//------------------------------// // I'll Have a Plot Twist, Shaken Not Stirred ('The Ending of the End') // Story: Endgame of Chaos // by Azure129 //------------------------------// The final battle was won, Equestria was saved, the trio of villains—Cozy Glow, Chrysalis, and Tirek—were stuck as a ridiculous statue, and now Discord watched as Twilight led the girls off toward Canterlot to celebrate their victory. And if such a triumphant finale wasn’t enough to explain the big smile currently on Discord’s face, the chaos master also had his powers back now: another tragic wrong perfectly righted. Discord turned away from the happy scene, holding up his fingers to snap. All he wanted now was to head back to his cottage, soak his feet (which still ached from all that walking earlier), sip some tea, put on a recording of Pinkie Pie playing her one-pony-band machine, and slip into a well-deserved (in his opinion) moment of ease. After all the hard work he had put in over the last few months and especially today, he had earned it— Then behind him, a Bell rang—a very familiar Bell. And when Discord turned to face the sound, he watched as his magic drained into Grogar’s Bell which was currently being wielded by a stone-faced Celestia, a scowling Luna, and Cadance with an eyebrow raised. Discord looked from the three princesses to the Bell to his fingers and snapped—nothing. He turned back to the princesses and crossed his arms. “Oh, ha-ha, ladies, very funny. Come on, give me my magic back—and that Bell. I need to make sure it’s hidden exceptionally well this time.” “Absolutely not.” Celestia stepped forward. “You owe us a full explanation about exactly how you orchestrated this disaster, Discord. We want to hear every detail so we can make sure it never happens again.” “Indeed.” Luna nodded. “And you not having magic will make your explanation take less time since you won’t be inclined to stop to snap up jokes…or to snap yourself away.” “I’m a little curious myself, Discord,” Cadance added. “I have some questions too.” Discord, with wide eyes, looked to each of the princesses, and then his look went dry. “I’m not getting my magic back until I do this, am I?” Celestia smiled a little. “I’m afraid not.” Discord sighed deeply and rubbed his temple. “All right, all right…you’re not going to like some of the fine print though.” “We did not expect to,” Luna replied. “And I want the Bell back when this is done,” Discord added with a pout. Luna and Celestia scowled and opened their mouths, clearly about to refuse, but Cadance cleared her throat and spoke up. “If you can give us a good reason why you need the Bell back, we’ll consider it. Okay?” The pony sisters glanced at each other but then turned back to Discord and nodded. Discord nodded as well. “Deal. Now, one of you please teleport us somewhere where I can sit down. I was not made to be on my feet for this long.” He held up his dragon leg, massaging the tender foot. With a roll of her eyes, Celestia powered up her horn; the group disappeared. The group reappeared in the library of the Castle of the Two Sisters. The princesses each sat upon a cushioned seat in front of Discord who sat in a wooden chair, facing them. “We can use this castle for our chat since you destroyed most of our Canterlot one.” Celestia cleared her throat, barely hiding the tone of impatience creeping in. “And we’ve chosen this room because interrogations should always be done in a small, hidden space.” Luna glanced at her hoof then eyed Discord darkly. Cadance sighed but smiled a little. “And I think the wooden chair you’re on is the result of a little passive aggressive annoyance with you, but here’s an ottoman for your feet if you need it.” Cadance made a small wooden stand with a cushion appear in front of his chair. When Discord put up his feet and smiled at her, Cadance’s smile fell. “I’m willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, Discord, but you need to be very clear and honest with us. What you did could have spread to the Crystal Empire—to my Shining Armor and my Flurry Heart. Do you understand?” DIscord’s smile fell a little and he nodded. Celestia cleared her throat, and Discord’s eyes went to her. “Start from where you got this idea, Discord… and then explain everything in detail.” Discord swallowed. “Some of the details—could we keep them from the girls for now? They’ve been through enough, after all.” The three princesses glanced at each other then nodded and looked back to Discord. Cadance used her magic to create three mugs of steaming hot cider for herself and the princesses. As soon as Discord’s eyes went to the mugs, she smiled a little again created one for him as well. Discord took a sip, regained his smile for a moment, then cleared his throat and began. “You know, even when I was only semi-reformed I was always testing the girls, seeing how far they had come. At first it was just because I thought I could break their confidence in friendship. But once I was completely reformed, after Tirek, I interfered to help them feel better about themselves. They have a potential I wanted them to realize more than anything. I think I believe in them or something…” He rolled his claw in the air but blushed slightly. The three princesses looked at him with wide eyes. Discord took another sip. “I decided to bring back as many villains as I could at once to boost the girls’ confidence. But, with the coronation happening, I also did it to sort of…clean house. If they could get rid of that many potential threats, maybe they’d have a few years of just getting to enjoy life and running Equestria before any creature attacked again.” Celestia rubbed her temple. “You could have just released the villains though, Discord—why pretend to be Grogar, and why unite them all an unstoppable force?” Discord eyed Celestia. “Because bad guys aren’t like other creatures, Celestia—they don’t naturally come together in relationships. Those four would have fought each other tooth and nail until three were semi-out of commission, then the weakened winner would have attacked Equestria and probably been taken out by one good glare from Fluttershy. And the others would have come back eventually and been taken out one by one, and who would that help? I wanted to give the girls a challenge to conquer in one fell swoop. And to do that, I needed someone scary enough to bind the villains together right away. I knew Grogar was the only one who had enough clout to do that—and I knew him well enough to impersonate him flawlessly, I might add.” “You knew Grogar?” Cadance tilted her head. Luna and Celestia raised an eyebrow. Discord’s ears fell and he shook his head. “Not the point! It was a long time ago anyway…” He looked away, lounging over the arm of his chair. “The point is, I did attempt to think this plan through…it