Loose Pages

Even for a creature who was much more a concept than flesh and blood, corporealization was an experience as unpleasant as it was indescribable. Discord felt his entire being scatter into a billion pieces before they reorganized themselves into matter. Nerves, skin, teeth, eyelashes, fur, claws. Everything was in place… Or, at least it should've been. There was this niggling feeling inside him, something he couldn't exactly put a finger or other appendage on.

The thought quickly left his mind as the blinding light finally faded to reveal a sight he never expected to miss. He found himself laying in a field of grass. Clambering slowly first to four, then to two legs, he glanced around. He found himself back in Whitetail Woods, right where he was spirited away to his forced vacation. Clouds broiled above him, obscuring the moonlight and casting the forest in an uncertain half-gloom.

Still, on a more positive note, the fact that he heard neither scared nor enraged screaming meant that the cultists were likely no longer around. Discord was more than glad about this. He wasn't going to allow himself to be captured again, but even immortals need five minutes of R&R after returning from a banishment to the Dream Realm.

On a less positive note, he couldn't see Luna either.

Disappointing, Discord thought to himself. She beat me at my own game.

He was about to snap and teleport himself away, when suddenly something caught his attention in the sky. The clouds dissipated and he found himself staring at a million twinkling stars. That alone wouldn't have been unexpected. Even after a millennia of imprisonment, he was pretty sure stars did that.

No, what shocked him was the fact that the stars were slowly swaying and dancing around the night sky. That was something much more characteristic of his own shenanigans, that is if the recently-awoken Lord of Chaos had any real opportunities to be chaotic again.

"Discord," a distant, reverberating voice called out to him.

"I know what it looks like, but I'll have you know I had no claw, talon or hoof in this!" he answered instinctively, only to stop as he realized who spoke. Discord's eyebrows rose so high they fell off his face before promptly regrowing again. "Luna?" he asked, twisting his head around completely. Yet the mare was nowhere to be seen. "Where are you? I know this is not quite characteristic of me, but—" he morphed his voice to be like hers "—Do you believe that now is the time for games?"

"It is no game," Luna's voice continued. "And I am right next to you." The voice's source shifted. "And behind you." It shifted again. "And in front of you." Finally Discord could no longer tell which direction it came from. "I am everywhere."

Discord was tiring of her antics. "Yes, yes, very nice trick, Princess, but don't we have a world to save or something?" He snapped, trying to bring himself to Luna. He hardly even finished the motion, when his body tore itself into pieces that flung themselves in every direction before gathering back into one. "Ouch," he muttered, rubbing his elbow. "I guess you really aren't playing tricks."

"Indeed. Your reckless attempt at bringing us back succeeded a little too well. Instead of merely passing us through the veil of sleep, you tore right through it. Now the world of dreams is pouring into reality." Luna paused for a second. "I feel empowered like I haven't for a thousand years."

"No need to thank me, you're very welcome," Discord smirked. "Well? What are we waiting for then? If you're so much in your element, let's just close the rift."

"It is not so simple." The frustration in Luna's ethereal voice quickly gave way to fear. "For We… I am no longer the only one with power over the dreamscape. I fear your actions have unwittingly helped those cultists, who took my name upon themselves."

As soon as she finished speaking, the stars began to violently shake and fall out of the sky first one by one, then in increasingly large groups, leaving more and more of the sky pitch black. Soon the forest was bathed in darkness, with only the slightest hints of silhouettes visible. Discord snapped his talons and one of them ignited, its light hardly able to penetrate the night.

"My… other self… is surely heading towards Canterlot as we speak. I had it in my heart to forgive Celestia for what she had done, for I too wasn't innocent, but it will not be nearly so kind."

"Well then, express delivery, one Draconequus and immaterial Princess to Canterlot." Discord clapped his hands together and jumped, only to fall back right where he stood. "Seriously? I'm getting a little sick of this."

"The world obeys the laws of dreams now. You may have your magic back, but it won't be enough. And even if I could find a direct route to Canterlot, I must dedicate my full attention to keeping the Nightmare at bay. I fear we must take the longer path and allow ourselves to be guided to it."

"Dumb it down a notch for the less oneirologically-abled, Princess."

A sigh echoed through the forest. "I have my hooves full with preventing our immediate demise. Just pick a random direction and start walking."

"See, now you're speaking my language!" With that Discord took off.

It felt like he was walking for hours, but perhaps it was only minutes—it was impossible to tell in the gloom—when the trees of the forest slowly gave way to a scene. Though there was still no light, Discord could feel the rays of Sun on his face and he could clearly see an uncountable amount of ponies in front of him, walking and talking aimlessly.

There was one more figure in the crowd. Discord sneered as he gazed upon his own visage, standing alone in the middle of this veritable ocean of stallions and mares, a little island of calm in chaos that would otherwise warm his heart. Yet, said heart only sank a little. In such a crowd, he was entirely alone. Nopony paid him any heed.

"What is the meaning of this?" he asked, hoping the anger would hide the cracks in his voice.

"It is a dream of yours, made manifest," Luna trailed off. "I'll be honest, I never would have expected you to feel this way. Especially after what we've just witnessed inside the dreamscape. I understand this is not the best moment, but perhaps if you want to talk…?"

"I'll pass. You have your own sob story and I have mine, can we please move on?" Discord began to make his way across the crowd, without waiting for an answer. "I might find your presence marginally more tolerable than your sister's, but that still doesn't mean I'd like to take part in your royal therapy sessions."

Yet, as quickly as he trod through the endless masses, he found himself no further from his lonesome self than when he started.

"So what's the deal?" he asked exasperatedly, while pointing at himself. "Can't you just make him disappear? I'm kind of bothered by seeing myself in such a sad shape."

