Elements of Discord

by Inky Scrolls

Chapter Three: A Disruptive Council

As the following day dawned the storm continued unabated. Through the window of the royal throneroom in their castle in Canterlot, the Princesses of the Sun and Moon watched the continuing onslaught. An unscheduled storm was not unheard of, and sometimes the Ponyville weather crew would play a joke on the town and cause some unexpected precipitation to fall, but a storm of this scale? This was a historic event, and surely could not be the outcome of a pegasus prank.

Reports from foreign diplomats indicated that this was a global problem. The Saddle Arabians were experiencing floods for the first time since the banishment of Nightmare Moon, the ponies of Stalliongrad were telling of temperatures above thirty degrees Celsius, and the weather in the earth-pony town of Manechester, just a few hundred miles from Shetland, had apparently stopped raining for over a full day, a new record.

Turning to her elder sister, Princess Luna spoke. “What can have caused this? Even I, during my brief reign as Nightmare Moon, could not create such a storm in so short a time.”

The question was rhetorical, and no answer was immediately required. But something would have to be done, and quickly. If the unseasonal weather patterns continued for long, vast swathes of Equestria would soon be underwater. With no land available, the earth-ponies would be unable to grow crops, leading to eventual famine. Which led to another thought: There were almost no life forms anywhere on the planet that could survive without sustanance from somewhere, and all energy was derived, whether directly or indirectly, from the sun. As the sun was now covered, no energy could be produced meaning that, eventually, all life would necessarily cease.

But there was one creature which required no energy from an outside source. One being who was powerful enough to have created such a destructive and potentially catastrophic meteorological occurrence, and who would be able to survive when all other living things had been killed off.

The sisters, thinking in unison, came to the same conclusion simultaneously. “Discord.”

“I see we are of the same mind, little sister.” Celestia bowed her head. “I had hoped that Fluttershy's efforts and extensions of friendship had led to his reformation, but it is, of course, possible that this has not been the case. And now that the Elements have been placed back into the Tree of Harmony, we have no direct power to use against him.”

Frowning, Luna sighed softly. “We do not yet know for certain that this storm was caused by Discord. Although Equestria has been placed in a perilous position, such storms could, in theory, occur on their own. And we can see none of the random chaos which is usual when Discord has played a part in something's creation.”

Celestia, peering out of the window, did not appear to be listening. Then she turned her head to her sister once more. “You may wish to rethink your last statement, Luna.”

The Princesses turned once more to look outside. What was there to be seen took Luna by surprise; whereas before the storm had been relatively normal, apart from its magnitude, this was by no means any longer the case. “Yes... I see what you mean.”

Pink clouds formed huge masses of weightless candy-floss, raining down liquid chocolate upon a terrain of brightly coloured squares. Those few ponies who had braved the storm were now floating around helplessly, unable to move under their own volition but slowly spinning around palm-tree lampposts. The parts of the castle visible from the throneroom window appeared to be turning into a mixture of gingerbread, leather, and swarms of vibrantly coloured bats that immediately flew underground, before reappearing again moments later as winged hedgehogs. And far away in Ponyville, just visible on the horizon, Twilight's castle could be seen to be rapidly growing, shrinking, and growing again, before vanishing entirely and teleporting to the tops of nearby hills made of solid, yet wet, water.

Celestia motioned to the view. “I think we have the evidence we need. Let us summon Discord.”

“Agreed.”

* * *

Discord reclined comfortably into a cloud, thinking about Fluttershy's highly uncharacterful behaviour of the day before. It was true that she had become annoyed with him in the past, but never over something so relatively trivial. There was that one time, of course, when he had turned Angel into a bunny-tree, but her reaction then was only really to be expected. Discord could never understand why Fluttershy was so fond of that aggravating rabbit, but it remained the case that she was.

But she had never intimated that she disliked having ponies (or draconequi) entering her house without asking when she wasn't there, so long as they didn't upset the animals or damage anything. And she was Discord's best friend; surely a less aggressive reaction would have been more appropriate in such a circumstance?

But what was it Twilight had said to him, about friendship? Something about “friends sometimes having arguments or falling out, but the friendship holding true...” Goodness, he was beginning to sound like a real princess's pet!

“But is that a bad thing, after all?” Discord thought aloud. “I mean, they've all been very kind to me, giving me this chance... but do I want a chance? Why do I want to be at the beck and call of a, let's face it, almost powerless alicorn? She can't even escape a tree, for chaos's sake!”

It was then that it occurred to him that the cloud had become somewhat less comfortable. Opening his eyes, he was surprised to find himself slowly sinking into sticky, pink candy-floss. Teleporting himself out above the clouds, he frowned. “Not that I mind a bit of randomness, oh no. But I'd much rather be the cause of it than the recipient!”

Suddenly the tinkling of a small silver bell became audible. Discord groaned. “I'd best go and see what her ladyship wants now.” With a small 'crack', and a flash of light, he was gone.

* * *

“Discord is on his way, sister, though he seems to be taking his time, somewhat.” The princesses were still in the throneroom, but had moved away from the window and were now seated upon their respective thrones.

