//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: OOREV, OOLLA, Oooga-Chaka...Oops! // Story: We're the Same!: Triple Threats and Epithets // by Azure129 //------------------------------// Discord’s eyes blinked open—his head felt like a rock, but since his eyes could moved he figured he wasn’t suddenly a statue again…though his middle did feel rather stiff now that he thought about it. But his arms and legs and tail could move—all good signs. In the damp and dimness of whatever this place was he snapped the tuft of his tail, and not a single thing happened. And then Discord remembered everything, and he sat up with a gasp. Those three villains attacking the castle, the final stand of friendship against Grogar’s magic supercharging them, sending Twilight off for help… She had gotten away—good, that was good. But soon their defensive wall had broken, then there was magic everywhere until there was magic nowhere, and the last thing Discord remembered was flinging himself in front of the pony sisters (while holding tight to Fluttershy in his arms of course) to prevent Tirek from grabbing them. But Tirek had grabbed Discord instead, and Chrysalis had cocooned him, and Cozy Glow had blasted him in the face, and then nothing. And now he looked down and realized his body felt so stiff because his torso was bound in chains that led somewhere forward toward a light…and there were some familiar and very disturbing voices coming from that direction. Discord looked around. Where was Fluttershy? Where was anyone? What if… He shook his head—there was some slack to his chains; maybe he could search around a bit and find someone in this place. “Hello?” he whispered into various cracks in the wall. “Hello!Someone? Is anyone there? Is anyone else okay?” “Discord?” From a crack, Discord heard Luna whisper—a weary whisper, but a whisper, and a whisper meant she could talk, which meant a lot of good things, which meant maybe a lot of good things for other creatures here too. “Discord, is that you?” Discord found the crack in the wall where her voice came from—it was wide. But it could be wider: he steeled himself and then rammed the crack with his shoulder. He fell back, his side stinging for a moment but then blinked and smiled—the space had opened up a bit, and he could see dark blue hair glittering with stars…though the mane didn’t flow. Frowning, Discord raced over. “Luna! Are you okay? Is Celestia okay? Fluttershy? Why did they bring us here? Where are we?” He could see all of Luna’s face: she kept her eyes down and her mouth in a set line. “We’re in the catacombs beneath the castle. And of course they brought us here: it’s the closest thing to a prison Canterlot can offer, and we’re a trap for Twilight when she returns.” She took a breath, her head dropped lower. “And my sister and I are not overly injured. And every other creature seems okay from what we can observe; just tired and unable to use their magic.” Discord’s brow furrowed. “Luna, you’re not looking at me—is something else wrong? Tell me.” She blinked and almost scoffed. Her eyes moved to his in the faint light. “You really can’t imagine what else could be wrong?” Her gaze hardened, her voice became a harsh whisper. “You did this thing and didn’t tell anyone—even me. So much for being your ‘vice president’. How could you lie so deeply, Discord? How could you come so far as a leader and be so thoughtless as a friend?” Discord’s heart felt pummeled. “I…” He blinked and wiped at one of his eyes with the heel of his hand; he tried to smile but it collapsed under his words. “My plan really made sense to me at first. I didn’t want to worry anyone else—I thought I had things handled. Doing it alone just seemed safer…” Luna’s eyes narrowed. “When will you learn that doing nothing alone is ever safer? And that everything you do has consequences once you connect yourself to other creatures through friendship and love! Ruling alone seemed ‘safer’ and ‘easier’ to me, and I spent a thousand years with my soul frozen in my moon to pay for it! You know better, yet you still did this anyway! I…” She shook her head. Now everything inside of Discord felt pummeled. His ears fell. “You’re right. This mistake was bad, but it’s even worse that I knew better and did it anyway.” He saw glints moving down her face in the dim light like stars, and realized they were tears. Discord moved closer. “Hey, Luna, don’t… It’s going to be okay. I promise you.” He shifted his head so his gaze could meet hers. “And I’m never, ever, ever going to lie to you or our friends again, so you know I mean it when I say it’ll be okay. I’m so sorry for all of this, Luna, but most of all I’m sorry I hurt you. You’re the best Vice President a Lord of Chaos could ask for…and a perfect friend too. And I hope when all this is over that you’ll forgive me.” Luna wiped the remains of tears from her eyes. Her demeanor and