//------------------------------// // Ch. 3 Discorded Ditzy Doesn't Derp. // Story: Through Storm and Snow // by Phoenix Quill //------------------------------// The darkness filled Ditzy’s vision as she felt the world spin around her. Nothing made sense anymore, there was no clear up or down, no sky or land, only the darkness. Ditzy screamed into the nothingness as she flapped her wings trying desperately to keep the spinning feeling under control, and to hopefully keep from crashing into an invisible object. A flash of white light appeared in front of Ditzy, blinding her for a moment. She began to blink her eyes to readjust them to the darkness from the sudden flash, when she stopped Discord was floating before her, with what could only be described as a face that was trying to be serious, but had the underlining of a dangerous smile trying to break free. “Now, lets see what we have to work with here,” Discord stated as he adjusted a pair of red rimmed spectacles with blue with green polka dot lenses, “I need to check your file, if I may,” Ditzy tilted her head in confusion at the being before her, her wings flared out to her sides as she tried to figure out what he would need those for. “Sure, I think I left them somewhere back in my cottage, you know, that place that made sense.” Discord looked at her and tsked, “Really, you act like the laws of physics apply to me or something,” he reached down to Ditzy’s head and stuck his paw in her ear, pulling out an over sized file. Discord flipped through the pages as he adjusted his glasses with a smirk. “What’s in there?” Ditzy asked as curiosity took hold of her. “Oh, only everything that matters, your hopes, and dreams for openers, your fears and nightmares for finishers.” Ditzy swallowed with an audible gulp, that somehow managed to echo across the nothingness, as Discord smiled wider and wider at what he was finding in the folder. Discord looked back at Ditzy with his eyes narrowed and a grin on his face. “Well, in the words of somepony great I’m sure, 'Let's get this over with!'” Everything around Ditzy flashed again in a bright white light. She shielded her eyes once again to try to protect her eyes from blindness. She was not sure of what to expect, but one thing she knew for sure was that next time she opened them, everything would be different. Rainbow Dash trotted from the library with Rarity, Twilight and Spike beside her as she talked things over. “So, right now I’m gonna go over to Ditzy’s cottage, you two go on and get what you need for the party, I’ll meet you guys at A.J.’s place.” Rarity and Twilight nodded in agreement, and the three friends split off, with Spike trailing after Twilight. Neither Twilight, nor Spike noticed what happened next as they entered a store. Nor did Rarity see it coming, Rainbow Dash flew over Ponyville, with her forelegs streched out in front of her. Dash pulled up with a smile on her face as she looked straight up to the sky thinking about how awesome this was going to be. Something suddenly ran into her left side at an accelerated speed, causing her to spin circles in the air for a moment. Her eyes spun as she hovered in the air. When her eyes adjusted, Dash saw the cloud that flew so quickly past her. “Come back here you!” Dash gave chase after the cloud, forgetting for a moment that she was supposed to be doing something else, intent on catching and taming, or perhaps bucking the cloud out of existence. It only took a moment for her to catch the rogue cloud. She dove head over hooves into its soft, sticky, pink texture. “Gotcha!” Suddenly an alarm clicked inside of Rainbow Dash’s brain, as she realised that clouds are usually far from sticky, or pink. Immediately, she began to shake off as much as she could as quick as possible. “EWW! What is this?” She looked at a bit of the cloud sticking to her hoof, and gave it a cautionary lick, only to find out it was made of, “Cotton candy?” She looked around herself, and saw more of the clouds flying at breakneck speed all around her. Suddenly, a thunderclap brought her attention to one lone cloud above her. Dash looked up at it and felt a drop of liquid hit the end of her muzzle, “Hey wait a minute, its not supposed to rain until tomorrow! You can’t just...” her sentence was stoppted short when suddenly the cloud began to pour a brownish liquid all over her. “You did.” Rarity looked up at the strange display in the air, with a strange sense of awe and caution. “I don’t fully know what those clouds are doing, but that rain looks simply horrid,” she said with disgust in her voice. Rarity looked up to the sky as Rainbow Dash chased after another group of pink clouds, brown liquid pouring out of them like rain toward Sweet Apple Acres. “I think, I need my rain gear,” Ditzy still held her eyes closed to shield them from the bright white light. She could feel she was laying on something very soft, but was not sure of what it was, and that she was warm. Almost like she had been sleeping on her couch at home again. Ditzy opened one eye slowly and felt the bright light sting her eyes and quickly shut them again, she moved her hoof to act as a visor against whatever the offending source of light was, and felt something fluffy shift over her. She turned her head left, and opened her eyes again, very little this time, and waited for her eyes to adjust little by little. “This is not my beautiful house.” she thought to herself as she really began to look around. Everything was made of clouds, with very few exceptions like lamps and books that were on the shelves. Ditzy quickly jumped out of the soft cumulus bed, and began to examine her surroundings more closely. She crossed the room, and read over some of the titles on the bookshelves to herself, “Advanced Flight Techniques by Spitfire, Equestrian Tax Laws by Princess Luna, So You Think You Are a Background Character in a Children's