The halls of Canterlot palace were brightly lit, as always, illumination spilling forth from the various arrow slits and turrets. Despite the late hour, the grounds around the castle were almost as bright as day as Celestia, Luna, and Twilight followed the path through the palace gardens. The Princess had agreed to meet with Twilight Sparkle as soon as she had received her letter from Spike. If what Twilight suspected were true, all Equestria could once again be in peril. For much the same reason, the Princess Luna had insisted that she come with her sister and her favorite student. If Discord were loose again, Celestia and Luna’s combined power might be just enough to allow Twilight and her friends time to gather the Elements of Harmony to seal away the Lord of Chaos once more.
However, as the three powerful pony’s drew closer to their destination, it was not dread that filled them, rather it was confusion. “I do not profess to be an expert on the subject, exalted sister, but it seems to us that the fel beast is still very much inert.” This was from Luna. She still slipped into royal Canterlot speech that had ceased to be common place some hundred years ago, though her control of volume was much improved of late. Despite her archaic mode of expression, her summation was still entirely correct. Frozen in a pose of surprise and indignation, Discord, master of infinite chaos and strife, was as cold and stony as he had been for thousands of years.
“But that doesn’t make sense. As Twilight has pointed out, there has not been a pony magician powerful enough to render the inanimate anthropomorphous since Starswirl the Bearded! If her doll truly has come to life, as she suspects, the only being capable of such a spell, other than myself and you sister, is this being!” The Princess of the sun looked over the statue, analyzing it carefully with not just her eyes, but her own considerable magic. Yet nothing seemed to be amiss. Even Twilight could tell that the presence that was Discord still resided deep within the statue, subdued and bound tightly by the Magic of Friendship.
Twilight just hung her head. “I’m sorry Princess, I thought for sure that this problem was a product of Discord. It’s clear I was wrong.” She lay one hoof against the statue and felt a slight tingle of magic, but no more than that. “I’m sorry I wasted your time.”
“Nonsense Twilight,” spoke Princess Luna. “It is good of you to be so vigilant. Though Discord appears not to have been the cause of your friends woe, he most easily could have been the culprit were he not so expertly bound by your powerful friendship. Were he to break free again...without our knowledge..” Even Luna shuddered slightly at the thought.
“Quite right sister.” added Celestia. “Come Twilight...we’ll discuss what other cause there may be for this phenomena in our study over some hot tea.” As the Princesses turned to depart Twilight moved to follow, but paused in mid canter as she heard a strange noise just on the edge of her hearing. A sonorous laugh, rich and deep, vibrated her very bones. The Princess’s didn’t seem to notice, both were already well down the path back to the Palace. Twilight Sparkle turned back to the statue. The eyes that had previously been frozen seemed to be looking straight at her, spirals spinning in empty sockets.
“Oh, don’t mind me Twilight. Run along with the Princess’s and have your little tea party.” The statue’s mouth was frozen just as before, but the words vibrated inside Twilight’s skull all the same.
“So it IS you. I was right!” Twilight spoke in hushed tones, equal parts fear and triumph. Her eyes locked with the malevolent orbs staring her down.
“Not at all Twilight. Or rather you’re only half right. But then I suppose that’s to be expected.” The voice of Discord paused, as if pondering something before he continued. Then he sighed heavily. “Oh, I was expecting you to say ‘You’ll never get away with it’ there. Too intimidated for the usual cliche’s my little pony?”
Twilight shook her head. “No...I was just waiting for you to tell me your plot in a dramatic monologue before saying that.”
“But that’s so predictable! You pony’s really don’t understand the gifts I’m offering you. Freedom from this mundane existence of cause and effect! Just for fun, why don’t we try having the cause before the effect for a change?” Discord’s eyes blazed two different colors as a spark of magic erupted in the world.
“You’ll never get away with this Discord!” Shouted Twilight, steeling herself for whatever magic the statue was about to unleash, sure in the knowledge that it would alert the Princess’s to this monsters awakening. Yet as soon as the words left her mouth, the magic ceased to exist. It was extinguished in such a manner as if it had never existed.
