“…Starlight, believe me, if you can apply yourself enough to rewrite a Starswirl the Bearded advanced temporal magic spell all on your own, you can handle the reading and homework I’ve assigned you without a problem.” Twilight Sparkle smiled at her new pupil as the two mares walked side-by-side down the main street of Ponyville on a sunny afternoon just days following the time-travelling incident. “I have faith in your abilities to control your magic and to find the best way to use it for the good of everyone,” Twilight added with a nod.
Starlight Glimmer gave a half smile and a shrug (and eyed with slight unease the tall pile of books currently stacked on a saddle on her back and being held up by her magical aura). “I appreciate the confidence, Twilight. It’s just that all of this work is a lot to take in at once.” She looked to her mentor and raised an eyebrow. “Twilight, are you sure I’m as advanced at magic as you say?” She glanced down. “When I was little and saw how advanced Sunburst was at magic, I just figured that was how all unicorns were. And I made myself train so hard all these years to make sure that I was at least at the level of everypony else so that it wouldn’t be easy for anyone to come along and stop my plans for equality.”
“Starlight…” Twilight stopped walking and put a hoof on her shoulder, causing Starlight to pause. Twilight’s eyes were hazed in warmth, and her voice was soft. “I’m the Element of Magic, so believe me when I say this: you have a special gift for magic. Studying on my own, I don’t think even I could have reached the level you’re at now. And you’ll do something great with your magic one day, Starlight, trust me. You just have to wait for your time to shine.” Twilight lowered her hoof, and smiled and shrugged.
Starlight smiled and nodded to her. “Thanks, Twilight. I think I might be able to do something great too in the future.” She took a deep breath and held her head high. “I can handle these books and your homework, no problem. Nothing’s going to stop me now!” She grinned and closed her eyes!
And then in a burst of magic, Starlight suddenly disappeared, leaving nothing but a pile of books in her wake that toppled to the dusty ground below!
Twilight remained smiling for a second longer until her eyes bugged out and she jumped up! “Starlight?! Starlight, where are you??” The friendship princesses looked around, then raised her wings. “I know that wasn’t your magic that did that. I just hope you disappearing isn’t some after-effect of the time travel spell. Don’t worry though, I’ll find you!” Twilight flew upward with a determined look…but then flew back down, magically stacked the pile of books on the ground neatly, and them flew up again to search for her new friend!
Meanwhile, in the Friendship Castle Throne room…shenanigans were about to abound. Rather chaotic shenanigans, as a matter of fact.
Starlight Glimmer appeared upside down in the air, coughing from the smoke of the magical poof that had brought her here. She opened her eyes, realized her position, and… “Ahh!” instantly plummeted toward the floor, though at the last minute she caught herself with her magic and came to land on all four hooves. Starlight glanced around with a glare. “Hey, what gives?!”
“Ooo, this one has attitude. This chaotic event is turning out fun already! Ha!”
Starlight jumped and turned around to see none other than…Discord floating in the air behind her!
“Discord, the chaos master!” Starlight made her horn glow and scowled more. “Just what’s the big idea?” Her eyes narrowed.
Discord just chuckled some more and held up his hands. “Oh relax, relax, you know I’m reformed—at least in this timeline.” His eyes narrowed now, and he leaned in closer. “By the way, no more time travelling for you, or at least no more of it unsupervised. You can come with me to time travel sometimes if it really means that much to you and you promise to behave, but no messing with major historical turning points. I like the way my life’s turned out, and I’d like to keep it that way. Do you understand?”
Starlight remained glaring at him for a moment longer…but then blinked and let her horn’s magic fade. “You time travel?”
Discord shrugged and smiled normally again as he reclined back in the air and flew backwards around her. “I do anything I want. I just know how to keep the cosmos in tact while doing it. But, for once, enough about me…. It’s time to talk about us.”
Starlight raised an eyebrow as Discord continued to float around her slowly. “Us? What do you mean?”
“What do I mean?” Discord landed before her with a big grin on his features. “I mean…welcome, newest member of the newly formed, super secret Organization of Reformed Evil Villains! OOREV!” And then he snapped and made bright red jackets bearing patches saying ‘OOREV!’ appear on himself and Starlight, and a flag reading ‘OOREV’ appear in his paw for him to wave.
“Uh…what?” Starlight glanced down at the jacket with an eyebrow raised and her nose wrinkled. She slipped off the garment as Discord went on.
“A Reformed Villains Club!” Discord snapped and made himself appear beside her with his arm around her and his other hand held up in the air. “When I heard you were all cured of your selfish, nearly Equestria-destroying ways and that you were ready to use your magic for good instead of evil, I realized something—all of us new upstanding members of society need to stick together! We’re the same! Get it? The same, miss ‘equals sign for a cutie mark’! Ha!” He laughed. “And what better way to celebrate that sameness than to have a secret group together where we can bond and learn from each other and grow as friends! And you’re the first member I picked!” He pointed right at her nose. “Isn’t that exciting?”
Starlight just stood there with wide eyes for a moment. Then she sighed and brought a hoof to her temple. “Oh sweet Celestia, you’re serious, aren’t you?”
