//------------------------------// // Reformation Proposal // Story: Little Memories // by Skijarama //------------------------------// Twilight and the others watched with bated breath as Celestia actually flinched away from Rainbow Dash. The solar alicorn was, for the first time since Twilight had met her, openly hesitating. It was more than a little unsettling, to say the least, especially given how calm and assured she normally seemed to be. Her eyes drifted away from the tense parent and child to look at Discord again. “What did he do?” she wondered quietly to herself. Before she could ponder that question any further, however, Celestia finally spoke up. “I know that Discord caused you and your friends no small amount of pain, Rainbow Dash,” she began, each word chosen with great care. “And I still regret not doing my part to help you recover from that pain sooner.” “Then why bring him here?” Rainbow pressed, clearly uninterested in beating around the bush. Celestia sighed and turned to look up at Canterlot. “I have been giving a great deal of thought to Equestria’s defenses ever since the Changeling invasion a year ago. All of the damage they did, all of the ponies they hurt…” she turned to Twilight as she spoke, her eyes going distant. “The pain they caused. We were all but powerless against them. We had no way of knowing they were even there until they were right on top of us.” She then turned to the statue again, her expression hardening. “Shining Armor has been working long and hard on updating the training courses for the royal guard, bolstering the ranks, and refining all of our most outdated defenses. But I fear that if another threat like the Changelings comes along, even Twilight’s brother may not be able to muster a powerful enough countermeasure.” “Not to be rude, your majesty,” Rarity cut in carefully, strolling up to Rainbow’s side. “But I am afraid I must agree with Rainbow Dash and insist you get to the point of the matter. What does any of this have to do with Discord?” “Yeh, he was one of the villains we had to deal with,” Applejack pointed out with a scowl. She adjusted her hat and glared at the statue. “He turned Ponyville upside down and inside out.” Celestia nodded along. “Yes, he did. Discord is, without question, the most powerful being I have ever met. Reality is a plaything to him. The laws of physics are a joke. He can do just about anything he wants with only a snap of his fingers…” she turned to face the group, her expression hardening. “Which is why I brought him here. I have hopes that if he can be convinced to use his powers for good, then Equestria will have an ally powerful enough to deter even the mightiest of foes. And I believe all of you would be the perfect ponies to accomplish this.” “Turn Discord into our friend?” Pinkie asked incredulously, for once losing her cheerful demeanor to something far more skeptical. “I dunno. I’m a pretty forgiving pony, but even I have limits…” “And wouldn’t turning him into our friend mean having to turn him back from stone?” Fluttershy pointed out anxiously, shrinking back and away from the imposing stone structure. Celestia nodded reluctantly. “I am afraid so. I brought the Elements of Harmony with me, as they would be needed to-” “Absolutely NOT!” Rainbow’s voice suddenly sliced through the air in a disbelieving shout. Celestia fell silent, and all eyes fell on the pegasus. Her wings had flared open aggressively, her eyes narrowed in a mixture of outrage and bewilderment. She slowly trotted forwards, her nostrils flaring and her pupils dilating. “Mom, you know  I love you, so I hope you get where I am coming from when I say that YOU HAVE LOST YOUR BUCKING MIND!” “Rainbow Dash! Language!” Rarity scolded, leaning back in shock. “Shut up, Rarity!” Rainbow snapped back before wheeling on Celestia again. “I’m not doing it. Period.” Celestia set her jaw. “Rainbow, please, just hear me out,” she tried in as diplomatic a voice as she could manage. “I know that out of everypony here, you feel the strongest about Discord and everything he did. But please, try to think of this from my point of view-” “No! No, you look at this from mine!” Rainbow interrupted her adamantly, lifting into the air and placing her hooves on her chest. “Do you have any idea what this guy put us through?! What he put me through?! Don’t you remember all of the terrible things we suffered because of what he did to me?!” “Of course I do,” Celestia replied. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before she continued. “But if that same power could be turned to our side…” “No,” Rainbow spat, lowering herself back to the ground. “Discord dug his grave and now he can lay in it! I’m not gonna be part of letting him out for any reason! He made me betray my friends, he made me hate an innocent mare so much I invaded her privacy and attacked her! And while we were gone on that happy little adventure, Chrysalis came in and took over Canterlot! “Everything bad that happened to us! Every single thing! From the incident on the train to Twilight’s amnesia! All of it can be traced right back to him mucking with my head!” she continued before turning around with an agitated huff. “So no. I am not going to have any part of letting him out! You can just take him back to Canterlot and stuff him in a vault or something. I don’t care. But bringing him here was a waste of time!” And with that, Rainbow gave a mighty flap of her wings, disappearing into the distance. A sizable cloud of dust was kicked up in her wake, causing everypony present to cover their faces and go into coughing fits. When the dust cleared, Rainbow was nowhere to be seen. Celestia visibly wilted before turning back to the statue with a guilty