tone softened a little. “The other really do seem safe. I think those three out there haven’t decided yet what to do with any of us.” “Except put us in chains apparently…” Discord rolled his eyes, squirming against the restriction of his bonds. “Discord?” She raised an eyebrow. “You’re in chains?” Discord heard a gasp from somewhere farther in Luna’s cave, and now he realized with a mix of relief and fear that Celestia wasn’t too far away. “You’re not?” He asked. Luna shook her head. Discord swallowed but tried to smile. “Well then, hey, good news for everyone else—I’m probably the one they’ll make an example out of first, so that should buy you all some time.” “You don’t deserve to be hurt—yelled at severely perhaps, but not hurt.” Luna tried to smile but it fell quickly. “Discord, I…” “Don’t worry about me.” He shrugged. “Master of chaos—with or without my magic. Whatever happens next just get ready. And if I can buy us a chance, take it.” “As long as you won’t do anything foolish and try to sacrifice yourself, we will.” She moved closer, looking into his eyes. “I mean it.” Discord smiled a little and nodded. She almost smiled too. Then he hesitated. “Can I, um…can I talk to Celestia?” Luna bit her lip. She shifted to the side. At the farther end of the cavern Discord could see Celestia sitting with her back to them and her head hung low. “I don’t think now is a good time, Discord. She…doesn’t wish to speak to you,” Luna replied softly. The way Celestia had yelled at him back at the throne room… Discord only nodded to Luna, gaze down. “Will you just tell her about taking any chance I can get us? And will you tell her I…tell her…” he took a breath, “tell her I’m an idiot but that I can’t give her space until we’re out of this jam because I’m going to personally protect the two of you with my life, magic or no magic. It’s the very, very, very least I could do.” Before he could see if Celestia turned around, Discord turned away from the crack in the wall and slumped to the bottom of his cave. At least the non-Equestrian members of OOREV were out there: their freedom gave him hope. If he could just get them a message… Right now, though, all he could do was sit and wait and try to think— A harsh yank on his chains toppled him to the floor, and then quickly Discord was dragged forward into the light to face the villainous trio before him. While they gloated and quarreled and monologued, Discord quickly checked on the girls and then knew he only had a few moments to glance around at his settings and let his chaotic mind form a plan. By the time the trio's attention was back on him, he had one. All this situation required as a little chaos—one thing to set off a chain reaction of overwhelming possibility. This escape was practically made for him. He made a few witty remarks, dug into Tirek about his daddy issues, got him to take a shot, and made the magic ricochet into Starlight’s cocooned prison: after all, she was the only OOREV member here and with magic. And thankfully she had the stamina of an alicorn for short bursts when she needed it. With Starlight’s quick teleportation thinking and how quick the villains were to shoot spells at her, the prison dissolved around them much to Discord’s amusement and then relief when the girls were free. Starlight ushered them out to safety to find Twilight, and Discord reminded them to take care of Fluttershy because she was the most perfect friend to ever exist. And then the chaos master turned to fight. Apparently, fighting without magic was not easy—over the last twenty minutes Discord had gained an even more immense appreciation for Fluttershy’s bravery to fight villains alongside her friends without having the ability to use spells or teleport herself to safety in a pinch. All he had been able to do in this fray was just throw rocks wildly at the trio of villains and hope that every second of time they bought would be the magical extra second needed to get the girls to Twilight. Every creature on his sight was putting up a superb fight, but Discord knew they wouldn’t win—not against Tirek, Chrysalis, and Cozy Glow supercharged with Grogar’s magic. The good guys were just buying time. Discord decided to make sure to do something extra insulting to those three whenever the moment just before the battle’s end came—then they’d take out their anger on him instead of on everyone else or the uprising. Discord grabbed another handful of rocks, but was sure there had to be something more he could do. Actually…he had a clear idea of what that thing was: he needed to get a message to the members of OOREV who weren’t here—he needed to tell them how bad things had gotten, to warn them, and to ask for their help. It was a small ‘army’, but one bound with friendship grown through adversity and compassion: he admired all his club members, and they could work wonders. Without his magic, though, Discord