--School of Friendship, 15:26 PM--
As the school building trembled on its foundation due to the intense explosions going skyward outside, the students unconsciously shivered in fear as they all headed towards the observatory. Given that only one member or two could fit within the tower properly at a time, but the area that possessed the tower was the most elevated in the school and gave access to a panoramic view over the campus and the city of ponyville with its telescope.
-"So let's go through this again… You want us, to stop them?" – Gallus asked with a bit of a sarcastic look to his features. Right on cue with his words, thunder roared in the skies as a barrage of pies rained down for a brief moment, going towards the campus' grounds. Looking at this nonsense with widened eyes, his gaze snapped back at Spike who led them. – “How?!”
-“I know it sounds impossible, but Discord and Starlight kinda ran over each other, and now they’re lashing out because they’re upset! We just gotta remember them that they were trying to help the school in the first place, not prove each other wrong; somehow.”
At this, a collective groan was heard. Sandbar rolled his eyes while Yona smacked her forehead with a hand. They were getting closer to their destiny.
-“So, guess we have to play the adult’s roles again, huh?” – Smolder remarked being snarky.
-"Heh, tell me about it." – Spike shared the feeling. Despite how much he had grown in all those years, sometimes he was forced to be the voice of reason when everyone else was acting irrationally... It would be an achievement on his list to add that he calmed down two former villains clawing at each other's throat.
Reaching the doors Spike threw them open. Immediately a torrent of air and snowflakes flew past the group and over the bridge to the observatory. Swallowing dry, the dragon looked up briefly to catch a glimpse of Starlight conjuring magical seals while Discord freely pivoted around her and used all sorts of different matters to counter her spells, dashing out of the way at times or even; splitting his body in half to let the magical shots go through him.
Shivering at the sight, Spike raised a claw to the air. – “… Alright, let’s put a stop to this!” – He shouted to the others while they made a b line towards the tower. All of the group could observe how utterly messed up the campus looked in the wake of the magical duel that the duo started; much of the fountain grounds were burnt, covered in pie, grape juice, snow, and several windows were broken, launching glass shards forth. –“…Twilight won’t like this.”
-"They'll be lucky if they don't get a rainbow blast to their faces." – Smolder remarked as a particularly strong gust of wind came upon the group. The dragoness helped Ocellus to not be pushed over the other side of the bridge as she slid with the currents. –“Woah-!”
-"Hang on everyone!" – Spike jumped forward and opened the tower's doors, hushing them inside as he waved with a claw and gritted his teeth. Once the students ran inside, he looked upwards again, the light show intense as ever. – "First, we need to get their attention; Kinda hard when they’re so far up… And… F-fighting.” – Gulping with nervousness, Spike racked his mind for answers to this crisis.
-“I think we could take care of that…” – Gallus looked at Smolder and Silverstream with a tiny nod that spread to them.
-"Oh, this is gonna be dangerous!" – Even with this statement, Silverstream sounded excited as she put her talons together.
-“Hah, can’t complain about some excitement.” – Smolder kept her cool despite the pandemonium that was going down outside.
-“Alright! Whatever you have in mind, be careful about it! Well then, when we get them to stop we should make them look at what they did! I’m sure they’ll stop as soon as they notice the wreckage.”
-“W-we could try to help!” – Ocellus nervously offered as she looked at Sandbar and Yona; they both nodded. – “To save the school…”
-“I’ll stay with you to help! I just need to get the telescope first!” – Spike hurried to go up in the tower as another magical explosion went off above, inside the pink clouds.
-“Hah, can’t wait to see my parent’s faces when I tell her how this day went!” – Sandbar said playfully while in awe at the clash.
Spike shuddered as he peeked through the door with a nervous smile. -“Please, don’t share this story.”
Far above within the dense pink clouds, Starlight felt her horn sizzling with heat as she made a dome of energy expand and push all the fluffy candy formations away, shoving the spirit of chaos alongside them as he put his arms in front of himself to block the impact.
-“Everything was going to be just fine until you came along, hiring that random bunch, filling the lounge with disgustingly smelly food and making every single class spin into utter chaos!”
