The next morning, the Spirit of Random crashed landed a gyroplane in front of Sugar Cube Corner. While it didn’t explode into a fiery ball of death as he expected it to, it instead dissembled itself as soon as the contraption touched the ground. Blots popped off, the paperer flew straight up into space, and even the wheels rolled away, leaving nothing but a pile of parts and a rather annoyed Draconequus crawling out.
“That’s the last time I buy anything mechanical from smooth-talking twins.” He grumbled as he got up and went through the wall of the bakery.
“Hey Discord!” Pinkie said from the other side of the counter. “Here for breakfast?”
“Well I didn’t feel like eating in my dimension today, so I thought I pick up a few things before teaching today.”
“I never thought you’d come this early to eat breakfast.”
“Well I didn’t sleep last night but that’s not what I’m here for.”
“What can I get for you anyway?”
After glancing at the menu and what was behind the glass counter, Discord asked: “I need everything that has sprinkles.”
“Like droughts with sprinkles, cakes, milkshakes, cupcakes, upside-down cakes, sideways cakes, Dashie’s protein shake, gingerbread houses, mashed potatoes-”
“Yes. Everything that has sprinkles on them.” He looked at his watch that was a couple centuries slow. “And I need it by-”
“Here you go!” Before Discord could finish his sentence, a mountain of food that had something to do with sprinkles stood on the groaning counter. “That’ll be a mint please.”
“Right ahead of you.” He conjured a safe that, when opened, blew an artic chill into the room. “Half-a-million mint bars, extra chilly.”
After Pinkie accepts the payment, the Draconequus proceeded to hoover up his breakfast. Without so much as chewing any of it, the pies, drinks and plastic rapping were sucked into Discord’s mouth in such a way that his breakfast was caught within a vortex. Even Pinkie had to hold on to something solid as her customer acted like a demonic garbage disposal.
“Is this how you usually eat?” Discord turned his head after he had vacuumed everything he bought. There in the doorway was Gallus with a surprised look on his face.
“Only on Tuesdays every other week.” He explained with the aftertaste of sugar on his tongue. “It just so happens that I had a sprinkle craving. So what are you doing here?”
“Here to get breakfast.” His student deadpanned as he walked around him towards the counter. “Hey Professor Pink, I’m here for the usual.”
After dishing out a dozen chocolate chip muffins into a paper bag, Discord followed Gallus out the door and asked him, “Why so many?”
“There for the guys.” He replied. “We figured that for breakfast that we should take turns in either getting or cooking something. I figured that since I have a few bits, and I’m a bit lazy to cook anything decent, I figured that I might as well get something. I just didn’t expect to see you trying to eat the whole shop.”
This made his teacher laugh. “I get it. I tend to have a titanic stomach, like the time that I ate a mountain once.”
Gallus’s eyes went wide. “You ate a mountain! Like… a legitimate rock-solid mountain?”
“Technically it was a volcano, but that’s because I was in the mood for something spicy.”
“Oh… well, what volcano was it?”
Discord shrugged. “Don’t know. It’s not there anymore.” For a moment, there was a hesitant, awkward silence before he asked. “So… about today’s lesson. Is there anything in particular that you wanted to learn?”
The young gryphon looked up at him in confusion. “I thought you already asked me that yesterday?”
“I did. But looking back at what you asked for, you said about what to do about certain things that aren’t that easy to fix. Although I read up on the guy that I said I would look into, I realized that I’m not exactly sure in what areas to cover over. So let me ask you, what sort of problems do you have that aren’t that easy to fix?”
For a few minutes, Gallus didn’t respond right away. But after some thought, he said. “Well… I guess there are a few things like how to deal with jerks, change, how to be happy, how to really live, and how to be motivated with life in general when there’s nothing to be motivated.” He paused as he heard a scratching sound and turned to see his teacher was jotting down on a pad. “Are you writing all of this down?”
“Making a few notes to myself,” he said as he finished writing and stuffed the notepad into his ear. “At least I have an idea what to talk about today.” At this point, the two of them were walking past the stream in which, Discord gets an idea. “How about I give you and your friends a ride?”
“Like to the school?”