“Is something wrong Twilight?” Princess Celestia called from down the garden path. The statue was exactly as it had been before. Not a single second had passed from the moment Twilight had heard Discord’s laughter in her head to the present. The unicorn shook her head as if trying to clear away cobwebs.
“No, everything is fine. I just.. I thought I heard something, that’s all.” She trotted after her teacher. A pair of mismatched eyes watched her go.
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“We have to leave now!” Her words were fervent, passionate in his ear. She was so close to him that he could feel the heat radiating from every inch of her body. She was warmer than the golden sun and her eyes shone brighter than the morning dew on the grass. Smarty...why did it have to be this way? She nudged him out of the barn, coming out after him and trying to lead him down the road away from the farm. Big Mac hesitated.
“Smarty...ah know what yer thinkin’, but ya haf ta listen ta me. This is mah family were talkin’ about here. Even if they can’t accept ya, I can’t rightly abandon them. They need me.” The farm pony stood his ground, his chin more firmly set than his resolve.
“More than I need you?” Her words cut straight to his heart. She could see it in his face. “I wouldn’t ask you to do this if I didn’t think it was the only way Macintosh. I know how much your family mean to you, but they will never let us be together. If we don’t leave now, before your sisters friend comes back, I don’t know what I’m going to do.” She tried to trot further down the road, but Big Mac still would not budge.
“What’s so dangerous about Twilight Sparkle, Smarty? Why are ya so afraid of that filly?” Smarty whirled on the red stallion, eyes burning with power.
“I am NOT afraid of her. If she comes anywhere near me again, I will prove that beyond a shadow of a doubt!” Seeing the sudden fear in her lovers eyes, Smarty seemed to bank the fires of her rage. “But it is true that she’s the only pony that can...can make me leave. She will too. Whenever she was...done with me...she would always make sure to lock me away. She thought she was keeping me safe, but in truth she was only keeping me alone in the dark...for so long.” She was shivering now, as though the memory itself were enough to chill her to the bone. Before he realized what he was doing, Big Mac had wrapped his arms around her, cradling her to his chest as he had done when she was still just a rag doll. She burrowed into his chest, a dampness that, could only be tears, soaking into the soft fur on his broad chest.
“That’s quite the sob story ya’ve got there sister. But I ain’t buyin’ it.” Neither Big Mac nor Smarty had noticed Applejack in the shadow of the trees. The bags under her eyes were a testament to how long she had been waiting there. A quite rage radiated from her in waves. “Ya really took my brother in, didn’t ya? The poor little doll, all alone, no one to love her and no one who cares. Tell me somethin’ rag doll.. When exactly did ya have a chance to make all these wonderful memories with the fluff that was crammed in yer noggin? Is he suppose’d to believe ya had memories and feelin’s before ya even had a pulse?”
Smarty suddenly pulled away, the look on her face one of unmitigated shock. Her mismatched eyes were wide as she stared at Applejack. “What... What are you talking about?”
“I’m sayin’ your sellin’ my brother a load of horseapples! Those memories of yore’s are about as real as Granny Smith’s wooden teeth!” Applejack growled as she moved out of the shadows, stalking slowly towards Smarty and Big Mac. “Yer just a parasite, feedin’ on my brothers love! Taking advantage of his soft heart and good nature. Well let me tell ya somethin’ missy, that ain’t gonna fly with me! You don’t steal from the Apple Family... Not food, not land and definitely not love!” Applejack charged suddenly, knocking Smarty into the dirt before either she or Big Mac could so much as blink. Smarty looked up at the golden haired earth pony that stood before her. Her eyes began to glow a deep crimson.
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The night melted away. Twilight must have slept at some point, but she couldn’t remember when. She also didn’t remember how she had found herself back in Applejack’s orchard. Slowly the gap between her memories closed. She remembered having tea with the Princess’s and deciding that the pony bedeviling the Apple Family must have had a unicorn friend nearby to help her seem to perform magic. Why she would make the claim to be a rag doll wasn’t anything any of them could seem to explain, but they had decided the existence of a secret unicorn helper would be the most likely explanation for an Earth Pony claiming, and appearing, to know magic.
