“Twilight, if what Captain Armor told me is true, then I agree with Spike. You are not at fault.”
Princess Twilight Sparkle did not immediately reply to Captain Iron Cobbler’s remark. She knew he meant it. She knew Shining Armor had meant it, as had Princess Luna, and Princess Celestia, and Cadance, and Spike. They had all meant it, and it was only polite she acknowledged their statement, wasn’t it?
“Thank you, Captain,” she said, looking up at him with what she hoped wasn’t an insincere smile. She appreciated his sentiment, even if she didn’t quite believe it.
Iron Cobbler yawned, the night sky looming overhead. “Well then, Princess, we better get back inside. My nephew should be arriving from his trip tonight, and somepony should be awake to greet him.” He looked down to his son, Apple Crisp, standing beside him, and then nodded toward Twilight’s library in the distance. “Would you like to come with me and escort the princess?” he asked, and Twilight could hardly stop a warm smile when the colt eagerly nodded.
As they made their way toward the tree, Twilight felt her steps growing heavier and heavier. Spike was gone, and without him, the thought of being alone inside the library was an unpleasant one. She missed home. She missed Canter Capital, and her mother, and her father, and her brother, and the princesses. She missed them terribly, and ever since they’d all separated to find the Elements, it felt like it’d been years since she last saw them.
Shining Armor was supposed to come see her soon, at least.
Just as they reached the library, she felt somepony patting her leg and she looked down to find Crisp gawking up at her.
“Do you want me to read you a bedtime story, Princess Twilight?” he asked.
“A bedtime story?” his father asked. “Are you trying to get out of going to bed early?”
The colt gasped. “N-no!”
In the back of her mind, Twilight thought a bedtime story would be wonderful. Maybe one where a bereaved little princess finally perfects a time-travelling spell and fixes all her problems.
“How about tomorrow?” she suggested. “I need to finish some research tonight on the elemental magics and essences of Equestria. Though… you did remind me of something.” With a spark of magic, she summoned a book from within her library, which she offered to the colt. “Here you are,” she said with a wide smile. “It’s a book on ancient Equestrian myths. Why don’t you read the first chapter, and we can read the second one tomorrow?”
The foal quickly accepted the gift and examined the cover, excitedly pointing out an armored pony that looked like his father. She waited patiently for him to finally open it to the first page and then allowed a proper grin to adorn her face when he saw the dedication meant just for him.
“It’s for me?! Thank you, Princess Twilight!” he exclaimed, barely giving her enough time to welcome him before he threw himself at her, book and all.
“It also has illustrations!” she added. “Princess Celestia illustrated some of the final chapters,” she elaborated. “I marked them out for you.”
“Can’t we read it tonight?” Crisp insisted, whining when she shook her head.
“Tomorrow,” she replied firmly, even though now she did want to read it again. “I promise.” As an added measure, she teleported a spare bag Spike had left lying around in the library and offered it to him just to make sure the book was transported in safe conditions.
“Thank you, Princess,” Iron said, bowing his head.
Twilight shook her head. “No, Captain. Thank you and your family,” she said. It feels like it’s the only family I have left…
She turned around and lifted the trapdoor to her library, staring down into the dark abyss that awaited her. Maybe, one day, when it was all over, she’d move her library up from the underground. It would be much more inviting, at least.
“Good night, Princess Twilight.”
Twilight looked away from the tunnel and smiled at the colt grinning at her. “Good night, Apple Crisp. Good night, Captain Iron,” she said before looking away, stepping down into the tunnel and closing the trapdoor behind her—just like that.
She let out a breath of air and began her descent, trying to go over her mental checklist of the many things she had to do, one of which had been her priority for so many years now that she’d stopped counting: find the Elements of Harmony.
She made her way through the dusky tunnel until she finally reached the pitch-black library. She placed her saddlebag on the floor and looked around for her companion—if it could even be referred to as such.
“Star?” she called out. “Light, please!”
In the distance, she watched as a candelabra flew up into the air and transformed into a beautiful chandelier without exploding! A pleased smile brightened her face at seeing her most recent invention finally working. No more having candelabras everywhere!
She trotted to a nearby desk, her notes scattered over it. She sat down on her haunches and tapped her hoof against the table, as if the rhythmic tapping would somehow inspire some sort of epiphany within her. She shuffled through her scrolls until her eyes landed on a drawing of an old withered tree inside a cave.
That’s where she’d found the Element of Magic. Well, technically speaking, that’s where she’d found the rock that turned into the Element of Magic and, unfortunately, she’d found nothing else. Maybe she ought to go back and look again. It would be the hundredth time, but maybe she was just that bad of a finder.
