Chapter 13 - I'm Sorry I Thought You Never Cared
The feathers on its head stood like pointed, needle sharp spikes, looking ready to draw blood. Rather than turn away, the hapless spirit found himself captivated in the basilisk's stare, but it wasn't because the nightmare was luring him into a trance.
The basilisk suddenly seemed taller, towering high above Everfree's trees and making them look like children’s' little playthings. Its sharp talon was curled around the completely still, white form as it slowly tried to crush her. The spirit watched with frozen eyes as its talons pushed into her skin, probing it experimentally. Suddenly, the tip of the claws broke through into her flesh and Discord noted she gave a weak twitch.
He whipped his head over towards another one of the monsters, staring as it held a limp, saffron figure in between its sharp pointed beak and clamped down on her lightly, tauntingly as if she was a squeeze toy. One that had no life left to her.
Lastly, the spirit stared at the third nightmare that had a certain midnight blue alicorn trapped in its wing, somewhere under a sea of feathers. Discord could barely see the limp, rag doll like legs hanging there.
As the nightmares prepared to rip into their prize the god unleashed a powerful snarl and fought to lunge at them, tear out their hearts and stuff it down their throats. He couldn't move. Every appendage was frozen in the air, in an eternal pouncing position. Discord tried to scream, but found his lips suddenly sealed as well.
The draconequus could only watch as the three equines were literally ripped apart in front of his very eyes. His attention was suddenly averted by the poker hot pain in his side as another basilisk pierced its beak into his flesh. Discord inwardly screamed and emitted strangled cries, but his lips stayed locked like a door.
The piercing stab continued to penetrate through his side and at last the god emitted a pitiful scream, flailing there on the spot as he finally managed to fade into a vibrant, white light.
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“Sir! Sir, wake up!”
Pain still piercing against his side, the spirit unleashed a loud yowl, his leg flailing and nearly bucking the doctor in the face as the burning poking worsened. Still somewhat trapped in his subconscious, the spirit's barely open eyes saw what he perceived to be the bleary image of a basilisk.
It was really a disgruntled doctor with a sewing needle in between his teeth that he was carefully guiding through a stitch that had torn open during the spirit's night time thrashing. His beige horn flashed briefly, and a light encased and slammed down the spirit's limbs so he could continue working.
Whimpering and yowling up a storm, Discord shut his eyes and ground his teeth together, pulling his eyes away from the grim sight of the needle and instead directing them to an empty cot. The nightmare still fresh on his mind, he panicked.
“Where in Equestria is Fluttershy?!” A claw broke free of its immobile state and harshly jerked the doctor to his face, baring his teeth at him threateningly. “What did you do to her?!”
The doctor's back hooves flailed futilely in the air, scrambling them against nothing as he tried to touch the ground and pull out of the tight hold.
“I did nothing to her, sir! She's outside in the gardens getting some exercise! Her highness sent me to take you outside as well, but I saw the wound you ripped open with all your thrashing and tended to that first!” His voice became a weak, feeble little squeak as Discord's grip tightened.
The spirit unleashed his claws from where they were burrowed in the physician's neck, thoughtlessly dropping him back on the floor and turning his eyes on the window. A talon rose to propel his cloud-bed to the window, but he could barely manage a single gold spark.
When the entity looked over at him for clarification, the doctor spoke meekly from behind his clipboard. “Her majesty confiscated all of your power until you are well. She says using too much magic right now and over-exerting it can be very dangerous.”
How very considerate of you, Tia. NOT!
What, it wasn't good enough that she had him bedridden in a dingy white room so she had to take away all of his sense of fun as well? No conjuring bouquets of flowers for his bedside to squirt honey in the nurses faces as they came to check on him? No making the clipboards come alive and run away?
The draconequus muttered angrily to himself as he slid out of the hospital bed and landed gingerly on his feet in a crouching position. As he rose to stand tall, he only fell back onto all fours with a wince, unable to stand and stretch the injuries.
He padded quietly over the tile floor towards the window, perching tentatively on his injured tail and peering out.
There she was in a patch of chrysanthemums, lying carefully on her stomach, her saffron covered hoof tracing a butterfly as it fluttered above her. A wing was bandaged and carefully tucked into her body and there was gauze taped to her back and foreleg, but she was alright.
