Hey, Coco?

Yes, brain?

You know what? Screw it. You're on your own for this one.

Coco couldn't really see what the person looked like, as they were in a cave and it was dark outside as well ( it does get powerful dark at night, she thought stupidly), but what she could see from the light coming from the chinks in the rock barrier behind her seemed to give off gave her the impression that some god had been making some animal and then added too much Chemical X.

The person towered over her (making her have to crane her neck as she was also on the ground and all), being about three times her height, and Coco could see the faintest outline of two mismatched horns that certainly weren't resembling a unicorn's on his long head. For some reason, unlike the the three creatures his torso was made of the general build of his body reminded her of a skink one of her cousins used to bother her with. The position of his arms suggested that he had his hands held behind his back, his lamplike golden and red eyes were surveying her in turn and he was arching his eyebrows expectantly.

Pommel had been expecting this, but the reality of seeing the thing that she used to have to write homework about in person reminded her of how discordant his asymmetrical self was meant to be. Her fashion senses just looked at him, before shrugging in defeat and stating that any stallion would look good in a tuxedo.

It didn't really matter- the person could have looked like Cerberus and she doubted she would do anything but sit there and stare and not bother to collect her wits, because it was as if all that sudden everything of the past half hour had stretched her ability to feel fear so much that she felt as if she had broken it.

They both stared at each other, one faintly amused and the other with a tilted head and one squinting eye.

I must really be such an embarrassing mess, Coco thought absently, but didn't really feel like moving to check if she had a hairbrush and judging by the cold on her coat she had lost her saddlebag anyways.

As time crawled on it became painfully obvious to the young mare that the person in front of her wasn't going to do anything to break the ice, so Coco meekly raised a hoof to her mouth and cleared her throat, averting her gaze.

"Good morning, monsieur. Or bonsoir, sir. I mean they're both the same thing. I don't believe you've introduced your self but Buttershy has been telling me a lot about you. Fluttershy. I-I said Fluttershy."

She put a hoof on her temple in exasperation, let out a shaky breath and looked around, feeling rather awkward and wishing that the person wouldn't stare at her so. "I-I'm -going to have to ask to b-be excused, as my n-normal powers of flight- not flight- w-wait, no- ah, w-wording- wording? That's n-not even a-" she broke off in frustration and puffed out her chest. "Why are you looking at me like that?!"

For the person had begin to chuckle- this deep rumbling noise in his chest- as Coco stuttered on, and with her final outburst he began laughing outright, doing a double take with his hands on his chest. The sound echoed through the cave and bounced through Coco who ducked her head and flattened her ears, feeling her face prickle uncomfortably and an embarrassed little smile unfold.

"Oh!" he gasped, flicking away a tear with his eagle talon. "It's just that you're so precious with your shyness and your cutie widdle stutters~!"

Coco tucked her chin into her chest and straightened up determinedly. "I am Coco Pommel, and I state that I am not precious!" She fumbled in her mane and extracted her clip, waving and clicking it at him threateningly. "You don't need to know how many ponies have been dazzled with this fashion Excalibur, Nimrod!"
She froze. "Nonononono, I meant Discord, Discord! Not Nimrod!" Pommel hid her face again. "Nooo..."

This sent him off into an even larger fit. Discord- she realized that she now had no problem with calling him that- was laying on his stomach and beating his thick lion's paw on the ground, laughing fit to burst. Coco was still hiding her face when he subsided into snorts and then silence, wondering exactly how many times she was going to embarrass herself to death in here.
The thought of death made her quickly become serious- she was badly scraped (and her mane was an emergency) and stuck in a cave with boulders that looked unlikely to move rather soon with a demigod devoid of his powers.
When she turned her head back to Discord thoughtfully she found that his face was suddenly less than a foot away from her muzzle.

She squealed and fell backwards, earning some choked laughter that he kept in by pressing his paw to his mouth. Coco quickly scrabbled to her hooves, then sat down again as they reminded her that they still felt like they had torn in two.

"I do believe that you said I haven't introduced myself?" Discord said, lowering his voice to a purr. " By Celestia's exact royal words-" he then assumed a deadpan expression and held his hands behind his back again. " Ahem. 'The spirit of chaos and disharmony who once ruled over Equestria in a state of unrest and unhappiness.' "

He then paused to survey Coco's expression, which was one of a startled rabbit. She was taken aback by two things- one, that he had mirrored Rarity's explanation when she had asked her who Discord was, and two - the voice that came out of his voice was one that matched Celestia's exactly (from what she had heard from recordings), albeit in a disinterested monotone.

"You have a talent for impersonations," Coco said, not hiding her interest.