needed to recruit a messenger, and it needed to happen while they were still winning. He glanced around. Starlight had magic, but she was teleporting all over the cavern as their best distraction and the one quickest with her magic—Discord couldn’t reach her, but even if he could it would hurt their battle to take her out of it even for a moment. Mistmane was relatively stationary but she was using all of her magic to compel any vines or roots underground to rise up and block the villains from hurting Luna and Celestia as they used their size and remaining strength to buck rockslides onto the trio and clash horns with them for brief moments. No, not for anything would Discord interrupt the protector of his two dear friends…Luna, his right-hand pony and vice president, and Celestia his friend and… For just a moment their eyes met across the battlefield. Hers were wide. But then they lowered; she looked away from him and resumed her fight. Discord’s insides panged with more shame than being wrapped in these chains had caused him. He could still remember back in the throne room when he’d admitted his mistake—Luna and Celestia both had expressed pretty severe disapproval of his methods along with the girls. Expected, of course, considering how badly his plan had turned out. When Fluttershy had frowned at him in disappointment, it had been the first wave of deep sadness he’d felt about the whole fiasco. He’d tried to explain to her, to everyone, how the plan was supposed to have worked and what a good thing it would have done. In the past, everyone had gotten frustrated with him about various antics and gotten over it soon enough, so why not this time? But instead Celestia had suddenly flown so close to him that his heart had jumped in surprise. ‘You have made a grave error in judgment, Discord…’ Her tone—she’d never spoken to him with such rage. And then when she’d prompted him for a further confession he’d been an idiot and acted haughty and absorbed in his own problems again because it was all too much. If Equestria was destroyed today, or even if one single creature got hurt—and all because of his actions—he would never forgive himself. And he would be alone again. No wonder Celestia didn’t want to talk to him: Discord didn’t even want to talk to himself right now. But there were still creatures out there he had to communicate with. And he had one more magical option to do so. Starswirl was using his magic to aid the Pillars as needed—providing more rocks or a quick teleportation or a shield. But the pillars were working effectively on their own. If Starswirl paused for just a moment for one quick spell that could help everyone, it would be okay. That didn’t mean asking for the favor was going to be easy, though, all things considered. Discord ducked a magical blast from Tirek and raced over to Starswirl, blocking some rubble and dust from hitting the wizard. “Starswirl, quick, I need your help!” Starswirl kept casting spells for the others and didn’t look at Discord. “Yes—you’ve spent three months unleashing evil incarnate upon Equestria for the sake of some elaborate plan for a morale boost—I’d say you do need some serious help.” Starswirl fired a slice of magic through the air that nearly singed a couple of Cozy’s curls. He grinned for just a moment but then lost the grin when he glanced at Discord out of the corner of his eye. Discord frowned, his ears down and arms held out. “Yes, okay, I get it—I admit I couldn’t have messed up more if I’d tried. And I admit I need to start running elaborate plans by non-chaos creatures because sometimes what ‘makes sense’ to me does not track with how general reality works. But I am going to make it up to everypony just like I was trying to do with my convoluted plan in the first place!” Scowling as a large boulder came at them courtesy of Tirek, Discord flung his arms out and caught the rock. Panting, he tossed it to the side. “What do you mean you were trying to make up for something with all of this? What could you possibly…” Starswirl helped Somnambula out with a few quick teleports. “I was trying to make up for the fact that I was just like them once!” He thrust a finger at the villains, scowling as he gathered more rocks in his tail to hurl at them. “Yes, ninety percent of the reason I did all of this was to help Twilight and the girls realize how ready they are to rule! But the other ten percent maybe was for me—because if I could help our new magical lady leaders maybe it would make up for what I put our former magical lady leaders through! I ‘almost hurt your girls’…remember?” Chrysalis came at the with fangs bared—Discord twirled and whacked her away with his tail. “You and I were past that, and you know it!” Starswirl pouted, looking more at Discord now though he continued to produce spells for others. “We’ve become friends, Discord—nachos at a cider mill twice a month