"No doubt about it. There is an extremely powerful magic poking through."
Doctor Hooves sighed and placed a few instruments back into a saddlebag. Amethyst watched him as he worked. She took a quick glance back to the castle, her imagination getting the best of her.
"Can you watch this, Miss Star?"
"Huh?" Amethyst turned back around to Hooves.
Hooves coughed. "I don't mean to distract you, I just..." He cleared his throat again. "I need you to watch the statue. I can't do it while checking my notes."
Amethyst looked up at the strange sculpture. Only a few months passed since The Cult of Chaos performed their ritual on it. Sometime after, a gardener noted a crack on its surface. A repair ticket was submitted, but once it reached Celestia's ears, she called Doctor Hooves to have him look at it. Most of Ponyville's PPP office was already in Canterlot anyway.
"I don't think a statue is going to go anywhere," Amethyst teased.
"I know, I know," said Hooves as he rummaged through his notes. "I just don't trust them. I always feel like they're going to sneak up on me while my back is turned."
Amethyst smiled and shook her head, but her expression dropped as her thoughts turned back to the others in the castle.
Lyra's final hearing was scheduled for that day. Many ponies had quit or retired from the agency before, but her case was... unique. Bon Bon was summoned to testify as her Ponyville handler, with Carrot Top and Derpy as character witnesses. It was felt that Amethyst was too close to the situation, and besides: someone had to stay behind to keep an eye on Hooves and the Ponyville office. And she couldn't let Hooves come to Canterlot alone, of course.
"You are concerned."
"What's that?" Amethyst brought her attention back around again.
Hooves was spreading his notes across the grass and drawing lines between a few of them.
"About Lyra," he clarified. He hesitated briefly before drawing another line. "She's the oldest ally you have in this agency. You're afraid of losing her."
Amethyst gave a somber smile. "It's not quite that simple," she said.
In truth, it went so much deeper than that. While usually aching for conversations, this wasn't one she was ready to have. Granted, conversations with Hooves are typically patience-testing, but she had a greater resolve for it than Lyra at least. Not that Hooves was otherwise bothersome at this moment; today's work brought a seldom level-headedness to the stallion that came as a breath of fresh air after an anxiety-inducing train ride.
Hooves hummed as he placed a stethoscope on the strange sculpture. As he did so, Amethyst took the time to really absorb its features. The strange limbs, the manic expression... she couldn't help but wonder why Celestia would let such an ugly thing be placed among other dazzling artistic creations.
"Did the cult put some kind of spell on it?" Amethyst asked, taking a few steps closer.
Hooves shook his head. "I don't think so. The magic I'm detecting isn't surface-level. It's coming from the statue's core."
"Wait, are you saying it already had magic?" asked Amethyst. "Then what was the point?"
Before Hooves could answer, the crack on the statue widened. So did Hooves' eyes. His ears perked, causing the stethoscope around his neck to bounce.
"Ooh-hoo!" he cheered. "Now that is interesting!"
"What is it?" Amethyst took another step forward. "What happened?"
"Inform you next of kin, Miss Star!" said Hooves through a very wide grin. "There is a very probable chance that we are all going to die."
Celestia signed and dated the twenty-third scroll of the evening while her attendant held onto forty more. She sighed as she lifted another with her magic and began to read.
The throne room doors burst open as Doctor Hooves and Amethyst Star ran into the scene.
"Princess!" shouted Hooves excitedly, "You are not going to like what I say at all!"
Celestia sighed again and motioned to her attendant. "Go," she said to him, "These are private matters. I will address the rest in due time."
The servant bowed as he took his leave.
"The threat this magic possesses is astronomical!" said Hooves, slowing to a stop in front of Celestia. "The very fabric of our own reality–"
Golden magic formed around Hooves' mouth. Celestia watched as her servant closed the throne room doors behind him. After they clicked shut, Celestia stopped the glow of her horn.
"My apologies, Doctor," said Celestia. "I do not wish to start a panic outside present company."
"So we have a reason to panic, then?" asked Amethyst. Celestia looked at her with curiosity. The agent had been more... questioning since the events of the Gala.
"That depends on what Doctor Hooves has to say," answered Celestia politely.
"You were right to call me," said Hooves as he rummaged through his bags. He drew out the notes from before, and started sticking them to the wall. The gibberish written on them didn't look to be readable to anyone other than himself. "While the Cult's numbers still could not replicate the alicorn magic that sealed him," said Hooves, "they did a very good job at reverse engineering a centuries-old spell."
