Sympathy Series Side Stories

Chapters

Trixie wants Discord's Power
Letters to Twilight
Copying Avengers and Browncoats
Sef visits Discord
The Statera Equus
More NaNo Fun
Super Old Post-aPS Stuff
Twilight Gets Kidnapped by Changelings

Trixie wants Discord's Power

Author's Note

This was a weird one, to say the least. I think I was listening to a podcast that told me to 'just start writing something' and this is what came out.

I think my original thought was, 'How would a different pony who wasn't Twilight approach Discord if they stumbled across him? Why it was Trixie and why the thing about drinking his urine I still don't know. It was random and silly and just gross enough to remember.

Trixie wants Discord's Power

Trixie cackled as she levitated the small corked vial into her outstretched hooves. She did not lift her gaze up to the others until the mysterious tiny bottle and its equally mysterious contents were safely being caressed in her gentle hold.

It took several minutes of her cackling and tender bottle-stroking before the ponies assembled actually said anything. Most were frozen with shock at Trixie's sudden appearance, and struck with complete what-the-buckery wondering what this was all about.

“It's funny how dumb you are,” she said once she was finally done cackling for a few minutes.

“Ok, so... I guess that's important?” Rainbow Dash said flatly, the fastest to recover from the various shocks.

“Oh, that it is, that is is. The Great and Powerful Trixie has collected before your very eyes a substance that has never before existed!” The blue unicorn monologued in triumph. “something so powerful that I will surely become the most powerful unicorn who ever lived!”

The liquid substance inside swirled with different colors. Yellow mixed with green mixed with pink. All swirled around in a way not unlike a candy cane.

“It looks delicious,” was Pinkie Pie's obvious response. For it did look delicious, but what Trixie said next would kill any pony's curiosity to give it a sip.

“In the eons of history since this world was created, never has there been any sort of tangible essence exuded from a being of infinite spiritual power. Many the power-seeking pony has sought something from these beings. Their tears, their blood, something from them – of them – etched from their own spiritual code.”

“But, the only spirits to have forms are Harmony and Discord, and they've never bled or cried anywhere near ponies, how did you come across something 'from' them?” Twilight wondered. As outrageous as her claim was, there was that little flash of curiosity at Trixie's words. When did she get it, how it she get it?

“I mean, I assume Harmony cried at one time, but that was millennia ago. There's no way you would ever have something of hers, and Discord has never cried or bled to my knowledge. I don't know if he can.”

“Perhaps, but wasn't there a time fairly recently when the spirit of Chaos was made mortal? When he ate, slept, and lived among us?”

“If you're referring to when he was a pony during the Cloudsdale Crisis, my friends and I were with him the entire time, if any sort of 'essence' was exuded like that, we would have noticed. In any case, since he was a pony any part of him would be pony as well.”

At least, Twilight assumed so. It wasn't as if she had actually analyzed Discord's inner workings while in pony form. Her head shot up with new-found suspicion as she realized something.

“And how do you even know about that, Trixie? No pony except the bearers of the elements knew he was here, and we never saw you.”

Trixie ceased her petting of the bottle momentarily to explain without words how she came to be undetected in Ponyville. Whipping her cape around herself in a swift, spiraling motion the cloak enveloped her, and she disappeared.

The six others gaped in an entirely new round of shocked. When she reappeared again, all Twilight could do was stammer.

“Invisibility cloak, just something I picked up from some pony outside of Trottingham,” she hoof-waved away the special effects before using her magic to dramatically un-cork the vial. “That was nothing to what will happen once I have absorbed the power of this essence of Chaos!”

Once she was able to overcome her new fascination with that bit of impressively skillful magic, Twilight racked her brain once more for something that would explain, so that she might know what they were dealing with. Surely, that couldn't really be the 'essence of Chaos'. Why, the only thing Discord ever exuded in her presence was...

“Oh, Trixie...you didn't,” the purple unicorn said with an edge of disgust in her realization. “I know power can be seductive, but think – just think – about the implications of what you are about to use before you start pouring it on your horn.”

“Pouring?” Trixie asked with a mirthless laugh. “Oh no, the best method would be to drink it.”

Twilight's face twisted in more disgust as her stomach turned. “Come on Trixie, I didn't think you would be that obtuse. Such power... shouldn't have to come from drinking another being's urine. No matter how powerful.”

“Try and stop me.”

Before any of them could react, Trixie downed the mouthful of multi-colored liquid in one gulp. Immediately her eyes flashed all three colors that had made up the fluid. Her horn crackled with electricity, and her body was forcibly shot into the air as an odd glow began to emanate from her very core. The mare screamed in pain... or possibly delight. It was hard to tell at this point because she was also cackling again.

When the light became so intense that the watching ponies needed to shield their eyes, Trixie screamed again and two giant somethings ripped their way free from her shoulder blades. Enormous wings that were almost alive with the same electricity, somehow made of equal parts lightning, acid, and Pepto-Bismol.

“So that's what happens when you drink... that,” Twilight's revulsion was slightly softened by a scientific wonder. “I guess we should have been more careful with his fluids.”

“Wait, she just drank Discord piddle?” Pinkie Pie asked. “THAT was what that stuff was?”

“Grossest evil power-up ever,” Dash said with an equally grossed-out face.

“Hey Trixie, what did it taste like?” Pinkie asked. The others were too busy trying not to gag to say anything.

Letters to Twilight

Author's Note

You'll definitely recognize these if you follow my Tumblr blog. These were written during NaNoWriMo I wanna say either 2013 or 14. They were a series of letters from one character to another (usually to Twilight) that describe some of the chaotic goings-on that Twilight would not have witnessed. I also wanted to give some idea of what each of the main six were up to while the story was going on without them.

Ultimately however, it seemed that the story could have gone on without these, because they just reiterated what I could have just shown or what could have been told by just a few lines of dialogue.

These are semi-canon to the series.

Letters to Twilight

Applejack

Applejack and Big Macintosh had only just managed to load the spare tills (or other some such farming equipment) onto the cart to take down to the train station when their cousin Braeburn brought them yet another dozen apple pies for them to take home with them. It wasn’t like they didn’t have plenty of apples and apple pie fixins back at Sweet Apple Acres, but Braeburn was insisting, and in their family it just wasn’t right to turn down a gift… even a gift that wasn’t quite helpful.

The townsfolk or Appleoosa recalled how AJ and her friends were able to help with the whole incident with the buffalo - although Applejack didn’t think they’d been that much of the difference - so when they heard she and her brother were coming to town to visit with Brae and Bloomburg they apparently couldn’t hold off on the hospitality.

Even the buffalo had gotten in on it, Rainbow’s friend Little Strongheart had been there to greet them at the station along with AJ’s relatives. Apparently she’d become a regular staple about town… and about Braeburn’s place too. AJ didn’t wanna say anything about it to her cousin, not unless he brought it up. Which he didn’t, in typical Apple stallion fashion.

It was going to be a long trip, and Applejack decided she might as well work on the letter she told Twilight she would write if she saw anything strange while she was away. The earth pony didn’t know why Twilight would think there would be something strange going on, and when she asked the unicorn had only said ‘You know…just in case,’ in that way that obviously meant that there really was a chance of it.

And if there was something that was gonna happen, Applejack had three guesses as to the cause, but of course she’d only need one. Now she didn’t wanna jump to conclusions about Discord after he’d actually helped out the towns and Spike and all, but it was still pretty hard for her to not automatically think of the draconequus when ‘strange things happening’ were mentioned. She knew Equestria was full of magic and odd things, but it didn’t take a unicorn math-magician like Twilight to put certain pieces together.

AJ had heard tell of some things happening since the Cloudsdale incident - crazy weather and off looking plants and the like - and it didn’t matter if the stuff disappeared after, Twilight had to know something that wasn’t all that well known to every pony yet. She was trying to cover for Discord, and the earth pony understood why, even if she wasn’t that big a fan of it, or him.

Big Mac had surprised her when he’d actually said some nice things about his time spent with him. It wasn’t much, just that when they had worked together on the farm that Discord had done a good job, and he might not be so bad. Simple words, but she knew that - coming from her brother of few words - it was fairly high praise. Especially if those words were talking about some pony like Discord.

Appleoosa was on the opposite side of the Mohoove Desert than the town they’d flown over in the balloon to seek him out, but if Applejack was high enough, she could see out in that direction. About halfway to the nearest town in the desert’s heart she knew Discord had carved himself out a little space. She hadn’t been back since that one time, but she knew it when he was there. Every so often she would look out at the horizon line, and a pinprick in the distance would flash, or pop, or sparkle. A pop or even a small wizzing or explosion would sound from that area and AJ knew it had to have something to do with the spirit of chaos.

At least he was keeping to his word, she hadn’t seen anything come closer to Appleoosa than that… least not untill now.

Dear Twi,

Big Mac and I are on our way back from Appleoosa, and I reckon by now y’all are on your way to the Crystal Empire to see your brother and Cadance. Be sure to send ‘em congratulations from the Apple family on their new upcoming family.

I’m writing because you said to if I noticed anything amiss while I was gone. As you know we’re within sight of Discord’s desert section here, and every now and again he’s doing something over yonder that we can’t help but notice. Don’t worry though, I haven’t seen anything comin’ from that area towards us. That’s not why I’m writing.

Well, Applejack wasn’t sure whether or not it was the reason for what she saw, but she wasn’t about to write that to Twilight. She didn’t want to sound like she was accusing him. She reckoned she couldn’t know for sure yet, and she assumed Twi was still keeping an eye on him anyway.

I’m writing because the buffalo have been paying the town a visit while we were here too, and they noticed some things not too far from their grazing lands. Ya think there might have been a chance that Discord maybe… forgot some of his cactus balloons? I ain’t accusing him or nothing, but they found a few already exploded ones out west, not exactly within his borders. That’s not all though, Braeburn has a few new apple trees growing in his orchard along the route the buffalo take though it. But they’re zap apples. I didn’t know they grew anywhere outside of the Everfree Forest, and I don’t recall sending Brae any seeds or cuttings or saplings, Twi. Big Mac can’t account for them either, Braeburn hadn’t never seen them before either, ‘cept at our farm. That was one of the reasons he wanted us to come by when we mentioned we needed some parts. Again, I know Discord isn’t allowed to come outside of his places to the rest of Equestria but… I just can’t think of any other way zap apple trees made it into the desert to Brae’s farm.

Hope things are going alright for you, Sugarcube. I’ll see y’all when we get back to town.

-Applejack

Rarity

Dearest Twilight Sparkle,

I do hope you appreciate what I have gone through for you, Darling. I felt so completely out of place at that observatory, you have no idea. I could not understand a thing our tour guide was talking about, going on about different observations in the constellations and the shifting in gravitational some such nonsense. I am certain you would have had a much more enjoyable time. It was surprisingly busy for being such a small space, and you would think that the tourists visiting Canterlot would enjoy seeing the castle or some of the more historic places during their visits than looking at all of this blocky magical equipment. It all seemed a bit on the drab side too, but I know it must have been built more for function than form.

Anyway, I do believe you were right about something, those falling stars that you said you saw a few nights ago? The ponies here in Canterlot saw them as well, and they have confirmed that Princess Luna did not create them. So far they haven’t been recovered, and there haven’t been any others of the kind since, so they might have been a fluke. This was told to me by a very knowledgeable unicorn stallion who works at the observatory – Silver Streak, I think his name was. He was a lot nicer than our tour guide, for he did take a little time to try and explain some of the terms to me and what some of the equipment did. He was the one who gave me the information that conformed your theory. He was quite nice, and had very lovely green eyes. He did ask me about my dinner plans, but I wanted to be free to send this to you tonight (perhaps tomorrow night ;)

In any case, dear Silver told me about seeing the shooting stars that night, and how every pony who saw them were running around in a tizzy, thinking they were going to crash into the city. The other pony scientists could have told them there was no danger since Canterlot is protected by magical barriers as well as the princesses, but you know how mobs of scared ponies can react, even in the face of obvious common horse sense.

I did have to miss a few very key meetings for this little trip you put me on, but I hope to make up for that by attending some shows tomorrow, a few of the top designers that were to attend the meetings yesterday will be at the shows, so I do indeed hope I can catch them there. I have been hearing some interesting buzz about incorporating more paisley, and I will most defiantly have to voice my opinion resolutely in the negative about that. I don’t know what pony in their right mind would actually enjoy wearing paisley. Well, perhaps our neighbor in Ponyville named Paisley… but she probably has more taste than that as well. Who is the pony that invented paisley in the first place? I don’t know what sort of fevered dream they had to make it up, but I would never even think that it would make a fashion trend.

…But I was writing to you about the falling stars, wasn’t I? Silly me. Yes, Silver Streak told me that they did indeed appear different from any normally seen shooting stars – or meteorites as he referred to them, he was quite intelligent, did I mention? - meaning they were not like the ones seen when Luna or even Celestia brings (or brought) them around. So it really was just like you thought, wasn’t it? I do wish I had more information for you, but they have been searching for the debris as you have and sadly come up just as empty hooved.

There was one piece of interesting information that I thought you would want to know about. Have you noticed something strange about the (and I do hope I am spelling this right because Silver only told me its name by mouth) ‘Slape neer’ constellation? He showed it to me – and an illustration of how it is supposed to look – but it appears to be missing some stars. There are at least four of them, and that leaves the supposed eight legged horse the constellation is supposed to make without one of its legs. Perhaps I just don’t have the right amount of imagination for star gazing Darling, but I did not see any shape to the image these stars he showed me are supposed to make, but I did notice the ones that were missing. (And honestly, who comes up with these things? I mean, an eight legged pony? Sounds like something Discord might find funny).

He seems to think that the two things (the missing stars and the surprise meteor shower) are connected somehow, but he appears to be the only one here that does. I said to him that my friend Twilight Sparkle might think that was worth a look, and he got quite excited about that (and upon hearing your name, you are quite the celebrity here darling. Perhaps I should set you two up… well, if I don’t decide to take him for myself ;) and asked me to ask you to share any of your findings. I haven’t been able to ask either of the princesses about it – they are both so busy and I wasn’t about to bother them if it turned out to be something minor – but I am perfectly sure that if it has to do with the night sky then at least Princess Luna knows about it. You needn’t worry about that as I know you might, is what I am getting at.

So if you do take a break from all of your translating, go ahead and take a look at that constellation and see if you can spot those missing stars from home as well. Tell Spike I shall be bringing him home at least a dozen of those donuts that he loves so much from Donut Joe, and I should most likely be back within the week.

Sincerely,

Rarity

Rainbow Dash

Hey Twilight,

How are things back in Ponyville? Cloudsdale’s not trying to tackle it again, is it? Hee hee, just kidding, but I seriously hope it is not.

I am having a blast here at the Wonderbolt Academy. Since I have been here before, I am at a higher level than I was last time, so that means I get to train longer and harder than the rest, but it also means that if I play my cards right I might get to sit in on ACTUAL WONDERBOLTS PRACTICES! Yeah, it is just that cool.

