A whisper, a single eclipse of what could have been. If only Celestia had taken the time, perhaps she could have seen it sooner. Yet, over a thousand years later, here she was, staring in complete shock at nothing more than a memory. Many years had come and gone since then, and Celestia was more mature than she was way back then. She wasn’t a filly anymore, yet something was telling her to do something crazy. A tiny voice, a whisper in the back of her mind, slowly pushing her forward. “Perhaps the truth shall shine through in a distant future...”

        It was the burning desire to learn of the ‘truth’ Discord mentioned all those years ago that pushed her to do something that would reverse all that Twilight and her friends worked towards. It would not be easy, however, even for an alicorn reversing the elements’ powerful effects. This impulse caused Celestia’s horn to begin to glow involuntarily with a faint pink. A few feet behind her, a concerned Luna began to inch towards her. “S-sister? Is everything alright?”

        Lost in a complete trance, Celestia offered no response. She only gave up the empty silence that ravaged her mind, and continued to allow magic to flood from her horn. Eventually the magic traversed to the statue, wrapping it in a warm glow. Growing fearful of Celestia’s intent, Luna raised her voice. She did not want to physically stop her sister, but if Celestia did not stop, she would be left with no choice.

        “Celestia! Snap out of it!” Luna screamed in a last attempt at breaking Celestia’s trance; with little success of course. Fittingly, Celestia was lost in the world she used to know.

*Crack!*

        A tiny fissure opened up in the face of the statue, giving way to gray fur. Taking notice of Celestia’s attempts to free Discord, Luna decided she had no choice. She flung herself at her sister, tackling her to the ground. The sudden shock knocked her out of her trance, releasing the magic.

        “L-Luna?” Celestia lay, pinned, beneath her sister in a daze. Her mind was foggy, and she couldn’t remember anything from the past few minutes. “What...what happened?”

        Sensing that her sister had snapped out of whatever trance held her, Luna rolled from atop her sister. “I’m not really sure, ‘Tia.”

“Neither am I.” Celestia rolled over to face her sister, who was gasping slightly to catch her breath. “Perhaps we should just return to the castle...” 

“Sounds good.” 

-----------

        A crack; day’s first light, shining through to illuminate the age old darkness. For the first time since Twilight and her friends trapped him, he could feel the warmth of sunlight on his face. Though there was something different this time; it was not chaos that released him, but love. The magic that touched the statue was unlike any other he had experienced. It resurfaced ancient memories, painful memories that he had long since cast aside for better days.

        He focused his powers into the palm of his paw, and released it, shattering the statue around it. Now free to snap his fingers, he was able to magic the rest of the statue away, freeing him completely.

        “Free again!” he giggled, “Oh, what to do this ti-” Discord gasped as the vision of Celestia crying on the cliff flashed in his mind. He could see the pain on her face as he told her that what they had was all for nought. He collapsed to his knees as the memory flooded every sense, blocking out all other thoughts from his chaotic mind. Finally, after several agonizing moments, the memory subsided leaving only an eerie silence.

“What sorcery is this?” he barked. This was among the many memories that were stricken from time. An emotion that had become all but redundant to the draconequus surfaced in his heart; sadness.

        “I-...I will not have this!” he roared, and a dozen clouds above him instantly transformed to fluffy pink balls of cotton candy. “This place, it reminds me so much of her.” He turned his attention to a small patch of daisies to his right. “Pathetic, at best. I should leave, before this place begins to wear off on me.”

        He examined his surroundings to find that he had not been moved since he was last incarcerated in stone. It appeared to him as if they had turned the place into some sort of shrine to his defeat. It was filled with all kinds of flowers, and greatly resembled the gardens he frequented as a child. It made him sick.

        “It’s just like Celestia to do this, the bright colors and elegant design are just like her. I think I will make my way to the forest now. I must regain my strength before rushing into chaos this time. Don’t want another...incident with Twilight Sparkle and her little friends.” Discord groaned and began floating towards the forest. “This time...”

-----------

        “So much to do, so little time! Spike, do you have the checklist for things to do today?” A groan could be heard coming from the bottom of a rather large pile of books. Twilight giggled as she realized that her little assistant had become trapped under a massive pile of scrolls. Having mercy on the frail dragon, she began to levitate the pile of parchment upwards, revealing the purple scales of the disoriented dragon.

        “Thanks Twilight...ughh” Spike brushed himself off and hopped from underneath the pile. It collapsed with a mighty thump and a plume of dust erupted from underneath it. “Say, where are we going today? Some kind of epic adventure?” The little dragon began to happily bounce up and down with a mighty gleam in his eye. Twilight responded with a innocent giggle and nudged Spike lightly.

