Personal Justice; Pt2 [Invite]

[Mal]

Princess Luna leaned her cheek into Discord's nuzzle, and turned her head to return one to his own. "Indeed, there is nothing wrong with it." For did she not spoil Discord as it was? No harm in it. Luna almost forgot what form Discord was in until he changed, shedding his illusion like a snake shed its skin; which was perhaps an apt metaphor for one so sinuous and serpentine as him. It was something fascinating to behold, to see one go from pony to draconequus. Were Luna ever asked which face she liked more, she might always choose the original, though she found both of his faces pleasing. She wasn't fussed that she didn't have another pony or an alicorn as her significant other, nor would she, when the only other creature her and Tia had been close with was Discord himself.

Discord's exclamation and flex of his wings drew Luna's eye back to him, which had been wandering away as she pondered simply taking off from her own balcony. Her mind always went first to flying, and rarely ever to teleportation unless she needed to get somewhere quickly in an emergency. Of course, while the fact that Discord could so easily teleport them to the Everfree was known to her, it too, never crossed her mind. She wanted to stretch her wings, as she did it so rarely. It was usually by drawn carriage if the princesses went visiting anywhere at all.

Seeing that Discord was ready to go, Luna finally made a decision which way she'd go, but she did linger a moment longer to feel that nip to her cheek. She went for his ear again, if just to lightly nibble it with her lips. That done, the night princess strode towards her balcony doors, which were often covered by heavy velvet drapes of blue to keep the sunlight out. She moved them aside over hooks to keep them there, and the double doors opened at her magic's touch. From there, it was onto the marble balcony. There was no rule she had to go anywhere else to raise the moon, just so long as she brought the night at all.

The sun was setting beyond the horizon, and the moment there was the barest sliver of red, Luna's horn lit with moonlight. In moments, the moon itself rose opposite of the sun, gliding slowly onto its course into the sky and bringing star-flecked darkness in its wake. There was nothing showy about it, nor did Luna try to make a show of it despite her usual penchant for theatrics. It was something she just did.

Once the moon was on its course, Luna let it go and spread her wings, prepared to take off.

[Deleted]

Discord was not an affectionate sort to just anypony. While quite jovial in his nature his more chaotic games kept many from becoming close to him. Few creatures, mortal or nay, could withstand the arrogant play of a god of creation. Discord was a deviant with an anthill and magnifying glass. Never one to fully obliterate the hill, he was well off to light patches of fire and watch them react and create something to ease them from the disasters he oft set forth. Never was he out to kill, or murder, but sometimes death was an inescapable result of living. It was a part of his nature he was grossly disconnected from. While he knew it happened, he never had the intent to cause pain, only suffering.

How convenient was a name like Dark Stife.

It was not a concept of evil. It was not a dictation of good. It was an aspect of existence, no different from chaos. But that form was shrouded in secrecy. It was where he could go to shelter himself. Disreputable and dreary, the form was a small piece of Discord's greater whole. He both loved and hated himself interchangeably. He was dependent on the sisters. He was bound to them. Were he to lose either of them… this world may not survive that tantrum… his mind may not survive the concept. Celestia had come so close that something in Discord shifted.

He was not committed to dallying, so much as he was committed to spoiling her and making a game put of everything. He could easily teleport them to where they needed to be, but what was the fun in that? He would be unable to show off, nor would it do no good to spearhead oneself into business without a bit of pleasure. To see her fluttering about, irresponsibly disregarding haste did him untold pleasure. There was something about playing with them that made him happy. Sure he loved playing with Fluttershy and the Cutie Mark Crusaders, but there had always been something special about his Alicorn. The moment he had stepped hoof into that land…

He had already coveted his hoard.

He claimed a hoard of Alicorn.

What rarer a treasure? What finer gems than two, young maidens that had infinite potential? He had not been after their bodies, nor their hearts, at first. They were young, innocent. But foals compared to the already ancient being. Yet for them he put his first mask on.

By such an era he was already a monstrous terror that consumed empires, entire evolutionary lines, and realms. He had watched theirs, in all its imperfection. It was a playground. But a beast born of the void and touched by the consuming terror that was unable to step upon it. He would taint it. He would watch them play, explore, and otherwise teach themselves to exist in unity with the fallibility of their world. He looked to himself. Ageless horror, short from writhing with tentacles and being the nameless one.

He was nameless for a long time. He doesn't remember where the name Discord had come from. He was fond of it though.

The tickling touch against his ear drew him from his thoughts. He shivered a bit and scrunched his angular muzzle in an annoyed pout, but the pink dusted cheeks did well to shatter such a despondent illusion. His head leaned touched the touch only for the mare to head off. He gave a perturbed sounding snort before flicking his tail. "Mares should not tease in such a way." He would warn only once, though it sounded more like a suggestion.

As she drew back her curtains he circled himself around her and ambled out, with awkward slips, towards the balcony's edge. He climbed up with surprising agility, but one could be sure magic was helping the wayward noodle. He slumped down on the banister like a loafing cat on a suspiciously narrown tree branch. Pricking his ears he looked up to watch the display. It was weak, at best. Manifesting a white card with the number 2.5 on it, he tossed it over the edge of the perch.

