Quick note, I started writing this BEFORE season three, so I'm still going on with the elements still around shmugeggi and all these other things that should be changed in the actual series. Thank you for your cooperation.
Discord's tail hit the floor with a satisfying thwap against the thick rug carpeting.
Thwap.
Thwap.
A purple alicorn across the room flinched every time his tail would nonchalantly hit the rug, but she bit her tongue and grit her teeth and ignored him.
Thwap.
There was a moment of silence, as though he was contemplating his next move, and Twilight didn't fall for the trick of letting herself relax. Her book was a good book, and it was one she was more than happy to keep reading if there wasn't-
Thwap-thwap-thwap-thwap-thwap!
With an exasperated noise the table in front of her was flung aside and she spun around, a furious snarl on her face. It reminded Discord much of an unhappy kitten.
"I assumed the God of Chaos had better things to do?" She asked icily.
Then again, kittens had claws too.
"Well, yes, but it's much more fun and appealing to be bothering you instead. So if you don't mind, I must get on with my Godly duties." His tail whipped the floor again and Twilight planted her hooves against the sides of her face, groaning.
She didn't look nearly dignified like that, and he preferred it. If he wanted an honorable perfect Princess, he would've gone along with King Sombra's plan long ago when they were little tykes in a big world.
The idea struck him like a lightning bolt.
It had been no less than three days ago that the last black-attack, as he so cleverly named it, occurred. Celestia had practically put the castle on lockdown, so she and Luna could try and grasp the situation. No earth ponies were allowed beyond certain perimeters, an nowhere near Twilight, so she was safe. There had been no other incidents he knew of, and knew of most everything, so whatever it was, currently was weak. Why else would it be stalling?
"Twilight," Discord started, trying to word his phrases carefully, "what are the other enemies you have fought?"
Twilight made a sort of confused "Gwah?" noise, which meant she was wondering why he was asking that.
"Whatever or whoever it was that tried to poison Hilda could be one of your old enemies." He was hoping she hadn't fought Sombra, not yet, not when she was so young and inexperienced.
Her face twisted. "Well, there was Nightmare moon."
Nightmare Moon, also known as Princess Luna, had been purified of her anger and jealousy, also of anything that made her important. So that was a no, it couldn't have been her.
"Well, you."
He snorted.
"Uhm. Oh, Queen Chrysalis! Do you think…?"
He pondered that. She always did have a thing for the dramatic, if their separation had said anything. But why use black magic? The Changelings should have been able to easily sneak in as a regular pony.
Unless Celestia had some new spells initiated to stop that from happening, then Chrysalis might have resorted to dark magic.
But that couldn't be right, even a thousand years of starving in a dark hole wouldn't dull her wit that much. She was always sharper than Celestia in that way, and it was no doubt that the Sun princess' crowing was a bitter event for the creature. If she had truly wanted to destroy the empire from within again, she wouldn't have done something so sloppy and lackluster. Unlike the unknown darkness, she had a feeling for the theatrical, and it was one of the only things Discord begrudgingly respected about the creature.
So it could have been Chrysalis… but most likely, no. He shook his head. Twilight wouldn't ask about his reasoning, a wise choice, or she would've gotten a lecture on pudding flavors instead.
"Well… technically I didn't fight him, but I kinda helped?" Discord inclined an eyebrow. "There was King Sombra, but we obliterated him-"
"King Sombra?" Discord asked, and the cold detached voice he asked it in made Twilight shiver. "Sombra, tyrant of terror and torture, that King Sombra?" She nodded quietly, and for some reason the library seemed to get colder around her.
"Do you mean you stopped him completely? You used the heart of the kingdom?" Twilight nodded. "It's guarded by his mirrors of fear, how did you get past those?"
She visibly winced. "I didn't."
…oh.
"What wa-"
"None of your concern," was her own cold voice that echoed back to him. "You think it to be Sombra?"
Black magic, no dramatic save loud screaming and black oozes? He nodded with confidence.
Twilight sighed. "Well great, how do we get rid of him? I can try to assemble the elements, but-"
"-they won't work, because Sombra is in perfect Harmony with himself. He knows what he's doing, now we just need to know what he's doing."
Twilight pondered a moment. "I don't think he wants the crystal Kingdom anymore," she said slowly. Discord cocked his head.
"Why not?"
"Because they know, Discord. Is it more fun to play a prank on someone who's seen it already, or on someone who's ever seen it before, ever?"
