The next day... Twilight was a wreck. Here she was standing before Celestia asking for Ponyville to be made a city state. Asking for more freedom and independence from Canterlot... asking to be taken seriously and have a voice in decision making for all of Equestria.
Honestly? She felt exactly like she did when she told her mom she was moving out. She felt like she was taking that first leap after a lifetime of baby steps. She felt like she was finally becoming an adult... WHO WOULDN'T BE TERRIFIED!?
"Well Twilight," Celestia smiled although it was one of those bitter sweet smiles of hers, "This is certainly well thought out. You have a good idea for converting the Castle treasury into the city treasury and a good budget planned out for the next..." she chuckled, "300 years, including a nice emergency fund.
"Oh, I see you have a plan to have your royal guard act as not only the domestic police force but your military as well. I like how you plan to make the extra requirements for Stallions to be allowed in combat situation as standard training for all your guards. As you say 'A necessity for a city that suffers frequent monster attack'.
"I particularly like your request to expand your boarders to include the Pie Rock Farm. It not only allows you access to their crystal mine and erosion production but will give you room to grow. Your ideas about what to do with the land are impressive, especially the dragon district you want to build.
"Overall a well thought out and brilliant proposal... no,"
Twilight blinked, "No what?"
"No, I will not allow you to seperate from Canterlot," Celestia said mournfully, "While I know you have brilliant leadership ideas I don't believe you are ready to act independently. But perhaps we can implement some of-"
"Not ready!?" Twilight gaped, "I've been doing the job for a year,"
"After Cadence ascended into an Alicorn I had her study under me for ten years before I trusted her with her own City State,"
"She was a child,"
"So are you,"
Twilight recoiled as if struck but stood her ground, "What about letting Ponyville participate in the Equestria Games? That's usually only reserved for city states,"
The Princess of the sun blinked, "I thought you might like it if I made an exception for you. I didn't mean for you to think Ponyville was ready to..." Celestia sighed, "Twilight you aren't even a hundred yet. You have plenty of time to prepare yourself for-"
"You didn't think I was too young to save your sister," Twilight stood tall and Regal, "Nor to stop Discord, nor REFORM him. I beat Tirek even when all you wanted me to do was hide. I've lead a small village into a thriving city in less then 5 years. I am ready for this. The question is Celestia, are you?"
Celestia stared at the younger Alicorn for a moment, at all her confidence and irritation. If the Sun Princess didn't grant this she would lose Twilight anyway. So Celestia chose to speak honestly, "Maybe not... Twilight I know you've grown up and accomplished great things but... You're right Twilight. The fact is I'm not ready for you to be completely on your own yet... for you to to cut all ties with me,"
Twilight's hard eyes couldn't help but turn soft, "Princess Celestia..." but didn't know what to say to that.
"I know you've grown up a lot since you were my student but I'm not ready to let go completely yet. Please respect that and be patient. You could still benefit from-"
"You're wrong,"
Now Celestia recoiled.
"No I mean wrong about cutting all ties with you. Celestia, that's not what this is about. I will always need you. It's not like I'm telling you I never want to see you again. I just want..." Twilight fidgeted but decided she should be honest to, "for you to acknowledge I've grown up, but just because I have doesn't mean I don't need you anymore. We'll still exchange letters and see each other regularly for tea like we do now. All this proposal is about is exactly what it says it's about. Ponyville, ready to stand on it's own. I am ready to lead a City State,"
Celestia stared at her a moment. The fidgeting had stopped and a look of pure determination had replaced it. She really did look ready, "Alright Twilight... I hereby grant Ponyville it's independence from Canterlot... on the condition you write me weekly reports of your progress,"
Twilight chuckled, getting a little nostalgic as she remembered the letters Celestia made her write when she first moved away, "Of course Princess,"
###
As Twilight returned home she was met by a yellow pony with a brown mane sitting in the main hall of her castle. Next to her was a black Stallion with a white mane. With them was Mayor Mare.
The Mayor didn't waste anytime as she trotted over the moment Twilight was inside, "Your highness? This is lady Love Tap and her husband, XP Grinder. They say you summoned them,"
"I did?" Twilight blinked.
Love Tap informed, "We're Button Mash's parents your majesty,"
"Oh!" Twilight grinned, "Yes of course, I'm sorry I wasn't expecting you so soon. Were you waiting long?"
"Not at all," Love Tap smiled.
"Only 4 hours," XP muttered only to have his wife elbow his ribs.
Twilight groaned, "I'm so sorry. I was expecting you to come by after school as I had a meeting with Celestia this morning,"
"How did that go?" Mayor Mare jumped in.