She was on her way to tell Applejack just that when her mind had started to wander. She happily trotted through the morning breeze, the fragrant smell of the apple trees dancing on the wind. That’s when she heard it again...or was this the first time? A deep chuckle was also carried on the wind. Twilight Sparkle froze, listening intently with all her senses. There...in the darkness just below the trees, she could feel a presence she knew all too well. “Discord. So it IS you. I was right.”
“Not at all Twilight. Or rather you’re only half right. But then I suppose that’s to be expected.” The words seemed to vibrate in Twilight’s very bones.
“You’ll never get away with this!”
“Hmm? Get away with what?” The voice sounded truly puzzled.
“You know...making Big Mac fall in love with a doll. Ruining life on the Apple Farm and sowing the seeds of chaos in Ponyville so that you can break free to terrorize all of Equestria once more!”
There was a pause. “Oh my, Twilight, that’s a splendid idea! Why it makes me wish I’d thought of it myself! Sadly no. No, it would be wrong of me to take credit for your work. I can see why Celestia likes you so much...you truly are a gifted thinker!”
Twilight’s brow wrinkled as she tried to keep up with the conversation. “You mean...you’re not responsible for Smarty?”
“Not at all Twilight. Though as I said, you’re half right.” The voice of Discord thrummed in her head. “You see, it takes two to tango Twilight. Oh, a little of my chaos might still be loose in the world, enough to give a doll the shape and form of a living, breathing pony. But it was your magic that put all of this into motion, your feelings.” She could feel Discord’s presence weighing down on her. She could almost feel his claws digging into her shoulders as the voice went on. “What were you feeling when you made every pony in Ponyville fall in love with that doll? Abandoned by your friends? Fear of your teachers disapproval? Shame? Paranoia?” Twilight cringed. Truth be told, she didn’t clearly remember that day...her mind had been elsewhere. “Oh my dear Twilight Sparkle. Nothing is quite as chaotic as a young filly’s heart. You can blame me for creating Smarty if you want, but if I am the father, then you are her mother. But I think, perhaps, you already knew that.”
Twilight shook from head to hoof as if she were trying to shake off the clinging shadow. “Fine. I accept I might have been partially responsible, okay!? But if you’re not the one pulling Smarty’s strings, then who is?” Silence was all that answered Twilight Sparkle. She looked around, birds were chirping, the breeze felt wonderful through her mane. It was a beautiful morning. She had the oddest feeling she'd just been talking to somepony, but who could she possibly be talking to way out here? As she tried to sort her thoughts a pillar of light pierced the heavens on the horizon, and she could feel the wave of destructive magic washing over her from where she stood, almost a mile away. She was gone in a flash.
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“Who are you to question my memories? Who are you to call me a liar!? You don’t even know me!!!” A magical wind whipped from the fallen grey pony. A palpable aura of power surged from Smarty Pants as magic crackled, vaporizing each mote of dust that caked her flanks in an instant.
“Oh, I’m sorry, I completely forgot ta introduce mahself to the thievin’ little hussy snuggling up ta my brother! Names Applejack! Oh, and if’n yer plannin' on livin’ up to yer name, Smarty, I think ya best run off like ya’ve been doin’ for the last few weeks. But ya aint’...” Applejack leaned down close, so she was eye to eye with the magical pony, “Takin’...Mah...BROTHER!” Power blazed in Smarty’s eyes as an invisible wave of force tore out from her and sent Applejack flying back under the trees, where she just barely managed to land on her hooves.
Smarty slowly stood, shaking, but this time it was not from her memories, be they real or fake, but from another emotion she had only recently discovered. “I’m not running. I was going to, but you know what? I think I’m going to stay right here. You on the other hoof? You can go Applejack. Right now.” All the magic drained from her then, all the power, but only part of the rage. “I know how much you must love him, but no matter how much your brother means to you...he means so much more to me. Please, just leave us alone.”
