Sympathy Series Side Stories

by Ckat_Myla

Sef visits Discord

Author's Note:

This one kinda hurt, it was in, then it was out, and in again. Eventually I decided to nix it due to a few story changes and because I went to see a little film called The Book of Life. Where - guess what? - they used my same idea about the candles representing lives.

Originally I was trying to find a fair representation of a room like the one in the Discworld books where Death keeps all the hourglasses, but put my own spin on it.

The room I guess is still canon, and Sef's projection of a physical form. I don't remember who I cast in my head to play Sef, but I remember I wanted Kate Mulgrew (Captain Janeway) to voice somebody. It was her or Harmony. (And I think Harmony was Lauren Faust in my head)

FYI: Mort in my head is either Curtis Armstrong (Dan of Dan Vs; Metatron) or Mandy Patankin (Inigo Montoya; Rube from Dead Like Me)

“Do you expect me to believe that I will indeed be allowed to leave if I do decide to come with you?” Discord asked. His suspicions were not dissuaded by the note of halted urgency in the other being's tone.

“Discord, you have my word that this is no trick. Were I allowed to, I would bring it to you instead, but this is not possible, so you must come and see for yourself,” Sef said.

Still not entirely convinced that Mort wouldn't be waiting in the shadows once they arrived to snatch him up in some form of magical sack or something, Discord shrugged in a reserved agreement.

Sef brought her wings up in a wide sweep of light that would have blinded any mortal pony, however Discord had been prepared this time and made sure he had his protective shades. When one does business occasionally with a being of pure light, it does we to prepare for such things.

Sef's and Mort's relationship had been different than his own with Harmony to say the least. The terms; 'so close yet so far' or 'two ships passing in the night' seemed fitting. The two beings appeared to be completely impartial towards all of the goings-on that the ponies downstairs were doing, and all of the various aspects of their lives that the spirits affected. It was fairly obvious even to someone as ignorant to these sorts of things as Discord that the only thing either of them cared about in the slightest was each other.

It was understandable to some degree, as death is a part of life, so Mort came from Sef... almost literally. He came out of her shadow and typically never strayed any further from her than that since.

Of course, one can't touch a shadow, and neither could Mort and Sef interact in an actual, physical way. A blessing and a curse, Discord supposed. More of a blessing in his mind. Not having to worry about Harmony deciding to braid his tail or tackle him in an attempt to comb his eyebrows would have been great for him back in the day. These days however, Discord found it tad easier to see some tragedy in it.

The place Sef had brought him was the one place in the whole of the realms where Sef and Mort could touch, for it was the place where death and life met.

A cavernous place, some giant, enormous room that went on conceivably forever, echoing with an almost deafening flickering. The sound of millions upon millions of candles in various sizes, shapes, colors, and lengths. Each candle represented the life of a pony or other mortal creature under their watch. There was no natural light in the cavern, yet the room was so filled with the flames of the candles that was no problem.

Discord slowly scanned his surroundings. It was a thing to behold to see all of these lights – all of these lives – flickering away while their wax melted down. Some were slow, some were fast, and everywhere he looked he could see candles running down to the ends, see the flames snuff out halfway through their wax, or brand new lights burst into existence. It was an eternal dance of light and darkness, and of life and death.

"So, not that I can't venture a guess, but to what do I owe this honor?" Discord asked of his fellow being. For as long as he'd existed, during the eons of life they had seen, neither Mort nor Sef had let him enter this part of their plane. It was as inaccessible as such a morph-able and incorporeal place could be.

"It used to be I could go centuries without seeing the two of you, now you're popping by to take me places and give me cryptic warnings. You're going to lose some of that mystique if you keep this up."

"Mort did you a favor, and I am doing the same," Sef stated. She had slipped out of her physical form, choosing instead to shift into a stream of wispy light that floated along the tops of the candles' flames, her voice seeming to come from all around him as her glowing cloud like form spread out through the room as if searching.

