Strings

by naturalbornderpy

Chapter 18: From The Brink

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN:

FROM THE BRINK

1

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

At first he had thought they were sleeping, but he had known few that could ever dream so still. It had been a silly notion. A nice one, too.

Shining Armor had felt many the painful stings once he was flung out into the cold by the vicious draconequus in his latest of tricks. The first sting he felt was the simple mounds of snow which wore away at every bit of his flesh the moment it made contact. The other—and far more potent—sting was from his own naive idiocy, when he went to speak with the most dishonest creature in all of Equestria by himself. But had he truly expected their meeting to lead to any results, other than more hearsay followed by denials aplenty? Shining couldn’t honestly tell. He had gotten the dirt on him and he had gotten it from Discord’s own single-fanged mouth, which in itself left a lot of questions still twirling in the air. Like just why had he given him such answers in the first place? Why exactly he had told him his entire scheme in one fail swoop?

Two answers came to the stallion’s mind. The first was that the draconequus was cracking—either from the weight of his extravagant lie or from something else entirely. The second answer seemed to be the one he believed a tad more, as much as it hurt him to think in such a way. Discord had expected him to die out here. And with him his secrets.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

He had said those words on loop more times than he could count and still they did little to quell his feelings. Perhaps they never would.

When Shining first felt the harsh realities of his treacherous situation, he had before anything else, looked for a possible hidden door somewhere in the snow. It could have been invisible, he told himself. One might have only needed to find its frame and grip its handle to travel back to the rest of the world. But after thirty minutes of such searching, Shining finally stared off into the distance. At the thousands of miles of white and blowing snow.

He gave himself only a minute to feel scared. Then he shook it off.

He was the Captain of the Guard and he had led full squads into worse situations such as these and time and again pulled through. Only now he had to do it alone. Yet even in the face of very certain death, he would continue on until his last breath.

So he got moving.

Only a few hours in and the cold had taken a toll on his body. Each limb felt sludgy and hard—numb and unyielding. The howling wind bit at his exposed eyes and already his nose had become a fountain of runoff. He knew it wouldn’t work like this.

Summoning a small bubble of sorts, he cocooned himself from the elements. Barely inches from his face, the biting wind and snow broke apart and sailed to either side of him. Instantly he felt better, but already he knew this would never serve over the long hail. The safety of the bubble only existed while he concentrated with enough of his mind. If he tripped or even simply wanted to sleep, he would again be exposed to every bit of the land’s cold fury.

A day later he found the cave.

“Wha…” Shining began, prying open both heavy eyes that strained to stay up.

Far in the distance, barely visible by the blowing snow sat the jagged mouth of a cave. Without honestly wondering whether it was a good idea or not Shining moved in its direction. Once he climbed under the sharp lip of the entrance, he undid his bubble and nearly shuddered in relief. But that was only before the chilly wind from the open gap found him again.

That small cave would not save him, he knew. Just as it had not saved his comrades.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

Since the cave was little more than an entrance with a hole cut in its side, Shining had found the other three guards almost before his eyes had adjusted to the gloom. Although they did not wear guard’s uniforms or anything of the sort, he remembered exactly what Discord had told him before slamming that door. And now here sat three more innocent ponies in the wake of his grand scheme; three more innocents who had done nothing more than been in the wrong place at the wrong time. So what more could Shining really have said, besides—

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

The two pegasus sat closer to the door while the unicorn sat further in. Each one had crumpled themselves as small as they could, possibly in an attempt to hide as much of themselves from the relentless wind. From the frozen snot from each nose and just how brittle each piece of their garments looked, Shining could tell it grievously hadn’t done much at all.

They could have left the unicorn, he had thought in that cold cave. They could have left him and tried to escape above the clouds but they didn’t. They stuck together and this is what they got. They tried to cross Discord—or maybe they DIDN’T at all—and yet here they still sit, forever and for all time.

Shining’s tears had already set onto his face. His back rubbed painfully against the stone wall—his constant shuddering something completely out of his control.

