Discord floated above the city in an absolutely elated state. It was his favorite time of the year, after all: the night of Hearth’s Warming Eve.

He had been watching Ryan recently, and saw him go to the play and hang out with Macintosh and Cinny. But more importantly, he saw Ryan hand his Automag over to Mac. Mac seemed to understand exactly what that was, but Discord was completely in the dark. No matter; it was nothing he needed to know.

Every year, since he was encased in stone, Celestia would let him wander about as an invisible spirit on Hearth’s Warming Eve and Day because she was in a generous mood. Of course, the holiday affected everyone, so Discord was also generous; he kept his antics to purely harmless fun.

At the moment, though, he was distracted by the thought of what Ryan must be doing in Ponyville. He was seen Ryan back himself into a corner and find himself spending the holidays at Cinny’s home, but he hadn’t watched him yet today. They could be playing chess, Monopoly, reading books, watching tapes, listening to music... who knew?

“I think I’ll drop a mistletoe by there later.” Discord thought. That would be fun.

He flew about the city in a mild haste, throwing little spells here and there to avoid having Celestia get suspicious about the lack of little pranks here and there. It had become something of a tradition for them; he left her his presents, and she had to unwrap them. Sometimes, there was even a hidden message. Once, he told her that she had a nice flank.

“And she promptly shoved it in my face the next time she saw the statue.” he remembered, chuckling to himself. She always did have ways to make the imprisonment a little bit easier.

Throwing the pranks around didn’t take too long, and once he was done, he started flying towards Ponyville to see his favorite human. The snow was a little bit difficult, as it was only mild, so he couldn’t do anything without being noticed, but it was just enough to make navigating difficult. Still, he was able to find the little town by simply looking for the lights.

He made it there in no time and took a position on top of town hall, scouting the area. These ponies certainly knew how to decorate boringly; there were a few light strands here, some snowponies there. There was even a snowman, though Discord had no idea why. On the town hall, there were wreaths everywhere and signs on every door that read, “What are you, Twilight? Take some time off.” Discord had to openly laugh at those ones.

He had a feeling of where Cinny lived, and so flew up into the air and faced that direction.

“Actually, wait.” he thought. “Maybe I should check and see what the other ponies are up to first.” He had been meaning to check on some of the relationships in this town.

So instead of flying straight to where he thought Cinny lived, he decided to check on the Elements of Harmony first. They had put him back in the stone a while ago; why not see how they spend their holidays?

He started with Twilight Sparkle, making a beeline for the library. She was the closest, if he remembered correctly, so she would be the easiest to check on. Only a few seconds into his flight, he could see the library. Once there, he lowered himself to the ground and looked into the window.

Inside, he could see Twilight, wearing a fuzzy green and red sweater, carrying several mugs of hot chocolate in her magic. She was walking towards a fireplace, where her parents, brother, sister-in-law, and assistant all sat around the fire. Everyone was laughing, just enjoying the night. Shining Armor’s foreleg was wrapped comfortably around his wife’s waist, the same with Nightlight. Discord could tell that Twilight wished she had a special somepony, but that she was willing to wait.

With a quick snap of his fingers, Discord made a mistletoe appear above the young couple’s heads, attracting the attention of Shining’s parents. When he saw it, his and his wife’s faces turned bright red, while Twilight Velvet and Nightlight were giggling and motioning for the young couple to go ahead. Before they went at it, Discord was long gone.

The next best place to see was Rarity’s, and who knew what might be happening in there? He shot off in that direction and made it to her place in no time.

At her home, he looked into the first floor and saw nothing, so he moved onto the second floor. Up there, he could see Rarity, walking around in a fancy robe, mane disheveled, looking like she had just gotten out of bed. She didn’t have to be all made up right now, so it only made sense. Her only company was her sister.

Which actually surprised him. There she was, laying in bed, snuggling under the covers. It was a positively adorable sight to behold, one that might induce a heart attack in any being other than Discord. He watched quietly as Rarity walked over to the bed and kissed her little sister on the bed, then climbed in with her. Her little sister immediately snuggled up to her older sibling and snored away.

Discord had to stop right there; it was too much. Instead of remaining there, he opted to run off to Pinkie Pie’s home, the Sugarcube Corner.

Once there, he saw exactly what he was expecting to see; Pinkie Pie, making cakes and such. There were gingerbread ponies, houses, and little towns all over the room. She even made a little city, just like Canterlot. How anypony could do this, Discord was unsure.