“As serious as they come!” Discord laughed then snapped, and suddenly his jacket was gone and he was wearing a crown and had a Discord scepter in one hand while he balanced on a unicycle. “By the by, however much I’m not a fan of the reckless time travel, I loved that bit Twilight mentioned with me chasing around Celestia and Luna like this, I’ll really have to try it next April Fool’s Day. Maybe I’ll make those two pony sisters think they really are in a timeline where evil me won. It could be quite fun, now that I think about it.” He laughed as he snapped everything away. “And speaking of Celestia and Luna…okay, well, just speaking of Luna…” Discord snapped again.
There was a puff of smoke, and suddenly Luna appeared hovering in the air…as she snored away with a sleep mask on her face!
Discord blinked then stifled a laugh. “Yikes, if she was snoring like that on the moon I’m surprised we didn’t end up with earthquakes down here!” He laughed aloud.
Luna gasped at the sound and suddenly sat up. “Who goes there?” She used her magic to make the sleep mask disappear, and her eyes darted around. “It cannot be time for moonrise yet. And how did I get—” And then her eyes fell on the cheeky chaos master across the room giving her a wave. “Discord!” She flew at him and landed before him. “Where am I, and what do you think you are doing?”
“Initiation ceremony!” Discord announced with a proud grin. “We are starting a secret club! The Organization of Reformed Evil Villains! OOREV!” He snapped and made a bunch of random items appear on her back. “Here’s your jacket, your welcome pamphlet, some stickers, a pendant flag, membership card….”
Luna just sighed and brought a hoof to her forehead. “It is too late in the day for this.” She used her magic to make the items disappear. Then the moon princess took a deep breath and tried to address the chaos master in a more level tone. “Discord, what in the world are you talking about?” She blinked and now noticed the pale purple pony also in the room. “And is this Starlight Glimmer, Twilight Sparkle’s new pupil?”
Starlight approached and gave Luna a bow of her head. “Hello Princess Luna, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” Her look went dry as she explained with an eyebrow raised, “I think Discord’s decided that since we’ve all had a checkered past, we should all ban together about it.”
“You’ve got it!” Discord snapped to make himself suddenly appear between the two mares. He pulled them both close in a big group hug, an arm around each of them. “And just wait until you see the rest of the line-up I’ve chosen. Oh, we are going to have so much fun! As your club president, I insist!”
“Club president?!?!” Luna and Starlight both announced with glares as they pulled away from him a little.
Discord only chuckled and kept a hold of them both as best he could. “Well, of course—I am the founder after all!”
“But I thought you said we were all the same?” Starlight raised an eyebrow.
Discord leaned down toward her. “I said we had the same backgrounds, but the club still needs a leader of course!”
“And why should that be you?” Luna shot back. “If anything, I have more leadership experience.”
Discord turned to her and held his head high. “Because when the club was just me, we took a vote on who should be president, and surprise, surprise, I won!” He chuckled as Luna rolled her eyes and scowled more. Discord looked forward. “But now enough about me once again—let’s meet our next happy little member. You know her as Celestia’s former student, you remember her caper of stealing a certain crown, you’ve gotta love the fact that she’s now Twilight’s super special pen pal buddy—let’s give a big interdimensional welcome to Sunset Shimmer!” Discord leaned down quickly between the two mares and whispered. “This magic is going to be a stretch even for me, but watch me make it look so much easier than it is!” Then he let them go, raised his head, concentrated, made Twilight’s magical book connected to the mirror float before him, snapped his tail, and…
In a puff of particularly thick smoke that soon dissipated, Sunset Shimmer (as a pony) was suddenly thrown out of the book. She stood there, blinking and coughing.
“Wh-What in the…Ah!” She looked down at her hooves, her eyes wide. “I’m a pony! Why am I pony?! Where am I that I’m a pony, I—” She looked forward and blinked at the sight of Discord, Luna, and Starlight all standing before her.
Discord just waved at Sunset with the same big, cheeky grin he had used for all of the club members so far. “Hello there, Sunset Shimmer, and welcome back to Equestria! And boy, do I have a proposition for you!”
Sunset was very quiet (her jaw having fallen open). But then she smiled and let out a sigh. “Oh thank Celestia, I’m just dreaming. I mean, it’s not the best thing because clearly I just fell asleep in the middle of class but still—just nice safe dreaming. I’ll really have to write Twilight about this one.” She laughed and shook her head.
Luna sighed, her look dry. “As Princess of the Night, I can assure you that you are indeed not dreaming, Sunset Shimmer.” She turned her head to the chaos master. “And Discord, as a magical ruler of Equestria, I can assure you that you have just broken at least six rules of pan-dimensional magical travel theory not to mention a few of laws of physics and probably at least a couple of laws of equine biology bringing her here like this.”
“Oh, details, details!” Discord just waved off the princess of the night. “The point is the gang’s really coming together, isn’t it?” He grinned and clenched his fists in excitement.
Starlight just rolled her eyes and trotted toward him. “Discord, this is not gang, this is a group of people that you technically kidnapped. And with this erratic and irresponsible behavior, I think you might be even more out of your mind now than you were in that future with the unicycle and the princesses in clown costumes and you dressed up in the king’s crown and ermine cloak!”
