Discord

by AppleCider120

A Near Frigid Failure - Chapter 4

Mother stood by as she observed her dear Gaea performing her newfound abilities with rapid ease, rarely having to stop to remember how her abilities were formed. Unlike her ''brother,'' who up to this point could only rely on his own developing genius, Gaea was more than capable of performing many of his potion based magic with her own mind. If Discord knew of her existence, Mother could only assume he would grow jealous; despite her previous reservations about him, she needed him to start following her instincts.

In this same time, Mother began to think back on her own existence, and what she had taught her old friend, Aspen, during his development. While she would watch Gaea, thinking about her adopted son, she also remembered her past. She was a sudden appearance, unlike her own creations. She had a creator, as well; though, she never knew their name, or appearance. She had only heard their voice. It was a collection of voices sharing one mind, and one goal. Many lower gods, such as herself, were given control of entire star systems. Mother, the star system that contained her own planets, a sun, and a neighboring "nursery" of developing stars. Or, that is what she has been told, since time immemorial.

For, apart from her sudden creation, those creators never mentioned names for her supposed brethren. No other gods did she know; she didn't know if she was even a full god herself, or just an embodiment for her creations to associate with the creators. Maybe this is what drove her to be the "Mother" she was today. Often longing to know if there were others she could have grown up beside; wishing to know if her creations really appreciated her, or if they only appreciated the highest creators. Maybe it was this that brought her to create the humans. As far as she knew, she had full autonomy over her own actions; the creators had never forced her upon anything other than her star system. Instead, she was given her own playground, and set free.

This was how she created her humans. A species, not just individuals, who could govern themselves. While she often found herself interceding, undoubtedly with selfish ideas, she tried to keep it subtle, without any true harm. Until her wars in the forests, and the subsequent Everfree Forest, she was more than happy to stand by and watch the humans spread throughout this planet, and carve their own futures. What broke her, it seems, was that she could not stand when her creation was being destroyed. While humans settled mountains, cliffsides, riverbanks, and even remote islands, they rarely actually changed the landscape. Often borrowing a few resources, such as their cliffside housing, the world looked the same.

Not so with her forests. Her forests were the pride of her creation, if a god could feel pride. And she knew they could, why else would she have acted so horrifically to the humans when large patches of these peaceful, stoic, yet living statues were being erased. Gone was the beautiful green patchwork dotting the world; her world began to resemble the wide open plains. While she did not dislike her wide open plains, she did not like her original creations being altered by something she... created.

"Perhaps I am far closer to a human, than my own creators," she thought to herself, as Gaea once more began to fall asleep to the sound of a lullaby; it signaled the end of a long training day, and her daughter deserved the rest. "Which is why Discord will be so important. Why I say he is my antithesis, I do not know; he will be more like me than not. I just need something to take my mind away from these truths. I made the humans; by that extension, I destroyed my own creations in the forest; in the seas; in the mountains. He will be perfect, because he will be so broken. And I do not know what the final result will be.

Discord was still in the midst of his greatest high. He had the closest thing to a family in the White Tail's herd than he could remember in his recent lifetime. Mother was relieving to call his, well, "mother"; but she was just one being. He had no siblings, and no friends outside of their circle he could call his extended family. That was until he me King Aspen, and Queen Fyr. And even more so, Prince Bramble.

As they had wished, hoped, and prayed; as they had been seeking, likely for generations, a young stag was born in the third month since being sheltered by Discord. And he could just sense the elation in their telepathic voices when they would speak. Even for him, it was great learning experience. Within a few hours, the you fawn was up and about, exploring his new home; even Errant seemed to be happy, taking to him like she was a godmother, licking his face happily. As he had wondered, previously he did not know how long Queen Fyr had been expecting when they met, but he knew even then the excitement would be contagious.

He sat back with King Aspen, Queen Fyr, and a couple of elder does as they watched the new stag explore, and play with his half-siblings. For once in his life, Discord had something to lose, and everything to give to protect them. He would learn this lesson within the week; five days after Bramble's birth, precisely.

Discord was in a deep sleep, when a rough shaking of hooves smacked into his shoulders, causing him to bolt out of his makeshift cot.