"You like that? I can also do a great impression of a haydog," he said, and then straightened up as much as possible, promptly flattened his arms to his sides and assumed the expression one gets when they're about to be punched. Coco had begun to giggle uncontrollably and held a foreleg over her face while Discord looked rather pleased.

"Why does a haydog look so terrified?" Coco choked out.

"Trust me," he said, resuming his normal posture and wearing a perfectly serious expression, "you would also be horrified if you knew what was truly in a haydog."

Coco had been reminded of something by the look on his face and was now watching him with some apprehension. She hadn't really heard much about Discord, but what information she had gathered hadn't really told her that would be this strangely cheerful- she was aware that he was supposed to be somewhat sly and antisocial. Then again, that was when he was possessing his Chaos stuff- was it possible that the absence of those powers changed his personality to an extent?

"Monsieur?" she said shyly.

"You flatter me," he mumbled to himself. "Yes, my little pony~?"

Coco switched her gaze to the very interesting cave ground rather than his eyes (they were rather hard to look into anyways). "Why are you acting all happy?"

"What, am I not allowed?" Discord said, leaning away with his eyebrows drawing together and his eyes narrowing in a sudden frown.

Coco realized that what she said could be construed as offensive. "Oh, no!" she said earnestly. "I didn't mean that you couldn't, I-I was only asking as Fluttershy's description of you didn't include that you would be so..."
She tried to think of a safe word. "...changed. Not that she said you would be mean or anything! She personally said you weren't bad- I-I was just drawing a conclusion..." She cringed.

Discord however had pricked his ears up and was now watching her intensely. "Fluttershy mentioned me?"

Pommel was confused at his sudden interest and looked up at him. "Yes...?"

"What else did she say?"

Coco dropped an ear, trying to retrieve the memory. "She asked whether I had heard of you and I thought she was talking about some stallion so I said I hadn't. Then she said you might get along with me well and then I asked where you were." She paused, noting that Discord's eyes didn't leave her face.

"well, Fluttershy said that your magic was temporarily gone and she hadn't seen you in a while-" his expression turned unpleasant- " -and then she started being all worried and ducked her head like this-" she faced the floor and lowered her eyelids.

Coco quickly jerked her head up when Discord stuck his hands in the air and let out a frustrated roar. " So she was all sad again because I needed some alone time?! It's as if everything I do is inflammatory for her!"
She squinted at him and began to understand how he was in this cave in the first place- apparently he was hiding away to brood on the loss of his magic- and there was also something else she was starting to see that made her raise her own eyebrows.

"She seemed rather fond of you," Coco said, watching him carefully to gauge his expression. Either he must not have left her her for so long before or Fluttershy was more protective since the big Tirek incident (the thought of which made her uneasy as she remembered how her magic was drained that day).

Discord froze his indignant pose, blinked at Pommel in surprise and then leaned forwards, tilting his ears towards her and fiddling with his hands. "How could you tell?" he said carefully.

"I'm a young mare, I can tell when somepony holds affection for somepony else. I can't say explicitly which kind- I-I mean how much- but I think she likes you at least as much as her other friends." Coco said in her meek little voice.

His mouth was a little open and Coco guessed that if he had his Chaos his eyebrows would floating cartoonishly over his head.

"This doesn't mean you should take my words to heart- I could be very wrong, you know!" she said hastily. "If you're not careful you can sabotage your whole friendship or something serious- and I don't want it to be my fault..." she trailed off and looked at the walls. "I already owe them."

They both were lapsed into silence with Discord mulling over what she said with his chin on one hand and Coco trying to straighten out her emotions, which felt like they were lying in a lump in her chest like a ball of yarn somepony gave to an overexcited kitten. Her body was starting to act up now that she didn't have anything to distract her, and Coco could feel the dirt on her coat and mane and the tangle her tail was in more keenly by the second. She really wished she hadn't said anything.

"Okay," said Discord all of a sudden, making Coco jump, "Usually I love not making sense. It's even become my catchphrase. But this needs really needs some ironing out." He flinched and sucked in a breath. " I can't believe I just said that..."
He settled himself into the smooth cave floor, lying on his belly with his arms tucked into his chest like a sphinx and his tail coiling up with his side. His head was now level with Coco's, who was sitting on her haunches like a cat and looking at a loss.

"So let me get this straight-" he huffed again- "- Fluttershy said that you could be... friends with me?"

Coco looked awkward, feeling herself flush.

"It's not that impossible..." He squinted and framed her face with his hands as if it were a camera. "I mean you're obviously some sort of Prench city gal but those unfortunate traits can be nullified by the fact that you can be considered a Fluttershy Version Two."

