The first sound Celestia heard was a terrible crash in the distance. It was too deliberate to sound like thunder and did not sound as if it came from the sky. The subsequent ringing that ached in her ears refused to fade after she opened her eyes. Celestia yelped at the view that greeted her. A large tide from the sea rushed against her hooves, while the wind threw her tiara nearly off her head. Luckily for her, Discord was standing nearby, and he had slipped it back on her head. Unfortunately, it did not totally secure her mane from being whipped back and forth by the blustery gusts. The waves continued to cascade upon the sand due to all the clamoring on the other end of the island.

Celestia sighed. She and Discord were finally where they needed to be, despite Discord’s sense of direction. Unfortunately, where they needed to be resulted in them being left stranded on a beachhead while being bombarded by a cataclysmic storm from across a narrow stretch of sea. That was something that even three charges of residual magic helping them in finding their location could not compensate for. She looked around, inhaling unsteadily, and tried to stand her ground. Sand slipped into one of her shoes. Anarchy dominated the poor, scrappy cay where Celestia and Discord stood. The weakened trees further inland trembled in the gale of the ferocious winds. Whatever was causing the disaster on this island rattled the tall palm trees and uprooted them as if they were toothpicks.

Celestia was tense with the anticipation of a dragon’s roar or other monstrous calls that never came. This left her and Discord to watch as trees fell, collapsing towards the alien boom coming from the island. Tense seconds after each fall passed in something closer to silence. The sounds that followed were somewhere between the furious roiling of a sea monster and a lumber mill’s snarl.

Despite nature’s wrath, Celestia felt the need to take the first few steps forward. Unfortunately, they were halted, and the goddess balked when she felt the Smooze slip himself partly around her leg, where it stayed, quivering. Was he afraid like her? Was he afraid of the storm too? Or was the other Smooze nearby and he sensed it? She quickly dismissed the notion, reminding herself that the creature was blind, and always showed a fairly dim awareness of things that were not trees. Yet, she felt him shaking with all the fear she could barely show, and took that as a sure sign that despite the omen, reason itself was in favor of him being innocent of the combat she simply dreaded.

Celestia was no goddess with a domain in fighting, and her ability in combat was minimal, at least for an Alicorn. Whatever beast this other Smooze would prove to be was one she could imagine. Even though Discord was afraid, she wondered if the other Smooze could pose an actual threat. Normally, the Smooze she knew was not as susceptible to magic in the same way other creatures were. And to see a Smooze like the one in her possession be compared? It was hard to look at the little green blob clinging to her and think any counterpart of it could be any stronger than the one she held so close had been at the Grand Galloping Gala.

“Celly,” Discord said while lifting her up and shaking her head. This jolted her from the grip of the Smooze. “Look at those.”

And she followed to where his claw was pointing, her mane brushing under his chin. All the island’s plants and stones were filled with holes and marks that were porous and almost dissolved in appearance. This suggested only one thing, and it was not a sign of the weather’s wrath upon the island. No, the uneven nature and hints of slime were all too telling of Smooze that had tasted something, attempting to digest it in want to a meal, only to reject the stuff of attack as improper food not unlike a spoiled foal.

“This Smooze has been… eating the island?” Celestia asked, muzzle wrinkling. “Is that what those marks are? Dissy, didn’t you say that this creature has been here for centuries?”

“Oh, it has. I’m afraid it’s just… been stress-eating lately.”

Celestia offered a small frown in response, suddenly very conscious of her figure. “As much as I’m sure the ocean will be problematic for this Smooze, I can’t imagine it being more than a delay…”

She trailed off, only seeing Discord offer a quick nod of agreement from the corner of her eye.

“How does your magic do with this one?”

Discord gave what Celestia initially mistook as a shrug before scooping up the frightened Smooze between them and giving it half-hearted pats that bordered on simply poking it. “About as good as this one. Extremely. Magically. Retardant,” he punctuated each word with another poke to the jiggling and already out-poked Smooze.

“And this one is entirely malicious?” Celestia asked. She tried to keep alert, her ears perked to note any sudden movements around them, while keeping herself composed so as to not rouse any suspicion from Discord or the little Smooze. However, the storm was denying her of said composure, as the latest rumble of thunder shook the island to its core. A mare could not rush into battle entirely unprepared, no matter how poor she might be in combat.

