The Last Keeper of Harmony

by Rammy

First published 20th of June, 2014

Spike wants to know his destiny, what his role is. The price to be paid to find out may be too high...

Book 1 of the Keeper Trilogy

You know when I started to have an existential crisis with questions like 'Why am I still a baby dragon?' or 'Why am I the only 'nice' dragon?' or even better 'What is my destiny?' I was not excepting nor did I want the answers given to me ala discordian riddling nonsense...

But NOoooooo... I have to deal with a mysterious voice that keeps visiting in my dreams, mocking me with his cryptic non-answering answers and insistence on calling me brother.

And when he does finally decide to meet me in person a darkness falls over Equestria. Once that makes the typical 'It's Tuesday morning in Ponyville' in which an over the top villain with an over the top maniacal laughter invades deciding that now is the time that he/she should take over the world blah blah blah seem like nothing. Maybe I should have kept my big. fat. mouth shut...

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Editor: Ryunaker
Cover image credits: http://durpy.deviantart.com/ and http://amandaraquel.deviantart.com

Prologue

"There can only be one princess in Equestria! And that princess will be me!"

"Luna, I will not fight you! You must lower the moon! It is your duty!"

"Luna? I am... Nightmare Moon! I have but one royal duty now: to destroy you!"

"Oh, dear sister. I am sorry, but you have given me no choice but to use these."

"Nooooooo!"

The night was strangely quiet for the forest; never before had the Everfree been so quiet. An oily smoke lingered in the air, a slight hint of arcane magic mixed in. A castle, now in ruins, rose above the tree tops.

A cloaked pony stood for a moment taking it all in. The castle before him, the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, had seen better days. Huge holes littered the walls and roof. Shattered fragments of stained glass windows were scattered along the ground, and once proud tapestries stood shredded. It was clear that a fierce battle had just occurred.

The figure warily moved closer. No guards were around as he nudged a secret entrance open. This does not bode well. The pony mused, blinking a bit at the sudden darkness that wrapped around its form. The figure only paused long enough to get used to the dark before moving forward with practiced hooves. After a few moments, the corridor brightened. Ahead, as the hall turned to the left, light poured out. As the pony got closer, on both sides of the corridor, pony armor on display became visible.

He turned the corner, hooves loudly crushing shattered glass. A hoof lifted up to carefully maneuver around the glass. He took a moment to look up. Outside, past a glassless window, the moon could been seen, rising above the crest of the treetops. A shadow of a unicorn mare could be seen upon its surface. The pony stared intently at the sight, silently debating on its meaning.

Odd. The pony thought.

The pony continued to move carefully around the debris. Once the figure made it halfway down the corridor, the pony turned to see a door half off its hinges. Sliding through the gap, the pony entered a grand hall that appeared to a be a throne room. Two thrones stood at the end of the hall, and above each one was a formerly gorgeous tapestry, now hanging torn and scorched. Interestingly, only one of the royals was there, and was laid across the wrong throne, no less.

The ears under the cloak twitched slightly, as the sounds of soft sobbing drifted in the air. The sobs came from the white alicorn mare with a sun cutie mark, laying on the throne underneath the blue tapestry. Her mane was listless and dull, hanging limply upon her back and shoulders. Her coat was matted, cut, and scorched in spots.

A shout broke out, echoing across the chambers and scaring some birds who were still nearby into a startled flight. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE, CELESTIA?!"

"Knight!" Celestia gasped, recognizing the deep voice of a stallion. Turning, she saw the cloaked pony, the eyes from within the cloak glowing in anger and power. She gulped slightly.

Stomping a hoof loudly, the sound echoing, the stallion that Celestia called 'Knight' angrily retorted, "DON'T YOU 'KNIGHT’ ME! YOU HAVE SHATTERED HARMONY!" He lowered his voice, irritated at the echo drowning out his voice, "Don’t think I can’t tell when the Elements are being used, and without, I might add, all of the bearers. Because of what you have done, the 'Elements of Harmony' will no longer answer to you. New bearers must be manifested."

The stallion stood there, patiently waiting for a response. Celestia could not see anything past the enchantments on the cloak, only the—still glowing—white eyes could be seen. Not sure how to respond, all she could do what blubber out, "But I..." She looked up at the blue tapestry above her.

I see. The stallion finally understood the shadow upon the moon. He shook his head in disappointment, "But nothing! I didn't give you permission to use them in the way that you did. Why would you go and do something so foolish without first consulting me? I told you that using them would give Discord a timeout. I asked you to then guard them, only guard them, until I told you otherwise."

