twilights castle In the darkest corners [Completed]

[Dio]

Recovery time was always an issue for Daedalus. He was prone to ennui easily. If not kept occupied with something stimulating he was liable to go mad. Thankfully, working with Princess Twilight had provided that stimulation in spades. Except for the rare occasion that she was away on business.

 

Further complicating matters was the brace that largely immobilized his front left leg. An unfortunate souvenir of his last trip, it had confined him largely to the castle proper. A shame, seeing as Twilight had recently come into possession of a unique runescribed blade of ancient origin that he found most fascinating in study. Finding himself nowhere near dextrous enough to do lab work or skilled enough in healing to manipulate sprains into health, Daedalus found himself in a rare moment  of having literally nothing to do.

 

Thus he left the spacially compressed space of the Keep and hobbled slowly down the stairs to the mezzanine, ending his journey at the castle library. Surely there was something pertaining to his research that he had not yet read in here? Perhaps he could ask Spike to request something from the Canterlot Royal Archives for him? Surely Twilight’s expense account could cover the cost of having an airmail courier bring it from the castle?

 

Not that it mattered at that point. In a little nook that was easy to miss for the untrained eye rested a small sampling of Twilight’s collection on void magic. While they held nothing in the way of practical spells, they did go extensively into theory. Perhaps he could glean some additional insight in their review today.

 

Leafing through the small collection, Daedalus selected a heavily bound volume with an arcane-looking rune circle scribed on its cover.

 

“Theoretical framework for self-forging aether channel runescribing via void compression.” He read to himself.  “I suppose this will do. It’s been awhile since I’ve brushed up on artificing.”

The tome floating by his head in the soft glow of his magic, Daedalus hobbled out of the stacks and found a cozy corner, gingerly settling into one of the library’s many beanbag chairs to begin his perusal of the tome.

[RexDraco]

 

Discord took leisure in being where and when he desired. He did not actively seek to remand the more delicate functions of time and space. Sometimes rewriting and rolling over continuity seemed an unnecessary faculty of his existence. Or perhaps it was pertinent? It was hard to tell what his existence in the world meant and what an endeavored time away could do. Be he was. Today, like any day, one could only toss a guess as to why he was anywhere, but in truth it took a simple query to measure his existence, and a deep understanding of everything to predict it. Seeing as nopony could understand everything, nor could the many bring themselves to bother with the minor inconvenience of knowing why, seeing as the more important question was what, he was typically left to his devices.

As hectic as they seemed.

 

As Daedalus' book floated towards him, the spirit's most curious figure floated passed and away from him. The way he moved with neither presence nor sound could be startling to the average pony. Those used to it dismissed it. "Now where did I put it?" He murmured aloud as his claw drifted up to scratch and curl his beard, paw palm creating a shelf for his feathered elbow. "Ah! A simple hiding place!" Swaying his claw as if conducting an orchestra the spirit rolled backwards and spun upside down as a shiny, new O&O game book appeared in the grasping forelimbs.

 

As a spirit of chaos Discord always found ways to keep himself occupied, but more often than not: he sought the challenge of entertaining others. A boon it was to befriend such a creature. Born of madness and sewn together by disorder. The two, finely stitched elements turned the chimeric entity into one handsome devil! Look at that shapely figure! The bristling feathers of a griffon covered him from collar to rump. His equine-draconic meshed head had salient, angular features with sharp fangs that added to his overall predatory nature. On his back sat Pegasus and Aerion's wings! A manticore's paw and back legs despoiled from a goat and alligator, or of some reptilian kin, gave him a most dissonant sense of balance. His most notable feature, besides all his other distinguished acclaims to fame: was his long, red dragon's tail tipped with a wizened tuft of white which also decorated his brows and chin with such astute qualities.

 

Daedalus was now face to face with the seed of madness! Discord blinked owlishly only for a sudden hoot to boof from Owloysius, causing the spirit to suddenly fluff up at the spook and lose altitude! He dropped like a stone until he was merely inches from the ground. A dial would appear in front of the spirit. He used his claw to turn it, the book in his right paw, as he made a show of turning himself right side up! His talon and hoof touched ground in a truly awkward display of parts as he stood with clear imbalance due to the unlikely matchup of parts. He tucked the book into his feathers, forelimbs raising up as his digits wiggled.

 

"I wasn't expecting anypony but Spike today." He tittered, that voice of his a smooth curtain of fallacies. Of course he knew others were around. He was only so oblivious of his actions. It would be indefinite if coming to the library served the purpose of fetching the book, or if it was a pretense for spying on the curious pony. "Always good meeting the help!" He spoke as if the young unicorn was some sort of maid! The fetching tophat and sleeveless vest to suddenly appear on Daedalus. "You'll be delighted to meet me. Discord, prince of Chaos!" Not that many ponies in Equestria haven't heard of him. He was just a theatrical sort who loved the show of it all.

 

And did he ever.

 

His name popped in just over his head in a dazzling flash of lights and glitz! With a snap of his claw itty, bitty sparklers sprayed from the display before burning itself out of existence. Raising his hoof to take a step he evaporated into nothing, only to resume in a nearby seat with his book in his right paw and a glass of chocolate milk in his left, slurping loudly from the straw. Slurp after loud gulp he finished off the glass, causing it to vanish. He slammed the book close, head turning to grin at the pony. 

 

"I knew I recognized you!" With that said he was in front of the pony with a pen and pad in claw and paw. "Oh I've been dyyying to meet you! Can I get your hoofigraph?!" He was gleaming with jape and chaff.
 

[Dio]

Or rather that was what he would have done if he’d had the opportunity to reach the beanbag chair.

 

Daedalus could hear some shuffling around in the stacks, which he assumed to be Spike working on keeping the mass of books organized; no easy task given the size of Twilight’s collection. Barely intelligible mumbling about O&O followed, to which Daedalus could only chuckle to himself. In his youth he, Acantha, and the Erinys brothers had dabbled into such things, but with his real life adventures, he found little need to re-live his encounters around the gaming table.

 

“Hey Spike,” he called out, “Would you mind grabbing --”

 

Coming around the shelf, Daedalus was not, in fact, confronted by Spike.

 

“Always good meeting the help! You’ll be delighted to meet me. Discord, Prince of Chaos!”

 

"I knew I recognized you!" With that said he was in front of the pony with a pen and pad in claw and paw. "Oh I've been dyyying to meet you! Can I get your hoofigraph?!" He was gleaming with jape and chaff.

 

Daedalus looked down at the fancy vest, its accoutrements even modifying his leg brace, then back up at Discord. His blank stare darted quickly to the sign, then danced between each of the props, then up to the top hat, and finally back to Discord.

 

His head cocked to one side quizzically as he scanned the draconequus up and down, eyes running from tail to muzzle, briefly glowing violet for a moment as he “felt” the aether around him to ensure he was still firmly within the material realm. All of this happened automatically as the mage’s senses momentarily sated his initial curiosity.

 

Yes, he’d heard about Discord from idle conversation around town and with Twilight in the lab. Maretonians being isolated from the brunt of the ancient wars on the Equestrian mainland regarded him as more of an academic curiosity than any real maker or breaker of history. Kastroti mages had a passing interest in chaotic magic simply because of their affinity for anything strange and taboo. Either way, Daedalus was not expecting him to present himself in the library of all places.

“You… are not Spike,” he said flatly.

[RexDraco]

He was certainly not Spike. First of all he was much to old. Unless Spike suddenly became part Cockatrice, there was little chance he would suddenly ly Sprouse feathers and beady red eyes. How distinct those traits seemed to be. No, this was not the lovable purple and green dragon who assisted Twilight in all things mediocre. Twice as snide and only half as generous this lazy lout was one who you could depend on to be unpredictable. Well, if he was a stranger to you. To Daedalus the spirit certainly was with naught but distant rumors to go by.

 

The amusement on the draconequus' muzzle was apparent. The way his lips pulled back and curled up at the edges to display his edged fangs was a clear display of challenge at the most primal, predatory level. And yet he held himself with an elegance and pride on par with a noblepony. His age gave him a strong sense of courtliness whilst his power harbored an often disobedient contumacy that often led him to trouble. As he stood his curved body bent and held a tall posture granted to true bipeds, yet he could just as easily function on all fours.

 

Inconstant and yet invariable.

 

No sooner had the clothing come into existence they'd vanish as soon as the gag ran its course. Such things with the spirit were always short-lived. Dragging them on longer than their life expectancy was almost criminal! It was perhaps the only sort of immortality of peace that Discord could not abide by! Well, sometimes. There was the case where a joke was too good to pass up! Aside from his, more recently, harmless merry making the spirit had been out and about gathering himself some worldly experience. If he was going to, ugh, "help" he supposed it did to know those under his sphere of control -- uhh, helpful paw.

 

"Well that's saying quite a bit." He chuckled, pressing his claw to his chest, posturing. "And you're not Twilight Sparkle." He grinned widely, clapping his palms together. "Look at that! We've just met and already agreeing! This calls for a celebration!" Though much of all he did seemed to call for celebration, antics and other acts classified under various forms of tomfoolery.

 

He pursed his muzzle's lips together and tugged the tail end of the popper that was now held betwixt his felineesque digits. With a festive honk and eruption of glitter and ticker tape, the little toy vanished without another moment wasted. It all seemed calculated. The way he used his magic flowed flawlessly with, what looked like, not a thought in his head. It was almost an insult on how truly complicated chaos magic was. He wielded it with such finesse and artistry that one could be fooled into believing he was a joke. While humor was a staple for him, there were some matters he was deadly serious about... At least when it suited his needs.

 

"So I do have some questions. Twenty to be exact." The spirit began. In reality he had forty-two, but it was too early to be splitting furs. "Who are you and what did you do with Twilight?" A sudden interrogation!

 

A bright light would shine itself upon the unicorn, the spirit suddenly holding the head of a lamp in the younger male's direction. Atop his head the spirit brandished a grey fedora and grey overcoat, beneath a loose white, collared shirt and black tie. He did love getting into character for these things, even if most ponies were oblivious to the references. When you crawled across time and space at your leisure you'd pick up odd memes and habits too!

[Dio]

Just as quickly as they’d come into existence, the clothing vanished, the sudden ‘popping’ out of existence leaving a slight chill that raised hairs and clung to his skin, not unlike the icy mantle that came with channeling the void. It would have been nice to have a new set of formalwear. But from everything that had been said about Discord, the vest and hat would have been just as likely to turn into a nest of snakes and a crown of thorns were he to doff them and don them again. Daedalus decided that it was better to leave them as they were; or as was the case now, were no longer.

 

"Well that's saying quite a bit." He chuckled, pressing his claw to his chest, posturing. "And you're not Twilight Sparkle." He grinned widely, clapping his palms together. "Look at that! We've just met and already agreeing! This calls for a celebration!" Though much of all he did seemed to call for celebration, antics and other acts classified under various forms of tomfoolery.