"Wait, what?" said Amethyst, looking between Celestia and Hooves. "You mean there's something alive in that statue?"
Celestia nodded. "A very powerful spirit with a penchant for chaos." She ruffled her wings. "Most of Equestria's more unusual flora and fauna can be linked back to him. Luna and I managed to seal him away using his own magic against him." She looked over to a stained glass window with the statue's visage upon it. "I almost lost my sister that day," she finished softly.
"How is Luna?" Hooves asked.
Celestia gave him an indecipherable expression.
"She is well, thanks to you, Doctor," answered Celestia. "Still adjusting to her new home and how much has changed, but well."
Hooves smiled a genuine smile. "I'm glad to hear it."
"Can we contain it?" asked Amethyst, looking to Hooves. "This spirit. Can we stop it from escaping?"
"Nope!" said Hooves jovially. Amethyst took a step back and Celestia's wings flared. Hooves balled up one of his notes and rolled it along the ground. "It's a snowball moving down the mountain, at this point. It's only going to get bigger and bigger until–"
Hooves stared at the paper ball. Amethyst and Celestia did as well. When the rest of the sentence never came, they looked back to Hooves, his gaze unfocused.
"What about replacing the spell?" asked Celestia. "I haven't forgotten it. Luna and I can–"
Hooves shook his head. "It took both your sister and yourself to seal him at the peak of your power, and Luna is still recovering. All we can do now is refrain from yelling. We might start an avalanche!"
Celestia shifted her weight with unease. "Doctor–"
The throne room doors banged open. Lyra Heartstrings bolted inside, her jaw clenched.
"You're having my mind wiped again?!" she demanded of Celestia. "Is that just your magic cure-all or something?!"
Before Celestia could answer, Bon Bon, Carrot Top, and Derpy Doo raced into the room as well.
"I knew you'd come here!" shouted Bon Bon. "You don't know when to quit, do you?"
"I quit at the Gala!" Lyra shot back, nostrils flaring.
"Sorry about this," Carrot said to Celestia. "She broke from her restraints after the sentencing."
"Oh, and a fat load of help you all were!" said Lyra to the ponies behind her.
"We did everything we could!" said Derpy through tears. "We never wanted this! Please, believe us!"
"Miss Heartstrings, now is not the time for–"
"Not all of us have the time of an immortal alicorn, Princess," Lyra sneered. She opened her mouth to continue her rant, but found her mouth full of paper.
"Please go over my notes," said Hooves as he shoved another page into Lyra's muzzle. He smiled. "We really are in grave danger!"
Lyra spat the drenched wads out of her mouth. "Hooves, I swear on my mother's grave, I am going to–!"
A deep, rumbling laughter cut off Lyra's threat. Celestia looked out to her sculpture garden to see the crack in the statue spreading further across its surface.
Celestia shot her head back to Hooves. "Doctor, what about your device?" she asked. "The one that saved my sister? Could we use it?"
Hooves stroked his chin. "Why, yes, I suppose that would do the trick quite easily. With some calibrations, of course." He laughed. "You'd think after spending so many years working on it I would have thought of it sooner!"
"What, that dumb Elements of Harmony thing?" asked Lyra. Amethyst coughed. "I thought we were done with that hunk of junk!"
"You are," said Bon Bon. "We're not." She sighed and shook her head. "I'm sorry, Lyra. I am. But you need to come back with us. Show some backbone and accept the council's decision!"
"Forget that!" snapped Lyra. "Don't act like you don't want this!"
Bon Bon stood tall, but her voice was weak. "I don't," she managed.
Ignoring the argument before her, Celestia rose from her throne and motioned for Hooves to follow. She showed him to a large bejeweled door, and opened it with her horn. Inside stood his device and a chest containing the six accessories Amethyst made to complete it.
"I'll get right to work!" said Hooves. He picked up the device with one foreleg, then tried to wrap his other around the case of accessories. Hooves struggling to walk, Celestia used her magic to lift the device and trinkets.
"Allow me," Celestia said. Hooves smiled in gratitude and followed her back to the throne room.
The voices inside only grew more heated.
"What was I supposed to do?!" shouted Amethyst through tears. "I took this job so I could help ponies! Because I wanted to make a difference!"
"You abandoned me!" shouted Lyra back. "You wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for me, and you made me walk out of that room alone!"
