During an evening performance at a private manor, Octavia is shown one of the rarest and finest instruments known to Equestria, a Stellar Variance cello. Just being in the same room as one is a dream come true for Octavia, but then she is given the chance to play it. It is an opportunity Octavia can't pass up, no matter the consequences.

Yet, the next morning Vinyl finds herself at the same private estate, searching for the friend and roommate who never came back.

Things are hard in Ponyville for Fluttershy and Discord; mainly because of Discord. But when magic starts to go on the fritz and eventually starts failing altogether, it's up to the main six and the Draconequus to find out what's causing it and, more importantly, how to fix it.

This would be a lot easier if anypony trusted the King of Chaos to begin with, but with bigger problems on the horizon, some things will have to wait to be dealt with. Like trust. Or loyalty. Or friendship.

Of course, sometimes what we think isn't important to deal with right now, is exactly what's needed to prevent things from getting far, far worse.

Discord's the only creature in Equestria who can recognize the human for what he is -- not the long-lost Seventh Element that never actually existed and couldn't have existed before the human arrived, but a meta-reality warper, an entity far more powerful than Discord with the power to warp the minds of all around him and the very rules of magic to make sure that he's always the Big Hero. And the role the human's assigned to Discord is the Villain to beat down or kill.

Pre-reform Discord's fine with being the villain. But on his own terms. Not dancing on some alien interloper's puppet strings.

Without friendship, or even allies, Discord's going to have to find a way to defeat a creature who can alter fate itself and who can even mind-control him. Or he may just end up worse than dead.

Art by Tenchi-Outsuno. Progress Bar at my writing journal.

Trigger warnings: Mind control (magically induced love, magically induced friendship, magically induced stupidity, Discord being Discord), noncon/dubcon (magically induced love, other forms of highly dubious consent), rape (female on male), violence/gore (mostly against Discord), literally everything in chapters 19-21, humans not being presented as unilaterally wonderful and superior to ponies and/or draconequui.

Twilight has come to discover that royal politics are complicated, but foreign policy is the worst. When the minotaur king decides to pay a visit, Celestia invites Twilight to be part of her first meeting with a foreign leader. This is her first big chance to impress on an international level... but the king isn't here to celebrate the Magic of Friendship, and he has more than a few choice words for the rookie princess. Twilight might just want to go back to world-saving after this.

Originally written for the write-off prompt "There's Magic in Everything." I was too late, then changed it up, and was left with... well, this. Brilliant!

Thanks to my prereader BlinkyPony along with my editors PaulAsaran and ultra1437 for all their help!

Cover art can be found here.

A mammoth being of ancient metals and gears has awakened from the earth with the sole intention of destroying every villain in Equestria. Untouchable, unmovable, Discord remains as its last target of worth. Now the Spirit of Chaos must beg for Celestia's aid, even if things are so much more complicated than he would have ever wanted.

Researching the history of Discord's time as ruler of the land, Twilight comes across something strange that piques her interest. Looking further into it, she discovers a piece of information that changes the dynamic of not only her own, but everypony's relationship with the mysterious draconequus.

Discord is utterly bemused by the apparent turn of events. Why in Equestria is everyone suddenly being so nice to him?