Tea with the Moon
Running from Discord's place in the garden, I made my way into the castle. Some really helpful guards stopped me and even escorted me to an assistant of the Princesses! What helpful guys! The unicorn said Luna was just watering her flowers; she hadn't received any visitors today, so she would be able to see me right away. Goodie! Normally Luna must have been really busy with all the other ponies who want to see her, so I was really lucky today! When I told the assistant this, she looked at me funny before saying that I was lucky. Maybe she's not very lucky. Hope I didn't hurt her feelings…
I entered the solar, looking around at all the leafy green plants that hung from the walls. Spider plants, chain of hearts, marble queen, tons of strings of pearls and all sorts that I could not put a name to. Some were blooming, but most just cast their green down the stone walls like billowing curtains. The floor had more flowering plants like the night blooming cereus, passion flowers, a type of datura and many more I didn't know. Knowledge of these plants came to me from my friends Marigold, Daisy, Lily and Rose in Ponyville. There were so many I didn't remember but those plants I liked - so I sure remembered them!
Two guards with clean white coats led me in, showing me to a short wooden table with large pillows around it to sit on. Purples and deep reds covered the comfy cushions and a small array of tarts and biscuits lay on the table. I did not take a bite - I needed to be extra careful with curtsies today. Maybe if I minded my manners I'd get on the Princess' good side. The guards left, closing the door behind them. Luna came out of a side door with a watering can, and tucked it off to the side when she saw me before walking over and sitting on a purple cushion.
"Thanks for talking with me Princess Luna."
"We thank you for coming." The black mare boomed.
I smiled, knowing that was how she talked, "I wanted to know more about Discord."
Luna looked at me with an odd expression on her face before answering in a quieter voice.
"What dost thou want to know?"
"I know you two were friends, he told me. He also told me that you didn't want to put him into stone, which makes me think you didn't believe he was all that bad."
I took a lemon tart, watching the dark princess for any reaction. The solar was full of sunlight with flowers and leafy plants all around, which was kinda distracting. Luna was sleeping at night, a guard told me, allowing herself to see the splendours of day before resuming her time as guardian of the night. The sunlight made her hair look even darker, as if it was night time captured in her locks. Not quite a nebula, like when she was Nightmare Moon, but still darker than I'd seen anypony's mane.
"What you speak is true. We did not think Tia was being quite fair." She stood, walking to a corner of the solar to open a window. The room was two thirds glass, so it was getting hot with the afternoon sun and I was grateful. Wouldn't want the tarts to spoil. When Luna came back to the small table, she looked tired.
"All three of us met while we were quite young, you see. After finding the Elements of Harmony we found Discord too. He had powers, he said, and showed us a few. We enjoyed them… Tia did not. She thought them improper and dangerous."
There was a long pause as the older pony thought about the past and I didn't want to interrupt. I did try to wait and let her think, honest. The strain was just killing me.
"Did he hurt anypony?" I asked, needing to know if all the trouble I'd gone through was really worth it or not. I wouldn't tell anypony if I was wrong… but if I was right…
"…Once or twice, We think. While testing his powers. We do not think he ever meant it. When the Queen passed on without crowning Tia or myself after our Father, Discord tried to prove that he was strong. That he could control what he was."
Pinkie Pie listened carefully, making sure she understood, "He wanted to cause chaos and show Princess Celestia he could… what?"
"Undo it. Discord was hoping to get her to see he had control and that it wasn't dangerous, despite how things looked."
"But she didn't see that." I prodded, knowing this wasn't going to be a happy ending. Not for Discord.
"No. My dear sister was someone who took her kingdom seriously and thought he was going to ruin it with… silly things. She was determined to rule as our Father had, and needed to set an example."
"I… see." I said, not really liking this side of Celestia I was seeing. She was good to the girls and I, it was hard to see her in any other way.
"Do not think badly of her, we were only fillies then. We were just as bad, going along with it." Her eyes were gone again, off in a world eons ago that no longer existed.
"Thank you Princess Luna," I said softly, "That must have been a hard story to tell."
"You are most welcome. Now what is this Pony Blitz* game you were going to show me?" She said, visibly relaxing.
I smiled and pulled out the pack of cards. A bright carrot, horseshoe, apple and carriage stood out on the white backs of the cards.
"There's only one rule that I added Princess, no jewellery."
After playing some games with Luna I asked if I could come visit her again soon.
"We think We would like that." the princess boomed, "We do not have many visitors."
"Really, that's weird, you're so nice!" I said happily, truly confused as to why anypony wouldn't want to see the dark princess.
