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

I feel alive! Alive, doing the things nobody thinks a princess should do. After so long trapped indoors. After so long constricted by fancy clothes and decorative shoes. After so long trying to be a nice lady mare, and focusing seriously on being serious. I can’t remember the last time I just bolted for it! Running, shouting, casting, escaping. I missed just getting out there and going! Wherever I wanted, not bothering to listen or check with somebody about what’s ‘proper.’ Knowing with all my heart that the best way was my way. That always felt so right.

And it led me well! Just a single day on the run, and I’ve accomplished so much more than I have in an entire, well, more than I ever did stuck in a blouse!

My mane’s tossled, sweat cooling down my back, face aching from laughter and horn hot from casting. After so much scurrying, searching, spying, finally! Discord! Trapped, down on himself, remembering an important day, and... reading a book? Was our story written down there? Creepy! Not unexpected!

“Well?” I said, “You want to get out of here or not?!”

The book folded in Discord’s hands, not entirely closed, but no longer read. He stared at me, silent with his element aglow.

“Did you tell that story to a scholar?” I cheerfully asked, “It’s a good one isn’t it?! You and me… After that dumb procession they had! Man…!”

“S’not what the book’s about,” he mumbled.

“Oh! Okay then!” I nodded. “Why are you saying funny things to yourself then?”

He carefully closed the book and set it down, stealing glances at me. “Well, it reminded me of a moment…” He cleared his throat, “And I didn’t really expect you to turn up so suddenly!”

My grin grew a little wider. “What, did you think I’d never come for you?”

He laughed, a short sound with a lopsided grin.

And my breath was knocked from me. Faster than anything, Discord pounced on me. I yelped, startled as he pulled me up into a crushing hug.

I squealed, “Cold hands! Cold! Geez, Discord, what is with you and your lightning hugs?!”

He squeezed me tighter with a chuckled apology. I could hear his breathing stutter in my ear, deep breaths through clenched jaws. His fur, the familiar feeling of hugging a friendly pincushion. I think he was trying his hardest to not dig his claws into me, but I could still feel the pinch of his talons on my side.

“Man,” I laughed, “Did it suck that bad here?”

“No. But, ah…” He shuffled back, letting me fall gently to the floor. “Where were you anyway? Did they stick you in a study room too?”

“No way, that can’t catch me! Never did!” I felt giddy, hyper all over again. “Discord, I feel so alive! Running around like this, staying out of sight, getting everything together... Even the stuff I’ve found around the library, man! I can’t wait til we get to do it again!”

He frowned, “Do what again?”

“I dunno! Get out of the city! Be heroes! Save the world! Rescue my sister, just like I was going to rescue you…”

“But… you did just rescue me?”

“No I didn’t!” I waved behind me, “The door was open!”

“Oh! Yeeah, it has been, hasn’t it?” He gave the open doorway a funny look, half shrugging. “It’s hasn’t been that way for long. Heck, if it was open hours sooner… I just had to read this last book, you know.”

“Wow,” I said, “They’ve really hooked you to studying, haven’t they?”

“Not… really?” He glanced back at the fallen volume. “I cut a lot of corners. Skimmed, skipped the boring parts, read just the summaries.” He fiddled with his fingers, now completely unable to look me in the eye. “I uh… I should tell you all about it! But not here. Let’s… yeah, let’s get out of the city!”

I stared at him. Stepped a little closer, looking him right in his nervous yellow eyes.

With weighted feeling, I said, “Are you doing alright, Discord?”

“Yes!” he indignantly snapped back, “Of course I am!”

“Is this one of those times when you lie about how fine you are?” He snorted at my statement, and I continued in a lower voice, “Did they refuse to feed you?”

“No! I’ve been properly fed! I’m fine! Or, I guess,” He glanced at the book again, “What I was reading was pretty affecting. Again, I’ll tell you once we get going, okay?”

He smiled, trying to assure me, but…

“Uhg, no,” I moaned, “Don’t give me that creepy grin! It’s so creepy!”

Still indignant, he frowned. “No it’s not!”

“Yes, oh my gosh, it’s so creepy. Augh, I can’t even look at it! That’s you’re liar’s grin, isn’t it!”

“What would I even be lying about?!” he wailed, “I’m just really, really, really happy to see you.”

“Really really happy?”

“Like crazy happy! Why wouldn’t I be, I was just rescued by my f-friend…”

I repressed a giggle. “You just said friend funny.”

“No I didn’t.”

“Yes you did!” I poked in in the Element, grinning right to his face. “You just stammered!”