“That, and maybe give out the lesson while you guys eat your breakfast. I figured that by the time I’m done, I should be able to let you all go early.” His student told him that he was listening. “In fact, I now know exactly how to do it.” After whistling a car horn later, down the stream came a boat that somehow was bigger than the stream but was able to fit. Gallus wasn’t quite sure what exactly he was seeing as it was like an ancient warship with its towering mast and the hundreds of oars that only touched the ground, yet this wooden ship was flexible enough to turn even at the tightest corners of the stream.
“Mr. Discord,” Gallus asked, “what is that?”
“The Row Ship Discord.” His teacher said matter-of-factly. “Do you live in a cave? But no matter, climb aboard or I’ll have to Shanghai you.”
His student sighed defeatedly. “You know what, I’m not gonna ask. Otherwise, I’ll be here all day.”
“And a good couple of decades too. But come on, up you go!”
After flying up on board, the young gryphon noticed that the entire crew was made up of Discords in rows upon rows holding oars while at one end was a drummer with dozens of drums and a gong. After the teacher instructed his copies to row to the school, the drummer on the other end was beating out a complex rhythm in which the rowers move their oars. Within minutes, the ship rammed into the dorm rooms, breaking a hole in the wall.
A cry of “What they hay!” was heard before Smolder stuck her head out of the hole before Yona, Ocellus and Silverstream did the same. “Mr. Discord? What do you think you’re doing?”
“We’ve brought breakfast.” He called out, “And I was thinking of getting our lesson out of the way, so I can let you go early.”
“Right now?” Ocellus asked as she glanced at a broken clock that was knocked over. “It’s not even nine yet.”
After telling her that was the main idea, Discord told them to bring out Sandbar so they could begin his lesson while they ate. Minutes later, his class was assembled just in time for Starlight bursting through the girls’ dorm room shouting: “DISCORD! WHAT THE LIVING TARTARUS DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING!”
“Sorry about the hole, Comrade!” the Draconequus waved. “Don’t worry, I’ll fix it so you can yell at me later.” Just the he commanded the boat to go in reverse by yelling “FLOOR IT!” the brinks, plaster and the shattered clock jumping up and repaired the wall.
Back on the stream, Gallus passed out the muffins while Sandbar asked, “So Mr. Discord, what were we going to be learning about today?”
Stomping on one of the planks, a stone bust popped up from the floor. “I’m glad you asked. Today I’ll be blabbering on the diary of this guy. Emperor Marcus Aurelius, last of the five good emperors of the Pegasi Empire, commander in chief and part-time philosopher. He has earned a place in Philosophy as being one of the most influential Stoics of all time. And no sooner have I said that sentence you’re probably thinking of someone like say… Maud Pie. Someone who is emotionless, always calm and has the personality of concrete. However, back in the times of the Pegasi Empire, there was more to this sort of lifestyle.”
“Like what?” Silverstream asked before munching on her muffin.
“Being a Stoic was seen as a way of how to approach to life by how we behave towards it, even if we have no control. They do so not by looking what the ideal life would be, but by looking of how things really are. At the same time, they believe in self-improvement through practical wisdom, self-moderation, fairness and courage by honor. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a self-centered nor a passive philosophy, rather the idea is that through self-control that we can see positive things to come about from everyone else.
“Our guy Marcus had become a master of this. As you would if you’ve spent most of your life either fighting blood-drenched wars or losing your children left and right. While this was going on, he wrote a book as a way to remind him of his own lessons that later became known as ‘The Meditations.’ (Eh, no relation to Haycartes.) In it, between all the battles and travel, he would write out his thoughts on how to deal with hardship realistically. It could be argued that our guy learned from Epictetus, another Stoic philosopher, that said that ‘We suffer not from the events in our lives, but our judgement about them.’ That is exactly what he does with his book, and in the end gives himself and others some very reasonable advice.”
“Like what?” Yona asked after she swallowed her muffin.
With a wave of his bird-like claw, he materialized a crystal ball in which he peered through, magnifying one of his eyes. The eye scanned each and every student as if it were peering through their very souls for something. It only made all six of them unnerved when he smiled.
“As it turns out, all of you can actually relate to today’s lesson. Gallus, Smolder, I’ll start with you two because you both have one thing in common.” Quickly turned around, he called out to his copy by the drums, “Starboard to bow! Allegrissimo alla affannato, dolore, irato ma melancolico! Five years ago, now!”
