“Out here in the fields...”
-Pete
“I know this isn’t history, but examples from the past never hurt when explaining the shifting lines of supply and demand. So, let’s first talk about increasing prices.” The economics teacher levitated a ruler up to the diagram she had drawn. “As the price of something goes up; two things happen. The supply goes up, and the demand goes down. Does anyone care to explain that? Yes? Discord?”
Discord lowered his paw once he was called on. “Nobody needs as much, nobody’s buying as much, so there’s more left over.”
“Precisely. Thank you, Discord.” The teacher tapped the board. “This is what we would call a surplus. Now, this is an example of a price increase which we covered in the previous section of this chapter. But, we’re going to go into shifts. And to talk about this phenomenon, I’ll start with the example of the Griffonstone centered company, GK Autocarriage Works. These were high end cars luxury vehicles, and during the height of their reign on the industry, they began increasing their prices higher, and higher, above the point of equilibrium. The problem wasn’t apparent until another Equestrian born company popped up and nearly destroyed GK. At the other end of the world in Van Hoover, a dragon mechanic and unicorn engineer, Geode and Mechana, were finalizing their patent for their aluminium engine block. Their autocarriage company, G&M, opened with the promise of lighter, more fuel efficient autocars. At this time, luxury was being traded for affordability. The demand had shifted. While the material for G&M’s engine was more expensive, the cost of manufacturing dropped, allowing them to sell their autocars for a significantly cheaper price.” The teacher set the ruler down and retrieved a piece of chalk to draw a new curve on the diagram. “Demand for GK autocars had plummeted, nearly sending them into bankruptcy.”
The bell rang.
This sudden sound of freedom prompted a sigh of relief from the entire class as they began to shovel their books into their bags. They all bustled toward the door for lunch.
“We’ll continue tomorrow with the GK demand shift’s effect on the Griffonstone recession.” The teacher’s voice was lost to them all. “Remember you reading and remember, Econ is Magic!”
Discord grabbed his growling stomach as he headed down the hallway towards the cafeteria. He was getting real tired of missing breakfast. Part of him believed it was a conspiracy, that the bus driver really just hated him and was passing his house on purpose. Reality hit him in the head as he reminded himself that it was in part his fault. Discord had been forgetting to set his alarm clock, and even when he remembered, he struggled to get up. He was tired.
The lunch line was a blur to Discord in his current state. The only twitch of sense that reminded him that he had actually gone through the line was the voice of the yak behind the counter telling him he could only grab one chocolate milk carton. The rumor that they were discontinuing the chocolate milk due to “new health regulations” only made the experience worse.
“Hey!”
Discord recoiled from the scaly sensation under his foot that turned out to be a tail attached to a dragon in a lettercolt jacket. “Whoops. Sorry, I di-.”
The dragon slapped Discord’s tray into the air and onto his head. “Watch where you’re going, freak.”
“I-.” Discord could feel the potatoes and gravy falling down his face. “I said I was sorry.” He looked at the carrot slices on his shoulders and feet. His feet. They were wet with chocolate milk that had exploded upon hitting the ground.
“Did I stutter?” The dragon grabbed Discord by his short antler. “You don’t talk to me. You don’t look at me. You stay out of my way.” A fire sparked within the draconequus once he realized who this was. It was the same dragon that had tripped Spike on the bus on the first day of school.
“Leave him alone.”
Discord recognized that voice. He had never heard him say much before when the stallion had guided him around the school, so it was a bit of a surprise for Discord to hear a complete sentence from him.
The dragon grabbed onto Discord’s horn as well. “What’s up Big Mac, you’re just in time to have a bit of fun with freakazoid here.”
“I said, leave him alone.” Big Mac stood up on his hind legs and pushed the dragon away from Discord. “Ya don’t talk to ‘im. Ya don’t look at ‘im funny. Ya leave ‘im be. Clear?”
The dragon brushed himself off and scowled at Big Mac. “So, what? You’re babysitting freaks now?”
“Hm-knope.” Big Mac got in the dragon’s face and dragged his hoof across the dragon’s lettercolt jacket, smearing it with the filth of the floor. “Keepin’ the freaks away.”
“So it’s like that, huh?” Smoke shot out from the dragon’s nostrils.