"We thank you for your kind words young mare, and would enjoy seeing you again. This Pony Blitz game was… fun."
We opened the doors and Luna herself walked me out of the palace. I yelled goodbye and headed to the library. I had some things to look into. Big, important, history things. I could visit Discord and tell him my plan if it would work tomorrow. Wouldn't he be surprised? I bounced the last half of the way into Ponyville, excited with what was forming in my head.
He'd be able to thank me himself soon enough.
My first stop was at the library, to get some more information. As I hopped up to the door, I heard Twilight talking with Spike inside. I eased open the door, making sure I didn't hit anypony.
"Hay guys!"
"Oh, hi Pinkie! Looking for another book?" Spike called, waddling over.
"Sure am! That one you gave me was super helpful, but I want more on when Luna was still around before Nightmare Moon. And how Discord was before he was locked in stone the first time."
"Uh… hmm… let me see." Spike looked around the shelves, trying to find something fitting her description.
"Pinkie, you're… studying?" the purple mare asked, having easily overheard.
"Yup, yup, yup! Sure am Twilight, why else would I need those kinda books?"
"I've just never seen you interested in this before Pinkie. What's changed?"
"Oh well…" I couldn't tell her I wanted to clear Discords name - if he wasn't really all that bad - she'd be upset for sure, "I just thought, with Discord, I should know more about him. I also talked with Luna today so-"
"Princess Luna."
"Yeah, who else?"
"Pinkie that's not what I… Never mind. I'm glad you're showing interest in something other than parties, maybe we can talk about your findings later?"
"Sure can do! I just gotta know what I'm finding first!"
Twilight laughed, "Alright Pinkie, you can stay here if you want, but I've got to study too, so be quiet."
"I'm thinking of taking the books home Twi, if that's okay."
"Of course Pinkie, here let me set up the checkout…"
Spike came up with three books, and I took them from his arms, "Thanks Spike!"
"You're welcome Pinkie, I think I'm going to go get a snack." the dragon wandered off, murmuring about sapphires and emeralds.
"The Passage of Power: Equestrian Royalty Through the Ages…," She took one of my five tickets as she read out the name, "Dark Times: Criminals of Merit… and … Pinkie what is this?"
"I dunno, a book? Spike picked them up for me." I looked over, reading the title. "Could be good."
"Pinkie this is a conspiracy theory book! This isn't what you're looking for, is it?"
"Lies the Government Told You: Magic, Plots, and Deception in Equestrian History. I think it has a ring to it!" I really did like the sound of it, and maybe I could find something from someone else's perspective on Discord. Not that I could tell Twilight that. "Come on Twi, maybe it'll be fun!"
The purple mare sighed, writing the due date on the check-out card to go into the little pocket of the last book, "Very well, just take everything you read with a grain of salt."
"Yum, salty! Thanks Twilight!" I bounded out the door before she could stop me, on my way back to Sugarcube Corner. With three fewer library tickets on me, though I knew Twilight put them in the books small envelopes so they were safe.
When I finally got in I finally began slowing down, walking up the steps into my house. The best thing about living above a bakery was the smell. My place smelled like cupcakes constantly. How great! I smiled wearily as Gummy clamped onto my tail in hello.
"Hay little guy. I need to get some sleep so I can't play now, maybe tomorrow…" I made it to my bed and tucked myself in, watching Gummy. He sauntered over to his bed (a pile of leaves in a basket at the corner) and curled up. I smiled at him before turning over and getting cozy. My last thoughts were of cupcakes and what kind Discord might like. He seemed like a chocolate and crisped rice kinda guy.
The next morning it was raining out, fat drops pounded on my window as I looked outside. Nopony was braving the weather today it seemed. At least that meant I could stay inside and play with Gummy like I promised. I shook my head, curls springing back to life. "Alright Gummy, ready for breakfast?"
He didn't say anything, but he was shy. I went downstairs, seeing that the Corner was closed for the day. Mr. and Mrs. Cake probably didn't want to leave their house either; I trotted back upstairs intent on finding some food. I found some crisp carrots in the fridge and thought that would be a good breakfast. Gummy got this weird canned stuff that smelled like meat. I sniffed it and gagged before dropping half of it into his bowl. Yuck, alligators ate weird things.
"Gummy!" I called before bringing the bowl toward the reptile, "Here you go."
The green alligator stared at the food vacantly, purple orbs seeming to take in nothing. I grabbed my carrots from the counter and trotted over to my bed, looking for the library books. I picked up the Dark Times book first, flipping through to 'D' and found him as the first entry.
Discord
Gender: Male
Species: Draconequus, variant: Dragonokis. See Chimera.
