This is a Round-Robin collaboration/game between: Altoid, Timothy48,  The Grey Pegasus, Flying Wingnut, wariyoshi, flowandthought, ModernWarfareBrony

We took turns writing a paragraph or two and some dialogue and created this. We have no idea where it is going to go. We have set rules though to help prevent it from becoming too random and stupid. I hope you enjoy! -Altoid

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Discord was growing tired of being a statue. The physical stress was not much, but psychologically it was torture. Celestia’s garden was the most orderly place in the world. Every flower and statute had its own little place on the grounds. The most chaotic thing was the maze, and after a few seconds of examining it, he had realised that even it had an orderly design.

The only respite he had from the drag was the occasional chaos that happened. A gardener would drop a pot, or a party of school foals would argue amongst themselves as their weary teacher showed them around. But none of it was enough to relieve his pain, let alone set him free.

In other words, he was bored. With precious little chaos to amuse him, and with no one to talk to or even interact with, he was having a hard time keeping it together. In fact, just the other day he caught himself thinking logical thoughts! A sure sign he was going insane. Suddenly, a pair of familiar female voices reached his stone ears.

'Oh, what is this? Both Celestia and little Luna are out for a stroll? I wonder what they’re doing out here in my neck of the garden?'

The royal sisters had drawn closer to him while he had been thinking, and he could now hear them both clearly.

“Now Luna, are you sure this a safe place to talk?” Celestia asked her sister.

“Why, what do you mean, dear sister?” Luna replied.

“We should be cautious about what we talk in this area of the garden-”

“Please elaborate.”

“You’ve managed to lead us into Discord’s area of the hedge.”

'Why of course,' Discord thought, 'where else would you be?

If he could slap himself in the face for such an obvious answer, he would have. Alas, he was still stone, and could only imagine himself doing so.

“But it’s not like he could do anything about it-”

Celestia tried to interrupt.

“- and I know that he can still hear anything around him. So what? It’ll give him some things to think about.”

“But what if he manages to break free? What we say here could change the course of the future,” Celestia declared.

“Would you like me to fabricate a conversation until we are out of earshot from Discord? I can make a funny story if you wish. Or would you rather have a tale of epic adventure?” Luna playfully teased.

‘Get on with it already. I thought pegasi were supposed to be great storytellers,’ Discord randomly thought. ‘And good at thinking on the spot. They are the ones with their heads in the clouds.’ Still he’d been waiting in the garden for so long, patience was a quality that he inevitably learned. ‘Oh well, I suppose it’s only a little bit longer until those two actually start saying some interesting things. Maybe...’

"Spare me, Luna." Celestia said, with a hint of malice in her voice. "Let's just quietly move away from...him...and talk elsewhere."

"Oh very well, sister."

Luna reluctantly complied with her sister's request, and resigned to silently being led by her solar sibling through the maze.

‘Oh, darn.’ Discord was less than pleased with this turn of events. ‘Of course they would move. They must be paranoid. I mean, if you can't trust a statue with some idle gossip, than you really need to relax a little. Oh, if only I was free, I could show them how to loosen up a bit. Then again, they would probably sic their little attack dogs on me, their 'Elements of Harmony' or what not, and turn me to stone once again.’

Discord continued on with his internal monologue for a few minutes, which felt like hours to him, but stopped when he heard a pair of familiar voices.

"Alright, I don't think he'll be able to hear us now." Celestia said.

'Oh, how wrong you are, princess.'

"Now tell me, sister," Luna whispered, betraying a hint of anger in her voice, "what is so important that you had to drag me away from my duties in the middle of the night to tell me?"

'Oh, please, do tell, Celestia. I'm dying to hear it.'

"Now, Luna, you remember our political relations with the Griffin Empire, right?"

"Only what you told me. We currently have an uneasy alliance with them, our trade relations cover things like gems and metals, and we both have been bolstering our defenses on each other's borders."

