Loose Pages

Discord gasped, but there was only a singeing heat that filled his lungs. He was blinded by the heat. It was burning his fur. He fought against it, clawing at the air madly, trying to fight his way through it. In the corner of his fire-blinded vision, he saw a shape move. He desperately rushed toward it. Just as he reached out to grab it, his burned claw burst out into the air. He thrust himself toward the coolness and tumbling to the marble floor.

He looked around, hacking. He was on a balcony. He looked out. The whole of Equestria was visible. He was on one of Canterlot Castle’s balconies. It was early morning. The lightest of pinks was just appearing on the horizon. He heard several voices and jumped to one of the pillars to hide himself. He had no idea what was happening and it was best to remain hidden for now until he could figure this out.

He looked back at where he had appeared. It was a huge ball of fire. Twenty feet in diameter. A dozen unicorns stood in a semicircle around it, chanting something incomprehensible. Their horns were alight, the magic streaming from them into the fire. He immediately recognized what it was.

There, in the center of the inferno, was the most majestic sight a unicorn could bear witness to. The Solar Invictus spell danced and weaved through itself. That had been what he had seen. The incorporeal magic of a dozen unicorns made material by the raw power of nature fighting against it. It would twist and bend, resembling all sorts of creatures all at once as it seemingly played in the fire like a foal playing in a sprinkler. There was an admirable innocence to the whole affair.

But Discord wasn’t impressed. It wasn’t majestic or beautiful. It was order. The most order possible. The ponies of old weren’t content with just the plants and weather. They had to control everything. The chaos of nature had to be brutally crushed and neatly sorted and scheduled. The unicorns had to control the very stars that danced above them, not content to merely watch them trot across the sky.

He smirked to himself when one of the mages passed out and fell to the ground, her horn sputtering. That control had cost them dearly. Nature did not take kindly to the chains the ponies had cast upon it. Perhaps that was why it had called upon him when—wait a second. He suddenly realized how familiar the whole scene was. And sure enough…

“Careful, Celestia, careful.”

Star Swirl, that old windbag, was standing next to his protégé, whispering in her ear. She was a small thing. Barely older than a foal. Her pink mane and tail blew in the wind the mages’ spell was kicking up. Her horn was alight, though her magic was having nearly no effect on the magic being tossed around her.

Discord smiled. There was Celestia. His brow furrowed. Canterlot hadn’t yet been built when he first appeared, let alone when Celestia was learning of her special talent. The chronology didn’t make sense. But does it ever in a dream?

And hadn’t Luna said something about pain? As if his old friend Fate had decided to stop by at that moment, the whole world was tossed around violently, quite literally. He was flung dozens of feet, for as it was Celestia’s dream, only her point of view mattered. The whole rest of the world was merely a moving image for her eyes.

He steadied himself up, grabbing at the pillar he’d been hiding behind, but it was now a stalagmite. In that brief moment of disorientation, the whole scene had changed. Gone were the mages. Gone was the triumphant sunrise. Gone was Canterlot. They were in a dark cave now. Stalactites hung precariously from the ceiling, their forms twisted and pointed tips covered in dripping blood.

The ball of fire, with the solar spell still within, was now hovering a few feet in the air. Gone was the majesty. There was a menace to it, now. It felt like an inescapable pit you were slowly being dragged toward. Its light lit the whole cavern. Discord looked back at the unicorn filly. Celestia’s horn was still alight, her magic streaming into the fire. Her eyes were open, but glowed white as the sun’s power flowed into her. Her rump started glowing and—

“Celestia, stop!”

She looked over and saw Star Swirl’s horrified expression. She looked back and screamed. Discord stared, his mouth agape. A green unicorn mare wearing a cloak had been dragged into the fire. She was screaming in agony, begging anypony to help her. Her mane and coat lit in an instant, burning away her skin and charring the raw muscle underneath black. Her legs curled as the heat cooked the tendons. It was a horrifying sight.

“Clover!” Celestia cried out. She turned back to Star Swirl, her eyes wide as saucers, tears forming at the edges. “I can’t stop it! I-I can’t turn it off. Help me, master. Do something!”

No, this was wrong, Discord knew. His essence had been gathering since the Windigos defeat and he knew all that had been happening in Equestria’s infancy. Celestia hadn’t witnessed Clover’s fiery death. She hadn’t even been in the capital at the time. How was she having a memory of something she hadn’t even seen?

