• Published 14th Mar 2012
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Learning ABCs - Adorable, Bothersome, Chaotic - Isopod



Twilight unwillingly starts seeing something more that just chaos in a certain Draconequus.

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11) Weird Day

"Snow!"

The astounded gasp of the small dragon echoed through the library and its denizens gathered at the window.

"What say you?! My beloved snow has fallen?!"

"Discord, you better not have had anything to do with this!"

"If I had, the snow would pile up in a second, dear. No, this is the surprising work of nature itself!"

Spike, Twilight and Discord had all stared in astonishment as the thin white curtain covered most of the ponyville during the early morning hours but it didn't look like it was going to stop anytime soon. Though it was likely not going to last for long, the first snow came much too early this year.

For a day, though, it seemed it was going to be the middle of the winter, because the white curtain just kept getting thicker and the air kept getting colder.

"Wow, I can't wait to go out and build a snowpony!" Spike excitedly said, watching as the snow nearly reached the sill of their window. The Spirit wasn't satisfied with just watching the flakes, so he transported outside. It didn't took him long before he popped right back in, stuttering: "I-it's f-f-f-freezing out there!"

"No way!" Twilight replied sarcastically, only to realize the Spirit was dead serious. "Discord, what, if I may know, did you expect?"

"Certainly not that it will be that cold!" The Spirit grabbed little dragon and approached the fireplace with him - he pulled on his tail which, surprisingly, produced a flame strong enough to start a fire but also earned him quite a glare.

"You can use your magic for that too, can't you?" Spike, massaging his aching tail.

"Nah, Celestia didn't give me that power - she obviously thinks I might start a forest fire or something."

Gee, I wonder why.

"Have you never been on the snow?"

The Spirit looked at her strangely. "Never without using a spell that wouldn't cause me to freeze to death! My, so covering that village in 3 meters tall snow was probably quite mean of me."

"Yes, yes it was." Twilight confirmed as she sighed.

"But how will I go out then? I'll freeze!"

"Hmm, I may have a scarf and pair of gloves extra for you."

"Ooh, goodie! Let's get dressed and head into an adventure, then!" The Spirit happily flew around the library. Standing next to equally confused Twilight, Spike asked: "Any idea why is he so excited?"

"Beats me. Since I don't know him that well, my only guess is that it's been a while."

"Oh." Spike fell silent as Twilight searched through her closet for the winter clothing. "Is it just me, or has Discord been missing out on a lot because of his ways?"

"Huh, now that you mention it..." she glanced again at the Spirit who impatiently tapped his hoof on the floor. "Probably."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

When they finally emerged into a snowy afternoon, the Spirit all but giggled from excitement. He flew up to one roof and, just as Twilight was wondering what was he up to, she noticed somepony leaving the house that Discord sat on so conveniently. She wanted to warn the stallion but it was too late - in the next moment, a whole bunch of snow fell on him. The stallion's head remained out and for a second he seemed a bit shocked. Twilight was already preparing an apologetic speech but as the stallion freed himself of snow, he looked up just in time to see Discord flying off, laughing maniacally, let out an 'oh' as he just realized something and laughed, leaving without another word.

"That's it? An 'oh'? Isn't he upset?"

"I guess he realized it was an innocent prank."

"What does that change? It's still Discord!"

"Spike, don't you see? This is good! He is getting accepted! Stop being such a Rainbow Dash and don't judge him all the time."

"Well... he has been behaving pretty nice lately... in fact, wasn't he talking with Fluttershy just the other day on Pinkie's party?"

"Yes, isn't that amazing? I can't wait to see her, I have to ask her about it!"

"Alright, I'll try to get along." Spike said, though pretty unwillingly.

"Let's build a snow pony!" Discord suddenly popped in front of them.

"Fine, fine - let's go to the park, we'll have both a lot of snow and supplies there!"

The three made their way through the city. Discord was constantly making snowballs and shoving them in the coats of unsuspecting ponies. Most of them didn't appreciate that. It was chilly enough as it was, and they still weren't used to the sudden winter that enveloped Ponyville.

"Hey Twilight Sparkle, think fast!"

"Huh?"

She wasn't thinking fast; thus earning a snowball into her face. She shook it off. "My, that is cold! Cut it off, we can play when we reach the park."