He wanted to sleep but thought that might be the last thing he would do. He wanted to cast another small bubble around his cold and weary body, but that would only serve to zap what little energy he had left. So instead he made a hard decision.

Shining rose and dusted the fine flakes of snow from his uniform, finally noting the disappearance of his favorite medal. He was sad to see it missing, probably lost during one of his sudden stumbles into the white. If he was to go down today or the next, it wouldn’t be while waiting in some cave for rescue. He would try and carve out his own escape… as little as it might have seemed doable.

His last thought before exiting that cave was that Equestria had never known such a villain as Discord.

2

“I know it hurts to hear, just as much as it hurts my ears to hear it as well. But this time the facts seem too irrefutable for any other such conclusion.”

Discord gave his weighty speech a pause while he surveyed the hundreds of startled faces peering up at him. Behind a bright podium he stood, atop a balcony jutting off the Canterlot Castle. Over a courtyard it hung, complete with benches and a water fountain. On most days a dozen ponies would trot among the area, pleasantly munching on their lunch while sitting for a spell or throwing their spare bits into the fountain in the vain hope of some passionate wish. Only now that same courtyard was far beyond capacity—the ponies that had arrived late rather standing in the ankle-deep fountain than miss a single word.

Discord held up his signed letter again. “Princess Twilight Sparkle has taken a claim on my life. Perhaps if she had done more research in how to actually kill a draconequus, she might have had more luck. But as it stands, I survive. And I mean to see justice prevail.” He lowered the letter to his chest, right over his heart. “I should have seen the signs earlier—I should have taken into consideration just what Celestia had told me.” He looked downcast, and let a single tear fall from his eye. He knew anyone watching from the back would not notice such a subtly, but he thought perhaps someone from the front would tell the rest exactly what they’d missed. “In the last few years of Celestia’s life, she had become concerned about her student. Twilight had begun to shy away from Equestria, and no matter how much anyone tried to pull her back, she would only strive to keep to herself. Years ago she disbanded her counsel of friends so she could be alone with her books. Doing what exactly… was anyone’s guess.

“Until now.”

He cleared his throat and held his eagle’s claw by his wounded side. Earlier, he had tasked a doctor with bandaging the area even though his wound had already healed completely. Still, it must have looked rather convincing to the hundreds that had missed out on his earlier performance.

“Given the letter found in the assassin’s bag, a few things seem more glaring than before. I had always wondered why King Sombra had felt so much more powerful during his destruction of the Empire. I had also always questioned just why Princess Twilight and Luna had never made it there—even when Celestia had begged for their aid. And oh how clear it all seems now.

“During her years away, Twilight must have busied herself in the ways of resurrection, perhaps even something more. She must have sent a newly created Sombra to the Empire to try and destroy both Celestia and myself. But since I survived her first attack, she must have thought another to be necessary. Why else would she have asked Luna to visit her, while not having spoken to the mare in years? It was distraction, my subjects. Simple distraction. She wanted as little power at the Empire as she could get, to give Sombra the easiest attack feasible. I know it may—”

“But that can’t be true!” a lone voice from the crowd shouted out. “Princess Twilight was Celestia’s student! And she saved Equestria a whole bunch of times!”

A hurried murmuring in the gathered group; the heads of many turned to their neighbor in search of what the other might just think.

Discord was unperturbed. “I know it might seem hard to believe—and believe me when I say I wish it was not the way it is. Like more ponies had, I loved Twilight as well. For years I was her friend, before she isolated herself from everyone. But time has a way of changing ponies. Take myself for example, if you must. Over the years Celestia would again and again inform me of just how worried she was of Twilight. Twilight had become an alicorn and had been given a role in Equestria, yet somehow she had wanted more—more duties and responsibilities and Celestia had feared she had become greedy with her new title. A short time prior to her fall, Celestia had even invited Twilight to come see her, possibly in an attempt to help bridge their broken trust. But Twilight would not even see her then.”