The scene continued. Star Swirl was swept off his hooves and was being dragged ever closer to the ball of death in the cave’s center. Clover was gone. Completely disappeared, like she hadn’t even been there. “Celestia, you have to stop the spell. It’s the only hope!” he begged as he clawed at the ground.

Celestia looked at the stallion with raw terror. “Master, I can’t. I-I can’t do it.”

Discord continued watching. None of this made sense. Celestia shouldn’t have this memory to dream about. She hadn’t been there. He went back to those ancient days, replaying them in his head. Hoping to find some answer to this annoying riddle. His eyes widened in sudden realization. He suddenly chuckled to himself. What a devious plan.

Celestia hadn’t been there that infamous day, but Luna had. And if she had the memory, then so did the Nightmare. All at once, he realized what was happening. He had tried similar manipulations of Twilight and her friends when he first broke free of his prison. He knew how this game of puppetry was played.

At once, he leapt from the shadows. And he knew when the strings were supposed to be pulled. Celestia jumped back in panic, “W-Who are you?” she asked fearfully. It seemed Luna’s fears of a confrontation with him were unfounded. Because in a dream, how often does one really remember who they are and what they did? It’s all about the moment of the dream. And in this moment, Celestia thought she was a mere scared filly.

He looked down, trying to show as kind a smile as he could muster. It was hard using those muscles that way after so long. “Hello, Celestia. I’m…” Was he really going to do this? Oh, why not. He could try it out for a few thousand years and see what would happen. He reached a claw out. “…a friend and I’m here to help.”

The scene darkened, the light from the sun spell now gone. Shadows danced on the cave walls, despite there being seemingly no source of light to cast them, their forms mimicking dozens of nightmarish monsters from the deep, disturbed slumber of the ponies who were now writhing in their beds throughout Equestria. The bloody stalactites stretched down, reaching out like gnarled fingers. Celestia shrank back from Discord’s claw, her breath quickening from the sudden fear that was now overpowering her.

“Don’t listen to him, Celly. He’s a monster! Just look at him.”

Luna appeared from the darkness. She wasn’t the majestic alicorn of the night he had just seen minutes earlier, but a simple dark blue pegasus filly. Just like Celestia remembered from all those years ago. But Discord knew all too well the truth, as she quickly revealed.

Luna reached a hoof out toward her sister. “You have to give me the spell, Celly. It’s the only way to save Star Swirl.”

It was a devious plan. Trick Celestia into handing over control of the sun to the Nightmare. With the Solar Invictus spell, the Nightmare would have complete control of the sky. Celestia and Luna could do nothing to stop it once it had the spell. A part of Discord questioned the logic to this. The whole boring jealousy thing that had roped Luna into a thousand year time out in the first place had been Luna’s desire. She wanted the eternal night. This Nightmare wasn’t a part of Luna any longer. Why would it still crave something its host wanted? He shrugged. Dark magics could be so finicky sometimes. Maybe he’d ask it once all this was over.

Celestia started to edge away from him. He suppressed an annoyed sigh at the whole situation. He was chaos incarnate. Disorder. And yet here he was now, in perhaps the most chaotic setting possible, trying to lead a pony—his very nemesis no less—through it and back to logic and rationality.

“Don’t listen to her, Celestia.” His voice was quiet, but firm, like one a father might have when talking of the monster under the bed. “This is a dream. You’re asleep in the throne room right now.”

She hesitated. “A—Asleep?”

He crouched down to get closer to the filly. “Yes.”

The Nightmare wearing Luna’s skin rushed over to Celestia’s ear. “Don’t listen to it! It’s a trick. It’s trying to distract you so Star Swirl will die. Give me the spell so you can save him!”

Celestia looked from Luna’s face back to Discord. He smiled softly. “It is a trick, but not by me. You’re dreaming, Celestia. The nightmare that ensnared your sister has returned and wants your magic. Just think for a moment, why would a pegasus be able to use a unicorn spell? It doesn’t make any sense. Only in a dream could it ever work!”

The scene blurred. The ball of fire, the cave, Star Swirl—they all dissolved into the fuzzy background. It was just the three of them in focus now, as though they were standing in a thick fog with everything else obscured. Discord’s soft smile turned into a wide grin. It was working. Celestia was realizing the truth.

