Stealth and Practice

Time had passed rather quickly. Before either Luna or Modest knew it, it was almost midnight. However, they still followed the dragons tirelessly, in company of the Royal Guard. They did their best to study the behavior and patterns of the beasts to get as much information as possible, but despite their silent analysis of the dragons, they were not able to figure out much before they reached the Southern Lands.

The Southern Lands were famous for their exotic location; for their jungles and forests, and their tropical, likeable weather that attracted tourists every so often, and provided a perfect home for the ponies of iron-hard spirit and will. The Southern ponies were fighters, as was evident in the remains of the cities; there were pony weapons and utensils everywhere, even deep within the towns. It was obvious that even the citizens had gone down before the dragons fighting, and fighting with their best.

Many of the forests had been burned by the dragons, and the towns and cities along with them. They could not see the pony citizens, but they figured they were taking shelter either in prisons that the dragons may have put them, or far away from their land, as refugees.

Luna doubted, however, that with the amount of dragons that supervised every piece of land, many ponies would have been able to escape after the massive attack. Even the main city that held the castle was broken, as was what once was the glorious castle of the Southern Kingdom, home to the royals that surely stood at the front of the battle against the beasts.

Modest shook his head while he stared at the ruins. "Princess Luna… This is…"

Luna nodded in agreement. "Horrible, I know. I hope that they didn't hurt many of the citizens. I suppose the Southern Royal Guard is out of the count, unfortunately… Goodness, they were more organized than I thought… It's unbelievable…" She turned to the guards and whispered to them to search for survivors.

Once they were done carefully inspecting the borders of the capital city, Modest took Luna's hoof and hid her with him beneath some nearby rocks. They had dismissed the Royal Guard so that they would also cover more land within their scouting. He spoke in whispers to Luna while they slowly approached the inside of the city. "We'll have to be careful from now on."

"You don't have to tell me twice. I don't doubt those dragons will devour us in seconds, without any thought…" Luna frowned and glared at the dragon guards that stomped past their hiding spot.

Modest looked around in a different direction and spotted all the dragon nests that had been built around the city, as well as the large, black flags that held the emblem of a red silhouette. It was a bit difficult for him to make out the form of the silhouette, but after the wind stopped, he saw it; it was some kind of dragon horse. "Princess Luna, look at that…"

Luna looked at the flags that he pointed her to, and noticed the odd emblem sewn on them. "Hm… Well, I haven't seen that one at all before… It's not the crest of any dragon… If they even have crests."

"I haven't seen it either. It certainly doesn't ring any bells… I can't recognize the shape."

"It's not a dragon, it's not a pony… It's not a draconequus, either…" Luna raised an eyebrow. "A manticore? I don't know any creature that holds manticores as their symbol."

"Among dragons, that would be odd… No, I don't think it's that, either. In any case, we can't figure out what it may be… But, whatever that creature is… I'm pretty sure it's their leader that they put in those flags."

Luna nodded and glanced at the dragons. "Of course. Everyone does that."

Modest swallowed a bit while Luna stared at the city with a hard look. He noticed that she was glaring quite hard at the dragons that wandered at their leisure.

They did whatever they pleased within the ruins and the broken prized possessions and properties of the Southern ponies. They defiled the image of the Southern princess, and intimidated their pony slaves without a care.

"Princess…"

Luna narrowed her eyes, then looked away to keep walking. "We have to go in. We can't let them get any further, prince. They've already gone this far, if we let them-" She grunted when Modest held her back. "Prince! Let go, we have to do this quickly! We don't have much time, they'll notice-"

Modest shook his head and proceeded to explain things to her in a calm voice. After all, he didn't want to get her more agitated than she already was. "We can't go in yet, Princess Luna. It's not safe. Let's give it a bit more time to find out more information, after all… Well, we've only just got here. We've still got plenty of night to cover us, right? We'll use that and the element of surprise to our advantage to sneak into the castle. Understand that I do not mistrust you or doubt your skills, but… This is an armada of dragons that we're dealing with. I don't think that we would be a proper match for all of them, even with the combined efforts of our guard and our power. So let's be patient, alright? Better safe than sorry, I'd say."

Luna stared at him with a frown, but then relaxed a bit and sighed in defeat when he smiled gently at her. "Very well. You're right, of course… We'll wait. But let's not wait idly, of course. We'll keep watching, then we definitely have to plan some strategy before we go in. It has to lead us somewhere."

"I absolutely agree. We'll head east, then. It seems the coast is clearer that way."

And so their scouting continued for about two more hours. They met with the captains of the Royal Guard every so often to check on their findings. Unfortunately, they found no free Southern ponies to rescue, but they had found out a great deal about possible openings for infiltration.

