunch of foals, can't handle a small joke?" Discord had his lions paw planted firmly over his face. "Well, its time to start our lessons! So we shall be off to Grand Citadel De Discord!" Clearly he had quite the flair for the dramatic as we pointed as he made quite the show of walking over and picking me up. A bright flash of light later and we were gone.

Finding myself back in the cabin, or Grand Citadel De Discord as he always chose to refer to it, I turned and looked at him. "That was mean you know. Nopony had any idea what was going on."

"So, what you are going to tell me is that all surprises are bad?" Discord's gaze merely lingered on me for a moment before he began to move around. "I recruited you because you laughed, and you are the first pony to do so in some time. I am going to teach you my craft, and have you aid my in pony affairs. As much as I love all of the delightful chaos that I have created, the recent polls show a lack of approval with my administration. This needs to be remedied. Nothing gets done in the current state."

I had no idea what to say to such a thing, Discord's student and aid? I sat on my haunches and promptly began to just think. So, I was living with two fillies wanted by Discord for reasons unknown to me, and Discord wanted me to become his aid. My parents hate Discord with a zealous passion and would despise me working for him, but they would also want to know what his plans were. Should I accept, did I even have a choice in the matter?

"From your silence on the matter, I can only jump to the conclusion that not only have you accepted my generous proposal but, you are trying to come up with an amazing way to thank me. Well, no need my dear pony, I only need a what in confirmation." Discord broke me out of my train of thought.

"What?...Wait! No hey-" I opened my mouth before my brain had a chance to actually comprehend what I had heard.

"Beautiful! We shall get started immediately." Discord cut me off before I could fully voice any complaints. A snap and bright flash lead us to a large open room. Summoning a cotton candy cloud that started to spout chocolate milk, he turned to me. "Now, I am quite the fan of learning to do things on your own. So your first lesson is simple. Make chocolate milk rain from the sky." He summoned a scroll and set it next to me. Apparently it was the spell itself that he personally used.

Taking a gander through the scroll I noticed an immediate problem. "I can't do magic." It was a rather simple problem, but a major one that wouldn't allow me to progress any farther.

"That isn't my problem, get creative. I'll be back in 10 minutes or so, or maybe I won't, maybe you'll be stuck here forever." Shooting me what he thought was probably meant as a light hearted grin, it came off more as a predatory one, as if I was well and truly trapped here forever. Should I ever graduate this forced apprenticeship, that would be the first thing I coach him on, how to grin without looking like you are going to eat somepony.

I set out to accomplish my task, come Tartarus or a chocolate milk flood, with the latter looking more and more likely. The cloud he had summoned never went away or stopped its localized torrential downpour; resulting in my movement to keep from getting either myself or the scroll soaked. Speaking of which, time to give that a read.

How to Summon a Cloud of Chocolate Rain in 3 Easy Steps!

1) Become one with the chocolate milk.

2) Chant the Call of The Milk.

2b) If the Call of The Milk is unavailable, a loud audible snap should do

the trick.

3) Wait anywhere from 1 second to your entire lifetime for Lord

Discord to appear and possibly summon a cloud of chocolate milk.

How cheeky, he knew that I couldn't do it with magic. Unfortunately I had no idea how to summon a cotton candy cloud otherwise. It was time to try the instructions in this scroll. How to become one with chocolate milk...maybe I had to drink a whole bunch of it. A common saying at school was you are what you eat, maybe it applied to drinks as well. Walking beneath the cloud I closed my eyes, opened my mouth, and looked to the heavens. Gulp after gulp after gulp, I felt like I truly was in heaven. My parents never let me get away with doing something like this before, always telling me that I would end up with a stomachache and that I would regret it later on. Once I had my fill I went back to check on step number two.

Let me make it clear that you can't snap with hooves. It just doesn't work no matter how hard you try, and I tried very, very hard. Finally I let out a frustrated cry and stomped the ground, making a satisfying snap-like sound. Maybe that would work. Going back over to the cloud yet again I drank some chocolate milk and stomped my hoof. After that it was time to play the waiting game. A few minutes later Discord finally reappeared.

"You actually followed that scroll?" Taking note of my appearance, he busted out laughing. "While your ability to follow blindly is commendable, you still haven't made chocolate rain from the sky. Try again. I'll be back in 5 minutes this time."

Again he vanished, leaving me to my task. It was frustrating, I had no magic to summon a cloud, nor could I fly and push the current cloud around. All I had was my own four hooves to aid me. All I could do more or less was just splash him when he came back...that was it. He never said that the chocolate had to come from a cloud. Only that it had to come from the sky. Even if I threw it up and it came back down he would have to accept it as be a true solution. Armed with my chocolate milk, I waited until he returned. 5 minutes on the dot he reappeared. Looking around my surprise attack caught him completely unaware.

"Hmm, still no chocolate raining from the-" As the chocolate milk that I threw up above him came back down he froze in place.

"Ha! Gotcha!" I cried out triumphantly. This was my victory and i was going to gloat all that I wanted.

Wiping the brown liquid from his eyes he looked over at me with a curious look. "Fine, you win this round. The lessons will get progressively harder from now on, as a potentially fair warning." He couldn't scare me, I was ready, I was going to prove that I could beat his challenges. "I expected that to take you a lot longer, so go home. Lessons will resume in two days." With a snap I was back in town standing outside of my house.

Between the two fillies and Discord's teachings I was going to have a full plate to work my way through. And I couldn't wait to see what sort of fun would be had.