Before any of the students realize what was happening, a sudden jerk from the ship send them backward and sliding towards the very back of the ship. And just as quickly, a sudden jerk forward back to their original seats. Yona immediately asked what had happened.
“We’re at our first stop.” Their teacher explained. “Take a look where you are.”
A dozen eyes circled around at what they saw. On the right, black rocks and fire with dragons blowing fire and tossing rocks. On the left, towering mountains of ice and ruins with gryphons going by, neither side noticing the enormous ship.
“Are we…?” Smolder began.
“Home?” Gallus finished.
“These are the shadows of things that have been, but that’s not important.” Discord replied, “In both of these places in time, the first lesson from Emperor Marcus resides. If anything, Gallus and Smolder both have one thing in common.” He gestured over to Griffonstone side and told his students to take a look.
The six students peaked over the side of the ship at the delipidated town. At first, none of them knew what exactly they should be looking for. However, Yona said as she pointed. “Is that Gallus?”
Within a moment, they looked and there pulling on the rope at a well was a younger version of their friend. This Gallus was smaller, but it was undeniably him from his colors of his feathers to the very shape of his beak. In fact, the students compared their friend on the boat to the one by the well.
“I never knew that you were adorable as a kid.” Silverstream cooed.
“And I never knew that you lived in this dump,” Smolder added but Gallus frowned.
After looking behind, him towards the Dragon Lands, he retorted, “Says the Dragoness who lives in a place that’s mostly rocks and volcanoes.” Returning his gaze to Griffonstone, he hummed in thought. “Something about this is familiar.”
“It’s your home, isn’t it?” Ocellus asked.
Gallus shook his head. “Not that, there’s something… oh no.”
Before his friends could ask him, two larger gryphons came up to his younger self. They were twice the size of the younger Gallus as their bodies had twice the muscles than him. Even though the students have never seen these two before, the way their present friend reacted, told them that they’re about to witness something nasty.
“You know the rule, wimpy.” One of them said. “Fifty bits a bucket.”
“What!” the younger Gallus objected. “Yesterday it was ten.”
“Yeah, was.” The other replied. “But then the rent went up, now pay up.”
“I don’t have that money on me!” He said as he quickly tried to pull up the bucket. “We need this water, so if you could give me about a week, I should pay you-” He was cut off when one of the stronger gryphons snatched the rope.
“We want that money now. Or no water.”
“Honest, I don’t have that money right now.”
The one holding the bucket pulled out a sharp claw. “Too bad,” and with one go, he cut the rope, sending the bucked tumbling down the well. The young Gallus could do nothing but look down into the hole, devastated.
“We needed that water you jerks!”
The other gryphons swiftly took the young Gallus’s hind legs and held him upside-down. “Well if you’re so thirsty, why not you go get it.” While the young gryphon flapped his wings frantically, the bully thrust him screaming down the well.
Of course, the students were shocked as they turned to their friend that looked on with bitterness.
“Gallus,” Sandbar said, “I had no idea.”
His gryphon friend only huffed. “So what? Gryphons have always been jerks. From the next-door neighbor to Grampa Gruff. That’s the way things work on my side of the world.”
“Ah!” Discord smirked. “Why?”
“Why?” His student looked up at him as if he asked a question that an infant could answer. “Because life sucks! That’s why. What’s the good of being good when it’s worthless here?”
“That’s where our buddy would disagree.” He replied. “If anything, he as advice that’s practically tailored fit for you.”
Gallus raised an eyebrow. “Oh yeah? Like what?”
“‘When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself this truth: The folks I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and irritable.’”
His student nodded. “Sounds pretty accurate so far.”
“‘They are like this because they can’t tell good from evil. But,’ our friend here says, ‘I have seen the beauty of good, and the ugliness of evil, and have recognized that the wrongdoer has a nature related to my own – not of the same blood or birth, but of the same mind, and possessing a share of the divine. And so none of them can hurt me. No one can involve me in ugliness. Nor can I feel angry at my relative, or hate him. We were born to work together like hooves, legs, and eyes, like two rows of teeth, upper and lower. To obstruct each other is unnatural. To feel anger at someone, to turn your back on him: these are obstructions.’”
Ocellus raised a hoof. “Translation?”
