The heir of the trickster

by Equestriasservant

Chapter 1: The heir and the saddened Princess

Discord was not happy. The draconequus was not happy at all. He couldn't move. From the scaled left foot to the lion paw where one of Discord's hands should've been, the spirit of chaos was completely paralyzed. The mismatched creature was angrier than he had ever been before. As a spirit of chaos, he could hardly blame the ponies of Equestria for being afraid of him. He had tried to take over before and he'd wanted to do it again. But then...The mis-matched creature felt a surge of anger at the memories. The Elements of Harmony. That pesky, purple, know-it-all Unicorn, Twilight Sparkle and her interfering friends had managed to stop him once again, freezing him within the statue he had been imprisoned for so long. It was so unfair. Why couldn't he have a group of followers like the Unicorn had, to do his every bidding.

But then again...he always had...If Discord could've moved his lips to smile, he would. The frozen spirit felt a small surge of pride as he continued to stare into the darkness. Even his eyes had been covered by the stone. His heir. Discord felt the surge of pride again. If he had been any-pony else, it might've been considered selfish, or even egotistical. But that was all part of being a spirit of chaos. Having an ego was good. It gave you the confidence to continue down the path of an all powerful deity. Or at least, that was what Discord thought of himself. His heir...Discord mentally shook himself. Even though Discord was, in his opinion, all powerful, he'd still worried about what would happen when his time came to...pass on. Even deities like himself had a limited span of existence. But then who would take up his mantle then?

In the darkness of his prison, hugged from all sides by immovable, uncaring stone, Discord felt not just pride but pain. It didn't come from any wound however. It was the pain of love. It was unusual for the Spirit of chaos to feel love. He supposed he loved causing chaos and mayhem but was it possible for a spirit born of chaos to love anything other than chaos? But then again...his heir had been born into a species more chaotic and terrible than even him. Discord thought happily of those mad, unpredictable creatures. Like talking Apes but with the potential for so much chaos! And his heir would be born into them. Though...Discord would've sighed if he'd been able. He wasn't sure when his heir would appear or even if he'd know when his heir arrived. And he was here, frozen, as helpless as a newborn puppy. It was so unfair!

"Damn you Twilight Sparkle!" Discord thought venomously, straining his body against the confines of his stone prison, struggling against the magical frame keeping him in place. But it was useless. The magic of that foal and her pathetic little friends had managed to snare him. Him! Just when he was needed the most, just when his child was set to appear, he'd been sent back to this torment. The ponies of Equestria had several prisons capable of holding creatures like him. Tartarus, the deep dungeon in the underworld was one such place. But this imprisonment was worse. Much worse than Tartarus. It was hell! Living hell. "I swear I'll get out again little Unicorn!" Discord screamed, within the confines of his mind. "I'll get out, my heir will come. And then you'll get a taste of what it's like to be locked away!"

---

The garden was quiet. It was a rather majestic looking garden with several flower beds arranged into neat, orderly lines and the grass had been trimmed expertly. Four squares of green wall surrounded the garden, each had been pruned to perfection. A light breeze whistled through the cracks in the green walls, brushing through the large collection of statues, assembled tastefully in groups or on specially isolated podiums. Some were of dragons, with clawed feet, sharpened talons and eyes full of anger. Others were of different species of pony. Unicorns with elongated, sharpened horns or of pegasi, their wings stretched out majestically, each feather precisely crafted out of white marble. But one stood apart from all the others. It was a strange looking statue. It had a long, almost serpentine body, but the tail ended with a tuft of fur, and the scales passed into a feathered midsection. Two legs stuck out at the bottom holding the statue up. One was scaled ending in a claw. The other was furred and ended in a hoof.

Two arms stuck out of the statues front. One was thick and padded with what could've been fur. A lions paw. The other arm ended in a taloned hand, the five fingers stretched out as though to ward off some sort of danger. The head was much like a horses, though with a larger mouth, opened in a snarl of anger. A large fang poked out of the creatures top lip and curved down into the open mouth. Tufts sprouted out over the wide eyes, wide and full of hatred. Atop the creatures head were two horns. One was thin and branched out at angles, much like a stags horn. The other was thicker, with ribbed sections, ending in a tapered point. The statue might've looked beautiful. But the wide eyes, full of hatred robbed the statue of any beauty it might've possessed.

