Personal Justice; Pt1 [Open]

[Deleted]

The sun had risen over the horizon. Blue Mountains and grwwn, rolling hills surrounded the country town, closing it off from the ravenous woods that, at constant, threatened to consume it. It was remarkable just how carefree ponies seemed to be, or perhaps or was the cacophonous nature of their lives that allowed such a beast presence among their simple lives. It was a beast like no other, the only onw of his sort, a bloke irredeemable in his nature as was evidence from his apprent taming. In the past there had be enough naught but horror stories of its conquest, yet a day of its rule now seemed little more than a carnival in the face of rampaging Bugbear and Ursa Minors.

How quickly do the mighty fall.

Before the sun had even completed its journey into the twilit heavens: many citizens were already out and about, beginning what would be a dat of chores. It was a rather mundane now to have it lying there. A menagerie of scale and fur, a curiosity rather than a source of fear, of terror. It had become display, a tourist attraction to get one's picture.

It had become monotonous, clockwork even with such a beast present. The spirit of chaos had become a background character, a deceiver turned degenerate: jobless and aimless in his productions.

He lay in the shade, blistered by the summer heat. Coils wrapped around leaving him look more snake than draconequus. He head lay rest ontop, eyes slipped closed as he settled into a light slumber.

[Mal]

They'd only been back in Ponyville for a short few weeks, and scarcely had they been around long enough to know of the draconequus that oft lurked there. Yuna didn't rise when the sun did, but a few hours after it once the persuasive comfort of the bed grew faint, or she was finally awake enough to move. The bed in her cart was particularly worn, compared to the lovely comfortable beds the inn owned, so it wasn't long before the alicorn was up and pulling on one of her shawls. It was a shame, really, that her herd were reduced to living out in a small encampment on the edge of Ponyville rather than actual rooms, but they needed to save enough money to buy a house for themselves.

Yuna exited her cart to stretch and spent a time fully waking up out in the noonday sun while she groomed out her mane and coat. A bit of preening for her wings, too. Once she was satisfied, she put her brush back and retrieved her bag of which she'd filled with the usual necessities for fortune telling. Her crystal ball, her tarot cards.. was that all? Yuna cast her cart a look. No, that might be everything.. Disregarding what her companions might be up to, if they were around at all, Yuna decided to stride off into town, having taken up- or rather, returned to- the habit of working as the fortune teller she was for as long as she needed to make as much money as they needed. Of course, her day wasn't so heavily restricted on just doing her job. Sometimes she wandered around, sometimes she got food to bring back to her herd.. or whatever else, but that was.. about it. Yuna didn't want to gain any unwanted attention.

[Deleted]

He could no longer lie to himself, given the situation. He had brought undue harm to the sisters by allowing Night Prophet's existence. While it was not up to the drsconequus who lived or died, he knew well that the harboring of beings restricted to realms could potentially threaten Equestria. Perhaps it had been anger, parts of it guilt, but he had to return the kelpie to Everfree Forest and sling him back into the pit from whence he came.

Try as the sisters might, there would be little left to reform as he was torn apart, slowly, by existing in a world he no longer existed in. His own egotistical pride starved him to nothingness. Discord would suffer no choice but to revert him to a creature of predation and carry him far from other Ponies. He had no choice but to whisk him away, lest watch him die. Guilt, struggling between what his lovers wanted and what they could not have. He acted without their knowledge and retured the beast after pushing him to conform to the nature of his kin. Just as Discord, who could not deny his nature of Chaos, it was only a matter of the time before the kelpie posed risk ignoring his own

He could not return without suitable excuse.

An ear pricked up from his resting dpot. A bundle of fesrther, fur and could rest beneath a tree's shade. As much as he adored the tender heat of the solar mare's body or the cool touch of the night maiden's kiss -- it was too damn hot. The spirit's ears swiveled forward watching the unknown pink mare enter. Curious that. He knew everypony in Ponyville. The line of his lips curled back in DE ious attitude. Perhaps a means to unspoilt his mood. Unfurling from his dismantling shape the mix and matched creature would crawl from his own packing.