"I was expecting an amazing show. You should show off more, it brings out the sass in princsass." He murred sweetly, but obviously sought to tease her. "I know you could do better than that, I mean you did nearly herald in a Darkocalypse." He was flirting dangerously close to a sore spot. "They don't make menacing alicorn like the used to," he shrugged. "I guess I can deal with fiercely cute and demanding ones~♡"

When Luna pushed to take off he stumbled against the balcony's edge to sit up. Spreading his wings he began to flap them to take to the sky. It required a few, twisting coils of his body, but he would eventually find a 'swimming' motion that made his flight fluid. Gliding along he would settle at Luna's side. His forelimbs would tuck against his feathered chest while his hind legs dangled down. He did wish to say to Luna something important, though it would nearly slip his mind after he took to the skies. Looking over to the mare he folded his ears back.

"Your moon is lovely. You should put a bit more behind raising it. I am sure there are many ponies who appreciate its arrival..." he raised a paw to, scratch the end of his muzzle. "I find your talent provocative." He cooed before chuckling.

He was honest, but such a card at the same respect. He would be leisurely with the flight. Even flying the time it took to reach Everfree from Canterlot was hardly exhausting, at least perhaps for an active mare such as Luna.

[Mal]

There was something of a small, amused smile on Luna's face after she heard something of his comment on teasing. It faded when she put her concentration into raising the moon, but her amusement remained regardless. Her eyes did linger on her moon a moment longer, her wings still outspread, but they shifted towards a flash of white that was a card Discord held up where he now lounged on the marble railing. It had numbers on it.. He was rating her for her performance!

"I do what I do because it is necessary, not to impress anypony." She would if she could. Now she knew ponies appreciated her night, and for all she knew some probably even stayed up to watch the moon rise and the stars come out. It was a lovely thought, shortly spoiled by Discord's comment. Luna huffed, giving her wings a shake. Luna wanted to stand up for herself, to sternly express that she could be menacing if she wanted! but she didn't. It felt a bit foalish to try, and Discord was possibly looking for such a reaction. "Forgive me if I am not scary enough for thee, but it is good that Tia stopped me when she did or this world would have been a frozen, lifeless wasteland." In a single act, she could've doomed the entire planet, and nopony would've been strong enough to face her save Discord, and he'd been sealed away in stone. Not like he would have stopped her back then.

Luna leaped nimbly skyward with a beat of those great wings and straightened her flight out towards Ponyville and the darker splotch beyond it that was the Everfree Forest. Her ears tilted back when she heard Discord join her shortly and come up alongside her, or as close as 'alongside' as he could get given their wingspans. She wasn't actually angry, or upset with him, just a little defensive that she was reduced to 'cute and demanding' despite the power that she held, and how she could have easily altered the fate of this world in a single fit from simply feeling unappreciated. There was a little more than that, of course, but it was what it amounted to.

"I am glad that you find such joy in it, and I believe there may be too." Luna replied and couldn't help but cast Discord a confused glance at that word, provocative. There were a couple of meanings behind it, but her mind did stray towards one, one that he might be hinting at. She didn't try to ask what he meant by it, however, and let it be. She took neither the lead on their flight towards the Everfree, nor did she take up the rear. Luna was just happy to fly alongside him.

[Deleted]

The night was calm. Calamity was far from the minds of the citizens of Equestria. Summer had drawn the many fruiting plants out of hiding. The aromatic scents that crawled from orchids filled the night air. Whenever a warm breeze carried through the sacred hills, it was not uncommon for the bittersweet scent of Zap Apples to follow along the curremts, nor for the tempting touch of tamarind to roll from the ever green hills that spotted Canterlot's mountainous refion with the bare edged of Everfree kissing the very borders. The night was quiet, juxtaposed to the day. Even the streets, full of ponies still, was comparable to the soft lull of a river touched by the breath of the sky. Humidity was a factor in the summertide that oft limited a pony's ability to work and travel during daylight hours. During this solstice season of heat and lengthened days, night was a blessing.

The cool touch of the evening's curtain brought not only relief from the heat, but it advertised a new kind of life that many ponies had always harbored, but only now speak of with the return of their goddess. The loss of Luna had been a burden to many. To those who worshipped the night: it's very existence had become taboo, a stain upon not only the history of their kingdom, but their loyalty. It had wavered, for a time. Upon her return and the reinstating of their beloved Lunar Deity, many of the lost, or silent cults, had returned; those not destroyed by Sun Worshippers and those not absorbed by larger groups, or splintered by dissent: returned in the thousands to rent their betrayal.

Half beats cracked the air whenever Discord flapped his wings. A silent, right stretch of feathers in tally with the flesh covered bone of the right created a cacophonous melody unique to the mismatched tyrant. The wings were split even in their technique of flight. While the blue feathers of his left wing were a silent as an owl's, the left whipped against their air as it cut through the sky with each downward stroke. When he could he would stretch them out to glide. His body slithered in the air, much compared to a snake on the hunt. His forelimbs tucked beneath him and his hind legs out.

He turned his gaze to Luna. "Lulu." Their distance was natural, left the crash into the other, but that would not stop him!

Once she showed favor by looking at him, Discord would shift his weight and arch over her, neck curling down to plant a kiss on her ear. In arching over her he would dive down. A twist of his wings and he would sharply turn to fly just beneath her height, chuckling at the sly, stolen kiss. For somepony that seemed to worry her over danger, he certainly couldn't keep a one track mind. He did have a habit of making light of any situation, but it was not because he had no means of recognizing the trouble the matters were worth, but it stood more an issue of finding reason to care. Mortal worries, passed on to gods, or other godlike creatures.

