//------------------------------// // 9 - The Pony of Chaos, Part 2 - Statues and Limitations // Story: Anarchy: Pony of Chaos // by Ninjadeadbeard //------------------------------// Grogar stood atop the train platform in Ponyville with a gnarled expression on his ancient and weathered face. He stood under a bright, clear morning sky with a warm sun just cresting the horizon, a literal gaggle of colts and fillies laughing and playing around his hooves. Their laughter, suffused with the very love of life and friendship that all ponies shared, joined with the crystal-clear birdsong that hung in the air. And that air was filled further by the warm scent of baked goods wafting over from the Sugarcube Corner, serving to warm every heart and touch every soul with the smell of cinnamon, chocolate, and crunchy, delicious bread goods. Truly, this is the worst possible timeline, Grogar grumbled to himself. What did I do to deserve this? He concluded that this was all because he wasn’t hard enough on the ponies way back in his day. Grogar was certain of that. Despite inventing the monsters that terrorized them to the modern day, and ruling over their towns and villages with an iron hoof, he should have done more to make their lives miserable. As it stood, he’d been far too kind. This was the universe’s way of punishing him. He thought this, only because he could not fathom worse. “Hey there!” a chipper voice called out to the Dark Lord. The Dark Lord cringed internally, realizing he’d only managed to jinx himself. The voice had belonged to a male Kirin, one who had a dark brown coat and mane paired with eyes of nearly arctic blue. He trotted over with a spring in his step that any creature half his age would envy. “I just saw you over here lookin’ so glum, I thought I’d come by and say hello!” he said, nodding his head in a short, polite bow, “Name’s Rainy Blaze! And how’re you doin’ today?” Grogar turned his baleful eyes on the interloper. “Ah, strong and silent type?” Rainy was unfazed, “Yeah, I know a lot of folks that do that. Good on you! Always nice to meet somepony that doesn’t need to put on airs or chit-chat to feel important.” Rainy walked to Grogar’s side and stood there, happily drinking in the sight of two-dozen colts and fillies playing around the station platform. “Which one’s yours?” he asked. After waiting for several seconds, during which time Grogar’s eyes narrowed significantly in a vain attempt to set the insufferable creature alight, Rainy just nodded towards one of the children. “That’s mine, right there. Shade Bright. Good kid, smart as a whip. Takes after his mom in the old temper department though, you feel me?” Rainy’s smile was infectious, or so he’d been told. There was an almost Pinkie-esque aura permeating his being, infusing the very air around him with pure, unadulterated joy. But, in this case, Grogar did not ‘catch’ that joy. “Harken to me,” Grogar’s deep, haunting growl emanated from the ancient ram with all the malice of an avalanche of venomous snakes that had been set on fire, “I do not care one whit for your words, your intentions, or your life. Every fiber within my soul howls for your demise, or at the very least for some terrible, calamitous fate to befall you and render you sick, dying, or utterly ruined in some fashion. Were I to be merely a few centuries younger, I would have already flayed your worthless hide and strung your desiccated soul betwixt my horns. The fact you are still alive and breathing is only because I long ago gave up all hope of being happy or content. “Also, mine is the Ponequus playing with Shady,” Grogar snorted, and spat into the grass, “Apparently, they are friends.” Rainy Blaze stared at the ram. His jaw seemed totally unhinged for how low it hung from his head. He swiveled his head around, back towards the children. He swiveled it back, and closed his mouth. “Oh…” the smile returned, “So, you’re Ann’s Grandpa! How about that? I’ve heard so much about you, Mr. Grogar! Put her there!” The worst timeline, Grogar sighed internally as he shook Rainy’s hoof, entirely under duress, Simply, the worst… He was not suffering alone, however. Grogar could see the one other adult already here, a white-coated, pink-maned unicorn who seemed to gaze upon the ram with a mixture of uncertainty and pity, for now bearing the brunt of Rainy’s personality. ‘I’m so sorry,’ Twinkleshine mouthed silently. ‘You will pay in time,’ Grogar would have mouthed back, if he did such things. Instead, he simply passed along the sentiment with a blood-curdling glare. Amidst the chattering foals on the train platform, Ann and her friends took up their own little corner of the crowd. Cheese was reading a book to Boneless #12 (Sun Zoo’s second-best-selling book, The Art of Muffins), while Dib, Beau (sporting his new Cutie Mark, a fancy tophat and sewing needle), Goldie, and Moon chatted idly about their weekend. “Your dad seems nice,” Ann said to Shady, who watched his father and Grogar… doing whatever that was, with no small amount of cringing. “Yeah… he’s nice,” Shady looked away, “But he’s also a little… touchy-feeling. Even for me. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice… but all the time?” Ann giggled, “I guess. My pawents awe both big into hugs, so I’m used to it.” They turned back to Pearl and Flawless, who had up til this exact moment been deep in Buckball talks. And they still were, with Pearl going over her Papa’s attempts to get the legendary Snails to visit and give them personal lessons. Ann didn’t really think much of it. Buckball was fun… but right now, all she could think of was hanging out with her friends after a long weekend. And as she thought, she couldn’t help but feel her hooves tap-tap-tap out a little ditty on the platform floor. She’d woken up singing a musical number. And the tune was simply stuck now. “… what my Cutie Mawk is telling me…” she hummed. “What’s got you in such a good mood?” Flawless raised an eyebrow in question. She hadn’t meant to sound mean… but habits were hard to break. Pearl seemed to agree, “Indeed, my dear! I’ve hardly ever seen you this happy. I take it you had a good weekend?” A broad smile broke out over Ann’s face. “I’m gonna get my Cutie Mawk!” Goldie’s voice caught their attention, “Oh!? You are!!?” She slunk over to Ann like a silent wall of fur and wrapped up her little pony friend in a massive hug. “Oooh! When!? How do you know!?” There was a pop, and all Goldie held in her paws was a pile of confetti. Before she could panic though, her eyes glanced up to see the Ponequus floating just beyond her grasp. “… Sorry,” she grinned sheepishly, “Don’t know my own strength…” “It’s fine,” Ann waved down her concern, and then landed once more. “I don’t know yet, actually.” “Then…?” Beauregard (or, Beau Tie, as he had thought to call himself now) self-consciously tugged at the, admittedly very nice, scarf he’d sewn for himself, “How do you know you’ll get it?” Ann leaned up against the larger unicorn with one elbow, allowing herself to confidently lounge in a usually-for-a-pony uncomfortable two-hooved stance. “I have it from an implic… an impact… impecca… a good souwce,” she frowned at the word that failed to form properly in her mouth, “that all I gotta do is wait. I’m half-pony, half-Dwaconequus… so it might take me longew… but it’s a lock!” Moon stamped his hooves