 

“I would say not,” Daedalus said. “Or at least last time I checked I found myself neither alicorn nor princess.”

 

Daedalus’ ear twitched at the sudden explosion of confetti, some flakes landing in his mane and a curly bit of tape landing on his muzzle. He wrinkled his nose and shook both off his head. Such magic to summon things fully formed out of nothing and yet all of it seemed wasted in mere jest...

 

"So I do have some questions. Twenty to be exact."

 

The explosion of light in the sudden darkness of the library seared Daedalus’ eyes, making him wince. When the blurry shape of Discord resolved itself again, he was wearing the typical suit and fedora of… was that a Starlight in Detrot reference? Daedalus blinked back the brightness and furrowed his brow at the absurdity of suddenly being on the receiving end of a scene right out of the detective novel.

 

"Who are you and what did you do with Twilight?" A sudden interrogation!

 

“Daedalus. I am Princess Twilight’s arcane affairs advisor. And I would do no things with Twilight without her explicit command or consent. It would make little sense for me to harm my own boss.”

 

There was of course no official title for him; the one he’d adopted was more a matter of description than proscription. Discord was certainly chatty and animated. While Daedalus had not been expecting guests, it was still better than staring at walls or hobbling around the lab on his bad leg. He supposed he’d have to take the cards as they were drawn. He hobbled the last few steps to the beanbag and flopped down upon it, the tome still floating by his head in the glow of his magic.

 

“Twilight Sparkle is out of town. Ordinarily I would be conducting research in the lab or traveling alongside her, but it seems gravity got the better of me last week.” He gestured toward the leg brace with his muzzle. “Thus I find it much more comfortable to lay down than to stand.”

He set the book down on the small study table next to the beanbag chair. “So then. Who are you and what would you have done with Twilight were you me?”

[RexDraco]

It would be rather strange for such an unimpressive pony to be a princess. He was hardly menacing and far less engaging than any princess he knew. As far as he has seen Daedalus' face may well crack along the surface were he to smile. There was an obscure amount of requirements needed for becoming a princess. Even more for obtaining the prestige of being an alicorn. He was, on a passionate level, quite glad his powers never lead to such a complicated result. As handsome as an alicorn he would have made, the spirit rather liked his current form. It suited him and his needs. Persuasive as ruling a kingdom could be, he didn't much fancy it beyond the sarcastic belittlement of the present leaders in question.

 

Discord would come to lean against the lamp, his manticore's forelimb laid over the light source. The spirit cocked his head to the side, leaving his larger pupiled eye to peer down at the two-tones unicorn. He broke his gaze when Daedalus explained the particular phrase used to describe his role in the castle. Like every much that involved Twilight's more serious role as the Princess of Friendship: that title seemed overly obnoxious from the get go. She really could do with improving, or even shortening such role names. She had every opportunity to call him magistrate or council of magic. Not the most original of positions either.

 

But points for effort.

 

Discord smirked as the lamp turned to smoke and his outfit naught but a memory as he pushed to stand to his full height, which was alone impressive given his serpentine length. "Well, in all fairness, it makes little sense for you to creep around a dark library when there's light out." It made for one suspicious unicorn. "With the way you limped I almost thought we had pirates. That would have been a riveting encounter. Sadly Ponyville is a considerable distance from the sea." He lamented with a dismissive shrug, head turned away as a sigh escaped him.

 

His eyes rolled at the thought of Twilight having an occupational minion to assist her in the crude advancements of her scientific ventures. He was still insistent that she call herself a mad scientist, but she always seemed so diffident toward the implications. At the mention of gravity Discord leaned forward, as if to press to all fours, but ended up slumping into a levitating float that defied the clear cut instructions set by gravity's laws. But everypony knew how Discord felt about rules in general. Unless they had presence in a game and we're advantageous to him: he was unlikely to abide by them. 

 

"I don't see why you ponies even walk everywhere." Aside from the whole lacking the magic to defy gravity bit.

 

Very few ponies were capable of it and even fewer for very long. Even Pegasus had to land at some time. Discord twisted his brows up, ears folding back as he did so. 

 

"As I said. I am Discord. God of Chaos." Certainly this fellow wasn't such a closet case that his very name had never crossed him. He was sure Canterlot had a book or two of him. "While I am sure your sun princess was kind enough to make the effort and diminish my less enlightening literature given my efforts to amend my reputation… mister Advisor of Arcane Affairs should be fully educated on me." He leaned back, pressed his paw to his chest as he presented a smug pose.

 

He pursed his muzzle's lips in thought. Said paw drifted up to curl into his beard. This was a good question. But it was an inherently flawed question. It was the sort of dubiety that allowed him to find favor in a situation that would otherwise reveal his machinations. He did like where this was going. Egotistical and riotous by his very nature it was hardly unimaginable that he would not think to seize the opportunity so openly held by the stallion. The spirit ran his claw through his mane, creating a long white do that matched Daedalus to the T. He would model, curving his body like a desirous model along the catwalk.

 

He had a white dress on, paw pushing down the skirt as an invisible wind blew up from below him, causing his mane and the fabric to flutter about. "Well were I you: I'd announce my undying..." Of course the pause to increase the painful anticipation of his accusation. "…desire to learn." In a puff of smoke the spirit returned to his natural state. "Luckily I'm not you. Had you been Twilight there would have been a deep, exasperated sigh and a desire to sate my wild desire for disorder so she could get on with her day." He astutely observed. "Which we all know wasn't going to happen. Booksortations aren't something I could stand idly by and allow." He shrugged with amusement.

 

A tiny, miniature version of the chaotic noodle suddenly appeared in Daedalus' mane, atop his coif and leaning down to look him in the eye. "Now being me Twilight would have to have given me my Friendship lessons today if only to occupy me." Of which he would have stubbornly worked to abscond. "But she's not here. And you are. As her affair advisor of all things arcane..." One could see as Discord perverted the title with each repeat how obnoxious it was. It probably could do being shorter, or he'd just mess it up anyway. "I think your lack of education with the history my grace and skill should be remedied." With a poit he reappeared standing in front of Daedalus.

 

He stood with his forelimbs crossed over his chest, hinds on the ground as they were meant. He was a curious figure. While his history may not have been foundation for fear in countries across the sea, his magic was an intrinsic value for the magic community who sought to understand everything. The very nature of chaos was embodied in a single being, the one facing Daedalus. Magnanimous may be a word Discord used to describe himself, but he was a bygone curio whose worth as an object of study far outweighed his seemingly present, lackadaisical nature of harmless games and pranks did nothing to afford the fear and terror once held in Equestria by the mere mention of his name.

 

Here in Ponyville he was just another resident who sometimes got out of hoof but "meant well".

 

Tossing the word cards aside the spirit grinned, having painted a peculiar setting for himself that would baffle most others. "As you can see I am misunderstood." He pressed the back of his paw to his forehead. "What I really need are friends who see me for me…" but he was chaos.

 

That seemed wholly backwards.

 

Spinning around he bounced on his tail and faced Daedalus as he adjusted the bifocals on his muzzle. He took a tape measure and seemed to inspect the stallion's brace. A black, permeant marker was now pinched between his digits as he lowered down to draw a crude doodle of himself. In a moment a poof of dust and the brace would be covered in armor and be quite light and easy to move.

 

"Enchanted mythril." He topped his marker, which poofed away in smoke. "You're a princess now. So at the stroke of midnight it'll wear off and you'll be immobile again." He grinned. "Of course it comes with a price." As it always did. "You'll have to spend the day with me." He was just bored and a little lonely. Nothing wrong with a little joke and game. "So what do Arcane Advisors of Affairs do?" It was absurd the way he tossed magic around so easily.

 

It was not unicorn magic. It was not the innate magic of Earth ponies tilling the soil or pegasus shaping weather. It was the immeasurable, indecipherable and recognizable magic that disrupted the flow of the aether to create something from broken bits of nothing more than pieces. That was the best and most viable means to describe chaos magic.

[Dio]

“Were gravity so generous, I would accept that offer, but alas,” Daedalus said, rolling his eyes at Discord’s complete disregard for the fundamental force and the implied expectation to have him do the same.

 

"As I said. I am Discord. God of Chaos." Certainly this fellow wasn't such a closet case that his very name had never crossed him. He was sure Canterlot had a book or two of him. "While I am sure your sun princess was kind enough to make the effort and diminish my less enlightening literature given my efforts to amend my reputation… mister Advisor of Arcane Affairs should be fully educated on me." He leaned back, pressed his paw to his chest as he presented a smug pose.

 

Daedalus chuckled. “Kastrot has no Princess and no Queen. While Celestia is oft admired for her beauty and grace, nopony from there -- myself included -- swears allegiance to her. But please, do go on.” He gestured with his good hoof to continue.

 

A tiny, miniature version of the chaotic noodle suddenly appeared in Daedalus' mane, atop his coif and leaning down to look him in the eye. "Now being me Twilight would have to have given me my Friendship lessons today if only to occupy me." Of which he would have stubbornly worked to abscond. "But she's not here. And you are. As her affair advisor of all things arcane..." One could see as Discord perverted the title with each repeat how obnoxious it was. It probably could do being shorter, or he'd just mess it up anyway. "I think your lack of education with the history my grace and skill should be remedied." With a poit he reappeared standing in front of Daedalus.

 

Daedalus flicked his tail in annoyance, barely restraining himself from swatting at the sudden insect-sized Discord taking a leisurely stroll through his mane. The tales from Twilight and Rarity and Rainbow Dash, however brief his interactions with them, were all true. Reading the history, he had expected a monster with a side of trickster. Instead he found… a foal. A foal with absolute command over transcendental magic to which playing with aetheric lattices could barely hold a candle to. Certainly opening the floodgates of the Void would match Discord’s abilities in raw magnitude, but it was beyond Daedalus’ ability to control and direct so precisely and in a manner so capriciously.

 

"Enchanted mythril." He topped his marker, which poofed away in smoke. "You're a princess now. So at the stroke of midnight it'll wear off and you'll be immobile again." He grinned. "Of course it comes with a price." As it always did. "You'll have to spend the day with me." He was just bored and a little lonely. Nothing wrong with a little joke and game. "So what do Arcane Advisors of Affairs do?" It was absurd the way he tossed magic around so easily.

 

Daedalus’ first reaction was to grip the gauntlet in magic as if it were set to grow internal blades and shred his leg. After a tense moment, however, he realized he was able to move without weakness or pain. It appeared that whatever Discord had done had temporarily suspended the injury’s effects. Still, being shackled was NOT acceptable to him.

 

But Daedalus thought again to his prior assessment. Discord was a foal. His grasp of consequences simply did not exist. Perhaps it would be best to indulge him temporarily. The glow from his horn faded and he released his aetheric grip on the gauntlet, the faintest wisps of what appeared to be dark purple smoke sublimating from its surface before vanishing into the aether.

