With strange eons, even death may die.
But boredom was eternal.
'By Phaos's cake, Celestia. Could you at least throw a garden party, or something? At least then I have some ponies to make fun of, even if it's only in my head,' Discord thought within his statue, sensing no ponies in the immediate area. 'Guess it's another day of bird tracing for me.'
Many would expect a thousand years spent as one's own living tombstone would drive a creature insane or mad with rage. But Discord's rage had long smoldered into resentment. He had entertained and grown a new found sense of sanity, but that died off in the course of the long centuries. All that was left now was his eternal boredom with the world Celestia had created.
But he was a patient being. He just wondered, what would give first? Would the magic containing him erode away against his power? Would his plunder vines deal with that weed of a tree? Or would something chaotic enough jumpstart his release?
He blinked, mentally at least, as he heard a great thunderous boom echoing across the land, and saw a great shockwave of prismatic magic rushing through the sky. 'Well, way to be flashy, Harmony,' he thought as he felt the magic over his prison.
There was an instant, a chance in a millisecond that he might have missed in another life as he felt Harmony rewriting fate itself, this display being the sign of a catalyst that would change the world. Between that, the great surge of magic within the city and the reactions of so many ponies around Equestria from witnessing the event, there was only one word for it:
Chaos.
It was small, a droplet to him, but oh so refreshing
Discord's gaze narrowed in delight. 'Oh, you young fool,' he taunt in pity as his magic surged through his prison and into Harmony's own magical shockwave. He could feel it, feel HER squirming and struggling against him. But she was too weak. A thousand years without her elements or champions, holding back the Everfree Forest had left her too little to spare against this surprise attack. He scowled, tempted to do more damage to the very essence of his great enemy, but he was interested in one thing and one thing only: Freedom.
Chaotically and Harmonically charged mana raced across his statue as the garden, the castle, the very city began to rumble. The fear, the panic only fueled his powers more against Harmony as she dutifully tried and failed to hold him back. 'Careful, Harmony, you might actually kill yourself at this rate,' Discord forewarned as he held her off.
Not that it was easy, admittedly. If he backed down for even half a second, Harmony would have his prison repaired enough to hold him, for now at least.
'Sorry, Harmony, but my release date is long overdue,' Discord declared as he committed everything he could to this escape, his statue glowing bright as cracks formed all along it. His talon, raised high in the air, slowly moved even while still in stone.
"Discord!"
His attention almost wavered as he registered Celestia herself had appeared in the garden, her eyes fixed in a glare as her horn lit up with her own mighty magic. 'Well, that's not good,' he realized with a scowl. Reforming a body would not be that hard out of this statue, but being shattered by solar Alicorn magic while within it would be much more problematic.
He grimaced as he saw the spell coming. There was no way he'd finish overpowering Harmony before it hit.
Yet as the spell reached half way to his statue, he was shocked to find all resistance had disappeared.
Which meant he was now the magical equivalent of tumbling forward.
The Statue of Discord erupted like a small bomb, decimating the garden and shattering every window in the palace. Celestia grimaced as she lowered her shield once the blast had settled, finding nothing but a scorching crater. "Discord is free," she realized with a scowl of anger and worry.
Meanwhile
"HOLY GWACK OMOLLEY WITH SOLELY AND ONLY BALONEY!" Discord declared as he suddenly appeared in the middle of a forest, landing on the ground with a thud. He sat up instantly, staring at his hands in disbelief before running them over his body, detaching from his torso to scurry all over him before reattaching themselves. A giddy, relieved smile worked onto his face.
He giggled, his mirth building into a chuckle. "I'm free! At long last, I am free!" he declared, doing a whoop of joy. He hopped around before snapping his talon, relishing the sensation of raw chaos flowing through him and into the world once more, as the trees all came to life with lights strung in their branches as they all used their new branch-hands to play various instruments to create conga music. Creating his own rattlers, he continued his little celebration as he danced with his tail twirling about.
The music literally screeched to a halt as he stopped in mid-stride, the trees looking to him in confusion. He took on a thoughtful look, discarding the maracas as his mismatched hands reached down, feeling around the backside of his hips. He blinked as he grasped something distinctly not him. He squeezed, and earned a giggle for his actions.
