Earth

by alarajrogers

Ice - 2

Author's Note:

This chapter previously appeared as the standalone story Ice, but that one was dialogue only. I have rewritten this to include POV thoughts, dialogue tags and actions. Also some minor changes to the language -- "Ice" was written in 2013, and Discord's character and relationship with other characters has evolved since then, so some of the language from the original had to be altered to make sure it is currently in character.

I do not have any intention of taking down "Ice" -- it has comments I want to preserve, it records the date I originally published this and my original intentions, and a dialogue-only story is substantially different in many regards than the same dialogue with thoughts and actions included. Also the cover art was one of the first pieces of Photoshop I ever did, and it's kind of shit but I'm proud of it.

Discord had been growing steadily more certain that he would die in this icy wasteland. Maybe Twilight and Spike, too, but he would be first.

They’d been walking so long, and the cold was slowly devouring him. First, it had been the profound discomfort of cold. Then it was agonizing aches as the cold started doing damage. Now he was going numb. Like turning to stone, he thought, except much slower. Also, he’d never been turned to stone in the winter, so the experience had never included cold in the start, though he had certainly been able to feel cold when the winters came, if it got bitter enough.

He couldn’t stop whining about the pain. It was humiliating. Back home he was godlike, reality his plaything. Here, he was slowly dying, and crying about it like a foal. But when he whined, it made Twilight’s emotions spark with disharmony — guilt and fear and pity and deep irritation — and the disharmony was like tiny flashes of warmth, just for a moment. He knew it was wrong to crave his friend feeling bad, and he doubted it was significant enough to prolong his life, but it was the only thing that felt remotely close to good in a universe of ice and despair, and he couldn’t make himself stop.

"Just to let you know, Twilight, I can't feel my tail anymore," he said.

"Square cube ratio says that the areas with the least volume in comparison to the surface area will lose the most heat first. So that's probably why," she said hoarsely.

"Must you describe our impending doom with mathematical equations? Ugh, my last few minutes of existence and I have to listen to logic. And math." His own voice was equally hoarse. It was an effort to talk, but not talking felt very lonely, and talking made Twilight feel disharmonious and gave him the tiny tiny boost from that, so he did it anyway.

"We're not going to die. We're going to find the portal. It's got to be near here."

By now he knew she was lying. He didn’t know whether she knew she was lying, or if in her efforts to keep her own spirits up she had convinced herself it was true, but he had sensed the portal some time ago, and he’d been able to tell then that it was still a long way off. Maybe a somewhat shorter way than it had been when they’d started, but by no means close by. They hadn’t made that much progress since. "We are in semi-total darkness and the temperature is so far below freezing I expect the oxygen to start crystallizing any moment now and I don't know about you but I don't think I have any magic left. Or body heat. So I can't help but think your optimism's misplaced."

"But when we get close to it, we'll feel its magic,” she said. “We don't need to have our own to find it. And when we touch it, we should be able to activate it, and get home. Where it's warm."

"My tail will still be frozen."

"You can regenerate your tail. We can heal anything if we live through it. I'm more worried about Spike."

He probably shouldn’t have told her that teenage dragons can’t handle the cold even though baby dragons were born in it. She was obsessing over Spike and honestly, he would probably live longer than either of them. Twilight was a mammal, but pony coats were designed more for quickly getting rid of heat than holding it in, and dragons had powerful inner fire. "He's a dragon. He'll just sleep and outlive both of us."

"There's no magic in this dimension. He won't survive either. And he's a reptile. Without magic to generate his heat, he can't just make body heat like we can," Twilight said earnestly.

"Speak for yourself. Or did you forget that the tail I can't feel anymore is also draconic?"

"At least some parts of you can make body heat. You can survive losing your tail."

Discord thought about that for a moment. "I might be better off if I did. You don't happen to have a knife or sword, would you?"

"Why exactly would I have something like that?"

