Twilight Sparkle stood on the threshold of an abyss. Before her was the portal device, a recreation of the same relic that had nearly undone Equestria in a single spell. There was no telling what revenge Equestria might want from her, in payment for what she had stolen. Then she realized her paw was itching, and she bent down to lick it clean. There was a process to these things, and she wasn't going to rush.
Of course the clock overhead didn't tick any slower, and the eyes of her friends on her were a reminder that she should probably be doing something more important.
"Thirty seconds," Starlight muttered. "Is everything ready?"
Twilight rose, tail high behind her and her chest puffed out. "Yes, it's all ready. All we have to do is connect the thaumic reserve to the portal." She held out one paw, inches from the oversized button. This was the one part of the device she'd made specifically for foxes, in case somepony else had to do this part. Except that we're completely guessing about all of this, and it might not do anything. Equestria might already be destroyed and we just don't know it yet.
"Give me a countdown," Twilight said, her feline confidence finally faltering. She was just as sure about what she'd built, but... now her creation had to save the whole country. "I personally configured that clock, it should be accurate to the millisecond. Get as close as you can."
"I got this," Rainbow declared, bounding wetly over to the pile of boxes. "The Wonderbolts are all about good timing." And just like that, she started counting. "Five... four... three... two... one!"
Twilight reached out, shoving the activation with all the strength in her delicate paw. It didn't take any at all really—the instant she'd bridged the contacts, power began to flow. The portal lit up brilliant purple, a mix of a thousand different unicorn's natural magic. This was the ancient solar council moving the sun all over again, and no less critical for their survival.
Twilight was expecting it, but then there was a bright flash in front of her, and she retreated with a fearful yowl. She landed on the floor a few paces back, balanced lightly on her paws. But by then there was nothing she could do to help one way or the other. It all came down to whether or not they'd built the portal correctly.
Even without her unicorn senses, Twilight could recognize when parts of her portal became charged from the gentle glow that suffused the runes she'd carved there. Gyroscopes began to turn, and finally sparks arched through the portal surface. This was the single moment of truth, where all of the magical energy left in Equestria might vanish in a flash. And once it was gone, it would be gone forever.
Then the portal opened wide, and for an instant she could see across to the other side. It wasn't meant to be large enough for a fox to use, let alone a pony. The plan was never to travel through, after all. Even so, Twilight could feel a sudden pressure, dragging her up towards the opening in the air. Or... no, her paws were still firmly on the ground. It was pulling something out of her—the Eevee?
"I don't feel so good." Pinkie dropped to the ground, her ribbons curling around her neck. "Wake me when this is over."
She wasn't the only one, either. Twilight watched them fall one at a time, her friends dropping where they stood. She wobbled on her paws, slumping forward. Suddenly she felt so... weak. I hope this means it's working...
Even her Alicorn strength wasn't enough to keep her standing after that. Twilight collapsed with the others.
Twilight woke with the sun. This wasn't new for her—ever since she'd first woken up as a cat, she'd felt drawn to spend as much time outside during sunrise as possible. It was where she belonged.
She wandered up her basement steps, past creatures still overwhelmed by the magic that had just swept across Equestria anew. She resisted her curiosity, and instead shoved through the doorways and out into Ponyville. Thousands of creatures circled around her palace here, each one probably waiting eagerly for news from within. These were some of the few who understood the truly desperate state they were in, who'd come to cheer her on. All unconscious now, just as Twilight's friends. But something drew her on, demanded she be here to greet the sun despite the absurdity of it all. Twilight walked anyway.
The crystal of her castle glowed brilliantly as the first light of dawn struck it, illuminating the map and a few other things she knew to look for. But Twilight wasn't out here to look at her castle, or even Ponyville at large.
Behind her towering palace was the same bright grassland that her treehouse had replaced. Someone was already waiting for her. Not the princess, though that was what she'd expected.
"Half of Equestria was looking for you," Twilight said, settling down beside the figure. "Where have you been all this time?"
Discord turned to regard her, a grin spreading across his face. "Did you ever ask yourself why the sun kept rising, with its princess grooming herself on a sofa? Imagine how much worse off Equestria would've been without any creature regulating the climate. Someone had to keep their hands on the wheel, so to speak."
Like that took all day. Twilight glowered up at him, but she didn't dare to question him. It wasn't like his contribution wasn't valuable. He wasn't wrong about how dire Equestria's situation would've been. "Could you have fixed us? You wouldn't have needed to take care of the sun if Celestia was still a pony."
Discord's grin widened. "Perhaps. I didn't try. But clearly you didn't need my help. You..." He hesitated, eyes narrowing. "Well, it looks like you almost got it. I'd never expect you of all ponies to be satisfied with a ninety percent. But I guess that's better than a fail, eh?"