Contorting his body in nigh-spine defying fashion, he look down to see who was behind him. "And just who are you?" he asked curiously.
"Hi! I'm Pinkamena!" the very young, very pink earth pony answered with a wide smile.
"Charmed. And the rest of you?" he asked, looking to the rest of the conga line of fillies that had formed behind him…formed without his knowledge or intent, for that matter.
"I'm Rainbow Dash!" a blue coated, prismatic-maned pegasus filly boasted proudly, her little wings carrying her into the air.
"My name is Rarity, Sir," a white unicorn answered with utmost politeness.
"Applejack's the name, ya'll!" the earth filly with a satin hat answered with a friendly smile.
"Um, Twilight Sparkle?" a purple unicorn in the rear answered uncertainly.
"Uh-huh," Discord acknowledged, his lower half floating up and twisting about so that he was simply floating now, causing the pink one to fall back with a giggle. He eyed the group oddly as they looked to him, as if expecting something. "And why exactly are all of you out here? Did your parents bring you to the woods to get lost?" he asked jokingly.
"Maybe?" Rainbow answered in confusion.
"I hope not," Applejack answered with a look of hard concentration.
Discord raised a brow at that, seeing uncertain looks on everypony's face. "What is that supposed to mean? How did you all get out here?" he asked in bewilderment.
"I don't know!" Pinkamena answered with over the top enthusiasm. "I just assumed everypony else knew why we were here! Then you started partying, so I thought we were here to celebrate!"
"Yeah, I don't really remember anything either," Twilight answered cautiously, looking around.
"Bummer. I'm sure I had a lot of awesome memories too!" Rainbow answered with a self-confident smile.
"Wait, you don't remember how you got here?" Discord repeated, getting an idea of where this was going as he groaned. "Oh no, we're doing this cliché?"
"What's a cliché?" Applejack asked curiously.
"Is it tasty?" Pinkamena added in hopefully.
"Sometimes," Discord answered with a resigned sigh. "Okay, show of hooves, who here can remember anything besides your names? Like your parents' names, hometown, I'll even take a zip code," Discord requested, suddenly wearing a brown delivery uniform.
This elicited six laughs, but none raised a limb as Twilight answered. "Not...really? I just remember a rainbow, and then...here?"
"Right. One second," Discord said, pointing toward a bush. He raised his finger, prompting a sixth filly to shoot out of the foliage with a squeal as she was brought into air by no power of her own, upside down no less. "And of course there are six of you. So, what's your name, Miss Shy?" he asked, ignoring how the other ponies were ogling his magic.
The filly just whimpered as she tried to hide behind her own pink mane, shivering like a leaf.
"Well, one of you is scared of me," Discord murmured with an eye roll as he levitated her down to the other ponies.
"Are you okay?" Rarity asked in concern. "You're not ill, are you?"
"N-no, I'm not sick. J-just s-scared," Shy answered softly.
"It's alright!" Pinkamena declared, making the skittish pegasus nearly jump out of her skin. "Nopony here wants to hurt you."
"Draconequus included," Discord offered half-heartedly.
"Draco-what?" Rainbow asked in confusion.
"Never mind, the name is Discord," he offered.
"Do you know why we are here, Mr. Discord?" Rarity asked politely.
Discord's eyebrow twitched. Why weren't these fillies just running away and screaming, like most ponies who got a good look at him? "I have no idea," he lied, having no intention of trying to explain to these fillies anything about his situation. "I, however, have no memory problem and teleported here. Now, why don't you all run along and find your way home."
"How?"
The question came to him from all six mouths. "Little mares, do I look like a pony that might know where you live?" Discord retorted dismissively, turning to leave. "Now if you'll excuse me, I am very busy."
"W-wait, sir, please don't leave us!" Rarity called urgently.
"W-who knows what kind of scary things are out here," Shy whimpered, shivering like a leaf.
"Oh come on, girls! It'll be like an adventure!" Pinkamena declared before looking sheepish. "But could you pretty please help us find some food, Mister Magic?"
"And water! Adult ponies can only go five days without water, and we're tiny fillies!" Twilight urged in alarm.
"I was going to say I could just fly and find help, buuuuut," Rainbow paused as she fell to the ground with shame, her wings giving out. "I'm really tired for some reason and my wings are sore. I must have flown really, really hard."