Twilight gave her a disapproving look, "I think the Taps have been waiting long enough. I will say the meeting went well but we will discuss the details later,"
"As you wish your highness," Mayor Mare bowed, "I really need to get you a secretary so these scheduling conflicts don't keep popping up,"
"Later Mayor," Twilight repeated, not liking the idea of replacing Spike as her assistant. Yes he was in school and had other responsibilities but judging by how he reacted when Twilight got a pet and he thought he had to compete for affection... yeah that wouldn't go over well.
"Mrs. Tap," Twilight got the yellow mare's attention, "If you would follow me,"
"Of course," She signal her husband to follow.
###
"You're a Demigod?" Diamond scrunched up her nose.
"Be nice," Apple Bloom whispered dangerously in her ear.
All the kids were hanging out on the playground in front of the school house, enjoying their lunch outside. The Crusaders, Button Mash, and Diamond were sitting at a picnic table with Spike and the new girl Screwball.
Screwball seemed uninterested in all of them, except for Spike, "So these are your pets?" she asked the dragon. Spike just groaned.
"Pets!?" Diamond roared, "How could we possibly be pets to a dragon!?" but her question was ignored.
"They're my friends," Spike glared.
Screwball rolled her spiral eyes, "That's just sad. Don't you have any real friends?"
Scootaloo stood tall, "We ARE his real friends!? We're a million times better friends then you could ever-!" but Screwball didn't look like she could even hear her.
"A yappy bunch aren't they?" Screwball rubbed her ear with her hoof.
"You don't have to eat with us," Spike glared.
"Who else am I going to eat with?" Screwball scoffed, "There's nothing but fruit flies here," looking at all the ponies everywhere.
"That's it!" Spike snapped, "I don't care if you're Discord's daughter, GO AWAY!"
Screwball flinched looking... hurt, "Why? I didn't do anything!"
"You've done nothing but insult my friends well ignoring them," Spike glared, "Why would I want to be your friend. You're horrible!"
Screwball... looked like she was going to start crying, "Fine! Who needs you!" she jumped off the table and ran, pushing a nearby filly as she left the grounds, "Out of my way insect!"
"Wow," Diamond gaped, "Please tell me I was never that awful,"
Scootaloo reminded, "You once made fun of me for being disabled,"
Diamond groaned.
Sweetie finally spoke up, "But we forgave her. Isn't that what ponies are supposed to do? Forgive and help others be better? Remember how horrible Discord used to be? And now look at him. He's an honorary Crusader!"
Apple Bloom sighed, "He would be pretty sad to know we couldn't get on with his daughter,"
Spike groaned, "Come on! I get ponies love second chances but she treated you guys like you weren't even worth her notice,"
Button sighed, "She is pretty full of herself. Be honest. Do any of you even WANT to hang out with her again? You shouldn't invite somepony to your table out of pity,"
Diamond reminded, "Discord became an evil terror on our entire planet to the point our sun can't even move without an Alicorn's help, and ponies have to control everything from clouds to erosion. Do you really think it is safe to let his daughter run off in tears?"
Spike groaned, "I'll go talk to her. I'm the only one she even bothers to acknowledge anyway," he got up and left his friends behind.
###
Screwball sat at the pond willing herself not to cry, demanding she wouldn't cry. It was just like those stupid Draconequus children all over again. Spike... wasn't scared of her though. He found her... "horrible" for who she is, not what she is, or where she came from.
"Screwball?"
The Demigod tried to harden herself but the sniffles could still be heard through her voice, "What do you want?"
Spike sighed as he sat down next to her, "I'm sorry... I shouldn't have been so harsh. I was just mad you were being so mean to my friends,"
"... you shouldn't trust them,"
Spike just rolled his eyes.
"I'm serious, you can't trust mortals!"
At the dragon's scoff Screwball knew she had to explain, "When I was born... well 'created' I guess... the world was beautiful. The sun and moon danced in the sky together, streets were made of slippery soap you could skate on, life-giving chocolate rained from the sky... My daddy woke me up and let me see it all,"
###
● Flashback:
The Return of Harmony
Discord was having such fun. He'd successfully stolen the elements and brought chaos back to the land of Harmony but knew it couldn't last. He needed a backup plan. Something that could revive him should he be turned back to stone. Something that could act independently from him... or rather somepony. It been a while since he so perverted the natural order to create life from nothing... it didn't go over so well the last time as the original race of Draconequus hardly wanted to play with him... play? He giggled with delight at the notion.
