The Apparition continued to laugh, as everyone stared, not knowing what to do. Only Cozy recognized this entity. She trembled but finally spoke.

“G…g…guys…I’ve seen that thing before,” she said. “That’s the thing that released me, Tirek and Chrysalis!”

“What?!” That thing broke the spell on the stone?” asked Starlight.

“I think so. As soon as we came out, I saw it right above me and then it disappeared.”

“Well, how do we stop it now?” asked Lily.

“Leave that to me,” Discord said, stepping forward and cracking his knuckles. “Stand back everyone. This guy’s hist-”

Unfortunately, before the Lord of Chaos could cast a single spell, he was instantly enveloped by the black smoke. He flailed his arms around and tried fighting the smoke and snapping his fingers, but somehow his magic was cancelled out.

“Whoa! AAAGH!! MY MAGIC ISN’T WORKING!” Discord yelped as his head disappeared in the pitch-black mist.

“DISCORD!” shouted all the kids.

“Discord, hang on!” Starlight said, getting ready to cast a spell.

The dragons jumped in to help Starlight, but the Apparition stretched out several misty tendrils at the dragons. The tendrils transformed into smaller clouds of black smoke surrounded by orange electricity and pinned them against the walls of the clubhouse. They were all paralyzed and barely able to talk or move their eyes. Aster and Lily couldn’t even cast spells with their antlers.

“SPIKE!” shouted Flurry.

“Butter, are you okay?!” asked Pumpkin.

“CAN’T…MOVE!” Buttercream said through her teeth.

The kids all stood in shock, unable to do anything but tremble. Chip and Annie held each other close while Pound and Flurry kept low to the ground, not risking taking flight at the moment. Stormy, however, had his own plans.

“Don’t worry, I’ll stop him!” he said, flying forward.

“STORMY, NO!” everyone shouted.

Stormy tried doing a flying kick to the smoke, but only flew right into it. He was quickly thrown out and bounced off of the couch in front of the television.

“Stormy! Why do you always gotta rush into things like that, buddy?” Pumpkin scolded the eager little colt.

“Sorry,” Stormy said, shaking the pain off.

“Oooooh! This is not good!” Flurry said, frantically.

“Guys, what’s going on?” Cozy asked. “I thought you said he’d leave us alone after that fight we just had in the astral plane!”

“He said he would,” answered Pound. “I guess he just meant the last fight with us.”

“How do we even stop him now?” asked Annie.

“Flurry, any ideas?” asked Chip.

“I don’t know how we can,” Flurry replied. “We’re not able to make things just materialize out of thin air or use fantastical powers…unless… Hold on, let me try something.”

Flurry tried zapping the smoke with an experimental magic spell, but it had no effect.

“Yeah…just as I thought.”

“Well this is just great,” Chip said with his hoof over his face. “And here we thought that was the last we’d seen of this thing.”

“What’s he even got against Discord?” asked Cozy.

“I don’t know. I just hope he’s alright in there,” Flurry replied.

As the kids conversed, things looked very different inside the cloud of smoke. Discord had his arms over his head, as his powers proved useless. He was transported into a large empty space. Dark clouds slowly circled around him, but there was enough light in the center for him to see. Finally a dark figure appeared from beyond the smoke and started walking towards him. It was shaped like a tall ram with massive curly horns. As the ram walked into the light, Discord got a better look at him. His coat was blue and his mane, eyebrows and tail were white. He had dark blue horns and hooves and wore a red collar around his neck with golden bells hanging around it. His eyes were yellow with red pupils and he had fangs protruding from his lower jaw. He entered with a neutral look on his face, but once he was close enough, he gave a wicked grin. Discord knew this look very well. Not only was it was the same one he used almost nine years ago to fool Cozy, Tirek and Chrysalis; it was the look of an old friend of his that he hadn’t seen since the time of Equestria’s founding.

“Do you remember me, old friend?” asked the ram in a gruff, elderly voice.

“Impossible.” Discord replied, faintly.

