The next day, Discord sat in front of his classroom door in a rocking chair. This time he was wearing in a dinner jacket and blowing bubbles from a pipe. He rocked sideways left and right as he waited for the first-hour students to come to him.
‘I wonder if I’m about to go too far on this one.’ He pondered as a giraffe bubble crawled out from his pipe. ‘After all, regardless the universe, this guy’s name is up over its head in controversy. I’m willing to bet that the moment my students hear his name that they might think I’ve gone too far without saying a word. Faust, I hope that I could pull this lesson off without the comment section demanding to serve my head on a silver platter, with a buttery garnish of the author’s brains. Then again, it’s not just about who I’m teaching that’s got me worried.’
The Draconequus craned his neck over to the classroom door. ‘Oh come on Discord! Of course, this is going to work. Your students are smarter than fifth graders and the entire Royal Guard combined. If they can survive a day with Applejack and Rainbow being disorganized, head-butting teachers trying to get the best teacher of the millennium award, I’m sure they can make it through today’s lesson.’
Returning his gaze to the hallway, he stopped rocking when he found Twilight there. “Good morning Discord.” She said as the Draconequus noticed the clipboard in her aura.
“Mornin’.” He replied with a blow from his pipe. “So what brings you around these parts?”
“Well since I’m ahead of paperwork, and that you’re the newest official teacher here at the school, I figured that would finally come around to do a bit of an inspection.”
Discord raised an eyebrow. “Inspection? I thought I already went through one of those when I did Haycartes that one time.”
“That was your try-out, remember? I’m here to see for myself how you teach your class. Since I finally got through the mounds of paperwork, I figured that I should take the opportunity to do so.”
After a hesitant pause, the new official Philosophy teacher signed out, “Oh crap.”
“What?”
“Are you really doing this now? As in today?”
The Headmare raised an eyebrow. “Is there a problem?”
“Well… let’s say that today’s lesson isn’t exactly the usual way that I would teach other lessons.” She asked how come. “Well, it’s not exactly a lesson that I could talk and show about, it’s one of those that the students have to experience for themselves in order to understand. My usual method of just showing the lesson to them and having me, along with my students, to comment on what’s going on, I’m afraid that doing so won’t be enough.”
“Okay… What lesson are you doing?”
“…. Happiness.”
“Oh,” Twilight commented as she scribbled down something on her clipboard. “That doesn’t sound so bad. I want to see how you teach it in action.”
Discord only stared at her. “Uh… I know the author decided to hit you and Starlight over the heads with the idiot stick concerning yesterday, but… are you absolutely sure?”
The Headmare looked up, “Who getting hit by what now?”
“Hey, Mr. Discord!” The two of them turned their attention down the hallway as six of the morning students walked towards them. Smolder, the one who called out asked, “So what are we doing today?”
“And why is Headmare Twilight here?” Ocellus asked.
“Oh never mind me.” She replied, “I’m only here to observe how your newly hired teacher does his classes up close. Just try to ignore me while I take down some notes.”
With a sigh, Discord got up from his seat to open the door that leads to a snow-covered mountain and a projector with a wiping red flag. The freezing wind blew in their faces, but the teacher waved them to enter. As they did so, all, including Twilight, couldn’t help but notice that Discord was looking uncharacteristically somber as they walked through the door.
“Wait, is this Mt. Everhoof?” Twilight asked as she looked around. But when her eyes were on the Draconequus, he looked at her with a sorry look.
“I’m so sorry for this.” He said before closing the door.
“Mr. Discord!” Gallus was the first to rush to the door to open it, only to find nothing except for the clouds and the steep side of the mountain below. The young Gryphon, in horror like his friends and Headmare, tried to open and close the door, only to get the same result. “Nononono! Mr. Discord! You can’t leave us here!” But while his cry echoed, their teacher didn’t come for them.
“What they hay Discord!” Twilight exclaimed as she too examined the door. With a frustrated “Ugh!” she adds, “I can’t believe I trusted him, and he leaves us on the side of a mountain!”
“Hey, guys.” Sandbar called out. “There’s a note on the projector that says, ‘Play Me.’”
Now all eyes were turned to the iced projector as a crossed Twilight marched over to examine it. Beside the popsicle of a sticky note that gives such instructions, there were two buttons beside it, a green and a red. Touching the green button, Twilight set the machine into motion as the projector lit up to show a blue hologram of Discord.