Coco didn't really bother saying anything, content to let the Chaos demigod talk.

"That of course is if you would like to..." he paused.

"Uh? Oh! Of course!"

He rolled his eyes. "You don't have to be that polite, you know."

Coco shook her head. "I-I'm not being polite! I really mean it! You're really... interesting! I've haven't met anypony so..."
She felt stupid. "Interesting...?"

Discord blinked, looking genuinely surprised. "I'm not exactly a pony."

Coco simply looked confused now. "Point?"

"I'm an immoral Chaos god!" he said with exasperation. "I'm not exactly a come-and-tell-me-your-problems-and-we'll-sit-on-the-couch-and-eat-ice-cream-and-cry-together person!"

"I don't like ice cream," said Coco. "so that that won't be a problem."

He reeled back ."Whaaat- not like ice cream? That's medically impossible!"

"Picky eaters make good friends in the sense that they give you all their food." Coco said primly.

He put a paw on his forehead in mock impatience. "If you insist, mare," he sighed.

Discord then cleared his throat. "So you wanted to know why I was acting so happy?"

Acting? Coco thought, narrowing her eyes.

"Well", he said uncomfortably, "part of it is that being snappy with you feels as if I'm shouting at Fluttershy herself."
He stopped and looked at the floor.

And you don't want that to happen because you believe you've already hurt her enough, Coco realized, her eyebrows shooting up. All she said was "I understand."

"I sound so stupid, talking about my feelings with someone I just met," he grumbled. " But ninety percent of it is that you look horrible."

" Oh." Coco said.

"No, not like that!" He gestured to her. "You look as if you've been tossed into a spinning vat of geese, self-effacing metaphors and potential papercuts."

"That's a very unique way to say it..." Coco said, self- consciously shifting on the cold cave floor- feeling it leach the warmth from her defeated legs- and then looked down at herself. She could just make out some dark straight lines on her legs and grits of dirt tangled in the confines of her coat, contrasting with the ivory colour. Her neck was feeling too stiff for her to look at her tail and she knew from the tenderness that she must be peppered with bruises.
The more she looked, the more she was aware that she was hurting really, really bad and that she was actually rather tired, considering that she had been running at her limits for half an hour and that it was most probably eleven at night.

"Ouch," she said weakly. And then gave a yawn.

"How did you even get into a mess like that anyways?" Discord asked. "Did somepony beat you up? Tell me their names I'll give them the old one- two!" He swung his lion paw around threateningly.

"A magpie stole my clip," Coco said.

Discord stared.

"It's really important! I used to participate in the Midsummer Theater when I was a filly and I was given it for my help with the Wizard of Oatz." She fiddled with the red ruffle. "I'm actually a little surprised it isn't all torn up by now."

"It's an earth pony thing," Discord said.

"Oh?" Coco tilted her head.

Discord cleared his throat and pretended to put on a pair of glasses.
"Earth ponies have their own certain magic too. They live longer, they rarely get sick, they can survive up to three-point-five times as long as another type can without resources- making them very good soldiers- it's very hard to knock one down - something to do with the connection to the earth- and of course they're the only ones who can grow food most efficiently. Some can tell where rocks are meant to be for them to grow the finest crystals- hence rock farming.

"The areas in which an earth pony is most skilled at depends as it also does with unicorn's magic and a pegasi's flying strength as well."
Coco noticed that he paused a little at the mention of flying strength.

He gave a poke at her sailor's-collar. "I'd say that you're strength is in your vitality and it leaches out into the things you wear as well. A pegasus would need a garden of aloe and a hedgehog to fix this mess, but I'm sure you can straighten it out in ten minutes."

Discord then wiped his brow with a shudder. "That's the most sense I've made in a long time." He sat up, hugged himself and huffed. "Brrrr.."

Coco had always secretly lamented that she was only a simple earth pony, and used to daydream about doing five things at once with her unicorn magic or never have to use the bus again if she had wings. She had never been told that earth ponies could do things like that as well- possibly most ponies had forgotten about it as there wasn't really any need to harness them unlike in times of war.

Thinking of 'times of war' reminded her that that the person in front of Coco had once 'sent Equestria spiralling into a wasteland of madness and chaos' as the yellowed, tattered and doodled in history book under her bed stated. He had also then nearly did it again twice- once when he re-escaped and the other when he pretty much literally made a deal with the devil.
And then he truly reformed, Coco thought.
The nervous way he spoke of Fluttershy and his efforts to make her laugh didn't allow her to take those facts seriously. I guess that's also why we could be friends.

She yawned. No, we are friends.

Discord gave her a light poke. "Earth to pony? Hello?"

Coco looked up at him blearily. "'Sup?"