-“Oh, I doubt that. Your crew didn’t have any more success than mine did; a busy captain that had to leave, a stoic geologist and a magic show’s pony? How is that in any way more effective? At least I kept the lessons in mind… Friendship is chaos after all.” – With a snap of his fingers, Discord opened a vortex of water right above the unicorn. Teleporting masterfully, Starlight dodged to the right and shot another beam of magic at the spirit of chaos.
But this time, Discord stood perfectly still as he extended his hand in front of him, blocking the shot and letting it accumulate in a tiny ball of energy. Raising an eyebrow, he held the sphere with two talons and it changed from light blue to white, starting to shimmer like a small contained firecracker. – “A banishment spell, again? You can’t get rid of me with this sort of stuff, Glimmer.”
-“First off, don’t use logic to excuse your failures! Just because I failed doesn’t mean you get to ruin my responsibilities! And I’ll figure out how to make you leave since you won’t!”
Clicking his tongue in disappointment, Discord shook his head as he launched the flare of magic upwards, it started crackling and sparking like a real firecracker, and a powerful one at that. – "I'm deeply anguished by "ruining" your opportunity to impress Twilight; not that this school started buckling upon its pillars as soon as our dearest heroines left... Not at all.”
Gritting her teeth, the mare shot a beam of energy straight at the blinding magical firecracker; much to her surprise the tiny sparkling and sizzling sphere absorbed her magic and diminished in size as if getting more concentrated with energy. Discord slit his eyes and Starlight raised an arm to shield her retinas from the blinding spotlight that had formed between them. Currents of wind started to pick up and twirl in the white light core’s direction. - “You’re just saying that to justify this whole mess! Why couldn’t you accept that you’re not cut out to help with this?!”
-“For the same reason that you took every opportunity to undermine me at every chance!”
-“YOU’RE CHILDISH!” – Starlight shouted as a large red cloud steamed from her horn.
-“AND YOU’RE ARROGANT!” – Discord spat right back viciously as the air around him charged up with chaos magic.
-“YOU’RE ONE TO TALK!” – But as they spun around, ready to charge at each other once again, the white core of magic and light became unstable and collapsed upon itself, half a second later exploding in a large deafening high pitched sound and unbearable intense light as both the draconequus and the unicorn where thrown several meters back, disorientated and temporarily possessing a very poor hearing as their ears rang from the sound wave.
Shaking his head from one side to another and rubbing his eyes, Discord snarled as he mentally scolded himself for forgetting to pay attention to the collapsing firecracker as they bickered like fools. The draconequus actually flapped his wings to stay airborne instead of relying completely on his floating abilities, granting him more perception upon his own balance while in midair, in case of Starlight decided to use foul play.
And as he finally managed to open his eyes, still having his vision full of spots from retinal exhaustion, something vaguely round came in zooming straight for his face.
-“What-” – Discord barely managed to sputter as a snowball crashed on his head, entering his eyes and covering his face with cold solid water that smelled vaguely like grape juice. Shaking his head vigorously, the lord of chaos rubbed his eyes faster this time and looked around, ears spinning to detect any other incoming projectiles despite his mild deafness. – “I like the change of tactics!” – His vision was still faulty and his ears were not doing a great job at telling when attacks were incoming; Discord was still hit by other 3 snowballs, barely dodging another two. He chuckled at this new game that Starlight apparently started.
However, his amusement lasted shortly before an actual fireball cut through the pink and white mist, blazing through the sky as he ducked out of the way with a yelp, looking upwards to watch it go and disperse after existing the mist of the magical explosion and the clouds. –“Fire?! I may be immune, but I call that a bit much, Starlight!” – Squinting at the original hole that the ball of fire made while coming through, Discord huffed letting two poufs of steam come off from his nostrils and put a talon around his lion arm, pushing his skin and his shirt’s sleeve upwards. – “Well, if you want to play with fire, who I am to decline?” – Snarling slightly, the chaos spirit dived off from the radius that the mist from the explosion and destroyed clouds made.
Meanwhile, on the extreme end of the mist sphere, Starlight nervously kept herself still as she blinked repeatedly to try and get her eyes to work properly again, failing miserably as most of what she saw were several spots of bright light. She had been stupid to trigger the slightly contained firecracker, knowing full well that it may explode but getting too engrossed into the childish bickering she had with the draconequus to remember to dodge.
