Class was definitely not on the list of words Twilight would thought she would have used to describe somewhere Discord called one of his favorite places. Yet, as soon as Twilight and Fluttershy entered The Feather Duster, the Princess felt that she had entered a somewhere her father would be hanging out back in Upper Canterlot.
Upon Fluttershy’s instruction, the two mares entered in glass doors to what looked to be a massive hotel. Without a word, however, Fluttershy went up to a door in the back of the room with an attendant standing watch. The yellow mare casually flashed some sort of ID to the pony there, to which the attendant stepped aside to let them enter.
Through the doors was a long dimly lit hallway, almost something from a suspenseful movie. The walls were lined with upscale paintings and a sculpture or two, but felt more like a storage hallway than an entrance to some sort of jazz club! Yet at the far end was a set of double doors with two stallions waiting there, both dressed in nice suits with walkie talkies on their hips. As the two approached, the stallions moved to block their entry in front of the door.
“I’m with a Mister Pone De Lancie,” Fluttershy spoke up calmly, flashing the ID yet again, “Along with Princess Sparkle here. If, you two kind sirs would please let us in.”
Nodding to each other, the stallions checked the card before stepping aside, letting the two in. The sheer degree of poise and confidence Fluttershy held in talking to the guards was something that impressed Twilight. It was a far cry from the mare she’d met all those months ago.
As the two stepped inside, the entire vibe of the room changed. The Feather Duster club was dimly lit to set the atmosphere against the mostly midnight blue interior. The club seemed to be divided into two halves, the half they were on being a mixture of a bar and seating area. Stallions and mares were dressed in suits and dresses, laughing to each other and drinking down large glasses and shots. Their words were lost to the rather loud and upbeat music coming from the other half of the club.
Once one went down a center aisle, a large velvet rope divided them from the dance floor. The floor at the moment was a simple black and white checkerboard, but the humming of lights indicated it could be made to turn any number of colors. A few ponies were swinging and swaying to a solo by the saxophonist, letting their bodies rock in the light of the floor. The band stood on a raised stage at the very end of the dance floor, currently consisting of an upright bassist, a drummer, a saxophonist and trombone player.
The air in the club, strangely enough, did not have the vibe of a place of chaos. The place itself felt rather… calm, if one could get that vibe from the coloration of walls and clientele alone. The warm dim lights, the upbeat band, the darkened walls… this felt far more like just any regular upscale jazz club than any place for a spirit of chaos to hang out at.
Yet Fluttershy insisted that this is where Discord said that, should need to contact him ever would arise, to come to this club. And judging by the level of confidence and relative comfort Fluttershy had when she led the Princess inside, Twilight decided that she would trust her friend’s judgement.
In the center of the room, Fluttershy seemed to pause and scan for something. Twilight could barely hear herself think over the shear amounts of soul emanating from the onstage band’s lead saxophonist. While she did feel the power and emotion behind the music, jazz was never the Princess’s favorite genre. The whole thing felt too, disorderly and debaucherous for her. She would have prefered the structure and harmony of a proper symphony any day.
At last it seemed as thought the Pegasus had found whom she was looking for. Or at least, it seemed that way based on Fluttershy turning to stare at a figure outlined against an overhead blue light. Instead of the unmistakable, chimera-like form a Draconequus that she knew Discord for, Fluttershy was leading Twilight towards a booth that contained an average, upper middle-aged stallion. The only colors that were about him were the greys of his mane and the browns of his coat, both of which faded with age. The stallion had a chiseled beard and the beginnings of a gray goatee. His choice of attire was a simple: dark blue suit and green bow tie.
The whole thing seemed far too proper to be Discord. The Spirit of Chaos, a being so powerful it’d taken the Elements of Harmony and Tirek’s power at near full strength to stop, was a middle aged stallion humming to a jazz band in a quiet underground Fillydelphia Jazz Club? Nevertheless, this is the booth Fluttershy sat at.
Unsure of the whole situation, Twilight took a seat next to her, both the mares sitting across from this stallion who didn’t seem any different from the rest of the patrons of the club to the friendship Princess. At first, their tablemate seemed too preoccupied with the blasting mixture of brass and woodwinds to notice them. But once the tempo died down, he turned to face them.
“Ah, young Ms. Twilight,” The stallion said in a distinguished voice. “How kind of you to drop in for a visit. It’s been ages since we’ve last talked.”
“Last talked?” Twilight put her hands on the table and raised one eyebrow. “I’m sorry, but, do I know you?”