"No reason. I forgot that you put all of your trust and faith in abstract concepts like Harmony and Friendship and it never occurs to you to bring weapons into a dangerous situation. How is that working out for you, by the way?"

"I didn't see you bringing weapons, either," she snapped.

"I have claws." And magic. That normally worked fantastically well. If only they hadn’t ended up on an ice plain. Almost anything would have been better. Outer space or an airless planetoid like the Moon would have been worse, and the middle of the ocean would have been very bad for Twilight and Spike — but not for him. He had gills, sea dragon heritage, and the ocean was pure chaos. He could have rescued Twilight and Spike if they’d fallen in the ocean. Even the desert would have been better, for him; he wouldn’t have lost his magic nearly as quickly in a place where wind shifted dunes of sand and some things were alive. The ice plain was the only terrestrial environment that could drain him this quickly. He cursed himself silently. He’d known he had no idea what he was getting into. He should have prepared. He could store magic better if he knew he was heading into a place that would drain it.

"How are they working out for you?" Twilight asked sarcastically.

"I can't feel the talon either. The paw is just in agony every time I step on it. I can't help but think I really shouldn't have taken your advice about going four-legged."

Didactically, Twilight said, "If you think you're cold now, imagine exposing your entire torso to the wind here. I know your forelimbs aren't built for walking on ice without magic to keep you warm, but you could survive losing all four of them better than you could survive losing all the heat from your core body."

"Except for the part where if I lost all four limbs I couldn't keep wandering through this Tartarus-damned ice plain looking for this mythical portal with you, and without your magic it's hardly as if you could carry me."

He had stopped being able to sense it a while ago. In this place without magic, without chaos, any source of magic whatsoever should be lit up like a faraway lantern, but he was standing next to the bonfire of an alicorn and the campfire of a dragon, impairing his metaphorical sight. And he was in agony, worse pain than he’d suffered since he’d destroyed Matrisse and gotten lungs full of Order dust. His ability to concentrate was more or less gone.

Twilight claimed she could still sense it. He hoped she was telling the truth, but he suspected she wasn’t. Except possibly she might have just admitted to him a minute ago that she couldn’t anymore either.

"I don't know, maybe I could make a travois and drag you," Twilight said.

He wanted to smile. It was too cold to smile. "With no magic. Or tools. Or anything to make a travois out of since there's nothing around here but ice."

"At least you don't keep slipping on the ice." Several times, she’d tried to speed up, approaching a canter. Almost every time, she’d slipped on the ice before even fully shifting gaits.

"Yes, do be careful and don't break your leg. They shoot ponies who break their legs here."

"Who do?"

"The sentient denizens of this world,” he said. “Who don't live anywhere near here because this region of their planet is far, far too cold for them. Or us. Whose brilliant idea was it to manufacture this portal again?"

"Whose brilliant idea was it to go through it?" Twilight snapped.

"I'm only a quasi-immortal ancient spirit of chaos. You're supposed to be a genius, genius. Nopony expects me not to do something stupid."

Twilight sighed. "I'm sure Princess Celestia will be really mad at me and when we get home she's going to yell at me and send me back to magic kindergarten and right now I don't care. She could banish me to the moon. I bet it would be warmer."

"She could turn you to stone," Discord said.

"I think that would be warmer."

"Yes, you'd be correct. When you stop feeling body parts because they're stone, they feel like stone, not ice. Right now I am turning to ice. I would honestly prefer stone."

"I'm sorry."

But he had never been this cold in stone. He had begged for death at times, but he’d never been so certain it was coming for him. He’d never had friends to disappoint with his disappearance, or his inability to rescue them. "Actually maybe not."

Twilight stopped in her plodding for a moment to glare at him. "Maybe I'm not sorry? I am sorry!"