If I even knew what the other Elements were, she thought somberly. She was starting to accept that there might be no such things as Elements of Sun, Moon, and Love, but admitting that meant admitting that she’d been wrong for the past…
“Focus, Twilight,” she murmured, rubbing her eyes with her hooves.
She got up from the table and stretched her legs. Maybe some magic exercises would help her. Teleportation training was always a good choice, especially considering how it had taken her a few months to properly master short-range teleportation. She didn’t want to suddenly up and forget how to do it.
“All right, book,” she said to the tome that appeared before her. “Let’s see what you have.”
“Ah, so the rumors are true!” a chillingly familiar voice said, echoing throughout the room. “The princess is so lonely, she talks to her books. What a sad, pathetic sight.”
Every single hair on her coat stood on its end, and had she not been in the heat of the moment, she might have marveled at how fast one could go from relaxed to absolutely furious.
“Coward!” she roared, looking around the room for the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony. “Come out and face me, Discord! Come out!”
Discord’s laugh filled the room. “Face you?! My dear filly, what confidence for somepony so outmatched!” In a poof of smoke, he appeared in front of her, chin resting on his intertwined hands. “You know, I always did admire that of you, Twilight.”
A growl left Twilight’s throat, and he’d barely finished his remark when a beam of magic assailed him—but his wicked grin only grew as he vanished before it could hit him. The beam hit the wall, leaving a large black mark and burning several nearby books to a crisp and enraging the alicorn even further.
“What do you want, Discord?!” she demanded. “My Element doesn’t work, and you know that!”
Discord appeared behind her, fluttering his eyelashes. “Your crown?” He snapped his fingers and Twilight’s crown appeared over her head, crooked and falling off. “I don’t want your silly little tiara!” He leaned back and arrows made of smoke appeared all over, every single one pointed at Twilight. “I’m here for you, Princess!”
“Me?” she asked, and for a split moment, fear gripped her, but as soon as she felt it, she smothered it. He disappeared before she could attack him again, and she looked around the library. “What do you want from me?! Haven’t you taken enough?!”
“Taken enough? Princess Twilight, there is nothing I have taken that you haven’t lost on your own!” he taunted from nowhere and everywhere at once. “I truly don’t understand why you’re so angry at me!”
“You won’t get away with this, Discord!” she warned, spreading her wings out. “The others will be here soon, and the four of us are strong enough to defeat you without the Elements!”
“Oh, will they?” he asked, and rematerialized next to her with a wide grin and, at the snap of his fingers, a horrifyingly familiar black crown appeared atop his head. “I do love Luny’s crown, really. Be honest, Twilight, who wore it better?”
“No,” she whispered, before rage fully consumed her and she launched another attack at him. “Where did you get that?! What did you do to Princess Luna?!”
“Twilight, this is quite the library you’ve made for yourself! The perfect secret lair for Equestria’s soon-to-be most-hated pony!” he exclaimed, nodding his head in approval as he looked around, ignoring her. He then directed his gaze downward. “And there’s another floor? Oooooh!”
And with a wicked grin, Discord quite literally phased down to the lower level. Twilight gritted her teeth and rushed to the stairs. When she finally crossed the threshold below, she saw Discord floating over her rows of neatly arranged bookcases, a yellow magic aura concentrated about his paw.
“Discord!” she roared, flying into the air and toward him.
She landed with a thud atop one of the bookcases and charged another magic beam. But before she could actually launch it, Discord gestured with his other hand and the bookcase Twilight was standing on brusquely moved away, toppling her to the floor with a painful thud.
“Princess Twilight!” Discord exclaimed. “Shall I show you my Element of Chaos?”
Just as soon as he’d finished the sentence, the magic forming around his paw grew in size, crackling and bursting with energy, and then, with a flick of his wrist, the sphere of chaos magic streaked toward Twilight, striking her before she could move to avoid it.
And yet, it didn’t so much hit her as it went inside her, filtering under her coat and, it felt, into her very soul. The first thing she felt was pain. Agonizing pain, washing all over her, followed by a calmness because her consciousness was subdued, beaten into submission by a stronger second presence. She fell limp to the floor, a black haze clouding her eyes, and her mind as blank as a freshly carved slate.
“Poor little Princess Twilight,” Discord’s voice said, flowing inside her and leaving its mark in her thoughts. Why shouldn’t it, when he was the master of the magic now possessing her body? “It was all your fault, wasn’t it?”
