Ch 4: Discovery
A New Day Rises
Twilight was having a no good, awful, really bad morning.
For starters, finding out that your arch-nemesis has once again escaped his stony prison right before bed leads to spending far too long thinking about the possible consequences, instead of actually sleeping. Waking up wasn't much better. Her body still ached from the explosion two days ago, her head was throbbing with the pains of dehydration and stress, and they were out of coffee in the library.
~~~
After living in Ponyville for so long, many of the residents learned to avoid Twilight on her grumpy days. Thankfully, those days were very few and far between. Whether the cause was caffeine deficiency, anxiety, stress, or hormones, it was fairly easy to tell when the purple librarian was not in the mood to interact with others. As a result, Twilight was given a wide berth as she trudged across Ponyville to buy some breakfast from Sugarcube Corner.
A small bell chimed as Twilight walked through the door and marched over to the counter. “Coffee.” One word, and she strode over to a corner table where she would hopefully not have to talk to anyone.
Pumpkin Cake slowly walked over to the purple grump cautiously, carefully levitating a cup of coffee in front of Twilight’s face. As soon as the purple menace grasped the mug, she quickly hid behind the counter with her brother Pound.
“Do you think she wants anything else?” He whispered to his sister.
“Shhhhh! Let her get the caffeine in her system. Once she relaxes past the point of ‘I will torch anyone who dares interrupt my thoughts’ you can go offer her something to eat.”
The two watched from behind the counter as the black caffeinated beverage began to slowly work it’s own kind of magic on the lavender . Minutes passed and the rage levels in the room began to slowly diminish to much less potentially lethal levels.
Pushing her brother out into the danger zone, Pumpkin watched Pound slowly move over to Twilight table; His every move was deliberately slow and he was making sure to avoid any sudden motions.
“Can I get you anything to eat Miss Twilight?” He cautiously asked, ready to bolt in case of sudden rage induced fireballs magically appearing.
Trembling with barely contained fear, he watched as she turned to face him, her purple eyes focusing in on his face.
“Yes actually. Can I get a bagel with capers and a lemon poppyseed muffin please?”
Happy that he avoided harm, he rushed back to the kitchen and relayed the order to Pumpkin.
While the order was being made ready in the back, Pound stuck his head out the back and signalled to the rest of Ponyville that the danger had passed.
With a sigh of relief, the rest of the town began to go about their business as usual and without fear of sudden unicorn immolation.
Confrontation
Apple Bloom really need some time to think.
Walking alone through the Whitetail woods, she mentally was alternating between thinking about the consequences of Discord’s release, and how she had inadvertently caused it.
Walking to the top of a hill, she sat under an old grizzled oak tree and just watched Ponyville come to life as the sun rose over the horizon.
“Seems like I’m not the only one around here who can appreciate a good sunrise.”
The oddly familiar voice startled the yellow mare, causing her to look around frantically for the source.
“If you are looking for me, you won’t find me you know. I was here first after all.”
The smooth voice flowed through the air, coming from the tree, but yet seemingly from elsewhere. Something about the voice tugged at her memory. Looking back though the hazy memories that time faded, she kept getting the distinct feeling that she should recognize the speaker.
“You know, your face really is adorable when it’s all scrunched up in thought like that” the voice called with a hint of humor.
As soon as the last word passed, something clicked in the yellow mare’s mind. Cautiously, she asked her question, simultaneously hoping that she was both right and wrong at the same time.
“Discord, is that you?”
“Astute sense of hearing Apple Bloom. I must say, you really have grown up to be quite the observant mare.” Chuckling at his little joke, his voice continued to flow from the branches surrounding her.
A little peeved from the sarcasm, Apple Bloom was struck with a moment of inspiration. “We’re gonna see who’s laughing now...” she muttered under her breath. Standing up, Apple Bloom put all her years of hard work at Sweet Apple Acres to good use by giving the massive oak tree a powerful buck right in the center of it’s trunk.