“Simply put, yes, there are plenty of jerks that will be awful and there’s no avoiding it. Yet, at the same time, it is foolish to dismiss all the good of others as well. He gives a reminder that because you share the same vices and virtues of those that we don’t like, that to get angry at them is pointless as to them, you’re just as big of a jerk. Anger gets in the way from the fact that, like it or not, you’re in this together.”
Gallus folded his arms. “Still doesn’t excuse them what they did to me.”
“Our Emperor Marcus has something for that too. Reserved for how to get the best form of revenge.” His student told him that he was listening. “‘The best revenge is to be unlike those that performed the injury.’”
“I don’t follow.”
“If you give back at those bullies’ tit for tat, an eye for an eye and a beak for a beak, then that wouldn’t do much other than making the whole world blind and beakless. His best form of revenge is to be the complete opposite of those that harmed you. It would show them that you haven’t given into their cycle of abuse by being the one to break it. Not because you are weak not to do the same back, but strong enough not to become the bully as well.”
This silenced Gallus. While caught in reflection, Discord gestured over to the other side of the ship. “Within the same area of how to deal with others,” he continues, “he also gives himself advice for how to face those that see you as nothing more than a trouble maker. Regardless if you deserve it, or not.”
“Smolder!” an angry voice rang out. The students quickly gathered to the other side of the ship to see who was the one that was shouting. From the ship, they saw Ember walking out with the rage of Tartarus in her eyes. “Where are you, you little cockroach!”
Immediately, the students turned to Smolder. “What the hay did you do?” Gallus instantly asked.
“I remember this,” was all the dragoness said, “this was before she became Dragon Lord.”
“Smolder!” Ember barked once more before a younger version her flew down.
“Jeez, I’ve heard you the first time.” She said as she flapped down beside her.
The older dragoness grabbed hold at the base of her wings and held her up to Ember’s burning eyes. “Where is it?” she questioned through her teeth.
“What are you talking about?”
“Where’s the rest of my hoard? There’s a good chunk of my gems gone. Did you eat them all?” The younger Smolder asked what made her think it was her. “Most of them were diamonds and emeralds. Aren’t those your favorite gem combo?”
As much as the younger dragoness tried to defend herself that she wasn’t the one that stole them, Ember didn’t believe her. So after a few minutes of arguing, the older dragoness snatched her arm, dragging her away.
“Huh.” Ocellus said as she turned to Smolder on the ship. “I knew you were a bit of a troublemaker but I-”
“I didn’t do it!” her friend objected. “For the billionth time, I didn’t steal anything that day! But why should I bother? It’s not like any of you would believe me.”
After folder her arms in a huff, Discord floated overhead. “I take it that this is merely just one example of you getting blamed for everything?” He asked.
“Why do you think I was sent to Equestria in the first place? I’m practically banished – even though I know that other dragons have done much worst.”
“True. But even here, our Emperor guy does have advice for you too.”
She snorted, “Oh yeah? Like what?”
“‘When another blames you or hates you, or others voice similar criticisms, go to their souls, penetrate inside and see what sort of folks they really are. You will realize that there is no need to be racked with anxiety that they should hold any particular opinion about you.’”
“And why shouldn’t they?”
“He’s saying that if you behind the curtain from Lady Ember to pretty much everyone else, there is no need to take it too personally as, chances are, they too aren’t any better or worse than you. At the end of the day, you shouldn’t worry about others opinions about you as they are just as flawed as you are.”
“Doesn’t exactly help when Dragons, in general, are big jerks.”
Her teacher rolled his eyes. “‘Waste no more time arguing about what a good creature should be. Be one.’ Just because all of the dragons you’ve ran into are short-tempered, irrational and fight at a drop of a sandwich, doesn’t mean that you should be as well. The best way to show that you are better than them – be the kind of dragon that you wanted to be. Now, let’s move on.”
After looking at the boat and muttering that it seems a little too Ben Hur, he changed the mode of transport with a snap. Before anyone knew it, the students found themselves on a train along with the other copies of their teacher seated about. Discord himself now had on a blue uniform and a hole puncher in his paw.
“Next stop on Emperor Mark’s philosophy also has to deal with another thing that is enviable. And for Ocellus especially, has to deal with change. Our next flash black will be from about a year ago, right after Thorax took the throne and you Changelings instantly turned into something that even Pony Generator would call too tacky.”