Discord held his breath, expecting Big Mac’s face to be filled with flames.
But, Big Mac didn’t even blink. “E-yup.”
The dragon said nothing more, he just smiled as he walked away as he was joined by a griffon and a zebra.
The lettercolt gang, Discord thought. “Hey, thanks.”
Big Mac’s head fell a little. He just stared there, at the floor. “E-yup.” Much like the dragon, the stallion marched off, but in a different direction.
It was a chilling display to Discord. Death seemed to have passed him by. It wasn’t after him or the dragon. It was tailing Big Mac. Now, Discord didn’t suppose it to be a physical death. No, it was different, a living death. He wanted to call out to the stallion and beg him to not walk alone. He wanted to. However, the lump in his throat held him in silence.
“Whoa!” Spike skid to Discord’s side. “Are you alive?”
Discord felt his face being wiped up by a wrag held up by purple magic. He saw Twilight concentrating on this.
Rainbow flew up to his side. “Dude! What did that dragon want? I swear if I get my hooves on him I’ll…”
All that his friends did, Discord appreciated. But, a particular step and voice freed his mind. The sound cured the numb pounding in his head. The flash of her face, and eyes, was enough for Discord to somehow forget the gravy that had dripped into his eye.
“Are you alright?” Fluttershy inched forward and carefully used a wing to wipe the gravy away from his eye. “Better?”
“Yes.” Discord was startled by his own voice. He was afraid his sudden response would scare away the one that looked at him. She didn’t run away, and that made Discord want to cry. It hurt more when Fluttershy gasped. He asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Is that?” She gestured to his magic training collar. “Does it hurt?”
Discord felt like dying, then and there. Who are you? He wanted to peel back some curtain that must have been pulled over his eyes. Why are you so kind? Have we met before in some distant memory. Discord just smiled. “Not at all, Fluttershy.”
Speaking after that was pretty sparse. The incident with the dragon had poisoned their thoughts. Every conversation ended when it seemed to be heading back to the incident. The gravity it held was almost enough to make it its own planet. Discord would steal glances at Spike, Twilight, Rainbow, and Fluttershy who had for some reason joined their table. When he wasn’t playing with the foil from the sandwich Rainbow had given him, Discord would look up at the balcony. He half expected to see that Fluttershy was really up there all this time, and that this was just a dream. But, she really was there, and the colt Discord had seen her with on the balcony was in his spot above. Why have you come down here? Discord manipulated the foil into symmetrical folds.
“So, how are you doing in history?” Fluttershy asked Rainbow Dash.
“Better.” Rainbow flashed yesterday’s pop quiz with a bright red B+ inked on the front. “There’s hope for me yet. But, I owe it all to Twily over here.”
“I really hope that nickname doesn’t stick. That’s sort of my brother’s thing.” Twilight kept her eyes on her book as she talked. “I must say, thanks to Rainbow Dash, it’s been nice to not have the older students giving me a hard time. I just wish they would leave Discord alone as well.” She paused her reading. “Oh.” Looking up she gave an apologetic look. “I’m sorry Discord.”
Discord shrugged. The incident had almost been lost to him, drowned out by the mysterious presence of Fluttershy. “It’s okay. It’s in the past. Now we’re in the present.”
Fluttershy smiled. “That’s a nice way of looking at it.”
Twilight straightened her glasses and cleared her throat. “So, Discord. How has your small scale magic practice been going? Have you improved?”
Discord finished folding his little piece of foil. “I’ve had a breakthrough.” He snapped his digits, bringing the piece of foil to life. It folded in on itself, transforming into a pegasus before flying up into the air. “I figured out how to manipulate an object without needing to snap all the time.” One of his eagle claws followed the flying foil pegasus. Discord made a little loop with his claw, and the foil pegasus transformed into a dragon that slowly circled above their heads.
Twilight pulled out her notebook with her notes from the day they went to the field that Spike later named Spork Ranch. “How exactly did you figure this out?” She held a pen at the ready.
Discord changed the foil into a hummingbird that buzzed around. “I just keep the thought open and ongoing. I let it take shape with whatever I happen to think of.”
Twilight’s face lit up as she wrote that down. “Of course! Stream of consciousness magic. That’s very interesting. Most unicorns only use such methods for artistic displays of energy. It usually takes the most skilled of unicorns decades of practice, but you’ve mastered it over the course of a few days! Fascinating.”