just turned out to be a lot harder than I thought, and especially doing it alone. I’m not really used to doing things alone anymore.” He sipped his cider again. Luna and Celestia's stern gazes softened slightly. “Discord,” Celestia prompted softly, “just explain everything to us. We’re not mad…” He glanced at her. She cleared her throat. “Okay, we’re not very mad—not anymore. We just want to understand some parts of this situation that don’t make sense to us.” Luna spoke up. “Perhaps you could start with why I could sense you having nightmares sometimes during this Grogar escapade—like the one you had that day Celestia and I found you passed out near the castle and brought you inside.” Discord glanced from one princess to the next and squirmed in his seat a little. “It was…upsetting sometimes, pretending to be him. I didn’t like acting like Grogar—it brought up some bad memories. And I was already stressed enough about the plan. That’s all.” Luna frowned a little. Discord scowled a little at the look of pity. Celestia had her brow furrowed in thought but spoke again. “Then…you were upset with Luna and I for going away on our day off to have adventures because…” “Because I already had my paw and claw full with making nice with the girls, wrangling those three villains, and still keeping up the appearance of being a carefree chaos master! How was I supposed to keep an eye on you pony sisters too in the middle of everything?” Discord flung out his arms. “You two went frolicking off on an adventure without any warning: Tirek, Cozy Glow, and Chrysalis could have attacked you or Equestria at any time!” Cadance’s gaze hazed. “Discord, thank you for caring so much about them.” Discord blinked then blushed and sipped his cider—he gave her a hesitant shrug. Celestia rubbed her forehead. “All right… from that point, you became very scarce, Discord. What exactly happened with you and those three when you were with them? And how in the world did the Bell become part of this?” “And the book as well!” Luna made the book appear with her magic. “This book should be under lock and key in the castle library. Tell me you didn’t know they had this, Discord…” Celestia’s eyes widened then narrowed. “And tell me you didn’t know they had the Bell…” she added in a low voice. Biting his lip with a swallow, Discord placed his mug onto the floor then clasped his hands together. “Look, I did leave parts of the story out for the sake of brevity earlier. So would you three ladies like me to start with good news first or the bad news first?” Celestia glared, her voice low. “Discord, so help me, you’d better be joking right now about more ‘bad news’ or I’ll take on your chaos magic myself, attack whatever threat you might be referring to all on my own, and leave you powerless until Twilight coronates the next new leader of Equestria!” She stomped her hoof. Discord leaned back a little in his seat. “Okay, well, er, no need for that. The threat I’m talking about has already passed.” “A threat beyond what you already put us through, Discord?” Luna’s eyes flashed. “Well…more ‘adjacent’ to what I already put you through, heh…” His smile was weak. He looked to Cadance for support. She just gave him a serious look. “Discord, tell the truth…” He took a deep breath. “I’ll start with the good news then. The good news is that the extra threat has already passed and been taken care of. The bad news is…for a brief time I…sort of technically did bring Grogar back.” He attempted a grin. Celestia smacked a hoof to her forehead, Luna’s jaw fell, and Cadance just sighed deeply and shook her head. Discord held up his claw and paw. “Once those three had the Bell, everything went crazy for a bit!” “So you did know those three had the Bell!” Celestia’s brow furrowed in distress as her eyes met his. “Discord, how could you?” “Don’t yell at me anymore! I tried and I failed spectacularly—I get it, all right!” Ears dropped, Discord looked from princes to princess. They were all still for a moment. Then Luna nodded, Cadance nodded with a small smile, and Celestia hesitated—her own ears down at first—then nodded too. Discord took a deep breath. “Okay, if I’m doing this, we could be here for a while. You’d better magic up some snacks.” He sipped more cider then spoke again as Cadance created a platter of cookies and passed them around. “It all started that day I talked to you pony sisters about your dangerous retirement antics. After I left you, I went on a little field trip…to Mount Everhoof. You remember Mount Everhoof—tall, snowy, windy, rumored to have a cave where the Bewitching Bell was hidden away…” He looked up to the ceiling as he told the story. Floating in sight of the mountaintop, Discord sighed. “He’s the only thing they’re not ready for. Not yet. And I can’t help them—not like they think I can, not like I could against Sombra.” If Grogar’s magic got released from that Bell and was wielded by the right creature, it would be like Grogar himself was here. And there was a viciousness to Grogar’s magic that Discord was not ready to expose the girls or princesses to. And yet the Bell was gone. He’d sent his villainous trio off on a mission to retrieve it, but could they have actually… Discord took a deep breath to keep calm as he considered the potential scenarios. Sucking up that much raw power was definitely in Tirek’s wheelhouse; the centaur had taken all of his chaos magic once, after all, even if he’d never weirded it. Though Discord also knew that Cozy Glow and Chrysalis wouldn’t be left out of the fun without a fight. Discord wasn’t sure what would happen if a single creature absorbed all of Grogar’s magic—would they become like a version of Grogar? And then what? “Maybe we could all attack together, but if he took out all of us, what would happen to Equestria?” Discord swallowed, eyes wide. “I could go after him myself—ambush him.” Grogar hadn’t just been a master manipulator of creatures though—he’d been strong enough to control them. If his spirit awoke in any creature, he could even revive Sombra again if he felt like it, and bring that dark king and eventually all of the other villains onto his side. “But if he was pulling Sombra’s strings, then for the sake of everypony I can’t risk what he could do to me.” As long as Discord kept himself in play and able to help the girls, he felt okay about whatever might come next…even the idea of a real unstoppable league of villains attacking. Sure, yes, of course—the situation was still fine and totally under his chaotic control… Discord swallowed and drained his tea then snapped away the cup. “Okay then, first things first. I’ll figure out who took the Bell. A quick field trip to Tartarus should help narrow down the suspects. That’ll be a start, a very safe start.” After all, there was a chance—probably a decent chance—that