"Your decision to stay among the ponies and other beings below have consequences as you have doubtless seen."

"Doubtless," he echoed, uncertain where exactly to direct his sarcasm when Sef no longer had a face to get a response from. "But perhaps you missed the part where I have been trying to fix that?"

"Not succeeding however, not on your own. You had to drag some others into it," Discord heard admonishment in the formless shape that was Sef's voice.

"I never asked for assistance. They volunteered, Well, Twilight did and that of course brought the others in. I couldn't very well get balance for our sides back on track without Harmony's daughters' involvement."

Discord didn't mention how much the aforementioned alicorns did not like the method they'd all agreed to, but Twilight had dreamed it up so they'd been more inclined to listen. He didn't think he needed to mention it, Sef most likely knew all of that as well.

"There is an easier way, you know," the draconequus heard her already echoing voice receive an extra boost of reverberation off the ceiling and walls of the chamber.

"I know," he answered. "But that is not an option anymore. I can't leave there."

"This is not a matter of 'can't'. 'Can't' does not come into it, you 'won't' leave because you don't want to. As much as you have upheld your part of the balance, we have never been able to keep you from doing whatever you wanted. Harmony could to an extent, but she was nearly as hard to keep."

(Maybe Luna takes him there with Sef in a dream? Or Luna sees this in his dream?)

"You say you have learned from the mortal beings, and I believe it. You appear to have become just as misguided and foolhardy."

Her glowing form seemed to be circulating around a central point, directing Discord's attention down the hundreds of tiny individual shining tongues of flame, zeroing in on a certain row, and then on a certain spot where one certain candle sat.

A candle of a purplish hue, streams of wax striping its surface with new ones beginning to form as Discord watched. It was already half the height of the others surrounding it, its vibrant blue flame taller and burning brighter than the rest.

"This is the candle for Twilight Sparkle, the pony on whom you are risking the balance of the world we keep together," Sef's voice felt closer to him now, but no less forceful. "It is burning hotter and faster since she began taking on your power, faster than it is meant to be."

Discord continued to watch the flame on Twilight's candle, his eyes transfixed on its dancing blue flicker at the top while ever more dark purple liquid pooled at its base.

Flashes of their practice sessions came back to him as his eyes traced the progress of a newly formed bead of wax beginning to slide down the side. All of those times she had attempted to shrug it off yet Twilight insisted that she could handle it. Would she still think that if she could see this?

"But of course... once she's gotten acclimated to it - once she's absorbed it all - that will even things out for her," Discord spoke up with some level of confidence towards the end.

"Are you willing to risk that as well?" He heard her ask. "I may not be as adept at these things, but would it be worth it to allow a being who clearly means so much to you take such a risk only so you can get what you want?

"But it is possible... Harmony was able to put her power into---"

"Different circumstances," Sef interrupted. "The beings she created were completely new, and so she could give them the ability to withstand the magic. Twilight Sparkle was not, she has only as much resilience as an ordinary pony."

Discord was tiring of not being able to see her, for he longed to give a retort back to her non-existent face. Clearly she did not know Twilight Sparkle. The unicorn was far from an 'ordinary pony'.

"You believe as she does, that she is capable?" Sef asked, reading Discord's expression... or possibly his mind.

"If I'm there, if Celestia's there, we can help her. We have been helping her."

There had been nothing like sympathy in Sef's voice at all during this meeting, she had retained her formal, informative tone throughout. Although as her wispy cloud self swirled back together, her voice quieted. It shrank down as her shape did, drifting close by his ear.

"You know we have every being's life represented here, Discord. Even yours."

His eyes looked towards the invisible whisper skeptically.

"I don't think you want to see the state your candle is in at the moment'" Sef spoke softer now, with as much concern as Discord imagined the spirit could muster. "You're wearing yourself out even faster. There is only one hope for the both of you that I can see, only one that can set everything back to right again."

Comments

[FanficReader920]

Kinda wish we could have seen Sef help in the creation of Ismaat.