“Wait, in that future you actually made us dress in clown costumes while you chased my sister and I!? While you wore a crown?” Luna glared at the chaos master and flew forward.
Discord gulped and held up his hands with a sheepish grin. “Hey, I am not responsible for the activities of alternate timeline me!”
“Wow, this is a really crazy dream.” Sunset raised an eyebrow at all of them and smiled more. “And meanwhile I’m really good at coming up with creative personalities for two ponies and a draconequus that I’ve never even met in this world.”
Discord chuckled and snapped himself beside Sunset to grin down at her. “You really think you’re dreaming, don’t you? Oh this is too funny—please go on with the delusion.”
Sunset eyed him but then shook her head and smiled. “Of course I’m dreaming. I couldn’t actually be here. But since I am though, maybe it’s good practice for getting used to being around ponies again and getting some awkwardness out of my system just in case I do decide to come back permanently. Here I can say whatever I want without any consequences. For example,” she turned to Luna, “Princess Luna, it’s excellent to have you back in Equestria. I read about your history in Starswirl’s old journals, and you’re an amazing pony. I really can’t believe you’d ever get jealous over your sister, especially since Celestia can be so stuffy sometimes. But at least the moon banishment stuff is water under the bridge now. I’ve always wanted to see one of your nights in Equestria, you know.”
Luna blinked. “I…well…jealousy is complicated and…really?” She smiled and tilted her head to the side. “You’ve always wanted to see one of my nights? Well, how kind of you to say, Sunset.”
Sunset beamed and nodded. “You’re welcome.” Then she glanced to Starlight. “And I’m not sure who you’re supposed to be a pony version of—maybe that awful Finch lady, the principal at Crystal Prep?” She raised an eyebrow.
Starlight scoffed and scowled. “Hardly! I’m Starlight Glimmer, I’m Twilight Sparkle’s new pupil!” She gestured to herself with her hoof.
Sunset blinked and then chuckled softly. “Oh, I get it—I’m projecting my inadequacies as a former student into this dream. You’re some kind of representation of me. Okay, fair enough.” She turned back toward Discord.
Discord, meanwhile, was just contorting in the air with laughter at this little display! He wiped a tear from his eye and managed to speak again. “Okay, okay, this is great, but I really want to bring in the next member of our little group now, so let’s put a hold on the hilarious misunderstandings for a moment.” He held up his fingers.
But just before the confident and smug Discord could complete his snap, Sunset casually said one more thing, “Hey, Discord, how likely do you think it is that part of the reason Celestia wanted to reform you is that she thinks you’re cute?”
Discord’s eyes popped open wide as his snap finished with a flash of magic none other than…the Great and Powerful Trixie appeared!
The blue pony coughed a few times and blinked. “Wh…Where am I? I was just putting on a magic show at a birthday party in Manehatten.” She glanced around.
No one answered her.
Meanwhile, Starlight Glimmer looked to Sunset with her jaw dropped. “Oh, wow…are you serious? Discord and Celestia…”
“What?!” The largest scoff possible left the master of chaos suddenly. He crossed his arms over his chest, half smiling in his surprise. “Sunset, that’s ridiculous! That’s so ridiculous that there’s no word to describe how…ridiculous it is!” Discord finally sputtered, his features contorting into a look of unparalleled confusion. “Celestia—please! Okay, that preposterous rumor does not leave this room. I’m marking it as official secret club secret business!” Discord pouted as he flew between Sunset and Starlight. “And funny joke, Sunset, ha ha. The ‘I’m dreaming’ bit is officially getting old by the way. You can ‘put it to bed now’ as it were.”
Luna just sighed deeply and tried not to laugh. “Oh no, Discord, let us discuss this matter further. In fact, perhaps I should summon Celestia here and we can all—”
“No, no, no!” Discord quickly announced with a blink. He cleared his throat and added, holding his head high, “I mean, it just wouldn’t do to have her here. I’m the only one who can summon people, I’m the president and that’s the rule. And the only ones being summoned here are reformed villains—no goodie-goodies allowed!”
Sunset grinned and leaned closer to Starlight. “Celestia used to tell me all about Discord’s antics in the past, and she’d start out trying to sound serious but she’d always end up smiling and laughing at the end and talking about how Discord was the most interesting villain she’d ever met.”
Discord raised an eyebrow and glanced down at her out of the corner of his eye (and he was blushing slightly now).
Starlight just grinned and narrowed her eyes at Sunset. “Oh this is too rich…”
“Celestia does not think I’m cute!” Discord rolled his eyes as he flew between them.
Starlight grinned and narrowed her eyes. “Oh, he’s even more cute when he’s shy.”
“Don’t let Celestia hear you say that or she might get jealous.” Sunset laughed softly.
Discord held up a finger and opened his mouth with a fresh scowl to reply, when suddenly Trixie gave an exasperated sigh. “Ugh,” the blue mare rolled her eyes from her place still at the center of the throne room, “I simply don’t have time for this. I don’t know what’s going on here, but farewell!” And then she used her magic to zap herself away.