“Do you think it wise to bring him here alone?” Luna voiced her misgivings, shifting slightly to gain a more comfortable position on the hard, stone chair. “Should we not also send for Princess Twilight and the other Bearers of the Elements?”

Celestia thought for a moment. “Yes, I agree with you. Despite not having the direct power of the Elements now that they have been reclaimed by the Tree, it is likely that some residual magic resides within their group still. And Fluttershy has always been able to convince Discord to change his course of action.”

The Princess of the Night smiled gently. “Indeed. It is plain to see that he holds her in high esteem, in spite of his attempts to hide his feelings.”

“I agree. It is decided then.” The Princess of the Sun turned to one of the Royal Guard stationed adjacent to her throne, issuing a command. “Take down a message.”

She waited until the guard was ready before continuing. “Write down this: “To Princess Twilight. I and Princess Luna require your immediate and urgent assistance at the Castle. Please come as soon as you receive this letter, and bring the rest of the holders of the Elements with you. Princess Celestia.” See that this is sent off straightaway.”

“Yes ma'am.”

As the dutiful soldier hastened to carry out his important task, Discord finally arrived, appearing with a flash of light which made the guard jump and almost drop the message to Twilight. “Hello ladies! So sorry to have kept you waiting, but I simply had to admire what you've done to the décor on my way over here. I must say I greatly prefer it over the older style.”

The frowns which greeted him as he approached the throned princesses would have been enough to curdle his blood, had he contained any blood capable of curdling. “Come now, ladies, why the long faces? Do you not find the random chaos appealing?”

“Stop joking around, Discord.” Luna was the first of the princesses to speak, her voice taking on a strong, resonant quality which only came to the fore when she was particularly riled. “This is your handiwork, and you know it! Have you any excuse?”

“I'm sure that I don't know what you mean, dear Luna! I sincerely wish I could take the credit for this wonderful transformation, but sadly that is not the case.”

Now Celestia stood up. “Are you seriously considering denying having played any part in this, Discord?”

“I am not merely considering, Celestia, I am stating a fact. I did not cause this chaos, delightful as it is, and am quite offended that you can find so little faith in me.” Discord pretended to wipe away imaginary tears from his eyes with a brown and grey handkerchief, temporarily conjured for just such a purpose.

“Stop messing about, Discord. I trust you realise the gravity of the situation we are in? Equestria will soon be under chocolate floodwaters an-”

She was cut off as Twilight, accompanied by her six closest friends, teleported into the chamber with yet another flash of light. Whatever Celestia had been about to say was immediately forgotten as an argument within the group, temporarily halted by the act of teleporting, but apparently already under full swing, broke out once more.

“Argh, Twilight, why did you do that! I've already told you, I've got stuff I need to be doing!” Rainbow Dash made as if to fly away, but was brought back down by Fluttershy, who barrelled into her from above, forcing her to the ground.

“Don't you dare go anywhere, Rainbow Crash! I haven't finished with you!” The usually calm and diffident pegasus sat heavily on Rainbow's side, precluding any chance of escape. Then she turned to Pinkie Pie who, on arrival, had retreated directly to a corner, and sat there quivering. “What's the matter, Pinkamine? To frightened to laugh? Not that you could make me laugh, even if you wanted to!”

This was too much for Pinkie, who burst into tears. She was not the only one to do so; Rarity had been quietly sobbing away in the background since their arrival, softly moaning to herself and eating spoonful after spoonful of vanilla ice cream.

Applejack, who had been making unobtrusive movements towards the door, was halted by a glare from Fluttershy. “Where d'you think you're going, buster?”

“Er... nowhere!” The orange farm-pony sat down heavily on the ground and began whistling in an attempt to appear inconspicuous.

Twilight, meanwhile, appeared oblivious to the mayhem unfolding around her, and approached the Princesses, who were blinking in surprise, and Discord, who was barely able to restrain himself from clapping his hands together with glee.

“What have I done wrong, Celestia? Why have you called me here, is it something I did? Is it something I forgot to do? Are you going to be angry with me and banish me for ever? Oh, please don't banish me! I'll try and fix it, whatever it is! Don't send me away, I'll make it right again!” Then Equestria's newest princess actually got down on her knees and began almost grovelling for forgiveness.

After her first few attempts at gaining her former student's attention went unnoticed, Celestia was forced to raise her voice. “Princess Twilight! Listen to me!” This had the intended effect, as everyone in the room, including Discord, Spike, and all the arguing ponies, fell silent.

“That's better.” Celestia shook her head slightly, holding a hoof up to her temple. “I could barely hear myself think. Princess Twilight, what exactly is going on here?”

Twilight took a deep breath and tried to explain. “The weather in Ponyville is going crazy, the animals have all taken on unprototypical means of locomotion and keep flying into my castle, which is also teleporting about with no apparent primary purpose, and everypony is arguing, even Fluttershy, and I don't know why!” She gestured to the last named who, having heard what was said about her, shook a hoof at Twilight before returning to banging Rainbow's head against the floor.