A claw pressed to the grassy ground, followed by a large, Manticore paw. The silence in which the predator moved could do to surprise. His back curled from the coild, squeezing out like toothpaste. Once fully uncoiled the spirit's hindquarters would hold, levitating off the ground. In a poof of white he would vanish. Fur could pickle with the magicks he produced. Innatrual, unstable... it did not oft leave behind anything but a 'strange feeling', though today it was one of being stalked.

"What do we have here, a visitor?" His voice rang as his form appeared floating behind the unknown mare, who looked dressed for an interview rather than travel.

[Mal]

Her gaze was set on Ponyville, and her mind too occupied elsewhere to have noticed anything strange lurking under one of the distant trees she passed by. Out of the corner of her eye the creature might've looked like an oddly shaped bush. Yuna heard something of Discord, and his permanent return, either through the news or the mouths of ponies muttering about him, but she knew nothing of the spirit of chaos himself. She was also given to ignore most goings-on in Equestria, usually if they were distant things.

Her mind wasn't on Discord, however, but mentally preparing herself for another indeterminate number of hours dealing with other ponies and keeping up the whole fortune teller charade.. Yet a voice behind her was quick to startle her out of this. Yuna jerked, half turning towards the unfamiliar voice, only to freeze at what she saw. Partly because her mind needed to process the many limbs that didn't match the body and.. Discord's entirety. Her eyes didn't know where to look so she settled on the thin face and dual colored eyes, her ears laying back.

"Uhm," was all Yuna could manage until she tried again, regathering herself. "No. I'm hoping for 'eventual resident.' I've been around Ponyville for a while." The alicorn decided to inch away and fully turn herself to face what had snuck up on her, a bit ruffled; she had to take a few, deep breaths just to calm her racing heart. There was nothing else like him, so he had to be.. but Yuna wanted to make sure. "And you are?"

[Deleted]

The spirit always found the reaction of the ponies amusing. There was never a shortage in the array of emotions they went through. From shocked noises to fainting horses: he has been lucky enough to receive such entertainment, free no less! Perhaps it was their exaggerated responses, or twisted shouts that brought him a near sadistic amusement, or perhaps the complicated existence he was forced to survey under them was more than gratifying when by they overreacted. After all what had they to fear from a dried up monarch of terror? That was the punchline, one that left his jaw sore, his ego bruised.

What?

Well it did hurt sometimes. He could blame Fluttershy for instilling ideals of kindness and friendship in him, but that was not to say he was -- unappreciative of the chance. He just wished it wasn't so agonizingly guilt producing. But, luckily, the last of that compunctious feeling faded with his next breath, the sound akin to a slippery serpent poised on dragging the young mare into a tree and nibbling pon those white hooves. The edges of his lips pulled into a grin, muzzle wrinkling as he tittered. Her response was precious.

"Oh~well aren't you lucky?" The spirit spun around and vanished before reappearing behind the mare in question wearing a pair of bifocal on his muzzle and holding a clipboard in paw. He wore a white shirt, sleeves folded up. On his chest was a shiny badge indicating some ranking, of something official, but one could not read the letters carved into it if they tried.

"I am Ponyville's "offical" secretarial mayoral assistant's aide of the statistics and census beareau." Quite a muzzle full that.

He parted his jaws, pressing the pencil lead to his forked tongue, nose sneered and head cocked. "Now when we're you born? Under what star? Full name and address. Closest living relatives, spouse or spices, foals, full time talent, and three sizes." The spirit would spout most officially as he seemed to prepare himself to write everything down!

[Mal]

As much as Yuna wanted to adjust her wings under her shawl after being frightened by such a.. mass of different animal parts, she didn't want to draw attention to them. The idea of ponies discovering her were bad enough, if that paper hadn't already gone out with her picture, without this creature finding out! What would happen then?