"I'm up, I'm up!" he said, quite awake thanks to the alarming motion, but truly not mentally there.

Queen Fyr stared into his eyes fearfully, shaking. "He's gone!"

Discord looked at her curiously, looking around to see Prince Bramble still in his bed with her, but an absent King Aspen peaked his attention.

"What!? Is he not in the cave anywhere!?" he said, trying to keep his voice down to avoid arousing fear in the herd.

"I have searched all corners, but," she said, hesitantly, "the door to the cave is wide open."

Discord stared at her, sighing as he ground his hands against his temple.

"Do you have any idea in the slightest, where he might have gone?"

The queen simply shook her head, glancing around as she saw one of the elders approaching.

"I have no clue, but I'm coming with you to look," she said, firmly. "I can leave bramble with the others, they should be fine."

Easily sensing he was not going to work her over, and get her out of that agreement, he just nodded his head. He would rather take a frightened doe, than taste the likely close wraith of an angry one. As the queen instructed the does to look after the prince, Discord gathered a few of his newest potions; he woke Errant, getting her a little bit of her favorite treats to wake her, and hurried to the gate to wait for Queen Fyr.

"Of all the times you had to chose to run off," he said, growling a bit as the storm outside had indeed intensified. Had the door not been opened by the king, they would not have been able to leave.

Upon Queen Fyr joining him by his side, they began to trek out, trying to look for any signs of possible tracks. While the clearing around the cave would be covered, the forest just ahead would have provided a far better covering, preserving older tracks. With that, they began inspecting the surrounding brush, and more specifically, keeping an eye out for any brush that had been moved. After about ten minutes, Queen Fyr found a few of the old flowers that Discord had set out had been genuinely eaten. They took the initiative, as they did not know if this was a mark, or just a random event, but it was all they had to work with. Though, the queen could use just enough of her smell to sense some of his scent trails.

Noting that it was unusual for him to go off without marking, she guided Discord with her scent, as Errant also tried her best to pick up on what the doe was smelling. It was almost an hour after they began their search that the pair needed a rest, and set up camp in a very strange landing; it was truly unlike previously seen. Noticing that many flora and the landscape had shifted, as the Everfree was known to do, they forced Errant to make her way back to the hideout; should all else fail and they lose their trail, she would be able to find them again. Discord gathered some materials around that he knew could burn for a few hours, hoping that it was all they would need to find King aspen.

After their rest, they began to make their way further. Lighting the newly made torches proved almost crucial for the doe, as the stronger smoke almost made it easier to pick out her mate's smell. Sending the two in a far more reasonable direction, instead of wavering, they followed it haphazardly; with their hurry they often found themselves picking the other up off the forest floor. But, none of their searching was in vain, as the path soon started to change in its appearance. The dark green forest was beginning to give way to a hard, black, stone-like material. The grass faded to allow more of this material to spread, and the pair soon found themselves face to face with large black obelisks, that were rivaled by only the trees in appearance.

Despite her objections, Discord firmly instructed the queen to stay put as he would scout forward. She simply nodded, hiding beneath some overgrown tree roots, as he made his way further into the black, obelisk forest. It was new, but Discord could sense a strange familiarity grinding in his brain, struggling to tell him what was happening. It only became worse when he began to see what he thought were faces, sticking up through the black surfaces. Sometimes on the floor, and sometimes on the obelisks, or spikes. After what seemed like a mile, he started to hear an all too familiar noise echoing through the black forest. These were not just voices, either; he could hear the old growls that used to haunt his nightmares, whenever Mother wasn't orchestrating them.

Changelings had set up their own kingdom, deep in the forest. And if he was right, then bodies he had seen were likely their many victims, used to simply pad their walls as either a trophy, or a warning. Perhaps even both. While Discord had seem so much throughout the centuries of dreams and nightmares, he could not imagine that all these horrid dreams, and sudden bouts of joy would lead him to encounter the thing he had feared for so long. Even his discussion with King Aspen about the Changelings no being the undead failed to convince him that they weren't some nightmarish, evil spirits.

And then he was against an obelisk as he felt something strong slam into his side. A Changeling had made its way around him as he was in this daydream state, and was staring him down like a true feast.