“Very, very malicious, Celly.” Discord leaned toward her, before he stage-whispered in her ear, “It has sharp teeth too.”

Celestia nearly opened her mouth to retort, but she couldn’t find the words to describe how she was feeling. How could she ask how a Smooze, a slimy little rascal could have teeth? Yet again, the one that crawled up her leg did also devour her fine perfumes, so maybe Discord’s claim was not too far from the truth? She resolved in her own steely, shutting her mouth as trying to comprehend that point was a trial not worth attending. Maybe… “I-I see… and it cannot be reasoned with? Or pacified in any way?”

Discord gave a quick shrug that bounced from shoulder to shoulder and back again with the fluid motion of a slinky toy. His expression dipped into something momentarily downcast and uncertain. “I’m not sure. She made about as much sense as I do.”

Celestia honed in on two things: this Smooze was apparently a ‘she’ and that Discord looked like he would have rather said ‘no’ to her previous question. She would’ve pondered further on this if only Discord didn’t whip out a colorful chart fully scribbled in crayon.

“Oh, and when I tried talking to her she threw three trees at me. Can you believe that, Celly? That makes a ‘Very Angry’ creature rank on the Tree Throwing to Emotions Conversion Scale.” Discord tapped his chin, his chart vanishing as quickly as it came with a pop of his typical, aura-less magic. “Could you imagine if poor Fluttershy saw something like that?”

Celestia nodded, as was proper, but hid the way her thoughts strayed with the politeness of the motion. Lady Smooze was big enough to hurl multiple trees while consuming an island. A creature at least the size of a cottage came to mind, the approximate size feeling quite right for something that could potentially be hurling multiple trees at once. All this was quite different from the Smooze that had returned to wiggling with fear in Discord’s grip. Why, even the act of referring to the Smoozes with such an air that the large ‘S’ brought was beginning to feel puzzling now that it was no longer a name and creepy, for neither made sense to have that grand, commanding letter as a species as Alicorns did. At least the names of Mister Smooze and Lady Smooze could ease that.

“I still need to get a good look at what we are dealing with,” Princess Celestia said, casting Discord a worrying look and letting her tail trace patterns in the sand with quiet sobriety. “If I attempt to stun the Smooze from a distance, we shall only be heaped with errors neither of us can afford if the lives of my ponies or the Neighponese kirin are on the line. These truly are creatures too bumbling, too ravenous, and too resistant for their own good.” Celestia winced with distant recollection, not at the thought she almost called the unknown smooze ‘she’, which was all too personal a designation. She’d had far too many accidents when dealing with the Smooze she now carried, these were creatures ripe for attracting magical mishaps of all forms. “Anything I am to cast against this offending being will need to be done at close range.”

“Oh,” came a familiar teasing edge, “I’m very familiar with your attempts at long-range combat.”

Discord tried to hide his snickering with a claw but to no avail, while Celestia clicked her tongue. With a glow of magic and a snap, her saddlebags came off and she plopped them into Discord’s claw, already burdened by their favorite companion. The barest hint of mischief danced behind her seriousness.

“Take these,” she insisted. “If I’m going to be doing much of the work in driving out our new friend, you will need to mind our escape and make a lure to draw the focus of the other Smooze. We’re in this together,” Celestia said, giving him a quick nuzzle, “and I’ll need you to be ready for anything.”

Discord affirmed her words with a play salute. “Anything for my princess.”

With that said and a soft smile on her part, Celestia spread her wings and took off.

…

The heart of the island was a nest of terror. There was no hint of elegance in how the island had been sampled, and thus no indication of the identity of the actions of Lady Smooze, just the scars it inflicted upon the land without care. Where the Smooze reached out and uprooted features and foliage could be plainly seen, even where Celestia soared high above. The gusts were of little consequence to her Alicorn strength, and she could soar high enough above the debris being flung about to assure her safety. It was necessary for proper tracking to scope things out this way, not just because she was tracking a predatory, but because she also needed as many distant views of the island terrain as she could get. There, she saw the Smooze, and she gasped, covering her maw with her hoof.

