Not long after Celestia raised the sun, Twilight and the others were jolted awake by an obnoxiously happy, upbeat song filling the air. They all blinked and looked at one another in sleepy confusion except for Pinkie Pie, who practically dove into her bag and emerged with a phone in her mouth. The phone was indeed the source of the noise, which Twilight’s sleep-addled brain wasn’t quite ready to process. How could a human cell phone possibly be working here in Equestria?
Pinkie set the phone down and squinted in confusion at the screen. Whoever she was expecting to call her, it obviously wasn’t that person. She reached out and poked the “accept” button with a hoof.
“Hello?” Pinkie said. She promptly screamed and fell over backwards as a large, patchwork creature erupted out of the earpiece of the phone.
“Good morning, my little ponies!” Discord cried, floating in midair with a phone of his own in his claw. Since he had already come to the castle physically, the purpose of the phone remained a mystery. “I got nervous when you didn’t call. I was so hoping to catch you before you all left.”
“What do you want, Discord?” Twilight grumbled, making a mental note to look into ways to stop him from entering the castle anytime he pleased. It would do her sanity and her sleep schedule a great deal of good to know that the draconequus had to use the door like everypony else.
“What is that hideous thing?!” Rarity cried.
Discord glowered. “Hideous? You’re one to talk.” He snapped his fingers. Rarity’s mane and tail, already disheveled from sleep, turned into veritable pincushions as each individual strand of hair sprang out perfectly straight.
Rarity caught a glimpse of her distorted reflection in the crystal floor, screamed in horror, and fainted.
“Discord,” Twilight said warningly.
“She started it!” Discord protested.
“Fix her mane. Now,” Twilight ordered. Discord sighed and snapped his fingers again, and Rarity’s hair returned to its natural state. “Thank you. Now, why are you here? Do you have any idea what time it is?”
“Hmmm.” A full-sized grandfather clock appeared on Discord’s wrist, and he brought it up to his face. As he examined it, the clock began tolling the hour obnoxiously loudly. Rarity gasped in surprise at the sound and roused from her fainting spell.
“Twilight?” Rainbow Dash asked nervously. “Who… and what… is that?”
Twilight took a deep, calming breath. It may have helped slightly. “Girls, I’d like you to meet Discord. He’s a powerful and ancient creature called a draconequus, the only one of his kind as far as I know. He’s also... my friend.” She swallowed the odd taste that saying those words left in her mouth. “He helped with the sirens’ hearts. Discord, these are my friends from the human world, and you’ve already met Sunset Shimmer.” Sunset had told her about fixing the sirens’ hearts, and how Discord had appeared to help.
Twilight’s friends gave a chorus of uncertain, halfhearted greetings. Fluttershy merely squeaked and hid behind Rainbow Dash, trembling with terror.
“The pleasure is all mine.” Discord bowed, a cape appearing from nowhere for him to flourish dramatically as he did so. He removed the cape from his shoulders and gave it a shake, and it froze impossibly in place to create a platform for him to sit on.
“Discord?” Applejack asked. “As in, Mister Discord?”
“Mister Discord?” The draconequus sounded amused by the notion. “Well, I don’t think anypony’s ever called me that. Usually it’s just ‘Discord,’ or else ‘oh no, it’s Discord! Run!’ At any rate, before you all go gallivanting off to your own world, there’s some important business we need to attend to.”
“What is it?” Twilight asked, eager to get to the heart of the matter so that he would go away. He’d been more helpful and friendly since the Tirek incident, but it was far too early in the morning for his shenanigans.
Discord steepled his fingers and adopted an unusually serious expression. “You already know, or at least you and Sunset Shimmer do, that the sirens are connected to Star Swirl the Bearded.”
“We know that a lot of his magic seems to be tied to them, yes,” Sunset said uncertainly. “So?”
“So, if you’re looking for a permanent solution to your siren problem, you’re going to need his help.”
“Well, that’s great,” Twilight said sarcastically, “considering that he died centuries ago.”
“Oh, tut tut.” Discord waved his paw. “Would I let a little thing like that stop me from giving my friends the help they need?”
“Who are they talking about?” Rainbow Dash whispered to Sunset Shimmer.
“He was a unicorn from long ago, before Equestria was even founded,” Sunset answered out of the corner of her mouth. “One of the most powerful and influential magicians ever. He’s sort of like this world's Merlin.”
“Awesome!” Rainbow squeaked.
“How is Star Swirl going to help us?” Twilight knew she’d regret asking, but she had to. “Not even you can bring ponies back from the dead. It’s impossible for us to ask him for anything.”
