The Eyes of Discord

Princess Celestia neatly sorted through the scrolls on her desk, gathering together the ones she had completed the previous night.  She carefully bound them all with red twine, and then went over to the chest at the foot of her bed.  The Solar overlord donned her regalia, as she had done almost every morning for the past three thousand years.  After she had finished the reverse procedure of what she had done last night, Celestia slid the chest’s lid close.  Surprisingly, given enough time, even the task of ruling a country could simply become routine.

She was just beginning to gather the scrolls together, when a faint sound struck her ears.  The sound of a set of hooves dashing across a marble floor.  The same marble floor that was right outside the door to her rooms.  Mildly interested, Celestia glanced upwards, looking at the broad wooden double doors.  She was just in time to see them burst open with a faint streak of dark purple.

“Wha-” She was cut off as the previously mentioned streak slammed into her, sending her crashing to the ground.  Annoyed as she was, at least the princess remained unhurt, as her room’s floor was covered in a plush rug.  Picking herself up, Celestia examined the source of her sudden displacement.

“Luna?  Dare I ask why your entrance was so theatric?  In fact, I might be so bold as to say, it had me floored.”

“Sorry Tia.” The darker Alicorn slowly rose, as she had come to land next to her sister. “I was distracted and did not realize your door was so near… I must say, you provided an excellent cushion for my stop.”

“That still does not excuse the fact that you were barreling through the castle faster than any sane pony ought to.  What has gotten you into such a… speedy mood?”

Luna grinned sheepishly. “Well, you see, my research has finally paid off… sorry, by the way.”

Celestia rubbed her neck, easing away the discomfort that the collision had caused.  Although the intrusion was odd, the steward of the sun was intrigued.

“It has?  So does this mean that your obsession with studying the portal is at an end?  What did you find?”

“Well, I did find a scroll that describes it in detail, actually.  It’s a letter.  It’s addressed to you.”

Celestia raised her eyebrows.

“When exactly, was this letter written?”

And why did I never receive it?  She wanted to add.

“It was written shortly after Discord began his little reign of terror.” Luna spoke darkly.

Even though it had been more than a thousand years since the incident, the memory still hung over the Pony princesses.  It had been one of their darkest hours… and at least for Celestia, their greatest failure.

“I see…” Celestia pondered the new information for a few moments. “What exactly does this letter say?”

“It contains information on the portal… very in depth information, I may add.  It appears that Discord was involved with it.  So much so that it bears his name.”

Celestia was beginning to realize why Luna was so eager to get in her room.

“It bears his name… in what way?”

Luna sighed, and then trotted over to an open window, looking out over the horizon.  Far over the horizon, past visible range, Mount Ragnon stood, resolute against the wear of time.  The dark Alicorn turned back to her sister.

“The Eye of Discord.”

        <(^)>

Scriptorium slipped the keys that he had previously been playing with back into his pocket.

“All right then.” He glanced at Anderson. “Please follow me.”

He quickly turned around heading through the underground facility.  Without looking back, he began speak to Anderson, who was following shortly behind him.

“Mr. President, do you know why the pentagon was built here?”

Anderson was slightly put off by his question.

“The military needed a centralized command and control center.”

Blackhawk slowly shook his head.

“That’s certainly WHY the pentagon was built, but not why it was built HERE.  Arguably, it was close to the capitol, but there are really quite a few other locations that could have been better.  For instance, it could have been constructed somewhere where it had its own airfield, or something along those lines.  Why do you think it would get dropped here of all places?”

They were now nearing a large metal door at the end of the facility.

“I had always thought that they just wanted it in with the rest of the main government structures.  Was I wrong?”

“Yes, actually.”

Scriptorium had stopped just short of the door.

“In truth, the pentagon was built here to kill two birds with one stone… We needed a command center, and we needed to make sure that no one else found this.  Although, we had absolutely no clue what it was, or what it might do, until two years ago…”

Scriptorium slid the keys from his pocket once more… and then used them to poke in the correct code on a number pad.  Once he had finished, he returned the keys to their holder.  Anderson looked at Daniel, who was standing beside him.  He merely shrugged.

“I think, Mr. President…” Scriptorium was speaking again, “That you may recognize what you are about to see.”

The door slid open with a hiss, revealing an inky black space.  Scriptorium leaned forward, flicking a switch.  The cavern was suddenly illuminated by a three dozen high powered lights.  Anderson was blinded for a moment, as the space had instantly gone from pitch dark to light as day.  As his eyes adjusted, he felt his heart beat quicken.  He took a step into the cavern, looking up at the huge stone ring before him.