appreciably, “Well, that’s great! I’m super-happy for you Ann. We all are!” “Thanks Mo…” Ann’s voice caught in her throat. She narrowed her eyes, trying to see what she thought she saw. Just for a moment, it looked like… “You alright, Ann?” Moon gulped and took one step back. Ann frowned. “Moon? Did something happen?” “W-what d’ya mean…?” nocreature could miss the slight pitch in the batpony’s voice just then. Except Cheese, but he was busy. “Uh, something wrong, bud?” Dib stopped Moon from retreating further with one hoof on his withers. Then… he seemed to notice something too. “You’ve got your sunglasses on again.” “N-no I don’t!” he ducked his head and tried to side-step the changeling, one wing reaching up to press his glasses on as securely as he could. Moon turned around, his body language practically screaming Panic as he did so. But as he turned, his nose nearly crashed straight into Ann… who occupied the space behind him, as well as where she’d been a moment before. “What…?” Moon swiveled his head back and forth, utterly confused. The Ann in front of him kept her eyes approximately on his, and said, “Moon? Did something happen? Your eye…” Moon’s ears flattened against his head, and he bit his lip in frustrated panic. Then… he growled and used his long ears to flick his sunglasses up out of his eyes and onto his forehead. It was hard to see if you weren’t close, but Ann could see with the vision of Chaos. And something quite Chaotic had happened to Moon’s face. “Ooof!” Shady blanched as he got a look as well, “That looks like it hurt!” Moon winced, and then brought his sunglasses back down again to hide the horseshoe-shaped bruise that lay shiny and swollen across his left eye. “Dear me! What happened!?” Pearl sidestepped the Ann currently behind Moon and ran up to his side. “Is that fwom youw mawtial awts touwnament?” Ann said… and then instantly regretted once she’d heard how it had sounded in her mouth. Cheese, at least, took a moment to offer her a sympathetic look from where he still sat, reading. “… yeah,” Moon sighed, scarlet blooming across his cheeks. He made a half-hearted smile, and added, “But you should see the other guy…” “Immaculate, I’d bet,” Flawless chuckled, “Not a scratch on him? Or her…?” she added with a wry grin. Moon blew a raspberry her way, and then looked back towards the Ponequus who’d just kept staring at him. She just asked, sadly, “Did… wewe you afwaid to tell us?” “Totally embarrassed, actually,” he kicked at the platform once, then cast his gaze around the circle of creatures who surrounded him, “I guess I kinda forgot that real friends wouldn’t care about that sort of thing.” “Couwse not!” Ann laid a hoof on his shoulder, “We’d make suwe you wewe okay, and safe.” Moon… couldn’t cry. He’d cried all the tears he ever could once before (and the sleepover didn’t count), and didn’t have anymore left in him. But he did feel a tight, warm feeling in his chest just then, and it was just enough to let him chance a smile. “I… thanks, guys,” he turned around once to take in the smiling faces of his friends, “That means a lot…” “And then we’d heckle you for it!” Ann let out a little giggle, which started the avalanche. “I bet it was a filly, wasn’t it?” Flawless jumped in first. “Did she give you a number, at least?” Pearl was hot on her hooves though. “Moon, dear? A little makeup could mask that little blemish nicely, if you’d just let me…” “Dude!” Beau’s eyes went wide in wonder, “One word: Eye patch… oh, wait…” Dib nodded vigorously, “It’s almost Nightmare Night, so you’d get a headstart on a pirate costume. You could go as Captain Hoofbeard! Or the Dread Pirate Rob Herbs!” “So, you threw the match, right?” Goldie added, “I mean, the mob wouldn’t make you throw it for free, would they?” “Um… oh,” Shady stammered, “You… uh, you stink at… fighting?” Moon shook his head, a smile on his lips. “I love you jerks too.” And just a few steps away, Cheese glanced up over his book and took in the sight. He looked back towards Boneless, and gave a sage nod. “A friendship lesson learned,” he sighed happily, “And it didn’t even take us thirty minutes this time…” At that moment, Silver Spoon and Miss Cheerilee finally reached the train station themselves, leading the very last of the school-age foals to where they would all soon embark on their field trip. “Alright, my little ponies!” Cheerilee cheerily cheered, “We’re just about ready to go…” Silver Spoon stepped around her elder teacher and hastily added, “But… since Diamond Tiara came down with flu this morning, we’ll have to add more students to everypony’s group, so please, bear with me while we change up some things…” Grogar groaned, quite loudly, drawing an annoyed glance from Twinkleshine, Cheerilee, and Silver Spoon, who went on to begin her mental calculations. “Gwampa…” Ann warned from her place in the mob of foals, packed in between the griffon and the batpony she insisted on being friends with. “I will not be subjected to any more children than is strictly necessary. I did not agree to chaperone half a dozen of you little beasts just to have half a dozen more thrust upon me… Silver Teaching Mare!” The teacher spun around to face the Dark Lord, clearly trying to hold onto the last number she’d reached in her count, “Yes, Grogar? What is it?” “How many more chaperones will we need if I wish to maintain our current count per squadron of children?” Silver Spoon, despite all evidence to the contrary, was no fool. That much, Grogar could tell. She didn’t immediately take Grogar up on his offer, but instead seemed to mentally weigh her options before coming to a decision. “What… what are you suggesting?” Grogar let out a light, affable chuckle… which by his standards would still scar the dreams of half the children there that morning if he’d laughed loud enough for them all to hear… and marshalled his magical might. His horns flared with violet energy, and the distant, mournful dolling of a bell could be heard echoing in the distance. The air shimmered… and a black gate appeared above the platform’s floorboards. Out from the blackness of the void, a sight straight from Nightmare Night stepped forth. The blackness closing behind, it gave a clattering rattle of its head, as though it were a living pony tossing its mane. Everycreature gasped, beholding the pony skeleton. “Cool!” said Moon, watching in rapt attention. Silver Spoon’s eyes widened with shock at the sight, “I… what!? What is that!?” “A skeleton,” Grogar offered, helpfully. “What’s it doing here!?” “Chaperoning.” “No!” Silver Spoon snorted, “No, it’s not! It’s horrifying!” Before Grogar could retort, he felt something tug at his elbow. Looking down, he saw Ann, glaring up at him. “Gwampa,” she whispered, “You can’t chapewone if you don’t have any skin. That’s like… being naked!” Naked? Oh… And with a second blaze of his eldritch power, Grogar enacted the perfect spell to end this silly argument and get this awful field trip underway. The skeleton was bathed in violet gloom, and began to shake like it was suffering from the Pinkie Sense. Light burst from its eye sockets, and soon a fresh horror became apparent for all to see. Muscle tissue and organs bloomed into existence, swirling and twining about the skeleton’s form, filling in and covering every hole and bit of exposed carcass that was. The writhing mass of flesh filled in