What Came Before

by Rocket Blaze

Awakening

The sun and moon had gone down long before the ponies had emerged from the palace. The garden Celestia spoke of was tucked away in a central part of the palace, far removed from the public path. Perhaps it was for the better, if enough chaos could indeed release Discord from his stone prison. In fact, as Pinkie reflected, it seemed to be a miracle in and of itself that he hadn't broken free already.

And there he was, cast in stone amongst the other statues of the garden. He seemed taller than she remembered, though far from imposing as he wore the same panicked look he'd been petrified with. Nevertheless, her stomach turned as she recalled the unpleasantness with which he'd afflicted her and her friends.

Here was a creature who, like Malice, sought to corrupt her, her friends, and the Elements of Harmony in ways that made them untrue to themselves. Although, as she looked back on it, but underneath the superficial similarities was the deeper truth that Discord never actually hurt anypony. It was as though he were simply a child that never grew up - something that Pinkie could perhaps even relate to.

"Discord..." gasped Rainbow Dash. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"I don't think we've had a good idea for some time," admitted Twilight.

"Just make sure you don't give him an inch, Twilight," she groaned. "If you do, you know he's gonna take a mile."

"If he doesn't cooperate, I'll take care of him." Shining Armor had entered the garden just behind Pinkie and her friends. In tow, he had two other unicorns clad in bronzed plate armor, each blazoned with their cutie marks: one, a ring of four-pointed star bursts; the other, a caged fire. "Sunstorm and Flameheart will hold him back if he tries any funny business."

"Will the three of you really be enough to hold him back?" asked Rarity.

The stallion with the caged flame cutie mark - Pinkie deduced that he was Flameheart - cleared his throat. "Sunstorm and I marked at the top of our unit with containment and barrier spells. Only Shining Armor scored higher."

"Oh, can't we give him a chance before we doubt him?" implored Fluttershy.

"Let's just get this over with!" Twilight sighed, stepping forward and bracing herself for the spell she was about to cast. "Spread out, gang. I have no idea what's going to happen."

Twilight reared her head, gathering an orb of bright light at the tip of her horn, and heaved forward. The orb rode along a beam of light and dispersed against Discord's stony chest.

No going back now, thought Pinkie.

Pinkie had partly expected the stone to break away, but for a moment there was no response, and she wondered if the spell had not worked. However, a second later, the color had returned to Discord's chest and neck, spreading outward along his arms, and down towards his tail.

When any trace of grey around his head was gone, he gasped, collapsing to the ground. Everyone except for Celestia, Luna, and the Canterlot Guards took a step backwards.

Still breathing heavily, Discord looked up at them. "Augh!" he groaned, "The next time you little ponies turn me to stone like that, can't you at least have the decency to make sure I'm comfortable first!?"

"And he's back..." sighed Rainbow Dash.

"Astute observation, most loyal pony... but I won't be here for long! I'm not sure how you expect to keep me here, but I've got more important business to attend to."

"Like what!?" Dash countered.

"Like not being here! I may have been wearing a stone body suit but I'm not deaf, dumb, or blind... Somepony hasn't been doing a very good job as 'leader supreme of Equestria' and, if you ask me, she should have just left me in charge!" He nudged his elbow in the direction of Princess Celestia.

Luna stomped her hoof. "You will learn your place, Discord, and respect my sister, or I will escort you to the dungeon myself."

"Oooh, I'm so scared. Haven't you forgotten? All I have to do is snap my fingers and..." He snapped his fingers to no effect. "Huh..." Trying a few more times achieved similar results. "This usually works."

"That's right, Discord!" proclaimed Twilight. "We're asking the questions, now..."

Discord stared at his mismatched hands with a puzzled expression before straightening his back and calmly stepping back onto the stone pedistal upon which he'd previously been perched. "Well, I'd give myself a chair, but... ahem... somepony rudely left me unable to call for one. I'd be oh so very cooperative if you pulled one out of your fancy palace for me, Celestia."

"That will be enough stalling, Discord," the princess demanded. "I know you are fully aware that the spell will soon wear off, and we need you to tell us some things in the mean time. If you are cooperative, we will let you go."

"What!?" Rainbow Dash gasped. "Princess! Let him go!? What do you think-"

Celestia held up a hoof to silence her. "-This decision is not yours to make, Rainbow Dash. We have already set him free; Discord, myself, and every other pony here knows full well that we cannot hold him against his will." She walked forward, stopping just short of the beast himself. "But he must certainly realize that if he cooperates, we will make his going that much easier."

"Sister. If we are to simply let Discord go, then why did we bring these guards to contain him?"

"I did not say his cooperation was guaranteed. Make no mistake, Discord. If you do not cooperate, leaving will be very, very... difficult." Pinkie had no doubt that the princess had meant to say "painful," but the implication was evident by the resolve in her voice.

Discord rolled his eyes. "All right, all right. You have my cooperation... for five minutes. After that, you'll be lucky if I don't turn each and every one of you into a mouse... or something even more unpleasant."

"Twilight. The book."

"Y-Yes, Princess." Twilight stepped forward, producing the book from its hiding place beneath her left wing.

Discord turned his attention towards her and chuckled. "Why, Twilight. What lovely wings you have there. A little gift from mommy, dearest? I hope you don't think this means you're a true princess. I'd hate to see that kind of power go to your head."

"Shut up, Discord," Luna said flatly.

Twilight did not respond to Discord's goading. Instead, she magically parted the pages of the book to the image that she and Pinkie had found before smoothly rotating it to face him. "We did some digging and found this. We want you to tell us what it means."