his villainous trio hadn’t been able to cooperate long enough to actually retrieve the Bell. Maybe some other nefarious sort had made off with it centuries ago and it was now just lost to time and legend. If anything, sending the trio off the find the Bell had been a fun prank to play on them at worst and a team-building exercise at best…probably…hopefully…maybe? Ugh, this had all gotten so complicated. “They told me they didn’t have it. Could they have lied? To me? To Grogar? Oh, the treachery! It’s just poor form!” Discord tried to hold his head high and look confident even though no one was around to see, but his insides felt like a solid lump instead of like the zany circus that was usual for him. The trio actually finding the Bell then hiding it from him had not been an anticipated part of his plan. “Maybe, just maybe, I can nip this issue in the bud before it’s too late.” He held up his fingers to snap, scowling into the night sky. “I will not let this place go back to how it used to be. Not ever. Even if it takes every ounce of chaos in my body to do so.” If there was even a chance those three might use Grogar’s power or, worse, bring him back, Discord would stop it at any cost. He wiped at his eye with his free hand then snapped himself away. The wind continued to howl around the frigid mountain peak, empty of its treasure. Discord appeared in the secret cave in the Everfree Forest where his nefarious trio gathered. He was back in his Grogar disguise. Putting on his best scowl, Discord strode through the chambers of the cave until he heard some noise coming from the cavern connecting the trio’s private chambers. He peeked in. The three of them were sitting in a circle, laughing maniacally about something. Discord quickly realized what their topic of conversation was when Tirek held up two curved index fingers above his ears, scowled, and slipped into a passable Grogar impression. “Ooo, look at me—I’m so grumpy all the time, no wonder my coat is blue. All hail Grogar!” Chrysalis actually transformed into Grogar. “Hey, I’m only a grump because I’m an absolute relic who doesn’t even know what indoor plumbing is.” Cozy Glow flew up and put her hooves above her ears like horns. “But for some reason I’ve got this cute red yoke on my neck full of little bells like I’m making some kind of statement!” They burst into laughter again. ‘Grogar’ huffed through his nose. They were talking about bells…which might lead to— “Speaking of bells,” Tirek started, “it’s time for our afternoon check to make sure our Bell is still hidden safely away…and that none of us have taken it.” Cozy Glow and Chrysalis nodded. The three glanced around and then walked over to the far wall. Discord watched in much interest as Chrysalis turned into a snake, Tirek threw her up into a small, tight crevice, and she slithered out with the Bell in her teeth which she tossed into a flying Cozy Glow’s waiting hooves. They could work together. Discord’s ‘Plan A’ for these three had been to return then to Tartarus, but maybe reform wasn’t entirely out of the realm of possibility. However, as soon as the Bell was secure, Tirek turned all of his attention to it, which left Chrysalis to fall out of the crevice to the floor. She stood and pushed him which made him knock into Cozy Glow. The three villains glared at each other. Discord sighed and decided not to get his hopes for reform too high. Meanwhile, their glares soon turned to malicious smiles as their eyes rested on the Bell. Discord pouted with a low scowl. Being good was so much extra work. He waited them out as they gloated over the bauble for twenty minutes. Then, just as they finished putting it away, he stormed in. “Villains! Have you been lallygagging all day while I’ve been gathering vital information for our plans?” “Er, no Grogar, of course not!” Tirek held up his hands. “Just talking about all the evil things we can’t wait to do,” Chrysalis assured with a grin. “And resting up so that we’re at our extra super best for the big attack!” Cozy Glow chimed in. Grogar glared at all of them then strode forward. “Well, then you’ll be happy to make yourselves even more useful for the rest of the afternoon. Go out into the forest to collect food and firewood for dinner, and NO FIGHTING! I must be alone to contemplate our next move.” With pouts and a mumbled ‘yes’ here and there, Tirek, Chrysalis, and Cozy Glow headed past him. As soon as they were gone, Discord turned back into himself and headed over to the wall. He propped himself up on his tail, snapped up some magic-proof oven mitts, and reached into the crevasse. “Come on, where are you? Can’t risk using my magic to snap you into my hands or it could set you off… Ah, there we are!” He pulled out the Bell and lowered himself back to ground level. There it was: Grogar’s Bewitching Bell. And it was pulsing with so much of Grogar himself that Discord felt queazy for a moment. He leaned against the wall. “This one’s going to be tricky. Those three are regularly making sure the Bell is here: I can’t risk them missing it and getting into a full-on brawl—it could throw off the timeline of my entire plan. But I can’t just put a fake Bell there—Tirek would sense the lack of power in an instant….” He furrowed his brow. “Okay…okay, this is going to be a small work of art. And of course no one is here to be impressed by it because I had to be noble and pull off this fantastic plan of mine all alone. But my magic and Grogar’s magic are similar enough that it just might work…” He set the Bell on a rock, removed his oven mitts, then flexed his fingers. Discord closed his eyes, furrowed his brow, and snapped both his fingers at once. “Why would your magics be similar?” Luna raised an eyebrow. “And how would you know that fact, Discord?” Discord kept his eyes down and crossed his arms. “I told you, I knew Grogar once—let’s just call all of it a convenient coincidence and leave it at that.” He cleared his throat and sunk a little lower in his chair as he went on. A Bell appeared on the rock, identical to the real Bell. Discord snapped his tail over it, and a drop of his black and green and purple chaos magic slipped into the Bell, which glowed for a moment then ceased. Discord opened his eyes, wiped his brow, then leaned in close, studying both Bells. “Hmm…” He straightened up and smiled and nodded. “Close enough!” Suddenly he heard the sounds of bickering that could only come from the three creatures he’d been spending way too much time with lately. He threw his arms in the air and whispered, “Oh come on! They’ve been gone all of five minutes, how are they back with dinner already?! Was I ever this prone to cutting corners?” They were chuckling about stealing a picnic basket from a camper or something inane. Discord rolled his eyes. He grabbed the fake Bell, shoved