Well, that was a nice burst of disharmony, but it made him feel bad. If he was going to wind Twilight up and get her upset, he wanted it to be intentional. "No. Maybe I like this better. Once I turn to ice I'm fairly sure I won't be conscious anymore. I'm a little surprised I'm still conscious now. And if I'm frozen and I'm not conscious, at least I won't be…"

"Lonely?" Twilight said, when he trailed off without finishing the sentence.

"I was going to say bored."

"And lonely."

"That would ruin my reputation,” Discord said. “If I were you, I wouldn't expect me to admit to something like loneliness unless I was fairly certain I was about to die." Because if he’d gone around admitting it, it would have given ponies a weapon over him. Because he’d never been able to convince himself that anypony but Fluttershy could be trusted with knowing his emotions like that.

"Just keep moving. The portal can't be that far away."

Oh yes it could, he thought. "Did I mention I can't feel my tail?"

"Several times."

"Oh. Well, I can't feel my dragon paw, either. Or my talon." He lifted his talon up and shook it. He wasn’t sure he even had enough sensation in the dragon paw to lift it that high.

"You're still walking on them, so it can't be that bad." He couldn’t see Twilight’s face — the moon had set forever ago, and the sun wasn’t ever going to rise on this south polar continent until spring came. But she sounded skeptical.

"Just warning you. If they suddenly buckle out from under me I won't be able to get up again."

"You have to.” Now she was impassioned. “I can't lift you."

"Of course not,” Discord grumbled. “If I can't go on you leave me here, idiot. What do they teach them in school these days?"

"I'm not going to leave you," Twilight said. Her voice was hoarse, but loud, as if she could make it more real by shouting it into the icy emptiness.

"That's touching, but stupid." He was so cold. Why didn’t she get it? Why didn’t Twilight understand that he was dying, right now?

"I don't have enough power to activate the portal by myself,” Twilight said. She sounded exhausted. Of course she was exhausted. She wasn’t in much better shape than he was. “If I leave you behind I can't go home. And since I don't see any cottages around here with friendly aliens ready to invite me inside for a cup of tea…"

"Hot cocoa."

"What?"

Discord looked over at her. Twilight was a shadowy blob in the starlight. "As long as we're imagining friendly aliens inviting us in and feeding us, let's imagine hot cocoa. Lakes of hot cocoa. Hot cocoa springs bubbling up from under the ice."

Twilight laughed weakly. "I will never say this again for the rest of eternity, but right now, I like the way you think."

"Swimming in hot cocoa."

"You could do that,” she said wistfully. “When we get home."

"Yes, after flying monkeys with glowing faces and big white pegasus wings descend from the heavens singing to us."

"They could sing Winter Wrap Up. And make all the snow melt."

Discord smiled weakly. "And then Celestia would come through the portal and fire rainbow sunbeams at us. Which don't turn us into stone."

"No,” Twilight said dreamily. “They'd just be sunbeams. All nice and warm. And then she could come swimming with us in the hot cocoa."

"Floating on an island of cake. Until she eats it all and sinks."

He could hear the scowl in Twilight’s voice. "Even in your fantasies, you're mean."

"Disharmonious to the end, dear Twilight. Promise me you'll have them put that on my tombstone."

"Since I can't open the portal without you, what makes you think I can have anypony put anything on your tombstone?" she asked crankily.

"Oh, I don't know.” Discord felt as if, the moment he stopped bantering with Twilight, he would probably drop dead. Part of him wanted to. If he was dead, the pain of the cold would stop. But he’d never see Fluttershy again. But, on the third paw, that was likely to happen anyway. “Once I collapse you could probably cut my body open and stick your little dragon inside me to keep him warm with what remains of my body heat, and then you'd be able to make better time and possibly find that portal."

"A, that's disgusting and where do you even get these ideas, and B, did you forget the part where I don't have a knife?"

"Just saw me open with your horn."

"That's gross,” Twilight said. “Can we get back to the hot cocoa fantasies? I liked them better."