"Whatever it is, it has no name." Discord would speak up, flying along beneath her, whatever the result of his actions. "I remember a long time ago I did not have a name. Luna, who gave you, your name, my love?" Now he was a flirt, but particularly with them.

His interest in their names had come with a memorry. It had come upon him as he sat watching Celestia falling to pieces. His concern with such matters had never been a severe focus, but he wanted to know more about the pair he watched. He knew a great deal about them. He knew their likes and dislikes, but there were events that not even he could touch upon. The flight to Everfree would take time, so he could hold a short conversation until their arrival

[Mal]

Luna flew like a bird, her entire form held almost level and aerodynamic, with her forehooves curled to her chest and her rear legs extended out behind her. Almost birdlike. Her wings were stretched to their fullest extent, coasting along on the air with only the occasional flap to keep her aloft. The night air was lukewarm, having just descended upon the land, but it was steadily cooling towards the standard summer night's temperature. A relief, indeed. Her head was lifted slightly when Discord called to her, distracted as she was by the night's sights and scents; though the smell of apples had not yet reached her with as far as they still were from the Apple family's farm. From Ponyville in general.

That lift of her head was a fatal mistake, for as aware of she was of the sounds of Discord's wingbeats, she didn't expect him to arc over her to plant that kiss on her ear. It twitched after his touch, the hairs slightly tickled by it, and Luna's teal eyes turned to follow Discord to his new position on the other side of her. Her lips curled up a bit in a smile, her eyes narrowing then in a decidedly sly look. Would he try to play such games with her?

Luna had an idea on her mind, something she was planning to do, but she was diverted from this when Discord spoke of names. Important, those. Names were everything and yet nothing.

"For as long as I can remember, the alicorns have always called me by Luna. Celestia may say the same, but as she is oldest she may have a better idea than I. I do not know who was the first to name me, or if we ever had a mother. We never knew her face, if she lives. The alicorns as a whole raised us and taught us what we must know." Some of this they touched upon in correcting that old, inaccurate history book that was so full of guesses and exaggeration. "Why do you ask, or is it simple curiosity?" Luna queried, turning away to gaze towards Ponyville. She could see the vaguely square, yellow lights of lit windows, small as they were from this distance, and the flames' light of the streetlamps. The princess held back, waiting for his answer, knowing that he was striving for a conversation. She had no intention to interrupt it by returning the same, playful trick he'd pulled on her just previously. They had time and distance yet to cover.

[Deleted]

After arcing over the mare the draconequus rolled his body, contorting the serpentine form. He would end up twisting, hind legs reaching out to compensate for his weight. The muscular length of his body tightened and shifted, akin to a strip of cloth fluttering in the wind, hind legs kicking back as if he was taking off sprinting from dry land. His little acrobatic feat seemed random, uncalculated, and it was! He could have very well crashed into the mare in his advancement had she shifted the wrong way, or he could have taken a dive himself had he twisted his wing wrong in the rapid maneuver. His wings had tucked in to allow him to drop a few feet before the lengthy forms spread out once more. The sound of his wings opening hit the air with a clap, the soft, oscillating noise twisting into the ear like a fish caught upon land. Flapping his wings a few times the hybridized monstrosity would manage to regain his height, that snake-like body fishtailing as if he was swimming. After leveling with the stellar deity the spirit of chaos folded back his ears. His wings, once again, spread out to allow him to catch the wind and glide.

He smirked a bit at successfully keeping flight. It had been a long time since he had flown in an actual realm. He had spent lifetimes in a world beyond this where flight mattered not. Eventually the spirit had learned to control the gravity around his body and float without the consequence of touching the ground. The more powerful he became the more unnecessary walking became. He remade himself for Celestia and Luna, recreated a small and approachable creature, mismatched he may have been. He could not remember what it was he had looked like, but every day to pass beside them he would slowly recall the power he once had over chaos. There was never a need to control it because Chaos just was. He had everyone fooled hat there was a process. Even he could not truly understand the vastness that was his powers, his abilities. Predicting his actions was a fruitless endeavor that had drove many mad. None knew the truth.... his true form. What he is now, he never was and could never truly be. A mask over a mask, hidden behind a shell. Could he become something here, like he was there?

He looked to Luna, lost a moment in her voice. His precious moon child. He was rattled to the core by the soft, wisping tone of the dark furred mare. He could not help but think of the night that had been washed over them, courtesy of the troubled mare. Much of her life was spent trying to be something everypony could love and depend on, yet she never seemed able to see what he saw in her. The darkness, the warmth. Darkness was not something he saw as evil, but the cradle of all life. It was the reason creatures stepped into the light, it was where all began and where all returned to in the end. The quite, tenderness of the shadows.They all failed to notice that it was darkness that showed you the light. Her greatness was there, but thinking of the forsook feelings of such a gentle figure... she had been ignored. He would never do that to her.

What she was created in him a sense of completion, along with her celestial sibling. Together the Elysian pair created a culmination like nothing he had ever seen in his time. They both, somehow, crept into his heart. Like parasites. His gaze drifted from the mare as she explained, his eyes ahead of him. It was not as if he had nothing to collide into, but he felt strange today. His paw dug agianst his feather covered chest, squeezing at the flesh below. His heart was beating faster than usual. Flight had pushed his body to wake up from what felt like, to him, was a long withstanding slumber. Maybe it was not the flight, but something else altogether. He had many worries, as of late, that he was unable to do all he could for them. Whether Celestia woke him for her own selfish reasons or guilt, he couldn't be sure, but he knows it wasn't just a slip of the wrist.