"Unfortunately, sister, that does not describe the situation in enough detail."

‘Political relations, trade agreements...Oh for Celestia’s sake, or your own sake in this case, get to the good part!’

"It doesn't, does it?" Luna was getting visibly angered due to her sister's assumed secrecy. "Tell me, dear sister, what have you been hiding?"

"Luna, I don't know how to say this," Celestia's speech started to stutter, and tears were beginning to form in her eyes, "but our nation may be on the verge of war."

‘A war?’ Discord was ecstatic with joy. ‘Oh, well now, how convenient is this?! I may just break out of this infernal prison yet...’

Luna’s eyes widened as she stared at her sister, near-speechless, “A war, sister? Surely you can’t be serious!”

The solar princess silently nodded, “Yes, sister, a war, and I assure you I am dead serious.”

Luna sighed, “But what reason could we possibly have to do battle with the Griffin Empire? I thought relations with them were running smoothly.”

Celestia sighed, “Yes...to the public eye. Behind the scenes, I have run into...well, a disagreement of sorts with the Emperor.”

Princess Luna rolled her eyes, “Oh spare me, sister; we’ve had hundreds of disagreements with other nations, maybe thousands! What makes you think that they would dare challenge us?”

‘To be fair,’ Discord said with an internal, smug smile, ‘it doesn’t take much to get me out, you know. Well, you don’t know, but you will soon enough, I’m sure.’

“It’s the emperor’s daughter. For many months now she has been gone, and apparently they caught a pony who has been dealing out lies about Equestria” she confessed.

The lunar princess seemed to growl just a little bit. “I wish to speak with the emperor”

Celestia shook her head, “That’s just it, Lulu. We are no longer on speaking terms. They have cut off all communications”

Luna frowned at the loss of their last diplomatic option, “Should we prepare defenses yet, then?”

Celestia sighed deeply and stared into the sky, “I don’t know, Sister, I just don’t know.”

With that, Celestia turned and walked slowly back into the palace. She almost regretted putting an end to the discussion so quickly; her sister might have had valuable advice now left unsaid, but on the other hoof, one could never be too careful around Discord. For all anypony knew, he might have the whole of Equestria, or at least the whole of the Canterlot gardens, under his influence from within his stone prison.

‘He can't possibly be a threat for another thousand years,’ Celestia reassured herself. Besides, she remembered the last time she'd been suspicious of Discord- not that that was very long ago- her advisors at this point took statue paranoia to be a weekly occurrence. Last week, the Royal Guards had nearly gone on strike about guarding statues instead of getting real action. The week before that... well, they'd agreed to never speak of the bunny incident again. And the week before that, an over-eager pegasus guard had mistakenly seized the statue of Star Swirl the Bearded and wrestled it to the ground.

Meanwhile, in the garden, Luna approached Discord's statue, at first apprehensively, then more boldly as she became certain Celestia was out of range.

Discord braced himself to be seized and wrestled to the ground, but to his surprise, she instead spoke to him.

"I wanted you to hear all of that."

‘And what's that supposed to mean?’ Discord thought furiously. No answer, of course, since all that his imprisonment afforded him was an internal monologue. Through his nearly useless petrified eyes, he caught what he thought was the slightest glint of mischief in Luna's expression. ‘Interesting. Very interesting.’

“Knowing you Discord,” Luna continued. “You already know what I have planned. After all, you did teach me every inharmonious thing I know.”

‘Oh, you can hear my thoughts.’ If Discord could have clapped his claws with joy if he could. ‘I was starting to believe that you had forgotten your old skills. So what do you want from your old master?'

Luna smiled, “Your power.”

‘There is not much left of it dear,’ the draconequus mentally chuckled. He knew that was what she wanted and he was not going to part with his abilities that easily. ‘Go find power somewhere else.’

“I could keep it safe,” Luna persuaded.

‘Keep it safe?’

