Ten minutes prior

“I just have to ask something.” I stated, trying to make sure that I had all of the words together in my head. This wasn’t something that I wanted my guest to just blow off. It didn’t seem like something that would be blown off, but there was still something that made me worry a little. There was just something about my next question that I somehow knew was going to cause a lot of trouble for me. At the same time, I just had to ask it. As my guest looked back at me, the puzzled look overtaking their face, I let loose with the only way to say it that came to mind.

“Why did you do it?” As I asked it, something told me that it wasn’t the best way to ask. It didn’t have any detail, it didn’t let my guest know anything really about what I was asking. The expression I got in response was enough to let me know that, even if I hadn’t already. “You were the most powerful being in the world, Equestria could have been yours again. Yet here you are, no longer the menacing Discord.”

Perhaps I had worded it a little harsh, but it was the truth. This was the creature that had defeated the princesses. This was the creature that had only been defeated by the Elements of Harmony. This had been, at one time, the sole ruler who had moved the sun and moon with his mere will. Now, this was Discord, the one who had recently told me that I had been too mean to Princess Twilight Sparkle, a pony that had defeated him.

Discord look at me for a moment, and then looked at the ceiling. “Oh, that.” He said, almost as if he had been expecting something else. “I had hoped you’d ask something more exciting.I guess I shouldn’t expect anything different from you ponies, you never were that exciting.” A mocking smile was on his face, and then he twisted his head around a few times. “But to answer your dull question, I’d say …” One of his fingers was placed on his chin, his head still completely twisted around. “Fluttershy.”

“What?” That didn’t make any sense to me. Fluttershy did not seem like a reason to change that drastically. If my memory served me, Fluttershy was the name of that yellow pony that had hit me when I had come to that little party. The idea that some being would change who they were because of her just seemed foreign to me.

“I thought what I said was clear.” I said as I straightened my head. “Fluttershy is the reason why I changed.” It made perfect sense to me.

“You changed because of a pony that kicked me as soon as she saw me?”

I heard the question and it went through my mind a few times. The idea that Fluttershy would kick somebody, it seemed almost surreal. I looked at her, though, trying to figure out if she looked like she was lying. There had been a few times when I had seen Fluttershy stand up for herself, but those hadn’t been anything like this. The idea that she would kick somebody just didn’t seem like it could be real. At the same time, though, Sunset Shimmer didn’t look as though she was lying to me.

My response was to laugh.

“Oh, that’s just the best thing I’ve heard in eons.” I continued to laugh as I said it. “Fluttershy actually kicked somebody?” The laughing died down as I noticed the glare. Ponies never did have an appreciation for this type of humor, not when it happened to them. A question dawned on me. “You said Fluttershy kicked you. Are you sure she didn’t do any worse than that?” I knew nothing about why this pony was in the hospital, but I knew that the various bandages looked as though they were covering up something worse than a kick.

“She didn’t do this.” I heard the retort, saw the flat expression. “And you never told me how Fluttershy got you to change.”

Oh yeah, there was still that.

“You know how I encouraged you to give Twilight a second chance?” I saw a nod, and then I shrugged. “It’s because of that.” The confused look on her face came back. “Fluttershy gave me another chance, she became my friend.” Without realizing it, I was smiling. “I had never had a friend before. And soon after, I didn’t want to be without her as my friend again.” I hoped that would be enough information for her. I had a feeling that something was about to happen. That feeling came with a shiver, and so I looked at Sunset.

This was not going to be fun at all.

This was going to be something that Fluttershy would have told me was the right thing to do, even if she did kick Sunset. It also felt like the right thing to do. Neither of those things changed the fact that this wasn’t going to be fun in the slightest.

I held up a hand, and clicked two talons together. As the talons made their sound, my magic did a little more than simply make the smoke cloud appear.

When the cloud of smoke appeared, I let out a few coughs. He had given me the chance that Fluttershy had given him. That made a lot of sense, but at the same time it didn’t make any sense at all. The Discord that I had read about didn’t seem like the type that cared about friendship at all.  Yet he said that she was the reason why he had changed. There was no reason for him to lie, though.

That was a worry for later, I needed to figure out what he had done. The smoke started to clear, and almost nothing had changed. Discord had left, sure, but that was it. The room was everything that it was before, not a single thing out of place. What had that look been? There had been a look on Discord’s face, right before he had made the cloud of smoke. I didn’t quite know what the look was, though it was likely because different beings had different ways of expressing themselves.

I glanced around the room again, trying to figure out what it was that had changed. It was around this time that I saw a bright light fill the room. It looked as though a pony was teleporting, but at the same time was far brighter than anything I had seen in a long time. It was almost as if the sun itself was trying to teleport into the room. My mind tried to figure out who it could have been as my eyes blinked a few times to try to get my vision back.

In front of me was the solar princess herself, Celestia.

She did not look happy, not in the slightest.

“Sunset Shimmer,” the voice practically boomed. I tried to shrink as much as possible, but I was in the bed. “I had allowed you to stay within the other world after you had attacked me.” She continued, every word coming together to sound like something I really didn’t want to hear. “I had hoped that you would never return. When did came back, merely to steal one of the Elements of Harmony and retreat, I knew that Twilight was going to take care of it.” Her glare was the worst part of it, almost as if she wished she could kill with it.