slowly, eventually causing eyes to pop into place, and a tongue to stick out of her mouth as the still-shaking creature howled in abject pain. Finally, a layer of creamy fur sprouted all along the earth pony’s flesh, and a bright-red mane and tail bloomed into existence, just beneath a strangely familiar black Stetson which popped into being atop her head. Her Cutie Mark returned last, a bright red apple wearing said black hat. As the magic faded, the once-skeletal pony gulped down air to get her lungs working once more. Her shock and evident horror at the prospect of being alive was only matched by the shock, horror, and revulsion of everycreature around her. Rainy looked like he was about to be sick. Silver Spoon was about to kick off and bolt for the hills. Twinkleshine and Miss Cheerilee merely gaped in fear. The children… cheered and uproariously applauded the best… freakin’… magic show they’d ever seen. “Awesome!!!” Moon leapt into the air and hoof-pumped. Amid the cheers, Silver Spoon dumbly walked up to… whatever the new mare was. “I… what…?” “I restored the skeleton to flesh and blood,” Grogar explained, glad to be moving forward on this whole business at last. “That seemed to be your main issue, according to my grandfoal.” “I was more concerned that you were dragging along an abomination,” Silver Spoon’s voice was… bizarrely calm to her own ears, but this seemed to be her reality now. “Um, is she alive again?” The mare in question cocked her head to one side… and then looked over to Grogar with a clear question in her emerald eyes. Grogar noticed. “Ah, yes. You may speak freely, my slave.” The mare smiled, genuinely, and then sang out with a rustic twang, “Thank’ee kindly Master Grogar. It shur is nice havin’ the ole flesh an’ such back ageen. “Name’s Frosted Apple!” she held out a hoof to shake… which Silver Spoon did not take hold of, “Bit of a Black Sheep of the Apple clan before mah demise… No offense, Master,” she offered an apologetic glance towards Grogar, “But Ah s’pose that’s life… an’ death, fer that matter…” Grogar sighed, “I remember now why I ordered them not to speak…” Silver Spoon stepped around the living nightmare that was Frosted Apple, and pressed herself into a conspiratorial huddle with its master. “Mr. Grogar,” she growled, “What… in the wide, wide world of Equestria… is that thing!?” “A Revenant,” he answered. “And… is it going to eat any of the foals?” Grogar pondered this for a moment, and then said, “No… not unless I give such a command.” Silver Spoon leaned in close. Her eyes grew wide as saucers as her irises narrowed to dots, and for the first time in a long while, Grogar became ever so slightly agitated… nervous, even. “It…” he coughed, “It is harmless. Completely under my direction.” The gray and silver mare stared for another minute, then sighed, and nodded. “Fine. We need the extra hooves. Group Six?” she turned around to face five fillies and a colt who were huddled close to each other, “Your chaperone will be Frosted Apple. Please mind her as we take our tour. Holler if you think she’s going to eat somepony…” As Silver Spoon went to check the train schedule, Group Six audibly gulped and huddled just that much closer. “Golly!” the undead mare beamed, “Ah ain’t been giv’n a job like that since mah cousin, Green Smith Apple, drove me outta town fer mah heinous ways. “Is that an order ye wish me ta hold to, Master?” her head spun mechanically around, and held to an impossible angle as she watched her dread lord with unspeakable adoration. Grogar sighed, “Yes. Safeguard those foals on this fieldtrip. Do not allow them to come to harm… I guess…” “Gwampa…” Ann drifted up to the ram’s eye level, and fixed him with her own baleful glare. “You’we not supposed to subvewt the fwee will of intelligent cweatuwes!” The Nec-ram-ancer chuckled darkly, “That entirely depends on whether you consider ponies…” “Sapient cweatuwes, then!” “Hrmph,” he snorted, irritably, cursing the Equestrian Education System for teaching Ann such vocabulary, “Fine. Minion…?” Ann pressed her nose into her Gwampa’s coat, “Hew name is Fwosted…” “Eugh… Frosted Apple?” The named mare trotted merrily up to her master, and sat down expectantly. Grogar scowled as he considered where he was to find another skeleton. Sure, the shadowy realm of darkness and horror in which he often spent his time held countless such thralls… but losing even one made him feel somehow poorer. “Once this field trip has concluded… you are free, by my command. Go… back to wherever it is you called home before I found your shallow grave.” Frosted stood and gave an exuberant nod. “Then, by yer Dread Word, Ah shall complete this task, mah Master.” Grogar turned to gaze grimly at his grandfilly, “Happy?” All he received in reply was a tight, warm hug around his neck. He didn’t show it, and would utterly vaporize any who claimed otherwise… but he almost considered that fair trade for one minion. The Royal Canterlot Statue Garden was the very picture of serenity and beauty. The sun shone warmly, while the clouds passed listlessly in a gentle, cool autumn breeze. There was even a fresh bloom of flowers that covered the grounds, sprinkling a dash of red, blue, gold, and purple amidst the luscious green vista which framed over a dozen grand, granite and marble creations. There was a statue of the legendary griffon King Grover, its plaque revealing it to be a donation from the Griffon Gourmand Guild by order of its founder, Gilda the Great. There was a statue depicting an alicorn clad in Royal Guard armor, the Unknown Stallion. There was a statue of colts and fillies holding hooves in a ring of friendship, and one of a blind filly holding aloft a crystal snowflake. There was also a rather abstract piece that looked like a swarm of angry bees being devoured by an octopus, but whose plaque read ‘The Necessity of Speech’. Nocreature liked talking about it, but it was a Chipcutter original, and therefore… High Art. So, it had a place as well. But around one statue in particular, no flowers bloomed, and even the grass seemed yellow and dry. Weirdly, it had been placed as the garden’s central piece, and while the staff went over the work orders to find out if the Princess had made a mistake or not, it would remain ‘proudly’ displayed. Still, despite being freshly washed and polished for display, the statue, which depicted a changeling Queen, an elderly centaur, and a scared pegasus filly looked like it was perpetually covered in a light patina of grime and dust. It was quite a conundrum for the staff. Too bad they didn’t realize it was just a reflection of the rot within. “I spy, with my little eye,” Lord Tirek wearily intoned, “Something… black.” Cozy Glow tried… she tried gosh darnit… to dredge up even a smidgeon of enthusiasm for this game they’d been off and on playing for twenty years or so… and came up empty. She sighed, “Is it the inside of your eyelid… again?” “Oh my!” Chrysalis gasped in a voice that very really nearly approached within a country mile of a ghost of sarcasm. “Is the pony filly finally losing her achingly cheerful attitude? How will I ever survive this imprisonment without your cherubic laughter?” Six years. Six years she’d been using that joke, and even with months-long slips into solipsistic silence and semi-slumber to occupy the Terrible Trio’s eternal minds, it had gotten old quick. Unlike