The Steadfast Sky : A Canterlot Conversation
The Grey Potter
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/11495/The-Steadfast-Sky
http://cosmicponyfiction.tumblr.com

“So, I’ve also been working on autonomy too.” Discord bobbed happily on the marble balcony, grinning as little shows of magic spun around his head. “You know, actual things that operate without me thinking about them.”

“Mm-hmm.”

“It’s easy enough when it something inorganic, or just something crazy. But you think of like… A cat.” With an excited flick of his wrist, a black cat blossoms from the tower’s marble. It yawns in the stretching way cats do, then begins licking its paw. “See, I can make it walk around, look and act like a cat… I’m good at those specific observations, been practicing that for years and years. But I stop thinking about it, and it just… You see? Doesn’t look right.”

“Alright.”

“So I’ve been trying to think, how do I make sure it behaves properly, even when I’m not paying attention? I was thinking, well, how do I make the inorganic stuff, you know, keep doing things? Remember that volcano? That was its set ‘behavior.’ I set up it insides to work a specific way. Set deep within it, I imagined a specific pocket of packed gas, expanding as its released… Oh, and I was so stuck on gas for so long. But it’s easy now, you know?”

“Yes, I remember.”

“But with living things, the ‘behavior’ is so circumstantial, especially if it has to interact with things naturally. But if I just think of these things as little demands…” Discord turns to the cat, fussing with it. “I know how muscles work, how the structure of bodies work. I know how these things move on the inside. So I just roughly rebuild that, and set little commands. It’s something like…” He clicks his fingers, and his eyes turn up to mine. “Ah! You know how the master gear in a clock sets all the others spinning, doing their own things? Something like that.” He clicks his fingers again, and the cat jerks spastically. But in just a few more seconds, it settles back on its feet. Discord grins eagerly as the cat turns in place, settling itself gently down for a nap. “See? Now that looks natural! I mean, natural within strict parameters, of course…”

“Oh that’s wonderful, Discord. You’ve been working really hard on this.”

“Yes!” he beams, “Very hard. I’m glad you noticed! So,” And again, his attention returns to the cat. “I don’t exactly know what to call this. I suppose I could call it clockwork, but like I said, that’s not really…”

Okay. I think that’s all I can take. I’ve become exhausted just acting amazed at what Discord’s doing. I mean, yes, it’s good, he’s got something he’s good at, super awesome. And it’s not like it’s like boring or anything. I don’t want to ruin his fun. But uuuuhg… Stuff. We need to talk about super important stuff.

“Discord.” I finally say. He looks up from his toppled cat quizzically. “We need to talk.”

“Oh!” he laughs. “Do you have questions?”

“Sorry, but we’re going to set the clockwork aside for a bit,” and, before he can object, “We need to talk about Celestia.”

His eyes go glazed, and he gives an annoyed huff. “I thought we agreed that Celestia overreacted.”

“Yes, but—“

“Luna…” he gives his cat’speriment a strange, smirking grin, “I don’t really want to talk about Celestia.”

“Well, I do.”

“Why?”

I clench my jaws firmly. “Because she’s your friend and my sister.”

“I stick by what I said then,” he retorts. “She’ll come around. She has to, doesn’t she?”

“We should apologize anyway.”

Discord’s strange smile quickly fades away. His eyes are still locked on his cat, strumming his fingers across it’s back. I feel, for a fleeting moment, that maybe he’ll go along with me. I mean, what does he have to lose? But…

“No,” he says firmly. “She hit you.”

“She was mad,” I reply. “We did ruin her party.”

Discord snorted. “No we didn’t. All I did was knock over a table.”

“And magically refill the wine glasses.”

“Yes, but she doesn’t know that. We don’t have to apologize for what she doesn’t know.”

Still solid inside, I say, “I’m not going to tell her half-truths.”

“And I’m not going to give her more things to yell about. Look.”