“Yet you decided to come back again.”

I tried to think of anything as a defense. I wanted to say that I had changed, that I was here as Twilight’s student, that I had come back to see family. Anything that came to mind quickly died on my lips as I continued to stare down the solar princess.  There had been few times in my life that I had been afraid, and this was quickly turning out to be one of those times. There was just something about her eyes that told me that I needed to be afraid.

“My patience has long reached its end.” I couldn’t help but gulp. There were a lot of things that those words could mean, but none of them were good. “I tried to speak to my niece, Cadance, but she doesn’t seem to be budging on the idea that you’re not allowed to step back onto Crystal Empire lands.” She continued. “I was also unable to get her to give up the mirror. I had hoped, within my heart, to just send you back to the land of your exile and not have to do what I’m about to do.”

I really didn’t like the sound of that.

“Sunset Shimmer.” She started, her horn lighting up. “You have attacked two of the four princesses, Twilight Sparkle and me.” Her words continued, and my heart started to beat faster. “Not only that, but you stole the Elements of Harmony in an attempt to conquer Equestria for yourself.” I could feel myself sweating, even though I wasn’t overheating. “For the multiple attempts at regicide, as well as the attempt to raise an army to take over Equestria, there is only one punishment I can deal.”

I didn’t even realize that I hadn’t let out my breath.

“I hope that whatever comes after this is,” was all I heard. My mind went blank at the fact that my death was coming up. I knew that I had to die eventually, but there was still so much that I had wanted to do. The idea that I was going to die right here seemed bad by itself. The idea that Celestia was the one that was going to execute me seemed like something of a horrible nightmare.

It was going to be a quick death, if the power I felt from the horn was any indication.

When the blast shot from her horn, my vision quickly blurred.

I was right, this wasn’t fun at all.

Another snap of my finger, and soon the beam that was heading toward me was nothing more than a stream of roses. It had been fun to listen to what she said for all of five seconds, though it had likely been even less fun for Sunset. It was a good thing that I had placed her away from this, though the fact that she had likely heard all of it was probably not my best idea.

It had been almost fun to make her think she was still here, though.

“Discord.” I heard my name being spat out.

“Yo.” I responded, pulling a pair of sunglasses from nowhere. “You’re too predictable, Celestia.” I started. “Seriously.” I pulled the sunglasses down. “You need to get a little bit more fun.” With that, I started to float out of the bed. “And killing an injured Sunset Shimmer.” I held out a hand. “I mean, what would your student think if she saw you doing this.” I kept her attention to myself, not looking over as I felt the magic of a teleport.

“That’s why you’re going to take me to her, and you will do it now.” Celestia’s voice didn’t give any indication that this was a request. “I have been far too lenient to Sunset Shimmer.” She continue, and I feigned confusion. “You heard what I said before, Discord. And there isn't a way she can be saved with the Elements of Harmony like you were.” That was debatable, but I knew better than to say something. “If you don’t take me to her, you’re going to be a statue and I’m going to find her myself. Her punishment must be carried out.”

It didn’t take a genius to realize that this had only a little to do with the actual crimes.

“And how do you intend to go ahead with said punishment.” I asked, almost as if I actually wanted to know the answer. “I mean, you can’t just turn her into stone. That’s not the type of punishment you seem to be talking about.” A smile formed on my face. “Besides, the thing you were doing before seemed so … painful.” The scowl on her face was worth every second of this little back and forth.

Maybe I was wrong, maybe this was going to be fun.

“Maybe you’re right, Discord.” Celestia acknowledged. “I will go with a method that I used in the past.” That didn’t narrow it down. For all I knew, she meant she was going to use the heat of the sun to burn the poor pony. “I am going to send enough magic into her horn to cause her brain to instantly burn up. It shouldn’t be painless at all.” It was almost as if she was negotiating with it, trying to get me to hand over Sunset.

This was humiliating.

I was the princess. There was no real reason why I had to explain myself to anypony. At the same time, I knew that I had to get his help. There was no way that I was going to get the bearers of the Elements of Harmony to agree to turn him to stone without telling them everything. If I did tell them everything, there was still a chance that one of them was going to say no.

I definitely couldn’t force all of the Elements to let me use them, either.

My compromise seemed to be a good one. I was going to make Sunset deal with the consequences of what she had done to me. No, no, it wasn’t just about me. She had attacked Twilight as well, and she had tried to invade Equestria. The injustices that she had done against me were secondary, I had to repeat to myself. This was about justice, this was nothing personal against Sunset Shimmer.

I stood there for a few moments, trying to figure out what I had just heard. My mind had to have just played a few tricks on me. Maybe it was Discord. Maybe it was Chrysalis. I wanted it to be anypony else. There was no way that I heard Celestia on the other side of the door, and there was no way that she had just said something about killing Sunset Shimmer. There was just no way that it was true.

Yet when I finally was able to force myself to move, and into the room, I saw what I had assumed couldn’t be true. The voice had really been that of my mentor. None of this made any sense to me. I didn’t know why Princess Celestia wanted to kill Sunset Shimmer. I didn’t know there was a reason for it, even with everything that she had done. The Princess was always the one that had told me that it was best to try to find a way to forgive.

Even when Luna had plunged the world into darkness, or tried, there had been the chance for redemption.

None of this made any sense.