Then, suddenly, two little foals came down the stairs, flying and floating. Pinkie Pie made some incoherent noise inside, something like a squeak with words somewhere inside, and ran over to them. She grabbed them in a big hug and carried them over to the little town, showing them everything there was to see. She jumped all over the place, light as a feather, and not doing the tiniest bit of damage to the town.

Then, she set the foals down in the middle of the gingerbread city and did something unexpected.

She started attacking the city, smashing down the walls of her little buildings and making loud growls. The foals, startled at first, quickly imitated her, destroying the city around them and devouring everything they could get their tiny hooves on. Not two minutes in, everypony there was covered in frosting and gingerbread, and Pinkie in hysterics on the floor. Discord decided it was a good time to leave, just missing the reaction of the Cakes as they came down to see the commotion.

“Where to next?” Discord wondered, flying up into the sky. “Why not Applejack?”

he flew off to Sweet Apple Acres and landed himself on top of the barn, taking in his surroundings. Even in the winter, an apple field where all the trees were bare was a very creepy sight. The snow made it a little bit better, but it still looked like a serial tickler could be hiding out there.

“I’m watching you.” Discord thought as he looked out into the fields. Bandits, bandits who were looking for cuddles and wearing little animal masks. He couldn’t stand them, not one bit.

He jumped down to the ground and walked over to the farmhouse, just peeking into the window. Inside, he could see three ponies, a green old lady, a young orange farm girl, and a little yellow filly, all sitting around a fireplace. Applejack had a book in her hooves, and she was clearly reading to her little sister. Granny Smith, on the other hand, was quietly sitting in a rocking chair, just listening in contently.

“Well, I see nothing of particular interest here.” Discord said.

Then he noticed something. Not so much a thing as a lack of a thing. Didn’t Applejack have an older brother? Where was he?

“Probably off working in the fields.” Discord concluded. That pony had been a workaholic for a long time.

Two Earth Ponies down, Two Unicorns down. That left two Pegasi to go see before he stopped by Cinny’s home. From where he was, he could see some lights in the sky, presumably Rainbow Dash’s home. He eagerly flew off in that direction; if anypony would have a different holiday experience, it was her.

Getting to her home was actually a bit easier than the other elements’ homes, since Rainbow lived way up in the sky. Her home was lavish, of course, since cloud was an incredibly heap (free) thing to use to build your home. When he landed at her house, he landed on the balcony to what seemed to be the living room, where there was a strangely placed tree inside.

Around the tree were three ponies; Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, and an unknown stallion with the same mane color as Rainbow. Presumably, that was her father. He looked old enough.

He had a silly look on his face, and Rainbow looked like she was ready to burst. Just then, another pegasus walked in, a pink one with a blue name. She looked tired, but really content with whatever was happening.

“Thanks for letting me stay here for the holidays!” Scootaloo said gleefully, running up to Rainbow and hugging her leg. “It’s been a while since I spent the holidays with somepony...”

Discord almost choked from the need to cry when she said that. Who would ever want to be in that position, spending the best time of the year alone? It was like being single and ugly on Hearts and Hooves Day.

“Don’t mention it, kid.” Rainbow replied. “We still need to exchange gifts, so let’s get to it!”

And they were off. Rainbow received two tickets to a Wonderbolts special performance some time in January. For her parents, she got them some special items that only pegasi know the significance of, and her parents got each other silly, lovey-dovey gifts.

That left Scootaloo. “So, kid. Wanna know what we got you?” Rainbow asked, excitement in her voice.

Scootaloo’s eyes looked like they would burst. “Is it a position as your best sidekick?!” she asked excitedly.

Rainbow’s parents looked at each other for just a moment, nothing but love and happiness in their eyes, and put their hooves together. Rainbow Dash chuckled, confusing her little fan, then looked to her parents. Her father pulled out a paper and handed it to Rainbow.

“How would you like to be my little sister?”

Discord poofed up a tissue and blew his nose into it, barely able to see past the tears in his eyes. Scootaloo was tearing up inside, overcome with emotion, and leaped at her new sister, thanking her all the way. Rainbow, tears welling up in her own eyes, hugged her right back, pulling her as tightly to her chest as she could. Her parents, off to the side, were looking on, pride for their daughter and happiness for their new daughter overtaking them.