it back in the trio’s hiding place, snapped the real Bell into a magical bubble, and snapped himself away. Discord reappeared in his cottage with the Bell. He let out a sigh of relief, but then his eyes went wide at the sight before him—the most powerful magical artifact of all was in his living room, and now on top of everything else he had to take care of it. “So you see,” Discord shrugged as he looked back to the princesses, “bringing the Bell into play was absolutely not an intended part of my plan—just a little bit of chaos that worked its way in all on its own.” Cadance was still listening with interest, and Celestia had her brow furrowed. Luna had a dry look. “So…you got the Bell—the real Bell. With no issue. You didn’t mix it up or get tricked or accidentally duplicate it exactly…?” “Whoa, whoa, you’re getting way too far ahead in the story!” Discord held up his hands. “Yes, I had the real Bell! See, I can be responsible!” He crossed his arms and held his head high. “Then how did those three end up with it, and why did a supercharged centaur, a wizard-level changeling, and an alicorn no pony ever needed to experience destroy my throne room!” Celestia glared. “You had the Bell, Discord! you could have destroyed it and saved us all this mess!” Discord’s ears drooped as he leaned back a little. “Hey, we said no more yelling…” “Sister…” Luna put a hoof on her shoulder, “relax, it’s okay.” Celestia took a breath. “See, Luna’s on my side!” Discord attempted a smile. Luna frowned at him. “No, I am on my sister’s side and do not like to see her agitated. Regarding you, I’m still trying to process how you managed to make yourself an even greater threat to Equestria as an ally than a villain, and by accident no less.” Discord’s look fell again. “Discord,” Cadance started gently, “please keep going. I…have a feeling we’ll all feel a lot better once everything’s out in the open.” Discord nodded and cleared his throat. “Okay, okay. Well, I didn’t really know what to do with the Bell…” “Like destroying it… “ Celestia mumbled. Discord scowled. “It wasn’t that simple!” The shout made each of the princess’s eyes widen. Discord blinked and cleared his throat. “Sorry, it’s just…it’s complicated.” He took a breath. “For the moment, let’s say, I didn’t know what to do with the Bell. I just knew I had to keep it hidden and away from magic so it wouldn’t risk sucking in anymore. But I did want to…understand its power better. Erm…after all, if you’re going to destroy something, it’s best to know exactly how it works, right?” He twiddled his fingers. The princesses tilted their heads but nodded. Discord went on. “Of course, though, I didn’t have a ton of time to look into the matter—I still had to keep up appearances with the girls and with Tirek, Chrysalis, and Cozy Glow, not to mention my own chaos duties. But I did ‘borrow’ the book on Grogar’s magic from your library archives…” He glanced hesitantly at Celestia who was just watching him with a dry look, almost smiling and shaking her head. “Discord, I’ve accepted for months now that you just ‘borrow’ things sometimes. After everything we’ve been through today, hearing you admit it doesn’t phase me. Go on…” Discord raised an eyebrow at her but then shrugged. “Well, I got a basic idea of the Bell’s magical mechanics from the book, and then I went from there…” In his cottage, Discord stood in a large magical bubble and handled the Bell using magical protective arm extensions. The book was floating in his bubble, open to a page. “Okay, so the Bell only ever existed without magic when it was forged before Gusty used it to capture Grogar’s magic. Aim and ring to suck magic in or out of a subject…” He raised an eyebrow. “So, in theory…if I let Grogar’s magic out but there wasn’t a subject to absorb it, it would just…be unusable by any creature forever because Grogar’s body is gone and the Bell is what focuses the magic so other creatures can take it.” He glanced around. “If a bit of random magic was floating around in my dimension, it wouldn’t make a dent against all the chaos. And I wouldn’t be destroying anyone’s magic or the Bell. And then the Bell would be safe—or at least less dangerous.” Discord took a deep breath, snapped to add an extra layer of protection to his bubble, cringed, and grasped the Bell. “Here it goes…” He gave the Bell a ring. For a moment, nothing happened and Discord raised an eyebrow. Then the Bell rumbled, and a bright flash of magic poured out into the house. DIscord’s jaw fell open wide. A vortex of energy tore through the cottage, knocking upside down things upright and scattering dust bunnies everywhere. Discord’s eyes darted around, following the lightning center of the magic as it careened everywhere. Finally he snapped himself out of his bubble, snapped a huge baseball mitt into his hand, and then dove at the magic’s center. The chaos in the room settled as Discord sat up with a sizzling orb of power in his mitted paw. He heard laughter now—echoey, like it was coming from everywhere and nowhere, and the laughter was Grogar’s but Discord wasn’t the one faking it. The laughter was real. Discord’s eyes darted around and then fell on the ball of magic. It rose up, and with a bright flash Discord saw the silhouette of Grogar appear—an echo of the creature himself born from the concentration of his magic. Discord backed up along the floor, eyes wide, ears fallen. The essence of Grogar sneered at him then looked at the front door and lowered his head, pawing the ground. Letting some extra magic float vaguely around his dimension was one thing—letting a disembodied Grogar on the loose was quite another. As Grogar charged the door, Discord snapped up a protective hazmat suit for himself and lunged at him. Discord fell to the floor and felt all the power of Grogar trapped underneath him. Before the magic could rally, Discord snapped open a closet door, shoved the creature inside, then snapped the door shut and instantly snapped up every form of magical and physical protection he could think of. “Oh this is bad, this is bad, this is so, so, so very bad…” There were spells and locks and chains and ‘keep out’ signs over the door, and now Discord snapped up a fake door in front of it so that nothing would look suspicious. Inside the closet he could hear some rumbling. Discord snapped up a silencing spell that made the rumbling lessen. Then he collapsed to the floor. “Okay, I”m almost tempted to bring the princesses in now—almost…” Celestia rubbed her temple as Luna sighed. “Yes, that would have been an excellent course of action.” She took several more cookies. Cadance smiled a little. Discord rolled his eyes and went on. Suddenly the cuckoo clock on his wall chimed, the hour and minute hands spinning backwards and forwards. Discord threw his arms in the air. “Oh great, I’m