It Takes Two

Boooooooriiiiing....

That's how Joy felt at the moment. It's been at least a whole month since the last event and the last project he wrapped up. Currently, he sat at one of those chairs in form of a sack, slowly munching on some chocolate chip cookies, washing it down with blueberry smoothie. Before him, on a giant screen of a TV were morning news.

Now, some explanations are in order.

Couple of years ago, Joy started another one of his projects to inspire mortals of this world. Throughout the time in this world he changed his appearance countless of times, so a new personality was anything but hard. He was a painter, sculptor, musician, artist... Names of his masks are now in the museums across the world and his creations - worldwide known masterpieces. His last gig - a pop-star persona, that died in a plane crash incident, engine failure cut his life short.

After that - he once again returned to his original form : humanoid with lamb-like features. Joy has distinct features that capture a sense of joy and creativity. He had dark, shaggy hair that covers much of his face, creating a playful and mysterious aura. Small, curved horns protrude from the top of Joy's head, suggesting a mythical or magical nature. His ears are animal-like, possibly resembling those of a goat. He usually wore his white hoodie, jeans and sneakers, messenger bag on his hip with useful knick-knacks and toys.

And now... Silence. Joy sat in his little pocket dimension, watching news, slumping around, eating snacks. Around him was an empty space with a background of slightly pink, fluffy clouds. No thoughts plagued his mind, no worries... No new ideas. Is that how mortal would feel, when they achieve everything they could've want?

No... Nononono, that can't be right! There must be something!

He furrowed his brows and closed his eyes, concentrating on thinking of some way to entertain himself. Walk around mortals? Nah, he's not too keen on being in a large crowds as of now. Plan on his next project? Not it either, nothing needed to be done for the next 50 or so years, and even then he wouldn't have to intervene.

Hmmm... What to do?... What to doooo?...

He could go back to Astral Planes and talk to other spirits for a while. Actually, who's even available right now? It was pretty long since he talked to his fellow spirits, not counting the last time he visited his home or other worlds. At that - Joy reached for his "phone" inside of his belt pouch, grabbing the device with his thin fingers. Taking another quick 'slurp' of his smoothie - he started looking through his phone, searching for fellow spirits that are either free or not too busy to tolerate his presence.

"Let's see..." - Mumbles Joy, using both of his hands to hold his device in search of entertainment.

He started from his friends from the Academy. Many faces he recognised immediately, like Professor Wisdom, his ex-mentor, who was currently tending to his own world, that just had it's first spike of intelligent lifeform. Sure, Professor Wisdom was pretty cool and laid back most of the time for a spirit of his calibre, but at the same time he took his job VEEEERY seriously, so distracting him was a bad idea.

Hmm... Oh, War was now dating Calamity! War was always falling for that guy, although tried to cover it with "bullying the dweeb", or so she said. Calamity didn't mind that it seems. The four sisters were really popular in the Academy overall, and it seems they turn out great overall. War and Calamity now were working together, Death is always busy in her own line of work, poor girl, and... Oooh, Pestilence was streaming her latest research on diseases. Joy really enjoyed her company, despite her being a little bit too dorky and some nasty rumours including her and the smell of fish, but... Eh, she was a good friend. Famine was... Doing Famine things, Joy never bothered to know her better, because she was bulimic. He hoped she's getting some help.

Joy wondered, if Pesty still remembers him after all those years... Hmm... No, wait, what was he doing?... OH YEAH!

Others seems to do their own things now and don't have much time to hang out. The only one free right now was Ecstasy, she was streaming in private chat, buuuut... Joy would think twice, before watching any of her videos. Or seeing her on camera. Or seeing her at all. She hinted multiple times that she had some... rather questionable feelings towards Joy (even after they finished the Academy), if all those wet panties and lewd photos of herself she shoved into his locker and mailbox meant anything... Yeeeaaaah, nope.

Welp, it seems like there's no better time or reason to visit his family members. Joy opened another tab to see all of the contacts of his family and what are they doing. Aaaand... No dice. His older sister, Thrill, was on vacation, great grandma Fortune was busy, mom and dad were on their own respective worlds, cousin Eris was unavailable, and the only one available was uncle Discord, dad's younger brother. Honestly, Joy never really got to know uncle Discord all that good, because he was always very busy with his world. Dad always said, that uncle Discord got a really tricky world to work with, when asked about his absence on family reunions. Still, Joy was always happy when Discord came to reunions, since him and Joy had a lot in common.

Uncle Discord DID missed the last two reunions and was free right now, sooo.... Why not? We could catch up, and I've always was interested - what was so tricky about his world that kept him THAT busy. Not that I have anything to do right now, really...

So, with goal set in mind, cookies devoured and smoothie dried to it's last drop - Joy turned the TV off and got up, arched his back a little, producing a couple of 'pops', and with a crisp snap of his fingers and a smile on his face, disappeared from the pocket dimension, leaving it soothingly silent.

Hmmm, so far... This world is kinda... boring.

Joy, the not-so-long-ago motivated young spirit, travelled trough the royal gardens of Canterlot castle, away from prying eyes of mortals of this world. He made sure that he wouldn't be seen by others, casting an invisibility spell on himself. With each step and each head turn to look around - he was getting more and more upset. Bushes, trees and statues. Hands in the pockets of his pants - he grimaced a little, getting from upset to annoyed. He surely travelled to the right place, his uncle was somewhere there, judging by the amount of spirital energy around him, so where was his uncle?