“You wondered why the scientists were able to arrive on scene so fast when you discovered you little portal in the Nevada desert, Mr. President.  It was because we already had the right kind of scientists.”

Scriptorium leaned nonchalantly against the door frame.  Anderson gazed through the middle of the ring.  The ring that was identical to another great stone ring, only that one had been located in Nevada.  It merely showed the continuation of the cavern, heading upwards through the rocks and dirt.

“Where does it…”

“Where does it lead?” Scriptorium finished the question for him. “Tragically, nowhere exciting, that cavern narrows down and leads up to just underneath the helipad.  To clear up any confusion, this particular portal appears to be idle.  Although we have reason to believe it is related to the one that was more recently found in Nevada, it has never, at any point during our observation of it, been active.  The only reason to believe that it may lead to the same place would be the carvings.”

Anderson hesitated, and then extended his hand, touching the unnatural rock creation.  Carefully, he ran his hand over the stone, feeling the small indentations and lines that made up the various carvings.  With his pointer finger, he traced the outline of a unicorn on the rock.  A sense of awe had fallen over him.  Suddenly, Anderson stopped.

A question had forced its way into his mind.  Slowly, he turned to face Scriptorium.

“I believe that I may have just had an interesting idea, Mr. Scriptorium.”

The man in question continued to lean against the door frame, obviously very relaxed in the president’s company.  Perhaps working with an alien artifact for God knows how long had numbed his sense of respect.

“I’m free to answer everything that you ask, Mr. President.  Except what I had for dinner last night.  I’m afraid that’s a matter of national security.”

Anderson was beginning to realize just how eccentric - not to mention weird - Scriptorium was.

“I can assure you, Mr. Scriptorium, that I will not inquire after your dinner.” Anderson paused, “What I would like to know is… if this portal was never active, how did anyone ever find out that it wasn’t just a Native American temple or Aztec ruin or some other ancient civilization?  It seems odd to me that anyone would immediately think of this as… other worldly.”

Scriptorium smiled. “Well, about this portal never being active.  That’s true… in a general sense.”

       <(^)>

“He made the portal.  Well, had it made at least.  Your idea about some zebra cult actually has some grounds to it.  Discord was assisted by several deceived magicians and a few zebras with advanced knowledge of enchanting.”

“Of course,” Luna continued, “As interesting as all of this is, it still begs the more interesting question; why did he make the portal?  The author of the letter, a descendant of Starswirl the bearded, didn’t even have an inkling.”

“I actually have a much more interesting question than that.” Celestia said thoughtfully. “What I would like to know, is how Discord knew of the other world in the first place.  More importantly, he also seemed to possess a rudimentary knowledge of how to get there.” She paused, a new idea suddenly occurring to her. “When was the letter actually written?”

Luna inhaled, suddenly seeing what her sister was inquiring after. “It was from little over a month after Discord’s first appearance, thirty seven days later, to be exact.” Luna mentally kicked herself for not connecting that fact any sooner.

“So,” Celestia continued, “Discord not only knew about the other world, and knew roughly how to get there, but he also managed to accomplish all this in less than thirty seven days?”

Luna blushed, realizing that she hadn’t pondered the letter as much as she should have.  Then again, she had charged in to tell Tia within three minutes of actually finishing the read…

“I… I suppose that he did.  It is rather extra-ordinary, now that I’m thinking of it.  It seems like he would still be to occupied with squashing the last pockets of resistance to bother with something as trivial and potentially useless as a portal that might not even work.”

Celestia chuckled, slowly shaking her head.

“I think that time may have distorted your recollection of him.  Discord is exactly the kind of creature to ignore the more pressing matters and focus on such small matters.  After all, why would Discord do anything if he couldn’t find amusement in it?  The sad thing is, I doubt he even sees it the same way.  From all that I’ve seen of Discord, all he really wants to do is have fun; it’s just that his idea of fun is tragically twisted.  He probably thinks that he’s making everypony else’s lives more fun too, which is why he takes annoyance when somepony fails to take notice of his ‘glorious chaos’.”

“Perhaps I have forgotten him.  Then again, perhaps that is for the better.  I wish that I had never dealt with that beast.”

“Well I certainly hope not.” Celestia snorted, “Without your help, I would never have been able to defeat him, and the world would still be engulfed in eternal chaos.” She paused “Which would be a very bad thing, despite the fact that it comes with chocolate rain.”

“If only we could convince him to run a daycare or some family restaurant… every foal that set foot in the building would instantly be in love with him.”