“It’s just… so, so very affecting…” He dramatically sniffled, clutching his heart and rolling his eyes so hard his head wobbled.

“Now you’re just faking!”

“Oh, Luna!” he shouted dramatically, “I thought for sure my end was nigh… And in you swoop, my savior! We even completed each other’s sentences! It’s like wonderful fated, friendship! Auuugh!” He threw a hand to his forehead, collapsing dramatically to the ground. “The emotions, they overwhelm me!”

“Discord!” I jut out a lip, pretend pouting just like I used to. It mostly doesn’t work, since I’m laughing so hard. “Stop screwing around!”

“Sweet life, I just realized I can cast! Hold on!”

With a click of Discord’s claws, the room exploded with color. A white and gold stage more ornate than practical bloomed to life, instantly covered in a literal sea of roses almost two feet deep. Bouquets bounced off Discord’s elaborately crowned head as he dramatically flung his arms around his face.

“It’s just so, so very emotional!”

“D-Discord!” I couldn’t say another word. All was lost as Discord got buried in his flowers, still flailing dramatically, even as the sea of petals rose over his head. “This is just! This is getting ridiculous, you—!”

“What the hell is going on here?!”

I spun around. An unfamilliar Illuminator stood gaping at the doorway, petals flowing up to his knees and goggling eyes directed right at me.

“Princess of Laughter?!” he shouted.

“Nope! Bye!”

I dove through the flowers, charged into Discord, and felt my head ache as my horn flared to life. Shadows swirled beneath our feet, spiraling and sinking into the ground, carrying us with it. It was barely a moment before we dropped out the other side, bouncing off a mattress with half-realized petals floating down around us.

Discord laughed, definitely way more at ease. “Sorry! That got a little out of hand, didn’t it? So where…?” He stopped, looking around. “Wait… is this my room?”

“Yeah, it’s been unguarded, so I’ve kind’ve been using it as a secret base…”

Even just a few days with its occupant gone had completely transformed the room. For one, there was no crazy color stuff going on. There were no contraptions or experiments. No bowls of candy, fake or real. There were almost no personal objects at all, really. Without his touch, the room looked bare, unlived in. It looked like it had remained unoccupied for months, not days.

“Wonder if I should redecorate,” Discord said offhand.

“Nah, we won’t be staying here long anyway! Look.” I smoothly stepped from the bed, trotting over to his wardrobe. Quick as a flash, I pulled out three sets of saddlebags. “I’ve got you and me all packed. Plus a bit extra for Celestia if we can pry her from her room.”

“Yeah, I doubt it. We—“ he slapped his forehead, “We still need to apologize, don’t we? Geez, that was so long ago now…”

“Better late than never! So let’s go and do it!”

Discord stared at me, “What, right now?”

“Sure right now!” I exclaimed, “No time like the present, right?”

“Well, there’s still some stuff… I mean…” he frowned at me as I shrugged on my saddlebags, “I never had a bag. And is that one new…?”

“Yep!” I spun in place, showing off my blue-and-silver canvas sacks. “Who knew our old saddlebags would be so small now? At least I was able to get something nice-looking for Celestia… Maybe having something fancy will comfort her as we force her to sleep in the dirt!”

“Did you, uh, buy those?”

“Yep!”

He stared at me.

“What have you been up to all this time?” he cried, confused.

“Preparing! I said that, didn’t I?”

“Everything?”

“Everything!” Excitedly, I yanked a piece of paper from my saddlebags, “I’ve got a checklist, and I’ve been running around like crazy getting everything together! Wanna double check if there’s anything I missed?”

“Sure?”

“So! Checklist! After wrangling with merchants and the kitchens alike, I’ve got all the food and money we’ll need. Including Discord Dinners…” Discord flushed red as I carefully floated them up from his bags. “Tastefully wrapped away in pure white paper, you see.” I gently put them back into place, and picked up my list again. “I’ve got a light blanket, flint and a tinderbox, some canteens, and your pot of that silver healy stuff—”

Discord made a choking sound, “How’d you find that?!”

“It was in your satchel, in the wardrobe! Found it while I was pulling out your nice cloak. I mean, the cloaks they gave us here. A part of me still wishes our old cloaks had fit, but…”

I paused smiling. Lowered the paper, and looked at Discord with honesty.

“This morning, I pulled my old cloak out, threw it around my shoulders, thought I would wear it when I bought our bags and supplies. But…” I lightly shrugged. “The hem hung a whole inch off my ankles, and the clasp pinched at my neck. My saddlebags too. They looked so frayed and small, the straps seemed like they could circle my leg, let alone my whole body… I mean…” I shrugged again, feeling my shoulders roll into my cheeks. “We’re so much bigger now.”