Appearance: His head is horse-like, with a deer antler on the right, a goat horn on the left, one long fang, different-sized pupils, a snake tongue, and a beard. He has the right arm of a lion, the left claw of an eagle, the right leg of a lizard, and the left leg of a goat. In addition, he has a bat's right wing, a Pegasus' left wing, and a snake's tail.
History: Not much is known about this criminal. Was found around the same time as the Elements of Harmony, by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Discord found perverse joy in distorting reality and generally making life miserable for those around him. Able to change gravity, cause and effect, and all basic laws of nature. Was planning on ruling over Equestria by using his powers to disrupt the government and take over once the world was weird enough. Brought to justice by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna by wielding the Elements of Harmony, trapping him in stone.
Well that wasn't very helpful. There were a couple of pictures with captions, but none of them were of the chaos, only of ponies who had said a line of interest. Nowhere did it say anything about anyone being hurt. No lasting damage to crops or homes. Luna was probably right about his wanting to prove he could control what he did. Disharmony, not death. I shook my head, closing the book. Listening to the heavy rain in between bites I began to wonder what Discord thought of the rain. Could he get cold? Could he even feel the water or the beat of the drops on him? I turned to look out the window, wondering what it would feel like to be able to only look at one thing. I stayed there as long as I could, not moving my head.
"How boring!" I finally gave up, that couldn't be more than a few minutes. How awful to be there for as long as he had been.
I picked up the conspiracy theory book, going to the index (Spike showed me how last time I was at the library) and looking for any sign of the Draconequus. I finally gave up, but saw Parasprites were supposedly a magically made creature to be used in warfare. I didn't know what to think of that. I gave myself a break, playing bite the tail with Gummy, who had finished his food. He seemed to like the game, for whatever reason. Maybe my tail tasted good? I didn't think so, but alligators like to eat weird things.
When I finally sat back down I decided to peruse the Passage of Power. It was basically a who's-who for royalty and such. Looked like the queen before the Princesses' reign was their step mother. Their blood mother was a high-born alicorn, who died in childbirth. The king, their father, was a white stallion with the black cutie mark of a set of scales. His name was Solis. Their mother was a midnight blue mare with no mention of what image was on her flank, her name was Ciela. Their stepmother was a light blue mare with a white mane and purple eyes named Decoria. There was no mention of how the girls were treated by her, but when I looked at the date it seemed the queen was still alive when the book was published. Maybe ponies aren't allowed to talk about history before they're gone? I wondered, not finding anything else of import until a bright yellow page caught my eye. Discord was on here. It mentioned him being fostered by the royal family, and nothing more was said. Just how old was this book? I looked at the picture again, and Discord didn't look any different than he did now. His eyebrows and beard must just be that colour, not because he's old. His tail was white too come to think of it.
I lowered the book.
So. The queen had taken in Discord, probably after the girls found him. She passed on before the girls sealed him in stone, otherwise the queen would have done it. Discord didn't have anything to do with the queen Decoria's death… did he?
A/N: Read and Review!
Hay bronies! What do you think of what Pinkie has discovered? Is Discord really evil/misunderstood/a killer? I loved The First's idea of breaking out of the stone at the Canterlot Wedding. What do you think should happen?
Marigold is a fan name for the pony in Swarm of the Century seen tending to a garden patch. mlp[dot]wikia[dot]com/wiki/List_of_ponies
*Pony Blitz is the name I've dubbed for Dutch Blitz (dutchblitz[dot]com) which is a really fast-paced game, and great with more players. I'd highly recommend it for camping, picnics or rainy days. Pinkie's rule about no jewellery is mine as well… things can get pretty heated and getting accidentally slapped with a metal ring is no fun at all.
Sorry about the confusion about the library checkout. I looked up how different libraries did checkouts before computers came in. I was used to the 'sign your name on the card' etc. but I found someone online mention the use of tickets. (tinyurl[dot]com/747r36x)
You get 5 with your name on them, and to get the ticket back, you'd have to bring back the book. I kept the due date card and added a little envelope (kept with the book) to keep the ticket in. I'm going to say the envelopes with the tickets are stored in a box, filed under the week they are due back. So if Pinkie's books were due May 23rd, they'd be in the box for May, in the file folder labeled 'Week Four'. Please ask for clarification if you need it, I just kinda wung it! Maybe somebrony here has a few tips/ideas?
Sorry for the long Author's Note! D:
[Updated after my FIMfanfiction account. My dad is in the hospital right now, so probably no updates for awhile. fimfiction[dot]net/blog/29790 for more info]