Discord blinked and flew back over to where she had been. He chuckled and shook his head as the focus of his attention returned to being the latest addition to his club. “Oh, no, no, we can’t have that.” He snapped, and suddenly Trixie was back in another puff of smoke.
“Hey!” Trixie glared at him.
“Now then, no more sneaking off, Miss Great and Powerful!” Discord’s cheeky smile of welcome was back. “Besides, I have a proposition for you. We are starting a new exclusive, secret club for former bad guys. The Organization of Reformed Evil Villains—OOREV!” He snapped to make a jacket and some posters and confetti appear over Trixie. “Here’s your welcome package! We’re all reformed bad guys just like you!” Discord gestured around the room. “Luna you know formerly as Nightmare Moon of course, Sunset was Celestia’s first student who betrayed her and nearly destroyed two dimensions, Starlight almost broke all of space time, and moi nearly sent the world into total chaos twice!” He grinned. “And of course you…you, er…” He raised an eyebrow. “You did do something villain worthy, right?”
Trixie scowled and scoffed. “Uh, I only acquired the alicorn amulet and used its power to take over Ponyville as my own dictatorship.”
Discord shrugged. “Fair enough. We’ll let you squeak by.” He chuckled.
Trixie let the welcome package items drop off of her back to the floor. “Discord, there is no way I’m joining your club. The great and powerful Trixie has much better things to do as she learns to become the wise and modest Trixie!” She nodded, and then magicked herself away again with a smirk and a wave.
Discord snapped her back.
Trixie tried again.
Discord snapped her back again.
Infuriated, Trixie tried one more time.
And one more time Discord snapped her back with ease.
Finally the chaos master reclined back in the air and yawned. “We could be at this all day, Trixie, so maybe it’s better to just hear me out about the club, hmm?”
Trixie sighed with a pout but finally nodded. “Very well, Discord. But I hope Twilight comes home soon. She’ll fix you good for this,” she added with a glare.
“Oh, she’ll do nothing of the kind! I’m just socializing, after all.” Discord shrugged and smiled, then clapped his paw and claw together. “Now then, I think we have all the potential guests, so that means it’s just about time to get the meeting started!”
Sunset moved closer and smiled up at him. “Discord, this really has been great, and I’d love to see how this dream plays out, but I think I should wake up now. I’m going to get detention if I get caught sleeping in class.”
Trixie raised an eyebrow.
Starlight moved toward the blue mare and leaned in close to explain. “She’s from another dimension and thinks she’s just dreaming being here.”
Trixie’s eyes went wide.
Sunset cleared her throat. “Oh before I go though, as long as this is a dream…” she turned to Trixie, “I’ve gotta say, I’m really impressed with myself for imagining such an excellent pony persona of my world’s version of you. The Canterlot High you can be a little selfish, but you always have style and skills, and I respect that.”
“Uh…thanks?” Trixie raised an eyebrow, trying not to smile too much.
Sunset smiled and nodded, then looked to the others. “Starlight, love the hair, Luna, especially love the hair—my world’s you doesn’t get the whole star-scape thing. And Discord, you’re a riot, really, and if you’re as comical in real life as you’ve been in this dream, then I’m glad Celestia finally decided to stop glancing down at your statue from her tower window and let you out to be free.” She laughed.
Discord just rolled his eyes with a chuckle, but then he blinked and raised an eyebrow. “Wait, she would actually look at my statue?”
Sunset nodded. “Oh yeah, and sometimes she would smile like she was remembering a joke you had made once that she found funny or something.” She rolled her eyes. “Lucky for me this is a dream though—she’d kill me if I ever really told you any of these things.”
Discord blinked a couple of times, pouted again, and then just shook his head and grinned in a very mischievous way.
Meanwhile, Sunset smiled at the crowd and waved her hoof. “Well, anyway, bye, everypony! Maybe I’ll have another dream like this one soon so I can see you all again.” And then she closed her eyes and just stood there.
Nothing happened…more nothing happened…still nothing.
Finally Luna sighed. “Sunset, you are really not dreaming. Let me show you.” The moon princess approached and touched Sunset. Suddenly the eyes of both mares glowed cerulean for a moment. When the glowing stopped, Luna stepped back and Sunset just stood there with very wide eyes.
Discord grinned and his eyes narrowed. “Oh this should be good in three…two…one…”
“Oh sweet Celestia, I’m actually in Equestria!” Sunset jumped into the air and then proceeded to panic complete with dashing around and flailing and talking rather rapidly. “This can’t happen though. I’m not allowed to be in Equestria! I was technically banished! Or I banished myself, but still I think I at least need to ask for Celestia’s permission before I just waltz back in here! Do you have any idea what you’ve done, Discord!? Oh boy…Oh boy…And if things are bad here, I can’t imagine how bad they’ll be back at Canterlot…High.” Sunset’s eyes flew open perfectly wide again! “I was in a math test before I came here, Discord, A MATH TEST!” She zipped up to the chaos master and shoved her face into his with a glare. “Do you have any idea what this is going to do to my grades?! And I can’t get any more free passes on magical stuff unless it’s an emergency—Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna said so! So there had better be something here that needs saving!” Her eyes narrowed.