Much to her surprise, the unicorn received a tiny barrage of snowballs hurled at her as she instinctively created a magical shield around her to prevent them from making contact. Her ears rang dully, but if Discord planned to mock her any further and lure her into a trap, he would see what she had ready for him.
Charging up her horn with a spell that she thought wouldn’t fail, Starlight also descended from the misty sphere.
However, as both the rampant overpowered offenders came out ready to charge at each other yet again, they were faced with a young trio, made up of a hippogriff, a griffin, and dragon. Both Discord and Starlight narrowed their eyes as they looked at the group in confusion and with blurred vision.
-"What are you three doing up here?!" – Starlight suddenly had her eyes wide with shock as she flung her arms open and her threatening sizzling horn started to fade down until the only spell activated was the one that kept her levitating. She still felt livid towards Discord, but endangering the students would be the last thing she would ever want to do.
-“Uh, trying to stop you two from destroying the school?” – Smolder delivered with a deadpan and shrugging her shoulders.
-“Destroying the school- ha! What a bizarre idea. We were only having a friendly spar… From which you should stay away from.” – Waving a paw dismissively at them, Discord crossed his arms as he still squinted at the students. Despite feeling the same towards the unicorn, he wouldn’t get the children caught up in their “amiable duel.”
Gallus huffed and scowled at the duo, but they could barely see his expression shifting. Before they could protest any further, a green strong light shone from under them as the second group on the ground caught they cue; surely the flying trio could try their luck at explaining why they had to stop their fighting, but just in case they didn’t have time to do so it was best that the others managed to get their attention.
And they did. As Starlight and Discord shielded their eyes from the green spotlight pointed directly at them, Gallus and the others started to descend and expected to be followed. – “Yeah? Well, if it's such a contained friendly duel, then why don't you come down and check out the damage, huh?"
Worry settled within them to a level as the unicorn and the draconequus gave each other a discreet glance. And as both noticed each other’s stare, they huffed and looked the other way… Their clash was far from resolved, but they couldn’t ignore the student’s intervention. Secretly, both of them hoped they didn’t cause as much damage as they had imagined.
Turns out the damage were not like they imagined at all. It was far worse than that.
After Starlight cast a simple spell to fix her vision and Discord's eyes got a quick reset by his own chaos magic, they stood amidst the destruction. Starlight nervously looked around with a hand to her chest, while Discord held the back of his talon with a paw against his chest too, his ears pinned down as he felt quite a bit of guilt stinging his consciousness with much more intensity than his sheer hurt pride could.
As the pair stood in shameful silence as their eyes glanced around; their attention only got driven back to reality as the thump of small clawed feet on the grass could be heard over and over. When they looked down Spike huffed, streams of steam coming from his nostrils and he had his arms crossed over his chest.
The silence before was shameful, but it started to get awkward as both the young dragon and the students waited for the guilty party to speak up. Sensing this, Discord obviously tried to redirect attention as he lifted a paw to the air. – "Soooo… How did you fellows actually project that green light-?”
-“A large empty can, a window pane and Spike’s flames.” – Gallus retorted shortly before spinning the subjects back around. – “But we didn’t bring you down to talk about that.”
-“Have you looked around yet? If so, good! Now could you tell us why did you two do this?!” – Spike threw his arms wide open, to which both got defensive as they discreetly winced. Starlight was quicker to respond.
-"I was trying to get rid of him so he would stop interfering on my job and let me run things right!" – She put a hand to her chest and used the other to point at the draconequus.
-“Oh, please. Sooner or later you would run into trouble. And for the record, you didn’t manage to do even that, despite this latest stunt of yours.” – Discord scowled as he dusted his clothes with a talon; they were slightly worn and burned at the tips, especially after the blast he had gotten directly from her charged horn.
-“Not as much trouble as you brought in, that’s for sure.” – Turning to face the spirit, she looked into his eyes with an irritated expression.
-“Sure, the classes I hired for, got a bit out of hand, whatever; at least I actually cared about keeping within the theme, unlike somepony...” – The lord of chaos emphasized his last word, leaning forward to meet her glare as he lowered his head.
-"But you..!-" – Starlight started to retort, but then they got cut out by Smolder this time, who pushed them apart and flown between them, with a glare of her own.
-“I think you’re missing the point.” – The orange dragon said and rotated her claw around, calling attention to the campus grounds once again. Spike stepped forth with a heavy sight.