He snapped his fingers and a block of clay, on a pedestal, appeared in front of him. He whacked the block with his paw and began to shape it as it spun. It quickly took the image of a child, an Earth Pony filly no older then 6, plain and ordinary to blend into pony culture. Still it needed a bit of a kick so he could recognize it as his. He drew spirals in it's eyes instead of irises, or even pupils. There much better, he doubted the ponies would notice that. After all, mortals could be such dull creatures.
He summoned a cotton candy cloud and had it rain chocolate milk on the wet clay. He sucked in a breath and blew on the sculpture. A white gas seeping from his mouth and into the statue. A bit of his soul filling the clay.
The chocolate milk began to wash away the clay and beneath it was revealed to be something of flesh and blood. A coat of light purple fur and a darker purple mane with white spirals in the curles. He did love how wavy hair had the occasional curle.
The filly suddenly opened her eyes. The cloud shot lightening bolts, but not of his doing, as she screamed, "It's alive!" as her clothes suddenly changed to a mad scientists outfit mixed with elements of the Frankenstein monster.
"Oh I'm going to like you," Discord chuckled.
"I should hope so, Daddy," The filly grinned giving him an unexpected hug as her outfit vanished.
Discord's eyes shot wide, not knowing what to do.
"Happy Birthday," She muttered to herself as she hugged him.
"Birthday..." Discord rolled the word over his tongue, literally chewing the letters a bit before swallowing them, "Right, birthday. You need a present," he pulled her off him and held out his paw. In a flash of white light appeared a little propeller hat, "Happy birthday, my little abomination," he said with surprisingly more affection then he intended.
"Wow cool daddy! Can I fly with it!?"
"What kind of propeller can't fly," Discord stated with a smile.
She put it on her head and spun the blade, strangely her butt rose into the air, allowing her to float. She giggled with delight at the strangeness, "Thanks daddy,"
"Don't mention it sweetie. Now why don't you go enjoy the rest of your birthday and find some ponies to play with,"
"REALLY!? Thank you so much daddy," She grinned excitedly before flying off.
She flew through the sky with gleeful determination until she spotted a group of foals. They were running around a baseball field in the patches of chocolate rain and splashing in the chocolate puddles. The little abomination giggled with delight before disappearing in a flash of white light and reappearing on the field. "Can I play!" she demanded more then asked as the ponies yelped in surprise.
"Errrrrr.... sure?" said a gray Unicorn filly. With the strangeness of today a filly appearing out of no where was hardly the weirdest thing they saw. Even a filly with bizarro eyes, "We do have an odd number right now, and not nearly enough players for a full team, but do you know how?"
"I know lots of things!" The abomination grinned. She really did. She didn't know how but she knew a lot. Reading, Writing, advanced calculus, and especially games, she knew it all... or rather she knew everything her daddy wanted her to know, "Can I be the pitcher!"
"but I'm the pitcher!" a colt cried.
The grayish filly rolled her eyes and said to the new filly, "You can be the Pitcher for my team but we're batting right now,"
"Kay!" said the abomination eagerly and quickly ran to the end of the bat line.
The game... was a disaster, but the fun kinda disaster. She was really bad at this. Balancing on your hind legs well swinging a bat was really hard. Pitching was more fun though as she was actually really good at that. The ball kept spiraling through the air and dodging the bat. Her teammates all cheered as they enjoyed the raining sun.
They didn't keep score. They just kept playing with the loosest of rules. The only thing they really insisted on was that the gray filly hold the bat like everypony else and not cheat with her Unicorn magic. The abomination took that to mean she shouldn't use her magic either, although none of the kids told her that directly.
"LOOK!?" One of the fillies screamed with excitement as she pointed at The abomination's flank, "You got your cutie mark!"
"I did?" She looked down to see the tattoo like image on her butt. It was a baseball and a screw, "Ball screw?" She blinked looking at it, "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Not ball screw," one of the Colts snickered, "Screw ball, you know like that crazy pitch of yours! You're supposed to be a professional pitcher! That's so cool!"
The other pitcher pouted, "That's not fair! I've been pitching all day to! Where's my mark!?"
"Now don't spoil this for her," The gray Unicorn glared, "We need to celebrate," She hopped up and down, "Hey Rocket!" She looked over at a Pegasus colt, "Those clouds are made of Cotton candy, right? Go get us one! We'll have our own private party!"
The kids all cheered and began snacking on their lunch of chocolate milk and cotton candy. They cheered and laughed until they were exhausted and nursing their bellies on the wet grass.
"Hey!" One of the Colts stood up after the sugar high kicked it, "Let's play freeze tag!"
"Cool!" The Abomination snapped up. Finally a game with magic! "I'll be it!" She hopped on the spot with an over eager grin. She reached out and touched the colt, playing by the rules her dad gave her.