His mouthful of words sounded like so much nonsense to poor Yuna's ears and she was forced to turn to face him again when he disappeared from view, only to reappear behind her, garbed. Official? She had a lot of scathing things to say about that, and- well, why was she bothering with holding it back, short of being afraid of.. him? She had to take a moment to even figure out what all he was saying to her, if any of it made sense at all.

"I didn't think the mayor hired anypony like you." It wasn't particularly malicious of her to say so, and while she had no idea who the mayor was, or whether she'd hire such a creature at all, it ultimately didn't matter. "I didn't think anypony would have to deal with this sort of nonsense just to move to a new town, just to get a house." Yuna snorted, tapping at the ground with the toe of one white hoof, shaking her head at the many questions she was peppered with. She didn't think she had to answer any of it!

"Now, really, who are you?" The alicorn was going to try to get an answer, a straight answer, because his presence and her confusion had set the poor socially anxious pony on edge.

[Deleted]

Had been patiently waiting her response. the draconequus did enjoy these little interrogations, however random they were. If he recalled properly: the last time he set about defrauding a pony into believing that he had to do a rain dance to properly adhere ti the Weather Patrol's protocols. Ahh he got the pegasus to start a tornado. Good times, good times. The spirit folded his ears back, the delight curling over his facial features as he pinched his eyes closed, relishing in the new victim. She seemed easy, a little unicorn? They were always fun to play with. Their pride, if nothing else, was easy to twist! He floated, hovered, effortlessly as she seemed to take in what he had just said. there was a glimmer of hope that he had a new, lasting victim. he had left Canterlot fo the time being, just a short break while he thought over things. He had put Celestia and Luna at risk with his more -- incomprehensible behaviors. But he did struggle to change, and struggled, as of late: to cheer himself up with nonsense like this. arching a brow he watched as she turned to finally face him.

"Oh" Not this foal had spunk! He chuckled, putting his paw to his muzzle as the affects of his gag vanished.

The spirit floated down to the ground, his hoof and talon touching to the grassy soils as he moved to stand to his full height. If he had not bene intimidating floating as he was with the ease of a wizard, and no visible magic to speak of, than standing on his hind legs could only add to this threatening visage of the multi-limbed chimera of a draconequus. Unlike a pony he did not need to walk on all fours. Due to his length and shorter limbs he was hardly the height of a full-grown Alicorn, but when standing as such he towered above them, standåing at equal with an adult, male Minotaur. Fascinating how such a mismatched beast could be so terrifying, but it was the simple fact that each part he wore came from a superior predator. A manticore's paw and a dragon's left were just the more easily spotted parts. His fangs and gouging horns seemed more spirited to vamponies than they were a shark's.

"Who I really am?" He pressed a paw to his chest, struggling not to erupt with laughter.

Standing tall his eyes gave off a bit of a glow. "I am Discord, Lord of Chaos... spirit of Disharmony and confusion." He leaned down, his horse-shaped head drawing toward Yuna until he was nearly muzzle to muzzle with her. "If you want a house here... I would think you would want to appease the one deity residing in this land...." Oh.

[Mal]

Yuna had always been a stubborn creature, easily annoyed and unable to handle the kind of many questions asked of her with nary a breath between for her to even offer answers. Some of those questions, once reviewed, hadn't even made sense to her! She was trying her best to hold her ground, but she ultimately failed when the draconequus settled back onto his hind legs. His floating made his height hard to determine, but now she could truly see how tall he was. And much, much bigger than she.

The alicorn took a few hesitant steps back, uncertain, and soon it all fell into place. Of course. Discord. Who else would look like that? Her ears fell back, and for a moment Yuna looked a bit frightened. Intimidated. She tried to scramble back when his face came down towards hers and just succeeded in falling down onto her rump with a soft grunt.