I might also be getting my own batch of first timers to help train as a junior trainer, so that will be fun. I know you might tell me to take it easy on them (Fluttershy definitely would ) but there is no way I am doing that. If these little ponies wanna fly with the ‘Bolts – and they have me as their coach – then they are gonna have to show some serious hustle. NO MERCY, rest is for the weak, go for the gold and avoid silver like you’re a were-pony! (Were-ponies are hurt by silver, right?)

Oh, and guess what I heard? Lightning Dust – remember her? The pegasus who I was paired up with that was kind of a jerky version of me and got kicked out? - she’s applied to train with the ‘Bolts again, but I also hear tell that she’s thinking of trying out for the Shooting Stars. I mean, I guess they’re ok and all, but you know they are totally no Wonderbolts. If she can’t get in there, I hope she tries out for here again. She had some awesome moves and great potential, it was just… her attitude that held her back, ya know?

But yeah, I wanted to write to you and ask about some stuff me and some of the other guys saw while we were doing a cloud busting exercise. The Wonderbolt Academy is kind of close to the bad lands, but not exactly over it. I don’t think Discord could do anything to it since it is not close enough to his air space, but we can see that gigantic enormous (and I don’t care what Pinkie Pie says, 'ginormous’ is not a word) colorful ball pit he’s got there. We saw some birds flying over there and they came out way. I may have been seeing things, but it looked to me like a few of them were like… glowing. Then they started blinking – all the glowing ones – like those enchanted lights ponies put up for Heartswarming Eve.

I dunno, maybe those birds were just unlucky enough to be around Discord when he got bored, but it was just weird that they didn’t get reversed after he was done with them.

I have also kind of noticed some weird weather patterns lately, and I was wondering if you had too. Or maybe you send word up to Cloudsdale and ask around for me. Have any ponies noticed some weirdly glowing clouds? Like, sort of the same thing as the birds, only these clouds – I swear – were dropping stuff from them. Not cotton candy ones with chocolate rain though, but definitely not the normal precipitation like rain or snow. If Discord is messing with weather patterns, could you tell him to knock it off? I am sure he’d listen to you, and I he doesn’t quit it he’ll just have Princess Celestia and Princess Luna after him about it. I wouldn’t think he’d want to mess with them after what they did to him the last time (and what we had to put up with, am I right? ;)

But yeah – not blaming him – but you gotta admit those are some pretty suspicious things going down. Let’s hope that nothing bigger or badder like the Tartarus thing happens again. If it is this weird and annoying but manageable stuff I guess we could cope (although come on, if it is him he’s breaking the rules and you can’t deny that) I just hope this doesn’t get worse.

Weather’s not something he should toy around it, and I’ll give him a piece of my mind the next time I see him. If it isn’t his fault I don’t care, he should still know. Who knows, maybe he can fix it (and he should). Sorry, I know… he’s not so bad and he’s trying and all that… and I am trying too for you Twi. I really am. Hope you can give me credit for trying to be more accepting of him too.

If it’s not to much trouble, do you think you could look in on Tank for me? He’s over at Fluttershy’s but I’ll bet she’s gone out with those baby birds she was fussing over last time I saw her. He should be ok on his own, but I… ya know… miss him, and I kinda get a little bit worried about him when I am gone for so long. Maybe if you could take him home with you, you and Spike could watch him for the rest of the time until I get back? I’d really appreciate it.

Oh and hey, did you see that meteor shower the other night? Yeah, that was crazy because we had no idea that was gonna happen. Usually Princess Luna gives the weather team a heads up when she’s gonna do one of those. So we can fit it into the weather schedule (winds and whatnot) and so we can tell ever pony to watch it when it happens. I dunno, maybe she told you about it, or maybe she just forgot. Maybe she just felt like doing some shooting stars at the spur of the moment, I know I probably couldn’t resist showing off like that if I commanded the night like she does.

Anyhoo, if I am assigned some newbies, I’ll let ya know. Hope every pony back home is doing alright. Tell Pinkie Pie if she hasn’t already gotten her letter, I sent one just for her so she wouldn’t flip out waiting for a reply like last time. Also, make sure she got that, we definitely don’t want what happened last time to happen again.

See you in a week

-Rainbow Dash

Fluttershy

“Now Donald, you look after Tom. Don’t let him out of your sight, and Tom don’t start a fight with your brother, Donald is only looking out for you. Philly, you’re the oldest so I’d like you to keep these two in check. Alright, is every pony together? Don’t forget your snacks. it is a very long trip across the ocean, so be sure to eat and find good solid pieces of land to rest on,” Fluttershy fussed over the three young starlings like a big equine mommy bird. The three hatchlings had lost their mother, and Fluttershy had been caring for them at her cottage until they were big and strong enough to leave for their very first flight south for the winter.

She had gone with them – and all of the other local birds leaving Ponyville (and her home) to fly south just to be sure they would make it. This was the limit though, she was exhausted enough traveling halfway across Equestria with them. At some point, Fluttershy knew she had to let them go off on their own for real. It didn’t do anything to make her feel better about the situation, but the three little birds seemed eager, and she made sure they were full of delicious bird seed and the last of the crumbs she had brought with her that was at one time a full loaf of bread.

The other birds would look after them, she knew. She patted them and stroked their feathers each one last time before they chirped their final, musical farewells. She watched the lovely, colorful flock fly off towards the horizon, only stopping her waving when they were tiny pinpricks in the distance.

Wiping a small tear from her eye, Fluttershy sniffed and tried to compose herself. They would come back in the spring, and she could volunteer to be the one to go and get them if she wanted, even.

The pegasus had never been to Baltimare before, and so it was a bit of a small journey (and mild anxiety attack) locating the train station. She was a bit low on bits, so her ticket was only for getting her to the next town over, but by then she assumed she would be rested enough to get herself flying again. She may have to stop over in the swamp lands again, but she knew that even if Discord was there, he wouldn’t (most likely anyway) do anything to her. He might even let her rest in the house he had made there. If he had made one, because she didn’t remember seeing one there. Maybe he didn’t visit that place very often. At least not often enough to decide to have a home there.

The only house Fluttershy remembered seeing of his was the one he had made from the ruins in the Everfree Forest. She had heard of one in the desert, but as far as she knew those were the only ones. She wondered if she would be brave enough to ask Discord why some time, or at least why the badlands were still completely filled with colorful balls.

Dear Twilight,

Umm, I know you are probably already aware of this – or you might be – but just in case I wanted to send this to you before I got back. That is, in case you haven’t already noticed or heard. I might be a little slower coming home, it is a little bit too expensive to take the train than to fly, but you know how I get tired easily, so I might only fly a part of the way back home.

Anyway, I told you last week about how I’d been nursing those baby starlings back to health, well they were well enough for their first flight south for the winter. Without their mother I wasn’t sure how well they’d make the trip, and even with the other birds leaving my cottage looking after them like I asked them too, it still worried me to think of them having to fly so far without their mommy. So I decided to at least see them to about halfway. Of course, Halfway to the southern portion of Equestria is that big patch of swamp land that Discord is assigned to, and I know we can trust him more, but I still went ahead and at least saw them as far as Horseshoe Bay in Baltimare. I didn’t see Discord at all while we rested at the halfway point, but his rearranging was a bit… peculiar to say the least.

I am regretting going so far with them now since I am so very tired, but I still feel it was worth it to get those starlings on their way across the sea towards Cheval. They’ll be happy on the nice warm beaches with the other birds.

I did have something else to mention apart from the birds though, well apart from my traveling and worrying about them I mean.

I noticed that some of the birds that came along with mine from my house seemed a little bit off. I think they must be the ones from the Everfree Forest, because they were certainly acting strangely. A few of them had very odd colorations of their feathers, and some of them had what looked like feathers made of paper, rock, and scissors. Some of them glowed in the dark, and one hiccuped bubbles whenever it flapped for too long. I suppose this wouldn’t bother me, but a few of the birds had some very sharp teeth and they were chasing my starlings around and being generally just very unpleasant.

I suppose it isn’t something to get worried about, is it? I suppose Discord just wanted something to do, and so he was messing with the birds in the forest. I just wish he’d thought to turn them back before letting them leave the forest to fly south. I guess he doesn’t think about things like that. If you could talk to him about it, I’d be very appreciative. Or, maybe I could… but if you came with me I think I would feel better. Some of the strange assortment of Everfree birds didn’t follow along with the rest of the flock, they stayed behind at a few of the resting places. Thankfully some we left off in the swamp lands, but some stayed in Rivertail and the like. Again, I don’t think it should really be a problem, I just hope those changes made to them don’t harm or affect the birds in any way.

I am sorry if this wasn’t helpful, or if this bothered you. I just thought you might like to know. I should be home soon and then maybe we can talk abut it some more. I hope your research is going well.

Your Friend,

-Fluttershy

Pinkie Pie

To: Twilight Sparkle

From: Pinkie Pie

Dear Twilight,

Did you get your letter yet from Rainbow Dash? I just got mine in the mail today. It sounds like she is having a lot of fun over at the Wonderbolt Academy. She told me all about how she might get to go to practices, and about how she might get to coach some new recruits, and how she plans on putting them through the ringer and showing them no mercy, and about what she heard about that Lightning Dust mare she was friends with… but if you already got your letter from her you probably know all that stuff already, huh? If not, sorry for the spoilers, try to act surprised.

I know I could just tell you all this stuff the next time I see you, but I left this with Spike just in case I get busy, or you get busy, or we both get busy and I forget to come by and you forget to answer your door. I remember one time you were doing research and Spike told me you were probably drowning in rune translations at the time and to come back later. Glad to know you made it out though.

I was thinking that when Rainbow Dash gets back from the academy we should throw her a party at the library. Well, first I was thinking Sugarcube Corner, but the twins are having a little bit of a sleeping problem at the moment – meaning they aren’t – and so they are sort of up all night and then grouchy in the day time. I think it is because they’re teething, but I can’t be sure. I give them soft cool wet things to chew on to try and make them feel better though. But anyway I figured the party would be more fun without crying foals and/or having to be extra quiet when and if the crying foals actually fell asleep. Mrs. Cake would totally blow a fuse if we woke them from sleep a this point. I don’t know about the decoration situation. If it is gonna be a welcome back party for every pony that left (Rainbow, Rarity, and now I think Fluttershy went somewhere too) then maybe the standard ‘Pinkie Pie Party Plan’ (patent pending) should do the trick. What do you think? (I might just ask the next time I see you)

If it is ok with you to have party at your place, then we can try and schedule it when both she and Rarity come home from their trips. Also before AJ goes off on hers. Boy, it seems like every pony is taking a trip this fall, but I guess as long as it is not a literal fall it’s alright.

When I got my letter from Rainbow Dash, I also got a letter from my pen pal Marble out near Rivertail (before you get to Vanhoover). He’s a relative of the Cakes’, a nephew or a cousin or something, but he’s really nice and has the neatest recipes for breakfast pastries. Anyways, he wrote in his letter that their town’s well (that is supposed to be magical or something, like it grants wishes. Isn’t that neat? I wish I could go to a wishing well, but what if that used up my wish and then I didn’t get another?) kind of just exploded with salamanders the other day. Now I am pretty sure I know what a salamander is, and I know they shouldn’t be living in a well, or at least not that well from how he worded it. Everything was fixed in a jiffy, but it did stir things up in his town because of all the little slippery lizard looking things squirming around.

Marble said they got into his mother’s garden and were just swimming around the flowers… like swimming on top of them. Can salamanders fly? I don’t think they can, but you’re the one who knows about magical creatures. They live in water but some of them (the magical ones) come from fire, right? Maybe I should actually check out a book from the library when I visit you every now and then.

Has Discord ever been that far north before? I mean, I am not saying I think he had anything to do with that, because I know that isn’t close by one of his designated spots to live, and he did make that promise to leave every pony alone and not mess with them… but doesn’t that sound like something weird that he might know about? I sure hope it wasn’t anything to do with him, because I wouldn’t want every pony to be upset with him about something like that. He’s really not that bad, especially now that he’s tried to help us and he’s so close with you and everything.

If I knew where he was I’d ask him myself, but if you see him or know where he is, maybe tell him about what Marble saw. Have you heard from him lately, by the way? (Discord, not Marble). I haven’t seen you heading into the Everfree Forest lately, and I know that is where you go to meet him. Have you been teleporting there? If you ever need some pony to go with, you can always come find me. Just be sure to be quiet if you come around Sugarcube Corner and you don’t hear babies screaming.

Boy, it sure is taking me a long time to write this, Spike’s still here next to me waiting for me to finish so he can take this letter from me. In hindsight I think I should have written this back at home and then come over and given it to him. But I didn’t know if you’d be home yet, or if I should wait around to tell you all this face to face. Spike said you’d be back in a little while, but you know me, I don’t really like to sit for too long, I get sorta distracted.

Anyway, talk to ya soon!

Your Friend,

Pinkie Pie

P.S. Oh wait, you know what? that is you coming inside right now! I guess I can just stop writing this and just tell you. So never mind, ignore this letter. But have a great day anyway, Twilight.

Cadance

Dear Twilight Sparkle,

I do hope that you will be able to come back up to the Crystal Empire for another visit. It won’t be too terribly long I fear before her have four new tiny hooves galloping across the palace floor. Shiny is hoping for a boy, but I still have my little fantasies about a girl. I do suppose that it doesn’t matter, as long at it comes out healthy (and a pegasus, hee hee. I kid… mostly ;)

I know that we did make the agreement to take on the powers of Chaos and Order respectively once their current wielders have fully bestowed them upon us – and once we have learned to wield them responsibly – but I have been having a few doubts.

There so far haven’t been any ill affects to my foal so far with the Order training, but there hasn’t been all that much strain with it either. Perhaps it is due to the fact that Celestia and Luna are made of this world, so that makes things easier to bestow their powers onto a fellow being of this world. I just wonder if maybe… that is why you have been struggling and appearing to have such a hard time with accepting Discord’s power? I only have what Auntie Celestia tells me, but it doesn’t sound like you are having as easy a time. I don’t want you to strain yourself, if it harms you or exhausts you, you need to rest. And this advice is coming from a pregnant mare! Every pony is always telling me to take it easy.

There is also the matter of Discord. Twilight, I honestly found it very hard to believe that you could have such a connection – such feelings – for a being such as he. I hope you don’t think less of me, or blame me when I say this. Honestly though, would you have thought it possible if some pony you’d known her whole life suddenly had an interest in a romantic sense, and that pony they felt so strongly for was some pony so… dangerous?

I do realize that he has shown a capacity to learn, and I have even gained a very good picture of his own internal emotional connections, so I know that he does indeed feel love, and I hope you know that he does indeed feel love towards you.

Twilight, Discord would not want me to tell you this and I doubt he would ever bring it up, but this hoofing over of his magic – watching you try to absorb and control his power – I think it is hard on him. I don’t believe he likes seeing you like this, and worrying about you – having such a concern for another pony – he is still learning about that. He may not know the best way to handle it, so I hope you’ll bear that in mind if he does anything… drastic.

