Noirscape

There I was, having a chat with Discord about something. I don’t quite remember what the topic was. Probably something nonsensical as always.

I wasn’t wearing the ring; since as you might have seen at some point during my grandest story, I like to gesticulate when talking. It’s kind of hard to do when you only have one arm, so the ring was in my pocket.

And then, who would show up but the Princesses, wearing the saddlebags that no doubt contained the Elements of Harmony.

Heh.

Luna recognized me immediately. She was shocked. How could I, the supposed prisoner of Discord, be chatting about with such familiarity to the overlord? Elementary, my dear, I told her. Discord trusted me now, why would he suspect otherwise?

I think the great goof of a dragon must’ve suspected something. I wouldn’t know. All I did was stand aside and tell their Highnesses that he was theirs. I made sure to walk out of the blast radius after my announcement. No chances, eh?

Oh, but the look on his face? Priceless. I think that’s when he realized we’d never truly been friends.

Betrayal is a fun emotion.

His statue wasn’t nearly as triumphant as the one in the original footage, so to speak. He actually looked quite... broken.

After the Lord of Chaos had been defeated, I found myself glomped by a tearful Princess of the Night. She’d been so worried that the poor human she’d met in the dreamscape had been corrupted, or dead, or even lost to the horrible demon that eventually came to all humans.

That’s when Celestia twigged that wait a minute, something’s not right here. What demon? She’d met humans before, thanks to Star Swirl's shenanigans. Humans had nothing to do with demons. For that matter, what human? I looked nothing like one.

Luna was quick to point out that I had been transformed by Discord’s vile magicks. She still hadn’t realized.

I hadn’t changed shape after Discord’s effects on the world had been undone.

The jig was up anyway. But I was going for the maximum emotional impact. Poor pathetic waste of space, I told her. How truly unobservant of her, I said. Would she really think I, the one with connections to both Discord and The Slaughter, would tell the truth to an enemy of both? Did she really believe that after betraying Discord so callously, I was incapable of doing it again? Were we truly friends in the first place? Was I her friend?

Well, that last answer was simple. Of course I wasn’t. She was just a pawn to my goals. After all, I told her as I placed the ring upon my finger, she was already a pawn to all others. What’s one more master?

Oh, my compadré, you should’ve seen her expression as I transformed. Bronies across Earth would kill me upon seeing the face I’d caused. Who knows? I might have agreed with them once. Alas, we shall never find out.

So, it all boiled down to me and the Highnesses. One of them was in denial, and it sure wasn’t me or Celestia. It must be a sick joke, she said. I must’ve been already corrupted by the demon, she said.

Demon? I know not what you speak of. It is not like Celestia completely overthrew that little lie. Oh wait, she did.

Anger. How could I have done this to her? Did our friendship mean nothing to me?

Friendship, what friendship? No friendship here. Just a certainty that everything will go according to The Plan. Not my fault The Plan involved her as a pawn. Not like she isn’t a pawn to everyone else or anything.

Derailment. What do I mean by her being a pawn! She is no pawn!

Yeah, right. She is a pawn to her sister, she is a pawn to her subjects, and she is a pawn to me. Sure sounds like a pawn to me.

Celestia interrupts then. Her sister is not a pawn to her. I am simply trying to mess with her. To steer her mind away from what’s important.

I actually laughed, ya know? What Celly here was doing was a textbook example of pulling her weight and pawning Lulu around, and that’s what I told her. She shut up at that.

At that point, I felt that my plans were almost to a head. With a parting remark to Luna, reminding her that she would always remain unloved, even by those who would seemingly act sisterly towards her, no matter what she would do, I teleported away. It’s not like they could track me.