Television Show and Other Physiological Issues by Black Shadows, who reads this stuff? Oh, wait, I do.” Ditzy felt a small smile creep upon her face as she looked around the sparsely, yet elegantly designed bedroom, before letting her emotions overcome her, and began bouncing up and down with a huge grin on her face. “I wonder what the rest of the place looks like.” Ditzy wondered out loud to herself, as she ran out the bedroom door and into the hallway. She froze where she stood, her eyes growing wide and jaw heading for the floor. It was obvious to her now that she was on the second floor of a massive house. If she looked to the right, she would have seen a row of doors for the other rooms. Her eyes however were preoccupied with the sight in front of her. A balcony overlooking the main room, over which hung a great chandelier with hundreds of crystals and dozens of electric lights shining brightly over the room. Ditzy slowly trotted forward to peer over the railing and saw a large sitting room below her. Tastefully decorated in plush red couches and chairs with gold trim, sitting over a large carpet with an intricate design. Ditzy walked down the stairs to the sitting room, and proceeded to take a closer look around, she walked up to one of the chairs and touched it carefully, “It’s real material, not cloud. It must have cost a fortune to furnish so much of this place with solid items.” Ditzy eyed a bronze lamp on a marble end table, and ran her hoof over it as she eyed the detail of how it looked just like Celestia raising the sun the way that it was molded that she held the light above her horn. “So intricate.” At last she turned and eyed the tapestry on the wall, “No way, I don’t believe it...” The tapestry stretched from the floor to the ceiling, depicting in great detail the Wonderbolts soaring through the air, and in the forefront, Ditzy herself stood in the full splendor of a Wonderbolt outfit, with a heroic pose. A pair of dark goggles rested over her eyes, and her wings were flared open, a serious look on her face. She sputtered some non words for a moment, before finally falling onto her flank as her mind tried to process everything she has just seen. “Spike, you're in charge of the library until I get back, understand?” Spike threw his claws up over his eyes in a salute to Twilight. “You got it!” “Okay,” Twilight said as she grabbed her saddlebag with her magic and strapped it onto her. “If you have an emergency, go over to Bon Bon and Lyra’s place, and they will help you out, if you really need me send a letter as soon as possible, alright Spike?” Spike nodded again as he opened the door for Twilight, “Will do, but only if its a real emergency.” Twilight trotted out the door, spewing last minute instructions to her assistant, “Alright, I don’t know how long the Princess will need us, but there's some bits in the drawer by my bed for you if you need them. Oh and also,” “Twilight! Calm down, I'll be ok. Now hurry up before you miss the carriage the Princess sent for you.” “Oh, right, see you later!” Twilight called out as she quickly galloped down the road to the edge of town, where a pegasus carriage would be arriving for her and her friends in a few minutes. Spike sighed to himself as he watched Twilight go, then casually closed the door and looked to the left and right to make sure that he was indeed all alone. He quickly dashed into the kitchen and opened the fridge to make himself a sandwich that would have had Twilight in fits over the sheer amount of stuff used to make such a “snack”. Suddenly a knock came on the library door, sharp and fast. Spike froze from what he was doing, and looked over his shoulder nervously, “Is that Bon Bon, or Lyra? Did Twilight send them to watch me?” He bit his lower lip, then three more sharp knocks came at the door. He called out, “Just a minute! before quickly shoving the towering monstrosity of a sandwich into the fridge, and ran for the door. Spike quickly brushed himself off to make sure that no crumbs betrayed him by sticking to his scales before opening the door. “Sorry about that, I was doing the, thing, with a mop, at the place, with the food in it, and...” Spike trailed off as he looked at the pony at the door. He was big, not as big as Big Macintosh, but big none the less. His coat was a dull slate grey, his black mane was cut very short so that it stood straight up like a brush, making his crooked horn quite visible. His mane might have been black, but his tail was paper white, and as wild as if it had been in a wind tunnel. But what struck spike the most about him were his eyes. Behind a pair of glasses, Spike could see that they were yellow, with mismatched red irises, and no pupils whatsoever. “Son, you know that it is most impolite to stare I assume.” he spoke, with a dark voice, a dangerous voice that dripped with authority. Spike shook his head to clear it before refocusing his eyes on the pony before him. “Sorry about that mister, welcome to the Ponyville Library, can I help you?” Spike said as he opened the door more to let him in. “Thank you, very kind of you to ask.” the strange pony said with a much lighter tone to his voice, giving him an almost approachable atmosphere about him. “I am looking for an, unusual book.” Spike nodded a bit and quickly found a copy of An Unusual Book, unusual stories for unusual ponies “Alright then, now if you would just sign here on the card, with today's date and your current address,” The pony held up a hoof and smiled a little to stop him mid sentence. “I think you misunderstood me. The book I want is a very rare book, not too many places would have it. Copies are extremely hard to come by, and quite expensive.” Spike’s eyes lit up as he jumped “OH I know just what you're looking for! Hold that thought and stay right there!” He then ran off through a door and down some stairs. He soon came