herself, Cozy often noted. Twenty years past their last, failed scheme to unseat the Princesses and rule Equestria themselves… and Cozy was still no older than when she started. A cute little filly. An angry cute little filly. “Oh gee Chrysi,” she cooed, “If you’re not gonna play along with the game, then you can just. Shut. UP!” “Never!” the former queen snarled back, “If I am to remain trapped with you for all eternity, then it shall be on my terms!” Tirek’s voice returned, with the barest hint of laughter lifting his tone. He said, “Ladies, ladies! I know we may have had a rocky start…” “Please, no…” Chrysalis sighed, resignedly. He continued, “But you shouldn’t take our relationship for granite…” Cozy groaned. “But I believe, if you two can just stop stonewalling…” “How long do you think this ‘Dad Joke’ phase will last?” Cozy asked nopony in particular. Tirek nearly burst as he delivered his punchline, “Then our friendship will be… Rock Solid! Har! Har! Har!” He laughed loud, and hard. He laughed. And he laughed. And laughed. And laughed. And laughed until the laughter turned into something a little more like sobbing. He sobbed, and he sobbed… and after a while the sobs became laughter again, before Tirek sank back down into the familiar fugue the three had been in for decades. Chrysalis sighed again. “I’d say it’s sad to see a mind go…” “But your mind went years ago, right?” Cozy offered, deadpan. Chrysalis grumbled, but said no more. She just sank back down into the darkness as well. And then, a few days later… or was it hours? Weeks? Minutes? Telling time was sometimes more an art than not these days. In either case, she came back around. “Cozy?” “Yeah?” “… What’s my name again?” she asked, her usual calm crumbling slightly from a nameless fear. “You’re Queen Chrysalis… same as last time you asked,” Cozy answered, quite used to this by now. “Oh… okay,” the Queen’s voice returned to some semblance of controlled, “I’ve just been screaming ‘Starlight Glimmer’ so often in my head that… that I might have forgotten.” Cozy was about to respond, perhaps with a withering put-down this time, when something else managed to draw a bare shred of interest out of her. “Oh hey,” she said, “Look. I think that’s one of the fieldtrips. Whole school of foals thattaway!” “That’s not very helpful,” Tirek harrumphed, “Still, more welcome than pigeons… slightly.” Cozy and Chrysalis momentarily dropped their mutual venom to offer Tirek a noncommittal ‘welcome back’. Then, Cozy’s voice perked up, ever so slightly. “Huh… that looks like Silver Spoon leading them. Guess she’s a teacher now.” “Friend of yours?” Tirek only half-joked. At least it was something new. “Nah,” Cozy laughed back, “But I think she was friends with those ridiculous Cutie Mark Crusader… foals…” her voice trailed off. Chrysalis was shocked that the yappy filly had actually shut up for once; so shocked was she that she became instantly concerned. She couldn’t have Cozy sleep now, not when they could suffer together instead of alone. “Cozy? Are you alright?” “… I… I think I turned thirty last week,” Cozy said. Her voice, usually alternating between sickeningly adorable and apoplectic, was hollow, little more than a ghost’s whisper in the dark. And just for a moment, it sounded as though she were fading away entirely. The moment passed. “Eugh!” Chrysalis balked, “Another traitorous, colorful changeling nymph. What has this world come to!?” Cozy’s voice, still weak, drew upon what snark she could and chuckled, “Yeah, not surprised. Twilight always liked giving the lesser races a place in her school…” “Hey!” “… And with her running the whole country now…” “Wait!” Chrysalis shouted, “Wait, wait!!! What… what is HE doing here!?” Tirek, naturally, asked, “Who? Who’s here?” “Who do you think?” Cozy spat… or the spiritual equivalent, considering she was a statue. “The one who put us here…” For the first time all morning, Tirek’s voice gained, fed by a sudden, spiteful swell of rage. “Discord…” “… and now, we come to the garden’s centerpiece,” Silver Spoon said with well-practiced words, having rehearsed every statue’s history to herself in front of her and Rumble’s bathroom mirror for a week, “Carved by Saddledor Drawly and Pinto Piclasso, the Prancing Pony represents… represents…” The words died in her throat. As Silver Spoon approached the… statue… she had been running her mouth on auto-pilot. But once she realized that she wasn’t looking at a world-famous work of abstract art, but instead a nightmare from her foalhood… well, Silver Spoon would later thank Miss Cheerilee for some of the more obscure lessons she received as an apprentice-teacher. One lesson in particular? Misdirection. “Oh my!” she gasped very convincingly, and pointed off to the side, “Is that… Is that Songbird Serenade? The pop-star!?” Every eye swiveled around to where she’d pointed… except for Grogar’s, which rolled around the dread ram’s head and seemed to ponder his life choices once again. Success! Ponies, especially foals, were weirdly gullible like that, Silver Spoon begrudgingly admitted to herself. But it worked out in her favor just now, so she wasn’t going to argue. While the class looked away, Silver Spoon leapt to the base of the offending statue. For an instant, the sight of it stopped her heart. It hadn’t changed since her fillyhood. She’d only seen it once, right after it had been ‘created’, and even then it had that effect on her. It’s so lifelike, she thought to herself, I can’t believe anypony would… She ripped her eyes away and stared at the base. The Elements of Disharmony, it read. Then, in bold letters underneath: REPLICA Oh, Silver Spoon’s breath went out of her, It’s just a replica? Well, that’s a good replica. Or… a horrifying one. Wait, if it’s good because it’s bad, then does that mean it’s bad at being good? Or…? “I don’t think that’s Songbird Serenade,” Goldie said doubtfully, “Her plumage is all wrong…” “Ponies have manes, Goldie,” Beau corrected. “What d’ya mean?” said Dib, smirking, “Those aren’t antennae?” Silver Spoon, however, was back to form. And, though it would take a bit of improvisation on her part, she was ready to roll with the bucks, as they said. Sure, there being a replica of such a… reprehensible statue had thrown her for a moment, but if it was just a replica, then all she had to do was smile and tell the little kiddos a story, right? She didn’t seem to notice how fresh and clean and new the plaque was. “As I was saying… this statue…!” As the class returned its attention to their teacher, Songbird Serenade wiped a metric gallon of sweat off her brow and sighed in relief. That was too close! How did they recognize me without my wig!?!? “This statue,” Silver Spoon said with just a hint of the dramatic flourish, courtesy of Rarity’s six-week acting class she took years and years ago before teaching became the goal, “depicts three of Equestria’s worst villains, who acting together nearly destroyed all of Equestria. Can anyone tell me…?” A bark of laughter interrupted her from the back of the group. Silver Spoon narrowed her eyes at Grogar and sighed. “Yes? Something you wish to add?” “Merely my condescending disbelief,” he laughed, “that Equestria could be so easily brought to its knees by a pegasus filly!” Grogar continued to chortle at the edge of the group, no doubt pleased at the implied suffering