"Don't take it out on Star!" said Bon Bon. "We all stayed because we felt that in spite of it all, we're still doing some good in the world!"
"Well, la-de-da!" said Lyra with a large, exaggerated roll of her eyes.
Celestia sighed and tried to shove the voices from her mind. She placed Hooves' components on the ground and looked back out her window. "Work quickly, Doctor," she said to the stallion. "I fear we haven't much time!"
"I just need to make a quick adjustment!" said Hooves as he withdrew a screwdriver from a pouch. As one hoof worked on the device itself, another reached for one of the gemstone pendants. "All we need to do is set these up around–"
Hooves stopped moving. He blinked. He took another look at the red gemstone necklace and brought it in front of his face.
"...Does this taste funny to you?" he asked.
"...I beg your pardon?"
"Doctor," said Carrot, a careful distance away from the cruel words flying in the room, "Did you just ask the princess to taste a necklace?"
Lyra snorted. "Doc, assuming you ever had it in the first place, I would have asked if you lost your mind."
"Oh! Not taste," Hooves muttered. He squinted at the gemstone, then rubbed it against his ear. He continued to mutter under his breath. "...infrequent hertz compounded with something more static in nature, cross-referenced with..."
Derpy took a careful step forward. "...Doctor?"
"Ah! Yes. Yes. Oh, that is interesting."
Hooves looked to be unaware of his surroundings. Celestia gave him a small nudge with her wing.
"Hm?" Hooves looked up into Celestia's face. "Oh! Right." He stood up and spoke louder, but continued to squint at the crystal.
Hooves explained, "It would appear as though these gemstones lost their natural frequency after their initial usage in purging Nightmare Moon from Princess Luna. The strength of the magic penetrating through them combined with the natural, internal magic of those used alongside positioning during the process–"
"Hey, Doc," said Lyra, her eyelids low, "You want to use simpler terms, by chance?"
"Ah, yes, how do I put this..." Hooves scratched his chin. "When Celestia used her magic on the device, the gemstones here became — well, not fused, technically — er, linked to the host magic that you, Miss Heartstrings, applied to them, and won't be able to channel any new magic without them."
Celestia blinked. "But that would mean–"
The castle shook and rocked a few of the ponies to their knees. A blinding light poured through the windows facing the gardens.
Hooves turned to Celestia and smiled. "Princess, how soon would Twilight and her friends be able to arrive?"
Six ponies waited in a seldom-used room in one of Canterlot Castle's towers. Bon Bon was wearing scuffs into the tile with her pacing. Lyra glowered in a corner. Feathers littered the floor around Derpy as she preened another from her wing. Carrot stood watch at the room's only window, and Amethyst faked being asleep. Only the sounds of Doctor Hooves fiddling with his device filled the room.
All six ponies turned their heads to the door as it opened. Celestia took careful steps inside and closed the door behind her.
"Well?" asked Lyra with a snort. "What did you tell them this time? Are we ready to go or not?"
Celestia looked around the room to try to find a spot where a pair of eyes weren't looking back at her.
"There have been... complications," Celestia admitted.
Lyra groaned, and Bon Bon shot her a chiding look. "What happened?" Bon Bon asked Celestia.
"I'm afraid..." Celestia puffed up her chest and sighed. "I'm afraid the vault was not protected against Discord's magic. He's taken the Elements and hidden them."
"Problematic," muttered Hooves as he applied careful pressure to one side of the device.
"That's too kind a word, Doc," said Lyra. She stood to her hooves and glared at Celestia. "And Twilight and her friends?"
"I..." Celestia sighed again. "Twilight and her friends volunteered to retrieve them. I need some of you to follow her immediately. I didn't see how I could convince her otherwise without–"
"I'm Princess Celestia!" Lyra mocked. The others looked at her in horror. "I'm assigning you to keep Twilight Sparkle safe! By the way, I'm totally going to send her into grave danger though!"
"Heartstrings!" Bon Bon hissed.
"Really, Lyra, you're not helping anything!" said Derpy.
"Oh, but I disagree."
Black smoke curled around the ceiling as the temperature in the room dropped. The window and door vanished with an annoying honking sound, and the smoke curled and thickened into the form of a creature made of far too many other creatures.
"Discord!" Celestia snarled.
"Hello!" said Hooves with a vigorous wave. Discord gave him a polite wave back.
