The auditorium was nearly empty when Sunset walked in. Well, really it was only the theatre teacher sitting in the front row. Even if she hadn’t been looking for him, his outfit was attention-grabbing enough. After all, it almost looks like it was designed to match the colors of his Equestrian Counterpart.
“Hey Discord,” Sunset said, waving as she headed to the stage. “Pinkie’s going to be late to rehearsal. She has to run an errand for the Cakes.”
“Hello, Sunset,” Discord greeted back. “Finally decided to get a part in the Musical? I’m sure we could squeeze you in somewhere without disrupting the whole thing. Possibly. Okay, not really. But I think it’d be quite entertaining if when JD opens the door, instead of seeing Veronica’s fake suicide, you pop out and the three of you burst into The Count of Monte Cristo’s ‘A Story Told’. Then the play continues as if it never happened.”
“Here, I thought you’d suggest singing Little Shop’s ‘Dentist’ during ‘Candy Store’,” she smirked. “Instead of Heather Duke taking over, you let me go on that for a while until Heather Chandler tells me to shut up and pushes me off the stage.”
“Too predictable,” he rolled his eyes. “I mean really, ‘Dentist’ during ‘Candy Store’? True, ‘Candy Store’ is sort of metaphorical, but think of the cavities!”
“Seriously though,” she laughed. “How’d you manage to get Heathers: the Musical past the schoolboard?”
“Quite easily,” he answered. “I’d wanted those ‘Dazzlings’ girls to play the Heathers, and I figured out pretty quickly they were something from your dimension. So I convinced them that they’d be the greatest Heathers ever, which wasn’t a lie by the way, and they convinced the school board to sign off on it. By the time their hypnotic magic wore off, they couldn’t, legally, back out. I mean, they tried to at least say I had to change how inappropriate the script was, but I was prepared with a full citation of every inappropriate joke in Shakespeare plays that they’d already approved, so there’s only some minor censoring.”
“That’s brilliant, but I’m kind of mad you didn’t stop them from doing anything else,” Sunset sighed.
“If they got to Tia and Luna they would’ve gotten to me,” he shrugged. “I didn’t have any of your ‘Friendship Magic’ as a defense. Besides, you girls had it handled! But seriously, you want to be Mondego?”
“I hate that I can’t argue with that,” she shook her head. “Anyway, sorry, not auditioning today. I’m just here for the props and set.”
“Alright, I guess the show must go on without you,” he sighed dramatically. “Try not to get paint on your jacket.”
“Don’t worry, I brought an old shirt,” she said.
With that, she walked backstage and headed into the storage room that doubled as the girl’s dressing room. She didn’t bother locking the door. After all, even with all her time in the Human World, she was still a Pony. Being seen without clothes didn’t matter to her.
Shoving her shirt and jacket into her backpack, she pulled on an old and stained tank top. She kept her crystal necklace, better safe than sorry in that case, but tucked it into her shirt so it wouldn’t drop on the paint. Grabbing a chair, she climbed up and put her backpack up and out of sight. She wasn’t exactly paranoid, but she knew some students still hated her and would take an opportunity to mess with her.
Once her stuff was secure, Sunset pulled her hair into a bun and grabbed the paints and brushes from the far end of the room. She left just in time for another student to come in to change.
There were a few more students setting up for rehearsal now. Most were waiting on the rest of the cast, checking their phones, but a few were warming up their voices or heading to change for painting. Discord had relocated to the stairs leading onto the stage. Sunset paused for a moment, trying to figure out why he looked weirder than normal.
It was the wrist brace. He always had a wrist brace on his left hand, its color and style mimicking his Counterpart’s talon, but for now he’d taken it off. Concentrating on it a bit too much, he slowly moved his wrist and fingers. It was deliberate, and looked almost difficult to do.
“Most of us thought that thing was attached to your arm,” Sunset joked.
“I’ve heard quite a few underclassmen joke at my expense,” he said, still staring at his hand but thankfully smiling now. “Applebloom seems convinced that I glued it to my arm at some point and don’t want to deal with ripping out the hair.”
“Sounds like something you’d do,” she said. “But it’s not for aesthetic purposes then?”
“No, just an injury,” he said, smile dropping slightly. “It still hurts most of the time, and doesn’t exactly move right anymore. My own fault for being terrible at keeping to physical therapy, probably. How anyone expects me to keep to a schedule I don’t know!”
Sunset decided to leave before her curiosity got the better of her and she prodded into it. As she set up to paint a few set pieces, she wondered about it. Usually Counterparts had the same injuries. Both Twilights had scars on their cheeks, and both Flashes had ones above their eye. The Draconequus Discord’s talon seemed to work fine, but then again, it could be like the Twilights other scars.
If one has wings, she can’t have her Counterpart’s scars from Midnight’s wings. Maybe it was just because the Draconequus could heal himself from nearly anything, while his Human counterpart was, well, Human. Just normal and not the physical embodiment of Chaos Magic.
His comment about ‘underclassmen’ reminded her of his first time here, back when he was just shadowing the old theatre teacher her sophomore year. There wasn’t a wrist brace then, was there? She couldn’t remember. Then again, Sunset hadn’t been looking, and if she had, his arm would’ve been the least attention-grabbing thing.