caused by something so seemingly adorable. It took Silver Spoon every drop of her self-restraint to not rise to the bait… at least, until she had a moment to come up with an appropriate comeback. Like, “Yes, I suppose it is funny how a filly came closer to destroying Equestria than you ever did.” The laughter cut short quite suddenly, and the blue ram’s shoulders slumped in a manner suggesting he did not have anything more to add to the lecture. “Ahem,” Silver Spoon cleared her throat, and continued, “As I was saying, this statue represents those three creatures as Elements of Disharmony. Can anyone tell me what those elements might be?” Near the front of the group, one colt chirped, “Are… are they supposed to be the opposites of the Elements of Harmony?” “Very good, Pinwheel,” she nodded, satisfied, “Indeed! They are the virtues… or should I say, vices? That pull us apart, as opposed to drawing us together, as the regular Elements do. Does anycreature know what these three might represent in particular? What are the Elements of Disharmony?” “Darkness?” an earth pony filly asked, even as she shrank away from the shadow cast by one of the nearby hedges. Dib and Moon shouted, together, “Evil!” “Chaos…” Flawless flinched as she felt Ann’s truly, truly most baleful glare hit the back of her head like a searchlight set to max. Frosted Apple ventured, “A knife?” Grogar whispered, “The Rack…” A dozen more such answers came rapidly, each one a little more… off-topic than the last. Beau’s finally snapped Silver Spoon’s patience like a candy bar. “Hangnails?” Silver’s voice, heightened already to carry across the gathering of chattering foals, cracked as she yelled, “NO! No, they…! Ah, that is…” she took a shuddering breath through her nose, and calmed. “No… my little ponies… the Elements that drive us apart aren’t… those,” one eye twitched, but she covered quickly, and began pointing out the offending statues as she listed what each represented. “The Elements of Disharmony are Fear,” she pointed to the centaur, “Ignorance,” the pegasus, “and Hatred,” she ended on the Changeling. For making it up as I’m going, Silver Spoon smiled to herself, this isn’t going so bad. I can probably end with a little history lesson… “… Which one did she say I was?” Tirek asked. “What d’ya think?” Cozy growled irritably, “Maybe next time you get turned to stone, try not to whinge so much.” “Next time!?” he howled with laughter, “If I ever get out of this, I’m done with Equestria. I’m sick of the villain game. Maybe Scorpan will take me back…?” Chrysalis snarled, “Oh, pipe down! I’m trying to glower at that… that…” “Not that glowering is a thing for us anymore,” Tirek sighed, “But what is he even doing here? Is he in-character or something?” “Wait…” Cozy tried to adjust her hearing, not as difficult a task as one might assume with stone, “What did she just say?” “Your Spoon-friend is talking about us,” Chrysalis huffed, “And she… what!? NO!” Tirek sighed, “Oh what now?” “I am NOT Thorax’s mother!!!!” the changeling queen’s roar could have cracked crystal, had it been at all audible… Grogar’s ear twitched. Something just at the periphery of his spiritual awareness had done… something. Huh… that was… interesting… “… Unless he was my son," Chrysalis mused, "I don't remember, actually... That's not a good sign...” “Yeah, we get it!” Cozy snarked and snorted, “Bug brain doesn't work too good anymore…” A note of mirth entered Tirek’s voice as he spoke up, “And what did she just say? Cozy was the most-evil out of all of us? Well, that I can get behind…” Cozy barked, “I am NOT evil! I was precocious! There’s a difference.” “Nor was I,” said Chrysalis, mentally projecting herself as the truly innocent, morally righteous Queen that she knew she was, “I only did what I had to do for the survival of the Changelings!” Cozy ‘frowned’ as best she could under the circumstances, “That one in the back looks pretty survived to me… hang on…?” She tried to get a look at one of the other foals. It was strange how… floaty her field of vision was as a statue. It wasn’t quite lined up with her actual eyeballs, and she could narrow her focus on some things… “I know I’ve complained about it before,” Tirek muttered, “but I could use a description or two right about now…” “Ack!” Cozy retched, “What the buck is that thing!?” “What? Which? Where?” “The… the thing that looks like Professor Fluttershy!” Cozy could hardly believe something so… hideous could even exist. Chrysalis gasped. “Oh… is that another changeling?” she ‘squinted’ at the creature standing next to the disguised Discord, “I’ve seen a few… let’s call them failed transformations, and that certainly looks like one. Though why it’s still alive is anycreature’s guess.” Tirek tried, with monumental effort, to roll his eyes. “It’s like no one’s listening.” “Quiet!” Cozy shushed, “She’s wrapping up…” Silver Spoon had the class eating out of her hoof. Sure, maybe a lot of what she’d said was more conjecture and half-remembered rumors… but nocreature really cared so long as the story was good, right? She’d heard something like that from Trixie once, when the former showmare had given a speech for one of Silver Spoon’s university classes. Never let a fact get in the way of a good story, she’d said, loud and proud. True… Princess Sparkle had subsequently driven her from the school grounds… but Silver Spoon always thought Trixie had had the right of it. “Now,” she brought all her little ponies’ attention back to the present, “We have a half-hour until we get to have a little lunch in the Palace…” A wave of ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ went up in time with a few appreciable hoof-stomps. “… so, you all have that time to walk around the gardens and take in the other statues! Stay with your groups, and we’ll come back when I call everycreature in thirty minutes. Have fun!” And with that, the groups began to go their separate ways. Frosted Apple’s group made an awful lot of sniveling and whimpering sounds as they moved off towards the Equus de Milo, depicting a mare missing her forelegs, which proved an eerie counterpoint to Frosted’s merry cowpony whistling. The other groups made far less fuss as they spread out over the gardens. Grogar’s group remained with the Elements of Disharmony, if only because Grogar himself seemed somewhat interested in the statue himself. Besides Ann, Moon, Goldie, and Cheese, the group also included Flawless Gem and Dib. Pearl and Shady had gone off with their parents’ groups, and Beau had been folded into Frosted’s. “Wow,” Cheese looked up into the snarling visage of the former changeling queen, “Can you believe our folks had to fight these guys, Ann?” The Ponequus floated up to get a better view of the whole thing. The statue was weird… but she wasn’t sure if that was a good thing. Normally, she’d check herself for thinking something so… anathema… but right now, she was also feeling like the statue was casting a sort of shadow over her. A shadow that went out in all directions, darkening the world around it. No. Not a good kind of weird. “She’s spooky looking,” Ann noted of the changeling, “Dib? You know anything about hew?” Dib’s normally bright orange chitin-armor seemed to fade as he took in Chrysalis. “Eugh,” he gagged, “Just rumors and stuff. My folks were kids when she was overthrown, so I don’t have a lot to go