//------------------------------// // What Rules? // Story: Breaking the Rules // by PonyPixel //------------------------------// It was another typical day at school. The student six were walking and talking about some stuff as usual until they could see some students crowding around the bulletin board. Curious, they decided to take a look. “What’s going on here?” Ocellus asked. “It’s this weird sign up sheet,” Tanzanite replied, “it’s something about a lesson from Professor Fluttershy’s friend.” “Really!?” Gallus exclaimed, “Let us see that.” The six managed to get a closer look, thanks to their flight and Yona was able to shove some out of the way, whether intentional or not. The sheet looked like whoever wrote couldn’t decide which font they wanted. It read, “If you’re wanting to have a bit more fun, sign up for a lesson made by an interesting friend of Professor Fluttershy. Just brace yourselves.” “What does this even mean?” Silverstream questioned. “I don’t know,” a navy blue hippogriff admitted, “Whatever it is, I’m not going to find out.” He started walking away, leaving the sign up for the other students. “Well, Deep Sea isn’t interested,” Sandbar commented. “We can still check it out.” “You sure that’s a good idea?” Smolder asked. “Well, we’ve faced stuff that no normal teenager should face,” Gallus stated. “I think we’ll handle this.” With that, Gallus grabbed the pen and he and his friends were the first six to sign up. “Sure hope they didn't put too much effort into this.” Once they left, a couple of students decided to be brave and sign up for themselves. The next day, after school, the students that signed up were in the biggest classroom. Normally, this is where they would have their final lesson of the day or detention. On the chalkboard, there looked to be a whole set of drawings of different animals: a lion, an eagle, a deer, an alligator, a bat, a dragon, and way more. “What’s all of this?” Kelpie questioned. “Not a clue,” Emerald admitted, “don’t know what’s with these drawings.” Garry flew up to get a closer look at the pictures. The chalk looked a little thick. He touched one of the eagle’s talons and it moved. “Hey, it moved!” he alerted. “This isn’t a part of the board,” “So, this look like puzzle?” Frida asked. “…Maybe,” Ocellus said. She flew up and tried to move another part of the drawing of an eagle, only to have the chalk rub off. Only a few of the body parts were able to move. After a few minutes of confusion, the students managed to get one body part from each creature that was on the drawing. “This doesn’t make any sense,” Emerald commented. “What are we supposed to do with these?” Gallus looked at the different body parts and then remembered something. He took the snake tail, deer hoof, and the lizard leg. They each made a “snap!” sound once they got together. “Sandbar, girls. Does this look familiar to you?” he asked. “Yeah,” Silverstream replied, “I think I know.” While the other students didn’t understand what he was talking about, the six started making quick work of the puzzle. They had to use some chalk to help complete some of the missing parts, they managed to make the pieces into a hodgepodge of a creature. “The heck is that?” Garry questioned. “It’s a draconequus,” Ocellus explained. “It’s got the head of a pony and all sorts of body parts.” “Very good,” the drawing commented. This frightened many of the students except for six of them. “Did he just…talk!?” Kelpie frightenly exclaimed. “Sorry for the scare, but would you mind stepping back from the board.” The students did as they were told, bracing themselves. “I bet that board’s going to explode in confetti,” Gallus guessed. They all backed up until they got to their seats. “And three, two, one.” “Hello,” a voice said from the side. This caught the griffon off guard. Sitting on one of Yona’s braids like a swing, there was a little draconequus. “Do you really think I’m that predictable?” “No,” Gallus replied, “Not really” “Who are you anyways?” Emerald questioned. With a snap of his fingers and a bright flash, the draconequus was now much bigger as he stood in front of the students. “Allow me to introduce myself,” he said. “My name is Discord. I’ve been around this school before you guys came by, though that’s something we don’t like talking about.” “Agreed,” Smolder said under her breath. “Question. What is... Draconequus?” Frida asked. “Simply, I’m chaotic!” Discord explained. To demonstrate this, he snapped his claw and summoned a cloud made of cotton candy. He then summoned some glasses and filled them with chocolate milk rain. “Would you like some?” Silverstream and Yona both nodded and both were given a drink. “Anyone else?” One of the hippogriffs raised her paw. She had violet feathers and a white mane, and her claws, hooves, and eyes were