Starbreaker

by GivingSpider

Chapter 2

Characters used are property of their respected owners.
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Dull throbbing pain radiating in his head let him know that he was still alive. Seeing the light from Celestia’s sun coming in through a window let him know that he was still in Equestria.

Or at least that was what Discord chose to accept as reality. It was all up for discussion considering what happened last night. He frowned and wondered if it was even last night. He wasn’t really sure on how long ago it was. He dared to look down at his hands and was pleasantly greeted by the sight of non-petrified flesh. His eagle claw was loosely bandaged and he assumed that it was related to the large crack that had formed in it when it had become stone. Discord slowly began to take in the details of his surroundings and had mixed feelings about not knowing where he was. He was familiar with what the interior of Canterlot’s palace looked like and by extension what the dungeons looked like. The same went for the old castle deep in the Everfree Forest. He took in the sights of plain white curtains, plain white walls and floor, his plain white thin sheets covering less than half of his body, the plain white door across from him and…

He slowly leaned his body to his right to grasp at a simple metal stand supporting a curious transparent pouch. The odd thing seemed to be slowly feeding a capsule drip by drip, which fed into a thin tube that led to what he assumed to be a needle assembly in his arm. He blinked and then plucked his eyes out of his head and polished them against his chest before putting them back. He gave his strange companion another glance and nothing was different. He was definitely being steadily supplied some unknown fluid. He pulled the metal stand closer and saw tiny writing on the bag. Morbid curiosity took him and he quickly spawned a pair of reading glasses over his eyes.

“ Let’s see…the label is a word that I can’t pronounce. That settles it; I’m in a hospital.”

He flexed his paw and grabbed at his magic so he could identify the contents of the bag but all he got was a sharp pain in his chest. Recoiling in pain he lost his grip on the stand and nearly tossed himself out of the bed he was in.

That had never happened to him before. Not once in his existence had that ever been a side effect of channeling his dormant energy. He tried to use his power to adjust his glasses and was greeted by another pain but this one not as sharp. It felt more like he was struck in a bruised area instead of stabbed by the wrong end of a railroad spike. He laid in his new position with his head just an inch off the floor for awhile before re-positioning himself back on the bed. Discord carefully grasped the stand again and elected to read below the label and hoped to see an ingredient list or at least something more entertaining to read than a label that looked like could either be eleven syllables or nineteen.

Discord started his scanning and he could swear that the Sun monarch was saying outloud what he was reading.

“Concentrated Mana, Thunder Fern, Iron Clover, Mandrake Root, Vampire Oak, Fruit of Compassion, Trick Blue, Phoenix Ashes, Poison Oak, Dragon Tears, Diamond Dust, and the rest are pain relievers.”

Discord let go of the stand and sat upright. He saw that Princess Celestia was now in the room with a grave expression. She kept a fair distance from the Lord of Chaos and seemed fixated on the task of making eye contact. Discord finally gave it to her and she went on.

“You’ve been unconscious for eight days now and everypony who checked on you swore that they could hear somepony else in her with you. One nurse even claims that she saw a filly adjusting your covers.”

Discord grinned before responding.

“Well of course somepony was in here with me. I’m just loveable old Discord! Even my imaginary daughter wants to help nurse me back to health. Speaking of which when can I go back to whatever is it I plan on doing once I get out of here?”

Celestia said nothing. Discord chose to interpret that as bad news. He then elected to make the silence mean worse news. He paused and made it slightly better. There was no need to assume that the outside world was being swallowed by a tear in space.

“So…I’m going to die in this room then.”

“The doctors …seem to think so” Celestia answered quietly. “But there really aren’t any doctors qualified to measure the health or physical limitations of a Draconequus. The only reason you’re being treated for Mana Deficiency is that it’s the only thing that makes sense.”

The words ‘Mana Deficiency’ echoed in Discord’s mind. Basically his body was incapable of producing magic. For a creature that normally has a high degree of magic in them like say a Unicorn or an Alicorn or something like himself; Mana Deficiency was often terminal. The trick with his eyes and the glasses were only possible by the fluid being fed into his body. He paused and let it sink in. To be fair this was one of the best case scenarios he had come up with while planning the events that put him in his condition in the first place. He addressed the Princess in a serious tone.

“The apple. Did it happen?”

Celestia seemed conflicted as to how to answer.

“Yes. Whatever you did…changed all of them. You also put out a star.” She paused in her words and stepped forward. “I know that since you’ve become reformed every good deed you’ve done has somehow benefited your own wants and needs. What was your gain here Discord? What did you do for yourself this time? What did you want that was worth almost destroying yourself?”

Discord said nothing for awhile. Celestia started to glare daggers at him. His grin faded and he decided that maybe in a small way since she almost lost her kingdom and everything else that possibly in some way she deserved an answer.

“Yes…I did it for me…I did it for…closure.”