on myself… but there’s a changeling teacher at the School of Friendship, Ocellus. She’s a cousin, distantly, and she told me stories…” Flawless reached one foreleg over Dib’s withers and gave him a gentle, supportive hug, “You don’t have to say more, Dib.” He gave her a smile in return, and nocreature seemed too concerned with asking more. “Yeah,” Moon shook his head, “I just want to know what sort of trouble that centaur might have caused.” He looked the statue up and down for a few moments before adding, “I mean… it looks like a stiff breeze could have knocked this guy over.” “Shut up! Stop laughing! If I still had living hands, I’d strangle both of you right now!!!” In any other universe, timeline, or dimension… perhaps the elementary particles, quantum entanglements, and sheer vagaries of the winds of Chaos would have blown to the right. In those worlds, Ann and her friends would have moved on. They would have had a lovely time in the garden, a rather filling lunch where Princess Twilight and her friends would have made a surprise visit, and then they would have gone home, gone to bed, and lived long and happy lives thenceforward. This was not going to be one of those worlds. Perhaps, when aggregated, the random rolls of the dice would flatten out the chances and the numbers and the variables until those same outcomes came about. Perhaps all would eventually be well for Ann, and Cheese, Pearl, Goldie, Shady, Moon, Flawless, Dib, Beau, Frosted, Grogar, Celestia, Luna, Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Zap Apple, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Thorax, Silver Spoon, Cranky Doodle Donkey, Steven Magnet, Spike, Rumble, Discord, Starswirl, the Pillars, Background Pony #389 (the one with the mane, you know the one, yeah?), and on, and on, and on… But that was when the winds of Chaos blew left. And Ann had a thought. “She looks… sad.” Flawless, having been busy picking out which statue she wanted to see next (the one of famed sportsmare Messy Lion, of course…), raised an eyebrow at this sudden declaration. “Who?” Ann drifted in place, using her wings more for lateral movement while her magic simply told gravity where it could go pound sand, and continued looking at the statue. “The filly, um… Cozy Glow,” she said. Ann looked over the statue again. The filly couldn’t have been older than her… well, older than Cheese. Uh… as in Cheese, her friend. Not the dairy product. Was she always so stuttery when thinking? How odd. Cozy was small, and cute, as far as Ann could see. If she weren’t frozen in a horrified, existential grimace, she would probably have a very nice smile, complimented by those gorgeous curls in her mane. Or, the replica would. The real Cozy was probably buried deep in the Canterlot Vaults, in the Starlight Wing of the Restricted section of the library, or somewhere equally secretive and hidden, where nothing short of the blackest of black magic… or a bureaucratic foul-up… could ever hope to rescue her. But Ann didn’t really think sensibly about that sort of thing. Sensible was for less-Chaotic creatures. ‘Gut feeling’ was good enough for Starlight Glimmer, right? So, it was probably good for her…! Starlight sneezed. This was unfortunate, as she had just locked her office, sent the staff away, and was about to tuck into examining a fascinating crystal some of her contacts in the Crystal Empire had sent her. It seemed to hum with arcane energies not unlike the Time spells she had once studied so closely. While she would never willingly touch such dubious spellcraft again… the chance to study some truly unique magic for a few hours was too good of an opportunity to pass up! This was unfortunate, as Trixie and Luster had gone to the Mirror World to visit Sunset Shimmer, and had taken Starswirl the Bearded with them while Sunburst took the students of the School of Friendship on a tour of the tunnels beneath the Everfree Forest. This was unfortunate, because Starlight did not have a dainty sneeze. She smacked her head right into the crystal, and briefly blipped out of existence for a few hours. Which meant she would, in the blink of an eye to her, miss out on the entire day’s occurrences. Ann grinned. Having that random thought couldn’t be just… random, could it? Not with her. No… this was Chaos, and in rare form! Was her Cutie Mark just around the corner? Just past this one decision? It looked that way. And all she had to do was… what? Make a statue alive? “I think she should join us!” she announced, beaming brightly as she could almost feel her Destiny approaching. Dib’s jaw unhinged itself. He shook his head, as though he was trying to shake out the ‘crazy’ he hoped he didn’t actually hear. But once he realized he’d really heard what Ann had said… “Are you completely out of your mind!?” he snapped. Cheese nodded along, “I don’t usually say this… but why? I can get behind wacky shenanigans, but this just seems…” “Reckless?” Dib offered, “Foolhardy? Completely beyond the bounds of sanity!?” Ann smiled and shook her head, “Don’t you guys see? It isn’t weally Cozy Glow. I’m just gonna make the statue… um, hew pawt of the statue… come to life and hang out on ouw field twip!” Grogar watched his grandfoal with some amusement. His eyes swept back and forth between her and the statue itself. Taking in the sight of the statue was fine, for most creatures, but Grogar was hardly most creatures. As he watched, he tuned his senses to the unique magical auras of the world around him. Faintly, he could see past the stone flesh before him. Faintly, he could hear voices within the granite, alternating between howls of rage, laughter at one another, and even a mote of desperation between the strange, trapped spirits within. He laughed, darkly, but quietly. There might be some fun yet on this miserable field trip… Goldie gave Ann a look. It was the look of someone who very clearly had a bad, bad feeling about a course of action… but also wanted to give the one who came up with it the benefit of the doubt. Surely, Ann knew what she was doing? “If… I mean, as long as nocreature gets mad about messing with the statue…” “It’ll be pewfect!” Ann’s pupils became stars as she began explaining herself with more and more furious energy and enthusiasm, “We don’t have a sad statue anymowe, and we get a new fwiend to hang out with!” “But it’s Cozy Glow!” Flawless nearly shouted. “Nope!” Ann smirked, “It’s a pwactice Cozy Glow! We can make hew alive… and, and then once we help her leawn about fwiendship… we’ll be like the real Cutie Mawk Cwusaders! Helping ponies out with their destinies and stuff!” Cheese opened his mouth to say something… and closed it again. It… wasn’t a terrible idea. Philosophically speaking, anyway. It was a little disconcerting that Ann was diving into the whole… Cutie Mark and destiny stuff… but Ann was special that way. At least, to Cheese. Special to him, that is. They were each other’s’ first friends, after all. Flawless, seeing the writing on the wall and the stars in Ann’s eyes, sighed. “I want it on record, I think this is a bad idea.” “Nocreature cares what you think of this,” Grogar smirked, “If Ann decides she must do this, then by all means, I support her! Power is worthless without a means of exercising it!” “Gwampa!” Ann frowned, “I’m not twying to be evil or powew-mad or something… I just got a feeling about