Fragile

by RealBarenziah

Chapter 6, Runes

"Professor Discord~!" Twilight sang loudly into the classroom. Her final class had ended and she found herself with some free time. So why not make a little progress on her pet project?

"Ugh. You again?"

"YEP!" She said happily. "Me again, sir! Still not done with your paperwork, I see."

Discord wasn't sure to think her friendly approach to him as annoying or cute. He remembered the last time she studied there, when he woke up to find her studying his palm.

Did she see the mark? He wondered. She's up to something. What does she want from me?

"Oh, are they serving chocolate milk in the cafeteria?" she asked, breaking his train of thought. She was referring to a glass of said beverage that was sitting on top of the papers on his desk.

"Don't spill any on that paperwork! Princess Celestia would be pretty mad if-"

"What do you want, Miss Sparkle?" He said, a trace of venom in his voice. She blinked his surprise.

"Oh, I just-"

"You're not here to study more, are you?"

"No, don't worry about that. I just came to say hello."

"Hello?"

"Yes. Hello!"

"...is that it?"

"Well, that, and I wanted to ask you something."

Here it is. He thought. "Ask me what?"

"I was wondering about your time here at Celestial Academy. Professor Starling said you were here before she was and I was just curious. Did you always want to work here? What made you come here? Did you study here as a student once or-"

"Ugh," he interrupted her. "For the love of - why would you possibly care about that?"

"I just wanted to know more about you, that's all."

"Sparkle," He abruptly rose from his desk, frustrated. "Would you just leave me alone? My life is none of your business. I have no interest in being friends with you, or anyone at this school for that matter. My job is to sit here and teach talentless, stuck-up ponies magic tricks. And now I have to sit through this boring paperwork for the next few hours. I don't have time for you ridiculous questions."

There was a moment of silence between them. Then Twilight cocked her head to one side and said,

"So you're not going to tell me anything about yourself?"

"No."

"Nothing at all?"

"Nope."

"Well then." She stood a bit taller and smiled. "I'll just have to try harder, then."

Discord groaned and sank into his chair. He furrowed his brows at Twilight's smile. Sighing, he rested his face on his giant lion paw and shut his eyes. Twilight noticed how tired he looked. Had those circles under his eyes always been there?

"Sir?" She said quietly.

He didn't respond. Peering at him, Twilight noticed that he had fallen asleep. She glanced at his eagle claw, but it was closed tightly and drawn up close to his body.

She stood there a moment, then tiphoofed out of the classroom, quietly shutting the door behind her. She got out her research journal and scribbled:

Professor Discord has dark circles under his eyes, and he seems to nap whenever he can, or at least when he's bored. Why is he always so tired? She paused, then started a new line. I should try to find a rune that matches the one on his palm. (See sketch on the previous page.)

She was about to close it when she decided to add a small note: Professor Discord has a taste for chocolate milk, it would seem.

"Best not leave even the smallest of details out."

---

Just as she had promised her journal, Twilight began to investigate the rune. Instead of going to the library, she instead sought out Professor Mordra, the Runic Studies teacher.

Mordra was a pretty Earth mare with a sandy colored coat and black mane. She reminded Twilight a bit of Daring Do, except her cutie mark was an ancient rune. Twilight recognized it as the rune for the number 7.

"Can I help you, miss?" she asked as she looked up from a book on her desk.

"Good afternoon, Ma'am. My name is Twilight Sparkle-"

"Twilight Sparkle? You're the one that got the scholarship, am I right?"

"Wow, does everypony know about that?"

"Well it's kind of a big deal, dear. But forgive me, I'm sure your sick of hearing about it. Can I help you?"

"Do you have a moment?"

"Of course."

Not willing to show Mordra her research journal, Twilight drew the rune on a scrap piece of parchment and showed it to the professor.

"I was looking for a rune that looks something like this, or similar to it. I'm not sure if this sketch is one-hundred percent accurate."

When Mordra saw the drawing she blinked in surprise and peered at it closely. Her eyebrows knit together and she studied it for a few more moments. Finally she said,

"This almost looks like - Where did you find this?"

"Looks like what?" Twilight asked eagerly.

Mordra sat back in her chair and thought for a moment, then got up and scoured one of her nearby bookshelves. Finally she pulled out a very large and very old book. There were several pieces of parchment sticking out from the edges that Twilight guessed were notes.