due at the cave for another Grogar performance! I can’t leave those three unsupervised too long or who knows what they’ll get into.” He stood, arms behind his back as he paced. “Okay, time to give them a new little project to distract them. And then I need a moment to think, and then I am taking care of the latest skeleton in my closet!” He looked up with a determined grin, jumped at a final rumble from behind the closet door, then snapped himself away. Discord reappeared floating above Ponyville. “Hmm…what can I give them to do? What can I give them to…?” Discord noticed some commotion near the School of Friendship—a buckball game between Canterlot and Ponyville? Oh too easy… Discord snapped himself away to the cave and put on a grand performance as Grogar thinking the game was a defensive training of some kind. He even let the villains ‘cleverly trick’ him into believing buckball was actually an advanced military operation. Discord then left Tirek, Chrysalis, and Cozy Glow alone, but then lingered as himself, hiding in another space in the ceiling, watching them. They had worked together again: sure, it had been to spitefully trick Grogar, but still… They were showing more signs of progress as friends. And what would Equestria be like with those three on the side of friendship? But then the trio had used their spontaneous ability to work together to catch him snooping. Discord put on a show of fear to keep them from calling Grogar, and then took the random chance to actually present the idea of reform to them because… maybe they just needed to know the option was there. They dismissed him of course, and Discord left. But he felt better now that he’d tried. He still had the Grogar’s magic situation to deal with though. And to clear his head Discord snapped himself to the simplest place he could think of—Twilight’s school. The game was over so no one would be by the bleachers. How had his plan gotten so complicated? How was he now responsible for so much? And how was he going to get this mess back on track before the coronation? He stretched out on the grass under the empty bleachers with the sounds of the Friendship School around him. Ideally, he would have come here right now with at least the empty Bell in hand, ready to destroy it (possibly with help from some of the artifacts Twilight kept around the campus)… or maybe seal it away or something. If that option was easier, of course. Grogar was definitely back; Grogar was still a paranoid drama king; Grogar didn’t have the Bell (because the Bell was useless at the moment and Grogar didn’t have a body); but Grogar’s team did have the Bell (or so they thought) and they were ready for a mutiny. All helpful points. The question on Discord’s mind was should he share this information with anyone, and, if so, whom? The problem with sharing was that then he would lose control of the information and something could change. Right now the balance of power in this situation was delicate. If only he’d gotten the Bell and had actually been able to just make Grogar’s magic disappear into the world never to be heard from agin. Then he could have pretended to rat out the bad guys to Grogar, revealed himself to be Grogar to that trio (because how deliciously theatrical would that moment have been), and then summoned the princesses for a quick strike against the villains while their little group was in disarray. Discord sighed and snapped to make a few pies rain up from the ground—he was hungry, and pie and chaos always hit the spot. “Whoa! Wait, pies? From the ground… Discord?” Twilight Sparkle. For the first time Discord didn’t feel a little exhausted at the idea of her suddenly appearing in his midst…actually she seemed like the perfect pony to help him. Discord answered her and opened up as much as he could without revealing his plan for her sake. Discord glanced back at the princesses. Cadance continued to listen with interest, and now Luna was too. Celestia’s gaze was down as she considered something then raised an eyebrow. “You cared very much about making your plan work. You put in a lot of effort for the girls. I…didn’t know you could work so hard on a project, Discord.” He smiled a little. “I’ve discovered a lot of new things about myself ever since we became friends.” He blinked. “I mean, ever since I became friends with Fluttershy and then later the girls, which meant you three and I were on good terms.” Luna and Celestia smiled a little, and Cadance held back a giggle. Discord slumped again, blushing faintly. Celestia cleared her throat. “Discord,” she asked in her usual kind tone, “will you explain to us next how the trio got the book…and then, I suppose, the real Bell?” Discord raised an eyebrow at the change in tone but sat up a little more again and nodded. “The book first. So you and Luna wouldn’t miss it, I put it back in your library before the Summer Sun Celebration. And then I thought I could have a night to just kick back and watch the girls set up the big event. But of course Tirek, Chrysalis, and Cozy Glow had to show up—for the book, of all things—and I had to manage them in the middle of all the mischief they caused. I’m just glad the girls are so capable these days—them putting everything back on track on their own saved me a lot of extra work.” He furrowed his brow. “One thing I promised myself for this plan—throughout it I was not going to use my magic to fix things for the girls unless it was an absolute emergency. They don’t need me…they deserve to know that.” “Discord,” Cadance started, “You know you’re needed.” “Yes, yes, for my friendship, I know.” He blushed more and waved her off. “But they don’t need me to fix things with magic. They have enough magic together.” He glanced over to see Celestia and Luna looking down with small smiles. Celestia took a breath. “We understand, Discord.” “Yes, we do.” Luna touched her sister’s hoof. Cadance’s gaze softened. “The girls are growing up. Parents always have to learn to let go. And it’s hard but…it means you’ve done something right.” She looked back at Discord. “Go on, Discord.” He nodded, almost smiling a little too. “Well, after they stole the book, that’s when I ran into Celestia and Luna in the library. You two asked me again if anything was on my mind or wrong, and I got a little tense with you about retiring. Sorry— I was pretty stressed at that point. If those three used the book with the Bell and realized their Bell was a fake, everything was going to fall apart. And then afterwards I went to see Cadance.” He smiled in her direction. “I meant to say thank you, Cadance. I felt a lot better after that night; really ready to tackle the whole ‘essence of Grogar trapped in my closet’ problem.” “You visited Cadance?” Luna asked with a small smile of interest. “I needed a neutral party,” Discord explained. “And