Chaos in Equestria Book Two: Tabula Rasa

  Fluttershy hid in the leaves of a tall tree. She was shaking at the sight of what was hovering above her. At first, she thought it was a dragon. That was bad enough, but what was flying above her was much worse than any dragon. THUD! Discord landed on the ground and looked up at the tree. "I can see your tail, Fluttershy!" He called. Fluttershy pulled her tail deeper into the tree. He chuckled and flew up toward the branches. "Come out, come out, Futtersh..."

  "HEY DISCORD!" Rainbow Dash's voice interrupted. Discord turned to see her flying above him. "Who's got four hoofs and the best timing in Equestria?" She waited for a response. "C'mon, humor me a little," she pleaded. Discord remained silent. Rainbow Dash grunted, "It's me, okay? I'm the one with four hoofs and the best timing in Equestria. See, now you've ruined it." She flew closer to Discord. “I don’t suppose you’ll tell us what you want in the Everfree Forest.”

  “Oh, if only I knew.”

  “Huh?”

  “You heard me.” Discord yawned, “I have absolutely no idea where I am or what I’m doing.” He leaned back and draped his left arm over his forehead for dramatic effect. “Alas, I am aimlessly wondering Equestria in search of a purpose in life...”

  Rainbow Dash stared at him for a moment. “I’ll put this simply for you. You go away, and never show up again, or you’ll spend some more time as a rock?”

  Discord faked a look of fear. “Oh no! I’m so scared, Rainbow Dash! Please don’t hurt me!”

  “Don’t mock me!”

  Discord sighed, "Fine, I didn't want to have any fun here anyway. I have something very important to do, so if you would excuse me..." Rain poured on Discord from a dark cloud that Rainbow dash was stomping on. "How very mature of you Rainbow Dash," he snarled. He shook himself dry, droplets of rain water sprayed on the tree's leaves. “Now, I’m sure you have someplace better to be, as do I.” He lowered to the ground. “So I’m going to have to insist that we part ways for now.” He turned around and casually strolled off in the distance.

  Fluttershy peeked out of the tree. “Um... shouldn’t we go after him, Rainbow Dash?”

  Rainbow Dash shrugged, “Why bother? He clearly has no idea what he’s doing. Besides, we need to go get Pinkie Pie and go back to Canterlot as soon as we can. Celestia has some sort of plan.”

  “But, what about Flim and Flam... and Trixie and Gilda? Is Twilight okay?”

  “She’s fine.”

  “How?”

  “Long story.”

  “How did Discord get freed again?”

  “Longer story.”

  “I don’t mind...”

  “I’ll tell you on way. We need to get going.”

  “Oh, okay then.”

  Rover, Spot and Fido sat on a broken log, doing nothing in particular. Two other diamond dogs were fighting over a gemstone in a clearing.

  Spot bumped Rover on the shoulder. “Should we stop them?” He asked.

  “Why bother?” Rover replied, rubbing his head, “They never listen. I tell them to find more jewels, but they never listen!” He hit the log. Some of the wood splintered underneath his fist. “See what you made me do!”

  “Sorry boss.”

  Discords voice sounded from the threes, “Having trouble boys?” He was leaning against a tree, eating an apple. The dogs couldn’t make out any details about how he looked because of the shadows that surrounded him. He threw an apple at Rover’s paws.

  Rover stood up and inspected the apple. “There are no apple trees here! Where did you get that?” he demanded.

  Discord took a large bite into his apple, eating a few seeds with it. “I found them,” he stated, “But, apples aren’t really important, are they? What is important?” He grinned. “What do you live for?”

  “Diamonds.”

  Discord bit into his apple again. “Just Diamonds?”

  Rover corrected himself, “No, we want them all! Opals, sapphires, rubies, emeralds, all the jewels in Equestria!”

  “Do you have them?”

  Rover looked back at the two dogs who were fighting over the gem. One of them had it tight to his chest wad was trying to ward the other off with his free paw. Rover sighed, “No.”

  “Then, it looks like you have a real problem.” He dropped his apple and stepped out of the shadows. “And I think I can help.”

  Rover stumbled back and tripped over the broken log. He got back up, grabbed Spot and shook him frantically. “What is that? WHAT IS THAT?” he yelled.

  Spot broke his grip. "I don't know, okay?"

  Discord fell to his back and rolled around in laughter. “You should see the looks on your faces! Priceless!” He wiped a tear from his eyes. “You act like you’ve never seen a draconequus before.”

  Spot scratched his head. “We haven’t.”

  Discord turned around and started to leave. “Well, It was nice meeting you, but you don’t need me. I’ll just take my unlimited gems elsewhere...”

  Rover dived at his feet. “WAIT!” he cried, “We do need you! We will do anything you ask!”

  Discord smiled. “Say please.”

  “PLEASE!” Rover yelled desperately.

  Discord rolled his eyes. “Okay then. They’re yours!”

  Rover jumped for joy. “Oh, thank you, thank you!”

  “But, I can’t give them to you, now.”

  Rover stopped jumping for joy. “Huh?”

  “Oh, I would give them to you if I could, but I can’t. I seem to be powerless.”

  “We could help you get your powers back!” Rover offered.

  Discord grinned, “What a good idea! I was going to suggest that we throw a party and forget about our troubles in life, but that is a much better plan! So, how many in your pack?”

  “Including us... err...” Rover counted with his fingers. “Forty.”

  Discord rubbed his chin and did some mental math. “That should be enough...”

  “Enough for what?”

  Discord laughed, “Have you ever been to Canterlot? I hear it’s nice this time of year.”