A Flare of Light

by NightSky

Confusion

Celestia was walking down the hall to Luna's room when she heard the crash. She galloped as fast as she could to the room. Four guards walking down the hall also came with her.

She reached out to sense what was in the room. She could sense fear and pain from her sister, and hatred and anguish from a unique soul who could only be Flare. She blasted the door off of its hinges with a shot of magic. She gasped at the sight before her.

Her sister lay on one side of the room, slumped against the wall. Her head was raised, staring at Flare with a look of pure horror and despair in her eyes. Flare stood on the other side, but there was something very wrong about him. He stood in a tight position, like a coil about to release, and pupils were barely visible, black lines in his blue eyes. He had his mouth open like he was... about to shoot fire. The guards hit that conclusion an instant before Celestia.

Two of them leaped in front of Flare, putting themselves between him and Luna. The other two threw themselves directly at him. Flare turned his open mouth to the two guards coming at him, ready to scorch them in a single blast.

"Check!" Celestia yelled, and suddenly the two guards charging Flare froze. Flare was surrounded by a golden aura of her magic, paralyzed. The two guards who were nearest Luna moved over to her, checking for injuries.

"I'm ok." She said, tears running down her face. "But what is wrong with him?"

She turned to her older sister. "Celestia?"

"I don't know." She said, staring into the psychotic eyes of Flare with bitter curiosity. "But he is too dangerous at the moment to find out."

With that, she twitched slightly, and Flare collapsed with a loud thump. She then looked to the four guards. "Go get more help."

One of the guards, who was wearing a red pauldron, turned to the other three. "Vin, Jay, go get help. Dar, stay with me."

Celestia looked up at the guard as the two left. "You need to go too."

"Ma'am, we don't know what caused him to do this, meaning more danger may still be nearby. But I understand your request for privacy. We'll be outside."

And with that, the two guards left without a word. Celestia walked over and settled down by Luna. "What happened?"

Luna look was one of pure anguish. "It was that changeling! Chrysalis! She trapped Flare in his dreams. I tried to save him, but I...I..." She broke down sobbing. Celestia hugged her as she cried. "I wasn't strong enough! Oh, the torment he must have gone through!"

Hoof steps were heard echoing down the hall. One of the guards stuck his head through the door. Or rather, where the door had been.

"Ma'am, Vin and Jay are back with help. What are we to do?"

Celestia looked to Flare's unmoving form and sighed. "Take him to the dungeons. Inform me when he awakens."

"Understood." The guard deadpanned. Several unicorns entered the room and lifted Flare with magic, carefully moving him out and away.

Luna was staring at this with a look of horror. "The dungeons? What are we going to do to him, Tia?"

Tia? Luna hadn't used Celestia's pet name in ages. "I don't know. But he just tried to kill you, so I am taking no chances."

____________________

Flare snapped his eyes open, looking around. Where was Nightmare Moon? He had been so close, so close, to finishing the job.

But none of that mattered now. Those guards had broken in and stopped him, and that alicorn. He could have sworn it was Celestia, but his mind told him she was gone, banished when Nightmare Moon took power.

But now he was back in Dreamland again, from what he could tell. Back in that blasted garden with Discord. He looked down at Flare with mild amusement. "Not even five minutes back in reality. That has to be a record."

Flare was on his feet in an instant.

"Now we will have none of that." Discord said, snapping his fingers. Flare froze, halfway through a leap at Discord. "I have paralysis powers too, you know. Quite stunning, isn't it?"

Laughing at his own joke, he settled himself on the park bench again. "Now, I know that can't possibly be comfortable. I may release you. Maybe. But if you try to attack me again I won't be happy."

He snapped again, and Flare fell onto the purple grass. "So what do you want with me, another bogus history lesson?"

"That didn't work very well last time, now did it? No, today a biology lesson is in order. You know what a changeling is, don't you?"

"Of course."

"And you know Chrysalis is a queen changeling?"

"Where are you taking this?"

Discord looked unamused. "I'm the one asking questions here. She is a queen changeling, meaning that she gains all of the power of her hive. It also means she has a great deal of knowledge on how the mind works, specifically memories and emotions."

