//------------------------------// // The Roots Of Friendship // Story: Tales Of Friendship // by Bluecatcinema //------------------------------// Over in his home dimension of Chaosville, Discord was greeting another morning. "Another day, another chance for some chaotic fun." He said to himself airily, as he sat on his couch, drinking a cup of ice-cold lava. "But to whom shall I grant the honor of sharing that fun?" With a snap of his claws, Discord made a television appear in front of him. Conjuring a remote into existence, he switched the device on. The screen bloomed into life, showing an image of his closest friend, Fluttershy. She was at her animal sanctuary, Angel Bunny at her side. "Ah, here we go." He smiled gleefully. "Fluttershy. Always a sure bet." Before he could teleport himself to her side, Discord noticed some kind of commotion unfolding: Doctor Fauna had arrived on the scene, bringing with her a group of sickly-looking sheep. "This doesn't bode well..." Discord frowned, as Fluttershy rushed to examine one of the sheep. "Oh, my." Fluttershy gasped. "These sheep have the worse case of wool-woe I've ever seen!" "An entire herd came down with it." Doctor Fauna revealed. "I treated as many as I could, but there's only so much room in my clinic. You don't mind taking care of these, do you?" "Of course not." Fluttershy smiled. "We'll do everything we can to help these poor dears. Right, Angel?" Angel squeaked a positive response. "Looks like Fluttershy's going to be busy." Discord sighed. "One of the downfalls of having such a compassionate bestie... Still, I have other options." With the push of the remote's big red button, the TV screen flickered, and the image switched to that of Spike, who was walking down the hallways of Twilight's castle. "Let's see if the little guy's got some free time today." Discord said to himself. As Discord watched, Spike entered the map room, where Twilight was seeing to a lot of paperwork. "There you are, Spike." She took notice of her assistant's appearance. "What's up, Twi?" Spike asked. "Just some last-minute preparations." Twilight announced, directing a quill to write across one scroll. "My coronation is right around the corner, and we still have so much to take care of. I could really use my number one assistant's help on this." "Ask, and ye shall receive." Spike smiled. "Great." Twilight smiled. "First, I need you to send this official notice of address change to the Equestrian Postal Service, and then-" "Boring." Discord switched off the scene. "Who else?" The television switched to that of Big McIntosh, who was snuggling with Sugar Belle on the couch. "Gross." Discord gagged. "Next..." Discord flipped through more "channels", but found that everypony he knew was busy; Starlight Glimmer was talking with Sunburst regarding their plans for the next semester of the School of Friendship, Rainbow Dash was practicing with the Wonderbolts, Pinkie Pie was hanging out with Maud, Rarity was in Manehattan for a fashion show, and Applejack was chaperoning the Cutie Mark Crusaders' Filly Guides hike. "So everypony's got something to do." Discord switched off the TV. "But did they ever stop to think about my needs? Nooo!" He threw the remote out a window, where one of the bizarre creatures inhabiting Chaosville caught it in its mouth, swallowing it. "What I need is some new friends... if only for the day." Discord mused. "But where can I locate somepony who can appreciate my whacky hijinx and fun capers? Somepony who's up for some lighthearted revelry? Some fresh new face, open to a day of wild abandon?" He pondered the question for a moment. Then, he was struck by inspiration. "I think I know just the candidates..." Meanwhile, at the Treehouse of Harmony, the Young Six were attending to their homework, seated around the study room. "Was it Clover the Clever who came up with the time travel spell?" Gallus asked. "Actually, it was Star Swirl the Bearded." Ocellus corrected him. "Of course it was." Gallus groaned, crossing out his original answer. "You're doing better than I am." Smolder sighed. "I actually thought it was the Crystal Heart that defeated Chrysalis the first time..." "Don't be so hard on yourselves." Sandbar encouraged his friends. "Professor Applejack once said that we learn from our mistakes." "I don't really think I'm learning much here." Silverstream admitted. "Yaks no make that many mistakes." Yona said proudly. "Does that mean yaks not learn?" Suddenly, Discord appeared in the room, wearing the attire of an extreme sports