Scootaloo was outside early in the morning, taking some time to play on her scooter before deciding what to do for the day. She reveled in the feeling of the air blowing through her mane as she attempted her most daring tricks.
She could feel the speed, the air blowing through her mane as she sped along. The adrenaline that came with pushing herself. The excitement of feeling awesome while doing it. The knowledge that not a single other pony in the whole town could do what she could do on a scooter. True, not that many tried, but even if they did, they wouldn't even compare to her own skill.
Using a scooter wasn't Scootaloo's special talent. If it was, it would have undoubtedly shown up on her flank by now. She used her scooter so frequently that if it was destined to be her talent, she would have received it by now.
Her skill with the device had come purely through practice and persistence. And she loved it.
After pausing for a short break, Scootaloo noticed that three ponies were now outside with her. Twilight and Fluttershy were sitting together in the snow. Rainbow Dash was also with them, but she was standing.
When Rainbow saw that Scootaloo was looking at her, she started walking forward to meet her.
"Hey Scoot," she said once she came close. "You having fun?"
"You know it!"
"That's cool... So, um, you got any plans for today?"
"Not yet. Why? Do you want to hang out?" Scootaloo secretly concealed her delight. She always prefered for Rainbow Dash to be the one to ask to hang out, since she always felt like Dash might want to be elsewhere when she herself was the one to ask and was just too polite to admit it. Well, technically Rainbow hadn't asked to hang out, but she was implying it, so that still counts, right?
"That would be good with me. You want to just go on a stroll?"
Scootaloo scrunched her face in confusion. 'Stroll' meant going slow. Rainbow Dash didn't do things slowly. Not as an adult and not in her current form either. That meant that something was on her mind.
"Yeah, sure," answered Scootaloo, trying to sound indifferent.
For Rainbow Dash, 'stroll' actually meant flying alongside Scootaloo as she slowly rolled along on her scooter.
They traveled along in silence for a bit, but it was quickly becoming awkward, and Scootaloo was getting overwhelmed with the urge to say something.
"So, uh, how are things?"
"Things are good," said Rainbow. "Well, almost everything... It's just... Well, I found something that has me a little confused is all."
"Huh? What do you mean? What did you find?"
"Well, you see... argh, okay, you and me, we're cool, right?"
"Of course we are! But what's wrong?"
"Alright, I'll tell you, but seriously, you can't tell anypony else what I'm about to tell you!"
"Wow, this sounds serious," said Scootaloo, no longer hiding her concern. "Alright, I promise."
Rainbow sighed, and then said, "The thing is, I was poking around my future self's house last night. I haven't spent much time there since this all started. I did go back to take a few things out of it, but I never actually thought much of it. I decided to poke around this time, you know, to see what sort of things my future self gets up to. And when I did, I found a book."
Scootaloo waited, but realized that Rainbow Dash wasn't continuing.
"Yeah? And? What was the book?"
"What? What does it matter? It was a book! And not just a short little thing, it was a novel!"
Suddenly, Scootaloo realized exactly what the problem was. She was not ignorant to her idol's previous aversion to books.
"The worst part is that when I looked around for more, I found out that my future self has several more of them. I have a whole book series! I mean, is this a prank? You would tell me if one of the other pegasi had flown up to my house and planted those there to humiliate me, right?"
"I would have, but, er, I already know that those books are yours. It's the Daring Do series, isn't it?"
"Oh no, that's really not good! My future self turned into an egghead!"
This really is not good! Scootaloo thought to herself frantically. The adult Rainbow Dash loves those books and thinks that they are cool, and I know that they are too, but if I tell her that right now, I'd be going against my sister's opinion! I can't just tell her that she's wrong!
"Wait a second," said Rainbow Dash. "How did you know that my future self owns those books? You already told me that you can't fly good enough to visit my place."
Uh oh.
"Um... Um..."
Scootaloo tried desperately to think up a lie, but no ideas would come to her.
" 'Um' what?" prodded Rainbow.
She was out of time. She would have to answer with the truth.
"We've read them together?"
Rainbow Dash stared for a second, and then stopped turned and looked into the distance. Scootaloo had to do a one-eighty to come back to her honorary sister and then come to a stop.
"It is official," she Rainbow Dash declared. "My future self is insane."
"Hey!" cried Scootaloo, hurt. "Those books are great! They're adventure stories! If they weren't cool, do you think I would waste my time with them?"
Rainbow's eyes widened as she realized her mistake. "Oh, ponyfeathers, I- Look, I didn't mean it like that! You're still cool with me! I mean, you do have a pretty weird hobby for somepony who..."