Discord shifted uncomfortably on the bed, vaguely nodding.

“Celestia bought us those cloaks,” he said. “Remember? To help me hide, we all got new clothes…”

I laughed, “They cost us the last of our money!”

“Course they did! But, really,” Discord huffed, “You think Celestia would do the same thing today?”

“We’ll talk her round,” I said firmly.

“But she said she didn’t—“

“Well she’s being silly!” I snipped. Oops, that may have been too rude… I refound my smile, trying to assure my friend. “The sister and the friend we know hasn’t gone forever. I mean, we have shared so much. What’s one year between friends and family…”

I rifled through my bags again, a thought coming to me. An object, a little piece of our history. The last piece, as far as I knew. From a special pouch in my left sack, I pulled out a small, bulging burlap bag.

“What’s that?” Discord asked.

Cheerfully, I shouted, “Our marbles!”

“Our what now?”

“You know!” I exclaimed, “When we first decided to pack up and leave Canterbury? And all we thought to bring was that stuffed purple pony and a bag of marbles?”

He stared at the little bag in my aura. “No, we had more than that.”

“Yeah, a sheet, a bottle of rubbing alcohol, some salt…” I waved it away, “Lost, used, left behind. I dunno, maybe Celestia still has our old brush. But do you think she’d keep that ratty old stuff around? When she’s got all this nice stuff now?” I chuckled. “It’s almost funny, really. Decided the best things to pack were a sheet and a purple pony toy. We were so horribly under prepared last time. It’s really such a miracle that we got as far as we did on wild grass and river water.”

I tucked the marbles into the new saddlebag. Even if we’d never use them, it seemed right. It was an heirloom of the journey. The last piece of who we used to be, all the way back in that empty house, playing games together like nothing else mattered in all the world.

“Anyway. Back to the checklist… I also got this map,” I pulled out the little scroll, “Direct information about tomb location, right from the Illuminators themselves!”

“They just…” Discord said slowly, “Let you walk around, get all this stuff?”

“Pssh, no!” I laughed, “Guards were looking for me everywhere! Man, the amount of time I’ve spent teleporting or invisible today… It’s crazy, I tell you! Crazy!” I smiled silently at Discord as he just gaped in return. “What?” I laughed, “Something on my face?”

“I haven’t seen you with this much energy in such a long time,” he said, “You’re all fired up.”

I stuck my tongue out at him, “Is that a bad thing now?”

“Not at all. I, actually, I kind’ve missed when you were like this. I had forgotten…” He laughed, a deep laugh, loud and clear. “I mean! I feel like I learned something important, and here you’ve gone and done something important…!”

“Aaack!” I charged over to Discord, dropping on the bed in front of him. He leaned away from me startled, “Don’t get down on yourself, Discord! You say you’ve learned something, then tell me! Everything’s going to be important here, I can feel it!”

I stared at him, and his natural everything’s-really-alright smile started to look funny, slipping into that creepy sideways smile he sometimes gets when I’m around…

“Discord,” I said, “Please tell me what happened. Not just what you read, but why you’re getting all…”

He laughed again, “I’m fine! Well, it was boring as heck, but… Here, lemme tell you what I’ve learned, it’s important! Remember, back at the Loyalty shrine when I was feeling so horrible? Well…”

He flopped onto his stomach, waving his hands free, gesturing pictures to life, relating me what he learned. Trying to entertain me, to make things interesting, to make me laugh. No different than usual, really. Excited as much as when he’s telling a story about magic, or a well-placed prank. Only this time, it was about the First Gods, their failures, their successes…

Guiltily, I only half-listened to what he had to say. More than anything else, I watched Discord as he talked.
What is up with you, Discord? Why won’t you just tell me what’s wrong? Is this like last time? Are you afraid of frightening me, of losing my friendship? I know Discord… he only lies when he’s afraid of big truths. Little things, he might hesitate to say out loud, but when pressed, he’ll come out with it…

But there’s nothing Discord’s more afraid of than himself.

I stare at him, closely. He’s not skinny or boney. There’s bags under his eyes, but those shadows never did leave him entirely. His eyes are a healthy yellow, teeth clean, coat silky and wings… Well, his wings look bigger than ever. He’s bigger. His horns are longer, and standing on all fours he’s starting to gain height on my. He used to be so short… but now it looks like he won’t fit in the bed for much longer. since he’s still growing, maybe he’s afraid he’s going to need to eat more meat?

No, no, that doesn’t add up at all. He’s still healthy, and he’s not denying that part of himself anymore. So… When does it seem like he’s hiding things, or acting weird?