"Come on, Mister, it's not like we're trying to slow ya down or anything," Applejack called out.
Discord watched the pleading fillies with a scowl and crossed arms, tuning them out as he thought about this. Was he really going to leave a bunch of fillies to possibly die in the woods? Normally no, and he knew that this was partially his doing; they had to have been caught in his teleportation, somehow. Why their memories were gone, he had no idea. So he felt inclined to at least drop them off in a village.
The one donkey in the hole? He was positive these were Harmony's new champions. Twilight's cutie mark being Harmony's symbol for Magic was a dead giveaway, and there being six of them was no coincidence. Which meant in a decade or two, they'd probably be bonded to their elements and seeking to put him away. Again. Maybe sooner if Celestia had her way. Granted, that didn't make dead fillies a more appealing outcome to him.
Damn his very few morals!
But sending them back where they came wasn't really an option. Simply put, he had no idea where they came from and he had no idea where he was right now. He was definitely on the same world, but that was the extent of his awareness. And his on-world teleportation relied on knowing where or who he wanted to go. Knowing where he was exactly helped a lot. The only place he could teleport to at the moment would be back to Canterlot. And he was NOT dropping these six off together right on Celestia's doorstep, and making it obvious to her who the replacements for her and Luna were. It would already be obvious if six fillies suddenly showed up anywhere as a group after magically disappearing like they had.
He could just vanish; let the girls think they were all on their own while keeping an eye on them to make sure they got to safety. But they'd be scared, and he'd still have to deal with them if they didn't find help fast, and- what was appealing about this option?
"S-sir?"
He glanced back down at the soft colored pegasus, staring up at him with fearful yet kind eyes. He didn't answer her, beyond giving her an expectant look.
"Did...did we do something wrong?" she asked, looking ready to ball up and bawl out tears.
Discord's face contorted in confusion, wondering how she came to that conclusion. "Whatever gave you that idea?"
"You...you said our parents might have left us out here, to get lost?" Shy answered with a whimper as adorable, soul-crushing noises of sadness started to rumble through the group.
Discord could hear their little hearts cracking under the notion. Literally, he could actually hear them. "I was only joking about that!" he assured quickly. "I just wasn't expecting to find a bunch of fillies in the woods with me."
"B-but if you don't know-" the purple unicorn starts, eyes darting around in dread. "Then she might be right. Maybe...maybe we're just bad fillies."
"You mean," the pink earth pony breathed, her puffy mane actually deflating to Discord's amazement. "Nopony wants us?"
"That can't be right!" Applejack retorted fiercely. "And why the hay don't we remember anything?"
"Maybe we were so bad, they had someone take our memories away?" Rainbow said with a frown. "Magic can do that, right?"
Discord blinked as all eyes went to him. "Well, technically, but-" he started only to pause as a lot of sniffling and teary eyes were forming across all their faces.
"W-we were so bad, they wanted to make sure we could never go home," Rarity said, pulling a low-hanging leaf to use as a handkerchief.
"M-Mr. Discord?" Twilight spoke up with a crack in her voice. "D-do you know what we could have done? What did we do wrong?"
Discord felt a heart breaking, and it wasn't one of theirs. "Everypony stop!" Discord called out, grimacing as they all winced from the volume, looking up at him with those eyes.
Confused, lost eyes begging someone not to hate them; to understand that they didn't know what they did that was so wrong.
Discord came down to their level, standing more like a quadruped. He preferred two feet, but it helped sometimes- or at least didn't make things worse. They all stared up at him, curious and fascinated despite their own fears. "Girls, listen to me. You didn't do anything wrong. No one hates you. I promise," he promised as sincerely and softly as he could.
"But..." Shy stared up at him, uncurling from herself in an adorable fashion. "Why don't you want to help us?"
Discord had a thousand and ten excuses even their tiny minds could comprehend. He was busy, he had someone waiting on him, he was allergic to ponies, etc. "Little Fillyshy, nopony wants MY help," Discord said with a drawl, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"We do!" the six called out, as if it was that simple. And of course it was that simple to them. Things were never complicated for children at this age.