A soft sobbing noise shattered the silence of the garden. A door, invisible to any naked eye, swung open on one of the leafy walls. A Pony staggered through. This was no ordinary pony however. Her fur was a dark, navy blue and her mane which was colored the same navy blue, fluttered about as though in a non-existent breeze. A long horn, colored a lighter blue, was tapered to a point. A pair of large, sapphire blue wings were furled against her back. A black splodge of color against her flank was embossed with the image of a crescent moon. A small black crown was balanced on top of the Alicorns head. Sapphire eyes, bloodshot now and obscured by thick shiny tears, falling in streams to the grassy floor darted around the garden, making sure that none of the royal guards were around.

This was Princess Luna. Co-ruler of Equestria alongside her older sister, Princess Celestia. But right now, the Alicorn wanted to be left alone, to cry in peace. Luna was the younger of the two princesses. She'd recently returned from a thousand year banishment. It hadn't been her fault really. The young Alicorn had been jealous of her older sister and had transformed into a wicked Alicorn of darkness. Nightmare Moon. It was only thanks to her sisters student, a studious Unicorn by the name of Twilight Sparkle and the Elements of Harmony, that she had been returned to her former self. She had been happy at the time. Luna had thought that she was coming back to a welcoming society. A chance to start anew. But that was one of the only times she'd been happy since coming back to her senses.

Every single pony that she had met in Canterlot, the capital city of Equestria where she and Celestia lived, had treated her as though she was an interloper. An intruder. Some had even gone so far as to call her a pretender to the throne. That had been the final straw for her today. She'd rushed through her paperwork for the day and then had come straight here. It was her favorite place to come when she was feeling down. Luna sat down in front of a small, marble pool, right in the middle of the garden. The distressed Princess looked down into the still water, watching her reflection in the water. It flickered repeatedly as her tears fell into the water, making her appearance seem oddly warped. She gently placed the tip of her hoof into the water, feeling the cold water touch the end. It make her feel any better.

"Why me?" She demanded at her reflection. "Why is it always me?" The reflection didn't answer. Luna felt another stab of anger, this time at herself. Why was she sitting here, talking to her reflection? It was just an image in water. It couldn't help her. Luna gritted her teeth but still the tears fell, hitting the water with small plunks. "Why?" She demanded, her voice cracking. Only silence greeted her question. Luna brought her hoof down upon the waters surface. Her reflection vanished as her armor plated hoof hit the water, sending sparkling droplets into the air. They shone in the evening light, glittering like gemstones before tumbling back into the pool. The Princess repeated the action again and again, soaking her fur as she pounded the pool, feeling the metal hoof-plates striking the marble.

Finally, she stopped. Panting slightly, the exhausted Princess examined the soaked fur of her hoof. The blue fur was standing out in all directions, each hair dripping water back into the pool. The hoof-plate was slightly dented from the repeated strikes against the marble of the pool. It hurt slightly. The metal had bent inward and was pressing against the underside of her hoof. Some of the strikes must have done some damage. Her eyes were hurting now. She had no one. That was the cold reality of it. She was on her own. Luna sighed as she stood up again, pushing her hooves into her eyes, trying to dry them. Seeing as how one hoof was still soaked with water, Luna soon gave up this en-devour. She stared up into the evening sky, feeling that same loneliness rising up in her like bile. It was a horrible feeling.

"I wish...I wish I had a friend." Luna mumbled to herself sadly, ignoring the fresh streams of tears beginning to leak out of her bloodshot eyes. "Please..." She whimpered sadly, watching the sky cloud over as the tears flowed down her cheeks. "Isn't there some-pony out there...who will be my friend?" Luna was so intent upon watching the sky, that she didn't notice the figure standing in the open doorway. It was a rather tall figure, wrapped in thick rags that covered every inch of the creatures skin. A pair of yellow eyes blinked several times as they took in the upset Princess. Cradled in the creatures long arms, was a guitar. The princess did not notice as her unseen watcher reached up with a pale skinned, five fingered hand and ran the fingers down the strings, producing a few quiet notes that rang out, floating up into the air like exotic birds.

Comments

[A British Gentleman]

You might want to be careful how you word things in the opening segment. I suspect that you wanted to present Discord as an unreliable narrator who the audience is to take in an antagonistic light, but it does seem in part like the audience is intended to agree with his sentiments. It might be worth rewriting that so it becomes clearer.

Luna also seems badly off; in canon, she punishes herself over her guilt about Nightmare Moon. Here, she comes across as childish and whiney; a characterisation commonly known as 'Woona'. Again, rewording this so she comes across as more regal and less self indulgent and childish would be beneficial to the fic.

[Equestriasservant]

6538397
Yeah I figured a few guys would think of luna as childish and self-indulgent in this one.
There was a reason why I choose her to be like that though I might re-word it when I get the chance
thanks for commenting anyways really appreciate it