this statue, and I wanna fix it.” He chortled, again, “Motive matters not. Action is all, my child.” Though she kept up a little frown at that, Ann seemed content. She turned, and began to focus on the statue. There weren’t any strange weather phenomena, nor shaking of the world. To everycreature watching, it merely looked like Ann was meditating in the air. The fact that she was silently tapping into the endless gyre that was Chaos didn’t show in the slightest. At least, until the black streak in her mane turned white-hot. Had she been thinking more, and feeling less, perhaps she would have realized what was happening as well. As it stood, only Grogar understood that Ann wasn’t changing stone to flesh. She was undoing a spell, and one cast by several powerful beings at that. The fact that she was merely wishing for something to happen was all that Chaos required of her. As Ann focused, her magic hummed around her. While the gardens were large enough to afford her group some privacy, or at least break line-of-sight with the others, Goldie, Flawless, Dib, Cheese, and Moon were transfixed by the white flame that built around their friend. Even Grogar found himself staring at the display. This… he was shocked. Chaos didn’t behave like this. Chaos magic was always wild, like a live electric current set loose. It flashed and crackled, jumped and dove around and about. Discord made it look easy, because he’d had millennia to practice and hone his control… actually, control was too strong a word. Discord herded Chaos, guided it with stick and carrot. But Ann... Ann was consumed in white flame. A flame that burned steadily, rhythmically. She was now the center of a corona. It almost beat the air, softly, like a distant heartbeat. It hummed as though it were singing. Her mane and tail turned completely white, the black streak returning. Her eyes blazed with light. She was Chaos. “Ann!” Cheese called out, “Ann! Stop!” Moon joined him, “Seriously! This is getting freaky!” Flawless… sighed. “Called it.” And Grogar, allowing himself a moment to smile, couldn’t be happier. Now, my child, he thought to himself as the light consumed the statue, Ann, her friends, and himself, A true test of your capabilities. If this filly is as dangerous as they said… “We are most terribly sorry about this,” Princess Emeritus Luna tossed another boardgame into her luggage, where it rested atop a pile of technicolored shirts and scrunchies, “But you understand our plight?” Fluttershy blew off the head of steam coming off her tea, and nodded, “Oh, it’s no problem. I can’t imagine how hard it must have been to get those tickets.” While she did need to get going soon if she wanted to make the Friendship Council meeting… Fluttershy would admit to somewhat enjoying listening to the two sisters bicker. It made the house feel fuller somehow. If only Ann had a sibling or two to argue with from time to time... "Oh... where did that come from?" she asked herself. “Oh, yes,” Celestia rolled her eyes, “It’s not like they weren’t throwing tickets at us to get more publicity for their show…” Luna’s eyes flashed, “Hush now, sister! Thou… ahem, you are merely jealous that you weren’t made into the subject of a hit Bridleway musical!” Celestia frowned deeply as she packed her bags in Fluttershy’s cottage living room. She wasn’t even packing her own things by this point, instead blindly grabbing random objects off the nearby shelves and walls in her magic. “First,” she said, annoyance deeply woven into her words as she placed a lamp into her luggage, “I have been the subject of musicals before. Didn’t you see Less Miserable? Or how about Celestia? Lint Mane-Well really captured my voice, even in hip-hop verse. He's very talented.” Luna shoved Angel into her own bag, though the rabbit managed to squirm his way free before she slammed down a book on caring for animals after him. “No, sister… No amount of acoustics could make up for me being on the Moon at the time those came out!” “Less Miserable came out only a few years ago,” Fluttershy said, just a bit too quietly for either sister to hear, “Um… I think it was a metaphor for Celestia reconnecting with, uh, you, Luna… but set in Prance… is anypony listening to me…?” “Admit it!” Luna finally whirled around, “You just don’t care for the fact that Nightmare portrays me in a positive light!” “Luna,” Celestia growled, “I told you, I just don’t care for the music… but if we’re having this argument again… then I’ll just point out that that play makes me into an obsessive-compulsive lunatic…” Luna bristled, “You know I dislike lunatic...” “Fine! It made me look crazy, it implied that Starswirl was our father… through coercive means involving our mother…” Luna tossed her mane, “Artistic license, I’ll admit…” “And!” Celestia punctuated her cry with a heavy stomp that caused the whole house to shake, “It had the gall to make it sound like you becoming Nightmare Moon was about winning the Batponies civil rights! Ponyapples! I gave them equal rights! If I remember correctly, you were obsessed with perfecting Vampirism so they could eat the other ponies at the time!” “I admit, I wasn’t in the right frame of mind back then. I may have... obsessed over things,” Luna glanced away, “But it still ties the thematic elements together. Also, The Moon Rises is the best song I’ve heard in a long, long while. And they’ve got Countess Coloratura playing me…” “Rarity did it better,” Celestia shrugged, recalling Nightmare’s first show in Canterlot years ago. Luna frowned, “Last I checked, you got Autumn Blaze to play you…” Fluttershy sighed. She wondered how much longer this would take. She wasn’t too worried about the Princesses, all things considered. They would love Manehatten, naturally. And while she’d hoped they would be around to foalsit for Ann… Grogar could handle it. Um… couldn’t he? Nopony noticed, as this scene played out, that Discord was taking an awfully long time to come back from the kitchen when he just went out to grab Fluttershy’ sack lunch from the refridgerator. Nopony also realized how he was currently writhing on the floor in manic, magically-induced flailing. After a few moments, the Lord of Chaos stood up in a cold sweat. That was… a lot of magic. A whole lot of magic just… blowing out across Equestria. He could tell it was in Canterlot. He could tell it was Ann. What are you doing now? he shuddered. Feeling fluctuations in Magic like that was never a good sign. The last big one was… oh, the first Tirek thing. The really, really bad one. I could step out right now and take care of it, he thought to himself. It would take but a snap, and I could see what was going on. Ann wouldn’t need to do anything. Whatever pickle she’s gotten into, I can fix it. “She’s made her decision,” a tiny voice cut through his thoughts. Discord turned, slowly. There was a small window in the kitchen, just above the sink. Normally, it looked out over the garden, where Fluttershy’s veggies were almost ready to harvest. It usually had a nice set of polka-dot curtains covering it. Right now, it was purple. And stain-glass. And moving. Screwball met his gaze. “You make house calls now?” Discord hissed. The purple pony of Chaos frowned, a heavy weight on her heart. She sighed, and said, “I told you, she will… or she won’t… but she needs the chance to find out. It’s her story, not ours. We’re just