Slowly Discord shook his head. “The Twilight that many of you might have known is gone. The one we need to be in fear of now only wants power—as the death of her only teacher and mentor should prove evident. For years Twilight must have been planning it all—spent her time studying darker magic and twisting around tales. She is not to be trusted and is to be considered extremely dangerous. She will try and manipulate you. She will try and coax you into believing that she is the innocent one. But those are only her charms and nothing more.”

He placed both hands on the balcony, extending his thin neck over the crowd. “And I promise each and every one of you, that she will be found, and that justice will prevail. As your Lord I consider that my duty above all else. May Celestia have mercy on her soul.”

3

A few minutes following his impromptu speech and Discord was still thrumming from the rush. Each word—each lie­—he expelled forth appeared to be swallowed whole, and any nonbeliever in the crowd had hurriedly been swept away when they’d only need turn their heads to see the other hundreds that followed the opinions of the rest. Discord had always liked sheep.

“Lord Discord, a few questions if you could.”

Since he’d left the balcony and the warm embrace of his loving populace, the latest Executive pony had been trailing the tall creature as fast as his four legs would allow.

Discord didn’t slow but waved a hand for him to go on.

“It’s just that… since your attempted assassination, more than a few ponies have come forward saying that the tongue-less and teeth-less assassin had been speaking just fine only moments before attacking you. They said he gave a name at the door and everything.”

“Let me answer your question with one of my own,” Discord said, not even turning to the laboring pony. “How good would an assassin be if he couldn’t even enter the room where his intended target was?”

“Uhh…I…”

“Exactly! If he couldn’t say a name at the door, he wouldn’t have been allowed in. If he wouldn’t have been allowed in, this wouldn’t have happened!” He indicated his bandaged side.

Discord stopped his march down the hall, almost kneeling to match the height of his Executive. “Before he went in for the killing blow, he must have taken a potion should he have been caught. Without his tongue and his teeth, he would be of no use to the enemy.” Discord appeared a bit chipper with his next inquiry. “How is our guest doing? Have we learned anything new?”

“Well…” His Executive looked to his side. “Sadly, no, my Lord. We’ve shown him pictures of Princess Twilight and he either pretends to not know her or doesn’t at all. When we gave him paper to write with, all he wrote was your name, over and over again. When he ran out of room on the one side, he flipped it over and started to draw a picture of you, too. It’s all very disturbing.”

Discord tugged on his wispy beard. “Did he get my antlers right?”

“Beg pardon?”

“Never mind.” Discord got back to his feet. “It’s obviously more serious than I thought. Twilight has somehow erased herself from his memory and given him nothing but a burning desire to finish his job—to kill me once and for all. But you are quite correct. It’s all very disturbing.”

His Executive pursed his lips. “While we’re on the subject, what should we be feeding him? With no tongue or teeth it’s—”

“Give him pudding. Pudding will work.”

“That seems rather nice for a pony that just tried to kill the leader of Equestria.”

Discord rolled his eyes. “I never said chocolate pudding. Give him… tapioca or something.”

A sentry trotting by perked up in a flash. “I like tapioca!”

Discord ignored the random guard and began up the hall again. “We should not feel we have to punish the poor tool any more than is necessary. For that is all he is—a tool, used by Twilight Sparkle and then discarded when he was of no more use to her. It’s awfully sad is what it is.”

The nearly galloping Executive beside him said between breaths, “So what… what are we to do… about her.”

“Haven’t I made that clear?”

The draconequus stopped before the end of the walkway and spun around, facing the dozens of guards busing themselves with one thing or the next. He clapped both hands together, causing them all to halt. “In case someone hasn’t exactly gotten the memo yet, we are now searching for Twilight Sparkle. She is to be detained and then brought here, where she will face the justice she deserves. You are not to believe her lies or her wild tales of wrongdoings. She has had years to ponder them and will use them readily. Start with her home, where I’m sure she’s spent years crafting her dark arts when she brought Sombra back from the dead.”

4

When the tiredness had become too much to bear, Shining Armor let his thin bubble that protected him from the elements fade away. The biting wind found him soon after, but already it was becoming less and less of a concern.