Before Joy become even more annoyed - he felt it, the spike of chaotic magic, that made his head turn in it's direction. With a powerful, but silent jump - he made a leap in that direction, hanging in the air with his hands still in pockets, watching the scene before him. There was his uncle, Discord, an admirable spirit, dressed in a classic brown three-piece brown suit, appearing as an elderly looking male with short grey hair, mismatched eyes and horns, like Joy's ones, poking out of his head. He was talking with six female mortals of this world, explaining something to them, while sitting on a hedge wall.

Oh, so he didn't hid his appearance to blend in with other inhabitants of this world?

Joy, happy that he finally found his relative, got closer to listen - what they were talking about. Revealing himself might be a bad thing right now, since he wasn't sure, if they were in the middle of something important, so he simply levitated closer, listening in on their talk. Was he eavesdropping? Maybe, but Joy was sure - it was nothing too important. He could ask for forgiveness from his uncle if it was indeed eavesdropping later.

"The second rule is - everypony has to play, or the game is over, and I... Wait... What was that?" - Discord suddenly cut his speech off, levitating up and looking around in wonder.

"Enough of your games, Discord!" - Said one of the 'ponies', the purple one. - "Give us our horns and wings back and return the Elements!"

"Oh, will you be quiet for a moment?" - Discord said, snapping his fingers, making the mouth of that mortal vanish. - "Whoever you are, show yourself! This is my world to work with!" - The chaotic spirit said, getting angrier and angrier.

"Aww, so much for the surprise..." - Joy said, making himself visible once again before the small crowd, smiling sheepishly.

At that, the jaw of Discord comedically dropped at the grassy soil under him, looking at the newcomer with great surprise and shock. Closing his mouth he almost tackled the young spirit to the ground in an instance, making them do a couple of spins in the air, laughing with happiness.

"OH, BY THE GREAT ANCESTORS, JOY!" - Discord shouted, bear hugging him while still laughing.

"Hello, uncle Discord. Good to see you!" - Joy replied, hugging Discord in return with a wide smile of his own. Both spirits completely ignoring the exclamation 'UNCLE?!' from the mortals below them.

"Oh, how big you grew, my boy! Your presence is infinitely brightened my day as of now, I'll say! When did you came here?" - The older spirit asked, releasing his nephew and looking him over.

"Not too long ago, in all honesty. Spent the last hour or so looking for you here. Thought you'd notice my presence as soon as I came here." - Joy answered, a little upset at his uncle.

"Oh, I'm soooo sorry! You're right, I would notice other spirit's presence, but I was really busy with, uhhh..." - Discord looked down, finally noticing shocked expressions on the female's faces, snickering silently. - "... yeah, I was preoccupied with those six and their ruler. The looks on their faces is incredible, wouldn't you say?" - At that both spirits laughed silently, making those six come out of their stupor.

"Pardon me, but, can ya explain - what's happenin' right now?" - Asked the orange one, with a cowboy hat on her head.

"Oh yes, with pleasure! Allow me to introduce you my nephew and a fellow spirit - Joy, the Spirit of Creativity." - The younger spirit smiled at them, waving his right hand at them, which they hesitantly returned.

"Weren't you in the middle of something, uncle? Feels like I'm distracting you from your work... " - Joy smiled sheepishly once again, averting his eyes, that were anyway hidden behind his hair.

"Oh, don't you worry about that, my dear. My job won't go anywhere, but your visit has a time limit, as I understand. I can come back to them, eventually..." - Discord snapped his fingers, returning horns, wings and a mouth to their respective owners, as well returning the weather back to it's normal state. Once done - he looked down to the awaiting group. - "As I was intending to play a game with you all, I'm afraid that we will have to do it on a later date. It is so rare, that I get such a visit, I can't simply ignore my guest."

"Aww, don't be like that, uncle!" - Exclaimed Joy. - "I can wait for you to finish your job and then we can spend some time together. You don't have to drop everything just to talk to me." - Reassured Joy, to the horror and somewhat pleasure of the mares below.

"Now, my boy, don't sell yourself short! We haven't seen each other in a long time, and I'm just dying to hear all about your work and how have you've been fairing. Now, let us be off!"

"W-wait!" - Called once again vocal purple mare. - "What about The Elements of Harmony you stole?!"

"Ah, yes. Since our game is interrupted, not that I mind, the 'equipment' should be returned back to the storage room." - Discord once more snapped his fingers, making six pieces of jewellery appear around their necks. - "I trust you know what to do with those. Tell Tia I said 'hi', for me! Toodles!"

And with that the two reunited spirits disappeared in a flash of magic. Unbeknownst to them - the pillar where Discord was standing as a statue now had a note, saying "be back soon".

The group of six still stood there, trying to process the events that just occurred. So much happened in that short timespan, that it was hard to comprehend. First, Discord's reappearance and his chaotic deeds caused distress, then he stole The Elements and was about to play the game with them, but was interrupted when his 'nephew' appeared. Then, Discord's mood drastically changed from conniving schemer into a bundle of happiness and excitement, which made him stop his chaotic, magical onslaught on the Ponyville, and even return The Elements to their respective bearers.

"If nopony's going to ask - I will. WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT ALL ABOUT?!" - Shouted Rainbow Dash, expecting an answer from the group.

"It seems like... Discord got a family visit and decided to spend some time with his nephew." - Concluded Fluttershy, silently as usual.

"We need to tell Princess Celestia about everything that just happened. I'm sure - she knows what we'll need to do next. The appearance of a new spirit... I can't even imagine what would happen next." - Said Twilight, looking down at her necklace in thought.