Author's Note

And Happy New Years!

A Promise in the House of Chaos

Fluttershy’s cottage was dead. There was no other way to describe it. The dark red oozing out of every inch of wood and leaf was certainly part of it, but mostly, it was the silence. It occurred to Twilight that she had never gone to Fluttershy’s cottage and found it silent. There was always the chirping of birds and squeaking of rabbits and splashing of fish. What could it mean that the Blood Sun could do what even Discord and Nightmare Moon couldn’t? She shook her head.

“Twilight, darling, are you alright?”

“I’m fine, Rarity, just a bit unnerved.”

Applejack nodded. “I know what you mean, Twi. It ain’t natural, what’s going on here.”

“Stay focused, darlings. The only way out is through.”

“Hey, that's my line,” Applejack cried in faux outrage.

Rarity shrugged. “Well, if you'd stay focused on our objective, then I wouldn't have to use it.”

Applejack snorted. “Touché.”

Rarity raised an eyebrow. “What?” said Applejack. “I thought we were stealing each other’s things today.”

Twilight rolled her eyes as she knocked on the front door of Fluttershy’s cottage.

“Fluttershy!” she shouted. No response. “Fluttershy, please, we need your help!” Just as Twilight was about to walk away, the door cracked open. As it did, levity died.

“Fluttershy, are you alright?” asked Twilight.

It was an utterly useless question. With a wet face and snotty nose, wilted ears and slumped shoulders, she was obviously not doing alright. Twilight had learned, however, that it was one of those useless questions worth asking.

“Th-they’re gone, T-Twilight, and I don’t know what to do.”

“The wild animals?”

“Not just them. All the animals. The songbirds, the fish, the chickens, the rabbits.”

“Even Angel?” Fluttershy just nodded.

Applejack let loose a low whistle. “I knew things were bad, but I didn’t think they were this bad.”

“Have you any idea where Discord is?” Rarity asked. “Surely he might be able to help.”

Fluttershy sniffled. “I’ve already asked. He says there’s nothing that he can do.”

“That’s hogwash. He just don’t want to help is all,” said Applejack.

Fluttershy’s lip quivered. “Applejack, can we please not do this today?”

Applejack flinched. “I’m sorry, sugarcube. I didn’t mean it like that.”

Flittershy sighed. “It’s alright, I know you didn’t. Now, what do you need?”

Rarity put a hoof on Fluttershy's shoulder, as if to say “You don't need to be strong on our account.” Fluttershy briefly leaned into it, and then gave her a gentle smile as if to say “I know.”

“Actually, we were hoping to talk to Discord. We think he might know something about what’s going on with the Sun. Would you mind calling him for us?” said Twilight.

“I can call him, but I’m not sure if he’ll be able to help.”

“That’s all we could ask for,” said Twilight.

“Discord, could you come here please,” Fluttershy all but whispered.

“Of course, my sweet. What do you need?” asked Discord. Fluttershy merely pointed a hoof at Twilight and the others. He rolled his eyes. “Oh bother.”

“Discord, give us back the pages you stole.”

He snapped his fingers. “Fine. The pages are back in your precious little book, but believe me when I tell you that they’ll do you no good.”

“Well then, what will do us good?” asked Twilight.

Discord clapped. “An excellent question. A bit late, but better late than never. Unfortunately for you, the answer is that there is nothing that you can do. You can’t learn to read the signs in an afternoon, even with my excellent tutelage.”

“Then what? We just wait until this blows over?”

“Yes, precisely. That’s precisely what you should do.”

Twilight frowned. “But you can read the signs, right?”

“Of course I can.”

“Then you could just tell us what they mean.”

“Not a chance, Twilight. I already told you that the only one I’d talk to about that is Sunset Shimmer.”

Twilight frowned. “Discord, can I talk to you in private for a moment?”

“Ooh, this should be interesting.” With a snap of his fingers, a portal opened in front of them. “Follow me.”
* * *
Twilight found herself in a small house. At least, it appeared to be a house. That assessment was complicated by the furniture resting on the walls and ceilings, the ping-pong table playing itself on the patio, and the complete lack of gravity. She wondered if gravity was necessary for a house to be considered a house.

“Don’t worry about making it quick,” said Discord. “Time passes differently here. Can I offer you some tea?” Twilight shook her head. Discord summoned a tea kettle and poured himself a cup of tea. “Suit yourself. Now, what was it you wanted to talk about?” He began crunching on the bottom of his teacup.