Discord let out a soft sigh. Really, was this Harmony's revenge? Play on his unwillingness to leave such young and innocent children to their inevitable deaths in the wild and thus forcing him to help and aid his future enemies, her future champions? He felt the bitterness swell in his heart, glaring off to the side, at nothing at all.
He hoped Harmony knew just how sick he was of her now.
"Fine, I'll help you," he stated without inflection or warmth, not really looking at them.
The cold act didn't prevent six- young, terrified, lost, lonely, nowhere to go, no one to trust- little ponies from leaping forward to wrap him in a grateful group hug.
Hugged by six fillies that would one day become his mortal enemies.
'And I'm the twisted one, Harmony?'
Author's Note
And there we go. Our journey begins with a reluctant Discord and a half-dozen memoryless fillies. And Discord, being very aware of the situation, knows that they are suppose to be the element bearers one day.
This will lead to interesting times ahead.
Breadcycling on a Squashed River
Discord prided himself in being able to make the most fun he could out of a situation, no matter how much he disliked it on principle. While in the statue, he had invented two hundred new games. Perhaps more? Had he forgotten some? Maybe. Either way, some were staring-based, like tracing the paths of birds to make a mosaic or some such artwork. Others were card games or board games that he just imagined in literally-insane detail.
And that was without magic.
Now that he had magic, well, he wasn't going to let something like fillysitting his future mortal enemies keep his good mood down for too long. Hence why he was riding a tricycle made of bread while wearing a red and white conductor outfit. Everywhere his breadcycle went, a river of pumpkin juice formed in its wake. Attached to the back of his ride was a rope, pulling along a line of six small purple boats. Each one had a filly riding inside it. Pinkie Pie and Twilight seemed to be in awe, for very different reasons while Rarity and Rainbow were simply confused by what was going on now yet trying to enjoy the ride none the less. Fluttershy was, unsurprisingly, scared of the swaying boat on the strange river, as was Applejack to a lesser extent.
"Umm, Mr. Discord?"
He turned his head around a full ninety degrees before allowing his body to spin around, smiling calmly at them with an elbow on one knee, his breadcycle peddling and steering itself. "Yes, O Marshmallowy one?" Discord asked to Rarity, third in line, while Pinkie Pie giggled from the front.
Rarity almost pouted at the nickname, but kept her politeness up. "I don't mean to sound rude, but we are heading deeper into the forest. Should we not be leaving?" she pointed out, glancing back to the edge of the forest as it got further away.
"Sometimes the quickest way out is further in," Discord answered mysteriously.
"But...no it's not!" Twilight refuted in confusion, sitting fourth in line. "The fastest way between two points without teleporting is a straight line."
"Are we teleporting? Do you have some super secret ancient teleporter hidden deeeeep within this forest that no outsider has been allowed to see for a bagillion years!?" Pinkie asked in excitement, leaning halfway out of her boat in excitement. Almost- no, scratch that, she did fall over. The fluffy bit of his tail came up, catching her and pushing the filly back into her boat. The pink earth pony giggled uncontrollably from the experience.
"Do you really?! Cause that would be sooo AWESOME!" Rainbow cheered in glee from behind Twilight.
Discord gave the two very approving looks. "The only ancient teleporter here is myself, girls," Discord answered smugly to their confusion. "However, I have absolutely no idea where exactly we are, so I need to find a cave or something for you all to stay in so I can check around for somebody that can help you find your families."
"Oh. I understand, thank you," Rarity answered in an impressive imitation of a noble lady's mannerism.
Was she a noblepony's daughter? The diamonds for cutie marks didn't really narrow that possibility down, but if she was, she would definitely be from Canterlot if so, but Discord would have been surprised if there wasn't at least one highborn pony in the group.
Actually, now that he thought about it, he was a bit surprised that they were all female, but ponies had always been leaning a bit more towards matriarchy than patriarchy. It need not be said that both paled to anarchy.
"Hey, um, Mister Magic? Not that I'm not grateful for everything, but can I get out of the boat and walk? I need ta stretch my legs," Applejack requested, absently patting at her hair out of habit.
"How about this?" Discord counter with a snap of his talons, Applejack's boat elongating from front to back, the other fillies looking on in surprise as they watch the boat expand.