Spike reared back as the foil hummingbird buzzed in his face. “Freaky, is a better word for it.”
“Yeah.” Rainbow had a hard time looking at the buzzing foil creature. “I’m with Spike on this. It’s a little creepy.”
Fluttershy hummed a little laugh as the foil hummingbird cocked its head sideways at her. “I think it’s adorable.”
Discord manipulated his claw again, paying close attention to what he was doing. He made the foil bird slow down, wrapping its wings around itself into a cocoon that hovered in the air. The cocoon gradually split open to reveal a butterfly.
Fluttershy’s eyes widened as it fluttered to the tip of her nose. Gently, she picked it up with the tip of her hoof. “It’s amazing.”
Discord made a circling motion, spinning the butterfly into a flower of no particular genus. To top it off, he made the light glisten a little brighter from the foil.
“It’s beautiful.” Fluttershy’s smile was suddenly replaced by shock as green magic crumpled up the flower and pulled it away.
“Hey!” Discord turned to the unicorn in navy blue coveralls who crumpled up the flower.
The unicorn dropped the crumple foil in the rolling garbage bin he was toting. “No playing with trash, Kid.” He kept the same pace as he levitated more trash into the garbage bin, paying no other ounce of mind to Discord.
“Who was that, and who spat in his coffee?” Spike watched the unicorn from the corner of his eye.
Rainbow tapped the table as she remembered something. “He’s ah, I think-.”
Spike laughed. “Is that what that smell is?”
“Can it, gem breath.” Rainbow jokingly socked Spike in the arm.
Discord nudged Rainbow. “Who was that, though.”
“Uh.” Rainbow bobbed her head a bit. “I think he’s the new janitor. Gal-uh. Gallop. Gallop something. I don’t know. He’s new. Why?”
Discord felt his collar buzz. The strange part was that he wasn’t using magic, and the collar didn’t hurt. He couldn’t tell why it was going off. The thought occurred to him that someone might be tampering with it. But, that was fine since the collar had failsafes to prevent it from being damaged or broken. “He looks familiar. I think I’ve seen him before.”
“First time I’ve seen him. It’s probably his first day.” Spike collected everyone’s empty trays and stood up. “Maybe you saw him in town or somewhere else.”
The bell rang and Twilight packed up along with Rainbow as they headed off to their classes. Discord was about to follow suit but was stopped by a hoof on his paw.
“Discord.” Fluttershy kept her hoof down as she addressed him. “Is something wrong.”
Discord’s eyes shot every which direction they could reach. He was looking for him, the janitor. There were too many people roaming about. The janitor was lost to the crowd as Discord finally looked at Fluttershy. He wished he could comfort the worried look on her face. He couldn’t lie to her. “I don’t know.”
*****
“These spells are not ones you’ll need to perform, but you ought to know them. Some of you may learn these spells if you decide to work for law enforcement or the justice system. No, I’m not talking about the so called truth spell. It’s already been proven to be unreliable as the truth might be what someone believes but isn’t always necessarily true. I’ll be going over a few spells that have been successfully implemented, and are still used to this day.”
Discord was surprised he was listening to the teacher at all. His mind was flooded with thoughts of the janitor. Something about the unicorn, that Rainbow had identified as Gallop, rubbed Discord the wrong way. Also, he was a tad bit ticked off that the guy crumpled up his trick he was showing off to Fluttershy.
“The wall of pillows.” The teacher rolled his eyes at the giggles from the class. “I know, I know. Sounds silly. The origins of the spell were a little silly, admittedly. However, it’s been successfully used to stop crimalls and even cushion a fall. It came about when an officer was in pursuit of a pickpocket down an alleyway. The alleyway, just so happened to be next to a pillow factory. Thinking fast, the office popped open a window to the factory, sending a pile of pillows into the alleyway, cutting off the pickpocket’s escape. That officer’s story led to a dozen other unicorn cops trying to come up with a spell that could, yes, produce a wall of pillows.”
Discord snorted to himself. “I could do that.”
The teacher looked around the class. “Who said that?”
Discord ducked his head. He didn’t realized how loud he had spoken.
The unicorn next to him laughed. “Cough! Discord. Cough!”