She trailed off at Scootaloos disapproving look.
"Okay, that's not what I meant either. Look, flying is what I love to do! There is nothing else that I can do that I will love more, right? So why would I spend time reading when I could be out being awesome? I don't mind you being into books and stuff, but I like to take it to the extreme! And if I start reading in my spare time instead of practicing my flying, I'm going to go soft!"
"That's not true!" insisted Scootaloo. "The adult you is the fastest pegasus in Equestria! She isn't soft! Which is to say, you're not soft!"
"Well, maybe. I mean, there is no way that the older me just totally lost her mind, right? So I guess if she likes them, then maybe that particular book series might not be so bad..."
"Fluttershy was reading one of the Daring Do books a couple weeks back when we were all living with Diamond Tiara. She likes them."
"Fluttershy likes... fluffy stuff though!"
"Well, apparently even she enjoys a thrilling tale as well, because that's what Daring Do stories are! How about this, why don't you find out for yourself?" said Scootaloo encouragingly. "You go fly up to your house and grab the first book and bring it back here and we can read it together!"
"What? There's no way that I'm bringing those books out where everypony can see me with one! Can't you just come wi- Er, no wait, duh, of course you can't."
"We could always take them somewhere where we're alone," Scootaloo offered.
"I guess so... But it still feels weird! Besides, didn't you say that you've already read those books?"
"Well, yes, but I don't mind rereading them. Plus it will be fun to read them with someone who wasn't read them before!"
Rainbow Dash hesitated for several seconds, clearly weighing her options.
"Okay, fine, but don't say a word to anypony!"
"I won't!"
"Alright then. I'll... be back, I guess."
"This is so fascinating!" Twilight exclaimed to Fluttershy. "This whole world is actually in another dimension! But are you sure that Discord didn't tell you more about how it all works?"
"I've told you everything I can remember," said Fluttershy. "If you want to know more about how it works, you could always just ask Discord yourself. I know that talking to him can be overwhelming, but he is actually quite friendly."
"Except for when he is making a mess of things," muttered Twilight. "I guess you are right, though. If I want to learn more, I'm going to have to ask him. I think I'll go and do that right now, in fact."
"Oooh, can I come?" cried Pinkie from behind Twilight, causing her to jump.
"Pinkie, when did you get here?" asked Twilight in confusion.
"Just now!"
"Uh, okay. But why do you want to come with me? Are you curious about the nature of this dimension as well?"
"I have no idea what that means, but it sounds fun!"
"Pinkie, this isn't for fun."
"It isn't?"
"I seek out knowledge in all things in order to further my understanding so that I can approach situations in the best manner possible! It's not for fun!"
"It sounds fun to me!"
"Well, it's not!"
"But Twilight, isn't it true that 'fun' is defined differently for each pony? It's totally arbitrary to declare what is and isn't fun in such an objective manner! It is possible for me to find fun in things that you don't find to be fun without the whole universe exploding or something!"
Twilight stared for a few seconds.
"Do you actually know what you just said?"
"Of course I do! It's not like I'm just a random output machine that consistently makes coherent sentences by complete coincidence!"
Twilight stared for a little while longer.
"Okay, point taken. You can come with me, even though I don't really understand why you think it will be fun."
"Terrific! Are you coming Fluttershy?"
"Oh, I don't think so. I don't mind Discord, but I think the book flock misses me."
"If you say so! Let's go, Twilight!"
"Hey Scoot, I'm back. I've... got it."
"Rainbow, why are you holding a book titled 'The History of the Wonderbolts'?"
"It's just a book cover! Its perfect! Even though I still want to keep away from everypony else, if somepony does happen to come along, it will look like we're studying Wonderbolt stuff instead of reading some book! It's a good thing it fit over the real book cover so well."
"Well, okay then, I guess if it makes you feel better. So where do you want to go?"
"Huh?"
"Where do you want to go to read the book, of course! You're not suggesting we read it here in the middle of the street are you?"
"Of course not! It's just that I... don't really know where to go."
"We could just read it in the park near town hall. The fresh air and scenery will be nice."
"I guess that works."
"Hold on for a tickeroo, Twilight!" declared Pinkie. "There's something funny with that bush!"
"Bush?" asked Twilight in confusion. She looked at the bush in question. "It looks fine to me."
Pinkie didn't reply, but instead reached inside the bush and pulled something out. She whirled around to face Twilight again and was suddenly wearing a pair of glasses with a moustache and puffy nose attached.