A chuckle rose from his throat as his head slowly turned to face her. "Nothing is ever as simple as it seems, hmm?" He bade teasingly. "Names... are strangely something you can find in all corners of time and the universe. Be it another's means to describe themselves, or label another with an idea. the way ideas are made into words so that the sheer number of individuals doesn't become confusing." And he was a spirit of confusion, so one would think it was something he would like to cause! Names were sacred though, not something even he would disrupt. But who had given him his name? What gave way to the idea of chaos? "Towns, foods, ponies -- they were all given names." He had many thoughts in his mind, but they came and went with the feeling. "I am quite surprised they did not name you raven-butt." He remarked of the coloration on her flank."Or ink blot." He teased.

His eyes turned down to the familiar landscape of Ponyville, which seemed quite different at night, quite different from within the world. "How far," He began. "How far would you have gotten with such a name?" He asked seriously. "If you were Ink Butt, would that change who you were?" He supposed she would not be Luna there after.

[Mal]

There did appear to Luna, a sort of power in names. Power over an object, a pony, an ideal. What would she have become if the alicorns did name her something like Ink Blot? Discord's silliness aside. Her teal eyes faced ahead towards the slowly growing splotch of interconnected lights that was Ponyville, but her gaze was not centered on the town itself. It was distant and thoughtful, seeing through the gathering of buildings as she considered Discord's musings on names.

"I do not know. In one hoof it may bring me to believe they saw who I and Celestia might become, which is not too farfetched. Celestia herself is capable of foresight." Luna replied at last. "In the other, perhaps they never knew at all. Sometimes a pony's name appears to already define their destiny, and sometimes their cutiemark defines it. Sometimes it is a coincidence. Unless I were able to speak with the alicorn again, I might never know the truth of it. Were I to be a different pony if given another name? I am uncertain, truthfully. There lies a chance that an essential part of me might be different because of it." Names were power, ponies had power over them. On a whim, or even to better define themselves, a pony might simply rename themselves. She knew this.

Her wings were brought down in another quiet flap, the feathers barely disturbing the air, as Luna tore her gaze away from Ponyville to look Discord's way again. In flight, the floaty quality of her hair made it flutter and twirl gracefully behind her, a living veil of stars. She felt there was something important about this conversation, one she wouldn't dare interrupt with an abrupt attempt at play. What was it Discord dug for? What was it that he wanted to know, or was it some inner musing he decided to share with her? It was a rare thing when he did, and while she didn't know how old Discord really was.. all she knew was that he was very old. It didn't matter to her if he was, for she was old by pony standards. Over a thousand years and more. Alicorns aged slowly, and their cutiemarks were much more defining than a regular pony's; why it took her and Celestia so long to gain their own because they hadn't yet found their destinies. The importance in their cutiemarks. Some alicorns might have had forever before they found out what it was they were meant to do, but Luna would never know this. With as wrapped up as she was in this new reality, far from Canterlot Hill, she was only just realizing the many things that she wished she learned from her older kin.

"So there is something mysterious within the Everfree Forest, that we do not yet know of?" Provided that Discord said nothing more on the matter of names, Luna approached their reason for visiting the wild woods. The Tree of Harmony lay there down in that small gorge beyond the old castle, but she knew not where it came from or why it existed. It just was. What else could there be? "I explored the Everfree Forest many times in my youth, and know it like my own hooves. To know there is something as of yet unknown and left unexplored for me is a rather exciting prospect."

[Deleted]

There came considerable influence with one's name. Even surnames came with notable affluence if one's ancestors had made their mark in history. He was a being of immense power, but he did ponder if without his name: could he still be him? Would he still strike terror in the hearts of his enemies? To be quite frank: Discord had fostered more annoyance than fear. At the very most the spirit was the source of incredible dismay for leaders of nations who could not appease nor entertain him. A fickle god whoms desires could shift from sacrifice of wheat in one to a lovely pair of socks the next. Chaos had many names. Did that mean he had more power, or less?

Age was a ludicrous concept Discord refused to be bound by. While he was ancient, he was an adult, and had certain wants and needs. He needed partners to play with, for loneliness was not an option for such a mischievous spirit. He wanted somepony to love. For that he had the Mane and sisters, least death til they part. Another thing, which he both needed and wanted, was to be loved in return. Without the latter, the former two were nigh impossible. What self respecting agent of chaos would go around being unappreciated?! His ego wouldn't stand for such a thing.

The draconequus male raised his head, ears lowering a bit as Luna seemed to carefully respond to his query, diligently considering his spoken words. His lips curled back against his muzzle, cheeks pushing up to pinch his eyes as the amusement he felt evoked a smile from hising. He had been downtrodden since Celestia was injured. He was no less concerned when Luna had injured her wing and leg, but the experience, by compare, was far less harrowing than being pierced by darkness. His paw slid from his chest, enfolding itself back against his feathers. He raised his head, lips peeling back over his fangs.

We? "We?" He said aloud. Is That What She thought?

He turned his gaze towards Ponyville. Twas sad that was not their deatination, he could do for a little fun. His eyes half rolled as his head turned away and nose pointed down towards Everfree. When he returned his gaze to Luna he was drawn towards her mane. She was a lovely creature. Even without her mane of atars… she was his lovely, little mare. Her excitement cause a warm tickle of mirth with roll from his lips.