“CLOSURE!” Celestia snapped at him before advancing to the edge of the bed. “You almost tore Equestria apart for closure? What could you have possibly done in your past to merit that kind of risk?”

Discord kept his eyes on hers. He smiled to himself. For all her might and fury there was nothing she could threaten him with anymore. Banishment? Stone prison? Smother him with a pillow? Death by chocolate? Announce that she was caring his foal? He paused and considered that the last two didn’t really sound all that bad. She leaned in a bit more and for a moment it looked like she was trying to recreate Fluttershy’s Stare. Discord breathed slowly and the pain in his chest was almost completely gone.

“I did it to make something right. I did it to undo something that I’ve only recently started to feel guilty about.”

Celestia backed away and Discord could almost hear the gears in her head going double time to figure him out. Or perhaps he was mildly delirious. He shrugged and went on.

“Thousands of years ago or possibly longer; well it at least predates the calendar system that we all use today, I had an ‘apprentice’. She was a Unicorn who envied the Alicorn mater race. This was well before your time when they were rare and more…benevolent. I tried to teach spells that I knew were too much for her to handle. After two years of trying to break her spirit she concluded that instead of giving up she just had to find a way to get herself more power. At that juicy concept I started helping her for real. Raising a student who just might knock the Alicorns down a few pegs? How could I resist?

“Anyway her frustration helped fuel some curious notions. Her jealousy for the Alicorns helped birth concepts of magically draining other Ponies to fill her own reserves. I helped her craft means to do that…and I took it a bit further that that. We cultivated magic to drain the most powerful form of magic.”

Celestia interrupted Discord with a simple statement.

“This story ends with you creating the first Changeling doesn’t it?”

“No. I only gave the first one a strong shove in that direction.” Discord did nothing to prevent the solemn look from creeping over his face as he spoke. “Doesn’t matter now does it? I’m dying and a lot of parts would be left out from my side of the story.” He paused to inspect his bandaged claw. “And No this apprentice was not a much younger Chrysalis.”

Judging by Celestia’s expression he prevented her next question from needing to be asked. His mind briefly drifted to simpler times. Her voice brought him back to the present.

“I’ll leave you to your rest…I’d…I’d like to hear more about the Alicorns…when you’ve recovered.”

Discord gave a slight laugh at her words.

“First of all; it’s IF I recover and that’s not very likely is it? Second; I’m surprised you’re asking me about your own history. Then again these days there are only four of you and one of which was just one day made on a whim. Before you go though, I have a question of my own.”

“No Discord. I’ve disturbed you enough for now. Try to rest.”

Upon hearing that Discord put on his best ‘pity me’ face.

“Oh come on Princess. I’m on my death bed! You may very well be the last pony I ever see in this world before my mortal shell expires! The only thing I want in this world before I go is for you to answer me just one question!”

Celestia gave an annoyed sigh and just left him alone.

“Your bothered. I still won.” Discord said to no one in particular. He sat upright again and elected to read the labeling on the bag feeding a complicated mixture into his body. After that was done for the second time he shifted his focus elsewhere.

“A filly in my room…The only place you can hide is under my bed. Since you’re so invested in taking care of me you may want to consider coming out before I lean over and possibly dethatch myself from this apparatus that is keeping me alive.”

Moments passed before somepony came out from under the bed. Discord was torn between throwing curses and threats or simply crawling off the bed to hug what he saw. Standing next to the bed was a small Earth Pony filly. She had a violet coat of hair which was accented by her purple mane with white highlights. Discord found himself lost as he stared into her strange swirled eyes. She smiled and stared back. Discord soon gathered himself and closed his eyes.

“I…very much want to believe that you’re here…but I know that Screwball never really existed. When I open my eyes you either better be ready to commit one hundred percent to the illusion or be in your true body. If you go with option ‘A’ then be prepared for me to cram years worth of missed birthdays and Hearth’s Warming eves over the next nineteen hours.”

Discord opened his eyes in time to see a bright flash of green. The space where the doppelganger of his daughter was standing was now occupied by Queen Chrysalis. She took a cautionary step back and regarded him with a threatening tone.

“If you even so much as try to play parent on me…I’m not above striking someone who is bedridden.”

Discord grinned and just let the words in one ear and out the other. He believed that she might do more than hit him. The Changeling stretched her limbs before closing the shades. Discord was about to propose a question when she abruptly cut him off.

“Yes. All of us can feed on…food. It’s still a very alien concept but most of them are eager to adjust. It will be a long time before we see a complete end to attacks but we can see it from here now.”

Discord tapped his paw against his claw and waited. Chrysalis sighed and went on.

“The ruling bodies of Equestria are being bent towards recognizing peace in our time. The fact that we don’t need to prey on them anymore would make any aggression from them seem barbaric. All the Ponies who witnessed how we fought without casualty and how soon after my example they all started trying to eat from the stores that were being confiscated after our ‘defeat’…we looked so pathetic. I’ve never felt so low in my existence and I will hate you until the day I die for talking me into that ruse.”