Discord left them to themselves, to enjoy their private moment. It was hard not to be overcome with emotion, even for him. The amount of happiness in that room was enough to make Ryan’s world a better place, if it could just make its way there.

He flew off to Fluttershy’s home, just by the edge of the Everfree. When he landed there, in the back yard, the animals, though they couldn’t see him, all flipped out completely. They all knew that something was there, though they couldn’t tell what. Discord just hoped that their noise wouldn’t tell Fluttershy that he was out there.

Discord hopped along the grass and path to Fluttershy’s front door and stuck his head through. The inside was modestly decorated; little wreaths here and there. A few lights. There were lots of candles around, placed just right so they wouldn’t set anything on fire. The windows were all shut, the curtains half-drawn, and the rugs on the floor looked warm and inviting.

Discord raised his head and looked around, spotting Fluttershy after a moment. But she wasn’t alone.

She lay on the couch with Big Macintosh, Applejack’s older brother. They were sitting together on the couch by the other end of the room. Macintosh had his back against the back of the couch, while Fluttershy had her back to him. Her eyes were gently closed, and she was leaning into the large stallion behind her. Macintosh’s eyes were closed as well, and he had his chin set gently atop Fluttershy’s head, nuzzling her slowly. They were both under a blanket, and from the look of it, Macintosh was rubbing Fluttershy’s side with his hoof.

It was an adorable sight. They must have been at least half asleep, because when Fluttershy moved her head a bit, Macintosh took a moment to realize it and move his own head. He moved it underneath his mare’s head, and moved his hoof to gently run up and down her neck. She made little noises of contentedness at his touch, snuggling closer to him as his hoof went along.

Discord felt more peaceful just watching the gentle giant and the little lady. “Reminds me of me and Celestia so long ago...”

That reminded him; he had yet to see what Celestia and Luna were doing for their holiday break. He had forgotten to take a look at them earlier, so he might as well do that after he saw Ryan.

Happy with what he had seen so far tonight, Discord left Fluttershy’s home and flew back off to the town, eager to see his favorite human’s holiday pastimes. As he flew, he thought about what Ryan might have done back home. He no doubt spent time with his family, he seemed the type. What might he hope for for gifts, and what might his parents, brother, and friend shave gotten him? What did he get for others?

The flight was short, and Discord was at the door of Cinny’s home quicker than he expected. Her house was hardly decorated on the outside; a wreath on the door, and a couple strings of lights. Of course, judging from the way her house was painted and how old it looked, she might not be able to afford a whole lot more.

Discord didn’t think it was a good idea to actually go inside; Ryan might sense that he was there. There was no explaining why Discord thought this, but it seemed to make sense to him at the time. Instead, he conjured up his mind’s eye and sent it inside.

Slowly, the rooms began to come into focus. He was in a kitchen right now, looking at some old-style appliances in there. The oven was wood-fire, and the stove was the kind that used a small gas tank. The fridge was pretty small, and it looked old, like it was passed down to Cinny. Thee flooring was old hardwood, and there were stains in a few spots from food falling.

He moved out of the kitchen and made his way to the living room, a small, modestly furnished room. There was a green couch, an old fireplace, a wooden rocking chair, and the floor was carpeted from wall to wall. The fireplace had a warming fire, casting a soothing orange light around the room.

On the couch, under a big white sheet, sat Ryan and Cinny, talking. Cinny leaned against Ryan’s shoulder, listening to him telling her s story about some diving he did during a holiday vacation around this time of the year back home. She looked absolutely enthralled with the story; all the crazy creatures of the deep, the amazing adventures Ryan had had in his short lifetime.

Discord watched them for some time. Sometimes, Cinny would jump in and give her own little story, to which Ryan would listen to intently. Sometimes, they would say something and laugh, other times, Cinny said something that would cause Ryan to pull her close and comfort her. Ryan didn’t notice, but Discord could see Cinny maneuvering herself closer to him by the minute underneath the blanket.

They were just having a merry holiday in that little room, letting themselves become blissfully unaware of the world outside and the world from whence Ryan came. The snowblowing across the land outside was just a little bit of wind against the windows to them, nothing more. They were in an exceptionally peaceful time... Ryan didn’t even have his weapons with him.

Discord brought his mind’s eye back and thought for a moment. “Why not?” he thought. He snapped his fingers, and, though he was unable to see it, he knew that a mistletoe had appeared over the human and mare in the room. He had no idea if they would notice it, or if it would remain there once he was gone. But he did his job; he didn’t feel like he needed to stick around.