will do that to two creatures apparently!” “You were past it—which I was grateful for! But I wasn’t past it!” Discord flung up his arms. “I don’t like the fact that I used to attack Sunny and Moonie! Because they’re not just ‘princesses I put up with’ anymore—except for Fluttershy, they’re my best friends! And doing something good for Twilight would be doing something good for them and would just be me doing something good in general, which I like doing now apparently! Ow!” Cozy Glow tackled him to the ground. As her horn powered up, Discord cringed. There was a magical blast but Discord felt nothing. He opened his eyes—clearly the blast had been Starswirl’s because the wizard was standing over him and Cozy Glow was about twenty feet across the cavern stuck in some remains of Chrysalis’s cocoons. Starswirl held out a hoof. Discord blinked and took it to stand up. “Uh…thanks.” “You’re welcome.” Starswirl’s brow furrowed. “Now then, you made beyond a mistake, Discord…” “As Celestia put it, a grave judgment in error,” Discord added, wringing his tail in his hands. Starswirl went on. “But you had good intentions, you’ve clearly learned from your actions, and now all we can do is keep moving forward to fix things. And who knows? Maybe somehow whatever you’ve done will result in the right path for Equestria to take. Maybe having these three attack together will give us a chance to put them out of commission all at once. So tell me what you need help with, and I’ll do what I can. Okay?” He held out a hoof. Eyes wide, trying to keep his chin up, Discord reached out and shook. Then he took a deep breath, hands clasped. “I need you to create about half a dozen scrolls and a quill for me so I can write copies of a message, and then I need you to send those messages for me. Remember during our first night at a cider mill, I told you I might have a team available that could help with whatever magical imbalance you sensed out in the Everfree forest…which, by the way, may have been these three gathering…” He bit his lip. Starswirl scowled..but he did make the scrolls and quill appear in Discord’s hands. “You knew exactly what I was sensing the whole time but you said nothing. Discord, really…” Discord got to writing, scribbling a couple lines on each page. “I didn’t know exactly what you were sensing at first. I actually thought it was something else, something that it’s…sort of my job to protect. But yes, I did know that the blip of strange magic you caught whiff of in the Everfree Forest was my little Grogar alliance… and I’m sorry. I thought I was doing the right thing keeping it all a secret, handling it all on my own.” He sighed as he kept writing. “Applejack’s right…for someone who spends time around the embodiments of friendship, I don’t pick up a lot of the major points. Like if you have to lie about something it’s probably not something you should be doing or lying about.” He cringed a little as he furled up the scrolls and presented them to Starswirl. Starswirl took them in his magic and paused. “Who are you writing to exactly, Discord? And what exactly are you asking them to do?” Discord took a deep breath. “Just to some friends. And all I’m asking them to do is find each other, and find the girls, and to stay safe. I’m…not telling them where we are. If they plan an escape for us, it’ll take away from Twilight’s forces. Plus they won’t stand a chance against those three…” Discord glanced at the battle and the trio of villains. “We barely even stand a chance. I’m surprised we made it this long. And I don’t want anyone else in a cage because of me.” And indeed, the battle was turning in favor of the super-powered villains now. Starswirl took a deep breath. “Discord—this army of yours…are you sure…” “They’re the best of the best—I’d trust them with the lives of everyone I love. No question.” He looked Starswirl in the eye. “I just can’t be more specific about why they could be fighting as a group for us. Sort of a professional confidentiality agreement. But they’re my friends—they’ll find a way to help.” Starswirl nodded and powered his horn. “Tell me where each scroll needs to go, no further questions asked.” Discord nodded. “The School of Magic, the winterlands outside of the Crystal Empire, the ‘human’ dimension, my chaos dimension, Abyssinia, and the changeling hive—I need two sent there…” Each scroll was gone in a little burst of magic. Discord smiled a little. “Thank you.” Starswirl frowned. “Do not take all of Equestria into your hands, Discord, even for good intentions. I…think I was on the path to doing that myself once—consolidating everything, making life rigid—before I disappeared with the other pillars. We’re both better than that; Equestria deserves better than that…and I know you’re sorry.” Discord frowned but nodded. “And I really am going to make it up to everyone…” He caught a movement out of the corner of his