Twilight froze, glancing back in horror at herself. What was Discord talking about? Then again, she'd been far too fearful of what had actually happened to her to take a good look. Now she did, remaining still long enough to take it all in.
She was a pony again, or at least she'd thought she was. Her purple body was returned, towering over the view of the world she might've seen as a cat. The richness of what her paws would've told her was replaced with a much-simplified view the frog of each hoof could let her feel. It had never seemed to be missing anything, but now... now she felt blinded by it.
At first she thought Discord might be completely lying to her—trying to panic her after nearly being the reason for Equestria's entire destruction. But then she saw her tail. It didn't belong on a pony, that was for sure. It was almost as long as she was, covered with its own fuzz of fur rather than a little nub off her rear. The fork at the end was entirely familiar to her, enough that she hadn't even noticed it there at first. The tail seemed to respond to her attention, and it started to swish back and forth, before it lifted behind her in a feline show of discomfort. So I guess I can't hide that anymore.
"I'll admit, it does seem a modest price to pay to get your civilization back," Discord went on, resting one claw on her shoulder and looking down with her. "But really, wasn't Equestria well enough off the way it was? If you hadn't found a way to reverse it, I was going to make a killing adopting you all out across the multiverse. Don't worry, I would've found a loving home for every creature. I'm selfless like that."
Twilight met his eyes again, then shuddered and moved away. Discord was no longer nakedly hostile to Equestria, it was true. But his shift in loyalty hadn't fundamentally changed his nature. He was still an eldritch being of chaos, with morality that nopony could comprehend. He probably meant what he said, and genuinely thought he'd be doing them all a favor in the bargain.
Twilight spun around to face him, then froze. Even with her back turned, she could feel the air rustling through the weeds and wildflowers. Not far from one of her hooves, a field mouse emerged from its den to gather seeds. A bird passed overhead, and right as she expected it soared in front of her, before landing in a nearby tree.
Discord was quiet for a moment, though his expression turned smugger by the second. "Something wrong, Princess?"
Yes, very. "You don't have to work the sun anymore," Twilight said. "The princesses are back, just like everypony else. Please fix me the rest of the way. I can't go around helping to clean up Equestria looking like this."
Discord raised a claw to his chest in a mock gasp. "You can't honestly be suggesting I give you preferential treatment." He shook his head. "Shame on you, Twilight. You think just because your invention spread more chaos across Equestria than I could manage even while I ruled it... you really think I'm going to use magic on you I wouldn't use for everypony else? That just wouldn't be fair, would it?"
He leaned down—or rather, was suddenly shorter, whispering into an ear. "I think you should take a good look at your subjects, Princess. Don't you think they should have a creature like them to rule over them?" He straightened, folding his arms together. "And besides, getting the cat out of you would be a nightmare. I'd have to cast the spell at least nine times. Thanks to you, the whole world is full of delicious chaos. I couldn't stay here and let it pass me by."
Twilight bounded a few steps forward, stopping on the edge of the hill where she could look down on Ponyville. Her own palace was close, so she didn't have far to go to see what had become of Equestria's population.
Discord was right. Even at a distance, she could see a spectrum of strange colors—Ponyville had never had so many ponies with black and orange and bright yellow fur. Her own coat matched her tail, but the difference for her was subtle enough that she hadn't noticed it. Not so for Ponyville's creatures. The strongest and most magically gifted of them would wake first, but soon enough even the little colts and fillies would shake off the magical disorientation.
Twilight spread her wings, watching nervously as creatures that weren't quite ponies rose one at a time. From the look of things, the "Eevee" hadn't been removed in quite the same way twice. Many had changed colors, but some hadn't. Muffins was back to as gray as ever, though she now had an oversized fish-tail that certainly wasn't going to help her already feeble flight skills. She distinctly recognized Apple Bloom rising from beside her older brother, with an oversized tuft of fur around her neck where no pony ought to have one. A few unlucky creatures looked like they still had a few paws as well, though Twilight herself had been spared from anything quite so severe.
"So either we risk the portal all over again, or we make do with an Equestria that's... what, half magical creature?" Twilight asked.
"Equestria was always full of magical creatures," Discord responded. “Be careful which doors you open, Princess Twilight. Civilizations that don't well understand the multiverse would do well to stay in their plane. Leave that work to the professionals. It's a miracle nothing worse happened when Star Swirl decided he was going to breach the tapestry and see what waits beyond. You're lucky Equestria still even resembles the one you know."
"It might." Twilight settled back down, watching as a crowd began to assemble. The ponies below—or almost-ponies—would probably be demanding an explanation. Would they accept “this is better than nothing”? I broke the world apart. Time to put it back together.