So he flew back off to Canterlot, feeling fulfilled and content with what he had witnessed this night. There was no malice anywhere, no hatred, no violence, just ponies being happy. Everyone was in good spirits, be they sick or well, rich or poor, big or small, everyone was in a good mood. The most wonderful time of the year.

The flight back to Canterlot took some time, but when Discord saw the big clock tower on one end of the city, he could see that he still had three hours to enjoy himself.

“I should stop by the princesses.” he concluded. He wanted to see how Celestia spent her holidays.

So off he went, shooting down to the streets and zipping along, creating wind gusts to cause as much harmless mayhem as possible. He flipped over tables, blew snow everywhere, even flipped over a couple of guards he passed by. They were pretty drunk, though, so they probably had no idea they were knocked over by a gust of wind.

He made it to the castle and waited before going inside. He had to make sure that there were no spells that would screw him if he entered, but once he had that taken care of, he went right along his merry way. There weren’t many guard around, seeing as they weren’t as necessary this time of the year. The few that were around were just hanging out with other guards, drinking hot chocolate and tea, and occasionally something stronger. But they were generally pretty quiet.

Discord made his way to the royal quarters, passing right by Luna’s room on his journey to see Celestia.

“I’ll stop by there later.” He wanted to see how Starstep was doing, after all.

When he reached Celestia’s quarters, he stopped before the door and considered a few things. He could enter with a bit of a flare, but he wasn’t sure how that would end. It would be better to enter quietly. And should he cast any of his little spells on her this time, or maybe leave her alone?

He decided on what he would do and made his way inside, taking a gander at everything around him. The room was nice, nicer than he remembered. The bed was big and poofy, made of clouds. The rugs were all very old, but still in excellent condition, and soft to the touch. Candles around the room cast a somewhat romantic light about, but he knew that she was alone this night.

He walked on in and made his way to the back, hoping that she would be in her private library. And he was lucky that night; there she stood, looking for a book to read with half-lidded eyes and a fuzzy white bathrobe on. Her name was long and went straight to the floor; she had just gotten out of the bath.

With a smile and a snap of his fingers, Discord started moving a few of the books around in front of the princess. When she noticed them moving, she let out a little giggle, looking about the room for the Spirit of Chaos. When she didn’t see him, she just went into the middle of the room and laid down on her belly, waiting.

Discord decided to give her a nice read for the night, so he went to the old, OLD books, and pulled out an old photo album, back from the good old days when they got along nicely. When he levitated it over to her, a little smile crept across her face, and she accepted the album and set it out before her.

She opened it up and started reading, while Discord placed himself right next to her and slightly released his invisibility spell. They hadn’t looked at this album in years, not since Twilight took up most of her time as her student. It was nice, just looking at the pictures of them and Luna, Starswirl, everyone, just having good times in their youths. Discord was always hitting on Celestia in front of everyone to make her uncomfortable, but Celestia always shot something right back to throw him off.

The good memories... too bad they all had to grow up at some point.

After about an hour, Discord lifted himself off the ground and waved Celestia goodbye, to which she waved back, and he left the room. Celestia remained, just looking through old photo albums, a ghost of a tear streaming down her cheek.

Discord walked through the door and back out into the hallway, then turned right toward the Lunar wing. He actually felt like kind of a dick for what he did to Starstep right before he disappeared, but that was in the past. He bet that Starstep would forgive him, especially if he didn something nice for him tonight.

Soon, he was at the doors, and no sooner than he was at Luna’s doors did he walk right through them. Luna’s room was not unsimilar to Celestia’s; the theme was just more night-oriented.

He had expected Starstep to be playing chess or something with luna, to see them having one of their little games like Discord and Celestia back in the day. Instead, he heard light snoring, and saw two forms laying asleep in the bed. Starstep was hugging Luna tight to himself, like she was a life raft in the arctic sea, and she held him back, stuffing her muzzle into his neck. It was an adorable sight, but since they were asleep, there was nothing for Discord to do here.

Discord looked around the room, thinking. “Well, that’s everyone.” he thought. “I guess that I can just hang around for a while.”

He decided to walk into the library to see what kinds of books Luna had on her shelves. When he walked in, however, something crossed his mind. It was quick, like a flash of lightning, but it burned itself into his mind just as well. He could read Luna’s books, sure. But he knew those stories. The story he had yet to see was elsewhere.