I would like you to know that it is okay to let yourself be open to love. Love is hope, it fuels out dreams. And if you’re in it, you need to enjoy it. No matter how it comes, you are lucky to have found it. Just… tread carefully. This bond between the two of you is something… both fragile and explosive. I don’t know how it might fair in the long run, but if you both make the effort to try, you might find out.

…and I am a tad curious to see for myself. No matter what, I don’t want you to forget what you have learned in this discovery of a new part of yourself, your capacity to feel this type of love.

I can not see the future – no pony can, not even Auntie Luna – so tread lightly into these new phases of life. I want to be sure my foal has her own Auntie to dote on him or her and give him or her books for every birthday.

I hope to see you soon, and tell Discord he is welcome to stop by my home if he wishes. Not entirely sure how Shining Armor might take it, but if he promises to be on his best behavior, I don’t think we should ave any trouble (make sure Discord behaves too ;)

With Love,

Princess Mi Amore Cadenza (Cadance)

Shining Armor

Field Log Report of Crystal Empire; surrounding Northern territories

From: Captain Shining Armor, ERG

To: Commander Furie, Senior Director/consultant, ERG

Report: The blizzards that have been hitting the Northernmost parts of Equestria have had little to no affect on the Crystal Empire. The weather regulating protective magical border surrounding the city continues to hold strong. The ponies inside having almost zero knowledge that there have even been any particularly bad weather outside.

This report notes the concerns risen by the incident that occurred at or aound eight hundred hours on the morning of the eighteenth of November (most likely being the day prior to your receiving this report). Three guard members were doing a perimeter scan along the inside wall of the protective barrier when they noticed a grouping of what they identified as ‘creatures of non pony shape’ off in the distance of the snow storm.

I (Capt. Armor) was called to the scene to observe the findings. I saw what they had told me, and let this report reflect that while not all of them were pony shaped, most of them had been. It could have been that the speed of the blizzard had warped their outward appearances somewhat, but let the record show that the large herd of things seen early that morning can only be described as ‘moving deformed snow ponies’.

From what I could see of them from my vantage point, there were at least thirty or so, all near the size of an adult mare, some larger only due to the fact that t appeared two snow ponies had blown into each other, melding to make a bigger and more distorted creature.

When I suggested we go outside to get a closer look, my fellow officers were reluctant to say the least. I had to resort to playing 'eeny meeny miney moe’ to choose from them some pony to accompany me. But by the time I had gotten down to one, the others told me to turn around.

Upon turning, we all witnessed that the snow ponies were no longer converging on the magical protection surrounding the Empire, they were now grouping around close to where we stood, and proceeded to do a very well-choreographed dance number complete with tap dancing, clogging, and some freestyle street type dancing. It was quite the spectacle to behold, if this report needs complete honesty. They appeared to also be singing, but with the sound proofing on the bubble, none of us could hear them. It is quite possible they were unintelligible anyway, since they were made of snow.

After the snow ponies were finished with their dancing, they all sort of just… blew away back into snow. Their forms dissolved back into the winds that were still buffeting around outside. As of twenty four hundred today (the nineteenth of November) they have not returned. If it pleases the Commander to obtain reports from the other officers present at that time, I would not be offended. I would actually encourage it, because I’d like to make sure they actually saw the same thing I did, and I didn’t just dream that.

Copying Avengers and Browncoats

Author's Note

These were done during NaNoWriMo 12 and 13 when I wanted to work on scenes but didn't didn't have them fully realized yet. Also I needed to get my word count for those days and I just decided to place ponies in scenes from movies and TV shows.

Completely non canon, although the Celestia/Discord scene copying the scene from Firefly helped me with a scene in Dealing in Harmony.

The Avengers scene though... Yeah that was more for fun. Notice that Harmony was always mentioned but never actually seen in any of my stories.

Copying Avengers and Browncoats

Discord sat on the floor of the air ship, his hands and feet bound together and his wings bound with chains, tethered to a very large post looking structure. It was taking an awful lot of effort to keep from rolling his eyes and laughing derisively at their feeble efforts. They obviously were not equipped to restrain a being more powerful than themselves by a factor of about oh... a billion percent. Surely at least one of these ponies must have figured out that he could escape at any time, but that he was choosing not to.

Amazingly to the credit of the equine races, one of his captors did bring this up. He overheard the stallion speaking to one of his fellows.

“I don't like this,” the neatly groomed blonde earth pony said in a quiet voice that still carried in the small space, even with the sounds of the air whooshing past the ship.

“What, that he's giving up so easily?” asked the crimson pegasus with the goatee (Discord hadn't known that ponies could sport muzzle hair, but he knew he'd created stranger things). “Yeah, I was wondering about that too.”

For a while Discord could only watch them and listen to their stilted conversations, still feigning capture on the floor. It didn't matter to him, this was what should be happening. He was exactly where he needed to be – away from Twilight and her friends – and he was on his way to where he needed to be – far removed from this plane. He only wondered what form of punishment the leader of this group would see fit to bestow on him before they handed him into the Order twins.

A flash of lightning lit up the gray and cloudy night sky. Discord watched the flashes from one of the rounded windows. Storm was approaching, and the thunder was beginning to roll in.

Why in the world did this keep happening? Why did he continue to offer himself up so that these ponies could get what they wanted, which was to get him out of their way? The first time it was because he hadn't seen any chance of the other options working. The second, it was because of Twilight, Spike, and those close to them. His new found respect for the ponies of the world mixed with his concern for the two of them... it just made it feel slightly unfair for them to have to pay for his mistakes made centuries before they were born.

This time though, there was one difference. In those other incidents he had held out something that resembled a hope. There was this faint glow of hope that maybe – just maybe – if he did what Twilight said, or if he just offered them something to show them like she suggested, perhaps there realy could be a place for him to live in this pony world of theirs.

They however, did not appear to see it that way Twilight had made such strides to try and educate the masses about the true nature of balance, he was grateful to her for it, so much effort. The mare always crusaded for equality in the land, even for some pony so presumably irredeemable as he. Too bad she only just figured out how crazy she was about him before he decided to just leave. His feelings for her hadn't changed, not really. He was still just as fascinated by her as ever. She was still just as much fun to pester and frazzle, but it felt like ever since she had begun to help him – begun to care for him – things just kept going wrong. It would just be simpler for every pony if he departed.

There was a flash of red, something Discord hadn't been thinking about, and hadn't seen in ages. It was a bright, magical signature, from some pony so unmistakeable that Discord couldn't have mistaken it for any one else. The only question was... how?

The flash appeared even brighter now, inside of the cabin, the mortal ponies jumped back, shielding their eyes as the light grew brighter.

From the center of the light, a voice called out to him. “Discord, I know you're not really tied down. You are not fooling any pony. Just come with me now.”

Discord's eyes grew wide, he paused as he stared directly into the blinding light without fear of injury. That voice... the voice of some pony he hadn't heard for a very very long time.

Well, this was very unexpected. He supposed if the jig was up, he may as well oblige. Besides, Discord wanted to see if this was who he thought it was.

With another flash, he followed the light and reappeared on a tall, craggy mountain side somewhere east of Equestria, close by to where the air ship had been taking him. Here the clouds were still looming, but a bright moon was clearly shining down light onto the scene. Of course Discord had no need of the moon's light to see who had gotten him to leave, she was shining even brighter than it was. He pulled out a pair of sunglasses (even though he didn't need them) to emphasize her ver illuminating presence.

“Well... I thought you were dead,” he stated in a way that only mildly gave away his genuine surprise. He crossed his arms and stood before her, as the alicorn finally turned her brights down.

Standing firm before him, looking stern with her flaming red mane flowing in an eternal breeze just like her daughters, fur with the brightness of light, was his sister and former partner in balance. Harmony.

“Well, as dead as we can get, anyway,” he added. “Didn't you do one of those 'heroic sacrifice' deals when you gave up your physical being or something to create your little princesses?”

“I did, and that still holds true,” Harmony answered, slight echo in her voice that actually sounded pretty neat. He wondered if he could pull that off. “After I created Celestia and Luna, and gave up my powers over order, I faded away from my physical form. Mort has allowed me this temporary one you see before you now so that I may speak with you.”

“You seem to have gone through a lot of trouble, all this just for me?” he asked, slipping back into his well-worn sarcastic tone. It was almost nostalgic to be speaking with her again, it brought back so many memories of their many many many arguments.

Harmony looked exactly the same as the last time he had seen her. Right down to the annoyed expression that Celestia seemed to have inherited. This could well have been just an eon ago during the old days. Back when she was the only one around for him to annoy, and amazingly she had tolerated him... to a degree.

“I have been watching you,” she said. That much was obvious to him, but he didn't say anything about tat.

“Well, who hasn't been? I hear I am very entertaining,” he couldn't help but make some form of acknowledgment. Plus now that he knew Mort and Sef were spying on him too from up on the other plane, it didn't come as much of a shock.

Harmony seemed to be fighting the urge to slip back into her old role in this relationship and start grousing at him, for her face sftened. But in more the way one would if they were wanting to show an understanding of something they did not themselves feel. Like showing sadness when hearing some pony else's sad news. Discord assumed it must have been difficult for her to try and feel sad for him after all this time.

“Discord, my daughters were right to seal you away, you know this,” she said, a hint of that sterness present, but after a moment, she tried again to sound kinder. “At least, you must understand why it is they did that now, and why I always forbade you from coming down here to the mortal's plane in the first place.”

“Yeah, I am starting to get it, did you want to hear a 'you were right,' because you know by now that is not really my style.”

“I was horrified when I'd discovered what you had done, when I had faded and before they sealed you away. Then when you broke out again, and Celestia's champions were able to put you back, I was glad. I was afraid for our ponies, since this was exactly why I never went down there myself.”

“So were you jealous that I got to live down here and you didn't?” he couldn't help but jab. He had known that this was her dream, to live with the ponies she loved from afar. The irony was not lost on him every day he spent on this plane that he was indeed living her dream. She didn't know of course... that it had been something they had in common.

Not amused, she conceded. “As a matter of fact, I was... a bit. I was more angered that you would risk their safety for your own sense of comfort and entertainment. That was, until I really began to observe you here. Until I saw your interactions with the one unicorn known as Twilight Sparkle. When you began to from bonds with others... it was something I never thought you capable of.”

“That sounds familiar, almost like every pony who has ever seen me do that has said that to me at least once,” he scratched something out of his eye, hiding the annoyance that gave him behind the snark.

“Then when you were a pony, and now... now you give yourself up to protect them. You made the conscious choice to do what you can to fix their world, even if that means your own discomfort.”

“Well, giving up all of my fun places of residence after I'd just gotten them the way I wanted wasn't exactly one of my favorite things to do with this, but I think you know – if you really have been watching me – that those are not my only things I have to give up.”

She nodded,” I was getting to that. I know you mean to leave those you have somehow managed to form friendships with. That young unicorn, Celestia's pupil... I knew she would be special. I am proud that she wields my element of magic in those weapons I forged. I had no idea though, how special she would become to you, or you to her. The way she campaigns for you, sticks up for you, and how she is willing to face such a torturous fate as becoming the next being of chaos... it breaks my heart to see you have to leave her.”

Discord rolled his yes, but she protested. “It does, Discord. It pains me deeply. Had I known you were capable of such significantly pony emotions, had I known that you were capable of real friendship, real love... I may have made my own feelings known when we were young.”

He raised an eyebrow, unsure of what she meant. “What, you didn't tell me you loved me or something because you thought I didn't understand it?”

Harmony tilted her head to one side, in a very pony like gesture of uncertainty. “Yes and no. You were my partner, Discord. You were my brother, I loved you as my brother, and you were the closest thing I had to a friend.”

“And isn't that just sad,” he deadpanned. “But you were mostly right. I didn't understand it then, I had no idea the strength such bonds could yield.” A pang of loss froze in his chest as his mind lingered on the last time he saw Twilight. She was sure to have figured out where he had gone by now.

“I still don't really, not sure if I ever will.”

“It is a very mysterious thing,” Harmony agreed. “But something that evidently even we are not exempt from. You were always my brother, Discord. I still care for you deeply. This is why I wanted to see you, to tell you how proud I am of you. What you do now, you do for Twilight Sparkle, for all the ponies of this world that love you, and that you have grown to love. I want to thank you, and say that... well... I am happy that you were able to stay here and live my--- our dream for me. You did what I could not, what I never allowed myself to. I only wish that there were a way for you to say amoung them, so she could still have you, and you her.”

“She's better off without me,” Discord said, letting some of his regret slip into his voice. “The nature of balance and all that... and I know now that it just wouldn't do. She was never meant to know me this way, and if I keep screwing with her destiny, she will never obtain her truest potential. A star that bright, it would be selfish of me to hold back.”

It was only one little button pressed, one tiny gesture of Celestia’s that closed the hatch on Discord. He hadn’t been expecting it, and there were not many time when she could get the one up on him like that.

He was now trapped in the air lock. One door lead to the safety of the ship’s temperture controlled, gravity filled, oxygen pumping, life sustaining innards. The other door directly behind him - the huge hatch - lead to cold, unfeeling, oxygen lacking space.

At first Discord thought she was merely playing a joke on him, for there was no way that could have been an accident. He smirked through the tiny window where he could see Celestia smirking right back, tracing a hoof on another button, one she just barely pressed… and that caused the air lock’s door to open ever so slightly.

Just that small opening - that tiny sliver of air escaping (the air left in the hangar that he needed to breathe) was causing a deafening wooshing sound as the ship rocketed closer and closer up into space, out of the atmosphere. It wouldn’t be long until the air ran out, and that sliver became a suction that would pull him through whether he could fit in one piece or several.

Getting slightly nervous now, he made to tap on the tiny window, only to see Celestia tapping right back, pointing to a small communicator on the edge. Evidently the alicorn had something to say, something that she could only say while Discord was in this lovely little life threatening predicament.

Clicking the talk button on the device, Discord made a little ‘kssshh’-ing sound into it since it didn't make one itself. “S... guess you heard about Twilight's idea.”

“More than that, I know now what Cadance saw,” she said through the other end. “You do recall what I said about you harming Twilight in anyway?”

Her voice through the device was muffled and crackly, but he could hear the sternness in anycase. Even if he couldn't, he could certainly see it in her face framed by the tiny window.

“Is that what this is about?” he said as the wind continued to rush out, taking with it all the breathable air in the chamber. “Come on Celestia, it is not like I actually did anything to her!” he now had to yell to hear himself over the roar of the engines and the wind gusting around. “Well, not anything she didn't already want.”

He regretted the cheek when Celestia leaned on the button that opened the hatch further again.

“This wasn't my plan and you know it! It wasn't my plan for her to take on the power either, but it was the only way she saw of us being able to stay together!”

“And you don't plan to harm her magically as well as break her heart when this doesn't work?” she asked through unconvinced eyes.

“Whose to say it won't work?” he shouted his question. “And you'd be breaking her heart if you let me die.”

She seemed to consider this, and so he added. “We'll never know if it will work or not if you allow me to get sucked out into space.”

It was a few very tense moments for Discord as they prepared to leave the atmosphere, but eventually Celestia's conscience won over, and the airlock hatch closed, giving Discord enough air to sigh in relief.