back with a solid gold book, encrusted with gems, gleaming in the bright sunshine within the main room of the library. “Only Two copies in all of Equestria,” Spike proclaimed proudly, as he set it down on the checkout counter for the pony to see the title, A Very Rare Book, so rare and expensive you will never be able to afford it, heck even look at it to know what is inside. By A. Troll. The other pony looked at the book for a moment before breaking out in laughter, “Kid, I like your style. Even though I would love to watch you bring me the wrong books all day, I’m only here for a limited time, so how about I just browse a bit?” Spike picked up the book as he walked toward the basement he came out of, “Well, Ok. This room is all non fiction, back room there is fiction, this room to the left is the colts and fillies section. Upstairs is private, downstairs are rare books and must be handled by a librarian. Restrooms can be found in the fiction section, way back. And keep out of the kitchen.” The pony nodded as he took all this in. “Wonderful. Why don't you go ahead and finish that delectable sandwich you were about to demolish while I fiddle about.” “Oh you bet, I've been wanting one all day!” Spike went into the kitchen and shut the door. He opened the fridge to see his meal sitting there, just waiting for him. He picked it up, opened his mouth, and was about to take his first bite when a white flash of light caught his attention through the keyhole. He stared at the door with an inquisitive stare. Finally, begrudgingly, he put the sandwich down on the table and opened the door to check on the guy. “Hey, I saw a flash, did a bulb burn out or something?” “Oh, no nothing of the sort, Don’t know what it was.” “Oh, well, is everything alright?” The stallion nodded as he trotted up to the counter, “Yeah, anywho... I looked around and I did not find what I wanted, so I'll just check this out like you recommended.” Spike went into autopilot as he pulled the card out of An Unusual Book and passed it over to the pony. Horn alight with a magic glow he wrote neatly on the top line for a few moments before passing it back to him. Spike then pulled out a stamp, and stamped out todays date, and a later date on the card, and again on a piece of paper taped to the inside of the book's binding. “This book will be expected back in two weeks time. Have a good day sir.” “Thank you young drake, you were more of a help than you will ever know.” with that the unicorn took hold of the book in his magic to place into a bag at his side. He pulled out some coins and smiled slyly, “Here, a donation to help expand your collection.” He then dumped what looked like a hundred bits into a vase on the counter before heading out the door. Spike stared with awe at what just happened, and watched as the door shut before he suddenly yelled “Thank you!” as he waved to the stallion out the window. Spike watched as he galloped down the dirt road and turned into an alleyway. Spike looked at the coins in the jar absentmindedly before sighing to himself, “I never even asked for his name.” Quickly he scrambled for the checkout card and held it close to his face to read what his name was. As he read, confusion settled deeper into his brain than he thought was possible. “What kind of a name for a pony is that?” On the first line of the card it simply stated. Name, Q __Address,_Number One Equestria Ave, Canterlot Garden Apartments Apt.#1 Checkout 4/1 Due 4/15 “What an odd name for a pony.” Spike thought aloud to himself. After thinking about it he corrected himself, “Fits him as an odd pony.” “Nope, Nah, Negatory, Nyet.” Ditzy casually threw another outfit onto the floor as she rummaged through her walk in closet. “Wow, all these clothes and I have nothing to wear,” she thought to herself as she slid a row of clothes down the rack. “When there's nothing to wear, wear nothing!” she finally exclaimed as she turned to head out of the closet, before she spotted a rather elegant looking dress saddle. “Hmm, I wonder...” Ditzellia walked out of the closet with her head held high. She had settled on the fancy saddle and a pearl necklace to be the outfit she would make her grand appearance to the world in. She grabbed a bag of bits and checkbook, placed it into her pocket before leaving the room at an easy going pace. Ditzy had a natural easy going smile about her as she fluttered down to the main room and headed out the door. Only to be greeted by the tail end of chaos. Pegasus ponies were running and flying all over Cloudsdale, in various states of shock and awe. Some were carrying brooms and mops, or other cleaning equipment in hopes of getting rid of the sticky mess that had covered the fluffy streets and homes of most areas. Ditzy flew across the way to the nearest pony she could get to and tapped him on his back with her hoof, “Excuse me, but what happened here?” The blue pegasus turned around and looked at Ditzy for a moment, looked her up and down and gasped as he dropped his squeegee to the cloud below him, and tried to straighten his mane. “Oh, Miss Doo, well, I suppose you must have slept through it eh? It was bad, I mean it came outta nowhere!” The grey mare looked the blue stallion in the eyes for a moment or two as she waited for him to continue. After a few moments of him not saying anything else, but just looking at her, she made a motion for him to continue, “What came out of nowhere?” “Oh, well... these clouds, they were dark and heavy looking. Nopony knows where they came from or who made them, but when they came over the city we tried to move them, but it was pointless! The clouds would dodge us the moment we came in range, before we knew it they began to pour out cola!” “Cola? You mean, like the soda pop?” The stallion nodded excitedly, like this was the best day of his life or something, “Yeah exactly like that, It only lasted for a few