Realms of Discord

by Chilly Quill

Chapter 8

Lord Grief stood up in the black void of limbo. He had been in this place before only once in order to punish a Changeling that had gotten ideas about attacking its betters. In fact he was well aware that there were only two reasons for anypony being in limbo. They either punish or feel punishment.

Grief felt the darkness wrap around his throat and chest, slowly beginning to tighten as he was lifted into the air. “Remind me why I decided to send you to Ponyville?” A grizzly voice growled.

Grief struggled against the void as he gasped for breath. “My master needed a pawn in a place close to the Everfree. I was the most expendable.”

Two white slits opened in front of Grief, resembling eyes as they grew closer to him. “You were to only watch the forest and take care of any order that leaked out of the forest. Why do I find you toying with my future subjects?”

The darkness snapped deeper into Grief’s chest, shattering his ribcage. “My master!” He shrieked. “There was a stallion that arrived carrying a statue of the Dark King! I had no choice!”

A red glow surrounded the slits now and a dark figure formed around them. The pony walked up to Grief, pushing its muzzle up to his. “You may have found something worthy of our action but you do not do so alone.” The figure snorted as a second bloody body came into view. “Your friend Shadow should have known as much.”

Grief stared in shock as the limp body of Shadow ignited in a flurry of green fire. The corpse burned brightly as the very soul trapped inside was destroyed by the flame. This wasn’t punishment; it was an execution. “Forgive me Master!” He wailed. “I won’t fail you again! I will do anything you wish me to do without question.”

Sharp teeth grew under the eyes of the pony. “That’s the attitude I look for in my followers.” It mused. Grief smiled with relief as the darkness loosened from him. As he touched the bottom of Limbo, however the darkness snapped deeper into his body, blowing open his heart and snapping his neck. Grief dropped in a heap as the pony spit a green flare at him from its mouth. “It’s a shame you found it so late. Such is the fate of those that disobey the Brotherhood.”

Limbo began to fade away as the pony closed its eyes. “I guess that the pony Grief found is worth looking into though. I thought all of the artifacts of Discord had been recovered ages ago.” Soon Limbo was once again void of the pony’s presence, the corpses littering the floor burning away from the green fire. A whisper from the pony hung in the air though. “Only the brotherhood may have Discord.”

Nigma had taken quite a while attempting to explain his situation with Discord to his new friends. He found it difficult as explaining that the world they were in was fairly new to the pair took three hours alone. Apparently telling a group of ponies that you witnessed the birth of the world by Discord’s design sparks some debates and unsportsmanlike arguing.

Regardless of the time it took, he managed to explain everything without being labeled as a lunatic. In fact he could swear that a few of the ponies were now looking at him with awe instead of confusion.

Flat Note was the first to speak after his story was over. “So you have no clue how this world operates? You don’t even know our system of government?”

Discord and Nigma both shook their heads. “To be honest,” Discord huffed, “I didn’t even think there was a government.”
Innate snorted. “I’ll admit your story is very intriguing. It doesn’t change the fact that Discord needs to leave.”

The crowd of ponies nodded silently in agreement, prompting an angry stomp from Discord. “I saved you ungrateful worms! Why should I have to leave?”

Rose buzzed up from the crowd, looking more at the wall behind Discord instead of at him. “It’s not that we’re not grateful. I for one would want you to stay if possible. But to be honest you seem to draw in more trouble than even Ponyville can handle.”

Wild Mint grunted in approval. “It’s just that he’s too much Chaos in one place. You can only have so much of that before something goes wrong.”

Discord blinked as the truth dawned on him. “That never occurred to me.” He said quietly. “It’s a shame though. This place really grows on you after a while. I can see why you ponies keep living here.”
Crabapple shrugged. “Its home.” Nobody argued about that.

Discord snapped his fingers and spawned a bag which he slung over his shoulder. “Well if that’s how everypony feels then I’ll do what I had planned from the beginning.” He walked through the crowd to the door, not batting an eye as he kicked the hooves of a few ponies. “Honestly you ponies are all the same. Thinking I want to stay somewhere just because I’m there.”

Nigma ran up to Discord before he could walk out the door. “You could at least stick around for the rest of the party. I’m sure nopony would object to that.”

Discord shook his head as he ruffled Nigma’s mane. “I’m afraid that would make for one out of place creature too many. I’ll come and visit every now and then though. That’s a promise.” With that, Discord walked away and snapped his fingers, closing the door and fazing away from sight.

