After a nice yet interesting swim at the lake, everyone returned to land and returned to their original forms with the help of the hippogriffs. That experience was something they never felt once in their lifetime. Everything was going fine for now. Princesses Amber and Fiona took their towels and dried themselves.

“That was fun,” Amber said. “What a weird and amazing experience.”

“I agree,” Foina affirmed. “So… what now?”

Princess Skystar was about to respond but didn’t know exactly what to reply. She leaned towards her cousin, Silverstream, to whisper to her. “What should we do now?” the princess asked. “Are there any other activities we can do?”

“How about we play their home sport?” Silverstream quietly suggested. “It’s a nice way to appreciate their culture.”

“Like what?”

“Let me ask them,” Silverstream spoke up for her cousin and looked towards the Diamond Dogs. “Amber, Fiona, what games do you have back in Caninia?”

“We have Pawball,” Amber answered, “My mother is signing me up for a team and I’ve learned a couple of skills before arriving here.”

“You’ve got Pawball in your home too?” Molly asked. This was confusing to some of the creatures, who looked towards the visiting adults.

“Uhh… The Caninians and Abyssinians have a bit of a complicated history,” Moonbeam noted.

“Is it that important right now?”

“Not exactly. How about we explain it another time?”

“Yeah, we’re not in the mood for history,” Gallus admitted, “Just explain how your game works.”

“Gladly,” Amber proclaimed. “We need an open field and two goals.”

They headed back to the academy, where the visitors changed their swim gear into regular clothing, even though that was quite limited.

With some help from their professors, the students set up a small playing field for Pawball. “I wish Pinkie Pie was here,” Applejack muttered, “She has been told what this game is.”

“Actually… it’s kinda a familiar feeling to soccer,” Rainbow Dash commented. She and the farm pony looked at the goals on each end of the field, practically the same as a soccer goal. “Maybe it’s the same thing, but they just call it differently where they’re from.” They just shrugged this confusing fact off as they had the girls starting to prepare their teams, having it as home vs guests.

“So, we play the same way as yours,” Molly asked, “or should we play generally?”

“I’m pretty sure generally,” Amber guessed.

“This doesn’t seem too difficult for us to learn,” Geena commented. “So you ready to play?”

“Ye okay if you like,” Boyle said. “I’ll see if I can get a new hand.” He left with Gadget, who was waving goodbye to Gallus.

“We’ll be back soon,” she proclaimed. “This should be easy, I have a couple of spares lying around just in case.”

Gallus waved back to his mom, hoping she’d return soon. “Okay, enough stalling, let’s have some fun.”

“Agreed!” Amber proclaimed. Once the ball was placed between them, she punted it away towards the home’s goal.

However, Garry thought fast, kicking the ball away, and passing it to Berry Bliss. Molly attempted to tackle him to bring back the ball, but the orange griffon kicked it over to Yona. It looked like the home team would have the first goal if it wasn’t for Amber running in and swiping the ball from the yak. The Diamond Dog maneuvered around the opposing team and managed to kick the ball into their goal. Amber pumped her in victory as the home creatures felt like they were going to have to take this seriously. The next time the ball was kicked, Geena didn’t hesitate to kick it straight to the opposing goal.

Squabble was already there as the goalie. With a quick headbutt, he launched the ball back the way it came. Some students swore the ball created flames like it was entering reentry speeds. While the speed was impressive, Squabble accuracy was off and the ball went sailing over the goal and into the nearby trees.

“Damn it, Squabble,” Mullet muttered.

“We’ll get it,” Skystar proclaimed. She, Silverstream, and Smolder went into the trees to see where it went. As they searched, Smolder quickly noticed one of those trees had two yellow and red eyes.

“You gotta be kiddin’!” Smolder muttered quietly. “We told you to beat it!” She looked to see that Princess Skystar had not noticed, but she saw that Moonbeam had joined in with the search for the missing ball, sniffing the ground for its scent. Worried about them finding this unusual tree, she quickly breathed out fire on it. Instead of burning down, the tree shot off like a rocket with a painful yelp being heard before it flew so high it had a shine in the sky. Everyone who didn’t see it happen came over to Smolder, confused.