The three words resonated inside Twilight’s mind, and a voice inside her—the chaos magic or her own subconscious, maybe both—repeated the three words that had long ago become her mantra.
It’s my fault.
And yet, another voice fought inside her, taking the form of Spike’s voice, telling her to fight it, fight it, fight it and with a power she did not know she had, Twilight Sparkle—what little of her remained—gritted her teeth and looked up.
“Dis…cord…”
Discord simply smiled and snapped his fingers.
Nothing happened at first, and then it happened all at once. If the pain from moments before had been agonizing, this was on an entirely new level. It felt like her very soul was being ripped from her body. There was no other way to describe it. A suffocating feeling took over her, like the air was being sucked out of her lungs, like her bones were being forcibly extracted from her body.
For a moment, for a very brief and terrible moment, she wished for death, to spare her this pain.
And then it stopped, and the chaos magic burst from her body and swirled into the dozens of bookcases surrounding her.
After what seemed like an eternity, she managed to stand up, breathing in and out yet feeling as if no amount of breathing would refill her aching lungs. With what energy she had left, she splayed her wings and glowered at the Spirit, tears bordering her eyes.
“You…”
“Silence now!” Discord shouted, clapping his hands together. “The show has just begun!”
What a show it was, indeed.
Before Twilight could try to make sense of his statement, the deafening sound of creaking wood filled the room from every direction. She looked around in horror as the bookcases levitated into the air and began to rearrange themselves. Some dropped into a large ring with Twilight at the center, trapping her—except for a single bookcase-width gap in front of her. But before she could step toward it, another smaller ring of bookcases slammed back to the floor, cutting off her exit. She spun in place and saw another gap in this new ring, offset from the first, but then another ring slammed down, and another and another, and mere moments later she was trapped inside a maze built from her own beloved books with barely enough room to move.
Twilight looked back up at Discord, who was peering down at her over the top of the tightly circled bookcases. “This is your show?!”
Discord laughed, shaking his head. “Oh, no, no no! That’s just a little bonus!” He then smiled at her, tilting his head to the side. “The real show, Twilight, is what will happen when you realize what I did to you.”
Did to me…?
Twilight looked down at herself, trying to figure out what exactly was wrong with her. She still felt her magic aura, her wings were intact—she was having a bit of trouble breathing, but beyond that, nothing seemed superficially wrong. Fear overtook her at the idea that he’d somehow caused her internal damage. She looked herself over and noticed her right wing was sticking through a bookcase. The bookcases were encircling her so closely that she didn’t even have room to spread her wings properly. But her wing wasn’t sticking into an open area, into space on an empty shelf, but rather phasing straight through solid wood and clothbound paper.
She let out a piercing scream, stumbling back and through a nearby bookcase, and another, and another, Discord’s laugh intermingling with her terrified yells, until she was out of the maze.
“Why are you doing this?!” she finally yelled, tears bordering her eyes and disappearing before they could roll down her cheeks and land on the floor.
“Why?” he asked, and now did the mirth fade from his voice. “To teach a valuable lesson to little ponies who think they can trick me.”
“W-we had no choice!” Twilight protested, the terrible voice in her head screaming three words at her. “You were destroying Equestria!”
“We?! Oh, now, Twilight, let’s not play the blaming game!” Discord exclaimed, teleporting in front of her as she helplessly stepped away, wishing the nightmare would end, please, Princess Luna, please. “As far as I remember, you were the one who attacked me, weren’t you? You were my friend, and you betrayed me.”
“You were my friend, too!” Twilight retorted. “I trusted you! I didn’t want to lie to you! I know it was wrong, but I wanted to make it bett—”
“Yes! Yes, Twilight, good! You were wrong, and I was the victim! I was innocent!” he interrupted, almost hissing at her. He then leaned back and crossed his arms. “Oh, but that’s not the only time you’ve been wrong, has it?
“Twilight, Twilight, Twilight, what a sorry string of mistakes you have trailing after you,” he continued, now floating around her, throwing her a pitiful expression. A book appeared before him, which Twilight recognized as the very book she’d been writing on the events of the wars. “Look at all of this!” He let out a long-suffering sigh, flipping through the pages. “You didn’t find the Elements of Harmony; you forced your fellow princesses to lie to their kingdom; Celestia gave you another chance to find them and again you failed, and now Equestria is at war again because you couldn’t let go of one simple thing.”
“Stop it!” she cried, angry tears clouding her eyes. “I wasn’t going to let you keep Spike like a pet!”