Luna winked. “I can tell that your powers are fading away along with what you call sanity. I could keep both of them safe with me.”

Discord knew she was right, and as he prepared to decline, he stopped himself. An idea formed in the back of his mind that he hid from the younger princess.

'Very well.' He tried to sound reluctant. 'You can have my power and chaotic essence as long as you give it back to me when I escape.'

Luna grinned triumphantly as his power moved itself into her. When the energy ceased to flow she looked back up at the statue.

“Thank you my former master,” she taunted. “But I do not intend on giving it back.”

The statue didn’t reply and Luna couldn’t feel the sentient mind of Discord within its stone. A sudden pressure pushed up against her mind.

‘Hooray for you,’ Discord said within her consciousness. ‘You got the package deal. My power and me! Do you want fries with that?’

‘You’ve gotta be kidding me!’

‘Nope. I most assuredly am not kidding. I said my power and chaotic essence. Oh look! I found one of your old foalhood memories!’

‘Get out of there! Those are private you...you!’

‘Bwahahahaha! Oh I am going to enjoy this! Hmmm, this room looks comfy, I’ll just set up shop here.’ A mental Discord opened a door, and began to throw metaphorical junk and sentimental memories out into a long dimly lit hallway for a mental Luna to try and catch.

Struggling to catch the veritable blizzard of memories and other things flying at her, Mental Luna ground her teeth in frustration. ‘What in Equestria possessed me to let his powers into me? I should have known better!’

The Spirit of Chaos’s voice replied from his new room, ‘I guess I still have that effect on ponies. Clouding one’s judgement is an art, I’ll have you know, and isn’t as easy as it looks. ‘Course those hairless apes of mine do it so well, I barely have to do anything with them. Hmmm, I should probably check on them, been a while.’

Luna heard the creak of a lid being opened from the room and a soft *squee* emanating from what she assumed was Mental Discord. ‘Oh look! They’re fighting again! So cute!’

Mental Luna simply facehoofed. Giving an exasperated sigh she asked, ‘So how long are you planning on staying here?’

‘Hmmm, how does forever sound?’ His maniacal laughter echoed in her mind, as Mental Luna screamed.

‘NOOOOOoooooooooooooo!’

Meanwhile, outside Luna’s internal conflict, Celestia had already walked halfway back to the castle. But she had a strange foreboding feeling that something was amiss with Luna. She attempted to contact her sister telepathically, but found only a wall. No resistance, just unreachable. And this shouldn’t happen, even near Discord’s area. There was something obviously wrong with her sister, and so Celestia decided to take the express route and fly above the garden. She spotted Luna near Discord’s statue, and she was writhing on the ground holding her head.

“Luna! Are you alright?!” Celestia asked once she landed. At the voice of the white alicorn, Luna was able to gain control of her own senses once again.

“Oh! Yes, I’m sorry Tia. Discord was just having a fitful argument with me over here. I think we should leave now.”

“Yes... we should.” Celestia turned to the statue, which was void of any entity. However, she did not know this, and did not bother to check before she spoke. “Stay away from my sister, Discord. Or I will allow you to be taken into an anti-magic vault deep inside the Canterlot Mountain.”

‘Oh please try,’ Discord remarked from inside Luna’s mind. Luna inwardly growled, for she did not like hearing her sister be mocked. Unfortunately, there was nothing she could do about it. At least, for the moment, it seemed like Discord would be pleased with spectating events. For now.

Celestia turned back to her sister. “Come, Luna. The War Ministry wishes to speak with you especially.”

“Me?” Luna replied in surprise. “Why me in particular, sister?”

“They see you fit for this role much more than I this time. You have been very active in foreign politics after just a little over two and a half years since your return. They also see you as the one more willing to take the necessary actions, rather than me.”

‘Oh this seems very fun,’ Discord commented to Luna. ‘Wait... You came to me for a reason other than respect, didn’t you...’ Luna didn’t answer and just kept walking. ‘Right. You’re not going to tell me... BUT I can just access your memory files!’