minutes but as you can see,” he waved his hoof about the general area, “It did some pretty bad damage, all the cloud structure sucked up the cola and now we are trying to get it out before the interior of our homes becomes ruined from flat soda.” Ditzy nodded to the other pegasus and took another look around. “Are you a part of the weather team?” He gave off a smile as he snapped a salute, “Ma’am yes ma'am! Private Thunderclap, Royal Air Defence Weather Team, First Division, Cloudsdale.” Ditzy smiled at him, as he stood in as rigid a pose as possible, before she realized that because she was a Wonderbolt, she probably outranked him in the R.A.D. “At ease Private.” Thunderclap relaxed instantly as Ditzy hovered in front of him, and gave off a sigh. “Well, I’m just going to go now, and get something to eat. I guess I will see you around.” The blue pegasus nodded as he looked down for his squeegee, and noticed that it had fallen through the cloud, and was currently plummeting to the earth below at a rapid pace, about to hit who knows what. “Oh pony feathers.” After a light lunch, Ditzy flew around Cloudsdale for a while, looking around the city. She was amazed at how quickly the pegasi had cleared the city from the mess caused by the cola storm. By the time she reached the downtown area, everything was back to normal. The blonde mare landed on the side of the thoroughfare of the bustling city, and began to trot on the firm clouds that made up the road, looking for a new way to waste cash. She walked down the avenue, past several shops, occasionally stopping to look at something that would catch her eye for a moment, before moving on to another one. ‘Click’ Ditzy’s ears flicked back, as she tried to hone in on the sound, trying to figure out where it came from, “What was that?” ‘Click- whirr click’ “Ok, I definitely heard something that time, what is it?" “Miss Doo, over here!” Ditzy turned to the voice, and saw a stallion with a camera mounted around his neck, flashing a few times in rapid succession. “Oh yes, this is great. Tell me, what do you think of the recent mysterious weather plaguing Equestria?” “Uh, well...” “Ditzellia, over here! Tell us what are the Wonderbolts stance in all of this?” She turned around and saw another photographer was now on her other side flashing pictures as well. Soon enough another one popped up. “What brand saddle are you wearing?” “Is that genuine pearl?” “Over here, can you tell me if it’s true that you are planning to retire from the Wonderbolts?” “Smile, this is for the Equestria Enquirer!” Ditzy smiled quickly, as she found that a veritable wall of photographers had began to follow her down the road, flashing a new picture every few seconds. She started to back away, “I am sorry, I do not have anything to say about the strange weather, and I can't stay for an interview because I have to go...” She looked around to her left and right quickly, trying to find a way to escape the press. She found a shop with a pair of goggles painted on the window. “Buy new goggles! Yes, that's what I need. A new pair of goggles!” Ditzy slid open the door, and quickly darted inside, shutting the door behind her. The photographers took a few more photos and shouted some questions at her before a set of curtains closed over the window. “Darn vultures! They think that just because a Wonderbolt walks down town that they have to photograph her in case she picks out a pinion or something!” Ditzy turned to the source of the new voice and found an orange pegasus grumbling to herself as she fluttered over the counter and began to fiddle with the display case. After a moment, she closed the sliding door behind the counter shut and put on her most professional looking smile for Ditzy, “Welcome to Skyview Goggles, I’m Skyview how can I help you today Miss?” Ditzy looked around, nervously and kept her body tense in case she had to make a break for it, “I don’t suppose that you have a back door to this place, do you?” The other mare’s smile faltered for a moment, before she pointed a hoof toward the back of the building, “Yeah, its in the back.” Ditzy relaxed a little bit, “O.K., cause when I’m done here, I just want to make a clean escape.” The shopkeeper smiled at that phrase, “Oh, so would you like to have a look around, perhaps you need an accessory, or a new pair of goggles?” The blonde mare nodded as she gave off a genuine smile, “Yes. As you know, I always wear dark goggles, and I was thinking I would like to get a pair of clear ones.” Skyview gave off a warm smile as she waved her forehoof over the display case before her, “Well, over here behind the glass is our top of the line racing goggles! Perfect for aeronauts, stunt pegasi, and tornado team work. I carry a large variety of brands, and and styles. Feel free to ask if you want to try a pair on.” Ditzellia leaned forward and looked at the display case with interest, the well lit environment made the goggles lenses and rings shine with a high polished sheen. After a few moments, she pointed out a pair and said, “Let me try those on, please.” Skyview gave a nod, as she pulled out the goggles and placed them on the counter. “These are the Dura-Flight Five Thousand. These come with a one year guarantee to keep debris out of your eyes, and the wind completely blocked out.” Ditzy adjusted the strap before placing them over her eyes, and looking at herself in the small mirror. She smiled a little bit as she turned her head, enjoying how her eyes looked with the goggles on. She grinned to herself again realising that they haven’t messed up once since the deal was struck. Then she noticed that condensation began to fill the glass. “Hey, are they supposed to fog up?” The shopkeeper frowned slightly, “Well, that is one of the downsides to this particular brand. The company tries to make as airtight as possible. However it does cause fogging of the