Twilight did a double take.
"That was inside that bush?"
"Mm-hmm!"
"Who in the world would... Oh, right, of course, Discord would."
"Nah, it wasn't him. I'm pretty sure it was the adult me."
"What? Why do you say that?"
"Because I already make sure to stash things in special places just in case. But I don't get very much allowance back at home, so I don't have a whole lot of stuff stashed. But here, my future self works at sugar cube corner and probably makes plenty of money to buy stuff with. Which would explain why there are stashes all over all of Ponyville!"
"What? That's unbelievable!"
"Where do you think I got that cannon I used when we were playing sail the sloop?"
"I... didn't think about it, but fair enough. What else is stashed around here?"
"Well, we certainly don't have to look far. Hold on."
Pinkie reached inside the same bush again and pulled out a long, thin, blue object.
"A bendy straw!" Twilight declared in disbelief. "I need to see this for myself!"
Twilight poked her head into the bush, but unfortunately found her vision rather obstructed in all of the leaves and sticks. She tried feeling around for anything unusual, but found nothing.
"You aren't searching in the right place," she heard Pinkie say.
"Well, where am I supposed to look then?" Twilight grumbled, pulling her head back out.
She gasped. Pinkie Pie was now wearing a life preserver underneath her scarf and snorkel which was over the funny glasses she was still wearing.
"What?!"
"What?"
"Is there any more junk in this thing?!"
"Nope, nothing else in this one. Although... Hmm... That tree hollow looks suspicious..."
Pinkie bounced away toward a tree with a hollow in the side. She reached inside, grunted, and then heaved out something cylindrical.
"That's a telescope," stated Twilight.
"It sure looks like one," agreed Pinkie. "Oooh, oooh, what's inside this bush!"
Pinkie repeated the process once more and produced two items.
"An abacus and a bottle of chocolate pudding mix. Why exactly are these two things paired together?"
"I don't even know what this thing is!" said Pinkie, pointing at the abacus. "Is it a toy? It looks like a toy!"
"No, an abacus is a device that helps you to do math."
"Cool! Hey, Twilight, you want to have pudding? It doesn't go bad when it's just the mix, and all we have to do is add some water. It's easy!"
"Um, no thank you...?"
"More for me then! Oh hey, look, we're here at the mayor's office! I hope Discord has a bowl I can use."
"You're going to make it now?"
"Yep! HEY DISCY!"
A window on the side of the building popped open and Discord stuck his head through.
"HEY PINKORD!"
"I know I have said this a lot today, but... what?" said Twilight.
Pinkie snickered. "It's funny because I said Discy which is like if you stuck the last part of my name to the first part of his name, so he took the last part of his name and stuck it to the first part of my name!"
"Oh, good grief, I don't even want to imagine what it would be like if you two switched places."
"It would probably be something like this," said Discord, and then he snapped.
Suddenly, Twilight found that she was no longer standing next to Pinkie , but instead it was Discord next to her. She looked and, yes, Pinkie was poking her head out of the Mayor's office, and apparently unaffected by the sudden teleportation.
Twilight turned back to Discord.
"That was a pretty dumb joke."
"I liked it!" declared Pinkie.
"Scootaloo, I hate to admit it, but... You were totally right. This book is completely unputdownable! I didn't realize it was actually possible for there to be this many words in a row on paper that wouldn't bore me to tears, but somehow this book manages it!"
"I told you!"
"I know you did, no need to rub it in," said Rainbow Dash with a smile. "Seriously though, are there more books like this?"
"Well, there's a good number of Daring Do stories, but even in the future you are still pretty picky about what you read."
"I guess that explains why the only story books in my house were Daring Do. I still can't believe how good this book is! I love it! My confidence in my future is completely restored!"
"That's great!"
"Look at how much we read through already! It's almost over! I don't want it to be over, but... I just can't stop!"
"Yeah, you kept almost leaving me behind, you were in such a rush."
"Sorry, It's just..."
"Yeah, I know, it is pretty great."
"How long did it take us to read all of that anyway?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"Rainbow, I grabbed us both lunch and dinner, just so you could keep out of sight. And I know you reread parts of the book when I did that too."
Rainbow blushed slightly. "I'm allowed to, aren't I? Besides, it would still be super embarrassing if I got caught by anypony else."
"You know, everypony else will probably react the same way that I did: They won't think any less of you just because you like reading Daring Do."
"Maybe you're right, but why take the chance?"
