Raindrops looked at her reflection in the water. She could see it clearly on the lake's perfectly calm surface. Well, it wouldn't be calm for much longer. She twisted her neck and leaned back. If she could just get the angle right… She fumbled with her grip on the flat stone in her mouth as she attempted to line this up perfectly. A bluejay chirped in the nearby willow tree while another pony watched her expectantly.
Well, here goes. Raindrops snapped her head forward and spat out the rock in a fluid motion. It sailed through the air and bounced when it hit the water—arcing up at a steeper angle before plunging when it landed a second time.
“Woo! I did it! I did it!” Raindrops jumped with glee. “I finally got a stone to skip, yay!”
Her lilac unicorn friend clapped her hooves together and smiled. “Good show. Now watch how an expert does it.” Sea Swirl's horn lit up with a deep blue glow and a stone hovered next to her. She snorted and pawed at the ground with her right front hoof while concentrating on the stone and the lake. The bluejay took off, and Raindrops watched her friend work with a hint of envy.
Sea Swirl snapped the stone forward and it sailed at a low angle. It bounced seven times before it came to rest on the opposite shore. Some ducks quacked and flew off when the stone sailed past them. “Te-da!”
“Wow, all the way across. You sure make it look easy.” Raindrops scanned the ground for another suitable stone. “Let me try again.”
“How about that one?” Sea Swirl pointed at a piece of shale amongst the rounder and more colorful stones. “It's mostly flat with a lump on only one side.”
The yellow pegasus bent down to pick up the gray rock with her mouth when a disharmonious chirping made her wince. Both ponies looked up at the willow tree to see a blue 'J' making that horrible racket. Off in the distance, a house floated by.
“Oh don't mind me,” the 'J' said. It straightened itself out and snaked its way down through the branches and grew as it did so. When it reached the ground, it was a fully formed draconequus. “I'm just watching two friends play.”
“Discord!” Sea Swirl and Raindrops both flattened their ears and narrowed their eyes. Neither pony wore a friendly expression.
“Leave us alone,” Raindrops growled.
“Oh come now. Is that any way to treat little old me?” Discord wrapped his arms around the ponies and pulled them together for a hug. Both of them cringed in this unwanted embrace. They backed off as quickly as they could when they were free.
“We don't have to put up with this,” Sea Swirl said.
“Yeah, aren't you Twilight's problem? Go bother her.” Raindrops pointed back towards town.
“Oh, So I'm a problem to be assigned to a pony now, am I? Oh, how the mighty have fallen.” He threw up his arms and fell over backwards. The willow tree mirrored his actions and came crashing down with him. “Well, I'll have you know that this 'Twilight' may have said that it wasn't good to stay cooped up all the time and that, perhaps, I should take the time to step outside, see the sun, and perhaps try to make a friend or two. That does sound like something she might say, doesn't it?”
“Well…” Raindrops averted her eyes and scratched her hooves on the ground.
Sea Swirl glared at him but said nothing.
“Then it's settled!” Discord snaked around them. “I'll be spending the day with you today. And just think, my new best friends were just a stone's throw away~”
“Ugh. No singing.” Sea Swirl cut him off.
“And we're not your friend.” Raindrops frowned and meant to stare at Discord, but her attention was drawn by some ducks that were floating upside-down with only their feet sticking out of the water. The feet quacked. “What the–?”
“Really now, I can do all the things that good friends do. We were skipping stones, yes? Watch this.” He snapped his clawed hand and the shale rock grew legs. It walked out onto the lake lake and started skipping and dancing. “Ten, twenty, fifty... Why yes, I do believe that I am the winner.”
“That's hardly fair. You used your magic.” Sea Swirl raised an eyebrow at the overturned ducks.
“Mui, use magic? But I was only following your example.” Discord popped an eye out and held it above her. “Hmm...”
“Hey, that's right.” Raindrops turned on Sea Swirl. “You used magic.”
