Battle Woona Origins 1: Discord Encounter (comic)

    Celestia and Luna were exhausted by the time they exited the dark forestry. After several hours of wandering through the forest without any sense of direction, the two alicorn sisters emerged from the perilous woodlands. The elder sister was overjoyed to feel the sunlight hit her face after being bathed in the shadows of the forest for such a long period of time. However, that feeling was not destined to last, as Celestia soon gained awareness of what her new surroundings looked like. The land that stretched across the horizon was littered with bright spots of multiple colors. Above, the kaleidoscope sky flashed in many different hues, each only lasting for about a second before being washed away by another reflective shade. Needless to say, this new land and was like nothing Celestia had ever seen before.

    The two sisters strolled along the seemingly endless chaotic landscape, their curiosity growing more prominent with each passing moment. The younger one's eyes wandered as she trotted alongside her big sister. She seemed overly intrigued by this strange place. The colorful sky reminded the blue pony of the swirly candy that her sister would make for her. Her mouth began to water as she recalled the succulent taste of those irresistible sweets. Upon grasping this memory, she began longing to return home, but the intriguing landscape over the filly kept her from turning back. It was a hypnotic sensation that fled over her, making her want to see what kooky things this place would throw at her next.

    As they walked, the elder pony noticed that the land became increasingly random as they moved deeper into this... city. No, city was the wrong word to describe this area. It was more like a valley... or was it? Celestia couldn't decide on what this place was. Instead, she shrugged it off and focused on what lay before her.

    No sooner that Celestia had broken free from her wandering mind, the two sisters picked up manic laughter off in the distance. Laughter usually comes from ponies, and ponies mean that there's civilization! The alicorn sisters broke into a sprint to meet this new pony and call it a day. Maybe there was a place for them to rest on their journey after all. The two sisters were relieved to know that there was another pony in the area, and they would enjoy the company of another equine being after those long hours spent walking without end. Soon enough, they found the source of such joyful sounds. What lay before the two sisters caused their satisfied grins to melt into confused frowns.

    There were ponies here, but none of them were laughing. Nor smiling. Not even a single look of contentment lay on the faces of these new ponies. The ponies were all so unhappy here, so why had there been laughter not too long before? It didn't take long for the sisters to find out. A creature with an elongated body soon drifted into view, with two colorful wings flapping lazily along as a new burst of gleeful laughter erupted from the being's equine head. It rolled over in midair with childlike exuberance, flailing its legs around in manic joy whilst holding what the alicorn sisters assumed was the stomach of this... thing. The young sister counted the creature's limbs: one eagle talon, one lion paw, a goat's hoof, and a reptilian leg? The blue filly was utterly confused. How could this be possible? Weren't ponies supposed to have all four hooves, and not various limbs from different animals? Even the creature's wings were mismatched!

    Celestia, however, soon recognized this creature as some sort of chimera. She had read books about them before, but she had never seen a chimera like this before. But that wasn't important. What really mattered was why this chimera was laughing while all of those ponies looked so miserable. The reality of the situation hit Celestia hard when the creature pulled a teal pony with a violet-streaked mane close to where it stood. The chimera grinned from ear to ear as the equine entity trembled in fear before the manic creature. The feral creature tapped the pony on the head, which seemed to do nothing at first. The pony stopped, a confused look on her face as she seemed to think, 'that's it?' Before the pony could utter a word, fresh berries began to spill forth from her ears. The panicked equine's panicked scream ripped forth from her throat as the chimera responsible for the reoccurring chaos erupted with joyful giggles, relishing in the pony's pain and confusion.
 