to remind myself that the Crystal Empire was there as backup if Equestria needed some extra support.” “Flurry Heart misses you, by the way.” Cadance smiled. “She keeps pointing to that spot where you sat in her nursery and looking at me each morning.” Discord’s look brightened. “Well, then I shall have to visit our happy princess quite soon. Besides, I like her—she’s chaotic. And she laughs at my jokes.” Celestia laughed softly, her smile warm. “I’m glad you’ve made a new friend, Discord.” “And I’m glad you felt better after spending time with us,” Cadance added. “Yeah,” he nodded, “it gave me the motivation I needed to really sit down and try to analyze my Grogar problem. Of course, just as I felt like I was about to crack it, Fluttershy showed up at my cottage for a visit. Starlight sent her with a message, and Fluttershy was getting a little worried about me on her own. I was getting too scarce around the girls, and she noticed how I wasn’t throwing around my magic anymore.” He twiddled his fingers. “Talking to her was helpful too—it reminded me of who I was doing all this for, of the future I wanted. I couldn’t let her down.” Celestia and Luna frowned at each other then Celestia turned back to Discord. “Discord, this future you keep talking about…you’re going to be here with us for it, right?” “Because sometimes,” Luna continued, “the way you’ve spoken lately almost sounded as if you…were perhaps not intending to be here. And my sister and I have been concerned about that notion.” “Are you kidding?” He blinked. “I meant to be cagey with those remarks, not cryptic! Of course I’m planning to be here! If anything, I never want to leave! I want us all to have a chance to keep growing together! And if enacting my plan all on my own could help, I was willing to make any sacrifice to see it through. I want us to enjoy the rest of our lives together!” The three princesses gave him such an endearing look at this passionate confession that Discord quickly looked away and added with an awkward clearing of his throat and twirling of his tail, “I mean, you know, I was just…doing what was best for me which happened to also be best for others. That’s all.” He blushed again. “I see.” Celestia nodded. “Well, Grogar isn’t back, obviously, so let’s hear how you defeated what little of him did return.” “Indeed, continue with the story please!” Luna held up a hoof. “I’d like to hear more too, Discord.” Cadance smiled. “This would be a great pony tale to tell Flurry Heart someday.” Discord tried to smile but his look of ease returned; he sat up a little more again. “Well, um…before Fluttershy left I gave her a key to my cottage because I was going to face Grogar’s magic once and for all.” He shifted uncomfortably. “I want to keep growing with all of you but Grogar’s magic is a dangerous thing, so, erm…no matter what happened I wanted Fluttershy to have a way to visit. Kind of…told her the place was hers just as much as it was mine actually…you know, just in case of…anything.” “Discord!” “Celestia, I said no more yelling! Please!” But when Discord looked at her, she didn’t have the angry scowl of earlier. Her eyes were wide shining a little. “Discord, let me make something very clear going forward—if you are ever in a position where you feel in danger in any way, you need to reach out to one of us to help you.” “Agreed.” Luna nodded, her own eyes wide in concern as well. “We don’t want anything to happen to you, Discord. We want to spend time with you too.” Cadance wiped a tear from her eye. “Flurry Heart would miss you a lot, Discord…” “I…” Suddenly Discord had to wipe at the corner of his own eye very quickly, “I promise. Sorry.” He blinked several times and swallowed. “Anyway, once she was gone I just sealed all the windows and the door, got in front of the closet, and grabbed the Bell… There was only one thing I could think of to do.” Discord snapped away the fake door and stood in front of the original closet door that was still covered in chains and spells and ‘keep out’ signs. There was silence on the other side. He snapped up his hazmat suit but then snapped it away and replaced it with his anti-magic oven mitts and picked up the Bell. “I need to be able to move freely even if that does mean exposing myself a little more.” He narrowed his eyes at the closet door. “Okay—it’s just you and me. We’re settling this.” He snapped his tail—all the protections disappeared and the closet door flew open. There was darkness inside. Discord didn’t blink. “I know you’re in there, Grogar. Come out. Now.” Nothing, nothing, nothing…then a glimmer in the dark. Discord held position. The glimmer brightened, the closet shook, then a beam of magic darted out aimed right at Discord. Eyes squinted shut he held up the Bell. Discord heard it ring and didn’t feel any pain. He opened his eyes in time to see the magic absorb into the Bell. Another shot fired out of the closet, and Discord held up the Bell again—the beam flew off course and went straight inside. Discord grinned at the sight then looked into the closet again. “Let’s dance, old man!” Grogar’s form came forward in a haze of magic. His head was down in ramming position. Discord swallowed but stayed strong. “I’m not afraid of you!” As Grogar charged, Discord dove at him with the Bell held high. There was a lot of bright light, and Discord hit the floor hard. At one point he opened his eyes and saw the glow of Grogar’s eyes staring into them—everything inside of Discord locked up for a moment. But then he closed his eyes again and held strong to the Bell, feeling the air around him crackling with Grogar’s power. There was a quick surge of magic and light, and at the end Discord found himself lying on the floor, panting, gripping the Bell as it pulsed with power in his mitts. Eventually he opened his eyes: he felt okay and the room looked its normal chaotic self and the closet was empty…and he could sense Grogar’s magic all back in the Bell. He sat up, dusting himself off and panting. “Okay, this is getting ridiculous! I’m heading back to that cave right now, I’m pretending to be Grogar, I’m going to ‘find’ their fake Bell right in front of those three, call them out on it, and just threaten them within an inch of their villainy before I take it away! No more games, no more messing around, no more Bells or books—I am getting too old for this!” He snapped himself away. Discord reappeared at the hideout disguised as Grogar with the real Bell in tow in a magical bubble: he was in the main cavern again connecting Tirek, Cozy Glow, and Chrysalis’s private quarters. He walked over to the wall where their hiding place was, but of course he realized that in this form he couldn’t reach high enough to snatch the fake Bell or the book. But he didn’t want to use his magic and risk it activating something in