“Of course you wouldn’t!” he agreed, looking toward her. “How could you when it meant losing your only friend? Really, even I befriended you out of pity! Who would ever want to spend time with a failure like you?”
“I-I’m no—”
He arched an eyebrow. “Oh, no? Tell me, Twilight, whose fault is it that the princesses had to resort to trickery to win a war?”
And, finally, the terrible acceptance left her lips.
“It was my fault,” she said, and Discord let out a vulpine smile.
The book floated away from him and toward her, opened to the chapter detailing the second Chaos War—which she caused.
“Your fault,” Discord repeated, and the same two words stamped themselves on the book as he said them, again and again as he repeated the same two words, over and over, moving forward as Twilight backtracked, the heart that no longer served a purpose compressing in her chest.
“Please,” she pleaded, falling to the floor, wanting to hear no more. “Stop… Go away…”
Finally, Discord did as told, the book disappearing as he leaned back. “Oh, I will! But only because I have to fetch my prize!”
Twilight looked, dread filling her up. “Prize? What prize?”
He snapped his fingers and books started flying off bookshelves and toward him.
“Now, where is the book I need? No, no, no—ah-hah!” A large book floated in the air, and the Spirit cleared his throat. “As I was saying, it might be much more fun to play with this.”
The book flew over and opened itself in front of her, the pages turning rapidly until they stopped at an illustration. The drawing depicted a large and fearsome fire-breathing creature flying overtop a volcano; volcanoes were, after all, the preferred dwelling of dragons.
“No. No! Stay away from him, Discord!” she roared, pushing the book out of the way only to find a small, very crude imitation of a purple and green dragon smiling at her from atop one of the bookcases. Its wings were much too short for its body, and the spikes on its head were much too large.
“You know, I do think the resemblance is uncanny, don’t you? Well, the only difference is that I have wings, like any proper dragon should,” he said, admiring himself. He lifted himself into the air despite the disproportionate wing to body ratio, and flew over to the top of another bookcase. “How sad that he’s your only friend left. And before you say you have ‘plenty of friends,’ let me remind you, books don’t count!”
“Y-you’ll never find him!” she exclaimed, ignoring his question and stamping her hoof against the ground.
The “dragon” laughed. “Never find him? My dearest princess, who do you take me for? I already have!” He snapped his fingers and a cage appeared around him. He turned to her and put on a pleading face, fluttering his eyes. “Poor wittle baby dragon, all alone with no one to help him.”
“Where is he?! What did you do to him?!”
The cage vanished, as did the smile on the dragon’s face. “You want to find him?” he asked, expression as grim as the atmosphere permeating the library. He disappeared and reappeared in front of the princess, having regained his original form. Before she could react, his magic took hold of her chin, forcing their eyes to meet.
“Listen well, my little pony,” he hissed. “I’ve hidden a coded map somewhere in the bowels of your precious library and if you step out of here even once without it… If a single hoof or hint of magic crosses that doorway without you having found that map… It will vanish and you shall never see your friend again.”
When he finally let go of her, he snapped his fingers and a large heart-shaped emerald appeared in his claw. “Spike made this for you once, didn’t he?”
“G-give that back!” she commanded, levitating books out of bookshelves and throwing them at him, watching helplessly as he effortlessly avoided any impact.
Discord laughed, throwing the emerald in the air and catching it in his claw before flying up toward the ceiling. “Princess Luna was so easy to trick! And now your little dragon friend, and I can hardly imagine Celestia and Cadance will be any harder!” he exclaimed joyfully. “Twilight, I must commend you! Look at all these ponies whose lives you’ve affected so terribly! But, before I go to them, I should really do something about those silly little farmers! I do believe I heard them say they wished more trees grew in the area! And they did point me to your location; it’s only right I return the favor!”
“No!” Twilight screamed, flying into the air and trying to no avail to catch Discord. “No, don’t you dare! Leave them out of this!”
Before she could stop him, Discord disappeared into the upper level, and seconds later, the maze below flashed twice, sending jolts of magic into the ground and triggering an earth-shattering quake. Twilight shrieked, watching as the ceiling quite literally sunk toward her.
Not wanting to go through the ceiling, she teleported upstairs and found Discord hovering by the exit tunnel, which was now blocked off by some sort of black barrier.
“Do you believe in ghost stories?” Discord asked. “Have you ever heard the one about the ghostly princess trapped for eternity inside a library? I hear it’s quite the tale!” He laughed and waved at her. “Goodbye, Princess! I do hope your beloved books will be good company!”