Luna scoffed and quietly added, “Vice principal Luna? Really? Even in another dimension. I’d be more annoyed if I wasn’t so tired.” She brought a hoof to her mouth and yawned, but then had to smile a little and raise an eyebrow. “Meanwhile though, I am starting not to regret Discord dragging us here. This is beginning to become rather entertaining.”
Trixie and Starlight smiled and nodded. Then the two mares glanced at each other.
Starlight smiled more and held out her hoof. “Starlight Glimmer. Former cutie mark stealer and leader of a small dictatorship.”
Trixie smiled more as well and held out her hoof to shake. “Trixie Lulamoon. Former ruler of Ponyville and magical show off.”
“Nice to meet you.” Starlight nodded.
“Trixie agrees that it’s nice to meet you as well.” Trixie nodded too.
“Discord, so help me…” Meanwhile, Sunset’s horn glowed with yellow light and pale green sparks as she thrust it right at the chaos master’s neck
Discord finally sighed and waved her off. “Oh calm down, Sunset, I’ll send you back soon if that’s what you really want.” He grinned. “By the way though, now that you know this is real, thanks for letting me know that Celestia gets all giggly around dashing male villains. I’m looking forward to the teasing and blackmail already.”
Sunset’s horn glowed more but then she just sighed and brought a hoof to her forehead. “This is it—I’m going to get officially banished from Equestria. Like the bad kind of banished. I’m going to end up stuck in high school for the rest of my life.” Her eyes flew open wide. “I’ll be like the Sirens!”
“The Sirens?” Starlight raised an eyebrow. “You mean the magical singing equines Starswirl banished almost a thousand moons ago?”
“Singing?” Trixie grinned and brought a hoof to her chest. “Oh please, singing shouldn’t be used for evil, it should be used for entertainment. You know, the modest and wise Trixie has been known to carry a tune.” She held her head high
Luna yawned and glanced to Discord. “You’re truly doing an excellent job as president so far, Discord. If you were going for a chaotic effect, this is the most unproductive pandemonium I’ve ever seen at an organized event, just so you know. And I’m counting the spectacle you and Smooze made at the gala this year.”
Discord raised an eyebrow at her and then looked up in thought. “Is that a compliment?”
Suddenly Sunset zipped up to Luna, looking the moon princess right in her (now wide) eyes. “Princess Luna, please don’t tell Celestia what I said about her and Discord, or what I said about her being stuffy, and please don’t tell her I was here. She…it…I…things between us ended really awkwardly, heh…” She rubbed the back of her neck with her hoof and looked down.
Luna smiled and stepped back, an eyebrow raised. “You think things ended awkwardly for you? I destroyed our entire castle before I popped off to be banished. Do not worry, Sunset Shimmer, your secret is safe with me.” She nodded to the frightened unicorn.
Sunset smiled and let out a deep sigh. “Thank you, Princess Luna.” She bowed.
Luna chuckled. “As long as we’re on the subject though, I know what you mean—Celestia finds Discord far too humorous.”
“Oh please, I can be more humorous than Discord!” Trixie announced. “Comedy is another specialty of mine.” She held out her hoof to admire it.
Starlight considered and nodded. “You know, the only other time I saw Discord in action, all the comedy was about oranges and peanut butter and something with a snake. It was a lot more confusing than it was entertaining.” Starlight half smiled as she shrugged and added, “Still though, maybe Celestia’s closer to the target audience for his style of comedy somehow.”
And at this point, Discord couldn’t take it anymore. He snapped and made two cymbals appear which he clashed together, sending a shock wave of sound over the room and causing all of the mares to grimace as the reverberations washed over them. “All right, ladies, that is enough! I know this is pretty hard to believe for a master of chaos, but I’m calling this meeting to ‘order’ now!”
The fours mares turned to Discord with eyebrows raised.
Discord made the cymbals disappear. Then he smiled and took a bow. “Thank you. Now then, let me just go through my memories and make sure all of us reformed villains are really here before we begin.” He snapped… and suddenly Flim and Flam were floating in the air behind him!
“Hey!” The brothers yelled at once.
“Hmm…” Discord twirled his beard as he eyed them, “No, you two weren’t really ‘reformed’ so much as you were just soundly beaten.” Discord snapped again. Flim and Flam disappeared…and now Diamond Tiara appeared in the air instead!
“Ah!” The little pony yelled. “Where am I? Daddy!!!”
Discord sighed. “A schoolyard bully…. Well, you’ve been redeemed but I wouldn’t classify you as a villain per se in the first place. Moving along.” He snapped. Diamond Tiara disappeared…and now Chrysalis was floating in the air!
The Changeling queen hissed and glared. “Who dares summon me?!”
Discord rolled his eyes. “Right, right, you’re definitely a villain but definitely not reformed.” He snapped her away and put his paw to his chin as he thought aloud. “Anyone in Tartarus is clearly out, Sombra’s just a chunk of crystal, Sirens aren’t any better than Flim and Flam…. Yup I think that’s everybody.” He snapped to make himself appear directly in front of the mares and then smirked. “The OOREV meeting can officially begin! You know, I have to say, as a first order of business, I’m loving the male to female ratio of this group. Ladies, I know it’ll be hard since I’m so gifted and hilarious, but try and control yourselves and not fight over me.” He chuckled.