“What? But that's just how I pick things up. You can't expect a cultured pony to use her mouth for everything.” Sea Swirl glanced back and forth between Raindrops and Discord's wandering eyes. A swarm of butterflies carried off a couch.
“Oh, so I'm uncouth to you, am I? I had to pick the rocks up with my mouth.” Raindrops scrunched her face and flexed her wings in irritation.
“That's not—I didn't mean–”
“Lilac coat, two-tone blue mane, dolphins cutie mark...” Discord put his eyes back in. “Let me guess? Seadrops? And you–” he pointed at the other pony “–are Rain Swirl.”
“Raindrops,” she corrected.
“And Sea Swirl.”
“And I'm Corddis. No, wait, that's not quite right. Well, I'm sure it will come to me later.” Discord pointed at Sea Swirl. His saber tooth upturned in a grin. “And we were just talking about how unfair it was to use magic.”
Sea Swirl sighed. “It was just levitation. And haven't we made a big enough deal of this already?”
“Oh hardly.” Discord skated across the pond and snatched a rock from the other side. “I have it from a very good source that honesty is the best policy and that as a good friend it behooves me to point out where ponies are lying to each other.”
“Huh?” Raindrops watched Discord in confusion. For once, he actually had four hooves. It was a fleeting effect, and his normal limbs returned with a 'pop.'
“...you wouldn't.” Sea Swirl glared at him.
“Hmm...” Discord rolled the rock on the lake. It didn't sink. “A little water-walking spell makes these things easy to skip, doesn't it?”
“What!?” Raindrops flew over and examined the rock. Her wing-beats made more ripples on the lake than the rock did. “Swirly...”
“Yes, Rainy, dear?” Sea Swirl fidgeted nervously.
“You're an ass.”
Discord howled with laughter. “Spoken like a good, true friend.” He leaned back on a lawn chair that appeared out of nowhere. It was made from actual lawn. He munched on some popcorn. “Do go on.”
Raindrops gave Discord a wary look and flew back to shore to speak to Sea Swirl privately. “Why didn't you tell me that water-walking was your special talent?” she whispered.
“It's... not.”
“Huh? Then what is?”
“…” Sea Swirl opened her mouth but didn't say anything.
Discord poked his nose in between them. He bounced it off a knee back onto his face. “You might as well tell her–” he donned a pair of sunglasses “–or I will.”
“I can find pearls, okay!” Sea Swirl growled, “You happy now?”
“What? That's amazing!” Raindrops spread her wings in delight. “Wow, I never knew.”
“Oh, that's just it, I'm afraid.” Discord pulled his sunglasses down to look eye-to-eye with Raindrops, who recoiled. “You never knew. You've been friends for how long now and she's never once bothered to mention it?”
The three of them stood there under the sun. There was no more shade now that Discord had removed the willow tree and the fluffy clouds in the sky hung around the horizon. They were avoiding the sun in the same way that healthy ponies would avoid a coughing one in a crowded elevator. Raindrops looked at Discord, who pointed his Eyes at Sea Swirl. She followed his gaze and the unicorn averted her eyes rather than look back.
“I can't say I like it, but I'm sure she had her reasons,” Raindrops said. Discord's face fell flat.
Sea Swirl perked up. “Thanks, I–”
Discord cut her off, “You'd think a pony who could find pearls would be generous with them but she hasn't ever given you one has she?”
Raindrops opened her mouth to protest, but stopped. “Hmm...” She inspected one of her wings and straightened out a twisted feather with her mouth while she thought. She had a habit of preening in contemplation. Sea Swirl groaned and covered her face with her hooves.
“No, she hasn't.” Raindrops frowned at Sea Swirl. “In fact, you've hardly ever given me anything, actually.”
“Oh my.” Discord's sunglasses morphed into a pipe and he used it to blow bubbles. His lawn chair sprouted flowers. “You'd think a pony who could find pearls could afford to spend some money on a friend.”
“That's hardly fair. Even if I can find them, freshwater pearls are still very rare.”