Shaking her head, she tried to concentrate on painting. She wondered if it would be okay to ‘Pony Up’ and paint with both hands and magic, but decided against it. Vice Principal Luna probably already added ‘no using magic on assignments’ to the rulebook.
She didn’t mind too much. Magic was more productive, but doing it by hand felt a bit more calming. There was something about the imperfection of it. Getting paint up to your arms, accidently leaning over too far and ruining your progress with your shirt, seeing the little wobbles from when your hand wasn’t as steady as you wanted. You could do it with magic, but it didn’t feel the same.
She hoped her friends would be able to see the play this year. Sure, Pinkie was technically in the play so she had to be there, but the other five hadn’t talked about showing up. Sunset wondered if she should go out of her way to invite them, but she knew she’d end up apologizing again.
After all, it had been her fault that Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow, and Fluttershy hadn’t gone to the play last year. That was when she’d broken up their group. Despite figuring out her plan within the first week, she’d waited until school was almost out. With Summer break happening before they got a chance to make up, they hadn’t been forced to interact and figure out their misunderstandings. Naturally the resentment grew over break, and by the time school started up the job was done. As terrible as it was, she did have to recognize the brilliance of it.
She frowned at the memory. Her mind had gone full circle. Back to Discord. The plan had started with him, in a way. After that incident with Fluttershy in the Gym sophomore year, a few puzzle pieces had clicked together.
Shaking her head, she tried to push it out of her mind and focus back on painting. Suddenly, there was a hand on her shoulder. She jumped, brush stroke going wildly to the left.
“Sunset once you’re done here-,” Discord began.
Sunset didn’t hear the rest of his sentence. A tank top had been a bad choice, as the skin to skin contact triggered her magic, and she felt herself peering into his mind. She cursed her inattention. For half a second, she wondered what she would see. Looking into Discord’s mind would probably be similar to looking into Pinkie’s. Weird, Chaotic, but somehow making so much sense because it made no sense at all.
In the next second, she realized she wouldn’t get to see that. She’d learned that there were two things she could see in someone’s mind. The first was just their general state at the moment, what they were feeling at the time. Usually that’s what she’d glimpse when someone accidentally touched her.
However, sometimes she could see other things. Memories. Specific events from the person’s life. Sunset had noticed that it seemed to happen when she wanted to know something, if emotions themselves weren’t enough to get answers. In these, she watched from the other person’s perspective as things happened around them, unchanging.
Oddly enough, though she can feel both emotions and sensations in others’ memories, she couldn’t know what they were thinking. Even in a Memory, she wouldn’t know ‘oh, they thought about tacos when this happened’, just the feeling of what they thought. Emotions and Memories seemed to be different than directly reading minds.
Thankfully though, nothing was ‘real’ to her here. No time would have passed when she came back to reality, and even though she could feel anything they physically felt, she’d never be hurt by it.
What she was in now were Memories. Discord’s Memories. At first it was just flashes. She recognized Canterlot High, though she’d guess it would’ve been a few years ago. She recognized Celestia and Luna when they showed up, but there were a lot of the people she didn’t know. The emotions cycled through as well. Some happy, probably with friends. Others were less so, even painful. Sunset could feel a dull throbbing in her nose and fear coursing through her at one point, but it was barely long enough for her to wonder why. Soon, certain people stopped appearing, and even flashes with Celestia and Luna turned angry and sad.
The first time Sunset saw something fully coherent, it was a time she recognized. Discord’s prank gone wrong during sophomore year. She could see the gym, the faces in shock, the backboard shattered on the ground and frosting on the ceiling. Fluttershy in front of him, her face full of fury.
Sunset could feel what he felt while Fluttershy chewed him out, but it wasn’t what she’d expected. It was an odd sort of detachment, full of fear and loneliness. Maybe a bit bitter. Yet there was no amusement. Discord had been laughing just before, he’d had that condescending smirk, but he didn’t feel like he was enjoying it.
“Everyone deserves a bit of Kindness!” Fluttershy had shouted at him. “So I’m going to do the kindest thing for you and tell you you’re a big, dumb, meanie!”
“Flora,” Discord had whispered.
She felt his emotions shift. Oddly, there was shock, recognition, and nostalgia as he muttered the name. Yet everything else nearly overwhelmed her. It felt like a punch to the gut. There was still loneliness and fear, but also sadness, anger, and hatred. All directed inward.
If she thought those were strong, they were even worse in the next memory. However, it was also less. There was unreality to it. Was he disassociating? Though the disassociation seemed to be lessening as it went on, causing more intensity.
In this memory, Discord walked into a home of some sort. Sunset wasn’t sure if it was a house or an apartment, but she could guess it was his from how used to walking through it he was. It was a bit of a mess, but still livable. However, it was also impersonal. No pictures or paintings on the walls. Usually Sunset could sense latent emotions from objects, but there was nothing there.
After slamming the door shut, Discord had headed straight to the kitchen, not bothering to turn on a light. He knew where he was going, what he was getting. From the kitchen cabinet came a bottle. Sunset hadn’t caught the label, but she could guess.
Despite her ‘bad girl’ reputation, Sunset hadn’t had much experience with alcohol. Mostly just trips home to Equestria, as she was an adult there. She wondered if alcohol could affect her in someone’s memories.