enthusiast. "Wassup, dudes and dudettes?" He drawled. "Uh... Hi?" Sandbar said awkwardly. "What Draconequus doing here?" Yona frowned. "I was just in the neighborhood, and thought I'd drop by." Discord shrugged. "Hmm. I'd heard about the Tree of Harmony's new look. And it was all thanks to you kids?" He looked around. "Not bad, not bad at all. Remind me to call you if I ever feel like my place needs some renovating..." "Yeah, well, it's been nice catching up." Gallus said bluntly. "You know the way out, don't you?" "How rude." Discord pouted. "And here I was, ready to grant you the pleasure of hanging out with me for the day." "...Come again?" Ocellus frowned. "Sure, why not?" Discord grinned. "Yona can think of a few reasons..." Yona muttered under her breath. A tiny Discord appeared on one of Yona's hair loops. "Didn't those teachers of yours tell you it's not polite to mumble?" He chided, using the loop as a swing. "Speaking of which, I was hoping you'd be happier to see after my star turn as your substitute teacher." "I wouldn't call nearly wrecking the school with upset Scuttlebugs a 'star turn'." Ocellus chimed in. "You reigned them in, didn't you?" Discord pointed out, appearing beside Ocellus, his full height restored. "Thanks to my expert tutelage, I might add..." "One sorta-good experience on top of a bunch of not-so-good ones doesn't really make us eager to hang out with you." Silverstream pointed out. "So we got off on the wrong hoof." Discord said flippantly, briefly holding up his goat leg. "That's par for the course with me. When I first met your professors, I trapped them in a hedge maze, and tricked them into becoming the opposite of their true selves. And now we're all such good friends." He stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Now that I think about it, first impressions may not be my absolute strongest suit... But I digress. Let's get to the fun, already!" "Even if we wanted to, we can't." Smolder retorted. "We have studying to do." "Studying? Seriously?" Discord grimaced. "What kind of teenagers are you? Where's all the rowdy rebelliousness? The playing hooky? I mean, I'd expect something like this from the bookbug-" "Hey!" Ocellus yelped indignantly. "But the rest of you?" Discord continued, oblivious to Ocellus' outburst. "I thought you'd be all too eager to run wild. But it turns put Twilight's already gotten you following in her nerdy hoofsteps. So disappointing..." "So sorry about that." Gallus said sarcastically. "But if we don't finish this, we're gonna totally flunk." "So if you don't mind, we should get back to work." Ocellus said firmly. "If you insist." Discord sighed. "Far be it for me to ruin your academic efforts. I shall bid you adieu." Discord vanished in his usual flash of light. "Huh." Sandbar mused. "That was easy." "A little too easy, if you ask me." Smolder said skeptically. "Let's not look a gift creature in the mouth." Gallus suggested. "Time to get back to studying." "My thoughts exactly." Silverstream picked up the textbook she had been perusing earlier. For the next few seconds, the students kept up their studies. Then Discord returned. "Me again!" He announced. "Called it." Smolder groaned. "Wow, you are all working so hard." Discord declared. "You know what you need?" "A little peace and quiet?" Gallus deadpanned. "A study break!" Discord grinned. "Thanks, but I think we're good." Ocellus declined on behalf of the group. "Oh, come on!" Discord urged. "You don't want to study so hard, you'll burn yourselves out, now do you?" "I doubt that'll happen." Sandbar declared. "Especially not for Ocellus." Smolder smiled wryly, earning herself a glare from her changeling friend. "You honestly can't say you could spare five measley minutes to decompress?" Discord prompted. "Five minutes doesn't sound so bad." Silverstream mused. "Especially if it gets him to leave us alone." Gallus muttered. "Good point." Smolder nodded. "And it might actually be fun." Sandbar added. "Maybe..." Ocellus acknowledged. "Yona not sure." Yona frowned. "Studying tough, but,-" "Then we're agreed!" Discord snapped his claws. Before they could react, the Young Six found themselves transported to a beach somewhere. "That wasn't actually a 'yes', you know." Gallus glared. "But it wasn't exactly a 'no'." Discord smirked. "Still, we're here now, so we may as well..." "Okay." Sandbar sighed. "What kind of fun did you have in mind?" "So glad you asked." Discord grinned. The Draconequus snapped his claws, and the Young Six found themselves holding a