    That was the only piece of evidence that Celestia needed to conclude that this creature wasn't going to be hospitable in any way. The fire of justice ignited within her, causing her to boldly march right up to the multicolored troublemaker. Luna noticed Celestia heading straight into immediate danger. She chased her sister down, almost unable to keep up with her Celestia's long strides upon the younger filly's tiny legs. The elder alicorn came to a halt before the scene, stamping a pristine hoof onto the ground to catch the attention of the chaotic creature. The chimera turned to face Celestia, and the white alicorn suddenly realized how much bigger the creature was up close. Fear encompassed the powerful equine, but she managed to stand her ground while remaining calm. The other ponies in the area took advantage of the chimera's new distraction, and scrambled to escape before he returned to torment them again.

    The bearded abomination grinned widely upon seeing a tiny little pony staring defiantly into his eyes. This one was unlike any of his other playmates, for it not only had a magical little horn, but a well preened set of feathery wings as well. She even came boxed up with little pieces of golden regalia for him to contort into fun little shapes in his own twisted version of dress-up! It was always such a pleasure to find a new toy to play with, especially if it was already different from all of his other 'friends.' The miniature horse puffed her chest in a feeble attempt to make herself look bigger. He could already tell that this was going to be a fun round.

    "What do you think you're doing to those ponies?"

    The deep chuckled that tore from the beast's throat sent a chill down Celestia's spine. This laughter was much different from the gleeful giggles that the he had produced not too long ago.

    "Well who do we have here," the chimera said as his sly smile deepened. "A pretty little pony standing up to old Discord, huh? How fascinating!"

    Celestia scowled. "You haven't answered my question yet!"

    That little beat tore the seam. Discord burst into a wild fit of laughter, the land beneath Celestia's hooves rumbling as the sound of the mighty creature's voice tore through the land. Beneath the alicorn, tiny little flowers with sticks of butter in place of soft petals sprouted upwards from the checkerboard patterned earth. Celestia took a step back as the colorful patterns on the ground changed from sixteen different variations of spots and other shapes warped in and out of existence while the ground melded beneath the terrified pony. The earth's shifting soon came to a screeching halt as the laughter came to an end. Discord waved his front limbs around in circles.

    "Oooh, I'm so scared," he said in an amused, yet sarcastic tone. "The pretty pony's getting angry, everyone! Hide your little fillies before she crushes us all beneath her royal hooves!"

    Celestia's face reddened as her searing rage intensified, but she failed to deliver her reaction in time. She was lifted into the air by some telekinetic force and spun around until her eyes rolled around like marbles in her skull. Discord slammed the pony into the ground and conjured a plush couch to sit on as he plucked several tiny apples from their floral stems on the ground. Luna crossed the hills just in time to see the chimera tormenting his sister as he ate apple flowers. Luna cocked her head to the side as she pondered the situation. Apples weren't supposed to grow from the ground, but that didn't matter. Her big sister was in trouble, and Luna needed to find a way to save her! Meanwhile, Discord was chewing thoughtfully on one of the red fruits as his new playmate struggled to her hooves. 

    The behavior of Discord's new toy fascinated him. None of the other ponies defied him like this, so why should this one? He didn't understand why the pony wouldn't play nice. Not that it really mattered, anyways. Ponies don't have to be compliant for Discord to get enjoyment out of his playtime. However, it just wasn't the same when his toys stood up against him. Discord didn't particularly enjoy his new pony's attitude, or how she refused to obey him. Deep inside, he was a little miffed that his new slave objected to her king's orders. After all, kings were supposed to be almighty rulers with unlimited power. That's at least what Discord wanted. Thus, he couldn't achieve this specific level of power if his subjects refused to play along.

    "You don't have to be so serious, you know," he said as he began to polish off the core of the particularly juicy apple. "If you'd just stop struggling and let me tear you apart, we could have some fun."  

    "Fun?" Celestia growled as she lifted her head to look Discord in the eye. "You call this fun? You torture these ponies mercilessly! You tear up their lands and rule in tyranny, yet you get enjoyment out of this? You're the only one here that's having fun!"