He shook off his wonderment of the moon again. His head lowered as he continued his admonishment of Celestia, "My Elements are meant to be used in harmony, for harmony. You were only linked to three, not all six. No one is meant to carry them alone. I told you this."

"But I... I felt I had no choice," Celestia interrupted, ending in a very noticeable squeak.

There is always a choice. He angrily thought to himself, resisting the urge to rub his building headache. This is going to make doing what must be done more difficult. Why does disharmony always happen in Equestria when I’m not here?

He dropped his voice to the point of a whisper. "You only had to hold out for me. You knew I was returning! I would have helped, even with the danger of doing so. Now things… things are..."

Why does everything always have to go sideways? He angrily brewed. It never fails, something always messes with my plans in ways I can’t predict.

Celestia chewed her lip before asking the question that she feared the answer to. "What can be done about my sister?"

The stallion looked back at Celestia, thinking for a moment before answering. "Luna can be saved, but, because of your callous impatience, it will take…" He paused a moment to look at the stars. After making some quick calculations in his head, he continued, "Close to a thousand years before the stars align correctly, giving her the ability to free herself." His eyes finally dimmed, so that Celestia could no longer see anything but darkness within the cloak. "When she frees herself, the new bearers should be able to help her."

"How?"

"Hmmm… Take this dragon egg." There was a quick flash of light, and a green and purple egg, with a faint shimmering rainbow aura around it, floated carefully towards Celestia. "Guard it with your life. For if it dies, so too does this world. With its hatching, you should find the new Bearer of... what did you call it? 'Magic’, right, fine. Don’t fail me again, Princess Celestia."

Oh dear little brother, I pray that you hatch soon... harmony is needed, and we have lost it again this night. The pony called out silently, watching sadly as Celestia carefully took the egg in her golden aura. With a swish of his tail, the stallion silently turned around and disappeared into the shadows, leaving only the echo of of his hooves on the stone floor in his wake.

**A night 1001 Summers Later**

Spike blinked slightly, as the stars shimmered in the dark void he found around himself. He nervously rubbed the spines atop of his head. Where am I? Looking around, he could see that there was no ground. Looking down was—of course—a mistake. He suddenly felt dizzy, and the void below him oddly seemed closer, far too close.

Please tell me I'm dreaming, he thought, trying to hold his spinning head.

"Uhh...Luna?... Anypony?" The dragon called out. This place was making him way too nervous. He really hoped that Luna would show up; he again begged silently that he was dreaming.

"Little brother..." a baritone, male voice, barely audible, echoed from out of nowhere.

"Hello?" The dragon ignored his continued dizziness and began looking around slowly. He dared not moved from where he was; he wasn’t sure if moving would cause him to fall. He still wasn't even sure if he wasn’t already falling.

"Little brother..." the voice called again, louder.

"Who's there?" Still, Spike found nothing and nopony. This never goes well in comics, he thought, grabbing the spade at the end of his tail and beginning to suck on it.

"Your big brother of course," the voice chuckled slightly.

"But you're not Shining Armor," Spike dropped his tail.

"No, of course not," The agreement only caused the dragon confusion.

"Then who are you? I thought only Princess Luna could enter dreams," He absentmindedly smoothed his head spines.

"This plane isn't the realm of dreams, but you are asleep..."

"Then where are we?" Spike’s curiosity overtook him as he looked around again to try and see anything special, other than the stars, if those pinpricks of shimmering light really were stars.

"This place has many names... but it is known to non-keepers as the Plane of Destiny or Plane of Memories. However to those like us, it's the Plane of Harmony," Seemingly to confirm this, memories of Spike suddenly appeared around him. Spike looked at them in wonder, reaching out a claw to touch one. Just as he was about to make contact, the memories shimmered, and disappeared back into the void.

Spike fell over backwards from the shock, and the voice seemed to find amusement in this, chuckling softly.

The dragon shook his head to bring himself out of his stupor, "Us?...Non-keepers... Plane of Harmony?" All of this was only adding to his confusion.

"All in good time, brother..."

"You're not my brother!" Spike pouted, wanting to find the voice and give it a good haircut, dragon style. "Who are you?"

"It’s not time yet to reveal myself...besides, I don't have the strength to come to you yet..." The last part sounded almost sickly, weak.

"Why are you speaking to me?" He tilted his head, trying to wrap his mind around everything.

"All in good time, my brother. I will explain everything when the time comes... So many questions! You deserve answers, but I see we don't have the time."