“Indeed.  He would be far better at that than trying to steal our jobs…”

The princesses laughed lightly at the thought of Discord operating a foal care center.  Celestia allowed herself to enjoy the moment for a tad longer, and then returned to more vital topics.

“Yes… Anyway, is there anything else that you’ve uncovered about the portal, or Discord, or is that all?”

Luna suddenly grew still.  The dark Alicorn carefully cleared her throat.

“There is one more thing that I must say about the Eye of Discord.  I believe that it is also the most important find of the day.”

Celestia wondered why she hadn’t brought it up before, if it was so serious.

“Tia… Even… Even Discord, as wretched and twisted as he may have been… Even Discord had two eyes.”

“But…”

Celestia had frozen in her place, confused.

“Do you merely speculate, or can you be sure?”

“The letter seemed to indicate it.” She paused for a moment, before murmuring; “The chaos has been doubled.”

“Then perhaps all our troubles are not as finished as they may have seemed.” Celestia said quietly.

“It is uncertain.  We have no idea of the whereabouts of the second portal, and we have no reason to believe that the humans are any better off.  Also, we have no reason to believe that the humans who were in power at the time would still be in power.  We don’t even know if time correlates between the two worlds.  For all we know, the second portal may have even been destroyed long ago.”

Luna waited for her sister to reply.  Celestia sighed.

“Still, we should – quietly – initiate a search for it.  Did the letter say anything about location?”

Luna shook her head.

“Nothing, we’ll have to do some more digging.”

Celestia sighed once more.

“Thank you for sharing this with me, my sister.  I am now very glad that you insisted on researching this whole affair.  I apologize if I ever discouraged you.”

“It’s quite all right Tia.” Luna smiled. “Now it’s just a question of –”

They were interrupted as Starblink and twelve royal guards slid to a stop outside the still open door.  In their fascination with the conversation, Luna and Celestia had forgotten to close it.  Distantly, bells began to clang, and the sound of dozens of hooves striking the ground could be heard.  Starblink strode forward, while the rest of the guards fanned out around the entrance, making a defensive perimeter.  Behind him, two unicorn guards closed the double doors, securing the three ponies in Celestia’s chambers with a resounding thud.

“Sorry if we gave you a bit of a fright.” He looked over the two of them. “But I’m afraid that the two of you already gave one to us.  There’s an intruder in the castle, and neither of you are where you were scheduled to be.  I practically had a heart attack, especially since this is no bandit.  There is one confirmed fatality on the lower levels, and a report of an attempted killing of another pony.”

His eyes had locked on Celestia, as if he was unable to make certain she was still alright.  Finally, he leaned in, and nuzzled her.

“The two of us are completely fine, thank you.”

Both Princesses looked concerned, and Luna piped up;

“Who… Who was killed?”

“I don’t know yet.  As soon as I heard, I grabbed the nearest platoon and started looking for you.  There hasn’t been much news other than what I already told you.  I didn’t think that you two were the target, because if you were, then there was no reason for the assassin to be in the lower levels.  Still, I needed to make sure that you were safe.”

Though he spoke to both of them, it was fairly clear that most of his concern was directed to the older of immortal sisters.

“Thank you Starblink.” His wife smiled at him. “I’m glad that you’re alright too.  However, I am concerned for the poor slain creature down below.  Are you sure that the intruder hasn’t been found yet?”

Starblink shook his head.

“I’ve instructed a runner to come tell me as soon as it is found… We will know almost immediately.”

         <(^)>

“I can only say I’m sorry sir; I’m afraid that he is quite dead.”

The graying medical pony tucked away his tools, tipping his top hat onto his head.

“I honestly wish that I could do something more for you lad, but I’m afraid that I can’t.  Unfortunately, no amount of medicine is going to bring him back.” He paused for a few moments, observing the depressed unicorn.  Alex sat stock still, staring at the pale corpse of Metalspark.  The doctor leaned down, trying to give some degree of comfort. “I’m quite aware that it is an overused statement, but I can assure you that the poor lad died instantly.  Never even knew that anything was wrong.”

Alex continued to stare in a rather bleak fashion, before finally turning to the doctor.

“Thank you for all your work sir… you can go now.”

Alex watched quietly as the doctor walked out of the room, followed shortly thereafter by two royal guards carrying a stretcher.  The stretcher that carried Metalspark’s dead body.  The door clanged shut behind them with a great Thud of finality, and then they were gone.  Alex continued to sit, still staring, even though he now looked only at empty space.