“I-Is thing on?” Their holographic teacher asked. “I see the red light so are we recording? We are? Are you sure it’s finally working now? Okay, good. So if this is working I guess I can get started.” After clearing his throat, Discord began. “Hello students. First of all, I must apologize for leaving you all to fend for yourselves on the side of the tallest mountain in the world. Grant it, this is rather cruel. No doubt about it. However, for today’s lesson, this is the only way that for something like this to work. This is because the philosopher I’m going to talk about today is nowadays considered controversial – Nietzsche.” The hologram waved a claw over to a materialized bust of a miserable looking stallion with a large mustache.
“What!” Twilight shouted.
“By now you’re probably wondering why I’ve chosen someone who is the most misunderstood, misquoted, and has the most manipulated work outside of his control of all time. For those of you who don’t know, Nietzsche here is known for phrases like ‘What doesn’t kill me, makes me stronger,’ or ‘Time is a flat circle,’ or ‘That’s not what I mean by Superpony!’ Today’s lesson, however, is mainly focused on suffering and happiness. This means that in order to illustrate, I have to be cruel for today’s lesson. However, if you only see the suffering and not what it teaches, you’ve missed the message.
“So in order for you students to understand what he’s really talking about, I have a simple task for all of you: That in order to get off the mountain and back to school, you’ll have to climb up to the top where the exit is. This won’t be easy as you’ll have to overcome some obstacles along the way. With that being said, just follow these red flags like the one by the projector, they will lead to the next one until eventually, you’ll reach the top.”
“I don’t see why we can’t just fly up there.” Gallus spread his wings and jumps in the air. However, instead of flying, he found himself face planting into the snow.
“Oh, one more thing.” The hologram continued. “I enchanted this side of the mountain to where you’ll won’t be able to fly. That would be cheating and would miss the point entirely. From here on out, you all will have to walk up. And for the same reason, teleportation is forbidden too. If you are a Changeling, transformation is also against the rules as well. If you have to use magic, it can only be used for yourself. And yes, I know it will take a while, but as Nietzsche said: ‘Philosophy is a voluntary living in ice and high mountains.’ So, I suggest all start heading off that way before you freeze. Good luck everyone.”
After the recording went out, Twilight proceeds to smash the projector. “He’s fired!” she vented. “Worse then fired! When I get back I’m going to have him turn into stone!”
“H-Headmare.” Sandbar shivered in the cold. “W-W-What do we d-do now?”
“It obvious?” Yona questioned. “No way down mountain. Only way to go – is up.”
Taking a deep breath, Twilight turned upwards towards the mountain to notice a little snow-covered trail, and even further towards the top where a door stood with neon lights that say “Exit.” She called the students to gather around her.
“Everycreature, I need all of you to follow me. Stick close together and be sure to share your body heat. I’ll lead the way… and then proceed to fire Discord as soon as we get back.”
Ten minutes of walking unprepared in the snow with its murderous winds blowing against their faces and things had already started to look grim for Twilight. The combination of wet snow, below zero temperatures and the wind, were more than enough to make all of them miserable. If anything, they, including Twilight with her wings spread to all of them, were huddled around Smolder as she tried to continually breathe a fireball. Only to weary her out rather quickly.
At one point, after a coughing fit, Smolder said. “I don’t know how much longer I can do this.”
“H-How much l-longer,” Silverstream shivered, “u-u-until we g-get out of h-here?”
Twilight wished she had an answer. As much as she wanted to take the shortcut to yell at Discord (she already tried to teleport), she had to follow the rules in getting up the mountain. However, since she has never been to Mt. Everhoof, she didn’t have a clue as to how close they were to the top.
“I-Is t-that a c-c-cave?” Gallus pointed up ahead. There in the vale of snow in the side of the mountain was a hole that went into the rock. Immediately, they went into the shallow cave that mercifully got them out of the wind. They were taken aback to find a large steamer trunk covered in frost, and a projector next to it. Yona was the first to open the truck to pull out not just thick winter coats in various sizes, but ropes, ice picks, and half a box of matches.
Right away, those who didn’t have a thick coat set to work to see what fitted them.
“At least Mr. Discord isn’t entirely careless.” Sandbar commented.
“And yet he abandoned his students near the top of the largest mountain in the world.” Twilight pointed out.
“I don’t think Mr. Discord would have done this without a good reason.” Ocellus said as she put on a coat. “And while I can sense that you disagree, I don’t think this is out of character for him.”