the book—it would be just like Grogar to have his book cursed to engage some horrible spell at the touch of Discord’s magic. Discord transformed back into himself, used his tail to balance, reached up with his protective mitts on his hands, and pulled both the fake Bell and real book out of the wall. He put the book in a magical bubble as well and got on his feet in the cavern again. Discord hid the bubbled real Bell behind a rock next to him and transformed back into Grogar. Now where were those three? “Tirek, Chrysalis, Cozy Glow, your presence is demanded now!” No reply met him. He stomped his hooves and sighed dramatically. “Oh come on! The one time they’re not lazing around here! Really!” He sat down on the floor, hid the bubbled book behind the rock with the bubbled Bell (he wasn’t going to teleport them to his cottage unsupervised), and put the fake Bell on the floor beside him. He would wait them out. But they were gone for a very long time, Discord waited and waited—eventually the day grew late and Discord’s eyes started to blink closed after all the excitement he’d had so far. He had to wait them out though… Had to… He must have dozed off—the next thing he knew he sat up with a start and heard the trio’s voices coming closer from somewhere in the cave. Discord looked down and realized he had untransformed in his sleep. They sounded like they were around the corner. No, no—earlier he had been so frustrated that he’d had a whole speech planned to shut them down, but now he felt confused and tired. Now wasn’t the right time—he needed to plan better. But that meant the book and Bell needed to go back to where they were, and with no bubbles, or the trio would find out everything and his plan would be ruined. As long as he kept the real Bell, those three ridiculous creatures couldn’t do anything anyway. He snapped—the protection bubble around the book disappeared, the magical mitts were back on his hands, and Discord grabbed the book and fake Bell in one mitted hand and the bubbled real Bell in his other mitted hand. He dashed to the wall, propped himself up on his tail, and went to put the book and fake Bell back in their hiding place, but slipped when he heard Tirek laugh—they were just around the corner. The book and Bells all fell to the floor along with Discord. And clearly the bad guys heard the sound. “Grogar?” Cozy Glow called out. “Is that you?” Discord looked down—he had lost focus, and the bubble around the real Bell had burst. He grabbed the fake Bell (or, rather, the Bell closest to his hand that had been holding it), grabbed the book, flew up, shoved them away, then bubbled the other Bell and made himself invisible. The villains entered, looking around suspiciously. They checked every corner and then finally checked that the Bell and book were safe. “Perhaps it was an animal,” Chrysalis suggested with a sneer, “you know how lousy these caves are with vermin.” “Or maybe Grogar snooping and he just left,” Tirek suggested. “Well, we know one thing for sure,” Cozy Glow grinned, “he didn’t find the book and Bell otherwise he would have definitely yelled at us.” The three villains shared an evil grin. Discord snapped himself away. Once he was back in his cottage he snapped the bubbled Bell into his closet, put back on all the locks and warnings, and then put the fake door over it again. “I don’t want to even think about that Bell until this whole coronation business is over.” He laid down on his sofa and closed his eyes. “I need a minute…” And then he dozed off into a restless sleep. Discord shrugged. “And I guess I grabbed the wrong Bell. To be fair, the fact that I made that mistake is a testament to how well I made the fake one. If I hadn't locked it up in my closet right away, I would have realized eventually though. I just…” He hugged his knees into his chest, “the whole Grogar thing was getting a little too real for me, all right? By the end, I just wanted to get through the plan for Twilight’s sake and then deal with anything else later! And I ended up having to save Big Mac’s wedding from Tirek, Chrysalis, and Cozy Glow not long afterwards on top of everything.” He put a hand to his head, rubbing one of his temples. “I tried to work in another reform talk for the three of them, then I snuck back to our hideout and pretended to be Grogar in a bad mood. Those three still could only come together over a common enemy, but it was still a start. Had another bad dream though that night--about Grogar and me...” He closed his eyes, his brow furrowed, and shook his head. After a moment he blinked a few times and glanced at the princesses. All three of them were looking at him with frowns of concern. Discord just looked down and frowned too. He picked up his cider mug from the floor but it had gone cold. He just sat staring into the swirling liquid of the cup. “Believe me, it was a rude surprise when I realized those three had the real Bell when they used it on after I came back to the cave to get them ready for the coronation attack. I felt so stupid…” He put the mug back on the floor and lounged back over both arms of his chair, attempting to smile again. “And there it is, ladies, my whole story. I’m sure I booked a lot of laws and rules and such, not to mention all the lying. So what’s my punishment? Come on, I can take it…” The three princesses looked at each other. “I’d like to be the one to decide, if that’s okay,” Cadance quickly offered. Celestia and Luna blinked but shared a look and then nodded to her. Celestia turned to Discord. “But first, let’s give you back your magic.” She rang the Bell, and Discord’s magic rushed right back into the draconequus. He snapped his fingers to successfully create a pink and blue checkered balloon then smiled. “And now we can destroy this Bell once and for all,” Celestia finished, looking at the ancient item. “Wait!” Discord held up his paw. “Do we have to? I mean, if it’s got no power left since Twilight’s friendship rainbow dissipated all of Grogar’s magic, does it have to be destroyed?” “Discord, it's a dangerous tool,” Luna offered. “I-I know…” “And it’s caused you a lot of distress,” Celestia added. “Don’t you want to see it gone?” Discord squirmed in his chair. “I don’t know. I don’t want it to hurt anyone… but…” “Discord,” Celestia spoke softly, “I know we agreed we’d think about giving it back to you, but unless you can give us a very good reason, we really need to destroy this Bell.” Discord frowned a lot and looked down. Cadance frowned too. “Discord, do you have a good reason that’s maybe also a private reason?” He nodded. The three princesses shared a concerned look. Then they stood and came closer. “Discord,” Celestia started, “whatever it is, if you tell us, we’ll never tell another creature.” “You have our words,” Luna added, “as your friends.” “You’re always