"Did I...break you or something?" he asked, tilting his head and then peering at her upside-down. "How do you feel?"

Coco remembered faintly that he was suffering from an overload of sense. "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious."

"Thank you so very much for being worried about my wellbeing," Discord said. "But I'm afraid that you are in the worse position and require adequate medical help immediately. Which means taking a bath and then sleeping on an unsanitized unchecked thin layer of moss."

He scratched his head. "Well, they always say 'store in a cool and dark place'."

Coco nodded, not having any idea what he was talking about which basically meant that her efforts were a success.
She lurched to her hooves and then immediately fell back to her previous position- her legs felt painful like a rubber band being stretched too far and didn't feel as if they could support her weight.

"I think I'll just lie here." She carefully lowered herself onto her belly, pulling her legs into her sides and tucking her forelegs into her chest like Discord had been a while ago. She lay her chin on her chest, feeling a draught blow in through the chinks in the stone wall behind her.

"In that case..." Discord dropped to all fours and raced off into the shadows.
Coco blinked and stared at the spot he used to occupy- she wasn't expecting him to move so fast. Usually in all the pictures she had seen she got the gist that he walked around on his hind legs and would be ungainly otherwise, but he moved with surprising agility- like a cross between a weasel and a snake.

Pommel lifted her head to gaze into the inky darkness that she was cloaked in. There was the sound of crickets chirping outside and the rustle of something's wings as they flapped overhead. She thought of the magpie guiltily and hoped that it hadn't fared the worst- or at least had gotten out of the Everfree, as she heard the faint, eerie croon of a Timberwolf's howl.

Her head was feeling rather swimmy, and she closed her eyes briefly, not bothering to suppress a chill that made her fur
stand on end.

_______________

When she opened her eyes again, everything so strangely light and dark at the same time- there were millions of tiny white spots dancing in her vision and leaving behind thin trails like little comets.
She felt as if her bones had been replaced with helium and her stomach was filled with iron. She flicked her head - a quick jerk usually made to dislodge a fly- but her head gave a painful throb akin to toothache and the light shifted so dazzlingly that she shut her eyes again.

One moment her eyes were opened, then they had closed and now this. She had no recollection of where she was, or what she was supposed to be doing- was she in her bed in Manehatten? It couldn't be as the ground was so hard and there was this quiet but deep rumbling echoing everywhere.
Her prey instincts kicked in and she opened her eyes again, in time to see something slide off her head and the world turn to normal, albeit much brighter than she expected. Apparently she had curled up in a sort of moss blanket, and the little dots were the light filtering through it.

Coco felt like an idiot as she collected her wits and remembered where she was. She must have had fallen asleep. She stirred a little, finding that while she was very stiffened and tender in places, she could move with more ease than before. Her cuts also had closed up overnight, though red lines could still be seen when she shifted her legs.

What is that sound?

Coco carefully lifted herself to her hooves, swirling them around to get rid of the numbness. The holes in the rock wall that hemmed her in were filling the cave with light, but she couldn't see Discord anywhere and the growling (for that was the rumbling noise) seemed to echo hopelessly around the cave. Is there some kind of creature that woke up in here?

Pommel peered through the darkness at the end of the cave which seemed to go on forever. It was certainly larger than she thought.

Something brushed lightly against her hind leg and she squealed and leapt a foot into the air, coming back to earth rather ungracefully and scuttled backwards in a panic, only to think, Oh, that's where he was!
Discord was curled up on one of the rocks beside her like a ball python and while she couldn't see his face she could tell that it was him who was snarling in his sleep.
Coco pricked her ears up. She had known that he was an odd-looking creature and could guess as much from the outline she had glimpsed at night. But seeing him in the light was a different ordeal, and Coco was only now coming to terms with the fact that he was definitely the thing that could flip the whole of Equestria upside down, and was only stopped by the fact that he liked the ponies who lived on it a mite too much.

Coco took in his slender, angled head, the long furry neck which ended in a reddish-brown feathery torso (it reminded Pommel of an eagle's), and the two wings that were rather strangely placed down his body. She was intrigued by the way the light reflected off of the smooth pebble-like scales on his strong looking red dragon's tail, which had a brush of feathery white fur at the end.

Coco was especially fascinated with his asymmetrical qualities. Unlike almost all of the other animals which had a collections of different body parts, he was full of contrasts- his legs, his horns, even his eyebrows weren't the same as each other. She could spend all day trying to visualize him in something fashion-forward as if it was some sort of big philosophical riddle.

"Discord?" she called out carefully, inching closer.
When he did not react, she came a bit more forward."...Discord?"
She didn't know whether it was wise to wake him up from whatever dream he was having, but she was getting worried as the rumbling started to grow more intense. He had his ears flattened against his head.