“Come now, my dear,” Discord drawled, “impossible is what I do. Would you like to meet him or not? I know how you idolize him.”
Twilight suddenly, and quite unexpectedly, found herself in the Star Swirl costume she’d worn to the convention a while ago. Blushing furiously, she teleported herself out of the clothes and quickly banished them back to her closet with a burst of magic. “Alright,” she said, trying to keep a cool head, “how exactly are you going to do that?”
“You wouldn’t understand if I told you,” Discord said, “and if you did, your brain would melt and leak out your ears. Believe me, ever since the sirens came back, everything's been leading up to this. It will end back where it began, as these things always do. I’m simply asking, do you trust me?”
The answer to that was a resounding “no,” but Twilight couldn’t say that out loud. He did seem to be on his best behavior, and he had been unusually helpful and focused while helping with the sirens’ hearts, at least according to Sunset.
“Um. Yes?” Twilight wondered what havoc she’d just unleashed.
“Splendid!” Discord flew up out of his seat. “I’ll be back in no time at all.” He snapped his fingers and vanished, reappearing after a fraction of a second with an ancient, bearded unicorn in tow.
Twilight’s jaw hit the floor, with Sunset’s only a moment behind. “How… how…?” she squeaked, both from the absolute impossibility of it and from suddenly being in the presence of the great Star Swirl the Bearded.
“What in the name of the sun and moon?!” the ancient unicorn exclaimed, looking around in confusion. He quickly spotted the draconequus floating next to him.
“Discord!” Star Swirl shouted. “So, this is your doing.” He lowered his head and his horn began to glow.
Twilight’s eyes nearly popped from their sockets. Whatever magic Star Swirl was preparing to use, it was warping the very air around him, seeming to pull all of existence into his horn to use as fuel for his magic. She’d never seen anything like it.
“Ah ah ah, none of that,” Discord waggled a talon and a metal ring appeared at the base of Star Swirl’s horn. The magic he was gathering flared wildly and vanished.
Star Swirl's eyes widened and he tried to cast another spell, but nothing happened. "What is this thing?" he demanded.
"It's called an inhibitor," Discord answered. "From your perspective, it won't be invented for a few more centuries, but I took the liberty of bringing one with me."
Star Swirl tried to paw the offending ring off of his horn, but it appeared to be locked in place. Finally, he settled down on his haunches, drew himself up with all of the considerable dignity he could muster, and looked Discord in the eye. "Then it would seem that you've beaten me, monster. Do your worst."
"Oh, no, you've got it all wrong," Discord protested. "You're not here for me, you're here for them." He gestured to the group of bug-eyed, slack-jawed ponies who were trying to process about a dozen impossibilities at once.
Star Swirl's eyes narrowed suspiciously as he looked them over, then widened in shock as they settled on Twilight. "What game are you playing, Discord? Surely you don't expect me to believe that there's a third alicorn?"
"Actually, she's the fourth," Discord answered. "The third should be emerging any day now. Well, any day from your time."
"I'm Twilight Sparkle," Twilight squeaked. She cleared her throat, centered her thoughts, and tried to speak again. To speak. To Star Swirl the Bearded. Her throat closed up uselessly and she simply nodded agreement with Discord's words.
Star Swirl returned to glaring at Discord. "My time? You've taken me out of my own time, then." He glanced around. "To the future, I assume, since I don't recognize much of this. That's what that hole in the air was. You created a bi-directional temporal bypass." He stroked his magnificent beard. "So you can't be the Discord from my time, as he would have to remain behind to maintain the passage. You are the Discord from this time, and you've collaborated with your past self to bring me here for... what reason, exactly?"
Discord lifted an eyebrow. "Impressive."
Star Swirl scoffed. "My dear monstrosity, I was the one who discovered chronomorphic magic. In the simplest terms, you traveled through the rift that your past self opened in order to tell your past self to open that rift. You collaborated with yourself to arrange a self-generating temporal event. Now, do you mean to tell me why I'm here, or is your plan simply to drive me mad with waiting?"
Sunset Shimmer was getting a headache reminiscent of her agonizing magical exhaustion from the day before. As for Twilight, she was beginning to think that Discord's jab about her brain melting might have been literal.
"The sirens!" Rainbow Dash called out. She'd had more than enough of their horn-waving contest. "He brought you here to help us deal with the sirens."
Star Swirl visibly stiffened. "The sirens?" he repeated, as if unsure that he'd heard correctly.