eye and then his gaze snapped in the direction of Celestia and Luna—Mistmane was overpowered, and the trio was closing in on the princesses. “Starswirl!” Starswirl looked in the same direction and gasped. He teleported himself and the chaos master right into the thick of the fight. The wizard sheltered a collapsed Mistmane and shot a blast at the villains who fired right back at him. Discord grabbed another large shard of shiny stone and deflected the beam in time, but the blast hit the cavern roof and sent stalactites raining down above Celestia and Luna. Discord dove at them and shoved both sisters out of the way, his body skidding along the rough surface of the catacombs as a few of the rocks hit his tail. Discord winced but coughed and quickly sat up to look over the princesses. They were safe; he breathed a sigh of relief. Luna blinked open her eyes and shook her head to clear it. Then smiled a little. “Discord—thank you.” “Are you okay?” He asked. She nodded. Celestia raised her head now, looking at Discord. Luna stood, glancing from one to the other. “I’ll see about Starswirl and Mistmane.” She dashed over to the ponies in question, leaving her sister and Discord alone.. Discord had nothing he could say—Celestia didn’t want to talk to him, right? She… “We’re going to lose the fight here in this cavern…” she said softly as she stood, not looking at him or anyone else. “I know,” Discord replied. “And I know it’s going to be any second…” The tide had officially turned; some of the pillars already trapped again behind cocoons, Starlight was weary from teleports—the morale of the room was turning from confidence to fear. Discord turned back to Celestia. “Which is why I really have to get on their bad side and remind those three I’m the one who started this uprising—it’ll direct their frustration my way.” Her eyes widened though she still didn’t look at him. He moved closer. “You have every right to be furious with me for a lot of reasons: this fiasco has been in the works for months while we’ve been hanging out as friends and at OOLLA meetings, and I never said a word. I…I really did not think this one through. And…maybe as it went on, I knew it was getting too complicated but I was already in too deep. But I promised myself I’d take care of you and Luna now—so whether you can forgive me yet or not I’m doing that.” He came around in front of her to catch her eyes. “I’m also resigning as president of OOLLA. I’m inviting a new member first though before I go—I think he’ll do a better job than I could right now.” He turned away from her before she could reply…or notice him blushing. Little things about his time with her made him blush occasionally these days. Right now it was how, even without any magic, she was still the most stubborn and commanding fighter he’d ever known on a battlefield. She didn’t give up, and neither would he. Discord landed between the trio of villains and regretted not having his magic to do this in a more guaranteed effective way, but he would try at least. “Hey, how many cheesy villains does it take to screw in a lightbulb?” The trio stopped their attacks and turned to him with glares. Discord smirked. “You three tell me—you’re the only cheesy villains I know!” He stuck out his tongue. The trio aimed their blasts at him, but Discord ducked out of the way just in time so they ended up firing on each other. When the smoke cleared, the pillars and princesses were weary and the trio was enraged. Tirek grabbed Discord’s chains, Chrysalis pushed him into the floor face first, and Cozy Glow blasted him with a magic bolt that sent him tumbling across the cavern, wincing in pain. “Discord!” His eyes opened. He couldn’t see her, but he’d heard Celestia’s voice—that was the first time she’d said his name since the battle. And that simple word of concern gave enough hope to keep him okay even as the villains dragged him over the rocks and through Discord back into his cell then re-imprisoned everyone else. The battle was over but at least no one was hurt and the girls had escaped. And now Discord had messages of warning out to as many OOREV members as possible. He smirked to himself as he lay on his back in his cave. Then he smiled more as he recalled now the little conversation the villains had held earlier about not being able to take any more magic out of the bell because they couldn’t handle his chaos magic: suddenly he was grateful his powers were gone if they were a failsafe against those three using the bell anymore. He closed his eyes and tried to imagine Fluttershy safe and sound. Soon heard Luna’s voice whisper from her cave. “Discord…are you okay?” “I’m okay.” He shifted a little and tried not to wince at the feeling of the chains on his scuffed body. “You and Celestia rest—I’ll let you know if anything new comes up.” “Okay. We’ll wait and listen.” Discord decided to do the same, letting his chaotic