"Well, my love, there are many mysterious things in Everfree." Though he did fear there was something troubling there. "I am taken by your excitement my dear, so I will tell you." He did not want her hurt. "It is a mystery. A riddle wrapped up in an enigma. Charming really, but extremely dangerous if left unchecked. It consumes magic." He explained. "But what it looks like, where it hides is a complete mystery. But when it becomes too greedy, critters know to get out its way." It did sound rather dangerous.

As the forest drew nearer Discord descended a bit, but their destination was still a bit off. His eyes turned to what appeared to be a clearing a great distance away. The cleaeing was surrounded by the lake. It would be the safest place to land.

[Mal]

A glance was cast towards Discord when he repeated that encompassing pronoun, 'we.' A part of her was tempted to claim it as the Royal We, just to see his reaction, but she chose not to. No, she really thought even he didn't know, that neither of them knew. Although Discord, at least, seemed to know more than she did.

"Consumes magic?" That was concerning, and it immediately made her recall the face of Tirek. The day in the throne room when he came crashing through their ornate double doors and tried to take Celestia's then-nonexistent magic, it came into her mind the moment she remembered him. Terrifying to behold. Luna's brow furrowed and she dipped to follow Discord's gentle descent down towards the Everfree Forest now that they'd flown over Ponyville, silent as passing clouds. Her wings came down in another velvety flap, keeping her flight downward steady towards where Discord was aiming. Her eyes could see sharply through the dark of night as well as any other nocturnal creature, and she was sure she saw a clearing big enough for them both, along with the faint silvery glints of moonlight skimming across water.

"The only thing that I can think of that can consume magic is Tirek, but he has been resealed within Tartarus. To know there is something else that is capable of the same, if not similar, ability as he is concerning." As taken as Discord was with her excitement towards such an adventure, what he told her still wasn't quite enough. Did he know more than what he was letting on, or did he only know a little more than she did now? Luna would have to wait and see, find whatever this creature or thing was that Discord spoke of.

Her mind was so focused on this new mystery, the possibility of discovering what danger there might be, that she had forgotten all thought of playing with Discord during their flight. There was no time for such frivolity now, save perhaps when they returned back to Canterlot. "Is there any more that you know, other than it being like a riddle?"

[Deleted]

The spirit's knowledge on such matters seemed to shift with his mood. There were times where he felt being forthcoming was a waste of time and killed the fun. But, with the events of late putting the mares into such dangers was not a suitable option. He was not willing to put them in a situation they needn't concern themselves with, but there were also times he was simply incapable of being -- good. He was no ta hero and looking to authority figures for help, let alone securing a natural state of being, trying to stop it from doing just what it was meant to do -- was something he hated doing and loved doing all at once. It was difficult being anything but a maniacal, egotistical terror. He was bad. A bad pony. He did not want to alarm Luna, as he was not taking her to something -- particularly dangerous. Still there was something inside of him that did not let him tell her, not right away.

For drama's sake.

His paw reached up to scratch at his beard, thoughtfully. He paused in his motions before tucking his forelimbs again, having become a bit shaky in his desscent. He fumbled, nearly dripping completely. But a few wingflaps, desperate as they were, the spirit would manage to level himself. His face distorted in a partially terrified gasp, but the emotion was squashed at the realization he could levitate if need be. He sighed, head turning to in dramatic fashion. Sometimes he did overreact, but it made for the best expressions.

Turning his dual-colored gaze to the mare he could only offer a grin, those lips turning up over his fangs. "My dear what fun is the game if you try and spoil it?" Of course this -- was nothing like with what happened during Tirek's attempted coup d'etat. "I would not put you in such danger." Again.

He wouldn't be able to stand such a shame, twice ovwe. To be held in contempt for blindly following the temptations of chaotic leisure caused him to seethe. He contained himself. The draconequus, though reluctant to reveal too much, would not let her go in blind, either. It wasn't very sporting of him. If nothing else he was the sort to make a game fair, with a few curve balls to make sure he won regardless. This game, unlike others, was not about his victory nor theirs. It was about allowing them to confront a circumstance that would allow them insight on a new experience, not that he claimed to know, of which could become a larger problem.

He stared at her mane, paw flexing as he wished to run it through the glittering curtain. "Quite…" lovely.

The clearing was quiet. An unnatural state of Everfree. There was always noise, always movement. Sometimes it was disorienting how much went on at once. The mind would begin to play tricks and twist against the shadows. Landing would prove a simple task, if you were a natural flyer. Discord, on the other hoof, was not made for flight, particularly landing. As he came in, the spirit's mismatched legs tangled between as the differences in length did not afford easy operation. The long-bodied hybrid was not geaceful, dependent on his magic for much, if not all, of his basic skills these daya.

He would push to stand, flapping out the mixed appendages to loose pieces of this and that, before he would finally move to stand on his hindlegs. The motion was smooth, like a ribbon twirling around a length of mane.

The male would press his forepaw and foreclaw against his back, popping his spine from the strenuous flight, not that it mattered as his body defied all laws of physics and logic. Raising his greying brows the serpentine hybrid looked towards the water. The contrarily shaped eyes peered down toward his body where his coat had collected whatever happened to be upon the forest floor in his less than controlled landing. His claw would idly move to pluck the debris from his tightly packed feathers as he waited for Luna.