The colt tried to scream as his body was coated in warm ice. He became frozen like a statue as his eyes darted about behind the ice. He was breathing normally but frightened out of his mind as he didn't understand what was going on... well no more then she did.
The Abomination grinned excitedly, not understanding the implications of what she just did. She just looked at her new friends, eager to start the game, "This is the part where you run,"
She played exactly as her daddy taught her. She didn't understand these weren't the proper rules to freeze tag. She thought they were having fun to. They were running around screaming their heads off, looked like lots of fun. The Abomination couldn't wait until it was her turn to run away... but for some reason when the game was over all the kids demanded she leave. They wouldn't let her play with them anymore. She didn't understand what she did wrong.
She decided to play with the grown ups. They would have stronger stomachs for games. She found some adventurers and introduced them to her daddy's pets from the Ever Free Forest... but they didn't like that either... THEY KILLED A KITTY SCORPION! At the same time they were insisting there was something wrong with her!
No pony was getting hurt but they were acting like they were in fear for their lives... they were afraid of her. Some even tried to hurt her but she was just playing.
Suddenly the beauty of the world disappeared for something more orderly and less colorful. A part of her just knew, felt it deep inside her bones, something was wrong with daddy.
She felt something pull her, telling her where to go. She vanished in a white flash and followed it. She found herself in Canterlot, in a garden late at night... staring at a statue with the screaming face of her father. It looked like he was trying to shield himself from something.
"D-Daddy," She tried to reach the statue's foot but it was too high up, "DADDY!" She begged him to answer. She spun her propeller and floated up to his face, "Wake up Daddy! Please wake up! I don't like this game," She touched his stone face with her hoof but nothing happened, "What am I supposed to do?" She landed on his shoulder and hugged his neck, "This has been a horrible birthday... all the ponies were mean to me. I just wanted to play... Daddy?... I don't think you made me right," She clung to the statue as tightly as she could.
"Halt!" somepony yelled as they ran over. It was a Stallion dressed in golden armor. He blinked when he realized what was on the statue wasn't one of Discord's hell monsters but a child. He couldn't see her eyes in the dark, "Get down from there kid!" he urged, "If you accidentally break the statue you'll release him all over again,"
"I will!?" She gaped, "Thanks for the info," She pulled her body in the opposite direction well still clinging to the stone. She pulled with all her might to make the statue fall over but her tiny body couldn't make it budge.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" The guard yelled, "Are you insane!?" he ran over to her to get her off but she raised her hoof and he was lifted into the air by an invisible force.
He gave a yelp of shock before pulling out a whistle from around his neck and giving it a harsh blow. More guards quickly poured out from the castle but the abomination wouldn't let them react to her. She warped the plants around them and grabbed at them with the roots before she began frantically punching the statue with her hoof.
"Kill it!" Somepony screamed, "It's one of Discord's monsters! Just look at it's eyes!"
Some of the soldiers managed to break free of the roots and shot their arrows at her. She screamed and disappeared in a flash of light before reappearing behind them.
"Monster!?" She yelled as she hurled fireballs that froze everything they hit in a block of ice, "You're the only monsters here! You're evil! All you ponies are pure evil! Ever last one of you! YOU'RE DEMONS! All we wanted to do was play!"
She wasn't paying attention to her magic reserves in her rage, just throwing fireball after fireball until she was completely exhausted. She couldn't teleport away from the next barrage of arrows.
"ENOUGH!" A mighty voice echoed across the garden. The arrows transformed into butterflies and harmlessly flew away as a white Alicorn appeared in between the abomination and the guards, "What is wrong with you!" she demanded of the guards, "This is a child!"
"She's one of Discord's monsters," One of the guards insisted, "Look what she did to the courtyard," it was covered in ice.
"Why don't you look at it!?" the Alicorn snarled, "Not so much as a plant has been injured. The guards trapped in ice are merely TRAPPED. The spell will dissolve in a few minutes with them no worse for wear. Even as you try to kill her she shows you mercy!"
The guards looked around, many becoming shame faced when they realized what she said was true.
The Alicorn gave one last glare at her guard before turning kinder eyes on the child, "Are you alright?"
The filly backed away from her, panting heavily from exhaustion.
"I won't hurt you," the Alicorn promised.
"LIAR!!!" the filly screamed, "You turned my daddy into a statue!"
"You're daddy?" the Alicorn puzzled, sparing a glance at Discord, "I see..." looking back to her, "You're a Demigod," she took a single step forward and the filly tried to scamper away. The girl ended up falling down and couldn't stand back up, "Easy," the Alicorn picked her up with her hooves, "You're suffering from magical exhaustion. It fatigues the body," she explained.