Discord thought about that, and decided that he did not want the Crystal Kingdom. On the upside, it should at least be a safe area. He wouldn't want Twilight to get hurt.
Those thoughts were so frequent with him now that he barely noticed them.
"So he's after Equestria, you think?" Twilight nodded.
"Hey Discord, can you see a pattern of Sombra's movements?"
"What?"
"Like, is there a frequent way he does things?"
Discord thought back to a long time ago, when things were still fresh and nature ruled supreme.
"I think, before he lost that ability, he might have loved the first of the Crystal Queens." Twilight gasped. "Yes, now that I think of it, there was tales of how smitten he was with her, but she never took any of his offers. Eventually he took it out on her people, and since she was not powerful enough to kill him and protect her country, she did something that will make you cringe."
Twilight was a very captive audience. "She tore out her heart and turned it into the Crystal Heart with her last breath. Her people were so moved that their combined Love pushed Sombra back."
"But I thought Celestia and Luna sealed him away?"
He nodded. "You see, it worked for awhile against Sombra, but the grief for their Queen was too much to handle. Sombra took that advantage, and bound part of his form with the Kingdom, so no one would be able to stop him with a silly Crystal heart."
"Then, when he sealed it somewhere no one else would be able to find it…" Discord could see her blood turning cold.
"Yes," He replied dryly "after all that time, he still wanted her to be his alone. Sickening, isn't it?"
She shook herself from the daze. "But, what does this have to do with patterns?"
Discord grinned. It had been a long time since somebody had enjoyed his company and was taking him both seriously and expecting him to do something stupid. Twilight was good at multitasking.
"A thousand years ago, a little Princess was sealed on the moon for wanting a bit of attention." Twilight nodded, recalling Nightmare Moon. "Now, do you really think that Luna would do all of that wickedness all on her own?"
Twilight swallowed several times, and even then she couldn't speak.
"Yes, Sombra favors royalty with some qualities. A thousand years ago, he wanted me to join in a plot with him to capture both the Princesses and make the world ours. But you see, not all Chaos is cruel, and I refused." Discord snorted. "He was a fool to try and manipulate one alone. He was right in the fact that Celestia is so bright she casts very dark shadows, and it was easy to fall into them if you stepped to close to her."
Twilight pondered that, and Discord could tell she was taking it to heart.
"You never seem to shine like that though," he commented thoughtfully. Twilight cocked her head, violet orbs focused on him. "Celestia thought she could burn away all the bad by burning bright enough, but she burned others while she was at it. Instead of making yourself brighter, you tend to brighten those around you." He could see a gentle blush spreading across her cheeks, and the tips of her ears.
"So we have to stop Sombra?" She asked suddenly.
"Yes, I think we do."
"How would we find him?" Twilight asked, worry in her voice.
A voice that sounded like a whisper and a scream replied "You won't have to."
Duchess Bullion strolled in. Discord felt a sick knot turning in his stomach. What was-?
A black horn was protruding from the feathers of her forehead. Her eyes were sickeningly red and green and angry and Discord reached out to pull Twilight backwards-
-and there was a screaming noise that came from the gryphon, so loud his ears rang-
-his talon grazed Twilight's hoof as she called out something, shrieking it to him-
-there was laughter and it made him feel so sick inside he could vomit-
-blackness around him, it muffled his sight and vision-
-black on purple, red on violet feathers and gold clad hooves-
-and then there was nothing.
Black feathers were scattered around him like ash. He looked around.
Twilight was nowhere to be seen.
A voice came from the walls around him, and the discarded feathers quivered with the noise.
"You're right. She is a different kind of light. I wonder how bright she'll look in darkness?"
For the first time in many thousands of years, Discord howled in pure fury.
His talons ached to rip into Sombra's hide and tear his organs straight out of his chest, to watch him scream and writhe like his own followers and-
-just a moment ago, a single moment ago, Twilight had been sitting across from him, learning and seeing and being so naïve and Sombra was going to take that all away.
Discord forced himself to take deep breathes. He forced himself. He thought of that thing Twilight did when she got stressed, and he did it two-fold.
He didn't feel any better.
Discord decided to go to the princesses. They'll do something responsible, and he can just help with the little things. He forced his fury down, thought it still made his wings twitch because Sombra was going to taint Twilight in the worst possible ways, and…
Discord spotted something red and spattered on the floor, a clump of purple feathers scattered beside it.
…and he was going to personally tear Sombra apart so painfully he would wish for the pain he had put on his peasants.