The spirit gazed at his own injuries, experimentally probing them with the tip of his feline paw. He was a little worse off than her, but the minor cuts paled in comparison to the past year of broken bones, deep lacerations, punctured lungs – eugh.
“Sir!” the doctor shrieked in alarm and dropped his clipboard as the chaotic demon perched on the windowsill on all fours, getting ready to leap out of it. “This is not what the princess meant by exercising! Not once did she say to jump out a window—you don't even know if she left you able to float! You could end up-”
The physician was cut off, giving a grunt as Discord's tail slapped him in the face as he descended out of the hospital window, rising back up into the sky.
Giddily, Discord zigzagged through the sky, enjoying the fresh air. The wind stung the cuts underneath his bandages, but it was a small sacrifice to make for the price of freedom and fun.
The draconequus spotted his butter colored and rosette target below him and took a plunge, diving into the sea of chrysanthemums with a small, pink explosion of fluff.
Fluttershy spluttered and coughed, her snout wrinkling in protest to the bomb of pollen that just went off. After giving a few dainty little sneezes, she wiped her watery eyes and gazed down at the lounging draconequus, whose scarlet pupils were sparkling with mirth.
“Oh, Discord!” the pegasus giggled, giving the yellow speckled face a gentle nuzzle. “When did you get up?”
“Doctor Rudes'alot awoke me from an absolutely...pleasant dream,” the spirit said sarcastically, sucking the nectar out of a flower bud and contemplating the dehydrated morsel before gobbling it. “So I decided to see what my favorite pony was up to~!”
The pegasus gazed at a blossom she spun in her hoof with a profound look on her face. “When I was little and whenever I was sad Mummy took me to our flower garden and it always made me feel better. I figured, well, coming to a garden as beautiful as this one would make me feel even happier.”
Bleeech, how nauseatingly sweet and so predictable. “I for one always enjoyed some nice chaos when I was sad. Sadly, that isn't going to happen today.” The spirit bitterly glanced at his out-of-commission talon and dropped it to his side with a pout.
Fluttershy sympathetically nuzzled up against her companion's side and gazed worriedly at his non-glowing hands. She had heard his magic had been taken away while he recovered (and it was in fact one of the reasons she wanted to be out of the room when he awoke, not wanting to witness the bloodshed that would take place), and he wouldn't get it back for a while.
“Anything...chaotic you can think of that doesn't involve magic in some way?”
“Not really,” he mumbled glumly, face buried in the flowers – only to withdraw with a snort as he nearly snuffed a beetle up his nostril. “Almost everything I do involves conjuring something for some reason. Chocolate rain needs a cotton candy cloud, a hallway to litter with banana peels needs lots of banana peels, unless I can find somepony to eat, like, twenty of them. And what about my cotton candy and sweets?!”
A smirk twitched at Fluttershy's butter colored lips as she teasingly probed at his spongy, candy filled belly, grinning as he squirmed and glared at her. “I think a little diet could benefit you... You've gained a bit of weight.”
The spirit went slack jaw and his lips turned up in a sneer. “I wouldn't speak so brashly, my little pony,” he warned ominously, his tail creeping up behind her. “I can make do without my powers.”
Oblivious to the tail inches away from her, the pegasus cheerfully continued with the comforting notion that he could do nothing to her. “Perhaps I should put you on the diet myself!” She collapsed in squealing giggles as his tail feathered her bottom hooves with what remained of the white tufts of fur.
Laughing, Fluttershy rolled onto her back and curled her body out of range of the tormenting fluff as it darted over her quivering skin. “Stop it!” She tried trapping it under a hoof, but he easily slid the fur out.
“Oh, I think not.” The entity chortled, zigzagging through the air and giving chase to his butter colored prey as she attempted to make a getaway through the flowers. “I may not have my powers, but this tail—perfect for tickling the tummies of ponies with~!”
Fluttershy instantly squealed with a giggling lilt of laughter and took off galloping through the flowers as the impish spirit eagerly flew after her.
Higher, perched at the very end of the marble balcony with her hooves over the rungs was a certain sun alicorn basking in the sun, letting the warm rays cast a glow on her mane. She gazed with ever watchful, violet eyes as the two smaller forms wrestled in the flowers before her.