mind work out the possibilities for how they would all move forward to defeat these super powered villains once and for all…and also his plans for afterward once he had everyone safe and sound again. The final battle and come and gone in a victory Discord could only describe as beautiful, though that word had never occurred to him about a war before. But when a war ended with a rainbow laser the size of a small house coming from the sky, he supposed ‘beautiful’ applied. Most importantly, Twilight and the girls were back together again, Discord had his magic back, and the three bad guys were trapped as a statue (in a hilarious pose, if he did say so himself). Well…’trapped’ in a sort of conditional sense at least. Discord had incorporated his magic alongside the princesses for a very specific reason, actually. Before all the villainy, his plan had been to handle the bad guy trio in his own way privately at the end of his plan but he decided now that he needed to make sure Celestia and Luna and Twilight were informed. The matter could be worked out later though. At the moment, he was sort of preoccupied with the fact that Celestia had been smiling in his general direction again—first when she’d thought Pinkie Pie’s spells had been his own, and second when he’d suggested the villains’ punishment. Her smile was nice to see. The princesses approached Twilight and the girls, so followed them. Twilight smiled at her friends. “You guys can head back to Ponyville—I should address all of the creatures who came to fight alongside us and help them make plans to get home.” “Nonsense!” Discord teleported between Twilight and the girls with a grin. “You run along! Luna and Celestia and I will handle the greetings and goodbyes with everyone else. Isn’t that right, ladies?” He made them appear alongside him but gave Celestia a little space and turned to Luna. She had an eyebrow raised until Discord’s gaze quickly shot to a particular gathering of creatures near the front of the larger crowd—certain members of a certain club. Luna blinked then quickly nodded. “Oh, er, yes! You girls go, we’ll see to the others. Have fun!” She glanced at her sister. “Celestia, I think it will be nice to interact with so many creatures from other lands and to show our appreciation for their help.” Celestia nodded, smiling. “Of course. And there are so many friends out there who we rarely get to see.” Her eyes sparkled a little. “Maybe now that we’re retiring we can travel more, make some visits?” “Indeed!” Luna nodded. Then she glanced at Discord. “Er, Discord, Celestia and I will start with one side of the gathering and you can start with the other.” “Actually, would you mind coming with me for a moment, Luna?” He glanced at both sisters, his look hesitant. “And Celestia, would you mind if I borrowed your sister for a moment?” Luna glanced from one to the other. Celestia looked out to the crowd for a moment, then back to Discord, her look still welcoming. “Yes, of course. And then…maybe I could borrow you for a moment when things are more settled, Discord?” Discord’s eyes widened. “I…sure.” As the girls walked off in the direction of Canterlot, the two beings shared an awkward gaze. Suddenly, Starswirl teleported between the sisters and Discord. “My girls, there you are!” He hugged Luna and Celestia then looked to Discord with a smile. “And Discord, I’m glad you’re well too.” Discord smiled back. But then Starswirls’ brow knit and he looked to the princesses. “Ladies, could one of you assist me with some healing magic? It’s Mistmane—she’s okay but very weak after all of this. It’s not easy to fight valiantly in an older body, take it from me.” “I’ll assist you, Starswirl.” Celestia stepped forward and headed off with him. Luna came alongside Discord, grinning as they watched her sister go. “She has forgiven you.” “Oh.” He swallowed, twiddling his thumbs. “Really? Do you think?” She nodded. “Was there ever any doubt? She likes you, Discord. Wouldn’t you forgive her anything as long as she was sorry?" He held his tail in his hands and nodded, looking down shyly. Luna’s gaze hazed and she moved a little closer. “I know she’s a special friend to you. I know we both are—and we’ll be okay, Discord, I promise.” His smile returned. Then he took a deep breath. “Come on, Vice President—we have an OOREV meeting to quickly organize. But first…I want to run something by you and get your approval. And then perhaps we can run it by Celestia and Twilight later without giving away details about our little club.” Luna raised an eyebrow as Discord leaned in and whispered something. When he pulled back she was pensive but then nodded. “As long as the environment is controlled, yes, I think it’s reasonable. Thank you for asking me, Discord.” She smiled. “Anytime.” Discord gave her a bow then teleported them in front of their small crowd who were smiling and talking—Neighsay and