The party didn’t last long after this. Many of the ponies were exhausted over the entire ordeal and wanted to rest. Others had closed their shops and had to get back in order to prepare for the next day. Soon enough the only ones that were left were Wild Mint, Chilly Quill, Nigma and Rose Wind.

“I still don’t like leaving you two alone with her.” Chilly said. “You should have called the guards on her like everypony suggested. She’s a criminal.”

“She is also right here.” Rose huffed. “I’m a changeling but I still have feelings.”

Wild Mint filled up a bucket of hot water, grabbing a rag with it. “We also have to remember you did everything against your will. I certainly don’t want to convict you of something you couldn’t avoid.” He dropped the bucket in front of her and grabbed the rag, washing down her cuts.

Nigma looked at the Changeling, who had still been in her normal form. “Why don’t you just go back home? We’ll make sure nopony tries to bother you.”

Rose shook her head. “All the houses were for the rest of the brotherhood. I’m not quite sure if they’re actually occupied but I’d rather not figure out.” Rose flinched as Mint ran the rag over a deep cut. “Could you stop that? I’ll be fine!”
Mint simply shrugged and washed out the rag, moving on the Chilly Quill. “If you don’t have a home then where are you going to live?”

“I’ll probably just go back to living on the streets.” Rose sighed. “Its not the first time I’ve had to scrounge around for shelter.”

Chilly Quill shook his head. “Vagrancy is illegal in Ponyville. Why don’t you just go with us to clean out one of the houses you bought? They can’t be that defended can they?”

Nigma stepped up, washing out his bloody hooves in the bucket. “It’s too risky. Why don’t you just stay here?”

Rose blinked. “You mean live with you and Mint? Are you sure you want me here?”

Mint’s eyes began to shine and he dropped the rag, rushing over to hug Rose. “Why didn’t I think of that? We need a third person for the shop!” Rose struggled against his grip but Mint only clamped tighter around her waist. “You can live with us and work as a waitress when the Tea shop opens!”

Rose wiggled out of Nigma’s grip, hovering up near the ceiling. “Hold up there speedy! I never agreed to anything like that! I might prefer taking my chances with the Brotherhood!”

Nigma frowned. “Are you serious or do you just not like the idea?” Rose fluttered back to the ground, crossing her hooves in displeasure. Nigma sighed. “Just give it a shot for a day or two. If you really hate it then you can leave and we’ll help you find a place to live.”

Rose snorted. “The last time I let someone help me out I ended up as a slave.”
Mint slapped her on the back, grinning. “The difference is that you get to go where you want with us and you get paid.”
Rose finally gave in to the offer and eventually let Mint clean off the rest of her wounds. “All that’s left is to clean up the lobby for the grand opening and getting some supplies.” Mint said, draining out the bucket. “If you’re up to it, Rose, You could help me out around here cleaning the place up.”

Rose sighed. “I suppose I do at least owe you that much. Besides that I think that it would be tough for you to get all the shrapnel out of the ceiling without me.” Everypony looked up to find that she was right. The knife had planted the vast majority of its metal into the ceiling. There was also a fair amount of dust clinging to the entire room, much of which difficult to reach without her wings.

Chilly Quill Shrugged. “I guess that means Nigma and I will collect the herbs and stuff for the shop.” Mint went into the back room and scrawled out a quick note for the two. Chilly Quill scanned the note really quick, frowning. “You realize a few of these herbs are too exotic for the stores around town.” He glanced at the list again. “Or any store in Equestria for that matter.”

Wild Mint grinned. “I know a guy in the Everfree Forest that collects rare herbs from around the globe. You can go to his house. I’m sure you can work out an arrangement with him.”

Nigma went pale at the mention of the forest. “Why in equestrian would you want us to go there? That forest is treacherous!”

Chilly frowned. “Maybe in whatever world you were from. Around here, though, the forest is no more dangerous than the rest of the region.” He paused a moment before resuming. “You do tend to find more creatures in the forest though.”

“It’s also the only place where herbs like Moonblossoms grow.” Rose Wind said. The ponies stopped and stared at the Changeling, who only blinked in response. “I have to know these things if my disguise is going to work.”

Chilly Quill walked up to Nigma, putting a hoof around him. “Don’t worry everything will be alright as long as you’ve got me by your side. We’ll tackle the normal stuff in town and head to the forest and back before you know it.
Nigma didn’t want to argue anymore and went upstairs to grab his money. At the very least he would learn a thing or two about how the world worked from Chilly Quill. In fact who knows what he could learn from such a literate pony?