Shadows of the Past

by Blood Inc

A Chaotic friend

Author's Note:

For anyone wondering why the characters speak in color in the first chapter but here they don't, it's simply because some people are finding it distracting. Therefore the color will be absent from now on.

It has been a whole good hour ever since Twilight has left Rarity's house, the white mare was in no better condition than before. At least she was in the mood to fix her mane now, otherwise she was not looking well. Her eyes were still bloodshot, she had noticeable lines under her eyes, she looked tired.

Her train of thoughts kept on going back to the book and it's effects. Even though she didn't remember much, the little she still recalled had scared her beyond belief. The creature that had overtaken her on that day was definitively NOT her, she would have never done such a thing... Would she? She couldn't even trust her own mind anymore, and what bothered her more was her memory-loss from the previous day.

"I hope Twilight can get to the bottom of this quickly... I don't want to spend the rest of my life as an amnesiac mare!" She whined to herself, tears starting to form on-

Her crying would have to wait for later as there was yet another pony knocking upon her door.

"..." Rarity stayed silent and sniffled a little "C-coming..." She wiped away her tears and walked over to the door.

"It's me again, Rarity! I think I have a certain someone who can help us." Twilight's voice was heard once again from the other side.

Rarity sighed in relief and opened the door "Twilight! I was worried si-" she cut herself off as she saw just who Twilight was bringing over to help.

"DISCORD?!" Rarity yelled out in a mixture of disgust and fear before slamming the door shut.

*On the other side*

"...Well that was certainly a nice way to welcome a friend." Discord said in sarcasm and looked at Twilight, who looked back at him with a look of bemusement.

Twilight sighed and knocked on the door again "Rarity! It's fine, he's here to help!" she reassured her friend on the other side.

Discord looked at the door for a few moments before snapping his claws and making it disappear into thin air.

"As your Princess friend was saying... I have come here to help." He said calmly, then continued "Don't waste words, dear Rarity. Her highness and her Royal assistant have already took their precious time to show me the book in question." Discord said, his voice was dripping with sarcasm, but he sounded sincere enough.

Twilight shot him a glare and looked back at Rarity, approaching her slowly "Relax, Rarity... He's on our side now, remember?"

"I wouldn't trust that brute no matter how 'reformed' he may be!" Rarity snapped at both of them.

"Now now, Rarity... You don't have much of a choice, do you?" Discord added, smiling sheepishly.

"You... YOUUUUUUU..." Rarity started, but was cut off by Twilight "As much as I hate to admit it, you're right, Discord..." she said, before turning to Rarity "He is right, you know..." Twilight smiled at her friend before turning back to Discord and glaring at him "Just because the other Princesses are too busy to help." she ended her sentence.

Rarity looked at Twilight in disbelief then at Discord, still calming down "...You will help me?" she asked, still not wanting to believe that it would be DISCORD out of all ponies and creatures that would be the one to assist them in solving this.

"I will help you, of course I will." Discord re-assured "Of course, this is dark magic we are speaking about. It will not be easy to find out what it has done to you. ...Aaaaaand I will have to request for an itsy-bitsy payment!" The two mares frowned at the last words "...And I will have to ask you to come with us, it will be much safer to speak about this somewhere more private." he put his hands together, looking at Rarity expectantly.

The two mares looked at each-other and back at Discord.

"How about my Library?" Twilight asked before being picked up by Discord.

"That is a wonderful idea!" he cackled at her.

"Let me go, Discord..." she said in a deadpan-tone. Her face couldn't be more fitting to the tone of her voice.

"Nope!" he laughed, picking Rarity up too "Welcome to Discord express, next stop, the 'Royal' Library!" he said before they all disappeared in a flash of white.

In a moment they were there, inside of Twilight's Library. Discord dropped the two mares and looked at a certain baby Dragon residing inside, who was reading a certain book which was now glowing a certain color.

"...What are you doing, Spike?" Discord asked Spike in a serious voice, crossing his hands over his chest and tapping his dragon leg against the floor. In that instant Twilight grabbed the book and closed it.

"Spike! What were you thinking?!" she yelled out like a banshee, glaring at the little dragon. But no response came from him, instead he kept on staring into the distance, his eyes locked into an empty gaze for a moment before he shook his head madly and looked directly at Twilight, letting out a low growl.

"Give it back!" the dragon yelled out and pounced towards Twilight, letting out out feral sounds. But he did not make it far as he was suddenly face down on the floor, tied down with rope. Discord was the one who was standing behind him now, crouching over him.

"Looks like our little friend has had a little dose of dark magic." he spoke in an amused tone before looking over at Twilight, who was looking shocked beyond belief, the book that she was holding up with magic was long gone out of her grasp and was laying open on the floor. Quickly she closed it and threw it in Discord's direction, and the Draconequus caught it with his clawed hand "We might be facing a massive corruption spread if this book stays here..." he said in a now once again serious tone.

"Spike wouldn't have done this on purpose!" Twilight said, her voice trembling slightly "He knew how dangerous that book is, he isn't stupid! He wouldn't read-" she was interrupted by Discord.

"Dark magic is a manipulative force, Twilight." Discord said wisely "No matter how pure you may be on the inside, it will always find a way to snake it's way into you and take over your mind, even if only temporarily." he looked at the book "I think these events will give me some insight to at the very least assume how bad it is... I am afraid that both Rarity and Spike are for now going to have to be quarantined from the rest of the world... Actually, scratch that." He held up a finger "Everypony who has been exposed to the book must not be allowed to leave this room... That includes you, Twilight." he said calmly.

Twilight attempted to protest, but bit her tongue. It was true, she too has been reading the book. But she didn't feel corrupted at all...

Discord only inspected the book's pages and did not dare open it "I believe that the book will be safe with me... Twilight, you have been cleansing dark magic with the other Princesses, right? You know of a spell that can clear this all up? As much as I hate to admit it, I'd hate to see this become worse than it already is..." he looked at the tied-down dragon who was still struggling against his binds.

"Yes, I know how to do this, but... I can't do it alone! We will have to wait until a Princess is free to help us! I'll go write a letter to Princess Celestia, she has to know of this! You stay with Spike and Rarity!" Twilight ran off upstairs.

"Oh, yeah... Rarity." Discord completely forgot about the white mare. He turned around and looked where he left her off and... Saw nothing.

He looked all around, looked outside, but she was nowhere to be seen.

"Oh... Poo." He grumbled out, feeling a headache coming...

Comments

[RufusTSerenity]

Hello! So far I'm pleased with this story and I'm interested to see where it goes.

If nothing else, I give it bonus points for making Rarity, Spike, and Discord all the main focuses. That's awesome!

For some odd reason, I've always been interested in seeing Rarity interact with Discord. And it seems like this story might provide that.

But I do have a question, do you have any intentions of having Rarity and Spike hooking up?

[Blood Inc]

4314172

Thank you for the feedback. It means much.

As for Rarity and Spike hooking up... Hmmm, I'll see how the story goes and if it would fit in.

[RufusTSerenity]

4315719 Ok, that's perfectly understandable. Do whatever you feel it right...even as I hope they will hook up.