Cause and Effect: Discord's Truth

by Coltsguy

Followed by...

I kept rubbing the side of my face. No, I hadn’t been slapping myself in an attempt to wake myself up. Applejack, who had heard me swear, promptly slapped me in the face. I almost had expected it not to hurt since stuff hadn’t really been hurting me since I got here. Unfortunately, right then she was very much a human and not subject to the different levels of sturdiness. After a quick scolding and my apology, we quickly returned back to the matter at hand.

For me, that was movie quoting to cope with stress.

“Know this, Twilight Sparkle, if you strike me down I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.”

Her expression quickly changed to one of shock. Too bad Celestia had decided that watching me troll others wasn’t as funny as her trolling me.

“He is merely joking everypony. Do not be concerned. He still, however, has to fix things on his own or else.”

“I know Celestia, but it’s not like I can fix everything just like that,” I said as I snapped my fingers.

As I did, there was a bright light. I shielded my eyes, and when I looked back things had not gotten better. In fact, they got worse.

Celestia was now a human too.

“I said fix everything not make things worse! I said that right!?! I know I did!!!”

“Give her some clothes ya idjit!” answered Applejack.

I looked back and snapped my fingers again. The princess was now in the same toga outfit as everyone else.

“I swear that magic just hates my guts. I can just imagine Discord from inside that statue laughing his butt off at this situation.”

“I very much doubt that to be the case Seth,” rebutted Celestia.

I decided to take a long look at Celestia. She had both her horn and wings from her alicorn form. Her horn was even longer than the others in her human form as well. As for her other features, well let’s just say that she was smoking hot. She had excellent curves in all the right places. Her breasts were almost cartoonishly oversized. There was also the strangeness of her hair. It somehow not only stayed the same color, but it still managed the trick of waving in a nonexistent wind. In all seriousness, she may have been the most beautiful woman I had ever seen.

‘You are aware that I can still read your mind correct?’

‘Oh please. You’re sexy and you know it. Do I really need to come out and say that?’

‘You do realize where this is now going to lead, do you not?’

‘I swear on all things holy that you had better not try anything R-rated in front of them. I don’t care how weirdly hot it would be, I guarantee that it will not end well for them.’

‘How quickly you went for that optimistic viewpoint. Even I have standards.’

‘…I hate you so much right now that I feel like punching you in front of them and not caring about the consequences. You crushed my false hope so quickly that I think I picked up whiplash. My spirit can only take so much abuse you know? At this rate, a feather would be enough to finish crushing it.’

‘And yet you still ramble. Perhaps you are not as crushed in spirit as you may think. What say you of Twilight’s hypothesis?’

‘Wait, what hypothesis?’

‘You have not been paying attention to me alone have you?’

‘You mean they’ve been talking?’

‘How droll. You seem to be thinking to me without paying attention to them. I believe that this will make my point.’

‘You believe what-‘

I winced as I received a hand to the back of my head. Rainbow Dash continued on by shaking me a little at the shoulder.

“Are you even listening to us? Stop starting at the Princess and ignoring us!”

“I-was-tal-king-to-her-the-whole-time-Dash,” I said as she shook me.

“No you weren’t!” she exclaimed as she stopped shaking me. “You were just staring at her the whole time while Twilight was talking!”

“I was doing it telepathically. Not out loud.”

“That’s not very nice to leave us out of the conversation. I would like to know what the Princess thinks of my hypothesis.”

“I believe that it was sound, Twilight Sparkle. It seems that our new friend can only listen to one conversation at a time. He did not hear it, but I did. It makes sense.”

“You started that conversation, not me Princess. It’s not my fault that my brain can’t shut you out anymore.”

“You shouldn’t be thinking things like that in the first place.”

“I have the right to think however I feel like thinking.”

“Oh really?” Celestia asked as she walked up to me.

“Well then, what do you think of this?”

She then got into my face and wrapped her arms around my neck in a way that was quite intimate. Her face was literally inches away from my own. Her body was literally pressed up against mine. I couldn’t quite see it, but I could feel the horn on her head bumping into the top of mine.

I put my arms out a bit to the sides not knowing what I ought to do in this situation. I knew she was getting some kicks in right now. The whole standards thing she said was still fresh in my mind. I wasn’t sure what her goal in doing this right now was. However, I don’t really think it mattered. She was reading my mind as I thought this and that basically meant she could be one step ahead at any time she wished. The only possible method to outdo her would be to not think ahead of time and just start doing things regardless of the consequences. I think I’ve already demonstrated how bad that can go.