Discord snapped his fingers and made a hole in Luna’s spell, revealing the staircase that led to the pool below. Then, like a falcon diving after prey, he shot through, letting the hole close behind him, and let gravity carry him to the bottom of the long spiral staircase, hidden well from view. The tunnel was dark, but Discord dared not cast a spell for risk of being found.

In no time, he was at the bottom, gently letting his feet hit the ground to avoid kicking up too much dust. Then, slowly, as if tiptoeing beside an angry dragon, barely even breathing, he made his way to the pool. At the moment, however, the pool had nothing in it. It was just like any other body of water.

“Well, that’s no good.”

Discord snapped his fingers, and like that, the pool began to swirl and generate light of all different colors. Slowly, an image began to form, an image of a town. The town was covered with snow, with ponyless carriages driving about, moving it off the roads. Small versions of Ryan, with their fingers, and numerous layers of clothes, were heading home from a fun day in the snow. As they left, all the noise from the pool went silent, and soon, nothing moved.

“Well, that’s no good either.”

With one last snap of his fingers, Discord created a mind’s eye once more, and shot it into the pool.

*****************************************************************************

When he opened his eye, he was in front of a medium-sized white house, snow coating the environment, festive lights hung up on the front of the house. However, the lights were placed haphazardly, like the owner of the house didn’t care. Only half of the lights were even on, and what few other decorations there were were hung lopsided and uncaringly.

Discord felt curious about the house and moved up to the front window, trying to peek inside, see who was so glum this holiday season. Inside, though, he saw not one family or person, but an entire group of people, sitting around a room with a fire in the fireplace and being completely silent. More curious now, he slipped in through the window to try to learn more.

It was warm inside, like a fresh loaf of bread, not too hot, but far from cool. The people inside, though, were bundled up all the same, like the frigid air was working its way in with Discord to chill their holiday spirits and kill the holidays happiness.

There were no empty chairs available, so Discord sat on the floor, and waited. Soon after, someone finally spoke.

“I wish Ryan were here.” a young man muttered.

Discord blinked.

“He’s somewhere out there.” another young man replied in a whisper. “He’ll be back. He’s too good not to come back.”

Whoever these people were, they all knew Ryan. Some were young, some were older, but all of them had the same look of loss on their faces. One woman, man, and younger man in particular, though, looked awful. They all had bags under their eyes, as if they hadn’t slept, and all slumped in their seats, their sadness acting as sandbags, dragging them to the floor. They must have been Ryan’s family.

The younger man, Ryan’s likely brother, stood.

“Um, so, I’m not sure what to say.” he began. “I just want to say thank you to all of you for coming here to spend Christmas with us. It means so much.” He had trouble holding in his sobs as he spoke. “It’s good to spend time with family in times of... crisis.”

“Yes, thank you.” Ryan’s father added. “It really means a lot.”

There were several standard replies, like “We couldn’t let you be alone” and “I’m glad to be here for you”, but the whole time, Ryan’s mother was silent. Her eyes were closed, almost as if she was asleep, but she could definitely hear what was going on. Tears began to well up in her eyes, and slowly, they began to stream down her face.

Her husband, hugging her close, noticed it immediately and addressed the problem. “Thank you for coming everyone, but I think we could use some time alone.” No one complained; they all knew what was going on. One by one, everyone got up and left, saying their solemn goodbyes, and soon, the family was left alone.

The father looked at his son once, and, understanding, the son left the room to let the parents be together. Ryan’s father rubbed his wife’s shoulder.

“Come on, it’ll all be alright.” he said, but got no response. “You heard the report from the Australian government. Ryan’s friend Harris said that Ryan was taken away by the group, but that he was still alive when he last saw him. He can still come home, he’ll be back...”

“No...” Ryan’s mother replied, shocking her husband. “You know that isn’t how those monsters work. They killed him, or they will soon, and then we’ll never see him again!” She began to sob uncontrollably. “He won’t even get a proper burial...”

Discord felt his heart wrench as he watched the scene unfold before him. He had never considered this... he never thought about how the events in Asia would affect people so far away. He never thought of Ryan as anyone’s son, or brother, or friend, besides Harris. He had chosen to ignore the fact that Ryan had a family. Discord made Ryan forget them. And he felt like he could vomit.

