//------------------------------// // Chapter 4. Magical After Party. // Story: Spirit of the Church // by Vision //------------------------------// Waking up was chore, even with my new improved by comic powers physiology, also the process itself was complicated by my apparent hungover, which I got because of certain mischievous spirit, who joined the party after the kids and their parents grown too tired to further participate in the fun activities, provided by the premier party pony -- Pinkie Pie herself. I remember her being a bit angry at the self-proclaimed spirit of chaos, for not joining the festivities on time, but after he explained his reason to Pinkie, she gave Discord a big hug, thanking him for his his apparent thoughtfulness. ‘What reason he gave her?’, you may ask. Booze, lots of extraordinary, even by Discords standards, booze, which can render any immortal drunk, and, as of now I feel this particular sensation, give them a hangover. It felt like my magical power was really drained from my spirit, making its conscious experience a dull ache, the placement of which was conveniently located just over my brow, a little below the unicorn horn I still had on my pony skull. At this point I grew tired of this painful throbbing in my head, I just refilled my magical reserves from my plane of reality by simply scooping raw magic with my hoof, all done with my eyes closed. I would’ve dabbed on it, if this particular gesture wasn’t such old and cringy meme. However, because now I was feeling better, my mind decided to bring an end to this thread of thought by slowly opening my eyes, to see were my drunk past-self planted my fine pony plot to sleep. “…”, I said when my newly acquired vision painted an image of my surroundings. I was lying on the foyer ceiling of the Friendship Palace, while underneath me ponies and other kinds of creatures were sleeping in fluffy cozy piles, some softly snoring, some silently breathing in and out, hugging others, as if they were warm pillows, in drunken sleep. I spied a cute scene here and there, until I found The cute scene of mismatched noodle-dragon coiling around a yellow fluffy pony, both smiling in their sleep in each others arms and hooves. ‘Here this two went further then friendship then…’, I happily thought, taking the mental snapshot of this wonderful scene. Oh and what scene it was… This dark room of the Palace was filled with flying dots of light, as if they were fireflies of all colors of the rainbow and beyond, lazily drifting through the large open space of the room, each and every spec of light glistening in the reflections of polished crystal walls and ceiling, giving it a bluish tint and smoothness, as if they were far away… It looked and felt, like I was in space, watching stars and galaxies float around me, ever changing and ever lasting. I felt at peace. I guess all that magic I, and no doubt Discord, lost needed to go somewhere… I never thought alcohol could be enchanted like this. “Enjoying the view?”, unmistakable voice of Discord whispered right into my lift pony ear, which flicked like cat ear does in this situation right after. “Yeah…”, I answered as quietly, “You made booze yourself?”, I asked him in turn, not even turning in his direction, still transfixed by the view around… well, below me. Nether the less I sensed his annoyance at the failed scare. “... No”, he said, “One satyr owed me a few favors, so I decided to take some of his ‘drinks for all kinds of things’, or so the slogan said”, he slithered beside me like a snake, being at two places at once of course, “I actually have no idea how to make enchanted drinks. Only a few immortals do.” “... Huh.” We stayed silent, observing the beautiful chaotic display of older magic until the ponies below started to wake up. When Fluttershy was up, Discord disappeared from my side down below, helping her to get other ponies going, some of which stayed for a bit to enjoy the scenery. Twilight was in her study mod, probing the glowing specs of light for magic signatures and taking notes, while spike was taking a flash-less photos of the room, some of which he sent by a dragon breath to someone, I suspect that they were for Luna. Pinkie cleared up the area from the trash and other things left from after party, while Applejack and Rainbow placed wooden benches around the hall, so visitors could come in to sit and watch this amazing display. Rarity also helped, by closing up all windows with teleported here by Starlight stylish blinds, to stop the light of the late morning from coming into the room. It was fun watching them work around the wonderful phenomena, so anyone can enjoy it, before the magic dissipates. And after, a bit of time, I found myself strangely full, I guess the happiness of many creatures, that visited this event, now appropriately named Star Dust, worked quite nicely for my spiritual hunger, so I decided to join Twilight in her study room. I walked down the wall, to the bemusement of some Desert Cats, which I finally recognized as Abysinians, and then walked toward the steps of the hall, and going up to the second storey of the Palace. After walking for a bit I finally found the room where I felt Twilight’s magical signature the most. And then I knocked. “Come in!”, I heard her say loudly through the door. So I stepped in, smile glued to my face. “Hello there”, I said happily, “I didn’t think me getting would be a cause for such an event”, I joked, to which Twilight snorted, “But anyways, I see you decided to look into the enchantment?” Twilight then looked up from her notes, placing a pencil behind one ear, smiling softly, “I did”, she simply said, pointing her hoof at the scattered on an ordinary oak table pages filled to the brim with magical formulas, “I think I know how to make this light spell to last longer, by sustaining itself on ambient magic”, she then sighed, “But I don’t think I will be able to give them this wonderful ever-changing colors.” “Oh…”, I mouthed silently, and then thought a bit, browsed through the library of the magical knowledge, and then came to a simple suggestion, “Did you thought about mixing in a little bit of the chaotic magic into the color spell?” She groaned, “I did. But I cant cast it.” I rose my eyebrow at that, “Element of magic can’t cast magic?” Her muzzle scrunched in the frustration, “I can’t because I’m an Element of Harmony, not of chaos”, she looked me in the eyes, “I’m afraid it will affect my connection to the Elements.” My eyebrow rose further, “Aren’t the Harmony == balance between the chaos and order?” She froze, mouth opened half-way to retort, but her eyes widening in realization. After a few seconds Twilight slowly turned to me fully and slowly uttered four words, “You. Are. A. Genius.” What followed next was an eight hours straight study session, filled with revisiting the old philosophy books and elder scrolls (hehehe) on magic theory. Apparently ponies, after the rule of Discord, banned almost all chaotic activities in the country for a whole ten years, because of the constant fear, that if anything chaotic happened ‘The One with Chaos’ will be freed from his prison. That’s when the control over the seasons and animals started. The system actually was much deeper in control over the ponies lives, to a time when one goes to a toilet! But it was quickly scrapped after the land started to dwindle, almost allowing Discord to be free, so he’ll restore the balance of magic. This whole debacle was the reason for ponies to see chaos as evil in their lives. But it softened considerably in last five hundred years or so, which allowed the Spirit of Chaos to successfully reintegrated into the modern pony world. So, I would say, this was a very productive day.