"It means you ponies can't draw worth a-" The three unicorn guards closed in around Discord, their horns glowing bright red. "-Okay! Okay! Shyeesh. Can't take a joke, can you?"

He studied the page for a few seconds and laughed. "Oh, this is laughable. Did you honestly think my brothers have anything to do with what's going on? You clearly haven't done enough research, Twilight. Frankly, I'm disappointed."

Princess Celestia spoke in Twilight's stead. "We are not interested in Anarchy or Nihilism. They have not been seen in Equestria for over a thousand years. We know from this image that you, and your brothers fought against Malice. I know that you know that Malice has returned. I need to know how you survived against him. We need to know what his weaknesses are! And, as much as it pains me to say this... you are our last hope at fighting back at him."

Discord tugged at his beard. "You think of me that highly, princess?"

"It does not matter what I think. These are the facts at hand."

"Well, in that case... I don't know what to say... I'm... I'm honestly just so..." a single tear formed at the bottom of his eye and got about halfway down his face when he suddenly burst into a mad fit of laughter. "HAHA! Oh, Celestia! I can't keep that up with a straight face. Oh, you should have seen yourselves! You're all so desperate for my help, but I have none to give!"

Celestia turned her head in Shining Armor's direction. "Guards."

Three red beams of light struck Discord from the sides and back. Almost immediately, Discord fell to his knees, clutching at his chest and screaming out in pain.

"PRINCESS! NO!" Fluttershy leaped between the Princess and Discord, flapping her wings to stay in her line of sight. "What are you doing!? You didn't say anything about hurting him!"

"I'm afraid he has left us no choice, Fluttershy. Our options are exhausted, and if Discord does not cooperate, Equestria may fall into the clutches of an enemy far, far worse than he ever was. Guards. Enough!"

Discord fell to the ground, breathing heavily. Fluttershy turned and landed next to him. "Mister Discord? Are you okay?"

"No... She tortured me! Now, I don't know how bad you think I am, but at least I never did that to anypony. Turning me to stone! Taking me prisoner! Torturing me with spells! I'm starting to think I'd be a nicer leader, in addition to a more effective one."

"I have had enough of your insubordination, Discord! Guards. Hit him agai-"

Fluttershy jumped between Discord and the guards. "No! Mister Discord meant to say he is really, really sorry, and he wants to tell us exactly what he meant. Isn't that right?"

"Why, thank you, Fluttershy. Yes, that is what I meant to say. You see? She knows how to ask somepony nicely... and just for that, I think I will stay a little bit longer than I said I would. Would that please you... your highness?"

"Tell us about Malice," said Princess Celestia pointedly.

Discord stood once again, stretching out his arms and arching his back. "Mmmmm, it feels good to finally be able to stand on my own two legs again without this one threatening to torture me, or cast me in stone. I am feeling much more cooperative now!"

"Yeah?" asked Rainbow Dash sarcastically. "Prove it!"

"Okay. Well, your princess isn't wrong. My brothers disappeared long ago, because Malice killed them. There! You happy!?"

"Malice killed your brothers?" Twilight asked, incredulously. "I'd have thought them to be immortal, like you."

"Oh, sweet, naive Twilight. Of course they were 'immortal,' until he killed them. Why do you think I want nothing to do with this!?"

"How!?" Rarity gasped. "How does one slay something that cannot be slain?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you. Don't you get it? The only way to survive this is to be as far away from the flames as possible! If I were Luna, I'd be missing my cozy little timeshare on the moon right about now."

"You still haven't told us much, Discord," Celestia warned. "You encountered Malice, but when and where? My sister and I cast him to the darkest depths of Tartarus, but you must have encountered him after that. Do you know how he escaped?"

Discord looked away, scrunching his forehead and rubbing his chin. "Well, the only way I can think of is if the Queen simply let him. Cerberus doesn't sleep on the job, that's for sure!"

"A queen?" Pinkie asked. "What is he talking about!?"

"Not just any queen, Pinkie Pie. The Queen of Death. I swear, it's like ponies these days never learn anything! She's the ruler of Tartarus. Did you think it just runs itself? That all of those prisoners down there are not overseen by anyone?

"I hear that she takes a personal interest in dealing with the worst of the worst. If the stories are true, she could literally torture you for an eternity! Understandably, she is another one I'd like to be as far away from the bad side of as possible."

"It's my bad side you need to worry about now, Discord," the princess growled. "Am I to believe that the ruler of Tartarus simply set a prisoner free? Why would that even happen?"

"Well how should I know!? You're the one who is always spouting nonsense about 'love' and 'friendship.' Maybe Malice and Death were just two like souls who happened to find a mutual love of pain and torture. How it happened is of no concern to me!

"I don't know what else to tell you. So, if you don't mind, I would like nothing more than to find a cave somewhere and wait out this lovely little storm you've somehow managed to start!"

Discord must have realized the spell had worn off by now. His taloned arm rose, claws poised in a position to snap and whisk him away to some far-flung part of the world. "Discord, wait!" Pinkie called after him.

He paused just long enough to meet her gaze. "What?"

Pinkie gulped. Discord may not have been Malice, but he still made her nervous. "All of this chaos Malice is making... Isn't it what you wanted?"

For a moment, Discord's face hung with what might have been sorrow... regret, even. "Chaos is only fun if there are others around to enjoy it." Snapping his fingers, Discord vanished from the garden in a puff of smoke.

Discord understood, then: If Malice won, there would be nopony left. If Pinkie had any doubt, it did not remain - Discord did not want this any more than they did.