When Luna heard this, she nearly jumped in real life. Still, she kept her composure, and attempted to keep Discord out of her memories and thoughts. Alas, it was for naught.

‘Oh what’s this?’ Discord said aloud in the vast rooms of Luna’s mind. He rooted through imaginary filing cabinets, until he found the latest ‘transcript’. ‘So THIS is your reason for seeking me out. You already knew that there was a possible prospect of war, so you sought me out for extra chaos to help in assistance with war affairs! Clever girl...’

‘Silence already, you annoying spirit!’ Luna mentally yelled.

‘Alright, stop right there. It’s been awhile since I’ve had some fun, so I’ll help you with it.’

‘Right...’

‘Seriously! You wanted my chaos for this reason, right? To help direct a war? But that doesn’t mean I’ll do it peacefully. You’re simply too fun to mess with for that. Though it would’ve been better if it was Celestia’s head... No matter. I’m here now.’

‘Would you be quiet for a few minutes, you freak of nature? I need to keep my composure in front of the ministry, and I can’t do that with you taking center stage in my mind!’

‘Oh very well, Luna, I’ll comply, but only because you asked so nicely...’ There were clear hints of sarcasm in his voice.

Luna quickly pushed the meddlesome draconequus to the back of her mind, hoping to maintain some semblance of composure as she and her sister walked through the castle halls. They soon arrived at the solid wood doors of the War Room, a past relic from Nightmare Moon’s time.

“Well, Lulu, I’ll leave you to it.” Celestia said.

“Wait,” questioned Luna, “You’re not coming in with me?”

“No, they wanted you, and I find myself uncomfortable with this business. They will report back to me with their decisions.”

“Very well, sister. I shall see you tomorrow at breakfast, then?”

“Sounds good, Lulu.”

With a sisterly nuzzling of each other's necks, they parted ways, with Celestia heading back to her room to catch a few more hours of rest before raising the sun in the morning, and Luna heading past the wood doors and into the War Room to converse with the ponies gathered inside.

The War Room wasn’t exactly large. It was lit by torches, which were placed in holders on the wall. There was a large table in the middle, with a map of Equestria and its surrounding countries. On the map were various flags, meant to represent the current positions of friendly forces and the last known location of enemy forces. Gathered around the table were four other ponies, each in their ceremonial armor, which was a solid gold color with dark blue stripes, meant to signify the reunion of Celestia and Luna as co-rulers.

The pony standing at the head of the table snapped a quick salute to Luna.

“Princess Luna!” He said. “Pleasure to see you.”

“Spare me the formalities, General. Let’s get down to business.”

“So,” she began into the mess of a meeting this would be, “what are our options?”

“Well, the most obvious and least sane option...” the old pony began, causing a mental chuckle from Discord.

‘I like that, Lulu, choose that! Choose that!’ he mentally yelled in a childish fashion.

‘You do NOT get to call me Lulu you abomination! Just shut up, I’m trying to listen!’  she almost screamed at him in her head.

“...would be a full-scale assault on the Griffin empire,” he said with a chuckle and a roll of his eyes, “which, obviously, we probably won’t end up doing”

‘Why not?’ he asked Luna playfully.

She sighed, ‘Because if we DID, we would lose a majority of our military forces!’

‘Hmmm...I don’t like the sound of that...who will I use to enforce my laws when I retake Equestria?’ he asked with a slight hint of sadness in his voice.

Luna rolled her eyes, ‘You are NOT taking over Equestria again, Discord!’

‘Oh, perhaps you’re right,’ he sighed, ‘I WON’T have any laws, will I?’

“Ahem,” one the generals said, gathering Luna’s attention, “pardon my...observation, your majesty, but are you alright? You seem to be in some sort of...internal debate.”

“Oh...I’m sorry, gentlecolts, I’m just thinking about what would be the best for Equestria,” she lied.

