After the Rampage

by twilightsparkle3562

Chapter 8: Haunting Words From an Angry Prince

Discord had every reason to believe that Shining Armor was truly responsible for making Equestria believe that his head should be on a silver platter. For the first time since confronting Tirek in Tartarus, he felt anger boiling in his mismatched body. It was anger that he didn't want to have since Discord went through so much trouble to remake Twilight's Best Mare dress that she wore at his wedding. All he wanted to do was to move on from all of this and Scorpan seemed to notice.

"Discord," he said as they were led over to the apple orchard on the north end of the town. "You seem like something is troubling your mind. Would you care to tell me what it is?"

"It's that brother of Twilight's," replied Discord, bitterly as he turned his head into Shining Armor. "Ever since I betrayed Equestria, he's had it in for me. He called me out at Twilight's castle and I feel like he won't rest until I am erased from Equestria."

To prove his point, Discord erased himself from Scorpan's view, much to the gargoyle's shock and amazement. He knew now that there was much more damage to be repaired in due time, a settlement between a protective prince and a creature of chaos that was misled by Tirek.

"Well, maybe some ponies are not so forgiving, Discord," remarked Scorpan. "Sometimes we all make enemies that stay with us for the rest of our lives. Trust me, had it not been for Starswirl and the royal sisters, I would have ended up just like my brother, hurting others instead of befriending them."

This little speech didn't help Discord and as soon as they arrived at the orchard, Discord's anger reached to the point where he wanted to just punch something. Fortunately, Applejack's cousin, Braeburn was there to meet the two creatures and he was actually much more welcoming to Discord and Scorpan than the two previous encounters that they had.

"All righty, then, Discord," said Braeburn, warmly. "We Appleloosans believe in second chances and let me tell you that you are in for one second chance. Applejack's told me quite a bit about you."

Braeburn's warm demanure seemed to really strike a chord with Discord and part of him couldn't stay angry for long. A pony like him who believes in second chances was probably a good sign that Discord would have more allies aside from the Main Six…well, two of them, to say the least.

"All you got to do is raise your strongest leg," explained Braeburn as he demonstrated for Discord. "And hit the tree as hard as you can and before you know it, these here apples will fall from the tree."

Discord looked down at his goat leg and stretched it out in his usual chaotic manner, extending it to the point where he went up into the air for all of Appleloosa to see. He wound up doing it several more times and soon, he was ready to start bucking for apples.

"Well, I'm not like Applejack," said Discord walking up to a tree filled with apples. "But, its not going to hurt to try. Besides, I need to make up for what I did to Equestria."

Getting into position, Discord raised his leg and at that moment, his anger started creeping back up again as the words of Shining Armor randomly popped up into his mind:

"Back off, Traitor!"

The same words played over and over again in the mind of the retired master of chaos like a bad record and Discord kicked the tree hard, the force of the kick nearly knocking the tree on its side. But, the apples came out nonetheless as they wound up hitting the ground at a high rate of speed.

It was then that Discord finally felt the urge to buck down at another tree. He felt himself wanting to buck down the next tree he could find. The words of Shining Armor calling him a traitor continued to play through as he kicked at several more trees much to the shock of both Braeburn and Scorpan.

"Something is definitely wrong," remarked Braeburn. "I've never seen anypony buck down so many trees aside from Applejack. Either that or he is mad about something."

"I believe he is mad about something, my friend," said Scorpan. "Something that was probably said to him when he was aligned with my brother. I don't know what it is, but it might have something to do with that picture of him that we saw while we were imprisoned."

Soon, Discord had amazingly bucked all the trees in the orchard, littering all the apples on the grounds of the orchard as the task of getting them harvested was at hand. Both Braeburn and Scorpan aided Discord in helping gather all of the apples, which took a little bit of time. By the time they were done, the time had come for the two non-pony creatures to head back to Canterlot.

"Discord, I've become concerned for you," said Scorpan as they took off from Appleloosa under a bright moonshining night. "You seem to place all of your anger towards your friend's brother into those trees. I'm sure that you can apologize…"

"I tried to apologize, Scorpan," interrupted Discord, bitterly. "I tried to apologize by remaking Twilight's dress from his wedding and he didn't accept my apology then and he certainly won't accept my apology now. He still has it in for me, Scorpan. He won't rest until I am gone from the existence of Equestria only reduced to nothing more than a memory."

"Perhaps maybe you are overreacting to how this particular pony acted towards you," suggested Scorpan. "We all become victims of our imagination and the only way we can escape is by confronting the source. I confronted the source before I came to Canterlot and told him that my hate would die with him."

Discord was now beginning to understand that he and Shining Armor would have to face each other again, causing Discord to relieve that dark day in Twilight's castle when Shining Armor unleashed all of his fury on him for turning his back on Equestria for freedom and power over friendship.

"Well, I mean if you are saying, Scorpan," stuttered Discord as they neared Canterlot. "Is that Shining Armor and I should face each other again…"

"Talk to him," said Scorpan, sharply but with a hint of motivation in his voice. "Tell him how you feel for what you did and maybe he will understand. I will back you up and I will not rest nor will I return to my homeland until the mess that my brother made is cleaned up. I will help you become a friend to all ponies, Discord, or at least those who are willing to accept you as a friend. And believe me, you have indeed made some progress."

Scorpan was of course referring to Hurricane Eye at the Wonderbolt Academy and also to Braeburn back in Appleloosa. They were two ponies that were more than willing to give Discord a second chance as opposed to ponies like Sheriff Silverstar and Shining Armor, who viewed Discord as a backstabber and a legitimate threat to Equestria.

Discord didn't know how this second meeting with Shining Armor was going to be, but little did he know that Shining Armor was beginning to lower his ground with Discord…

Comments

[twilightsparkle3562]

6999477 I'm very glad you are enjoying it.