The hatch to the inside opened and he crawled out past her.

“If you do hurt her, we shall revisit this conversation where we left off,” he heard her say as he popped away to teleport to his bunk.

And none of this is actually going into she story because it doesn't fit. I just wanted to put Celly and Dissy in that scene from the Firefly episode Ariel with Mal and Jayne. It actually kinda reminds me of Avengers too, with the big glass prison made for Bruce but they put Loki in.

Then Dissy tricks Celestia into getting into the hatch, and Coulson tries to shoot him with the big damn gun and he tricks him too and Coulson gets a magic angry heart spear through the chest. We still don't know how he survived. I am guessing clone.

Sef visits Discord

Author's Note

This one kinda hurt, it was in, then it was out, and in again. Eventually I decided to nix it due to a few story changes and because I went to see a little film called The Book of Life. Where - guess what? - they used my same idea about the candles representing lives.

Originally I was trying to find a fair representation of a room like the one in the Discworld books where Death keeps all the hourglasses, but put my own spin on it.

The room I guess is still canon, and Sef's projection of a physical form. I don't remember who I cast in my head to play Sef, but I remember I wanted Kate Mulgrew (Captain Janeway) to voice somebody. It was her or Harmony. (And I think Harmony was Lauren Faust in my head)

FYI: Mort in my head is either Curtis Armstrong (Dan of Dan Vs; Metatron) or Mandy Patankin (Inigo Montoya; Rube from Dead Like Me)

Sef visits Discord

“Do you expect me to believe that I will indeed be allowed to leave if I do decide to come with you?” Discord asked. His suspicions were not dissuaded by the note of halted urgency in the other being's tone.

“Discord, you have my word that this is no trick. Were I allowed to, I would bring it to you instead, but this is not possible, so you must come and see for yourself,” Sef said.

Still not entirely convinced that Mort wouldn't be waiting in the shadows once they arrived to snatch him up in some form of magical sack or something, Discord shrugged in a reserved agreement.

Sef brought her wings up in a wide sweep of light that would have blinded any mortal pony, however Discord had been prepared this time and made sure he had his protective shades. When one does business occasionally with a being of pure light, it does we to prepare for such things.

Sef's and Mort's relationship had been different than his own with Harmony to say the least. The terms; 'so close yet so far' or 'two ships passing in the night' seemed fitting. The two beings appeared to be completely impartial towards all of the goings-on that the ponies downstairs were doing, and all of the various aspects of their lives that the spirits affected. It was fairly obvious even to someone as ignorant to these sorts of things as Discord that the only thing either of them cared about in the slightest was each other.

It was understandable to some degree, as death is a part of life, so Mort came from Sef... almost literally. He came out of her shadow and typically never strayed any further from her than that since.

Of course, one can't touch a shadow, and neither could Mort and Sef interact in an actual, physical way. A blessing and a curse, Discord supposed. More of a blessing in his mind. Not having to worry about Harmony deciding to braid his tail or tackle him in an attempt to comb his eyebrows would have been great for him back in the day. These days however, Discord found it tad easier to see some tragedy in it.

The place Sef had brought him was the one place in the whole of the realms where Sef and Mort could touch, for it was the place where death and life met.

A cavernous place, some giant, enormous room that went on conceivably forever, echoing with an almost deafening flickering. The sound of millions upon millions of candles in various sizes, shapes, colors, and lengths. Each candle represented the life of a pony or other mortal creature under their watch. There was no natural light in the cavern, yet the room was so filled with the flames of the candles that was no problem.

Discord slowly scanned his surroundings. It was a thing to behold to see all of these lights – all of these lives – flickering away while their wax melted down. Some were slow, some were fast, and everywhere he looked he could see candles running down to the ends, see the flames snuff out halfway through their wax, or brand new lights burst into existence. It was an eternal dance of light and darkness, and of life and death.

"So, not that I can't venture a guess, but to what do I owe this honor?" Discord asked of his fellow being. For as long as he'd existed, during the eons of life they had seen, neither Mort nor Sef had let him enter this part of their plane. It was as inaccessible as such a morph-able and incorporeal place could be.

"It used to be I could go centuries without seeing the two of you, now you're popping by to take me places and give me cryptic warnings. You're going to lose some of that mystique if you keep this up."

"Mort did you a favor, and I am doing the same," Sef stated. She had slipped out of her physical form, choosing instead to shift into a stream of wispy light that floated along the tops of the candles' flames, her voice seeming to come from all around him as her glowing cloud like form spread out through the room as if searching.

"Your decision to stay among the ponies and other beings below have consequences as you have doubtless seen."

"Doubtless," he echoed, uncertain where exactly to direct his sarcasm when Sef no longer had a face to get a response from. "But perhaps you missed the part where I have been trying to fix that?"

"Not succeeding however, not on your own. You had to drag some others into it," Discord heard admonishment in the formless shape that was Sef's voice.

"I never asked for assistance. They volunteered, Well, Twilight did and that of course brought the others in. I couldn't very well get balance for our sides back on track without Harmony's daughters' involvement."

Discord didn't mention how much the aforementioned alicorns did not like the method they'd all agreed to, but Twilight had dreamed it up so they'd been more inclined to listen. He didn't think he needed to mention it, Sef most likely knew all of that as well.

"There is an easier way, you know," the draconequus heard her already echoing voice receive an extra boost of reverberation off the ceiling and walls of the chamber.

"I know," he answered. "But that is not an option anymore. I can't leave there."

"This is not a matter of 'can't'. 'Can't' does not come into it, you 'won't' leave because you don't want to. As much as you have upheld your part of the balance, we have never been able to keep you from doing whatever you wanted. Harmony could to an extent, but she was nearly as hard to keep."

(Maybe Luna takes him there with Sef in a dream? Or Luna sees this in his dream?)

"You say you have learned from the mortal beings, and I believe it. You appear to have become just as misguided and foolhardy."

Her glowing form seemed to be circulating around a central point, directing Discord's attention down the hundreds of tiny individual shining tongues of flame, zeroing in on a certain row, and then on a certain spot where one certain candle sat.

A candle of a purplish hue, streams of wax striping its surface with new ones beginning to form as Discord watched. It was already half the height of the others surrounding it, its vibrant blue flame taller and burning brighter than the rest.

"This is the candle for Twilight Sparkle, the pony on whom you are risking the balance of the world we keep together," Sef's voice felt closer to him now, but no less forceful. "It is burning hotter and faster since she began taking on your power, faster than it is meant to be."

Discord continued to watch the flame on Twilight's candle, his eyes transfixed on its dancing blue flicker at the top while ever more dark purple liquid pooled at its base.

Flashes of their practice sessions came back to him as his eyes traced the progress of a newly formed bead of wax beginning to slide down the side. All of those times she had attempted to shrug it off yet Twilight insisted that she could handle it. Would she still think that if she could see this?

"But of course... once she's gotten acclimated to it - once she's absorbed it all - that will even things out for her," Discord spoke up with some level of confidence towards the end.

"Are you willing to risk that as well?" He heard her ask. "I may not be as adept at these things, but would it be worth it to allow a being who clearly means so much to you take such a risk only so you can get what you want?

"But it is possible... Harmony was able to put her power into---"

"Different circumstances," Sef interrupted. "The beings she created were completely new, and so she could give them the ability to withstand the magic. Twilight Sparkle was not, she has only as much resilience as an ordinary pony."

Discord was tiring of not being able to see her, for he longed to give a retort back to her non-existent face. Clearly she did not know Twilight Sparkle. The unicorn was far from an 'ordinary pony'.

"You believe as she does, that she is capable?" Sef asked, reading Discord's expression... or possibly his mind.

"If I'm there, if Celestia's there, we can help her. We have been helping her."

There had been nothing like sympathy in Sef's voice at all during this meeting, she had retained her formal, informative tone throughout. Although as her wispy cloud self swirled back together, her voice quieted. It shrank down as her shape did, drifting close by his ear.

"You know we have every being's life represented here, Discord. Even yours."

His eyes looked towards the invisible whisper skeptically.

"I don't think you want to see the state your candle is in at the moment'" Sef spoke softer now, with as much concern as Discord imagined the spirit could muster. "You're wearing yourself out even faster. There is only one hope for the both of you that I can see, only one that can set everything back to right again."

The Statera Equus

Author's Note

Just a chunk of what I imagine can be found in the Statera Equus. I started one of my NaNo years with this little narration,just leading into actually writing the story. Pretty much canon to the SS.

The Statera Equus

A long time ago, above and beyond the land of Equestria and the world on which it sits, four spirits sprang up into existence that would govern the mortals below by controlling the four great powers. Chaos, Order, Life, and Death. Two pairs of beings to create their power, spread it across the world, and maintain balance with the one who controlled their opposite.

Of these four beings, Discord and Harmony – Chaos and Order – were the eldest. Although they were meant to be as brother and sister, the two siblings could not keep a rivalry between them from forming. The maintaining of balance between them grew to feel more of a burden to them both. Discord did not want to keep his power over chaos under control, finding it amusing to watch the effect his prolonged influence had on the ponies. In contrast, Harmony grew to love the ponies over which they watched, and it hurt her to see them be tortured by her partner.

Though both beings had different dreams when it came to the world they observed, they did share one thing in common. Both Harmony and Discord cherished secretly a dream to live among the mortals. Harmony wished to live with the ponies to help them, guide them, and love them more closely. Discord only saw the ponies as a means for more interesting and creative ways of chaos. Yet their fascination for the mortals was so great that the two even formed corporeal bodies to better mimic what they saw.

Harmony selected the best qualities of all three species of pony, and became the first alicorn. Discord – to emphasize his intrest in spreading his power through all the species of Equus – chose an assortment of attributes for his body. He became the first (and so far only) Draconequus.

Long the two stayed in their high above realm, both siblings keeping the other from achieving their true shared dream. Harmony feared how her influence in the world might affect the ponies she loved so dearly, and she greatly feared what would happen should Discord be allowed to live freely there.

Discord stayed above solely because of his sister. For in those days it was not yet known by any of them the consequences for leaving one’s partner for another world.

Ages past, and new lands grew on the world below them, and soon the two had aged far longer than a spirit can when inhabiting a body. Maintaining a form permanently can deplete them, age them from the inside even if their outward appearance stays the same.

It became too much for Harmony. She did not want to leave the world she loved so without the power that she controlled. She saw this as her chance to find a way to touch the mortal world in an even more real way, to show her ponies her love for them. So out of her love for them, she pulled her force of Order from herself, and combined it with that love. Her love was such that she was able to create not one – but two brand new beings from it. These were her daughters, Celestia and Luna. The second and third alicorns.

They were created to take her place in the balance, and specifically to be allowed to take the place among the mortal ponies that Harmony had longed for for an eternity.

Sadly, creating her successors had drained Harmony so that she could no longer stay in a corporeal form, and – no longer needed to keep the Order – she faded away.

Without his sister for the first time in his life, Discord was free to at last do what he had always dreamed. He found a way down to the world of the mortal ponies, and exacted his chaos upon them, taking them over and ruling them with an absurd ease. His new partners in balance – the daughters of Harmony – may have been young, but were still understanding of their roles in this world, and they shared their mother’s love for the world Discord was harming.

The two young alicorns tried to reason with Discord, but he would not listen. His power in this world was even more chaotic and destructive than he could have ever imagined. No longer confined to only spreading an equal amount of his power to his sister’s, Discord quickly ravaged the land and the bonds of the ponies nearly without even trying.

He also quickly grew bored of it. Something that which is without an equal – without a challenge – can not satisfy even a spirit of chaos forever. He grew lonely, although he had never known the feeling before and therefore could not name it.

The alicorns meanwhile discovered a secret weapon forged by Harmony on the off chance her brother could ever get away from her. The Elements of Harmony were created from the six elements that made up the best qualities in the beings she loved so. Her daughters found them, and used them to bind their uncle in what they hoped was an eternal prison.

Discord was turned to stone, but not returned to the plane from which he had come. The two keepers of Order still needed him to maintain his part of the balance, but they could not trust him to keep himself restrained to their equal level of power, especially from a place where they could not watch him.

So they left him in stone, from which the draconequus would still exude his power, but on a level that was always maintained and steady. Steady enough for the sisters to keep things equal for their world.

There Discord stayed until the sisters and newly made princesses of a new land called Equestria passed on the elements they bore to keep him confined to six new keepers.

Only the eldest daughter of Harmony knew that one among the six new bearers had been chosen to take on the position as keeper of Order as well, for she had selected that pony herself. Neither the Order nor the Chaos keepers however could have imagined the alterations that would be made to interrupt this destiny. Because the mind and heart of a mortal pony was something even more unpredictable than either of their powers.

More NaNo Fun

Author's Note

These are more fun or interesting bits that I wrote during NaNoWriMos 2013-2016. Just some scenes or funny bits I thought you might enjoy. The Spike/Discord scenes were cut for changes to the story, but I just liked them.

More NaNo Fun

It was harder for Spike to really get a sense of Twilight’s possible feelings for Discord than the other way around. When it came to Discord, Spike had suspected there was something extra going on - at least on his end - since he risked getting a magical taser to his entire body multiple times just to see her.

At first he had been very much in the same way of thinking as Rainbow dash. He figured that Discord had only agreed to Twilight’s plan and given up that portion of his power as a selfish thing, something more to do with his own sense of self-preservation than any connection or fondness for the purple unicorn.

Now though, after all the visits, and the whole trying to teleport in to her thing, and then there was what he’d observed and at least tried to talk about with him while he was a pony… Spike was forming a different conclusion.

This was why he’d said what he had said to Discord. Why he felt they were sorta alike in that way. In the way that they both had these feelings towards mares that they knew they couldn’t do anything about. Maybe they were never meant to be, and maybe neither Spike nor Discord would or should ever act on them, but they were in the same predicament. The draw those mares had was undeniable. Well, Rarity’s allure sure was, he had no idea about Twilight’s. Honestly he couldn’t see it - she being like a big sister and all to him - and he frankly didn’t want to get into too much detail thinking about it. But Discord must have some inclination, something similar to what it was that caused Spike’s knees to weaken and his face to morph into that dumb expression he always seemed to get whenever she was around, or even if he thought about her too hard.

Huh, did Discord ever feel like that? Did his knees ever weaken at Twilight’s presence, and did he ever have to smack the stupid grin off his face to keep Twilight from seeing that he had been staring at her? Yeah… this was the type of weirdness Spike probably should not be thinking too hard about. Weird enough that he knew these hypothetical feelings were directed at his live-in best friend, even weirder to think that he--- that a being like him could ever develop those same feelings.

But Spike knew that Discord wasn’t all that bad, and that essentially he wasn’t even all that different from every pony he’d met. Sure yeah, he had powers way way above those of the ponies of this world, and Discord was not shy about boasting that fact or showing it off (even if he reigned it in more now), but the more time Spike had spent with him the more he’d begun to consider Discord less of the manipulative monster he’d first appeared to be.

