The Garden

The train's whistle blew as the fillies and colts from Ponyville elementary stepped on. The sun had just risen; causing a nice, orange glow to sweep across Ponyville.

"I can't believe it! We're going to the Canterlot Gardens!" Flora remarked to her friends as she jumped up and down excitedly.

"It's very nice there. Though, there is a statue that freaks me out whenever I go. I almost feel like it's... trying to control me or something," Sun Catcher recalled as Flora laughed.

"Silly filly! Statues are made out of stone! It's not like they're living breathing creatures!" Flora responded as she bounced on the train.

Over the last few months, the five friends had become even closer. They were also teased by Astral and Mythic almost every day as well. It was strange to go one day without one of them getting teased about an insecurity. After about five days though, they weren't truly offended by the bullys' insults. They just ignored them, which was the best thing to do, since the two walked away once they noticed they were being ignored.

The train soon took off, and they saw Ponyville go by in a small blur.

"Oh my gosh!" Aqua Flash remarked, getting a huge smile.

"What?" Rain Kicker asked.

"You guys know that Hearth's Warming is coming up soon, right?"

Flora smiled brightly. "Oh, yeah! Ooh! We should all go sledding together when it snows!"

"I have a great hill behind my house!" Star Chaser added on.

Aqua nodded. "We should do that! But I was going to suggest doing a Hearth's Warming party at my house!"

Rain nodded. "We should! But... it's a month till Hearth's Warming!"

"But winter break is in two weeks! That means that we could all head to my house right after school!"

"Yeah! That would be a great way to start break!" Sun Catcher responded.

The train's whistle then blew again.

"Alright, class! We're here in Canterlot! Follow behind me in a single-file line, and make sure to have a nice posture! Believe it or not, it's very important in Canterlot to walk along the street looking elegant," Play Write remarked.

Star Chaser poked Sun Catcher in the back.

"Yes?"

"How do we walk with a nice posture?"

"Well... like this!" Sun Catcher responded as he held his head up, and kept an even distance between his feet.

"Yeah... I'm not doing that," Rain remarked.

"I agree. It seems challenging to watch out for things. I would honestly never get used to that," Star Chaser responded.

Sun nodded. "I understand. Well, my parents had me doing this since I was very young. So, I'm used to the walk."

"I can probably do it!" Aqua remarked as she held her head high. She only stepped forward a few steps before running into Flora.

"Oof!" Flora exclaimed as her friend ran into her.

"Hehe... sorry. I guess I wasn't born to be a Canterlot citizen." Aqua responded as she nervously rubbed the back of her neck.

"Well, here we are! The Canterlot Gardens!" Play Write announced as many ooh's and ah's were heard from the crowd. The class filed in as Astral Thunder harshly poked Aqua in the back.

"You know what's common about both you and the statues here?" He asked as Mythic Comet laughed.

"What? That we're both interesting?" Aqua responded, raising an eyebrow.

"Nope." Astral then snickered a little. "Neither you or the statues have cutie marks!"

Aqua turned her head away, ignoring Astral. "Look at that!" She remarked, showing her friends a cool looking statue.

"Oh, we'll get to that one soon. Right now, we're going to look at the shrubberies! That's how school tours are always started!" Play Write responded.

"Oh, man!" Aqua silently remarked as she followed the rest of the class.

"What? Do you not like plants or something?" Flora asked.

"No, I love flowers and all that! I just want to learn more about that statue," Aqua responded, pointing towards a tall statue. As soon as Sun Catcher looked at it, a shiver went down his spine.

"Uh... let's go!" Sun remarked, turning his head away from the strange statue.

"What's gotten into him?" Rain asked as she looked at the statue again. "I want to go touch it."

"Rain, don't! You'll get in trouble!" Star Chaser responded as Rain raised an eyebrow.

"They won't even notice I'm gone. It'll only be a second."

Rain then took off towards the statue and placed a hoof on it for a few seconds. She then flew back as fast as she could. Luckily, Play Write didn't notice her short disappearance.

Sun looked at her with wide eyes. "Did you feel anything?"

Rain cocked her head. "What do you mean?"

"When you touched that statue!"

Rain thought for a moment. "I thought I felt a small vibration and felt a small warmth, but that was it."

Sun Catcher nodded.

"Alright, class! Gather round!" Play Write remarked as the students looked at a huge, green shrubbery shaped like a pony.

Sun Catcher felt his knees shaking.

"Why are you so nervous? Lighten up! It's just stone!" Flora exclaimed as Sun looked over at her.

"I feel like it's trying to control me. I can't explain it; but it does."

"Alright, my little ponies! Can anypony guess what this represents?" Play Write asked, pointing her hoof at the tall statue Rain had touched. It was a weird mix of all different kinds of animals: it had a pony face with a beard and fang, and long, slender body, a bat and Pegasus wing, a goat and lizard leg, and a snake tail.

"It's so... chaotic!" One of the students said as Play Write nodded her head.

"Yes! This, my students, is Discord: the Spirit of Chaos."

"Wow. It's so weird!" Mythic said as everypony else nodded in agreement.

"Yes, it is very strange."

Suddenly, Sun felt a strong, mind-controlling power.

"Almost as strange as you!" Sun remarked, glancing over at Play Write.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me! You're weird thinking Discord is powerless, and just a bundle of weird things. No, years to come, you will be scared of Discord!"

Play Write looked offended. "Sun Catcher! What has gotten into you?"

Flora then started to shake Sun. "Think about what you're saying!"

Sun Catcher soon felt the strange power leave him, and saw everypony looking at him strangely. He took Flora's shaking hooves off of his shoulder as he looked around, confused.

"See? He is a snob!" Astral remarked, causing laughs from some others.

"What did I do?" Sun asked, looking around.

"You just called Miss Play Write weirder than Discord, and said that we would all be scared of Discord in years to come!" One of the fillies responded as Sun looked back at the statue.

"I think I was mind controlled. It felt like something... overtook my body. I did not, and will never, say those things on my own will. I know none of you will believe me, but whenever I'm around this statue, it feels like it's trying to control me."

Play Write raised an eyebrow. "Okay... well, I'll still like to have a talk with your parents after school." Play Write then looked over at the rest of her students. "Ready to go, class? We have finished our tour!"

"Yep!" The class chorused. They all followed Play Write into the streets of Canterlot as Sun Catcher hung his head low.

"But it wasn't me..." he grumbled in a low voice as he followed the group.