"Hey, Discord..!"

And in one sudden, swift move Coco was flying through the air and turned a neat somersault before landing on her back with a "YAH!"
OuchouchouchouchouchouchthisisprobablywhatGrannySmithfeelslikeverydayohmyFaustIdopityhersomuch!

She quickly rolled onto her hooves, shaking from the impact with the ground and feeling as if someone had whopped her spine with a wooden plank. Coco gave a shudder that made her fur stand on end and arched her back tentatively. There didn't seem to be any permanent damage done.
She quickly turned her attention to the other side of the cave, where the particular flinger was pressed up against the wall on all fours and wore a look of horror.

"You're bleeding!" Coco said in a panic.
She remembered the thing she had draped over herself and quickly scurried over to retrieve it, then carefully approached him, her hooves making a louder sound than she would like.
When he didn't seem to run away (or do anything) she hurried up to him and bent her head to examine his eagle claw.

"Did you bite it in your sleep?" she asked worriedly, switching her gaze from the teeth marks to meet his. His yellow eyes were really wide and he only blinked rapidly in response.
Coco huffed and then started to clumsily wrap the moss cover around his claw. She had to unwrap it twice before she had it snugly against his wrist and then, after biting her lip and looking unsure, she extracted her pin and used it to secure it in place.

She then stepped back a little to give him some space, and then ducked her head, feeling a sudden rush of awkwardness and embarrassment. She once again found herself wishing that he wouldn't stare at her so.

After what felt like forever, Discord said, "I bucked you in the stomach, and this is how you repay me?!"

"I get used to it," Coco mumbled to the floor. "I-It w-wasn't your fault, y-you had a n-nightmare and all..."

"You ponies!" he fumed, standing up on his hind legs and putting his face in his hands. "You and your blasted kindness! How am I ever going to stop having to repay you all?"

"That's what I said!" Coco exclaimed, straightening up, and with a rush remembering how she came to Ponyville in the first place. Her wave of shyness had ebbed and she now paced the cave ground, looking anxious. "That's right! I came to Ponyville to learn about friendship, and look where it got me!"

Discord looked a little hurt, but he quickly covered it up. "Well-"

"I meant that in a good way," Coco said.

"Oh."

"But there's still the fact that I'm stuck in this cave and there isn't really any way to get out," Coco said. "And there's that thing where I volunteered to help everypony because I had failed them badly-"

"Hoooold it!" Discord said, putting his hands up. "What did you fail everyone with, exactly?"

"I had a cold when I was really needed with the new shop Rarity made," she explained. "I sneezed all over Rarity."

"I should have been there to see it," Discord said enviously.

Coco gave him a look.

"Still. It's not your fault you had a cold, you didn't need to go vaulting all the way to Ponyville!"

"I had a midlife crisis," Coco said.

Discord gave her an odd look. "How old are you?"

"A year younger than Fluttershy."

Discord rolled his eyes. "That's a thing that happens to middle- age stallions, young Pommel."

Coco's response was to stick her tongue out at him.

"Oh, real mature."

"There's still the problem that we're both stuck in a cave devoid of resources and you can't do any Chaos magic to help," she fretted, starting to pace again.

"Don't remind me," he grumbled.

"Exactly why did Princess Celestia-?"

"Queen Sunflank-" Coco stared at him- "-reminded me of the law. It doesn't matter how sorry a criminal is, they still have to go through the court-and-trial."

"You're not a criminal," Coco said fiercely.

He sniffed and placed a paw over his heart. "I-I'm touched, Prench Fluttershy Version Two..."

"Yes, well-"

"I've been bound by the magic thread of friendship and family wuuuv~"

"Thread of- OH MY FAUST! I REMEMBERED!"

Coco suddenly turned and tackled Discord around his feathery waist with a bear hug, making him stumble back and sputter from the force. She started to shake him wildly, feeling as if she was going to either burst or float up to the ceiling like an absurd balloon. "Oh thank you thank you thank youuu!"

"Help! PDA!" Discord squeaked.

"Sorry!" She then immediately took back her apology by taking a sudden Pinkie-esque leap and giving him a peck on the cheek.
"The thread I tied to the tree! The spool was still in my saddlebags and it's somewhere around here, so somepony can find us and help us out!" She squealed to Discord, who had his mouth open and a hand on the side of his face and was following her bouncing with his head. "We're not stuck here forever after all! I'm not going to grow old and live licking cave dew off the waaaalls!"
She started humming and bouncing around in circles. "We're going to li-ive, we're going to li-ive~"

"Uhduh," muttered Discord.