Mordra opened the book and took out of these notes. She held it up for Twilight to see. It was a rune very similar to Twilight's sketch, with a few small differences in detail.

"That's it!" Twilight said. "What is it?"

"This is an ancient rune called Cuig Deigon. It was used mainly as binding agent..." she trailed off.

"A binding agent?"

"Yes. Like...unicorns used it to...bind a powerful spell to an individual."

Twilight's smile faltered. "Wait. You mean...You mean like a curse?"

Mordra winced at the word. "I don't like using the word 'curse'. Runes have a bad reputation for being used in dark magic, but that's not all there is to them." Her voice took on an insistent tone. "Runes have been more often used in beneficial, good magic rather than in harmful spells. Just because a few terrible ponies decided to use runes as tools for their schemes doesn't mean-"

"But what about this rune, Professor?" Twilight interrupted. She began to feel tendrils of worry in her chest. "Was it used for a curse?"

Mordra looked down at the illustration, trying to fight the look of defeat on her face. "It's hard to say, Ms. Sparkle. This rune was used eons ago. Research can only take us so far, and Cuig Deigon is kind of like the pony-tale of the runic community. There have been countless studies on it, but not much is known. But, if I had to guess," She frowned and looked up at Twilight, "I'd say yes. This rune was probably once used in a curse, and a very powerful one at that."

"Professor..." Twilight trailed off. She didn't know what to say. Professor Discord...is cursed?

"Oh miss Sparkle please! Please don't let this ruin your outlook on ancient runes," Mordra said in desperation. She hated it when ponies looked at her work and saw only taboo.

"Look here!" She said hopefully, trotting over to her bookcase. "Read this, Ancient Runes Made Easy by Zoo. I think you'll find runes quite interesting."

"Oh. Thank you, Professor Mordra." She took the book absentmindedly. "I was thinking about taking Ancient Runes next semester. I'm already in Ancient Text and Scroll Studies."

"And a fine class it is. If you like that then you'll love Ancient Runes." Mordra wore an enthusiastic smile, and Twilight did her best to return it.

"I should get going. Thank you again, Professor Mordra."

---

Twilight lazily flipped through the rune book in her room as she on the purple cushions by her window, lost in thought. Despite Mordra's insistence, the word 'curse' kept coming back to her. Sighing, she closed the book, having long since stopped paying attention to the words. She got out her research journal and began to write.

1. Draconequus. Possibly has as much magical power as the Princesses.
2. Has a rune on his palm that is most likely Cuig Deigon.
3. Is always tired.
4. Has been here for a long time.
5. Likes disorder.

Professor Mordra said that Cuig Deigon was used in ancient times, most likely for a curse. Does this mean that Discord is far older than he appears, like the Princesses (which would support item #1), or is the one that cursed him simply using ancient magic?
It is entirely possible that it's not a curse mark at all, but he seems very keen to keep it hidden.
His tiredness could be a side effect of the curse, or maybe he's simply overworked. He did have a lot of unfinished paperwork. Maybe he's choosing to do all of it at night for some reason.

Oh, also
6. Likes chocolate milk

Perhaps he's drinking chocolate milk to help him sleep like a filly drinks warm milk before bed?

"What am I even doing?" She asked herself, yawning. "It's late."

Twilight put down her quill and looked out the window at the school grounds. The moon was high in the sky now and it cast a beautiful watery light over everything. Twilight was admiring the night when a swift shadow suddenly caught the corner of her eye, disappearing behind the stone as quickly as it had appeared. She searched the grounds below her.

"What was that?"

Twilight peered into the shadows, searching for whatever was sneaking around the grounds. She never could stand it when ponies broke rules. It was long after curfew, after all. But the longer she searched the quieter things seemed to become. There was nothing out there.

"Huh. Must have just been a raccoon or something~" she yawned. She rubbed her eyes and remembered the dark circles under Professor Discord's. "I wonder if he'll sleep at all tonight."

She crawled under the covers of her bed, mumbling to herself, "I hope so."

Comments

[Spite]

This is a very fascinating story. It is very well written. I look forward to seeing more.

[Kain]

please keep it up I LOVE the story!

[khatre]

You might as well give up now Discord. Twilight WILL find out your secrets.

[lorettafox]

Twilight is going to find you out Discord. Just you wait and see.

[JeromeSaur]

Oo! I love this so far!