From beside her, Luna gave a snort. “'Tis quite a sight, is it not, sister? Although I can't remember the last time I saw Discord...so happy.”
And that Celestia had to agree with. Gazing down at those mismatched eyes with irises sparkling more joyously than Celestia was sure they could, the princess found herself giving a longing sigh. How long had it been had she seen him so happy without tormenting anypony? Well, he was chasing the poor girl with a feathery, tickly tail of doom.
“Endearing sight, it is...not something we see every day,” Luna murmured wistfully and watched as Fluttershy had somehow gained the upper hoof and forced the draconquus to the ground. Both seemed completely unmindful of their injuries.
Celestia heaved a sigh, tone dipping to exasperation and then taking on the customary royal-authority as she shouted down at the idiotic duo. “You two, cease this at once! You were both given stitches last night! Back to your room—the both of you!”
The rustles of the flowers ceased and two confused heads poked out from where both Discord and Fluttershy were locked in a weird grappling, headlock position. As they gazed up at the alicorn's stern frown, they heaved sighs of disappointment. Discord's was notably angrier. An expected reaction.
Mismatched arms folded over his chest, the spirit casually ascended up and hovered above the balcony. He raised an eyebrow as Luna backed up and lowered her horn warningly at him. Discord paid her not even a glance.
“Ah, morning, dearest Tia,” the entity sneered, a bitter scowl as clear as day on his face. “So not only do you decide to rip away the pathetically small amount of powers you gave to me, but now I can't even play with the little butter flutter?”
Even as the childish colt attempted to hurt her with his glare and venom in his words, Celestia was unmoved from her decision. “You can go ahead and play with Fluttershy. You can play with her all day if you want, but when you start tumbling and somersaulting is where I draw the line. If you can't abide by the rules I set, then back to your room you go.”
Discord's sneer widened and he barer his sharp fangs at the alicorn as his glare became ever more defiant and vehement. “And who in Equestria made you the boss of me?” he demanded snappily, “I can take care of myself just fine.”
“O, villainous wretch,” Luna seethed between her teeth, “Our sister hath command on the entire kingdom, which includes thou ungrateful worm. Obey our sister.”
“I never asked for the opinion of Celestia's shadow,” the spirit said nastily, and drew back half in alarm and half in satisfaction as Celestia needed to strike out a wing to keep her sister from tearing out his throat. “And look who's talking about ungrateful. Who saved who's flank in battle again~?”
Both sisters exchanged wordless gazes, and turned back to Discord. Luan was still livid, but she was calmer now, silent even. Celestia just frowned sternly once more.
“To your room, Discord.”
In case the god decided to protest her further, the butts of spears were suddenly jabbed into his back from where a few guards had decided to surround them. Had this been any other five seconds, Discord would have loved to disobey, to reverse any orders that the darling Princess of Frump said and turn it into something fun and ridiculously humiliating for his benefit. It was his duty, after all, to create chaos.
But, as he peered around the army of guards, reaching out to give one of the overly sharp-headed spears a slight prod with his talon, he quickly realized that he didn't want to end up with more holes than a slice of swiss cheese.
Celestia waited until both Discord and the guards were well out of earshot before chiding her sister. “Luna, you must stop this! You cannot go all killer mode every time he says something to upset you! Look at everything Discord has said to me and I've lashed out maybe once.”
“Sister, it's when he says things about you that I lose it!” the midnight alicorn protested. “The vile beast—I don't see why we never put him back in stone where he belongs. Actually, where he really belongs is behind the gates of Tartar-”
“Luna,” Celestia cut in gently, frowning painfully at the heartbroken, enraged immortal. “Be aware of what you are saying. He was once your brother.”
At that the blue ears pinned back and the azure eyes shone with repressed tears as the grief-stricken princess turned from her older sister and barely said in a whisper before she departed: “and never shall he be so again.”
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“Do you really expect me to eat that—what in Equestria do you call it?”
Discord held the metal bowl of brown and lumpy concoction safely at arm’s length, so its nauseating stench of old socks and cheese hadn't a way to assault his nostrils and it had no chance of melting off his face either. He hoped.
“It is food, sir,” the doctor told him flatly, no longer trying to maintain a respectful and calm tone with the infuriating brat, to put it quite bluntly. “It's your dinner.”