"And what does this have to do with me?"

"My, you are quite the block head." Discord deadpanned. "She screwed with your mind! You gave into her will, and she warped your entire soul. Well, most of it, that is. I saved you from complete desolation."

"And why would I do something like that?" Flare asked.

"Because she used your parents as a rouse. She threatened to kill your mother, which was a load of crap, but you didn't know that, so you gave in to save her. Very entertaining to watch, to be honest."

"And you just sat there and watched all this happen, but didn't bother to do anything about it?" Flare was getting irritated, this barely made sense.

"Oh, my dear boy, you must think I am a being of good nature." Discord said, laughing. "Quite the contrary. You see, I am Discord, Lord of Chaos, and I'm about as evil as that Chrysalis creature. Why do you think I am here? Because I was imprisoned in here."

"So then why did you save me, if you are so evil?"

"Several reasons. First off, I am as old as the princesses are, so I've seen quite a lot happen. I would have gladly let her rip your little mind to shreds, but the last time that happened and they were released into the world. Well, they just about leveled an entire city. So I didn't want to see that happen again. Second, I get lonely in here, all by myself. It's been nice to have some company. And third," He said, his tone and expression softening. He began to pace, his back turned to Flare.

"Little Luna doesn't deserve to lose another one of her lovers. You are what, her second? Third? Yes, there was that colt. Nice lad, but dumped her when he learned she was immortal. Then there was that other alicorn. He got killed just before the rise of Nightmare Moon, nasty business, that. But I digress. The point is, she's been through a lot. And she doesn't deserve to see you get screwed in the head as well, so I'm trying to save what is left."

Flare didn't look convinced. "If you are so powerful and care so much, then why don't you just twist my mind back to the way it was before?"

Discord snapped back around to Flare, radiating frustration. "Because a mind is not a toy! You can't just 'twist it back', you need to know what it was like before so you know how it should look after! If not, you can cause more damage than before! And only one being knows what your mind looks like, and that's that rat Chrysalis!"

"Now now, my love. Are you really going to let him talk about me like that?" Chrysalis said, emerging from between two bushes, smiling.

____________________

Luna stood in the dungeon, looking at the shackled form before her. Unconscious, Flare still looked peaceful, as he had been before. Where did it all go so wrong? She thought. Why couldn't I save him?

"Don't blame yourself for this Luna, it isn't your fault." Celestia said, appearing beside of her sister.

"And how is it not my fault? I could have foreseen this, prevented it."

"There was nothing you could have done. You need to stop beating your self up over this."

"But its just like with Majestic all over again!" Luna said, looking to her sister with tears forming in her eyes.

So she still remembers him. Celestia thought. They both did. Majestic had been a stallion, a fine one at that. He was one of the few to ever try to court Luna. A very charming individual, and Luna soon began to like him as well. They had dated fro several years, and actually were engaged to be married. But of course, nothing is perfect. A plague struck the land, infecting ponies minds and turning them against one another.

It ripped through most of the land, reaching Canterlot just as a cure was being developed. Luna had been diagnosed with it, and it devastated all of them. Celestia's mind flashed back to those horrifying days.

"How is she, doctor?" Celestia asked, standing above the bed where her sister lay.

His face was sad. "She...she is infected. She probably has two or three hours before it reaches full control."

Celestia hung her head, a tear rolling down her cheek. Mother and Father had already been killed by this, and now her baby sister too?

Majestic, sitting beside Luna, looked up, a grim look of determination on his face. He looked to the guards at the door. "Do you have restraints?"

The guards exchanged glances, nodding, and holding up a set of shackles.

"Put them on me." He said, and everypony in the room looked at him like he was crazy. "Come on, do it."

The guards reluctantly complied, applying the restraints to Majestic.

"What are you doing?" Celestia asked.

"If my hunch is right, then I might be able to clear her of the disease. By..." He looked to the floor. "By absorbing it myself."

Luna looked to him, her eyes beginning to dilate. It was taking effect. "Don't do this, Majestic."

"I'm sorry my love." He said, looking into Luna's eyes. "It must be done."

And with that, he lowered his horn to Luna's, and suddenly his eye's snapped open, his pupils becoming as small as peas. He stood frozen for a few moments, then fell over onto the floor, unconscious.

He was never sane again, always looking at them like they were monsters. But there were times, when he would snap back to sanity, but then he would simply beg for an end to it all, saying he couldn't fight it, and it had consumed him. After many months of this, and many arguments between the sisters, they put him out of his misery. Luna was never the same again, this sparked her spiral into becoming Nightmare Moon.

Celestia flashed back to the present. Luna had her eyes closed, obviously she was seeing the same thing. She hugged her sister. "That will never happen again, I promise. We will get him back."

____________________

Chrysalis walked up to Flare, nuzzling his neck and kissing him on the cheek. "I'm sorry it took me so long, your friend here is very good at hiding things."

Discord just stared at this, one eye twitching slightly. Then he slowly raised one hand and snapped his fingers. Chrysalis was teleported from Flare to the other side of Discord, so that he was between her and Flare.

"Now this was quite an unexpected interruption." Discord said, turning to the changeling queen. "I would ask you how the buck you got here, but I don't think I want to hear the answer to that."

Chrysalis looked at Discord with an innocent look. "Now, my dear Discord, whats the matter? I simply came to make sure you weren't doing anything to my Flare."

"He's not yours." He growled, jabbing Chrysalis with his lion paw of a hand. "You might have screwed with his mind, but there is still a sain thought in there somewhere, and I will find it."

"My, this is quite out of character for you. It seems the Lord of Chaos has a soft side." She said, giggling.

Discord glared ice at her. "Just because I want to salvage part of my soul from my demons before I go nuts means nothing here." His voice dropped to a deadly whisper. "Luna shouldn't have to watch another one of her lovers fall to another mind trick."

Chrysalis met his ice cold gaze with a lighthearted one, her voice also a whisper. "Oh, so the little dark princess gets to have a lover, yet I can't? Is that the way you are putting this, my dear Discord?"

"You're a monster, Chrysalis. You can't find love, so you force it. It disgusts me."

"And what are you going to do about it, hmm? Only someone with knowledge of his mind can fix him, and so far, I'm the only one." She said, grinning triumphantly. She walked around Discord and back towards where Flare was sitting patiently. "Now that I am done talking with my old friend, are you ready to go, dear?"

Flare's eyes flashed green as he nodded. He began to rise to leave with her. Discord spun around and raised his hand to stop them.

"I don't think you're going anywhere." A voice said, and Discord thought for a few moments it was his own, but it was coming from behind them. The voice seemed strangely familiar to Flare, he looked to see who it was, curious to how they found their way in. He gasped at what he saw.

A pony came out of the garden. He was a unicorn, with a jet black coat. His cutie mark was a curved image of a dragon, and his mane flowed like fire. His looked at Flare with deep blue snake slit eyes and gave him a fanged smile.

"Hello Dragon Boy, surprised to see me?" The pony Flare said, grinning. Chrysalis and dragon Flare simply gaped at him.

"Ok what the buck?" Discord said, looking between the two versions of the same being.

Comments

[Leo Archon]

...Discord's reaction is my own.

I have no idea what the flippin' hay is going on anymore.
FANFIC Y U NO MAKE SENSE?!

[NightSky]

849863 Worry not. All will be explained in due time

[Lazy Ginger Kid]

Shits going DOWN

[Deathpony]

gonna get real here cant wait for the next chapter

[shirotora]

you know it's bad when Discord's confused.

[killer007]

Very good fanfic

[Relevant Heavy Metal]

Sabbath Bloody Sabbath - Black Sabbath

I'm calling it now, he has to chose between pony and dragon, pony representing siding with good, dragon with bad.

[reader of the night]

853172
I actually think that the pony part is his other side, the dragon and pony side are two sides of one thing.
His dragon side was poisoned by the channelings and now his pony side comes in to save his sanity for he also knows how his mind looked like before it was poisoned.

[NightSky]

853172>>854961 Very good job, you two.

[reader of the night]

855342
Logical thinking for the win. Being an egghead rocks.

[Relevant Heavy Metal]

855342

I blame TVtropes.

[NightSky]

857466 Mind = blown