Discord

by PurpleWonderPower

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Just—a little—higher—" gasped Scootaloo, as the three Breezies struggled with the basket holding Twilight Sparkle.

The Breezies were so small it took all three of them to carry the basket, but finally, with one last bout of effort, they managed to get Twilight onto the picnic table outside the cottage they had come to. Apple Bloom wiped some sweat from her brow.

"Everypony ready?" asked Sweetie Belle, and the other two nodded.

The Breezies' bodies all glowed with their signature coloured magic, and they were all engulfed in colourful flames. Then something very magical happened. Their bodies began to grow, their legs elongated, and their Breezie wings dissolved into their flanks. When the light faded, the Breezies were no longer tiny winged creatures. They were now the size and shape of fully grown ponies, with no wings in sight.

"Oooh," mused Scootaloo, "The world seems so much smaller."

"That's because we're bigger, you dummy," said Sweetie Belle, rolling her eyes.

"Big enough to convince Twilight we're ponies," said Scootaloo.

"But we don't have cutie marks," said Apple Bloom, looking down at her bare flank, "And no amount of magic can give somepony a cutie mark."

"We can say we're still Blank Flanks," Sweetie Belle replied, "It's a believable story."

Nearby, from behind a tree not far from the cottage, Discord was watching their every move.

"So those brainless Breezies have taken her to a cottage in the middle of nowhere in hopes of getting her away from my curse?" mused Discord, "How positively adorable."

With a flash of light, he vanished.

"Come on, you two," said Apple Bloom, beckoning to Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo to come inside the house, "Let's make ourselves at home."

Leaving Twilight Sparkle outside, they all headed into the cottage. They opened the door and stepped into one large room. The left side of it contained a few items of furniture and a small wooden table. The right side had a line of cupboards and a sink built into the wall, and a round table to eat at was set near the window. Up against the wall opposite the door was a wooden staircase leading upstairs.

But the place was not exactly taken care of. The floorboards were caked with dust and mould, areas of the wooden walls were rotting, and the furniture was ragged and moth-eaten. The cupboards was littered with muck, with dozens of dirty dishes and cutlery all over the floor, the furniture was practically in splinters, and the sink was overflowing with mould and fungi.

"Dude, that really stinks!" gagged Scootaloo.

"This place sure needs a little makeover," said Sweetie Belle, looking at the peeling paint and dust-caked floorboards of the living room.

"You're darned tootin' it does," said Apple Bloom, "But it's nothin' we can't handle. We just need a little of this."

She raised her hoof, and magic swirled around the room as Apple Bloom cast her spell.

There was a rumble of furniture and a clink of cutlery, and when the spell finished, the whole room was—there was no other way to put it—perfect. The wooden floorboards were gleaming clean, and the brown wood walls did not hold a speck of dust. The furniture was plump and comfortable, and the windows were spotless. The cupboards were sparkling and unblemished, and the plates and cutlery were organized perfectly inside them. The wooden kitchen table was fixed and perfect, with three chairs set around it.

"Wow, Apple Bloom!" exclaimed Scootaloo, "That looks awesome!"

"Aw, shucks," said Apple Bloom, embarrassedly, "It was nothin'."

"Come on, you two, we'd better fix up the rest of this cottage and make ourselves at home," said Sweetie Belle, beckoning to Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, "After all, we've got a lot of waiting ahead of us."

While the Breezies used their magic to spruce up the cottage they would call home for the next sixteen years, another person was busy giving their home a makeover.

With a flash of light, Discord appeared on the path leading up to a maze of dark trees. It was his home, the place he had resided many millennia ago. The Everfree Forest. Sadly, when he had been turned to stone, his magic had been dispelled, and all the chaos and wonder had disappeared from it, reducing it to nothing more than a few acres of trees. Until now, that is. Cracking his knuckles, Discord rose above the trees and snapped his fingers. With a flash of light, the Everfree Forest restored to its former wonder! Nearly all the trees vanished and the damp grassy floors became brightly coloured checked grounds, with small hills dotted around. Chocolate milk rained down from the sky and an assortment of odd creatures scampered here and there. Huge rainbow-coloured rivers flowed through the ground, enormous haywire clocks and oversized cards stuck out in all kinds of places, and hundreds of crazy, colourful plants sprouted up from the ground. Enormous pyramids of cards towered up into the sky, and dozens of chaotic landmarks and giant trinkets poked out of the ground in all sorts of places.

"Ah, it really is good to be back," said Discord, gleefully, from the black and red throne he had conjured up for himself on top of one of the small hills.

He gazed round gleefully at his land. It had been such a long time. And in just twenty-four hours since escaping, he had placed a curse on Cadance and Shining Armor's daughter and regained his old land. Boy, was this day looking up.

"But wait!" frowned Discord, looking at the line of trees cutting off his land from the rest of Equestria, "Celestia knows the Everfree is where I reside. She will know where to find me. I need some kind of protection."