“No chance, no how little filly! You started this, but Ah aim to finish it. You’re call, you can leave here whole or in pieces, it don’t make a lick of difference ta me!” Applejack charged again, faster than Big Mac had ever seen her move, faster than his eyes could easily follow. But this time when she slammed into Smarty, it was like she hit a brick wall. Smarty’s eyes shone brighter than the sun.
“No.” The pillar of light that engulfed Applejack was blinding. The farm pony was only a shadow in the column of burning energy. A loud cry of “NO!” was the only sound other than the sizzle as the very air was burned away, but if it came from Applejack, Big Mac, or somepony else, it was hard to say. In the very next instance a peel of thunder shook the world loud enough to send all the birds clawing desperately for the sky for miles around. When the spots finally cleared from Big Mac’s eyes, the place where his sister had been standing was nothing but a smouldering circle and a blackened hat. Tears filled his eyes. But then, not but a few yards away laying on her side, he spotted her.
Twilight Sparkle crouched protectively over Applejack, a gentle light emanating from her horn as she stared at the pony who claimed to have once been her rag doll. Applejack was frazzled somewhat, the product of being sent flying through the air so fast that air friction had singed her fur. Without thinking, Macintosh ran to his sisters side and called her name, asking her if she were okay. Applejack coughed, her eyelids fluttered, opening slightly. Her hair was completely dry, crisp to the touch, but Twilight’s intervention had stopped her from being sent flying to Cloudsdale. The wallop of magic had still knocked the breath, and a lot of the fight, out of her.
“How dare you.” Twilight Sparkles voice was low, but dripping with venom. “These are my friends. How dare you come into their lives...and treat them like...like...”
“Like dolls?” Asked Smarty Pants. “Oh I don’t know Twilight, maybe it’s because that’s how I’ve always been treated? Maybe because you were a lousy owner? And a worse mother.” Smarty Pant’s grinned, her mouth pulling back into such a grimace of madness as to make even Twilight blink in confusion. “Give me a break. Are you really going to get so upset because I decided to throw away one of your little toys? Like she really matters to you. Like you really care about any of them. The truth is, Twilight Sparkle, you’ll treat them all exactly how you treated me. When you get tired of them, you’ll just put them away and pretend they never existed. You’ll only bring out your friends when it suites your own ends.”
“That’s not true!” Twilight Sparkle made sure to put herself between her friends and the child of magic. “Applejack is my friend! You... you are just a monster who should have never been born!”
“That hurts mom, it really does. Except your anger is about as believable as your concern for your friend there. She’s just a book who’s spines been a little cracked. If she’d been completely broken, would you still be calling me a monster? Would you even care?” Just like that, waves of magic surged from both pony’s. Whatever the spells had originally been meant to be dissolved into a ball of chaos halfway between them. Life bloomed and died, faster than the mind could comprehend, the spells evaporating each other until not even air was left. A peel of thunder echoed once more across the orchard as the air rushed to fill the resultant vacuum.
“You’re just a puppet, nothing more.”
“Hah! Pot, meet kettle!”
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Big Mac could barely follow what was going on. He had never seen Smarty like this. She was a completely different pony. There was so much anger, and so much hopelessness, in her face. It was like she was goading Twilight into fighting her. He still couldn’t believe that the sweet, innocent little filly had been able to send his sister flying like that. As the two magical pony’s fought, he made sure Applejack was comfortable. He could feel her muscles strain under her skin as she tried to get back on her hooves, but with a gentle nudge he held her down.
“No gettin’ up little sis. Ya’ve done enough. Let me an’ Twilight handle this.” He turned to head towards the battle, to see if there was anything he could do to calm the warring ponies. His sisters hoof caught him though, and he turned back to her. Still smoking slightly from air friction, her mane had come unbound from it’s band and splayed out on the ground around her head.
“Big Mac.. Ah want ya to know.. I love you.” The red stallion ruffled his sisters mane like he had when she was a little filly.
“Ah know that, silly.” Applejack shook off his hoof and got up quick as a flash.