And with not another word, Discord floated back into the wall and through the tunnel, prompting Twilight to run after him and slam herself against the barrier, rolling back from the impact.
No.
She got up and tried again, and again, and again, and she slammed herself against the barrier again, and again, and again, each attempt accompanied by a desperate call for help. “Let me out!” she begged, slamming her now ethereal hooves against the only thing they could touch. “Spike! Princess Celestia! Luna! Cadance!” She slumped down against the wall. “Please… I’m sorry…”
A lonely princess walked the length of her library, having long ago lost the notion of time. It was curious, she thought, how she’d been used to a quiet library for so long and yet now…
Now the silence haunted her.
No fillies running around, screaming while they played tag. No soothing voice softly singing to the owls. No rhythmic whirring of a sewing machine. No lovely voice announcing her arrival with a sing-song calling of the alicorn’s name.
The princess made her way toward the entrance of her library, sitting down in front of the translucent raspberry barrier blocking her exit. She didn’t know how long it had been since a pony last walked through the tunnel behind it. Weeks? Months? Years? She didn’t know, and in the end, she didn’t really care.
She would wait for Rarity regardless of whether it was for a month or a thousand years more.
Book 1...? While I'm glad there's going to be more, I CAN'T TAKE IT
I need Twi to be free
this story is
so good
That ending injured me.
It injured me for all eternity.
8187554
I honestly won't mind a trilogy but I fear the toll such a task may have on the author...
So good, but yet so sad
It takes a lot for me to get into a shipping-related story. Especially between two of the Mane 6.
It also takes me a lot to start a new story, which is a problem I really need to fix.
Still, with all this positive response, not to mention somepony I know in the comment section, I will give it a try.
(I mean seriously, why haven't I? There literally is no risk here.)
I...have no words.
Congratulations, Mono. You have rendered this long-winded woman wordless.
I actually have so many words about this, but most of them involve incoherent screaming and strange sounds that a human shouldn't be able to make.
Wait... book ONE!?!?
You mean we're (presumably) anywhere between 33-50 percent of the way done AFTER 30 CHAPTERS?!?! Why would you do this??????
8187789
Trust me, I ask myself that question every day.
What is it that makes us love romance stories so much?
Simply beautiful... I wish for more.
...Book one.
You madmare. You utter, utter madmare.
That was an emotional Rollar coaster. Thsee last two chapters made me really grow to hate this Discord more and more.
Another great addition, Mono.
this was so painful to read especially when I can picture it all, and hear their voices speaking the words. truly heartbreaking...
... Ah. I see. I see what you did there. Damn, that's cold Mono. All three of them?
Goddamn, fuck me, Discord, what a dick! And this hit even harder because I just recently read a story where Discord is an innocent love able child.
Goddamnit, I just got home from a shitty day and was so excited to read this story, just to be reminded of how shitty this story makes me feel. Now I'm sad, fuck you and thank you for making such a sad chapter. I really need to make a note somewhere to remind me of sad stories I shouldn't read on a bad day. I'mma go watch "Pony Girl" for 10 minute now to reboot my feelings.
8187890
I don't really know what to say, but I'm sorry you had a bad day! EL is reaching the final stretch, and things are getting intense but I'd never want it to be something that makes people feel bad. I'd recommend maybe holding off reading until Chapter 36 is posted and that way the emotions are all at once? There's no sad tag but I know the path to the happy tag is rough.
8187897 Eh, tis fines, my heart can only be broken so much times until it stop shattering. But my god do you write a good asshole(that sounds better in my mind).
Finally we know what really happened and in my opinion Discord doesn't deserve any kind of sympathy.
He only respected Twilight as long as he thought she was stronger than him and punished her as soon as it became clear that she couldn't defend herself.
I even suspect hat he wanted to be friends with her at any point at all.
Well now I wish for a fate to befall discord so horrible and visceral that this story would need a gore tag. Not that I want such an scene to be made mind you, just my inner Khornate Berserker screaming for blood, skulls, and khorne flakes.
But yeah I hope and pray that at the end of this, Discord is given a right and proper ass kicking. I'd be kinda tweaked if he gets away with some light punishment or there being some moral of being the better person and forgiveness spouted at the end.
Tricking someone to stop fucking up a kingdom so it can fight off invaders slowly killing said kingdom's subjects is not a morally wrong choice. If the jackoff that is screwing things around is so fixated on their fun to not care about others dying. Then they deserve a bullet in the head honestly, as they are in a way an accessory to the murders via knowingly assisting the murders in their acts.