He was the same spirit being who had harmed Twilight’s friendships, but he had also been willing to stick by Twilight with that whole power thing. He’d been arrogant, whiny, and fairly unhelpful as a pony during most of his time in Ponyville, but he had tried in the end to fix things… even if it meant his death (whether or not he would have really died, Spike wasn’t sure he would have.)

Spike found himself absent mindedly resting a clawed hand on his hip just above where the symbol of the starry scroll was. Discord was also the one who’d given him this, his very own cutie mark. Something completely unique to him as a dragoon, but something that every pony was allowed to enjoy receiving, and an experience that Spike had always envied.

He’d been on a better path, more of a selfless streak than Spike figured he’d ever had in his long, long life. He didn’t doubt that Discord was still pretty much out for himself, but that what constituted as ‘for himself’ had at least grown to helping those he deemed a friend. Amazingly he had helped every pony with Cloudsdale, saying it was out of some newfound respect for them. Spike accepted it, because it was probably… mostly true. Twelve percent maybe. An argument could be made for fifteen.

He was trying now, and Spike could respect that, and him for it. Maybe Twilight could do better - scratch that, Twilight could do way better - but… Spike guessed she could also do a lot worse.

“You know,” he spoke up after a very long silence. Discord had already finished forming tiny sculptured of each of the six bearers of the elements, himself, Spike, and a Princess Celestia with a misshapen nose and wonky eyes out of peanut butter

“If you wanted some help with her, I could - I dunno - put in a good word for you.”

Discord paused from his lumpy blob of peanut butter that was slowly taking the shape of Princess Luna to raise his eyebrow at the dragon. He clicked his tongue derisively and shook his head.

“Yeah, so we can play the whole ‘close friend tries to help the unfortunate but devilishly handsome male get the girl?’ scenario? No, we are not doing that.” He raised his paw to halt the crazy idea. “Let’s not resort to tired clichés worn out by all of your dog earred pony romance novels.”

Spike raised an eyebrow of his own. “How do you know about romance novel clichés?” he asked.

At this Discord frowned and looked away, muttering quickly under his breath, “you spend a few millenia with only one other being for company. One who doesn’t let you have any fun, you get bored. You find some other way to spend your time.”

“It was more interesting than some of the books Twilight had lying around my castle.”

“So.. why aren't you telling Twilight you're back in the Everfree Forest again?” Spike asked as he toasted five marshmallows at once on his stick before the floating ball of flames in Discord's main hall. The draconequus had skewered twenty on his horns and was giving them the toasting treatment while hovering over them himself. He didn't look like the flames were harming him, and Spike didn't know why he'd expected them to.

He also didn't know why he expected Discord to actually give a real answer to his question. He'd asked him that when Discord had shown up while Twilight was visiting Pinkie Pie a few weeks ago. If Spike hadn't caught him, he doubted Discord would have said anything. He'd obviously been attempting to check in with her, but out of all the places the spirit of chaos could have just popped back to after being caught, he'd chosen the place closest to town.

Spike had been pretty sure Discord wouldn't go far, and his instincts paid off. He had been bribing the dragon with treats (such as the marshmallows) in exchange for his silence about Discord returning to the area.

Every time Spike had tried asking him why, Discord had either changed the subject, or given some kind of non-commital vague response.

“Oh you know, was just in the neighborhood, don't want to be a bother,” he answered, turning his head around and around to properly brown his 'mallows.

Spike sighed. Vague and clearly untrue answer time it was, then. “Yeah, you really hate to be a bother, don't cha?”

If the draconequus picked up in his sarcasm (most likely) he was ignoring it. Spike continued though, since this whole avoiding the question thing was getting kinda old.

“I mean, I guess I can sorta understand after the first few days but... it is going on over a week now. Don't you think she'd want to know?” Spike thought back to his friend's near laser-focused attempts to translate that book for him – something he didn't even know about yet – combined with her sudden interest in leaf collecting, it wasn't a big stretch to assume that Twilight did miss him. It was kinda weird to think about still, but not out of the question.

“it is not like she doesn't want to see you. Are you avoiding her?”

Discord gave no response to that, but it was his lack of response this time that made Spike raise an eyebrow. Huh, he must be getting better as speaking 'Discord' than he thought.

“Seriously? You are? Why, just a few months ago you were doing all you could to keep her around as much as possible. What changed?”

There wasn't much Spike could read from the glance Discord threw him, he was clearly not going to explain completely. “it is not something you should be concerned with, Pony Boy. You probably couldn't even comprehend it.”

“Hey, don't talk down to me, you know I understand stuff. Try me,” he tried to sound more encouraging and less defensive, but Spike wasn't a fan of being told – even so back handedly – that he wasn't smart or mature or whatever to understand something. “I understand plenty, thank you very much”

“Oh it is not that – well, not entirely – only this sort of thing might be something a little dragon could not possibly hope to keep to himself. And some pony might not want him accidentally sharing this information with a certain unicorn. At least... not till I have a chance to figure out how to bring it up to her.”

“Not only did they make me a lead pony, but since I am a second tier recruit now, I get to be a junior captain of my own fleet of newbies,” she smiled so broadly Twilight figured it must hurt her face to do so, but then Rainbow seemed to realize how extremely excited and therefor -not as cool – she was being and set her face back to normal, taking on a casual expression and waving her hoof to show her cool indifference. “But ya know, it is no big deal. They just have to listen to whatever I say. And I don't mean to brag or anything, but my recruits are doing the best out of their class.”

“That is amazing Rainbow. Congratulations,” Twilight said, she retained her smile even if it wasn't as 'cool' as acting like it didn't matter. She knew better than to think Rainbow Dash wasn't completely ecstatic about this, even if she had not given herself away.

“Thanks,” Rainbow said. “I'll be back there in another week to see how they did, and then I get an evaluation on how I trained them. Preeetty sure I'll be passing that with flying colors to. Oh yeah, did I mention I named my group the Flying Colors? So, what's new with you? Or have you been pretty much here all this time,” Dash made a cursory and slightly ribbing glance about the room, obviously assuming that the unicorn had indeed spent her time in the library with her books. Well... that was partially true...

Twilight honestly still wasn't certain how to approach the question. She had planned on getting every pony's attention at once to tell them all at the same time, so they could all know and react together. Now however, Twilight was finding that choosing the right way in which to tell them was not entirely coming to her.

She could hardly say, Oh yeah Rainbow. Actually, the world's sort of been going haywire due to Discord's chaotic influence being too darn high – even though he isn't meaning to do it – and Cadance (who is pregnant by the way) and I had apparently been chosen years ago by Princess Celestia as candidates for taking over the balance between herself and her sister with Discord. Then I came up with the idea of taking on Discord's side of it and become the new chaos being, so now I am subjecting myself to excruciatingly painful sessions of scary chaos magic so I can learn to control it and – eventually – absorb the whole lot of it. And I am doing all this because I sorta kinda have feelings for the spirit of all chaos. But your thing sounds really big too.

(Aaand Twilight is gonna sing now because I want to go to bed.) Twilight did know that singing a song (even if it was a nice song done as a sad piano cover) was probably not the best way to explain her actions. Especially not a Britney Spears song. At least it wasn't Lady Gaga.

[Then I painstakingly typed out the lyrics to Criminal]

[random fun line for Cady to Discord:

“Well, it’s nice to meet you… officially,” she said. “I sort of met you before, you know, while you were---”

“Stoned?” he replied, filling in the end of her sentence as she had paused before it could be completed.

Super Old Post-aPS Stuff

Author's Note

Some random drabbles that I wrote for fun during the time between posting Pony's Sympathy and writing Deja Discord. As of right now, certain ideas are making their way into Dealing in Harmony, although the actual content here is not. The only canon part would probably be the bit with Zecora.

Also it's worth noting that I never actually implied any other non-canon love connection in my stories besides Twi/Discord on purpose. I wanted y'all to be able to read whatever ship you like besides TwiCord into it if you wanted. I just picked Big Mac for Flutters' groom because I needed one here.

Super Old Post-aPS Stuff

Cut Alt.scene for aPS

The force of the trap that Twilight had so willingly stepped into had propelled her forward and inside the confinement of the dome Discord had constructed, and the other five ponies had been blown back. It was a clear message: he only wanted her.

Rainbow Dash was in the air before Applejack could stop her, slamming herself repeatedly into the side of the barrier, trying to find a weak point. AJ took a few tries at bucking it, seeing Twilight trying the same thing from the other side. She watched as the fear in her purple friend’s eyes turned to anger as she rounded on Discord.

AJ pressed her ear close to the side, which felt very odd – strong yet at the same time somehow she felt…movement if that was possible. It was as if the dome were made of wind made solid.

Though she strained her ear, she couldn’t hear anything they were saying, all Applejack heard was a faint, muffled hum.

“I…I can’t hear nuttin’ they’re sayin,” the earth pony mumbled to the group, she then heard another barrage of conks coming from above, and felt the vibrations of each time Rainbow Dash head-butted the surface. “Rainbow, give it a rest, I’m tryin’ to hear!”

Rainbow scowled down as her, but ceased her ramming. “Hey, at least I’m doing something to try and get her out!”

“I know,” AJ told her winged friend as the others grouped around them. “But from the looks of it I don’t think she’s in too much trouble. We said we trust her, an’ we’re still here at least.”

“We should all have our elements ready at the very least,” Rarity said as she pulled them magically from her saddlebag. The others donned them in silence, all too stricken with worry for Twilight, who – it seemed – had stopped her conversing with Discord for the moment to come back to them.

The unicorn looked unsure at first, and Fluttershy lifted a hoof to somehow convey that they were still there for her, even if they were separated for the moment. They saw Twilight return the gesture, placing a hoof to match Fluttershy’s, and AJ nodded to her in solidarity.

Their friend then turned from them again and walked back towards the spirit of chaos.

AJ heard the yellow pegasus whimper as Twilight spun out of Discord’s grasp as he tried to put an arm around her.

“It’s ok ‘Shy, Twilight knows what she’s doin’,” she reassured her. “Least I hope so.”

The only thing the rest of them could do was watch, and they did for a good while. It was hard to gauge only from gestures and body language what the two were discussing.

“Rarity, can you make out what they’re talkin’ about?” Applejack asked after a few minutes.

Rarity squinted, observing their lips moving and trying to possibly read them.

“It’s hard to tell,” she slowly conferred after a few moments of trying to lip-read. “At first things seemed a bit cold between them, very tense. Now though, things are getting more heated…like they’re debating.”

Indeed, the tension that had begun the conversation seemed to have left both of them. Their words seeming to come easier, faster, and with more passion, and this was especially evident in Twilight’s gestures. Whatever she was saying, she was trying to make it convincing.

Rarity and Applejack continued to watch the two inside the dome. Pinkie and Rainbow Dash were still quite worried – of course – but their attention spans were not as lengthy as their friends’. Pinkie had begun tracing circles in the sand, and Rainbow was pacing around the parameter of the barrier, still trying to find a weak point from the ground.

Fluttershy stayed close to the white and orange ponies, slightly more comforted when in close proximity to the two who had taken charge in Twilight’s absence.

Discord had been playing with the pony scarecrow, making it nod along to agree with whatever he was saying, his expression changed abruptly though in reaction to something Twilight said. Her head facing away from them though, they couldn’t try and read what it was. Whatever she’d said, it seemed to have surprised him, and pleasantly. He floated into the air and drifted back towards her, now looking like her words were slightly amusing. He spoke as he floated, possibly posing her a question, to which her head lowered.

They watched as Twilight spoke again, and Discord interrupted, Twilight’s shoulders slumped and she shifted her weight from hoof to hoof awkwardly. Evidently this caused Discord immense satisfaction, for whatever she had said made him look as if he wanted to laugh.

Suddenly, Rarity gasped and all eyes were back on Twilight, as her horn glowed and a magical bubble of her own formed around her.

“Yes, she’s got her magic back.” Rainbow practically cheered, and Pinkie did cheer.

While most every pony was reveling in this happy fact, Applejack and Rarity were a bit more wary, though for different reasons. Both ponies had begun to have sneaking suspicions as they observed the interactions between their friend and Discord, and both were coming to different conclusions.

Rarity analyzed Discord’s expression with the eye for detail that she was known for. The same attention to the subtleties of color and shape in a design could sometimes carry over into a talent for reading facial cues. At the start things between the unicorn and draconequus had seemed more distant, more cordial. Now – to Rarity at least – it seemed that things had very much taken a turn for the personal.

Though she couldn’t see all of Twilight’s face, she did notice that her friend was moving her head avoiding Discord’s gaze, and that his gaze had changed to something quite interesting indeed. He always had that air of assumed-superiority about him, as if he were more clever than every pony in the room, and on the surface that looked as if that were still the case…though upon further inspection, Rarity thought she saw something else in those mismatched eyes that seemed to never stray far from their confined friend.

Something in his smile as well…it unsettled her to realize how close that look he was giving her resembled the one Rarity always tried to instill in a stallion she was attempting to impress with her various wiles.

It was an intimate gaze, and though she could not see Twilight’s reactions to it, Rarity still felt embarrassed for her…and for herself as well. If the tension she had sensed at the start had morphed into some other form of tension…then this was really something not meant for their eyes. Rarity tried to banish the thoughts from her mind. Surely he didn’t trap her where we couldn’t hear for something like what I’m assuming… she thought.

---------

Applejack had noticed the strange shift in demeanor as well, and when Twilight got her magic back she felt relieved for a moment, but she also couldn’t help but notice Discord’s expression. She assumed that Twi regaining her magic would cause Discord some sort of stress, or at the very least to become a bit more defensive. The way he looked after Twilight created her own protective dome though, it didn’t look nervous at all. If anything he looked…glad.

Whatever they were talking about now, he just looked more pleased and pleased. AJ noted that that even when it appeared that Discord was losing interest again. There had been a suspiciously weird amount of eye contact for a good few minutes there, which sent little red flags all up around the orange pony’s mind. She didn’t catch any funky colors in Discord’s gaze, but his amiable nature – and Twilight’s too come to think of it – were enough to cause Applejack to ponder some more suspicious and nefarious goings-on that they couldn’t quite recognize for certain.

If her gut was telling her right – and it hardly ever lied – than Twilight had walked into a bigger trap than even they knew….poor, naïve Twi.

Bits for a planned oneshot involving Zecora

There were times when cheese actually was helpful in potion-making, this however was not one of those times. The gooey orange tree grew much too close to her own home, and Zecora could find no way of keeping it from dripping its leaves into her yard or even onto her own beloved tree house.

Now even her own form of magic was to be infiltrated, as somehow a few cheddar-colored leaf globs managed to somehow find their way into her cauldron. What was at one time intended to be a draft to cure aching joints was now no more than a few potatoes short of a chowder.

Zecora sighed and shook her head at the bubbling mess, then turning her gaze upward to follow the offending tree to its top branches. Several squirrels were congregated, some munching away at the goop, while some appeared halfway stuck in it.

“You've gobbled up every other edible tree,” she called up to them and the creatures of the forest at large. “but you can't even finish this one for me?”