        “Not exactly, Spike. We’re just going to the forest to do a little research on the animals that come out in the daytime. There should be no danger...but if there were, I’d be glad to have my little protector with me.” Twilight smiled as Spike flexed his muscles, admiring himself in the mirror.

        “Yeah, yeah! Glad to help Twi!”

        “Hehe, come on Spike! We want to get out before nightfall!”

------------

        Despite it being the middle of the day, the forest was still rather dark and damp. Any normal pony would succumb to superstition and fear, but Twilight was a mare of science. She knew that all the dangerous animals of the forest usually kept farther in, or only came out at night. This knowledge didn’t ease her assistant’s nerves. Spike would jump slightly at every creak and moan of the forest, each time inciting a light chuckle from Twilight.

        “Come on Spike, we’re almost at the clearing! I promise it won’t be so scary once we get to an opening.” Spike gulped, and nervously searched around the perimeter of the forest.

        “I-I’m not scared!” Spike chuckled and started whistling. “It’s just these loud noises catch me off guard!”

        “Oh, of course Spike!” Twilight shook her head and returned her attention back in front of her. A thin trickle of light poured in from in between two trees. The closer they got to it, the warmer the air became. “Oh! We must be getting close Spike. Walk slowly, we don’t want to scare any of the creatures that will be there.”

        Spike motioned over his mouth as if he was locking it and throwing away the key. The two silently approached the clearing until they could see clearly into it. In the middle of it was a huddled mass that Twilight could not identify. “Do you see that Spike?”

----------

In the middle of the clearing stood Discord, lying on the wet grass, a daisy clutched tightly to his chest. Silent tears stained his cheeks, and he was obviously troubled. The gentle atmosphere of the familiar clearing brought back even more of the painful memories. It was the gentle breeze that blew in from the east, the warmth that flooded across his body, the lone daisy that grew in the center. It was perfect; except one thing, Celestia was not there.

“I cannot escape you...I remove any essence of you from my mind, and yet you find a way to return.” He twirled the flower in between his finger, being careful not to fray the petals. “All these years, and here I sit, as pathetic as the day I turned you away. I thought-...I thought chaos was the answer; the way to end the pain.” Discord sighed and laid down on his back so he could stare up at the powerful afternoon sky through the clearing. “You were to be my last mistake.”

Just outside of the clearing stood a frightened Twilight Sparkle, accompanied by Spike. “Wh-what do we do Twilight?” Spike whispered, not even attempting to hide his fear any longer. Twilight could only respond with a series of simple nods and short, incoherent muttering.

“Twilight!” Spike said, raising his voice slightly. This time Twilight snapped out of her daze.

“I’m...not sure Spike. There is no way we can handle this ourselves, but how could we just walk away? We have to get a letter to the Princess, but we’d have to return to the library.” Twilight lurched forward, as if she was going to advance. “I don’t see any choice Spike, we have to go out there!”

        Twilight spoke frantically. Though she tried to hide it behind a facade of bravery, she was very frightened. She gently nudged Spike with her hoof, urging him to walk forward. Though his mind told him this was a terrible idea, his love for Twilight, and the instinct to do right by her led him forward to Equestria’s most infamous war criminal.

       Though he was in a distraught state, Discord was able to detect Spike and Twilight’s presence long before they made it to the center. He made no attempt to hide his current condition. For the moment, he did not care what two measly creatures thought of him. There was only one who he gifted with such honour, and he already knew what she thought of him.

       “Twilight Sparkle and her assistant. Spike was it? Tell me, how do you find yourself out in such dark places on a day like this?”

       Discord’s voice was as cold as ice, and was literally echoing off of the circle of trees. The effect sent chills up Spike’s spine, causing him to bolt in the opposite direction. He didn’t make it very far, however, as he ran straight into the chest of Twilight Sparkle. Despite his obvious fear, she urged him forward. She knew she could not do this alone, and Spike was all she had out here.

       “No, what are you doing out here? I thought we trapped you the last time you escaped!” Discord scoffed. He could hardly believe that someone as weak as Twilight Sparkle would dare raise her voice to him, Then again, he thought, she is the protege of Celestia. He had first hand experience at how temperamental she could be.

       “How, or why, I am free is of no importance. Leave me be; go bother some other sad soul. I have no time for it.” Discord waved Twilight away, but she didn’t move a muscle. She simply monitored him, analyzing his precarious condition. He seemed less carefree, and more somber than usual.

