After one week of starting his new hobby, Discord’s first episode of his new talk show and the premiere episode that dealt with the subject of Royalty was what and others would call, a success. In fact, Fluttershy earlier was just telling him how Twilight and the girls were thanking him for the amount of appreciation and praise they had been receiving in Ponyville… even if the amount of ponies trying to ask Twilight Sparkle for a job at her castle caught her completely by surprise. But it was shortly after the first episode went viral that he heard of reports in both the Crystal Empire and in Ponyville about something that fit along the lines of what his next episode was going to be on.
A little white birdie had told him that she wanted him to “find out more about the other species of Equestria”, even though she doubted that he would be able to find out more about any other species that could co-exist with Ponykind. Given this, when he looked at the same two reports on something that occurred in the Crystal Empire and in Ponyville, the Draconequus had found out about a changeling and a gryphon that were able to not only co-exist alongside ponykind, but also break the stereotypical mold of their own species.
This was going to be a fun episode, that was for sure.
Having everything in place and making sure that the sound barrier was in check along with his suit, he then had a small countdown of five seconds occur in his mind before he began to look into the camera and start the second episode. “Hello once again, Mares and Gentlecolts and welcome to Last Week Tonight, the show with the least amount of games being played and also with no thrones involved whatsoever. Tonight is a very special subject tonight because it is based on a small request that I had received shortly after the last episode went viral. Now, in order to protect that individual’s privacy, I’m going to give them a random nickname and refer them to it as such. So, somepony that goes by “Cae Cae” wanted me to look into the differences of other species and which ones can co-exist with ponies…… Or as I would like to call it… stereotypical myth busting.” A laugh track was followed by an image on the right side of the screen showing Twilight Sparkle in a lab jacket and some potions that ultimately exploded in her face.
“Now, let me ask you for your honest opinion on something… what is the first thing that comes to your mind when somepony mentions Gryphons or Changelings?” Various murmurs were heard. “With Gryphons, you think grouchy bird-cat creatures that love gold and the chance to make a few bits off of you, and with changelings, you think of this.” An image showed a changeling dressed up as a vampire, biting the exposed neck of some mare. “Not only are these too… extreme, but there are also some things involving certain species that just sound obscene. For example, changelings can only feed off of love and the entire concept makes it sounds like anything that comes out of Queen Chrysalis’ mouth is somehow a hidden innuendo.” Laughing crowd in the background before it slowly began to die down. “But, don't get me wrong, the Canterlot wedding was bad, I know because I was there… If you count being frozen as a statue inside Celestia’s rose garden being there in the moment.” More laughter.
“But I’ve done some research and after the Canterlot Wedding, there were a few weeks that the guards were putting up posters in which if they think somepony is a changeling to please contact them immediately. Yes… this is the same guard that have an academy best of 3/10 on the archery range and those same idiots in charge, put the entire city in a state of paranoia with these posters. What were they even trying to accomplish!?” The screen showed a soldier with crossed eyes and a speech bubble that read ‘I done a good thing’ and was followed by laughter. “And, thanks to that, everyone’s paranoid on who's a changeling and who's not, with more and more word about how they're evil when, in fact, they were trying to survive, and their queen wasn't invited before they were sent blasting off again into who knows where!”
Taking a moment to catch his breath, Discord soon got back to the main topic. “All of that speculation on changelings though has changed recently, no pun intended, because of a young changeling named Thorax and yes, I know what his name means and no, he’s not interested in a booty call.”
“You mean abdomen?” Someone in the audience asked.
“No, Thorax means butt.” Discord clarified. “Hence the joke… But in all seriousness, this changeling took everything that was previously known about changelings… and shattered all those stereotypes. He wasn’t mean, greedy or dressed up in a vampire outfit. He was just a starving changeling that wanted to find another way to feed his hive without stealing it from other ponies… and surprisingly, the ponies in the Crystal Empire, including both Cadence and Shining Armor, the same two ponies that had their wedding day crashed by Chrysalis… accepted him for who he was.”
A small sound of shock runs amongst the crowd as Discord let that information sink in. “I know… I was also surprised at this and recently, I was able to have a small chat with him about everything and there was one particular sentence that I’m going to mention here that is important. Listen to this…”
“I can understand ponies not trusting my kind, but we're just hungry, and I want to show my hive how we can love each other.”
Several ‘aww’ sounds were heard in the background along with seeing the image of Thorax when he finally was accepted into the empire. “O…… kay. When I first heard that sentence, I was really touched by what he had to say… but then the producer of the show mentioned to me the last three words of the sentence… and in my mind, it turned into an accidental innuendo. Dammit Chrysalis! Why!?”
More laughs followed suit as Discord was soon getting to his main point. “Now, despite what is commonly known about Changelings because of Chrysalis, our buddy Thorax proves to us that you can’t judge a book by it’s cover… which brings me to the second species involved in this subject… Gryphons. Or what you might know as the owner of a bank down the street whose nickname is Uncle Scrooge that enjoys swimming in a pool of bits and counting coins.” The image now changed, showing a gryphon sitting on a golden throne with bits all around him and the phrase “Hail to the King, baby!” at the bottom of it. Some more laughter was heard in the background before it began to settle down once Discord cleared his throat.