After a full victory of the Southern Kingdom, the dragons had grown rather slack on their guarding duties, to their surprise. They seemed to scout the area every so often, but they were not thorough. This gave the group the chance to sneak further into the capital city through small places that they would have access to and would be overlooked by the large, flying dragons.

Before they could get right to action, though, the princess and prince were startled by loud drums that rolled from the castle ruins and quickly spread out across the capital. Suddenly, all the dragons roared in greeting while the figure of their leader emerged from the castle's balcony. It was a creature that Luna and Modest could not make much sense of, because they had not seen it before.

A red stallion stood over the other dragons. He had a large build and seemed quite strong, even his black dragon wings did. He held his head high, his wings opened and spread out to his sides. He looked down at the dragons as they roared in unison once he showed himself before them.

The alicorns and ponies of the Royal Guard grimaced and covered their ears at the loud roars.

Many slaves followed after the strange dragon-winged stallion. One young female approached him in particular, upon his command. Her coat was light blue, her scales shone just slightly. She had small, light rose horns on top of her head, and light rose claws. She was able to stand on her hind legs for a short time. Her yellow eyes barely looked up at the stallion that appeared to be her master. She wore a chained collar around her neck, which was held at the end by other dragon guards.

Luna groaned a bit while she held her head and shook it, having been stunned by the awful noise. "Ngh… Talk about a flashy entrance. Those inconsiderate dragons…"

The red stallion looked around at his dragon armada. He wore a golden necklace with an emerald in the center. The emerald gleamed, then let out a bright green glow that spread over the crowd. "My fellow servants and comrades… It is time! We almost reach our goal now. It is time to strike war against the ponies, and beat them for good. It is time! The ponies have oppressed and apprehended us for eras. They have banished us to the pathetic Bad Lands and dragon wastelands that we previously possessed. They stepped over us, treated us as theirinferiors… When we are the ultimate, superior species. Our force is supreme, higher than their magic. So let us get together and beat them to the ground! Let us get together and make them bow before us, before we CRUSH them!"

The dragons stomped their claws, flapped their wings, and roared in a crowded agreement. They soon grew into a near rampage while they supported their leader quite violently. After another flash of the leader's amulet, they calmed down somewhat, but continued to shout and roar their support.

Modest glanced at Luna, then looked up at the leader of the dragons that still watched them with a cold expression. "Well… We found the source of the problem. He's definitely it, no doubt about it now."

Luna nodded while she glared at the hybrid. She was gritting her teeth, trying hard to compose herself and keep her anger in check. "I wonder where Princess Talia and her subjects are being kept prisoner…" She looked at the soldiers behind them and watched them shake their heads. "No sign of them yet…"

Miseria covered a yawn with her hoof and watched while Discord rounded up a stock of wild, unstable, discarded creations for her to reuse. She smiled once he managed to trap them in cotton candy, and crouched to prepare another spell before they ran wild again. "C'mon! I'm ready this time!"

Discord sighed and scratched his chin. "Are you sure about that? Because last time it was pretty hard to get all that grass juice off the tree patches you created in the-whoa!" He bent down to dodge a blast of magic that flew past him and swirled around the air. "Watch out!"

Miseria shut her eyes while she concentrated in directing the blast of magic. She gasped, then grunted when it blew up near her face. "Ow! That hurt…" She shook her head quickly and rubbed her cheek.

Discord sighed again and shook his head. That wasn't it, either…

Miseria glared at the flames that were caused by the spell. Before she could do anything to them, though, they blew a raspberry at her and quickly mocked her. "Grrn… Why, you…!"

"Easy now, Miseria. I shouldn't have to keep reminding you." At the snap of his fingers, Discord disappeared the mess around them again, before she lost her temper. "Remember to stay calm no matter what. Our powers get more dangerous when we lose our temper and become angry. I know you can do this. You've been getting… better… You just need some more practice, it's not so hard."

She gave him a sharp glare and a raised eyebrow, but stayed quiet while she folded her front legs.

Discord chuckled nervously and shrugged. "W-well, if you put your mind to it, it will most certainly work. Oh, do trust me, it's a thousand times better than plowing a field for a while day. Much, much easier."

He keeps saying that… She tilted her head to the side and gave him a questioning look. "What?"

"Er, nothing, never mind. Point is… You have to give it another try, little sister. Try until you get."

She let out an irritated sigh. "But this is so hard!" She pouted and sat in the air. She had just finished appearing random vegetables out of thin air, and had watched them go bad and attack the animals nearby. "How did you ever manage to do this?! It's not even fun!"

Discord floated next to her and patted her shoulder. "I managed by reducing the power of my magic and creating it from my positive emotion and ideas, rather than the bad, utterly crazy ones. Other 'negative' thoughts and emotions didn't have such… good results." He held her close while she rubbed her eyes. "So don't give up… You're doing just fine. You have the right idea. Go ahead and do your best."