"What do you mean, no time?" Spike scratched his head trying to figure out the puzzle to this deflective voice. A tingling feeling of frustration crept up his spine.

Spike

"How did you know my name?" After a bit, as the voice had not responded, "How did you know my name?"

Spike

"I will be there soon, but I have a warni..."

Spike...

"..ware of The Dar..."

Wake up Spike...

"Huh... wha?" Spike blinked groggily, and realized that he was back in his basket.

"Spike, you silly dragon, it's time to get up. It's your birthday, remember?" A female voice called out. Spike took a moment longer than usual to recognise that it was Twilight. He sighed.

"Coming Twi’."

Author's Notes:

Edited by sunnypack

A mysterious pony and a strange voice, eh? Wonder who those could be....

A Size Problem

A groove nearly an inch deep bored deep into his mind. It screamed at him, laughing evilly at his plight. If he could he would destroy the groove but he didn’t want to have to re-shelf the library as punishment, again. A tired claw moved slowly across the groove. With his eyes he could see every imperfection, every scratch, every, single, one.

Why am I stuck like this?

As if to answer his silent question Twilight spoke, putting her hoof lightly on his shoulder, "I have gone through every book on dragon biology that I could find from Canterlot, the Crystal Empire, and the Castle of the Two Sisters. I even tried talking to some dragons during the recent dragon migration. Big mistake. No one can seem to explain your lack of growth not even Zecora who helped during your *cough* greed growth. The only theory that I have is that it has something to do with your hatching,” His eyes remained downcast, even after she pulled Spike’s head towards her, “Spike, I will not give up I’m sure the answers are out there, somewhere."

Spike looked up at his sister. "I know Twilight…” Changing the subject, to end the uncomfortable conversation he asked, “Isn't it time for a Council of Friendship?"

Twilight blinked a bit, chewing her lip. It was clear to Spike that her mind debated on whether to keep trying to cheer him up or to let it go for the moment. Spike hoped for letting it go. "Of course, are you coming? Or do you need some time?"

"No, Twilight. I'm coming." Spike followed Twilight still trying to put on a smile.

The morning's council went by unusually slow—or maybe it was fast. Spike had a hard time concentrating on the matters at hand. He could vaguely remember several dealings with conflicts between griffons and ponies on Equestria's frontier. The typical family dispute between Derpy and her husband. There was even a letter from Princess Celestia asking for a consultation from the council on a matter concerning some of the nobles in Canterlot. Spike rarely put forward any input on the issues being discussed and debated.

Why am I so small?

How can I protect the ones I care for?

How can I be a noble dragon when I'm so small that they all have to protect me?

When they broke for lunch at the park for a light picnic of daisy sandwiches and cider Spike still didn’t feel well. Spike had a small ruby for a treat from Twilight. She had tried giving him a few more gems but Spike only replied that he wasn't very hungry. Spike did feel hungry but something else gnawed at him that was more powerful than a growling stomach. He sat there staring off, clawing his ruby idly.

One by one, the girls eyed each other as they shared a knowing glance. It was clear that they knew that there was something on his mind. Usually he would be more attentive at the meetings. He was usually the one to take notes on the proceedings but Rarity had to take over when he fell behind. He hadn't been that disinterested for years. He loved to help. The final straw for them must be the ruby. He loved gems so much that he had a tendency to eat all his saved gems while making a gem cake leaving none for the cake.

Rarity was the first to speak. "Spike, are you are right, darling? You have been unusually quiet this morning."

"I'm fine, Rarity," Spike mumbled, not looking up.

"Are you sure Spike?" Rarity pushed further, using her signature poutty face.

"Nothing is wrong!" Spike finally looked up, frustration leaking through his voice.

"Darling, we are only concerned about you. We are all friends here. We just want you to be happy. Please, we want to help." She tried to put a reassuring hoof on his shoulder but Spike only moved away from the gesture.

"You can't help. No one can. No one... no one..." With a puff of smoke Spike got up hastily and ran back to the Palace of Friendship sobbing as he went.

"Let him go girls. I think he just needs some time. I'll try talking to him later," Twilight sighed putting a hoof in front of Rainbow slowing shaking her head. “Not now Rainbow.”

The rays of Celestia's sun was low in the sky when Twilight stood outside a door. She inwardly debated on whether to knock or not her hoof rising and lowering. After a bit of against won and she softly called out. "Spike?"

"Yes, Twilight?" Came the weak voice of Spike.

"It will get better. Don't give up. We will find an answer."

"I know..." His voice trailed off at the end.