“But do you know how dangerous it is?”
“We do.” Yona told her Headmare. “Draconequus isn’t thoughtless. Discord smarter then he seems. Does Headmare think that Discord wouldn’t do this unless knows what he doing?”
“Besides,” Smolder walked up to the projector, “if he wanted us to die, he wouldn’t leave us this stuff or this projector thing.” After pushing a button, a hologram of their teacher appeared.
“It’s good to see you, students. Everything that follows, is the result of what you see here.”
Twilight was the first to march forward towards the illuminated copy. “Discord, is there a reason why you’ve left us on Mt. Everhoof?”
There was a flicker in the hologram before it responded. “I’m sorry, my responses are limited. You must ask the right questions.”
“How long is it until we get to the top from here?”
Another flicker. “I’m sorry, my responses are limited. You must ask the right questions.”
“Hold on.” Gallus raised a claw. “This is a lesson on that… uh, what’s his name?”
“Nietzsche.” Ocellus reminded him, and he snapped his claw.
“Right. What if the questions we’re supposed to ask is about him? Maybe it could give us a clue as to what we need to do.”
“That would make sense.” Silverstream nodded. She turned to the hologram of her teacher. “Okay so uh… What does suffering have to do with happiness, I thought they were opposites?”
“Throughout history, philosophers have thought that suffering and happiness were two different things like understanding and quantum physics. That over the centuries, they’ve come up with comforting words to dull out the pain, that everything is going to be okay or justice will be served. Nietzsche, however, not only thought that this was absurd but more harmful than we think.”
Smolder raised an eyebrow. “Why would it be harmful?”
“Because, in Nietzsche’s eyes, he thought that anything that took us away from the painful reality of how things really aren’t good for anyone. Simply put, if you don’t ever deal with the problem, how’d you expect it to go away if you don’t do something about it? If you seek comfort for the sake of dulling the pain, then it won’t do anything helpful. Such as drinking barrels of alcohol or stuffing your face with factories worth of ice cream. As far as he’s concerned, to find happiness, it doesn’t mean to try to escape our troubles, but learning how to confront it head-on. But normally, this isn’t always the case.”
“What do you mean?” Ocellus asked.
“Normally, every creature on the planet tend to react by either taking something to dull the pain away. Or by trying to take up revenge to escape suffering or by blaming someone else because they feel continually dejected or angry. Yet, no amount of revenge could change the fact that they could escape suffering or death. This is because since the universe has its own rules in chaos, it is indifferent to living things, because of this, this is where suffering comes from. To Nietzsche, both of these kinds of folks fall into the foolish category as they have no idea how to deal with it constructively.”
“Huh,” Twilight mused, “I guess that makes sense. Only, there is a question of how anyone can learn to deal with suffering, but constructively. How does one do that?”
The hologram of Discord smiled. “That is the correct question. Program terminated.” Just like that, the projector shut off by itself. Students and Headmare stood in awkward silence, looking at one another.
“Okay…?” Twilight turned to the students. “Going by the rope and ice picks, I think that we’re expected to do a vertical climb upward. So who else here is good at tying knots?” They told her that they didn’t exactly know how. “Well, it’s a good thing I’ve learned a few things from ‘Voyager’s Ultimate Survival Guide.’ Especially about the chapter about knot tying.”
So using her horn, she coiled the rope around each student according to strength and weight before giving them a pick. After giving them a condensed lecture on safety precautions on mountain climbing, Twilight lead the way out of the cave and back into the fringed, unforgiving air.
They followed the red flags until it leads them to a frozen waterfall in which, on the top fluttering in the wind was a lone marker. The students were hesitant as not only was their path was made entirely out of ice, but it was a straight drop into the gray abyss below if they should fall. While they pondered over this predicament, Yona went over to the stone of the mountain in which she started to pound against it.
“Uh… what are you doing?” Smolder asked.
“Yaks have trick,” she replied as pieces of the wall began to break “for getting up ice like this.”
Gallus raised an eyebrow. “By beating up stone?”
“No. Sandstone,” she replied as a small section broke off and she proceeded to pound it into a powder. “Climbing up ice without grip not safe. Yaks know to put sand from sandstone to prevent from slipping.”
“That’s… that’s actually really clever.” Twilight commented. “So I take it that you did something like this before?”