Holy damn. I’ve rarely read a fictional villain this purely and blithely cruel. (Doesn’t help that I really like Twilight and especially your version of her, okay.) I have to believe that (at least IRL) anyone even capable of friendship, as Discord supposedly had once with Twilight, could never act with such raw malice towards someone they once cared about. (I know anger and betrayal can make monsters out of anyone, but … again, damn.)
I truly hope your end-goal with Discord isn’t a second-time’s-the-charm reformation. I’m counting on a viscerally satisfying ending to all this – that monster needs to go down hard. Rarity was right – nothing Twilight (especially) or the others did is any justification for Discord’s pure-evil response. And that he seems truly indifferent to the suffering and death tied to his chaotic reign only puts me firmly on the Princesses’ side.
8188061 To be honest, I think reformation might be the way, it could be why Discord is ALMOST helping Rarity ... people, and creatures can do horrible things in the peak of anger, and those with a high ego find it loath to undo, to admit they were wrong.
The previous chapter showed the princesses screwed up, hard. This one shows that, still, Discord is a monster too
But one that cares. He punished Twilight, yes, but is also kinda getting Rarity in a roundabout and even cruel way
What aren't you telling us, mono? There's time to this story, and I bet it will be an awesome reveal that we should have seen coming from ages ago but didn't anyway
8187793
Your such an amazing writer, I've been hooked to this story like a fish to a pole fo the past two years. Discord deserves a fate worse then death and Thank you soooo much for such a great story and the roller coaster of emotions!.
Keep of your amazing work Mono!
Yeeeeeeeah, this is more or less what you expect to happen when you trick a trickster god and don't have any bite to back your bark.
Just what has he been doing in the intervening thousand years, though?
Yes, Twilight here is definitely not a fighter.
Everything enemy does is bad for you; hence, everything he says is bad for you; hence, don't frikkin listen to your enemies!
I have to say, the reveal of what happened so long ago came out masterfully... Now, I personally don't believe the Princesses should have felt any guilt about bluffing their way to victory over Discord to begin with... that's simply outwitting a more powerful opponent, and had that been all there was to it then it likely wouldn't has resonated with me. But while that might have been the start of it all, the problem at the heart of it actually was the friendship that Twilight was developing with Discord... and that's kind of genius. As an enemy who was tricked, he might have felt angered and embarrassed, but because he had started to develop feelings for Twilight before finding out, he felt betrayed and enraged. Their friendship... likely his first ever... was built on a lie to take advantage of him. And so he maintains all of his villainy in that he deserved everything that was done to him, and yet the story also justifies his motives when viewed from his own perspective.
While I still find him deliciously evil and entirely in the wrong, I do also have some sympathy for him. While I find Twilight's past actions justified and heroic, I can also understand and believe her guilt and regret. It's a delicate bit of tightrope walking, and you pulled it off with a flourish!
Those final words.
8189074
I'm sure some people died due to his chaos even if not directly. But the fact that they couldn't defend themselves from an invasion because of him is the same as him killing every innocent that the changelings put down himself. He just wouldn't see it that way because he views himself as perfect and above blame.
Wow so for a millennium Twilight's been feeling guilty for tricking Discord (and thus starting everything) when it wasn't even her idea in the first place. In fact she was the only one out of the 4 princesses who showed compassion to him.
Meanwhile the other 3 princesses likely has been feeling the same guilt for making Twilight trick Discord.
And Discord himself is not aware that Twilight was not the one to blame for tricking him, and that she's the one who truly wanted to be his friend. Instead he probably thought Twilight was just biding time until she could imprison him for good. Wow talk about jumping to conclusions.
Masterfully done Mono!
8189149
Bellum ut caveat pugio, utinam ne faceret
Meh. I'm not all that sympathetic to either side really. The only reason the ponies seemed to even begin to entertain the mere idea of tolerating Discord's existence was because they didn't actually have an immediate way to kill or otherwise permanently incapacitate him. Discord wasn't exactly being a good person, but Twilight slowly sharpening a knife to fit his back behind him while blithely pretending to offer him an olive branch isn't super wonderful either. Sure Twilight may have started to actually become his friend, but that's a bit hard to reconcile, at least for Discord, with her secretly studying a way to kill Discord out of that same pretense of friendship.
Sucks to be Twilight.
8189184
Twilight's state at the time can be based described as "Contra Spem Spero".
8189184 I don't think she was pretending at all. She genuinely did want to be his friend. But that didn't stop her (and the other Princesses) from being terrified of someone who technically was a former war criminal -- one with a history of trickery and deception, at that. I think Twilight and the other Princesses had every right to be wary of his intentions.