"Come now, Twilight Sparkle," Discord got closer to her, "don't be such an ice queen!" And with those words caused snow from a nearby roof to fall on her. The pun sent both him and Spike into hysterics. Twilight barely got out of the huge bunch of snow.

"Oh ha, ha, ha." She rolled her eyes. She for one wasn't particularly fond of snow. It made a beautiful scenery but was impractical on just about every level.

The moment the got to the part, the idea of building a snow pony was forgotten as Discord instantly started an all out snowball war with every single pony present and the number wasn't to be neglected. Most of the ponies agreed it is the payback time for everything he'd done; naturally, all through good fun.

Discord had to agree this wasn't quite going as he planned. Soon, he was mostly covered from head to toe in bit of snow and he realized a bit later he couldn't even fly well because his wings froze underneath the heavy impact of many snowballs coming his way. Once he finally landed, it took citizens of Ponyville a minute or two to completely bury him. Exactly the opportunity Cutie Mark Crusaders decided to use as they climbed the small snow hill underneath which Discord was buried.

"Cutie Mark Crusaders claim this hill as their kill!" They joked, causing the light hearted laughter to spread among the ponies. What nopony expected was Discord suddenly bursting through the snow straight up and grabbing the three fillies as he yelled out in the silliest possible "monstrous" voice:

"I'm going to eat you~~"

It caused a huge game of tag.

Meanwhile, Spike tried to pick up Twilight's jaw from the ground. "I know Twilight; it is pretty shocking."

"They are playing." Twilight managed, her pupils the size of sand grains.

"Yes, they are. It is pretty creepy now that I think about it." Spike noticed.

Twilight looked at the sky. Spike didn't know why but he had a feeling she hoped to find some answer to all this awkwardness up there.

"Twilight Sparkle, Dragonboy; why in the name of everything chaotic are you not playing?!"

"Huh?"

Cutie Mark Crusaders jumped at Twilight, them apparently being the 'it' together.

"We got you; now we'll eat you!" With those words, three little fillies started to gently gnaw on her neck and mane, causing a series of tickling sensations and throwing Twilight into a laughing fit.

Spike could hardly believe the scene in front of himself. "This day is so weird."

After a moment of silence, he pulled a camera out of nowhere and started taking pictures. "Hmm..." he looked curiously around, thinking. Taking pictures will be a good way... yes, and it would also be fun.

After being gnawed to death, Twilight could barely breathe.

"Alright, alright, you win, just please enough; don't you know it is possible to die laughing?"

"Then that must be the best death in the whole world!" The Spirit added in as he slithered next to them. "Good job, my little minions; now let us gnaw on some other unsuspecting pony... like Bon Bon and Lyra!!" He yelled out as loud as possible; the two ponies that were until then hiding in the privacy of a snow covered bush squealed in feigned fear and ran as fast as possible when the Cutie Mark Crusaders ran through the deep snow towards them.

Discord was laughing out of pure delight. "Those fillies are adorable!" He actually embraced his own body in the heat of the moment. He embraced himself. Spike took another memorable shot of Discord doing that and another one of Twilight, dropping her jaw.

"Oh, oh!" Discord noticed Spike's camera and immediately grabbed Twilight. "Take a photo of this!" Then cradled her as if she were a baby. Needless to say, the unicorn wasn't happy with that and she tried to get away.

"Oh, please! There is no way I'm-!"

"Hold still!"

"I won't let youuuu[iwooow!" They lost their balance and fell into the snow. Or better said, Discord fell through, leaving nothing but big hole in shape of his body, while Twilight stood on his chest.

"Sorry!" Twilight said through a grin. "Are you alright?"

"Oh, I'm fine--" He suddenly tugged on her, pulling her down into the deep hole of snow he was in and held her in place so she wouldn't get up.

"What in the world are you--"

"Shh! I have a great trick up my sleeve!" The draconequus clicked his finger - in the next moment, he was sitting on a tree, holding her in his arms. Through the branches, Twilight could see they were close by, as Spike was staring into Discord shaped hole with surprise.

"Twilight?" she heard him calling, worry in his voice.

"Oh Discord, that is so mean! He'll think you did something to me."

"If I wanted to, I would've done it a long time ago, don't you think?" He noticed with a playful smile and promptly melted something inside of her.

"I guess so."

"Now let's scare every scale off his body. This time, it's your turn."

"I don't know how to scare anypony!" Twilight protested but he would have none of that, a devilish glint in his eyes.