They were satisfied with her answer and continued, “Our second option would be to take out their navy to show that we aren’t joking. With no navy, they’ll hopefully understand that they can’t mess with us.”

The third pony, who had remained quiet up until now, spoke, “I think this may be one of the better options, your majesty, as it may cause a large amount of destruction, but in turn it will most likely avoid a massive war that would devastate both of our countries.”

Discord frowned, ‘I don’t think I like that option...can we please go back to the ‘all-out offensive’ option? That one looked like a blast!'

The commander spoke once again, “Our last option, Princess, would be to instead build our defense. If the Griffin empire saw how strong we were, they would think twice before attacking us, I’m sure. That is the peaceful option.”

The third one chuckled, “I suppose you could crash the moon into the empire”

He cringed, realizing that it was possible that the Princess would actually do that. He blinked, then looked at her with a look that said ‘it was a joke’.

She pretended to ignore it.

They all looked at her, expecting an opinion to leave her lips, but she only stood shaking her head, ignoring Discord’s screams of joy at the “crash the moon” option, “I...I need some time to think this over...”

“If I may, your majesty,” the second general began, “we seem to be running out of time, so a hasty decision may be best”

She sighed and walked out, “I will have made a decision before the morning, I promise.”

~

Luna had been pacing around the royal chambers since the meeting. At this point, she was definitely pushing the limits of what could be considered "before morning". The lowering of the moon was slightly behind schedule, though as it occurred to her, even being late on that was forcing Equestria's hooves towards war. According to her calculations, which with regard to her lunar duties were infallible, the delayed moon was currently causing unusually low tides in griffin territory. If she waited much longer, simple gravity would wreak havoc on the griffins' coastal lands.

She switched to walking counter-clockwise to relieve the monotony. Her horn glowed as she picked up the list on her desk once again.

A. Total war. Heavy casualties.

B. Strike griffin ports with extreme prejudice.

C. Defense. Build up our own forces.

D. Hit them with the moon. (???)

‘Is this some kind of joke?’ Discord asked from within her mind. ‘You're no closer to a decision then when you started.’

‘I don't want your help.’

‘You're going to get it. We're taking this into your headspace.’ Discord said. Luna found herself facing Discord across a clearly hallucinated but very expensive-looking table.

The draconequus reached under the table and produced a chess board.

"Heavy-hoofed on the metaphor, I know," he apologized as he arranged the pieces. "With chaos spread so thin after my defeat, it's had to cut back a bit in the subtle analogies department. The chaos would be delicious, but even I would have to advise you against total war. I'd prefer to have something left to rule over when, I mean if, I take over. The peaceful option is, of course, also right out."

He visibly cringed at the thought of Equestria making it through the ordeal uneventfully. The chess pieces began to move, playing through a game of their own accord.

As much as Luna wanted to disagree with Equestria's former nemesis, she had to admit that he was right on both counts. The natural aggression of griffins, at least in comparison to ponies, meant that, more likely than not, something active had to be done. "Our forces are ready for a preemptive strike on their ports. We could have naval superiority by tomorrow night."

"They'll expect that. Any SANE enemy would."

"If we can bring up our reserves of pegasi by then, their forces will be crippled regardless. Even if their king does not re-establish diplomatic contact, we would be in more or less a winning position." The nonexistent player of the black pieces was up by a knight.

"Enough, Luna. You're GOING to take the insane option. That's not a question. That's a statement." On the chess board, the queen threw itself against the enemy line, with three ways it could be taken. "If anything, sacrificing the moon is the simplest option. All you have to do is let go. Oh, and the stallion who suggested that to you... give him a promotion."

As Luna left her internal dialogue, she felt the moon begin to drop. More than anything, she just hoped Celestia would think this was an accident.

'In case you were wondering,' Discord continued, 'the chess game ended right there.' Next Chapter: A New Day of Unwanted Events... Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 44 Minutes