The ground trembled at the tree shook violently, knocking loose acorns, squirrels, birds and one rather distraught looking Draconequus.
“Ow! What did you go and do that for?” Inquired the not-quite-pony. Standing up, he rubbed his back where he had fallen on a rock. “I was having a rather fun time being all mysterious and mystical. Kids these days, no respect for their omnipotent elders...”
Sticking her tongue out at Discord, Apple Bloom just walked back over to her sitting spot under the tree and leaned back against it once more.
“So Discord, what exactly are you doing back here in Ponyville?” She tried to say nonchalantly.
“Besides saving your life and the rest of the world besides? Oh not much. Watching the time slip by I suppose. After spending several millennia being encased in stone, one finds ways to amuse themself after a while.”
An awkward silence filled the clearing.
“Soooo... does Celestia know you are here?”
“Not to my knowledge, though the fact that I am free once again probably has her leaving large clay bricks in her excrement”
Stuck between being horrified that Discord would even talk about the elder diarch of Equestria like that, and laughing at the absurdity of it; the laughter barely won out as a couple of light chuckles escaping the mare’s lips.
“I would bet that she is sending out search parties for me by now. Celestia was always the unfun disciplinarian of the two.” Rolling his eyes, he changed his voice into a recognizable mockery of the sun princess. “Discord, go clean your room. Discord, don’t play with your food. Discord stop turning my castle into a roast beef sandwich.” His voice returning to normal, he continued on his little tirade. “She never understood the meaning of ‘fun’”.
Chuckling at his vocal impersonation, Apple Bloom’s curiosity overcame her usual inhibitions about conversing with immortal deities.
“So you knew the princesses pretty well then?”
a moment of silence ensued before he replied with a rather pained voice.
“I suppose you could say so... Oops! Looks like you have a visitor. Time for me to make like a tree and fly off into the sunset.”
Before she could formulate a reply, she heard a familiar voice calling her name from the woods before her. A familiar lavender unicorn was approaching her spot under the tree, accompanied by a white unicorn stallion and his pink wife.
Building Relationships
Sitting in their house, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were sitting around the kitchen table discussing their best friend’s new romantic interest. Laying between them were the flowers and the love poem.
“I can’t believe that Apple Bloom has a romantic lover” pouted the white unicorn. “I work so hard, but all the stallions who pine after me are just interested in sex. Why can’t I get mystery flowers and sappy love poems...”
“It’s probably because you keep reading all those awful romance novels and expect every stallion to be a perfect gentlecolt” muttered Scootaloo under her breath.
“For your information, the books I peruse in my free time have absolutely nothing to do with what I look for in a stallion thank you very much!”
Just as the argument began to wind up, the door burst open and Spike walked in.
Freezing in the doorway, Spike was wondering why both of the mares at the table were staring at him so intently.
“Uhh..” he stammered looking for any excuse to leave the now hostile territory.
“Tell her she is wrong!” shouted both of the two mares at the table.
Slowly backing out the door, he just wanted to avoid his quickly impending doom at having to choose between the two and be wrong regardless of choice.
"TwilightsentmeovertoletyouknowthatsheandAppleBloomwillbecomingbylaterfordinnerpleasedonthurtme!"
His message delivered, he sprinted out the door as fast has his legs could carry him.
Just a Walk in the Park
Apple Bloom did not believe in coincidence. A back to back visit from chatting with Discord to apparently having lunch with the Captain of the Royal Equestrian guard could not possibly be unrelated.
A gentle breeze rippled across the grassy clearing while the four ponies sat comfortably on a packed sheet. Twilight was chatting amiably with her brother and his wife about some humorous anecdote based on married life, while everyone was nibbling on some sandwiches that had been packed in Twilight’s saddlebags.
After a lull in the conversation, Shining cleared his throat and turned to face Apple Bloom and his sister.