“No, you don’t.” Suddenly her mouth was against his. She kissed him with a passion he’d never expected. Even Smarty had never kissed him like this. He blinked and pulled away from his sister, hoping no one else had seen. “ I love you Macintosh. Ah always have.” About that time Twilight Sparkle was sent flying overhead to land in a sprawl next to the Apple siblings. It was doubtful she had seen Big Mac and Applejack kiss, but Smarty certainly had.
“So that’s how it is!? For all your talk about stealing...hah....it’s because you know he’ll never love you the way he loves me!” The somewhat demented pony had undergone a transformation in the last few moments. As she had expended magic on fighting Twilight, badly sown seems had begun to appear all over Smarty’s body. Stuffing showed, spilling out of her body here and there. Where her eyes had been there were now only two buttons, one drooping ever so slightly held on by a tattered thread, yet they still managed to show a spark of life and anger that buttons simply should not possess. “How does it feel to be jealous of a doll!?”
Applejack looked on what was left of Smarty with pity. “It feels bad. It feels.. Horrible. It must be how you’ve felt ever since ya laid eyes on him. Knowin’ ya can’t ever have him, no matter how much ya want him. The truth hurts.” She looked at her brother lovingly, yet all she saw in his eyes was doubt, and maybe a little bit of disgust. She looked back at her rival. “Smarty, yer comin’ apart at the seams!” It was true. The illusion was gone. The magic that had been able to fool not just the ponies senses, but the senses of the universe at large was unraveling quickly.
“I don’t care... It’s enough... Enough for me.” She struggled on, as the magic leaked from her uncontrollably “That you won’t have him, that he’ll always love me, even when I’m gone. He will always love me, always remember me... and NEVER YOU!” The words choked forth in a mixture of futile rage and triumphant sorrow. As she spoke, the stitching around her mouth broke apart and a ball of destructive magic surged towards Applejack. Just before it would have engulfed her, Big Mac stood in the way. The dancing greenish flames surrounded him and sent him falling to the ground at his sisters feet.
“No!” cried Smarty and Applejack in unison. Both went to Big Mac’s side...the smoke billowed from the ragged hole in his chest as blood slowly seeped into the dust beneath him, turning the earth into a rich, ruddy mud. Applejack and Smarty both wrapped their arms around him, but it was no good, he was fading fast.
“I didn’t mean to, I didn’t mean to! I’d never hurt him! I wasn’t even trying to hurt you the power just... Slipped out!”
“He’s losin’ a lot of blood.” Applejack tried to staunch the flow with her hoof, but the crimson flow just kept dribbling down his chest.
“We have to get him a doctor, fast!”
“There’s no time, get Twilight, she’ll know what ta do!” Both ponies looked around frantically, but Twilight Sparkle was still sprawled where she had fallen, dazed. There would be no help from the unicorn for another few minutes yet. Smarty locked eyes with Applejack. Where there had been anger and resentment between the two before, now there was nothing but fear and a growing sadness.
“Promise me you’ll let him fall in love with someone else.”
“What...?”
“I said promise me! You can't keep him for yourself...stop trying!” Smarty was little more than a pony sized ragged doll now. Almost all her stitching had come loose and the magic around her was slowly fading. Applejack looked into her lustrous button eyes and saw something there she hadn’t expected. It was a look that would haunt her dreams.
“Ah promise.” With that Smarty wrapped her body around Big Mac like a blanket as the last of her stitching came apart. There was a flash, a moment lost in time, when it looked like what was left of her mouth was pressed against his. Then it was over as swiftly as it had begun. Macintosh coughed loudly, but the flow of blood had stopped. A little grey patch of material very warm, and much like flesh to the touch, covered the hole over his heart. He opened his eyes just long enough to smile dreamily at his sister before falling into a deep sleep.
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A few days had passed since then. Twilight Sparkle was back at Sweet Apple Acres. Though it was clear there was still a lot of work to do, you could see signs that the Apple Family were making progress towards some sense of order. It was a amazing considering Big Mac was still laid up, but Applejack had friends like Twilight and Rainbow Dash to help her until he was back on his hooves. Even now, Twilight could see the energetic young flier out in the fields, zipping about the orchard doing chores as fast as the pony could clear clouds from a gloomy sky. She’d be done with her work in ten seconds flat!