“Hey!”
“Ah, we’re here.”
The students took notice how the train is slowing down as the blur from the windows became focused. All around, they saw walls of black stone filled with holes. It became clear of where they were as they zipped by colorful Changelings that didn’t notice the mile-long train that was going through their hive. Eventually, the train slowed to a halt as the students saw through the entrance of a cave was Ocellus sitting on the edge of a stone bed, looking at her hooves.
Their teacher walked over to the window to open it, just in time when King Thorax to walk by them, knocking on the side of the entrance.
“Hey Ocellus.” He said as she got up with a squeak to bow. “No, you don’t have to do that anymore. I’m not Chrysalis, and I don’t really demand everyone to bow whenever you guys see me.”
“Sorry.” The past Ocellus responded, “Force of habit.”
“I wanted to see how everything is doing. So, how are you?”
She looked down at her hooves. “I… I don’t know how to feel. This is such a big change that I’m still trying to take all of this in.”
“Fair point. I mean, I wasn’t expecting to turn into… this either.” He waved to himself. “As much as a shock as this is, I think that for once, we Changelings might be on the right path.”
“Are we?” She questioned. “I mean sure, the Queen is gone, and we’ve evolved into… whatever we are now. But at the same time, I don’t know right now if this is a good thing, Your Majesty.” Thorax asked her what she meant. “I mean… Sure we look different, but I’m still me and you’re still you. All I’ve known before all this is how to shape-shift, how to gather love… things like that. Now… I don’t really know where to go from here. We don’t have to steal love anymore, I know that now. But that’s all we’ve been doing for all our lives and you’re asking us to change that?”
“It’s not that I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Thorax said as he put a comforting hoof on her shoulder. “I get it, change is hard, but sometimes it can be good too. Maybe things won’t be like they were, but that doesn’t mean that’s how we should live.”
She sighed, “I just… I want to be alone for a while, Your Majesty.”
Thorax respected the request and walked out, leaving a depressed Ocellus behind.
“He’s not entirely wrong.” Discord commented as his students turned to look at him. “Emperor Marcus also regarded change as not only enviable but even natural as well. If anything, change is nature itself, be it natural or situations that turn on us for better or for worse.”
“Yes, but isn’t it off-putting?” Ocellus questioned. “At the time, it was really confusing that not only mine but all the Changelings transformed. We had to turn what we thought we were overnight and many of us felt lost.”
“‘Nothing happens to anyone that they are not formed by nature to bear.’ In that instance, Thorax was right on one thing. Change for anyone that’s this dramatic, even for me, is difficult to accept. For some, they refuse to accept what has occurred and preferred to stay in the past for all eternity. And sure, if the past was good, we may mourn over it, but become too obsessed to preserve the way things were, then you will be putting yourself into denial of what change has occurred.
“That being said, he also advised that since change will happen, that also includes death of family and friends that care for. To this, while he advises to treat every moment you’ve spent with them as if it’ll be their last, he also gives this warning: ‘Beware in delighting in them which leads you to cherish them so dearly, that their loss would destroy your peace of mind.’ In other words, always keep your friends and family close, but also accept the fact that you must learn to let go of them one day. After all, what is loss? ‘Loss,’ as our Emperor had written, ‘is nothing else but change, and change is nature’s delight.’ Make sense?”
“That rather grim.” Yona commented.
“Grim, but important. Yes, you guys are friends now and probably for life. But that right there is the key word, ‘Life.’ So like I said, do every act of your life as if it were your last, but always be prepared when you’ll have to let go. After all, time is short, and suddenly, you’re there anymore.” Their teacher grinned as he asked a chip, “Any questions? No? Well, next stop, Yakyakistan, two years ago.”
With the blow of a whistle, the train thrust to the side at an impossible speed. The students were smashed up against the window as they peaked of everything going at the speed of thought before the train suddenly stopped and were whiplashed to the other side of the train car.
One groan and rubbing sore spots later, Yona crawled up to the window to which her eyes widened. “This home! Look, this Yona’s home!”
Silverstream was the first of her friends to peak through the window with her. “This is amazing! What’s all this white stuff?”
“Yak snow.” She replied with pride. “Yak snow is best snow.”