lenses if the wearer is into extreme sport, or has a high amount of moisture in or around the eye area.” “So basically, if It's warm outside, or I actually use these in flight I can’t see?” “I am afraid so Miss.” Ditzy slid the goggles off her face and placed them back on the counter. “Pass.” Skyview put the goggles back, as Ditzellia looked through the display some more. Finally, she looked over at the mare behind the counter, “Miss, Skyview, was it?” “Yes it is, would you like to see something?” Ditzy shook her head, “No, not really. None of these seem to be catching my eye, and I don’t know enough about goggles to know what I want. Tell me what do you recommend?” Skyview looked at the display case for a few moments, before she gave off a sigh, “Miss Doo, I am so sorry to say this, but most of these brands here have a high emphasis on style or general safety. You need something that breathes well for what you do, so the glass won’t fog up.” Ditzy looked at her, and frowned a bit. “So you don’t have anything at all?” “Now I didn’t say that. Give me a moment.” Skyview ducked under the counter and dug around for a few moments, before pulling out a box, “These are my own brand, I make them in a shop in the back, but nopony ever buys them.” Curious, Ditzy tilted her head at the box before her, “Why not?” Skyview reached in the box with a hoof and began to pull out the cases and laying them on the counter, “Because everypony wants a name brand, or what a certain Wonderbolt is sponsored to wear, you know how ponies are.” The grey pegasus nodded a bit as she looked at the little goggle case holders, they were bright orange, like sky view was, and in bold black art deco style lettering it proclaimed, “Skyview Stunt Goggles.” “I wonder what they look like.” Ditzy wondered to herself. Finally, Skyview had emptied the box, and slid it further down the counter before picking out a case. “Ah, this pair might suit you.” Ditzy pulled the lid off the box, a gasp escaped her lips as she took in how they looked. The goggles had brass rings holding the lenses in place, hoof engraved swirls decorated the rims with intricate detail of mathematical perfection. The straps were of a brown, stretchy material, but most amazing of all, was that in the space between the rings, and where the goggles would rest on someponies face, was a brass mesh material, that had holes so fine, it almost looked like woven silk, rather than the gleaming metal it was made from. “These are, fantastic!” Ditzy pulled them out of the box and strapped them to her head, and looked in the mirror, the lenses were crystal clear and the goggles fit snug, but not too close to her face. “How much are these?” Skyview smiled awkwardly, “Well they are hoof made in the back of my shop, and I have to import the materials from Canterlot. I am afraid to say, that they are one hundred bits each, and thats only covering the cost of making them. Part of the reason why I never sold any.” Ditzy took the goggles off and looked them over, then placed them back into the box, “I’m afraid I can’t take these.” Skyview nodded in an understanding manner as she started to put the cases back inside of the box. “It’s ok, I know they are too expensive,” “You misunderstand, I want these in silver, not brass.” “I mean I figured, sure maybe she would like them, but... What did you say?” Ditzy gave off a cocky smile as she leaned on the counter, “I said, I would like a pair if you have them in silver.” Skyview’s jaw fell open, and if it were not for the restrictions nature provided, it probably would have fallen to the floor. “Oh, uh YES! I mean, yes, I have some silver framed ones over here! Skyview fumbled about with several of the cases, until she pulled out a case with a black sticker on the side of the cover. “Ok, this one costs more because of the silver, does two hundred bits sound fair?” Ditzy looked the goggles over and slid them over her eyes, and carefully examined them on her face in the mirror, finally she nodded her approval. “Yes, I think that price will do just fine.” The blonde mare pulled out her checkbook, and quickly wrote the amount that was due before passing it off to Skyview. The shopkeeper then placed the check into her cash register, still smiling with genuine happy shock. “Well, I’m going to head out the back door, if you can just, point the way.” Ditzy started with a nervous smile. “Oh, before you go, can I ask you a favor?” Ditzellia looked at Skyview with a bit of caution before she gave off a shrug with her wings, “Sure, what would you like?” Skyview blushed slightly through her orange coat, as she pulled out a magazine with Ditzy’s picture on the cover, “Would you sign this, for my little sister? She’s almost as mad about the Wonderbolts as her idol.” Ditzy looked at the magazine and nodded a bit, “Sure, just let me borrow that pen there, what's your sisters name?” Skyview passed a felt marker over the counter to Ditzy, “Scootaloo, she lives in Ponyville with our parents until her she can fly better.” Ditzy paused at the familiar sounding name before she continued and wrote out on the magazine, ‘Never give up on your dreams, fly high and fast, and soon you will leave the competition behind! Ditzellia Esmerelda Doo’ Skyview quickly put the magazine on a shelf behind the counter and began bouncing up and down really quickly, “Oh thank you thank you thank you thank you! You have no clue how much she is going to love that!” “It’s nothing really,” Ditzy said with a nervous grin, “So... about using that back door.” “Oh,” Skyview stopped jumping as she walked over to the back of the building, “Yeah it's right over here, follow me please.” Skyview lead Ditzy back into a small room full of boxes, and signs proclaiming specials that have yet to happen. She opened the door leading into one of Cloudsdale’s strangely dirty alleyways. “Here you go, hope you come back