This was nothing like the Smooze that accompanied her and Discord. This was a menace, a grotesque monstrosity that spilled across the other end of the cay and bobbed in the sea with a bouncy gait like a waterfowl. If there was anything to suggest that it could swim, then ponies really were in danger. She was certain any wildlife living here had already met a grisly fate.

Knots writhed in Celestia’s stomach at the thought. She needed to get closer. There was no way she would be able to see any disadvantages of the Smooze from this high up. And so she dove closer to the ground, her wings tearing through the sky noisily. Her descent proved her point further: the full grotesque appearance of the creature was clearly on display. Celestia took in the foul sight with a shuddering breath.

This was no form of an oversized slime mold, and it was the size of half a dozen cottages. There was no room for doubt that the Lady Smooze was ravaging the island was an abomination unlike any that Celestia had seen before. Dozens of ginormous misshaped mouths lined with rows of malformed teeth snarled and chomped away at the world. While there were some slimy looks to parts of the creature, the bulk of the body was a hideous mass of pulsating tents of flesh oozing into themselves, their overall look a smelly array of guts dripping in a slurry-like they had been turned, folded, and melted upon themselves enough times. The thick drippings from the muddy, alien life-ooze trailed after the main body and never separated. Worst of all were the countless array of body parts protruding from the purplish mass: half-formed paws, chipped antlers, salt-ruined giant insectoid wings, bulging stingers, ridges of diverse bone dripping smooze-filth, and writhing tentacles; they dragged limply along in the monster’s crawling search for more nourishment.

Just what was this horror? And how could it come to be?

Celestia whickered nervously before charging her horn. The searing light did nothing more than taze the smooze as she held it to the creature.

Her effort was enough. Immediately, dozens of eyes shifted their attention toward her from across the mass with an audible, disgusting noise. They arranged themselves at the top of the beast. Their sizes were as irregular as the forms of teeth and bone already present, but each one was seething with an emotion Celestia could only conclude was fury. Their reddish pupils and bloodshot irises were ringed with soured yellow that could not make it clearer who their focus was. All she knew is that they were looking around, or even on her, and their gaze was of fury.

Gulping discreetly, Celestia fired her magic again before barrelling noisily to the side. She acted none too late, as the irritated beast swatted spastically at her and she narrowly avoided contact with the fleshy gunk.

Again, her magic grazed the creature with a blinding intensity that dwarfed the ability of any unicorn. The steadiness of how she continued to apply her stun efforts made it flail and lurch, groaning as it caused the island nearby to rumble. The sound made Celestia’s ears perk up, and she realized what she had done.

Now she had it moving.

…

Another sound greeted Celestia as the beach came into view once more. The wind whipped violently in her ears and the motion of the Lady Smooze below was equal to a buffalo stampede. Above all that, a faint and jolly sound carried over both.

Discord was instructing his Smooze on how to play a whole ensemble of ridiculous instruments. The green Smooze made slobbery attempts at song into a harmonica and sent symbols banging hideously with its every move. Nearby, Discord hopped up and down, simultaneously directing his Smooze like a maestro’s more spastic counterpart while maintaining his own control over his own array of instruments. From where she was, Celestia could count at least fifteen under the control of Discord — though, their sounds were anything but controlled.

While those two lured the angered Lady Smooze forward with their band, Celestia continued to fire modest amounts of her power behind the rampaging purple mass. This served as an excellent way to further irritate the creature. The Lady Smooze was already leaving a distorted path of glassy, fragile magma where sand had once been.

In the chaos, Discord was quick to dodge this advancing onslaught, his orchestra vanishing with a snap. He always was one for evasion. While Celestia could only fight in short-range, uncontained bursts, Discord had no heart or mind for traditional fighting when being slippery and tricky could work instead. Only this time, he couldn’t slip from conflict so easily: he had forgotten to remove the green Smooze from the line of the other’s fury!

Princess Celestia wanted to call out, to urge him to go back for the neglected Smooze, but her words didn’t come. They caught in her throat like a weight that dragged her focus back to the task at hoof, and that meant having to tear her gaze away from two things: Discord’s horrified realization dawning at who he had left in danger’s way and the fearful green Smooze burbling and blubbing in confusion for Discord to come back.