“Don’t get a too distracted class.” Their teacher warned, “We have our next idea that our Emperor Self-Help has for Yona here.”
She looked up with a raised eyebrow. “What teacher mean? Yona needs no help.”
“Are you sure?” He asked as he scanned over the huts and Yaks that, again, took no notice of the train. “So where were you two years ago? I don’t see you anywhere.”
“Two years?” The young Yak thought over for a moment before she realized something. “Uh-oh.”
“Yona!” a voice that none of the students recognize called out from the other side of the window. After looking around for a moment, they quickly located one of the Yaks that was calling out her name before one of the huts. “Yona, it is noon now. Cannot sulk in sulking hut forever.”
Gallus turned to his friend. “That exists?” However, Discord shushed him.
“Yona not coming out ever again!” their friend’s past self-snapped at the one talking to her. “Yona laughingstock. Yona doesn’t want to do anything anymore.”
“Who laughing at Yona?” the Yak, whom the students quickly guess might be her father who was doing all the reassuring. “Dad never laughed at Yona. Dad misses daughter’s face.”
“What good of showing face if Yona like avalanche? Makes mess everywhere Yona goes. Not worth it.”
“But there’s still firewood needed to be chopped. And hair to be braid-” He was quickly interrupted by his daughter’s screaming in anger.
“Yona no good at anything!” Their friend’s past self-exclaimed as they heard her crying before turning towards their current (albeit embarrassed) friend.
“Oh, Yona.” Ocellus hugged her, “We had no idea.”
“That in past.” She quickly said. “Was feeling down then.”
“I have a question for you.” Discord asked, “From what I heard about you, this seems rather out of character from the excitable, lovable if not clumsy Yak we’re come to know and love. So what happened here?”
She told him that she did something embarrassing because of an accident. While he (and her friends) noticed that she was rather vague on what exactly that was, Discord decided not to push the issue further.
“Point being, at the time you had a rather low view of yourself.” She nodded. “You know, even the Emperor had asked this once: ‘I wonder how is it that everyone loves themselves more than all the rest of their fellows, yet places less value on their own opinion of themselves than on the opinion of other?’ Marcus had developed the theory that it must be because most creatures are really bad at living in the present. For they either get stuck in the past or dread of what will happen in the future. On this particular bad day, you were embarrassed about what happened in the past. So much so, that it paralyzed you from doing anything, didn’t it?”
“Well… Yona didn’t leave sulking hut for days…”
“There is some useful advice for you as well. ‘You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.’ While you cannot control what has happened or is going to happen, you do have control over how you confront it. Your attitude towards even the worst of situations can only be achieved through only you alone.”
After humming in thought, his student replied. “All good. But what if teacher doesn’t feel like going outside because teacher feels bad?”
He smirked. “To that, Marcus gives the best advice for motivation I’ve ever read. That when you have trouble getting out of bed in the morning, tell yourself this: I have to go to work – as a living being. What do I have to complain of, if I’m going to do what I was born for – the things I was brought into the world to do? Or is this what I was created for? To huddle under the blankets and stay warm?”
“But it’s nicer here…” A puppet of himself replied from his tail that showed him in his pajamas. “And it so warm too.”
Discord raised an eyebrow at his own puppet. “So you were born to feel ‘nice’? Instead of doing things and experiencing them? Don’t you see the plants, the birds, the ants, spiders and bees going about their individual tasks, putting the world in a certain order, as best they can? And you’re not willing to do your job as a living creature? Why aren’t you running to do what your nature demands like turning Celestia’s mane into toothpaste?”
His puppet yawned. “But we have to sleep sometime…”
“Agreed. But nature set a limit on that, as it did on eating and drinking. And you’re over the limit lil mister! You’ve had more than enough of that. But not of working. There you’re still below your limit. You don’t love yourself enough! Or you’d love your nature too, and what it demands of you. Those who love what they do tend to wear themselves down doing it, they even forget to wash or eat! Do you have less respect for yourself than the engraver does for engraving, the dancer for dancing, the miser for money or the social climber for status? When they’re really possessed by what they do, they’d rather stop eating and sleeping than give up practicing their arts.”
The puppet huffed. “Smart aleck.”
“Can we get a move on?” Silverstream raised her claw. “This is getting a little too weird for me.”