“I...I think it's moving.” That earned exasperated glares from both a certain pegasus by his bedside and the miffed physician as he angrily slammed the bowl down. “I really do think it's moving!”
“Discord...it is not moving,” Fluttershy sighed, placing an empathetic hoof on the physician's coat clad shoulder. “I am very sorry, sir. Believe me; he does this with my food as well. He...well, he does it with any food that isn't candy.”
“Well, as customary,” the chagrined stallion huffed quietly, “he gets dessert after his dinner.”
“How wonderful,” Discord responded sarcastically, his lips turned upwards in a sneer as he probed at the small tin containing his dessert. “What is it, a bran muffin with worms?” His laughter gave off to a yelp as his annoyed guardian gave him a swat.
“Discord, behave yourself,” Fluttershy admonished like a stern mother, wagging her hoof in the pouting face. “I'm sure whatever the doctor has is very delicious.”
“Ha! Right,” the spirit rudely snorted and floated above his cotton candy cloud, mismatched arms lounging behind his head. “I'll bet you fifty bits that the food you're giving the other patients is a paradise with whipped cream and cherries and sprinkles, compared to what you're giving me.”
The doctor spoke through clenched teeth: “No, sir. We are feeding our patients the exact same food from the exact same place-”
“-the dumpster~?”
“Discord!” Fluttershy scolded the entity harshly and pointed a hoof towards the corner of the hospital room. “Go sit in the corner, mister!”
The childish spirit ignored the mumbles and growls of the doctor and the annoying, high and squeaky reprimanding of his guardian as he dropped back on all fours and crawled his way to the windowsill in search of something actually edible.
His wandering eyes fell on the creamy orange colored spheres hanging delicately from a luscious peach tree just off the side of the garden where the chrysanthemums were. The warnings from his guardian to “get back here right now” falling deaf on his ears, Discord jumped from the window right as the pegasus took a swipe to grab him.
Fuming, Fluttershy took to the skies as well, soaring behind the male as he vanished through a bushel of emerald colored leaves and attached to the branches like a giggling tick.
“Oh, you are lucky I don't have my duster with me,” Fluttershy huffed in annoyance, “what are you—YAH!”
The branches that were unable to bear the mass weight of a gangly spirit splintered and snapped off, sending both the hanging upside down Discord and the peaches slamming into the hapless girl below.
Discord showed no concern, munching noisily on his juicy prize as he sat on the groaning pegasus's back. “Thanks for breaking the fall, Flutter Butter~!”
Fluttershy flailed and drummed her hooves against the earth, but in the end she just decided to resign to let her spine and ribs be crushed as Discord treated her like a couch...and also dripped peach juice all over her.
“They should really serve this kind of thing more at that hospital,” Discord said, his voice muffled from where his entire face was nearly buried into the juicy meat of the peach. He tore chunks off with his teeth and spurted tangy juice everywhere.
“So much for the etiquette lessons I tried to teach you,” Fluttershy murmured softly, watching as her preaching on ' table manners' went straight out the window as he continued to sloppily chew at the fruit in his palm.
“Etiquette? How drawl.” He finished the peach, dropping the bone dry pit into the grass and flopping onto his stomach with a lazy smile on his face. Peach juice was matted all in his fur, even behind his horns. “Ah, that tasted delightful~! I never realized fruit not turned into candy could taste so good!”
“Maybe if you give it a chance now and then and stop turning it into candy you'll see the natural sweetness is just as delicious,” Fluttershy suggested, climbing up on the multi beast's stretched out neck.
“Maybe, maybe not. Once in a while I suppose I could, but it wouldn't be particularly fun if I did so all the time.” Discord blinked as Fluttershy's pink tongue lapped through his fur, outsing the peach juice staining it and smoothing back his messy mane.
“Eugh!” the god gagged as the maternal pony groomed his stylishly messy mane down like a mother cat cleaning her kitten. “Fluttershy, this is completely unacceptable!” He winced as the pink tongue licked his forehead, mussing his fur.
“How did you get peach juice in your eyebrows?”
“Talent~!”
The spirit laid with his cheek pressed against the soft grass and let the little pegasus on his head continue cleaning him. As...drooly and nauseatingly sweet as it was, it almost felt like a nice head massage.