Befriending him was plan A. But if plan A fails, the Elements are there to work as a plan B.
It's worth mentioning that, even in the show, the mane six trusted Discord COMPLETELY, and yet he STILL betrayed them.
8189209
RIP Twilight.
8189217
Ehh, it's really hard to say that she was being a legitimate friend if she's actively researching a backup plan to kill him; especially since she was researching that method out of the magic Discord seemed to be freely offering her to study out of friendship.
Also in the show the only pony that seemed to trust Discord or even give him the time of day was Fluttershy. Every other element seemed perfectly happy preface to every conversation with him with threats of stone imprisonment or actually try to imprison him. In fact, Celestia specifically left the elements with Twilight at the time specifically to hold over Discord's head. In no universe did any single one of them remotely demonstrate trust with Discord with the sole exception of Fluttershy. Only person who's trust Discord has ever violated was Fluttershy; and he has been regretting that from the moment he made the decision up until now.
8189250 From a moral/values standpoint, I completely understand where you're coming from. And, in an ideal world, Twilight would trust him completely.
But real life is rarely ever so simple. Entire civilizations have fallen because one side trusted someone they shouldn't have. People in the real world get betrayed by those they trust and love all the time, even when they've done nothing to deserve it. At the end of the day, you can never be certain what someone else's intentions may be. And in order to survive in the world, you have to learn how to walk the fine line between trust and caution.
Again, this isn't just some common thug. This is Discord, a war criminal with a history of unpredictably transgressive and deceptive behavior. To befriend someone like that without a single shred of caution is the height of recklessness.
It's easy for us to say that Twilight overdid it, because we have the benefit of hindsight and can make judgment calls from the safety of our armchairs. But put yourself in Twilight's shoes for a moment. Given the amount of pressure she was under by the Princesses, the terror of knowing exactly what Discord was capable of, and the fact that the fate of her entire nation hung on that decision, it seems unfair to blame Twilight for the decision she made. She did the best she could, given what she knew.
8189311
" To befriend someone like that without a single shred of caution is the height of recklessness."
Except no one actually bothered doing any of that except Fluttershy. The only thing they did in the show was metaphorically hold the gun to his temple and not shoot.
Unless you're talking about this story and not the show.
In which case; there was simply no conceivable way Twilight could've ever been Discord's friend when she approached him with the explicit intent of using her friendship as a ruse for researching a way to murder him. She was given a shitty situation and has my sympathies. But with that methodology of consideration, I simply don't care all that much for the pony's side of things since they (at least the other alicorns) never seemed to actually treat him as anything other than a threat to be neutralized at their earliest convenience.
8189317 For all they know, he might have been doing the same thing behind their backs too. And, unless I misread something, I'm pretty sure they weren't going to use the backup plan unless they needed to.
8189336
So you mean if Discord obediently quailed under their threatening to kill him and was suitably pacified then they are somehow more sympathetic?
That's still effectively reducible down to whichever party is more effective at brutalizing the other party to their whims. In which case, judging by how things are right now, Discord is clearly the winner. Except given his still being very clearly upset over Twilight's betrayal even though millenniums' have past, perhaps they are all losers.
8189098
Possible, and he certainly wouldn't take any responsibility if it is so. And yes, he is culpable for any deaths the changelings caused. Make no mistake, this is Discord at his absolute most vile. This is season 2 Discord, without ANY sense of restraint. Now more than ever as he feels justified in going to extreme lengths to punish the only individual who actually liked him. Simply because, I think, despite what he says in this chapter, he actually liked her.
This captures Discord very well, because he is acting very much like a child throwing a spectacularly ugly tantrum, and in the end, Discord is very much like a spoiled child. I actually almost feel bad for him, because I can kind of empathize with what he is feeling, unjustifiable as it is. Almost. Because even if he was in the right, neither Twilight, the other Princesses, Spike, or anyone else, deserved what he is dishing out. Not even close.
8189184
Twilight wasn't though. From the sounds of it, she fully supported reformation, and was primarily looking for the Elements because the other Princesses didn't trust Discord. Twilight wanted to come clean and try to make amends. Of everyone involved, Twilight is the closest to actually blameless, and she has been shouldering virtually all the blame for 1000 years.
8189415
I agree. Except for the whole researching a way to kill Discord using his magic behind his back thing. Which seems to have caused Discord to think that the whole thing was entirely a manufactured ruse to kill him, which is the tragic part. What could Twilight have realistically said to him? "No, I actually think of you as kind of a friend? That whole researching a way to kill you thing was totally an innocuous scientific curiosity?"