Well, this right now, in a way. He’s either terrified of me, or he’s desperate to talk to me. Always trying his hardest to entertain and impress me. I wonder if he’s worried that I’m not laughing as much anymore? Could that be why he’s trying so hard?
But then why wouldn’t he admit to that, tell me about it, and help me sort out my problems? He’s always so eager to help, but if I get too close…

Then why did he leap to hug me?

“Uh, Luna?”

I snapped out of it, “Yes?”

“You had a, um,” he looked at me sideways. “Really strange look on your face.”

“Well, I think,” I quickly grasp at straws. What was Discord just saying?! “That it was rather mean of Inkwell, don’t you think? Telling you that you’d be better off without the Element…”

“Mean? No, honestly,” he laughed, “It made sense, in a way.”

“He just thinks a pony should have the Element,” I said flatly.

He frowned, “He didn’t say anything about that...”

“In the hall, when they were walking away from your room. They were overjoyed at the prospect of getting rid of you.”

Discord stared at his hands, face hard.

“Asshole,” he spat, “But still, I don’t think,” he shrugged, “I’m not really suited to be Prince, am I?”

“Is this what’s been bugging you all this time?”

He blinked, staring at me.

I continued, “Is this why you’ve been acting funny? What you’ve been hiding?”

“Um, yes! Part of… I mean, it’s a big deal now, isn’t it?” He grasped at the air, reaching for the right words. “Being told we have the option to choose whether this is for us or not. We could just leave and never come back, you know?”

“Could you do that?” I said sharply, “Abandon everybody, just like that?”

Flatly, he said, “I guess that would be a pretty low thing to do.”

“Exactly. He was just messing with you Discord, trying to make you leave. He doesn’t want you to make it.”

“But I don’t think I can…”

“Of course you can.” A random thought comes to me. A little revisit to recent memory. “I believe in you.” And with that, I lean over and hug him again.

Discord flinches horribly, but almost immediately he pulls me closer. Tight, almost as tight as the library. Too tight? Was he overcompensating for his fear of me? But why would he be afraid of me, and still trying to spend so much time by my side?

In a whisper I don’t think he meant to say aloud, I heard, “… so soft …”

I said, “Thank you!” and he flinches again. I giggled, and he laughed nervously as he scampers away, going so fast that he tumbles off the other side of the bed.

An idea crept up on me. A thought, that, well maybe I was over thinking this. If there was a colt… and there have been colts! If there’s a colt coming up to me, trying to impress me, wanting to be near but not too close…

Noooooo…

I giggle. I can’t stop giggling! Nooooo~oooo~ooo~!

I’m overcome by giggles, biting my ankle with blush painted all across my face. Discord laughs too, just to go along with it, but oh man, he looks embarrassed! Like I’m making fun of him!

“We!” I cough-laugh into my ankle. “We need to go, and um, get my sister?!”

Discord nods firmly, “Alright, let me get one thing.” I slide off the bed as he dives under it, pulling out a tattered and battered leather volume. Right, his family journal… He beat me across the room and stuffed it into his brand new saddlebags, eyeing the brown canvas strangely. It’s a struggle to get the pack over his wings, and when all is said and done, the bags come dangerously close to dragging on the ground. He walks a few times around the room, getting a feel for them, glancing occasionally at me! I tried not to giggle or think about my dumb theories. It’s rude, assuming things about people like that! Very rude!

“Is it just necessities in these bags?” Discord asked.

“Yeah?” I replied. “What else would there be?”

Discord snorts, “I half expect Celestia will want to pack half her wardrobe.”

“We’ll talk her out of it! She gets to bring her brush! And if she’s snippy about it, then maybe she’ll get to bring some earrings!”

“Yes,” Discord nodded firmly, “Those’ll be valuable if we run out of money.”

I laughed, maybe too hard. But Discord seemed happy this time, beaming.

I smiled at back.

Thought for a moment.

Then I gathered up Celestia’s pack and trotted smartly over to Discord, pressing up intimately close. He flinched, stumbling a few steps away. I tried not to laugh. My goodness, I am so mean now!

“Don’t move, silly!” I barked. “Hang on for transport!” Discord gingerly scootched back as the familiar flood of magic filled my horn. It’s barely an effort now, opening the well under my feet, punching a hole through to the other side. In a moment’s time, we sunk through…

…And then messily dropped sideways out the other side, having come through a shadowed wall feet-first.

“Whoops!” I giggled as Discord wriggled away with all his might. “My bad! So, Celestia…”

I stood, straightened myself, spoke up, then stopped.

“She’s gone?!”