“But even with the recent Friendship Summit that was hosted in Griffonstone, most Griffons look out for themselves instead of others. Though, that is not the case with a young Griffon named Gabby that was actually quite different than what you would normally expect. But don’t take my word for it, have a look at this and you’ll see what I mean.” This was followed by several scenes where it showed the young griffon helping other ponies around town, with the last one in particular being very important when she asked the Cutie Mark Crusaders for help in one thing… Getting a Cutie Mark. Various ‘Awws’ came as Gabby hugged the CMC. “Yes, it is quite adorable, especially with the fact that she's not part eagle, but part chicken! In fact, she's with us tonight! Come on, Gabby!!!”
Gabby walked in with the loud applause from the audience. She seemed pretty shy about it, but quickly saw that no one was around. The Griffon took her seat next to Discord.
“...Where is everyone?” She asked,followed by laughter.
“In their homes, hopefully live or recorded.” Discord answered. “So how's it like back in Griffonstone?”
“Well, things have originally been… difficult. But since Princess Twilight held her Friendship Summit in Griffonstone and also after my time with Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, everything's been different… in a good way of course.” She responded, making the draconequus curious as to what else was exactly different.
“Oh? And what would that be? Every Griffon singing or enjoying their scones?”
“More like them not forcing you to pay up a clawful of bits just to ask for directions.” Gabby sighed as she looked back at him. “It used to be that most griffons would want to capitalize on any opportunity that they would use to get rich quickly… now, not so much of that… I believe it first started actually after two ponies were with some griffon named Gilda a couple of months back. Other then that, my memory is only focused on more… recent events.” The griffon explained to Discord as he listened to her.
Soon though, he had another question to ask her that was off the top of his head.
“So you believe that, in some time in the future, Griffons will adopt the various ways of ponies?”
“It’s possible… however, a lot of the older griffons are very… stubborn.” She told him, looking off screen for a moment before looking back. “My father wasn’t really so optimistic about the ways of ponies or me coming to Ponyville in the first place. But I can’t just sit around in Griffonstone waiting for my life purpose to come to me. Instead, I thought that I needed to find it on my own and the only way I can do that was by coming here.”
“And as you can see, folks at home, this isn't your stereotypical griffon with a love for gold. SHAME ON YOU ALL FOR THINKING THAT!!! SHAME ON YOU!!!” He shouted in an angry outburst as the sounds of the audience was cheering with the draconequus on what he proclaimed.
“Uhh… Thanks?” Gabby replied nervously, not sure whether Discord’s outburst was a good thing or a bad thing personally.
“And don't fall for the ponies’ influence, Gabby! They want you to be like them!”
“Weren’t you reformed by them though? Plus I thought that Draconequus were half pony.” Gabby then asked, causing the crowd to gasp a little as a certain sound effect went off in the background. Something along the lines of ‘dun dun DUN!!!’ as the camera now focused on Discord.
“Hmph! There's a difference between being reformed and submission. I admit, I did wrong things before, and I have made friends with ponies. However!!! There are things I don't agree with, such as everything on right now, and it's up to me to let everyone know what's going on and help them both open their eyes and their mind. Celestia doesn't want to admit it, but underneath her heavenly celestial look, pun intended, she's worst than me and her sister's Emo side combined. I'm a social justice warrior, and I want everyone to embrace their culture and everyone's differences, not like the white queen herself.”
“I get that… but no one’s perfect. Everyone’s surely made mistakes… even her I think.” Gabby replied. “I mean… don’t you think that the biggest mistake she thought she made was banishing her sister to the moon?”
“Her mistake wasn't taking the time to listen to her sister! And I know, I saw it as a statue. Celestia was more occupied with her cake rather than her sister listening to Early 2000’s rock. She wanted to run away and not say goodbye, and even now, she needed someone to wake her up inside.”
“Hang on… How can you see if you’re a statue? Aren’t you suppose to be frozen solid if that happened?” Realizing that, Discord soon looked towards the camera and then said something.
“We’ll be right back-.”
Gabby was gone and replaced by a crudely drawn Celestia with a quote saying “Pony Power!” While this was going on, Discord was still going over his notes and when he realized that the camera was on, he threw the cardboard cutout of Celestia to the back of the studio, where they heard a crash and the sounds of a cat meowing because of it.
“Now where was I? Ah yes,” He remembered, looking back at the camera. “You ponies must love Celestia. The way she moves the sun, very mother like, and, for us guys… those glutes.” the picture of Celestia moon appeared on the top right hand of the screen. “But after doing some research thanks to a point that was brought up by our guest Gabby… it turns out that Celestia has made a mistake at one key point that is critical for everypony these days… The education system.”
