As the lightning flashed behind him, Discord let out a maniacal laugh and looked down upon the six ponies who now cowered before him. He just couldn't believe his luck, for the seal of harmony to have weakened so fast that he could escape the bonds of his prison in only a few short months and then to find the ones responsible only a few short hours later to far from their precious Princesses and magical trinkets to receive help from either, it was just so easy. After a thousands years, the fates finally were on his side again. Oh, he was going to have so much fun.
He raised his claw and began to build the raw energy required to produce a spell that would send this pack of self righteous ponies to their final fate, but as he was about to release it, a lavender pony stepped forward and spoke.
"Wait! I have a proposition for you," she said.
Intrigued, Discord dispelled the energy with a snap of his fingers and said in a tone that hinted at his annoyance, "Oh, what is it Twilight?"
"Well," she began, "I see now that simply sealing you in stone won't stop you as you have obviously figured out how to escape."
"True, true," he said, wondering where she was going.
"But the Elements of Harmony can still do so much to you, such as stripping you of your powers, sealing you in a celestial body, or simply counteracting any bit of chaos you set loose on the land." Discord blinked, he hadn't though of any of these possibilities, she had obviously thought long and hard about this, which intrigued him even more. Quickly switching positions so that he was lying on stomach with his head in his hands, he beckoned her to continue.
"And even if you do destroy us, the Elements will simply find new bearers and the cycle would simply continue."
Discord began rapping his fingers on a nearby stone and in a very annoyed tone said, "Get to the point already, I don't have all eternity."
"Anyways," she continued, "I say we settle the fate of Equestria with a competition of wits. You vs.the six of us. If you win we will never again stand in the way of your art." The other five mares gasped at the proclamation.
"Not cool Twilight."
"Darling, you can't be serious?"
" 'Re you sure abou' this, Twi?"
"Eeep."
"Oooh, a game, I like games. Can we play Discord. Can we can we can we?"
Discord rubbed his chin,"Tempting offer," he stated. "And what if I lose?"
Twilight looked up at him with a devious smile, "Simple. You leave Equestria forever, and never again would you interfere in the affairs of Ponykind."
The smile that was forming on Discord's face from the prospect of never having to deal with the elements again was wiped clean out of existence with this statement. " Oh, and why exactly would I agree to those sort of stakes?"
"Because either way, you'll be free of that prison and will never have to worry about the elements again. It's just that one way, you'll simply have one less place in the universe to cause havoc."
"Hmmm, I hadn't thought of it like that." Discord stop and thought about it for a minute, I'm a two-thousand year old semi-omnipotent being of pure chaos. He thought. How could six little ponies possibly hope to beat me at a game of wits?
"Okay Miss Sparkle, you've got yourself a deal." He reached out with his talon and shook Twilight's hoof. "Now, what are the terms of your little game?"
Before Twilight could respond, a yell came from the orange pony in the stetson. "Hold on one apple buckin' minute!" exclaimed Applejack. "Jus' how do we know y'all will keep your word ifin ya up and lose?"
Discord simply stared at the cowpony with a deadpan expression. "When a deity gives his word or makes a deal, they are forever bound to it's conditions, no exceptions." Applejack and the rest of the mares still looked skeptical at his statement. "If you don't believe me, just ask you precious Princesses, they'll tell you exactly the same thing."
Applejack nodded her head, accepting that what he told her was true, and with that, Twilight began to speak once again.
"Alright, now that that's out of the way, here are the rules of the game." Twilight took a deep breath. "The concept is simple, each of the six of us have to make you say, write, or spell out your name backwards. Every time we succeed in doing so, you will be banished to the fifth dimension for six weeks, I assume you know what I'm talking about, correct?"
Discord nodded his head, remembering the timeshare he had with one Mr. Mxyzpltlk there.
Twilight continued, "Once the game has begun, each of us will have 24 hours to accomplish our task. If any one of us are unable to make you say your name in the time allotted, you win the game. In other words, You've got six chances to win while we only have one." Discord made a huge smile at this revelation. He only had to outsmart one of them to win. Twilight continued, " You have to stay around the pony who's turn it is for the full 24 hours to make it fair to them, and you can't mess around with any other pony until you win."
Discord's heart dropped a little at the last rule, but he was still in high spirits about how easy this was going to be. "Anything else?" he asked.
Twilight pondered thoughtfully for a minute, "Nope, that's it. Does it sound good to you?"
"Just one thing. Discord is to easy, we'll use my ancient name for the contest."
"Fine, what's your ancient name."
Discord smiled wickedly,"Dschlmpyrd. If your unsure how to spell it, Ask the princesses, I know they haven't forgotten."
Twilight's eyes popped wide open upon hearing the near indistinguishable pile of sounds. With a loud groan and a facehoof she said, "Fine, let's just start the game already."
"Alright, let's begin," Discord said."Oh, and Twilight, don't be like that. This was your idea after all."
"Oh!" Twilight exclaimed, "I can't believe I almost forgot. I've got one more question for you, Discord."
"Yes."
"This is just for reference sake, How does your name sound when it's said backwards?"
"That's easy it Dryp..." Discord stopped mid sentence, realizing what had almost occurred. "Very funny Twilight Sparkle, but I'm not going to say Drypmlhcsd that ea..si...ly.... CRUD!" with that final word Discord disappeared in a puff of smoke, banished to the fifth dimension for six weeks.
Twilight turned to her group of friends, all of them but Pinkie were visibly dumbfounded by what had just happened. "See girls, I told you it would work," she said, the mischievous grin on her face growing even wider, "and now we have six whole weeks to practice."