“We shall struggle to make the effort,” Luna replied dully.
Trixie rolled her eyes. “And people say I’m a show off…”
“Celestia’s got dibs on him…” Starlight very quietly murmured to Sunset who did her best to stifle a laugh.
Luckily, Discord only rolled his eyes and then returned to enjoying his own smug humor with a chuckle followed by a blink and a grin. “Say, I’ve got an idea!” He snapped to make a light bulb appear over his head with a cord at the end, which he pulled to turn on the light (which then disappeared in a puff of smoke). “Considering the fact that I’m president and the only guy here, we could have some fun with this, really make this club proactive. I could send you ladies out on secret missions to reform other villains, and I’ll stay here and supervise everything and recommend fetching outfits for you to wear. Come on, I’ll be like Charlie Horse and you can all be my Pegasus Angels.” He snapped. Now Discord was standing behind the girls dressed in a sharp blue and red plaid suit while the four mares wore colorful short dresses and stood in combat poses. “What do you say?” He grinned.
The four mares glared up at him.
Starlight spoke. “I say we turn this dictatorship into a democracy and let him have it. Ladies?” She glanced over her shoulder with a smirk.
The three other mares grinned and nodded. Then all of their horns all started glowing very brightly…
Discord blinked, gulped, and snapped away everyone’s outfits and held up his claw and paw. “Yikes, memo to myself, get another powerful guy in here or at least make sure that I don’t get all unicorns for club members next time.” He cleared his throat and grinned. “Ladies, ladies, come on, it was a joke. Look I just…” he rubbed the back of his neck with a sheepish smile, “Seriously, I thought this would be a fun thing for us, having a special club together. Come on, we can relate about having rough times learning to be reformed, share war stories from the past, talk about struggles we might be having adjusting to being good now…. I was even planning to have snacks.” He snapped to make a platter of cupcakes frosted with cotton candy and topped with jellybeans appear in his paw. “What do you say?”
The four mares paused and their glowing horns stopped. They looked to each other with raised eyebrows, and then looked back to Discord.
Luna approached. “Discord,” she tilted her head to the side, “are you serious?”
Discord snapped away the cupcakes and nodded, his eyes still a little wide and his smirk still fallen. “Luna, you know as well as I do how lonely it can feel trying to recover from a big mistake. And…I know what it’s like to get tempted back into a relapse.” He grimaced a little and cleared his throat. “I just thought maybe we could help each other. That’s all.”
Luna’s gaze softened. The gazes of the three mares behind her softened as well.
Trixie stepped forward. “The great and powerful Trixie knows something of relapses too.” She sighed. “Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to have some support.” She smiled and shrugged.
Sunset hesitantly moved forward now. “I know how it can feel trying to make up for a mistake. Even when you have friends, if they don’t understand what it’s like to feel that kind of guilt, it can be hard.” She looked up at Discord. “Discord, I can’t visit here for meetings like that though. Even if Celestia said it was okay, I’m just…not ready for that yet…unless you could work out a way for me to be here remotely?” She smiled. “Something like how I use the magical journal to talk to Twilight?”
Starlight came forward with a smile. “Maybe meetings wouldn’t be so bad. They’d be a way to make new friends at least. And you said there’d be snacks, right Discord?” Her gaze was warm.
Discord smiled a little and nodded. “Absolutely. Snacks are my specialty after all.”
Starlight smiled a little more. “Well, as long as they’re all shared ‘equally’…I guess I’m in too. OOREV all the way!” She held out her hoof, the three other mares held out theirs, and Discord held out his paw.
“OOREV all the way!” they yelled together as they raised their limbs in the air.
Discord laughed and clapped his paw and claw together. “Wonderful, thank you ladies. See, I told you it was a brilliant idea!”
Luna smiled and nodded. “It isn’t a bad idea, Discord, yes…though pulling me from the middle of a day’s sleep is.” Her look went a little dry though her smile remained. “Let us perhaps make these meetings at sunset whenever we have them, and let us bring ourselves here on our own instead of being teleported by you, hmm?”
Discord nodded in return with a grin. “Fair enough.”
“Starlight, Starlight are you in here! I sensed a lot of magic coming from the castle!”
Everyone’s eyes went wide as Twilight’s voice suddenly sounded coming up the entrance hall.
Discord cleared his throat and snapped to make all of the OOREV paraphernalia disappear. “And on that note, super secret first meeting adjourned for now!” The end of his tail snapped which made a notepad appear in Sunset’s hoof. “Sunset, magical notepad—just draw a shape, you’ll get a window into our meetings, and I’ll use it on my end to send you the schedule.” He turned to the other mares. “Ladies, I’ll try to get you all schedules as well. I’ll see you soon, and have pleasant days!” He snapped with both hands and his tail, making Trixie, Luna, and Sunset disappear. “And Starlight, mum’s the word about the club.” He winked at the purple pony. “I’m already on Twilight’s magical probation list all the time, the last thing I want is to spend an afternoon being lectured on not ‘kidnapping’ ponies on a whim. Besides, we can tell her about OOREV later when we’re all a little more settled.” He grinned.