“What do you know about the Tree of Harmony?” Discord violently choked on his teacup.

Another Discord briefly appeared to give him a smack on the back, and a small porcelain chip flew out of his ear. “Woah, warn a guy next time before you casually mention his mortal enemy.” He took a moment to compose himself. “I had assumed that you wanted to talk about Sunset Shimmer.”

Twilight shrugged. Discord’s eyes narrowed. “You’re hiding something. Whatever happened to a little trust?”

“You did.”

Discord laughed. “Yes, well, I suppose I did. Nevertheless, we need to trust each other a little if this is going to be anything more than a one-sided tea party. How about this, how about we Pinkie Promise that while we are in this house, we will speak only the truth to each other? How does that sound?”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Why would I trust you to obey a Pinkie Promise?”

“Well, I suppose I could break a Pinkie Promise, but I’d never hear the end of it. Isn’t that right, Pinkie?”

Pinkie Pie stuck her head out from behind one of the couches on the ceiling and grimly nodded before sinking up out of sight.

“How did she get in here?” asked Twilight.

“It beats me. Nobody else in the universe can find my house. It’s just a Pinkie thing, I presume.”

“Is she still here?” Twilight walked to the other side of the room so that she could see behind the couch where Pinkie had appeared only to find a reddish-pink strand of hair where she had just been.

“No, she’s gone now. So, what do you say?”

She nodded, and together they solemnly chanted “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”

“We’ll take turns,” said Discord. “You can go first.”

“Alright,” said Twilight. “What do you know about the Tree of Harmony?”

“That’s quite a broad question. What do you want to know specifically?”

“Everything.”

Discord sighed. “Very well. It came into existence sometime after the first Hearth's Warming and before my arrival to Equestria. It is the source of the Elements of Harmony, and its function is to maximize harmony. To that end, it has access to a range of reality warping powers, including time manipulation and/or parallel universe shifting.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “How do you know that?”

Discord shrugged. “Isn’t it obvious? How else could you explain how it set everything back to normal after it turned me to stone?”

“Couldn’t that be explained by the Elements of Harmony preventing you from using your chaos magic?”

Discord laughed. “Hardly. If the elements merely took away my influence, then that would only kickstart the universe’s natural processes. For example, the flying pigs I so graciously granted wings would fall to a rather untimely end.”

Twilight paused for a moment. “Wait a second, does this mean that you were conscious the whole time while you were a statue?”

Discord sighed. “Unfortunately, yes. It’s quite boring, I’ll have you know.”

Twilight summoned a pen and paper and began scribbling. “I assumed that you were only conscious the second time. Fascinating.”

Discord grabbed a biscuit that was flying nearby and dunked it into his tea. “Hardly.”

“Do you know why the Tree of Harmony turned you to stone but didn’t turn Luna to stone?”

“I don’t know for sure, but I do have a theory. Think of the Tree of Harmony like a tree growing next to a stone path. If the stone path is tightly woven, the tree’s roots will grow under the path, but if they are loosely woven, it will weave between them. The tree wants to grow and spread harmony in every direction, but it follows the paths of least resistance. It might be more harmonious to reform me, but it would take many orders of magnitude more power to do so than to turn me to stone. On the other hand, Luna’s personality merely had to be returned to before she had been banished to the moon to restore harmony.”

“Time manipulation?”

Discord shrugged. “It’s possible.”

Twilight began pacing the room. “That would also explain why Luna was banished in the first place. With only one bearer, the tree was too weak to use the magic necessary to achieve harmony, and thus had to settle for banishment.”

Discord snapped his fingers in Twilight’s face. “Enough about the Tree of Harmony. You have yet to hear my question.”

Twilight blushed. “Of course. Go ahead.”

“Why are you asking about the Tree of Harmony, and what does it have to do with Sunset Shimmer?”

Twilight frowned. “I have a theory about Luna and Sunset Shimmer, but you have to promise that you won’t meddle with either of them until I have it resolved.”

“Within reason.”

“Alright. How familiar are you with psychology?

Discord put on a pair of thick-rimmed circular glasses and began smoking a cigar. “Don’t patronize me. Get to the point.”