safe with us, Discord, I promise.” Cadance smiled gently. Discord took a deep breath and looked at the Bell then spoke. “Grogar was…known as the father of monsters. He concocted a lot of creatures in his day—some that are still around.” He glanced down at himself then glanced back up at the princesses hesitantly. After a moment of thought, Cadance and Luna’s eyes widened and Celestia brought a hoof to her mouth. “Discord, was Grogar your—“ He cut her off. "Let's not bring certain words into the subject!” But then Discord blinked a few times, arms crossed as he held himself. “I’m sorry. I just never liked him. Even at my worst I never did because his worst was so much more awful. And he did not like me—always said I could be far too silly instead of cruel. That I was a disappointment nine times out of ten. That I would never be half the wielder of magic he was. That’s why I wanted to keep my hands off of the book and Bell if possible—I could see him rigging anything of his to respond badly to my magic.” His brow furrowed in distress. “So I think, perhaps, that it can’t be…right to destroy the last piece of some creature who’s the only reason you’re here in the first place. Right?” He glanced at the princesses at of the corner of his eye, hesitant and unsure. “Oh Discord…” all the princesses said at once, and they came forward to hug him. Discord let them. He felt nice and warm and safe in their hooves. “Discord,” Cadance said softly as they pulled back, “I don’t mean to upset you, but please, tell me, do you have any happy memories with Grogar?” Discord shook his head. “Was there ever anything he helped you do? Did you miss him when he was defeated last time? When you think about your future do you want him back?” Discord shook his head to all the questions. “Then he wasn’t much of a ‘father’ of anything,” Cadance continued. “You deserved better. You’re so unique and kind and funny and special, Discord. You’re inspiring, and a good friend, and a lovely person. You deserved someone who…” “Who would wake up at the crack of dawn just to play with me and give me breakfast even though there are servants who could do all that just as easily?” Discord replied softly. “Exactly.” Cadance nodded. “Now…” She took the Bell in her hoof from Celestia, “you don’t have to destroy it—but you can choose whether or not we do. If you don’t want us to, then you have to be responsible for the Bell for as long as it exists, Discord. But if you do want us to destroy it, then we’ll make sure there are remains and you can have them.” Discord looked at the Bell with wide eyes. He reached out a hand but hesitated. “The second option please.” Cadance nodded. “Okay.” Cadance turned to her fellow princesses. “Ladies?” Luna and Celestia powered their horns and Cadance powered hers. They aimed their magic at the Bell. It glowed and floated and spun and then burst into grey and silver dust—Cadance made a mason jar appear and trapped the dust inside. “Here you go, Discord.” Discord hesitantly took the jar. Then he took a breath and snapped his fingers—it disappeared. “I put it back in the cave on Mt Everhoof—my magic can teleport things into that place, just not out of it. That was Grogar’s final resting place…and that should still be his place.” Cadance smiled. “Well, then, all that remains is the punishment you talked about earlier for everything today. I sentence you, Discord, to help me watch Flurry Heart for at least one day per moon over the next year.” Discord’s ears perked up. “Really?” She nodded. “And I also sentence you to spend some quality time with Celestia snd Luna for the rest of today—go out for a nice meal, maybe get a drink, or you could even go dancing!” She gestured to the princesses. “You two are retired, and Discord, in a surprising turn of events, needs to relax because it’s clearly been so long that I’m starting to worry he’s forgotten how. It’ll be good for all of you!” Discord rubbed the bridge of his nose, trying not to smile too much. “Cadance, please tell me this suggestion has nothing to do with that crack you made about me dating one of these two?” “Dating?” Celestia and Luna exclaimed at once. Cadance chuckled. “Just work on having a better friendship for now, you three. I’d come with you, but I’ve got the baby to get home to.” She powered her horn. “Goodbye!” With a wave, Cadance teleported away. Celestia, Luna, and Discord were left behind looking at each other with curious expressions. Discord smiled but sighed. “Look, I know I’m a bit much to manage—I’ve probably given you both multiple headaches today, and I actually made Celestia yell. If you two don’t want to do this, it’s fine.” “Actually, I think it could be fun,” Luna offered with a small smile. “The three of us do not spend personal time together. But…going forward I too would like us to have a real friendship, Discord.” She held out her hoof. Discord hesitated but then reached forward and shook her hoof, smiling more. “I agree.” Celestia held out her hoof as well. “Maybe if we become closer we’ll all be happier together and we can help each other.” Discord shook with her as well with his other hand. When they released they were all smiling. “Well then,” Discord clapped his hands together, “where shall we go? How about out for a bite or a pint of cider? I can be your wingpony—help you find dates so Cadance will stop trying to pawn me off on one of you.” He gave them both elbow nudges. Luna grinned and Celestia snorted. “Actually, could we go to your house?” Luna asked. “I’ve never been but I’ve always wanted to see it.” “Yes, I’ve been wanting to see it too, Discord,” Celestia agreed. “Fluttershy always describes it like such a fun place.” Discord’s look brightened. “Of course! I’ll snap us up some snacks and have the dust bunnies put on a show. And we can go chaos gazing in my garden when we’re done.” “You have a garden?” Luna tilted her head. “Yes, I grow all sorts of chaotic vegetables—they just taste fresher when they’re grown than when they’re snapped up, you know?” He chuckled. “And can we get some chocolate milk too?” Celestia asked sheepishly. “I’ve always wanted to try it.” “As your incredibly handsome host I think it would be insulting of me not to offer you some with the finest crazy straws to drink from.” With a chuckle Discord snapped them away and back to his home for a nice evening of bonding. It would be the first such evening of many, as retirement and the girls coming into their own allowed the three beings to form a deep friendship with many memories and much love. And that month would also be the start of Discord’s visits to Cadance, which would be many as well. Watching her be a mother to Flurry Heart and helping out gave him a good feeling—it filled up something he had been missing inside without even knowing it. The future was a warm place.