"We're going to li-ive, we're going to li-ive~"

"Did you just demonstrate to me a Prench kiss?"

Coco stopped her jumping and looked up at him. "Huh?

"I am so not saying that again."

"Well, I'm Prench, so-" She suddenly stopped to look at Discord who was sticking his tongue out and her eyes went round when she realized what he meant. "Waah!"
Coco could feel that weird prickling in her face again. "N-n-n-n-no! Whdh- whakinda- whhhh-"

"HAH!" Discord roared, slapping his knee. "Your face is priceless, you look like a cow hit with a shovel!"

Pommel hid her face with one foreleg, biting her tongue to hide her grin.

"Really, though," Discord said, straightening up and holding his hands behind back with a businesslike expression. "Were you more scared of dying in this cave than you let on?"

"Um..."

"You can't fool me, my little pony! Most people don't go bouncing around like a hyperactive hamster on a hot oven when they learn something that only merits a shrug."

Coco couldn't really find the will to answer, so she awkwardly coughed and watched the grey cave floor.

"Why are you so terrified of being stuck here forever anyways? I mean, I'd probably fully understand the consequences of my actions at some point!"

Coco didn't want to say what was on her mind -'but it could take very long!' - as it sounded rather offensive to her. It would probably make him feel as if he was still viewed as a monster which didn't take anypony's pain very seriously, so she kept quiet and fidgeted with her hooves. This behaviour could be interpreted as an answer in itself, so she quickly scrambled for something to say.

"Discord?" Coco said timidly.

He raised an eyebrow. "Hmm?"

She paused, feeling like an idiot. Her mind went blank and she couldn't think of anything else to say. "Can you tell me a story?"

He raised both eyebrows. "Hmmmm?"

"Nothing."

"That was most definitely not nothing, young mare. A story? What do I look like, your grandfather?" He mimed pulling on a pair of suspenders.

Coco hid her face with a foreleg, trying in a panic to think of something intelligent to say and started when Discord cleared his throat and looked dramatically over her head.
"There was once a time of war," he began in a very nasally voice, sweeping the air in front of him with a paw, making Coco duck.

"Oh, I didn't..."

"Absolute nonsense. So there was a- here, it'll better if we sit down- okay- move over!- alright..."

Coco felt bewildered and blinked at him rapidly as she was given a firm push on her shoulders making her drop to her haunches. Discord settled comfortably in front of her after turning in a circle like a cat, and coiled his tail by his side, ignoring her protests.

"Well, I really..."

"Yes that's nice and all, but since you insisted-"

"Why would you want to-"

" Pommel."

Coco dropped her ears and shut her mouth, looking sulky.

"Once upon a time there a dragon and he died but he came back to life because I'm Discord. The end. Your turn!"

"Hwha-?"

Discord put his chin in his hands and fluttered his eyes. "Pwease-?"

Coco reddened. "I don't know any stories."

"Sure you don't."

"Discord..." she pleaded, having no idea how she got into this mess. There was much more important things to do like trying to move the rocks or -

"I won't laugh too loudly!"

She huffed, pulling a face.

"Fluttershy always tells me stories~"

"I'm not Fluttershy..."

"But I tolerate you slightly more than everypony else except for her..."

"Not working!"

He narrowed his eyes. "What, are you digging for compliments or something?"

"No-!" She flushed.

"I can't believe I'm doing this." He took a deep breath.

Coco quickly waved her forelegs around in his face. "Alright! Okay! Just don't...do that..."
"Um, one day there was a pony, and she... bought a cake and ate it, but then she thought too much and invented a metaphor, and, um, got turned into an alicorn for her troubles. The end!"

"Oh, please! I already know Cadance's story! That doesn't count!"
He gave her the puppy-eyes. " We're frieeends remember?"

"Princess Cadenza's-? Nevermind..."
Coco tucked her chin into her chest, squinting at the floor. Of course, she could just make up a story on the spot, but there was a reason her cutie mark was a hat and not a storybook.

She remembered the large worn old house she, her brother and their friends used to occupy, and how they used to make up the most ridiculous stories when they huddled around the fireplace near Christmas.
She could clearly see that one particular lanky orange colt- his name was something like Swiss Cheese, maybe- asking the oldest (who was balancing some cocoa on a tray and looking harassed) for the 'usual'. She could see her sit down next to her and snap when her brother started some jokes about Coco and the drink in the ceramic mugs, and then grumble something about never getting married and having foals. She would then adjust the shawl wrapped around her head, stare spookily into the fire, and everyone would go all quiet, and then-

"Are you crying?"

"Oh?" She snapped out of it and quickly felt her face. "N- It's just a reflex! Nothing to it..."