"There's a first time for everything, my dear. Just 'boo' him, it's an easy start." He quietly flew to the ground, putting her down. They both sneaked to the small dragon, Twilight coming right behind him as Spike still stared into the hole, confused. Twilight gave one last insecure look to the Spirit, who gestured with his hand for her to hurry.

Twilight took a big breath.

"BOO!"

"AEEGH!" Spike let out a weird, high pitched scream before falling into the hole, in the process accidentally taking about three photos in a row.

Twilight had to admit there was something quite delightful in doing this. There was a sort of adrenaline based enjoyment in sneaking around and catching unsuspecting ponies unprepared.

"That was brilliant, my dear! You're a fast learner!"

"Very funny, you guys! You almost scared me to death!"

Twilight was about to say something when she felt a poke on her back. She turned around to face a certain cyan Pegasus.

"Rainbow Dash, hi!" She blurted out, surprised - she didn't expect her to approach her with Discord around.

"I thought I might come and say hello." Dash replied with a smile but not as confident as she usually was. Probably because of the Spirit's presence.

"Dash? Dash, is that you?"

"Spike? What are you doing down here?"

In the moments Dash spent getting Spike out, Discord's and Twilight's eyes met, both thinking about the same stubborn mare in front of them. Twilight silently pleaded him for something, he got that. For what was she pleading exactly, he didn't quite know, since the Rainbow maned Pegasus was always hostile to him, rather than other way around.

Still, he didn't feel like ruining the fun day.

"Oh, hello Rainbow Dash; you know, we never got to settle that race - how about we do it now?"

Dash looked a bit stunned for a moment but then replied with the best smile she could manage:

"You're on, Discord. And we're starting... now!" With those words Rainbow Dash swiftly flew into the air but her element of surprise didn't work on the Spirit who was just as equally eager to win. Soon, the two blurs were flying in circles around the park in great speed.

"Wow, I didn't know Discord was that fast!" Spike noticed. Suddenly the two flew up above the clouds and they couldn't see them anymore.

"Well, no sense in waiting for them, they'll probably take a while to f- Spike, run!"

"What?" Spike wasn't fast enough to escape the gnawing attack of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Twilight took the matter of photographing into her own hooves this time.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Discord and Rainbow Dash flew shoulder to shoulder, practically touching as they rose higher and higher into the cold snowy air. Once they reached the space above the snowing clouds, and felt warmth on their wings, Rainbow Dash suddenly slowed down, causing the surprised Spirit to do so as well. She landed on a nearby cloud, eyeing him carefully.

"OK, Discord... what is this all about?"

"Well this is a convenient location for us to talk in private and settle our differences, made possible by our love of competition... truly, such a cliche to be used in my own story is a bit disrespectful. I don't expect you to understand," he added, noticing the confusion, "but I guess my point is, you seem to want to talk. Was this not about a friendly race between rivals?"

"No way. I still don't believe you're all about fun and games. I've been watching you today--"

"Oh dear, now I know I've been charming ponies left and right but I have to disappoint you, for I truly do consider myself married to the playful mistress that is the Chaos, and-"

"Not like that, you mismatched schmuck!" Rainbow replied angrily on his teasing. "You usually don't act this way! I know you have some weird plan and I want to know it now!"

The smile was no longer on Spirit's face, not even an amused one. "Just what is your problem, Rainbow Dash?"

"My problem is you!"

"Yes, yes, spirit of Chaos, endangered your friends and all, so last year," he dismissed the obvious, "but I have been behaving so nicely lately, almost everypony practically likes to have me around and to be perfectly honest, I truly am enjoying myself about as much as I can as one your kind - but you insist on despising me. And I can tell it is not for who I am, it is something else that I have done. Something recent."

His entire speech seemed to have been the short of the pegasus' predicament, because he left her utterly speechless. She tried to hink of an answer, but only halfway stuttered a few unfinished words before the Spirit took over the conversation again.

"You, Rainbow Dash, are an Element of Loyalty. Being eternally loyal to your friends, you must have expected for them to be equally loyal to you. But," he made himself comfortable on the cloud, glancing at her cleverly "you didn't get your loyalty in return, am I right?"

2:0 for Spirit of Chaos, Discord thought with a smile as he watched the obviously horrified expression on her face.

"H-how-"

"How did I know?" Discord asked aloud. The he repeated, this time telling it more to himself: "How did I know, indeed... Well, to continue," he turned back to her again, "my best guess is that you, Rainbow Dash, are angry because you think I stole your friends."