 

“Everything comes with a price.” A hint of bitterness slipped in, the aftertaste of experience, but it was quickly quenched by the more snarky, “If I’d wanted to become a mare, I would have requested it. I believe they have potions for that now? Regardless, seeing as you have the key to my shackle and I am not of the mind to bring about an apocalypse upon this fair town of Ponyville or to obliterate Twilight’s castle undoing it, I suppose that I will be spending the day with you.”

 

Sarcasm to be sure. Mostly. Daedalus would only become a plaything if he were paid to do it and even then only for a client he’d vetted. And yet here he was. It wouldn’t be a lie to say that there was an inkling of vain spite and the faintest hint of a challenge on his remark about bringing about a minor apocalypse. It was well within his magical capability to do so. He rather liked its inhabitants, however, and magical fisticuffs with Discord would not end well for any of them, not to mention the sheer amount of trouble he would be in with Twilight -- nay all of the Equestrian Princesses.

 

“My arcane advice on affairs?” He said, running with Discord’s mangling of the title. “Don’t get caught.”

 

He paused a moment to let the joke sink in.

“Anyway, I’m a subject matter expert for the princess. My job is essentially to drink tea and know things,” he said with a smirk. “Though seeing as Princess Twilight is a walking library in and of herself, anything I know she usually already knows in spades. More often, I find myself providing a second set of eyes in the lab and an outsider’s perspective on her work. I’m sure you already know how easy it is for Twilight to get caught up in her own work. When she does, I help straighten things out.”

 

He met eyes with Discord. “So do I get questions as well or are you just going to make a gyro of it and grill me?”

[RexDraco]

 

Gravity could be less than agreeable at times and far from manageable. One could have gone on and one about the fundamentals of gravity and how it was necessary force in the world to ensure all terrestrial beings remained on a world's surface. Many things depended on its presence, and many things present existed because of Discord? He was chaos and it was his innate function to refute common axioms of reality. After all of he could deny the force of gravity by refusing it's exist, could he just as easily do the same with all other seemingly infallible concepts such as the sun always raising and the moon always setting. But Nightmare Moon did take care of the former two. It only went to show that, with enough power one could change the world, and often for the worst if without morals or understanding of consequences.

 

Which Discord knew that for every action he took there were consequences. He was not without foresight in that affair. A master of time he may be, but a spoony bars was the role he most often preferred playing. But even if he knew there were inevitable effect, he did not always see that ponies would hold possible resentment towards him. Far from his goal these days. 

 

He'd snorted at Daedalus' comment. "How expected." His forelimbs would cross a moment as he turned his head away.

 

It was of no surprise that ponies saw her as such. Beautiful, graceful and with a humble reservation that allowed her to sit among her subjects and allies as an equal, even if they were anything but. Even if they didn't bow to her, she always seemed to stun them with her seemingly untainted nature, but he knew better than anypony else the what alicorn were truly capable of, if Nightmare Moon wasn't warning enough for them. She was okay. It wasn't really anything to write home to. Though, were he honest, it was a sense of rivalry and familiarity that prevented him from hailing her praises in the way the common pony did. For him, she was one of the few that could stand on equal holding to him and yet manage to keep their sense of humor in the process.

 

At least if he didn't push her buttons too aggressively.

 

The spirit, back at full size, would grin. "Were everything free you'd lose that lovely sense of gloom and lifelessness." He motioned his paw, smirking. He wasn't wrong. 

 

If you wanted something getting it was worth little to nothing if you didn't work for it. There were many sides to the arguments. Privilege and natural talent versus hard work and perseverance often fall in the face of an unexpected challenge. He wondered which Daedalus was. Was he a natural or had to work harder than others? By thay very regard he should have already bend in the face of that armor, but he took the path to begrudgingly follow through. Oh it was more fun when others stepped up and played his games.

 

"Well for one who dabbles in the affairs of the arcane, advising, you have your work cut out for you." Twilight was a challenge. "And pulling her away from it is half the fun." The other half was keeping her away. "Oh but there are many things you can't learn from books… because they no longer exist." He did have a habit of eating books sometimes, especially when they had knowledge he did not wish to share. A game wasn't fun if everypony knew the rules.

Discord considered the unicorn's request.

 

Questions gave a pony insight on a problem, but too much and the game became transparent. Too little and it was a nuisance to play. He wanted to have fun so he would begin a happy medium. The spirit turned to the pony and pressed his paw and claw together as he hovered off the ground looking like some devious weaver of fate! Well he could be, but the responsibility was too much. He considered the outcome of the task at paw. This pony certainly needed to loosen up, have some fun. If he kept this up he may end up with four hooves plated in mythril. That's how villains were made you know!

 

"Very well, three questions, but you cannot ask the games goal, and you cannot ask my age. Frankly I didn't used to have that rule, but your neighbors found it funny to flitter away their questions on such obnoxious regards." And it wasn't as it he could even give them a proper number! Not that he could remember. "Also let us keep the puns to a minimal. We needn't anger the pun gods. If you think I'm ornery in the morning without my tea, you've not seen them." He wiggled his brow, sitting up as he pressed a claw to his coat.

 

It was hard to tell of he was kidding. 

The game? Well in a library what better to play than twenty questions? They had a well of knowledge and books and an infinite number of stages to play upon. He was the spirit of chaos.

 

He knew of things that even he had no knowledge he knew he did! Wait -- what? No… no sense in worrying about it. All one had to be careful was how the questions were asked.
 

[Dio]

“My three to your twenty. Your twenty questions… or perhaps forty-two from what you said before. That hardly seems fair.”

 

They were carefully phrased as not questions so much as statements of fact. After all, it wouldn’t do to blow all three questions before the rules of the game had even been established. Three questions from Daedalus. Anywhere from twenty to forty-two from Discord, some of which had been addressed. Answered was too strong a word. Discord seemed to meander in his speech much like his constantly moving snake-like form did so in defiance of gravity and aether.

 

Daedalus never expected fair. Life was not fair. Discord would in all likelihood not be fair, given his proclivities for mayhem. It was in all likelihood a futile exercise, but a defiant one nonetheless. Daedalus fully expected cheating to occur in Discord’s games, but every game had to start with rules even if those rules were meant to be broken in the end.

 

“Though again, seeing as you have the keys to my shackles, it seems I have little choice in the matter,” he said with a mocking, dramatic sigh. The cheeky grin soon returned, however. “Given the current circumstances and the need to delve deep into research for what you seem to have planned, I thought the Starlight in Detrot detective outfit quite appropriate. In spite of your current orneriness, it fit you… to a tea.”

 

The last bit was drawn out for emphasis, just the beginning of a proverbial pouring-out of puns. By the gods if the dastardly deity draconequus was going to addle him with such inanity he wasn’t about to take it lying down. Reflecting his sentiment in body, Daedalus stood, his mobility momentarily restored by the gauntlet, and began pacing the reading room, occasionally pausing to consider his words.

 

“I must pause to thank you for temporarily obviating my need to make a hobble horse of myself. Trying to handle lab tasks with a mangled leg is both difficult and exasperating. One might even call it lame. After all, if some thaumotological accident were to occur, I would be hard pressed to brace myself for it.”

 

Every pun was hoof selected to be as lame and cringeworthy as possible. Daedalus grinned. Perhaps he could have a bit of fun with this.

“But enough with the theatrics. I think it fair if you would like twenty questions that I should get twenty as well. I hope those terms are not too pun-ishing…”

[RexDraco]

Discord was known as many things to history. He was a deceiver, a lair, and a outright cheat when it came to games of chance or pulpits of peace with swaying speeches of the resistance of conformity. But if one did consider that they attempted to tamper with chaos itself, the very consideration that this brand of disorder was, by habit, a procrustean, they would see that the one who truly suffered from madness: was they. Chaos was a dissenter, but it was also the wind that heralded the changing tides and seasons. It was the path many revolutionaries followed to regain their freedom, and the steps taken by the broken to find the pieces of themselves in which they left behind or lost in the fight to become as everypony else. It was an easy thing to imply that he would cheat, but the question one had to ask was: were the rules there just to be broken in the first place, and placed there to satisfy an empirical idea within their sense of reality? After all to expect a god driven to create disorder that he expected rules to be followed was madness in and of itself.

 

Daedalus did have an interesting point. the discrepancy of their allocated question allowance was considerable. "Well, were you a bit more experienced at the game I could provide you with more questions, but considering you are still a greenhorn, I am remiss to allow such catastrophe. There is no telling what you will do!" Though with him, wasn't that always a foreseeable adjunct when playing with him? He wiggled his paw's digit and if Daedalus wasn't on his toes, which being a pony he should always be, he'd find his horn would have become covered in moss. "Ask away, but be thoughtful, you wouldn't want to end up sand the points required for advancement." He warned with a much too cheerful hum in his throat. 

 

His ears pricked at the mocking regard to the gauntlet being a shackle. While the spirit thought to protest the tool being as such, lest he tattle and cry to Twilight this or that (he really was in no mood for lectures and it would ruin a day of fun) he gave pause and considered the jab. The spirit tilted his head and rolled upside down where he would stroke his chin in a sagely manner. It was a joke! Though, bow that he thought about it, the pony's words had a sliver of creativity painted in the scene! Without the fancy leg covering the Unicorn lacked mobility. The tool gave him the ability to play the game at full locomotion so without it he was once again a lump in that beanbag! Ha! Brilliant! 

 

So he fancied himself a learned pony? And experienced verbiage to boot!? Oh this would be far too amusing a day. And here he though all of Twilight's students were wet blankets. He supposed she has earned herself credit in that regard. Where she seemed plugged up and stiff those around her carry the weight of her shortcomings. He supposed they were close friends. Not many of them would do such for him. His brows furrowed, gruntled by his own train of thoughts. His forelimbs crossed over his chest. 

 

"Ornery? I'll have you know I am always high in spirit." Ahhhh and so it began.

 

He could not help the infectious regard for wordplay. It was some of the few things the chaos god could slow clap. There was nothing in game of words one could not appreciate. His favorite were sets of contraries, making his games fitfully testing for ponies who lacked the capacity to think outside the box! The next string of equivoque only did to stifle a snort from the serpentine chimera. Were Daedalus to gaze upon the snek at any which point he would freeze mid-air, muscles rippling with the need to laugh. But he would stand tall! Or hover long, given his talon and hoof had raised from the ground once more, the draconequus hardly suffering l longer than a moment to gravity's wiles. 