And the Nightmare knew it. She turned to him, snarling. “No! No! You won’t stop me now. Not when I’m this close!” The filly exploded into a black mist that swept toward him, swallowing him in darkness. Instinctively, he snapped a claw, but nothing happened. His powers were useless in the dreamscape. He started choking, the air seemingly getting sucked from his lungs.

“C-Celestia!” He gasped out. “Th-This is your dream. Y-You control what happens.” That’s how it worked, right? When somepony started lucid dreaming, they had unlimited power over it. He hoped the same held true for the Nightmare as well.

Discord suddenly fell to the marble floor of the throne room. He dizzily shook his head before looking around. It was midday. The room was brightly lit by the sun. There were no guards or Luna for that matter. But there Celestia stood, in front of her throne, now the regal alicorn princess she had been for over a millennium. She was looking up at the ceiling.

Discord’s eyes followed. Suspended in the air near the ceiling, the black mist that was the Nightmare writhed and churned in an elaborate spherical crystal prison. He had to admit, the silver accents around the ball were quite impressive. When Celestia put her imagination to it, she could create some truly gorgeous works. Such a pity she never wanted to unleash that imagination. What wonderful chaos it could conjure.

She looked down at him. “Thank you, Luna. You’ve saved Equestria. If you hadn’t been there to stop me, I’d have given this monster everything.” Her brow furrowed in confusion. “Though I don’t know why you’ve taken Discord’s form.”

Discord chortled. “I haven’t taken anyone’s form, dear Celestia. It has been I this whole time.”

Celestia froze, her eyes widened. “You? Discord? But how—why?”

You know, to see that look on her face made this whole “save Equestria instead of letting it fall into a chaotic nightmare dream realm” totally worth it, Discord thought. His smile remained ever present. “'Tis a very long and surprisingly chaotic story, Celestia. For now, let us return to the land of the awake. I believe your dear sister still requires our help dealing with the Nightmare there.”

Celestia nodded and the world went white.

Discord opened his eyes and looked around. Celestia sat up from her slouched position on the throne. The room was dark. It was still night. He looked up, expecting to see the Nightmare still looming above, but it was gone. Luna was as well, at first. After a moment of scanning, he saw her out on one of the balconies, staring up at the night sky.

He got up and rushed over, Celestia following. “Luna, I don’t mean to toot my own horn, but I brilliantly outmaneuvered your alter ego in the dream realm. Now where is it so we can bring this whole affair to an end?”

She only continued to stare. He looked out. The cityscape of Canterlot filled his lower vision. Most of the buildings were dark, as the ponies continued their disturbed slumber, which left an eerie sight of darkened outlines that stretched toward the mountain. In fact, the only building still alight was a clocktower some ways away. Its indiscernible faces cast the only light on the city, like a lone candle amidst a black room.

His eyes shifted up. “Ah, I see what you mean.” The night sky was full of things. All manner of them. Twisted, rotten, writhing, fleshy, oozing—there were probably other words he could use as well but those immediately sprang to mind.

Celestia only briefly looked at the horrors before turning to Discord and Luna. “How do we stop this?” Right to business, it seemed.

Discord crossed his arms. “You mean how do you stop all this? I’m sorry, but I’ve played my part and gone through this whole redemption checklist.” He snapped a claw, trying to conjure an old-timey baseball outfit, complete with long stockings, puffy knickerbockers, and a curled mustache, but nothing happened. This accursed reality bleed. He continued regardless. “Now it’s time for you to step up to bat.”

“We need the sun. I need the sun.” Luna finally said.

“You?” Celestia asked.

Luna nodded firmly. “Yes. These are nightmares. They live off the night. Without it, they will burn. But it will not do to merely raise the sun. I need to channel its power directly to sterilize these creatures. You need to give me control of the sun, Celestia.”

Discord’s eyes narrowed. That was awfully convenient, but perhaps it really was just a coincidence. An annoying light that had been nagging at his peripheral finally got his attention. He looked back out at Canterlot. It was just the clocktower. His eyes widened. The clocktower he couldn’t read the time of. It was just an indiscernible blur.

He looked back over, time seemingly slowing down. Celestia was charging her horn, ready to give the spell over, for in her dream, it all made perfect sense for Luna to have the exact same plan as the Nightmare. Why would it ever be any different?