“...Discord?” The spirit under her had stopped shifting in the flowers, an indication he was listening to her. “Can I talk to you?” She squeaked as he rolled over, causing her to go toppling.
“Of course, my dear! What shall we discuss? Oh, how about ‘why cotton candy doesn’t grow on trees?’” He turned to the side to grin goofily at his little companion, only to note in disappointment and annoyance that she was shifting uncomfortably on her hooves.
“...Hmph. If you must be so serious,” the draconequus grumbled and flopped back onto his belly, his mismatched arms crossed. “Shoot.”
It seemed to take about an hour for the stuttery little pegasus to respond, and Discord was ready to snap at her to come out with it or clam up when she finally spoke.
“Are you...ever going to talk to Celestia and Luna about...’it?’” ‘It’ was all that needed to be said as the poisonous memory caused the draconequus to shoot up and send poor Fluttershy toppling back into the flowers.
A wry and bitter smirk crossed the twisted muzzle, his eyes evidently harder and cool looking. “I see...so I was correct in my assumption that you don’t care about me—because if you did,” he cut her off before she could speak, “you would not allow me to go and commit my own suicide. They’ll kill me and you know it.”
“Discord...you know better than that,” Fluttershy softly admonished as she probed at his side gently and leaned over his face to look into his eyes. “They wouldn't ever do that and you know it.” She wasn't entirely certain, but she still hoped she may be right.
“Fluttershy...I...I can't. It's been thousands of years and it's a secret I'm intent to taking to my grave.”
“And what about the nightmares?” Fluttershy challenged him. “You want to take those to your grave as well? Do you ever want them to stop?”
....That pony played dirty. The spirit slid annoyed scarlet up to glance at her and begrudgingly nodded after a few moments. He did. These nightmares had been plaguing his heart and mind for months and each grew harder to bear.
“I....” He sighed and shakily stood to dust off the pollen and juice from his gangly body. If just to put the pegasus's mind at ease, he'd fabricate a lie. “I'll tell them.”
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It was nearly a week before Discord even considered talking to the princesses. He would constantly shrug it off or pretend to feel faint from his injuries whenever Fluttershy brought the subject up. The nightmares continued to haunt him as well, becoming even more brutal and the replaying murder of eons ago was now coupled with basilisks and two certain prissy princesses getting ripped apart.
Celestia seemed to just simply adore her ‘mother-hen’ role. He knew she just loved to be able to order him around; order him to bed, order him to take his medications, order him to stop playing too roughly outside, and had her guards with spears on the ready if he decided to defy her. He defies Fluttershy and he gets tickled. He defies Celestia and he gets threatened to be paraded on a pike.
As much as the god hated it, he knew he couldn’t hate her too much since the ever kind, benevolent ruler had granted him back a small portion of his magic after only a week. And oh, the doctors that had to constantly submit to getting pitchers of water poured on them, having their own sedatives come alive and jab them in the flanks (he got massively threatened with bodily harm from Celestia if he did that again) just loved her for it.
The spirit spent less and less time with Fluttershy as all the stupid pony wanted to talk about was getting him ‘reconciled’ with the princesses. Didn’t she understand that there was just no reconciling? There were no fixing things? She probably didn’t.
None the less, the nightmares finally pushing him over the edge, Discord found he had ultimately no choice but to finally, after thousands of years, talk to Celestia.
The wet grass squelched under his mismatched feet as the evening dew moistened the blades and the silver moon blanketed the earth in a dim glow. He could easily see her ghost white form on the darkened hill. She appeared to be having a solitary tea party. No, actually. Visibly, there was a small purple bear perched on the blanket beside her...and it even had its own little cup. It was like she was five years old again.
Discord didn't even need to get closer to recognize the bear. It was worn and tattered and its button eye was hanging by a thread, barely even attached. A bit of pink still tinged the area on its foot from where Discord had gotten it sticky with cotton candy when they were younger.
It doesn't even look....like she's ever cleaned the foot. He had given her the bear when she was ten. She had slept with it, even as a teenager. He teased her constantly when they were adolescents, telling her she was too big to sleep with a teddy. She always responded that she wanted to keep a part of him close to her always.
Make this harder for me, why don't you, Tia...