“What in the world was that noise?” Skystar asked.

“Um… I saw a spider,” Smolder fibbed. “I… have arachnophobia.”

“Hold on… wasn’t there a tree a minute ago?” Moonbeam asked. “I could’ve sworn there is one here on this exact spot you’re standing on.” Smolder couldn’t think of an answer, which she wouldn’t have to as the ball landed right in front of her from the sky.

“There it is,” Silverstream commented. She grabbed the ball and whispered something to her dragon friend before they tried returning to their game.

However, when they returned to the playing field, the other guests had something to say. “Did anyone else see that?”

“Which one?”

“A tree flying off with a scream?” Max asked.

“What, you don’t have those in your home?” Dash lyingly asked. Applejack just looked at her from how dumb that sounded.

“No, we don’t,” Chummer noted. “That’s a normal thing, right?”

“Um, hey, Chummer, why don’t we go to the boutique to check on Shadow,” Capper suggested.

“Sure, I have been curious to see more of Rarity too.” He looked around until he found Molly getting ready for the next play on the field. “Hey, Molly, we’re going to check on Shadow downtown. You stay there and be good until we get back.”

“Yes, dad,” Molly replied. After exchanging this knowledge, Capper and Chummer left towards the boutique, still a bit puzzled about that tree going flying in the air.

They made it to the boutique, they saw that Rarity was working on Princess Ocypete’s brand-new dress. Even though it looked like it was half-finished, the dress was looking better than the former she had back in New Ornithia. Rarity’s attention was soon drawn to her store bell ringing.

“Oh, Capper,” the mare exclaimed, “Glad you make it over. How are the visitors doing?”

“Better than I thought it would,” Capper admitted. “Where’s Shadow?”

“She’s upstairs looking at some sketches with Fluttershy. Pinkie Pie meanwhile took her students to Sugarcube Corner to get desserts prepared for the banquet tonight.”

“Great, we’re just here to check on her.” He walked past the mare and avians upstairs with Chummer following him.

Upstairs, Shadow was sitting down as she and her husband glanced at some sketches that Indiana and Jennino were making of their clothing. “Any particular color you two would like?” Jennino asked.

“Green and purple are our usual colors,” Andy Fluffington replied.

“Well, you guys do look exquisite,” Indiana commented. “How are you feeling, Mrs. Fluffington?”

“I’m feeling fine,” Shadow commented. “I’ve gotten past the morning sickness.”

“It’s still an amazing thing that you’re doing,” Fluttershy commented. “Are you nervous?”

“…A little. I only want to help give anyone a better life.”

“Aw, that’s so sweet,” Jennino cooed. They heard a knock on the door.

“Occupied?” asked a familiar voice.

“Capper, is that you?” Shadow asked.

“It’s me.”

“Come in.” The door opened up allowing Capper and Chummer to walk inside, happy to see their old friend. “Boys, how are the others doing?”

“So far so good,” Chummer answered. “We had a… unique experience swimming at the lake thanks to the hippogriffs.”

“Nice! Did you use the pearl shard?” Fluttershy asked.

“Yep, and we’ll be sure to bring you guys one if you want to be a sea lion.”

“I’ll wait a couple of months,” Shadow admitted. “I don’t know how magic would affect my kitten.”

“I don’t blame you there,” Chummer commented. “It did feel weird changing between two forms.”

“The changelings would be used to something like that,” Jennino commented. “Don’t you find those creatures troublesome?”

“Way before, we do. Ever since the reform not so long ago, many now see them in a very positive light, even for the ponies of Canterlot. Although, there’s one case I can recall,” Fluttershy proclaimed. “Some students tried to buy a book too mature for… Them.” Fluttershy paused as she saw Jennino looking out the window. “What are you doing?”