Bit by bit he was getting numb.

From the tips of each leg it had started. He would watch each one rise and fall, again and again into the cold powder, and yet not feel a single thing against his skin. All he knew was that he was moving. Moving where? He did not know. All he knew was that it was the direction he had staked his life on. Should it lead to salvation or damnation was up to—

He laughed dryly in the wind.

It was the notion that his biggest annoyance of the day had ended some time ago—the deep pain along the features of his face. As his body might have felt momentarily better while it shut itself off piece by piece, Shining only knew each sign was only another step in a far darker direction. How much longer until that cold reached his inner organs? How much longer until his hooves would just stop moving on their own—unknown inner turmoil forcing them to halt the stallion where he stood, effectively picking the spot where he’d stumble and die.

But that would have been no way to go. Not for a Captain.

It wasn’t the way for those other three to perish either, he echoed dimly. Thrown into the cold, with not another single soul to hear of their sorrows.

A sharp pain much warmer than anything in days gutted him from the inside and the next thing he saw was a flurry of snow as his body came to the ground. It appeared he had come to the end. At least now he could sleep. And then from sleep he would depart from this place… and sadly leave too many things unfinished.

He blinked one. Twice.

Each time he closed his eyes he felt near ecstasy as his body yearned to slumber. Any moment now…

A small dot in the distance. Faintly glowing in the billions of specks of white. Now another dot joined it, crisscrossing and waving, moving and growing.

He closed his eyes and this time found them almost impossible to open again. But he did. And for the first time he felt not so alone anymore.

“Shiny?” a voice asked.

His answer would need to wait.

5

Spike closed the cover of the heavy tome and slid it across the table. It had been the one Twilight had been reading before she stormed off in the middle of the night without a word—a red bookmark still kept track of her spot near its end.

As much as Spike had wanted to worry about Twilight’s midnight venture—as well as the few days that had passed without a hair or word from her—he could not fully breakdown just yet. In the past she had been known to disappear for a series of hours, every time in the search for a new dusty book to add to her collection—to propel her “research” in whatever way she thought was best.

It had been a hard several years for the young dragon. Although Twilight had not aged a day in the last few years, her mental age had advanced far too fast for him. Instead of acting as young as she truly was, she was more prevalent to shutting out the rest of the world and reading until the early hours of the morning. Twilight had tried her best to ignore most everything around her, but Spike had always felt he had owed her more than his life alone. So for that he would remain. For her. Possibly to keep her head on her shoulders. Possibly to let her know that life still waited for her outside of her books. If she still wanted it.

As was accustom whenever Twilight went out, Spike would prop open one of her research books (usually the newest one) in some minuscule attempt at understanding just what Twilight had been searching for for all those years. Each time he’d only manage a few pages of thick script and garble-like language, before tossing it aside for either a comic book or an easier read. He only hoped what she’d said before about this book perhaps being the last one were true. Maybe then he could compel her to see her friends again. Maybe then—

“Fireflies?”

For some time now he had been sitting with her book, so much so that he hadn’t even noticed it was already dark. Another night and no Twilight, he thought, another chink in his armor making him worry all over again. But at least the night is nice.

He left the table and went to the kitchen window, the one that peered out into the thick woods beyond. It had taken some time to assimilate to the isolation of such a spot, but for the past while he had begun to take in its scenic beauty whenever he could. Maybe it was his way of coping with the situation.

And now he had dozens of fireflies to occupy his fervent mind. Peaceful. Tranquil.

But Spike had never known fireflies to move so swiftly in the brush, nor get as large as they were becoming.

Feeling one last chink in his armor, he left the cabin and stood in front of its door, both eyes searching for whatever was creating that noise in the forest.

“Who’s out there?” he called. The high-pitched voice he had donned all those years ago was no where to be found. What called out into the night should have scared most ponies away. And yet the sounds of their hooves only grew—the glowing fire at the end of each one of their torches steadily coming closer.

More than two dozen guards and ponies of different dress slowly unveiled themselves from the trees. In more than a few hooves were lit torches; on every single face was the most serious of looks. Spike didn’t even have a chance to see if he had been flanked around from the other side.