“You know that we are all here for you. Every book I've read says that its not good to hold in your emotions. Your friends don't want you to go through this alone. Don't forget that.”

“I know Twi!” Spike suddenly snapped. He cringed a bit before starting again, ”I know Twi… I'm just tired, okay... can't we talk about this tomorrow?”

Twilight again found herself in debate. Warily, she went with not pushing further. "Sure thing. G'night my little brother." She slowly turned around, trotting off to her study.

Spike once again stared into the dark void with stars. He sighed heavily at this and waited patiently. He had gotten used to this happening over the years. He bet ten bits on what the first words would be.

"I'm coming soon," The voice called out.

"This is getting old.” Spike tapped his claws. I owe myself ten bits. He smirked to himself.

After the usual no response, Spike let out condensing, “Hello?” Again, no response. He was not in the mood for this, not tonight. He snorted, flames and smoke coming out of his snout. He was doing that more lately. Twilight didn't know why his flames came out like that when he got angry. They never did before.

“Who are you?" Spike shouted to the voice trying to get it to at least talk.

"Really? My little brother..."

Spike's anger finally boiled over, "Enough! I'M NOT YOUR BROTHER!!! I AM TIRED OF YOU TALKING IN RIDDLES AND INVADING MY DREAMS!" Spike spewed a torrent of green flames. His eye’s blinked feral-like for a moment. His claws clenched so hard that a bit of blood trickled down his hands.

"Calm yourself, Spike. I will tell you everything..."

"YEAH RIGHT YOU HAVE BEEN SAYING THAT SINCE... since." Spike's voice died a bit at the end. He sat down and wrung his tail a bit, blood smearing his bright scales.

"Your birthday all those years ago?" The voice finished Spike’s sentence.

"Hmph."

"I know you are angry, and you deserved answers. You need to remain harmonious on this plane or we will invite the ‘Dark One’ here. If he finds you too soon you may not live long enough to receive the answers you seek."

"I… I..."

"You’re frustrated about your size."

The voice is on a roll tonight. Spike mused. Still he needed to ask, "How did you know??!?"

The voice chuckled, softly. “Really?" Memory after memory played before Spike all of them similar. One was especially sore for him as it showed him snapping at Rarity earlier that day. He cringed a bit really not wanting the reminder.

"Plane of Memories... how could I forget?" He crossed his arms.

"I know why..."

Spike interrupted throwing his arms up in desperation, "Tell me! I need to know." He started running around, begging, trying to find the voice so that he could get his answers. "You keep invading my dreams for years. You never tell me your name. You know I'm having troubles and still you don't tell me what I need to know. What I must know! No more riddles… please.”

Great, now I'm pleading with a disembodied voice! Spike facepalmed at the ridiculousness of his pleading.

"Patience...” The voice went silent for a moment, ”But I will not tell you here...hmmm... It's time, time that I come see you in person..."

"Hello?"

The silence went on for a while before Spike’s vision blurred and faded into black.

Gah, not again!

Author's Notes:

Revised version 3.0

It appears that we may find out who the voice is... and so soon

The Chaos Capital... Again?!?

"...It's time, time that I come see you in person..."

Spiked yawned heavily, stretched popping a few spines, and peered out to see Celestia's sun smiling back at him through the window.

Wait!?!? Smiling? Spike did a double take before blinking hard a few times. Yep, smiling. He smugly added when he noticed the sun was now sticking out his tongue, or hers, or whatever.

"DISCORD!!!!" There was no mistaking that voice even with the slight distortion that comes from using the Canterlot Royal Voice: Twilight.

CRASH

Spike sighed before opening his bedroom door steeling himself for whatever chaos would greet him on the other side.

Books were flying about except not in a magic aura, usually magenta, but with little feathered wings. Twilight was clearly flustered as her mane in a mess and she sported small cuts all over. She was trying, frantically, to hold on to a book titled War Pony. Apparently the book didn't want to go down without a fight as it snapped open and shut.

Suddenly a book fluttered by Spike a few of its feathers tickled his nose. “Achoo!” Green flames licked out of his open mouth posting the nearest book to Celestia. Opps.

"SPIKE!!" Twilight yelled noticing the aftermath of Spike's sneeze.

"Sorry, Twi. At least I posted it this time." Spike sheepishly replied. He growled in frustration as he attempted to snatch a book out of the air. They kept fluttering just out of his reach almost as if to mock him. He seriously thought of burning them.