"I know what it does!" The filly snapped but was too weak to struggle.
"My name is Celestia," Said the Alicorn, "What's your's?"
"I..." The filly looked annoyed before realization hit her, "I... I don't have a name..." she drooped her head, "Daddy forgot to give me one,"
Celestia turned a glare at Discord's Statue, "I see," before turning a compassionate eye back to the filly, "Well let's fix that shall we? You have a very distinctive Cutie Mark for such a young filly. Did your daddy give you that?"
"No..." The abomination reluctantly admitted, "I earned it playing Baseball. I was the Pitcher,"
"So young to earn your cutie mark, you must be an extra special filly," Celestia smiled, "Mhmm... how about 'Screwball' for a name,"
The filly looked down and shrugged, "I guess..." not really liking it as it reminded her of the foals that chased her off. Still she didn't have it in her enough to complain as she was lost in her thoughts. Why hadn't her daddy given her a name?
"Well come on Screwball," Celestia smiled, "It's late and your obviously tired. I'll put you to bed in Spike's old nursery. He's my adopted son but he's run off to live with his big sister in Ponyville. He's always following her around everywhere, it's adorable. I'm sure you'll meet him soon. You can stay with me for as long as you need,"
"What about Daddy!?" Screwball distressed, "Are you going to leave him like that?"
Celestia looked back at the statue, "I'll see what I can do,"
End Flashback
###
"I guess I did my job though," Said Screwball, "Celestia eventually freed my daddy. Hoofed him over to Fluttershy to control the god of disorder... But daddy was scared. He told me he was going to find a... a safer way to play with the ponies but I never wanted to play with them again. He took me to his realm and hid me there... so they couldn't hurt me.
"Now, all of a sudden, he's thrown me back into this world. I still don't understand it, don't understand them... their evil Spike. Evil in the worst way,"
Spike sighed after hearing the tale, "Ponies aren't evil, no more then you are. The ponies you... played with thought you were trying to hurt them. They were defending themselves..."
"... If I wanted to hurt them I would have..." was all she said before getting up. She walked a bit away before speaking again, her back facing Spike, "Draconequus children play rough with each other all the time but they never injure or even cause a spark of pain... nothing I did hurt. I just played... like my daddy taught me. I was even mindful to make sure I DIDN'T injure them... I don't understand..." she shook her head.
Spike sighed, "You can hurt somepony... mortals, in more ways then just physical. There's mental pain and even emotional. What you did to those ponies they interpreted as those kinds of hurt... They didn't understand what was going on any more then you did. Tartarus I doubt Discord even understands that lesson yet. He mostly looks to Fluttershy to tell him where the line is. I get your both cosmic entities and you don't really understand how mortals feel and think but-"
"You're not going to change my mind about them. If my father wants to tip toe around mortals let him. Let him corrupt himself to the point he fades from existence. I doubt any of these ponies will care despite how much he loves them... We are chaos Spike. Just as you dragons are physical manifestations of magic. We Draconequus are living chaos... and ponies are so cruel they control the very skys. It... hurts to be in this world, everything is so ordered... Draconequus are spirits of chaos and Discord is our god but... they shackled him... so arrogant and so cruel they even expect the gods to obey their laws... how are these creatures anything but evil?"
Spike stared at her a moment, a loss for words, not able to explain how ponies weren't evil when she put it like that. He knew they weren't but how do you explain it to her... he forced himself to think on it longer, and she stood their patiently, clearly begging for a real answer. He needed to give her one, "They didn't 'shackle' Discord. Discord wanted friendship, somepony to understand him. Who WANTS to play with him but in order to do that he had to make compromises. Sometimes he and Fluttershy do what he wants and other times they do what she wants,"
"When you're friends you can't always have things your way all the time," Screwball repeated something her dad had told her.
Spike smiled, "Exactly, if ponies had truly shackled Discord he would be handling all our problems like the whole Sombra thing or our current issues with The Changelings, we don't expect him to fight our battles for us. We understand what he is and respect that. All we ask is that he respect our desires to. And Discord's crazy antics can be fun just as long as he's mindful were the line is before he hurts somepony, physically or emotionally,"
Screwball just shook her head, clearly not understanding. It's like her very brain was wired differently from their's, "You should get back to class," was all she said before disappearing in a flash of white light.
###
Button Mash eyed his new friend as he came back to the table, "You okay Spike? She didn't say anything to you did she?"
"We talked and..." Spike trailed off before saying, "I think I understand her... a little bit... I think... I think she's scared of ponies and that fear has turned to hate... We need to help her,"