brightly-colored fish in their front limbs. "What are these for?" Smolder asked. As she examined her fish, Discord squeezed his like a tube of toothpaste, causing it to spit out a stream of water, which splashed Smolder in the face. "Aahh!" Smolder yelped. "Heh-heh-heh!" Gallus chuckled. "Oh, yeah?" Smolder glared. She squeezed her fish in response. "Whoa!" Gallus dodged the spray, which hit Yona instead. "Yona's turn!" Yona squeezed her fish, landing a glancing hit on both Smolder and Ocellus. "Hey!" Ocellus yelped. After shaking herself dry, she returned fire. "Come on, Sandbar." Silverstream readied her own fish. "Let's get in this!" "Right behind ya!" Sandbar grinned. "That's the spirit!" Discord cheered. For the next few minutes, the Young Six and Discord engaged in the weirdest water fight ever. Before long, they were all soaked, but jubilant. "Okay, now that was fun." Gallus admitted. "Oh, yeah." Sandbar agreed. "Yona best at squirty-fish game!" Yona cheered. "Keep thinking that." Smolder teased. "I've seen a lot of fish in my time, but none as fun as these." Silverstream admitted. "Well, we've had our fun." Ocellus noted. "But we really should get back to studying." "And get to some towels, too." Sandbar added, shaking his wet mane. "We can't stop the fun just yet!" Discord protested. "You said 'five minutes', didn't you?" Smolder recalled. "Feels like five minutes to me." "Not according to my watch." Discord conjured up a giant pocket watch (with pictures of his face in place of the numbers). "We still have time for one more game, I'd say." "Okay, fine." Gallus sighed. "Just make it quick, okay?" Ocellus urged. "Quick, you say?" Discord mused. "That gives me an idea..." Discord snapped his claws once more. When the flash of light faded, the Young Six found themselves and Discord riding a set of Pigasi, high up in the sky. "Yona not like the look of this game..." Yona clung tightly to her porcine steed, her fear of heights as overwhelming as ever. "And what's this game supposed to be?" Smolder asked. "A simple little race." Discord pointed out a strange formation of clouds, which weaved across the sky in twin curved patterns, leading to a line of checkered clouds. "First one over the finish line wins. And no magic. Just skill." "Sounds simple enough." Silverstream nodded. "Great." Discord grinned, holding up a starting gun. "And... Go!" Discord pulled the gun's trigger. A firework emerged, exploding above them. The Pigasi squealed in shock, and flew forwards. "Whoa!" Ocellus yelped, hanging on for dear life. The Young Six struggled to control their steeds, but none more so than Yona. "Ahhh!" She screamed. "You really shouldn't scream like that." Discord called. "Loud noises really spook them." Sandbar guided his Pigasus over to Yona's, and placed his hoof on hers. "I'm with you, Yona." He smiled assuringly. "No matter what." Yona gratefully returned Sandbar's smile, a light blush on her cheeks. "Come on, slowpokes!" Discord chided. "At least give me a little competition!" "Dragons are all about competition, mister." Smolder rose to the challenge. "Then bring it on!" Discord sneered. As the race went on, the Young Six started to get the hang of guiding their steeds. Even Yona, thanks to Sandbar's reassurance. As the finish line neared, Discord was in the lead, followed closely by Smolder. "You've run a good race, little dragoness." Discord smirked. "But you can't beat the master!" "Wanna bet?" Smolder jeered. She knew magic wasn't allowed, but she had something else in mind: angling, her body, she started flapping her wings as hard as she could, providing enough of a boost to push her Pigasus forward, just enough to cross the finish line a bare about ahead of Discord's steed. "Oh, yeah!" She cheered. "Winner, winner, gems for dinner!" "Alright!" Gallus whooped. "Go, Smolder!" Silverstream applauded. "Nice strategy!" Ocellus grinned. "You rule!" Sandbar smiled. "Dragon best at Pigasus-flying!" Yona declared. "Not bad." Discord admitted. "Not exactly down to simple riding skills, so I may have to amend the rules..." "Okay, now we really need to get back to studying." Ocellus spoke up. "Yes." Yona added. "Yona would like to return to solid ground now." "Does it have to be... Solid?" Discord grinned. With a snap of Discord's claws, they were teleported elsewhere. In their new location, they were still a few feet in the air. They dropped, but instead of solid ground, they landed on a rubbery surface, and started bouncing up and down, like they were on the biggest trampoline