He squinted and leaned forward slightly. " Y-"

"Once upon a time!"
She winced- it had come out louder than she expected. Discord blinked, his ears tipped back in alarm.

Coco took a deep breath.
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" There was a time when the earth when the earth was new and the sun and moon raised and lowered themselves."
Octavia Melody paused to stare impressively into the fire. The four foals sitting in a messy ring around her were as wide eyed as if this was their first time hearing the story instead of the thirty-fifth.

"There was a time where no ponies walked the land, leaving it completely untouched by any hooves.

But that did not mean that there was nothing living."

She looked round at them. Her usual flat, monotone voice was replaced by something slow, dark and dramatic, making the foals all the more eager to hear her out.

"Instead of us equines, there were the ancient race of the..."
"Patapons," the four said in a breathy voice.

"Beings made with a single eye that was their body. They built ancient cities that are now only crumbling ruins, leaving the stones to lament of their passing. The trees would sing of the strongholds and fortresses made with their wood, and the animals would cry about how the finest weapons known to all of the world were with their feathers, their claws, their teeth-"

She raised her chin to the ceiling, letting the rays of moonlight filter through the open window and the shadows flit through her inky mane. " And their magic."

The four gasped. One with gentle blue eyes and a purple ribbon tying her short mane actually stood up in wonder, before being pushed down by her brother.

" They made the sword Castram,

"The eerie blade Tsuyugiri.

"They crafted the demonic Dreadmare.

"The lance of the gods- Gugnir.

"The most beautiful armour known to all ponykind was made by the Patapons- but now nopony can know of their glory- for they are all gone and the wind blows past the places where their feet used to lie and where their cries could be heard.

And the whole earth hold memories of the infamous legendary Hero."

They all stared at Melody, knowing that the story was truly starting now.

"Would you like to know how he was discovered?"

"Yes, yes, yeeesss!" Vinyl Scratch couldn't hold in her excitement anymore and she squealed and leapt into the air.

"Oh, sit down and shut up," muttered Fancy Pants. "You do this every single time..."

"You really shouldn't be so mean..." Coco whispered but nopony heard.

Octavia Melody sighed, and then waited impassively until they had stopped bickering and were watching her.

"The Patapons had one quest in their mind- to search for their fabled Earthend, where it was rumoured that the gods resided and there lived the mythical IT."

She said 'IT' in a deeper voice.

" It was said among them that whoever would gaze upon IT, they would know eternal happiness- and in their rush to find IT, they built a great ship of Hinoki, their finest wood, and with a mast of Super Cedar."

The foals thought Super Cedar was a little corny but didn't question it.

" The Patapon Army set sail upon their ship and as all of the most important ships would do got hopelessly caught in a raging typhoon. The swirling gusts were everywhere, raining the poisonous seawater into their eyes and buffeting the ship most cruelly. The sky was so dark that not even the most clever of foxes or the most sharp sighted of griffons could have pierced the blackness all around.

"And then the worst struck... A giant, many armed octopus monster the likes of which have been seen since had risen out of the water. The Patapons looked upon it but did not quail- for even when their ship was battered beyond recognition and the Patapons swept into the sea did they give up in their Almighty who had forsaken them so long ago.

"As one of the last Hatapons left alive swept up onto the yellow beach littered with debris, rocks and seaweed, half drowned as a cat, he heard the one sound that he had only dreamed of hearing in his life. It was a loud, rolling PON that echoed through the very core of his being.
The drum sounded with the precise beats he had heard of in the old legends, and the Hatapon could feel himself tremble and his senses return. He lifted himself onto his feet, and he held up the thing he had saving at the cost of his life- the PATA drum."

" As he held it up in triumph, the drum disappeared with a blinding glow, and then the Hatapon heard the Command last made when the ancient tribe had marched to war with the former enemies the Zigotons.
PATA- PATA- PATA- PON!

"Unbidden, the Hatapon began to walk strongly as the March of Mobility curled through his head. He hoisted the flag as if he was in front of an army.

"The Hatapon found one of his brothers laying amongst a tall dry gathering of grass, and the Command ripped through the air again and similarly affected the Yaripon struggled to his feet. They both started to march on, beginning to sing with the beat of the drums as the earth had not felt for so long a year. They discovered two more of the Yaripons, and then they came across their chief priestess, the Lady Meden- but they began to feel the battle rage as she was surrounded by three of the strangest beings they had witnessed before. They were called the Karmen, and wore spearhead shaped red, yellow and orange masks and each held a spear.

"The Patapons have started to march!" they cried out in terror, for even in those early days the Patapons were renowned for their utter fearlessness and their sheer military strength. They could do naught but retreat.