“And you need every spare bit you own to posh it up with those snobs in Canterlot while they all laugh at how you got your rustic country friend an old bottle cap for her last birthday, is that right?”
“What!? Why you–” Raindrops popped a vein in a sudden flash of anger.
“Hey! That bottle cap was an antique.”
“Sorry, dear.” Discord picked up a rock at random. It was a granulate pebble. “But this rock is an antique. That doesn't make it worth picking up though.” He let it fall through his lion's paw. It went 'splut' when it landed. He resumed blowing bubbles. They were cubic.
“But–” Sea Swirl looked at Raindrops, who snorted. “Why are you all picking on me, anyway?”
Raindrops exploded, “Probably because you're a–”
“Now now.” Discord hushed Raindrops with his tail to her lips. “There will be plenty of time for insults later. But she's right, you know. She's not the only guilty pony here.”
Discord removed his lawn chair and pipe from existence. The abandoned flowers floated away. Sea Swirl raised an eyebrow and looked at him expectantly while Raindrops shifted her glare to him instead. A light breeze wafted through the air. It carried with a faint scent of dirty socks.
“Oh yes.” Discord grinned. “It's my duty, as your friend, to point out potential friendship problems. So when a pony isn't being loyal the other should know about it.”
“What do you mean?” Sea Swirl asked. Raindrops gave him a nasty look.
“Those times you missed your get-togethers? Raindrops didn't forget about them like she claimed. She was hanging out with her flying pals instead.”
“You what?” Sea Swirl stomped over and looked Raindrops in the eyes. “But you always said I was your best friend.”
“Harrumph.” Raindrops turned her nose up. Sea Sriwl flattened her ears. The hostility between them was rising but it hadn't reached its boiling point yet. Discord checked it with a thermometer.
He slithered between them. “Such a cruel pony too—she always starts the rain storms hours early and lets them run way past their scheduled time slot.”
Both ponies turned their glares on him.
“Rain's not cruel,” Raindrops said.
“Yeah,” Sea Swirl agreed, “we kind of need rain. It's important.”
“But don't you think that ignoring the forecast for personal preferences is a bit misleading?”
“Not really?” Sea Swirl swished her tail. “Besides, I like the rain.”
“Ditto and, du~uh,” Raindrops said. “I think by now that ponies know that rainy days are rainy days. Besides, I don't think any pony's followed the weather forecast exactly ever since they started publishing them.” She rolled her eyes.
“Uh...” Discord backed out and Raindrops and Sea Swirl got a bit closer together. He frowned. “Well how about this: you kept dropping furniture on Twilight Sparkle. That wasn't very nice of you, now was it?”
“What? I thought you said Derpy did that.” Sea Swirl asked.
“Er... It was both our faults, really.” Raindrops nibbled at her mane. “And it was an accident.”
“Multiple times?” Discord asked. He tried to pick a cattail, but it was attached to an actual cat who hissed and swatted at him. He gave up and pointed it at Sea Swirl with his bare talon. “And some of that furniture was yours, wasn't it?”
Sea Swirl's eyes popped open. “My third-age original Griffon Winthrow mahogany grand piano!” She shook with rage. “That was YOU!?”
“That was yours?” Raindrops asked. Sea Swirl snorted. “Uh, I mean, oops?”
Discord grinned. He leaned back and stretched his limbs. When his joints popped, a faded blue nightstand appeared next to him. “Oh my, now how did that get here?” On the table was a worn book with a cyan cover that had a pink heart drawn on it.
“That's my diary!” Raindrops reached for it, but it darted away from her. A sea-blue magical aura held it in the air. She took flight and dove for it but couldn't get her hooves on it. She crashed in the mud. “Hey! Give that back!”
“Oh, I will...” Sea Swirl floated it teasingly close to Raindrops but withdrew the book when a yellow wing nearly grabbed it. “After I see how many times it will skip!”