“Ice climbing not favorite of Yona’s, but important skill to know.”
“So you have a plan?” Ocellus asked and her friend told her that she indeed has. The idea she presented was to use the ice picks to carve out niches in the ice at an angle before tossing the pulverized sandstone so that they would have something to grip onto for the climb up. After she was through, Yona scooped up the sand into the box of matches.
It was then decided that Smolder should carry out this task, to put her in the lead as they make their ascent. This was because out of all of them, she was the strongest and has claws to easily sprinkle the sand into the niches. After Twilight gives a last-minute safety tip of making sure they all should not only move together, but to hold onto their ice picks to prevent from falling as well, they began the climb. Smolder not only used the ice pick, but her claws as well to make the climb. Slowly but surely, she carved out of the ice the cracks in the ice before sprinkling the sand in. While she found that the ice was much softer than stone to break, it was a very slick climb to the top. Below her, the Headmare and her fellow students held on for dear life while Twilight reminded everyone there to not look down.
What the dragoness found surprising, was how strenuous it was for such a simple task. Several times the group had to stop to take a break to breathe as it was easily exhaustible. There were even a few times where someone lost their gripping and slip, that only the rope was able to prevent them from falling to their deaths. Even Smolder wasn’t certain if she could endure doing all the work and not being able to slip up herself. Even before she could reach the top, she was frightened of if she failed her task. As that the mountain has enchanted them from flying, she was worried of what would happen if she fell and couldn’t open her own wings.
“Guys,” she called out at one point, “I don’t know how much longer I can do this. My arms are really tired.” Gallus, who was right underneath Smolder asked her how much longer until they get to the top. “I don’t know… But I think we’re really close.”
The young gryphon looked down at his fellow students and Headmare before saying to the dragoness. “Smolder, give me the sand, I’ll try to take over.”
“But I’m right above you.”
“I know. I’m going to try to carry you and finish the job.” He reached out for the box and told her to let it go. Once he was able to catch the box of matches, Gallus told her that he was ready to let go. So she climbed down a little and let herself dangle over the gryphon. Now taking the lead and now having the weight of his friend, he climbed up and immediately started to carve into the ice and sprinkling the sand into it. While the rope around his waist and chest was significantly tighter, making things hard to breathe, Gallus worked quickly to getting over to the top.
Once he was up and over, he used the ice pick to get a footing on the ice while he pulled the exhausted dragoness up before their friends climbed over. Once everyone, including Yona was over the edge, they all noticed that the ice lead off towards a cave in which, a small red flag pointed the way in. They went inside to get out of the wind, and the found that there in the middle of this cavernous, frozen river was a projector.
After Twilight had turned the machine on, the hologram of Discord appeared. “It’s good to see you, students. Everything that follows, is the result of what you see here.”
“Discord,” the Headmare asked, “How much longer is it until we get to the top of the mountain?”
“I’m sorry, my responses are limited. You must ask the right questions.”
She facehoofed, “Okay… So what did climbing up that frozen waterfall suppose to teach?”
There was a flicker before the holographic copy replied: “It is a key lesson that Nietzsche had learned in his life of hardship, is that anything that’s worthwhile is born out of constant struggle and hard work. Sometimes to get anywhere in life, we have to dedicate ourselves to it, regardless of the difficulty. If anything, you climb up that frozen waterfall is a perfect example of that. It was difficult, yet you all have made it here. Why?”
The students looked at one another. “Because there was no other way to get up here?” Silverstream asked and the hologram nodded.
“Just like with life as our guy has noticed, that while we think success comes naturally and easy, in reality, some of us have no straight path to the top. Nietzsche had advised, ‘Don’t talk about giftedness or inborn talents. One can name all kinds of very great ponies who are not very gifted. They acquired greatness. They became geniuses. And they did so by overcoming difficulties.’ It’s just like how all of you got up here. The climb was no doubt difficult and took very hard work, but you pressed forward nonetheless.”
“Why not just tell us that instead of climbing waterfall?” Yona questioned.
A flicker later, and the hologram of Discord smiled. “Because it is one thing to talk about doing difficult things to learn about it and having to do it. Yet, one thing to keep in mind in the beating heart of Nietzsche’s philosophy is this one idea: that difficulty is normal. The trick here is that you shouldn’t panic nor give up when you experience it. However, even he noted that working hard isn’t enough to know what happiness is.”