look on her face. “...I’m sorry, Rainbow… I just want to make sure you’re safe,” she whispered. Everypony was quiet, and for Twilight’s part, her mind was reeling with the sudden onslaught of information she had just received. Her eyes affixed themselves to Discord, sizing him up. This thing had been the catalyst for the events that led to her amnesia? It looked so goofy… but Rainbow’s reaction had been intense enough to nail the message home. Whoever this Discord was, he had hurt all of them. Suddenly, without any warning whatsoever, a bassy boom filled Twilight’s skull. All at once, the world around her became blurry and unfocused, and her legs were growing heavy as if made of dense iron. Her heart pounded in her chest, a piercing ringing was in her ears, and white tendrils were licking at the edges of her vision. “Wha… what…?” she mumbled breathlessly, barely able to get the words out between her confused and frightened gasps. Her legs gave out under her, and she fell to her haunches before slumping forwards. She could just make out the remaining ponies around her turning to her with alarmed expressions, some of them moving to her side. And then everything went white. “Alright ponies, guess it’s time to get started. Let’s just hope this releasing spell works,” Twilight Sparkle said as she marched up to the still petrified Discord with a look of resolve on her face. Her friends marched along beside her, resolute.  Spike, meanwhile, only now saw fit to poke his head out from behind her tail with a frightened grimace. “Or let’s not!” A blue chest that Twilight had been levitating by her side flew open and out came the Elements of Harmony, each held in her magical aura. “We had best keep our elements on at all times until further notice,” she stated authoritatively while clasping each necklace onto the corresponding ponies neck. Then, as a group, the mares began to encircle the statue. “W-what is this?!” Twilight thought to herself as the vision unfolded before her eyes. “Check!” Twilight’s friends chanted in unison once they were in position.  Twilight glanced briefly up at the crown upon her head. Then, without a word, she closed her eyes and began to focus her magic. The area around her and her friends began to become saturated with wisps of colorful light, and each mare lifted off their hooves to hover a few feet in the air. Each one had their eyes closed, the Elements around their necks emitting rapid pulses of light. Then, two ribbons of prismatic magic reached out from Pinkie’s. One passed through Rainbow’s, while the other passed through Rarity’s. The ribbons reached around, coiling around Twilight before connecting to her crown, linking all six mares together. The moment they were joined, a pillar of rainbow-colored magic shot up into the sky between them with Discord at the center.  As the light grew more intense, the stone began to crack and break in places, allowing bits of Discord’s colors to peek through. Then, with a loud burst of magic and the sound of shattering stones, Discord was released. His eyes were closed, and a long, harrowing shout erupted from his lungs. That was, at least, until it turned into a deeply satisfied groan as then went into a series of casual stretches in mid-air, clearly rather stiff. “Oh, oh, whoof! Well, it’s about time somepony released me from that prison block!” he stated, deeply offended before doubling over backward so that he was face to face with Twilight. “What a relief!” Snap. In a nearby tree, a cute and cuddly squirrel was consumed in a flash of light. The creature that emerged in its stead was a burly, brutish, and sharp-toothed hulk of a squirrel. It was still for a moment before prying a nearby sub-branch from the tree and proceeding to gnaw on it like a dog bone. Twilight gasped. “What do you think you’re doing?!” she demanded, narrowing her eyes in severe disapproval. “What did he even do?” Twilight wondered to herself, starting to get lost in the vision. She may have had absolutely no idea what was happening or why, but this sneak peek into Discord and his powers was proving to be quite an effective trap for her curiosity. Discord just kept on stretching, groaning and sighing with every deeply satisfying pop that came from somewhere inside his noodly body. “Why, stretching, of course!” he stated as if it were obvious. “When you’re a creature of pure chaos, stone bodysuits are not your typical go-to fashion choice.” Another snap of his talons. Not far away, a rabbit sniffing at a flower underwent a similar transformation to the squirrel. It scowled angrily at the world before letting off a loud and monstrous roar, baring it’s threateningly long two front teeth. And then it hopped away. Pinkie Pie was outraged. She gasped before turning her ire towards Discord. “Hey! Make that bunny cute again! NOW!” she demanded with a stamp of her hoof. Discord just snorted and laughed. “Oh, pfft, haha! He’s adorable the way he is!” he countered while slithering through the air to rub his finger along its chin. The rabbit, however, did not take too kindly to being touched in such a manner and attempted to bite his hand. Discord retracted just in time and backed away with an indignant pout. He then turned around to face the angrily-glaring assembly of mares. “You know what else is adorable? You ponies truly believe that you can reform me,” he went on before suddenly vanishing and appearing right next to Fluttershy with a spyglass in his hand. “And that you’re putting your faith in this one here to make it happen!” He vanished in a flash of light before reappearing on her other side, dressed up as a kindly old grandmother with far too much makeup on. He reached our and clamped his talon down on Fluttershy’s