"Now I really don't have long here," said Discord, tapping his wrist. Two long wooden arms with clocks on their surface sprouted and rotated wildly. "I'm rather anxious to get back to my new toys before they break without me!"
"What do you want from us?!" shouted Lyra. She and Celestia looked to be the only ponies unafraid to speak.
"Why to thank you, dear Lyra," said Discord with a devilish grin. "You especially. My, my, when you kick a hornets' nest, you really make sure to go for three, don't you?" Lyra batted buzzing hoofballs away from her ears. "You see, all this arguing and commotion really helps to recharge the ol' disharmony batteries!"
Discord stretched and the walls started to melt.
He continued, "Not that this world was really lacking chaos without me. I mean, just look at this hole you've dug yourselves into!" Each pony suddenly found themselves neck-deep in mud as shovels clanged around them. "That Twilight Sparkle actually thinks a bunch of necklaces can defeat me! Oh, and one of them representing honesty?" Discord winked at Celestia. "Classic."
After some struggle, Derpy managed to loose herself from the dirt and took flight. She zipped to help Amethyst, but collided with something in midair. The same thing happened when she tried to help Carrot instead. A passing shadow caused her to look up and see Discord holding a jar lid.
"Now here's a fine specimen," said Discord with a chuckle. "Your life is already plenty chaotic, isn't it?"
"Leave her alone!" shouted Lyra. Her magic around the shovel digging her out picked up in pace. "I'll have you know both of those eyes work just fine, and–!"
"Oh, please." Discord dropped Derpy's jar, and the mud it landed on shattered, freeing the others.
With some strain, Celestia's horn erupted and the room reset itself. A golden bubble appeared around Discord as a few beads of sweat dripped down Celestia's neck.
"You are not leaving this room!" said Celestia. The others took a few steps back. "I can't stop you, no, but I can keep my student safe!"
Discord poked his prison in various places. "I suppose that's true," he sighed. "There's not really much else you can do to stop me. At least, not without your sister."
Discord snapped a talon-like hand. A pony of deep blue with horn and wings to match appeared in the echo of the sound.
"Wha– What's happening?" Princess Luna spun around the room. "Sister? D... Discord?!"
Discord sneered and waved from within his bubble.
"No!" Celestia shouted, struggling to maintain focus. "Discord, what are you–"
"You there, the brown one," said Discord, pointing a talon at Hooves. "You made extra special care to make sure that device of yours doesn't kill anything, right?"
Hooves nodded excitedly.
"Splendid!" Discord pulled an old-fashioned alarm clock from one of his scales. "Oh, Nightmare Moon," he cooed. The clock ticked down. "Time to wake up."
Tick.
Tick.
Tock.
"Ungh!" Luna doubled over in pain. Celestia's jaw dropped as the others gasped and raced toward the moon princess.
"No!" cried Celestia, a tear rolling down her cheek. "Discord, what have you done?!"
"Given you options, Celestia," said Discord matter-of-factly. "You can either expend all of your energy on me to keep some unicorn runt safe, or you can release me and try to save your sister for a third time." Discord tapped his chin. "My, my, I certainly hope that doesn't get old."
"You're a monster," Celestia whispered.
"Monsters only come from fairy tales... sister."
"Keep her down!"
Celestia turned in horror to see Luna's visage changing. Her coat varied between a light blue and a deep navy, and her pupils shrunk to slits and back again. She was struggling against the five ponies piled on top of her, two of them using their own magic to subdue her.
"Don't worry, Princess!" called Hooves from a corner, waving a screwdriver in the air. His device sat between his outstretched legs. "We can still save her with this, just like before!"
"Oh, yes," Discord mused. "That thing." He snapped his fingers again. Shrapnel rocketed in every direction. Celestia raised a wing in reflex, inadvertently dousing her horn and freeing the Spirit of Chaos. Dropping her wing again, Celestia saw two magic domes protecting her sister and subduers; Amethyst and Lyra had impressive instincts. Hooves was — miraculously — unscathed, but his eyes were fixed on the circular scorch mark in front of him.
"I..." Hooves' breathing was rapid. "I... I can fix it!" He bolted around the room collecting what scrap he could. Quick screwdriver work lead to something recognizable in incredible speed.
"Oh, I know you can."
Hooves floated away from his broken device as his legs flailed. Discord levitated him high until only a few inches separated their eyes. Then Discord leaned back and smiled.
"Toodles!"
In a "Pop!" Doctor Hooves vanished.