“I smell something burning,” Jennino explained. Her ears twitched as she then looked up and then gasped. “What is that?”

Fluttershy came to look at what she saw. In the air, a smoky object was flying toward the boutique. “Take cover!” Everyone in the room was in for a shock as they dodged the object crashing into the room, knocking over several bits of furniture.

“What in the hell!?” Indiana gasped. They went close, and the creature stood up and recovered, making the guests jump in fright. The reaction he had was a mixture of confusion and frustration from Fluttershy’s side. The thing was some Frankenstein-esque creature with a deer leg, lion’s paw, snake tail, and various other parts. He groaned as he stood up and looked at the creatures.

“Hello there, friendly felines,” he said casually.

Capper looked to Fluttershy, who was just disappointed as everyone else was confused beyond belief. “What the…?” Chummer questioned.

“This… Is Discord,” Fluttershy explained, with a deadpanned tone. She flew up to the draconequus, who quickly held his claws up.

“I can explain,” he proclaimed.

“Discord, we told you, multiple times, not to get involved with them.”

“Well, I was only just watching until Smolder decided to burn my butt.” He showed the smoky bits on his tail end.

“You were spying on them. Did you interact with any of them?”

“I didn’t get close to any of the kids.” Discord crossed his arms as Fluttershy simply raised an eyebrow, making him spill the beans. “Okay, I spoke with Zecora and her old friends. They were interested in O&O, Zecora’s the one who shooed me out of her hut!”

“You still were told to stay away from the visitors.”

“Couldn’t he just watch on the sidelines and act normal?” Indiana asked.

“No, that will kill me… literary,” Discord proclaimed, “I’m the Lord of Chaos for a reason! It’d be like a fish drying itself off. Seriously, I will fade out of existence if I don’t act chaotic.”

“Is that true?” Shadow asked, whispering to Fluttershy. The mare simply nodded as she remembered that near miss.

“I mean… if you’ve got a medical condition, you have to do something,” Indiana noted, “You should do what’s recommended for survival.”

“Exactly,” Discord confirmed. “It’s what I do.”

“You only need to have more control of it,” Fluttershy said.

“You’re basically asking Pinkie Pie to be subtle.”

“…Good point,” Indiana added.

“Listen, Flutters,” Capper spoke, “I’m sure that you can find some way to get him and the kids involved. I mean, those six love those O&O sessions.”

“Oh, yes,” Discord proclaimed, “Perhaps it’s something I could introduce to them.” Suddenly, he got smacked from behind. He found that Rarity had walked in with a broom, which is what she used to hit him.

“Do we have a children’s book to help explain what YOU should do?” Rarity questioned, smacking the draconequus with the broom again.

“Come on, Rare,” Capper said, “They’ve already seen him and we’ve been told about his medical condition.”

“Plus… I do want to see what he can do,” Jennino added.

“Ask and you shall receive,” Discord proclaimed. With a snap of his fingers, Rarity’s broom flipped out of her grip and started walking on its bristles before chasing the mare downstairs. They both passed Celaeno and Ocypete, who were coming upstairs. Confused, they went to ask questions of the creatures upstairs.

“Say, we’re the only ones who saw a sentient broom run past…. Shiver me timbers!” Celaeno quickly drew her sword at the sight of Discord.

“Should I begin making business cards?” Discord questioned. “I’m getting tired of explaining.”

Rarity soon came back into the room, tossing an ax she had carried with her to the side. “Fluttershy, you owe me a new broom,” she muttered. “And I’m only asking you because I don’t trust HIM!”

“To be fair, you did smack him first,” Chummer proclaimed.

“Yeah, listen to the one-eyed cop, he knows about things I don’t care about,” Discord proclaimed. “You get your flank toasted and tell me you’d be in a good mood.” He flicked Rarity’s horn, making the mare angry.

Fluttershy and Capper helped to keep the two apart so a fight wouldn’t break out. “Listen, how about we talk about what we can do for the youngsters instead?” Capper suggested.

