Romance and the Fate of Equestria

Chapter Eighty-Two

Twilight walked through Ponyville in the crisp and frosty early-morning air, laden with saddlebags and looking as casual as she could manage. A tiny Discord sat upon her shoulder.

"So, where's Spike this morning?" he asked, the casual remark sounding rather venomous.

"He's agreed to take on a lighter load of responsibilities for the sake of a brief experiment," said Twilight, keeping her eyes ahead.

"Oh?"

"Yes. You see, I need to figure out what exactly I'm going to do with you. So while Spike's duties have been limited to ordinary library maintenance, you are my assistant."

"Ah… I see," he grumbled.

"Just a temporary arrangement, a little trial run," said Twilight, smirking a bit at his tone. "Believe me, whatever happens, I will find a way to make you useful."

"That sounds awful, but I guess I can't stop you from trying." He spotted a small pony in the street, and perked up quickly. He jumped off of Twilight's back and expanded out into his full size, skittering across the ground then looming over the young filly. "Helloooooo, Silver Spoon."

"Ah!" she shrieked.

"I've been watching you," Discord said smugly. "So good to finally meet you."

"Y-you're Discord," Silver Spoon breathed.

"And the award for most obvious statement of the day goes to the filly with the glasses!" Discord announced, applauding. "I know it's still early in the day, but that one's hard to top."

"How did you…?" Silver Spoon squeaked.

"I got parole," Discord said flippantly. "Relax, I'm… mostly harmless." He chuckled. "I was going to say completely harmless. But I couldn't, because it's just… not… true." He leaned into her face, grinning wickedly.

"Twilight!" Silver Spoon called out in a panic.

"You and I have a lot in common, my dear," Discord said warmly. "We're both heels who are hanging out with the good guys now. But they're wrong if they think that can turn me to their side." He straightened and spread his arms. "I'll always be me… and you will always be you. The 'mean girl'. You really should stop trying to pretend."

"Discord!" Twilight snapped, approaching them. "No corrupting the children!"

"I'm not!" he said innocently. "It's hardly 'corruption' if I'm bringing out who she truly is on the inside." He touched Silver Spoon's face with a single finger, and her eyes swirled hypnotically.

"I… am a terrible pony," she deadpanned.

"Yes, you are," Discord said smugly. He blinked. "Wait, what? You're not supposed to admit it…"

"I never understood before," Silver Spoon whispered as her eyes returned to normal, "just how much I've been hurting ponies all these years. I see it now… I—I need to apologize to everypony I've ever wronged." She started wandering off. "That's a lot of ponies. I hope they all forgive me… I know some of them won't, there's no way they all do, but I still have to try. Every last one…"

Discord stared after her, dumbfounded. Twilight stifled a giggle.

"Go ahead, laugh it up," Discord muttered, becoming small again and hopping onto her back.

"I'm sorry," Twilight said hastily. "I know it's not nice to laugh at someone's failures. Your complete and total failure—BA HA HA HA HA!" She doubled over with laughter, her entire body heaving.

Discord shrugged noncommittally. "Fine, fine. I made my first move, tried to bring out her true self. Whoops, turns out her true self is actually nice. An error in judgment on my part. It happens."

"It does," said Twilight, starting to walk again. "But I shouldn't have laughed. I'm sorry."

Discord considered that for a moment. "No you're not," he decided.

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A tan stallion with an hourglass cutie mark looked around in bewilderment at the Golden Thread store, which was now filled with simple wooden dining tables and chairs. Behind the counter were several ovens; the smell of baking bread filled the store.

Gilda glanced up at him from behind the counter. "Can I help you?" she asked him.

"Um, yeah," he said uncertainly. "Yeah, I came in looking for some Golden Thread, but…"

"Ah," said Gilda. "Sorry, chief, I don't sell Golden Thread anymore."

"Oh," said the stallion in disappointment. "Why not?"

"'Cause it's evil," Gilda retorted.

"I was just gonna use it to do some yard work…"

"Doesn't matter, sorry. Can I offer you a falafel?"

The stallion looked surprised, then frowned in annoyance. "You know, the sign outside still says Golden Thread…"

"We're working on that," Gilda said. "We can't think of a new name that doesn't suck."

He was already leaving. "Sorry!" Gilda called after him. "Good luck with that yard work!"

As he exited the store, he crossed paths with Twilight as she entered. She nodded cordially to him and began approaching the counter. "Morning, Gilda."

"Hey, Bangs. How's it goin'?"

"I'm all right. You? And how's the store?"

"Pretty crummy…" Gilda admitted. "We are not turning a profit. This little store might be at the end of its life."

"I'm sorry," Twilight said softly, pouting.

Gilda shrugged. "So, what's up?"

"Just came to check in. Running some errands." With that, Twilight turned to look at one of the side walls, and for the first time Gilda noticed Discord reclining on her back.

"I… see," Gilda muttered, stepping back with slight unease.

"Gilda," Discord greeted her. "You don't seem surprised to see me."

"Dash told me what was up," Gilda said shakily.

Discord once again grew to his original size and leaned across the counter, inspecting Gilda's face closely. "So, you've also put on the white hat of virtue. You and Silver Spoon. That's a shame. You just can't find a good old-fashioned antagonist anymore…"

"Sorry to disappoint," Gilda sneered.

"No sweat. So, hey, I have a bit of covert information for you…"

"I'm not interested in anything you have to say, Zipcord," Gilda said coldly.