Trying not to show the sight of her playing with that bear caused him to lose an iota of valor, Discord appeared in front of the startled Celestia in a flash and gave her his infamous, taunting Discord smirk.
“Evening, my dear.” For some reason, he didn't feel right tormenting her about the teddy bear. She wasn't even bothering to hide it and just stared at him with cool, even eyes. “Having a little tea party?”
“I'm not in the mood, Discord. What do you want?” Her mane was ruffled and seemed rather lack-luster as opposed to what it normally looked like. She seemed exhausted and depressed. A hoof tucked around the teddy bear in case Discord decided to do something to it.
“I just came to chat.” There wasn't even a playful or mocking lilt to his voice. It was actually dead serious...and that wasn't like him. Of course, it wasn't like her to sit there in the open and have a tea party with her teddy bear either.
“...Only if it's important.”
The draconequus tried to sit down, but found settling himself calmly to be impossible. He resolved to just twitching and spasming there in the sky, at her side. “I think this is. There is...something I've been meaning to discuss with you for a while.”
There was no point in beating around the bush. Discord did find it fascinating that he wasn't having an anxiety attack, stammering, or having a heart attack. Of course this could just be the first signs of hysterics: calmness.
“Do you know how Twilight injured me?”
The look that Celestia shot him as she whipped her head towards him was terrifying. It wasn't angry or even conspicuous looking, but there was just...something about it that had Discord's panicked mind wondering if she knew what he was going to say next.
“Of course; she used forbidden magic; she used....A...Alicorn's Power...” Notably, the princess's voice choked a little when she uttered the demonic book's title, as if she knew of the atrocities it had committed.
“D...do you know how many times that book has been used?” His voice was barely a frightened whisper, eyes shut, just waiting for her to catch on. She always knew how to see right through him; it was a wonder how he managed to keep the biggest secret of his life from her.
“......Possibly a few.”
Easy Discord...you can do this, ol' boy. You've been through worse. When? When had anything been worse than having to confess the murder of his own parents to their daughter and one he once loved more than anything? Oh yes...actually killing his parents had been worse than this.
He took a few panting breaths, suddenly finding his eyes blurry as the threat (or maybe in this case, respite) of unconsciousness threatened to take him under. Yes, that would work. He faints, Celestia gets the medics, he goes back to his room and the nightmares continue over and over and over again.
“How...how many times do you think the book has been used?”
She turned to him again. There wasn't a trace of emotion on her face. “Are you finally coming clean?”
<i>Crack.</i>
The spirit had no idea if that sound was his sanity or the world that he knew shattering. Everything suddenly seemed to fall apart and his surroundings swirled in a distort of rainbow, melting and puddling at his feet. Nothing seemed to exist other than the alabaster mare before him and there was no sound other than the pounding in his ears.
“.........What?”
Celestia acted as if they were merely talking about the weather, casually shrugging her shoulders to the spirit about to go comatose in shock and fear. “I said are you finally coming clean?”
There were a lot of things that went through Discord's pulsating head and many syllables that died on his tongue. His vermillion eyes remained frozen and unblinking and he was glued to the wet grass. He stared.
“.......You know?”
Anger began to surface and the princess's eyes hatefully darkened. A sneer turned up her lips as she stood before the creature. “I've always known. I've known since the day it happened. I've known since you did it. I’ve known since you killed them. I was the one to see the golden shell of magic outlining their bodies. Even before you tried to take the throne I knew it was you.”
The god's knees buckled and he collapsed to them in the grass, barely managing to shoot down his pale arms to hold himself up as he absorbed her words in pure, unadulterated shock. How? How could she know? How could anypony know? Why hadn't she ever said anything?
“You...you never even...said anything-”
“And what good would that have done?” the princess demanded coldly, her tongue lashing into his heart like a serpent, instilling more fear into him than any basilisk in the land ever could. “What was the point of mentioning it to you? You had killed them, and whether it was accidental or not, that's all there is to it.”
“You...” The entity suddenly shot into the air, gripping and tearing at his fur in agony, as if he was the one that had been betrayed. Confessing to his former best friend and love of his life that he had killed her mother and father and he felt betrayed.
“You knew!” he cried, pointing an accusing finger to the still, silent mare. “You always knew!” It was the only trembling phrase he seemed able to choke out as he continued pointing at her. “You...knew!!”