lavender. “I’d like to give it a try,” she said. “Sure. And your name is?” “My name’s Gleaming Pearl. Though, I prefer to just be called Pearl.” Discord handed a glass over to her and once she took a sip, Pearl’s eyes widened. “Wow! This stuff is great.” “Try the cloud. It’s made of cotton candy.” He broke a piece off and handed it to Pearl, which she started nibbling on. “So……, you can make snacks, right?” Tanzanite asked. “Way more than that.” Thinking for a second, Discord thought of something. “Gallus, may I borrow your wings?” The students were confused by this. “Okay, only if you give them back,” the griffon responded. The draconequus nodded. He grabbed Gallus’s wings and they popped off. With that, he then placed them onto Sandbar’s back. “Uh, what are you doing?” the earth pony turned pegasus asked. “Just trying something out,” Discord explained. “Give them a try.” A little worried, Sandbar stood up and managed to give Gallus’s wings a flap. He managed to get airborne... Only to smash into the chalkboard. “That went way better in my head.” “I’m okay,” Sandbar stated. “I’ve been through worse.” “Would you like to give Gallus his wings back?” “Please do,” Gallus said. Discord did so and took the wings from Sandbar and gave them back to Gallus. “Is this the best you can do, Discord?” “...Are you…challenging me?” “I think he is,” the drawing Discord said. “Hmm. Then what would you suggest?” “How about a game?” “A game, you said? So many to choose from.” Their attention was then grabbed by the door opening. “Sorry I’m late, Discord,” Fluttershy apologized. She looked over to see the activities had already started. “Oh, hello everycreature.” “Professor Fluttershy,” Emerald said, raising her claw, “Can you please explain what’s going on?” “I’m just helping Discord feel a little better about some mistakes he’s made in the past,” she said, walking towards him. “Please don’t talk about that,” Discord begged. “Sorry. Now, as you could see, Discord can practically create anything that comes to mind.” The draconequus snapped his claws and made a living piñata appear. It promptly sneezed out some candy. “Gesundheit,” Discord said to the piñata, then turned back to the students. “If you can think of anything, I can make it,” “Like, a crystal statue that’s the size of me?” Tanzanite asked. With a snap, a statue of the dragon appeared beside him. “Sweet!” “Come on, give me something mind-blowing. The skies are the limit.” The students thought for a moment before Silverstream could think of something. “How about a tap-dancing pelican wearing a cap with Princess Twilight’s cutie mark on while it's on a set of giant bongos,” she said rapidly. “Now we’re talking.” Discord snapped Silverstream’s suggestion and the tap-dancing pelican fitting her description. Some students even laughed at the dancing pelican because of the way it danced. “Okay, that’s hilarious,” Garry said, with a chuckle. “I have a suggestion. Can you make an obstacle course?” Discord simply smiled and with a snap of his claws, he turned the room in an obstacle course for creatures like griffons to fly through. “Alright!” he exclaimed. Garry promptly took off and started flying through the swinging hoops. Gallus and Silverstream joined in. “Garry, wait for me,” Silverstream called, joining Garry flying through the obstacle course. “Me too,” Gallus said. Other winged-students also joined them, including Smolder. “This is going better than I thought,” the draconequus whispered. “I told you’d feel better after this,” Fluttershy said. Discord then looked towards Yona, Sandbar, and Frida. Then he noticed a drawn version of Discord drawing some wings. “Oh, you’re one step ahead of me,” the real Discord said. He managed to pull the drawn wings off the wall and the good flap managed to turn into the real thing. He managed to get them into three pairs and gave them each one to the flightless students. “Wait. Yaks fly now?” Yona questioned. Frida shrugged. “Give it a shot.” Sandbar gave his wings a flap and didn’t bump into anything this time, though he had a hard time hovering. Yona and Frida both struggled to get airborne, but Discord did make their wings bigger to compensate for this. “Oh! This is so amazing,” Silverstream cooed. “Now we can all fly.” Yona smiled at the idea. “You have to admit, Frida,” Pearl said. “It’s pretty cool that you can fly.” “Yaks not meant to fly,” Frida stated. “Look, it’s easy. You just...” Before Pearl could finish, Frida lost control and flew backward. She bumped into Yona causing her to land on Discord and crushing his lion claw. The draconequus screamed in pain before the yak stood up. “Yona sorry,” the yak apologized. “It’s okay.” “Discord! Are you okay?” Fluttershy cried. “Just... Fine...” Discord replied. “Just need a little...” He paused when his claw started