“Perhaps a few customs for humans would be more entertaining discoveries for Twilight,” she whispered into my ear. “What do you think?”

‘Celestia, if I didn’t know for a fact that you were trolling me right now, the only things stopping me from going for it would be the others in the room and the thought of what if the transformation drops while doing it. Despite the fact that I love hugs, I want you to stop right now.’

‘But if I stopped, then my plan would fail.’

“Enough Celestia! What are you doing? This isn’t like you at all! It’s almost creepy!”

“Hey! Don’t talk to the Princess like that!” yelled Rainbow Dash.

“Then tell her to stop! There is no way that this is how she normally acts! It’s almost like…she’s…”

“She’s what?” asked Twilight.

I almost saw a lightbulb go off over my head. Without thinking, I reared my head back and gave Celestia a headbutt. She instantly let go and staggered back a little. Everyone was in shock at seeing what I had done. I quickly pointed my hand at Celestia and snapped my fingers.

Nothing happened.

“I knew it!!!”

“What the hay is going on!?!” asked Rainbow Dash.

“What the hell did you do with Celestia, Discord!?!”

“DISCORD!?!?!” everyone yelled.

“You really are smarter than I would have given you credit for,” said Celestia in a voice that was definitely not hers.

“Don’t change the subject!” yelled Twilight. “What did you do with the Princess?”

“Always with the Princess. She’s not the important one here. He is,” he said as he pointed to me.

“The thing from last night. That wasn’t the Princess was it?”

“No it wasn’t my dear boy. It was me.”

There was a snap of his fingers and before us stood the very thing that had appeared in my room not too long ago.

“Discord, Bringer of Chaos!”

“Why the deception?” I asked. “I thought you were going to have me and the elements show up in Canterlot in a couple of days to seal you up. I can honestly imaging you doing this and faking waking up only to watch them fail after handing them fake element items.”

“Bra-vo! You are smarter than I give you credit for. In my defense, I really shouldn’t have pressed you so hard while as a human Celestia. I thought for sure you would have gone along with that. I would’ve done things to you that would’ve really made you unhinged.”

I almost had the urge to vomit.

“So,” continued Discord, “I am quite intrigued by you, Seth. I haven’t seen a human in ages.”

“What about when you showed up in my room not too long ago?”

“Ah yes, I am quite intrigued by that as well. I couldn’t use the same spell that Celestia used on you. I could only see what went on in the throne room from her perspective. It was quite hilarious to see her lose her composure like she did. What is in that curious little mind of yours that could do that to her I wonder?”

“I’m not about to let you know that, Discord. I trusted her with that information. You, not so much.”

“Oh, but why not? From what I gather, I’m the one who gave you your magic. You should be more appreciative.”

“Oh I never said I didn’t appreciate it. Then again, look at the mess that’s going on right now. You must be quite impressed with the chaos that’s been unleashed.”

“Indeed I am, although I do wish you hadn’t calmed everypony down. Watching their reactions was quite fun to me.”

“I’m sure it was. So, when did you wiggle your way free of the statue?”

“Perhaps you care to take a guess?”

“It had to have happened after his visit to the castle,” Twilight interrupted. “You said you couldn’t use the spell the Princess used so you had to have escaped after that. However, the mental connection afterwards that Seth is talking about was you all along so it had to have been between those two times.”

“Oh so close Twilight Not-So-Sparkling. I actually freed myself just after he arrived at the castle. His proximity to me increased the rate of decay of the spell. If he hadn’t been whisked to the castle, then I would have escaped around the time I had told him.”

“So basically, it was you the whole time whispering in my head. I don’t understand that. I know you said a few things that you shouldn’t know about. Like that Skywalker thing, for example.”

“I don’t really understand what that meant either. Celestia said it as I imprisoned her.”

“You imprisoned the Princess!?!” yelled Twilight.

“Both of them actually. Celestia was having a chat with Luna when I arrived. Caught off guard as they were, they still gave me quite the workout to help with those kinks you get when you come out of stone sleep. They’re now trapped in their own dungeon along with all of the royal guard.”

“Wait, all of them?” asked Twilight, “What about my brother?”

“Your brother? Why Twilight, I didn’t know you had a brother! If I had known that I would have been more careful when I sent them all there. What is his name?”

“Shining Armor.”

“Ah! That’s who they were talking about. Some of the guards had mentioned him not being there. Too bad. Maybe I can bring him here and have him join in the fun.”