"Not exactly what I was hoping for, but thanks," Applejack said, a bit awkward as she began to pace the boat and get the blood rushing through her hooves.
Didn't like sitting still, the accent? Definitely from a farm. An apple farm, by her name and cutie mark. Very unimaginative.
"Can I have a bigger boat too!?" Pinkie Pie asked hopefully.
"No," Discord shot down immediately.
"Hey, that's not fair!" Rainbow spoke up.
"Then it's a good thing I never said I was fair, eh little ponies?" Discord said smugly before raising a brow. "Rainbow, is that other pegasus still shivering in a ball behind you?"
"Well, she was kind of poking her head out until you said anything," Rainbow informed, sounding clearly annoyed. With Discord or Shy, the draconequus wasn't quite sure.
"She's not sick or anything, right?" Twilight asked in concern.
"No, I checked, she's just more yellow-belly than most yellow ponies are," Discord answered flatly.
"Haha, good one- oh, buck, I think she's crying now!" Rainbow said, reeling back in discomfort and concern.
"Come on, dear, I'm sure he didn't mean it!" Rarity called to the end of the line, giving Discord an imploring look.
Discord sighed as he heard the soft sobbing of the little feathered pony. He held out his hand, her little boat instantly appearing in his grasp. The rest of the fillies looked between where the sixth boat had been and where it now was. Especially Rainbow, who had been staring right at Shy when it happened.
He ignored them, looking down at the pink maned pegasus, who was meeting his gaze with uncertain eyes. Not exactly terrified, but still scared and wary. "Okay, what is it with you? You've been curled back up into a shivering mess ever since I put together this little boat ride."
She ducked her head, saying something into her mane.
"Speak up or I'm taking your mane off until you can talk properly," Discord warned, hearing more than one yelp as the others clutched their hairs. Mostly Rarity, looking like he just threatened to steal her soul.
Fluttershy took a moment to calm herself some, poking her head up to stare into his eyes. "I...I can't swim."
Discord blinked. There were a thousand things he probably should have said or done: the waters were only as deep as he wanted them to be, the entire stream was breathable, he wasn't going to let her fall off, give her some life preserver floaties, put a railing on her boat, make her walk or fly if it bothered her so much.
But then her green eyes kept looking to him with hope, like she wanted him to keep her safe. Ultimately, he rolled his eyes and created a basket on the front of his breadcycle, putting her boat in it. "Fine, you can just sit here for now."
"Sir, is this safe to drink? I'm getting thirsty." Twilight voiced curiously.
"Yeah, me too!" Rainbow spoke up.
"As the pirates would say: Drink up me fillies!" Discord encouraged with a grin.
Without further adieu, both fillies tipped over to get a mouthful- or several mouthfuls in Rainbow's case. "Hmm, pumpkin juice!" Twilight declared happily.
"That's what this is?" Rainbow asked, coming up for air. "Huh, I don't think I've ever had this stuff before. Not bad though."
Discord shook his head in amusement, noting Rarity looked very grossed by the idea of drinking in such an unrefined way. Applejack sat down, her boat shrinking again yet somehow not disrupting the others. Yet she didn't make any move to take a drink. He looked to Pinkie Pie expectantly. "Not a fan of pumpkin?" he asked curiously, surprised she hadn't already tried to jump in.
"Oh no, I am! I just, um, go to go pee. Not super badly or anything, but I realllly don't want to put any more drinks in me right now," Pinkie Pie answered with a slight awkward grin.
Discord shrugged in acknowledgment, making a mental note to stop soon if they didn't find a cave.
He flinched as the breadcycle's tires gave an overdramatic screech as it came to a sudden stop, the fillies all making noises of surprise as they nearly or even did fall over in their boats. He gave Pinkie a blank look. "You didn't pee your boat, right?" he asked, just to be safe. The earth pony merely shook her head. "Oh good. Now what is the big idea little miss show stopper?" Discord asked, turning around in his seat to see Shy had stretched out her hindlegs and forelegs to press the brakes on the handles of the breadcycle. Which was amusing and impressive, even if he wouldn't admit it.
"I-I'm really, s-sorry, but-" she stuttered out under his stare, pointing to the path before them.
Discord looked entirely unimpressed as he saw a family of bunnies hoping across the path.