Twilight shook her head stifling a giggle, probably, at the dragon’s growing frustrations at being thwarted by flying books. "I know, but maybe it would be best if you try and not catch these... ow..." a book hit the back of her head then flew off, "books..."

"But Twi."

She knew that his whole self esteem was tied in his perceived usefulness but she also didn’t want him to have guilt from posting or Celestia fordid burning her precious books. "I know you want to help but as these books seems to take a pleasure in tickling... I don't think Celestia wants or should be trying to catch these enchanted books."

Spike hung his head, a single tear dropping to the ground. He hated feeling useless and right now it appear he was useless to Twilight. He was her number one assistant after all and a number one assistant with nothing to do...

She landed next to him and lifted his head to look into Spike's eyes. "Spike while I may not need your help I'm sure there is somepony in this chaos that will need your help. I highly doubt that Discord only enchanted just the library books."

"Okay Twilight," He dejectedly turned to walk out into Ponyville proper.

He had barely walked outside when he could feel and hear rumbling. He looked down to see some rocks bouncing on the ground. Slowly he looked back up. His eyes went wide when he saw what was coming down the lane.

A herd of parasprites with legs was stampeding right towards him. Spike tripped over his tail trying to back up. He barely had time to get back on his feet when the parasprites ran by nearly knocking him over again.

"Gosh darn it! Get back here y'varmints!" Applejack ran after the herd with a small dog barking beside her.

"Hey Applejack!" Spike called out with a claw to the air. When he saw that Applejack hadn't heard him he drop his claw and head. Guess she didn’t hear me.

"Heee. Hee. Hee. Whee!!!!"

Spike snapped up to see Pinkie Pie bouncing in the wake of some odd looking low lying clouds raining what suspiciously looked like chocolate milk.

I don't think I'll ever understand Pinkie Pie... If anypony besides Cheese understood Pinkie we'd all be in a world of hurt... Spike shook his head in amusement at Pinkie being Pinkie.

"Hey, wait up for me!" Spike called out trying to catch up. His short legs, however, made it difficult to keep up. Suddenly both ponies disappeared in a flash.

Uh.... okay… He scratched his head in confusion.

He tried his best but nopony would to listen to him. He wasn't too mad about it as most ponies that he ran into were in either in a state of shock or too panicky to really notice. At a loss as to what else to do he decided to see if he could find Mayor Mare. At least she usually remained calm. Years of public service in a backwoods village that seemed to be a weirdness magnet would do that to a pony. The town square would be the most likely spot to look.

When he got to the town square he noticed that the town hall was spinning in the air a brown earth mare hanging on to the building for dear life. Wings would be really helpful right about now.

"Strike!... Oh wait, how do you strike with only 6 pins?" Called out a voice,an all too familiar. Once he move his gaze back to the ground he confirmed it was exactly who he thought it was: Discord.

"DISCORD!" Spike roared. The roar sounded a bit off but he was too angry to make note of it.

"Ah, Spike! Glad you could join me. Care to play?" Discord motioned his lion paw to the six ponies now transformed into bowling pins scattered about the town square.

"Discord turn them back now!" Spike yelled, a puff of smoke escaping his nostrils.

"Sure. Why not? No fun without 10 pins..." Discord shrugged.

"Wait.. what?" Spike was not expecting that and dropped his accusatory claw in confusion.

"I am reformed remember?" Discord snapped his tail to prove his point as the pony pins turned back into ponies.

"Yeah... right..." Spike deadpanned, crossing his arms.

"Really, I'm reformed now," A halo appeared above Discord to prove his point.

"Says the self proclaimed 'spirit of chaos and disharmony.'" A thought occurred to Spike before he continued, "Why are you doing this anyway?"

"It's just that I heard that you were troubled about your size or should I say lack of size."

Spike ignored Discord’s invasion of his privacy but rolled his eyes none the less. He knew that there was more going on. There was always something else going on with Discord.

"Discord get to the point."

"Well you seem to think that you are always underhoof, weak, unable to help, useless..." He checked each off on a list that he had snapped in front of him. A pair of reading glasses perched precariously on the tip of his nose.

Spike swiped his claws at Discord shredding the list.

"Oooh looks like I struck a nerve." He took off his glasses and threw them behind him which promptly turned into a frog and croaked.

Spike only response was to growl menacingly.

"You're so cute when you growl. So baby like..." A baby bonnet appeared on Spike's a head along with a baby pacifier which hung limply around his neck. "Aww I just want to pinch your little checks," Sharp teeth snapped at Discord's outstretched claw. "Hey no need for violence... I'm only trying to help... as a friend"

"A friend!?" Spike snapped.