Over a fortnight ago the young Twilight Sparkle had come to inform her that the spirit of chaos was setting up residence in the same forest in which she lived, but Zecora had not needed much proof. In the past few days the zebra had seen not only runny flora comprised of dairy product, but rabbits with deer legs, birds that sang pretty melodies that got stuck in ones head and would never leave, and more doxies than she could shake her staff at.

When first confronted with this news, Zecora fought the urge to pack up and leave right then and there. Though she had not been in Equestria when Discord had escaped his prison the first time, the myths surrounding the Chaos Bringer had reached her homeland. These tales of manipulation remembered from her past were infamous enough to grow and flower a strong sense of dread in the zebra.

She had taken these strange goings-on as omens of things to come, drawing her curtains and locking herself away to become even more of a recluse than was ordinary. She even donned an Eye of Sef, a trinket she'd found when visiting relatives that was supposed to ward off chaotic influences.

Though as the days passed, Zecora did not witness the oncoming storm of evil that she had been anticipating. While a wave of something swept over these woods, this wave was proving less harmful and more of a nuisance.

Going inside for a ladle and a bowl to make this potion-turned-soup salvageable, the zebra did concur with herself that it could always have been worse.

“No horrible things have befallen me, even if I wish I could be rid of that tree.”

She enjoyed her impromptu meal inside of her home and safe from the drop zone of the goo. She had intended to bottle that brew and sell to the townsponies, planning on the creation of the tonic taking all day. Not wanting to waste the time, she gulped down her soup and decided to set off through the forest to search for the ingredients to re-make the draft, as well as make something else ponies could use.

-----

One thing was quite certain, even if the changes were not meant to hurt any pony, there sure were a number of new additions to the forest popping up. Plants and trees that never would be seen together all growing and thriving in great bunches. Jungle flowers next to desert cacti, cherry trees seeming to cross-pollinate with white pines. At times Zecora could have sworn she was in a rainforest, or even a thick brush similar to her old home. This also provided the zebra with more opportunities to stumble across many new magical plants, although both ones for the good and the ill. Finding fresh silverweed was nearly not worth the risk of disturbing the venomous tentacula that neighbored it.

A couple of doxies and a billywig zoomed past, ignoring her for the moment. Many more creatures seemed to be coming out of the woodwork too, magical creatures with a penchant for mischief that she had never encountered before on her walks.

It seemed merely the presence of Discord in this forest was causing it to become even more strange and mysterious than it once was. Zecora kept her pendant on during her search despite her cautious optimism. The benefits she was finding could not shake the vague, foreboding sense the zebra got every time she noticed something else that just wasn't quite right.

[STAR GRASS SALVE]

“To call him evil and throw a fit, those thing might make me a hypocrite.” That was true, it was not so long ago when the ponies of Ponyville were calling her evil, all hiding whenever she came to the town. She had not done anything to them to warrant that, and Discord had so far not done anything to warrant hatred from her... at least not directly.

Scene cut from DD, used some of the ending in actual story

Twilight wasn’t sure she knew what Applejack had meant, but she chose to trust that her friend knew what she was talking about.

Maybe it was that Rarity had more experience dealing with relations between different types of creatures, be they pony or otherwise. But if that were the case, then Pinkie would’ve been the pony to see, seeing as she was the friendliest pony Twilight knew.

The way AJ had said it though…it sounded to Twilight like something else, like when she talked about how much Rarity new about fashion or styling. It was a tone that told Twilight the earth pony didn’t know much about it and considered it not important enough to devote much time to.

Maybe she had been too vague with her, Twilight thought. She considered again what exactly she had asked of Applejack, and resolved to be more upfront with Rarity when asking for advice.

…If that’s even what she was asking. Twilight honestly wasn’t sure what she wanted from her friends. She didn’t know what they could do, or even what she should do.

Inside Rarity’s boutique Twilight saw the white unicorn ensconced in her work, her red glasses perched on her nose as bolts of fabric flew around for her inspection.

Twilight made her way carefully up to Rarity, not wanting to break her concentration, when she apparently caught sight of Twilight in her peripheral vision.

“Hello Twilight, I’ll be right with you,” Rarity called over her shoulder, gesturing to her friend to show acknowledgement.

“Oh, that’s fine. Take your time. No hurry,” Twilight said slightly apologetic. Letting Rarity be in her zone for a while was fine by her, it would give her time to sort out her thoughts, come up with a more concise way of getting out her words.

She watched as Rarity continued her work, and tried to put them together as easily as her friend was putting together her creations. She had no idea why it was so hard for her. She was a thinker and a speaker…but lately when it came to talking – or even thinking – about her time spent with Discord, things seemed to get jumbled up.

He had kept his promise; even without the magical means of keeping him away he had been staying clear of any populated place in Equestria. He’d also kept his promise to meet her in the forest every week for a ‘progress report’ of sorts.

Discord had redecorated the ruins of the old castle, and made it quite homey by his standards. The first few times when Twilight met him there, they hadn’t talked about much, and she had tried sticking to only what was needed. Where had he been, was he still being true to his word, and other things that would be expected for some pony in charge of keeping track of him.

As time went on though, the topics began to change, and eventually Twilight found herself looking forward to these visits. Discord was an enigma. Certain times she could see his point, but he kept bringing up these hypothetical situations of when chaos would be something beneficial. He seemed to relish baiting her into arguing with him about this, and as much as it frustrated her, she could tell he meant it all in good fun.

Fun seemed to be what he was all about. He could be frustrating, confusing, and most of the time far too interested in entertaining himself…but he was fun.

Then when they weren’t discussing the whole order-vs.-chaos thing, he pulled her in with books. He had a liking for whimsical, lyrical, and sometimes dark poetry, which he was trying to get her to appreciate no matter how hard she resisted.

She saw Rarity lower her sewing scissors and begin to put the rest of her items away.

“Sorry I wasn’t more accommodating when you came in, but this order needs to be done by tomorrow and I can’t be putting this off any longer,” Rarity apologized. “But what can I do for you?”

“Well, I was talking to Applejack earlier, I suppose to get some advice about something, but she said you’d probably be better to talk to about it. She called it one of your ‘areas of expertise’?” Twilight pulled her sentence up at the end, turning her statement into a question.

“Mm-hmm,” Rarity nodded, putting her glasses away. “And what might that be?”

Again- as she had done with Applejack – Twilight felt awkward talking about it. Not just because it was concerning Discord, because she knew that almost none of her friends trusted him yet, but because of what all this could mean. It was again that hesitance to let any pony know how she was feeling before she’d figured it out herself.

She had to be more concise though, if she really wanted help. Although maybe leaving out actually mentioning Discord by name would be fine.

“I’m not sure, really. But…say you spend a good amount of time with some pony, and at first he bothers you and frustrates you and you could never really see yourself becoming friends, but then you take the time to listen to him, and have debates that can actually get pretty heated. You find him exhausting, but at the same time strangely fascinating, you want to know what he’ll do next. So you find yourself looking forward to seeing him again, just to see.”

As Twilight rambled, Rarity turned to face her. At first she looked puzzled, but a smile of understanding began to grow on her face as she listened. By the time Twi was finished Rarity looked almost giddy.

Twilight paused when she noticed this very odd expression on her friend’s face. “…what?” she finally asked.

“Twilight, are you asking me what I think you’re asking me?” Rarity asked her own question.

“Um, just what do you think I’m asking?”

“Are you asking me for advice about stallions?” Rarity could not hold the surprise back from her voice..

Twilight’s ears lowered, starting to feel embarrassed now, “No, well…not really” she tried to say, but Rarity apparently was not buying it.

“Oh, Twilight. Our dear little Twilight, a special some pony has finally caught your attention!”

“What? No, you see-“she tried again, but it didn’t seem to be doing any good, no matter how she protested. Rarity had this knowing smirk on her face, and she spoke in the same way she did whenever she saw something completely adorable.

“Of course that is an area of expertise for me! Well, more so than Applejack anyway. I don’t know why you would go to her with this first. I admire her work ethic and all of that, but really the only colts I ever see her around are her male relatives. Oh, I’m sorry to say, I almost thought this day would never come!”

Twilight continued to try and regain Rarity’s attention, but now it seemed she was off on her own little tangent.

“Not that I thought you would never find some pony, just that you are always so wrapped up in your studies and royal duties that I didn’t think you’d ever find the time. But now that you have, you must tell me everything! Who is it?”

Twilight opened her mouth, but Rarity started again. “Nonono, don’t tell me! I’ll let you tell all of us when you’re good and ready, but Oh, he must be something to get your nose out of those books.”

“Now listen, I think you’ve-“she tried again, but it was clear that her friend would not be finished any time soon.

“Oh, of course. That’s probably one of the things you do together, right? Read your books, you would be attracted to the bookish type.”

“Rarity!” Twilight finally had enough. This was definitely not a conversation that she wanted to have, especially about Discord. If she only knew who Twilight had been referring to, there’s no way Rarity would be saying these things, or thinking she wanted romantic advice. It left her flustered, but she still couldn’t bring herself to explain further.

“I don’t think that’s what this is. I just- I don’t know what it is, but I know it can’t be that.”

The other unicorn only giggled and dismissed her words with a hoof. “Twilight dear, I have seen enough of what you’ve described – I’ve even been involved in some of it – and all the best romance novels I’ve read have a similar plot. You have what you might call a ‘textbook infatuation’.”

“No, I would not call it that,” Twilight grumbled defensively. Why wasn’t she listening? “Because romance novels are not textbooks, and I do not have an infatuation!”

“The sooner you admit your feelings, the sooner I can help you with them, and with him,” Rarity stated as if it were obvious.

----`-

Twilight felt bad about dismissing Rarity so quickly, because she had honestly wanted to talk to some pony about what she thought she was feeling, and Rarity did want to help…

But that still didn’t change the fact that Rarity had to be wrong, Twilight was almost completely sure that she was *not* infatuated with Discord. Really, how could she be? The idea was absurd. Twilight had never even so much as had a crush on any pony, she wasn’t about to start now, especially not with him.

Now however, she regretted letting Rarity get into her head like that, because as she sat with Discord for their latest rendezvous, she was finding it difficult to think about anything else. She only hoped that Discord wouldn’t notice.

Which – of course – he did.

“You’ve been awfully quiet,” he remarked as he took a pause from his reading aloud another of his favorites from that strange book of poems. “Normally you don’t let me read this much without telling me that we should get back to ‘more important matters’.”

It was true; Twilight had barely even spoken since she arrived. She couldn’t shake Rarity’s words from her thoughts. She wasn’t sure if it was their influence that was causing her words to lock up when she tried to speak to him, and she was trying so hard not to entertain the idea that they might be true.

“Are you finally getting tired of our little meetings?”

She shook herself. “No, that’s not it. I guess I’m just not feeling well today. Plus you know I don’t mind hearing you read.”

Not only did Discord seem to notice that something was up, but he also seemed to be trying to regain her attention even though Twilight was avoiding his gaze.

“Is it some sort of problem with one of your friends, or are you just late for a report to Celestia again?” He asked flippantly, but still closing the book and moving into her sight.

“Because I’ll admit, I do tend to keep you from your official business, but you just admitted you enjoy my little distractions, plus you so often over-think things. That’s just not healthy of any pony.”

“Since when do you care about my health?” she asked, not being able to resist looking at him, he was trying to keep that offhand air, but Twilight could tell it was a front.

“Mental health shouldn’t be neglected, especially by one so intelligent. I’ve seen how collected you can be in a real crisis, but you seem to have such trouble with the more everyday worries. Whatever is going on can’t be worth the stress.”

“Says the one who thrives on other ponies’ stress, but never seems to experience it himself,” Twilight said, ignoring the fact that he seemed to actually be trying to make her feel better.

“Oh, I have my own stresses. Stress is a form of chaos, and so it’s not always so unenjoyable for me. But I can always find the funny slant, the irony in having my own messes.” Discord’s usual smirk was returning, evidently pleased that he’d pulled her back into a debate. “Incidentally, I don’t thrive on your stress.”

Super Old Thing About Twi's Thoughts on Her Future With Discord

The wedding was a week away, and Twilight found herself sitting with the others at Rarity’s boutique far too early for anyone but Rarity’s liking.

For Rarity seemed to be the only one of the bridesmaids that wasn’t bleary eyed or tousel-maned, this made no matter to the white unicorn however, she insisted on an early final fitting for the bride, and so scheduled the final fittings for the mares of the bridal party accordingly.

“Rarity, can we hurry up an’ git this over with?” Applejack grumbled as she attempted to rub the sleep from her eyes. “If I have ta be up this early, I should git a head start on some of that work that’s waiting for me at the farm. Especially since ya’ll will have Mac here probably all afternoon, I’ll have ta do his share today too.”

“Then why couldn’t we switch schedules with the guys? Make them have to get up early for a change,’ Rainbow yawned as Rarity was busy still setting up the changing screens.

“Oh, um, I’m sorry girls….but I chose this time,” Fluttershy piped up hesitantly. “I thought it would be quieter and less busy, so there’d be fewer ponies to might accidentally see me. I don’t want any pony to see me in my dress until the wedding, except you girls I mean. Also my little animals are still sleeping, and I want to have time to get their breakfasts ready. I –I didn’t mean to be an inconvenience.””

The two cranky mares ceased their complaining immediately. It was a completely different thing if Fluttershy had chosen this time.

“Ah, it’s fine Fluttershy,” Rainbow backtracked.

“Yeah, we’re just a might tired is all,” Applejack said. “We can’t wait ta see ya in your dress, Sugarcube.”

Fluttershy smiled her tiny smile before Rarity shooed her behind a changing screen.

“Yes, yes, and she’s going to look stunning, but we must get a move on!” she said as four more changing screens closed around the other girls.

Twilight hadn’t said anything as yet – she had been trying to wake up the same as the others – but the chit-chat halted for the moment as the dresses were delivered simultaneously to each of them behind a screen.

Twilight felt the smoothness of the silk as she practically slid into it. It was a soft blue, modestly-cut, with a green diamond-shaped gem at the bodice. She placed the small circlet strung with small pearl-like things atop her head, then waited for Rarity to move back the screen.

Rarity - it seemed – was the only one not trying on her dress today, and with a flourish the four bridesmaids changing screens folded away, and the girls could get a better look at each other and themselves in the gilded mirror.

As the purple-maned designer flitted between each of them, Twilight admired the other three who were dressed similarly.

Pinkie Pie was in a dress exactly the same as her own, with AJ and Rainbow were in a dress similarly cut, only in a light spring green. Applejack had removed her hat, and the circlet on her head was more ornate, Twilight assumed to indicate her status as Mare of Honor.

“Oh, you all look lovely,” Rarity said quickly as she adjusted Pinkie’s hem, then zipped over to help Rainbow with a strap. “Just let me go and help Fluttershy, than I promise we’ll be done.”

It must have been harder to get Fluttershy into her dress, because Twilight and her friends could watch as the sun began to peek over the horizon through the window.

Finally, Rarity emerged and drew away the screen, revealing the vision that was Fluttershy.

