//-------------------------------------------------------// A Discordant Note -by Dusky Flower- //-------------------------------------------------------// //-------------------------------------------------------// Cheerleader //-------------------------------------------------------// Cheerleader Life's a daisy Swayin' in the wind Flowing to the music Dancing like a dream All you've gotta do is Sway with the music Dance to the wind And trot on Cheerilee spun around and did a last pose. Discord may have turned this down upside down, but she didn't have to give up her life's passion! It was too bad the foals didn't share her views. In a puff of rainbow smoke, a draconeques appeared. "Well, well, well. What have we here?" Cheerilee stopped mid-spin and looked at him. Discord grinned. "The foals aren't showing up, you know." Cheerilee's expression froze. "Didn't you hear? School's out. Forever." Cheerilee felt a cold chill run up her spine. "After all, math is no good in a world ruled by chaos! Same with science- I could make atoms out of donuts if I wanted to. And who wants to read about history? Nothing ever happened back pre-chaos. It's so boring. And I'm suuuuuure the foals agree with me." Cheerilee started to twitch. Discord touched a finger to her forehead. "Why not be a little more interesting?" Slowly, a gray sheen began to dull her coat. Cheerilee twitched again. "S-school's out, foalks..." A mad grin spread across her face as she wandered out of the schoolhouse. The dull purple mare tottered over to the swings, and leaped onto one, hooves dangling, swing firmly under her belly. "I'm boooored," she whined in a filly's voice. She stayed, legs dangling, on the swing for a couple more minutes, then listlessly plodded back into the school house. "Lesson plans? They're so booooring. Why would I eeeever wanna use these?" The dull gray shine spread over Cheerilee once more, as she began pulling out her drawers, grabbing her papers, and ripping them apart with her teeth. "Don't I have anything more iiiiiinteresting?" She shook her head and trotted off the door (which had somehow become a walkway) before walking over to a signpost. The gray mare considered the sign post for a moment. "It has wooooords on it. That is so, like, boooooring." She looked at her outfit, or lack of one, and with a horrified expression galloped toward her house. "I, like, gotta get some totally trendy clothes. I hope, like, I've got an awesome wardrobe, I mean, I totally neeeeeed one nooooow." Cheerilee changed from valley filly to whining adolescent in an instant. The former teacher swung open the door and, seeing several bookshelves, ripped them all out of the shelves. "Like, bookshelves? I totally don't want to reeeead," Cheerilee complained. She wandered over to a closet. "BLEACH! That is, like, so totally eighties!" It literally was. All Cheerilee's old outfits were stuck in there. "I gooooottaaa, like, get some neeeeeew clothes so totally fast. I can't live like this!" Though she hadn't noticed, and wouldn't have cared even if she did, her cutie mark shrank a tiny amount. The mare that was once Cheerilee tore open the door of Carousel Boutique, screaming wordlessly. Upon finding ball gowns, she stopped straight. "Are these reaaaaaally trendy?" Her face lit up as she realized that yes, they were indeed trendy. She pulled a red one bejeweled with topaz and diamonds in the shape of daisies from its mannequin, and pulled several more from a drawer. She pulled on a tight black bodysuit with diamonds on it, and then rushed towards the spa for some makeup. Lotus and Aloe had matching confused expressions on their faces. "Excuse me, ma'am..." ventured Lotus. "...Would you mind telling us why you're scooping mud from our baths into a bowl?" Cheerilee looked at them. "It's not mud! It's, like, the most totally trendy makeup in the universe!" she snarled. Lotus and Aloe exchanged glances. They sighed. The gray mare turned to them. "Where's the lipstick?" Aloe's expression changed from merely puzzled to extremely confused. "Um, Cheerilee?" "...Like, yeah?" "Why are you talking like a valley filly?" A gray hoof lurched out and smacked the side of Aloe's face, leaving a red mark. "Like, you are so totally rude!" yelled Cheerilee. She then turned and sprinted for the door. Lotus looked quizzically at where the former teacher was a moment ago. "...Okay, no more talking to the