-“Don’t you get it? It doesn’t matter who was more wrong! You both forgot what you were doing and then you just started to try to prove each other wrong!” – Stepping up to them, the purple dragon pointed a claw at each one, per turns as he spoke up accusingly. – “Discord! You only leaped at the chances to comment about how bad Starlight's choices were, and how she could fail at every turn. And Starlight, we both know that he can get a bit out of hand but until a certain point, I think he actually wanted to help. The point is, you just kept trying to kick each other down and now look at this mess! You shouldn’t have provoked her, and you shouldn’t have tried to banish him from the school. It’s not like that would have worked out anyways.” – The young dragon deadpanned at both. While Starlight took the commentary a bit more heavily due to how deep she let it affect her, Discord took another approach trying to deny the truth.
Wincing and rolling his eyes, the draconequus waved a talon dismissively at the reprehensions. – “Ugh, fine, if your sole problem is the aftermath, then here we go.” – Readying himself to snap, Discord raised a talon as his magic quickly charged up; but much to his surprise he hastily got stopped by Spike, who jumped up and seized his arm and brought it down with his weight, forcing the taller figure to tilt forward a bit in surprise.
-“… You don’t get it, do you? It’s not about the damage alone Discord.” – His tone had mellowed out as he let his hand go and sighed, looking to the group of students, then back to the draconequus. – “While you two were fighting, the school was shaking on its base, explosions going off everywhere, crazy weather and things falling from the sky. Honestly, it was kinda freaky- Not for me, since I have been through one of your rampages before. Scratch that, two of them." – He put two claws up but expected now a different answer from Discord… And it seemed to have worked.
Straightening his back up, he looked at the students with a bit of actual worry plastered across his features. – “Freaky?”
Even Starlight was taken aback by how specifically hurt Discord sounded in his wording, despite the fact he only questioned with a single word. Smolder looked around and stepped forth, taking the first turn. – "Yeah, I mean… In the beginning, it was the cool type of freaky. I mean, crazy drinks that change our colors? Awesome magic show and class actually showing each of us can do magic? Sure that was cool… But this was actually the scary type of freaky. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't afraid, but Ocellus almost got blown off by the wind alone."
As the attention got shifted upon her, Ocellus put her hands together nervously and sighed, trying to remain positive about this as she looked up at the strange creature. – “Y-yes, I almost got blown away. I mean, I could have turned into something heavier but, I didn’t think of it at the time…”
-“Oh… Oh. I see, I-… I didn’t really mean to endanger any of you. I just thought you all could use some trickier lessons… And the school could have been livelier.” – Downcast, Discord actually looked troubled by the first time since this whole pandemonium started. His gaze was directed at the ground for a moment before he took an extended moment to fully take in the extension of his actions. He stuttered for words but managed to look up at the students as he held his closed talon with a paw and shrugged off the difficulty to be sincere. – “I thought that any damage that would happen in case the classes got a bit rowdy could easily be fixed, but things spun out of control to unforeseen levels, even for me. What I mean to say is…” – he took a bit of a breath to steady his thoughts and keep his emotions at bay as he opened his hands in an apologetic gesture. – “I’m sorry.”
As the spirit of chaos uttered his words and calmed down completely, letting the feeling of guilt settle into him and preparing himself for any backlash, a white dome of magic subtly expanded from him in rapid pace, fixing everything that had been damaged or altered in the whole school at once while creating a new current of winds and changing the overcharged magical atmosphere.
Immediately the students in front of the group had their expressions lighten up, cheering to see their beloved school back to its normal self and seeing everything fixed. Discord calmly let a small smile linger on his lips for a moment before he sighed to himself, turning around and readying a spell to teleport himself home and try to pretend this day had not occurred, because Fluttershy surely would not like to get winds about this. However, as the draconequus walked away gently and lifted a talon to cut through space itself, Starlight who had been quiet walked right in front of him, turning the attention of the cheering students back to the duo as their frolic died down.
-“Wait! I have one thing to tell you, Discord.” – Starlight stood right in front of him, sturdy and with renewed determination. Most of the students winced at the sight since the previous clashes had started like that and ended quite badly… But this time there was something different in the unicorn’s eyes.