Everyone oohed and awed, which caused Fluttershy to blush and hide behind her hair. Rarity gestured for her to stand back up straight, which she only did reluctantly.

She gave a short click of her tongue in disapproval. “Honestly darling, you’re going to have ponies paying a whole lot more attention to you at the wedding, so you ought to get used to it now.”

“Oh, ok,” the yellow pegasus gave in, and stood to let her friends see her better. “It just reminds me of that time I was a model…” she gave a little shudder at the memory.

“Not to worry, you’re amongst friends, and you will be in a week’s time too.” Rarity reassured her. She opened up the floor for the others to give their compliments as well.

“Doesn’t Fluttershy look lovely, every pony?”

For a moment all were silent, as they took in their friend in her dress, then the flood of words began to pour out from each of them, toppling over each other so it was hard to tell what exactly was being said, but it made Fluttershy smile.

Her dress had a jewel at the bodice to match her bridesmaids, and the flowers in her mane were the same shades of blue and green as their dresses, but that was where the similarities ceased.

Her dress was a tad more layered than theirs, white with pastel green accents. Her gem rested on a white butterfly that held the straps in place. The accents were mean to mimic leaves, showing her love of nature, with the hem slightly fluffed up to indicate a trim of clouds, possibly a nod to her birthplace of Cloudsdale.

“Well shoot Fluttershy, ya’ll look way too good to me marrying someone like mah brother,” AJ joked as the excitement died down.

“Omigosh Fluttershy! You just look so beautiful!’ Pinkie bounced as she attempted to glomp the bride, but was swiftly stopped by Rarity’s magic.

“You certainly do look wonderful; Fluttershy,” Twilight added “And I love my dress, thank you for letting us be a part of the wedding.”

There were agreeing nods as Fluttershy seemed to continue to try and enjoy all the attention.

“Oh, you’re welcome. I mean, who else would I choose? You’re all my very best friends.”

Then she blushed again, but when she spoke Twilight could tell it wasn’t because of the attention this time.

“And, um, I don’t know if any of you were thinking about this, but…um…Rarity thought is would be a good idea to tell you that if you wanted…y-you could invite some pony to come with you to the wedding. I mean, if you wanted to.”

“As you all know Fluttershy doesn’t want a big crowd,” Rarity said as she replaced the screen to allow the shy pony to change. “She’s already quite nervous about all the new relatives she’ll have to meet, but I suggested that a few extra ponies wouldn’t be too bad if any of you were thinking of bringing dates.”

“Uh, dates?” Applejack asked confusedly, most of the others were looking at each other a bit awkwardly.

“Yes, I know none of us except Fluttershy have any romantic prospects at the moment, but it is only a suggestion,” Rarity said a little wistfully. “One would think it might be easier for certain ponies to round up a suitable stallion for the occasion, but-“she gave a sigh as she stopped herself from going into a mini-rant.

“I was jus’ about ta say, none of us really has a coltfriend or anything,” AJ said. “Shoot, I wouldn’t even have the time. Too much work to be done on the farm.”

“Yeah, that’s your excuse,” Rainbow teased, making the earth pony leer at her. “I’ll bet you couldn’t find a date if you tried.”

“Oh yeah? Well, what about you? Ya’ll act more like a guy than any of us, what stallion’s gonna go to a wedding with you?” Applejack gave her own retort.

“Hey, some guys would rather have a girl they can just hang and do cool stuff with,” rainbow Dash leered right back at AJ, the two now almost nose to nose.

“Oh yeah, challenging them to a spittin’ contest is real attractive.”

“Hey, I won that! You really think you’re more feminine than me miss wears-pants-to-a-gala?”

“Alright fine, I challenge you to a contest of feminine wiles! Whoever can’t get a date to the wedding will have to endure a humiliation of the winner’s own choosin’.”

“Challenge accepted,” Rainbow said smirk. “and no cousins this time!”

“I keep tellin’ ya, he wasn’t mah cousin!” Applejack shouted while Rainbow just rolled her eyes. “Jus’ because a feller has an apple on his flank doesn’t mean he’s mah kin, that there’s discrimination!”

“Pfft, whatever. See you at the wedding, alone,” Rainbow called as she flew out of her dress and out of the store. AJ had much more difficulty scrambling out of her dress without ripping it, but she was soon storming out as well.

After a brief awkward silence, the others began to change out of their dresses as well. It was Pinkie Pie who ended up breaking the awkward silence, but trust her to get them out of an awkward situation by causing another one.

“I have a coltfriend,” she said matter-of-factly. This caused the friends still assembled to blink at the pink pony, Rarity’s mouth agape.

“You do?” she asked, not even attempting to hide the unflattering tone. “Since when?”

“A few months ago, I’ve been pen pals with the Cakes’ nephew. I’ll just ask him to the wedding,” Pinkie answered. When Rarity continued to stare she added. “What, you don’t know everything about my life.”

She then hopped up with a giggle and skipped out of the boutique, leaving Rarity still in her stance of unflattering disbelief.

“Well, that is just-but…and how…it’s just not fair,” Twilight could hear Rarity grumble the barely-concealed jealous rant she was about to give her cat in the other room.

This left Fluttershy and Twilight alone in the main part of the store.

“Well um, thanks for coming Twilight,” Fluttershy said to break the tension.

Twilight smiled back at her. “You’re welcome, I wouldn’t have missed it. I do have to be going now though, Spike’ll be up in a little while and we have a particularly large checklist today.”

“Oh ok. Just remember that you can bring some pony too, f you want,” she reminded the unicorn. “You know…some pony who isn’t Spike, cause he’s invited anyway.”

The momentary awkward feeling Twilight had felt when Fluttershy had first mentioned ‘dates’ had since settled into a pit in her stomach. She tried her best to nod and smile, and to definitely not blush at all. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

The feeling in her stomach only intensified as she exited the boutique, shuffling down the street much slower than she probably should have been.

Dating, it was something that Twilight had never really thought about. She’d never really had time for anything like that at school, and when she came to Ponyville she had been busy with her research on friendship. Sure she’d been asked out by stallions, but it was only after she had politely declined and they were long gone that she realized that’s what they were asking her for in the first place. Flirting was almost like a foreign language; Rarity once compared it to an intricate dance…one that Twilight didn’t think she could learn all the steps to.

Why was this even causing her so much pause? It wasn’t like she actually had any pony in mind that she’d want to go with, or any pony that she felt that particular way about…

She sighed, that was only a half-truth. He wasn’t exactly a pony after all.

It had been quite a while since the whole Chrysalis incident, and Twilight hadn’t mentioned to her friends at all what she had learned about Discord that day, about how he felt about her.

The unicorn still hadn’t found the right way to breech the subject to them that she actually returned those feelings, and that she had completely surprised both the draconequus and herself when she had thanked him for saving her by returning that kiss he had given her such a long time ago.

Everything between them was so mixed up and confusing, she couldn’t even figure things out on her own, so there was no way that she could share any of it with her friends.

Twilight felt most secure when she had things planned out; when she had a checklist to tick off everything she had to do. When life was planned and scheduled, she felt some sense of control. At times this illusion of control was the only thing that kept her from going crazy.

It was an illusion though, and Twilight knew it. She hadn’t planned to be sent to Ponyville, or to find her very best friends. She hadn’t planned to become one of the saviors of Equestria so many times over, and Discord…absolutely nothing that he had done since she first met him did she - or could she - plan for.

She battled with it internally almost every day. It was crazy to even consider, the idea of she and him in any traditional romantic way. Her friends were only now beginning to accept her friendship with the spirit of chaos, and some still grudgingly at that.

Twilight imagined bringing him to the wedding, and for one millisecond she felt like laughing. She pictured him in a suit or a bow tie or something, among all the ponies in their fancy clothes, ponies that still feared and hated him.

That was only one small example of it. She couldn’t take him anywhere, not without him causing a scene, either by scaring every pony (whether intentionally or not) or without causing him to experience the pain of the punishment spell. And forget about dating…

If she chose to open that door – to surrender to the feelings that so compelled her – it was a future that she couldn’t plan, one she just couldn’t see.

What type of life would they have…could they have? It wasn’t like they could end up married or…anything. Her cheeks felt warm as her mind drifted to that thought. She remembered Fluttershy just a few moments ago in that beautiful dress, so filled with joy at the prospect of marrying the one pony she loved more than any other, and Twilight felt this strange ache.

It was an option that Fluttershy had – that all ponies had – but something that she would not…not if she chose to be with Discord in that way.

She pictured in her mind a wedding like her brother’s, grand and full of every pony she loved, the Princess beaming at her along with everyone else as she came down the aisle, in a dress like Cadance’s. It was strange even in her mind’s eye to see Discord there at the end waiting for her, with no pony cowering in fear or shooting him contemptuous glances. It made her smile for the briefest moment… before she brushed away the whole picture from her imagination.

Since she had never given dating much thought, the thought of marriage had almost never entered her mind, and it may never have if this hadn’t happened. Being with him closed that door for her, and wanting to be with him probably bolted it shut, which left her with a vague pang of longing.

The whole cornerstone of marriage was to commit to being with one pony for as long as one lived, and in an ideal situation it would be a pony you couldn’t live the rest of your life without anyway.

Another thing Twilight rarely ever pondered was the concept of her own mortality. She wondered why she hadn’t, given that she spent so much time around beings with far longer life spans. She knew that the princesses were over a thousand years old, and it was very surreal to think that – maybe another thousand years from now – they might still be here, looking exactly the same as they did now.

The purple unicorn though – for all her magical skill – was a mortal pony, that was the way of it. Even Spike would someday outlive her; in the back of her mind she knew that. Discord though; he was even older than the princesses…

No matter how long Twilight lived - she could spend the rest of her life with him, but he couldn’t spend the rest of his with her.

Twilight Gets Kidnapped by Changelings

Author's Note

This one you may have seen before in an April Fool's day chapter that I deleted.

I wanted to find a way to showcase a time when Discord would have to leave his literal comfort zone and play the hero, plus this was right after A Canterlot Wedding when every body was doing Changeling stories.

Never could find a good place to put it so it I isn't technically canon to the Sympathy Series. I just like the cute stuff between Discord and Twilight plus my use of the term, "changeling flypaper burrito".

Twilight Gets Kidnapped by Changelings

He was only able to follow them up to a few miles from wherever it was that they called home. Discord couldn’t flash any closer, not a good sign. That coupled with the low shock he received when he tried to take only one step closer told him that his already problematic punishment spell was still in affect, and apparently the home of the Changelings counted as a ‘populated pony area’.

It was only a small jolt of pain that shocked his foot as he stepped within the invisible parameter, but Discord knew from experience that the closer he got to a center for ponies or pony-like creatures, the more painful these shocks would become. Discord had resented the arrangement at first, but Twilight had been the one who had proposed it, and the one who cast it. She would have made sure that there were no loopholes…and now that might just be what doomed her.

Thinking back on when he had tried to check on her at her in Ponyville, Discord remembered just how much pain he would be in for if he tried to flash directly inside. Here though, it wasn’t as bad. Perhaps if he went slowly, he could build up some immunity to the pain.

He tentatively took another step, and nearly lost what little progress he had gained for the lightning that coursed up his foot. Well, there was also hovering, he hopped into the air to give his now sizzling feet a rest, but that turned out to be an even worse idea. Now instead of just his feet, his whole body felt the pain in great waves as he gained another foot of distance.

Landing back on his feet and giving an involuntary ‘Gah!’ as they hit the ground again, Discord looked behind him to see his progress. Surely that had to have been a good twenty feet…no, more like five.

“Oh, come on!” He shouted to no pony in-particular. “These jokers shouldn’t even count! Sure they’re sentient and sort of related to ponies…but come on! I don’t think we’re even still in Equestria anymore, that should nullify this accursed curse!”

Discord was panting now, out of anger and from the effects of the spell. Shouldn’t he at least get a reprieve under these circumstances? He was actually trying to save some pony, for crying out loud.

We will definitely need to have a talk about the limits of this punishment, Discord thought as he rallied his strength once again. There was nothing for it, without Twilight her friends couldn’t use those silly Elements, and even if they could they most likely couldn’t get to her in time. If it was up to Discord, he would just have to grit his teeth and push forward.

Taking a deep breath, that’s exactly what Discord did. He closed his eyes and literally pushed as if in a strong wind, trying to bear the growing agony that radiated up his body.

Soon though, he finally could see the place where those changelings originated, and Discord’s first thoughts upon seeing it were; boy, she sure has a theme going.

He knew that these creatures existed in a hive-like society, but he didn’t expect them to live in an actual hive. It seemed to grow out of the side of a mountain, swelling from the rock in a rounded sloping arch. Perhaps ‘hive’ wasn’t the right word, it was more like a hornet’s nest. Ugly but functional, and full of little drones that were ready to defend their queen with their lives.

As much as the appearance of the gigantic structure unnerved him, more so was the sound Discord heard, or the lack thereof. Instead of the droning hum of a thousand or more insect-like wings, there was an eerie silence that had fallen. The draconequus only realized now that it had been getting quieter the closer he got to the hive.

Wasn’t there anyone home, or had they expected him, and were simply waiting for the right time to strike? Well, Discord didn’t know what was stopping them; he was an easy target here in the open, weakened by the waves of pain that wracked his body with every step.

So, he had lost the element of surprise. Throwing caution to the wind and bracing himself for the world of pain that was about to befall him, Discord decided to go ahead and try to flash in. He was close enough now that he could see near the very top of the structure what might be the entrance to the main hub…or something. He was starting to feel pretty delirious from all the shocks to his system.

Attempting to clear his mind, Discord tried to hone in on Twilight, and to appear wherever she was being held in there. He probably should have taken a breath before teleporting, because once he did all the wind was knocked from him as the blow of pain seemed to fry every nerve in his frame.

He lay on the floor of wherever he had ended up, gasping and writhing and just trying to wait out the affects. Amazingly, it did begin to subside, if only a little. Now instead of immobilize-inly painful it was just excruciatingly painful. His ‘wading in’ plan must have actually helped. All miss-matched limbs were working, and he was still conscious. Score one for the spirit of chaos.

Once he was able to stand however, a new shock caused him to stop in his tracks, eyes wide. Thankfully though, this one wasn’t painful.

“Discord?” a voice called, sounding puzzled but relieved. It was this voice that had stopped him this time, which had sent a twinge of hope through him, hope and amazement that he’d actually managed to do it.

He turned to see Twilight, nearly buried in what Discord hoped was mostly dirt. Strangely enough the sight of her seemed to balm his aching self.

“You were expecting some pony else?” he asked her in an attempt at his usual teasing manner. He hoped that his face wasn’t giving him away. Just because he was actually worried about her didn’t mean she had to know that.

He knelt down to where she was trapped; the substance that held her was deceptively strong.

“Your friends only just found out that you were missing, that copy of you was convincing, I’ll give them that. I was certain that they wouldn’t be able to find you as fast as I could. They didn’t listen, still aren’t that fond of me.”

“Well, thank Celestia you got here. Now hurry, help me get out of here before the queen comes back!”