ever. "Isn't this fun?" Discord smiled, as they all kept bouncing. "Discoooord!!" Sandbar yelped, hooves flailing as he was once again catapulted into the air. "Draconequus not getting 'solid' part of Yona's words!" Yona pointed out as she was catapulted in all directions. The winged members of the Young Six took flight, and caught Sandbar and Yona in midair. "Spoilsports." Discord pouted, stopping himself in the middle of a somersault. "Look, we really need to-" Gallus started. "Try something else?" Discord interrupted. "Of course!" Another snap of Discord's claws, and they found themselves in a field. "We could try digging for treasure... On Maulwurfs." Discord suggested. "Discord..." Smolder growled. "Or a good, old-fashioned fruit war..." Discord continued. "With creature-seeking ammo..." "Discord..." Yona tried to get his attention. "Or maybe even a dance contest... On soap!" Discord grinned jubilantly. "So much fun, just waiting to be had-" "DISCORD!!" The Young Six yelled as one. "What?!" Discord snarled, his demeanor changing from jubilance to annoyance. "We've had enough 'fun' for one day." Gallus announced. "We really need to get back and finish studying." Ocellus added. "You can't be serious." Discord scoffed. "You'd rather read some boring books than enjoy more merriment with me?" "Shockingly, yes." Smolder snarled. "Fun is fun." Sandbar admitted. "But it's good to know when enough's enough." "So if you'll just send us back to the Treehouse, that'd be great." Silverstream stepped in. "So that's how it is, huh?" Discord glared. "I take you on a day of fun, and this is how you repay me?" "'Take' being the operative word." Gallus glared. "Sandbar right." Yona agreed. "Yona and friends no ask for any of this." "Somehow, I expected you to be more grateful." Discord grumbled. "After all, if my regular pals hadn't all been busy, I would never have selected you lucky creatures and creaturettes to be my companions in fun for the day." "...Wait, what?" Silverstream frowned. "Well, of course." Discord said flippantly. "I wanted to hang out with all of my tried and true friends, but they were all occupied. I needed some companions to spend the day with, so I decide to branch out a little." "So we were your last resort?" Smolder scowled. "Don't know about you guys, but that makes me feel real special..." "Well, it should." Discord pouted. "I was willing to give you the honor of my company for the day." "Doesn't feel like much of an honor to me." Gallus scoffed. "I'm pretty sure you don't make new friends as a last resort." Silverstream pointed out. "And definitely not drag friends away from important work just to do what you want to do." Yona added. "We still have so much homework to finish." Ocellus declared. "And thanks to you, we have even less time to do it in." "Homework, homework, homework!" Discord mocked Ocellus by changing his face into a parody of her own. "Talk about a one-track mind..." "It's important to us." Silverstream pointed out. "If you really wanted to be our friend, you'd understand that." "So send us back already." Gallus demanded. "...You know what? Fine!" Discord, scowled. "You want to study so bad? Then have at it!" Discord snapped his class, and they returned to the Treehouse's study. "In fact, I think I'll help!" He added petulantly. He snapped his claws again, and entire piles of books appeared on top of the books the Young Six had been studying earlier. "There. Plenty of books, with which to study to your little hearts' content! Have fun!" Discord vanished, leaving the Young Six in the considerably more cramped study. "So much for our study break..." Sandbar sighed. "It's gonna take forever to move all these books!" Smolder groaned. "Where did he even get all these books from?" Silverstream asked. "I really don't wanna know." Gallus scowled. As Ocellus tried to maneuver over to the pile her book was hidden under, she bumped into another pile, which promptly collapsed on top of her. "Ahh!" She yelped. "Yona help Ocellus!" Yona made to assist her friend, but tripped on a fallen book. "Whoop!" Yona, as yaks are prone to do, fell hard, causing more books to topple. The result looked as if the Young Six had been caught in a book avalanche. "Great." Gallus snarled. "Just great." "So much for our nice, quiet study session." Ocellus sighed as Yona helped her up. "Really not our best day, huh?" Silverstream noted. "At least it can't get any worse." Sandbar claimed. Suddenly, a strange wind picked up, flickering the pages of books which had fallen the right way. "You