Just when I thought that my luck was looking up…

He was bitter.  It was easy to understand the reasons.  It’s a strange feeling, to loose someone that you know.  To have the knowledge that you would never see them again, or be able to talk with them.  To hear their voice once more.  Alex glanced around the room, looking at all of the chemicals and compounds that could have blown up in his face at any given moment.

“Well Spark… I nearly managed to kill myself a hundred times in here, yet you’re the one to go first.”

The words drifted through the lonely room, and gradually dissipated.  And still Alex stared.

He continued to stare as the door opened, casting a shadow across the floor.  He continued to stare as the shadow closed the door behind it, and then trotted across the room.  He continued to stare as it sat beside him, and he continued to stare as it rapped a hoof around him in a tight embrace.

“I’m so sorry Alex.”

The voice was soft, and slightly pained.  Twilight sat beside the unicorn stallion, doing her best to comfort him, even if he didn’t want words.  She was content to sit with him until he indicated otherwise.  He had already experienced enough pain for one lifetime, and to add this on top of it was like kicking a dying man.  The minutes ticked by, the clock’s hands content to tick away eternity, never pausing to note any event, pleasant or plague.

Finally, Alex mumbled a few quite words.

“Quo vadis dominus?”

Twilight looked at him, puzzled.

“What does that mean?”

Alex was silent for a few moments, before he slowly replied.

“Where are you going, master?”

Twilight thought for a few moments, still not understanding the stallion’s strange words.

“I’m sorry Alex, but I don’t know what that means.”

“That’s why I was asking.” He said softly. “Look around at my life.  At my friends.  Two years ago, I was robbed.  Virtually every person, place, and thing that I had ever known was swept away.  Forever.  Was it terrible?  Yes.  Do I still feel horrible from time to time?  Yes.  But after a few months, I worked past it.  I met some new friends.  They can never replace the old ones, but they can soothe the loneliness.  You soothe the loneliness.” He said the last sentence more quietly. “Now… after all that, what happens?  One of my friends gets torn away from me again.  Shot, right in front of me.  I watched as his blood…”

Alex trailed off, not finishing the thought.

“Why would this happen?” His voice was strained, and Twilight could tell that he held back tears.  His heart was like a burning lump of coal in his chest, and it felt like he carried a great burden. “Why would this happen?  Why here, in the land of freaking magic ponies, would something like this happen?  What do you want from me?  Why has the world abandoned me?  Where are you going master?  Quo vadis dominus…”

Alex turned to face Twilight, staring into her big eyes.  They were racked with concern.  Finally, he gave in.  He didn’t care if she saw.  He knew that she wouldn’t care either, or more accurately, she cared quite a bit.  That’s why it would be alright.

Painfully, he allowed the tears to flow.  He extended his own forehoof, and tightly embraced her.

“I don’t know why bad things happen.  I don’t know if any of us do.”

Twilight hugged him back, glad that he was talking to her.

“All I know, is that through it all, we can hang on to hope.  Sometimes, it seems like the most horrible things lead to a good.  Alex, you have to remember, no matter what, I’ll be here for you.  Swiftwing is there for you.  Spike, Rainbow, AJ, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rarity, Bluebolt, even the princess Celestia.  All of us are here.  If you ever need anything, just let me know.”

She nuzzled him, hoping that he would be able to overcome this tragedy, just as he had overcome the separation from his world.

“I know Twilight…  I’m sorry.  Thank you so much.”

“Shh… its ok.  You don’t have to be sorry for anything.”

“But… Twilight… it’s my fault.  I… I could have locked the door… or something.  I don’t know.  What am I?  I feel useless.  Everyone else does everything, and what do I do?  Tinker with my exploding toys?  I’ve never been a leader…” He paused for a moment, and then mumbled, “James was always good at that…”

Twilight was silent.  After all, there was a faint ring of truth in his words, even if he was just beating himself up with them.

“I…” She began, then she stopped.  She continued the sentence in her mind.  I don’t know…

“I guess that not all of us can be heroes.” Alex said darkly.  Then, he stood up, trotting away from the other pony. “I’m going to my rooms… I think that I’ll just be alone for a little while.  Thanks.” Without another word, he left the room, and the bloodstains, behind.

Twilight sat quite for a little while, before she too, stood, and departed from the room.  As she left, she couldn't help but wonder, what had caused Alex's rapid mood swing?

*****

Someone, go write a oneshot where Discord opens a daycare, now.  Anyway, I'm sorry that it takes so long between updates.  School/school/school just take up a lot of time.  Though, it may interest you to know, part of this chapter was written in a tree.  Like, legitly, written twenty feet high in a tree.  Just thought that you may find that interesting.  Hope you enjoyed!  - Pelicandude