letting out some sparks. “Uh oh.” “What’s going on?” Ocellus asked. “Um, I’m not sure.” The sparks from the lion claw were getting more intense. “I think it’s... Maybe... HIT THE DECK!!!” Fluttershy and the students listened to his warning and darted towards the door. Just as they closed it, there was a flash so bright, it engulfed the entire school. When they finally could see the school looked...very different. The walls looked like various different bits of wrapping paper and the pillars looked like they were made of candy canes. The floor looked and felt just like bubble gum, which Yona and Frida started sinking into. “What’s going on?” Emerald questioned. “Uhh……a little help here!” Yona yelled. Emerald and Smolder helped lift Yona out of the gum, while Gallus and Pearl helped Frida and Tanzanite helped Sandbar. “This is not good,” Fluttershy said, feeling worried on what she saw. Fluttershy opened the classroom door to find Discord cringing in pain. “Discord!” she cried. She flew over to see if her friend was alright. The other students also went in with her. “Oh, Fluttershy,” Discord groaned. “I feel like I’ve been turned inside out.” “Can you explain why the school’s made of candy now?” Gallus asked. “Wait, what?” Fluttershy helped him and showed the chaos the school was in. Discord was in shock . “Oh, dear.” He snapped his falcon talon to change the school back to normal. However, he only coated it all in ice, which make the students slip. “Not good.” “Discord, what’s going on?” Smolder questioned. “I don’t know. This has never happened to me before.” Fluttershy then saw his lion claw was injured, with his magic leaking out like blood. “It's your broken claw,” Fluttershy commented. The draconequus looked at his injured claw and could see some sparks coming from the broken points. “You’re not far off. I think my magic is looking like a leaky pipe. The sink it’s connected to can’t work properly unless the leak is patched.” After saying this, Fluttershy’s wings started flapping on their own. Suddenly, they popped off her back and flew away. The students’ wings started following suit. “What the... Get back here!” Garry cried as he gave chase. “Please tell us how you can control this,” Ocellus begged. “Look, all I can say right now is catch those wings,” Discord said. Taking a deep breath, Discord managed to create some ice skates and butterfly nets. “I’m going to see if I can get this fixed.” The students nodded and placed on their skates before grabbing the nets and skating after the wings. “Good luck!” Fluttershy cried. She and Discord looked at each feeling worried. The students slowly started gaining on the runaway wings. Garry was struggling to follow as his lack of skate made slip all over the place. Frida managed to pick him up and continued on their quest. The wings split up when they got a junction, so the students split up as well. Sandbar and Yona’s team quickly came across Pate and Shimmy Shake, who were having their own predicament. The mare’s mane and tail were spinning like helicopter blades and she was stuck in the air. Pate was trying his hardest to get her down, but the spinning hair was too strong. “Guys, a little help here?” he requested. “I... I have no idea what’s going on.” “We’ll get you down!” Sandbar shouted, then called Smolder, who’s still catching their wings. “Smolder!” he called, “Need a boost, please!” He and Smolder helped Yona push up so her weight could help pull the flying mare down. “Thanks for helping, guys,” Pate said to them, “Can you explain what’s happening here?” “Discord’s magic’s out of control,” Sandbar informed. “Wait, you mean that hodgepodge?” Shimmy questioned. “Actually, Discord trying to make up,” Yona said. “Though, Yona break claw.” “Wait, you broke his claw?” “On accident, to be precise,” Smolder added. “I see.” “Now look, did you see those wings fly by?” she asked. “Um…yeah,” Pate replied. “It would explain why the floor started turning into ice.” Suddenly, the wings are starting to fly out of the room. “Our wings are leaving!” Pearl exclaimed, pointing at the wings. “Looks like we won’t need the skates anymore,” Tanzanite said, “C’mon, let’s go!” “We’ll help you out,” Pate said to Tanz and Pearl. “Ohh, thanks,” They kept going and helped Pate and Shimmy off the ice. When they were on solid ground, they ditched the skates and raced after the wings. “I hope the others are having an easier time than us,” Sandbar said. Silverstream was enjoying skating around, though everyone wanted to get their wings back. “So, have you met that guy before?” Emerald asked Gallus. “Yeah,” Gallus replied. “We got over his mistake over a fun game of Ogres and Oubliettes. We actually got into the game.” “It was pretty fun,” Ocellus said. Suddenly, she stopped the group. “Look, there they are.” The runaway