Celestia tried pumping her wings faster, the instinct to save the pitiful Smooze quickening her heartbeat. Swells of overwhelming worry made the sweat fall down the back of her neck faster. The green Smooze had no features that could properly express fear, but the princess knew the sound of pure terror from those who were helpless when she heard it. Even non-sapients like the Smooze had their primal emotions and their torment was not something Celestia could ignore.

She could see the green Smooze trembling in the shadow of the advancing Lady Smooze. Her mind spun deceptive thoughts the more she took in the creature’s fear, trying to convince her that she was wasting time when only seconds had passed and the initial whiplash of fear between her and Discord was still in full swing.

With a torrent of writhing and wiggling, the green Smooze appeared to diminish itself in what Princess Celestia could only think of as the opposite of deimatic behavior. It fell in on itself as if it had anywhere to go when in the shadow of a foe…

...only to unfurl itself, size doubled instantaneously…

...and it kept expanding.

Before Celestia could blink, her raging heartbeat demanded that she halt her flight, and she obeyed. The once insignificant green Smooze was transformed into a being unrecognizable when compared to its previous form, much to Celestia’s fear and Discord’s visible antsiness. However, its new appearance was very, very much like Lady Smooze.

What was previously her and Discord’s Smoozie-Woozie was now an amalgamation of flesh, limbs, oozing terror, and other secretions. Dozens of mouths widened with fury and pain, gnashing rows of mismatched teeth. An ear-grating symphony of roars ripped from each one, each one its own discordant call. Though she was not as keen with beasts as Luna was, Princess Celestia could feel fear all twisted up in those frightening, agonizing cries.

As distant as he was, Celestia could feel Discord’s increased fear like it was a sheet draped over her withers. It was a subtle thing for him to show fear, and the princess knew that if she were standing near him, Discord would still be unlikely to express real terror instead of a cartoonish ghost of it. Such was his nature. And yet, the feeling might just be a product of her own fear, multiplied, projected, and nothing more. It was hard to discern as she beat her wings and dived downwards. The weight of her heart was rattling in her ears.

In her mind’s eye, she had the barest inkling of something new tickling her thoughts. Unfortunately, it was also something that toyed with her own fears she tried to bury. If her hunch had anything behind it, the green and purple smooze could be reconciled. Was that not something she should rightly be troubled by, the linking of such opposite things? That was not a blend her mind could process, where innocence and monstrousness existed as segregated concepts, and always had.

Magic was bright on her horn, and Celestia worked on weaving a familiar spell: one leftover from her time as an Element Bearer. It was woven with Harmony’s own light and filled with Kindness. She had only ever used it on Faithful Students and the inconsolable, for it would bring them one of their positive memories as a pacifying gesture.

As the light of magic filled her eyes, she was struck in her moment of blindness. Celestia yelped, eyes lost in white-hot nothingness. Moments later, it registered that in her flight the Lady Smooze had reached up and been able to slip a foul limb around her, leaving bile and other secretions upon her even when she had managed to escape its grip.

In the struggle, she had let a burst of teleportation magic free without ending her previous spell. The incomplete Kindness spell’s iridescent light and the gold of her teleportation had layered atop one another, and even though she had managed to teleport from the creature’s vile grip…

...her previous spell had been released too and struck through the blurs of radiance in her vision; she could see it hit the green Smooze...

...and then…

...and then...

...

The memory pulled itself around all her senses, smothering them with fog and fear. Her magic tinted the world of mist with harsh golds and deep yellows. In it, Celestia was not herself. She was immaterial, both infused with the feelings of an observing force and the mare at the center of the dream simultaneously. The sheer terror of the latter seeped into the oppressive, constricting sense the memory had. It was as if Celestia had her mind poured into half-frozen jello when she was still herself and left to weigh there, abandoned and disembodied in a new container.

And to think that this was all happening in an instant outside of where she currently found herself. The divergent tugging of her mind and body, so painfully indivisible from each other, was enough of a reminder.

The third sensation was the fragile one from within the mare, dim and dying in a way that a goddess like Celestia could only acknowledge, but not understand or express empathy towards. There was only the barest mind to that agonized mortal.