“No! You wouldn't–” Raindrops growled. Sea Swirl grinned at her evilly. She flicked her horn and the book went flying. “No!”
As it turns out, it skipped three times. Sploosh.
Raindrop's jaw hung open as the soggy book was levitated back at her and plopped down in a messy, ruined heap beneath her muzzle. “My diary.” Her eyes welled up with tears. “It's ruined.”
“Oh my poor dear.” Discord picked her up for a brief embrace. He dropped her on a mysteriously convenient storm cloud. “Such a sorry turn of events. But why get sad when you can get even?”
Discord snapped his talons and a wardrobe appeared. It consisted of a white shirt, a purple blouse, and a matching gold-inlayed purple hat with a large pink feather. The items were lined up neatly on a rolling clothes hanger.
“That's my expensive formal dress!” Sea swirl blurted out.
“Oh, really?” Raindrops pushed her storm cloud over it.
“No, don't!” Sea Swirl dove in and pushed her clothes away. “It was praised by Fancypants himself.”
Raindrops followed, and the sky darkened above Sea Swirl again.
“Even Fleur thought it looked majestic!” Sea Swirl pushed harder, but she couldn't outrun the flying pegasus.
Raindrops jumped up and down on the cloud, drenching pony and clothing alike. “Well that's just too bad.” With a final kick, the storm let loose a lightning bolt and reduced the threads to ash.
“No...” Sea swirl sifted through the dust and pulled out a rare pink pearl that had blackened and cracked. Her eyes welled up with tears.
Discord munched on a tiny violin. “Such fun. What do you friends want to do next?”
“We're not friends!” both Sea Swirl and Raindrops yelled. Both of them locked eyes and glared at each other.
Discord grinned wildly. “Oh really? Then what are you?”
“You're a stuck up stick-head!” Raindrops pointed down at Sea Swirl and flared her wings.
“You're a washed-out featherbrain!” Sea Swirl yelled back and stomped in the mud.
“Lite-brite!”
“Quill-farm!”
“Bozon glow!”
“Cloud zit!”
“You two are so entertaining.” Discord laughed. “How about we all get together again tomorrow?”
Sea Swirl and Raindrops looked agape at the mere suggestion. “I never want to see you ever again!” they screamed together and stormed off in opposite directions. Discord pounded a fist on the ground and howled with laughter.
~~~
“Grr...” Raindrops' gloomy mood followed her indoors. Lotus Blossom used a fan to dispel the dark cloud above her head. The spa was active and several ponies occupied the beauty chairs getting mud facials, hooficures, and mane-cuts. The bath area was currently roped off while they drained the pool for cleaning. That was a shame, because Raindrops could really use a good soaking right about now and she wasn't about to go back to the lake.
“I'll just have a mud facial, then,” Raindrops said and dropped some coins on the counter.
Lotus took them and pointed at the nearest empty chair. “Vera will be with you shortly.”
Raindrops plodded over and flopped down. The silky seat was soft and comfortable as always, but she wished, just this once, for it to be lumpy and hard like her mood. Her relaxing muscles foiled her fantasy. The white spa pony, Vera, mixed up a batch of beauty musk and added a pinch to her bowl of soft, loamy clay. When she was done mixing it, she scooped the earthy substance up and slathered it in Raindrops' facial fur.
The cool substance felt good against her skin and soaked the tension out of her irritated muscles. She softened under the treatment.
“What he said is that he wanted to be our friend, but he spent the whole time showing us just how rotten we really were to each other.”
That voice...!
“Please relax,” Vera spoke in a soothing voice. “If you wrinkle your skin the treatment will be uneven.”
Raindrops cursed her luck. She'd accidentally taken a seat next to her ex-friend and not even realized it. She'd storm out, but she didn't want to waste the money she'd just spent on her mud mask. Sea Swirl was getting the mud mask treatment too so she hadn't seen Raindrops either. She was also talking about her day. Hmm... Perhaps this wasn't so bad after all. If Raindrops listened quietly she might pick up some dirt she could use to goad her ex-friend with later.