“Well, Twilight told us about your experiment. While none of us, including Princess Celestia, hold you to blame for Discords release; I hope you understand the kind of position this puts the Equestria into. Since there haven’t been any large scale chocolate milk rainstorms or floating buildings, we have so far managed to keep his escape quiet. The tabloids are running wild with rumors, but otherwise nopony it the wiser.” He paused to take a sip of grape juice. With sigh he continued. “I don’t think I have to warn you to be on the lookout for Discord, but please let us know if you see or hear anything related to his escape.”
Thinking for a second the yellow earth pony spoke a little slowly, as if unsure how to phrase her next sentence. “Ah certantly do my best Shining. If I do see or hear anything, what should I do?”
“Just tell Twilight, and she can get word directly to me. Being a unicorn does have it’s perks after all” He said with a wry grin.
Cadence was talking with Twilight, but took a break to chat with Apple Bloom.
“So word around town is that somepony has been leaving you love letters and flowers” She deadpanned.
Blushing furiously, Apple Bloom's face turned as red as her hair. Stammering in embarrassment, she tried to get a suitable response out.
Smiling knowingly the princess of love just chuckled. “Well I for one am happy that you are finally finding somepony to share your life with. And I happen to think that poems and flowers are hopelessly romantic” With that she shot a pointed glance at her husband.
Her blush calming down, the four ponies spent a little more time chatting and eating before packing up to leave.
Shining Armor and Cadence walked with Twilight and Apple Bloom to the edge of Ponyville, but split off towards the train station. Twilight and Apple Bloom walked over towards Apple Bloom’s apartment, ready to continue the day.
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- lorettafox · 9.3k words · 86 7 · 3k views
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Aww. You got rid of the bold and daring title that got most of us subscribed to this little gem?
Ah well. Reading on, anyway
1748767
Eh, I am back and forth about it. I may change it back if the mood strikes me. It does seem a bit more fitting though.
Spike sees that their cycles are synchronised.
ALTERNATE COMMENT:
Good times, good times.
Woah. Twilight has aged to be quite a grump, I must say... that didn't seem very in-character, to be honest
Some (hopefully helpful) writing remarks:
-The sub-titles are kind of an unnecessary interruption. Most people just use something like "* * *" or "~~~" as time skip / perspective skip.
-End sentences in quotes with punctuation. A lot of your spoken sentences simply don't end with any punctuation at all. For normal sentences that should end on a period, the general rule is to use a period, unless it is followed by a "s/he said" type construction, where you use a comma instead. For question marks and exclamations, there are no special rule, so, just use them.
-Separate addressing terms in spoken sentences (like names) with commas. For example, in "Can I get you anything to eat Miss Twilight?", put a comma before "Miss Twilight". If the addressing term is in the middle of the spoken sentence, put a comma both before and after it.
To make it perfectly clear, here's a little example I sent to someone I do prereading for. Compare these two sentences:
"I kill, my Queen," the soldier said to Elisabeth. "That's what soldiers do."
"I kill my Queen," the soldier said to Elisabeth. "That's what soldiers do."
The first is the soldier saying, to his queen, that he kills. The second is the soldier saying he kills his queen. That little comma can make quite some difference. So please pay more attention to that. If only to avoid accidental regicide
-Equestria Daily has a very useful document called the "Editor's Omnibus". Especially the "Self-Editing section" contains a treasure of information on correct formatting
1757062
Thanks. I will look over it.
Edit: And I am redoing the opening section a bit to make it seem more in character.
Another note: "it's" means "it is". For the possessive form of "it", use "its". These three should be corrected:
> the black caffeinated beverage began to slowly work it’s own kind of magic
> right in the center of it’s trunk
> Being a unicorn does have it’s perks after all
In case of doubt, replace "it's" by "it is" and see if it still fits. If not, it should probably be "its"
I NEED MOAR OF THIS STORY! XD Applebloom and Discord huh? I never really thought of that ship, but I'm always willing to read a story that ships Discord. From what I've read so far, it definitely works! Oh, and congrats for writing a very obscure ship and totally making it seem natural. You writing style is nice and fun to read. I can't wait to read more!