And that weird grin was back, half spread across Discord’s face. It was shaky, like he forgot how to smile proper. Eyes locked on my shoulders, he sidles up beside me, as if he’s going to give me a one-armed hug. But he hesitates at the last second, looking over the railing instead, beginning to gestate absentmindedly with one hand.

“She’ll, you know,” he says, “See that she’s being crazy, and she’ll come to us. Right? Then everything will go back to normal, and we can keep ignoring each other in peace.”

“Ignoring each other is the last thing I want us to do,” I shoot, “We are friends. Or at least we should be friends…”

“Fine, fine,” he quickly covers, “She’ll realize she’s crazy and everything will go back to playing Best Friends Forever.”

“Alright. So tell me.” I try to catch his eye, but Discord seems preoccupied with his fiddly fingers. “When exactly will this ideal future happen?”

He shrugs. “Heck if I know.”

“Bah!” Frustrated, I topple sideways, smacking Discord in the side. Just a little joke, really, an annoyed slap to a stubborn friend.

Discord flinches violently, and almost immediately flings himself sideways. He slaps into the tower railing, squirms onto his side, and keeps smiling at me like he meant to do that all along.

Uhg. Weird. So weird lately. Both of them have been. Yes, Celestia’s been pretty swept up lately… But I don’t know what’s happening with Discord either. It’s like Discord’s a completely different person, just showing off constantly, hardly wants to talk at all. I just want us all to make up and be friends again. But Celestia’s words still echo around my head. How can we possibly make up after a statement like that?

Weird, weird, weird, everybody’s just so weird…

“Discord,” I finally say, “Have I been weird lately?”

“What?” He laughs nervously. “No, not at all, Luna.”

“I feel weird,” I grumble.

“Well, you’re not!” His creepy smile gets even creepier. “You’re great! You’ve been awesome, same as always!”

“I’m not the same,” I assert, “I do more magic than I used to. And people treat me different. They used to treat me like such a kid…”

“Well I’m doing buckets more magic too, and I’m treated a lot differently, and honestly, please! Don’t worry! You’re fine!”

Okay, I can’t look at Discord’s weird face anymore. I got this feeling, like ‘old Discord’ would have been more frank with me. But I try to pull that picture to mind, of a littler Discord, and I can’t see it. He’s different, yet, to my frustration, I can’t put my hoof on how different…

I get a brief flash of a sickly Discord, starved and tiny. No, no, that wasn’t him either…

I throw back my head and sigh loudly.

“What are we still doing here?”

“Here?” he asks, “In the tower…?”

“No, in Canterlot.”

He stares at me, nonplussed. At least his dumb grin is gone.

He says, “We’re waiting for the other three Elements to arrive.”

“Is that so…

All of these feelings. I need to explain them to Discord. Just, you know, articulate exactly what I’m feeling. Put it all into words. When did I even learn the word “articulate?” Uhhhg, why does my head hurt so much lately?

“Discord,” I say, “I don’t want to be here anymore.”

He stares at me. “What, really?”

“Yes. Do you think that’s weird?”

“Yes?” He spits out a horrible laugh, like a nervous cackle. “You’re doing great here! Everybody loves you, you’re trusted to raise the moon, doing well in classes…”

“Are you trying to argue for staying?”

“No! Heck no! I’m just saying…” Finally, his face looks familiar. Looks relaxed, looks natural. Looks something like the Discord I used to know. “I’ll stay, if you want to stay. I’ll go if you want to go. That’s all.”

Firmly, I say, “I want to leave.”

“Then let’s go!” He shoots to his feet. “Heck, let’s just grab our bags and ditch this place!”

Despite myself, I smile. “We’re going to have to bring Celestia too, you know.”

“Dammit,” he winces, “Guess we do, don’t we…”

“And to get her to come along, we need to apologize to her.”

“We can’t just, you know…” He makes a violent motion with his arms. “Tie her up and drag her behind us?”