 

He would admit, in the silence of his mind, Daedalus was clever. Too clever. Perhaps given an edge he would prove a bit more successful at the chosen activity than most. Discord did get bored. The world had changed a great deal between his being imprisoned and his release. So much of that freedom was spent trying to figure things out and what to do with himself now that he wasn't completely focused with undoing Equestria. Now he couldn't say the thought was not a unwelcomed guest in his mind, but it was hardly the cruel considerations of degradation and despairing the sisters as it had once been. No, no. There were other ways to make sure peace was never achieved. She did insist on his return to society. She should be well aware of his nature even if his habits have considerably downgraded from malicious to farceur. 

 

Discord had been sure he was going to lose it. Right near the end he would manage to reel it in and take a breath. His forelimbs tucked against his feathers, ears folding back as he sighed. "Well I supposed I can't let such an eager mind go to waste." Derelict to admit that he was on the brink of a giggle fit. 

 

With a snap of his claws Discord would set up the props. In vintage outfits dating back to the days of Sherlock Hooves, Daedalus would be decked out in a tan, formal, inverse cape. The white blouse and black vest beneath it complimented the outfit. Atop the unicorn's head sat a stalker's cap with a calabash pipe that only blew out soap bubbles. Discord was settled in a simple pair of grey trousers held up by suspenders which crossed over his white blouse, the outfit finished off with a waist jacket. The spirit reached his paw into the jacket and pulled out his pocket watch, claw adjusting the monocle in his left eye.

 

"Well we've til the stroke of midnight." He chimed, tuning the dial. "Fifteen questions. You can earn more if they're good." He didn't like making a game easy, but by the Stars, those puns almost had him in tears. 

 

At current the time was five passed twelve. Daedalus had time, but he would do to remember that time was not held sacred by chaos.
 

 

[Dio]

Daedalus looked up at his horn and scowled. In an instant, a dark purple flame with black core sparked and flared to life, vanishing just as quickly as it had appeared. The mossy green was incinerated with cold flame before it could put down roots. As with the gauntlet before, wisps of deep purple smoke wafted away from where the moss had perched, leaving a faint chill in their wake.

 

“I prefer it remain red, fine thank you,” he said flatly. “You’ll have to do better than that to grow on me.”

 

The prior puns, however, were having their desired effect. Having Discord willing to laugh was far preferable to having him turn Daedalus inside out. If such a thing were to be attempted, there would of course be the minor apocalypse in protest. Seeing as Ponyville had thus far done without said apocalypse in his absence an Discord’s presence, Daedalus did not wish to be “that guy,” as Rainbow Dash would put it. Daedalus frowned briefly at the lack of actual laughter. The sliding scale between gleeful deity and minor apocalypse had just moved slightly toward apocalypse.

 

The appearance of costumes was sudden but expected. Things just seemed to happen whenever Discord got to talking if the shackle, the faux toga, and the formalwear from before were anything to go by. Replacing the threads from Starlight in Detrot were the stereotypical Sherlock Hooves clothing. Daedalus raised an eyebrow. How anypony could take the costuming seriously was beyond him. Wasn’t the entire point of being a detective to not stand out?

 

He quickly snuffed the inkling of question from his mind, however. Discord didn’t appear to be able to read thoughts directly or actually execute mind control spells, but being lord of chaos, Daedalus was fairly certain it could be emulated fairly easily. For now, though, he seemed content to remain with conversation.

 

"Well we've til the stroke of midnight." He chimed, tuning the dial. "Fifteen questions. You can earn more if they're good." He didn't like making a game easy, but by the Stars, those puns almost had him in tears.

 

“Remind me to viciously mock and berate the congress that decided upon this three-fourths compromise.” Daedalus scoffed. “Very well then. Fifteen for me it is. Since you’ve already taken two of your twenty, I feel it fair to take two of my own.”

“Of all the places in the world you could have chosen, why Equestria? And in Equestria, why ponies? You very well could have chosen to dwell in Long Guo or Aquellia or Maretonia. You could have chosen to dwell among the griffons. And yet, here you are…”

[RexDraco]

The spirit was not the sort to grow on normal ponies as easily as the princess of the sun had hoped. While she was a bit more accepting of his peculiarities, others who had found pace and peace with their way of loves were convinced he was a menace. His personality was difficult to endure as his maturity was often in question and yet he was older than all of the natives of Equestria combined, including the resident alicorn princesses whom have reigned for centuries on, and lived long before that. Part of the problem, which made him seem wholly incompetent and foalish, was the way he viewed the world through a kaleidescope. Just as a slight turn would cause thousands of colors to mix and shift, so did his very presence create a constant change that held its own beauty if one had the patience to understand it.

 

Fluttershy, for one, was perhaps the most dangerous being in Equestria, second only to Discord himself, for not only had she the demigod tied around her hoof, but her capacity to get him to do as she asked had come from the patient and careful cultivation of a friendship, of which he held dearly to his maniacal heart. It took effort to sort his deeds and understand they were not devised to be malicious or off-putting as they once were. But it also took a pony with an open mind to see that sometimes the paths he set ponies on were for the good of change and the disruption of the mundane reality that often stagnated life and the overall development of ponykind.

 

It seemed some acts easily left the unicorn in dudgeon, but he had enough focus to express his loquacity on weaving together puns in an attempt to either draw the draconequus' laughter or ire. For now it seemed the spirit saw the act as amusing. They were well timed witticisms that such a prankster could appreciate, but to be out done... Now that was not something Discord could abide by and work a passive role in this game. Discord smirked before leaning back in the air. A claw file appeared in his paw as he began to shape his claw. His brow arched as he glanced over at Daedalus in a side glance.

 

"We'll be careful what you wish for. Moss would be the least of your problems at this stage." Indeed it was too early in the game to break out the penalty box.

 

The question of whether or not Discord could read a pony's thoughts was always a difficult one. There were times where he seemed to act with the exact knowledge of a pony's dislikes and likes. Did he perhaps simply read their intent? Being a creature who could skip in and out of time at leisure always drew a sense of worry. Spellwords and mind control were not a skill ponies knew him capable of beyond the Mane and the sisters themselves so it kept him a lesser threat among ponies he socialized with. He didn't use his spellwords in such a way anymore. It did more harm than good.

 

He offered a smirk at the minor complaint. "It is probably unwise to question a council of draconequus." He nodded, paw and claw pulled to his chest as he floated in his costume, taking a moment to adjust his cap. 

 

Was that all he was curious about? So young yet so wasted! The spirit landed on the ground, hinds touching surface as he slithered to his full height. "Why that's elementary my dear Sherlock." He took to read. 

 

Though it wasn't such a simple matter. He had always traveled, never staying in one place for too long. And why should he? Wherever he went he was known to cause anarchy and disorder amongst the kingdoms that felt themselves unyielding to time. Perfect rule. Perfect order. These had been their defining characteristics. Yet as such there could never be growth of a state had believed it reached its pinnacle of power. It would never seek to improve or change so long as it viewed itself as perfect. It was absurd to think a troublemaker such as he could pass up the chance at deflating the egos of mortals. Yes he did cause hardship for many, but oft times his actions saved a group who did not know they needed saving.

 

Nor did he know.

 

"It was too quiet in Equestria so I thought I'd love it up. But the resident princesses were quite good at defying me and usurping my attempts to usurp! Go figure." He turned his head, rolling his lion's digits through his beard. "You could say one thing led to another and I grew short with their constant interference." While again there was much more to it, the spirit kept things easy for the youth to understand. "It is the epicenter of Harmony after all. Why wouldn't a god of chaos not reside in the heart of it?" He pressed his claw to his chest, cocking his head as if it was a simple task to make sense of him.

 

Nothing was not so simple with him, especially this. 

 

He shivered and held out his paw. "Please. Do you think Griffons needed me? They managed to fell their own monarchy in a matter of years toss around a few gold crowns you had in hoof and you'd think I spat at their idol." As if to say he planted the artifact that caused the griffons to bicker in the first place. "Equestria was a challenge I wasn't willing to lose…" and yet he did. "Ah, but ce la vie." He dramatically tipped his head back, paw on his forehead.

 

A sharp-toothed grin painted his face. "As for my questions little pony. If you don't think Celestia is the sun itself… why are you here in Equestria? It is obvious you've your own sense of affliction." He was quite curious. He was much too sour to be a native Equestrian. Heck even that old kooky mare that worked in the School for Gifted Unicorn since practically after his reign, with all her paranoia, was a chipper old nag. "Come, come talking in such a dusty place too. Let's not waste your temporary sense of mobility." He grinned.

[Dio]

“It is quite well then that I am only questioning one, lest they leave me only three-fifths of a pony post-negotiation,” Daedalus chuckled.

 

Ah yes that would be quite the sight wouldn’t it? An entire congress of draconequui, a gaggle of goofs, a flock of flamboyant fools, an assembly of the asinine. One Discord was quite enough. Daedalus was uncertain if he could handle a dozen or more, or however many would compose a legislative body for chaos.

 

"It was too quiet in Equestria so I thought I'd love it up. But the resident princesses were quite good at defying me and usurping my attempts to usurp! Go figure. You could say one thing led to another and I grew short with their constant interference. It is the epicenter of Harmony after all. Why wouldn't a god of chaos not reside in the heart of it?" He pressed his claw to his chest, cocking his head as if it was a simple task to make sense of him.

 

“I cannot logically prove or disprove a negative. You might be able to do so, but seeing as I am bounded by logic in this mortal coil, I doubt it would be comprehensible to anyone outside yourself; hard solipsism exempted.”

 

“Why wouldn’t” was never so much a question as it was a dodge. No one answered a question with a reversal like that unless they were shifting burdens of proof and in turn avoiding answering the question to begin with. The Kastroti philosophical education kicked in and Daedalus again had to remind himself that he was dealing with the equivalent of an omnipotent child. He sighed. There would be no true answers to his questions, would there?

 

"Please. Do you think Griffons needed me? They managed to fell their own monarchy in a matter of years toss around a few gold crowns you had in hoof and you'd think I spat at their idol. Equestria was a challenge I wasn't willing to lose… Ah, but ce la vie."

 

“I find it funny that you leave out the unification of Aquellia and the establishment of a griffon democracy. Ancient griffon kings might have squabbled over gold and gem, but I find their current bureaucracy a bit more robust than you give them credit for, if opaque.” He quickly added, “Not that I’m inviting you to topple democracy. Regime change fomented by external means is always so messy.”

 

Again, it was said mostly in jest. He was certain Discord had the capability to manipulate factions against each other and create a civil war with the snap of a finger and Daedalus was not about to encourage him to do so. If a minor apocalypse involved blowing up Twilight’s castle and most of Ponyville, destroying the Aquellian government and sending the neighboring country spiralling into civil war would be a cataclysm of world-shaking proportions. Civil wars should never be initiated before you’re ready for them. He thought to himself.

 

"As for my questions little pony. If you don't think Celestia is the sun itself… why are you here in Equestria? It is obvious you've your own sense of affliction."