Discord’s emotions shifted to a combination that could be summed up with the phrase ‘fuck everything’. Not bothering to get a glass, he just drank straight out of the bottle. Sunset was concerned with exactly how much he drank. Sure, Discord was tall -kind of giant actually, but then again so are Celestia and Luna- so he could handle more alcohol than most people. Besides, this was only a memory she was watching, so obviously he was fine. He knew his limits and wouldn’t get totally trashed, right?
Turns out alcohol only half-effects her in memories. Sunset could feel the physical effect that Discord was feeling, and she could tell his mind was getting fuzzy, but her head was clear. She didn’t want it to be. She shouldn’t be watching this, she shouldn’t be here. But once the memories started, she couldn’t stop them.
Discord’s emotions built as it went on. Sunset was sure that if she were actually standing and not sort-of-astral-projecting into his memories, she would’ve fallen over from the intensity. She wasn’t sure which one of them was crying.
His grip on the bottle tightened before he chucked it at the wall. The glass shattered and fell to the ground, but he didn’t notice. It was only the first object to be destroyed.
The plates that had been in the drier rack next to the sink were next. The whole thing was just flung off the counter onto the floor. He then went for the table, flipping it onto its side with a resounding thud. He kicked the chairs out of the way, and Sunset could hear the wood splintering on impact.
Thankfully the next objects were the couch’s cushions and pillows, though they still did plenty of damage to knock over lamps and the TV. He pulled the cabinet and bookshelves down with a crash, sending their contents flying and getting glass all over the floor.
Sunset watched in horror as he headed through the rest of the place. The bathroom had little in it to ruin, but he did stop to shatter the mirrors by chucking shampoo at them and pull down the shower curtain. Then Discord headed to his bedroom.
Blankets and pillows were ripped off the bed, quite literally as the sheet seemed to have a tear in it now, and thrown out against the hallway wall. He pulled out the dresser drawers, chucking them with the blankets and sending the clothes in them flying around the room before pulling the entire thing down.
Discord hesitated for a moment at the mirror standing in the corner, staring at his reflection. Somehow, his emotions spiked even higher. He felt rage, terror, despair, hatred, all wrapped up in regret and aimed inward. Tensing for a moment, he reeled back and threw his fist straight through the glass. Sunset felt the pain explode in his left hand, but he didn’t care. Instead, the entire mirror was lifted and tossed to the other side of the room.
Discord continued, bringing down another bookshelf before kicking the nightstand over. He was screaming now, but it was unlike anything Sunset had ever heard from a Human or a Pony. It sounded otherworldly. Transcendental even. She could only imagine what would have happened if he had Equestria’s magic right now.
He moved to the last thing still sort-of standing, a small table by the window, out of sight of the door but turned away from the bed. Sunset wondered what he’d do, but all of the emotions drained out of him. No, they were still there, they just felt empty, in a sense. The sadness had overtaken them, yet there was a hint of nostalgia as well.
On the table, there was a picture of many people together, smiling and having fun on a familiar lake. They were people she’d seen in the earlier flashes of memories, Celestia and Luna included. Discord went to pick up the picture, but found he couldn’t. He tried again, just now noticing the red left behind on the frame.
Discord stared at his hand, almost confused as to why it hurt, why it wasn’t moving how he wanted. The answer was that it seemed shredded, cuts nearly up to his elbow. The biggest one was on his wrist, a large cut that had too much blood dripping out. He wondered when it had happened, but Sunset’s mind was clear enough to remember the mirror.
He picked up the picture with his right hand instead, before sinking to the floor. Holding the picture close, he choked out a sob. He didn’t seem to care that blood was getting on his clothes and carpet.
Sunset didn’t want to watch this. She never wanted to watch this in the first place, but magic can have a mind of its own. She reminded herself that it was just a memory, that he’s fine, but she felt sick. For now, she just wanted it to stop. Why wouldn’t it stop? This wasn’t hers to know! She wasn’t supposed to see any of this!
She watched as Discord managed to pull his phone out of his pocket. Good, he could call himself an ambulance. No, he was calling a person. The number looked familiar to Sunset, and she could tell that Discord felt some connection to it. Mostly good connections, as all the negative emotions involved were still towards himself.
“Hello?” Celestia’s voice spoke out of the phone.
“H-hey, Tia,” Discord said. “I-I think I fucked up.”
“Discord? What are you-?” she began. “While I shouldn’t use that language, you did. You were supposed to stay so we could talk about the gym.”
The gym? Did that mean this was after his prank-gone-wrong? It had to be, right? Celestia sounded annoyed enough for it. Sunset wanted to scream, to tell her what was happening, but it was still just a memory.
“Yeah, I know,” Discord answered her. “I wasn’t thinking. Then again, when the hell do I think? I guess I’m thinking now. I’d drive over to the school or back to the house, but I’m a little drunk right now and I don’t think my hand’s working at all, so it’s probably not the best idea.”
“Discord you know not to drink when you-“ Celestia stopped for a moment. “What do you mean your hand isn’t working?!”
“It’s not working,” he answered, shrugging despite the fact that she couldn’t see him. “I tried to pick up a picture and I couldn’t. You know, the group picture from our Everfree trip? The picture Sora hated because her hair was still flat from the lake? I still have that. Bet you thought I got rid of that one. Sora thought I did, but I still have it.”