Discord thought about it for a little bit before he saw Fluttershy giving him a look. “Don’t get carried away,” she noted.

“Okay, but only because you asked nicely. I’ll meet you all at the school!” Discord tapped on a rug on the floor, which brought up an elevator to which he stepped in. The second the elevator went down, the rug returned to normal, even with Celaeno checking underneath it to see if the floor had returned to normal.

“You get used to this after a while,” Rarity noted.

Back at the school, Gadget and Boyle were returning now that the pirate now had a new robotic hand where his hook was. “So anything I should know about before the crew and I leave?” Boyle asked.

“Be sure to keep a spare power gem nearby,” Gadget advised. “Without it, you might as well go back to the hook.”

“Aye.” They both looked to see the students still outside of the school, looking fairly bored. Pinkie had returned and was trying to think of fun activities to try. However, it didn’t seem like they were having much luck.

Gallus flew over to his mother looking a little desperate. “Hey mom, you’ve got any fun ideas?” he asked.

“Not too sure,” Gadget admitted, “Isn’t Pinkie the one who’s an expert on that?”

“She’s kind of limited with options chosen by Princess Twilight.” The griffons looked to see the pink pony looking at her limited list.

“Did she learn nothing from the school’s first year?” Pinkie questioned.

“We could use a spell so they could see Cloudsdale,” Rainbow Dash suggested.

“Not after last time,” Yona proclaimed.

“That was because of someone tampering with magic.”

“What kind of tampering?” Amber asked.

“Long story,” Pinkie explained.

Boyle and the griffons could tell things were getting bad fast. “Boyle, nice arm,” Celaeno called. They looked to see the creatures from Rarity’s Boutique returning, some looking more delightful than others.

Many creatures were amazed by Princess Ocypete’s new dress that Rarity had designed. “Your majesty,” Mullet gasped, “You look… Splendid.”

“Thank you,” Ocypete commented, giving a bow. “Thank you again for this Rarity.”

“It’s my pleasure,” the generous mare replied. “It was one of the things I could control.”

“What do you mean by that?” Mullet asked.

Rarity glanced at Fluttershy who knew she was going to have to tell the visitors about someone. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie had a feeling they knew who it was.

“Didn’t Twilight tell us not to tell them about him?” Rainbow Dash questioned.

“He said that Smolder burned his tail,” Fluttershy said.

“That happened?” Pinkie asked.

“It’s true. I might not take damage when I want, but I still feel the pain,” came a voice. Everyone looked around to figure out who said that.

“Who’s there?” Fiona asked.

“The most irritating creature in all of Equestria,” Applejack proclaimed.

“I find that offensive,” called the voice, “It’s obvious Zepher Breeze.”

“Discord!” Fluttershy groaned. Suddenly, the entire era went dark with the only light source looking to be a spotlight coming from the sun. The ponies looked towards where the light was pointing as everyone else was just confused.

“Ladies and gentlemen!” called the voice, “Forget your boredom and embrace the chaos!” A large cloud of smoke irrupted, covering practically everything. When things cleared up, a stage appeared out of nowhere. The stage fireworks go off with lit-up letters spelling out “DISCORD.” Fluttershy and Rarity glanced at each other, worried about what would happen while the other three mares could see where this was going.

“Hello, all creatures,” called a voice, “I’d like to welcome you all to Equestria and meet the creature who’s the most creative, funniest, and most importantly… CHAOTIC!” Discord laughed as he suddenly appeared on the stage.

The visiting creatures were shocked by the sight of the draconequus. “What the Taurus is that thing?” Mullet questioned.

“This… Is Discord,” Rainbow Dash explained.

“Spirit of chaos, at your service,” the draconequus said. He suddenly appeared between the Pegasus and the pirate, startling the latter a little bit.

“Is he usually like this?” Skystar asked.

“All the time,” Gallus informed.

“He’s not that bad when you get to know him,” Silverstream said, “He’s good at hosting Ogres and Oubliette sessions.”