"NO!"
Discord froze the room, each pony within it mid-lunge. "Oh, hold your horses," he said, stifling a chuckle. "Your precious Doctor is still alive. In fact–" He brought Lyra into the air next. "I think I'll send his least patient coworker to keep him company."
Sweat rolled into Lyra's eye, but she couldn't blink.
"Don't worry," Discord whispered to his statuesque prisoner, "I'm going to show you something I think you'll really enjoy."
Another "Pop!" and Lyra was gone too.
"Now, if you'll excuse me." An apple zapped next to Discord and he took a bite from it. "I can hear the orchard calling me. Here–" He tossed the apple and it dropped to the ground. It rolled and came to stop next to Hooves' ad-hoc fixed device while frozen ponies watched helplessly. "I hear these can keep the Doctor away."
With one last guffaw, Discord vanished.
"No, I'll show you something!"
Lyra swung her two front hooves wildly while her hind legs kept their balance. She hopped to change position several times, each providing a new vantage, but Discord was nowhere in sight. Her heartbeat slowed as she took in familiar surroundings.
"Not this place again," Lyra mumbled.
She fell back on all fours and walked to the control area of Ponyville's Ponies Protecting Ponies headquarters. The secure facility was used to keep watch over the town of Ponyville, and sat strategically placed several stories below the bathrooms of Town Hall. Despite it being a second home over the last few months, Lyra had never been inside it alone before. It was like sharing a cave with a giant sleeping so soundly, one might assume it long since lost the ability to wake.
Lyra sighed and ruffled her mane. She took a few moments to go over the events of the last few minutes, but her mind had a hard time presenting them as anything other than a bad dream. She raised a hoof to her ear, hesitated, then let it drop.
"What's the point?"
A clattering of metal sprang Lyra back onto two hooves, her front ones poised for attack.
"Is that you, Miss Heartstrings?" came a voice from the lab.
Lyra rolled her eyes. "Great. The one pony I wouldn't want answering comms anyway." She sighed before answering, "Yeah, Hooves, it's me."
"Fantastic! Could you come here for a moment?" Hooves asked. "I could use a helping hoof!"
Lyra groaned and made a slow trek into the lab. It was a mess, even by usual standards. Paper littered the floor, and about every contraption ever housed in the room was piled in the middle. A few dashes and screens were cracked, showing broken images, static, or nothing at all. A red light rotated around the room.
"Help me dismantle some of these," said Hooves as he piled two more devices onto the stash. "We need to get another device operational!"
Lyra shook her head. "Hooves, there's no point," she said. "The last one took you years to complete. You don't have the time or resources to just make another."
"That's not–" Hooves squinted in strain. Lyra raised an eyebrow as she waited for the rest of his sentence. "Eighty-six percent true," he finished.
"Doc, even if I understood what that's supposed to mean, I really don't care." Lyra turned and walked to the elevators out of the facility.
"Wait!" Hooves called. He galloped after her. "Where are you going?"
"I quit, remember?" Lyra reminded. She pushed the elevator button to rise. Hooves watched her ascend with wide eyes. "I'm not even supposed to be here."
"Princess Celestia, do something!"
Discord's freeze spell broke as soon as he vanished from Canterlot, but Celestia still hadn't moved. Her eyes darted around the room as she thought. Finally finding her resolve, she spoke to the four remaining ponies in the room, each of them struggling to keep Luna pinned to the floor.
"I'm taking Luna into the dream realm," Celestia said. "It may be the only place I can still reach her." Before the ponies could ask any questions, Celestia knelt down in front of her sister. "We'll be vulnerable during this. I need you four to watch over and protect us to the best of your ability."
Luna continued to struggle under the combined weight of Ponyville's agents. One of her wings snapped open and sent Bon Bon flying into a wall. Before she could lash out at anyone else, Celestia's horn hummed into a deep golden glow, and both princesses' eyes drifted shut.
The room took a collective sigh of relief.
"Are you okay, Bon Bon?" asked Derpy.
Bon Bon let out a sharp exhale as she stood to her hooves. "I'll be fine," she said, cracking her back. No sooner was she on all four hooves did she growl, "I swear, if I ever get my hooves on Heartstrings again–"
"Don't blame Lyra for all of this!" said Amethyst, taking a step forward. "We did everything we could to stop all this from happening! If Derpy hadn't seen Havoc in the garden–"
"Wait," began Carrot. She straightened her hair and looked at Derpy. "Why were you in the garden?" she asked. "I thought I gave you orders to watch the VIP room?"