"Well, they'll find out eventually. The adult versions of your friends already know about how much you love these books."
"Oh. Um, do they...?"
"They do. The only pony who treats you any different in the future is Twilight, and in her case, she's happy to have someone that she can talk about the book with. And then you would tell me the stuff that she told you."
"Well, of course Twilight would... um..."
Suddenly, the sun started moving across the sky toward the horizon. Within seconds, it vanished and was replaced by the moon.
Unfortunately, the moon did little to light the world below.
"That's not good!" cried Scootaloo. "Gosh, Ponyville is really dark when there's nopony putting out lights at night."
"I can barely see my hoof in front of my face," complained Rainbow Dash. "There's no way I can read like this!"
"That's what you're worried about? How are we going to get back to the fort? None of us have ever been far from the place we were staying at in the night before! How are we going to find the others?"
"Well, we don't have to."
"But where are we going to sleep?"
"Oh. Um, that's a good question. I guess there is one place nearby where we could go..."
There was a breif moment of silence.
"You know that I can't see your gestures right now, right?"
"I'm talking about Discord's place! It's the only place with a light on!"
"You're seriously suggesting that we spend the night with Discord?"
"Yeah? What's wrong with that? Sure, he's weird, but he did apologize to Fluttershy like I asked, so he's cool. And it's not like we have to hang out with him, I just want a place where we can finish this book!"
"I guess there's no harm in trying. I don't have any better ideas."
"Alright, I guess let's go. Oh, and stay with me so that we don't lose each other."
"Ah, light!" declared Rainbow Dash as she stepped inside.
"Yeah, lets agree never to get stuck outside on a dark night like this again."
"Where is Discord? Shouldn't he be here?"
Maybe he is in his... room?" said Scootaloo uncertainly, indicating the knobless door in the office. "Let me try knocking."
Knock knock knock
The top half of the door suddenly flew open separate from the bottom half revealing Discord appeared behind it, wearing a party hat impaled on his horns. He put his claws on the bottom half of the door and peered down at them.
"Hmm, what have we here?" he declared. "What are you two doing here at this time of the night?"
"We sort of got stuck here when you changed it to night," explained Scootaloo. "So, we were wondering... um, do you have a place where we can pass the night here?"
Discord blinked at them in shock.
"You mean stay? Here? All night?"
He suddenly turned away from the pair and looked back into the room he was standing in.
"Did you hear that? We have guests! Ahahahahahaha! And they expect to stay all night!"
"Who are you talking to?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"Oh, Twilight came by earlier and spent all day asking me questions! Well, not all day, but it felt like it."
"Oh. Huh. Small world."
"Of course it is. Ponyville all by itself is the whole world! Or, at least, it's your whole world."
"Right..."
Scootaloo gave Rainbow Dash a worried look. In response, Rainbow just shrugged.
"So, does that mean you'll let us stay?" asked Scootaloo.
"Certainly! I have several lovely sweets! Want one? Or maybe all of them? Why should I care, I can make them in a snap, and you two don't have to worry about your teeth!"
Discord lowered a claw full of wrapped candies in front of the two fillies.
"They aren't going to do anything weird to us, are they?" asked Rainbow Dash skeptically.
"No, they're perfectly ordinary, I assure you."
"I'll take them then."
"Here you go!" Discord declared, poofing the candy into a bag which he slung over Rainbow's back.
"Okay, I don't know where that came from," said Scootaloo in confusion, "but we were talking about you letting us have a place to stay?"
"Oh yeah! I'll show you to your room!" He opened his door fully and walked out, allowing Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo a brief glance of the plaid interior with chairs a tables on the ceiling. He shut it before they could get a closer look. "Walk this way!"
He walked to one of the walls of the office and reached up toward the ceiling and pulled on a pull chain that had probably not existed moments before. As he pulled it down to the ground, a door came sliding in from nowhere on the wall.
"This room should be sufficient!"
He cracked the door open, revealing a rather ordinary looking bedroom.
Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo were both partially relieved and partially disappointed.
"Um, thanks Discord," said Rainbow Dash.
"Wait a minute," said Scootaloo. "Where is Twilight staying the night?"
"She's in the room opposite of yours."
The two fillies turned to look at the other side of the office.
There was another door.
"How did we miss that?" asked Rainbow.
"I don't think we did..." answered Scootaloo.
"Well, I hope you two enjoy your stay!" said Discord. "Just beware of the sludge monster!"
Scootaloo jerked back to look at him in surprise.
"The what?"
"Relax, Scoot, he's obviously just making a lame attempt to scare you."