were saying?" Gallus glared at Sandbar. A flash of light erupted in the middle of the room. For a moment, the Young Six thought Discord had returned. But instead of the Draconequus, what appeared following the flash was what appeared to be a translucent version of Twilight Sparkle. "Hello, my young friends." The apparition smiled. "The Tree of Harmony?" Ocellus frowned. "Oh, hi!" Silverstream grinned. "Long time, no see." Sandbar added. "Apart from, y'know, seeing the Treehouse all the time..." "What's the occasion?" Gallus asked. "I sensed some form of discontent amongst you." The Tree answered. "What has transpired?" "We just got dragged on a crazy detour by Discord." Smolder answered. "Who only come to Yona and friends in first place because Draconequus have no other option!" Yona added indignantly. "And left us with this mess when we told him we weren't cool with that!" Sandbar grumbled. "I see." The Tree mused. "And now we're behind on our homework." Ocellus scowled. "All because of that lousy Discord!" Silverstream pouted. "I can see how that would feel very frustrating." The Tree noted. "And it was hardly proper of Discord to draw into his mischief." "No, it wasn't." Sandbar snarled. "But consider this: out of all the creatures in Equestria, Discord chose to approach you to have fun with." The Tree pointed out. "So?" Gallus scoffed. "He still never bothered to ask us what we wanted. He just threw us into his craziness, like our opinions didn't matter." "I do not dispute that." The Tree declared. "But was it really all so terrible? Can you honestly say you didn't have any fun?" The Young Six paused for a moment, reflecting on the events of the day. "...I guess the squirty-fish were kinda fun..." Silverstream admitted. "And the Pigasus flying was exciting..." Smolder added. "But still, Draconequus should have been truthful with friends!" Yona said stubbornly. "Discord is a scheming, conniving creature by nature." The Tree admitted. "But he would not have come to you at all if he did not wish to connect with you on some level." "I guess you have a point there." Ocellus noted. "And loneliness is a painful sensation." The Tree continued. "The lengths one can go to in order to alleviate that feeling can be... Extreme." "That's true." Gallus nodded, remembering the act of sabotage he'd committed last Hearth's Warming, all to keep his friends around a little longer. "Sometimes, in order to understand the motives of another, you must try to see things through their eyes." The Tree summarised. "If one of you were left without your friends for a day, would you not want to fill that void?" "I guess so." Sandbar sighed. "Maybe we were a little insensitive back there..." Silverstream admitted. "Then perhaps you should strive to make peace with Discord." The Tree suggested. "True friends always try to work things out with each other." "Yeesh." Gallus rolled his eyes. "Now you look and sound just like Princess Twilight." "And like Princess Twilight, she knows what she's talking about." Ocellus pointed out. "Even if we wanted to talk this out, it's not like we can just stroll on over to Discord's home." Smolder pointed out. "I think I may be able to help with that." The Tree smiled, as its avatar glowed more brightly. "Here we go..." Gallus frowned, knowing that such a light show usually preceded something serious and dramatic. Before the Young Six's eyes, a portal opened up in front of them. On the other side was Discord's living room. Discord was sitting on his couch, wearing a bathrobe, and glumly eating from a tub of ice cream that was almost as tall as he was. As he lifted the spoon up to his mouth, he realized he was being watched. He hastily transported the bathrobe and ice cream away, and adopted an annoyed look to cover his embarassment. "What is the meaning of this?" He said dramatically. "You think you can just barge in on somecreature unannounced?" "Yona can't imagine how annoying that must be." Yona deadpanned. "And how did you even-?" Discord started to ask. He stopped when he saw the Tree's avatar. "Wait. You're not Twilight..." He frowned. Producing a gigantic magnifying glass, he scrutinized the translucent figure. A second later, comprehension lit up his features. "Oh. Hello, Tree. I must say, you're looking a lot more... Animated than I remember." "Hello, chaos lord." The Tree replied. "Please pardon my intrusion, but I believe there is a problem that needs resolving." "So you've come crawling back, eh?" Discord sneered at the Young Six. "Okay, I'm willing to hear