"I'm afraid not. This is your dream. I may not interfere, but I may tell you what you need to do, even if I think you already know."

Discord put his hands on his hips. "Enlighten me then, Highness."

"To tell you the whole truth, I wasn't offering to talk merely out of courtesy. The feelings you could distract yourself from with your chaos will not be quieted so easily this time. You will be forced to dwell on them until you make peace with yourself."

"Oh?" Discord's face twitched in rage. "And here I was thinking we might be nearing some sort of understanding with each other." He continued his futile attempts to escape the scene, each time reappearing right where he started. He finally stopped, bending over slightly, as he panted in frustrated exhaustion. "Do you, ugh… Do you want me to perhaps chain myself and hide in a crater, huh? Or maybe just sink under the earth so that you and your little subjects can live in peace far far away from nasty old Discord?" He spat a bit of fire at the ground. "Do you think I am some cold automaton? Chaos is an art and art needs an audience or else what even is the point?"

"Discord, your 'art' has caused untold damage to ponykind…"

"And how many deaths? Or painful disfigurations? Or permanent destruction of anything?"

Luna remained silent for a second. "None."

"Exactly! Have you never noticed that during your nasty crusade against me? I may not exactly be good, but I am also not evil. Ruling is no more fun than being stuck in stone if there's nopony to share it with."

"Of that I am far too aware," Luna replied wistfully, before quickly adding, "but we got off on the wrong hoof. The peace I meant wasn't one of incapacitation, but of opening yourself to the world."

"Oh, cut the sugar, Sugar. That's just not who I am. I might abhor loneliness, but that doesn't mean I want to turn all sappy and ponylike."

Luna chuckled a little at the image. "You need not do that. Just accept that you do not need to be alone."

"So what, are you gonna come over for tea every week? How could a being like me make any meaningful connections? I make chaos, not friends." Discord waved a paw in front of his face. "It's in the name, duh!"

Luna continued undeterred. "Still, you could try." A hint of playfulness crept into her voice. "Wouldn't you consider becoming friends with your once arch enemies very chaotic?"

The Discord in the middle of the crowd looked up. The crowd was no longer ignoring him, instead they all looked at him. And they all smiled. He smiled back.

"Eh, sure, I've heard far worse jokes before." He looked around. "With how crazy the world is nowadays, I guess it couldn't hurt if I took a day off or two occasionally."

The crowd in front of him parted, opening a path deeper into the forest. Discord walked through the cheering ponies with a little bit more strut in his steps.

As he left the scene behind, the forest shifted once more and he noticed that the trees were replaced by brick walls and the grassy earth shifted to marble tiles. In short, he found himself inside Canterlot castle.

"Well, that's convenient."

"Let's not celebrate yet. I feel the Nightmare nearby; we must hurry."

"Oh, but of course." Discord rolled his eyes theatrically. "It's easy for the disembodied mare to throw poor old me into the fray."

"Discord."

"I jest, let's go."

With that, he ventured deeper into the castle. Despite the great chandeliers hanging above, the palace was hardly more illuminated than the forest. He almost tumbled over a pile on the ground.

"What the?" he muttered, as he leaned down to look closer. It was a pony, still clad in armor. His eyes were closed and he didn't move at all. "Is he…?" Before he could end his sentence, the guard snored right into his face.

"Merely asleep," Luna finished his sentence. "Thank the Stars, my magic was strong enough to prevent further harm. Hurry, Discord."

"Fine." As he moved on, he ran into several more guards. Thankfully all of them were breathing quietly, their eyes fast shut.

At the end of the hallway, he found a pair of great golden doors. Discord carefully cracked it open, stepping into the throne room.

The other end of the chamber was something darker than black. Though Discord could not see what exactly it was, he could feel a presence so malign and evil, even he shuddered from it. Yet, right next to it he also felt something warm and powerful emanating from the void.

"Is this the Nightmare?"

"Indeed. I shall dispel this veil of darkness. Stand ready."

As if a candle was lit, the room became illuminated by invisible lights. Discord's gaze shifted to the throne, on which he saw an old enemy. Celestia sat on her throne, just as deeply asleep as her guards outside. Yet her slumber was not nearly as peaceful. Her usually serene face was disturbed and clearly in pain.

Above her the vague silhouette of a mare circled, occasionally lashing down only to recoil again, causing great pain to the Princess.

Discord raised an ignited talon, ready to shoot down the being, only to be interrupted by Luna.

"Stop!" she almost screamed. "If you are even a tiny bit off, you will only hurt my Sister and doom us all."

"Tsk, fine," Discord grumbled, dropping his talon. "What's the big plan then?"

"I'm… I don't know. We might be too late," Luna's voice grew increasingly desperate. "The Nightmare has already began its assault on my Sister."

Discord, however, just shook his head. He looked up with a smile. "Chin up, Princess. The Celestia and Luna I know would not give up that easily."

"But I…"

"Don't dwell on it, focus. How can we help her?"

Luna heaved a sigh. "Perhaps, if we delved into her dream. But I cannot ask…"

"Luna," Discord interrupted her. His voice was soft and warm. "I still intend to live in this world. And I also intend to give this whole 'Friendship' farce of yours a shot. So if catapulting me into your big sister's head is the way, then catapult me already."

Luna remained quiet for a few seconds. "Very well. I shall stay outside and weaken the Nightmare's grip on her."

"Please be careful with my Sister. Her dream feels violent even from outside." Discord felt his eyelids grow heavier and heavier. Luna's voice began to drift away too, as he slowly slumped to the ground in front of the throne. "And though I may be allied with you now, she is none the wiser to our pact and in her current state she may not realize you've come to her aid instead of destruction…"

The world slipped away and, for just a moment, there was only silence and darkness.

Discord opened his eyes and found himself in an inferno.