“Is she in there?” a guard near the middle of the pack asked. “Is Twilight Sparkle in there?” He sounded stern while he spoke, but his eyes happened to dart in a few too many directions to fully believe him. Underneath it all he was nervous.

“What do you want with her?” Spike said. “And why are you all here in the middle of the night?”

The guard steeled himself. “We need to speak with Twilight Sparkle immediately. It’s of the most dire of circumstances that we do.”

“You could have sent a letter,” Spike explained slowly. “Most normal ponies do that when they want to chat these days.”

Spike already knew something terrible had happened but was at a total loss as for what. He only knew he had to tiptoe around whatever was happening here. Most of the ponies that surrounded his home—most of the non-guards—appeared eager to jump at the bit whenever they could.

“Stop talking! He’s only stalling!” a random pony by the lead guard’s side cried. “She’s probably running out the back right now! Or worse! Preparing some spell to kill us all, like she tried with Lord Discord!”

The guard that had spoken moments before turned his head carefully to the yelling pony. “The only reason I said any non-guards could come was to try and cut down on any vigilantly violence. I said you could come and retain order, but not talk. So shut it and fast!”

The civilian pony clenched his jaw and kicked up some dirt with his hooves. Then he regarded Spike with a loathing glare that shouldn’t have been able to scare the near-fully grown dragon as much as it did.

“What did Twilight do?” he asked the crowd. “Where is she?”

The lead guard stepped closer. “We have reason to believe that Twilight Sparkle has made an attempt on the life of another, which is why we need to speak to her immediately—”

“Cut this formal stuff and let’s get in there already!” The voice of a mare from somewhere in the unknown thick of them all.

“He’s probably in on it, too!”

“What are we waiting for?”

More screams from the crowd came flooding out. Some fearful, some dripping with unseen rage. Spike had never witnessed such an ugly crowd. Never in his life did he want to see Twilight as bad.

He took a shaky step from the door, holding open both hands. “I don’t know what you think Twilight has done… but it is just not true. Twilight has never hurt anyone in her life and never would. Whatever you have heard has been a lie or a rumor—”

“Let’s smoke her out!” trumpeted another, before the quick blur of some bright object ran passed his vision, followed by the sound of breaking glass.

That was when the crowd lost what little control it had.

“No! Wait!” The lead guard spun around to face whoever had thrown the torch through the window, only to face an angry rabble of ponies clearly bent on taking justice into their own hooves.

Once the torch had been thrown and the first act of violence could plainly be felt, the rest of the group moved past that invisible barrier they had erected just beyond the tree line. On each face was wrath. Right next to that was fire. And Spike could already hear the sounds of crackling wood from within his home. It was all too much. Much too much.

“Stay back!” he yelled to the approaching herd, before pulling in a large batch of air. His next action was a wave of golden fire that arced around the cabin. As tall as two ponies and as long as the crowd itself, his wall of flames made more than a few jump back in surprise. But by then he was already moving—already inside and slamming the lock across the door.

It wouldn’t last long. But maybe just long enough.

“Come on, come on, come on…” he muttered to himself, while his eyes did their frantic search of the cabin’s modest interior. He knew he should try and save something—something from his many years there—but what? That was when Spike finally noticed the billowing fire to his left, already eating up what remaining of the living room couch and table. By that time the heat was stifling , but it was nothing to a dragon

“Come on, come on, come on…”

A piece of wood broke through the window in the kitchen, before clearing away its sides as a means to get in. More than a few hooves banged against the front door, causing the boards to crack and bend in their middle. This small house of theirs’ had never been intended to keep ponies out.

Then right before the spreading flames could devoir it next, Spike knew what he should take. The thick text he had been reading only minutes before—Twilight’s latest acquisition. It sat on the very edge of the coffee table, nearly teetering over the side. A few flames licked at its bookmark, but Spike scooped it up without another thought and ran into the bedroom in the back. Only a bed, a dresser, and a bookcase lay in wait. And by then he knew his small home was far beyond salvageable. So with one last look, he ran through the lone window that was available to him, unmindful of the small shards of glass that bounced off his hard flesh.