He dove toward them. “Celestia! You’re still dreaming!” Her eyes widened in shock. “You have to wake u—”

Discord startled awake. He looked around. He didn’t have time to determine whether this was real or not before, “Luna!” he heard Celestia shout. She raced past him.

In the center of the throne room, Luna and the black mist of the Nightmare floated. Luna’s eyes were tightly shut in a grimace. Every few seconds a leg or wing would twitch or spasm, right in rhythm with a corresponding oscillation from the Nightmare’s mist. It seemed they were locked in a dream battle of their own.

He readied a claw, aiming to shoot the mist with his magic. “No!” Celestia jumped in front of him. “If you miss, you might hit Luna. We’ll never be able to defeat this without her.”

He growled in annoyance. “For goodness sake! Are you two not immortal? Do you really think a little chaos magic could cripple one of you? And I’ll have you know my aim is impeccable. I would never miss.”

Celestia’s eyes narrowed. “Well, I’m not willing to take a chance. Especially with so much at stake.”

Discord threw his hands into the air. “Then what are we to do? Just wait for their mental battle to finish. Shall I make us some tea while we wait?” He snapped a claw and this time was successful. The teapot appeared in a white flash, but the reality bleed was still messing with things and after a second of floating, it crashed to the floor, shattering into a hundred pieces and splattering tea everywhere.

Luna’s eyes opened at the sound. There was a burst of wind that blew her and the Nightmare apart. She skidded across the floor, Celestia rushing after her. The mist coalesced into the vague, blurry shape of an alicorn that hovered near the ceiling.

Discord raised a claw and aimed. “Enough of this.”

He snapped it, sending a streaming bolt of purple magic out at the Nightmare. The bolt zigged and zagged chaotically through the air. It would have been impossible to accurately dodge it. As it turned out, the Nightmare didn’t have to, as it shot a few feet to her left, blowing a gaping hole in the castle’s ceiling and sending a cloud of dust into the throne room.

“What?!” Discord screamed out. He glanced back at Celestia, who merely gave him a look but didn’t say a word.

He looked back, just in time for the misty mare to rush into him, enveloping him in darkness. He looked around in a daze, but could only see utter blackness. He could hear her voice. It sounded like the whispers of a thousand ponies, trapped in their dreams.

You think you’ve won, Discord?

“I thwarted your plan, haven’t I? That always counts as a win.”

Does it? I am still free and Equestria still slumbers. Reality has fractured. I control this realm now. Control of the sun would be lovely, but ponies still sleep in the day all the same.

“Yes, you’ve made quite a mess. I must say, very impressive. But only one realm? That’s so small, Nightmare.”

Your words do not matter, Discord. You cannot trick me with pride or anger.

“Oh, but it’s always so much fun to try! Oh well. If only one world of ponies is enough for you, then you can be rid of me and always wonder what else could have been.”

There was silence for a moment. Discord only heard the tumultuous wind blowing around him.

There are others?

“Oh, yes. Equestria is but one of many realms. I keep myself busy here, but there are others ripe for the taking. Some so sweet and naïve and brightly colored, I doubt even one of their ponies has had a single nightmare.”

And you can take me there?

“Of course. My powers can easily pierce the veil between worlds. But, you have to free me.”

Very well. But do not try any more heroics. They do not suit you, Discord. And they would fail again.

Light returned to Discord’s eyes as the mist retreated from him. The blurry, dark form stood a few feet away. He looked behind him to see Celestia and Luna standing, their horns alight, charging some kind of spell.

He put up a hand, but only Luna let her magic fade. At least Celestia wasn’t firing. Maybe she was just as unsure of her aim as she was of his. He snapped a claw and there was a noise. A strange bubbling, churning noise. The throne warped and distorted before it swirled out of existence and was replaced by a rippling orange and purple vortex.

He motioned with his hands like he was presenting a prize. “There you are, Nightmare. Just as we agreed. I think you’ll find this new world most suitable.”

The mist looked at the portal before turning back to Discord.

Very good, Discord. You first.

Discord’s face fell. “What?”

You think me a foal? That I will just wander through whatever magic you conjure? You, the Great Trickster?

He rubbed the back of his head. “Well, that was the basic idea.”

No. You will go first and once I am satisfied this is no deception, I will follow.

“If you insist.” He looked back at the princesses and bowed. “It’s been a pleasure, but I must be off now.”

He strutted through the portal. A few awkward seconds later, the mist followed after him. The portal steadily shrank before evaporating with a loud “pop!” Silence filled the throne room, stretching on for seemingly minutes.