There was evidence that something was amiss in the usually lovely woods. In the summer the waters of the lake of Everfree were usually low from expected rerouting of it's wells by the neighboring trees, deep roots winding deep underground. But it was full, the edges muddied extensively as if a great and curious beast had waded through. Trees were in olace, serving the mind a peaceable possibility that the night's prey was no larger than a Manticore, which could be a formidable opponent. He would depend on Luna here as his magic was distorted in this place. Small bursts of energy allowed the spirit the comfort of teleporting were danger to araise. One his feathers were cleared he old settle back to all fours.

[Mal]

Princess Luna wasn't as inclined to see it as a game, if Discord truly wanted to bring her attention to something potentially disruptive and dangerous wandering around the Everfree Forest. With Ponyville in its vicinity it might even dare to wander out to harass the townsfolk, and add onto the already busy schedule of the Princess of Friendship. The six already dealt with quite a lot as it was, and from a standpoint Luna was remiss to let her job of dealing with dangerous monsters and animals during the nighttime hours be usurped by them. There was much she still wished to do, even though her and Celestia's connections to the Elements were now severed. Her role being abruptly downgraded to being simply a princess rather than a protector of Equestria left her little.

"I have no intention of spoiling anything for you. This sounds like a matter of great importance and I desire to handle it as such. I am confident you will keep me safe, and reveal what is needed." Luna replied, making an attempt to reassure Discord near the end. She noted the small upset in his flight, one he corrected with no assistance from her; she didn't want him getting hurt, even it was just Discord getting easily distracted again. Luna thought she heard a murmured word, but she couldn't yet make out his mutter.

Luna descended with him as they came upon the large clearing and the lake it contained, falling back to let Discord land first, which he did -- badly. A cringe flickered across the nightbringer's face as she followed him down, landing much more gracefully and with a practiced silence. Her wings folded against her sides once all four hooves were firmly placed on the ground. After a brief study with those teal eyes, shadowed by the curl of mane over her forehead, to make sure Discord was uninjured, Luna looked ahead towards the lake. She didn't stay put, but strode forward with a careful stride, determined not to disturb what the forest left littered across the earth; crackly dead leaves, twigs, and the like.

Her eyes first went to the lake and the disturbed water, the marks made in the damp mud of the shores. These she paid much more attention to, like any other hunter tracking its prey, but it didn't tell her much- only that something had been through here and that it wasn't very large. Had it been a manticore, she probably would've been able to deal with it easily. She spoke manticore! Luna's gaze wandered back up to search the lake's shores, and by one she thought she saw a strange and boxy silhouette, too even to be a part of nature. What it was, Luna couldn't tell from here- it certainly was no creature, for not even the strangest animal had such an even shape.

"What is that?" Luna thought to ask, pointing a silvershod toe towards the shape in hopes of drawing Discord's eye to it too. Whatever it was, Luna felt it wasn't important to their current task, it was simple curiosity that made her ask. A small distraction. She would rather find this dangerous, magic-absorbing creature.

[Deleted]

Little had he been expecting Luna to, so easily, accept the terms of this game of his. She knew well he hated when ponies spoiled his fun. Her effort to console him had not gone without notice. Nor were the touches and gentle brushes she afforded him in the past few days. With Celestia in such a state she had been, he had become increasingly active in their suties. He had only meant to serve as a much needed distraction: chasing off nobles or napping by their side. Sleep while he could. Celestia became injured and Discord felt himself to blame. Their well being became a priority over his more callous regards towards positions of power.

In all fairness the sisters also played dirty. For her to admit such a thing… It made his heart flutter and caused him to falter in his flight. "Quite…" lovely. He was soft spoken with his words. Focus on the flight… ..Landing though…

It was rather difficult to hurt Discord in the truest of sense. He fumbled often, fell, and even stubbed his hoof on occasion. But the spirit of chaos was resilient. He could stretch and pull himself out of proportion while doing himself no serious harm. Popping off limbs or splitting himself clean in half was done so effortlessly, and to the fright of many ponies around him, one would never question the degree of his mortality. He had none. He was immortal. Where he could reduce the laws of physics to the lines in a foal's coloring book, he had no respect for natural order, or perhaps he was natural order? Such boundless power was in due to have negative factors. Yet he never seemed capable of burning himself out. An infinite fountain of power, and yet no desire beyond the arrogant play of leadership, friendship, and relationships.

Down here the spirit of chaos was not at his top game. His magic shifted on him. The closer he drew to the forest's center, the more he was stricken by a bizarre anti-chaos clause. Or an overly chaotic imbalamce. Whatever the issue, he disliked lingering. There were no Manticore tracks. It more so looked as if somrthing, or somepont, was dragged from the water. He was not too focused on the water, or what it possibly housed for he occupied himself by noisily stretching out his body. Whenever possible the spirit tried to make a nuisance of himself.

"Ahhh~! My age is catching up with me." He uselessly declared, for such shouldn't matter to an immortal being, right? "Now I do wonder if that little tree is still keeping things in balance?" He would like to disrupt it.

He gaze turned towards the eventide summoning mare when she called for his attention. Shifting his weight he turned his serpentine body. His talon and hoof dug against the ground, grass and dirt pressing between his naked toes. Rounded, fuzzy ears pricked up as his focus shifted to trace along the motion of the hoof. His brows arched in curiosity. Now whole the spirit moved closer to examine the object, something moved about, deep in the forest. Their landing, well Discord's cacophonous tumbling, had roused the suspicion of residents. One could not help the sensation of 'eyes all around', but this gaze was one of hatred.