The memory was fragmented, twisted, and controlled by the toll of something mind-breaking for which Celestia had no name. She could only view these splinters mutely. There was obviously little else this mind had to cling to. It was so pervasive that the area other than the raised sandstone topped with drenched cotton sheets was lost, devoured by the warped memory’s nature.

Another mare with the patterned veils of the desert stood by the prone mare. Her face was pale with fear and slick with sweat, but hers was only a fraction of the panic of the clamminess of the mare upon the bed-slab. The curls of their manes were stuck along their faces, and Celestia felt the echo of the sliminess they made. That sensation made her wonder who it was she was supposed to be in this scene.

Words flew out of the pacing mare’s mouth in what Celestia could only guess was a predecessor to modern Arabian. How she hovered over the other mare who was in the throes of labor made it clear that she was a midwife, and the mare whose sweat-soaked pink mane was free to tumble upon the sheets squished under her was the midwife’s charge.

The sight between the patient’s legs was ghastly enough; no birth was a pretty one. But something else was at hoof, something ominous and urgent. The new mother’s eyes showed hints of fogginess in her horrible, pained spasms. She was heavy beyond what any mortal mare could reasonably carry. What was truly creepy was how it looked as though she were still bloating…

The midwife, in a fit of nerves, murmured what Celestia guessed were prayers, and pressed damp clothes over the other mare’s brow. Her soothing words did nothing to hide that this mother was pale and screaming with what little energy she possessed.

One of her lower legs spasmed and went limp. Too much blood came out, along with something else. Something meaty and mushy that should not have exited the body — and certainly wasn’t any part of the fetus. More of the mare gaped, and it became obvious — to Celestia — that she was being torn and stretched as something tried to exit her womb.

And whatever it was, it pulled itself out without care of the dying sobs or effort from the birthing mare. It wanted to force itself out, only for Celestia to remain fixed by the viscous quality of the memory and have to watch the mare who would never be a mother give her last desperate, pained screams.

Hunks of something fleshy and gruesome began to burst out; the mother’s flesh flopping and ripped from her, and came out in twists with the motley of terror too big to have fit in her in the first place. Under the terrible array formed by the malformed body parts pulsated under grime and gore-sludge was the hint of something greenish.

At the sight, Celestia knew exactly what the green meant. The memory collapsed in a nauseating plunge just as Celestia caught the last glimpses the scene offered her. The midwife was shunning what her very job required of her and was fleeing from the sight. It was immediately followed by a symphony of snaps and wet rips that sealed the fate of an innocent young mare that Celestia was certain had been left to die alone.

…

Aisha knew she loved the draconequus when her chores were consumed with thoughts of the peculiar youth. She would wind a forehoof in her pink tresses and feel her face grow happily warm at the thought of the creature. She made nightly treks up to the temple her village had built to house the rare one when she knew she would be the only priestess there to share his company.

She was not the only one in her village who adored him, for they all left the draconequus — that was what he called himself — food, drink, and other offerings. Aisha just happened to be the only one who had her heart made light and warm by the creature.

Aisha was special to him; she was sure of it. He showed her all the tricks of his magic and spun stories of made-up friends that told of equines like no other, with magic beyond mortal capacity, wings, horns, and everlasting life. No other mare got to hear such tales, he told her, in a rare moment of seriousness. His tone would have the same, fleeting softness that he only used for one other thing — compliments to her dawn-pink mane and tail, which she kept so carefully groomed and dust-free.

On all other occasions, they were careless. He said it was his nature to have this complete recklessness and go wherever the wind took him, and that was something she found terribly romantic. There was no poetic skill to him at all, and his horrible ability with words only endeared him to Aisha because it was so different from the stallions of her village, giving him an unrivaled and unique sort of charm in being charmless. The creature told her about how he spent his travels rising with the sun and staying where he pleased when he pleased, and for however long he pleased. To Aisha, that was the life of a hero.

Once, Aisha had asked him if there was anything special that would ever make him want to stay anywhere. She had batted her eyelashes at him and wore his favorite scarf — a flowing pink streaked with purple and green — to catch his attention and give him every hint.