wings were all flying around a very confused and panicked Lighthoof and Rarity. “What’s going on?” the cheerleader questioned. “I’m... I’m honestly not sure,” the professor answered. Suddenly, Gallus’s wings landed on Lighthoof’s back and took her for a ride. “Hold on, Lighthoof!” Silverstream cried as she and Frida tried to catch her. Rarity looked towards the students. “What’s going on here?” she asked. “It’s Discord, his magic is out of control,” Ocellus explained. “Discord!? What’s he doing here?” “One of the after school activities went horribly wrong,” Gallus explained. “Now everything is in his typical chaos.” “I can see that.” Suddenly, a fluffle of rabbits ran past them, though they looked different. “Did… …did those rabbits have deer legs?” Emerald questioned. “That’s definitely Discord’s work.” “He’s not doing this on purpose,” Ocellus stated. “His claw is wounded and it seems to be leaking out magic.” “Leaking?” Then there was a flash from the floor, which was starting to feel a lot more bouncy. Simply taking a step caused the teacher and students to start bouncing around. This would prove to be hazardous thanks to the ice skates. “Who... Geez!” Gallus cried. “Get back here, you rascals,” Garry shouted, chasing his wings. He tried bouncing up to grab his wings, but they flew away before he could get close. “Dang it!” Silverstream and Frida managed to catch up with Lighthoof and weighed her down. However, they couldn’t get Gallus’s wings off her back. “What’s going on?” Lighthoof questioned. “Discord’s magic is out of control,” Silverstream answered. “Discord?!” There was a shriek down the hall and they saw November Rain, Summer Breeze, and Peppermint Goldylinks running away from a rogue bugbear. The girls decided to run too as the flying bear chased them down. “Where bear bug come from?” Frida questioned. “It just popped out of nowhere,” Summer Breeze replied. “What’s going on!?” November Rain cried. “We’ll explain later,” Silverstream said. Lighthoof then noticed the wings started flapping against her will again. “Oh no, not again!” she cried. She bumped into the bugbear, who simply blew up into confetti. Out of the blast came a pack of flying singing tea-bags. The students were relieved they could stop, though they were just confused by the tea-bags. “Well... At least it’s catchy,” Peppermint commented. Fluttershy managed to find some bandages and wrapped them around Discord’s broken claw. “There we go,” she said, finishing wrapping a bandage, “How’re you feeling?” “A little bit better,” Discord replied, “Let’s try this again.” He tried to snap his working claw to try and fix the school, but this only changed the type of chaos that was going on. “Drat.” “Why didn’t that work?” “I don’t know, but my best guess is that it needs to heal like any other injury.” A set of flying silverware flew just over their heads. “Yep, we can’t wait.” “There has to be a faster way of fixing this.” Then Fluttershy had an idea. “Zecora!” “Oh, yes. She’s made tons of helpful potions in the past. I can’t believe I didn’t think about her.” He wrapped his arm around Fluttershy and was about to teleport them to the zebra’s hut, but he remembered his faulty powers. “You know... How about we walk instead?” “I think that’s a good idea.” Fluttershy admitted. The two could see the floor wasn’t made of ice anymore, though it was a little bouncy. They bounced their way over to the exit of the school where they were surprised at what they saw. Just like the school, Ponyville was in chaos. Buildings were floating around, parts of the ground were made of soapy water, there was living food chasing the ponies, everything was a mess. “Oh, dear,” Discord commented, ”That’s not good.” Suddenly, Starlight teleported in front of the mare and draconequus. “Fluttershy, there you are! I was so worried,” the headmare sighed with relief, then turned to Discord, “Discord, what did you just do?” “I swear, I’m not doing this on purpose.” He then showed Starlight his broken claw. “A broken claw! How did that happen?” “We’ll explain later,” Fluttershy said, “And right now, we need to get to Zecora’s hut and get a potion to fix his injury.” “Okay. But make it fast.” Starlight looked over the chaos in town. Fluttershy and Discord ran towards the Everfree Forest as fast as they could as Starlight teleported back inside to help the students and teachers out. Rarity had helped a couple of the students get their wings back. Gallus was a little annoyed as he was the only one who didn’t have his wings back. “Okay, I think we fixed this,” he said. “Man, that felt so weird,” Emerald commented. “Yeah,” Garry agreed. “Is that what it’s like to be an earth pony?” “Or what it’s like to be a yak,” Gallus guessed. “Now, where’d Lighthoof go?” There was a scream as Peridot and Citrine Spark