"No, I swear I've heard that name before! Recently!"
"It's completely ridiculous!"
"That's what you think," said Discord. "You wouldn't believe some of the... somethings that I know, and that doesn't even include inter-dimensional eldritch horrors. The sludge monster is very real. You see...
"It lurks in dark mysterious places,
"Making ugly faces!
"The sludge monster!
"Under the bed,
"Or just behind the curtain,
"It'll be there for certain,
"The sludge monster!"
"Okay, you've made your point!" cried Rainbow. "Thanks for the warning! We'll be certain to remember that when we go near the curtains and stuff. Thank you!"
"Hmph. My sarcasm senses are tingling."
"Look, I don't want to listen to your stories. I have a much more interesti-I mean I'm tired and want to go to bed!"
"If you insist. Sleep tight!"
Discord's body suddenly folded into itself until it formed a paper airplane, which proceeded to fly out the door, which shut behind him.
"Rainbow, I can't believe you just did that! Now he's going to actually summon up some slime thing or something!"
"Big whoop. I'm not scared of something like that."
"Oh... Right. That is pretty dumb actually, being scared of a sludge monster. I mean, what's it going to do, sludge me?"
"Besides, if Discord does anything dumb, I'll just give him a piece of my mind."
One hour later:
"Hold on Rainbow Dash, do you hear that?"
"The sound of someone stomping around outside the door? It's probably just Discord walking around."
"Well, whatever it is, its really loud. I'm going to go tell him to stomp softer."
"Umm... okay then, I'll just wait here. Hurry back! We're right at the end of the book!"
Rainbow watched as Scootaloo slid off of her chair that they were reading at and walked over to the door.
She cracked it open.
She took a look around at the room outside.
"Hello?" Scootaloo called. "Who's doing that?"
There was no response.
"What was that noise?" she called.
The door slammed shut.
"Aghhhhhhh!"
Rainbow Dash was on her hoofs in an instant.
"Scootaloo!"
She ran toward the door, but then hesitated when she heard choking noises from the other side.
Rainbow Dash paled. Was it possible that Discord had actually created some sort of freaky sludge monster just to spite her?
It has Scootaloo!! Rainbow thought in panic. And it's going to come for me next!
She looked back behind her and spotted exactly the thing that she needed.
She grabbed Scootaloo's chair and jammed it between the floor and the doorknob, preventing anything from getting into the room.
Poor Scootaloo! she thought. What a way to go. Sludged...
...
Wait a minute, what the hay am I doing?!
Rainbow flung the chair aside and pulled the door open.
Scootaloo was on the floor on the other side and standing over her was indeed a sizable blob of moving brown slime that seemed to be trying to smother her.
"Get off of her, you slimy freak!" Rainbow cried. She dove at the creature, but it suddenly dodged out of the way with unexpected agility.
Before Rainbow could see it coming, she suddenly felt something cold and slimy grab onto her back.
No! I'm going to wind up just like Scoot!
"Hey Rainbow Dash!"
Rainbow froze for a moment before turning to look at the monster.
"Pinkie Pie?" she cried in annoyance.
"Yep!"
"Holy ponyfeathers you almost gave me a heart atta-I mean, why are you helping Discord with this stupid prank?"
"I'm not helping Discord. He's helping me!"
"She's telling the truth, you know," came Discord's voice from the door to his room. The top half opened revealing him standing behind it.
"I got the idea from when Snails told me about the sludge monster on the first day we were here!"
"Exactly!" said Discord. "How could I have even known about that? I wasn't even there!"
"Pinkie!" cried Scootaloo. "You made me choke on chocolate pudding!"
"I know! I'm really sorry about that. I didn't mean to, I promise!" said Pinkie apologetically.
"Chocolate pudding?" asked Rainbow. "Pinkie, why in the world are you covered from mane to hoof with chocolate pudding?"
"That's a long story," answered Discord. "But you see, Pinkie and Twilight came here together earlier today. I wasn't lying when I said that Twilight was here by the way. But she's been sleeping in the other room since before you even got here. Pinkie didn't want to leave, so we decided to throw a private little party with just the two of us, and we whipped up some delicious pudding that Pinkie brought over, only to make it more fun we were having a dance contest at the same time. We managed to finish making the pudding, but then when I tried to pick up the bowl while squat dancing, I accidently dumped it on Pinkie. I was going to magic the mess away, but then she decided it was fun to walk around covered in pudding since she could never get away with something so bizarre at home, and then when you two showed up she thought up the idea of pranking you."