Whatever was watching them stole aways into the forest once more. Dragging sounds pulled over tree roots knotting the forest floor and loose dirt and fauna. A dragging trail, similar to the one that pulled along, what appeared to be, an armoire, leading into the forest. Discord touched his paw to the chest's surface. He considered a moment what it was.

He threw his paw and claw into the air. "I was wondering where this was!" He exclaimed, pressing his paw to his chin and resting his paw to his hips. "I had lent this to a fellow ages ago - can't quote remember his name. But he wished to change, so being the benevolent god of chaos I was, I gave him the means to." Discord frowned and inspected the armoire. "Though it is rather rude to discard such an antique in the middle of the forest." Nothing here ever seemed to follow the rules, especially not chaos.

The male turned to face Luna and shrugged. The armoire was resettled so it stood up properly. The spirit manifested an antique sitting sofa and plopped down wearing a maroon robe with a pipe now resting in his paw. His claw plucked a pocket watch from the robes as his hind legs crossed knee to knee. A few soap bubbles escaped the pipe as he peered at the watch. "Time here is irregular." And by such the flow of the past and present. "Hoo, this is much more interesting. Ghosts of the past may yet still linger. Tell me Luna," he looked up to her, vanishing.

There were many unusual things about the Everfree forest. It had been here since before the settling of Ponyville and was what had likely kept ponies from settling beyond the woods until the princesses had paved the way for industrial growth such as trains and building an entire Capitol within the mountains beyond. Their desire to settle had taken many to exploring and traveling. Some even tried to settle the Forest as 'free land' to do as they wished away from the constructs of society.

"Did you know a cult used to live here?" He stood and walked back over to her, his pipe and robe vanishing, but the chair remaining. "I liked the fellows. Tried to convert them to Discordian, but I suppose they made their choice." That had sounded a bit threatening, but just his cryptic manners, right?

Perhaps not.

Discord was a vindictive creature, egotistical as well. One could not put it passed him to ruin a collective group who dared not pay him homage, or worse yet: were organized! Perish the thought. Whatever dismay he had put upon the group, it would likely never be known. They had come out here to find freedom, only to find a roving, angry spirit hurt by loss. Discord tottered, remorseless, and moved to settle by Luna's side. He brushed against her, a sly beast, before settling to walk with her when she decided to head along.

"A creature that consumes magic… hardly unexpdcted. There are many magical anomalies in Everfree. Like Chicken lizatds (cockatrice). The network of magic here is peculair." Which would explain why a beast of chaos could not produce the deeper he went toward the center of this leyline.

[Mal]

Luna's attention was broken briefly from the boxy shape afar to Discord when he complained of his age. It did make her wonder if he was even affected by it at all, physically; it certainly had a way of wearing on one's mental faculties. "It is, now that the physical part of the Elements of Harmony have been restored to it. Its magic still reigns strong." This was as far as she knew, and understood, of the Tree. There was still much she didn't know about it, like where it'd come from and why. What force created it, if any, or was it just some strange physical manifestation of something important to this world? To Equestria?

Her hoof had already fallen to the ground after pointing out the boxy silhouette under the shadow at the edge of the trees' canopy and her body stiffened when she felt that eerie sensation of being watched. The slithering noise drew her attention, her perked ears turning slowly to try to determine where exactly it was coming from. Distracted by it, Luna trotted with a predatory grace in its direction until Discord's exclamation broke her focus. She came out of it with a slowness of mind, a brief confusion, until she remembered what it was he was on about.

"Antique?" Luna repeated, striding halfway towards where the spirit and the object were until the details of what it was stood out to her. It almost looked like some sort of wardrobe. "It is not an unusual request." She was thinking of that phrasing, of changing, as in meaning a change of clothes. Ponies often put their clothing to hang in a wardrobe.. but this was Discord she was talking about. For him to hand out a perfectly normal wardrobe would've been unlike him; especially all those thousand years ago before he'd been sealed away in his stone prison.

"I did not know of any cult out in the depths of the Everfree Forest, unless they managed to keep themselves hidden from me in my explorations with Melvin. I take it this conversion did not go well?" It wasn't impossible to have hidden from Luna then. She was aware of the chair he'd manifested himself, as well as the other oddities, out of the corner of her eye while she studied the armoire with curiosity. When she finally turned away, her gaze settled back on Discord once more, a wing lifted as he came sliding up beside her. The feathers curled down over him while she stood there, as she always held herself, before she strode off. Her mind was still on where she'd heard the noises of the mysterious beast.

"This is very true. There is much I still do not yet know about the Everfree Forest and what it may contain. Nopony knows what hides deep within this place. It is ancient." An additional quip towards Discord's own age was withheld as Luna strode on, still moving carefully over the noisy forest leavings in the direction she thought she'd heard the earlier dragging noises. The feeling of being watched before was much more vague than it, not something anypony could pinpoint accurately.