cheek, drawing an uncomfortable wince from her. “It makes me want to pinch your little horsey cheeks.” “How did you know about that?!” Twilight demanded, lowering herself into a wider stance. Discord zoomed over to her, an impatient look on his face. “Being turned to stone doesn’t keep me from hearing every word Celestia says. Although, I admit,” he reached up and suddenly pulled his eyes right out of his head, much to Twilight’s horror, and began to shake them like dice in his fist. “It does make rolling my eyes a challenge.” As if to prove his point, he threw his eyes off to his side. They thumped into the grass and rolled along like golf balls before falling into newly appeared holes in the dirt. Then, Discord rose up from the dirt, his eyes once again in his skull. “Well unless you want us to turn you back to stone, you’ll zap those animals back the way they were pronto!” Twilight countered, already starting to piece the spell together in her head. Discord crossed his arms. “Oh, you wouldn’t dare turn me back into stone and risk disappointing your precious princess,” he spat, his tone becoming condescending and mocking on the last two words. Nearby, Rainbow Dash lifted into the air and drew closer. “Try us, Dip-cord!” Suddenly, the vision became blurry and distorted with static, a bassy boom filling Twilight’s ears. When it came back into focus, the scene had changed somewhat. “If it turns out we need to use our elements against you, I’m sure we can convince Celestia it was for a good reason!” Twilight snapped at the giggling Draconequess, her tone sharp and biting. Discord turned to her, his ears drooping in barely hidden fear. He tensed up, a low growl of frustration coming from deep in his throat. Then, with a disappointed sigh, he slumped back to the ground. “Oh, I suppose that is correct,” He relented before snapping his fingers. The transformed bunny and squirrel were enveloped in another flash of light before returning to normal, both of them looking rather perplexed by what had just happened.  “He really is powerful…” Twilight thought in awe. Sadly, before the scene could unfold any further, the vision trembled like a mirage in a desert, before shattering like a flimsy mirror. The vision ended. Twilight gasped as she suddenly returned to reality. She shot up to her hooves, looking around with wide, frantic eyes. “Wh-what?! No, wait, come back!” she shouted, her vision still blurry and unfocused, and her head pounding with a throbbing migraine. “Woah there, easy Twi,” Applejack’s voice cut through her mind, bringing her attention to the here and now. All of her friends, sans Rainbow, were there, looking at her with wide eyes. Applejack was right by her side along with Fluttershy. “Y’all alright? What did ya see?” Twilight groaned in discomfort, leaning into the side of the pegasus next to her and rubbing a hoof into her temple. “I, uh… I saw… I saw us releasing Discord, and… uh…” she mumbled. Then her eyes snapped wide open and she gaped at Applejack in abject disbelief. “W-wait! How did you know that I saw something?!” “They’re called flashes,” Celestia stated, stepping forward with a worried look on her face. “Sometimes, you and your friends are able to see small moments from the previous timeline. These flashes are enabled by your connection to the Elements of Harmony, which collectively have a broader view of time.” Twilight blinked, her mind struggling to make heads or tails of what had just been said to her. “Uh… s-so, we can see parts of our past lives?” she asked tentatively for clarification. Celestia nodded. “Yes. I can explain more later. But for now, you were saying something about you and your friends releasing Discord?” Twilight perked up, her ears standing to attention. “Oh, that’s right! Um…” she gently pushed away from Fluttershy, giving her a grateful nod, before thinking back on what she had just seen. “Well… we released Discord, and I saw him use his power to turn a rabbit and a squirrel into monstrous perversions of themselves. But… I was able to talk him into turning back to normal, under threat of turning him to stone again.” “So we released him in the old timeline?” Applejack asked with a raised eyebrow. “Ah find that hard to believe, but… to be fair, the lives we had back then were sure a lot different than the ones we have now.” “Quite,” Celestia nodded in agreement, her eyes slowly turning to gaze distantly at Ponyville. “Rainbow Dash's, most of all…” A heavy silence fell over the group for several moments. Then, with a sigh, Celestia turned to the guards by the chariots. “Establish a perimeter around the statue. I do not want anypony to approach the statue without express permission from myself or Rainbow Dash,” she commanded plainly. “Right away, your highness,” The pegasi replied in unison before setting to work. With that done, Celestia turned back to Ponyville. “I’m going after my daughter… I wish to speak with her alone for a time if it is all the same to the rest of you.” Applejack tilted her hat forward and gave a small nod. “Ah understand. Family stuff. Ah won’t intrude.” “Besides, I am sure you two have much to catch up on besides this…” Rarity grimaced and glanced at Discord in revulsion. “...ruffian. And I think that you owe Rainbow an apology.” “She was pretty upset…” Fluttershy agreed with a slow nod. Celestia sighed and looked down at the grass. “I know… I just don’t want her to be hurt anymore. I just thought that having Discord as an ally would be the greatest protection I could give her. My daughter has suffered more than enough,” she said quietly before unfurling her wings and taking off after Rainbow Dash, moving at a much slower pace. Twilight watched her go, a lump forming in her throat.