"We made more pudding though!" said Pinkie happily. "You want some? You can join in on the whole party!"
Rainbow took a look around her. At Discord, with his annoyingly smug face, at Pinkie Pie, the true perpetrator all along, and at Scootaloo, who had no idea what thoughts had been running through her head just a minute before, and would certainly never find out.
And she burst out laughing.
"Oh, what the heck," she declared after calming down some. "Sure. Only, uh, can wait for just five minutes or so? Scoots and I have got this, uh, thing we want to do real quick. Wash this pudding off. Yeah."
"You don't have to!" Pinkie said. "You can do whatever you want, and if you want to run around covered with delicious edible goo, then you can do that!"
"No, that's okay, we're just going to go wash the off now!"
"Okay, see you in five!" said Pinkie.
Rainbow and Scootaloo disappeared back into their room.
"She's totally finishing that book," Discord stated.
"Oh, come on Discy, don't embarrass her!"
"I didn't! I waited 'til they were gone, didn't I?"
Dear Princess Celestia,
It is now the twenty-second day in Discord's recreation of Ponyville. The fact that we foals have lasted this long is inspiring. We are close to the thirty day mark. At this point, I suspect that even the more homesick among our number will continue to the very last day, since they have already lasted this long and there is not much left to go. I personally feel a strange mix of homesickness and wanting to stay here forever. Of course, I will not be here forever. I think I will ask Featherweight to help me photograph and commemorate our experiences here. I'm sure that Discord would be willing to bring those back to the real world in addition to these letters, and it would be nice to have when this is all over.
This week was far calmer than last week. The closest thing to a disaster that occurred was Discord suddenly deciding to take a more active roll in town, and his attempts to do so were highly disruptive. However, the situation has already been resolved. At appears that the solution was simply for Fluttershy to befriend him, for a second time.
My experience with teaching was quite successful, and I am also pleased to learn that it is fun and fulfilling as well. The fact that I tailored the lessons to subjects that the others find interesting was obviously helpful, as was the fact that it was not obligatory, and furthermore, short. Of course, I do realize a full-time class cannot always fulfill those aspects at all times. That really is a shame, because keeping the interest of the students is extremely cohesive to the teaching process.
I have also observed both here and at your school that teachers and professors who are well liked have a much easier time with keeping students interested. I know that I cannot escape the fact that I am something of a celebrity among these ponies, and probabily always will be, but if they insist on following me, I can at least try to steer them in the right direction, to the best of my ability, and hope that I do not make a mistake. I must not make a mistake. If I do, then others will suffer by my example. It isn't right, but it is the situation I find myself in. I don't suppose you ever feel that way? If so, I think that I might understand your position a little better than I did before, and my boundless respect for you has increased to even greater heights.
At this very moment, I am visiting with Discord himself. I suspect you will not disagree if I say that he is difficult to interact with, but he has proven to be at least somewhat helpful when he is in the mood for it. During Fluttershy's bonding with Discord, he explained some of the technical details of how this world works, and she in turn relayed that information to me. By further questioning Discord, I have been able to translate his words enough to deduce a very startling fact: Although he cannot travel through time using his own chaos magic, Discord has achieved this state of existence in which time does not progress externally through a very clever exploitation of a strange loop, which are apparently not uncommon occurrences in his dimension. Time for us is moving like a circle instead of like a line, and after our thirty days are over, time will suddenly be back to the point at which it began, without ever moving backwards. The strangest part however is that Discord says that events will not always play out the same way every time the loop 'restarts'.
This apparently can cause some very strange events, the primary example in this case being Discord crossing paths with his 'past' self who comes to construct our recreation of Ponyville immediately after Discord destroys it as it is no longer needed. He says that when he first arrived to create this place, the other Discord threw a peach cream pie in his face, and now he vows to get revenge on himself by assaulting the next Discord with something. Something that is not a peach cream pie, because that would be unoriginal.
Furthermore, I learned that after a short duration of real time passes, all access to this place will be lost to even Discord forever, as the strange loop will be fully contained in the past. Although, in theory, he could always just find another one. And all of this occurs without any application of time travel; it is merely a strange phenomenon that occurs in the dimension that he calls home. It all sounds too fantastic to be true, but I have watched him for long enough that I am willing to believe it. It is truly astonishing what Discord is capable of, if what he says is to believed, and I shudder to think what difficulties he caused before being reformed. Pinkie Pie is also here and she and Discord are pestering me to play a game now. So I suppose shall have end this letter here.
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle