"I will NOT be arrested!" I heard somepony shout.
I turned around, and was shoved aside by the very pony I sought- Ian ran right past me to Discord, skidding to a halt right next to him.
"Ian, what are you-?" Lyra started.
"Shut up!" he snapped. "I... I can't talk to you!"
"Ian! What is wrong with you?!" I scorned. "You can't just shout at her for no-"
"You shut up too!" He yelled at me. "Discord, they found me! I gotta hide somewhere, anywhere!"
"Oh, so sorry." Discord apologized insincerely. "I can't help you with that. I can get rid of them, if you'll let me."
Ian's eyes narrowed at him. "No. Knowing you, you'd probably make them appear in a volcano or something. Now do something, you lazy jerk!"
"Now, what kind of tone is that to take with your ruler?" the draconeques said. "If that's how you'll act around me, perhaps I should let them take you away."
Ian's face paled. "N-no. Not that."
"Ian. What did that double-crossing liar told you?" I asked him. Obviously there was some kind of blackmail going on here.
"Just that you and the others are trying to arrest me!" Ian shouted at me. "I'm not gonna let you take me. Not without a fight."
"Ian, we don't want to arrest you." Lyra explained. "We just want you to come back with us."
He snorted, glaring at us. "Yeah right. Like I'll fall for that. Now, you and your stupid friends can screw off. I don't want to talk to you, see you, or even think about any of you ever again."
"Is this seriously the guy you wanted to rescue?" Risk whispered to me.
I looked at the one I had thought was my friend. Who loved me. Who I thought I loved. The one now looking at me like I was nothing. "No. Not anymore."
"It's about time they left." I murmured to myself. Sarah had just turned and left, followed by a protesting Lyra and that damn griffon.
But Sarah and Lyra had said something that planted a seed of doubt. What if Discord was lying? Or Lyra was telling the truth? For all I know I could be acting paranoid, completely fooled by Discord. Or I could be seeing right through their scheme to take me to jail. Or a dungeon.
"Discord, could I ask you something?"
"Yes?"
"Could I see the arrest warrant you have?"
"Oh, but of course." the paper unfurled in his claws with a tongue of flames, as if it were a devil's contract or something. It looked like how you'd expect one to look- clearly printed, the Canterlot official stamp, a signature- Wait. The signature was off somehow. It looked real enough, but...
"That's not Celestia's signature," I observed, eyes widening. I remembered the one letter I saw all that time ago, the one time I saw her hoofwriting. "Her's is way more slanted. And that means... My god. You faked it, you bastard."
"And the last horse crosses the finish line." Discord said, rolling his eyes. "Well done. You've seen through my oh-so elaborate scheme." He snapped, burning the document.
I felt like face-hoofing. The others were completely sincere in their intentions. I was acting like an absolute bastard towards them, when they'd been right all along. "Why? Why the hell did you want me?"
"Why? Because you were fun. It was fun to watch you squirm and toil against the ponies, and you kept the occupied. Not to mention your little shoves and nudges with my chaos." He explained, making little diagrams with the candy-clouds above him. "So. Now that you found me out, what are you going to do about it?"
I was silent. Part of me wanted to beat the living crap out of him, and another part wanted to run to my friends and explain myself. There was even a part of me wanting to sit down and cry for a bit.
I turned and left Discord. I walked away in the direction Lyra and Sarah had, breaking into a run when I was out of his sight. It didn't take long to catch up.
"Sarah!" I called out ahead. She was walking with her head down, being talked to by Lyra. I couldn't make out the words. That griffon heard me and turned around, glaring at the sight of me.
He flew right up to my face, stopping inches away. "Who do you think you are? That mare and her friend risked a lot coming here for you, and all you do is shout at them to go away. I don't know how she felt about you before," he turned back and glanced at Sarah. "But she doesn't love you anymore. Leave her alone."
I was stunned. Had she said that? Did... Did I really hurt her that bad? I backed off a bit, staring at the ground. "I... I didn't mean it. Any of it. I don't even know why I said that stuff."
The griffon grunted. "Right. Whatever you meant, what you said broke her heart. That's not something easily forgiven."
"Can... Can you at least pass her a message?"
"Maybe."
"Tell her... Tell Sarah- DUCK!"
I shoved the griffon the the ground as a flaming pastry flew by overhead, extinguishing itself against a wall. I quickly rose to my hooves, and looked over at Lyra and Sarah. They were surrounded by fire breathing mugs.
"Crap," I groaned. Jumping over the griffon, I ran full speed towards the two, using my small supply of magic to blast some of the mugs out of the way. I skid to a halt facing the remaining beverage holders.
"Foalish boy," One spoke in Discord's voice. "Did you really think you could leave that easily?"