“Discord, where are you?” She asked, her voice wavering as she seemed to hold the phone away from her. “Luna, his paperwork has to be somewhere!”
“I’m home,” he told her. “After the prank I-I’m not sure how I got here but I’m home. I just remember her yelling at me. I thought she was Flora for a moment. Flora always had a thing for ‘Kindness’.”
“I-I can see the resemblance,” she said.
“Yeah,” he gave hollow laugh. “Flora would’ve kicked my ass though. Who knows, maybe she’ll figure out a way to do it. Do you think she’d be a ghost, or do you think she’d possess someone? I kinda thought that girl in the gym would strangle me, so maybe she already tried.”
Celestia didn’t answer. Sunset could hear her on the other end, talking to Luna, and the sound of a car starting up.
“Not like I wouldn’t deserve it,” he sighed. “I-I’m sorry, you know. For… just for everything in general. All the pranks at the school, leaving you guys. Not talking to you. I just couldn’t handle it, you know? I was just going through the motions, joking around like we used to. But I didn’t care about anything, did I?”
“Come on, I know you care,” Celestia said, coming back to the phone. “Switching the salt and sugar on Luna was funny. You just… you just accidently went too far this time. We can fix it.”
“No, I know I didn’t care,” he said. “I couldn’t bring myself to. I didn’t care that even the minor pranks could’ve gotten you two in trouble, or ruined my chances at getting a job. I didn’t care that I could’ve hurt someone with that prank. What would I have done if something did happen to her? We’d be in some kind of legal hell, and you and Luna’d get dragged into it. And then they’d find out you actually know me, and we’d all be fucked. Stars, you’re probably already in legal hell, aren’t you?”
“No,” she assured. “The only student who could press any charges is Rainbow Dash, since she almost got hit. But she and her parents already came by to insist that nothing happens to you, as long as you agree to fix things.”
“They shouldn’t,” he said. “I’ll fuck it up again. It’s what I do. I fuck up and drag you guys into my problems, and then you get in trouble too. How many times did any of you end up in detention just for being near me back in school?”
“Too many to count,” she answered. “But I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”
“Why?” he asked. “I left you. I knew you were hurting too and I just fucking disappeared! I stopped talking to you! And when Fate or the Universe or whatever gave me the chance to fix things, what did I do? Get in a passive aggressive prank war and nearly drop a backboard on a student!”
“You weren’t the only one to leave,” she said. “Chrys left first, remember? And after you, Luna and I left each other. We actually fought on the way out. None of us talked to each other for a while. Do you know why I think you left?”
“Because I’m a total ass?” he guessed.
“Because we couldn’t help you,” she corrected. “When someone loses people in their life, they turn to their friends and family as a support system. But it was our friends and family that disappeared, and those of us left were attempting to deal with it in our own ways. I know the feeling of just 'going through the motions'. I was trying to play the responsible big sister, keeping the family together as if nothing bothered me, because it was all I could do to keep myself together, to not deal with it. I was too far gone to really help you three because I couldn’t care either.
“Chrys ran,” she said. “You and I both cut ourselves off, played our parts, and refused to help or be helped. Luna was the one coping with it all, and trying to get through to us, but when she did have a problem I couldn’t help her. We were all too damaged to help one another, so we need to leave and find other people to help us, even if they were just there by being there.”
“But not me,” he said. “Stars, I don’t think I’ve talked to anyone about anything that matters since they….. I couldn’t find anyone. It’s not like I tried, but shouldn’t someone have? Isn’t that what people do? They meet someone interesting and try to be their friend and then they’ll dig deeper into your problems. But I couldn’t even manage that. ”
“I think Fluttershy did,” she said. “The girl from the gym. The one who gave the speech about ‘Kindness’. Sure, she doesn’t know everything, but she saw you needed help and is still trying. She’s the one who convinced Rainbow and her parents to give you another chance.”
“Really like Flora,” he mumbled. “Too Kind to realize who’s far too damaged.”
There wasn’t an answer from Celestia’s end. Sunset heard noises from the other room. Every part of her itched to see what it was, but she was still only stuck in a memory. Forced to only see what Discord saw.
Footsteps grew closer. Both Sunset and Discord were momentarily blinded by a flashlight. However, seeing those behind the flashlight, Sunset felt relief while Discord sank lower into self-hatred.
“Oh shit!” Celestia gasped, covering her mouth with her hand.
Another time, Sunset would be amused at hearing Celestia swear. But the look on her face made her feel like she had stopped breathing. She’d never seen Celestia, either Celestia, look so terrified, so heartbroken. She was shaking, tears running down her face. Luna looked the same, but seemed to hold together better.
“Luna, call an ambulance,” Celestia commanded.
“I’m fine,” Discord protested.
“You know damn well you’re not fine!” Luna snapped. “Mental state aside, that’s a lot of blood and probably needs at least stitches, if not surgery! So I’m calling the fucking ambulance!”
Celestia managed to walk forward, kneeling beside him while Luna stayed in the hall with her phone. With little hesitation, she grabbed one of the shirts that had been scattered earlier and tried to stop what blood she could. Discord didn’t move to stop her, but he didn’t move to help her either.
“Why are you here?” Discord asked.
“You needed help,” Celestia answered. “I’m not going to leave you to deal with things alone again. Especially because you called me instead of an ambulance.”
“I just…” he began. “I wanted to apologize. For everything I’ve done. I didn’t want help. I didn’t want you to get involved in my bullshit again. You deserve better than that.”
“So, what? “ she asked. “You were just going to sit here in the wreckage and bleed out? Did…did you want to die?”
He didn’t say anything, but Sunset could feel the answer. A new emotion was added. Shame. Shuddering, tears started up again.
“Dissy, please,” Celestia begged. “Tell me what’s going on.”
“I-it wasn’t on purpose,” he said. “It just didn’t matter.”
“Of course it matters,” she sighed. “And before you ask, it’s because you matter.”
“I just don’t get it,” he said. “Why am I worth so much to you?”
“A lot of reasons,” she said. “Because yes, you can screw up a fair amount. And no, it hasn’t always been easy for any of us. But when we’re all on good terms? When everything’s going right for a while? That’s worth the trouble to us.
“And it’s not like we were innocent every time your plans led to detention,” she said. “I remember quite a few times I was a willing part of your shenanigans, even masterminded a couple. And that passive-aggressive prank war wasn’t one-sided. Who do you think kept putting bananas in the lunch you left in the teacher’s lounge? It was up to seven this morning, wasn’t it?”
“That’s one mystery solved,” he said.
“Point is, we still want you around,” she said. “And we’ll help as best as we can okay? We’re not perfect, you know. We’re just as damaged as you are, but we’re not alone anymore. We know how to not be alone again. We can figure this all out together, okay?”
“The ambulance is on its way,” Luna said, poking her head back in. “And just so you know, everything Tia’s said counts for me as well. I couldn’t help before, but I will now. Stars, I’m probably going to drag you back home after this!”
Careful not to bump his arm, Celestia pulled him into a hug. Discord’s tears came as violent sobs now. This time, the emotions sparked were desperation, but also a small amount of hope and love.
Everything faded out. Or maybe it faded back in. Sunset wasn’t sure. All she knew is that now she was staring at a wall of paint. She was back in reality, the Memory was over.
Her legs gave out as she dropped to the floor. People were talking, but she couldn’t hear them properly. Discord, the real one from now, was looking down at her with concern. Yet she could still see the memory, the tears and blood and fear. Stars, she could still feel everything, though even the wrist had gone to a dull throb. As tears began to fall down her face, he reached down to help her.
“No!” she commanded, thankful when he stopped. “Magic. Skin-contact. Bad idea!”
Without hesitation, Discord slipped off his coat and put it over her shoulders. Helping her up as much as he could, he told everyone else to run through a song on their own before steering her through the doors. She focused on how his coat was so much bigger on her. When Discord wore it, it only went to his thighs, but the hem was past Sunset’s knees.
There was a small office space in the building, where Discord kept the technical documents and such a teacher needs. As he led her to the chair behind the desk, she tried to focus on anything else. Discord leaned against the desk, waiting for her to calm down enough. It was easy to see he wanted to comfort her more, but he didn’t want to touch her again.
“I-I’m sorry,” Sunset said.
“Hey, you don’t have to talk until you want to,” Discord said, his voice much more calm than she was used to. “Or if you want, you can start with the smaller parts.”
“Smaller, yeah,” she repeated, fidgeting with her necklace. “Uh, remember how my friends and I got some new magic at Camp Everfree?”
“Unfortunately, we have had to ban Pinkie from tossing things,” he said.
“Good idea,” she said. “But for me, when I touch someone I can see into their mind. I can’t exactly tell what they’re thinking, but I can feel what they’re feeling. And sometimes, I can watch their memories. It’s like watching a movie, but I can feel everything they felt, even if they’re trying not to show it. Usually I can keep some of a handle on it, I kind of have to be considering our friend group is prone to physical affection, but I was too focused on painting and then you grabbed my shoulder and I just-“
“Couldn’t stop,” he said. “It’s fine, you didn’t mean to do it. I just hope you didn’t see anything from my time in high school. That’d be embarrassing. Despite what my current Aura of Awesomeness might have you believe, I was quite a dork back then!”
“I’ve seen the Aura of Awesomeness and you don’t have enough colors for it,” she deadpanned. “I probably saw some stuff from then, but it was just flashes of faces and snippets of feelings. Then I saw Fluttershy yelling at you.”
“Not my finest moment,” he said, his smile dropping slightly.
“But I saw more, after that,” she said. “I… I’m sorry. I had no right to see any of your memories, much less….”
“Much less what?” he asked.
Sunset didn’t answer right away. She almost didn’t want to say, words getting stuck in her throat. After a moment, she reached forward, gently tapping the wrist brace on his arm. Following her gaze, he stared in confusion.
“You punched a mirror,” she stated.
Discord’s entire posture dropped. Pulling her hand back, she curled up more on the chair. She tried not to see the expression on his face, or guess at the emotions he felt right now.
“How much of that did you see?” Discord asked.
“From the moment you walked through the door until after Luna called the ambulance,” she answered.
He tried and failed to keep from swearing. He struggled to find words for a moment, looking as if he were about to speak before stopping once more. Running his good had through his hair, he seemed to find the right question.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Am I okay?” Sunset could’ve laughed at the question. “I wanted to know if you were okay?”
