Discording to Plan

by Xenos

Dark

Discord sat there quietly, holding back the emotion. Why was he alone? That held true for most of the ponies but looking around it seemed that he was the only one that cared. They were all sleeping quietly yet here he was distressed. He looked over in jealousy at the other two ponies like him who were snuggling up together. All he wanted was somepony to be with at night. He didn't like the dark. Why did they get special treatment? They all arrived together, perhaps had the same parents yet he was separated, isolated. As the light went out he shivered slightly, allowing the darkness to creep over him. Every other pony quickly fell asleep with their untroubled minds. Discord however simply couldn't with that light off. He had to turn it on. Discord began to try and scale the bars of his prison but however high he got he would slide slowly back down before he could escape. He flapped his tiny wings furiously but they would not keep him airborne. What had been a battle to turn on the light quickly became a battle of determination. He would not give up- he had set himself a goal and it would be completed. To prove himself. Prove what exactly? Discord didn't know that yet, he just wanted to show he was worth something.

After many minutes an exhausted pony lay in his cot breathing deeply. It was at this moment he realised he had a horn jutting out of his dark mane. He had seen one of the older fillies use their horn to move things earlier that day. Discord concentrated all his mental and physical energy on the light switch, willing it to move. In time a spark emerged from his head, quickly followed by a stream of light which enveloped the horn. However, the switch would not move. Discord's eyes began to swell again and he hid under the covers. When the tears parted and his vision became full he could see not blackness, but light. He glanced upwards at his horn, still glowing and forced a smile. At least he could sleep better, even if he hadn't reached his goal. Discord closed his eyes, his horn still glowing beneath the covers and fell asleep; all the time being watched through Celestia's partly closed eye.

Discord woke the next day with his horn still glowing with the now unnecessary light. He had been using magic the whole night yet felt fully refreshed for the day ahead. Was this normal? Discord wondered if it was natural to have the capacity to cast magic for extended periods of time, even to cast magic while asleep- none of the other ponies had exhibited these same traits in the short time he was here. He tried switching on the light again and this time the switch did move, effortlessly. As they were all asleep nopony noticed, yet Discord was still very much confused. It seemed he had grown stronger overnight and surely that wasn't natural? He was only a colt as well! How young was he exactly? It felt like his life had started in this cot- it was the only thing he recalled from the past two days. The mare, Thalia, couldn't stitch the seam of his past; she only talked of his arrival in that basket with the two other ponies. The stream of thoughts came to an abrupt halt as the door opened and a mare entered.

---

Thalia pushed the door gently open only to find everypony smiling back. Correction: nearly everypony- one was staring at the window and hadn't noticed. Puzzled as to why they were all awake Thalia systematically turned to switch on the light only to find it was already on which subsequently explained the ponies' behaviour. In her eyes it was clear that some trickster had turned it on early and her suspicions immediately converged on the new grey colt who seemed currently disinterested. However she remembered he was the smallest here and couldn't possible have done such a thing at that age. In the end she assumed it was the oldest unicorn, Twinkletime who loved playing with his relatively powerful magic. She took this as a sign for his need to be adopted soon. He was one of the oldest and was very talented. With her thoughts clouded with Twinkletime and his startling magical ability, Thalia helped everypony out of their respective cot and left the room to prepare a meal.

---

Discord hated having less power than others. She had easily done what he could not and lifted him out of his cot. Discord didn't show any gratitude however to the mare that had imprisoned him there in the first place. He looked around at the other ponies and almost yawned they were so dull. This was all he had? Only the unicorn he had seen the other day practising magic looked vaguely interesting and only because he was older. Discord's gaze inevitably settled on the Sisters who were only a few metres away. The bigger one's gaze met his and to his surprise, she smiled. The other also caught sight of Discord and beckoned him over. With new hope that somepony here could actually prove to be worth his time, Discord slowly made his way over.