gray ponies." Aloe sighed. "You said it. In the last hour, we've had our mud bath raided six times!" Lotus facehoofed. "Six times?" Aloe confirmed her sister's statement. "Yep. Six. Bucking. Times." The discord-tainted mare sat in the middle of her precious, trendy items, purring to herself at her "totally cool" haul. The Harmony Wave rushed over the land. Color returned itself to Cheerilee's coat, and her shrunken cutie mark returned to normal size. Cheerilee looked down. Among her hooves were various pajamas, a pair of raincoats, and several bowls of mud. Suddenly, the carnage befallen several papers caught the teacher's eye. Cheerilee's eyes went wide in shock and horror. "Oh, Celestia, my lesson plans!" //-------------------------------------------------------// Broken Heartstrings //-------------------------------------------------------// Broken Heartstrings Lyra and Bon Bon lay together in their bed, snuggling. Lyra sighed in contentment. "That was great." Bon Bon smiled, and kissed Lyra on the cheek, then wrapped her cream-colored hooves around the mint-colored mare. In a puff of plaid smoke, Discord appeared. Lyra and Bon Bon looked at each other. They spoke in unison. "Plaid?!?" Discord chuckled. "Just look at you. So united." He snapped his fingers. "Bon Bon... heh. You'll know soon enough." Lyra glared at the retreating spirit of chaos. "Buck him! He didn't have to interrupt our private time!" Bon Bon sighed, and cuddled closer to Lyra. "Don't worry, honey. He's... gone now..." Lyra's face lit up. "Heeeeeey..." A mint green hoof turned the handle on the closet where Bon Bon was tied up. Of course, she wouldn't remember the closet, but it was good to be throughout. Discord smiled, and turned into a certain cream-colored mare. He rifled through the makeup, and applied some lipstick. Then he conjured up some frilly underwear. A smile crossed "her" lips. Lyra threw open the door. "Honey! I'm home!" "Bon Bon" was lying on the bed, teasingly dangling one hoof off and grinning at Lyra. "Helloooo, honeymint..." A wide grin spread across Lyra's face as she galloped over to the apartment's double bed. "I can't believe you did this! I thought you loved me!" "But I'm telling you, it was with you!" Both arguing mares were somewhat gray, and Lyra had a lipstick mark on her cheek. A pair of frilly undies lay on the floor. Bon Bon picked up and waved the offending pair of undies in Lyra's face. "Neither of us own this pair!" she screamed. "Well, you were wearing it when I came home from the concert!" "Lies! All lies!" Bon Bon shrieked. Tears flew from Lyra's eyes as the gray shine spread over her coat once again. She pulled herself up rigidly straight and stomped towards the door, stopping in the doorway only to shout back to her former marefriend one last time. "Fine! Be like that!" "I will!" Bon Bon screamed back. Once Lyra closed the door, Bon Bon threw an engagement ring into the trash. The gray shine spread over her coat. "I never loved her..." Bon Bon plodded over to a desk, scooped up the... book, and dumped her photo album on top of the ring. The gray mare flopped onto the bed and cried. "I'll show her how mad I am! I'm so mad I'll throw away all her trashy magazines! And I'll... I'll..." Lyra's head drooped. And then a trash can, tossed out a window moments earlier, landed right in front of her. Lyra, not really knowing why, pulled out the big brown book. It was Bon Bon's photo album. It had all the pictures. Pictures of them alone, pictures of them together. Even the one with giant cakes on both their heads, and the one right after, with chocolate cake all over both of them. A small chuckle escaped Lyra's throat. And then, the sun came up, and a gleam from inside the can caught her eye. An engagement ring, just the size to fit Lyra's horn. The gray retreated, and Lyra pulled up the two items with her magic. The mint-green mare galloped towards their apartment with a newfound urgency. "Bon Bon! I'm coming!" Lyra pressed Bon Bon down to their bed, and pressed her horn to the cream-colored mare's forehead. "What are you doing? Let go of me-" Images from the photo album flashed through Bon Bon's mind. She screamed. They didn't say a word for hours, just holding each other. Bon Bon was the first to break the silence. "...Lyra?" "Yeah?" "Will you marry me?" Lyra pulled Bon Bon tighter, wrapping her into a hug. "Did you even have to ask?"