Stygian and Smooze and Fizzle and Thorax and Pharynx and Capper (new recruit), and now Trixie and Starlight dashed over. There was no Twi and Sunset though—but to be fair, they would have had quite the journey to get here. “We’re here!” Sunset yelled as she and Twi suddenly fell out of a portal, manes frazzled and Sunset breathing heavily. “Where’s the battle? I haven’t had a chance to use this horn to full capacity in a while and I’m ready!” Her horn sparked. Twi nodded with a smile. “And I will try to aim all explosions at the bad guys! So…where are the bad guys?” “Sorry.” Starlight shrugged. “You just missed the battle.” “It was a good one.” Trixie added. “And now we have a new statue to take Discord’s old place in the garden.” She smirked at Discord and everyone laughed. “Actually,” Discord grinned “I think I’ll be relocating the statue somewhere safer. I’ll discuss more details later at our next official club meetings…along with some other club announcements.” Luna raised an eyebrow but Discord just went on with a grin. “But thank you all for coming, and for being here to help. “It is my pleasure to serve and protect.” Fizzle bowed her head with a smile. “And this was kind of fun actually.” Capper grinned and nudged Fizzle. “I was honored to stand by everyone’s side to support our friends,” Stygian added. “And I was humbled to fight alongside so many other creatures,” Neighsay offered. “And I was happy to stand up to Chrysalis.” Thorax pouted. “I’m so sorry she caused so much trouble.” “Er…” Discord held up his paw, “I may have had some serious blame here—again, more details will follow at our next meeting: his Wednesday if everyone can make it.” “We’ll be there.” Pharynx nodded. “But right now we have to help the changelings. Our team fought well but they still need rest and recovery.” “Of course!” Discord beamed and then pushed Luna forward. “Why don’t you take Luna to help you? You two can handle assessing what needs to be done for the soldiers, and Thorax can…” “Oh!” Thorax raised his hoof, “I can make sure everyone is present and accounted for!” He and Discord shared an all-knowing look, Luna sighed deeply and tried not to smile, and Pharynx remained unphased. “Excellent plan.” Pharynx turned to Luna and held out his hoof—his look softened just a little. “Luna—requesting teleportation to ground zero to address damage.” Luna blushed at the sight of the hoof. “I, er…of course, heh.” She touched her hoof to his and they disappeared. Discord and Thorax hoof bumped. Then they turned back to the club to see the members looking at them with various questioning glances. They quickly cleared their throats and resumed the best casual looks they could manage. “Well then,” Tempest stepped forward with an all-knowing smile, “as a club, let us begin assisting with helping creatures back to their homes. Fellow unicorn members, let’s create some portals for transport…er, except Twi—no offense intended.“ Twi glanced up at her own horn. “None taken—I am not at all at portal level yet. I’d be happy to organize creatures into lines though.” She beamed. Fizzle nodded. “Excellent.” She looked to the other unicorns. “Let’s generate a portal for transport home. Twi, Smooze, and Capper, please direct creatures to form into groups based on destination.” Everyone nodded and separated to their tasks; the plan was underway. Thorax turned to Discord. “I’ll check on the changelings and then come back here to help if they need it.” Discord nodded. “Thank you. And thank you for being my wing-creature about Luna and your brother.” “Are you kidding?” Thorax’s wings fluttered. “It’s all so romantic! I just hope Luna tells him how she feels soon—Pharynx can be a little stubborn about his own emotions.” “I’m sure she will when the time’s right.” Discord swallowed. “I’ll help you and the rest of the club too soon. But…right now I have to go talk to Celestia.” His brow furrowed a little. Thorax’s wings fluttered again, and he smiled in a funny way. Discord raised an eyebrow. “What?” “Nothing!” Thorax lowered his wings. Discord gave him a dry look. “I don’t want to say—I know how much you didn’t like creatures saying things about you and Celestia. But I wouldn’t be teasing you, I promise!” Discord raised an eyebrow at first, but then grinned and laughed. “Oh, you’re sensing that.” He rolled his eyes to the side. “Don’t worry, Thorax—seriously. Between you and I, Celestia thinks I’m ‘cute’ and I think she’s ‘cute’. But we talked about it and it’s nothing. We’re just friends, it’s just a special kind of friendship, that’s all. I love her dearly just like I love Luna and the girls and Fluttershy. And the club members.” He shrugged. “So, see, nothing awkward, and you weren’t teasing by saying something.” Thorax finally smiled a little and nodded. “Okay.” He tried not to grin too much more as he added, “By the way, Celestia’s coming up behind you.” Discord