"I... needed some air," said Derpy meekly. She shook her head aggressively. "And besides, you weren't giving any orders at all! As soon as that stallion showed up, you wouldn't respond to any of us!"
"What stallion?" demanded Bon Bon, rounding on Carrot Top.
Carrot flinched. "I... ran into... a friend."
Bon Bon snarled. "Carrot, you know the rules about fraternization!"
"I wasn't fraternizing!" said Carrot, her voice rising. "What was I supposed to do, tell him to shoo because I was at work?!"
"You probably could have thought of something if you hadn't been drinking," said Amethyst under her breath.
"And you were drinking?!"
"I only had two!"
Lyra opened the front doors out of Town Hall and her jaw dropped. The world around her was a mishmash of colored checkerboard tiles and hills where they had no right being. Several chunks of earth floated above the ground. Chocolate rain fell from cotton candy clouds. Pies drifted by like a pastry fog.
"Am I sure my brain hasn't been scrambled yet?" Lyra asked no one in particular.
Screams diverted her attention. Lyra turned to see ponies trying their best to escape a stampede of augmented animals.
"In here!" Lyra called almost on instinct. She waved the ponies over and barred the door behind them. Two of the bigger ponies helped her hold the door shut against the banging and scratching of various creatures.
"What's going on?" asked one of the ponies.
"Is this forever now?" inquired a filly.
Every eye in the room focused on Lyra.
"Well, don't look at me!" said Lyra, indignant. "I didn't do any of this!"
"I saw it!" said a stallion. Attention turned onto him. "A tall animal made up of all sorts of bits! He was actually laughing when the weather first started changing!"
What would Discord want with Ponyville? Lyra asked herself.
"...And not one of you would answer me!" finished Amethyst through heavy sobs.
Derpy sat with her hooves crossed, and Carrot was failing to look stoic in light of all the claims against her.
Bon Bon rubbed the bridge of her nose. "I expected so much more out of all of you," she said coolly.
The others looked at her, then away in a huff.
Bon Bon turned to Derpy first. "You've been in this agency for a long time now. You should be perfectly capable of keeping your emotions in check and doing your job."
After a beat, both of Derpy's eyes drooped to the floor.
"Star," said Bon Bon, rounding on her next target, "You're not still so green that you can't make an executive decision in a given situation. Even though Carrot wasn't sending out orders, there really was no reason for you to stay put with Sparkle literally under Celestia's wing."
Amethyst only moved to wipe her muzzle.
"And Carrot–"
"I don't regret a thing."
Three wide pairs of eyes shot onto Carrot Top. She stood defiant.
"Excuse me?" said Bon Bon, her nostrils flaring.
"You heard me," said Carrot, meeting Bon Bon's gaze. "Given the option, I would have done everything the same way. You have no idea what Written Script means to me, or what he and I experienced that night."
Bon Bon took a step forward and opened her mouth, but Carrot Top cut her off.
"You have a stick so far up you that you wouldn't even begin to understand what real love is like."
Bon Bon froze in her tracks. Derpy and Amethyst shot glances between them.
"You... dare..."
A creme-colored hoof almost stamped straight through the floor. Carrot Top didn't flinch. Derpy and Amethyst backed into the nearest wall.
"Forty-two, forty-three, forty-four..."
Lyra looked around Town Hall. Most of Ponyville now stood inside of it, the citizens finding their way there for shelter from the chaos storm outside. Not everyone was accounted for; they could only hope that others managed to find safety elsewhere.
Lyra turned at the sound of a few exclamations from ponies who rudely had their personal space impeded upon. Doctor Hooves burst his way forward in the crowd.
"There you are!" he said upon seeing Lyra.
Lyra groaned. "I told you, Hooves, I'm not going to help you 'save the day,' or whatever hokey plan you have dreamed up for all of this."
Hooves opened his mouth, but closed it again when the whole building shook around them.
"What's going on?!" asked one voice.
"Look!"
Lyra and several others turned their attention to the windows. They watched the ground rotate and change places with the sky.
"He's turning the world upside-down!"
Ponies screamed and started running. Where they were running to was anyone's guess.
"QUIET!"
The ponies inside ceased running and looked to the source of the noise. Lyra Heartstrings stood with her hoof on the door.