And there it was - heavy blush on her face confirming everything he had said and suddenly the pegasus broke, angry, frustrated and shouting, much to the Spirits amusement.

"Yes, OK! You're right! To hay with it, you might as well know!" She was determined to put this whole mess behind her, barring her issues loud and clear and, if needed, making the Spirit pay for it. "First you convince Twilight that you're oh, so awesome, whereas she probably suffered the most by your flippin' chaos! Then it turns out you really are being pretty good to everypony and I don't understand why! I always thought you were doing it because you had a plan but you have no powers! You even managed to talk to Fluttershy without upsetting her, which is like, the darnest definite proof of you having changed, if only a little! Heck, you even save Twilight from the Ghastly Gorge, whereas you could've- you could've gotten rid of her and we would never know!"

She paused to take a breath.

"Rarity thinks better and better of you and Applejack who, trust me, thought of you about as much as I do right now, even told me about your little pie contest or whatever like it's the dandiest thing... They all act like every my suspicion of you is silly! They should support me!"

Again she paused but this time it was for a different reason, he realized as her eyes fell down.

"But what irritates me the most is--is--" She angrily kicked at a few clouds to let the steam out but as she sat down again, she didn't say anything. Discord's smile gone long ago.

"It is because of Pinkie Pie, is it not?"

Rainbow Dash angrily stood up and got into his face, surprising him.

"She talks about you all , all the time! We can't do a anything together without her mentioning just how awesome you and your pranks or dancing or whatnot is! Discord did this, Discord can do that-- Even when we're just hanging out in a park or something, she has to bring you up sooner or later, saying what a wonderful friend you have came to be!"

"Really? How nice of her!"

"You stole her for yourself!" Rainbow Dash ended. "I love all my friend but Pinkie is- she is- she could always... get me, better than anyone. And you took that away." She paused. "I can't stand it."

"Hmm, that is quite interesting you see. Pinkie Pie more than once told me of her regrets of not having you in my company." Rainbow blinked, astonished to hear that. "You're thinking too much about all this dear... or not enough. If we were to hang out together, you wouldn't have a problem listening about me all the time because you'd find out about it first hoof." There was something more to her attitude, Discord realized. "Pride, my dear, does not suit you well and jealousy is a nasty accessory." Spirit advised, then teased her: "Remember what happened with Mare-do-Well event?"

"You--! How do you--"

"I know many things Rainbow Dash, don't find it so surprising." He chuckled and got up. For a moment they just looked at each other.

"Discord, while I know honesty isn't exactly your thing, could you answer me a question?"

"I'll do my best not to lie but I might be lying right now."

Rainbow rolled her eyes.

"Well, let's put the card on the table then and I'll simply have to trust you. So... If you could, if you were the almighty blah blah and whatever again... what would you do?"

The Spirit opened his mouth instantly, reply already halfway formed, before he realized it wasn't the truth. It wasn't speaking the truth the he minded... it was the fact that the answer he prepared, the answer of +take over my rightful throne as the ruler of Equestria' wasn't true.

The simple truth was, actually...

"I don't know."

Rainbow observed him and finally, gave him a solidary nod.

"That is good enough for me." She got on her hooves and flew up slowly.

"We still have a race to finish." He heard her say. She turned around to him, her smile this time not competitive nor challenging nor wicked. It was friendly. Forgiving, almost. He wasn't sure if he was glad about it or not... but he didn't want to win that race.

"...Last one to catch the Dragonboy looses."

With those words, the two sped down from the clouds, both smiling.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Wow, I took so many awesome photos today, Twilight! This is going to make an awesome photo album!"

"... Spike, give me the camera."

"Why?"

"Quickly. Also, step aside a bit."

"Uh, OK. Oh, you want to take a photo of me? Right but wait till I strike a poooOOOOO-!!" Spike was simultaneously grabbed by a pair of hooves and pair of mismatched hands.

"I got him first!"

"Did not, you freaky liar!"

Twilight stared at the unusual scene in the snow. Rainbow Dash and Discord proceeded to have a friendly snowball fight.

"This day is getting weirder and weirder. Not that I complain." She added to herself when the two started laughing, enjoying each others company as well as their game.

Twilight stared some more.

Then she took a photo.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

There was probably nopony that hadn't visited the park that day. There was definitely nopony that left the park without a smile on their face.