"I.. I never read that anywhere." Yuna tried to protest. She wasn't going to go groveling at his... er, feet? hooves? just for a right to live in Ponyville! "Isn't working my flank off for bits to actually buy a house enough?" Just the thought of how much more they might have to earn just to have a place of their own was daunting, and now there was Discord threatening her. It came off as threatening, just because of how he loomed  and all those sharp, predatory bits. With a nightmare by one's side, a pony got used to seeing slit-pupiled eyes and a mouthful of sharp teeth, but Discord was an entirely different story from a nightmare like Tarnished. Yuna couldn't bring herself to stand, with Discord so close.

[Deleted]

Discord could be awful, terrible, but nary was he cruel. A tease, a card and a bit if a nuisance: these are what best described the chimeric mage's points of personality in bullet format. But he was more complicated than he would first let on. With moods that could melt or freeze chocolate the spirit could antagonize a great king til he became self conscious about his sideburns or whisper sweet nothings to a prideful alicorn until she lay herself on her back for him.

The thoughts would be enough to make his chest fur fluff, as well as a few feather. "My, my we aren't that sort of pony are we,?" He began with a hum. "The sort to think everything is in a book? Who would you believe? The ageless ... prince of chaos, or the withered, yellowing pages of a book?" Though the comparison to his frienemy was interesting.

Was Ponyville really so off the map that a mare like this would consider real estate without prior knowledge of the resident troll? Though, to be fair: he had been absent for a few months. He would occasionally reassert his presence with a few off-color pranks involving paint and the Apple's trees, but his occupation of Ponyville has diminished from its previous accounts. The bump of her rump, followed by the grunt satisfied him enough. Just a but of chaos to get by, no need to traumatize Tia's little ponies~

Discord would transform once more! Sunglasses and a rather out of place suit. "Fortunately for you I also do real estate on the side." He tugged at his sleeve's cuffs. "Contrary to what you may think, I am in the business of aiding the town." Just not in the way most thought helping should be. "A house eh, what sort of place are you looking for?" So many of the places in Ponyville looked the same.. hay-thatched roofs and general... whiteness.

[Mal]

A deep breath was taken to calm herself, because Yuna hardly wanted to go scrambling to her hooves and running away from Discord in a panic as one side of her was wanting to do. It was a prey instinct, one she was desperately trying to squash for the sake of keeping some dignity despite the fact that she was dealing with the chaotic legend himself. Her ears pinned back at his question.

"No. I.. I mean that when I and my.." the word 'friend' was on Yuna's lips, but Gleam wasn't exactly a friend was he? Did that make him her coltfriend? There were other words she could use to describe his significance to her. Her bodyguard, her knight, but she couldn't find any word that might work for him. "When Gleam and I were looking for a house, there was no mention that we'd have to have any sort of dealing with.. the likes of you." Yuna finished lamely after that pause while her mind sought to put a word to Gleamished.

"I don't read books, often, unless they're stories." Talking to Discord, trying to talk to him, like she was answering a normal pony's questions helped her a bit. She managed to pull herself back onto her hooves, dusting the back of her red shawl off with a hoof, once Discord withdrew just to don the strangest garb she'd ever seen. "Do you really?" Could she trust him to be telling the truth? Her ears still lay back against her mane as she gave the draconequus a skeptical look. "We were kind of hoping to find a house that has a large bedroom.. if just not a two-bedroom house." For reasons, of course. They had a herd, one that typically slept together in a little pony pile now.

[Deleted]

The spirit could perhaps sense this trepidation, or he saw it as a different emotion. He did not have any developed prey drive, after all he was half pony and dragon first and foremost. Neither hunted. Dragons mined for gems to consume, ponies grazed for greens. No that beastly, predatory behavior was the sole production of a villain, one who had naught but evil intentions. In the past he had no friends because of his more chaotic nature. As time passed that natural order turned vindictive, a spirit scorned. It was the badge born of a creature who was truly dangerous. While he would only mock a fly for amusement, the beast could not help the negligent coarseness that resulted from the pure chaos he is and true evil he was.