running away from flying paintings. Gallus and Garry threw their ice skates at them, knocking the paintings to the ground. “Emma, the painting just came to life!” Peridot panicked. “It’s happening again!” Ocellus questioned. “Again?!” the new students questioned. “Don’t even ask,” Gallus said. Then a roll of tape flew in from nowhere and started wrapping around the dragoness twins. “Uh oh!” the twins exclaimed “Hey, help me take this tape off,” Emerald told her twin sister. “I’m trying, sis.” They tried to remove the tape until it’s out, but it can’t, because it’s strong. The roll of tape kept wrapping then until they started glowing. When that died down, they both found they were now sharing one body with both of their heads on it. They both looked at each other and screamed at what happened to them. They both tried to pull each other apart, Ocellus and Garry even tried to help them, but their bodies were fused together. “What the heck just happened!?” Peridot cried. “Oh, it feels like we’re in that hydra costume again.” “There’s no time, we have to get out of this school,” Rarity declared. She looked towards a window which was wide open. “Follow me!” She and the students all made a mad dash towards the opened window. Emerald and Peridot, however, are having a hard time walking while their bodies are glued tight; like she said, it does feel like they wore their hydra costume during their party on Nightmare Night previously. One by one, the students each slipped out of the window, and they all got outside. Still, they were far from safe as Discord’s chaos had gotten insane outside. The entire ground had a square pattern on it. Many were shocked to see the whole town was in Discord’s chaos. “Look at this, now nowhere is safe,” Gallus cried. He looked over to see a building rising into the air. “Just try to find somewhere safe,” Rarity ordered them, “I’m going back in to help the others.” She leapt through the window as she ran and bounced down the hall. Sandbar’s team managed to find some of their wings and reattached them, surprisingly. “Okay, that was easy,” the earth pony said. “So,……what now?” Smolder asked. “...I honestly don’t know. Discord’s magic is like a die that whenever it rolls, the sides change. There’s no way to guess what will happen.” As on cue, the room started filling up with...chocolate milk? “Welp, it’s a good thing we have this,” Pearl said looking at her necklace. Using it, she and Kelpie turned themselves and Sandbar into seaponies. She also turned Yona into a walrus, Smolder into a tiger shark, and Tanzanite into a saw shark. “Huh, so this is what happens when other creatures use the pearl,” Kelpie commented. “I can see that,” Pearl admitted. “This feels weird,” Tanz commented. “Yeah, you can say that again.” Smolder agreed. “Let’s try and get out of here,” Sandbar said. They started swimming as they could see the milk was still rising. “There has to be something that’s blocking the milk from draining,” Pearl remarked. “Just keep swimming guys.” “Ahoy!” Pinkie called. She apparently rode on a raft with a couple of students on board with her. “How are you doing?” “Been better,” Yona replied. “Yak not sure how to be big fish.” “First of all, it’s called a walrus , and they’re actually mammals,” Kelpie stated. “Professor Pinkie, where did the chocolate milk come from?” “I don’t know,” the pink pony replied. “I keep drinking but it keeps filling up faster than I can drink.” “Well, there’s gotta be a way out,” Sandbar said. “Then let’s move and find one, C’MON!” Smolder said. She swam off as her friends followed behind. “Good luck, kids,” Pinke called. With that, she and her students went back to rowing. The swimming students kept going until they found a dead end. “What students do now?” Yona asked. “Maybe there’s something underneath,” Pearl said, “I’ll go check it out.” She dove under the milk, which was a lot harder to see through than water. This made it very hard for her to see the window, the same problem happened to her friends. “This is more difficult to dive in than water,” Kelpie said, “Just keep looking.” Eventually, they managed to feel around for the window but were only able to get it opened by a crack. It was enough for the milk to leak out, but they wouldn’t be able to slip through. “Well, this should take care of the flooding,” Tanz clarified. “Let’s try and find another way out,” Sandbar said. They swam off, but Smolder had something to say. “I wonder where Discord is?” she questioned. Discord and Fluttershy were running to Zecora’s hut as fast as they could. They finally got there and the draconequus frantically knocked on the door. “Zecora! Zecora!” he cried. He kept knocking only to stop when the zebra answered, getting a few knocks on the head before Discord saw what he was doing. “Oops, sorry.” “I do