Twilight found Applejack taking a breather in the shade of her porch. “Hey Applejack! How’s Big Macintosh doing today?” After everything that happened, Big Mac had still been pretty badly injured. Smarty’s sacrifice and Twilight’s magic could only help the stallion so much. When the pony paramedics had at last arrived they managed to get him stable. Fortunately, the worst of it had been blood loss, but there had been other problems as well.
“Oh, better than he was. He still doesn’t remember much from the past few weeks... Though there are some things he does remember that I wish he didn’t.” Applejack blushed furiously. “Ah’m afraid things are gonna be a bit awkward between him and me.”
Twilight blushed in sympathy with her friend. She hadn’t actually seen the kiss that the siblings had apparently shared, but Applejack had confided in her after she had regained her senses. “Are...are you two? Um...”
“No Twilight. We’re not and we probably never will be. Smarty was right about one thing at least... I was comin’ from a place of jealousy when it came to her and my brother. He loves me ah course, like any brother loves his sister. An’ that's enough for me. It has tah be.” Applejack eyes misted up a bit, but she didn’t cry. Applejack was too tough a pony for that. “But enough about that. Have ya been able to find out anything else about what might have caused all this?”
“Well, after having analyzed the fabric bandage,” Twilight began, “it certainly is the same type and age the material should be if it came from my Smarty Pants doll. As to the magical composition, I’m sorry to say that I was only able to detect fragments of old and new spells that were cast by me. It would seem the mixture of spells is what gave rise to the being known as Smarty. She was the daughter of my magic.” Twilight paused. “You can blame me for all this trouble if you want Applejack. The truth is it’s all my fault, every last bit of it.”
“Nonsense Twi. Ya didn’t have any more control over the situation than Ah did, and ya sure helped a lot more than Ah could have. Ah heard a lot of what Smarty was sayin’ about you, and how ya treat yer friends. Ah got to thinkin’ about it and yeah, maybe sometimes ya can be a little stand offish, a little cool to us. But ya just ain’t one to abandon yer friends, no matter what! Don't let her words get tah ya when their ain't no truth to 'em.” The farm pony gave a little twitch that could have been a wink.
Twilight smiled at her friend and thanked her. The two ponies went into the farm house for some fresh pressed cider and other apple treats, talking quietly of the Apple Farm, Big Mac, and about a rag doll who had briefly loved him. They paused in their gossip to play with little Applebloom. None of them noticed the pair of eyes that watched them from high in the farms eaves, eyes ever spiraling with madness.
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Epilogue:
It was night again. Twilight had long since gone home...it was time to check up on her big brother. Applejack opened the door to his bedroom quietly, just in case he was still asleep. Big Mac was indeed in bed, but he was sitting up, staring at the stars out his window. When his sister came into the room, he glanced over to her and started to speak. His voice was drowsy, "Ah had the dream again sis. About a grey filly beneath apple trees in full bloom. Are ya sure it's no pony I've ever met before?"
He watched as his sister made a strange face, then answered, "Well a course. Do ya really remember any pony like that? Yer just havin' night mare's...perfectly natural given how old ya are and that accident ya had." Her eyes were shifty, but Big Mac was too tired to think anything of it. He rolled over to go back to sleep, then a thought suddenly occurred to him.
"Ya know...ever since that basilisk bit me, Ah've been havin' another dream too. That you and Ah...we kissed." He blushed, ashamed at just mentioning such a lewd dream about his little sister. Applejack didn’t seem to mind though. She just smiled.
"Well now ya know yer just bein' silly Big Mac! We'd never kiss, even in yer dreams lover boy!" She laughed cheerfully, but not with her eyes. "But even so, ain't nothin' more natural than a brother showin' the sister who's takin' care of him some affection.” She pulled the blanket her brother was beneath up over his shoulder and gave him a little peck on the cheek “Nothin' more natural at all..." The same twitch that overcame her face while she was talking to Twilight Sparkle came back to Applejack's face. Neither the now sleeping Big Mac nor his sister could hear it. But somewhere, a deep voice boomed with laughter.