//------------------------------// // Playful Revenge // Story: A "Fun" Little Game // by DubstepIsAmazing //------------------------------// As Discord sat on Fluttershy's roof, he couldn't help but mull over that question over and over again. Had he been serious, would he actually be seen as a threat to Equestria? Of course, he would be defeated eventually, but would his strength and power influence respect upon his newly reformed self? Creating a yo-yo, he put his hand on his chin, simply staring at it as it bobbed up and down repeatedly. The yo-yo symbolized the benefits and consequences, one of which was glaring him in the face. Sure, he would be taken much more seriously if he showed his power, but the cost would be too great: all of the friendships he's made over the years. He didn't want to be antagonized again; he came too far to turn back. "Discord?" The yo-yo disappeared as Fluttershy flew up to him and hovered in front of him. "Are you okay?" His eyes widened as a goofy grin came across his face. "Never better! I heard that Scootaloo can fly now," he said, putting on a sweatshirt with Scootaloo's face on it, "How excellent." Fluttershy wasn't buying it. "Discord..." His smile slowly disappeared into a frown as he turned away from Fluttershy. "What's wrong?" He looked up to the sky. "I had the most interesting thought just now...it was also the most terrifying..." he said. Fluttershy sat down by his side; he still wasn't looking at her. "What if...I actually tried to defeat you all?" Fluttershy turned pale. "Wh...what do you mean?" "I'm referring to when we originally met," Discord elaborated, seeing the shocked look on her face, "What if I actually tried to win? I know I'm goofy, but there's a lot that you all haven't seen. Especially in terms of me." Fluttershy got her normal shade back when she realized he wasn't talking about the present. Then she looked up to the sky. "That's a really interesting question. I never would've thought of it!" "I bet it'd be scary," Discord sighed, shuddering at the thought of putting genuine fear into Fluttershy's innocent heart. "For both of us." "Why both of us?" "Well, I couldn't imagine doing anything to hurt you, much less scare you," Discord explained, "But for me, I wouldn't want to lose a friend in such a way. I would never." Grabbing his lion paw, Fluttershy smiled. "That's good to know, Discord. But I have to ask..." Discord looked at her. "What COULD you have done if you tried?" Fluttershy's question, combined with her smile, broke his heart. "Pray that you never find out," he said with no hint of jest. The way he said that killed her smile instantly. She went beside him before he put his arm around her. "Ahhh, but that's in the past! Are you up for some tea?" Nervously nodding, Fluttershy descended from the roof and began a quick trot to the tea store. Discord could tell she was nervous and regretted saying anything of the matter. Celestia's Castle Spike and Twilight stood in front of Luna and Celestia grinning from ear to ear. Today looked like it was going to be a major success. First Spike turned out to be alive and now Scootaloo could fly! And it wasn't even noon. "I'm very glad you're alright, Spike," Luna said to which he blushed sheepishly. Twilight chuckled. "I second that. Although I bet you two are exhausted. We were up all night last night, remember?" Celestia shook her head. "I'm fine, but Luna looks like she's on her last leg." A closer look at Luna revealed that she had a couple of bags under her eyes from the previous night and day's events. Twilight smiled at the both of them before the door flew open. Spinning around, Twilight and Spike were shocked to see Fluttershy rush in, nearly out of breath. "Sorry...*pant*...your majesty. I've come because...*whew*...because I'm worried!" Twilight approached her and rubbed her back. "Relax, Fluttershy. Worried about what?" "DISCORD!" Everyone's eyes widened. Discord wasn't known to hurt anyone, nor himself. Sure, he played a couple of pranks on people, but that was it! He had shown tremendous growth recently. "What about him?" inquired Celestia. "I think you should go see for yourself. He should still be at my house!" "Is he hurt?" "Oh, no! He's perfectly fine physically. But we had a discussion earlier that concerned me. He was wondering what happened if he had tried to win when the six of us originally met him." Celestia's expression went into one of concern; Luna went into one of shock. "Twilight, get your friends and tell them to meet us at Fluttershy's house. Tell them it is of the utmost importance." Luna looked at her confusedly. "Why? It's just Discord. How bad can it be?" "For your sake, I hope you don't find out," Celestia advised, "Twilight, get your friends. We will be waiting at Fluttershy's house." Without another word to anyone, Celestia vanished in a bright flash of light. Luna simply walked past everyone and flew to the house. Twilight hadn't been more confused since the previous day when Spike supposedly died only to come back to life. She had never seen Celestia more concerned, especially over someone like Discord. Whenever she spoke of him, she was referring to his wacky antics and how much he made her laugh when she needed it. Now, she seems like she's legitimately afraid. "Come on, Fluttershy. We'd better not keep her waiting," Twilight said, rushing out the door. Fluttershy nodded before she and Spike followed suit. Fluttershy's House When Twilight, Fluttershy, and Spike arrived, they noticed that Discord was still in his original position. He was twirling a yo-yo in his hands, deep in thought. Celestia approached them. "Any word on Rarity and Applejack?" "They're dropping Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom off with Rainbow Dash before coming here," Twilight responded, "Although they may take a longer time." Pinkie Pie simply sat on the ground staring at Discord stare at the clouds. Chewing on a large wad of gum, she seemed fascinated as she blew a giant bubble, popped it, and started another bubble without missing a beat. "Whaddya think he's thinking about?" she asked with a mouth full of the chewy