-“… Oh; do go on.” – Discord tried to hold back the mild scowl that crept upon his features. Whatever long speech she was about to give to reprehend him, he knew he deserved it; despite his obvious monotone and annoyance.
-“I’m sorry, too.” – She seemed saddened as she spoke with honesty.
-“What?” – Discord’s eyes went wide with the sudden apology. It didn’t make any sense. - “Why?”
-“All this time I have been so worried about getting everything to run exactly like Twilight implied, that I really thought you didn’t care about helping the school at all. I thought you just wanted to test me and break my nerves-” – Starlight started just to be interrupted by the chaos spirit.
-“That’s partially true, yes-” – without any shame Discord simply admitted to it.
-“Listen, Discord.” – She put her hands together while looking up at the draconequus, her expression shifting from a deadpan back to its previous emotion as she brought the words from her heart. – “I was so caught up in thinking that you just wanted to mess around and ruin things for me, that I didn’t notice you actually wanted to help. And on top of that, it also slipped me that you felt left out.” – Starlight’s temper was completely gone, and she looked up at him with empathy and understanding; and quite a bit of patience, actually.
As all of the attention and eyes suddenly turned towards Discord, he shrugged and turned away from her, waving a dismissive talon at the idea before crossing his arms. – “Uh, I-… I don’t know what you’re getting at.” – Even though he had already put in some effort to apologize, it was by no means easier to show his exact feelings to everyone; and unfortunately, she had jabbed him where it hurt.
-"No one ever invited you to the school, and when you offered to help I was inflexible. Given that you actually lived up to my fears of what your help might turn out to be; I think you just did it because I shunned you. I mean, the students seemed to like your class whenever you intervened… Despite a few multiple bumps with Iron Will, the brothers, and the DJ.” – She enumerated with a bit of a smirk but was quick to return to the matter at hand. – "Maybe if I had taken time to actually request your opinions, and you had not stepped over mine, things wouldn’t have turned out this way…” – Her sincerity came from a place of truth, but there was something else lying under her words; a sense of hurt.
- “…And?” – Discord instigated, looking over his shoulder with his expression set between neutrality and a bit of worry. He knew what she was going to point to next, but he wanted her to bring it up first.
-“… Do you really meant those things you said about me; or were you trying to get me worked up?” - Just as he imagined, his words had hit a very sore spot for the unicorn about her past. A wound she had but detested to remember.
With a heavy sight, Discord turned around to face her. His long ears twitched upwards slightly as he noticed the students staring at them in utter silence, admiring that they were exposing their feelings but at the same time apprehensive about every turn that each of them took to speak up. Swallowing dry and trying to survive the sheer emotionality of the moment, Discord prepared himself to take his turn as he pressed his talons into his lion arm, uncrossing his arms but holding one across his chest in an unconscious defensive display. – “… I know exactly how hard you’re working to overshadow your past deeds. And perhaps, even if you’re correct about my… Urgh… “Feelings”;” – After gagging before sputtering the word, he made air quotes and rolled his eyes before continuing. – “I used that particular sentence to irk you… I was… Upset, indeed. And I knew that bringing that up would make you lose composure.”
-“Aaaand?” – Spike chimed in as he grinned at the chaos lord, raising his eyebrows and rolling his claw in the air to instigate the taller creature to continue.
Breathing in and raising his head, Discord felt his hackles standing up reflexively as he squints his eyes and gritted his teeth, proceeding to pinch the bridge of his muzzle with his paw pads. – "… Fine! I was upset because not only the girls did not include me in a milestone of their life, they also had not prepared in advance to run this school without their own aid and on top of that, they deposit all the responsibility upon you as if you could just magically solve all of the staff’s problems overnight. I was upset that no one was even willing to listen to my ideas, despite my lack of grasp about how certain aspects of “friendship” should be taught. You weren’t responsible for the flood that I brought in, but I made you the sole drop of water that was missing for everything to break down. I was just… Mad.” – At the end of the honest display of his feelings, Discord avoided eye contact with Glimmer out of sheer embarrassment and had his arms crossed.
Spike was taken by surprise from witnessing this coming from Discord of all creatures. The students by turn were less surprised and more in awe for a moment, before they looked at each other with small smiles of their own. Sometimes friends blew fights out of proportion because of how they felt; it didn't mean they couldn't be friends anymore.