He was so tired. "I'm serious, Twilight. I can't keep going much longer."

"Neither can I." She sounded tired too… but not as tired as he was. Twilight’s optimism had saved Equestria so many times. Could it save her, and Spike, now? He hoped so… but he was fairly sure it wasn’t going to save him.

"You're not carrying half your body mass as reptilian deadweight," he muttered.

"I am carrying reptilian deadweight. He's just not half my body mass."

Discord said archly, "You could leave him behind.”

Twilight took a deep breath. "You just want me to scream at you and threaten to hit you, don't you?"

"I admit it, the disharmonious energies of your rage might keep me going another thirty seconds or so."

"One hoof in front of the other, Discord." She demonstrated this by ostentatiously raising and lowering her hooves as she walked forward. It had been a long time since either of them had had the strength to trot, but she was still faster than he thought he was capable of.

"I only have one hoof. Ironically I think it's the only limb I have I can still feel."

"The portal can't be much farther." He was beginning to think she was trying to perform some sort of word-based magic. That she thought, if she repeated it often enough, it would be true.

"It could be, actually. It's dark, there are no landmarks, we have no magic to navigate with and this isn't our world. We could have passed the portal entirely."

Twilight lifted her leg, and starlight gleamed off something with a very faint glow to it. "The compass says we're still going north."

Discord stared at Twilight for several moments, and then started laughing. Weakly, hoarsely, and it hurt, but it was so hard to stop.

"Why are you chuckling like that?"

"This is a south polar continent, Twilight,” he said. “Every direction is north."

She said, very quietly, “Oh.”

"Still think we're going to get home?"

She was silent for several seconds as they plodded forward across the ice. "…If I give up here, it's not just me. Spike will die. He's counting on me."

"Ah, the magic of friendship,” Discord said, trying and failing to hide his bitterness. “When you absolutely, positively have to be wracked with agonies of guilt before you die because you know your death is a failure and dooms your friend to go down with you."

"That's very cynical for a guy who gave up being evil because of friendship," Twilight said.

"Why do you think I'm so glad it's you with me here and not Fluttershy?" he said.

"You're sweet, Discord."

"I do try."

For several minutes they were both silent, their throats too hoarse to keep talking. Too much concentration needed to keep putting one foot in front of another, hoof hoof hoof hoof, hand foot hand foot, paw hoof claw paw.

Finally Twilight said, “I think I can feel it up ahead. Can you feel it?"

In a dull voice drained of all his normal vivacity, Discord muttered, "Can't feel anything."

"Maybe if we get closer."

"No. I mean I can't feel anything, Twilight.” He stopped. Twilight’s fantasies about the portal being close were hurting more than inspiring, because he knew he wasn’t going to make it. “I'm done. I can't keep going."

"You have to!"

"The fact that I have to doesn't change the fact that I can't. I'm so tired. I just want to lay down and sleep." He lay down, coiling himself to avoid the worst of the cold. His tail was already so numb it didn’t matter if it froze any more, so he could lay himself on it almost comfortably.

"But you can't! You have to keep going!" Twilight was almost hysterical.

"For the record… yes. Yes, it is very, very lonely being stone,” Discord said, sleepy enough that his voice was starting to slur. “I think being ice will be much better in the long run."

"You can't give up now, Discord!” She pushed at him with her forehooves. “I can feel the magic up ahead! The portal is there! I know it!"

It was not, and he knew it. If he couldn’t sense it anymore, neither could she. They would never find it. "You go on without me," he mumbled.

"No!"

And then Twilight did one of the dumbest things he’d ever seen her do. She knelt down, still with Spike on her back, and tried to use her forehooves to lever him up. He glared at her, and then remembered she probably couldn’t see that in the darkness. "Don't be an idiot! You can't carry me!"