8189423
Where do you get the murder angle? Even Twi's threat with the Elements is petrification, not annihilation.
She was researching chaos magic, true, both because it is fascinating as a magical phenomena and because a way to protect against his magic would be necessary, if befriending Discord didn't work out.
A "dagger" to prevent war, hoped to never be used.
8189460
They don't seem to have any idea what the elements are composed of, much less what they would do to Discord; they just seem to know that it would be effective in neutralizing him. Not to mention I hardly think imprisoning someone in stone indefinitely is any sort of reasonable alternative to just killing them. Luna and Celestia were openly disappointed that the petrification wasn't going to be more permanent than it was, so it seems that they were looking for a more sticky method of getting rid of him as opposed to a temporary time out.
We can go on endlessly about what Twilight truly intended to do with her research on Discord. But what any sane person can take away from the situation is, from Discord's point of view, that she was actively researching a way to kill or otherwise incapacitate him using the magic she was getting from their ostensible friendship, Which is kind of the brick in Discord's face.
8189408
Her betrayal is that she lied about being able to turn him into stone. So, that would imply their friendship was based on the ability to permanently affect him and bearing some magic stronger than he himself if he feels that their friendship was betrayed due to this lie.
Can we truly empathize with someone who feels this way? Who makes this kind of logical leap and believes it is valid? I quite agree, this is a very vile creature, utterly self-absorbed, even in friendship.
8189554
Erm, no. Twilight's betrayal was that she was 'pretending' to be friends with him to be able to examine his magic so she could contrive a way to neutralize his power or else kill him. That was more or less what Discord found out when he snooped through her research notes. Which isn't too far from what actually happened; what Discord doesn't seem to know is that Twilight actually started empathizing with him and actually valuing him as a person at some point in their relationship.
I know that the story's painting him as a villain and all, but try to be a bit more objective. Discord isn't nearly that two dimensional even in the actual show, let alone here.
8189474 I don't know why there is any question as to why Twilight was researching chaos magic... the story lays it out plainly:
She never was researching his magic to turn it against him. What Discord discovers is her notes on the Elements, and realizes that they've never held power over him at all this whole time. Yeah, he concluded that Twilight was likely playing him with their seeming growing Friendship, but that's his assumption and not the truth.
I can't say I get your interpretation of their relationship with Discord in the show, either. He's always represented a loaded gun in their direction. For an extremely brief time, (from episode 62 to episode 67) they held the counter of the Elements of Harmony over him, but they literally gave them up in the very next Discord appearance following his reformation... which means that they've spent far more time with a gun to their heads than the other way around. And Discord totally took advantage of that... from his appearance in "Three's a Crowd" to his heel turn at Tirek's side.
8189569
There isn't, not really. But the problem is that Twilight attempting to explain that to Discord would be ludicrous. The readers have that information, not Discord, not even the other pony princesses. The truth is, plainly, completely irrelevant and also completely unbelievable when even the other princesses thought Twilight was effectively holding out to find a deus ex machina to neutralize him. And it would be a pretty big stretch to expect Discord to think, after finding those notes, that Twilight wasn't ever going to use them against him. Especially after he finds out that Twilight's element of magic was basically a worthless relic and that their threat of petrification was just a massive, desperate charade.
As for the show, do you honestly consider it a show of trust when the mane six were more or less forced to give up their elements? Before that happened, five of the six were more or less content to threaten stoning at every appearance. From Discord's point of view, they would've been more than happy to hold that over his head in perpetuity if their loaded gun wasn't forced out of their hands by circumstances out of their control. In other words, why in the world would Discord give a damn about anyone except for Fluttershy? They were all ready to hang him at a moments notice; they don't deserve extra credit when their noose vanishes from their hands and they're left defenseless standing before someone they were previously constantly threatening with death row. At least until the second reformation when Twilight offers an olive branch to him at his weakest, Discord genuinely had no reason to think a single creature in Equestria gave a damn about him outside of Fluttershy. Which was why I was completely flummoxed as to why anybody could've possibly thought his actions constituted a betrayal to anyone that wasn't Fluttershy.
8189566
As Harwick points out that is not the case. I was being quite objective, and certainly need no reminders to be. Especially since it is choice to be objective or subjective at any given moment when discussing hypothetical situations.
We musn't forget that Discord caused death of thousands of ponies that were searching for princesses. He laid deadly traps and many found death in them. Rarity nearly died too. He is mass murderer.