Discord spat a pocket watch. “Oh look of the time! Gotta cram in the next two points before I let you all go.” After swallowing the watch, he pulled a lever from hyperspace to make the train façade fall over, to that of a tightly spaced submarine. At the same time, he ditched the train conductor costume for a naval captain. “Our next stop in our tour is on something that you wouldn’t think that a stoic like Marcus would bother writing about. Happiness.”
“Really?” Ocellus asked surprised.
“Aye. Not only does he bother to talk about it, but he finds it that it’s essential too. ‘To live happily is an inward power of the soul,’ he says. In fact, Silverstream, while you might not have realized it, you’ve already mastered happiness.”
Several pairs of eyes turned to their Hippogriff friend, to where even she was confused. “Wait… really? How?”
“To someone like Marcus, while most of us have little influence of what goes on, we can control on what our attitude towards anything has on our mood. He even said it best that, ‘The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.’ It may sound simple, but then again,” he gestured over to a porthole, “who could argue with the results?”
The students peered through the tinny window that separates them from the underwater sea around them. Not only were they amazed by the fish that went by but marveled at the structures and the wide range of colors of the sea ponies.
“The Tartarus are we now?” Gallus voiced what was on his friend’s mind.
“It’s Seaquestria!” Silverstream grinned. “Oh, I’ve missed this place so much!”
“Okay, that answers the where.” Sandbar pointed out, “But not exactly the when.”
Discord pulled a speaking tube from the walls of the submarine. “Captain to bridge: set a course for Silverstream’s home, on the double as I want to wrap up this lesson quickly.”
The students watched as the enormous submarine maneuvered through tight corners and thin walls, all without getting attention from the Seaponies that swam about them. Through the porthole, they came into a dark cavern that was light up with illuminating fish, stones, coral and lanterns that hang from the ceiling.
It wasn’t until Discord ordered for the submarine to stop that the students (except for Silverstream) realized that these lanterns were homes. The one they stopped at was open where not only did it showed their friend as a Seapony, but two others that were helping her packing.
“Was this before Silverstream came to school?” Yona asked.
“I remember this!” their friend explained. “This was the night before I left Seaquestria and became a student.”
“Mind telling us what’s going on?” Gallus asked, “I don’t think anybody here can speak bubbles.”
“Oh! Right. Well, if I remember right, Mom and my little brother were helping me pack the night before I had to go. And look at me of how excited I am to be lucky enough to actually go.”
Ocellus peered through critically. “You certainly were, but I can’t exactly say about your Mom though.” She was right, while the family packed up, there was a look on the mother’s face that hesitated. While the siblings talked and looked excited about going to someplace far away, the mother folded and set her daughter’s personal items into the bag with worry.
“I take it that your mom didn’t want you to go?” Smolder inquired.
“Don’t get me wrong, we were all happy that I was chosen to go to Princess Twilight’s school. My parents even bragged of how smart I am. But on that night, she was worried about my safety and getting homesick… things like that.” She pointed at the window as her past self talked to her mother, even getting her to laugh. “But I had to tell her that I’m grown up now, that I can take care of things by myself. Besides, I was going to a friendship school where I have friends like you to keep me from being homesick. I mean, how can I be sad when I have you guys around?”
“Yet, just by looking into your past…” their teacher said as he craned his neck down. “You have just as big of a heart as you are optimistic. Even going far enough to banish your mother’s worries and fears. Especially making the effort to do so.”
“Yeah, exactly!” His student agreed. “Sure, it can get tough to look on the bright side, but at least I’m trying.”
“If the Emperor were here, he’d probably tell you to hang on to that quality as you look within to find happiness. ‘Within is the fountain of good, and it will ever bubble up if you will ever dig for it.’”
Pulling on a lever, he and the students were lifted up on a platform that rises up until it was in an elevator. Even Discord took on the uniform of a bellhop as the sudden elevator rose above sea level. “Our last subject for this philosophical tour brings to a question on not exactly what is life, but more practically, what’s the best way to live. Now you may think it’s a little redundant for me to talk about how Emperor Marcus taught how to live in a time period of gladiatorial games, conquest, and having your enemies getting stabbed on weekends. Surprisingly, however, the advice he gives is just as relevant as the day he penned it down.”