Smolder tilted her head to the side as she thought of something. “But what about that stuff you said earlier about suffering? I mean, that climb sure sucked, but it wasn’t exactly bad… Or… is there more bad stuff to come?”
Discord’s hologram smiled. “That is the correct question. Program terminated.” With that, the projector was shut off.
“So…” Gallus looked around. “Where do we go from here?”
Twilight lit her horn brightly and noticed another red flag deeper within the cave. “I think we’re supposed to go into the mountain.” She said, but as she stepped past the projector, there was a quiet, but very noticeable cracking sound beneath her hoof. “Thin ice… Students, walk by the walls of the cave. And don’t walk too closely to one another. We’d need to distribute the weight between all of us.”
With utter caution with Twilight leading the way, the students followed her into the dark cave. Each one took a cautious step and froze whenever they heard a crack from underneath.
“Yona does not like this.” She said as she gingerly walked along the side of the cave.
“There’s a reason why we’re walking along the side,” Twilight informed, “is that this is where the ice is at its thickest. It’s only at the very center where the ice sheet is at its thinnest. Just as long as we stay where the walls are, it should be able to support us.”
There was a sudden hush when there was a rather sharp cracking sound. All of them quickly located that it was coming from Yona who stood there petrified. A tense silence held all of them in place to see what was about to happen as the cracking and popping continued.
Twilight brightened her horn as to illuminate the ice to see the web of fracturing that was forming underneath the Yak. “Yona…” Twilight began, but before she could get another word out, the ice broke underneath her. The student screamed as soon as her hooves touched the hypothermic water and she tried to grab at the shattering ice.
“HELP!” she cried as she scrambled. “YAK NOT SWIM!”
Thinking quickly, Smolder took out the rope and tossed one end of the line over to her, yelling at her to grab on. Her friends disregarded caution to help the Yak to pull her out of the frosty water. Yona, although thrashing about, was able to grab hold of the rope with her teeth as she tried to feel for a thicker sheet of ice to get on.
Twilight too disregarded safety to grab onto the rope. She even tried to flare her horn to conjure something – anything – to bring her out of the water. Yet, no matter what spell she tried to cast, nothing was working.
However, even without magic, they did manage to pull her out. Yona was dripping wet and shivering, even her shaking off the water didn’t help her from the griping cold. Smolder was about to use her fire breath, however, Twilight reminded her that they were still on thin ice and should help their Yak friend get warm on solid ground.
Fortunately, they didn’t have far to go as at the other end of the cave was another trunk and a projector that were on above the river of ice. The students opened the trunk to find towels and blankets that they immediately used to dry off Yona. Smolder got an idea that since the steamer trunk was made out of wood, she used her breath to set fire to it so that they, and more importantly the Yak, could get warm.
Ocellus turned the projector on as Discord’s hologram repeated the same greeting.
“It’s good to see you, students. Everything that follows, is the result of what you see here.”
“What is wrong with you!” Smolder said accusingly. “Was trying to give Yona frostbite part of your plan?”
“As cruel as that was, yes it was.”
Yona looked up at her teacher’s copy. “W-Why? Th-that wa-as bad. Al-lmost k-killed Yona.”
“And I sincerely do apologize for that. But it is to teach you a lesson on suffering.”
Now Twilight had enough. “What does having her suffer have anything to do with anything? She could have died, Discord!”
“Because this is essential, especially to illustrate what Nietzsche taught. He said that the reason why we suffer the way we do is that of the gap between who we want to be, and who we are now. Since that happens, feeling pain comes as much of a shock as falling into a freezing cold river. The key, however, is not to shun away from the pain.”
“W-What does p-pony phil-phil-t-thinker kn-now about p-pain?” Yona bitterly questioned.
A flicker later and the hologram responded. “Quite a lot. He was pretty much disowned by his own family, was sick most of the time, tortured by migraines, his books hardly sell, none of the mares wanted to marry him or even date him, nopony took his teachings seriously, his mind turned into an onion in his last years where his sister twisted his own brother's works to flatter a group which shall not be named. I think he probably knew a thing or two about pain. So, this isn’t a guy that’s all talk, but had practiced what he preached.”
Sandbar, who was rubbing Yona with a towel commented. “I don’t know about you but doing hard work or having one of our friends suffer isn’t our idea of happiness.”