“So we've established,” the alicorn snarled at him, horn lowered and poised if need be. “Yes! I've always known!” She was shouting now, getting out the years of repressed anger and pain. “I've known since the day you killed them! Everypony in the palace at that time knew! Your oh-so 'well hidden' secret is known by everypony that lived in that palace during that time!”
“Then...” Discord shut his eyes. “Then Luna..?”
“Luna doesn't know. I ordered the servants to keep her out of the room at that time, at least until the evidence you had been there was cleared completely. When she finally saw them there wasn't a trace of gold around their dead bodies.”
Discord's numb and ice cold shock began to gradually wear off as he stared down at the alicorn. The strings of his sanity were suddenly tugged and yanked as the approach of madness began to set in as Discord gave her a malicious smile. “Sister of the year award, Celestia!” he sang, extending his arms in a grand gesture.
Both were completely unaware to the silent, attentive blue mare on the balcony above them as Discord continued to speak. “What a wonderful secret to keep from your little sister! Actually not telling her who killed her own parents!”
“You'd rather I'd have told her that her own brother was responsible for their murder?” the princess shot back, uneasy by the insane grin on the draconequus's face as she ignited her horn in case she'd need to attack.
“Everypony may have known about their murder, Discord, but if it weren't for me you'd be dead right now! It's because of me that nopony else found out about your ultimate atrocity! I was the one that sheltered you all these years! I gave them all orders to keep silent! I hid every history book that had anything on their deaths in the back of the library and I ordered Honey Dew to keep the details out of the book!”
“Oh and why?” the entity sneered, slithering closer to the quaking mare. “You wanted to be the one to tell them, dear? Tell the future story of how you defeated the monster and avenged your parents?”
“You foul, ungrateful foal!” the princess spat hatefully, “everything I did I did to protect you! I never let the secret out of the palace because I knew the country would want you bound and given to them if they found out! I saved your life!”
“Did you~?” Discord sang in a chilling voice as he sliced through the air and ignited his palms in crackling embers. He held them over his head and his mad grin widened and his eyes grew wild as the mare charged a flow of violet electricity in her own horn.
“Or did you just want to kill me yourself!!” He unleashed the torrent of fire and the smoldering streaks of gold and orange ignited the picnic blanket into a mass of crackling flames, missing the princess by an inch.
“You treacherous snake! I did everything for you!” She bolted up into the sky to join him, sending off the wave of electricity, which racked his entire frame and caused his muscles to spasm uncontrollably as the white hot sparks burned his fur.
“And yet you never did anything to stop them!” the god choked, his voice rigged with tearless sobs as he prepared to fire once more in grief. “You knew Mother and Father were going to banish me! You knew and you never even tried! You traitor! You sided with them! You agreed with them! You were ready to thrust me out of the entire kingdom and you claim you did it for me!?”
A colossal burst of flames ignited the grass and a nearby tree, illuminating the black night in a raging, orange glow as the flames engulfed the entire tree and its surroundings.
“You are the traitor! You went behind my back to conspire to get rid of me! You used the Elements on me even knowing it could kill me, which was what you were probably aiming for! You kept this from me for over a thousand years! You sided with them! You never loved me and neither did they—I refuse to put up with your lies any longer!!”
The mad spirit's entire form was engulfed in a sudden brilliant glow as fire seemed to emanate from every direction and created the screeching whine fireworks made as they ripped into the trees and gardens, igniting everything around the two in fire.
“Discord, cease this at once!” Celestia cried out in terror as the beams continued to brighten with a dangerous amount of power his weakened body and magic couldn't sustain. “You're going to kill yourself!”
“And so let me!” the spirit screeched as he hurled rapid flames at the princess before him. She was no longer attacking the grief stricken immortal, instead surrounding herself in a glittering ring of magic as she absorbed the hits, pleading with the insane spirit to stop.
“Please!” the princess cried desperately, encasing the spirit in a purple hue to still him, only to find she had no chance of undermining the intense magic as it lashed out in rage. “Please, stop this! Calm down! Please, Discord—I just want to talk to you!”