The answer immediately came to him, and he gave a devilish laugh. He snapped his fingers and appeared on the outskirts of his land by the line of remaining trees, wearing a gardener's outfit. He extended his hand and a paper bag of pitch-black seeds appeared in it. Plunderseeds. He took a handful and crunched them up, before flying down the line of Everfree trees, scattering them round the edges of the trees. His eagle claw became a watering can and water poured over them as he did so. Before long, a mass of huge black twisted vines emerged out of the ground, wrapping around the trees and spreading round, cutting off any possible entrance or exit to Discord's land.

As he watched them grow, Discord gave a laugh of glee! He snapped his fingers and a line of dark grey spiked clouds appeared in the sky above the Plunderseed walls.

"Those should take care of any pegasi or Earth ponies who want to home in on my territory," Discord said, with satisfaction, "And I'll also need something to prevent Celestia and her little unicorn pals from using their magic to get in."

He snapped his fingers and cast a spell. A translucent pink glow materialized over the land for a few moments, then faded away.

"There," he said, smirking, "Now no unicorn or alicorn magic alike will be able to penetrate my walls. Ooh, Discord. You're good."

With his land restored to its former glory, and the Plunderseeds and magic-preventing barrier protecting it, Discord's work here was done for the moment. He snapped his fingers, and with a flash of light, he vanished and reappeared in a stone cavern. The cavern was brightly lit by the glow of the mysterious tree in the heart of it. It had five long twisted branches, and at the end of each one was a block with a gem-shaped opening in the middle. Celestia and Luna's cutie marks were made out on the trunk, and in the very centre was a glowing white star. This was the Tree of Harmony.

Seeing how full of life the Tree was, Discord's face fell.

"Oh," he sighed, "It seems the Tree hasn't been robbed of its magic quite yet. Pity. Those seeds I planted should have sprouted up centuries ago."

His eyes grazed the empty spaces where the Elements of Harmony used to be, and he smirked.

"But what does that matter anymore, anyway?" he said, carelessly, "My plan is foolproof. Twilight Sparkle will fall into an eternal sleep, Tree or no Tree."

As for Twilight Sparkle, she was not quite getting the attention and care a newborn filly required. The Breezies may have been powerful and talented, but they were perhaps not the best parental guardians. As they continued to spruce up their cottage and make themselves at home for the next few hours, Twilight Sparkle wailed and cried from outside. The Breezies all hurried out to see what was the matter. They all crowded round the wailing filly, trying to figure out what was wrong with her.

"I know!" exclaimed Sweetie Belle, "I bet she's hungry! We need to give her something to eat!"

Sweetie Belle used her magic to pull some daffodils from the grass, and dropped them onto Twilight Sparkle's lap.

"There you go, Princess Twilight," said Sweetie Belle, "Eat up."

Twilight Sparkle blinked and looked curiously up at the Breezies, before bursting into tears again, her wails and screams cutting through the air like a knife!

Discord, who was watching from nearby, gave a scream of anguish! He plucked his horns off his head and plugged them into his ears!

"That little filly is going to perish with those three Breezies looking after her," Discord muttered, looking over at the cottage.

That night, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo all slept snuggled up together on one bed, while Twilight Sparkle wailed and sobbed from her little cot in the other room. She was still hungry, of course, as she had not had anything all day, and the Breezies had not done a very good job of looking after her or putting her to bed.

As a fresh surge of tears streamed down the baby alicorn's face, there was a sound from outside. The window glowed with magic and opened, and a tiny Discord fluttered into the room. With a flash of light, he returned to his normal size. He looked pitifully down at the tiny purple alicorn lying there in the cot, crying her eyes out. He almost felt sorry for her. Almost.

"Looks like you're not quite getting the care you need from those useless Breezies," he said to her, with a mix of disgust, disapproval and slight amusement.

Twilight's only reply was another rush of sobs, and tears continued to stream from her big purple eyes as she wailed.

Discord's expression softened. "Come here, Twilight Sparkle," he said, reaching into the cot and picking her up.

He began to gently rock the little filly in his arms, crooning softly to her as he did so. Twilight whimpered a little, but as Discord rocked her, eventually the tears stopped cascading down her face, and a happy smile replaced the sad expression.

"That's better," Discord said, softly.

He stroked her mane with his lion paw, which seemed to cheer her up a lot. She gurgled happily and cuddled up to the draconequus. Sensing his work was done, Discord reached back over and carefully lay the baby alicorn back in her bed and tucked the covers over her. She gave a wail and reached her hoof out to him as he turned away. Discord looked back round and realized she was still hungry from earlier. Honestly, those three Breezies were hopeless. Discord snapped his fingers and with a flash of light, a bottle of milk appeared in his eagle claw. He gave it to Twilight, who made a happy noise and put it in her mouth, sucking up the milk.

Hopefully that'll shut her up for the night, Discord thought, irritably, snapping his fingers and vanishing.

Comments

[Spellflame]

This reminds me of the actual movie.

[Fluttershyisacutegal]

very interesting