“No, don’t say that.” Ryan;s father said, tears beginning to run from his eyes. They were like rainclouds, releasing the torrential downpour of that damn day on the family of the boy who had to swim through it. “He’ll be back... he has to.”

“What are they doing to him?” Ryan’s mother wondered aloud and hopelessly. “Why did this have to happen to him? Why?” She finally broke down completely, losing herself in her misery. “WHY!? Why him!? Why my son? What did he do to deserve this!” She gasped for air, only to have it blasted back out in her grief-filled cries. “WHY!?”

Her husband couldn’t hold himself any longer, and so broke down with his wife, both of them sitting on a plain white couch, wondering what terrible darkness had taken their son.

Discord had to leave; it was too much. He ran out of the room through a door next to the couch, looking for Ryan’s brother. As he searched, trying to drown out the sounds of mourning over a lost son, he felt himself beginning to cry. He knew that this was his fault. He had encouraged Ryan to pursue that man, Narendra. Discord had taken their son from them, and Discord had been the one responsible for him being shot and dying out in that goddam jungle.

Discord failed to find Ryan’s brother inside, so he went outside, glad to be away from the grief and pain of that house.

He found the young man outside, sitting on a bench swing in the snow. He was wearing all his layers, so he was warm and able to sit outside safely, but he seemed to be unzipping them and letting the cold air flow flow across his core. As Discord approached, he saw that the man was holding something, something small that had a leather strap going around his neck. When he opened his hand to look at it, Discord could see that it was some sort of piece of blown glass, shaped like a dragon.

The man shook his head. “Why did they take you, Ryan?” he wondered aloud to himself. “You’re the only decent person they could have taken... it’s always the best of us who are taken by tragedy.”

Discord saw a small green chair just in front of the bench swing and took a seat. He wanted to know more about this, to know the full consequences of what he had done. He felt an obligation to try to fix this. But he had no idea how.

“You sent me this a few days before you were taken.” the man said to himself. “Always, you were thinking of me. Of us, back here at home. You were always thinking of others... even to the point where you forgot about yourself.”

Discord knew that part of the boy all too well.

“Meanwhile, I was just going about my life, not noticing that you were away... I... I’m sorry. I should have been thinking of you, I should have been talking to you. You told me how you wished we talked more, after I got busted for having alcohol. You told me that you wished we could talk more, that we could be the way we were before. I took it with a dose of salt...”

The man put his head down and let tears flow freely, not noticing how they froze before reaching his chin, solidifying his unshaven facial hair. “I should have talked to you. I wish I could have told you that I love you,that we’ll always be brothers. Family is forever...” The man sniffed and wiped at his face, knocking off some of the ice. “I never really knew how much you meant to me until I heard the news that you were taken.”

“When I heard, I thought, ‘I’m going to find those mother fuckers and kill them myself!’ I never went out there, though. I came up with half-assed excuses... I never had money... Work... Legal trouble...” The man lifted his hand up and held them before him, watching them tremble, not from the cold, but from his own weakness. “I should have gone there, I should have been there for you. Who can I say I love you, that I’m your brother? How can I even say that, if I abandoned you to those bastards?”

The man put his hand down. “Why can’t I do anything? Why can’t I help?” Ryan’s brother stood up and walked away from the bench swing, then stopped and looked back at it. “You used to love sitting here, listening to your music, exploring your mind. You said that it was how you learned all that you knew about life.” He swallowed hard. “Maybe I can learn from it, too.”

He walked off toward the house, but not to any of the doors. Rather, he walked over to the side of the house, where, secluded by fences and trees, there stood a lone, flat post, dented and chipped all over.

Without warning, he began to punch the post, attacked with a ferocity the likes of which Discord had never seen. Not even from Ryan. His brother ripped away at the board, venting all his anger and frustration at it with everything he had. After a full minute of tearing away, he finally started to lose his energy, though he kept attacking. With little energy left, he was really just tapping the board with his fists, trying to do as much damage as possible.

Exhausted, the man fell to his knees, using the board to support himself. He began to sob, letting his anger and his hate out all at once, knuckles bloody and coloring the snow around him a shiny crimson, freezing over and becoming etched into place, like the misery that the man was feeling. Discord wanted to go to him, tell him that his brother was still alive and doing well, but he couldn’t. The last time he revealed himself to humans, he got his only real friend killed.

