Redemption of Discord

Chapter 2

   “Voicing their Concerns”

The next morning, Fluttershy left Discord alone at her cottage while she joined the rest of her friends over at Twilight’s castle.  It seemed clear to Fluttershy that Discord more than afraid of facing the princesses, he was afraid for his life.  She could see that Discord was afraid of being hunted down by some ponies who would want nothing more than to destroy him when it was all Tirek’s doing to begin with.

“I’m really worried about Discord,” she said to her friends in the round table.  “He seems to be the one who thinks that he is responsible for everything that has happened.”

“Well, he did let Tirek steal our magic,” replied Applejack.  “So, yeah, I think he should suffer for it.”

This caused the other members of the main six to glare at Applejack with hard stares.  Even though Applejack was the element of honesty, this came as quite a shock.

“Wow, Applejack,” gasped Rainbow Dash, jumping into the air.  “I know your thing is honesty, but come on!”

“Indeed,” agreed Twilight, causing everypony to turn towards her.  “Don’t forget that Tirek was the one who escaped from Tartarus, don’t forget that Tirek stole the magic that came from within us and don’t forget that it was Tirek who used all of you to get the alicorn magic that I was carrying.”

“Although I will have to admit,” remarked Pinkie Pie.  “It’s too bad you had to give up all those super-duper abilities that you had.”

Twilight decided to ignore the pink pony’s remark and returned to the task at hand, which was Discord.

“Look, girls,” she said, firmly.  “I know that you would all rather blame Discord for what happened and yes, he did let Tirek do what he did.  But, can you really blame him for everything that has happened?  After everything is said and done, he is just a victim in all of this as we were.”

Fluttershy nodded at what Twilight had said and turned to expect the other ponies to agree with what Twilight had said.  Alas, not all of them were in agreement.

“Well, victim or not,” said Rarity, placing her hoof on the table.  “Princess Celestia did put all her trust in Discord to capture that hulking brute and he failed.  We never trusted him to begin with and we never shall.”

At that moment, Spike came into the throne room, holding his stomach and belched out a scroll for Twilight to read.  Using her magic to open the scroll, Twilight read what was on it and then after a moment, turned back to her friends.

“What is it, Twilight?” asked Fluttershy, as Twilight turned to her.  “What does the scroll say?”

“It seemed important,” gasped Spike, clutching onto his stomach.  “Not to mention that it was…long.”

Twilight then placed the scroll down and rolled it on the table for all to see.

Dearest Discord,

Ever since Lord Tirek was re-imprisoned in Tartarus, I have been meaning to find out why you betrayed us.  To this end, myself and Princess Luna as well as Princess Cadence and Princess Twilight, are hereby summoning you to Canterlot castle so that you can explain yourself why you disobeyed us and Equestria for a creature of pure evil such as Tirek.  All we want is the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Princess Celestia, Princess Luna and Princess Cadence.

Just then, a flash of light came into the throne room and Discord entered with a sullen look on his face, almost as if he knew what was going to happen to him.

"Princess Celestia wants me in Canterlot, doesn't she?" he asked, very nervously twiddling his claw and paw.  "They want me to be turned into stone because of what I did, I just know it."

This caused Fluttershy to jump off her throne and fly over to Discord's side, touching his paw and looking up at Discord, who produced a tombstone to show how he was feeling.  In fact, all of the ponies couldn't help but feel sorry for Discord.

"Princess Celestia did not say you were going to be turned into stone," said Twilight, firmly.  "All she wants is the truth behind your reasoning for joining Tirek.  You explained your actions to us, now you have to explain them to her, Luna and Cadence."

"They do seem pretty disappointed with you, you know," added Rarity.  "I could tell by the way the scroll spoke to us."

This made Pinkie Pie be her usual crazy self as she crept over to the scroll and looked down at it.  In her mind, she thought that the scroll actually talked and was shaking it violently to get it to speak.

"Then, why don't you say anything else?" asked Pinkie Pie to the scroll, as Twilight levitated the scroll away from her and gave the pink pony a deep glare.  "What?  I thought Rarity said it actually talked."

Twilight chose to ignore the remark and focus on Discord and getting him to understand what he was going to expect.

"Twilight," asked Discord, feeling scared.  "Do you think the princesses will punish me severely by, I don't know, sending me to Tartarus with Tirek? Or parading me through the streets of Canterlot where everypony will throw food at me and call me names?  It's those little things that worry me greatly."

Twilight used her magic to levitate Discord over to her throne and she sat him down in Spike's throne and this caused all the other members of the main six to surround the ex-master of chaos.

"Discord," said Twilight, placing her hoof on his paw.  "Now, I know that we have had to put up with a lot of your shenanigans since we first encountered you.  But, ever since Princess Celestia has tasked us with reforming you, we have seen you go from being an enemy of Equestria to a creature who is willing to learn the magic of friendship."

"Twilight's right," added Fluttershy, flying over and sitting next to him.  "We all make mistakes and you were just looking for anything more valuable than friendship.  But, when I saw you drop those cucumber sandwiches and have us put in that cage for Tirek to drain our magic, I thought you had thrown away everything we had ever done together."

Discord bowed his head down as he remembered looking away while Tirek took away the magic of Twilight's friends before he drained Discord's magic.

"But, as you said in our darkest hour," chipped in Rarity.  "There is nothing more valuable than friendship and I think we could all see that you learned that lesson when Tirek drained your magic."

"Hey, if you could say that to the princesses," added Applejack, taking off her hat.  "Then maybe you can show them what you have learned with us and they will see that you are not the traitor they think you are."

Discord was beginning to think now that maybe he could get the princesses to believe him if he could remember the words that Twilight and her friends were saying to him.  As he thought, a small smile came onto his face as he could now feel the love that these ponies were giving him.  Just then, the doors of the throne room opened and Twilight saw her brother, Shining Armor and several guards standing in the doorway.

"It's time, Twily," he said and the time had come for them to journey to Canterlot where Discord would be explaining his actions and hopefully receiving a sense of forgiveness for his actions.

Meanwhile, as Twilight and her friends led Discord to Canterlot for his meeting with the princesses, a strange figure dressed in a cloak was making his way towards the gates of Canterlot.  The two guards on duty saw the figure and pointed their spears at him.

“Halt!” cried one guard.

“Who goes there?” said the other guard.

The figure responded by pulling out what appeared to be a small cannon and absorbed the magic of the two guards, causing them to fall to the ground.  This allowed the figure to pass the two guards and into the gates without incident.

However, before he went any further, he turned back to the guards and raised his cannon at them again.  But this time, he fired the magic back to the guards allowing them to get back on their feet.

“Your princesses are expecting me,” replied the cloaked figure, speaking in a Trottingham accent.  “And an unexpected confrontation might cast a slight pale on our meeting.”

The guards watched in bewilderment as the figure made his way towards Canterlot…