“Why, you don’t remember me?” The elderly gentlecolt leaned back in offense. “Professor De Lancie of Canterlot Academy! You were enrolled in my Transfiguration 303 course. Why, I was the one who taught you how to transform yourself into a chicken, but you used the spell before I could teach you to transform yourself back.”
“That’s absurd!” Remarked Twilight. “That never happened once in my...entire...college…” Even though Twilight a few minutes ago swore that such a thing never took place, she was suddenly gaining vivid memories of a painstakingly long and humiliating week she spent stuck in the form of a chicken. Of running around Princess Celestia’s room as a lavender chicken, squawking for help while the Princess was holding back uproarious laughter. Of being told that the spell would wear off eventually, of Celestia saying this would be a learning experience for her...
“Discord,” Fluttershy tapped her fingers on the table, eyeing the stallion with an impatient glance.
“Hmm?” The stallion turned, meeting Fluttershy’s gaze, “Oh... alright,” Sighing, the stallion snapped his fingers.
In an instant, Twilight realized that there was no point in time where she had ever been transformed into a chicken. Or of going to college in the first place! Her eyes twitched and nostrils flared from believing those chaos magic fabricated memories in the first place. More importantly, however, the stallion’s voice changed from that of a refined stallion to the familiarly condescending one of Discord.
“Discord,” Twilight leaned forward and questioned, “Why do you look like that?”
“Oh, this is the just the form I take when I’m out on the town, my dear Princess of Friendship,” Discord replied. “Because I dare say if I were to come as normal, it would upset the delicate atmosphere of this fine establishment. An establishment which I am so delighted that the two of you have decided to join me at by the way!”
“We’re not here to joi-” Twilight attempted to explain why the two of them had come here, but as usual, the God of Chaos cut them off to keep on talking about what he enjoyed.
“This band right here I have been following every since they started out playing in a seedy, run down bar back in Manehatten,” Discord turned back to the stage and put his chin on his fists as he watched the band he was referring to perform. Snapping his fingers, pictures of that very band in black and white photos spread across the table, “Didn’t have a bit to their name at first. Wearing all second hand suits. The drummer even had to steal the set he used to play their first gig! But I’ll tell you what they did have: passion. Passion for their music, and well, now look at them!”
On cue, the photo of the band during that first gig started to play. At the same time, the other photos suddenly animated, beginning to bounce and jive about as their entire history was spelled out in chaos infused photographs. The bass player was swinging, the drummer was playing his heart out, and the singer was pouring his all into every note!
“Discord,” Fluttershy calmly reached across the table and took Disord’s wrist. This brought his attention back over to her, causing him to rotate back in the direction of the mares opposite him and straighten his bowtie. “We’re here because we’re sure you know what’s going on right now.”
The photographs vanished, giving Twilight time to focus her thoughts again, “We’re certain that you have something to do with all this,” Twilight commented with a tone of annoyance. “Or else you wouldn’t have made finding you such a nightmare!”
“That’s a little harsh, isn’t it, Princess?” Discord leaned forward, “I didn’t make it harder for you. Fluttershy has known where i’ve been all along. You should’ve trusted your friends a bit more, don’t you say?”
Taken aback, Twilight shook her head, “That’s, that’s not what I came here to talk to you about!” Twilight frowned harder, “We have something important to talk to you about!”
Discord’s eyes suddenly expanded past the normal scopes of his skull, taking them in as the pupils seemed to turn into almost X-Ray specs, “Ah yes,” Discord rubbed his bearded chin, attempting to look distinguished. “Judging by the exhausted state I find the two of you in at the moment, I bet those little pests have found you.”
“Pests?” Twilight questioned. “They’re a cult dedicated to worshiping you and upholding your ideals of chaos and anarchy, resorting to terrorism and far worse to do so! They just attacked Fluttershy and I literally an hour ago! And you see them simply as pests?”
“Well what else would you call annoyances who wouldn’t be affected by your wonderful chaos and instead started worshiping you?” Discord sighed, his body seemingly melting back into the chair, “I made it very clear I didn’t want them around, but alas!” Discord snapped and a glass of wine came into existence on the table in front of him. “They refused to go away and didn’t quite get what I wanted in the first place. So I had to send them away on some pointless tasks just so I could enjoy myself. I had thought they all disappeared when my plans were halted for the first time.”
“So the cult does date back to the Draconequn era…” Twilight muttered.
“But, you knew they were resurfacing, didn’t you?” Fluttershy asked. “And that’s why you asked me if anypony strange had contacted me while we were on vacation.”
“I had heard rumors,” Discord admitted as he sipped the yellow wine he had made for himself. “But outside of potentially harming you, my dear Fluttershy, I again really didn’t care for them or thought it would be any issue. I had thought that what I heard was just that, rumors. There are still many ponies out there who might say something about me just to get attention.”