"You.. gave… up!” She panted, gasping. Her hooves probably barely worked anymore; ponies used tactile telekinesis through their hooves, and her magic was almost gone. “You don't… ugh… get to… tell me… what… I can't… do!" She was trying to shove her head under his body, like she was trying to put him around her neck.

"It's objective fact! You already have a small dragon in a sling on your back… I'm three times your size, Twilight, you can't carry me!"

"Discord… leave logic… to… professionals… okay? You shouldn't… be trying… to make sense." She staggered, falling on her face in the ice, and then went back to what she’d been doing, trying to get him onto her back.

"Well, fine. Kill yourself and your baby dragon in a futile effort to save me. See if I care."

"I'm… gonna.” Her horn poking into his ribs hurt, but only for a moment as she slid it down, inserting it under his body. “Gonna… get… both of us… killed… trying to… save you. Unless… you… keep moving."

"Twilight. I. Can't. I'm so cold. Can't feel my tail or my wings or my legs. Just want to… sleep."

And then she got to her feet, and she’d managed to actually get her head and withers under him, so the middle of his body was draped over the back of her neck, though his head and tail would drag on the ice if he didn’t lift them. "Square… cube… ratio,” she gasped. “Too… skinny and… long. Losing… your heat… too fast."

"I know. Put me down."

"Not… gonna."

Now he was angry. Just because he was dying, what right did she have to risk herself and Spike to save him? "Put. Me. Down."

"Make… me," she panted.

Anger gave him strength from somewhere, and he lifted his head and tail off the ice, with great effort, and then rolled himself tailward, until he fell on the ice. "…there!" he said triumphantly, as Twilight shrieked; he’d sent her into a skid. "Twilight, skate!"

He didn’t have the strength to catch her, like he had multiple times before. She continued to shriek, unable to pull herself out of the skid even if she was managing to stay on four feet, until she smacked into a rock outcropping, and Spike flew off her back and smacked into it too.

"Ow!" Spike, now sitting on the ice, rubbed his head.

"Spike! Spike, are you ok?" Twilight had hit the rock outcropping with her hooves first, and managed to twist her body so her withers and side had been shoved into it, not her head. In the dark Discord couldn’t see if she was scraped or bleeding, but he could see that she was bending over Spike.

"Ow, I'm awake! What did we just hit?"

"A big rock. Discord pushed me."

"He pushed you?" Spike asked disbelievingly.

"Because I was trying to carry him on my back. Spike, go back to sleep, it's really cold, you can't take this weather."

"Did you break a leg yet, Twilight?" Discord called, and regretted it, his throat much too raw to make his voice carry like that for the sake of a joke.

Twilight seemed to think he was serious. "No, but I woke Spike up!"

"You did tell me to do that," he pointed out.

Wearily Twilight and Spike came back over to him. "Discord?" Twilight said as they came close.

"Hmm?"

"If you could push yourself off me hard enough to send me flying across the ice like that… you're not as tired and frozen as you think you are. You can keep going a little while still."

Discord rolled his eyes. "Oh, you're going to be that way, are you?"

She turned to Spike, who was walking rather than riding her. "Spike, I want Discord to carry you."

"Twi… no."

"Yes. He's freezing. So are you. If you wrap yourself around his neck and I tie the blanket around you both, you can share the remains of your dragon heat with his body warmth and keep both of you going longer."

"But what about you?" They were close enough to him that DIscord could see Spike’s wide eyes glitter in the starlight, looking up at Twilight.

"She's going to nobly sacrifice herself for the reptiles in the party and ensure that we all go down together, despite the fact that she's entirely fur-covered and has a much better chance at survival if she abandons us both," he said irritably. Why did she keep trying to save him? He was done. He’d told her. He couldn’t keep going. Why did she keep tying her survival and Spike’s to his? If he died, Equestria would select a new chaos avatar, and Fluttershy would grieve, but get over it eventually, and no one else would really care. If she died, Equestria was doomed. He knew how important Twilight was even if she refused to believe it herself.