Twilight and Spike spend much of the time taking turns in photographing other ponies and each other as they played. Applejack and Pinkie Pie definitely weren't the one to miss out on games in snow and even Rarity came out once she managed to pick a coat that was decent enough to wear out.

Twilight was wondering when Fluttershy would come, as she wanted to talk to her about Discord but Applejack was quick to remind her she was busy with keeping her animals warm and fed during the snowy weather.

Still, the timid Pegasus managed to find some time in the late afternoon, when she appeared flying over the park, careful about picking where should she land. Before she even managed to do that though, the Spirit hit her with a flying snowball, that properly made her land in the soft snow.

Twilight promptly ran up to her, expecting the very sensitive Pegasus to be hurt by his actions but she merely smiled.

"It's OK Twilight; it didn't hurt. Besides, I hardly believe he can help himself."

Of course she'd understand.

"Oh, good. I was worried you'd be unpleasantly surprised."

"Oh, no no no no, it is quite OK."

"Spike, would you mind grabbing the camera? I need to talk to Fluttershy."

"Oh? Is something the matter, Twilight?" Fluttershy asked as Spike went off to take a photo of Discord entertaining some fillies - specifically, by stealing Diamond Tiara's tiara and turning her mane into a bunch of green leaves.

"Nothing serious, don't worry; I was just wondering-- well, sorry for prying but I'm super curious about your conversation with Discord on the party the other day." Twilight ended shyly.

"Oh, well..." She glanced at the Spirit. "We didn't talk about anything special, really. About me, about that time back in the labyrinth; he was surprised I wasn't as easily corrupted; I didn't really want to talk about it but he just wanted to mention he was impressed by my strength." She blushed slightly. "Then we mostly talked about Ponyville. He seems to like it here, despite it being... well, as he put it 'pretty boring and regular place'. But he surprised me the most when he apologized for making a bunny stampede last time he got out."

"What, he did?"

"Yes, though not directly - he just said something about how it was really mean of him, in a pretty apologetic tone. I think he was trying to say 'sorry'"

"Wow."

" I know. And he seemed to have finally made friends with Rainbow Dash, too." Fluttershy noticed as Dash threw a well aimed snowball into his head - the shot was precise and strong enough to make him fall over, in process losing the tiara he levitated in the air.

"I don't know what happened during their race in the clouds, but they seemed to have finally made amends. I'm glad - Rainbow Dash was really getting very cranky."

"Well, I am not surprised... Rainbow Dash was- well, she kinda told me but didn't that she was feeling lonely. She avoided the subject but... but I think she was feeling left behind."

"Yeah... we should apologize to her... she probably didn't feel quite nice having been all by herself."

"True. We might as well do it later - she is having a good time now."

The two joined the snowy fun for the rest of the day. Twilight observed all the fillies that played around with Discord as if he were their best friend. The grown up mares and stallions weren't looking at him as worried or as mean as before.

He himself looked like he genuinely enjoyed.

She found herself wondering how could he possibly have enjoying himself so much and still think about taking over Equestria with his Chaos.

Well, whatever plan he has, she thought a bit sarcastically, it better be good for everyone.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Well, I suppose I should have expected you two would catch a cold."

"Now now dear, it is but a little snow. Nothing than can't be cured over nigh-ah-ah-choo!" The contents of his sneeze got shot right into the fireplace and turned the flames green for a couple of seconds, startling both the mare and the dragon.

"Given that that didn't look well - at all - I'll have to ask you to stay put for the night, anyway. Now sleep, both of you."

There was no need to say that twice - Spike didn't have anything against of sleeping by the fire and curled up comfortable and Discord, though he tried to protest, joined him soon enough, both of them absolutely worn out from a playful day. Once Twilight heard the pegasi would melt the snow the day after and once she warned them about it, Spike and Discord stayed out even during the evening, wanting to get the most out of the white day.

Before parting way, Rainbow Dash received apologies from her friends, which Rainbow eagerly accepted. While she did tell the Spirit she would still keep an eye for him, she did confide in her friend that 'he's not so bad I guess'. For Rainbow Dash, it was as good as it could get at that moment.

That night, Twilight fell asleep easily and dreamed of perfect future where she, her friends and Discord himself enjoyed the charms of Winter Wrap-Up.

A weird, hardly attainable dream but hey... It was a weird day.