“It was almost two years ago and-,” he paused to sigh. “Okay, this is getting complicated here. Really, you just magically looked into my brain to see probably my second worst day. I think at this point we can chuck ‘professional teacher-student relationship’ out the window here, and just talk as people, right?”
“Not like I’d report you to the school board,” she said. “And how is that your second worst day?”
“Because the worst day was the butterfly effect bullshit that caused my second worst,” he answered. “However, you need to be a level five friend to unlock my tragic backstory. You’ve managed to glitch yourself into a level six cutscene, but you’re still only level three.”
“Level three already?” she wondered. “And what’s with the gaming joke?”
“Glitching into cutscenes gives a level up,” he shrugged. “And it’s not like I can really hold a game controller now, can I? Let me have this.”
“Fair enough,” she said. “So, are you okay?”
“For now,” he said, rubbing his arm. “Some days are worse than others, but I haven’t gotten anywhere near that close since. Having friends and family around helps, even if it’s just the fact that you’re not alone. Aren’t you the one of the ones always saying ‘Friendship is Magic’?”
“Well, we’re not wrong,” she defended. “Having friends around always helps.”
“Speaking personally?” he wondered.
Sunset stopped and tilted her head to the side in confusion. It sounded ominous.
“Okay, not like we can get any more personal here,” Discord half-joked. “But Tia, Luna and I were worried about you for a while after the Fall Formal. We tried to keep an eye on you, but, well, we’re limited by student-teacher relationships and the fact that we couldn’t be around you all the time. Plus Siren magic, apparently.”
“Oh,” Sunset said, shoulders slumping a bit. “I… I’ll admit, the idea popped up every once in a while back then. Especially during the battle of the bands, even before the Sirens showed up. But once I not only saved them from another ‘evil’, but did some magic shenanigans that only works if I’m a good person full of Friendship, they warmed up to me more. Still, even when everything sucked, it wasn’t ever a serious consideration. More like ‘this is a thing some people would do in this situation. Should I be doing that?’ type of feeling, you know?”
“And you had new friends who wouldn’t leave you alone,” he said.
“That too,” she rolled her eyes with a smile. “During the Fall Formal, Luna had basically kept me locked in her office with her, discussing the detention I’d get. I thought she was being light at the time, but looking back she wanted to help. After that, the girls invited me to my first ever sleepover.
“Well, I say ‘invited’,” she laughed. “But really they invited themselves over to my house. They’d wanted to make sure I was okay. And make sure I had an actual house, since they couldn’t figure out how an interdimensional Unicorn that doesn’t legally exist could own an actual house.”
“That does raise a few questions,” he agreed.
“Equestria has a lot more gold and jewels,” she shrugged. “Imagine a gold coin the size of an Oreo. That’s our main currency.”
“Why an Oreo?” he asked.
“Only Unicorns use magic,” she said. “Earth Ponies and Pegasai have to use their mouths. You think you can pick up a quarter in your mouth without dying?”
“Fair point,” he said. “But back to the matter at hand, are you okay? I can imagine that seeing something like, well, that could be at least a little traumatizing.”
“That’s a word for it,” she swallowed. “But I think I’ll be okay. It helps to know it’s in the past. But if you need to talk about that at all…”
“Remember what I said,” he smiled. “You need to be a level five friend to unlock my tragic backstory. But, to put in vague terms, we all have our demons. Some are just more literal than others.”
“Okay, yeah, my problems became everyone’s at that point” she laughed. “You know, if you want, I could look into seeing if Equestria has something to fix your wrist a bit better. Most of our medical advancements are the same as here, but we do have Healing Spells. Not sure how well they’ll work with something that old, since they’re usually for emergency situations, but we can try.”
“Only if you can bring the spell here,” he said. “Ponies are on all fours, and I don’t think I really want to walk on this.”
“Well that wouldn’t matter for you since you’re not a Pony and-“ she paused and thought over the idea in her head. “Actually, you might not want to go over there. At all. I’m not sure what two of you would do.”
“I know I can be a handful, but the other me can’t be that bad, right?” he laughed.
Sunset attempted to find exactly what to say. It was difficult to say what was needed without possibly offending someone, but as she stalled longer, Discord seemed to catch on to her dilemma.
“I was half kidding,” Discord said. “You said I wasn’t a Pony in your world, so what am I? You mentioned Dragons and I think someone said something about Griffons?”
“No you’re… something else entirely,” Sunset said. “The other you is a type of Chimera, a creature made up of parts of several animals. Specifically, he’s the only Draconequus. The animal parts in question are pony’s head, a deer antler, a goat horn, a lion’s paw, and eagle’s talon, a lizard-like leg, a hooved leg, a feathered wing, a bat-like wing, and a dragon’s tail. He is also an Immortal, sort-of-godlike, and the physical embodiment of Chaos Magic, who was temporarily a statue for about a thousand years.”
“That’s…. a whole lot of fuckery,” he said, attempting to process that. “I can see why two of me would cause an uproar.”
“I think Twilight would kill me if I brought you over there,” she said.
“So, if things translate over, how is the other me doing?” he asked, rubbing at his arm again. “As in, you know, parallel events?”
“Okay, I think?” she said. “I haven’t talked to him much, but I did get the ‘hide actual feelings with humor’ vibe from him, so maybe I’ll look more into that since, well, all this. You’d think we would’ve known before considering…… oh. Oh fuck.”