 

“I think you underestimate mortal ponies if you think their lives are dedicated to kissing Celestia’s hooves.” He said, following Discord’s trail. “A good friend to her people and capable diplomat as she might be, she is no deity. As for my reason on the mainland, I seek knowledge as I travel. Kastrot sought to limit what I could study, so I came to Equestria for the freedom to pursue what I desired instead of being hopelessly pigeonholed.”

 

“Personally, I am content to remain in the castle, but if you have other ideas, I am open to them. After all, I am shackled to you for the day and not visa versa.”

 

And now a question of his own. Discord loved his games and he loved talk. So what better to occupy a draconequus than to leave him talking about himself? Daedalus had little confidence he could find a reliable ally in Discord if push came to shove, but he supposed that someone on amicable terms was better than a belligerent by any stretch. Besides, his scholar's curiosity was still tingling.

“So how exactly does a god of chaos come to be? I could assume that you are merely eternal, but you already know what happens when one assumes…”

[RexDraco]

It was never about logic with Discord. Bringing too much coherence into a situation involving him was bound to leave you mentally exhausted. If not for the occasional shines of clarity one could truly believe the chaotic god beast a madppny. But he did have those moments. The seemingly arbitrary things he said and the things he did thst worked to rattle a pony's worldly perceptions often coalesced into a sound stream of thought that was on par with the greatest gurus whom only came upon such discoveries after climbing the highest mountains. Luckily, or unwittingly so, Daedalus needn't climb a mountain to breathe life into his questions.

 

Discord did that well on his own and for personal amusement, to boot.

 

Discord let up a hearty, smug chuckle. He perched onto his haunches, pressing his claw into his feathery chest as he puffed up most proudly. "Oh please, and you think that fowl driven democracy is in any way… effective or orderly?" By the very glance democracy had its flaws. "Sometimes the commonpony can't see beyond the now and the noble, all too often, thinks too deeply of the future." He smirked. "A messy, imbalanced business that."

 

Maybe he did have a paw in the Aquelian government, or he would like you to think that. Regardless of what Daedalus observed as truth, Discord was inherently both false and indubitable all in the same breathe. It was his very nature to alter what ponies recognized as fact. He needn't be involved due to the simple fact it did not need him. It was often a difficult thing to process, as even Discord himself was one who craves attention. He didn't always seek means to topple anypony… just make things a bit less organized. It was something that did to inhibit potential, backwards really. He chuckled and upturned his nose, an exaggerated crown appearing on his heat, paw held out.

 

"Oh please, even if you did not worship the ground she sat on,  you can't deny her natural fortitude among you ponies. Did you think they put her up on that golden chair because she was all sparkly and looked as if she dunked her head into a vat of rainbows?" How... trite. "I could tell you…" he leaned back, claw coming to his chin as a devious look came upon his equine-draconic mixed features. "…there is much more to her than meets the eye."

He warped up beside Daedalus, ducked down as if to whisper. "But that would waste away your questions now, wouldn't it?" He chuckled darkly before he reappeared floating upside-down above the pony, his forepaw and claw clasped together. "Oh one should never become content. It's what put you into this position in the first place, isn't it?" Did he mean the visual shackle or the very case of his injury?

 

That was for Daedalus to ponder. The chaotic serpent would vanish, claws snapping as he did so. It was a rapid action, one that did not quote work like a pony's. While there were a limited few who could actually slide between distances, essentially teleporting, between space, even they could not accurately describe the action, but the dangers were always present. Ending up between a wall was far less desirable than winding up through the wall, if one understood the magnitude of the difference. When Discord warped he did so between planes, often causing his watch to become slow. It was why he often manifested a sundial or made use of his windable pocket watch. If one had to place a bet on tracking time the basic day and night cycles or the analog metronome of a wound watch were some of the options. Lights and colors, rolls of film were some things that best described how it felt to travel.

 

"I didn't." He stated. The two would find themselves atop the castle in a spot hardly visited. It was a balcony upon one of the higher towers. It was always such a climb to get here that it was rather .. bare. Here one could see beyond the Everfree and towards the mountains that carried Equestria's capital seat. "But I did." He responded. "It's like the Stars. They all exist. But some that you see, never did come to be. You're just looking at a memory. Others have always been there, need quite noticed. I suppose if Celestia is the sun and Luna is the moon, you can consider me a Star." How egotistical of him. Yet… accurate. "There's millions of me, but depending on when you are I haven't existed yet, while in others I've come to be, once over." That seemed a usual round about answer. "It is like asking how you came to exist. You know because your parents tell you, but what so they really know? If you didn't see it how can you be sure it happened?"

 

And that was his return question.

 

Rather deep. Or perhaps it was superficial knowing him. But did the unicorn truly know him? Up here, so close to the sky: even with the sun out, some stars still seemed to shine behind the clouds. 

[Dio]

“That was meant to be more descriptive than proscriptive,” Daedalus replied dryly. “As messy and imbalanced as it is, not everyone is as I am and not everyone is as you are. To fully prefer one over the other is to facilitate tyranny. Though I don’t suppose you concern yourself with petty mortal matters like resource scarcity and institutions of authority, hm?”

 

"Oh please, even if you did not worship the ground she sat on,  you can't deny her natural fortitude among you ponies. Did you think they put her up on that golden chair because she was all sparkly and looked as if she dunked her head into a vat of rainbows?" How... trite. "I could tell you…" he leaned back, claw coming to his chin as a devious look came upon his equine-draconic mixed features. "…there is much more to her than meets the eye."

 

He warped up beside Daedalus, ducked down as if to whisper. "But that would waste away your questions now, wouldn't it?" He chuckled darkly before he reappeared floating upside-down above the pony, his forepaw and claw clasped together. "Oh one should never become content. It's what put you into this position in the first place, isn't it?" Did he mean the visual shackle or the very case of his injury?

 

“‘You ponies.’” Daedalus scowled. “Such generalization. Besides, I fully expect a mare not to show everything at all times. One must draw boundaries after all.”

 

Teleporting was nothing new for Daedalus. Even voidwalking, standing right on the cusp of the aether and momentarily letting slip the bonds of the material realm, was not out of his usual purview. This, however, was unexpected. Daedalus barely had time to take the usual breath before leaving the realm of the material. A snap of Discord's fingers and space and time folded around him. It was not a simple matter of dipping into the aether, it was a swan dive headfirst into the between.

 

They reappeared atop one of the castle turrets, having skipped the stairs to arrive directly upon the ramparts. The breath exploded from Daedalus’ lungs as he breached the surface of reality. The was no air in the aether and thus he had to take his own. While the trappings of the effect would have been him appearing out of thin air, to his aetheric senses, it was much like leaping into the air from underwater. Discord, of course, went on as if nothing had happened.

 

"Every star I see has ‘been’ at some point, though some ‘are’ no longer.” Daedalus raised an eyebrow at Discord’s opinions of cosmology. “With the vast distances that comprise the void above, the star may very well have died before its light reaches us. But that does not preclude its existence.”

 

Daedalus sighed. He wasn’t at all certain if Discord could even understand bas. Actually, he in all likelihood did, but refused to conform. Or so it seemed based on prior conversation. Ornery.

 

“The Sun is but another star and the Moon a nearby planetary body. With your wording though, I think perhaps you fancy yourself an alicorn princess!” It was worth a chuckle. So Daedalus thought anyway. “Though if you want to take it that way, there very well could be millions of you if counting from a ‘fixed’ frame of reference. There are many conceivable realities scattered throughout the multiverse. I may exist in one and be absent in another. You might exist in one and not in another. We may meet in this one and be strangers in another.”

 

Roundabout as it was, the draconequus’ pontificating seemed to be more empty musing than true answers. This was to be expected. For every subject Daedalus could answer with basic trivial logic or aetherology or cosmology, Discord could produce another that would drag him down the scholarly road of his own undoing. Was Discord stringing him out until he finally encountered something he didn’t know?

 

“Your penchant for equivocation is most vexing.” Daedalus rolled his eyes. “In the absolute sense of certainty, I don’t ‘know.’ But I have evidence that shows me how I came to exist with which I have apportioned out trust in my origins. I can never ‘know’ for certain, but I can know enough. Unlike you, I am quite shackled to reality and am thus forced to abide by its rules for ontology.”

 

A minor epiphany flashed through Daedalus’ mind at his own words. Perhaps Discord wasn’t merely ornery and contrarian. Perhaps he honestly did not understand fixed reality and the nature of mortality. A valid hypothesis, Daedalus mused. It was worth pursuing in his curiosity.

 

“But that’s what you find puzzling, don’t you? You don’t actually see what I see; you see multiple realities blended together, multiple timelines intertwined, and multiple events and possibilities of events all in superposition. You don’t see my reality, you see all reality simultaneously, and having to limit yourself to just one in order to even communicate with me… bores you.”

 

Daedalus looked out toward Canterlot’s towering spires from the top of Twilight’s tower. It had been a while since he’d properly waxed philosophical. He hadn’t been expecting this much of a workout with Twilight gone.

“You’re a vision of a long-dead star, a memory adrift in the aether, a superposition of echoes from the multiverse. Or so I hypothesize. How close did I get?”

[RexDraco]

For the draconequus it seemed pertinent to generalize the species as a whole, rather than delve in the minimal complexities that made them seem unique. So far ponies had become the dominant face on Equus, though it hasn't always been. There were many empires and lives before the pony tribes have been, so for them to think they deserved a broader definition and unique praise for making it this far: Discord could cut deep with his intellectual denunciation of their existence. While ponies were a peaceful group, they still went to war, fought and had critical faults that those without Friendship could not solve. They had histories detailing this and even times where they would fight amongst themselves.

 

Upon reforming the spirit chuckled, pressing his paw to his muzzle. "I do suppose a mare has her secrets, but what pony doesn't? I am sure you don't follow every social behavior expected of you. There are times you break rules, been them, change them so they suit your needs." He floated up, pushing his paw to his chest. "If it means advancement, betterment, growth…change." As he went down the list of excuses his voice grew ever deeper, serious.

 

His white brows flattened as his ears folded back. As his body lowered those mismatched hindlimbs would perch themselves upon the balcony's banister. Around the crystalline material: his tail would curl like a Python hunting for prey. A foreboding sensation rippled from the sagely chimera, as if he knew more than he let known. The way he carried the suggestive and knowing tone was a clear indication that his words carried heavy meaning, and they should. The spirit of chaos was immortal for good reason. Not semi, faux half-immortal whose lifespan was dictated by their survivability.

 

"No pony is perfect, without skeletons. Even everypony's favorite Princess of Friendship has a few mistakes in her past that are shielded behind her protective mentor's good nature." He would offer. Even Celestia… had some boogeyponies under her bed…

 

In a more literal sense.