“Luna and I may have an answer.” The Princess, desperately trying to ignore what was happening in the background, spoke directly to Twilight and lowered her voice enough that nopony else but Luna would hear; Discord had gone over to speak to Fluttershy, with his efforts rewarded by an angry glare. “We had thought Discord was responsible for the chaotic changes to the outside world, and now that your friends are displaying similar symptoms to those they had whilst attempting to reform him, I am more convinced than ever.”

Despite the importance of what Celestia had to say, and the conspiratorial tone in which she said it, Twilight did not appear to be listening. She was nodding in agreement with the Princess but kept mumbling to herself, and her eyes were constantly roving around the room, first looking at Celestia, then at Luna, then Discord, then the floor, the ceiling, back at Discord, out through the window, at her own front hooves...

“Twilight! Are you alright?”

The sudden question brought the young princess to her senses once more, and she started. “Oh! Sorry, Celestia, I was just...”

As her protégé trailed off in confusion, Celestia exchanged glances with Luna. It seemed that not only had her friends been affected, but Twilight herself was now under the same sort of spell and, if that was the case, would be unable to help the others revert back to their true natures. As she surveyed the arguing ponies in her and her sister's throneroom, Celestia decided that enough, as they say, was enough.

She called over to Discord, who by now was trying to force Applejack to speak the truth. “Discord! Come here.”

The draconequus rolled his eyes at Applejack, picked them back up again, and teleported to directly in between the Princesses of the Sun and Moon, placing an arm around each of them. “You know, Trollestia, it really is more polite to ask someone to come to see you, rather than to command... unless that's the sort of thing you do with your friends, because I am a friend of yours, aren't I, hmm?”

“I'm not too sure about that, Discord.” After sharing a glance with Luna to ensure that what she was about to say could be spoken on behalf of them both, and moving out of the chaotic being's embrace, Celestia continued. “Look at these ponies. They never act this way normally, and in fact have only done so in the past on one occasion.” She paused to frown. “That one occasion was when you meddled with their minds and removed their true natures, replacing them with their anticharacters. Only you have the power to do this, and so I think it is only reasonable that I come to the conclusion that you must be behind this!”

Discord let his mouth hang open in mock surprise. “Really? And here was me thinking that the phrase 'give a dog a bad name and hang him' also applied to ponies; how silly of me!” He sighed sadly, before perking up. “But wait! I've just remembered. It wasn't me who made this chaos appear, no matter how much you try to pin the blame on me. But even it was me who did this, you wouldn't have been able to do a thing about it... you don't have the Elements any more, do you?”

“No, Discord, we do not. Which is partially why I am so inclined to presume it was you. Now that we have no sure fire way of stopping you, I believe it is natural to assume that you took advantage of your freedom, and decided to make do without the friendship which has been offered you, instead choosing to revert to chaos.”

Discord bared his teeth angrily. “You think you're so high and mighty, don't you, Your Highness? You think you always know everything, and that you could not possibly be wrong! Well, I stick to what I said. I did not cause this predicament you are in, but do know how to end it. I was going to tell you how but, as you simply refuse to believe that I, Discord, could possibly have anything useful to say, I shan't take up any more of your time. Good day!” And he left without another word, leaving a loud 'bang' and the smell of fish and chips behind as he went.

Celestia rested her head on her hooves. “Luna, I don't know what to do. If it is Discord we cannot stop him, and if it isn't, then... I don't know what we'll do.”

Luna sat back down beside her sister. “We'll think of something. What we do know is that we can't remove the chaos and revert Twilight and her friends' characters back to normal, at least not in the same way we did last time. Twilight was unaffected when Discord imbued the others with their anticharacters, but now that she is also affected she cannot be of assistance to us. We must work this out for ourselves.”

Sighing in agreement, Celestia stood up once more, calling over to the third princess in the room and distracting her from scribbling feverishly into a notebook. “Twilight?”

“Yes, Princess Celestia?”

“Thank you for coming, you have been a great help. You may take your friends back to Ponyville now. I will let you know if we need you again.”

Twilight bowed and collected the five other mares and Spike together again. They were still arguing and fighting, and Pinkie and Rarity continued sobbing into their hooves. “Come on, girls, Spike, let's go back home.” After a slight delay when Rainbow Dash refused to coöperate, ending with Twilight having to physically hold her from taking off and flying away, the purple alicorn ignited her horn, recited the necessary spell in her head, and the group was gone, gone in a cloud of lavender smoke.

Author's Note:

I say, if you liked reading this chapter or the others then please 'like' the story! It's a little disconcerting at the moment because it's only got 50% positive reviews, and I like to think it's worth more than that. To those you did enjoy it though, thank you!

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*EDIT* Yeah, 'fraid this has been cancelled. I just wasn't getting enough ideas for it or enjoyment out of it; I think I'll stick to shorter ones in future. Not sure why it's rated so badly though, I can at least be sure it is well-written (with the exception of the Prologue, which is overly longwinded).

Comments

[Inky Scrolls]

Yeah, 'fraid this has been cancelled. I just wasn't getting enough ideas for it or enjoyment out of it; I think I'll stick to shorter ones in future. Not sure why it's rated so badly though, I can at least be sure it is well-written (with the exception of the Prologue, which is overly longwinded).