The Mask of Despair and the Face of Hope

by Wings of Black Glass

The Only Moment

Discord snapped his fingers, and the threads binding me to the ground released. The runes on the stones stood and fled, yelping and whimpering like dogs with tails between their legs. He snacked on Despair’s explosion still in his paw, nibbling on the attack which should have killed me.

“So, who’s this then?” He gestured at the charcoal Unicorn, who appeared with a lightning crack back beside where the bonfire had been with flaming sword floating alongside. “Some original character gotten completely out of hand?” Despair fired a bright red beam at us, I flinched, but Discord merely held out his claw and caught the beam. He pulled, barely putting any effort into it, and yanked it out of Despair’s control and coiled it like a rope on the ground in front of him, where it burned into a pile of ash.

“We call him Despair.” I stood, fighting off the pain, and pointed up at the black hole that was the sky. “He’s the one who did this.” Discord being here meant we had already won, and hope filled my heart anew. “Not that I’m complaining, but what are you even doing here?” I glanced over at Sable, slowly catching his breath. He was wounded and drained, but still alive.

“It’s time for my weekly visit with Fluttershy. I thought I would find her waiting for me with tea and crumpets, not crying on the floor.” Discord frowned, a violent hard edge sneaking out of his voice. He swallowed the rest of the blazing star; it was never a threat to him.

“How did you find us?”

“Dear Twilight, you must be joking.” He chuckled and patted my head. “That light show? I could see it from my living room.” Discord turned back to the pony at the center of the lake, narrowing his eyes. “Now if you will excuse me, my little pony, I’ll handle this now.” Discord levitated slowly forward, calmly but unrelentingly, allowing Despair the time to see just how screwed he was.

The charcoal pony’s eyes flared, and suddenly four triangular panes of crystal burst from the ground, encasing me in the circle of stone beneath a crystalline pyramid. I stumbled away from them; I had almost been hit by one as it emerged from the ground. Why would Despair bother to trap me again? What did he gain? I tried to push them aside, but they resisted my magic. Teleporting out was equally useless, the redirection was still set up, and I just rematerialized back in the stone circle.

Two gigantic boulders propelled by Despair’s red aura, as large as houses, flew into the air and spun towards the draconequus. Discord simply pointed down with one finger, and both boulders shrank until they were nothing more than pebbles, bouncing off his body harmlessly. He continued to hover slowly towards Despair, scowling at the Unicorn. Despair took several stumbling steps away from the approaching draconequus, leaving his sword on the ground with the tip where the bonfire had been. Something was wrong; I could tell I had missed something important…

Sable stumbled towards me, limping badly, leaving Despair to Discord. I could already see him trying to figure out how to free me. He started to fire a pinpoint cutting beam at the crystal walls, trying to slice his way in.

Why would Despair go back to the middle of the lake? He had to know there was nothing he could do against Discord’s magic. Nothing short of the Elements of Harmony could pose a severe threat to the draconequus demi-god of chaos. I blinked and realized that wasn’t true. He was once rendered nearly helpless by the changeling throne. My heart sank anew, my hope dying. That's where Despair had hidden the throne fragment, just beneath the bonfire. He was luring Discord into a trap.

We never mattered, Sable and I. The question was never if Despair could overpower us, it was if Despair could overcome Discord! All his planning, all his power, all his stolen knowledge would be as nothing if he couldn’t bring down the draconequus. Everything he did, he did for this one moment.

“Discord, it’s a trap! Get back!” The draconequus ignored me. Sable finally made his way to the edge of the pyramid, focusing his magic on the joint between two of the crystal panes, the prison screeched like nails on a chalkboard. I pounded on the wall, trying to get his attention and pointing down at Discord. Sable put one hoof on the prison for stability, meeting my eyes.

“I’ll get you out of there, just give me a moment.” He meant to sound reassuring, but he didn’t understand the threat. He hadn’t heard me either.

“No, don’t save me! Save Discord! Listen to me!” It was no use; Sable couldn’t hear me no matter how hard I screamed. I looked back to the middle of the lake, pounding helplessly against the crystal barrier. “No! No!” My efforts were for naught; they couldn’t hear me. Discord had passed over the bonfire pit, standing on the ground just in front of Despair. His arms folded behind his back and he stared at Despair as a disapproving teacher would a disruptive student. The charcoal pony stood defiantly against the spirit of chaos, the red gem of the Alicorn Amulet on his chest seemed to blaze with its own inner light.