“You won’t,” I declared.

“Oh really,” he said as he sneered at me, “and why exactly will I not do that?”

I pointed straight at him.

“You and me. Chaos mage duel. I bet that in and of its self will be quite entertaining.”

“You think it will, but your magic was given to you by me which means that you can’t have as much as I do. You will lose.”

“Then what’s the harm? Chaos flying around like crazy sounds like something you would love.”

Discord put his claw to his chin in thought.

“It does sound intriguing. Alright, I will-“

“Before you agree, I want you to swear that you will leave my thoughts alone and that you will bring your prisoners to watch. If you know what I’m thinking then it won’t be very fun and it will be too easy for you. I want you to bring the guards and the Princesses so that you will have a nice audience for your antics. Does this sound acceptable?”

“You are a real treat! Neither the Princesses nor anypony else would ever indulge me like this. You have yourself a deal.”

He stuck his claw out for me to shake. As I shook it there was a shock as he hit me with a hand buzzer. I pulled back my hand as quick as I could.

“Not cool man! Not cool!”

“Oh, just as I thought you weren’t that bad you go and say that.”

“Yeah, whatever. How about we meet in the plains of Appleloosa at noon tomorrow?”

“Sounds like a plan! I’ll see you all then!”

He then vanished in a flash.

“Are you insane!?!” yelled Twilight.

“No human is completely sane. It doesn’t matter. Discord has the upper hand in this. He has the Princesses and the Royal Guard imprisoned and he’s most likely moved the Elements of Harmony from wherever they had been stored. He is way too cunning and he won’t underestimate you after last time. The only way to beat him is to try and beat him.”

“What about the coin?”

“What?”

“What about that coin?” repeated Pinkie Pie.

“She has a point, Seth,” parroted Twilight. “The other Discord from your room seems to be a different entity. The one who came here doesn’t seem to know anything about what happened there. That one is who gave you this coin.”

She held out the coin which, well it seemed to come out of nowhere. What is up with that?

“This coin is definitely important to what’s going on here. It was given to you by Discord and it reacts to us whenever we come into contact with it initially. It may just be the way to defeat Discord.”

“You have a point, Twilight. Though, only four of the elements have touched that coin so far. We won’t know anything until the other two have touched it. I say we use it more as a last resort though. Our ace in the hole, as they say.”

“I’ll agree with that. Why don’t we let Applejack and Fluttershy touch the coin and then after that we’ll discuss a strategy for when we arrive at Appleloosa.”

“Sounds good Twi!”

“A-are you sure it’s safe? You know, to t-touch the coin.”

“I’m sure if it was dangerous, something would’ve already happened to us,” explained Twilight. “We need to do this. It’s for the Princess’s sake. Okay Fluttershy?”

“Okay,” she said barely above a whisper.

Both Applejack and Fluttershy went over to Twilight. Twilight held out her hand; waiting for them to touch the coin.

“Remember to shield your eyes for this one,” she reminded everyone.

“Right,” we all said almost in unison.

I shielded my eyes waiting for the flash to come.

“Twilight!!! Are you here!?!”

The yell surprised me as Spike came running into the library. Everyone’s attention went straight to him.

“Twilight! Everypony’s turned into a… Not you too!” he shouted as he realized the situation.

“Calm down Spike. We already know. We have more important problems right now. Discord is free again.”

“Oh no!!! What are we going to do? It took everything we had to seal him up last time!”

“We have a plan,” she said cutting him off. "We’re in the middle of it right now.”

“We are? Phew. That’s a relief!”

“Oh, I almost forgot!” yelled Pinkie Pie.

“What? What did you almost forget?” asked Twilight.

“I have to throw a party for when we get back! A ‘we beat Discord again’ party!”

I groaned. I wasn’t alone.

“Pinkie, we are in the middle of something important!” yelled Rainbow Dash. “You can plan that party when we get done with this!”

“Okie dokie lokie,” she said tentatively.

“Let’s get back to the coin,” I said.

“Agreed,” said Twilight. “Let’s do this.”

Both Applejack and Fluttershy nodded and reached out for the coin. As they touched it, I realized something important.

I forgot to shield my eyes.

Comments

[skultech]

I do hope the duel will be entertaining right.

[Coltsguy]

1866333 Good catch. I meant to say me. Though I'm not sure that's much better either.

edit: On a different note, I'd like to thank you for unfaving it so I could find out a question that was bugging me. If you unfave a story, do you get a notice for it? The answer is no.