The only question now was whether he would find more awaiting him outside.

6

Twilight Sparkle had been certain he was dead. Perhaps a part of her—in way of grappling with all that had happened in the last few days—had nearly told her it to be true. Shining Armor was dead and there was nothing she could have done to change it. At least in that way, she knew it for a fact. At least in that regard, there was no more mystery to the question.

Princess Luna and Twilight had spent two days out in the cold, cutting away the swirling wind and snow with whatever spells best suited them. Discord’s hurried description of where he’d sent him were unfocused at best, plus it could never take into account whether Shining had moved from his original location, which Twilight was sure he would have.

“There! Something below!”

Along the white expanse it had actually been Luna who had spotted him. Carefully they had landed beside his body, and Twilight could barely restrain herself from enveloping him on the ground. Only he was too cold and too still. Only—

“We need to get him out of here! We need to get him out of the cold!” she screamed.

Luna looked down at the poor stallion and came closer. She knelt down and placed a hoof on his chest, then she held out her other leg towards her.

Twilight took it and immediately felt a charge rip across her.

“Place your other hoof on your brother, Twilight.”

She did, and then a blinding white clouded her vision and the swirling cold she had felt for far too long came to a halt. Now she could actually hear again; along with the sweet songs of birds from some distant tree; the sweet smell of grass just underhoof; the sweet warmth from the sun just overhead.

Twilight opened her eyes and found the three of them in the same position as before, only now on a field of damp grass. She went to her brother and watched the steady movement of his chest rise up and down. That alone was enough to make her cry so she did, all the while holding one of his legs in two of her own.

After a few moments (when Twilight had become more than sure her brother was not about to suddenly expire), she turned to Luna, who stood watch by her side. “Where are we?”

“We are outside the Empire,” Luna said casually. “I had meant to transport us to the very hub of the city, but it has been a while since I have visited. Plus a teleportation spell such as that is uncommon, even for myself.” She surveyed the grassy land. “But at least we are safe… for now.”

Twilight dried her eyes. “Thank you, Luna. I wouldn’t have been able to do this on my own. I wouldn’t have even been able to get him back—or either of us, for that matter.”

Luna nodded solemnly. “I am relieved your brother has been found. I am sure he will recover, given time. But the matter of Discord still weighs heavily on my mind. I feel no different about the subject than—”

“Discord!”

Shining Armor shuddered awake with wild eyes. With gasping breaths he took in his new surroundings and settled down. Then he found the shimmering eyes of Twilight and pulled her in for a hug. “It was you,” he whispered. “Thank you, Twilight. Oh Celestia, thank you.”

For a few minutes Twilight filled the stallion in on just how they’d come to find him. Afterwards, Shining did the same—ending on the three frozen ponies he had found in the cave, horrifically banished by Discord.

“Discord’s not the same creature he once was,” he continued. “He’s become something worse—something crueler than I thought he could be. He’s changed, and I don’t even know if he’s realized it himself. It used to be about chaos for the sake of fun… but now it seems like chaos just for the sake of it. He’s becoming unhinged… and now he doesn’t care who he hurts. He might think he’s not truly killing anyone by not physically touching them, but what he’s doing is basically the same. I don’t think he works by a single rule anymore.”

Luna nodded eagerly at each point. Twilight only sat and listened, trying desperately hard to separate the Discord she had known for over the past decade and the Discord from only a few nights prior. It was a bitter pill to swallow.

Luna looked ready to chomp on it all. “And that’s why we strike as soon as we can! When you’ve recovered—let’s say, in a few hours—we can gather the guards of the Empire and prepare an assault on the tyrant! My sister’s murderer will not get away with what he’s done!”

Shining tried to pry himself from the tree he had been resting on, winching as he did. “I think I might need more time than that. But I agree. Discord cannot get away with this any longer. Not while he might hurt more ponies that interfere with his plans.”