He took note of the hesitation. As a premiere gossip queen he could stand unfinished thoughts. Her what? Lover? Eloped partner? Crime partner? Hoo~ so many things it could be. He stared at the mare's face, deep in thought. His claw had come to settle against his chin, elbow rest upon his paw. Something about this mare... her peculiar sense of style aside. (Honestly Rarity would have had a cow were she to see that cloak. Red was so not in this season!)

His ears pricked at her remark. "How rude~" while her words seemed a bit scathing -- where was the lie? "As friend and companion the the Princess of Friendship, consider it my duty to make sure thinges are running smoothly." Of course that was hardly noted with a straight face. Orderly, him. Pahhaha!


Her request for a one bedroom place wasn't hard, actually quite simple, but a large master room? "Whatever would you need such for?" Unless she was trying to smuggle two alicorn princesses to bed such could hardly be imagined.

As old as the spirit was and as far from ponies as they came: he had no concept of marriage, monogamy or mahogany. He was an oak sort of draconequus. Sturdy and it had a nice smell!

He would hold a stern look on her. "Don't get lost in books, you'll miss everything else around you. As for that, I am sure Ponyville has many a single and multiple bedroom homes, but such an extravagant bedroom size seems more on key with Canterlot's market on luxury. Ponyville is a warm and quaint place not given to the greed driven --" he should calm down. "I can always nose around by the Library, since you look over books do much." The tease, knowing how intimidating it would be by Twilight's Castle.

[Mal]

It wasn't hard for Yuna to spot how the draconequus was looking at her, like he was trying to figure something out. She scuffed a hoof against the grass and glanced away, breaking eye contact. She needed to. Yet when the 'Princess of Friendship' was mentioned, her eyes jerked back to his with something like alarm. The princess? Nope.

"I don't mean a huge one. Ugh, I don't know I guess we don't really need a large bedroom." She said with some frustration. The mention of Canterlot made her nose wrinkle and she shook her head. "I have a.. herd. We usually stick together now for sleeping arrangements. We just.. need a house. It doesn't matter, just a house, so we're not sleeping out in the woods anymore." Yuna could almost whine about how much she disliked not having access to baths, or even just a roof over her head that included her companions too. Her cart just wasn't big enough; especially for Lightning.

"There's no need. Really. I don't read books very often. It's just a sort of 'every now and then' when I have time to, but I don't really have much of a luxury to." Yuna didn't particularly care about being rude. It didn't stop her in the past when she first met the members of the group she was with now, but now they were at least spared from her snark. Currently she was just nervous.

[Deleted]

Discord watched the mare as she seemed taken aback by his celebrity connections, but to be fair he was the celebrity. He was a bit annoyed that she seemed more taken aback at the mention of her name, how annoying. The spirit folded his ears against his skull and crossed his forearms over his chest. He began to float, despite himself, his hind legs crossing as he moved to "sit" in the air. She seemed nervous about it too, or was it just him? Was she perhaps an advocate of un-friend-ship or something? Was there such a thing as anti-friendship? That was an interesting concept he had to look into that. Perhaps put some stock into it, just in case, of course. Looking over to her she seemed to fumble over her words.

She wanted a place, not huge, but she doesn't need what she wants? Mares were so confusing sometimes, but so was he! He wasn't the god of disharmony and confusion for nothing! Thought it was perplexing. Why had she asked for it than, only to say she did not? When she finally revealed she had a herd ... Discord understood even less. "Well if you have large group, why would you rescind your desire for a larger space?" Now it made sense as to why she wanted this space and why she wanted a larger bedroom. He thought, for but a moment, she was some greedy nugget! Well that's different.