“But they weren’t,” Twilight informed her tablemate. “Not only is the cult formed around you back in operation, but they are far greater of a threat then they were back in ancient times. Somehow they’ve gained the power of Stands and are attacking Ponyville.”
Darting his head up, the wine Discord was drinking suddenly seemed to shot out towards Twilight like a high velocity missile spitake. The Princess summoned a magical shield just in time to avoid getting drenched.
“Stands?” Discord spat. “Those nimrods have resorted to using those droll things?”
“You know what Stands are?” Fluttershy asked in surprise.
“Oh I am well acquainted with those awful apparitions.” Discord sighed, “Just like I can tell that you have one, Lady Sparkle.”
While the fact that he knew she had a Stand shouldn’t have shocked her, given it was Discord saying it, Twilight was shocked for a number of reasons, “Wait, you can sense it?”
“Sensing a Stand is one thing,” Discord raised a finger, “But yes, I can practically smell the energy coming off you!” Discord’s nose suddenly flew from behind Twilight’s neck back onto his face, “You know that the earliest time ponykind remembers them is when your princesses attempted to use them to stop my glorious reign?”
“Y-Yes, I’m quite familiar with their history.” Twilight struggled to keep her eye from twitching, as that fact was pretty much the only thing she ever found in most of her research on Stands. Given that Discord’s eyes were constantly on her, she was certain he was testing her.
“Well, as you can expect I didn’t take too kindly to them,” Discord continued. “I mean, a power that you can’t fight unless you stooped down to an equal playing field? That’s just not how I roll! But I couldn’t just ignore those powers, or else they might have actually won! Before, they actually won of course.”
“Then,” Twilight interrupted, “How did you defeat them?”
Tssking, Discord waggled his fingers, “So rude, Princess. As I was getting to, I just did what anypony would do in my position. I simply just changed the rules so they weren’t an issue anymore!”
“...You, changed the rules?” Twilight was struggling to wrap her head around just what that meant.
“Yes Twilight, get with the program! I tend to do that often when things don’t exactly go my way. What I did was change how Chaos Magic works so that Stands have one simple interaction with it: they don’t work. So no matter what those pesky princesses did with those fancy Stands of theirs, it would amount to absolutely nothing against me and my chaos magic. Problem solved!”
“But of course, this came with the added side effect of working in the opposite way as well. Chaos Magic is a two way street after all, but sometimes you’re just stuck going down one way or the other. My Chaos Magic will not work against Stands at all. So I’m afraid that I can’t offer you any assistance in combating this bothersome cult. I’d just be a non factor in any jocular joyrides of the bizarre encounter and might as not even be there in the first place.”
Twilight shrugged, “Well that’s quite alright,” Twilight said, reaching into her bag to pull something out. “That’s not what we’ve come here to ask you for anyway. Underneath the Castle of the Two Sisters, Rainbow Dash and I found this mural. I believe it to be pertinent to the cult’s goals. Could you take a look at it and tell us what it means?”
Twilight laid a magical recreation of the mural underneath the palace in photograph form on the table in front of Discord. The god disguised as a pony took it and studied it, stroking his goatee as he did so. He squinted and made out all the details, holding it close and far away from his face.
“Well I can't say I’m too familiar with the piece,” Discord admitted as he place the photo back on the table and turned it towards Twilight. “But I do like the work of the artist. Do you know who they are? Do they take commissions?” Fluttershy shot Discord another glare of daggers, which caused him to roll his eyes and point to Celestia and Luna in the picture.
“Those are the annoying Stands of your princesses, I know that all too well. That phoenix nearly reset Equestria to a boring orderly form. And that crystal used my own devilry against me! As to why your princesses are on their knees, I do not know. Once I changed the rules they simply fled until they discovered the Elements of Harmony. I can’t tell you how satisfying it would have been to see a scene like that.”
“And what of this?” Twilight put her finger on the giant figure behind Discord.
“Not a clue I’m afraid. The artist’s depiction of my absolute awesomeness? Like I said, they’re a very good painter.”
“So what you’re saying is that you can’t give us anything of use to deal with this problem?” Twilight groaned and rubbed the bridge of her nose.
“I’m afraid not. Well, aside from insisting that Fluttershy stay with me for the time being for her own safety,” Discord offered, “There are very few ponies who even know the location of the little pocket dimension I call chaos sweet chaos.”
“I second that,” Fluttershy raised her hand, “I’m not going to be helpful in this. It, probably would be best if I stayed out of your way until you can figure this out, Twilight.” Fluttershy punctuated her words with a smile.