"It didn't even try to trick me," he though to himself, giving the oversized, bug-like humanoid a had knee in the gut. Unbenounced to him, the rough slam had shattered his newer strength elixir.

He realized what had happened when the Changeling's shell cracked from the punch, and a green ooze began to drain from its stomach. Discord thought he was finished, but the Changeling lead out an ear piercing shriek, resulting in another being echoed by what could only be reinforcements. Taking this time to take advantage, he gave the Changeling another shot across its chest, sending it to the floor in a wheezing mess. He hated to hurt the thing, but he was not going to be bug food for them. He started to rush his way deeper in, knowing the rest of the crowd was likely making its way towards him. And right he was.

He was soon met with many Changelings who were already in the area. Using his currently boosted abilities to dispatch these Changelings, he was being slowed by their gradually increasing number. Just as the hydra he knew of from Mother's history lessons, each one he took down, brought with them another two. Discord was unable to go for more than three more bouts, before the splash elixir's effects started to wane, and he was needing to strike much harder. Without the strength sadly, his strikes would begin hurting him more, before a stronger trio of the Changelings finally manage to subdue him with a thick, green substance around his ankles; though, he still tried to act like he could fight.

"Enough!" came a call not too far from him.

He and another Changeling were about to spar when the voice came. His own strike followed through, though the attacking Changeling had pulled away, sending him to the ground, against the wishes of his ankles. He let out almost a girlish squeal, as his ankles nearly snapped under the pressure of the goo, before finally bending with him, before thickening more. Now, laying on his stomach, he could only try and turn his head in a limited motion to see who spoke.

The source of the command made his way in through the crowd of bugs, revealing a Changeling drone with a slightly different pallette to him; he bore a bright blue adorning the holes on his body, instead of the dull black the average soldier had. He simply looked down ad Discord, with a sadistic grin.

"My, my," he said, in a low, dragging voice. "I have never seen such a valiant effort from an overgrown ape as yourself."

Discord didn't interrupt, but did give him a death glare.

"Oh, come one," the drone laughed. "You think those all-telling eyes are gonna scare me. You may be miffed, but your aren't more pissed than scared."

Discord rolled his eyes, trying to sit up. The drone kept an eye on him, motioning to a pair of soldiers, who picked the human up, allowing him to stand.

"I am Commander Styx," he said. "And who in the absolute hell are you, to think you could come in and try to take on our hive?"

Discord panted softly, already losing almost all of his adrenaline. "I am Discord, and I was looking for a friend of mine, who's trail led to the edge of your strange lands... I also didn't take the liberty of attacking first."

"Oh, we know you didn't attack us," Styx said. "But, you did manage to take down a considerable number of our siblings. While that is commendable, I have no doubt that even your claims of defense will sit well with the queen."

Discord perked up, eyes widening as he suddenly realized that one of his very hopes for this world, dream or not, was indeed coming true.

"Did you say queen?" he questioned, almost enthusiastically.

Commander Styx nodded, not picking up on the increased emotion of the human.

"Yes, our Queen Ch--"

"Queen Chrysalis!?" he interjected, now clearly excited about this new revelation.

Commander Styx stopped himself from continuing his monologue, now finding his eyes focusing directly into the humans, with an almost intense, but maybe fearful glare. But, he was still quite angry, and he tried to let that show.

"And just how in this world," he growled, "does an outsider know that name?"

Discord began to laugh happily, and soon hysterically. His sudden burst of joy made many of the drones slightly cringe, as it sounded as if the man had truly lost his mind.

"Oh, sir," he chuckled, putting a bit of sarcasm on the end of the title, "just tell the queen that her statue has returned!"

Author's Note:

Okay... this specific arc may last more than two chapters. I'm liking this idea...

Sorry this chapter was shorter, I just felt like that specific phrase was pretty good to end on.

Comments

[AppleCider120]

10488567
I will be trying to avoid shipping, for this initial story. I mean, someone will probably want to now ship Discord with Fyr and friends, but it happens, lol.
And I figured spellcheck missed out of place words.

[AppleCider120]

10488567
I only just uploaded the story to the one HiE group, so not many could see it.

[AppleCider120]

10488567
And as for the most part, canon stuff will likely be broken, lol. As like how he's using potions before he gets any sort of powers.