“–did you?” Aloe asked.
“Yes, it was all true! I don't know how he knew but he did.” Sea Swirl sighed. “It wasn't supposed to be a contest anyway. Then he barged in and made it one.”
“Hmm...” The spa pony's soothing voice carried over the other activity in the room. Raindrops couldn't see, but it sounded like another another couple of ponies walked in.
“It wasn't just that, of course,” Sea Swirl said. “He went through a bunch of friendship traits and showed us how we failed at all of them. Dishonest, greedy, disloyal, mean...” Sea Swirl sighed. “We were rotten to each other all along and he just pointed it out.”
“That's only four of the elements of harmony,” Aloe said.
“Hrm?”
“There are six.”
Raindrops opened her eyes in time to get them covered with cucumber slices. This... wasn't the kind of rant she'd expected. Sea Swirl sounded more repentant than angry. What happened to the hate?
“What are you saying?” Sea Swirl asked.
“There must be some reason you've been friends for so long.” Aloe trilled her voice. The padding sounds of her hooves on Sea Swirl's back echoed through the room. “So he pointed out your weak points? So what? Nopony's perfect. Why are you friends in the first place?”
“Why were we friends is more like it. I destroyed her diary. She hates my guts.”
Pouring water splashed in the mostly empty pool. Hoofsteps echoed around the room. A bluejay could be heard chirping outside.
“Well?” Aloe asked.
“She was just a lot a fun to hang out with. Don't get me wrong, I mean; I enjoy poshing it up with the others at Canterlot but they can be so bland. Raindrops might be simple and rustic compared to them but she's usually so peppy and cheerful. That rubs off on me too.”
“That sounds like the element of laughter. That's a good basis for friendship even on its own. Roll over please so I can work the knots out the muscles on your other side.”
There was a shuffling noise as Sea Swirl rolled over. Raindrops envied her; she wanted to ask for a massage too, but she resolved to remain silent for now. She didn't want her voice to be recognized. The rhythmic pounding of hooves on Sea Swirl's flank filled the room again.
“First Discord, now you... How did everypony get to be such an expert on friendship?” Sea Swirl muttered.
“Perhaps they watched cartoons?” Aloe asked. There was a pause. Raindrops would have rolled her eyes if they weren't covered in cucumber. “Nevermind,” Aloe said, “Surely by now you've come to realize that you and Raindrops aren't so horrible after all. You can still be friends, right?”
“Pah! Fat chance. She hates my guts. I destroyed her diary... That has more sentimental value than anything in the world.”
“And that dress she burnt didn't?” Aloe asked.
“...I was hoping you wouldn't bring that back up again.” Sea Swirl sniffled. “It was more than just my favorite dress. That pearl on the neck clasp was the first one I'd ever found. It was the moment I discovered my special talent and earned my cutie mark. To have that taken away... It hurts so much.”
“But?” Aloe prodded.
“But it doesn't hurt as much as losing my friend. In the end it's just stuff. I hold the real sentiment in my memories. I'd tear the dress up myself if it meant I could have my friend back.”
“Ma'am. Please don't cry. That will make your mask run and leave streaks.” That wasn't Aloe talking; it was Vera whispering in Raindrops' ears.
“No! I won't abandon you! We can still be friends!” Raindrops leapt out her chair in the general direction of Sea Swirl's voice. They crashed together and both rolled painfully on the floor.
“Raindrops? Is that really you?” They wiped off their mud masks. “It is you! I'm so happy I—wait, you were listening the whole time?”
“Uh... blame them.” Raindrops pointed at the spa ponies, who winked at her. She stuck her tongue out in response and Sea Swirl giggled. Her mirth was short lived and Raindrops frowned. “Look I'm sorry about the dress. I was upset but I still shouldn't have done it.”