“No objections here,” Twilight agreed.
“I can give you all the tribute that the original members of this chaos club gave to me.” Discord continued. “It has quite a lot of details about them. But I’m not sure how much good that’ll do, since they’re all probably long dead by now.”
“I’ll take anything at this point,” Twilight said as she looked up at Discord’s pony form. “Anything to make this trip not feel like a total waste.” At a finger snap, a box appeared in front of Twilight with the worlds “dumb lozer smelly ponys” poorly written in crayon appear in front of the princess.
“Thanks… Discord…” Twilight sighed and levitated the box over into her bag.
“Oh you’re quite welcome,” Discord chuckled, “Now that I’ve given you a gift, perhaps you would indulge me with something, Sparkle?”
Raising her eyebrow, Twilight leaned backwards, “What… are you talking about?”
“Nothing that would be considered dangerous if that’s what you’re worried about,” Discord waved his hand dismissively, “I just want to see your Stand.”
Twilight’s fingers curled up around the booth, “My Stand? Why?” She narrowed her gaze, “Are you planning something, Discord?”
“Oh most certainly not,” Discord’s arm suddenly wrapped around the table, grabbing Fluttershy and pulling her in tightly around the booth against him, “I just had a pang of curiosity. It shouldn't be too much of an issue to draw it out, would it?” He waved his hand around the room, “Do any of these ponies look like Stand Users to you?”
Twilight’s magnified gaze cast itself around the room. There weren’t that many ponies, and Golden Harvest was in a nearby hotel room with a tracking spell on her in case she tried to leave the building. Harvest had come alone, she said, and thus there wasn’t much chance of other Stand Users being nearby…
“Fine,” Twilight exhaled and summoned Night Wish beside her, almost sitting on the booth beside her. The ink ball inside the cloak was almost impossible to see in the low light, while the cloak seemed to flap slightly in some invisible breeze.
Upon seeing it, Discord didn’t say anything. He simply looked the figure up and down, trying to imagine something with it. He twisted his head until it was at a 90 degree angle, then twisted it in the other direction. His fingers tapped on the table.
“Well?” Twilight huffed, “Why did you want to see it?”
“Oh I was just checking something,” Discord smiled devilishly, “It does look rather boring the more I think about it.”
“Boring?!” Twilight retorted, “What, how can a Stand be boring just by looking at it?!”
“It just does, Sparkle!” Discord leaned back, “I’ve seen Stands that can literally reset anything in a blaze of fire, ones that could bring nightmares to life. Yours looks rather… well,” He smirked, “I guess you do need some ink to write all those letters, don’t you?”
“Discord!” Fluttershy suddenly spun towards him. The mare eyed him with a harsh glare, one that even Discord couldn't look away from. The two were locked in a sort of staring contest for a long moment before Discord finally sighed and turned his head back.
“Well then,” Discord snickered. “I’d love to stay in chat, but I’m afraid my dear princess, you’re about to find that you’re needed elsewhere at the moment. So why don’t I give you a head start on that?” With a final snap, Twilight was suddenly and rudely transported out of the club along with the box.
~~~
With a blip, Twilight appeared outside the club. The Princess still had Night Wish out from the sudden teleportation, a fact she quickly rectified with a small biting of her lip.
Checking to be sure nopony had noticed she’d had her Stand out, the Princess reached down into her bag to look at the box again. This could have the answers for why the cult was going after her and her friends. It could explain what the group was hoping to accomplish, as well as maybe lead to the identity of what exactly was happening with all of this. Or, it could very well just be information from a time long since past, of no help to her at all.
Turning her way back towards the hotel building where she’d left Golden Harvest, the mare’s steps were slow and awkward. As she walked, something was eating at her mind. Gnawing at it, making her slow. Even if Discord was stopped, he’d affirmed exactly what she was thinking:
Was her Stand… weak?
No, Night Wish wasn’t a weak Stand! She’d saved Fluttershy with it! Discord had just been trying to get under her skin, like he always did when she was around. It wasn’t like Rainbow Dash had a much cooler Stand, or Rarity are more versatile, or Pinkie on that matched her to a P. No, it wasn’t like Twilight’s Stand wasn’t something that seemingly had nothing to do with who she was or what she wanted to do…
Shaking her head, Twilight grumbled and put her focus over towards the buildings. Discord was just riling her up. Fluttershy had even stopped him. That had to be a sign she knew exactly what he was doing! Right?
Right.
With that in her head, Twilight sucked in another breath as she started her way towards the hotel again, her fingers curling and uncurling into her hand as she did so.