"I'm not abandoning anypony!” Twilight shouted at him, which had to be ruining her throat. “Or any dragon! Or draconequus! Or whatever! All three of us make it to the portal or none of us do, because neither you nor I will be strong enough to activate it on our own! Not on this stupid planet with its stupid lack of magic and its stupid south polar continent where everything is north and the compass doesn't work and it's all covered with stupid ice!” She kicked the ice, for emphasis. “Either all three of us make it back to Equestria or none of us do!"

"I think I'd have a tear in my eye if my eyeballs hadn’t frozen over," Discord said sardonically, but did nothing to stop Spike climbing onto him, or Twilight tying the blanket around them both. The rope he’d made hours ago had vanished. Occupational hazard of chaos mages. Things he made were rarely permanent.

Let her figure out he wasn’t actually going to go anywhere. Then she’d move Spike back to her own back and come to her senses. She was much more important to Equestria than he was, and she plainly had enough energy that maybe she could survive and find the portal. He couldn’t.

"Stop whining about how cold you are, Discord, and move!" Twilight shoved him with her forehooves again.

"Yeah, what she said," Spike said, tiredly.

"Be quiet, Spike, I have just enough strength to do a barrel roll," Discord muttered.

"Uh huh. And I have just enough strength to do this."

Sudden extreme pain shot through Discord’s back, directly above his wings. "YOW!" he screamed, and twisted his head to look… at Spike’s sharp dragon teeth digging into his flesh.

"Spike! What did you—" Twilight started.

Staring disbelievingly at the dragon on his back, Discord said, "You bit me! You actually bit me!"

"Uh-huh,” Spike said. “And the next time you fall down on the ice and decide you're just gonna die now, I'm gonna do it again."

"Barrel roll. I'm serious."

"So am I. Twilight won't leave you and I'm not gonna let her freeze to death because you're a wimp."

Discord snapped, "I am not a wimp, I am freezing. You'd be in worse shape than me if Twilight hadn't been carrying you in that blanket."

"And now I'm in better shape than you,” Spike said. “So I'm gonna keep you alive and moving until you actually keel over dead. Because that's what friends are for."

"Friends bite you?"

Twilight said, "He's the perfect friend for you, Discord, don't tell me you wouldn't bite Fluttershy to keep her alive if you had to."

"I'll bite you even if I don't have to," he growled at her.

"You'd have to catch me first, draconequusicle." She started trotting away.

"That could be arranged,” he said, getting up and following her. “I skate better than you."

"So do it. Move. Keep moving."

"How far away is the portal, Twi?" asked Spike.

"A million miles away,” Discord said. “We'd need Celestia to banish us there."

"Don't listen to him, Spike. It's just a little farther up."

He wondered if that was actually true. He couldn’t sense it at all anymore. Could she? "You're simply not going to let me die in peace, are you?"

Twilight said, "No."

"Nope," Spike added.

"Torturers. I can see why you aren't the Element of Kindness, Twilight."

Spike said, "I'm a dragon. I'm supposed to be mean and cruel. Now keep moving or I'll bite you again."

"I'm fairly sure the magic of friendship wasn't supposed to involve biting."

"You'd be amazed at what the magic of friendship can involve,” Twilight said. “Now keep moving! One for all and all for one!" Her voice was hoarse and raw, but there was so much more energy in it than there had been before. Where had she gotten that energy?

Maybe disharmonious emotions could charge up ponies, too, they’d just never been willing to admit that to him.

"I'm turning you both into wombats when we get home,” he said. “Just so you know."

"As long as we can be wombats swimming in a lake of hot cocoa." The dreamy note was back in Twilight’s voice.

Spike leaned forward toward Twilight, from Discord’s back. "Twi, are you feeling well?"

"No, Spike, I'm freezing to death and it's making me so delirious, Discord's fantasies about hot cocoa lakes are sounding logical and fun."