 

Lifting his head level with Daedalus, Discord looked to the unicorn as he spoke his peace. His digits wiggled as a smug smirk painted his feature with a cognizant expression. At the mention of distances he chuckled before he vanished. It was half a jiffy, floating over Daedalus' shoulder like a mischievous whisper dressed in red. His paw and claw clasped together, head cocking up in a regal and refined manner. For an incomprehensible being he held himself with an almost courtly comportment, you could forget he was a master of the chaotic realm and it's reason for existence.

 

"The best princess." He assured with a titter. "I do have a way with words." He admitted to the unicorn's realization that the spirit was perhaps playing games with his words. 

 

Though they were games, they were part of a greater whole that built upon the steps raised by previous studies. Each question only did to create another, thus strengthen the following query in a twirling manner that measured out into a perfect spiral. It was measurable and found in all things in nature, yet it was always out of grasp of a pony's understanding to just -- why? Some simply accepted it as their date whilst others puzzled I've rut, asked question after question until they found better questions to reach the answer, often of which was not what they desired. The words from the unicorn's muzzle caused his ears to flatten, his head to turn, lower as he set himself to sit on his haunches, the sphinx-shaped riddler angered by his inquiries being seen through.

 

He pushed to stand on all fours. As such Discord still was quite large. His shoulders may have been at equal with a full grown Unicorn stallion, but his length and sharp, predatory features could still chill the inexperienced. Maybe it was less the fangs and dragon tail, but more the unpredictability that was the chaos spirit. He circled Daedalus and came to a stop, facing him. 

 

"I'd love to find out. He raised his claw and gave a snap. Behind them a portal would open, the magenta and black swirl of color that sounds behind him was ominous. "One step for pony… one giant leap, for ponykind!" And Discord would give the stallion a shove into the void!

 

He'd be fine. Maybe. If his unicorn magic didn't catch him, the bushes surely would. Oh. Oh! No bushes! Discord's eyes widened before he turned and leapt into the Void after him, to make sure he didn't fracture his other three legs, helping the pony to land properly, as much as proper could be in such a place!
 

[Dio]

Daedalus had just enough time to take a deep breath before being swallowed whole by Discord’s portal. He would have cursed the draconequus, but doing so would waste precious breath in the airless void of the between, breath that could hardly be spared given he didn’t even know if the destination would have breathable air. In all likelihood, neither did Discord.

 

A quick wave of his horn simultaneously cast void cloak, giving him a thin bubble of breathable air and mild protection against freezing, irradiating, or desiccating to death in deep space while tracing a glyph in clear view of Discord: the distinct image of a pegasus’ wing with only the middle pinion raised in a vulgar gesture. Meanwhile, a long string of sigil sequences went through his head as he attempted to manually compute a return trajectory based on what the void cloak was telling him.

 

The universe went black for a moment as Daedalus was ejected from the portal exit and came to a dead stop upon slamming into something cold and hard. It took a moment for Daedalus to fully come to his senses, mumbling thinly veiled curses over concussion and potential fracture. Thankfully, it seemed none of his good limbs had sustained any more than superficial damage, though he would definitely be sporting a welt on the back of his head by the end of the day - whenever that happened to be, seeing as Discord seemed determined to throw him around like a ragdoll between and among multiverses.

 

He gingerly climbed to his hooves. The air within the void cloak was cold and dry, uncomfortable but at least breathable. For now, the spell would hold. All around was darkness. As his eyes slowly adjusted, a dim starscape slowly bloomed before him, none of which seemed familiar. Wherever they were, it was nowhere near Equestria.

 

Suddenly he felt a slight warmth wash over him. The void cloak blinked red and made agitated clicking noises, indicating that what had just swept over him was in all likelihood lethal without protection. If the vacuum of space didn’t kill him, the radiation probably would. Daedalus glanced toward the direction indicated by the void cloak, spotting a dim disc in the distance that was slightly brighter than the background stars.

 

“A pulsar. I see you have an affinity for odd astronomical objects and putting me in danger of losing life and limb. I honestly have to wonder how Twilight keeps it together.” He snarked.

 

The core of a dead star blinked in the distance, its lethal radiation sweeping across the cold asteroid that they stood upon every few seconds. With a few scrying sigils and construction of a proper teleportation circle, Daedalus could find his way home in both time and space with a few hours work. What concerned him more than where was why they ended up where they did.

“Is this supposed to be some sort of metaphor for your own life or what you intend to do to mine?”

[RexDraco]

In the darkest corners of the universe one could find the most life. Swirling nebulas and distant stars that painted pictures from ancient storybooks were all here in one place. The day, night, and twilight all had place here above the world. It was a desolate place, but it was also a place of life.Stares died, galaxies were born. Voids of dark matter filled much of it, whilst a small portion was painted with the glittering colors often found in a rainbow. It bred passionate stories and stoked untold fears, a place that no pony could step hoof in with the east of a god, and just such a god had given Daedalus access to its entirety in just one, graceless movement. Just a snap of his claws and they were at the end of the world, near the beginning of another. From Chaosville one could see the edge of his universe, yet it so far away from it in the same breathe. A balance between chaos and harmony -- it was true and pure. 

 

It was space. 

 

Discord hovered along, no magic, seemingly, to aide him in traveling. But a vestige among the stars, yet his presence seemed immense amongst Ponykind. Even a god of chaos seemed so small in the endless sea of stars high above and far between the Void. His body moved and shifted with an endlessness that matched the cosmos that he seemed comfortable traversing. Maybe it was the chaotic existence that kept him from being effected by his very element, or it was as true immortality that no mortal could comprehend. He seemed to grin, head turning to Daedalus as he seemed to offer his wordless grievances, the spirit tsking and shaking his claw at the shameful show. He parted his jaws to speak, realizing that the young stallion likely hadn't the fortitude to manage so many faculties at once. 

 

Well seeing as he was a generous god and Daedalus was finally able to sort of hover he moved closer. "Come, come you can drop your shield. So long as I'm here you'll be fine." 

 

The nearer Discord one sat it would seem that the less one felt… suffering. The way he spoke seemed to carry weight, unlike much of anything out here. It was not a passing worry, as if Discord had not considered the pony's mortality. Perhaps out here it became more obvious than ever. Often he would forget that their short, exciting lives often ended without a bang. Let alone witnessing these bigger bangs. He likes to think it was an opportunity for the unicorn to take in and understand himself a little more.

 

He would offer Daedalus the choice to draw closer before crossing his forelimbs over his chest and and letting his hind legs cross casually. He turned to face the long dead star. "Oh you would have been fine. It was not as if I threw you at the star." He pulled his lips back in a telltale smirk, claws reaching up to scratch through his grey beard. "Even I can be understanding of your physical and magical limitations." He sharply jabbed with his smooth, contrasting voice. Tittering in delight his crimson pupils turned down toward Daedalus. "Tell me, have you ever attempted coming out this far on your own before? The void beyond... It's quite a dangerous place yet, you stink of it. I must say you've my curiosity." Much better than his ire.

 

Than silence. 

 

Between their speech there were stretches of ominous silence filled with a chill that cut deep into the bones. Out here you would long suffer the bitter fangs of the icy abyss long before you were due to suffer any other medley. Whenever there was breathe exhaled a fog pulsed between the lips, a thin cloud of visible breath. Discord seemed to stare off at the star, his claws tucked to his chin and paw supporting the eaglet elbow. With his hind legs crossed he seemed more a bard lamenting over a lost chance at song, as if he knew just where they were. When. One could feel the old, dead star pulsing, as if it were still alive. From it all manner of energy expelled from its field. It could be felt in the chest. Like a beating heart.

 

The draconequus reached into his feathered coat and pulled from it a small pocket watch which he began to wind. "Besides, you've got quite a bit of snark for somepony floating in the vastness of space." He seemed to dangle it as a threat as he leaned back calmly, returning the watch to it's rightful place, claw remaining over his chest a moment.

 

He was right though, in that sense. The young mage found place to turn up his lip when he sat center, but a speck, in the great void beyond. Here worlds were decimated and born faster than he could run his mouth, but slower than he could comprehend his own existence. Here you could see the universe for what it was worth. The pure, untapped energies were a mage's dream, yet they could not be tapped, for their instability was their ultimate mystery. 

 

Unsolvable such a source of power was but a fraction within simple, pony understanding. 

 

Discord reached out his claw, seemingly plucking a star from the sky. As he pulled his limb back toward his body the shard crystalized. It was a piece of the pulsar's cosmic dust. "Fascinating, isn't it? Here I hold what could be the remnants of a star your kind look towards to make a wish." He held it towards Daedalus. "But out here, no one knows it takes its final breathe. Tell me mister arcane affairs advisor. How much magic do you reckon is within this small piece of the void beyond? How many times has it turned? How much power has it absorbed before finally slipping away into this memory?" The crystalized star gem glistened. 

 

If one listened carefully, from it the whispers of a thousand lives could be heard, wishes from across the stars. Wishes that were mumbled in half sleep before bed. Wishes that were selfish, selfless, and sordid. They were testimony to unfulfilled dreams. Yet it sat right here in front of the unicorn.  It was unheard of. Is this what happened to a wishing star? Is this why so many dreams faded away into obscurity? Taken prisoner by a star that could no longer dance. The spirit stepped down against what seemed solid surface. Were Daedalus to try he too would find it possible to stand. Raising his paw he formed a fist, punching a hole into space. Beyond this hole was the balcony from which they had began their improbable journey. 

 

"This place will always be here now, for we've met it. It existed. Perhaps you should meet others too. You've many wishes behind that big head of yours. I must say there's a charming sense of potential within your abilities. If you could just look passed yourself." He smirked, letting out a laugh. "What are you going to do with it?" He asked regarding the crystalized star, the unfulfilled wishes.

 

It was strange. Though the crystal was there, it was impacted, manipulated by the chaos god's magic. Only the smallest fragments of its energy could ever be visible, reached. Never more than a pony could handle, always less than required. Absolute Zero was not a state one like Discord would even consider creating. It would always give 'just enough', never more. Never less. Unlike Discord: it was constant.

 

"Consider it… a wish I'm fulfilling for the star. It always wanted to see a world." He smirked. 

 

The portal was opened back to the balcony, but watch your step. It was a long way down.
 

[Dio]

Daedalus’ muzzle scrunched as Discord intruded upon his personal void bubble. It was then that he realized that sound did not propagate in a vacuum, so all of his vexations were voiced into void. Discord was probably having the time of his life doing bad lip readings. And thus he chose not to give him the pleasure of repeating his question.

 

Against his better judgment, Daedalus took a deep breath and released his grip on the void cloak. A deep chill wrapped itself around him as his protective layer of air was rapidly stripped away. He held his breath as long as he dared, but when he finally expelled it, he found the air around him breathable. The asteroid was too small to hold an atmosphere, but either Discord had imported his own air or had somehow suspended Daedalus’ need for biological sustenance. The cold remained, but he was able to breathe and his senses told him he was momentarily safe.