soon!” Ditzy nodded as she took off, “I’ll be sure to tell ponies about this place!” As Ditzy flew off over the fluffy buildings of the city, Skyview walked back into her shop and proceeded to faint at the idea of the number of customers this alone will bring. Meanwhile, in the story you already know and love, in progress... Rarity wandered through the seemingly endless maze in search of the center. She turned about the corner of a path that ran parallel to the sky, defying gravity. She kept her eyes closed as she wandered about the hedge maze that grew out of a shear vertical wall, mumbling her complaints to herself, “I was expecting an audience with the princess. Not, out door sports.” Rarity, if asked about it later would have simply laughed it off and said that she was too focused on reaching the center of the maze to have noticed the stone wall before her. The truth of the matter was that she was so intent on trying to figure out who she would send a complaint letter to about the filthiness of the maze, among other things, to bother paying attention to the fact that a wall had materialized before her as she rounded a corner. Her eyes flew open as she took in the bright light glimmering off of three diamonds set into the solid granite wall before her. “Oh my!” She looked into the diamonds as a trio of Discords appeared within the stones. “Welcome to your lucky day Rarity, you found the one thing in Equestria that can rival my face for sheer beauty. What do you think? You like?” Discord said with an oily smile, as his eyes began to swirl with a multitude of color. Rarity nearly swooned over as her eyes reflected his, swirling as the greedy desire for the diamonds began to take hold of her, “Yes, I like very much...” Before she could enact on her wishes for treasure, a small voice in Rarity’s mind seemed to be screaming at her, “This isn't you!” She shook her head hard to come to her senses, remembering that she was an element of harmony! The very embodiment of Generosity itself! “NO! I shan't succumb to such fabulousness!” Rarity turned about, and began to walk away, but it felt like every step she took was laborious, as if she were trying to run with an anchor tied behind her, dragging her back to the diamonds. “Must, get to the center to meet the others...” Then she made the mistake of looking back. Pure greed took a hold of her as she zoomed forward to the wall and stood up on her hind legs, and raised her forehooves. She shouted out, “MINE!” as the color left her. Rarity then began to forcibly dig into the wall to get out the diamonds. Discord chuckled to himself as he watched her labor from above, and with a snap of his fingers he was gone, off to meet up with where Fluttershy was timidly making her way through the maze, to continue his plan of divide and conquer. Ditzellia gave off an air of confidence as she flew through Cloudsdale, laden down with several shopping bags. She had already been to several of the famous Cloudsdale stores along Rodeo Drive, and had bought several new outfits, and was currently wearing a particularly daring red dress with a slit going up to her cutie mark on her side. The top part of the dress was set up as two strips of fabric that crossed with each other on her front and back, leaving her wings exposed. As she flew over the street, she noticed that stallions were not so subtly staring at her. A few tried to act like they were not looking, but it was so obvious to her. Ditzy slowed as she touched down to land on the walkway, and gave her head a turn to a mare and stallion that were walking the other way on the opposite end of the street. The valley mare was talking to the stallion as he nodded in agreement robotically and carried her prize of big game shopping that she has caught with her trusty credit card. Ditzellia looked at them both out of the corner of her eye, and noticed that the stallion had began to look back over at her, a small embarrassed smile drifting across his face. She turned to look directly at the couple. Ditzy let her face fall into a sultry look and gave the stallion a wink and a smile before trotting off. POMF The stallions wings opened up immediately as a blush ran across his face, scattering the mare’s trophies of the day all over the place, where they proceeded to fall below the clouds to meet with the rest of Equestria below. The valley mare quickly turned to her colt friend. The stallion at least had the good graces to look ashamed for what had just happened as she began to verbally tear into the poor stallion before making him go down to retrieve the fallen items. Ditzy smiled to herself as she walked down the road with a little bit of a wiggle in her flank holding her wings up and open, ready to play a new game with the stallions. She strutted her stuff down the road, looking into the shop windows, giving looks at the guys now and then. She was feeling pretty good for herself. As she was looking into a window at a display of perfume, she began to feel the strain of all the bags on her back. A new idea struck her, and she wistfully said to herself, loud enough for everyone around her to hear, “Wish I didn't buy so much, these are getting heavy.” At once three stallions that were flying or walking around her suddenly rushed to her side. A chocolate colored pegasus quickly put on his smoothest looking face to try and get her attention as he tried to casually lean against the nearest building, “Sup, I’m Bebop.I couldn't help but hear you, and thought maybe you need a strong stallion to carry your stuff for you?” A yellow one flared his wings open as he stood next to Ditzy and cocked his head to the side, “Hey no way bro, I saw her first! Now, I mean.” He coughed into his hoof before continuing, “He might be strong, but he trips over his own hooves, let alone when he is flying. I mean, come on if it's in his path he runs into it. Now if