“Then when do we strike?” Luna was still too eager.

“I don’t know, we—” Shining began.

“But there’s so much you two aren’t taking into account!” Twilight cut between them.

Luna and Shining observed her for a moment before calming down; the Princess of the Moon already on the verge of saying more. “You just said that Discord would hurt ponies that got in his way; only the ones the try to meddle with him. That was just us in the snow. That was those three you found in the cave. If what you believe is true, Shining, that Discord had become unhinged in a way, then that means we should be trying to lessen his focus as much as possible.”

She took in a breath. “Most of Equestria believes that Discord—Lord Discord—is what saved the day at the Empire. If that lie were to be exposed, then no one would know what to think—ponies everywhere would panic and ponies could get hurt. But what this lie also does… is keep Discord grounded. As long as he gets to remain in charge and control the sun and the moon he is kept on the side of good. At least publicly. If we tell everyone just how horrible he is, and just what he’s done, what’s stopping him from focusing his anger out on everyone? Sadly, the lie that he’s created for himself is keeping him at bay as much as it is us. Plus, what evidence do we even have against him?”

Shining was surprisingly the first to speak. More like shout. “There are three innocent, dead ponies out in the snow right now, and not a single soul knows just why or what got them there! Except we do! Are you saying their lives count for nothing, Twilight?”

“Then what would we say?” Twilight was having trouble meeting his eyes. “Here are three ponies in a cave and Discord was the one that put them there. All he would have to say is that three explorers went out and got lost along the way. It would be our word against his. And as it stands these days, my word means close to nothing—I’ve been forgotten, replaced by a more recognizable ruler. Luna might have more sway, but she had left everyone when they needed her. Ponies might still be raw about it.”

Luna did not say a word on the contrary; only tightened her gaze.

“What about me then, Twilight,” Shining said. “He threw me out into the snow, expecting me to die along with his secrets. That can’t go unpunished.”

“That’s not what I’m saying, Shining. Not at all.” She tried to face them both at the same time. “All I’m saying is that things have changed in the year since Celestia left. We’re playing a far more delicate game than before. It’s not just some villain that needs to be stopped with magic or weapons or friendship or whatever. Discord has spent years creating careful threads tied to everything—he’s thought of most everything. If we start pulling away at his work without fully comprehending it all, then everything will collapse at once. We need to start thinking about more than just what we want and instead what might be best for everyone.” She pointed a hoof at Shining. “You only want redemption for those ponies huddled in that cave, and I want that too. But there needs to be a better way than just confronting him directly.” She then pointed to Luna. “You say you want to avenge your sister’s death, but the only solution you’ve given at all is with answering a death with another one. The Celestia that I knew only wanted peace among her subjects, whatever the cost. I’m sure if she knew her life would allow such a pacification to flow into the land, she would let it all stand. But by killing Discord in turn, is that what Celestia wants? Or what you want?”

For a long time neither of them said anything. Both peered away before finding the purple alicorn again. Luna said minutely, “But he can’t get away with it. It wouldn’t be right.”

“I’m not saying we let him,” Twilight said, “only that we need to plan how we do it carefully. Discord’s given us time to do as we please. As long as we don’t try and blow the whistle on him, he can’t do much to anyone besides dictate and rule.”

Shining perked up. “Then what’s the first thing we do?”

Twilight said, “We find a way to turn him back into stone.”

Author's Note:

All right. Not the most exciting of chapter endings, but the original plan of including three more scenes to this chapter would have placed it around 10,000+ words, and that seems like a lot. But an ending to it all is coming, I promise. I'd say we have 4-5 more chapters left in our tale, which I have to admit, is making me a little sad. It's been fun.

Comments

[ShittyMKSound]

Discord reminds me of Cao Cao and Frank Underwood but with Chaos shit.

[naturalbornderpy]

4892413 I have no idea who Cao Cao is, but House of Cards is one of my favorite shows, so I find this comparison very cool. House of Cards/House of Chaos? (Someone make the image now!) Thanks for reading.