 

With regards to the neutron star, Discord was not wrong… technically. They were nowhere near the actual surface of the pulsar. But a pulsar’s degenerate matter held more mass in a thimble-full than entire planets, with correspondingly strong gravity. Even being within visible range of the pulsar would be like crashing into a normal star’s surface. It was probably only Discord’s meddling that Daedalus was not immediately being shredded by gravitational tidal forces or cooked alive by radiation that had penetrated his shield.

 

“I have little means of traveling out this far if I expect to be able to return,” he finally said. “Carelessly teleporting into the void of space is tantamount to suicide if a clear destination is not in mind. I can’t say I haven’t sent unsavory individuals out this far, though. Tearing open a portal in space-time is easy. Controlling it is hard.”

 

“Before you ask, I brought them back. I am not so heartless as to kill in cold blood or so barbaric as to slaughter in fits of rage. But they were changed when they returned. Maybe it was fear, fear of desiccation, irradiation, incineration in the heart of a star at their exit point. Fear of the unknown that surrounded them, the black soundless void, the endless sea of stars and the stark reminder that they were in the cosmic scale insignificant. Fear of not just being killed, but forgotten among the stars. Perhaps that’s what you smell. The stench of void-touched fear.”

 

“I walk the edge between the void and the material. The void is from where I draw my reserves of aether. I suppose the taint of it lingers long after I’ve actually finished channeling it.”

 

The draconequus reached into his feathered coat and pulled from it a small pocket watch which he began to wind. "Besides, you've got quite a bit of snark for somepony floating in the vastness of space." He seemed to dangle it as a threat as he leaned back calmly, returning the watch to it's rightful place, claw remaining over his chest a moment.

 

“How else would I avoid radiation poisoning?” Daedalus replied, giving Discord a sidelong glance. “But with a splash of bitter whine.”

 

Daedalus carefully beheld the gem forged from the heart of a dead star. “Stellar lifetimes are many orders of magnitude greater than those of my kind. I couldn’t even begin to comprehend how much energy it has produced over that span of existence. Even in death, the echoes of a star’s power are still enough to kill me thousands of times over.”

 

The scholar in him recoiled. Having exotic matter so close, even the miniscule quantity Discord held, would crush him with the weight of a small planet. Even if it did not, it could potentially irradiate him or catastrophically decay when exposed to environs other than the black void of space. But the mage in him eyed the specimen hungrily. Even the smallest bit of stellar corpse held energies nearly impossible to aggregate via earthly means short of a minor apocalypse. The fact that it had not killed him already was evidence enough that whatever Discord had done to it made it possible to harness.

 

He grasped the star with his magic. A sharp chill shot through him as it made contact, a wintry blast that snaked through his gut and rapidly subsumed his spine before filling his mind with an ever-expanding mass of cold bleakness. For a moment, he thought his insides would surely freeze solid. But Daedalus refused to release his grasp. His horn flared brighter and purple wisps of shadow flame began seeping from his horn and eyes. His mane and tail flashed from its characteristic ashen white to blackness darker than night. Stars glimmered in it for the briefest of moments before it returned to normal. The mage collapsed, panting.

 

The star floated, quietly humming, now attuned to him. Daedalus felt no pain, only an overwhelming sense of loss, a fractional echo of the last millenia of a dying star. The coldness of the void subsided, replaced by a glowing warmth; not the harsh sting of pulsar radiation, but the soft caress of sunlight. With it, so too did the loss subside.

 

"This place will always be here now, for we've met it. It existed. Perhaps you should meet others too. You've many wishes behind that big head of yours. I must say there's a charming sense of potential within your abilities. If you could just look passed yourself." He smirked, letting out a laugh. "What are you going to do with it?" He asked regarding the crystalized star, the unfulfilled wishes.

 

Discord opened the portal home, but Daedalus remained lying down on the desolate rock for a moment longer. Indeed he drew his power from the void, but now the void had come to him. He looked to the tiny star floating next to his head. “Let us test this, then.”

 

Leaping to his hooves, Daedalus whirled around, the star following his gaze. A glowing violet circle traced out around him as he spun, sigils appearing in sequence as he traced out the runes for a teleportation circle. It was something truly amazing. Scribing a teleportation circle would ordinarily take hours normally, but doing this took mere minutes. Was it the star’s affinity for folding space-time? Daedalus didn’t know yet, but it was exhilarating.

 

"Consider it… a wish I'm fulfilling for the star. It always wanted to see a world." He smirked.

 

Daedalus stepped through the portal Discord had opened briefly, but immediately cast a recall spell to the circle he had just scribed. In a flash, he reappeared at the runed circle, proving that it did indeed work. He looked to Discord with a wary smile before stepping through the portal.

“I suppose it was what you intended to do to my life after all.”

[RexDraco]

He was surprised to hear Daedalus had control of such magic. Not many ponies could claim the fortitude, but there were a few that did begrudge the inferiority of inadequacy. They were far and in between as the amount of training required of the spells, the amount of focus needed: ponies had to abscond a certain emotional inconsistency that flighty ponies carried tendencies towards. Space and time magic was something common: for existing alone gave one access it, but true control of it required mathematical components and calculations far beyond your average pone. One had to be quite proficient to even claim the knowledge.

 

Discord folded his forelimbs over his chest at the egregious witticisms that seemed to unendingly rain from the unicorn's lips. For all his dry disposition he seemed to hit those notes of sarcasm with the trained skill of a jester trying to avoid imprisonment. Stale as they were the spirit couldn't help but partake, if only not to be out did. Discord cocked his head, jaws parting as if to expel the foul taste of the pun from his tongue. 

 

"Puh-lease." He pardoned. "If you were any more cheesy all we'd need are crackers to kick this moon party off." He declared. "Besides you could do with a few holes in you to deflate that pony ego." He mused, despite his own, seemingly natural, egotism. 

 

Discord chuckled at his comment, how he seemed to view the star as powerful and ancient. If he thought so he had not yet beheld the chaotic chimera in his true state. Being here, though, had stirred up memories. The spirit had been traveling this part of the skies for some time. When alive it was beautiful. He often basked in its light, resting up a nearby moon. But even that was now gone. The familiar stretch of void had done its job and changed, despite any romantic thoughts of its view Discord had held akin to those works of art ponies imagine. He claw dragged along his beard thoughtfully, relishing in this new state it held yet at the same time holding pity. 

 

As Daedalus wrapped his magic around the shard of crystalized star he smirked. "Kyanaster."  Discord remarked. "That was her name. She was a lovely blue, the bluest star I had ever met. In a sense she was much like you ponies. Perhaps the shortest time spent in this good, yet spent it changing moving, growing." In fact if Daedalus took a moment to look around the area in particular was sparse. A single moon hovering countless spans away and a single sphere, perhaps Kyanaster's planet. "It was all she had but she made use of it, even when those that wished upon her vanished." Perhaps implying the world was inhabited t one time, perhaps implying something completely out of range for even scientific assertions to be allowed to record.

 

Soon it would collapse on itself and there was nothing anypony could do to…

 

"Quite, your comprehension of such things are limited, yet ponies seem to be capable of a great many things, even surpass expectations." They certainly did well to surpass his, and how little he expected of them.

 

By the way Discord granted the unicorn such an object one could hold claim the spirit sought to corrupt the pony. After all such power could send even the most sensible mage into trips of power. His shifting of coloration as the mass of power flowed through him looked as if he was indeed debased by the suasive might of magic. Discord always liked to tempt the potential, wonder the path they were to choose. You couldn't offer a chance to just any pony. If they were to just meet a dead end than there was no point in providing them a means to progress. The spirit watched and waited. The stallion produced a small magical circle preparing to test his new found increase -- no the unlocking of a potential that was already there. 

 

The spirit leaned back, paw and claw meeting in a casual clap, though seeming rather sarcastic in and of itself. "Oh, my my." He tittered. "My intentions are far from fulfilled, but I say this meets a starting point. That is but a fraction of potential, if you surpass Twilight's expectations of her advisor there is no telling what she will be willing to ask of you." A curl to his lips clearly showed this was but a shrouded obligation. 

 

One day Daedalus would have to pay this back, but it was a small price to pay. He was, after all, reformed. He would never ask anything evil of the unicorn. Troublesome as he was Discord was a good pony now only looking to belong amongst the masses. He had no home. Just like that star he was adrift and clinging to the closest idea of a home. But just like that star found home with Daedalus' powers so too had Discord found home with the ponies. The false comforts of Chaosville, a sad mimic of Ponyville and its great complexities, gave him a place to be when he drifted between the realms. Perhaps someday soon he could find a more affixed home among ponies. Daedalus was smirked at when he apepared right in front of Discord. 

 

"Keep it clsoe. If you lose its memory, so will you lose the key that unlocked that door of potential." Though -- that didn't mean that someday Daedalus couldn't unlock it himself, but it was a far ways off...

 

The chaos spirit would appear on the balcony where they began their little escapade. It was already sunset by the time they returned. Time -- flowed quite differently it seemed or Discord could only return them to a time.... well confusion aside they would be back and if Daedalus took a moment to look he would perhaps catch sight of the flickering remains of Kyanaster in the skies. That pulsing light, bidding its last farewell before blinking out completely....

[Dio]

Warm spring air ruffled through Daedalus’ mane, a far cry from the dry, cold void from whence they came. The portal popped closed behind them and Daedalus was suddenly overwhelmed with the myriad singing of evening birds and the chirping and buzzing of insects. Persisting between worlds, even within the soundless void, was the name, “Kyanaster.”

 

“Star of Blue,” he silently mouthed while gazing into the glowing white-blue pebble that now floated before him. Whether Discord was being figurative or literal in his assessment of the star’s desires, Daedalus did not know. Discord spoke in riddles, constantly misdirecting and redirecting, his inflection belying sincerity but his words equivocating far beyond their colloquial bounds. Daedalus was a skeptic. Stars did not live as ponies did, did they? With feelings and dreams and desires?

 

Or perhaps it was the inhabitants -- either potential or past, it seemed Discord made no differentiation between the two -- of the worlds that circled the star before its collapse? While standing upon the barren asteroid, Daedalus had caught glimpse of a cold, rocky ball transiting the pulsar’s glow. Had there been ponies on that planet, too? Had they met with an untimely end when their star ultimately died? What luxury it truly was to be able to think of these things in leisure.

 

This Kyanaster, her power was strong; even a miniscule fraction of her was sufficient to allow for teleport sigil calculation and rendering at orders of magnitude faster than what he could do in his head. Whatever it -- she, even -- was bore further study. The fading of Kyanaster from the sky went unnoticed by Daedalus, as he focused solely on the soft glow emitted from the tiny star floating beside him, a glow that seemed to flare brightly for a moment before dimming to quiescence once again.