“Oh, thank you, Silverstream,” Discord said, “It’s about time someone other than Fluttershy supported me…”

“Oh hey, he’s back,” called a voice. Everyone looked to see Applebloom and the creatures from Zebrat walking up to the group.

Zecora didn’t seem happy to see the draconequus again. “I thought you were supposed to stay away,” she muttered, “Don’t make me get the princess so that you can pay.”

“Oh, Zecora, I have a medical exception to this,” Discord proclaimed, “Besides, I’m not bringing my A material here today.”

“What material do you have?” Pinkie asked.

“Oh, I’m glad someone wants to give me a chance. I just need you and one of the visitors.”

“This trick is going to be safe, right?” Amber asked.

“Sure, it will.” He pulled out a mirror, like one you’d find in a fun house. When he placed it in front of Amber, she didn’t see anything too different about it. The princess wasn’t too impressed until Pinkie walked in front of it.

Instead of seeing a pink pony looking back in her reflection, there looked to be a pink corgi looking back. “Whoa! Is that me?” Pinkie questioned.

“Indeed, it is my pink pooch,” Discord noted. “I heard about your new friends visiting so I thought I’d do some work based on those gems the kingdom leaders had.”

“What gems?” Smolder questioned.

“One’s a story for another day. Right now, I’ve got a lot of mirrors to share.” He quickly started launching out mirrors like he was passing out a deck of cards. When the mirrors hid the ground, they changed into a position similar to the dog-themed mirror.

Peridot the dragon and Grace the griffon looked at one of the mirrors they were close to see what they would look like. To their surprise, this mirror showed them both what they looked like as yaks. “Whoa! Dotta check this out!” Grace called. The student who was an actual yak walked up to see what her friends were looking at.

“Ooh, friends look like yak,” she commented. Capper and Rarity were both curious about this and looked at one mirror that showed them as hippogriffs.

“Oh my,” Rarity gasped, “Capper, look at us.”

“I’ll say,” Capper agreed. He looked over to where Chummer and Shadow were, mostly confused about what Discord was. “Oi, check this out!”

Chummer and Shadow walked over to where their old friend was standing and were surprised at how they looked at hippogriffs. Chummer was puzzled while they were standing bipedally, their hippogriff reflections were quadruped. “How on earth does he make this work?” he questioned.

“The trick is to take logic out of the equation,” Rarity noted.

“He is real good with his designs,” Shadow commented, looking at her hippogriff form.

At another mirror, Captain Celaeno was looking at a griffon-themed mirror along with Silverstream and Skystar. “Heh, I’ve always wanted to know what I look like as a griffon,” Silverstream said.

“It’s kind of odd we don’t have our manes like this,” Skystar admitted.

“Aye, it’s surreal,” Celaeno agreed. Everyone seemed to be having fun looking at the various mirrors. Eventually, Crystal and Dust Devil walked over to Discord, who admired his handiwork.

“Excuse us,” Dust Devil said, “Did you say that you played Ogres & Oublettes?”

“Wise yes,” Discord confirmed. He snapped his fingers and quickly had a green tunic on, along with a long blonde wig, a quiver on his back, and a bow in his claw. The two creatures were amazed by his style as Captain Wuzz. “What do you think?”

The two friends glanced at each other as they were getting an excited idea. “Can you do the same for us?” they asked.

“Oh, I thought you’d never ask.” Discord dashed away towards Twilight’s castle with Gallus flying up to the camel and zebra with curiosity. “So, you’re into O&O too?” he asked.

“We used to play it all the time when we were young,” Crystal noted. “It’ll be so fun to play this game with Zecora like the old days. Wish Marini could be here.”

“I’m sure we can help bring some fun to the table for us.”

“You used to play that too?” Dust Devil asked.

“You could say that.” The sound of trumpets could be heard, grabbing everyone’s attention to the castle. The doors swung open leading a red carpet to roll out.

Gallus signaled for the Young Six to follow him into the castle and lead the others inside. Glynn and Gadget were a little unsure about what was happening.