"Meden thanked the Patapons and showed them to what was left of the city Patapolis. There they found more of their kin that had been awakened by the sound of the Almighty come alive again.

"After the Patapons had made themselves familiar with the territory and the new animals and enemies, after they had marched through the rainy jungle which served as the base for the Karmen tribe, they had wind of the rumours that the Mater Sprout, the seed of the Tree of Life which gave rebirth and took away the fear of death for the Patapons, was in the land- but they had to be careful, for it was guarded by the dragon Dodonga.

"Unafraid but wary, the Patapons went to the misty lands where the Dodonga inhabited."

The foal's eyes were round with excitement and they had their hooves on their mouths- this was their favourite part.

" But then they came across the most unusual sight, something which none of them had expected- there was someone stuck under a great boulder carved with symbols and inscriptions. That someone was a Patapon who wore an orange mask with a red lightning bolt on it, reminiscent of fire.

"Wha ... Patapons?" he said in utter bewilderment.

"He gained his senses and quickly said, "Free me from this rock- I will join you!"

" The Patapons were doubtful that they could even nudge the boulder, but they attempted to fire some spears at the immoveable object. As they guessed, it barely made a mark.

" "Is that the best you can do?!?" said the strange Patapon in exasperation. He suddenly froze and snapped his head towards the misty distance, where the earth itself was shaking and the rocks jumping as tremors spread through it.

" The Dodonga had arrived, and it roared in anger and suspicion when it saw it's old hunters in it's land. He was nearly beside himself in fury, and the Patapons could see something red glow in his throat as he tilted his huge head backwards and flared his head frills.
The Patapons were not to be intimidated, however, and they heard their Almighty strike the Lament of Defense, enabling the Yaripons the take cover and put their spears together. As of such, the fire did not hurt them, protected by their Almighty.

"The fire... it's breaking the seal!" the strange Patapon under the boulder cried out. The small army took heart and with determination heard the Lament of Defense echo through them again as the Dodonga reared it's head and butted the rock as hard as it could in utter frustration.

"Urk...My back is killing me..." the Patapon groaned."

This drew out a giggle from the audience.

" And then, with one mighty inferno that could have roasted any lesser tribe, the Dodonga unwittingly led itself into a trap as the boulder disappeared with a shimmer. The Patapon quickly stood up and held out his arms as the Hatapon and Yaripons looked on with growing awe and he caught the heavy rock on top of the now vanquished boulder effortlessly. He turned towards the dragon who began to look nervous- and it said by the Patapons that one who can get the Dodonga to fear them is the mightiest warrior in the land indeed.

"With a heave he threw it at the offending Dodonga's head with an insult. The great dragon roared in pain as it smashed into his skull and he staggered away, hissing for revenge but with his tail between his legs.

"That night, the masked Patapon was taken to the priestess Meden. Brandishing her staff, she told them of the prophecy that foretold that he would become their Hero (to which the Patapon showed some reluctance) as he was the 'funny looking masked dude' it spoke of.

"F...funny looking....." he coughed.

" Meden then beseeched the Almighty to name him. And fiery letters appeared above his head..."

Here Octavia Melody paused to look around at the foals, who were busy trying to think of a name for the fictional Patapon hero.

"How about 'Felix'?" Coco suggested, avoiding everypony's eye. "I do love that name, you know, a-and you never let me pick..."

"'Felix' has too many letters," Fancy Pants insisted. "You can only have four, it's the rule."

"Who made that rule?" Cheese Sandwich complained. "It's just silly..."

"It's the tradition," Fancy insisted.

" How about Pyre?" Vinyl suggested.

There was a brief discussion before they all turned to Octavia Symphony.

"Pyre it is, then?" she said in a bored tone. The three foals all nodded enthusiastically, minus one downcast filly.

"Fiery words appeared above the Patapon Hero's head- PYRE. The rest of the Patapon tribe had gathered around to watch, sure that it was an omen from the heavens.

"The Hero conceded defeat, accepting his new name. And it was so then at that very second that the legend of the great Hero had begun."

Octavia stopped her story abruptly, staring into the logs that fed the fireplace flames. Vinyl surreptitiously scooted closer to her and ducked her head through her sister's shawl, who reacted by carefully putting a foreleg over her shoulders.

Little Coco watched them with a little lump in her throat, sneaking glances at Fancy Pants and trying not to remember that she was going to be due at home soon.

As far as she was concerned, the past and the present Coco thought, this decaying dusty run-down house was her real home.

Author's Notes:

This chapter was originally going to be longer, but I split it. The ton of red lines in the Patapon story bit gave a me a headache.
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