    Celestia got to her hooves just as Discord was finishing off the first apple. Again, her efforts to speak out against the beast were halted. Discord tossed the withered core to the side, causing an explosion upon impact with the ground. He then turned to use the apple's seeds as projectiles against the fuming alicorn, spitting them out and hitting her like fibrous bullets that stung the pony's skin. Celestia folded her wings in front of her face as a shield to protect herself from the projectile seeds. Even so, her efforts proved to be futile as the fruity bullets pelted her delicate wings and set her nerves alight with pain. Celestia had no idea that apple seeds could hurt this much.

    As Luna witnessed this abuse, she grew infuriated with Discord. How dare he! Nopony could get away with harming Luna's best sister like that! He would pay for making Celestia cry, and Luna was there to make sure of it. The blue filly jumped to her hooves and dashed to her sister's side. She flared her nostrils and opened her tiny wings in a defensive stance. Discord was taken aback. There were TWO pretty ponies with wings and horns for him to play with, and not just one? This may have just been the best day ever! The draconequus squealed with glee.

    "Oooh! It looks like the fun has been doubled!"

    Even though Discord seemed enthralled by the appearance of another special pony, it seemed that little Luna was not so amused. She pawed at the ground with a blue forehoof and snorted in defiance, glaring at the joyful chimera before her.

    "Stop hurting my sister, you big meanie!"

    The level of childish rage that filled Luna's body was amusing to see. Discord had seen defensive siblings before, but he had never witnessed one reacting quite like this.  He chuckled as the little filly's rage began to boil over.

    "Aw, wook at the pwetty wittwe pony," he cooed. "She thinks she's so powerful standing beside her big sissy, but in reality, she's just a weak little prick who doesn't know when to shut her mouth."

    Celestia found Discord's words appalling. How could he talk like that to a filly? That kind of behavior was almost unspeakable! Luna was about to pipe up, but the chimera interrupted before she could utter a sound.

    "You must really look up to that useless bag of filth if you are willing to stand up to the almighty king of chaos like this. Speaking of your pretty little pony sister, I don't see why you find value in her. Her attitude is terrible! I bet miss high and mighty pony priss over here beats your sorry flank with an expensive tea set every morning! She must care so little about you and the world around her if she's been so dreadful to me of all ponies!"

    That was the last straw. "You're not a pony," Luna hissed. "You're a big fat monster! Tia is a good sister, unlike YOU, you, fat... doodie head! I'm gonna make sure you can't hurt Tia or anypony else ever again!"

    "Oh, really?"

    "Yeah!"

    Discord roared with laughter, causing Luna to flinch for a moment. Despite the loud and scary noises, Luna stood her ground. She needed to protect her big sister, no matter what happened! Celestia put a hoof on Luna's shoulder, but the filly shrugged her off.

    "Luna, please," Celestia whispered. " You can't do this. You'll get hurt!"

    The blue filly ignored her sister's warnings and charged at the massive beast in front of her. Discord hissed in response, and lunged forth whilst baring his massive knife-like fangs. Celestia was frozen in place as terror gripped her very being. Any response from the elder alicorn would be useless at this point. All she could do was scream.

    "Luna, no!"

    It was as if time slowed at that very moment. All of Celestia's memories came rushing forward to meet her, causing a flood of love for her sister to fill the alicorn's body and stop up her throat. She choked on her own breath as the events before her played out exactly as she predicted. The massive creature's gaping maw closes down on the blue filly's tiny body, halting her flight towards the beast. Luna was slammed into the ground, her left leg crunching beneath her own body weight combined with the force being thrown straight at the ground. Her face contorted in pain as her left wing bent in unnatural ways that should be impossible to achieve by such a young filly. The bone protruded from her feathery appendage, causing blood to spurt out of the wound and paint the ground red. The once blue swirly designs melded into the earth were now stained red with Luna's crimson regret.