Starlight laughed softly and nodded. “All right, Discord. Take care.” She waved.
Discord waved back to her and then disappeared just as Twilight dashed into the throne room.
“Starlight!” Twilight smiled as she trotted toward her. “Thank, Celestia. I was worried! What happened?”
Starlight shrugged and smiled. “Oh, it was just Discord playing around. It’s not a big deal, Twilight, really. I think he just wanted a chance to show off to the newest member of his group of friends. I liked meeting him, but I’m sorry if he worried you though.”
Twilight let out a deep breath. “Well, I’m just glad everything’s okay. And it’s nice that you two got to meet.” She blinked. “Oh, but I have to rush back to Ponyville for a second, I left the books there! See you in a minute!” And with a smile she teleported herself away again.
Starlight smiled and shook her head.
Then there was a small burst of magic and Discord appeared floating in the air once more. “Hey, Starlight?” He leaned down to look at her, arms crossed over his chest.
Starlight blinked and smiled up at him. “Oh, hi again, Discord. Did you forget something?”
Discord grinned and shrugged. “No. But before I left I just wanted to say…I put this OOREV together for everypony, but I did it especially for you. I just…well, I know what it’s like to be the new guy around here after you’ve made some big mistakes, and especially mistakes that almost caused a lot of bad things to happen. And I know that when it was just me around Ponyville who was like that, it could feel pretty lonely sometimes and frustrating. So I just wanted to help you.” He raised an eyebrow. “Did it help you at all, the idea of the club?”
Starlight’s gaze softened. She nodded. “Yes, I think it did. The club’s a good idea, Discord, and I’m happy to be a part of it. And thank you for caring about me being lonely.” She sighed. “Being lonely was the thing that drove me to all the bad stuff in the first place.”
Discord sighed as well. “…Me too.”
Starlight and Discord’s sad gazes met for a moment.
Then Discord cleared his throat and glanced away. “Well, anyway, I suppose I’m glad my attempt at being friendly and welcoming wasn’t a total disaster.” He grinned. “Have fun studying with Twilight, Starlight. And try not to let the world’s most famous former faithful student get carried away.” He winked.
Starlight nodded. “I’m sure she’ll be just as good of a teacher as she is a friend. And speaking of friends, I’m happy to have you as a new one now, Discord.”
Discord beamed. “Happy to have you as a friend too, Starlight.” Then he gave her a little salute and disappeared with a snap of his tail.
…And then a second later he reappeared with a dry look. “And just to make this policy clear, all of that stuff that delusional Sunset was spouting about Celestia getting all soft over me never leaves this room. Ever. Understood?”
“Aw, you really are so cute when you’re shy, Discord.” Starlight smirked.
Discord just sighed and rolled his eyes. “A cheeky one. Great, great, as though my sarcasm as a former villain isn’t enough of a handful for most ponies to deal with…” He smirked and shook his head. “And I am not ‘shy’, I just want to save all of the blackmail and teasing opportunities for myself.” He shrugged.
“I won’t tell, Discord, I promise,” Starlight assured with a nod.
Discord nodded in return. “Thank you, Starlight, much appreciated.” He flew up higher. “Ta ta, and so happy again to meet someone who’s ‘the same’ as I am!” He snapped his tail to put an equals sign on his flank, then winked and then snapped himself away a final time in a dramatic puff of smoke with a chuckle.
Starlight laughed softly.
Suddenly with a flash of light, Twilight reappeared now with the stack of books floating behind her. She smiled at her new friend and tilted her head to the side. “Starlight? What’s’ so funny?”
Starlight shook her head, still smiling. “Oh nothing, Twilight. Private joke.” She cleared her throat. “Anyway, I think I’d like to get started on those assignments.” She grinned and her eyes narrowed. “The harder the better.”
Twilight grinned back at her. “Okay, you asked for it.” She lowered some of the books down to her student.
Starlight caught them in her magic and set them on the throne room table with a laugh. “You know, I could go for a snack with studying, Twilight.” She used her magic and in a flash a platter of cupcakes covered in cotton candy and jellybeans appeared. “Want one?”
Twilight grinned. “Let me guess—a recipe of Discord’s.”
Starlight nodded. “And a delicious one too.” She sighed as she lowered the platter to the table. “Ugh, the one bad thing about living in that village—I had to make all of the food taste so bland.”
Starlight glanced at Twilight and then both mares shared a warm laugh as they each magically took up a cupcake.
“Come on,” Twilight swallowed a bite and opened a book, “We’ll start with Starswirl’s Guide to Advanced Magic and go from there.”
Starlight nodded. “I’ll study all night if that’s what it takes.”
Twilight smiled and her eyes hazed. “We’ll study for a few hours. Then we’ll go out into Ponyville and socialize a little, learn to make some friends. You can’t learn everything about magic from a book—trust me, I know.”