“Alright. I did some research on psychology when I was Celestia's student, so when the girls and I first used the Elements of Harmony on Luna, I immediately suspected that she would betray Celestia.” Discord raised an eyebrow. “Think about it. She was banished for a thousand years for attempting to overthrow her sister. She returns seeking vengeance only to be defeated by her sister’s student and to have her powers stripped from her. Then she was told that all she had to do was apologize, and not only would she not be banished, but she would be allowed to rule alongside Celestia. The only reasonable explanation for her apology was that she was biding her time until she had regained her strength.”

“Perhaps she wasn’t awake for a thousand years of banishment. That would explain her sudden forgiveness. It could have been nothing more than a sister’s spat.”

“That’s possible, but she knew exactly how long she had been banished when she returned. There’s no way she could have already known that unless she was awake for it. Besides, if you experienced your banishment in stone, I see no reason why she wouldn’t have experienced hers.”

“Fair enough. Go on then.”

“I kept a close eye on her for any sign of betrayal. A substantial rebuilding of the lunar guard, any shift in the phases of the moon or changes in the tides, the reconstruction of her battle armor, the forging of new celestial weapons, forming alliances with the nobility, anything to indicate that she was backsliding. And do you know what I found?” She paused dramatically. “Nothing.”

“Nothing? Isn’t that a good thing?”

"Not necessarily. Even if she were genuinely reformed, I would expect some level of backsliding. I mean, look at you.”

Discord put a paw to his chest. “I resent that.”

Twilight deadpanned. “Plunderseeds.”

“That was barely even a betrayal.”

“Blue Flu.”

“I thought we agreed never to mention that again. But I see your point. Objection withdrawn.”

“I was suspicious, but her odd behavior could be explained if we assumed that Luna and Nightmare Moon were separate entities. However, when I used the Elements of Harmony on Sunset Shimmer in the human world, it was the same story. She spent years planning cruel and devastating betrayals against Celestia, she was hit with the Elements of Harmony, and her whole personality changed. She went from cruel and vengeful to kind and humble. She rebuilt the school that she destroyed without complaint, she made friends with the students who destroyed her plans, including me, and when she unexpectedly found herself in Equestria, instead of taking advantage of it to plot her revenge, she almost immediately let me know.”

Discord shrugged. “I see what you’re saying, but I don’t really understand how any of this is a bad thing. So, your friendship laser makes people be nice, big whoop.”

“But that’s not it at all, is it? Because you “became nice” without the Elements of Harmony’s help, and you’ve done a healthy amount of backsliding.”

“I can’t tell if I should be flattered or offended.”

“The point is, there’s some sort of advanced magic in play that I don’t fully understand. Maybe it’s time manipulation, maybe it's parallel universe shifting, maybe it’s mind control, but it definitely isn’t just “ponies being nice.”

“Well maybe Sunset Shimmer is a better actress than you give her credit for. Maybe she intends to betray you and just hasn’t gotten around to it yet.”

Twilight nodded. “That is a very real possibility. I’m in the process of devising a test for that hypothesis.”

Discord flicked his cigar into a nearby trash can. “I’ll admit that this is an interesting theory, but there’s still something that you aren’t telling me. If you’ve suspected this for years, why have you only come to ask me about it now?”

Twilight blushed. “It’s not important.”

“Not so fast. I gave you a full answer to your question. I expect a full answer to mine.”

“W-Well,” Twilight stammered. “It’s because Sunset kissed me.”

Discord stared slack jawed. “You’re not serious, are you? Oh Celestia, you are!” Discord’s riotous laughter echoed endlessly through the house. “Oh, that is rich. Imagine it, the fourth princess of Equestria with self-esteem so low that she sees conspiracy in a single kiss.”

Twilight stamped her hoof on the floor. “Discord, I’m serious.” This only served to provoke another cascade of uproarious laughter.

“I know, that’s the best part,” Discord wheezed. “Give me a moment.” He pulled a handkerchief out of his nose and sneezed into it. “You sure know how to make a draconequus’s day. How about this, you’ve got me in a good mood, how about I test your little theory for you? When I meet with Sunset Shimmer, I’ll offer to team up with her to take down Celestia. If she’s even remotely interested in betraying you, she’d be a fool not to seriously consider my offer. If she does, then we’ll have proved you wrong, and if she doesn’t, then she should be safe to tell about the signs.”

Twilight gave a weak smile. “Actually, that’d be quite helpful. Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it. Now, ta-ta”

Discord snapped his fingers, and the house of chaos melted away, morning dew in the summer sun.