treat. Twilight shrugged. Fluttershy looked away. Celestia looked at Discord. "Discord!" That got his attention. He looked off the roof to see everyone gathered and rolled his eyes before snapping his fingers to appear right in front of them. "Why, hellooooooooo, Princess," he said, oozing with sarcasm as he bowed dramatically. Now it was Celestia's turn to roll her eyes. "To what pleasure do I owe this visit?" Celestia had a steel-faced look. Luna was getting a bit concerned over her sister's well-being. "Are you alright? Remember, this is--" "I heard you were thinking about your past decisions," Celestia responded. "Yes. Basically, what would happen if I stopped playing games with you all? None of you know what I can really do." "Oooh! Oooh! I know what you can do," Pinkie Pie squealed, "You can turn the ground into soap, make napkins fly, make tea sing, turn carts into pumpkins--" "Close, Pinkie Pie," Discord interrupted, manually shutting her mouth, "I'm talking about what I can really do if I wanted to...I don't know...hurt you?" Pinkie's smile disintegrated quickly. Again, Fluttershy shuddered. A devious smile formed across Discord's face as his usually round red eyes turned into merciless slits. He chuckled. "What? I can't help but wonder what would happen if things turned out differently." "This would be a crazy reality with no sense of order," Luna said, "Why would you even think of--" "I'm not," Discord interrupted, now looking hurt. "I am not. I don't want to take over." "Well then, what do you want?" Spike asked. "I'm glad you asked, Spike! You see, following every villain's defeat there's this one concept that just rings in their heads all day every day. Like the last thirty books Twilight read." Twilight blushed and smiled sheepishly at the shot. "It's a little concept called revenge." That last word made the horns of every single pony gathered at that house brighten in anticipation of an attack. Again, Discord rolled her eyes. "Calm down, all of you. I'm not--" "You'd regret trying to enforce your madness upon us again, Discord," Celestia said with venom in her voice. Discord waved his hands. "No! The revenge that I want isn't exactly revenge revenge. It's one that I...just made up." Silence filled the air as everyone waited for him to continue. "I call it playful revenge..." he said with a grin. Luna smirked. "And how exactly would this "playful revenge" work?" "Oh, the rules are quite simple," Discord said, "We fight as we usually did, except we don't hold anything back. What would you do without those stupid necklaces you all had? How would you fight me without them?" "What does this have to do with revenge?" Celestia asked. "You'll see. But first, you'll have to agree to play this little game. To make things a little interesting, we can add those...what's their little group called...Cutie Mark Crusaders." "NO!" Twilight yelled, "They're just little girls! They could get hurt!" "Tell you what," Discord said, "If at any point, all three of them don't want to play anymore, they can leave at any time." "The answer is still no, Discord!" Fluttershy said with a look of shock, "Why would you even think such a thing?" Discord didn't answer. He simply smiled. "Well? What do you think?" None of them spoke. Celestia, Twilight, Luna, Spike, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie clearly seemed interested. "Think about it. This is your once in a lifetime chance to show what you're really capable of if you tried." "I'm in," Spike said, raising his hand. Twilight gasped. "Spike! You literally just came back from the dead! You don't want to go back, do you?" "I never said losers die," Discord clarified. Spike blinked. "What he's saying is true though," Spike said, "This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to show our true strength. We never get to do any actual fighting. Plus, it's against Discord! All of us versus him! It shouldn't take long!" "Don't underestimate him," Luna said, "Although, I curious as to what would happen if he tried to fight us...I'm in." "I'll give it a whirl," Pinkie said with a smile. "Umm...okay, I guess." Fluttershy said. All eyes were on Celestia and Twilight. "Well, ladies? You joining or not?" "Who will keep track of what's going on while we're gone?" Celestia asked. Discord chuckled. "Nobody! Because we will come back exactly one second after we left," he explained. "Oh, fine," Twilight said. "But no one had better not get hurt." "I can't promise that." "Why not?" "Celestia, it's up to--" "Fine. Let's just get this over with. I have business to attend to." With that, Discord snapped his fingers. The calm demeanor of Fluttershy's home was replaced with a similarly calm clearing. The group stood in an open field surrounded by a forest. The grass was a bright green; birds chirped as they flew above the group. "WHAT IN TARNATION?!" The group looked to the left to see a confused Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom. Scootaloo flew above the trees. "Ummm, I don't see Ponyville," she called down. Rainbow Dash flew at Discord. "Alright, Discord, what's going on?" A devious smile spread across his face once more. "We're just about to play a little game." Rainbow Dash wasn't convinced. She knew he had a trick up his sleeve, sometimes literally. She sighed. "Well, at least let us take those three home--" "They're part of the game," he said. "WHAT?!" The three elements of harmony yelled. They instinctively put their sisters behind them. "If you think you're going to hurt MY Sweetie Belle, you're sorely mistaken!" "Try anything on Apple Bloom, and I'll pound ya inta dust, Discord!" "And if you DARE hurt Scootaloo after everything that just happened--" "Stop." Discord said, clearly annoyed. "You shouldn't be worried that I hurt anyone..." "...you should be worried that you don't hurt each other." he finished. He floated to the southern side of the circle. "This game is an all-ponies-for-themselves type one. You'll have to think to win." "I still don't see how this is revenge," Twilight said. "Oh it is," Discord said. "Just in the form of a fun little game." Eyes narrowed at Discord. "Shall we begin?"