“Gallus, are you sure about that?” Glynn questioned.

“Dad, relax, we’ve done this before,” Gallus proclaimed while he flew into the castle backward. Fluttershy peaked inside to see if the students were okay, before coming out a few moments later.

“Zecora, you and your friends are going to enjoy this,” she proclaimed. Fluttershy looked calm as Zecora and her old friends from Zebrat walked inside the castle to see it was now a fantasy land right out of Ogre and Oubliettes. Zecora and her friends were amazed as was everybody else.

“This looks just like the books we’ve read,” Cactus Rose commented.

“This is incredible!” Dust Devil gasped.

“Oh, thank you,” Discord said, “I’m used to hearing that. Now, do you want to see your competition?” He pointed over to the Young Six, who had gotten dressed up as their O&O classes.

“Ready for an adventure?” Gallus asked, preparing his bow.

Zecora smiled as she walked forward through some sort of forcefield that gave her a cloak with a saddle bag filled with various potions. She looked back at her friends, who had clothing staffs, and weapons just like the ones in the classes they played.

“This experience is quite surreal is more than I can say,” Zecora admitted, “But I don’t see how we resist not to play. Discord might have a patchy record, yet he still knows how to have fun, so whatever kind of challenge that you’ve got, bring it on!” Zecora pulled out a potion she recognized and threw it to the Young Six.

Gallus quickly fired his arrow, piercing the bottle, and making it explode due to its contents. Dust Devil suddenly ran in and swiped some of the griffon's arrows, making Silverstream fly into action. “So, how’s a thief V thief?” the hippogriff asked.

“You think that you can keep up with my speed?” Dust Devil asked.

“I don’t know, what’s in this bag?” Dust Devil once they saw Silverstream had snatched their bag away along with Gallus’s arrows before flying away.

Discord started making some bleachers for the rest of the creatures to sit back and watch. Some were a little perplexed with how the game worked. “So, what’s with all of the different outfits and tools they have?” Indiana questioned.

“Those are different classes in O&O,” Kelpie explained. “There are mages, swordsmen, brawlers, and a lot more I can’t keep track of.” A book about Ogres and Oubliettes appeared right in front of the young hippogriff thanks to Discord.

The audience chatted about the game either how they played or what O&O was. Things were going well until Smolder caught one of the explosive potions that Zecora threw and tossed it out the window. “...Oops,” the dragoness muttered.

“Discord could you stop that bottle?” Fluttershy asked.

“I’m on it,” the draconequus responded. He quickly teleported away to catch the bottle before it hit anything.

Back in Canterlot, Twilight was finishing the meeting with the kingdoms’ various leaders. “I believe we’ve got also everything set,” Twilight proclaimed.

“I am glad, but I’m still not sure about having connections with Abyssinia,” Queen Katherina noted.

“I know there will be some controversy, but if it’s introduced slowly, it should work.”

Queen Gilda was about to speak up when she saw something out the window. “Pardon me, …what’s that red thing flying towards us?” she asked concerned.

Everyone looked out the window to see the explosive potion flying towards them. A panic was about to start until a baseball glove suddenly got the bottle before it could crash through the window. This was confusing until a familiar chaotic face pulled up.

“Don’t mind me,” Discord said, “Just had some fun that got carried away. Continue with your boring leader stuff.” And just as soon as he appeared, his vanished with a snap of his fingers.

“...Novo, who was that?” King Thamus questioned.

“You think I know?” the hippogriff queen replied.

“That… is Discord,” Thorax commented.

“Who?” Marini asked.

“He’s the spirit of chaos,” Spike explained, “But… he’s not supposed to be here.” He looked towards Twilight, who had an eye twitch from her anger.

“...I’ll be right back,” she proclaimed. She quickly teleported away, making Spike feel a little worried.

“I better go after her.” He quickly flew to the exit of the castle as the other creatures were wondering if they should follow to Ponyville too.

Author's Note

Sorry this one took so long everyone, but life tends to get in the way of things.