"A friend doesn't go about making ponies' lives miserable. A friend knows when pranks are going to far and this..." He pointed a claw around Ponyville, "...is too far. And I know that you know that this is too far. Have you not learn anything from the Tirek incursion when you betrayed not only all of Equestria but your friends, especially Fluttershy. Or when you didn't help during the third Changeling invasion? Rarity's wedding..."

"I..." Spike eyed Discord something was off. Discord, for once in his life, was intently paying attention. This was very odd for Discord, to intently listen to any speech especially one like this one. Usually Discord would interrupt with some form of ‘Boooring’, but here he was thoughtfully pulling on his beard. He floated there for a minute before his realized that Spike had stopped speaking.

"How interesting..." Discord commented, clearly to no one particular.

"In... ter... res... ting!?!?" Spike chewed on each syllable trying to contain his confusion, never mind his rising anger.

"Yes—interesting... but enough of about that,” Discord seemed to have snapped back to his usual self. "I do say, my boy, you have passed." He stamped a red A+ on Spike's head.

"Passed?" The hatchling ignored his stinging head.

"Boooooring..." A pillow popped next to Discord's head and he lazily laid his head on it fake snoring.

"Discord..." Spike’s voice icly, a puff of smoke escaped his now clenched jaw.

"Yes, Yes, fine, fine, you passed my little test." Discord held out his eagle claw examining it intently.

Twilight screamed out, "Test!? A test! You did all this as a test?"

"How odd... I do believe I'm having a strange sense of deja-vu." Discord tapped his face in fake bewilderment.

"You should," Twilight stated as Spike calmed a bit. He noted that Twilight seemed to have the situation in hand, for the moment. Discord looked to be lost at her remark.

"Gah! You don't remember the Tatzlwurm? Being stuck at Fluttershy's for a week without your ability to do chaos?"

Discord merely shrugged, "Well... to be honest with you that was a test that I came up with. This one I did not." He pulled out a nail file from Twilight's ear and nonchalantly filed his claw.

"You 'did not’?" Twilight almost looked like she was going to burst into flames. Discord causally pulled out camera which of course tipped Twilight into doing just that.

"Ooo pretty fireworks!" He cooed taking a few pictures. The flashes blinded everypony.
Twilight calmed down momentarily when Spike put his claws on her shoulder. He whispered into her ear, "I got this, Twi." He spoke louder so all could hear. "What do you mean you didn't come up with this 'test'?"

"Oppsie, spoilers... well ladies..." Spike gave him a very sharp glare, "... and dragon. I have to go. It's been nice..." He turned to Fluttershy and whispering slightly too loud, "Oh and Flutters I will be there on the nose."

"Arrivederci!" Nearby Discord balloons stuck their tongues out. With a snap of his tail Discord disappeared in a flash leaving a very confused group of ponies and dragon behind.

On a hill overlooking Ponyville near the edge of the Everfree Forest a lone cloaked pony stood watching intently. A slight breeze rustled the leaves in the trees; a few birds chirp contently from the branches. The pony had been standing there watching Discord's chaos for sometime now. So intent in watching that even some of the birds had landed on the ground nearby, pecking at the ground.

The sun, now without a smile, was low to the horizon when he finally stirred. He stretched a bit before he turned toward the ever darkening forest. He debated on whether to go ahead and leave before finally deciding on waiting a bit longer.

"As always your brand of laughter always top notch," He suddenly spoke.

"I'm too modest to boast," Discord answered popping from out of nowhere in front of the stallion. He eyed the remaining of his handy work for a moment with a slight odd frown on his face.

"You? Modest? Really, Discord?"

A silence passed before them for a few moments before Discord decided to end the, for him at least, awkward silence. "Is that enough H..." A rainbow magic aura clamped down on Discord’s mouth to stop him from speaking.

"Shhh.... that would spoil the surprise."

"But...bbbut you can't break the fourth wall," Discord blubbered, scratching his head.

"Of course not, but I have been around you long enough know how to imitate it."

For the third time in his long life Discord was completely taken aback his jaw, literally, hanging all the way to the ground.

The stallion chuckled at this before he disappeared into the Everfree Forest. Soon Discord could only see darkness as Luna's moon rose into the sky. He stood in a daze for a long time before he shook his head, snapped a claw, and disappeared.

Author's Notes:

I love Q... I mean Discord so fun to write. I would have this story marked as comedy/random but the only time that will happen is when Discord shows up.

Revised version 3.0