Instead, he had grinned at her and asked if Aisha wanted to watch him touch his eyeball with his tongue.

Aisha couldn’t put her hurt into words for him — that wasn’t what hearts were for, and she was a mare who listened to her heart’s songs, no matter the trouble it got her into. So she let the offense slide from her memory and hadn’t shown it had wounded her. He was only being himself, and Discord was one who did no harm. They continued to be young and reckless on all of their visits together.

Now Aisha had something that would make him want to stay with her forever, and it was something that they had shaped together. Plus, all the other priestesses would be so very jealous of the treasure that she alone would bear.

What she had not expected was to find him already gone, the entire temple was empty of even one lit torch. Only the sound of night wind over the oasis greeted her.

This memory had come to Celestia through a haze tinted with gold and the iridescence of harmonious light magic. Yet, those colors so bright and good should not have been harsh or inappropriate in any situation. And how was it that they could accompany such heartbreak?

...

Celestia cried out again, in fear and distress. She shook the last shambles of the past from her eyes, kicking and thrashing mid-flight as she did so. The world hit her sideways and her bearings snuck up on her. The goddess flexed her wings and pumped them rapidly, unable to make the tight veers and swift motions she needed due to her size and relying on her nature alone throughout her life. It was a deficit she had always envied Princess Luna for. Soon, she was out of harm’s way. The moments she had viewed from her miscast spell still dizzied her with their gruesomeness.

...There had been nothing left in the mind of the creature she had once thought of as innocent Smoozie-Woozie.

No, the minds of the creature. It was two beings fused in torment together, the fusing of a mother and foal left in agony all these years later… with not even a full death to liberate them and let them pass on to the afterlife…

...and she had thought of it like a pet.

Something foul and sickly wanted to push something up her throat. Despite the acidic taste of her much-dreaded feelings, Celestia forced her throat to tighten and flew higher.

On the beach below, she could see Discord standing in the shadow of what had been the green Smooze. His nervous surprise would look comical in any other situation and was not nearly as attentive to how the creature bellowed and wailed. Instead, he waved his arms about, grasping a bullfighter’s red flag and jerked it about inelegantly. She couldn’t hear just what he was saying from so far above, but it was catching the attention of both beasts. They jostled one another and surged toward Discord, which caused Celestia’s heart to race anew. Though her head was still light, she debated if there was a spell that could help, only for none worked their way into her hazy thoughts.

The green Smooze reached Discord first since he was closer. Her heart raced with how she juggled her thoughts to interfere. Princess Celestia continued watching with bated breath, her expression was still and somber. If Discord needed her, he would call to her, and yet Celestia could not fully wrestle down her usual instinct to dive in and make everything as it should be, without anyone else needing to worry.

Discord was more than capable of what he was doing. She just had to mind that, and mind it repeatedly to quell all her thoughts saying otherwise.

Once the green Smooze was close enough to him, Discord did away with the bullfighter’s prop and held out his paw in an inappropriately friendly wave.

Every one of the green Smooze’s eyes immediately focused on Discord. Some even wrenched themselves around, tearing what little cohesiveness there was to the Smooze’s general form in order to look at the lone draconequus.

Warped torrents of irregular multicolored magic encircled Discord’s talon. Green and gold were the brightest shades of the familiar chaos magic that jumped out in Celestia’s eyes. Before she could offer her own contribution, Discord tapped the creature. Dozens of eyes swirled with rings of color and the beastly transformation began to deflate.

When the green Smooze fully reverted to its gooey form, Discord scooped up the creature and swung out of the way from where the Lady Smooze barrelled forward. He disappeared from sight in a snap of magic; Celestia’s body tingled with adrenaline and she would have dived forward to scoop up her love had he not been quick and tricky.

A tap on wither jolted her from the rapid pace of her thoughts.

“Dissy!” Princess Celestia cried, whirling around to see her Dissy poking over from a nearby cloud. The green Smooze was clutched in his forelimbs, oozing over his grip. Celestia felt her coat go paler at the sight of the now-passive thing and its dumb smile. “You could have let me know…”

She inhaled sharply — perhaps even too much so — and tried to figure out what it was she had meant to finish the rest of her statement with. What exactly could he have done that wouldn’t have given her a fright?