“Just so you know.” Discord leaned down to look the charcoal pony with the glowing scars face to face, his voice dripping venom. I could still hear them, even from here. Despair wanted me to hear this, to see this. “I’m going to turn you into a cactus for what you’ve done to Fluttershy.” The ground rumbled, and Despair’s horn glowed. Discord didn’t notice the jet black object emerging from the ground just behind him. How could Despair be moving the anti-magic field? The shard didn’t block physics; he must be pushing on something below it.

I spun back towards Sable; he could still see me. He couldn’t hear, but he could read. I conjured two written words in the air.

‘Save Discord’

At last, he got the message, and I saw my words reflected in Sable’s eyes. Twisting to see what was happening, eyes wide, we both faced the two at the center of the lake. Sable focused everything he had, firing a beam at Despair. It fizzled out where it reached the anti-magic field.

“Run! Get away!” Discord didn’t listen to Sable’s shouts.

“Go ahead then!” Despair taunted, grinning cruelly, his cracked face dripping molten blood. “Try it!” Discord scowled one last time. The changeling throne fragment emerged entirely from the silt, the crystal embedded within a log. It was too late.

Discord raised one hand in front of Despair’s face and snapped his fingers. Everypony froze. Aside from the howl of the wind above, there was silence. Nothing happened. There was no flash of light or sound, no pony transformed into a spiky plant. The draconequus blinked and looked down at his claw. He snapped his fingers again. Nothing happened. Despair laughed, slowly at first, then building to a roaring crescendo. He was standing just outside the anti-magic field.

“Discord! Get out of there!” Sable shouted. Maybe he could still run for it. Discord glanced back towards us, only seeing now the black crystal. Then he looked down at his hands for an instant, and back up at the charcoal black Unicorn now lifting the red-hot blade high above his head.

“Oh dear.” He almost sounded strangely calm. There was nothing we could do but watch.

The blade slammed down on Discord, the draconequus screamed in pain. Again Despair slammed the iron mass into him. And then again, and again, and again in wide, blazing swings. He laughed wildly, his scars and eyes spilling fire. Discord fell to the ground, feebly trying to block the weapon with his arms. To no effect. The metal blade broke his arms, his legs, a horn, his fang. Draconequus blood flashed into the air, igniting as it splattered onto Despair’s insane face.

“Twilight, help…” Discord begged, barely able to speak. Despair raised the sword high and impaled the red-hot point into the defeated draconequus. Discord screamed anew as Despair twisted the knife and dragged him out of the anti-magic field, opposite from Sable and me. Despair slammed a hoof onto Discord’s neck and leaned down until the fire leaking from his face burned Discord’s ear.

“Just so you know…” Despair sneered. “You would have won if you’d just done it from over there.” Discord tried to fight back, to raise his fingers again, but the pain was too much. And then Despair opened his mouth like a pit into some hell, and inhaled. I gasped, I had seen this before, when Tirek stole all my Alicorn magic. Discord’s form began to waver, his outline losing cohesion as his magic was sucked away. The draconequus’s head fell back; I could see his terror as his eyes begged me for help. His body started to crumple, Despair took so much more than just his magic, I heard stone cracking as Discord hardened into granite.

Then all was silent, and Discord was stone, dead. Despair lifted the petrified draconequus over his head, still impaled on the sword, and glared at us. His body began to smolder, to glow with infernal internal fire.

“You want him back? Here, have him!” He hurled the blade towards us, cleaving Discord’s petrified body in two. The stone fragments of his body crashed into the crystal prison, shattering the walls. The twisted sword landed in the dust, forgotten. Discord’s stone head landed before me, detached from what once his body, already falling apart. I pulled the head close, tears rolling down my face and onto the petrified eyes still begging for me to save him.

---

“Discord lost?! He died!?”

“Oh my goodness!”

“…”

“How did you beat Despair, when he stole all Discord’s power?”

“…”

“You did beat him… didn’t you?”

“…”

“Twilight?”

Author's Note:

Discord is a demi-god. He can do whatever he wants, to whoever he wants, and is largely unstoppable. Any legitimate threat to Equestria has to be able to deal with him. It's why Tirek had to team up with him until he could backstab him, it's why the changelings had the crystal throne, it's why he never appeared in the movie.

There is just one thing... Despair knew this, and planned accordingly.

For all his power and near omnipotence, Discord can't tank hits, and freezes up when things surprise him.