“Does this look bare resemblance to the disguise you used? You got my look right, but you left out so much of my backstory. Then again, perhaps that is best.”

“There’s now way you can be here. They told me you died in Tartarus!”

“Did they? Look at me now, Accord. I have never been more alive!”

“I go by a different name now.”

Discord gave the ram a stern look as the ram paced around him.

“Ah, yes, you call yourself Discord now. ‘Discord the Lord of Chaos’, but are you really when you’ve joined these ponies, Senator?”

“Please…I don’t want to be reminded of that.”

“If that is the case, then why do you still look like this?!”

The ram raised his voice in a mocking tone and picked up one of Discord’s wings with his magic. Discord pulled it back in.

“This is merely a change of style. The alicorn body wasn’t enough for me.”

“HA! You’ve really lost your mind, Accord. You consider yourself a hero, yet you dabble in chaos magic and want to forget about your past deeds under Solmidas’s rule. And to think these powers were meant to out-do Starswirl.”

“This had nothing to do with Starswirl. Look, I’ll admit I’ve made some mistakes. When I learned chaos magic, I had bad intents, but I’ve washed my hands clean of that. Equestria needs me and I’ve come to see the importance of friendship now.”

The ram shrugged his shoulders and walked away from his old friend.

“All right then. Have it your way. Honestly, I prefer the old Discord back when he first took over Equestria. When he wasn’t afraid to stand up to those spoiled princesses. Follow in the hoof-steps of his old friend. Your powers are impressive, yet you refuse to use them at their full potential. You remember how you learned them, don’t you?”

The ram turned his head to an opening in the smoke. A stone wall appeared with a carving of a chimeric, serpentine creature that resembled him, only its look was symmetrical. It had two massive deer antlers on its horse-like head and a long flowing mane that flared out like a cobra hood. It had a wide smile stretching underneath its eyes and a mouth full of razor sharp teeth. Both of its arms were reptilian in appearance and it had huge bat wings and legs with cloven hooves. The center of its body appeared to be made out of a shark’s body with a tiger’s tale and a rattlesnake’s rattle at the tip. It was drawn in a very rectilinear style like ancient hieroglyphs depicting pagan gods. Most didn’t know what this creature even was, but Discord knew it very well.

“No…it can’t be!” Discord said, horrified.

“That’s right. Your old friend, Eris. I think she’d be disappointed to see much you’re holding yourself back. Perhaps we should call her forth?”

“What?! You’re crazy! She’s not even real!”

“Oh she’s real. You’ve made her real. You know how the prophecy works.”

“It’s all just malarkey! I’ve been using these powers long enough!”

“Maybe you’re right. Then perhaps we should initiate her coming right now.”

“No!”

“Oh yes!”

“I MEAN IT, GROGAR! STOP!”

Outside of the cloud of smoke, the kids watched, still wondering what to do. No one could hear what was going on with Discord and his mysterious visitor. They heard some mumbles, but the voices were muffled out by the smoke.

“Maybe we should get Twilight,” said Pound.

“If Discord can’t fight this monster, I doubt she can either,” Flurry responded. “I can’t think of what else would work, unless…wait. I’ve got an idea. I don’t think it’ll cause much damage, but hopefully it scares him off. Starswirl says this spell doesn’t work so well on physical beings, but this thing is more like a ghost.”

“Anything we can do to help?” asked Pound.

“Just send me some strength.”

Flurry put her arms out for everyone to give her a hug. They all huddled together as her horn glowed brightly.

Inside the cloud, Discord kept screaming at the ram as the ram laughed. He looked up to see the creature on the wall start to move and come to life. Its smile moved up and its pupil looked in his direction. One of the reptilian claws waved at him.

“PLEASE DON’T DO THIS!” he begged.

“HAHAHA…what?”

Suddenly the ram sensed power nearby. In his ghost form on the outside, he peaked his head out to see light coming from Flurry. Her friends all moved away as she levitated and her horn glowed. Before the Apparition could react, a burst of magic shone forth, illuminating the entire room. A ring of light shot out and pushed all the dark clouds away from Discord.