Discord glared at the filly. “Thanks for nothing, Amethyst.”
“Ahem.” The teacher stepped up to Discord. “So, you think you can make a wall of pillows?”
Discord could feel the whispers from all the unicorns in the classroom. Magical sciences was a class that was only useful to unicorns, usually. He was the exception. It didn’t help though, to be the only one of his kind. From the first day, Discord had already heard the, he doesn’t even have a horn, statement. It was hard to believe any of the students thought anything of him. A freak, that’s all they saw or thought. Discord assumed the teacher shared that sentiment. “I don’t think. I know I can.”
The class went silent.
“Hm.” The teacher smiled. “Okay, Discord. Consider this an early test. If you pass, you get some extra credit.”
Discord felt the hole he was digging for himself already. “And if I fail?”
“Detention.” The teacher’s response was met by an excitement from the class. He opened the classroom door and flipped down the door stopper. “I’ll start from my desk and head for the door. You have that much time to produce a wall of pillows. Begin.” He started from his desk, back towards the door.
Discord shut down his thoughts and focused. Readying his claws, he snapped.
The teacher stopped just inches before the white flash disappeared to reveal a menagerie of assorted pillows that had been tetrised into a wall. No two pillows were alike, but they formed a wall, nonetheless. “Ha!” The teacher poked and prodded, and even turned around to kick the wall. It didn’t budge. “Not bad, Discord. Now get rid of these pillows.”
Discord snapped the pillows away. “So, what sort of extra credit did I get?”
The teacher smirked. “You have earned the privilege of not going to detention, so long as you don’t interrupt my class again. Do I make myself clear.”
“Yes sir.” Discord was more than willing to accept that extra credit.
“So, moving on.” The teacher pulled out a statue of a flower. “I know what you’re thinking. Why does he have a statue of a lily? Well, to answer your thoughts, it’s not a statue.”
Discord felt his blood rush from his head at that statement.
The teacher went on. “This stone is alive. Sort of. I didn’t perform this spell, but a friend of mine, who can, acquired this specimen for me. Perhaps this’ll scare some of you into behaving in society. This is what happens to the worst of the worst. It takes a mighty terrible crime streak to be turned to stone.”
Discord frose as he stared at the stone flower. He could feel his spine stiffening, his blood solidifying. Every cell seemed to stop moving as he struggled to inhale.
“Discord, what did I just say-.” The teacher’s eyes widened. “Discord?”
Sound flooded Discord’s senses as he tried to get up.
“Oh my goodness, he’s not breathing!” Someone shouted.
Discord went down with his chair as his collar went crazy, burning his neck. Magic was trying to escape, run, or do something. Through the faces that surrounded him, Discord saw the stone flower. Screaming, he could hear it screaming. Voices flooded the room as all the students began to cry out.
“Someone get the Nurse!”
Voices… Voices everywhere… I don’t turn ponies into stone! That voice, Discord knew it. But, it was so angry and deranged. Everything felt flat and cold like glass.
“Sister! Here!”
Discord couldn’t move. His body refused. Smoke filled his nose. Hair was burning. Shadows walked along the walls of his eyes.
“How can it be? He wasn’t a dream? Is he dreaming now?”
Discord wanted to answer. He screamed as loud as he could. But, no one could hear him. He was stuck for what seemed to be millenia. Bird song filled his ears. He was in a garden, or so he believed.
“He must be, how else could I reach him?”
Children were arguing. Discord wanted to know what they were arguing about. In a strange way, he found it entertaining.
“I, I hear her. She’s in his head.”
I don’t turn ponies into stone! Discord could feel the collar burning with strange and bizarre emotions that followed. He wondered what place this could be as relics of ancient power surrounded him. One stood out.
“Who? The ghost? Is it the same ghost from sixteen years ago?”
Discord wanted to rip the collar off, but he was as the stone flower, immobilized. Visions entered his mind.
“Sister… He’s, oh no.”
It was all there before him. He was free. Discord saw freedom from hurt and persecution. He saw the edges of sanity.
“What? Sister!”
But, it really wasn’t freedom. Something was missing. It was more than friendship. It was kind of magic that blossoms only once every two thousand years. Who? Why?