 

“Alicorn princess I am not,” he echoed his earlier reply, his gaze still fixed upon Kyanaster. “Though I suppose more alicorn and less princess now that I think of it. Twilight and I have yet to speak of any long term career development goals; for all I know, I could be back on the road when she returns. My individual skills are considerable, but building a proper network in Equestria of those in the know per se, is a journey unto itself. I’m sure you understand the feeling.”

 

But even as Daedalus prattled on, he knew that all gifts came at a price. There was no way Discord would simply give him Kyanaster without some sort of compensation. No Kastroti patron would ever do so wasteful a thing. Reformed as Discord was, Daedalus was still certain he would ask for reparation or at the very least make a game of it.

“So you’ve successfully flung me to the far reaches of space, hooked me up with your star friend, and complimented my potential. What do you get out of it?”

[RexDraco]

Time was irrelevant. It seemed that in their passing upon the heavenly debris was well spent. Undisciplined was the spirit's ability to regard the passage of time with little more than the leisure of a miscreant. Toxic was his regard for the schedules to be kept and the lives to be lived. Short was a pony's time and yet, if only to visit a time long forgotten, would he flitter away ticks on the clock, which were not his to use. He was not incompetent. He knew well the things he did were seen as selfish, arbitrary. But perhaps it was due, in part, to the isolation he held as a draconequus. Thus far, in this time, he was the only him. Understanding came in limited measure and patience quickly forgotten behind a curtain of fear. A cycle which was perpetuated by his very existence and, yet, to depart from this world would mean an eternal peace that eventually corrupted, crumbled and ceased to be.

 

The evening was cool, as to be expected of the season. The birds battled in duets and solos to claim their branches, to declare their love, only proving that the hours passed were not a symptom of madness, but a sickness of time, which continued even without them. So far from the world it continued without them. It was a humbling prospect. As they lived, stars dies. As they died, stars were born anew. Perhaps the remnants of the star would create another soon, or perhaps long after Daedalus.

 

One could never be sure what direction Discord sought to lead ponies. In the end his interference was minimal, at best and, at worst: he was a thorn in one’s back side. It was never easy to understand the lofty whims of gods, especially that of a chaos god where his reasons were a thin line bordering on self-satisfaction and elevating the species in question from their boring projection. After all they had been the most fun and accepting species he had met.

 

Discord folded his forelimbs over his chest as he crossed his hindlimbs in a casual manner. “Hardly. Who needs to network when the web of ponies you collect are connected?” He pressed his palms together and pulled them apart to reveal a red string crossed and knotted around and over his digits. They all seemed to stand out from the other, sometimes knotting where they crossed. The scatter of knots mimicked the constellation where Kyanaster had been located. A map that nopony, for many generations, would come to know.

 

“I can't say I do.” And he won't. The spirit was proud and even now it was hard to admit he enjoyed the ponies. Deep down he still had worried that ponies would eventually suffer for his existence. Chaos was…many things and so very little in the greater scheme of it all.  “Sometimes you find yourself in a net, and still are unable to work out what the next step is.” He pulled his paw and claw apart, the red string vanishing and a fishing net, within the same instant, appearing to drape over Deadalus’, the spirit grinning as he spun his words.

 

He may have been reformed, but there was nothing that kept him from using his powers to manipulate ponies for the greater good. He was supposed to work with them, so he would, but in his own special way. His silver tongue was formed and glittered with promises of power, fortune, change… a pony was only as good as his potential. The unicorn confronted Discord’s actions, questioning the outcome. What did he get? The spirit perked his ears, his face distinctly twisting into mock confusion. He lowered himself to the ground, his body taking that predatory posture.

 

Standing on his hind legs and with those forelimbs tucked against his feathery coat. Griffin parts, lion limbs, dragon's teeth… he was everything a pony was designed to fear. Perhaps that was the intention. Perhaps it was nature at work. Discord… was a natural enemy. He held out the large, fur covered paw. It was faced up showing off that large pad in the palm and toe beans in the ends of the digits. He stared down at the stallion down the length of his long, fang-filled muzzle, a velvety lip curling up to display those peraly whites.

“A friend.” He states simply.

[Dio]

 

A friend. Daedalus cocked his head ever so slightly. “Friend” could mean many things. A friend to the Assembly was very different from a friend to a noble house, which was again different from a friendly acquaintance or a “very friendly” client. Then there was the Equestrian definition of friend, for all its altruistic naivete.

 

In a way he envied the sort of relationship Twilight shared with her friends. The only such experience that even came close was the bond he’d shared with Acantha back home. But Acantha was long gone now. If she wanted him, Daedalus was certain she would be the one to track him down. Until then, it was nothing but business acquaintances and the occasional frisky client.

 

So which one did Discord mean? Daedalus was fairly certain he could rule out friskiness, as Discord was neither client nor partner. That left power trading associates and altruist. But why would a god possibly need more power and influence? If Discord could simply shift to a different phase of reality to achieve what he wanted, then why bother extending friendship to a mortal who was stuck in his “home” phase?

 

That left only altruistic friendship; naive, strange, innocent, Equestrian friendship. Daedalus was still guarded. After all, this was Discord, captain of the capricious and reigning monarch of random. Whimsy was just as influential upon him - if not more so - than any semblance of platonic bonds might be. Furthermore, much of Daedalus’ life had been spent keeping even allies at hoof’s length, lest a betrayal to the Assembly result in his untimely demise.

 

Discord had no such ties to the Assembly, however. Ironically, of all the ponies Daedalus was in current contact with, Discord was probably the safest.

 

“A friend.” Daedalus echoed. He paused for a moment before finally speaking, “That word has more or less baggage associated with it depending on your meaning. What kind of friend would you like?”

[RexDraco]

There stood, well floated, what could be considered to be one of the most powerful beings currently residing in Equestria asking a young unicorn to be, of all things: his friends. Perhaps in the past, during that frightful time that Discord ran rampant in the yet blossomed kingdom, Discord would have asked Daedalus to be a tool, a toy for his amusement to further his delights in raining chaos on the princess of sun and moon’s earthly domain. He was a Lord of wiley delights, of decadent will. He was a prince of chaos and a god of confusion. The stories weaved of him in his realm of madness left the lips of the sane, seeming naught but stories of whimsy. Even the tales spoken of his temporary reign were taken as the fancy of a bard.

 

He was a beast of myth and legend and little truth was known of him.

 

Discord was something else.

 

Discord was nothing else.

 

Discord was not to be held to expectations, so to put it beyond him that it was not within the realm of possibility that he wanted something as base and simple as friendship was -- unthinkable. He was Discord! He strived to break one's sense of reality and toss to the wind the hypothetical circumstances that let ponies plan ahead with contingencies for their contingencies! Once you felt you knew him something new would crop up, just like that! So with all the stories of his madness and utter disregard for order… one never could expect him to fold. But in that same breathe never was there a word of a desire to make a game boring…. Besides having friends was much more fun than being alone. Discord had long since learned that and come to desire, even covet, the same thing these silly ponies all seem to enjoy. But that was not without its cost. It affected his chaos magic, effected him in a way he could never conceive. Sometimes the wishes of mortals became corrupt. Best of intentions aside…

 

The unicorn seemed to hesitate.The conflict of deciding whether or not to accept was quite amusing. Of course it was no easy decision to befriend a god! At least that was what his ego allowed him to believe. It was difficult to swallow that the naughty things he had gotten up to were still affecting his chances at friendship even now. He would not like to admit that his own merrimaking had brought him to such a point where he actually had to try to be charming. To think! Him! Handsome, eloquent and a genius in his class! There was no other pony like him, and he honestly preferred it that way.

 

Sometimes.

 

In some ways these denizens of this era, of this world, were just as egotistical, if not more than he. Anything even a little different was a reason to regard them with distance and caution. He, himself, could understand the timid minds of prey to an extent. He was a god and to all beings he was terrifying, to be guarded against. But he had never done such evil that he could not be forgiven elsewhere. Ponyville and Canterlot had already, in a sense, accepted him. His equine ears perked up when Daedalus finally spoke up. Goodness! And here he thought the unicorn had stopped breathing entirely! The spirit pulled his paw and claw to his chest as he floated back, hinds raising up as if ready to spring out! The question was fantastic! To think he had the state of focus to as such an obnoxious question after visiting a neighboring celestial body, in the flesh -- or in its case graviton shell of pure energy. He could not help as his lips pulled back over his fangs in raucous laughter. Before one could even blink the beast was coiled around behind the apprentice and peering over his shoulder. He laid a paw and claw on his shoulders, that grin never leaving.

 

“Why I am the best sort of friend… the sort of friend capable of anything….” Though did he mean that in a good way? “Besiiiides it isn’t as if you have anything to worry about little pony. You’ve got a princess to protect you if I ever decided to go bad. Not that I would, mind you. Being good is far more amusing.”

[Dio]

 

Daedalus winced at the sudden outburst of laughter practically in his ears. Or was it actually inside his ears? With Discord, it was difficult to tell. For all Daedalus knew, Discord was plucking individual synapses like a bard would his lute strings. As he shook the minor sonic assault, Daedalus found himself wrapped up - quite literally - in Discord-ant regalia. In a vain effort to regain some semblance of personal space, he leaned his head back, only to find himself still cheek to cheek with the Draconequus.

 

It was not the first time Daedalus had been crept upon by someone vaguely predatory. After all, there was the one job in Aquellia with a particularly frisky member of parliament, but that was one of those jobs he didn’t remember much of and honestly didn’t care to save for the bottom line on the invoice he sent and its resulting paycheck. Discord was neither lusty griffonness nor Assembly assassin, but discomfort in the suddenness of touch was still readily apparent.

 

Discord being Discord, the word games were endless. Or were they games at all? His answer was inconclusive, perhaps because the mage did not spell it out in legal terms? It occurred to Daedalus that given free reign to interpret, Discord simply put together what he found the most amusing, applying his own meaning and then making that the new reality rather than attempting to do some semblance of applying social context to ascertain meaning. Clever, but exasperating all the same.

 

It appeared then, that Daedalus would have to lead and direct, lest the conclave of ornery cats that formed Discord’s decision-making faculties scatter into myriad directions before he had any chance to corral them into something coherent.

 

Daedalus sighed. “Capability is meaningless to friendship proper, at least in the most Equestrian sense of the word. Surely you must understand that word has a different meaning in Maretonia? Hence my initial hesitation.”

 

Yes, spelling it out, as stupid as it sounded in Daedalus’ head. It was much like speaking to a foal; a foal with the power to erase and rewrite reality on a whim. No pressure.

 

“Besides, I have a feeling Twilight’s wrath isn’t what you actually fear. I don’t see you cleaning up the castle after her or helping her in the lab!” He cracked a wan smile. Humor was still the antidote for dis-ease. “And whether she protects me is up to her volition. I like to think I’ve managed to fend for myself pretty well. How else would I have ever survived your… goodness. Ordinary friendship sounds downright tranquil after the radiation-soaked void of deep space...”