Starlight smiled. “Yeah. That sounds nice. New friends…” She looked down in thought, her smile growing.
Twilight noticed, and her smile grew too.
The two friends went about their magic lesson together in peace and contentment. And meanwhile, Starlight already looked forward to her next meeting with Discord and her new oddly familiar friends. ‘So I’m not the only one who’s made mistakes. The five of us are all the same…in a way. We all have dark pasts…but a bright future ahead of us.’ For the first time, Starlight felt good instead of ashamed about everything she had been through. And she hoped now very much that along with finding a good use for her magic, her new life in Ponyville would also guide her to a way to help her fellow reformed villains feel and keep the same sense of pride and hope that she could feel growing within herself now.
Meanwhile, in Canterlot…
Princess Luna had just fallen back to sleep. Her room was dark and dim and quiet, and a smile was upon her face as the night princess rested peacefully beneath her sleep mask and blankets.
Then there was a burst of magic and Discord appeared with all of his usual flair floating in the air. He rested on his stomach and looked down to Luna. “Hey, Luna, quick question if you’ve got a second?”
“Ah!” Luna gasped and sat up. Her sleep mask disappeared and her eyes darted around and then came to rest on Discord. She glared. “Discord, so help me, the OOREV shenanigan was amusing, but I am tired. What is it now, pray tell?” Her voice was level but stern.
Discord glanced to the side then back to Luna. “Does Celestia really think I’m…ugh, cute?” He grimaced dramatically but kept some of his smile as he raised an eyebrow.
Luna blinked.
Then the moon princess rolled her eyes. “Oh for the sake of the moon, I do not have patience for these childish antics! You are a grown being, Discord, if you want to know if my sister thinks you’re cute, why do you not just ask her yourself?” And then Luna used her magic to send Discord away.
Alone again, the night princess smiled and collapsed once more into her pillows for slumber.
Discord found himself zapped to the castle kitchen…where Celestia now sat alone at one of the tables with a half-eaten chocolate cake in front of herself, crumbs on her lips, and her mouth full.
Discord blinked. Celestia blinked. Then the master of chaos and the sun princess just looked at each other with wide eyes for a moment.
Discord raised an eyebrow. “Celestia, what are you doing?” A smile picked up at the corner of his mouth.
Celestia swallowed then dabbed at her mouth with a napkin. “Er…I’m on break at the moment, Discord. I was just having a small snack.”
Discord’s eyebrow went even higher and his smile grew.
Celestia smiled more and rolled her eyes. “Okay, I was just having a rather large snack. It’s been a challenging week and a little stressful thinking about Twilight’s timeline adventures.” She cleared her throat and smiled. “How nice of you to visit though, Discord. Is there something you needed?”
Discord’s eyes went a little wider, and then he smirked. His eyes narrowed, he opened his mouth…but then he hesitated and something of his smugness fell away at the sight of the sun princess, so trusting and seeming so content. His friend now. He sighed and smiled. 'She owes me one for not laying into her perfect royal self about this.' “I…uh…no…no, there’s nothing I need. Sorry, I, uh…didn’t even mean to end up in here actually.” He shrugged, his smile becoming a little sheepish. “Must have taken a wrong turn at Albuckuerque, heh...”
Celestia giggled softly (Discord blinked and blushed at the response and raised an eyebrow). “I see,” the sun princess replied. “Well, it’s still nice to see you, Discord.”
Discord swallowed and nodded with a grin. “Yes, well…isn’t it always?” He cleared his throat. “And it’s nice to see you too,” left him on an impulse.
Celestia’s smile perked up, and she raised an eyebrow.
Discord rolled his eyes and just grinned more. “Anyway, have fun with your cake, Celestia.” He chuckled and waved, his gaze warm now.
Celestia nodded. “Thank you. And have fun with your chaos.” Then she magically took up her fork and stuck it into her cake again, her smile brightening at the action.
The master of chaos smiled and eyed her with a warm gaze for a moment longer, then snapped himself away in a flashy burst of magic.
Alone now, Celestia finished a delicious bite of cake. Then she let out a very content sigh and mumbled to herself. “All of those futures Twilight told me about…. But our future here has cake and laughter and freedom and Starlight Glimmer even Discord. And I only wonder what lovely surprises the rest of the future will have in store for us all?” Her smile beaming in contentment, Celestia took up another bite of cake and thoroughly let herself enjoy the rest of her little snack break before returning to caring for the happy Equestria that had won out in the end where everyone, hero and villain alike, could have a bright future (and cake!) regardless of the problems of the past thanks to the magic of friendship.
Author's Note
Hello everypony!
I hope you're all doing well! I want to thank you all again for being patient with me about updates 
This has been a very difficult couple of months for me unfortunately. I might try to explain it better in a blog post after Christmas. But anyway, for now, I just felt like writing this to make myself smile, and I hope it made some of you smile too 
Thank you all for reading!
The next thing I'll be editing is the Hearthswarming story at the end of the month, but the next thing I'll be posting (probably mid-month sometime) will either be an update to Keep Calm and Chaos On or an update to The Most Chaotic Night Ever!!! It's all coming soon! 
Take care!
~Jenna