"What's the hold up up there?!" Rainbow called impatiently.
"Did you get a flat?...Can breadtires get flats?" Twilight asked, confused and concerned.
"It's fine. Shy just didn't trust my breadcycle to not flatten some bunnydestrians," Discord called over his shoulder before giving the little pegasus a warning look. "This is going to be a running gag between us, isn't it?" he asked with his arms crossed.
Shy ducked her head under his gaze. shrinking into her boat basket.
Discord grumbled to himself. Children were always so weird for him. He didn't care if they were running in terror and screaming their lungs out- as long as it was him that was terrorizing them. Then he knew nothing would actually hurt them. But he couldn't stand when kids got like this, all vulnerable and hopeful and ready to burst into tears.
"Awww! They're so cute!" Pinkie Pie cooed, leaning out the side to get a good look at them.
Discord rolled his eyes, snapping his talons. They, river and all, were suddenly on the other side of the line of of bunnies. The fluffy creatures looked surprised by the happening, but cautiously went back to their own journey as the breadcycle continued to bread onwards.
"I had no idea magic could do all of this," Rarity remarked as she looked at the pumpkin juice river before frowning. "But I suppose I have no idea what I knew before."
"I don't think it's supposed to be able to do this, actually," Twilight commented, scratching her head thoughtfully with her hoof.
"I'm pretty sure magic can do this since, you know, magic IS doing this," Rainbow pointed out with a smug look.
Twilight rolled her eyes. "I know that, but I feel like something isn't adding up! I think...I was studying magic before all this. Cause my brain understands how he can do stuff like teleporting. Instant spatial transitioning via mana transmitting your existence from one place to another is a well known ability that all serious practitioners of magic strive to be able to do. But some of the other stuff Mister Discord does, like spontaneously generating a canal and filling it with a nutrient liquid, without a noticeable disturbance in the newly created river since it should be trying to fill the gap even as more pumpkin juice is created? It just feels like it should...fall apart, in theory," Twilight answered, blinking and blushing as she realized both Rarity and Rainbow was staring at her.
"Well, we found the egghead," Rainbow teased playfully.
"Don't listen to her. It's so coo- I mean amazing that you are so knowledgeable, Twilight," Rarity complimented gently.
"Thanks. Rarity, right? Sorry, I'm trying to keep track of names," Twilight said nervously.
"Perish the thought, dear," Rarity assured with a smile. "Still, how do you know that?"
"I don't know. It's just...there in my head when I tried to make sense of what he's doing," Twilight answered with a sheepish smile
"First rule, Sparkplug," Discord called out with a smirk. "What fun is there in making sense?"
"That's a question, not a rule," Twilight countered with a scrunched brow.
"And just like that, you already failed," Discord teased.
"I did? Oh no, I didn't know there was a test," Twilight said nervously, looking ready to chomp at her hooves.
Discord blinked at that. "Okay, not the reaction I was expecting," Discord remarked, glancing to Twilight's cutie mark again. Then again, she was the Element of Magic. He knew Celestia hadn't had an apprentice since that shimmering incident, but he had no doubt she'd end up under Celestia's figurative and literal wing if the solar Alicorn found her.
Though, her personality was surprisingly insecure and impressionable. Wasn't Magic suppose to be the one that led and kept the other five together? The "Spark of Friendship" as it we- Oh good Chaos, that was why her name was Sparkle!
He wiped his talon over his face, peeling it off before polishing his faceless skull with his lion paw and rubbing his face back on.
"Umm, you alright?" Applejack asked, all of them giving him odd looks for the display.
"Nothing, nothing, just...once more, the universe disappoints me in the most spectacularly unimaginative ways," Discord lamented, tilting his head as his vehicle started to slow. "Ahh, we've arrived!"
The group of ponies found themselves suddenly teleported out of their boats, standing in front of Discord. Before all of them was a cave, the dark entrance rather ominous to many of the young fillies.
"Mister Discord, are you sure nothing is living in there?" Applejack asked as Rarity swallowed nervously.
"No. Let's find out!" Discord declared, clapping his hands together! "Consputo Eos De!"
The fillies startled, their jaws gaping as the cave's mouth moved. As in, "mouth" like it was an actual mouth, the edges of the hole moving like lips before sticking out a giant and literal tongue as it blew a raspberry. From which it spat out mice, a colony of bats, three timberwolves and a particularly alarmed Manticore.