"That's right." Twilight had finally remembered how to speak. "Star Swirl, I'm Princess Twilight Sparkle. I'm a former student of Princess Celestia, and I'm known as the Princess of Friendship. The Discord of this time is very different from the one you know. He's reformed, and uses his magic to benefit Equestria. He brought you here because we think you might know something about the sirens, and how to stop them."
Star Swirl snorted. "Likely. Our greatest enemy turns over a new leaf, Celestia's fondest dreams are all realized, and I am brought to the future to correct my greatest mistake. Honestly, Discord, this reads like a story for foals. Surely you can do better?"
"Don't look at me," Discord said, holding up his hands in front of him. "Like I said, your business is with the princess and her friends over there."
"Star Swirl," Twilight said, "how can I prove to you that this isn't a trick?"
"Hmph." Star Swirl stroked his beard again, a gesture that Twilight was coming to realize meant that he was thinking hard about something. "You would have to tell me something that Discord would have no way of knowing, or do something that chaos magic could never accomplish. I find both scenarios unlikely."
Twilight thought furiously. What in the wide, wide world of Equestria could she do that Discord couldn't? His magic was almost limitless, except when it came to friendship. She could use harmonic magic that Discord couldn't so much as touch, but by its very nature, she couldn't harness it alone. Her friends' instruments were all in the other world, and they didn't seem able to control their own powers without them, so she had no way to bring out that magic. Maybe some information about the magic itself?
She had it. She just hoped the timing was correct. "The Tree of Harmony."
Star Swirl tilted his head suspiciously. "What did you just say?"
"Celestia and Luna discovered the Tree of Harmony," Twilight said, certain now that she was on the right track. "They took something from it—six somethings, actually. They will come to be called the Elements of Harmony. Six artifacts embodying the ideals of Generosity, Honesty, Loyalty, Laughter, Kindness, and Magic. They're going to use them to defeat Discord in your time. Discord doesn't know about them yet, or he would never have allowed it to happen." Struck by another inspiration, Twilight turned sideways to give Star Swirl a clear view of her cutie mark, the same symbol that dominated the Tree of Harmony. "I know all about them, because my friends and I wielded them for a while ourselves."
Now it was Star Swirl's turn to be shocked. "That's... astounding." He cleared his throat. "Well, Miss, ah, Sparkle, was it?"
Twilight nodded, trying to hide the thrill that ran down her spine at hearing her idol speak her name.
"Well, Miss Sparkle, it seems you have me. You do indeed have information from my time, and even after my time, that Discord could not possibly have known."
"Wait," Twilight gasped. "Oh, no no no!" She pranced nervously in place. "I just told you things that you're not supposed to know yet! Did I just mess up the past?"
Star Swirl chuckled. "Not to worry, Miss Sparkle, the past cannot be changed so easily. I suspect that the very nature of this temporal event will prevent me from remembering it once I return to my own time. It won't have happened yet, you see."
Twilight didn't see at all. It had happened already, even from his perspective, or else he wouldn't be here telling her that it hadn't happened yet! She groaned and rubbed her head with a hoof. This was all reaffirming her previous discovery that time travel was simply more trouble than it was worth. It was probably better just to let it slide.
"Still," Star Swirl continued, "I don't know that I'm comfortable discussing these things in front of... him." He gestured with his head toward Discord.
Twilight exhaled softly. "Discord, I'm really sorry, would you mind?"
"Not at all," Discord replied. "I've got some business of my own to attend to. Give me a ring when Big and Beardy here is ready to go home!" Discord leaped off of thin air, put his hands over his head, and dove straight into and through the crystal floor of the palace. As far as anypony could tell, he was gone. The inhibitor vanished from Star Swirl's horn as well.
The moment he had his magic back, Star Swirl cast a spell. It was not the same type of reality-warping magic he had tried to use before, just a simple spell that spread out from his horn and quickly swept the castle. "He's gone," Star Swirl confirmed. "No traces of chaotic magic anywhere." The aged unicorn shook his head. "This is all quite frankly unbelievable. Just how far did Discord take me?"
"Over a thousand years," Sunset Shimmer answered him. "It would be tough to get any more specific than that, since records from the Age of Discord are pretty spotty."
Star Swirl turned his attention to the other unicorn. "When you say a thousand years," he asked, "do you mean that literally, or are you just using an idiom to mean 'a very long time?'"
"That is a figure of speech that we use pretty frequently," Sunset admitted, "but in this case it's literal. Discord brought you over a millennium into the future."
