A voice spoke over Steve's intercoms. It was one of Wakanda's chief engineers--not Shuri, she was busy with Vision. "The mirror is complete. Reinforcements are coming through."

Steve turned to Bucky. "Fair warning, it's about to get weird."

Bucky glanced out at the blue dome of energy and the aliens trying to force their way through. "It's already weird."

Steve shrugged. "True. But it's gonna get way, way weirder."

"Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie!"

"Gah!" Bucky jumped. "What in- STEVE! It's PINK!"

"I did try to warn you."

"Ooh, is that a metal arm? That's so cool!" She smiled cheerfully, then turned her eyes to the dome, suddenly all business. "What are we looking at?"

"None of them have gotten through yet, but when they do, it's gonna be slow. I'm counting on Falcon to pick off the first comers. It's a shame we couldn't get Rhodes or Rainbow to supplement the air team."

Quiet wingbeats sounded overhead, and all three looked up. "I think Fluttershy can handle that," Pinkie commented.

"And me!" another, much more masculine voice shouted. "Check it! I've got wings now!"

"Is that a dragon?" Bucky asked. "It's so small!"

"Well, he's still kinda young," Pinkie admitted. "But since his wings grew in, he's been proving himself able to handle more and more, so we decided he could come this time."

Applejack and Starlight trotted forward. "Heya, Steve!" Applejack called cheerfully.

Steve grinned. "Applejack!"

"She's Southern?" Bucky complained. "She's an alien! How is she Southern?"

"Lots of planets have a south!" Pinkie said.

Steve looked at Applejack. "Where are Rarity and Twilight? I thought they would be coming too."

Applejack shrugged. "Rarity wants to get into position for some kinda ranged attack--she didn't tell me what. An' Twilight's stayin' behind to try and find something she thinks will counter the Infinity Gauntlet. I just hope she's right."

A few aliens pierced the barrier and started charging in. The 'air team'--Falcon, Fluttershy, and Spike--soared over them, picking them off easily with bullets, arrows, and fire. The waiting fighters stopped chattering among themselves and stood straight, preparing to join in the combat. Applejack pulled her best lasso out of her saddlebags, and Pinkie loaded her party cannon with battle-grade ammo.

Steve touched his comms link. "The aliens are circling around the unguarded back. T'Challa is going to drop the barrier and let them in in a very narrow area instead. Get ready for a real fight."

When Twilight returned to the library, with the vague hope of something in its shelves being useful to her, she found Rarity's book lying on the ground, stacked on top of Rainbow's. She was glad they'd thought of that, and kicked herself for not doing so. With both of them in other places, it made sense for her to be the pivot between them, some kind of line of communication. They'd be busier than she would. She tried not to let that thought sting too much.

It was then that she was aware of a faint sound in the room. Something buzzing. She looked again at the stack.

Rainbow's book had a message. She picked it up and glanced across the lines within. Her pupils grew wide. "...Discord?" There was no response. "I know you can hear me! This is important!" Still nothing. She sighed. "Please?"

"There we are. The magic word." Discord dangled upside-down from her ceiling. "What do you need? Please don't ask me to bake a pie."

"Why would I ask you to- no. I just need to ask if what Scootaloo just told me is true."

He snapped his fingers and reappeared on the ground. "Well, that depends." He examined his fingernails. "What did she just tell you?"

"Oh, please!" She pointed an accusing hoof at him. "You mean to tell me you know exactly when one of us is calling you, or even talking about you, but you don't know what we say about you in text?"

"That's exactly what I mean to tell you." He caught a glimpse of her suspicious glare. "I have no idea what she said," he repeated, his voice suddenly much more sincere. "Honest."

"But that doesn't make any-"

He raised an eyebrow.

She sighed. "Right. Discord. Fine. Scootaloo wrote to me with a theory, and it sounds kind of crazy, but I think she might actually be right." She glanced down at the book in her hooves, reviewing what it said, even though she remembered perfectly. "She says she met an alien, and while they were talking, the alien told her its culture's story about the beginning of the universe. According to her, at the beginning, there were two forces, Infinity and Harmony."

Discord's face, until then showing interest, shut down into an emotionless poker face. "Oh. Them."

"You know them?"

He crossed his arms and looked away. "We're not on speaking terms."

"If Scootaloo's right, you're closer than speaking terms."

"Well, at least not with Infinity. She's so rigid and controlling, never wants me to have any fun..."

Twilight shrugged. "I get it. It's hard to talk to your ex."

Discord sputtered. "My- What gave you that idea?"

She flipped a page casually. "Especially when she's now an evil force of darkness that possessed both Luna and Stygian."

His jaw dropped. "How in the universe did you get that?"

"Really, we all should've seen it way sooner, what with her whole thing about..." She cleared her throat, and her voice dropped several octaves in imitation. "The night will last... FOREVER!" She returned to her own voice. "Honestly, it was staring me in the face."

"Not a bad impression."

"Thank you."

"But how did you get the connection to the Darkness that possessed Stygian?"

Twilight shrugged. "Scootaloo didn't get that one, either. I only knew because of a conversation I had with Stygian. He said that the Darkness never made him feel less bitter or miserable, it only made him want to make everypony as miserable as he was. That was why he kept going on about removing the 'light and hope' from Equestria. He wasn't trying to make anything last forever, but he was trying to make everything the same."

Discord nodded. "Makes sense."

"I try. So, Harmony..."

"Don't call me that." He rubbed one arm. "I'm not him. Not anymore. Not after everything I did."

"I think you're wrong."

"What?"

"It's true that you weren't Harmony, not for a long time. But look at you now! You nearly killed yourself because you were afraid you and Fluttershy were too different. You don't try to force your chaos on everyone--you know how to have fun while being considerate of others and their wants and needs. You even sacrificed yourself in the Changeling Hive to save Equestria!"

He threw up his hands. "Did you even hear yourself? I almost killed myself trying to be the same as Fluttershy, when all she wanted me to be was me! If I were really Harmony, I would've seen that our differences were what made our friendship special. That's Harmony's whole thing--different things working together!"

"Yes, but you learned from that! Maybe you're not Harmony, but you're certainly not Discord! You're still growing and changing, but with a little help from your friends, I think you can get back to where you were. You just have to find your way."

Author's Note

This was going to be two chapters, but they both ended up super, super short, so I put them together. They don't really go together that well, I know.