"Just... stay calm, okay?" It wasn't certain if Lyra was speaking to the crowd or to herself. "I'm going to have a look outside. I'll let you know if I find anything. Or anypony." Hooves galloped up to her. "No," Lyra said simply. Hooves' ears flattened. "Stay here, Hooves. Watch a kid or something." Lyra pointed to somewhere behind Hooves. "I think that one likes you," she said.
Hooves followed her gaze and saw a young filly looking up at him with wide eyes. "Well that's–" He turned back to Lyra. "Do you not know who that is?"
"Don't know, don't care," said Lyra as she stepped out onto the patio. "They all look the same to me anyway."
The door shut behind her, and Hooves took dainty steps toward the filly.
"Hello," he said to her. "I haven't seen you in quite some time. You're Dinky, aren't you?"
Lyra took two steps outside before falling to her knees in shock. The ground hovered above her, and the sky sprawled out endlessly below. Or was she the one who wasn't right? She crawled to the edge of the patio and stuck a hoof over the side. The butterflies in her stomach said she would fall forever with a single step. She looked back up above her to see the flag at the top of Town Hall's spire flapping gently across a grounded boarding house.
"Okay, Lyra," she said, steeling herself, "You can do this. Just don't look down. Er... up."
Lyra rocked herself back onto her hind legs and coiled her muscles. Right before she took her jump, the ground gave way beneath her.
"Gah!"
"Oh, calm down, Heartstrings," said an familiar, unwelcome voice.
Lyra looked around to see herself floating alongside the Spirit of Chaos. She groaned.
"What are you doing now, Discord?" asked Lyra. "Don't you have better ponies to bother?"
"You mean Twilight and her friends?" answered Discord. He snapped his fingers and the sun set immediately. He snapped his fingers again and Lyra fell to checkered ground in a crumpled heap.
Discord stretched himself into a large throne, and from behind him, Discord took a seat.
"I think you'll be happy to know that Twilight and her friends are no longer a problem," he said nonchalantly. Lyra picked herself back up again. She gave Discord a horrified look. "Oh no!" said Discord, "They're quite alright. But your friend's little device will never work again, I assure you."
"Hooves is no friend," Lyra muttered as she dusted herself off. "'Co-worker' is about the best term for it."
"Does he know that?" asked Discord, placing his chin on his wrist.
"What's it matter?"
Discord laughed and slithered down to Lyra's position. "See, I knew I liked you, Heartstrings! Walk with me." Discord's head spun around as his legs gyrated in reverse. Lyra rolled her eyes and, not seeing what else to do, followed him.
"You see, Lyra... May I call you Lyra?"
Lyra shrugged.
"You see, Limestone, you and I share something in common that's incredibly rare to find in somepony under a thousand years old." Discord rotated the rest of his body back around forward. "A — now how should I put this — disdain for a certain pony princess."
"Celestia," said Lyra with a nod.
"Look at you, not using her title anymore!" said Discord with glee. "That must have taken a lot of conditioning!"
Lyra cocked an eyebrow. "Have you been speaking with that Havoc character or something?"
Discord scoffed. "Please, that fanatic? I mean, don't get me wrong, he certainly put quite a dent in that curse placed on me, and he did a lot to break up that little band of yours." Discord picked a star out of the night sky and bowled it at a collection of trees. Most fell over, but two stood. He scowled and they too fell to the side. "He's a bit pretentious though, if you ask me."
"Even if I hadn't, I'd agree with you," said Lyra. They were nearing the edge of town now.
"See! Look how easily you and I can get along!" Discord pointed and his paw stretched across the horizon. "See that speck of a cloud waaaaaay over there?" he asked. Then, with a giggle, "I made Rainbow Dash think that tiny thing is all of Cloudsdale!"
Lyra blinked as Discord looked at her with an expectant expression. "Why are you showing me all this?" she asked.
"Ugh, fine, we'll cut to the chase." Discord snapped his fingers. Lyra vanished and reappeared in front of Discord's throne, where the spirit now sat.
"I sent you to Ponyville with a simple test," Discord explained over folded fingers. "Spend an absurd amount of alone time with your 'co-worker' to try and 'do the right thing' to stop me and save your despised Celestia's Equestria, or:" Discord snapped his fingers and quill and parchment appeared in front of Lyra. "Become my first ally in a new, chaotic world."
Lyra looked down at the parchment. The words on its surface kept re-arranging themselves. She looked back up. "You're giving me a choice?" she asked.