Starlight visibly stifled a chuckle as her shoulders went up and down a bit, she put a hand to her forehead as she sighed and looked up to the draconequus in exasperation but holding a bit of a smile. – “Next time, just tell me how you’re feeling and what you want instead, alright?”
This actually gave him the window of opportunity he needed to perk up again, his confidence returning as he answered with a playful tone, holding an elbow with a paw as he turned a talon to the air and looked at her with a sly grin. -“But then, we'd miss out on all those delightful misadventures.”
Starlight actually chuckled in return as she tilted her head and furrowed a brow. – “You sound like Trixie when I almost- …Got her in deep trouble indirectly.” – She avoided saying that she almost got the blue unicorn lynched by three possessed ponies just because said unicorn was being very annoying and dense. That wouldn’t sit right with the students, but Discord’s features twisted in amusement as he got what she really meant.
-“Perhaps your taste in friends happens to involve a taste for trouble.” – He provoked her while inspecting his polished claws.
-“Eeeh, don’t use that as an excuse to cause more ruckuses around me.” – Starlight quickly warned while retaining her smirk but pointing a finger at him and flaring her horn for a moment, letting sparks crackle.
-“Consider it considered.” – Raising both hands to the air, Discord shrugged with a smile and closed his eyes as he gently waved his tail around. He wouldn’t admit to not be reprehended, but part of him found that magical duel actually fun; another reason why he thought about making Starlight his roommate someday. However, he shuddered slightly when Spike grabbed his tail, pulling at the fluffy tip.
-“Finally! I thought the school would be a crater by the time you two actually made up.” – The young dragon said smugly before the crimson tail flickered it’s fluffy tip back in his face, suddenly wrapping around his torso and bringing the reptile up to Discord’s eye level. – “But all’s well that ends well, right?”
-“Not in tarnation, it isn't, Spike!" – A sudden familiar southern voice shouts from the doors to the campus' grounds. All eyes snapped towards the farmer mare as she burst through the doors and quickly closed the distance between her and the group. She was slightly disheveled, had dirt over her hooves and the signs of being worn out tainting all of her figure and clothes.
The element of Honesty had always been a torn on Discord’s side, and as he gritted his teeth, this time it seemed like it would be no different. Reflexively he lowered his tail, letting Spike go in order to assume a more imposing instance, trying to convince that he was not bothered by the way Applejack approached them at all.
-"Ah was minding mah own chores at Sweet Apple Acres when suddenly the school is shooting dangerous fireworks and explosions! The strange weather was all over it and several bits of the entrance were floating off several meters in the sky. Ah could recognize from anywhere that was your handy work, Discord! Now do you bunch mind to tell me what actually happened?!” – Applejack was furious. Despite her anger being mostly turned at Discord, for the time being, her scowl soon fell upon Starlight as well as she stood in front of them; chest rising and falling quickly showing how she probably ran from one end of ponyville to another because of their little stunt.
Of course she was mad. As one of the few qualified staff members capable of keeping the school together and running; watching it be warped and taken over by two overpowered people that came off as irresponsible due to their exploding tempers must have been unnerving. Starlight gritted her teeth and stepped forth to try and start an explanation. – "You see, Applejack… A few miscommunications happened..."
But just as Discord’s attention was starting to dissolve away from the bothersome situation he was suddenly thrown in, one of his sensitive ears rotated around as it caught the sound of a camera. Despite being able to look all around with how flexible his neck was, the spirit of chaos was unable to detect exactly where the clicking sound came from. And just as he was about to launch his hand upon a spell to facilitate his search, Starlight tugged at his worn sleeve to catch his attention.
-“Right, Discord?” – She looked up at his eyes, but his sleeve tore apart when she pulled at a burnt piece of it. Her eyes went a bit wide from the accident.
-“Oh? Ah, sure thing.” – Discord said in blind agreement, still suspicious but not completely capable of focusing on his previous thoughts as Applejack intervened.
-“Well then, I would surely like to hear more details about this miscommunication of yours.”
Biting the inner side of his mouth, Discord rolled his eyes at the farmer. – “This ought to be fun.” The draconequus thought in silence as they followed her. She was leading everyone back inside.
Meanwhile, a pony was discreetly heading off from the school and towards the train station; giving a last glance at the school of friendship and a quick peek at the freshly taken photos with satisfaction.