your apologies." "Perhaps they're not the only ones who need to apologize?" The Tree smirked. "What?" Discord pouted. "What did I do that was so wrong?" "Dragged us off against our will?" Ocellus pointed out. "Forced us to play a bunch of crazy games?" Silverstream added. "No listen to Yona and friends when they say 'no'?" Yona frowned. "Oh, sure." Discord scowled. "Focus on the negative..." "Seeking friendship is an admirable goal." The Tree intervened. "But if it is not sought out for the right reasons, then it is not truly friendship." "You had me, and you lost me." Discord sneered. "I think the Tree means that you shouldn't have wanted to hang out with us just to kill time." Sandbar clarified. "And that friendship isn't just something that lasts a day." Smolder added. "Oh." Discord glared at the Tree's projection. "So not only do you look like Twilight, you lecture like her, too." Gallus let out an involuntary snicker, causing both Discord and the Tree to look at him. "Sorry." He chuckled. "It's just that I said that a little earlier." "I like the way you think, kid." Discord smirked. "Honestly, we did have a little fun back there." Ocellus admitted. "Before things went too far..." "But we'd have had a lot more fun if you'd just waited until we were done studying before throwing us into those crazy games of yours." Silverstream pointed out. "And maybe if you just told us from the start you were feeling lonely, we'd have been more open to hanging out with you." Sandbar added. "I wouldn't say 'lonely', exactly..." Discord muttered stubbornly. "But maybe, just maybe, you have a point there..." "And maybe, just maybe, we could have been a little more empathetic about your situation." Ocellus declared. An awkward silence fell across the room. "Tell you what, how about we try this again sometime?" Gallus broke the silence. "We're due to hand in this assignment tomorrow." Ocellus revealed. "Maybe you can meet us here after school." Silverstream offered. "Then we can decide what to do, together." Sandbar added. "That sound good?" Yona asked. "...Well, my schedule after today is quite packed..." Discord said flippantly, only to change his tune when the Young Six (and even the Tree's avatar) were giving him flouncing looks. "...But I'm confident I can move some things around. You got yourselves a deal!" "Great." Smolder smiled. "And you know what would really seal the deal? If you cleaned up..." She indicated all the extra books. "All of this." "Consider it done." Discord snapped his claws, and the extra books vanished. "Now then, guess I should leave you to your studying. That is what friends do, isn't it?" "That's what our teachers keep telling us." Silverstream joked. "Until next time, new friends." Discord pulled all the Young Six into an overly-affectionate hug, then vanished once more. "Okay." Gallus brushed off his feathers. "Guess us hanging out with Discord is a thing now." "But is it a good thing, or a bad thing?" Smolder asked. "Yona really not sure." Yona shrugged. "At least everything's been straightened out." Sandbar noted. "I think our professors would be proud of us for that." "Well, we didn't do it all by ourselves." Ocellus pointed out. "True." Silverstream nodded, turning to the Tree of Harmony's projection. "Thanks for helping us out... Again." "As I told you before, all friendships will be safe inside these walls." The Tree smiled. "And if need be, new friendships will be given the assistance needed to grow into something more. Whenever you need guidance, I will be there to provide it." "Just one more thing you have in common with Princess Twilight." Sandbar grinned. "Lucky for us, right?" Silverstream beamed. The Tree's projection gave them one last smile, before vanishing. "And now we can finally get back to our homework." Smolder declared. "Never thought that idea would make me so glad..." Gallus joked. The Young Six returned to their studies. After the unusual day they'd had, it felt good for them to deal with some more down-to-earth matters. But at the same time, they felt satisfaction at having forged a new (if unconventional) friendship, and they were actually looking forward to their next encounter with the spirit of chaos, with all the craziness that encounter would entail. Meanwhile, back in Chaosville, Discord was observing the Young Six studying via his TV. With a smile, he pushed the button on his remote marked "favorites". "I think this is the beginning of something special." He grinned at the image on the screen. "Like teachers, like students..."