you want to make sure you keep your stuff, how about you let me, Rock Steady, carry that all for you, huh?” The third just stood awkwardly, rubbing his forehoof behind his head. Ditzy raised an eyebrow at him before he made his opening line, “Hey I just met you, and this is crazy, but here's my number so... call me maybe?” He then passed a piece of paper with the number one written on it. Ditzy wanted to face hoof at how ridiculous this all was, “By the sisters, so cheesy. I guess I’ll pick one for the day.” She smiled at the three, before going over to Rock Steady, “I trust you won’t drop any of these?” “Who me? You kiddin? I can carry fifty of those things!” Ditzy smiled at him and leaned against his side for a moment, “Oh, you're such a gentlecolt! Thank you so much for helping me out, I shall have to, reward you when we get back to my place.” Ditzellia then gave him a sultry look with her eyes half lidded as she leaned close to him. That was all it took for the pegasus stallion to quickly unload the bags of high end clothes off of Ditzy, and onto his own back so he could follow her like a puppy. “Alright boys, the rest of you can go on now, shoo.” The other two ponies grumbled as they flew away one even remarked “Lucky.” as he headed off to do something else. Ditzy looked back at Rock Steady, and nodded her head in the general direction she wanted to go in, “Well come along. I’ve got a few more places I want to get to before I go home.” Rock Steady had a dopey grin on his face as he nodded eagerly and followed her down the road with his wings flared as open as they could get. Ditzy turned down the road, and heard a few camera clicks follow her and the stallion. She paid it no mind as she entered another shop. A few moments later she came out, and held the door open so Rock Steady could follow, with even more bags than before. “Thanks again for helping me Rock Steady.” “Oh its nothing Miss Doo, I love to help a mare that needs it.” Ditzellia smiled softly at him, “Well, I’m going to go get a hay smoothie, then head for home. Do you want anything?” Rock Steady scrunched up his face as he thought about it for a moment, “Maybe a boysenberry smoothie would be nice?” Ditzy smiled very genuinely at him, “O.K. I’ll get you one, since you've been a great help to me so far.” They trotted a block down the road until they came to a little restaurant with outdoor service. Ditzy walked up to the window and tapped on the counter to get the vendor's attention. “Excuse me, could I get one hay smoothie, and a boysenberry smoothie?” The mare behind the counter nodded, as she wrote the order down with her hoof onto a piece of paper and passed it to someone in the back. The roar of a blender came to life followed by another, in a few moments they both stopped, and the drinks were brought to the counter. “That'll be five bits.” Ditzy paid for the drinks and carried them in a box on her back. She trotted over to Rock Steady and placed the drinks on one of the tables that were scattered about the area. “Go on, place the bags on one of the empty tables, they'll hold up. Take a moment and relax.” The yellow stallion did so before taking a seat across from Ditzy, she passed him his smoothie before taking a long drag of hers and settling down, folding her wings delicately. Then she started looking around for the source of the near constant clicking of cameras. “What are you looking for?” Ditzy looked back at the stallion and smiled politely at him, “Sorry, but I keep hearing cameras clicking.” The stallion shrugged, “Well I would have thought that you would have been used to this sort of thing by now, I mean, you’re only in the world famous Wonderbolts!” Ditzy sighed to herself before she sipped on the smoothie. “I don't think I could ever get used to that.” She continued to sip on her smoothie before drawing her attention back to Rock Steady, who was quickly slurping his own drink down while looking through a hole in the floor, viewing the land below. “Whatcha lookin at?” The stallion took the straw out of his mouth to reply, but kept his eyes on the ground below him. “Something funny is going on down there. Mostly centered around Ponyville by the look of things.” Ditzy couldn’t help but feel the twinge run across her features, “Do you mean like ha ha funny, or somepony has brought the end of the world funny?” The stallion looked her in the eyes, then looked back down, then back at her before answering. “Yes.” Ditzy snorted at him, “Oh really what kind of answer is that?” She took her hoof and hit the cloud hard enough to poke a peep hole through to see for herself. “Oh, its a good answer.” The usually blue stream that ran into Ponyville, had decided to take on a bright purple hue, as the grass in the village itself and rolling hills surrounding it had decided to take on a black and blue checker board pattern. A few buildings had even joined in on the randomness and were floating a few feet above the ground. Ditzy quickly zipped shut the cloud, “Oh... kay, this is bad.” She quickly got up and threw away her smoothie, “Quickly, grab the stuff I gotta get home and report to the rest of my team on what I just saw.” The yellow stallion nodded as he grabbed everything as quick as he could and galloped after her before they both (he rather shakily) took off for the skies for her home to the south. Discord was feeling pretty good with himself. Actually, he was feeling fantastic with all that he has accomplished. Five of the bearers for the elements of harmony were effectively out of business, with one abandoning the rest. Ponyville was quickly becoming his own private utopian playland of chaos, and with the improvements he had made to the railroad, if the bearers tried to take it to get home it would take them a week! Discord smiled to himself as he watched Twilight Sparkle try to convince the four other ponies with her to follow her back to Ponyville. He reached into the nothingness and pulled out an over sized melting pocket watch. “Hmm, at this rate, I think I have time to check up on the bronies' favorite mail mare. That's right, I know you're out there. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to make sure that my little ditz is still following according to my plan.” Discord then disappeared with a snap of his fingers, as Twilight tried to convince what remained of her friends to follow her home. Ditzy was coming in for a landing a little ways from her home, when she spotted somepony by her front door. “Well well well, look who finally showed up. You know I have been looking for you, do you realize what is going on?” Ditzy ran up to the other pony and looked her up and down, she was wearing a Wonderbolt outfit, and had an angry expression on her face, what little she could see of the coat was yellow, and she had orange and yellow hair that looked like a blazing fire. “Captain Spitfire!” Ditzy realized as she threw her hoof into a salute, “Ma'am I can explain, I rushed here as soon as I found out!” Spitfire looked Ditzy over, then looked behind her to see Rock Steady was busy swatting at a rather large horse fly. “Yeah, well get into your outfit, and meet me at the facility. We are going to go over a few exercises until everypony that is available can show up. Just a few advanced flight for fight patterns before we go and see what we can do to help. Can I count on you Ditzellia?” Ditzy nodded, “Yes Ma’am you can!” “Good, I expect you to be ready in ten minutes. Get going.” Spitfire then took off for the skies and headed to the center of Cloudsdale. Ditzy opened the door and walked in, “Make yourself at home Rock Steady, I gotta change. Oh and just put those bags anywhere.” Ditzy flew to the second floor and quickly went into her room to change into her Wonderbolts outfit. Rock Steady placed the bags on a table and sighed to himself as he stretched his back, hoping to pop the bones back into place. “Wish this emergency wasn’t going on, then maybe I could have gotten to know her better.” The horse fly buzzed around closer to his ear. He raised his hoof to smack it away when a small voice came out of it. “Wait, don’t hit me!” Rock Steady stopped, as he looked at the fly. “You can talk? Oh, I’m so sorry I didn't know flys could talk.” The fly landed on the edge of Rock’s left ear and leaned his head in to speak easier to him, “No worries. Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Discord, I know what you want, and I can make it happen.” “Oh, and what do I want?” The fly chuckled a little bit, “You want to impress that Wonderbolt of course. Well listen to me, and you can, and maybe even have her for your own.” The stallion intently listened to the words as sweet as honey that Discord spoke. And as he nodded, his eyes began to turn into a colored pattern, and the yellow of his coat and blue from his mane quickly faded. “Now go wow her kid.” The tainted pegasus went up the stairs with a smooth confident look on his face. Ditzy finally lowered the goggles over her head, covering her eyes with the protective glass. “Well that wasn't so bad. Now I’ll just go down and give Rock Steady this bag of bits, thank him and head over to the Wonderbolts facility.” Suddenly she heard a knock on her door, “Can I come in?” “Oh, hang on.” Ditzy said, as she quickly picked up the bag of bits and went over to the door to open it, “What is it.” The faded looking stallion walked with some swagger in his step. “I just wanted to show you how much I appreciated being able to help you today.” He walked over to Ditzy with a cocky half grin. For some reason, Ditzy did not trust the look in his eye and backed away. “You flatter me, really... But, listen I have some bits here for you for helping me out, and I gotta leave.” Rock Steady winked at her in what looked like a playful manner, “We have a few minutes, remember?” He then quickly rushed her and gave Ditzy a deep kiss. Ditzy’s eyes shot open, as the realisation of what he just did struck her, and she bit down on his tongue before shoving him back as hard as she could. Anger rose in her chest as she stared him down, “What the hoof is the matter with you?! Get out of my house this instant or you're going to be in a lot of trouble!” Rock Steady looked hurt for a moment as he rubbed his chest where she struck him before a mad grin grew across his face, “Oh so you like to be rough? I can be rough too.” He began to get closer to her as he made to grab her. Ditzy backed off from him, a fear began to grow in her heart, blocking her better judgement. Quickly she grabbed a heavy looking trophy. “When a lady says get out, it means get out.” The mad stallion tilted his head as he looked at her, for a moment, it looked like he recovered from whatever madness had taken hold of him. Then he leapt forward and dive bombed down towards her. Without thinking Ditzellia swung the trophy and landed a blow to the stallions eye! Rocky shook his head as his eyes spun in circles, while he was out of it, Ditzy made to jump over him and run out the door. She leapt in a high sweeping arc over him, when her hooves made contact with the floor she began to gallop out, when she felt something tug at her tail. Ditzy looked back to see the face of a truly insane pony. “I am going to have you for my own, and there is nothing you can do to stop me!” Ditzy bucked as hard as she could hoping to hit his face, but to no avail. He ducked and quickly leapt and pinned her under him. “You will be mine!” Ditzy looked up at him, as fear took hold of her mind, “Oh Celestia, it can’t end this way, don’t let me die like this!” He slammed his hooves down onto her chest, pinning her to the floor with no escape. She punched him as hard as she could as she screamed as loud as possible, “NO YOU WILL NOT! NO! SOMEPONY, ANYPONY, HELP ME!”