“And you’d be right.” The hologram agreed. “Even Nietzsche recognized that it wasn’t enough to just suffer. If hardship and hard work were all it took to be fulfilled, then every single creature would be happy. The trick, he said, is to learn how to respond to suffering well. Perhaps, use it to learn how to overcome it. So do not be discouraged that none of you could master it right away, as it is a lifetime skill that even I am still trying to learn about.”
“You’re making it sound like suffering and happiness were the same things.” Ocellus commented.
“That’s exactly what Nietzsche is saying. This is why I chose to teach him as he’s one of the very few philosophers to suggest that we shouldn’t try to avoid the pitfalls of life, but to embrace them as a challenge to overcome. In this sense, this is exactly what he means by, ‘That which does not kill me, makes me stronger.’ While suffering isn’t pleasurable, it is the key to happiness itself. Not everything that makes you destress isn’t always bad for you, and neither everything that’s good is always good for you. The real trick, is to be driven to use what happened to you in a constructive way. After all, if you all flew up to the top of the mountain, what will you learn? But if you took the difficult, even risky route where there’s a chance that you may get hurt, yet still keep moving forward – then you’ll gain insight of what satisfactory happiness really is.
“If you embraced both the bad with the good, you’ll then become what Nietzsche called the Superpony. He’s not talking about the one in comic books and movies, nor is he talking about a race of Equines. Rather, he’s imagining what ponykind would one day evolve into in the future by looking at them psychologically – just think of it what someone being an advanced pony would be like. And he’s not talking about someone who would make Twilight look like an infant either.”
“Hey!” Twilight objected but the hologram played on.
“Rather, he’s asking what those who are better psychologically be like as a thought experiment. Just to see what the potential can be. While he talked of the kind of qualities this superpony might have such as being strong-minded, independent to follow their own values, hurt others when necessary, be selfish in the name of strategy, won’t be resentful of others successes, and accept that they will be misunderstood among other things. Yet, for today’s lesson, I’ve decided to focus on that quality of suffering and happiness. But to see if any of you have learned it, I have a test waiting for you on top of the mountain. I hope to see you there.” After waving at them, he told the projector to terminate the program, and the machine shut off.
Even after the fire went out, Yona was dry enough but had to wrap herself in blankets as she couldn’t stop shivering. Yet, despite feeling cold, she and her friends still pressed on out of the cave and continued towards the top. Eventually, they walked up so high with their legs buried underneath the snow, that they broke through the cloud line to which they could see icy blue sky and a projector at the very top. While the walk up was exhausting, and the air seemed to get thinner the further they went up, their hope of getting off the mountain was growing.
By the time they finally reached the very peak, the clouds below them broke in which they could see not only landmarks such as the Crystal Empire and even Equestria, but Yakyakistan, the seas, the faint outline of Griffonstone, the valley of Starlight’s old village, the Dragon lands, and even the deserts of Southern Equestria. Indeed, it was as if they could see the whole world from the top of that mountain.
“I can’t believe we climbed to the top of Mt. Everhoof.” Sandbar said.
“Neither can I,” Gallus agreed but after looking around he added, “but where’s the exit?”
Smolder went over to the projector. “Mr. Discord did say that he has a test for us at the very top. So maybe if we do it, we could go back home. I guess there’s one way to find out.”
After she pressed the button, the hologram was projected once more.
“Congratulations students,” the copy said, “You’ve successfully climbed up to the top of Mt. Everhoof. A feat in which a very select few have ever accomplished. But even with this, I do have one last test for all of you. A thought experiment to see if any of you have absorbed Nietzsche’s message.” He flickered before continuing. “And since this is first hour, I’m going to ask this question to Smolder.”
The students, including Twilight, turned to her. After taking a very deep breath of the thin mountain air, she approached the hologram. “I’m here Mr. Discord. What is it that you want to ask me?”
Another flicker later, and the projected version of her teacher knelt down, seemingly as if to look directly into her eyes. “Now, let’s pretend for just a moment that after all you and your students had gone through today, that I was to come to you with a deal. Suppose I was able to give you a gift in which that you will go through this life you are living in once again, but forever in a loop. That every decision that you’ve made, every decision that you are making, and every decision that you will ever make, you will through all of it again, and again, and again. Every moment of joy, of misery, of loneliness, friendships, pains, pleasure, embarrassments, achievements, that you have chosen or ever will chose, you’ll come right back to them for all eternity. That you will never be able to change these decisions that you make, nor life through the ones that you wanted to do, so you’ll have to live with the choices of an unfulfilled life, forever. Now here’s my question: do you want this gift of mine?”