appreciate your apology,” Zecora said, “But I must ask what you need from me.” Her answer came from seeing Discord’s broken claw. “Ah, that is quite a pain. Come inside, just don’t be a bane.” “Of course.” They walked in and Zecora started gathering the ingredients needed to help her friend’s injury. “Thanks for the help, Zecora,” Fluttershy said. “Discord can’t control his magic. All the students in the school are now in trouble because of that.” “I see. Well then, let’s make this quick,” Zecora replied. “Though I hope your friend’s shenanigans don’t make me sick.” “Am I really that obnoxious?” Discord asked. Zecora gave him a look that was all the answer she needed. “R-right. Continue.” Fluttershy decided to help Zecora out so they could speed things up while the draconequus looked out the window. He could’ve sworn he saw some buffalo ballerinas dance by. “That’s weird,” he commented. “They should only be in the boundaries of my chaos.” As the pony and zebra made the healing potion, strange things started happening outside. The trees started to look more like rubber, some of the animals gained growths or body parts that were far from normal. Just as they started pouring the potion into a bottle for Discord to drink from, Fluttershy thought she heard something. “Zecora, do you hear somepony...singing?” the yellow pegasus asked. Then there came her answer. A group of singing tea bags flew into the room, much to everyone’s confusion. “Fluttershy, these should’ve stayed within the boundaries,” Discord replied. “Then what are they doing here?” Suddenly, a band of tiny bears entered the hut playing some music. “Give me the juice!” Zecora handed him the bottle and the draconequus, which he quickly drank. “Great, now how long will it take to heal.” “My potions’ healing properties tend to vary, it’s recommended that heavy things aren’t something you should carry,” Zecora explained. “Due to your injury being unfortunate, healing will take about thirty minutes.” They could hear some scream coming all the way from Ponyville. “I don’t think we can wait that long,” Fluttershy remarked. She raced out of the door but found she could only slip the ground which was now coated in soapy water. “This problem is getting worse,” Discord examined. “Thank you for your help, Zecora. We’ve gotta go.” Grabbing Fluttershy’s tail, Discord pushed them away from the hut and towards a tree. Once there, it was all a view pushed to get them going. Back at the school, Silverstream, Frida, Lighthoof, and the other students were struggling to get away from the chaos. “What goes on in that creature’s head?” Lighthoof questioned as she was pulled by Frida. “Don’t know,” Silverstream replied, “Just keep running!” They did so until they came across some flying pineapples, with fangs. “Seriously?” the students groaned. They ran back to the other side as Silverstream saw something in the window. “Guys, over here!” Silverstream cried. The students did so, but when climbing out, Frida got stuck because of her size. “Help! Yak too big!” Frida cried. Her friends pulled and pushed her to force her out. Silverstream then noticed a big wheel of cheese rolling towards them. “CHEESE INCOMING!!!” she shouted loudly. They all tried to keep pushing but instinctively got out of the way. The force of the wheel made Frida go flying into a cotton candy cloud. Now that she is free, they were able to crawl through the window. “Really!?” she gasped, “It’s happening out here too?” “It seems to be safe in the castle though,” Ocellus said. She turned into a bugbear to help get Frida out of the cloud then she followed her friends to the castle for safety. “Why is this the only place that’s safe?” Summer Breeze asked. “I don’t know,” Lighthoof admitted. Then, the wings on her back started flapping again and she was about to go airborne. “No, you don’t!” Silverstream cried. She flew up and caught her friend before she could fly off. They met up with Gallus and the others in the throne room. “They really used this room,” Emerald questioned. “Yeah, and this map is magical too,” Peridot added. “I’ve seen it happen before.” “Why are you two on the same body?” Silverstream asked. “I don’t know anymore,” Emerald sighed. “Ugh, Gallus,” Lighthoof said. “I think these belong to you.” She pointed to the wings on her back. “Oh, thanks,” the wingless griffon sighed. He tried to pull them off the mare’s back, but they were stuck on tight. “Well, that’s not going to work.” “How is this castle keeping us safe?” Peridot asked. “Don’t know...not a clue,” Gallus answered. He, Ocellus, and Silverstream had an idea of how this was possible, but they thought they’d keep it to themselves. “Hold on, where’s Smolder, Sandbar and Yona?” Ocellus asked them, “they should be here too.” “Maybe they’re still in the school,” Garry said. He