Miseria sighed and groaned. "But…"

Discord held her chin and smiled at her. "I know you're tired, dear… But you've got to try."

She stared at him with a tired and puzzled look. "...How can I feel and think anything positive from Madness and Destruction? There's no such thing, is there?"

Discord stretched and covered his own yawns. Using his powers for so long was not what tired him out… It was watching over Miseria's every move to keep track of all her failed magical creations (to make sure they harmed nopony), and keeping her steady and focused on the task… while at the same time keeping her spirits high, so she was cooperative and willing to complete the exercise.

Phew! Now, that is the most exhausting work I've ever done… He looked up and felt not just a bit glad when he noticed the dark sky that held the moon high above them.

He looked back at Miseria, who still awaited an answer. "You just have to think of… Well, just of what makes you happy. We'll spend some more time on this tomorrow, to focus on your happy thoughts." He wrapped his tail around her and carried her off the floor. "Deal?"

Miseria yawned again, feeling as though she would fall asleep any second. "Okay… But… But just let me…" Before she finished speaking, she walked out of Discord's tail, determined to try and perhaps succeed that last time. She shut her eyes closed and concentrated again after she regained her balance.

As the tangelo magic aura appeared around her horn, Miseria remembered the games that she and Discord played ever since they met. She recalled all of the fun they had, and how close they had gotten to one another in that short time. Sure, she manipulated things to go her way shortly afterwards, but… She had genuine fun, and the best of time with him, and she considered those moments the most memorable of all.

Discord tilted his head a bit while he watched her. He noticed the powerful spell that her horn was ready to cast. "Oh, my… That's right, you're almost there!" Maybe she'll do it tonight after all…

A beautiful flower sprouted from the ground after Miseria cast her spell. It glowed in a lot of different colors, gleaming under the moonlight. It seemed to shine with light of its own.

Miseria gasped as she looked at the flower, then smiled proudly. "Brother, I… I did it!"

"Oh, that's right. So it would seem-"

She jumped into his arms and hugged his neck while she spoke excitedly. "I did it! I really did it! It worked! I thought of something that made me the happiest and got the spell to work! Look at it!"

"Yes, Miseria, I can see-"

"Oh, brother, thank you! You're the best! I didn't think I'd actually make it! I did! Oh, isn't it pretty? I love it! You're the best, look what I can do now! You're the best teacher in the whole world!"

Discord blushed a bit and chuckled while he patted her head. "Well, I don't know about that-"

She ignored his grunts and efforts to breathe when she hugged him tightly once again. "I promise that I'll keep thinking of you every time I want to do this, brother. I swear I will! That will help me make more nice stuff like this! You like them, don't you? I'm doing a good job, aren't I?" She looked up at him expectantly.

"Why, of course you are, Miseria. I love it! Oh, asking me if chaotic things are good, that's an understatement! I must commend you on your efforts. Entertaining, worthwhile chaos is what we both will dedicate ourselves to from now on. If you think about it… Heh, we might be in a very pleasant diet of chaos. I know we're both going to enjoy it, especially if we help one another."

Miseria giggled and squirmed a bit while Discord tickled her. "Oh, stop! Brother!"

"I definitely enjoy the progress that you're making. I couldn't be more proud of you for starting so well."

"That's good…" She yawned and rubbed her eyes. She smiled and tilted her head back while he patted it. "I'm going to think of all the good things we've done together so far… I'm going to use my magic just like you do…" She snuggled against him and began to fall asleep in his arms.

Discord chuckled and patted her head while he turned around. "Well, you'll need more practice, though. You need to develop stamina… This little training session wore you out completely! It won't do, will it?"

Not that he was one to talk. He was quite exhausted himself, but he convinced himself that he had to keep up a strong front for her sake. He seemed to be quite her beloved role model, after all… He looked at her and sighed when her eyes started to close, despite her efforts to keep them open.

"B-but I… I wanna…"

"Don't worry, this isn't the end of our training by a longshot. There's still a lot to learn, room for more improvement. So, we'll practice another day, what do you say? We've both had enough chaos for today."

Miseria gave her an odd look and a smile, but sighed and nodded in agreement. "Okay, brother…"

He slid her down his shoulder and body, then wrapped his tail around her to keep her warm. He started to walk after she nuzzled her tail and yawn again. "Alright, we're settled down. There's only a few things to take care of now. We'll clean up the remain of the mess and then we'll-"

He stopped when he heard Miseria's soft snores that came from behind him. "Hm? Miseria?" He looked back and found her limp in his tail, already fast asleep. "Hm… Well, figures." He lifted her with his tail a bit, watching her move like a doll in his tail. "When it comes to cleaning you're out like a light. What a classic. Sure, leave all the chores to the older siblings, of course…"

The rest of the scattered chaos disappeared with a snap of Discord's fingers. It was effortlessly gone within a few seconds, until they were left with practically a bare, recovering clearing.