Smolder’s jaw dropped. “Wait, let me get my head wrapped around this… You’re asking me to maybe relive my life again in a continuous loop in which I have no control over?”
“Except for the one that you are living right now, for this is the only time you’ll get to choose.”
As much as she wanted to object to this idea, she glanced over to her friends that she had made, and the times they all gone through. “So I would relive all the good stuff, right?”
“And the bad.” The hologram nodded.
Within that moment of silence, and within earshot of the Headmare, she replied: “You know what? Life is miserable, but it’s better to have friends to be miserable with. As long as I have them, as long as you guys remain my friends regardless of what will happen, I’d rather be miserable with all you by me than to face it alone. And if that means to go through all the bad stuff just to get where we are,” she turned to the hologram and held out a claw. “I accept it.”
Discord’s copy grinned. “Everyone, this right here is a Superdragon! You have indeed learned this lesson. But before I can let you all go, this is a warning that even Nietzsche pleads for someone like you Smolder, to take to heart.”
“And that being?”
“If you really are the next step in the evolution of your species, then beware of the pursuit of becoming Superdragon: for it leads to blinding scorn for your fellow dragons. For you may think of yourself better than any other because of what you learned and experience to the point where you’ll develop values of your own but remember this: ‘Those who fights with monsters might take care, least they thereby become monsters themselves.’” The hologram walked forward towards the dragoness as she stepped backward. “‘And if you stare into the abyss long enough,’” he said as he transformed into a clone of Smolder, only that the eyes were nothing but black holes, “‘the abyss will stare right back at you.’”
As horrified as she was, she suddenly felt that she bumped into something. Quickly turning her head around, she realized that it was the door of their classroom. Not wanting to stay any longer, she flung herself around to open it as she flopped onto the floor of the school’s hallway.
“Ah, you’ve all made it.” Their teacher said as he welcomed all of them back. No sooner had he said it did all the students and Headmare stumbled through the doorway. As they did so, the cold, the winter clothing and even Yona’s chills had left them all as they returned to the warmth of the school. Yet, the result of this was a creature pile on the floor.
“DISCORD!” Twilight shouted as she got up. “Do you have any idea what you’ve just-”
“Headmare, wait!” Ocellus spoke up as she got in between her and the teacher. “Before you fire him, I think you should at least hear us out first.”
“Yeah,” Silverstream nodded. “What he did was crazy, but we’ve learned a lot from it.”
“Not to mention dangerous,” Twilight pointed out. “I mean, to toss us up on Mt. Everhoof without the proper gear or water, having us to climb up a dangerous waterfall, walk on thin ice in which Yona was close to catching hypothermia and making us spend hours climbing up a mountain without signing any field trip forms.”
“And yet,” Smolder folded her arms, “We’ve learned that difficulty is normal, that suffering isn’t something to shy away from, but to be learned, and he has given my miserable life meaning now. Yes, what he did was dangerous and broken a lot of rules, but it did get the message across. And frankly Headmare, I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“Neither would I.” Gallus agreed.
“Or Yona.”
“Or any of us for that matter.” Ocellus said in solidarity. “We like our Philosophy teacher, not because he does things differently compared with the other teachers here but doing what he has to in order to get the point across. His methods are unorthodox, but there’s a reason why we come to his defense because he took us as seriously as you do with this school.”
Twilight breathed through her nostrils. “Even so, he has kept away from your classes as it is…” she trailed off as she saw the clock in the hallway. “Almost ten? How can that be, we’ve spent hours at least climbing up there?”
“What can I say?” Discord replied. “Time flies when you’re learning something worthwhile. Unless you guys have any questions, you’re all dismissed.”
Before Twilight could summon him to her office, Smolder stood between her and Discord. “Before you fire him,” the Dragoness said to her, “just remember that it was your choice to hire him in the first place. That it was your call to keep him on. Mr. Discord has helped us with life with a new perspective, even at his wackiest of lessons. He’s helped Silverstream, Ocellus, Sandbar, Gallus and me with things that none of the teachers or Starlight could. We, including you, owe him that.”
The jaw of the Headmare dropped from what she heard before her student went away with her friends.
“So…” Discord craned his neck over to her. “Am I still fired or…?”
With a huff, Twilight too walked away saying, “You got lucky.”