"Really?" Discord pouted. He jumped over the counter and knelt down, leaning alongside her. "But we're kindred spirits. Look, we even have… oh." He grabbed one of her arms with his eagle talon, and one of her hind legs with his lion paw, and pulled, flipping her over onto her back. "Oops! Never mind. I was going to say we have the same arms, but that was your leg. Sorryyyyy…"

"Hey!" Twilight said sharply. Discord turned his head, to see that she was levitating a spray bottle. "Bad Discord!" she snapped, magically pulling the trigger and spraying liquid into his eyes.

"OWW!" he wailed, staggering backward, his hands over his face. "That was bleach!"

"I know," Twilight said coldly. "Sorry, Gilda, he's with me."

"Anything so incongruous and freaky would just about have to be about you," Gilda grumble, getting to her feet.

"Oh, you're one to talk, sister," Twilight chuckled, nodding meaningfully to the tapestry that blocked the entrance to the store's secret basement.

Discord heaved himself upright, walking back around the counter, his eyes still bloodshot and squinting. "Listen, Twilight," he said anxiously. "I have information that Gilda really needs to hear. I want to share it with her in private. I promise I mean her no harm or discomfort. Please, permit me to stay and speak with her."

Twilight frowned at his pleading face. "What information?"

"I think Gilda would want it kept secret. Please."

Twilight stared him straight in the eye for a few seconds, then shrugged. "Gilda? Up to you."

"…I'll chance it," Gilda said uneasily.

"You sure?"

"I'll be fine. Go on."

Twilight hesitated slightly, but nodded and left the store.

"So," said Gilda, "what do I need to know that you could tell me? I'm pretty sure we haven't met."

Discord clasped his hands behind his back and began slowly pacing the floor.

"On a good day," he began thoughtfully, "of which I haven't had many, I'm a hair's breadth short of omnipotent. And when one spends as much time frozen in stone as I do, there's not much to do but become aware of what's going on." He turned to smirk at her. "Everything that's going on."

"And what's going on that concerns me?" she said tersely.

"Oh, any number of things. But I'm here to tell you one in particular." He pulled his hands out from behind his back and began drumming them together in front of his chest instead. "The queen of the changelings is looking for something. Something she lost some months ago. Something you have in your possession."

Gilda's expression scarcely changed, but she now looked a bit sick. "So she is after Cocoon."

"Yes."

"I always thought she might come searching," Gilda whispered.

"She can't do without," Discord said simply, resuming his pacing. "She suffers without him."

Gilda snorted. "Yeah, an evil conqueror like her, she probably loves the power of that silk."

"No, not the silk!" Discord exclaimed in frustration. "She doesn't give a damn about the silk! She's got a whole legion of guys who can make that same silk! She wants this guy!"

He put his hands on his hips and leaned toward Gilda, snarling. "You know, that's what annoys me about you Equestrians—and apparently, even immigrants like you develop the mindset. You think that everypony who tries to take over your country is a sociopath of some sort, and never seem to consider any alternatives. Is it so unthinkable that maybe, just maybe, the queen of the changelings has loved ones? That Nightmare Moon was just a misguided child who wanted to be loved? That everything I do is part of some desperate bid to impress my mother? There's light and darkness in everyone, but if someone wants to conquer Equestria, you think, ooh, they must be pure evil! Except Celestia. Which is weird, because the only difference in her takeover is that she succeeded…"

"Is it?" Gilda asked softly.

"What?" Discord said blankly.

"Is it a bid to impress your mother?"

Discord blinked. "…No," he said. "Not at all. But if you knew me, you'd see how it was a distinct possibility. Folks seldom bother to get to know me well enough to consider it. The point is this: there are forty thousand changelings in the world. Every last one is under the command of this one queen. And she will send every last one of them to their deaths before she gives up on finding the one living creature that matters to her more than her plans for controlling… well, everything. The same living creature you have imprisoned in your basement."

He rose to a standing position again and bowed down momentarily. "Just a heads-up. I hope it was helpful." He walked calmly out of the shop, leaving Gilda staring horrorstruck at the tapestry on the wall.

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Endnotes

I try not to reform villains left and right, and hopefully this chapter is an exhibition on how that's not exactly what I'm doing. It was meant to highlight the differences between three of the story's ex-antagonists.

Silver Spoon has a genuine desire to become a better pony and have true friends, her only trouble is in not knowing how. She needed to learn something that I think everyone has to learn eventually: that life is not like a sitcom, where insult-throwing is dismissed as friendly ribbing. (I know there's no television in Equestria, but I'm assuming they have sitcoms on the radio) And with Discord having shown her who she truly is, she's definitely closer to completing her maturation, but she's still got a long way to go.

Gilda's progression was a bit slower. She learned a bit about the value of friends and companionship during, ironically, her time spent as a mobster. Though she came to Ponyville with still quite a bit of darkness in her, the friendship and support shown by the main six turned her into a genuinely good-hearted individual by the end of Part One, something which she herself never expected or desired.

Discord, on the other hand, is… simply put, a villain in the company of heroes.

On another subject, not only is it fun to finally be writing Discord on a regular basis, but it's a very entertaining challenge to make sure that he never says anything that's not true. Or rather, nothing which he perceives as untrue. He can say right now that he's on the same moral ground as Celestia because he truly believes it… but with a bit of character development, he'd gain some perspective on the matter, and no longer be able to make statements like that. Such character development might happen, and it might not. I like to shake things up.