Luna finally looked to Celestia. “Is that it? Is he really gone?”

As if to answer her, there was a sudden blinding white flash. Discord appeared in front of them, gasping for breath and clutching his chest. Several black wisps of smoke trailed off him before dissipating. He stood up, brushing himself off. “Well. She took that rather hard.”

Celestia looked at him in concern. “What happened?”

He looked at her simply. “I left her at the end, of course.”

Celestia and Luna looked at each other. “The end?”

“Yes, the end of it all. Where there is nothing. No Equestria. No ponies. No stars. No life. Nothing but a cold dark emptiness. She wanted a world of eternal night, so I gave her one.” He coughed again, a small puff of mist coming out of his mouth. “You’d think she’d be a little more grateful.”

Celestia looked around. “So that’s it, then?”

Luna nodded. “Yes, without the Nightmare interfering, I can mend the fractures with the dream realm. Equestria will return to normal.”

Discord reached an arm around each alicorn’s neck. “Great. This calls for a celebration with my new friends!”

Celestia frowned as the three walked toward the doors. “You know, we never did establish that this wasn’t another dream. What if we’re still asleep and this is another trick?”

Luna shook her head. “It is reality. I am sure of it.”

Discord nodded, “I am, too. This was no dream.”

The three walked on. At the far end of the throne room, a clock mounted on the wall above the entrance ticked, its face too obscured by the dust from the fight to make out.

********

“So far there has been no comment from Captain-General Soarin of the Wonderbolts or Captain-General Guardian Angel of the Royal Guard over the military activity in the Whitetail Woods this morning, but we have unconfirmed reports of arrests being made of a cul—”

There was a sudden click of the radio.

Bookworm looked over from the bookcase, “Hey, I was listening to that, Pen!”

“Well, now you’re not,” the light tan mare groaned back at the brown stallion. He only glared back, before resuming his reshelving work. It was best not to aggravate her, at least not before the Chief Archivist arrived to do it for him.

She walked back to her chair and sat down before taking a tired sip from her coffee mug. The mug, which had a stylized picture of a cartoon bookshelf smiling at a sunrise painted on it with the words “It’s Never Too Early to Read,” was plopped back onto the wooden receptionist desk. It was too early for the radio. She leaned back in the chair and rubbed her eyes with a hoof.

Last night had been rough. She hadn’t gotten any good sleep, just tossing and turning the whole night. She couldn’t remember any dreams, but she knew they had been bad. It was just that feeling, you know? When you wake up and are deeply disturbed but don’t know why. Like your subconscious was doing you a favor by forcing the memory of the horrible dream from your head.

Or maybe it had been Princess Luna doing the heavy lifting. Daisy, from the Ministry of Royal Affairs, had been weirdly high strung when she talked to her earlier that morning. Something about “cleaning up” the mess from Night Court. And then there was whatever was going on in the Whitetail Woods. Oh well. None of that was her concern.

She sighed and looked down at the scribbled note on the desk. But this was. It was insane it had taken this long to sort everything out. Hopefully the librarian wouldn’t be too upset that they’d only just now been able to put all the pieces together. She picked up the phone and dialed the number. Thankfully, there was no voice on the other end after the ringing, just the answering machine. She absentmindedly fiddled with a pencil in her left hoof while the right held the phone to her head.

“Hello, Miss Sparkle. This is Pen Stroke with the Canterlot Archives. I’m doing a follow up on the letter we sent a week ago as we haven’t heard back. To recap, if you didn’t receive it, it appears Golden Oak Library is accidentally in possession of an item from the Dark Magic Vault. Due to a clerical error, Item #127 was sent to your library some time ago instead of to its intended destination, the University of Trottingham’s Golden Oat Library.

“Please find it as soon as possible as it is a dark magic artifact and they tend to attract unwanted attention. The book itself is not inherently dangerous, but it does have a mild mind control effect that can make a reader perceive it as their ‘greatest written desire’, so it will appear to be a book you most want to read. Use Procedure 12 from the Librarian Handbook to safely dispel the illusion, then ship it back to us for cataloging.

“You can return it using the standard book rate the libraries use. The Archives will be revising its policies to ensure such an error like this doesn’t happen again. Please do not hesitate to call us if you have any questions or concerns about this.

“I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you or your patrons. Thank you.”