“He was so lonely in there…”
How could such kindness be possible? Every is a tool to get what you want, or was he wrong. Discord saw questions he had not even asked before. He felt epiphanys all to similar to his own.
“I don’t turn ponies into stone!”
Discord hated that voice. He wanted it to go away. It wasn’t fair to himself nor to her. Her. Discord felt his brain go cold. They took… He wondered who it was that they took. Who were they? Were they here?
“What was that? Sister! What’s going on?”
Light surrounded Discord. He understood where he was. He was in that room again, with the fireplace and the sad empty bed. He remembered a royal dwelling of sadness such as this. But, that was another dream. In that dream, there had been mugs of chocolate tea. “Hello?”
From the fire, a familiar bright form appeared. “Hello again Discord.”
“You know me.” Discord shied away from the empty blanket on the floor. It seemed so familiar. “What is this place? You said you were an old friend.”
“But, of course.” The figure passed the bedside. “However, it was only by the grace of my student’s friend that I learned that, some two thousand years too late. That is not your when, though. It was mine. You have a new when. You have this new life, this opportunity to find what you are looking for.”
“What am I looking for?” Discord watched the bright figure open the doors to a balcony. Behind the doors was darkness. “What is this? Why won’t you tell me what’s going on?”
The darkness was no match for the light that flooded from the form of this being. “Discord, this is your life. Go and find her. Find the friend you meant to tell.”
“Friend?” Discord jumped at the sound of, what he understood to be, two mares. He’d heard their voices from earlier.
“He’s in here! Sister, I found him!”
Discord backed away from the door. “Who is that? What do they want with me? Are they going to hurt me?”
The bright one shook her head. “No. They will find you when the time is right, though. And when that time comes, I shall cease to exist. But for now, go. Don’t be afraid. Just knock on her door.
Discord stood there, mouth agape at all he had heard. He tried to speak, to ask another question, but he was at a loss for words as he quietly mumbled one name to himself. “Fluttershy.” He smiled as the two mare pounded on the door. “Fluttershy.”
“Wait! Don’t go yet! We need to talk!”
Discord pictured her in his head. “Fluttershy.”
The doors burst open.
Discord felt darkness surround him. Slowly, he opened his eyes. The door that had burst open was not the same one in the place he’d been dreaming of. White blurs surrounded him. Above, he could discern square lights in the ceiling. Voices became clear.
“He’s my friend! I have to see if he’s okay!”
A pony in white held back the blur of purple and green. “Mister Spike, you’ll just have to wait. He needs space to recover. Crowding him won’t help.”
“Please Miss Snowheart. We just gotta see if he’s okay.”
Spike, Discord thought, Rainbow? As vision returned to Discord, he could make out a Wild Stallions poster. He was still at the school. This must be the nurse’s office.
“Excuse me, kids. Snowheart! Thank you so much for calling. What happened?”
Mom? Discord struggled to lift an arm. “Flu-. Flu-. Wh-.”
“Discord!” Redheart ran over to Discord, entering into a hectic cross between her nurse mode and her motherly instincts. “My boy. Sh. Let me look.”
Snowheart showed off a clipboard. “I think he fainted. He’s not the first student that Mister Flintheart has scared.
Spike muttered to Rainbow, “What is it with ponies and having the word heart in their name?”
Rainbow snorted. “What is it with dragons being named after rocks.”
Spike shrugged. “Fair point.”
Discord couldn’t help but laugh.
“Discord?” Redheart shook her son’s arm. “Sweety, are you alright?”
“Never,” Discord took a deep breath, “better.” He waved at the door. “Guys.” Standing in the doorway, he could make out Spike, Rainbow, Twilight, and, “Fluttershy?”
Snowheart let out a grumble of a sigh as she addressed everyone in the doorway. “Okay, you can go on in, but you better behave your-,” she growled as Spike and Rainbow barreled in, “hey! I said behave!”
Spike and Rainbow came about as close to tackling Discord as they could without hurting him. Spike held on to him the longest. “Hey, brother! We thought you died.”
Twilight adjusted her glasses, looking Discord up and down. “Was it a magic surge?”
Rainbow hovered above. “I heard in my last class that something went down, but my teacher wouldn’t let me leave! I had to wait till the final bell just to find out what happened!”