“Oh poo,” Discord said, though his lack of a smile spoke of their serious situation. “What has got your tongue, Celly?”

He waved a disembodied tongue in his grip while Celestia sighed.

“So… your Smooze… and that...” Celestia shivered, still not wanting to look at either. “...They are the same, then?”

“Oh, yes,” Discord replied casually, patting his gooey companion. “She and I go way back too, even farther than this little guy!”

Celestia offered a broken glass smile while Discord didn’t notice the full nature of the gesture. He was too busy giving the gooey hybrid a noogie. How he knew the gender of each smooze suddenly made a bit of sense, even if there was likely a ‘she’ mixed into both smoozes anyway. Still, she had to put off what horrifying memories of dual demise would be in the purple Smooze.

“Is… is there no way you could do that same spell on our purple friend?”

“Celly?”

There was something in Discord’s tone that Celestia couldn’t put a hoof on. “Yes, Dissy?”

“Do you think there is anything left in her to call a friend?”

Celestia hung her head, unwilling to speak the truth.

…

Discord insisted he was pushing the cloud higher, even as he hugged the green Smooze tightly. Celestia refused to correct him and continued to keep her aura steady as she tugged it far above the island’s sky. When she was satisfied with its height, she settled down next to Discord and let him wrap a paw around her withers. Thankfully it was smooze-free.

Together, they peered down at Lady Smooze’s rampage below.

“And you’re sure this is the only way?”

Discord gave the world below a distasteful look. Their bags floated aimlessly within the green Smooze, undissolved in an effort to store them safely. “Unfortunately so, Celly. No magic is going to work on her. Can you think of anything else that would?”

She avoided his pointed look entirely, pretending to adjust her mane by running her feathers through it to comb debris that wasn’t there.

“This wasn’t going to be a friendship and rainbows errand.”

Celestia kept her eyes downcast. “So be it. We use your plan, then.”

Discord nodded, patting her wither absently with his paw. With another snap, chaos magic engulfed his talons. Ignoring the showy display, Celestia lit her horn with the modest amount of aura needed.

Below them, the world cracked and rumbled. The sound of the fit thrown by the Lady Smooze was lost to a noise eerily similar to an earthquake. Celestia leaned over the edge, her mane spilling with the motion, and watched the results of their magic attentively.

The island was being uprooted, and the strength of their magic made it appear as ordinary as pulling beets from a garden. Lady Smooze was too big to scamper, but she was obviously filled with confusion as her cay home was pulled and shrouded in the dual glow of two gods.

The sea rushed to fill the chasm left in the wake of the cay’s absence. Celestia bit her lip watching the torrent of raging dark waters. Discord manipulated the floating island first; he jerked it forward and elbowed Celestia until she hesitantly tilted it too.

Lady Smooze tumbled in, no more than a moment of purple that vanished among the churning waters.

They pressed the cay back into place until the ocean surrounding it was tinted with dark rings of red.

Discord had told her multiple times it was the only way to be certain.

Author's Note

[Revised for print on 2/18/2023]

There's one more chapter to go! Though, admittedly, I'm not sure how well this story fares prompt-wise compared to some of the other entries. The initial blog listed the prompt as being "Beyond Equestria's Borders" and encouraged it to be used as the writer wished. Provided, of course, that a canon, non-pony species was explored in the story. And the species had to be from Friendship is Magic.

...This is the information that helped this story form, even when later blogs listed the prompt as "Friendship Beyond Equestria" (something this story doesn't fit). Even when that part was corrected in the comments, there was still some tweaks in the information, or at least it came across that way. Namely, the species now was described to need/implied to need a culture. In the general sense, I'm not sure what I had planned fits that particular bill. Oops!

(Since the previous edition of the contest having "obscure shipping" as the prompt was personally easier to work with. Poking around the site after coming up with some ideas for pairings gave a pretty good idea if they were "obscure" in novelty or handling, but 'culture' seems to have a bit of wiggle room.)

Either way, a species explored and world-building was what I had to write, and I hope my entry can still count, despite some possible conflict with the prompt. But maybe I'm just over-thinking this too?