He chuckled as she refused the offer for locating her group by the library. "Well, why not off toward the East area? There's a lot of space, you can just buy land, build your own place to your specifications. Most ponies modify their places with magic or hard work." He did neither things just existed. It was not as if Ponyville lacked space. "And, seeing as you're so remiss as dealing with the princess of Friendship, I tell you what... I'll help you work things out with the mayor. If Twilight gets wind of new ponies in town..." He'd not be allowed to torment them for a while. "She'll want to throw a welcome party, or something annoying like that." He tittered. While he loved parties he did pick up on her unease at the mention of the princess, something he was going to use for a while to get his way.

[Mal]

Yuna had little care or interest in the princess. Seeing her did briefly soothe Yuna that she really wasn't alone, as an alicorn, yet the princess in Ponyville was still powerful and capable of many things while Yuna was not. Even if the princess looked more like a normal pony than the royal sisters, she was still much more than Yuna could ever be. She was just a simple fortune teller, in a band of misfits. Homeless.

What the lady meant about their house, was that they were just desperate for one. There was no need to be picky, and Yuna saw that. They just needed shelter. A place to sleep, to store their food, to bathe, to be in private together. Relaxing. Any roof over their heads was good enough. It was hardly confusing! What they wanted was completely different from what they needed.

"We just need space, a home. That's why we're looking for a place to buy. It really doesn't matter, so long as we're not homeless." Maybe that'd clear things up to the god of confusion. Yuna took a few steps back to properly look the now floating draconequus in the face. "Do we even need to talk to the mayor at all? I didn't think that was a thing we needed to bother with. Just.. find a town, get a place, move in.. that's it. Besides, buying land and then having to buy the supplies to build a house would take more money than simply buying an existing house." So far as she knew. Did Discord even have a place to stay? Did he even understand the struggle of trying to live the way they did?

"Eugh, no welcome party. We've been living in Ponyville for a few months now."

[Deleted]

Did not have much of a concept of home. In the last few centuries he began to mimic the practice of keeping one. What did a Lord of Chaos need a home for anyway? All it was was a singular event where all his loot was kept from previous ventures and travels across the cosmos. A home was a singular event, where the threads of pre-existing dimensions met, crossed, and split up. He had no personal desire to have a home and keep it in order, why even his own house was a bit of a chore because he had to make sure it was a prime example of chaos. Constantly reforming it, changing it so things were not where they should be, but instead were, rather than are. His house was a Schrödinger's box where things could be, or might be dead, but probably were and not at the same time, until at such a time: did one enter and perceive. It was than, and only than could one truly understand that keeping such a singular place was -- boring. So why would he make it easy for a pony to find a home? He had no true home for he lived no where and everywhere, and when, he pleased. What he did understand was the idea of family and being able to keep them safe. But could a home do this? A place where they could be found, attacked, and easily toted away by villains more devious than he?

The word she spoke was --- a concept he had never delved into. "Homeless?" His voice was tinted by curiosity, one the spirit rarely had. "I mean the word itself is old," He snorted as if he were some high brow noble who only knew of the concepts peasants dealt with rather than actually experiencing them, but as such was the case. He had never experienced homelessness in the way these ponies have. His home consisted of worlds, of which shifted and changed consistently until -- He met them. "But what would it mean if you remained without a home, a traveler that never stopped to worry about four walls that oft are painted to remind one of the outdoors?"

What would it mean? What could it mean? Why have a home if you decorated with things from the outside?

He waved a paw, most dismissively. "Never mind the mayor, she's just a mouthpiece, now tell me, I want to know. What does it mean to you... to ponies?" He folded his forelimbs behind his back and floated over the mare before settling with his hindlegs back on the ground, his little ensemble vanishing from sight. What stood before her now was not the menacing interloper that sought to interfere, but a genuinely, curious ancient that had never found reason to understand this idea.

At least not until he grew to understand Bygone more. The more he watched Mirage Moon.... It was strange, a bit heartbreaking, but those two were... special circumstances. He was too close to them and would prefer to pity and spoil them over listening to the reasonings of their desires.