Spike looked to Redheart. “Why hasn’t an ambulance picked him up?”
“Discord doesn’t go to normal hospitals.” Redheart checked the collar around Discord’s neck. She hissed at the sight, but pressing a button lit up a green light that set her at ease.
Discord reached for his mother’s hoof. “Mom. I’m alright.”
“I know.” Redheart wiped her face as she kissed her son’s paw. “But, it looks really bad this time.”
“What looks really bad?” Spike, Rainbow, and Twilight all parted like waves receding back into the ocean as Fluttershy came up close. “Oh my.” She looked like she might cry.
Discord finally reached for his own neck. He flinched at first. The pain caught him off guard. Gently, he plucked off a clump of burnt hair. Under the collar, he could feel raw skin. “Maybe, I could,” He raised his claws to snap, but was stopped by Redheart.
“Discord, no.” Redheart pushed Discord’s claws back down. “Wait till he gets here. Let him clean it up.”
“Wait till who gets here?” Fluttershy asked.
“Professor.” Discord smiled past everyone. “Good to see you again.”
“I had hoped it would be under better circumstances.” Everyone turned to the doorway which was now inhabited by a chestnut stallion with a dark brown mane. A white collar framed a green bowtie hung around his neck. His accent was different, rhythmic even. It was easy to tell he wasn’t from around these parts. “Now, who’s who? Ah! My young dragon friend, would you mind holding this?”
Before Spike could protest, the stallion dropped a black saddlebag into his arms. He struggled for a moment as the saddlebag weighed more than seemingly was possible. “Who are you exactly?”
“Discord, for reasons unbeknownst to me, calls me Professor.” He popped open the saddle back and dug around with his face. “I prefer to be called by my professional title, Doctor.”
Rainbow furrowed her brow. “Doctor who?”
The stallion returned from the depths of the saddlebag and spat out a screwdriver. “No, no. Doctor Hooves. I also respond to just Doctor, or even Doc. That seems to be a popular condensing of the title.” Once more the Doc plunged into his saddle bag. “Ah ha! There it is!” He pulled out a stethoscope. “Alright. Let’s listen to your ticker.” Doc breathed on the stethoscope before plugging it into his ears. “Um, miss. I don’t mean to be rude, but, do you mind if I cut in?”
“Oh.” Fluttershy hid her face behind her mane as she stepped out of his way.
“Thank you.” Doc pressed the stethoscope against Discord’s chest. “Alright. Slow but normal, no. An increasing pulse? Discord? Discord, what are you looking at?”
Discord looked away from Fluttershy and smiled. “All good?”
Doc hummed as he moved the stethoscope around. “Deep breaths.” He listened. “No irregularities. Good.” He unplugged the stethoscope from his ears and hung it around his neck. “Now let’s take a look see here. Ooh.” He was silent for a moment as he lifted the collar. “Magic? Or was it an episode?”
“Sort of an episode. There was another dream.” Discord gradually sat up. “I made a wall of pillows appear. But, I don’t think that set it off.”
Doc pulled out a bottle of ointment and passed it to Redheart who went to work. “Right, I’ve seen some of your larger manifestations, and those never triggered anything before. So, if this is just from an episode, that means it’s getting worse.”
Spike spoke up. “You can fix him, right?”
Doc shrugged. “My scaly friend, Discord is unique. And, you don’t just fix a draconequus. It’s like trying to put a cork on a live volcano.”
“Fascinating.” Twilight pulled out her notebook and started writing.
Doc stared at Twilight. “Are, are those? You’ve been taking notes about Discord’s magic.”
“Yes,” Twilight held the notebook up to Doc, “I’ve been working with him to help him gain control of his magic.”
Doc whipped out a pair of spectacles. “Mental focus. Makes sense. Stream of consciousness, oh, that’s brilliant!”
Redheart angrily cleared her throat to get Doc’s attention. “You can compare notes later. Right now, I need to get my son home. Is he alright to move.”
“Yes, of course.” Doc packed his saddle bag back up. “We’ll take the shuttle. I’ll have to inform the General that his little boating escapade in Fillydelphia can wait. This is much more important. I’ll have to rent a lab space and find lodging. Learned my lesson from last time. Children, never sleep on experiments.” Doc shivered. “I’ll never look at candy the same way again.”