“Discord…”

“Yes, yes, just a joke… Fine. So…” He jumps up on the railing, strangely large wings unfurling and flexing. “Where do you even think she is? We don’t even know the first place to look.”

“We can just check a few places,” I say. Getting to my feet is difficult. My legs, pinned beneath my body, had become numb. “If we split up, we should be able to cover the most ground. I’ll whisper to you if I find her.” Wobbling on three hooves, I tap my Element.

“I guess I could send a message to you,” Discord says casually, “Though, I’ll have one hell of a time trying to get her to follow me.”

I nod, and after a few more plans and goodbyes, we part. Discord decides he wants to go check the Illuminator’s shrine. It’s pretty much the least likely place for Celestia to be, but I let him go anyway. I expect, with what Celestia said three days ago, she’ll only talk to me anyway. I decide to head to the market district, maybe check the gardens before I begin combing the castle for her.

To my surprise, I guessed it in two. While my search in the marketplace was aimless and fruitless, I spot her almost instantly in the outskirt gardens. She rests by the Cliffside river, the ocean of black clouds spreading out before her. Yet, she’s not alone there. Celestia forms a small circle with three younger mares. And I seriously do mean young. Two of the fillies do not have cutie marks. They all look up to my sister in a rapt, giddy attention.

“Of course I’ve thought of Blueblood as passably handsome for a long time now,” my sister brags, nose held high in the air. “But I knew I mustn’t let silly feelings guide me. It’s very, very important to stay above it all girls. Rather important to mentally step back from the situation, as if observing it from afar…”

I don’t know how, but through her speech she actually notices me. My eye caught hers, and she slowly wilts out of her puffed-up position. “Oh, hello Luna.” Smiling lightly, she flicks her hoof dismissively at the fillies. “I have business with my sister, girls. Why don’t you get back to playing?”

They collectively groan, yet were more than happy to frolic away, giggling amongst themselves.

“Was Blueblood that stallion you mentioned…” I ask, cutting off before I bring up our fight. It’s not the smartest thing to bring up a screwup right then. I want to convince my sister of something, dangit, and for that she needs to at least be not mad.

“Yes, yes, Blueblood is my courtly rival,” Celestia says, flattening the hem of her dress. “What do you need, Luna?”

“Discord and I need to apologize.”

“Good,” she snips. Then, after a brief silence. “I’m waiting, little sister.”

“We need to apologize together,” I explain, “I’d like for you to come with me.”

I expected her to begrudgingly comply. Maybe huff and puff about it, but I did just imply that me and Discord were wrong. She could pretend to be faultless for all I cared. But Celstia didn’t budge. Celestia just continued sitting in place, frowning up at me.

“So I should follow you?” Celestia asks.

“Yes…?”

“So you and that beast can lead me directly into another prank?”

I sigh. Of course she’d be suspicious. “I understand why you would think that. But please, set the idea aside, sister. We have very important things to talk about, starting with the apology.”

Her eyes narrow. “Like what exactly?”

“Like I said,” I reiterate, “I’d like us to all talk this over together.”

Celestia huffs, returning to fussing over her dress. At least she wasn’t leaving, I muse quietly. What tactic should I use next to try and drag her along?

A plan barely formed before I noticed something drastically wrong with my sister.

“You’re not wearing you’re Element,” I say, words coming like a shot to the gut. Yet, as quickly as I noticed, she pulls her Element out from her tiny saddlebag.

“It’s right here, little sister,” she chimes.

“Why aren’t you wearing it?”

“I felt like wearing some different necklaces,” she explains plainly. “The Element limits my wardrobe, you know. I have a good many dresses that simply do not work with the gold and orange…”

“So you just took it off?”

“Clearly.”

I stare at her, her declaration still so fresh and crisp in my mind… Just wants to try on necklaces? After something like that?