“AAAAAARRRGGGH!”

The Apparition screamed in agony and was thrown against the wall right next to the large window in the first floor. It phased through and fell out the other side as a steaming pile of black sludge. In the clubhouse, Flurry slowly floated back down and closed her eyes. The light had also destroyed the smoke surrounding all the dragons and Starlight. They rushed to check on Flurry with the kids. Discord took his hands off his head and looked around to see the smoke was gone. He noticed a marking on the wall that was shaped like a ram’s head but quickly turned to check on Flurry.

“Flurry! Are you alright?!” Spike asked, picking her up.

“Ugh…I’m fine,” she said, tiredly.

“What did you do to him?” asked Buttercream.

“I think I got rid of him…for now.”

“Better yet, Discord, what did that thing do to you?” asked Starlight.

“He…it was just…I don’t know. It was just tormenting me, but at least it’s gone now.”

“Will you be alright, Flurr?” Pound asked as he and Pumpkin helped Flurry up.

“I think so. I’m just glad we got that out of the way. This has been such a weird night for us.”

“So you guys went through a ton of different worlds in your sleep, you say?” Buttercream asked. “Bet that was interesting!”

“You bet it was!” said Stormy.

“Not meaning to be nosey, but did you kids actually have a little fight earlier like Cozy said?” asked Singe.

“Yeah, we kinda did,” Pound replied.

“But we made up,” said Pumpkin.

“Yeah, it took some apologies and teamwork,” Annie added.

“Well that’s good to know,” said Barb. “We all had a similar thing happen back at the castle.”

“You did?” asked Flurry.

“We all tried playing that Ogre game Spike and Butter enjoyed, but me, Scorch and Barb just couldn’t get into it,” said Singe. “We had to be honest with them about how we felt, but we all came to an understanding and decided to stop playing.”

“And we did manage to find a different way to have fun with the game, so it all turned out well in the end,” said Buttercream.

“I see,” said Flurry. “Well it’s a shame we didn’t follow your example. We all had quite a conniption earlier over a game we were playing as well.”

“But that ghost thing was probably messing around with our game anyway,” said Chip.

“Yeah, he did this to us, but we all outsmarted him in the end!” Pumpkin said, cheerfully.

“Well despite how awkward of a first meeting this was, I’m glad you little urchins got it all worked out,” said Aster, moving down to the kids’ level so they could properly introduce themselves.

“Oh, that’s right,” said Flurry. “Aster, Lily, these are my friends Pound Cake, Pumpkin Cake, Apple Chip, Annie Smith, Storm Streak and Cozy Glow.”

“It’s great to meet you, kids!” Lily said, cheerfully, petting some of them on their heads. “Butter’s told us such great things about you!”

“It’s great seeing you guys too,” said Pound, shaking Aster’s claw.

“Are you guys unlockable characters in Super Dragon Warriors?” Stormy asked, excitedly.

“Ah ah ah, all good things come to those who wait, little guy,” Aster said, putting his finger over Stormy’s lips. “Play one hundred rounds in VS mode and you’ll see what happens!”

“Hehe, you’ll get used to Stormy soon enough,” said Chip.

“I’m sure they’d be really fun to play as just like Billow!” said Stormy.

“Hey, speaking of Billow, wasn’t she supposed to be with you guys? And where’s Scorch?” asked Flurry.

Spike and his siblings all gave each other glances and then turned back to the kids nervously.

“Uh…well, they’re kinda in the middle of something,” said Buttercream with her arms behind her back.

“Something romantic,” said Singe before Barb shushed him.

“Romantic?! Wait, are they…?” Pumpkin asked, putting her hooves to her cheeks.