She slowly made her way back to the edge of the bed and Discord patiently waited for her to finish what she had to say. Her tone gradually lost its acidic edge as she continued.

“But I also have to thank you on behalf of myself and my Changelings…you gave them the a better future than the one I tried to give them…well…better for the Ponies I suppose anyway…Either way I guess we won.”

“Well that’s all fine and whatnot” Discord interrupted her as he crossed his arms. “But why were you impersonating my imaginary daughter?”

Chrysalis grinned before responding.

“During the first day I hadn’t. I impersonated a doctor so that I could personally keep watch on your condition. I guess I felt that I owed it to you after what you did for us. You didn’t respond well at all. Heck on the second day we almost lost you. I recalled how at peace you were when you spawned that illusion and decided that I may as was well make it a comforting death; so I changed my form to match the child that you apparently always wanted to have. You started drifting in and out of consciousness after that and I kept playing the part. Of course I never let any of the hospital staff know I was here. A strange filly would have been ushered out and a violent filly who took down doctors would be ‘escorted’ out.”

Discord coughed a small degree of blood into his bandaged claw. Chrysalis stopped her explanation and her horn started to glow.

“Tell me…tell me how to fix you.”

Discord just smiled and looked at the bag of transparent fluid again. Chrysalis impatiently tapped her hoof on the floor and he elected to give her an answer.

“Using a spell will kill me. It will de-stabilize the concentrated mana and give me an aneurism, and the rejected magic will aggravate some of the other ingredients and make a lethal toxin. I’m quite literally waiting to die.”

Chrysalis snapped at him again before he could go on.

“Don’t you dare be weak about all this! You sacrificed a star! You are Discord! Some freak illness is not going to take you down! You are going to buck up and face this and get your strength back! One more show of weakness and I’ll put a pillow over your face until you pass out and become more cooperative!”

Discord paused. She certainly looked and sounded like she meant it. He considered her words and his options. He grinned as his next move formed. He was far too impatient to fall asleep but a nap did sound good at the moment. Plus he was confident that she wouldn’t kill him by accident. He put his ‘pity me’ face back on.

“Oh Chrysalis”

He was cut off by his pillow suddenly being snatched out from under him. In the same second it was on top of his face. Out of instinct he weakly thrashed a bit. Chrysalis kept the pillow in place by planting her torso right on top of it and used her front hooves to keep the arm attached to the IV bag still.

He stopped moving and she abruptly released him. She put her hoof in front of his nose and was relieved to feel breath. Chrysalis channeled the power in her horn and reverted back to her disguise.

“You might not survive this Discord…but I’ll keep dragging you back if I have to…even if it means…pretending…”

She growled and elected to stop talking. It wasn’t for anyone’s benefit anyway. She adjusted the covers on the sleeping creature and his eyes opened slightly. It was kind of creepy the way he looked at her when he did that. One of the side effects of the drugs was that he would drift in and out of consciousness at random. He looked at her and this time he didn’t question the illusion. He weakly ran his paw through her mane and Chrysalis felt a surge of tasty tasty love. She drank her fill of the radiating energy and fought the urge to drain what wasn’t seeping out.

Discord slumped over and fell back asleep. At the sound of hooves approaching the door she dived under the bed and cast subtle illusionary magic around her makeshift lair. The energy radiating from the meds did well at masking her magic from prying horns.

“You’re going to get better whether you want to or not.”
-

Author's Note:

And that makes this fic roughly 2/3 done

Comments

[alarajrogers]

Wow. This is amazing.

The idea that Discord more or less accidentally created the changelings, and felt guilty enough about it after his reform to nearly kill himself fixing them, is really cool. I do wonder why he was convinced Celestia was going to try to stop him, unless it was because of the risks involved -- if he was manipulating enough magic that it could have destroyed Equestria, I suppose that would have been reason enough to stop him.

The thing that's absolutely heartbreaking, though, is Screwball. I know how it feels to have an imaginary child... but I ended up with real ones, eventually. The thought of feeling all the love you would for a child, but you know she isn't real and she can never be, because even if you did manage to have or adopt a child it would never be that one... I've never seen anyone use that concept in a story before. It's very fitting for the idea of Discord and Screwball, since she was only ever seen during his reign of chaos, so if she was a real pony where did she go? I wonder if he imagined her while he was in stone -- sensory deprivation and isolation can produce hallucinations, and how would you tell the difference between dreaming and waking if either way you were stuck in stone? For some reason I'm a sucker for characters who know that something isn't real and want to believe in it anyway.

Anyway. I really, really, really like this.

[GivingSpider]

3922609
Thanks
And yeah...it's tough knowing that something that's keeping you sane isn't really there but you still feel like you need it

[GivingSpider]

Ok...I guess at one point in time someone named Perteks had an opinion then decided that I didn't need to know it

[im the bet pony]

love it