"There, all cleared out and waiting for new residents!" Discord said with a smug grin as he waltzed forth.
"That was weirdly awesome. Or awesomely weird, I can't decide," Rainbow commented.
"Why not both?" Pinkie Pie asked, giggling as Discord snapped a sombrero into existence on her head, to her joy.
"Here we are girls, a top of the line abode for Fillies to wait in while waiting to be sent home," Discord said as they looked into it.
Or tried to.
"It's a bit dark," Applejack commented, more wary than fearful. Unlike Fluttershy who was hiding behind Discord's leg.
"Is it? I wouldn't know. Dark and Light aren't concepts I give much heed to," Discord mused mysteriously.
"So you have a night vision spell on your eyes?" Twilight guessed curiously.
"That isn't what I was implying," Discord stated with an unapproving look. "But, also, yes."
With that, he gave two small claps of his hands. Stones appeared along the ceiling, glowing to bath the cave in a soft light of many colors that banished all the darkness.
Harmony could buck it, she did NOT have a trademark on prismatic crystals.
"Neat!" Rainbow stated, rolling her wings before flying into the cave.
"Ohhhhh!" The other fillies all said, staring at the lights in wide eyed wonder.
"Well, it's certainly spacious," Rarity remarked as they entered it, seeing the back end was fairly far way.
"If no one minds, I'm going to go rest on that that rock perch. It looks smooth enough," Twilight stated, failing to suppress a yawn. "Ahh! I think Rainbow wasn't the only one exerting themselves today."
Discord watched her go. Now that he paid more attention to her, he realized he had made a small error earlier. He had assumed Twilight was of average mana-capacity for her age, based on what he sensed in her. Taking another feel, he saw that her maximum reserves were actually massive. The average unicorn's amount of mana was what she had left. And she was exhausted. Well, he gave Harmony this, she certainly picked a fitting mare for the position, a potential second Starswirl the Bearded even.
Twilight did raise a good question though. Was she doing magic before the memory loss or was the magic drain a result of the accidental teleport?
Ultimately, he didn't bother to dwell on it as he idly watched the fillies investigate the cave. Less than an hour of these six and he already had plenty of conclusions about them. First off was that Rainbow and Pinkie were extroverts that would chat up strangers, Fluttershy and Twilight were introverts that weren't sure how to interact with others, and Applejack and Rarity were ambiverts that fell down the middle. Half of the girls fell into a "tomboy-ish" field while the other half was a bit on the prim-proper-polite category. Two for each race, all with wildly different interests and priorities, just on the surface at that.
Everything in balance, as all things should be.
Harmony, as always, was taking that concept way, way too seriously and far too over the top for his tastes.
Discord shook his head of that, turning back to the entrance and snapping his talons to make a lot of police tape appear, except it was blue with his name written all over it in harsh orange. "Okay, girls? I'm going out to figure out where we are- and before any of you start wailing, that tape is magic. Nothing can get in through that way. So stay here, stay put, and I'll be back in a few hours with news and/or lunch. Any questions?"
"Who's in charge while you're gone?" Applejack asked curiously.
"Everypony is in charge," Discord answered with a grin.
"So...nobody is?" Rarity summarized, getting only a chuckle from him for her efforts.
"Well, I'll see you all in a jiffy," Discord said, as he turned and lifted his talons-
"Goodbye!"
Everyone turned to see a very nervous, blushing Shy.
"Um, be careful, and come back safe," she finished with a small smile.
Discord stared at her again. "Thank you, Shy," he accepted without a smile or a frown, too curious at the outburst.
"I-it's Fluttershy, actually," she corrected softly.
Discord smiled dryly at that. "Of course it is," he murmured before snapping his talons and vanishing in a flash of light.
Author's Note
Hello, everyone! I'm glad you enjoyed this story so much. Now much to say here: Discord is trying and failing to NOT care while the girls got to ride the squashed river while getting to know one another.
Also, Discord's thoughts near the end are something I realized at the time of writing this there is a lot of balance between the Mane Six as a group, more than you imagine at first.
And next chapter, you'll get to learn about where they all are now.
