Boncord: The Pre-Sequel

"Ugh" Discord grumbled as he sat up and looked around. Bon Bon looked over him at one end of a prison cell and Twilight Sparkle sat at the other, staring out at two guards- after saying something softly to them they turned around and walked away.

"Discord!" Bon Bon gave him a hug and then quickly pulled away.

"This is all my fault." Discord sighed.

"It's awful- but you can't blame yourself." Bon Bon shook her head.

"But your cutie mark, my magic." Discord sighed. "By now it's been reduced to arcanium."

"Did Starlight Glimmer really do this to every pony's cutie mark?" Bon Bon sobbed at the disturbing thought.

"Yes." Twilight Sparkle confirmed with an uncharacteristic curtness as she walked over. "I wasn't aware of any holdouts outside of the Crystal Empire."

"How could I have been wrong about Tirek?" Discord shook his head. "This is supposed to be my area of expertise."

"You two don't belong here, do you? In this world." Twilight Sparkle quizzed ominously, sizing up the odd duo.

Bon Bon looked over to Discord and then to Twilight Sparkle. "How do you know that?" She asked with an equally ominous tone.

"Because-" Twilight Sparkle's voice changed as in a swirl of magic she assumed her true form- Queen Chrysalis. Bon Bon quickly positioned herself defensively between Chrysalis and Discord. "You think I'm your enemy here?" Chrysalis snickered. "You'd be wise to trust me."

"And why should we trust you?" Bon Bon demanded. "What good could come of any pony trusting you?"

Chrysalis turned away from the duo and looked down. "There's very little love in Starlight Glimmer's Equestria. My kingdom has been dismantled and my swarm, scattered to the wind, starves as we speak. That's how I could tell you two don't belong here; the way love oozes freely from your hearts. I'm an ally to any pony who stands against Starlight Glimmer as long as she sits on the throne in Canterlot." Chrysalis looked back at the duo as she finished explaining.

"Freely from our hearts?" Bon Bon sighed and looked down at Discord who looked back.

"The spark never seems to be there when we need it to be." Discord piped in.

"Only your kind!" Chrysalis hissed. "Only you could have the luxury of being so naive about love." Frustration began to build in her voice.

"What would you know about love when you just steal it from others?" Bon Bon chided.

"Well I certainly can't steal what I can't see now can I?" Chrysalis snarled as she stepped closer to Bon Bon.

"Look we don't want any trouble." Bon Bon sighed. "It just seems like the flame is only there when we're off on some wild adventure together- when it's sure to get us both in a world of trouble."

"I hear that." Discord affirmed with a sickly sigh.

"Imbeciles!" Chrysalis boomed. "Just as you can have passion without love; love can remain without passion." Her voice calmed as she clamped her hoof against her forehead and then shook her head.

"But without the passion-" Bon Bon started.

"It's just not the right time for you two." Chrysalis shook her head again and walked over to Discord and turned to face Bon Bon. "I can feel that you are both holding on to something that you aren't strong enough to let go of yet." A bizarre benevolence began to erupt from her as she lectured. "You both know it. That's why the passion to act on it only shows up often enough to remind you of the great union that can, one day, be."

"But how do we-" Discord raised a finger as his query was interrupted.

"Don't force it!" Chrysalis pressed her hoof against her face again and then turned toward Discord. "You can't force it. You both need to grow in your own way so that you can let go of whatever it is you are holding on to. In the mean time just let your love for each other manifest the way it does now- moments of trust, moments of kindness, moments like this where you set aside your differences and grin and bear your frustrations in order to stand by each other in moments of strife." Chrysalis glowed with passion as her diatribe escalated. "Be good to each other and be available to each other for your adventures (and misadventures) and when the time is right it will ignite into the storm of passion that you need in order to go onward together."

"That's such a beautiful way of putting it." Bon Bon swooned as a smile escaped from her heart.

"Who would have expected that from-" Discord was interrupted with Chrysalis's hoof in his face.

"Spare me!" Chrysalis rolled her eyes and reverted back to ambivalence. "My capture was no accident and I'd love to leave you two rotting in this cell but we could use an extra pair of hooves for our plan."

"Our plan?" Bon Bon asked.

"The guards watching us are my spies. Twilight Sparkle plans to launch a frontal assault at dawn and we're going to provide support from the inside."

"And what do we hope to accomplish?" Discord sighed as he lazily pointed his finger outward as though to affirm that he could no longer cast magic. "With Tirek on her side-"

"Things must be different in your world." Chrysalis sighed. "For a thousand years Tirek and his brother Scorpan faithfully served the ponies of Equestria- a real thorn in my side. When Starlight Glimmer showed up they warned Celestia not to trust her and they were right. Scorpan went missing and then shortly after that Tirek started reluctantly doing her bidding. She bound Tirek in chains after he allowed the holdouts to escape to the Crystal Empire."

"If only I had my magic; I could have provided a stylized cutaway scene for that." Discord sighed and curled up meekly on the ground.

"She must be holding Scorpan hostage and using him as leverage." Bon Bon raised a hoof to her chin in contemplation.

"That's not important. Our mission is to take back the Elements of Harmony and escape with them. Starlight Glimmer has them somewhere in the castle." Chrysalis explained sternly.

"Where even are we?" Discord strained, unaccustomed to his lack of awareness.

"We're in the dungeon in Canterlot. A suicide mission. We were doing just fine hiding behind Shining Armor's shield." Chrysalis sighed.

"But?" Discord urged her on.

"My spies came back with word that Starlight Glimmer was in the process of acquiring some sort of arcanium cannon that would be able to take out the shield around the Crystal Empire with a single blast. We have to do something now. I suggest you rest up if you want to make it through tomorrow." Chrysalis turned around and headed back to the opposite end of the cell.

"One last question." Discord said, causing Chrysalis to pause. "How do you know of other worlds?"

"Word is she has been in contact with somepony from another world." Chrysalis explained.

"Do you know who?" Bon Bon asked.

"She just calls her contact the filly." Chrysalis continued back to her own end of the cell.

"I don't see how we're going to survive this madness without my magic and without your special talent." Discord clutched his face in dread.

"Things are certainly going to be different for us now." Bon Bon sighed as she curled up on the ground beside Discord.

"What even is your special talent?" Discord pondered. "What does your cutie mark mean?"

"You mean; what did it mean?" Bon Bon frowned. "My village was destroyed and I was orphaned when I was just a filly. To deal with it I walled off a lot of my earlier memories. I wish I could tell you what it meant but I don't know either. Candy? I don't even like candy that much. Not that it makes a difference anymore."

"Bon Bon." Discord nagged softly as he began to drift off to sleep.

"Hmm?" Bon Bon asked.

"I have a bad feeling about this assault tomorrow." Discord mumbled as he fell asleep.

"Me too."