The pulse of flames coupled with a sudden bolt of electricity that slammed into a tree and nearly emcompassed the princess as she dodged and begged the distraught creature to calm down. She tackled him desperately, slamming the draconequus into the earth and fighting to restrain him. With a sudden burst of shimmering gold he was free and she was on her back, charred from the blast.
“You told the servants to try and kill me and I know you did! You wanted the Elements to kill me and you wanted me stoned forever! You wanted me to die when Twilight used that spell and you wanted me to die under that greenhouse! Admit it all and enough of these mind games!!”
“You have gone mad!” Celestia sobbed, bleeding from where the burns had singed through her skin. “You have lost your mind! Go to your room and calm down! Please, Discord, I'm not angry! Discord, it's me!”
Celestia could hardly see anything through the choking smoke as the hill around her burned and blasts continued to engulf surrounding trees and destroy the flower beds as several animals fled for their lives.
Two violet pulses unleashed from the princess's horn and enveloped Discord's struggling hands as the feral creature thrashed and snarled and screeched. She pulled him from the smoke, holding him restrained in front of her.
“RELEASE ME! RELEASE ME, YOU HEARTLESS WITCH!”
The wild and dangerous entity prepared for a fight as Celestia held him inches away from her pain and tear streaked face, her horn alight and pulsating with power. She extinguished the burning flames in his palms and Discord struggled, preparing for her horn to gore him through the face.
Time had suddenly stopped as the power surrounding Celestia's horn completely diminished and her velvet soft hooves gently wrapped themselves around Discord's twitching wrists as he suddenly found himself shielded and draped under her silk wings.
It was there the struggling ceased, his arms falling to his sides and his body beginning to heave and tremble as the madness faded from his mind, leaving the emotional shell weak and vulnerable without time to prepare for the sudden sobs that racked him as the princess's arms held him close.
“...Dearest Discord,” the alicorn whispered as she rested her cheek on the shaking spirit's shoulder and let her tears drip into his fur. “You have repressed this anger and this pain...for over a thousand years... You have never allowed yourself a proper outlet for your grief and you never allowed yourself to feel pain. There is no shame in the tears you shed.”
Face buried deep in the princess's fur, drenching it and muffling the uncontrollable weeping, Discord couldn't even process her words through the jumbled mess that was once his thoughts as he clutched to the alicorn for the first time after thousands of years.
Celestia's horn quietly began to glow and shot a shimmering beam into the clouds as they began to gently douse the land in a gentle shower and extinguish the flames leaping from every leaf around them.
The two were completely unmindful to the silhouette of a smaller alicorn disappearing out of the balcony above them as they laid there in each other's arms, with only the soothing echo of rain to accompany them and a certain charred, but very much intact purple stuffed bear pressed against both their bodies.
xxxxxxxx
(I have died everyday waiting for you
Darling don't be afraid I have loved you
For a thousand years
I'll love you for a thousand more.....)
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Ohhhhh, boy.
Luna's ready to kill him for a few words. I think nothing short of physically holding her back is going to stop her this time.
Yikes...
Woah. They would kill him?! That's scary.
so,
I think this is the third or fourth incoming shitstorm this story has had....
It gets more delicious every time
how does this not have more views!? this is one of my favorites!
515602 Hopefully if it gets its way to EQD it'll have more! :D And thank you!
Great so far! Love me some Dislestia right now!
mwhahahahahaha another tongue twister. your work is full of them
feathery, tickly tail
5 times fast lolz.
Also fun fact
if you say lilt of laughter
fast enough instead your saying little laughter.
we have some uppity italics this time
They should really serve this kind of thing more at that hospital,” Discord said, his voice muffled from where his entire <i>face</i>
more incorrigible italics right here
given <i>stitches</i> last night! Back to your room—the both of you!
seriously... seriously....
<i>Crack.</i>
559035 you are aware that you can edit you comand by yust cliking the ''edit'' button do you???
Might wanna fix that.
Right in the feels
25.media.tumblr.com/1c63b3ba7349f2a9f2572ed3120e209a/tumblr_mggi8rU2nC1rwcc6bo1_500.gif
(or should that be <i>Right</i> in the feels)
Fluttershy licked Discord ... that is so cute you my friend are a amazing writer.
that insane discord............why did you make it stop?
Holy crap! I totally read the last part listening to that Cristina perri song!
You... you are absolutely amazing!