“Okay,” I snap, “Celestia, we really need to talk. All of us. Spend one good long night together, and work all this stupid drama out.”

She sniffed. “I can’t.”

“Can’t or won’t.”

“Can’t,” she says, tone crisp. “I have arrangements for tonight.”

“Can you cancel?”

“No. It’s incredibly important.”

“More important than your sister and your friend?”

I can feel a whine edging into my voice, and yet, Celestia gave the smallest of irritable sighs. It hung in the air between us, a horrible silence falling after it.

Fine. Fine, okay, not fine at all, really.

“We’re leaving, Celestia,” I say.

“I said I wasn’t going to follow you.”

“We’re leaving Canterlot.”

She makes a small, strangled sound. “Why, in the whole wide world, would we do something so incredibly stupid as leave Canterlot?”

“Things are wrong here, don’t you think?” I plead, “Wrong in so many ways. We’ve changed so much…”

Celestia laughs, a strange and haughty sound. I’m reminded, so forcibly, of Discord’s stupid grin. Something so unlike the person I used to know, yet, I can’t remember what it used to be like.

“No, I don’t agree,” Celestia smirks, “I adore this city.”

“Celestia, it’s been… I don’t even know how long since we arrived.” The word ‘year’ drifted into my mind, but the word terrified me. “Too long,” I quickly add.

“We’re waiting for the other Elements,” she retorts.

“They’re not coming,” I shoot right back.

“You need to have a little more patience, little sister.”

“I think we’re it. I think we’re all the Elements.”

“Don’t be silly, there’s six Elements.”

“We’ll double up then.”

Celestia scoffs loudly, but before she could spew more excuses, I aggressively cut her off.

“We can not allow the Shadow Stallion to remain unchecked any longer, my sister!”

Well, of all the strange things happening today, those words seem the strangest. Shadow Stallion was the furthest thing from my mind, I don’t even think I’ve spoken that name in months and months. And yet, remembering, a hot guilt starting coiling inside me. We just ignored the world beneath the clouds, wasted time for a disgustingly long period of time, failed Equestria for the sick length of a year…

My sister was having none of it. She stood up sharply at the name, mouth a hard, unfamiliar line.

“Have the Illuminators told you to go?” she hissed, “That we were all the Elements?”

“No, it’s a—“

“Then there is nothing to discuss,” my sister snapped. “The Illuminators aren’t idiots! This is the way things should be. Do you see them panicking or worrying about the Shadow Stallion?”

“No, but—“

“Then put your silly little worries to rest!”

“They’re not silly!” I cried “We have to go!”

“I am not going to return to sleeping on dirt because of your childish little whimsies!”

“Oh, but when you wanted to go fight the Stallion, that wasn’t childish at all!”

“Yes, it was childish,” Celestia said flatly, “We should have come here immediately. I was stupid for thinking otherwise. Now, I must go.”

“Celestia, please,” I darted in front of her, trying to stop her trot. She circled around me, shooting me dirty looks. “We don’t have to leave! Just talk to me and Discord! We need to talk…”

“It’s ‘Discord and I,’ little sister,” she snapped, “And like I said. I have arrangements.”

“Then when…”

“Take it up with Fairy Lights. Good day, little sister.”

“You can’t just walk away!”

Yet, she did. Stalked off in a speedy trot, never once looking back. I watched her vanish down a side street, stunned.
I nudged my Element, vaguely aware that I should report to Discord. That I should tell him that I found my sister… but then what? What else was there to say? I brought my Element to my nose anyway, horn flaring, trying to put together what message I should send through its connection.

“Found her… she didn’t want to talk. Left.” After a few moment’s thought, “Let’s just… meet at my room. Talk about Celestia there. Okay?”

I went to my room, waited until I had to raise the moon. No Discord. He never turned up.

This is wrong. Wrong wrong wrong wrong.

Strange as Discord’s been lately… When has he ever, ever refused to return to my side?