    Tears spilled down the older pony's cheeks as her sister was violently torn open by the malicious chimera. The blue filly's cries of pain and terror stabbed Celestia's heart as she remembered the first time she held Luna in her arms. That lonely cry from her babyhood still lingered in Celestia's mind: yearning for company, crying for the safety of a familiar face. A faint phantom of her younger self flashed through Celestia's torn mind. She picked up the baby pony and held her close, singing softly into her sister's tiny ear. Her fragile form was tucked safely in between Celestia's forelegs and torso. Free from worry, immune to danger.

    The candy they shared on those warm summer days. The songs they sang while frolicking among the fresh flowers. All of these memories cultivated in Celestia's mind over the course of hundreds of years of life: that invisible, lingering presence that would soon be gone if Celestia stood there for another second. Celestia raised her horn in rage, a golden aura enveloping the solid cranial protrusion. She fired a mighty blast of white-hot magic energy at Discord, who was filled with the lust for her sister's blood, the will to tear her open and take her from this cruel world.

    Not today.

   Discord roared in pain as the searing blast of magic caused his skin to sizzle and bake, setting his nerves ablaze with endless agony. While the great chimera was distracted by this new sensation, Celestia dove in and lifted her unconscious sister onto her back. However, Celestia knew that Discord wasn't going to sit there being trying to grasp the concept of feeling pain much longer. Using Discord's ignorance to the concept of pain to her advantage, Celestia took off towards the darkened forest. Behind her, the behemoth screamed in rage, giving her the notion that she should hurry up if she wanted her little head-start to actually mean anything.

    Terror flooded her mind as she made her mad dash, the ominous forest growing closer with every thump of her hooves. Celestia's heartbeat soon matched her steps as it raced in her chest as her sister's blood soaked the elder pony's back. Her legs screamed in protest as she pushed herself harder, knowing that the beast's heavily beating wings were about to catch up with her underdeveloped legs. She felt like she was going to burst. She wanted to fall down and cry. She wanted to see her mother, and she wanted to just stop and think about how warm and welcoming her mother's massive wings are.

    Now was not the time for that, though. The dark forestry was closer than ever, and for the first time ever, she welcomed the presence of that scary place. She yearned to lie amongst the gnarled branches of its trees and hold her sister for dear life. The forest was almost within reach! the alicorn spread her wings and leaped into the green depths, weaving in and out of brambles and thorny vines, swiftly dodging every obstacle within her path, flapping desperately to make up to her sore legs. Celestia flew through that forest like she has never flown before.

    She flapped those wings of hers until she grew weary, collapsing in the middle of the forest. Her chin slammed into the muddy grime on the forest's floor,her once white fur now caked in mud and blood. Weeping for her sister, weeping for the pain in her wings and legs. She regretted allowing Luna to even think about entering this damn forest in the first place. She yearned for the safety of her mother's wings, to be wrapped in their feathery presence and take in the soothing sound of her voice. Celestia waited for the inevitable, but nothing happened. Her eyelids grew heavy, her tear stained cheeks glistened in the moonlight, and her wigs fell limp to the floor. Celestia was oblivious to the time of day. She didn't even notice the presence of night at first, but she didn't care. Exhaustion had flooded her body, and she welcomed sleep with open arms.

    Celestia thought she heard voices in the distance, but she wasn't sure. That chase had taken it's toll on the alicorn, and she was highly aware of this. She was probably just hearing things. Soon, it would all be over, and she would wake up. Surely she would be sitting in her bedroom, drenched in sweat as she woke up from this horrid nightmare. Luna would be there, too. She would be holding a stick of candy out to Celestia as an offering of condolence, and it would taste like sweet, sugar-coated peaches.

    So she let herself go. She allowed her eyelids to fall over her now dull purple eyes. Celestia welcomed the cool of night as the forest's aura enveloped her, blanketing her in its misty air as she drifted. With that, Celestia was lulled to seep by the sound of her name being called out by sweet voices of her past, relishing in her momentary bliss as she lost consciousness.