       “What’s wrong?” she asked. Even she was taken back by the question. Never in a million years had she ever thought that she would be asking Discord what was wrong. Spike felt the same way; he examined Twilight out of curiosity, and concern.

       “Pfaw! You expect me to believe that you care? Or that you actually believe me foolish enough to tell you? Leave me be!” Discord clasped his hands together and a bright pink cloud appeared over Twilight’s head. She knew what was coming, and tried to move out of the way, but was too slow. In a matter of a few milliseconds she was soaked in chocolate milk.

“I...should have seen that coming.” 

“Yes, you should have.” said Spike. “At least it tastes good!” Spike uncoiled is tongue and wrapped it around himself, licking off every drop of the chocolate milk. “Tasty!” 

       “I’m not leaving!” Twilight proclaimed, ignoring Spike’s odd displays. “It is my duty to get to the bottom of this!”

       “Then tell me, dearest Twilight, what is it you wish to know?” Once again he clapped his hands. This time, however, the forest around them melted away revealing what Twilight could only guess was a therapist office. “How can you help me?”

Twilight could feel beads of sweat develop on her forward as Discord’s icy stare perforated her inner being. He was sharpened in its art; Twilight could only imagine what one would have to go through to obtain such an empty glare. “I...I wish to understand.”

Discord’s eye weakened, and the the office around them melted back into the lush forest that it originally was. “As if you could...” he said, weakly, “but if you so desire, I suppose I could spare a few passing moments. Only a few though. After all, I have chaos to attend to, right?”

       “Of course you do...I’m sure you can accomplish that in this dark corner of the forest, right?” Twilight smiled at her little crack. Spike on the other hoof continued to cower behind Twilight, somehow still attempting to make himself look bigger.

       “You dare doubt me, pony?” Discord scowled, though at this point Twilight no longer feared him. She felt for him, the pain emanating from him was almost palpable.

       “No...it wouldn’t be right to doubt the demon of chaos would it? Why are you even here though, I figured the first place you would go was Ponyville to cause disorder.”

“That is...a reasonable assumption.” Discord turned away from the young unicorn.

       “Are you going to answer me?” Silence loomed over the two, and only the chattering of Spike’s teeth could be heard over the shrill sound of the blowing wind.

       “I’ve come here because it reminds me of better days. Satisfied?”

Twilight could not think of what ‘better times’ would consist of for somepony who only found joy in chaos. “You mean when you ruled over the land?”

“No.” Discord allowed his gaze to follow a single leaf that had fallen from a nearby tree. He watched a gentle robin flew in and took the place of the leaf on the lone branch. “Such times are behind me.”

“Then wha-”

“Miss Sparkle.” Twilight was taken back by the sudden interruption. “I will sate your desires with a riddle; if you wish. I will do this, and then you shall leave me.”

        “A...riddle?” She knew Discord to love games, but this hardly seemed the time for a riddle. “Sure...?” she said, hesitantly.

       “Why does a caged bird sing?” said Discord.

       Twilight, having studied much poetry over her many years recalled a poem she read a few years ago. It was over this very same matter, and was in fact, one of her favorites. “Oh, that’s an easy one! It sings because it wishes for freedom! This idea can actually be placed into pony psychology, an-”

       Discord chuckled and looked back at the robin sitting on the branch. He raised his hand to silence the eccentric unicorn. Just as I thought; just like her.        

“I used to believe the same thing.” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “But wouldn’t it be safer to assume that the bird is crying out for those on the outside? I think you’ll find that a caged bird sings a much different tune, if you place his companion in the cage as well.”

       “How does that answer my question?” said Twilight, who was staring at Discord with raised brow.

       “Honestly, did you expect me to just tell you the answer? Now, honor my deal and leave.” Discord grumbled and waved his hand, shooing Twilight away.

“Come on Twilight, I think he’s made his point. Let’s just go tell the Princess and we c-”

“The Princess...” said Discord, as he tapped his chin with a long finger. “Ahhh yes, Celestia. Or perhaps you mean her sister, Luna. Either way it does not matter. Tell them, I shall remain here and wait for your return.” Discord grinned and clapped his hands. A throne appeared in the clearing, which Discord aptly took a seat in.

 “You...want me to get the Princess? What are you planning!?” Twilight growled.

       “Nothing, I just wish to speak with them. Now, chop chop!” He clapped his hands again, and a rows of bamboo shot up from the ground creating a barrier around him. “Time is wasting, my dear!”

       Twilight stared at the demon through one of the cracks of the barrier and groaned. “Come on Spike...we can’t do this alone.” The two turned from the draconequus, and began making their way out of the forest. They would have to go to the castle right away to tell Celestia that Discord had once again freed himself.