took a deep breath. “I know, I could sense her magic.” He snapped his fingers. Discord was now on the far side of the statue with Celestia. He turned to her as she blinked a few times. “Hey, Sunny. I thought maybe we could use some privacy.” He didn’t even blush as he added, If you’re going to yell at me anymore—which I still admit I rightly deserve—I’d just rather it be in private.” She smiled a little. “I’m not going to yell at you anymore.” Then she came forward, put a foreleg around his middle and rested her head against his chest. “I’m very glad you’re okay, Discord. I just wanted you to know.” Discord released a breath and then slowly brought up his arms to hold her. “Oh. I’m glad you’re okay too.” After a moment they separated and smiled. Celestia swallowed. “Discord, don’t resign as the OOLLA president—or any other kind of president you might be. Please? You made a mistake but you also do so many things right—more than you realize.” His gaze softened. “It’s not just about my mistake. I’ve been a little overextended lately. Also, I…sort of want to retire, I think, in my own way, just like you and Luna. I want to travel and have fun and visit friends. The Draconequus formerly known as Chaos Lord; it has some kind of a ring to it.” He swallowed and added, “But we can talk about it more at our OOLLA next meeting. We’ll come to a decision together.” She smiled more. “I’d like that.” “And there’s another decision I’d like to include you in. I’ve already gotten Luna’s conditional approval. It’s a plan I’ve had for a little while regarding our colorful group of antagonists here.” He glanced over at the statue. When Celestia did too, he moved closer and whispered something into her ear. She blinked then turned to him, her brow furrowed at first. But then she considered and took a deep breath. “Luna’s right—a controlled environment is necessary. And so is backup. I understand your plan would involve another pursuit of yours, but I want you to write to me and check in before, during, and after each session. I want to know everything’s okay.” He nodded. “I can do that.” She smiled again Then Discord noticed her looking at something in the distance, and he looked too. She was seeing Luna and Pharynx talking, standing close, occasionally gesturing to the changelings not too far away. Pharynx said something and Luna laughed, then he almost smiled a little. “I didn’t know Luna and Pharynx were friends.” Celestia raised an eyebrow. Discord raised one as well, glancing from Celestia to Luna and back. “Wait…you don’t know…I mean, she didn’t tell you about…?” “What?” Celestia glanced at him. “Uh…” Discord blushed slightly, “I don’t think it’s my place to say. I’m just surprised that she hasn’t.” He sighed. “Maybe she was worried about breaching confidentiality. Don’t worry, I’ll let her know that it’s really okay about this. I mean, you’re sisters—giggling about boys is practically a requirement, right?” Then he blinked and smacked his forehead with a cringe. “And I just admitted way to much for the sake of a joke. Why am I so terribly off my game today?” Celestia’s eyes widened and she blushed, looking back at the pair. “You mean they’re—“ “Whoa, not officially!” Discord flew in front of her. “Just…it’s a bit one-sided at the moment, and that’s all I can say.” Celestia nodded, smiling very much to herself now. “I…don’t believe I’ve ever been properly introduced to Pharynx. I hope Luna will give him a reason to visit us very soon. I’d like that.” He smirked a little. “Everything about that visit sounds adorable, but for now let’s leave them be. Thorax and I had to coordinate really well to give them an excuse to be alone.” Celestia laughed. “Very well…” She glanced at the statue. “Will you take it now, or…” “I’ll wait until the battlefield’s cleared. I’d prefer to keep its location minimally known.” She nodded then looked back at him. Discord’s eyes widened as she just looked him over and smiled a little then sighed. “For what it’s worth…I can’t say I haven’t come close to making a mistake similar to this one. Granted, not on this scale but… I understand the desire to encourage Twilight and her friends. I’m proud of you for trying so hard for them.” Discord’s smile grew. But then he cleared his throat, moving past the mushy moment. “Yes, well…I did put a lot of effort into everything, thank you. But really we should get back to the crowd. They’re all cozy together now, but the Abyssinians are drifting dangerously near the Diamond Dogs, and with no formal declaration of peace between them I feel like that’s a powder keg waiting to go off.” “Ah, diplomacy.” Celestia sighed. “It’ll be nice to have one more chance for it on a large-scale before the coronation.” “I’ll take the dogs you take the cats—we’ll meet in the middle at the hippogriffs and work our way through everyone in between.” They shook hands and then charged into the crowd.