Star Swirl took a long moment to let that sink in. "Well," he finally said with a smile, "it seems that things are going quite well in a thousand years. That's good to know. It seems like all of our work was worthwhile after all." He turned instantly serious again. "Now then, you said something about the sirens?"
"Yeah," Rainbow Dash replied. She was apparently the only one bold enough to speak to this stranger from the past. "They're causing all kinds of trouble."
Star Swirl shook his head. "Not possible," he asserted. "I banished them to a world without magic. They're powerless."
"Weakened, yes," Sunset answered, "but hardly powerless. Their hearts survived the trip intact, and they still work."
"Which is a good thing," Fluttershy spoke up, shocking everyone. "They can't survive without them."
"What do you mean?" Star Swirl asked. "And how would you know?"
The others exchanged glances, but no one spoke for a while. Finally, Twilight, with input from Sunset Shimmer and the occasional outburst from Rainbow Dash, told the story of how the sirens had attacked Canterlot High. Star Swirl's eyes went wide when he learned that many of them were from the other world, but he did not interrupt. She told about how they had defeated the sirens by breaking their hearts with harmonic magic, and the events that had followed that.
"We managed to repair the hearts and save them," Twilight finished, "but now we're right back where we started. The sirens are on the attack again, and we're looking for a solution that doesn't force them to starve. Not even they deserve that."
"You repaired the hearts?" Star Swirl asked. "How?"
"Using your magic, actually," Sunset answered. "Geomorphic, biomorphic, and metamagic spells. That, and the fact that you knew enough about them to send them safely to another dimension, was how we realized that you must be connected to the sirens somehow. It was just too many coincidences to overlook."
Star Swirl sighed and lowered his head until his beard brushed the floor. "You could say that, yes."
"It's more than just that, though," Sunset pressed him. She was sure that she was right about this. "You created them, didn't you?"
There was a long, shocked silence. Star Swirl's head dipped even lower. At last, without any of his usual vibrance or confidence, he admitted it. "Yes. Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze, and Sonata Dusk. My wayward daughters."
"Why would you do something like that?" Rainbow shouted at him.
"Rainbow Dash, calm down," Fluttershy murmured. "I'm sure he has a good explanation."
"I do have an explanation," Star Swirl replied. "Whether it's a good one remains to be seen."
"We're listening," Sunset said. She tried to keep the resentment from her voice. She, of all ponies, knew what it was like to make a mistake.
"They were part of my research," Star Swirl said. "If I were able to create true equinculi, real artificial life, I would know that I was on the right track in my life's work. It... almost worked. I created three magical beings with minds and souls of their own, but their magic was incomplete and they couldn't sustain themselves. That's why I had to create the hearts for them, as foci for their power."
"Okay," Sunset said when he didn't continue, "but why make them feed on negative energy?"
"You must understand, this was back when I was just Star Swirl the Peach-Fuzzed," he said, prompting Twilight to stuff a hoof in her mouth to stifle a laugh. "I was young and foalish, and as they say, the chains of Tartarus are forged from good intentions. I designed the sirens intending them to feed on the latent negative energy in the world, draining it away and leaving everypony happier." He paused. "Obviously, that is not what happened. Aria decided that she wasn't content being what she termed a scavenger. She was the one who discovered that the same magic they used to drain negative feelings could also be used to strengthen them, providing more for them to feed on. Adagio took the lead and they quickly grew out of control, becoming stronger and stronger as they were able to make ponies produce more and more negative energy."
Star Swirl sighed heavily. "I wanted to make the world better, and instead I unleashed even more monsters upon it. I finally had to step in myself and banish them, but now you tell me that even that didn't work. I thought that, in a mundane world, they'd become mundane creatures themselves. I was certain that their hearts would become no more than jewelry, and their bodies would survive on ordinary food."
"Is it possible to use metamagic to change how they feed?" Twilight asked. "If they couldn't use negative energy anymore, they'd have no reason to keep doing this."
"Perhaps," Star Swirl said, "but I would have to alter their biology on a fundamental level. They wouldn't be themselves anymore. That is something that I will not do."
"So what can we do?" Rainbow asked.
Instead of answering, Star Swirl pawed at the ground. After a moment, he looked Twilight in the eye. "Where are the sirens now?"
"Still in the human world," Twilight answered. "They don't know where the portal is, or else they don't think they're strong enough to try taking over Equestria again."
"These fillies need a stern talking-to from their old stallion," Star Swirl declared. "Take me to them."