The man gasped in air through his nose, sniffing loudly as he tried to regain control of himself. After a few minutes, he was able to stand up and, though still barely capable of coherent sentences and thought, spoke.

“You have to bring him back.” he said.

Discord looked around for anyone, but no one was there. Confused, he looked back to the man before him.

“I don’t know if you’re a spirit, God, the devil, a terrorist, or what, but you have to bring my brother back to me. I want my brother, I want life to be the way it was.”

The man turned around and looked straight in the direction of Discord, his eyes boring into him, drilling through, somehow knowing that he was there.

“If you don’t, I will give you the worst feeling you’ve ever felt. I don’t care if it’ll take me days, months, years, or decades. But I will find you. And I will take my brother back.”

Discord just looked back, locking eyes with the human, and nodded. “I can’t promise that I can bring him back.” he projected, in a feeling rather than a thought. “But I can promise that I’ll make sure he doesn’t suffer any more.”

Ryan’s brother nodded. “That’s all I want for him. Peace”

And so Discord flew off, bolting into the sky, and decided to look for one more thing. He needed to know what Ryan’s friends were doing, what they thought of the whole thing. One of the people there had been his friend, he could tell from how they spoke earlier. So he shot off, using his magic to find out where they all went, and got a lock. Then, like a Sidewinder, he shot off in that direction towards his target.

He landed at a nice house, where, inside, there was a party going, with loads of adults within view of the window. But Discord didn’t care about them, so he just floated on inside and looked around for any younger people. Using a simple tracking spell, he was able to follow their trail and locate them out in the back, sitting in a circle around a fire pit.

He decided to take a seat over the fire pit and listen to them talk.

“So what happened?” a girl asked. She was asking the boy who had just been at Ryan’s home.

He shook his head. “You can see their misery. They try to look strong, but they can’t hide it. It’s... it’s just awful.”

“We all miss him.” another boy said. “But I can’t imagine what they’re going through.”

“He was my best friend.” a third boy, much taller, said. “I know him. He can’t be dead. He’s too good for that.”

“But we all know that he must be suffering right now.” a second girl said. “And we all know that he’s staying strong. For us. For his family. He’s going to get through this.”

Everyone affirmed, then raised bottles of some amber-colored liquid. Discord could tell that none of them were drinkers, but he could also tell that, whatever beer they were drinking, it wasn’t exactly cheap. They all took the caps off their bottles and tossed them aside.

“To him. And all those who go through Hell so we don’t have to.” And they all drank their beers silently, the reverence for their lost friend permeating the very air.

When they all finished, they sat around silently in the circle, not sure what to do with themselves now. No one spoke at first, no one even moved. They all thought it would be disrespectful.

But one person spoke. “You know, when the media came by and started harassing us and Ryan’s family, I thought it would be good. I thought that it would help in the search for Ryan, maybe get more attention so that we would have more people helping.” he shook his head. “Damn, was I wrong.”

“I sent the story anonymously, under the name TheGrimReaper. I thought that it would be a good idea to get more attention on the family, to let people know how bad it was back home for them... The attention only made things sadder. No one actually helped, just offered meaningless condolences. Eventually, they found Harris, and they squeezed a story out of him like juice from a lemon. Half of the information wasn’t even confirmable, and some of it seemed more likely to be lies than truth.”

“I just wanted to help. Now, no one will leave them alone, and no one is willing to at least help. I tried, but sometimes, trying just isn’t enough.”

“At least you tried.” the tall boy said. “That’s more than just about anyone else in the world can say.”

And from there, the conversation stopped, so Discord decided it was time to leave. It was the holiday season, a time of glee and contentedness. It was supposed to be a happy time.

But for these poor people, it was only a time of suffering. It was only a time of painful reminders. A time to know just how terrible the world could be. Ironic that such a holiday could do such a thing as this.

Discord released his mind’s eye, returning to his body, and tried to think.

***************************************************************************

“Why did I let that happen?” he asked himself. “Why? And why is there never an answer to these questions of ‘Why?’, never anything to tell us what to do? There is never anything to guide us; we’re left on our own, we have to choose our own way, with no knowledge of what may come or how we may hurt others.”

“Why can’t I fix this?”

His face was soaking wet from the tears he shed, and so, without saying another word, he returned to his stony prison in the garden, glad to have something solid to be a part of rather than the everchanging, ever more terrifying world that existed outside his understanding.

Author's Notes:

Special thanks to TheGrimReaper for the idea of this chapter.