side characters, NPCs…” “You know something?” “I… coming from outside of your dimension, I can see its timeline from an objective perspective, so I might…” “So,” Discord’s eyes flared to life, “You. Saw. Something.” The filly looked away. “Play it by ear… but…” the stain-glass began to fade, “I fear it’s up to her now. Remember, it’s her story.” Discord was alone. He stood in the kitchen, glaring daggers at the regular window that looked out over the garden. His paw had quite nastily crushed the sack-lunch for his wife into a super-heated clump of carbon. He quietly restored it to its previous shape with a flick of Chaos. Hopefully, the brownie would still be good. And not, he hoped, alive or on fire. The Draconequus worked his mouth and his jaw, thinking. He thought, and he thought. Then, he turned his eyes to the ceiling. “Grogar… Dad,” his throat clenched up, but Discord was good at hiding those feelings these days, “… don’t let anything happen, please…” He turned back towards the war going on in his living room, and decided he really didn’t have a choice. He wasn’t the narrator here. It wasn’t his story. He was a witness, at best. Normally, he’d prefer to knock the board over than admit he could lose the game… But that wasn’t an option here, was it? He wasn’t playing. Ann was moving the pieces now. It was almost the end. The protagonist had to stand alone. Even Chaos bowed to narrative causality, the force that made the universe operate along memes, tropes, and clichés. But… just because he wasn’t a main character for this… didn’t mean he couldn’t take another role for himself… “Dear?” he called into the room, “Would you mind if I tagged along this time? I feel like my perspective would add something to the otherwise dull proceedings…” For all its intensity, the flash of white light that had heralded Ann’s… whatever it was she ended up doing, hadn’t really made that much in the way of noise. The burst of magic wasn’t loud, in and of itself, and there were more than enough hedges and thick grass to absorb what little was created. And even the brightness of the light had been dulled, somewhat, due to intervening hedges, statues, and the overall brightness of the sunlight itself. Didn’t stop any of Ann’s friends from rubbing their ears and eyes right afterward, but at least no one had gone deaf for the sake of Ann’s fascination. Well… except for Ann. But it was a good sort of blind-deafness. It was the kind of blind-deafness that good, honest ponies came back home with from a day out in the… wait, no. No. That was dirty hooves and work-stink. Aunt AJ said something about that being the best part about coming in from a hard workday. Ann lay prostrate on the ground, that much she knew. She couldn’t hear it too well, but her breaths were coming out in ragged, tired gasps and her body was shivering from the amount of effort she’d just put it through. Somehow… she could tell her mane was back to its original black and pink. That was pretty neat. And all of it was going to be worth it. There was something… ineffable telling her this was it. This right here was her ticket to Cutie Mark City, population: Ponies! “Did…” she sucked in air like there was a shortage, “Did… it work…?” As her vision returned, she could make out a single pony standing over her. Pink hair? Yellow coat? Seemed familiar… Cheese sighed, “Ann? You know you’re my best friend, right?” That… wasn’t what she was hoping he’d say. “Um,” Ann’s eyes and ears cleared up instantly. She could see Cheese’s eyes from here. His eyes were beautiful, she’d always thought, and just looking at them had the power to life her spirit and remind her of all the laughter and joy in the world. Except right now. Right now, there was an unsettling amount of worry in his eyes. Cheese didn’t normally do that; worry. The only time she’d seen him like that was when his Mom got a little… too excited for something. To see him giving her the full Pinkie-containment look, it somewhat made her feel a little less sure about what she’d done. He’s probably just being Meta, as usual, she thought, a tight feeling building in her chest as she thought about his Pie Sense and how he could see the Fourth Wall like her Dad. It wasn’t fair… She glanced away. Best not think about that. She’d picked the course of action that would lead to her Cutie Mark. Ann was sure of this. She listened to her gut, to Chaos, that whisper in the back of her mind that pointed out all the ways everything around her could be different, and how. And right now, Chaos had told her to make the statue come alive. Isn’t that what Dad would do? The fact that nopony had ever told Ann about her father's success-rate with such plans was quite apparent. The Elements of Disharmony statue was obscured, presently, by a thick bank of smoke. That was… probably okay…? Ann supposed that, if it worked, there’d be a new, less-evil Cozy Glow somewhere in that cloud of dust and debris. And if it didn’t… well, it was just a replica. No harm, no foul. “I just want you to know that,” Cheese continued, snapping her back to reality, “Because… I think you really, really messed up this time. Like… Mom’s ‘Spaghetti and Chocolate Cupcake’ messed up.” Ann’s cheeks turned scarlet instantly… though whether she blushed in embarrassment or anger she couldn’t say. “Y-yeah?” she said, “But… I followed my gut! And… and my gut told me this was s’posed to happen. It’s… Destiny, and junk. We’we Cutie Mawk Cwusadews! I’m cwusading! “I mean,” she stood up, and threw an angry glance around her friends, who alternated between staring at her and the dust cloud, “Come on! This is, like… totally a Magic of Fwiendship thing, wight? Just because I’m making a fwiend, doesn’t make me cwazy, wight!?” Not a word passed between them. Goldie and Dib exchanged worried glances, while Moon and Flawless silently debated which of them was going to have to talk Ann down… and which would have to explain why the statue had exploded. Grogar merely hummed quietly to himself, his eyes never leaving the cloud of dust that hung over the statue. He never once considered Ann’s decision a mistake. On the contrary… he was excited to see just what she could do against a true, true foe… Cheese met Ann’s stare head on. They locked onto one another, Ann looking to him for… what, exactly? Perhaps neither of them knew. They were best friends… first friends, even. What other, closer bond could there be? But even then, she hesitated to guess what was going through his mind. And neither would find out then, for just at that exact moment, a new voice joined them. It was sickeningly sweet, as though distilled from lollipops and sunshine. So sweet, it was astounding that teeth didn’t rot in sympathy with the voice. It was the tender, angelic voice of one who could do no wrong, and who was just… so gosh darn pure and innocent one might mistake it for fresh snowfall. “Golly!” the voice said, accompanied only by the flutter of feathered wings, and a light tap as four tiny hooves settled onto the dry grass. A tiny, pink pegasus filly, with a curly, arctic blue mane and scarlet eyes sauntered away from the now Cozy-less statue, and shared with her newest friends a bright, beaming smile that radiated nothing but love and friendship. As far as they knew. “The magic of… Friendship?” said Cozy Glow, “Now that sounds like something I’d love to hear about!”