Discord threw his arms open wide. "What's more chaotic than free will?" he asked. "You've already learned you won't be getting that with Celestia on the throne."
"I..." Lyra licked her lips. "I'll need to think on it."
Discord frowned. "You're really not making this very fun for me."
"Just think of the anticipation as its own kind of chaos," said Lyra with a smirk.
Discord hummed unamused. "Twilight and her friends will be showing up in town any minute," he said as he raised a claw. "You have until then. At that point, I'll have new playthings."
He snapped his fingers.
Lyra found herself back on the Town Hall patio. She sighed and opened the door back inside.
"Miss Heartstrings! Miss Heartstrings!"
Lyra gave a loud groan and debated taking a running jump off the edge, but Hooves pulled her inside.
"You'll never guess!" the stallion said as excitedly as any could.
"What, you made a new device?" Lyra asked both annoyed and genuinely curious. "There's no way you could get to the lab all the way up here."
"Far better than that, Miss Heartstrings! I'm–"
"You're acting just like a school-filly chasing after some misplaced crush!"
"Misplaced?! I am an adult, and I think I can tell the difference!"
Bon Bon and Carrot Top's battle raged as Amethyst and Derpy looked on helplessly. The two princesses slept quietly not far away. Luna stirred.
"This is exactly why the agency has these rules in the first place!" Bon Bon roared. "To stop heads full of cotton from losing sight of what's important!"
"Love is important!" Carrot Top shot back. "It fills you with the most wonderful feeling in the world, and–"
"It fills you with COTTON!" Bon Bon reiterated. She stamped the ground. "You want to know what real love is?! It has nothing to do with romance, or stallions, or running away into the sunset, or any of that garbage!" Carrot Top withdrew a hoof in disgust. "Love is doing what's right, even when it's hard! It's stepping up when others step out! It's looking out for someone when no one else will!"
"You're both wrong!"
Carrot and Bon Bon shot stabbing glares at Derpy Hooves, who met their gaze with her own. Amethyst quietly sidled away from her counterpart.
"You want to know what love really is?" asked Derpy rhetorically as she took a few steps forward. "Love is terrifying. It's looking at someone and knowing you could lose them at any moment. That you might have to face a day when they can't help you make good memories anymore. And knowing that you would give anything — anything — to give them the chance to continue to make good memories. Even if it means you can no longer be a part of them."
"Doo–"
"Neither of you are a mother," Derpy continued, her wings flaring. "Neither of you know what I feel when I look into Dinky's eyes. So full of hope, and promise, and love. Real, unconditional, love. And neither of you know what I had to go through when we lost her father."
Every pony blinked.
"Her... father?"
"Mommy has a picture of him in our house," Dinky explained. "She showed me once." She waved a hoof at Hooves' head. "'Cept my daddy has a horn."
"That's right," said Hooves, a tear in his eye. "Your daddy was a unicorn."
"I don't follow," said Lyra, shaking her head. "Dinky is adopted. Derpy's told me about nine times now, by her count."
Hooves shook his head and smiled. "Don't you see? It's been right here in front of us this whole time! Dinky is Derpy's biological daughter! She and Iron Ore!"
Lyra opened her mouth to protest, but Hooves leapt away onto a table.
"Hey, everypony!" Hooves called. Every head turned to look at him. "I have a niece! I'm an uncle!"
"I just got engaged!" called a voice from the back.
"I'm pregnant!" said the local baker. "With twins!"
The room was silent for a beat. It was then flooded with cheers and congratulations on all fronts. Lyra opened her mouth to say something cynical, but thought better of it. The ponies in that room needed something to celebrate.
No, better than that.
They needed hope.
They needed a future.
"That's... a lot of memories waiting to be made," Lyra said to herself.
"Why didn't you tell us?" asked Carrot Top.
"I..." Derpy licked her lips. "Things got complicated. While I was in Canterlot, that is. Princess Celestia and the attending doctor are the only ones who knew. They both–"
A cry of pain cut Derpy off.
"Celestia's waking up!" Amethyst called.
Celestia groaned and stirred before snapping alert. "No! Stop her!"
Luna arched backward and shrieked. Amethyst lit her horn to try and keep her down, but Luna fought back hard. Celestia added her own magic while the others piled onto her wings.
"It was no use!" Celestia informed them. "I can't reach my sister! That monster is corrupting every memory she has of me!"