Discord nodded, and tried to change the casing into something more pliable. Snapping his talons, he pictured the stuff around her turning into a sleeping bag, but it didn’t work. He snapped them again, and again, yet still nothing.

They then heard a pounding on the wall closest to them, a steady sound that meant something was attempting to break through.

Discord concentrated harder, and tried not to look at her eyes, filled with desperation as she seemed to realize what was happening.

“Your magic doesn’t work on this either, does it?” she asked in an oddly quiet way. Was she giving up already?

Instead of answering, Discord furrowed his brow and began to claw at the dirt-and-other-stuff cocoon. He dug in with his claws and tried to pry it open.

The pounding was now joined by a cracking, whatever it was was about to come through, Discord could see the wall breaking apart now.

He turned back to Twilight, her eyes wide but looking strangely peaceful, perhaps resigning herself to their fate.

She placed her hoof on the large paw that was still trying to free her, which made him halt mid-swipe.

Usually he enjoyed when they touched, she almost never flinched or showed those signs of discomfort that she used to, but there was something different about this time…he didn’t think she’d ever touched him to comfort him before…

His eyes darted from her face to the hoof. “N-now, don’t give up just yet, I have a few tricks up my sleeve still.”

Then the wall finally gave way with a crash, sending debris and dust flying into the air, causing them to cough and squint at the frame silhouetted in the newly made hole.

When the dust cleared and Discord could finally see, he was met with yet another surprise.

Twilight stood before him, climbing through the hole and looking angrily down at the other Twilight who still held his paw.

“Discord, this is a trap! It was originally for my friends, but then I heard the changelings holding me say that you’d arrived. So I knew I had to try and escape. To warn you.”

Discord looked from the Twilight in the cocoon to the Twilight standing before them, and back again.

“Don’t listen to her, that’s the Changeling Queen Chrysalis. She trapped me here to lure the ponies who cared most for me to their dooms.” The Twilight still encased said.

“No, I’m the real Twilight. I escaped by trapping her here when she made the mistake of turning into me and explaining her whole plan to her minions!”

Discord didn’t know what to do; he probably should have anticipated something like this happening. This was the hive of the changelings, after all. It was almost clichéd that this was happening.

“Leave her there and come with me, quickly!” The free Twilight ordered. “She’ll sick her drones on us whether or not you stay.”

“No, free me, before she traps you too!” the captive Twilight cried, now holding his paw with both hooves.

Both looked frightened, and both appeared desperate to escape with him. Whichever one was the real one, Discord was a bit flattered. He didn’t think she cared so much. Of course, a few months ago he wouldn’t have thought he would be risking his own life to save her, either. No matter how fascinating she was, even way back on that night when she came so bravely to find him…all on her own.

He then thought of something, something only the real Twilight Sparkle would know.

“Twilight…either Twilight,” he addressed them both. “What was the one part of our first meeting after my last escape that you never told Celestia, or really most of your friends?”

Both sets of purple eyes looked away from him. He’d expected that, but he noticed that only the Twilight standing in front of him had begun to blush – even now – at the memory.

The Twilight below him in the casing had looked away too, in an almost perfect mirror-image of the other, but there was no recognition there.

It was all the proof he needed.

Looking back up to the real Twilight, Discord smiled. “I never understood why you didn’t tell them, I’d have loved to have seen Celestia’s face.”

The real Twilight Sparkle gave a relieved sigh, smiling though probably just as anxious to get out of there as he was. “I believe I also made you swear never to say anything either.”

“And I’ve kept that promise,” Discord answered her as he began to pull away from the fake unicorn and follow her. As he did though, the fake’s grip tightened on his paw, and more pain shot through him, this time from the changeling queen as her eyes glowed.

“Not so fast. You will free me!”

Yeah, so not going to happen, Discord thought. But he still couldn’t free himself, and he was finding it hard to control his paw, it was beginning to pry at her entrapment again, of its own accord.

Twilight came closer to where his paw was pinned, and her horn glowed as she tried to help him. “Just don’t look at her, remember which one of us is the real me!”

“It doesn’t matter now,” the queen Chrysalis cried with glee, dropping the facade completely by using her own voice rather than Twilight’s. “He may have seen through me, but I’ve been feeding off the bond you two have since he arrived. You are certainly powerful, spirit of Chaos, but apparently even you are not immune to those delicious emotions on which we feed!”

There was another crack - this time along the fake Twilight’s prison – and the changeling broke free, forcing Twilight back but keeping a tight grip on Discord. Now back to her usual self, Chrysalis smiled in evil triumph.

“And to think, you nearly went your entire existence without such a weakness. Well, I should almost thank this unicorn for that. I originally merely planned to obtain those troublesome Elements of Harmony, but now I can have all of Chaos at my command!”

Twilight was sent flying back through the hole she’d created, and Chrysalis appeared on the other side close to where she landed – still magically dragging Discord along.

He could see Twilight struggling to stand. They were now in a large, high-ceilinged chamber, and now Discord could see where the rest of the queen’s subjects had been hiding. The top of the room was nearly covered in scaly, hole-ridden black pony-like bodies and glowing green eyes.

The draconequus fought against her hold, still trying to access the power he hadn’t given up. He was really starting to regret that part of the deal as well. If only he’d had his ability to manipulate minds…but would that even work on this creature?

“You certainly are one special little pony, Twilight Sparkle, it makes me almost wish I had chosen to pose as you among your friends myself instead of sending one of my underlings,” the Changeling queen now taunted the unicorn, closing in on her.

“I knew your friendships were strong, but to have the confidence of both the rulers of Equestria and the heart of the embodiment of disharmony? “

Discord’s head shot up at those words, and he could see that Twilight was just as surprised as he was to hear what Chrysalis had said, even as she was being backed into a corner.

“W-wait, I have what now?” Twilight stammered, still filled with terror but chancing a bewildered glance at him. “No no no, you’ve got it all wrong. Our relationship…it’s not like that!”

The queen closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, exhaling with a sound between a hiss and a satisfied sigh. “Oh yes, my dear. I must admit that this bond of yours is different from any I have feasted upon before, but I can still taste it. There is a taste of that kind of love I am so very familiar with. Perhaps you did not know the extent of his feelings for you?”

Twilight gaped at the changeling, and then her eyes slid back to his. Discord tried his best again to not let his true emotions show, for the embarrassment he felt at that moment was just as startling to him as his worry for her had been.

He had felt it – some part of Discord had to have known what it meant – but it was one thing to have this affinity for his only friend…the thought of anything more he had always brushed off. Even when she’d been sick and her little dragon friend had remarked on his behavior towards her, he had dismissed it.

Discord’s heart hammered as the guilt fell upon him. This revelation of his feelings – even of something he had been denying himself of feeling – quite possibly had sealed their fate. If she could feed off of it, Chrysalis would use his bond with Twilight to fuel her attack, leading to their demise… and then who knows how many others’? He may not care for the other ponies of Equestria, but he knew that Twilight did.

His head lowered as he looked away from Twilight’s questioning eyes, which was most likely all the answer they required.

Even though she knew they were in very real danger, that she was cornered by the changeling queen with backup possibly a thousand minions strong, and that the queen had control over a being even more powerful than she, Twilight’s mind halted at the disclosure of Discord’s feelings made by their mutual foe. Sure, she had been slowly coming to terms with the fact that there might be something that had changed between them…but she never really allowed herself to dwell on it, let alone consider that he might be in the same boat.

She heard Chrysalis chuckle, clearly enjoying the affect this piece of information had on them. This broke her from her thoughts, bringing her attention back to the more pressing matter of their imminent peril.

Twilight wasn’t sure what she could do for Discord, but she wracked her brain as she leered at the queen who magically dragged him back to his feet.

The purple unicorn was surrounded on all sides, but she stood tall and lunged for the changeling queen, horn aglow.

The one advantage to being smaller than one’s enemy, you can run under their legs. Shooting between Chrysalis’s creepy hole-y hooves, the queen let out a groan of annoyance as her head swiveled to follow Twilight’s darting form.

“You’re going to try to run, really? Are you forgetting something?” She asked knowingly, and suddenly the walls were raining changelings as they swooped and lept for her, and Twilight kicked and bucked her way to the other side, but then turned around to make her way back to the queen.

She continued this evasion pattern, taking aim whenever she got close enough to them to hit the bonds holding Discord with a blast of magic. This idea was having the added bonus of getting the changelings to slam into their queen as they tried to pursue Twilight. The unicorn smirked as a particularly large changeling knocked Chrysalis to the ground.

Once she was down, Twilight made a beeline back to Discord, who seemed to still be struggling for control of his own powers. She only had one shot, resting a hoof on his paw and concentrating on the magical green rope-like thing that bound him, she touched her horn to them, and it glowed bright. Only a few seconds into her attempt though, a changeling dealt her a body blow, and she once again was thrown across the room.

Twilight couldn’t be sure if that had been enough to help. It hadn’t broken the bonds, but maybe the distraction had been enough to help Discord beat it himself.

She panted as she again got shakily to her feet. Unfortunately, Queen Chrysalis had risen to hers again as well.

“Now what did that sad little attempt accomplish? It only bought you time,” the queen scoffed, annoyed but still clearly feeling her triumph. “Bring her to me.”

The changeling that had knocked her off of Discord grasped her tightly and tried to force Twilight closer to the queen. Twilight in-turn – tried to dig in her hooves and weigh it down. She struggled all the way back over to them, while the rest of the changelings returned to their spots to wait. Without the roaring buzz of their wings, the chamber was eerily quiet once again.

She didn’t want to admit defeat just yet, even as she glared up into the withered, creepy, evil smile of the queen.

“So you’re not going to have your underlings dispatch me. Going to do your own dirty work?” Twilight growled, her horn still at the ready.

“Actually no, Twilight Sparkle. I’m going to leave that to your dear ‘friend’ Discord.” She answered.

Twilight’s heart sank with dread as the changeling queen’s freaky horn glowed green, and Discord was set free. His eyes were glowing too, all recognition of her appearing to vanish. He advanced on her slowly, actually looking far more menacing that she’d ever remembered. It would’ve been almost funny, were she not about to die.

Her resolve was staring to crumble, for Twilight knew that Discord was a force to be reckoned with, even if he never showed the horrific extents she knew he was capable of while she knew him. She also felt a pang of loss, for the Discord she had come to know – and actually care for – might have disappeared as surely as she was about to.

“Did you think that you might have changed him, Twilight? Well, you certainly softened him, made him weaker,” Chrysalis called to Twilight from safely behind the draconequus.

No, Twilight thought. No matter what, he’ll always be him, but I had hoped that I’d helped him somehow.

“Deep down however, Discord is still the same unstoppable force of chaos that I can use to fulfill my plans. Plus with you out of the way, he might even join me of his own free will. We could rule over Equestria together.”

Twilight looked back up into Discord’s face one last time, almost missing that infuriating smirk of his. This blank stare just wasn’t him. Taking a breath, she shut her eyes tight and prepared for the worst.

After a few seconds of nothing happening, she heard a loud pop. Opening one eye a fraction, she saw Discord had turned back towards the queen, now with a giant fly swatter in his hands.

“Now, you almost had me there,” Twilight’s ears perked up to hear Discord’s voice, eyes wide open again. “But at that last part, you lost me. I don’t like to share,” he said.

Then another loud pop echoed across the chamber, and Discord swung down on Queen Chrysalis with a mighty THWACK!

Twilight had to blink several times to be sure that she had just seen what she’d thought she’d seen. She heard Chrysalis scream as the fly swatter came down a second time.

“My subjects, attack!”

Her changelings however could not come to her aid, Twilight noticed. The walls and ceiling of the chamber were now covered in fly paper. Her mouth about as wide open as her eyes, the unicorn watched the changelings as they attempted to fly down to attack, only to be pulled back abruptly by the sticky glue of the walls.

The disbelief shifted into amusement the longer she watched all of them struggling over her head. Then she really had to try hard not to laugh as Discord began to chase Chrysalis around the room, still swatting her every now and then.

When she couldn’t hold it in any longer and burst out laughing, Discord looked over to her and gave her a wink.

“Please, please, stop! We’ll leave Equestria alone, we won’t even set foot in the land again, just please stop that!” the fierce queen of the changelings begged.

“Hmm, do you think that sounds sincere?” Discord asked Twilight as she strolled over to where Chrysalis lay huddled at Discord’s feet; one of her wings bent the wrong way.

“I think she’s had enough, at least.” Twilight said. She then looked back up to the ceiling and magically collected the fly paper from the surfaces, swirling all of the changelings into what looked like a very large, sticky scroll.

“Not too bad,” Discord evaluated her work. He then addressed the queen still below him. “Now, I believe you wanted to see the full extent of my power?”

Twilight could only see the fear in Queen Chrysalis’s eyes for a moment before she, the changeling flypaper burrito, and Discord disappeared.

It took a while, but Discord reappeared dusting off his hands dramatically.

“Well, that’s that.” He said, finally.

Twilight only looked confusedly up at him. “So, where’d you take them?”

“I think it’s better if you don’t know, but rest assured they won’t be coming back for a while…If at all.”

“Uh huh,” Twilight said, not entirely happy with that answer, but something else was also on her mind. “But, how did you escape from the queen’s control?”

“Hmm? Oh I’d broken out a good five minutes before she sicked me on you,” he said flippantly. “About the same time you were trying to free me, actually”

If she had been relieved that he was his old self again, that was gone now. Now she was back to feeling irked at his antics. “So, you lead me to believe that you were about to kill me, and it was all an act?”

“Pretty much, yeah,” he said, then smiled at her exasperated expression. “Don’t be offended, it all ended well, so relax.”

Twilight rolled her eyes and sighed. “I suppose you’re right.”

“I was pretty convincing though, I must say,” Discord complemented himself as they flashed to the outside of the hive.

“I see that you’re not hurting now, most likely because all of the changelings are gone.” Twilight noticed. She hadn’t anticipated a situation like this when she put the punishment spell on him, and she certainly didn’t think that he would willingly march into that horrible pain just to try and save her.

She looked up at him again, now concerned. “There wasn’t any permanent damage done by you coming here, was there? I’m sorry about that, maybe if I’d thought the spell over more carefully in the beginning I could have-“

He waved his hand nonchalantly and she paused, smiling maybe a bit sadly.

“Thank you as well, for coming to help me,” She added.

Discord shrugged, actually sitting on the ground to be at her eye level and – Twilight figured – rest his probably still aching frame. “Like I said to the other Twilight when I thought she was you, I knew your real friends wouldn’t have made it fast enough, and they didn’t trust me to come along with them.”

Putting a hoof on his paw again, she corrected him. “You are my real friend too, you know.”

There was a silence then between them, one that turned a bit awkward for Twilight as her mind landed back on the thing that the changeling queen had said. Now that the danger had passed, that might be something that needed to be discussed.

“Discord…” she began tentatively, not sure how to approach it. Discord seemed to be reading her mind – like it felt like sometimes – and it didn’t appear he was ready for that particular discussion.

“Yes Twilight, I am quite exhausted myself. Let’s get you back home and we can talk more at some other time,” he said, suddenly sounding a bit anxious.