[Deleted]

Some could say Discord was a bit out of it. Age or even the sheer amount of information he had to sort through as a god of chaos, was simply overwhelming. His mind wasn't always on point, at least he would have you think. There were times he was using forks to comb his mane, or having a spot of paper for lunch. All appeared to be the works of a madpony, but Discord was most likely genius. With time, came the ability to flow with it. He had learned, long ago, that fighting it did not work. Changing it, made things worse. It created fractured, horrifying realities that, even if you went back and changed what went forward -- that reality still exists. There was a world where he never lost his foalhood friends, but they had become corrupted and consumed by their immorality and power. In that world he became a hero and tried to save them from themselves. He could go back as much as he wanted, and change however much he could -- but it never changed the fact that he lost them. He did not like the idea of dwelling... but he also lived constantly in the now. Even if it was past for many of them, to him it happened just yesterday. His efforts at becoming a proper friend seemed almost short lived. He became attached, quickly, knowing how fleeting mortals lives could be.

All that aside...

"You know a good shine and perhaps we could bring it back to the castle. I do need a place to keep my spices." But -- wardrobes ere for --? "I do hope nopony actually used it. It was a terribly bad joke." He waved his paw and claw dismissively. "Well, for not it is fine. I mean who would be so strange as to climb into abandoned armoire's in the middle of the forest?"

In all his dilly-dallying he had not taken note of Luna's distraction. The beast always seemed focused on the wrong thing, at the wrong time. Such behavior could often unsettle ponies. It made them feel as if they were all alone, the crazy ones that were jumping at shadows. But was that not what Everfree was? Just shadows? Whatever powers that be which crept along the gnarled, twisted forest beneath the shadowing canopies hid naught but dark doppelgänger ... There was nothing but creeping umbrage. Everywhere one looked the shadow of an Owlbear snaked through the brush. The creeping silhouette of a Manticore stalked along the treeline. The moon swept shade over the visage of a Hydra lurked over the horizon. Nothing seemed to be without the aide of the blanketed skies. Even the glittering diamonds that laid over the mauve-swept heavens could not penetrate the leaf-knitted covers of the treetops.

He lowered to all fours as Luna questioned of that time. "I would say not!" Discord sounded offended as he thumped his rump against the grass, forepaws touching to rest between his haunches. "They worshiped some sea-dwelling ponies, and I tried to explain to them the troubles they would encounter holding captive such a deity." He did mean -- holding captive, in their hearts, right? Quite not.

Quite literally captive. They had captured a Nereid, naturally of the sea. They only swam through the rivers of Everfree and what now is Ponyville, to return to the oceans they were born in. While much of the building in Equestria had changed many of these routes so Nereid were almost never seen crossing. Discord has come across the captive individual. The rituals they had placed surrounding the captive creature were too stuffy for his liking, besides removing a being from their native habitat, not allowing it to grow and change strongly misrepresented chaos in its finest.

"..and so I forced them to convert!" He pressed his paw to his chest -- just in the middle of his thought, clearly. He blinked and looked around in suspect, snapping his claws a few times. "Oh, well a flashback was supposed to accompany that story. No matter." He waved it off. "It got them out of their little underground enclave, and into the world! I'm sure Tia would be proud of me!" Hardly, trouble maker.

He narrowed his gaze at Luna as he moved to walk, more like amble, along side her. Excuse you princess. "Even with all the times passed, I am rather spry for my age. I've easily withstood lifetimes with a flexible body~" He crooned.

Marching along with her he would scan his surroundings, hardly impressed. It hasn't changed on the surface, but something deep down has changed. The dragging trail marks of whatever it was. What one could tell from the marks was that it was quite large, perhaps even serpentine, but the marks did not move like a snake. They moved like a slug: writhing, worming motions that pushed the dirt away wherever it went. Sometimes the trail would vanish due to the foliage, but it would not be long until the pair came upon a victim. By a rock, beneath some foliage, lay the shriveled body of a little Cokcatrice. His magic had been sucked away, leaving him to look like a dried up wishbone. It was not dead, but it was not impressive.

[Mal]

The alicorn princess's attention was being split two ways at once, partly on Discord and partly on tracking the so-called dangerous beast in the forest. She heard what he commented about the wardrobe, and although she disregarded the part about spices simply because it was typical Discord, the mention of 'using it' snagged at her attention like a claw against cloth. "What? What can it be used for other than hanging one's clothing?" Luna turned her head slightly, to where she could peek at him out of the corner of one eye while never taking her gaze entirely off the path ahead. This concerned her.

"Sea dwelling ponies.." Sirens, perhaps? Merponies? Kelpies? Luna had many questions about that, but when Discord was involved, she had many questions about everything. There was so little he told her, and she wanted to know more, but he seemed only capable of throwing out small morsels of information that only piqued her curiosity rather than dampened it.

There was some silence for a short time, until Discord said something aloud that sounded like the end of something. Like an explanation. Where had that come from? "Beg your pardon?" Luna queried. Flashback? She didn't understand the reference. The princess let it roll off as she stalked onward, her head slightly lowered from her usual haughty pose, so that she might better see the signs left in the strange beast's wake, the odd tracks of something being dragged behind it. Occasionally Luna had to stop to find the path again when it faded from sight. And a little later, the cockatrice, all dried up. She almost didn't notice it in its hiding place until she saw part of something that didn't belong to a plant or rock. The sight of the small creature in its state evoked some pity in Luna, as well as some revulsion.

This was most concerning..

If it could do this to a cockatrice, she hated to see what it might do to ponies. This was a matter she felt she'd have to deal with at once, come the rising morning sun or no. The princess considered the cockatrice a moment longer, unresponsive to Discord's boasting about his flexibility, before she walked onward to try to follow the grooves in the dirt and the damage to the undergrowth to its source.