Sea Swirl looked into her slightly bloodshot eyes. “You're not the one who should be sorry. I kind of deserved that really. I'm really, really sorry about the diary. If it wasn't for Discord goading me on like that–”
“You really blame Discord?” Aloe interrupted.
Sea Swirl and Raindrops disentangled themselves and stood up to look at the pink spa pony.
“I feel like I should, but I don't, actually.” Sea Swirl looked up at the ceiling. “It's weird, isn't it? It never would have happened if he hadn't shown up, but I still blame myself.” She frowned.
“We should get back at him.” Raindrops nudged Sea Swirl with a wing. “Don't get sad—get even!”
Sea Swirl grinned, briefly. She scrunched her face up in confusion. “But how? How does one 'get back at' the Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony himself? Is that even possible?”
Raindrops preened in thought. Aloe and Vera shrugged.
“Maybe Twilight would know?” Raindrops finally asked.
“I don't think so,” Aloe said. “If she did then he wouldn't tease her so much. Besides, it's Fluttershy who's friends with him.”
“Wait, what was that last bit?” Raindrops asked.
“Fluttershy's friends with Discord?”
“That's it!” Raindrops squeed.
“Huh? But Fluttershy's out of town,” Sea Swirl said.
“Nevermind that.” Raindrops flexed a wing dismissively. “I've got the perfect plan. You see...”
~~~
Raindrops looked at her reflection in the water. She grinned back at it. With a flick of her neck she spat her rock out and watched as it sailed through the air at a weird angle. It bounced off lake once, twice, and the third time it landed it rolled in a circle and came to rest on top of the water.
Raindrops looked up at the pink cloud above her and yelled, “You're right! That is so much easier to do when the stone floats!”
“Huh?” Discord looked down from his cloud and appeared next to her. “You're... happy? ...what?”
“I knew you'd agree.” Sea Swirl walked up behind him, grinning.
“But... you–” he pointed at Sea Swirl “–and you–” he pointed at Raindrops “–and you–” he pointed at the rock “–you all hated each other! How...?”
“We had some time to think,” Raindrops said.
“And you were right,” Sea Swirl added.
The rock rocked.
“We were rotten to each other,” Sea Swirl said. “But we put those things aside for the sake of our friendship.”
“You were really helping us all along.”
“I... was?” Discord darted his eyes back and forth. They got bigger as Sea Swirl and Raindrops circled around him and approached each other.
“Yes.” Sea Swirl smiled at Raindrops and then looked up at Discord. “You taught us a lot about our friendship that we never would have known without your help. We can be better friends then ever now. We'd like to thank you.”
“You... what?”
“You said you wanted to be our friend, right?” Raindrops looked up at him too.
“Yes, I did. Didn't I?”
“We agree–” they said together.
“You... do?”
“–But!” Sea Swirl levitated a soggy book and a pile of ashes. “Only if you show your friendship by fixing our stuff.”
Raindrops nodded. “We've learned our lesson. A good friend would honestly see that.”
Sea Swirl sat down and put a hoof to her heart. “A good friend would find the kindness in his heart to repair the damage he helped cause. A good friend could be generous and spare a little bit of his magic to set things right.”
Raindrops sat down as well. “A good friend would find the, uh... loyalty... something.” Discord snickered, then blinked.
“We still have more to learn, it seems.” Sea Swirl rolled her eyes.
“And you can help us... as a friend,” Raindrops said.
“IF, you do this one little thing for us.” Sea Swirl looked up at Discord with two big, round eyes. “Please, Discord?”
“Please? It'd only take a snap.” Raindrops looked up at him with her two big, round eyes as well. Together four big, round pleading eyes looked up at him. “We'd be your bestest friends forever.”
“Gah, fine!” Discord snapped his lion's paw and their personal effects resumed their original states.
“Yay!” The ponies rushed forwards to hug him.
Discoed glared. “But don't you think for one moment that I'm happy about this!” He was lying. He was filled to the brink. A tear ran down his cheek. His inner happiness was leaking out.