His eyes stopped upon the glowing, beautiful flower that Miseria had created. "Hm…" He tilted his head to the side, then lowered down to take a good look at the little plant. He still held Miseria in his raised tail while he studied the different gleaming colors of the petals. "Hm… Now, I wonder just how long this little flower will last… Maybe longer than the others for sure… Maybe it will…"

Shortly after Miseria had fallen asleep, the flower curved down and withered, quickly losing its color. It a strange, dark brown object that was no longer a flower, with thorns that hissed and threatened.

"...Last." Discord looked at the withered thing and sighed. He glanced back at Miseria while she muttered in her sleep. Well, what a surprise. She failed again. But that just won't do, will it…?

He looked at the failed creation and turned it back into the beautiful flower it was, with a snap of his lion paw fingers. He also enchanted it to ensure it would keep that bedazzling, lovely appearance permanently.

After all, Miseria had put a lot of effort into that final attempt, and had taken such great pride when she finally succeeded, even if it had been just a minor thing. To her, it was an amazing achievement that he did not want to foil and disappoint. He had to help keep her motivated.

"Well, you know what, little sister? You get great points for trying." He laid Miseria down beside the flower, caressed her mane, then gave her an affectionate, gentle nudge with his nose while she stretched and curled into a ball to sleep comfortably.

"This is it, then. Goodnight for you, dear. I have to get going…" He rubbed his neck, then let out a tired sigh. "Boy, this took much longer than I thought." Despite feeling tired, he gave her a smile and started to sneak away from her while she slept soundly. He watched his step to make sure that he did not trip or step on anything that would make a loud noise or spontaneously start wandering around.

It actually didn't go that bad, considering her situation and the strength of her powers… Well, if she keeps this up, we might prove those uptight ponies wrong after all, my dear… Discord smirked and chuckled while he floated away. He looked up at the palace, where he knew that Celestia awaited him, after perhaps taking care of some royal duties that did not drain her too much of energy.

He sneaked past the guards, because he didn't feel like giving any explanations to anypony that did not need it. For a second, he thought about seeing Fluttershy again.

We do need to spend some time together… But… You know what? Like many other things, I'm sure that can wait just a little longer. She won't mind, of course! He appeared inside Celestia's room, floating above her in the air while she finished some reports.

She looked up and smiled at him. "How did everything go, then?"

"Oh, I'm so glad we can finally get back here and… Oh. Well, she didn't do perfectly, but she didn't do so bad. I thought she did great, considering it's her first time. She put quite some effort, and was actually very patient and decent to handle. She's really into this, Celestia. I can tell."

"I'm glad… I'm happy for her, Discord. I know this is the best for her. Believe me, I care about her now. I want her to have the same opportunities you do. I'm sure you two will be happy together, as soon as she can adapt to this world."

"Oh, she will… She just has to get a bit more practice. She's determined, and that's what matters." Discord nuzzled Celestia, making her giggle a bit. "Now, let's go back to us, shall we? I've been practicing some stealthy methods myself that are sure to surprise you. I really don't like the fact that I've become so predictable that you can just know when I am around now. I ought to fix that."

Celestia smiled and laid back on the bed once he disappeared her paperwork. Then she sighed a bit once he kissed her. I really missed this… It's worth working so much to get this as a reward. She let him pat her mane, then nuzzled into his neck once he held her closer again.

Phew! Another chapter finished just at the end of this unbearable break. Too bad I wasn't able to post it earlier. I'm not sure it's really all that good, though… I didn't really know how to go about it at the end, and it'll probably be noticed. Somehow all my inspiration got zapped away by my stupid problems at home; I'm really sorry about that, and hope to do a better job next chapter.

I think I'm overdoing it with the romance between Discord and Celestia. Then again, this is a Dislestia story, so it might still be tolerated. The sibling scene was also very cute, but… It may also have overdone it. To balance it, there was the suspenseful, action scene of the Southern Kingdom, with Luna and Modest. The villain made an appearance! Somewhat, kind of.

I feel like this is a repetition of the previous chapter, and do feel awful about that, too. But still, I hope you like it, and am certain that the next chapter will be better. I will put a lot of effort into it.

Dragons… Such delicately seen creatures, huh? They are not precisely the bad guys… That dragon-pony hybrid is. Obviously. Yes, he's the dragon pony that Discord sleep-talked about on a previous chapter. Discord has an uncanny ability to somewhat mumble about the upcoming future in his sleep. It's not the first time that has happened.