Just then a loud thud could be heard outside of the clubhouse, which caused the floor to shake a little. The sound of a male voice and female voice laughing could be heard. Barb, Singe, Lily, and Aster flew to the large windows while Buttercream, Starlight and Spike used the front door with the kids following them out. Discord only stuck his head out of the door to see what was happening. As soon as Buttercream could see, she immediately put her hands against her cheeks. Barb, Singe and Spike all looked equally surprised. Scorch and Billow had landed in front of the clubhouse and were in the middle of another dragon courting ritual, as Beo Tuag watched nearby. They wrestled playfully, throwing themselves to the ground and wrapping their arms and legs around each other. Billow had Scorch down at one point but he spun around to pin her to the ground.

“Pinned ya!” Scorch said.

“You sure did,” she giggled, flirtatiously.

They both settled down and stared affectionately until they both noticed they were being watched. Scorch got up and took Billow’s hand to help her up. She brushed herself off and called Beo Tuag over.

“GUYS!” shouted Scorch. “We were just…uh…”

“We were just having fun!” Billow said, nervously.

“Yeah! Just having fun!”

There was a moment of silence until Singe opened his mouth.

“YOU GUYS WERE COURTING!!!” he shouted.

“EEEEEEEH!” screamed Buttercream.

“Scorch, Billow, are you guys, like…a thing now?” asked Spike.

They both looked at each other and held hands. Scorch put his other arm around Billow as she let go of Beo Tuag and put her arm around him.

“I guess we are,” said Billow.

“What can I say? She really gets me,” said Scorch, nuzzling his girlfriend.

Billow giggled as she nuzzled him back and everyone began celebrating.

“Aw! Congratulations you two!” said Lily.

“I knew it! I knew it all along! You guys are so in love!” shouted Singe as he pumped his fist in the air. “Congrats on courting before me, bro! Just you remember all the encouragement I gave you when you make me an uncle somed-MMMPH!”

Barb reached down and closed Singe’s mouth with her claw.

“We’re happy for you is what he’s trying to say,” she said, smiling and winking to Scorch.

“Thanks, Barb,” said Scorch.

“Hey, congrats, Scorch!” Spike said, giving his older brother a high five.

“Billie, I know it’s only been almost a week, but words cannot convey how happy I am you guys finally got together!” Buttercream said, giving Billow a hug.

“Aw, thanks, Butter,” Billow replied, hugging her back.

“BLEGH! Romance,” Stormy said, sticking his tongue out in disgust.

“Um…says the guy that’s got a crush on Somnambula?” Chip remarked.

“Touché,”

“Wow, you guys got a lot done while we were in the clubhouse I see!” Flurry told Starlight.

“Hehe. Yeah, these dragons had their own little adventure,” Starlight said.

“You should’ve seen them playing O&O once Discord used his crazy powers. Hoooo boy, did we have a blast!” said Lily.

“We had a blast too! It was the coolest thing ever!” Stormy said.

“Well we’re going to have to exchange stories tomorrow. I’m pretty tired,” said Flurry before yawning.

“Yeah, we all are,” Cozy added.

“Oh! Hey kids,” Billow said, waving. “Sorry if we woke you up in there. Scorch and I just wanted to do some wrestling in a wide open area and we weren’t really paying attention to where we landed.”

“Oh, that’s fine, Billow,” Flurry responded.

“Are you kids doing alright?” asked Scorch. “You kinda look like you’ve just seen a ghost.”

The kids all looked at each other nervously and then began to smile.

“Hehe…about that…” said Flurry.

“Funny you should mention, but…” said Pumpkin.

“We kinda did,” said Pound.

The kids all started laughing as some of the dragons joined in. Discord smiled and listened to them. He pulled his head back into the front door frame to look at the marking on the wall. The smile left his face.

“I know I did,” he said under his breath.

On the other side of the tree clubhouse, the black sludge slowly began to move until it was able to slither through the grass again. It transformed back into smoke and grew its horns and face back. The Apparition smiled and laughed as he disappeared into the night, although everyone thought him to be defeated, he was only chased away. Unbeknownst to everyone else, he had already accomplished his goal that night and got even more than he bargained for.

“Thank you, little princess. That was just what I needed.”

Author's Note

Recommended listening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZE2gUAiHzw