Some gasps and sounds of confusion were heard in the background as Discord cleared his throat. “Let me explain… throughout most of this episode, we’ve been talking about stereotypes and through research, I found out that most of the stereotypes in ponykind occur with education. First off, there is the stereotype that all pegasi first go to flight school for their education like with Unicorns and magic kindergarten, even though some of them are attending school in Ponyville and are learning about… dare I say it… physics.” The screen showed an Earth Pony child struggling while a pegasus and a unicorn excel. “Yes. Pegasi and unicorns get the best education, and what of the earth ponies?... Farms and hard labor.” More gasps could be heard in response to this. “Of course, there are various other jobs but come on… think about the most common places you would find them working. Apple farms, grape farms nearby wine distilleries and also rock farms. Rock farms! You can’t even eat rocks despite rock candy and there’s a freaking farm for this!!” The screen turned to Maud Pie eating a rock. “... Okay, unless you have the jaws of a machine… but I doubt anyone else eats rocks!”
Taking a moment… Discord sighed as he looked back at his papers and also looked at the camera. “Which now brings me to my main point… Like with the Crystal Empire and with some of the griffons, times are a changing… and no, I did not say changeling just for clarification. You either adapt with the times or fall behind and right now… some of us need help with this. I know that earth ponies are important to society and I get that, but one thing that I must stress is that Equestria needs to have everyone be treated equally and on the same page. Whether it’s Thorax up in the Crystal Empire or the earth pony that’s your next door neighbor. Because everyone that’s here deserves both equal opportunities to survive, thrive and make a name for themselves and achieve what they want in life, not what they are told or what the circumstances are. Because I can guarantee that one way or another… change is coming.”
When Twilight Sparkle woke up this morning, she felt as if something was really off this time. Last week, on the same day, there was a lot of ponies storming into her castle wanting jobs and chances to work for her. Something in which she never asked for and have been trying to figure out how all of this would work with her busy schedule. Now though, there was something else that didn’t feel right… and she could tell once Spike came in from checking the mail.
“Uhh… Twilight… Did you hear about what’s been happening recently?” Spike said as he closed the door behind him. “And why there’s nopony at the marketplace today?”
Twilight lifted an eyebrow at that part. “Uh… no, why is that?”
“Well, from the sounds of it, all the earth ponies that farm all the fruit and vegetables at the farms except for the Apple Family are on strike until Princess Celestia makes reforms with the education system,” That caused Twilight, who was drinking tea at the time, to spit out everything she was trying to swallow as she looked at him in shock.
“What?!”
Canterlot
“Education! Education! Make us an equal equation!” The mob outside yelled, lifting signs, along with a few griffons and, surprisingly, exposed changelings. Many of the guards stood, trying to keep the mob at bay.
“Alright! Back away from the castle!” The former captain announced.
“Why!?” A lone changeling asked “Because we'll suck the love outta you!?”
“Uh… sir-?”
“Did you just assume my gender identity!? That's racist! I'm a woman!!!” The crowd got stirred up even more as everypony outside could be heard by both of the royal sisters inside the Castle. Who were both equally just as surprised by what was happening.
“Sister,” Luna spoke. “Were you aware of Changelings living with us?”
“I'm surprised that they're letting themselves be exposed.” Celestia spoke. “Normally, they'd hide in plain sight.”
“That's racist!” A guard yelled, standing next to Thorax. They heard them uproars from outside again as Luna soon remembered something.
“Say sister… wasn’t last week the same thing when it came to the royal nobles… Do you think that… well… Discord may have unintentionally started this?”
“I don't think unintentional is his thing.” Celestia answered.
“But it is yours.” Discord spoke, soon entering the room in a flash of pink smoke. “All I did was just present the facts. I’m not an organizer or a leader of anything, but just a reporter. I report the facts and what they decide to do in response is up to them, not me. I believe it’s something you call… personal freedoms.”
“Discord… why are you doing this!? My subjects are going out of Hoof.”
“Aw, yes, but isn't that what citizens should do? Nopony should fear their government, but rather, the government fear their citizens. Because most of the laws and elected candidates that serve you are elected by… guess who… the people. And if there’s something that the people are upset about, they tell their government so it can be reformed… Besides, I’m not telling them to start a revolution… Just to see something that’s inconsistent and find a way to correct it. Besides, all they want is a better future for their children. Can’t you see that? Just look at how you favor pegasi and unicorns.”
“I don't favor anypony, Discord. They're just special.”
“So you claim Earth Ponies aren't special!?” Various gasps followed suit.
“No I meant everypony has their own special traits. Earth ponies traits are with nature and the ground we walk upon…”
“Yes, while pegasi go to Flight camp and Unicorns get magic kindergarten.” Someone else pointed out to her.
After hearing this, a defeated princess sighed amongst herself before looking back at the crowd outside and the draconequus in question. “I’ll talk it over with my advisors and see what kind of reforms that we can push out immediately!” Celestia said, glaring at Discord. “Just remember though… I’m watching you Discord…”
As she trotted off and various cheers were heard in the background, Luna soon thought of something as she looked at Discord. “So… you said that you were taking suggestions for future topics? I might have a few ideas…” Discord grinned at the sounds of that as he looked back at the Alicorn.
“I'm all ears.”
