Discord was at it again. The now familiar door in his dreams was becoming his go to whenever he got bored, which was very often. It seemed the door had one flaw though. It relies on a pony’s cutie mark to work. If they don’t have one, they’re safe from him. So, harming the school foals was only going to work for so long and Discord was semi content with that. Angry that those three fillies, which got in a fight near his statue a while back, are untouchable…for now anyway. The satisfaction was that Discord finally felt he had a firm grasp of his dream controlling powers now. Was it enough to go after the likes of the princesses or Twilight? No, they had to be under incredible stress for them to succumb to his torment.
Who would be his next victim today? Eh, Snails was starting to think Discord was after him even when he was awake. Diamond Tiara surprisingly took Discord’s threat seriously. She had become a great deal nicer to her classmates. Wait, didn’t Snails usually travel with a pudgy colt? He was incredibly dimwitted, which might explain why he hung out with Snails. No better pairing then dumb and dumber. Now that Discord thought about it, the pudgy colt was in Snails dreams a few times. Snips was his name, or what Snails kept screaming to the colt whenever Discord submerged Snails in slime. Scissors was his cutie mark. How odd, was Snips going to work in the fashion business like Rarity?
Palming the knob of the door, Discord focused on an image of a scissor in his mind eye. The very knob felt like it was melting and bubbling in his very grasp. Releasing his hold, Discord was content to see that the knob had resembled the shape of scissors. Discord turned the knob and opened the door with a flourish. There was nothing. Discord raised his eyebrow in confusion and quickly closed the door again. Again, Discord pried the door open and saw the surrounding darkness in front of him. Sudden realization hit Discord, it was still morning. This didn’t matter though this just gave Discord more time to think of a scheme for Snips to endure.
________
It was a pleasant morning, the sun was out and the birds chirped merrily. There was no school today and the young foals were enjoying their break. The only exception was Snails, who was home. Cheerilee had finally told Snail’s parents of his lack of attention in class. They couldn’t do much though, Snail’s problems rooted all the way to being terribly sleep deprived. He saw Discord everywhere now, from school to his very own home.
“Snail’s, what’s keeping you up?” Snail’s mom asked her son, a note of concern in her voice.
“You wouldn’t believe it if I told you.” Snails replied with a heaving sigh.
“Try me.” His mother said.
“Fine, Discord has been everywhere I look. He is keeping me up.” Snails admitted.
His mother blinked rapidly a few times, trying to digest what her son has said. “But dear, Discord is a statue now.”
“See?! I knew you wouldn’t understand!” Snails wailed out.
Snails ran from his home and headed to his best friend’s, Snips, home. Snipe would hopefully understand what he was going through. Snails galloped past Sugercube Corner and stopped. Snips was happily munching away at a cookie.
“Hey Snips!” Snails called out to his friend.
“Where you been Snails?” Snips asked once he got closer to his distressed friend.
“Home, but that’s not important now. I have been having a hard time sleep and Discords the one keeping me up.” Snails explained to his friend nervously.
Snip’s eyes went out of focus and Snails had to clap his hooves over his friends face to get his attention.
“Huh?” Snips called out stupidly.
“Ugh, did you even hear me!” Snails asked angrily.
“No.” Snips shrugged.
“Forget it.” Snails headed back home.
“Discord is in stone. Why is he so worried over that?” Snips muttered to himself after he tried to remember what his friend said.
It was nearing nighttime when Snips returned home from the Sugercube Corner. Snips found it incredibly easy to fall asleep, despite all the sugary goods in him. One thing irked one while he tried to fall asleep. There were two kids in his school now that had a Discord involved dream. True, Tiara just had one dream about Discord. Hopefully, Snails would stop having dreams of Discord.
_______
“Why didn’t you pay attention to me?” Snails wailed.
“I don’t know! Please, I am sorry Snails.” Snips replied in-between sobs.
Discord was happily using Snails as a puppet. Amazingly, Snips never noticed the strings that allowed Discord to manipulate his poor friend. Once Snips started to cry, Discord knew he had to up the ante. Immediately, Snails limbs flopped to the ground and his body became a tangled mess. Snips yelled in horror at the sight of his friend. That face, it was precious! Discord was chuckling madly at the dismay of his victim.
“Snails, I’ll fix you don’t worry.” Snips fumbled with his friend’s body, desperately trying to get him upright.
Sadly, Snails body turned to dust at the touch of Snips hoofs. It was kind of pathetic; Snips stared at the pile of dust with a mixture of fear and deep sadness. A feeling of pity entered the Spirits heart, but he quickly got over it and continued his mind games.
“My, my, look what happen here.” Discord’s voice echoed around Snips.
“Who’s there?” Snips demanded, yelling into the empty atmosphere around.
“I’ve been asked that the third time this week. Honestly, I should just start announcing my name where ever I go.” Discord replied dully. “My name is Discord.”
“Leave me alone Discord! You have been attacking my friends!” Snips yelled in anger.
“I take that as a compliment. No, leaving you alone is not in my plans. In fact, if you thought your friend turning to ash was scary. Wait until you see this.” Discord let one last evil laugh slip.
“Show yourself!” Snips hollered.
A mirror appeared in front of Snips instantly. It was nothing fancy but Snips was able to see his reflection. Slowly, his reflection morphed into the face of Discord. With an evil grin, Discord snapped his fingers. The floor beneath Snips opened and scissors waited at the bottom of the pit.
“Help me!” Snips screamed in horror.
A dark cloud appeared with a clap of lightning. Discord was standing over Snips, looking remotely interested at the predicament that the colt was in.
“Help you?” Discord scoffed, stepping at the hoofs of Snips. “I don’t think so.” Discord kicked one of Snips hoofs away, only leaving him hanging with one arm now. “Don’t play with scissors boy. You might just end up with a nasty cut. In this case, you’ll get a couple dozen cuts though.” Discord kicked Snips remaining hoof and Snips descended to the pit of the hole
“NO!” Snips screamed as he was growing nearer to the pit fill with sharp scissors.
Snips could see his terrified reflection in the blades of the scissors.
_____
An alarm clock rang out in Snips room. The obnoxious ringing of the alarm clock brought back Snips from his deep slumber. Snips ran his hoof over his face quickly, checking if there were any cuts present. Not a single cut.
“I guess it was all a dream.” Snips muttered in relief.
Not really.
Snips eyes nearly popped out of his head from freight.