“What’d you remember?” he asked.
“Uh, something bad?” she answered. “So, the thing about Magic is that it’s very connected to the user’s emotions and mental state. So, hypothetically, what do you think would happen if during whatever was going on from the ‘worst day butterfly effect bullshit’ until the memory I saw, you were ridiculously powerful and full of Chaos Magic?”
“Magic going wildly out of control, I’m guessing?” he said. “Turning the world on its head. Hurting people-ponies- without realizing exactly what I’m doing or the danger others are actually in because of a lack of emotional connection to think ‘this can hurt people and will probably have an aftermath’? Basically the gym prank but on a larger, magical, scale that put a lot of ponies in danger?”
“Yeah,” she nodded. “Which is kind of bad, because the one pony who could manage to get through to you wouldn’t even be born for a thousand years. Which is, uh, why he was a statue for a while?”
“Harsh, but understandable all things considering,” he said. “Strange, coming from me, right?”
“A bit,” she admitted.
“I’m still hung up on the ‘Immortal, sort-of-godlike, embodiment of Chaos’ bit,” he said. “Honestly, some of my life choices make a lot more sense.”
“Like your outfit choices,” she said. “Seriously, where do you even get pants like that?”
“Simple,” he said. “You buy a green pair and a brown pair and use years of theatre experience to pick up costume-making skills, then sow them together for the aesthetic.”
“Of course,” she rolled her eyes. “You know, you should’ve seen Twilight when we told her that you were a theatre teacher. She just went ‘What’s the best job for an over dramatic embodiment of Chaos?’. Of course, right after she said that-“
They both jumped at a sudden pop from beside them. Well, it was more of a noisemaker sound that a pop, but the effect was the same. Sunset gave an exasperated glare to the scroll that had appeared next to them before grabbing it out of its hover. The words were written in something red and sticky.
“’I heard that as well’,” Sunset read. “’Also, hello other me, we’ll meet eventually. And before you ask, Shimsham, I can always hear when ponies, or people, are talking about me. One of my many gifts.’”
“I am far too okay with this,” Discord noted, taking the scroll from her. “Then again, it’s been quite a year. Wow, it even looks like I wrote it.”
“Yeah, handwriting is the weirdest thing here,” she said. “Not even kidding. Everyone’s handwriting is the same, even though, you know, ponies don’t use hands. Even after I learned to use hands my writing matched what I’d done back home, and it even matched-what are you doing?”
“Nothing?” he answered guiltily, red thumb still on his tongue.
“Did-did you just lick the unknown substance on an interdimensional letter?” she almost laughed. “Who knows what it could’ve been?!”
“Well, the other me sent it,” he defended. “I can’t imagine he’d use something dangerous, especially knowing I’m going to see it and wonder what it is. By the way, I’m pretty sure it’s raspberry syrup, though it tastes a bit off.”
“Let me see that,” she leaned over and swiped a finger across the page before sticking it in her mouth. “Yeah. It is raspberry syrup. Definitely Equestrian raspberries though. They taste different because we use magic to grow them. And don’t even get me started on Crystal food. Spike says Crystal raspberries taste like spinels, but I’ve never eaten a spinel so I have no idea what he’s talking about.”
“Cyrstal….. You know what? I’m not going to ask,” he sighed. “Today’s….. it’s been a day.”
“I noticed,” she said. “Sorry to ask again, but are you okay?”
“Yeah,” he said. “Trust me, I know you’re going to ask it a lot now, so don’t worry about worrying. And even if I say I’m fine you’ll ask again. But yes, I’m okay. I got my life together, fixed my relationship with Tia and Luna, met some strange new family members, gained a few friends, so on and so forth. I’ve even made attempts at having a love life. And by that I mean I attempt to flirt with the new librarian, but he’s too oblivious to realize what I’m doing.”
“Good luck,” she said. “I’d offer to be your wingpony, but I don’t think you could return the favor next time I flirt with a cute librarian. Mostly because she’d probably kill you.”
“I didn’t think Princess Twilight would have time to be a librarian,” he smirked.
“Well when your home is the only library in town,” she said. “And I never said it was Twilight.”
“How many librarians do you think want to kill me?” he laughed.
“Wasn’t there something about you, bookshelves, and a domino effect?” she asked.
“No one even remembers that!” he defended.
“This world’s Twilight definitely does,” she laughed. “Still, if you need a wingpony of some sort…”
“Well, I wouldn’t introduce you as ‘wingpony’,” he said. “Or maybe I should. After all, if he can’t handle you being an interdimensional Unicorn, he probably can’t handle me.”
“If it were anyone else I’d say you were joking,” she said. “But I’ve seen your casting choices for this year’s musical. Crazy, not what anyone would think of, but brilliantly effective. Especially since you made us all keep it secret.”
“Come now, they’ll love it!” he said.
Before Sunset could respond, there was a knocking on the door. It was a familiar, albeit faster than usual, rhythmic knock that she immediately knocked a reply to on the desk.
“Speaking of casting choices,” Sunset muttered before raising her voice to be heard through the door. “Hey Pinks!”
“Hi Sunny,” Pinkie called back, sort of out of breath. “Are you okay?”
“Am I okay, are you okay?” she asked.
“Yeah,” she replied. “Just ran from the store.”