"Uh, ok, count me in then. Hot cocoa lakes are sounding good to me too."

Discord growled, "I won't make you one if you bite me again."

"I won't bite you again if you don't give up and lay down on the ice and decide you're too tired to keep fighting and you're just gonna die."

"I hate you both."

Twilight said, "Good, didn't you say disharmony might keep you alive another thirty seconds?"

"I did, yes."

"Well, if needing to hate somepony will keep you alive longer, then Spike and I are perfectly happy to make you hate us."

"Right. What are friends for?" Spike said, entirely too cheerfully given that they were all freezing to death.

Discord sighed. "…Why did I think this friendship thing was a good idea?"

"Because you thought Fluttershy was really cute?"

"SPIKE!" Twilight sounded like she might die of embarrassment, not the cold.

"What? If I can like Rarity maybe he can like Fluttershy?"

Discord chuckled weakly. "I take it all back. This is much too entertaining for me to die now. Besides I'll never get my revenge on the two of you if I don't survive this."

"Right!” Twilight said. “So let's find that portal!" She set off at a faster trot.

Discord murmured to Spike, "…you do know she has no idea where it is and we're probably going around in circles and we're almost certainly going to die, right?"

"Yeah. I know," Spike whispered back.

"Well, if you know, what did you bite me for?"

"Because if anyone's gonna beat the odds and save us all, it's gonna be Twilight, and she won't leave you behind. So I guess if we die we're all gonna die together."

"Charming."

"Have a little faith,” Spike said. “It doesn't make any sense that Twilight could find the portal in this mess when we've been looking for so long, right?"

"Yes… that was my point…"

"So, Discord, if it doesn't make any sense why are you arguing it can't happen?"

He could not think of any salient comeback to that. "…I still hate you, dragon boy."

"Still got teeth here."

"Come on, you two!” Twilight called from up ahead. “Just a little farther! Let's go!"

Discord knew it wasn’t going to be just a little farther. He knew they weren’t going to find it before he, at least, dropped dead. Probably all of them. But despite his better judgement, and with energy he had no idea where he was getting it from, he managed to increase speed to keep pace with her, the little dragon on his back and the blanket returning some of the warmth he was dying of the lack of.

Twilight had saved the day so many times, many of them times he had personally been sure she couldn’t possibly. She had saved him. More than once. Maybe she could do it one more time. What was the worst that could happen? She’d fail and they’d all die, which would definitely happen if he gave up and she wouldn’t leave him behind.

For the first time in hours of marching through this dark and icy nightmare, Discord felt a slight pinprick of hope.

Comments

[ilovetherain]

The original was wonderfully written, but the rewrite with the improved addition of actions, thoughts and dialogue makes it even better! I personally like how it’s so similar to the old version but yet is so incredibly improved. Their banter is very amusing , Another great write!

[nuew]

Yeah, I love the banter here.

[NightfallBurst]

Three new chapters during such a short time, this is so awesome. Thanks!

[Arzoo]

Love this. You really capture Discord's personality, and what makes Twilight a hero.

[sonicandmario826]

I really like how this chapter shows how much hope Twilight brings to other characters even for a character as cynical as Discord.

[Spiritofchaos227]

Oh I really love this. I love how the tone is just...perfect. bittersweet, funny, really sad, all of it. It perfectly fits the futility Discord's feeling, and that somewhat delusional hope Twilight's clinging on to. And the banter got a chuckle out of me, despite the whole 'they're all freezing to death' thing.  The character dynamics are really fun here. With all the magic of this series, a story where everyone's on an even playing field makes for really interesting character dynamics. It's rare for Discord to actually get angry or be vulnerable, because he can snap away most problems. Without anyone having magic, we get to see a bit of a new side to them, which is super fun (and sad. Discord admitting to being lonely in stone, believing he's going to die anyway? Wildly sad)

Ice was always one of my favorites of yours, and this just makes it even better.