With a “ding!” the elevator doors opened up onto a dorm room. In particular, the room shared by Gallus and Sandbar. The past gryphon flopped onto the bed, letting his homework and books fall off.
“What are we doing here?” He asked towards Sandbar across the room, sitting by a desk and reading a book. “I mean really, what are we doing here?”
The Earth pony turned around to face him. “What do you mean? We’re at school, aren’t we?”
“No, that’s not it.” He rolled over until he was able to face him. “What I mean is why are we here for? I get that the girls are here to be representatives or whatever, but ever since we got here, we’re not exactly learning anything useful.”
“C’mon, sure we are.”
The past Gallus raised an eyebrow. “Oh really? Name one thing that you’ve learned this week.”
“Easy, we’ve uh…” past Sandbar drew at a blank.
While he thought this over, the students within the elevator asked the current Sandbar and Gallus if this was before the school was closed. And they said that it was before their teacher shushed them.
“I rest my case.” Past Gallus waved a claw. “You know, I’m beginning to think that Yona was right. This school is a waste of time. They say that we’re supposed to learn friendship, yet the teachers are really lame. I won’t be surprised if they don’t know what friendship is if it bangs them over their heads.”
Closing his book, his friend replied. “Yeah… As much as I hate to admit it, but you’re right. I thought our teachers, national heroes, would be… cool or something. I mean, are we expected to be bored all the time, read unreadable books, and attend classes that’ll probably rot our brains out? What kind of life is that?”
“I know! This isn’t any way to live. Back home if we wanted to do or learn something, we go out and do it! You didn’t have to spend weeks or months doing this. I’m half tempted of flying back home if this keeps up.” Flopping his head onto a pillow, he then asks his friend what would he be rather be doing.
“I’d take a day at the beach any day.” He said, “I mean, I’ve pretty much was taught on the shoreline. Back when my parents taught me how to read, write, arithmetic and all that while swimming around. I guess I’ve always loved the sea, and I would rather be there in a heartbeat.”
Past Gallus nodded, “Yeah, I wouldn’t know. I’ve never been to the beach myself.”
“Really? Never?”
“Flew over, don’t get me wrong. But never stopped to see what’s actually there.”
“Oh Celestia, remind me to take you to the beach one of these days. That right there is life. The fresh salty air, the waves, and the creatures that swim beneath it.”
“If it sounds that good, why are you here?”
There was an uncomfortable pause. “Let’s say… a-at the same time, I’m trying to get away because they’re there.”
“Oh…” He scratched the back of his neck. “That sucks dude.”
“Yeah… I wish I could live how I want without them telling me how to live.
“Just be assertive. Let them know that whatever you want to do that you’ve committed to it, and the decision is final.”
“Marcus would have agreed with you, Gallus.” Discord said as he pressed a button and the doors shut. “‘The art of true living in this world is more like a wrestler’s than a dancer’s practice. For in this they both agree, to teach a stallion whatsoever falls upon him, that he may be ready for it, and that nothing may cast him down.’ To really live, one must be prepared to fight for it. For there will be times that life can be brutal, unfair, and cruel. But remember one thing about today’s lesson: even at your weakest point, you are still stronger than you’ve given yourself credit for. If no one believes it, prove it to them. When the bigots, the bullies and the abusive come to pound you to the ground, remember – once you embraced how only you can smile in the face of oppression, you will become your own heroes. For it’s not death that anyone should fear, but never, ever be afraid to live.”
Another ding was heard, and the door opened up to the hallway where Discord’s classroom was supposed to be, along with a rather crossed Starlight Glimmer.
The Draconequus raised an eyebrow. “What? I’m not late, am I?” He looked at his watch to see that he was actually twenty minutes ahead.
“Mr. Discord, a word in Twilight’s office.” Starlight growled. “Now.”
“He’s not in trouble again is he?” Ocellus asked.
After taking a deep breath, she replied. “No no, we just need to have a little chat. And since you apparently are done with your class early, I hope we can get a word in for a couple of minutes.”
“It’s okay.” Discord said as he dropped the bellhop costume. “Class, you’re all free to go. Smolder, come by my class during lunch, I want to talk to you too.”
With Starlight urging the ex-spirit to follow her, Discord only smiled at his students as they walked away. But not without his six students following behind, to see what was about to happen.