“You ran from Sugarcube Corner?” Discord wondered.
“No, I was still at the grocery store for Mr. Cake,” Pinkie said. “Mrs. Cake and the twins are sick, so he’s on his own. It’s slow enough that he doesn’t need me to come in, but he couldn’t leave the counter and they were out of cold meds and diapers which are kind of important when you have sick babies.”
“Why did you run that far?” Sunset asked, calculating the distance in her head.
“Pinkie sense,” she answered. “Something happened, and I could tell it was with you so I ran back here. Can I come in?”
“Oh, yeah, let me-“ Discord began.
Sunset cut him off by grabbing the loose part of his shirt. When he turned to ask, she just shushed him.
“You can come in if you sing a verse,” Sunset said.
“Which one?” Pinkie asked.
“Any of them really,” Discord answered. “But I think you can think of one of your own lines. After all, you’re still late to rehearsal.”
“Oh! Okay!” she cleared her throat and began to sing in a voice deeper than her usual. “Veronica, open the-open the door please! Veronica, open the door!”
“You might want to let her in before she actually kicks the door down,” Sunset said.
Discord looked about to argue, but changed his mind and opened the door. Sunset instinctively snorted with laughter as Pinkie’s shoe hit his chest, sending him to the floor. At least she had the decency to look sheepish.
“This is how I die,” Discord said, staring intently at the ceiling. “I always knew it’d be something theatre related. I was so sure it would be one of you talking about The Bard’s Play, but no. It’s freaking Heathers the Musical that does me in!”
“What, no librarian homicide?” Sunset teased.
“Eh, I could’ve choked on a quarter,” he shrugged, which was difficult to do on the floor. “But I’m pretty sure this makes four and a half of your friends that have, on some level, wanted to murder me?”
“I didn’t want to,” Pinkie pouted.
“Honestly I’m surprised Twi or Rainbow didn’t yet,” Sunset said. “You gonna be okay there?”
“Totally fine,” he said. “Might be a minute to stop having a freaking heart attack. Go on without me.”
“Twilight’s right, you are a drama queen,” she rolled her eyes. “And if anyone heard that, don’t bother with the letter.”
Despite her wishes, a letter appeared. Specifically, the letter D in pancake form dropped onto Discord’s face.
“At least it goes well with the syrup,” Discord muttered.
With that comment, Sunset led a confused Pinkie Pie out into the hall and back toward the stage. It took half way for her to remember she’d been looking for them for a reason.
“Hey, so wait, are you two okay?” Pinkie asked.
“Yeah, we’re fine,” Sunset said.
“Okay, no,” she shook her head. “Pinkie sense said something big happened. And I come back to you two having been alone in his office for, like, ten minutes and suddenly super friendly and joking about death, and you’re wearing his jacket? Something happened.”
“Damn, I wish you weren’t observant,” she frowned, realizing she did in fact have his jacket. “And stars you made that sound far too suspicious.”
“Please tell me you’re not actually dating our teacher,” she said, more as a joke than actually serious.
“There are so many things that make that impossible,” she laughed. “First, I am very gay. Secondly, you called ‘dibs’ on him. As much as I say liking your teacher is a bad idea, I’m not about to break the rule of ‘dibs’. ”
“Fuck yeah called ‘dibs’,” she smiled almost proudly. “Like, I’m not actually going to, at least not until a bit after graduation, but come on. Gay or not you have to like my choices.”
“I’m not even going to try and argue that,” she said.
“Seriously though, what happened?” she asked.
Sunset thought for a moment on how to explain. Obviously she couldn’t tell her, but she had to tell her something. She could probably get away with half of it.
“My magic was acting up,” Sunset explained. “I kind saw a handful of his memories and they….. they weren’t good ones. As in, ‘I cannot tell you because that’s not my story to tell’ memories. But we had to talk about what happened, and we ended up talking about a handful of other stuff too.”
“Oh, okay,” Pinkie nodded. “But you’re both okay, right?”
“Yeah,” she smiled. “It’s weird circumstances, but I made another friend.”
“Sunny, you made all your friends under weird circumstances,” she laughed.
“This is what I get for being an interdimensional Unicorn,” she sighed. “I should probably return this jacket, huh.”
“It is a nice jacket,” she agreed. “And it looks great on you. Want to pretend we didn’t notice and see how long before he asks for it?”
“If he’s anything like you, it’ll be a while,” she said. “I still have the hat from your Fall Formal dress.”
“That’s where that is!” she exclaimed, snapping her fingers.
“And one of Rarity’s tops,” she counted off. “Aj’s belt, a pair Rainbow’s shorts, Twi’s old Crystal Prep shoes, Fluttershy’s thigh-high socks, and the bra that Princess Twilight had from her ‘Portal Outfit’. Oh! And a pair of Flash’s boxers from back when we were pretending to date! Don’t give me that look! He forgot his swimsuit and went home commando because they were still soaked.”
“Wear it all at once and see what happens!” she suggested, giggling at the last part.
“Not a bad idea,” she agreed. “Not a bad idea at all.”
Author's Note
You know, when I first started writing this, I thought it was just one of my angsty headcanons that was perhaps a little too OOC. Then Discordant Harmony aired, that had a character in a children's show literally almost accidentally kill himself. I no longer think this is that out of character.
On a lighter note, have Human World Discord art: X