wasn’t wrong. Many of the students were still stuck in the school thanks to the flooding of chocolate milk. Yona could see Shimmy Shake riding on Pate, who was a small whale at the moment. “Oh, good, there you are,” Shimmy sighed. “Did you find a way out yet? The professors are doing everything they can.” “How about transforming into something that can ram through walls,” Tanz suggested. “Like yak!” Yona cried. “Exactly.” “I don’t think a yak would be able to get through all of this milk.” Smolder said to them. “Is that what this stuff is?” Shimmy questioned. “I thought I was just losing my mind,” Pate admitted. “Look, maybe a walrus will be good enough,” Smolder said. “I can’t be the only one wanting to get out of here.” Yona looked towards a wall. She swam back to get a running start. “Friends, stay back!” Yona charged at the wall as hard as she could. The result was that she literally bounced back to her friends. “What the...” Sandbar questioned. He swam over to the wall and it felt like it was made of rubber. “Seriously? Rubber walls?” “Okay, plan B,” Smolder said. “Tanz, give me some help.” The two sharks swam over to the wall and started biting it. A few bites later, the wall went “POP” and all the students were swept out with the chocolate milk. Pinkie and her class on a raft followed suit, as well as some changelings and hippogriffs who were seaponies at this point. “Finally,” Kelpie sighed, “We're all free!” He and Pearl used their pearl shards to change them and their friends back to their original forms. “Where do we go now?” Sandbar asked. They were going to head into town, but they saw Discord’s chaos beat them to it.” “Guys!” Silverstream screamed. They looked over towards the castle, where the hippogriff was standing outside. “Over here!” “Everyone, this way!” Sandbar called the students. They all made a mad dash to the castle. “Pinkie!” Fluttershy cried. The pink pony looked to see Fluttershy and Discord running towards them. “Fluttershy,” Pinkie said. “Where were you?” “We were trying to fix Discord’s claw, but the only way we can require more time than we can get.” “How long...?” “We have to wait half an hour,” Discord said, “But right now we have...” A building just scraped past his horns, “About five minutes before everyone loses their sanity.” “Can’t you go any faster?” Pinkie asked them. “No,” both pony and draconequus replied. Discord then thought for a moment, and finally got an idea. “I have a solution,” Discord said. “We need to get Twilight involved.” “Good idea, Discord,” Fluttershy said, then turned to Pinkie Pie, “Where’s Rainbow Dash?” “Probably still stuck in the school,” Pinkie guessed. “I’ll see if I can get here.” Pinkie raced back inside the school to try and find her flying friend. “Discord, there has to be something we can do until we can get Twilight,” Fluttershy said. “Maybe since I had that potion, I could try and control my magic easier,” Discord guessed. Taking a deep breath, he snapped his working claw and all the buildings were back on the ground. Though, they weren’t in the right places and then it started raining gumballs. “This went better than I expected it. I’ll be honest.” “Oh, this isn’t going to work.” “This is chaotic even for me. That’s something I should never say!” “It’s a weird day for everyone.” The gumballs were starting to get to them, so they decided to take shelter in the castle. Rarity was in there, helping to take count of all of the students that were in there. “Alright, whatever’s keeping you safe in here is working,” she said, “So, we...” “Wait! What is he doing here?” Moss interrupted. They looked and saw Discord, standing next to Fluttershy. “There you are,” Rarity sighed. “We were starting to get worried.” “Isn’t he the reason this is all happening?” Berry Bliss furiously questioned. “Actually……” Frida spoke. “He did mess up the scavenger hunt before,” Citrine Spark. “I thought he was banned for his behavior,” Pyther said. “Would you all shut up!?” Gallus questioned. “He messed it up big time,” Moss added. “You can’t forgive someone for doing that.” “Moss, you’re one to talk,” Smolder spoke. “Didn’t you used to steal love before?” “How about we try and calm down,” Ocellus suggested. “We will, as soon as he gets out of here,” Gale angrily exclaimed. “Discord ain’t leaving,” Yona said. “Served you right!” Summer Breeze said it back. Before long, things developed into an argument with all of the students debating over Discord until Fluttershy spoke up. “HUSH!!!” Fluttershy screamed. Everyone went quiet and looked at her. “Listen, Discord has made mistakes in the past, ones he doesn’t like to be reminded of. The important thing is he’s trying to make up for it. All of the chaos that you’re seeing outside is all out of his control. It’s not like any of us slipped up before. I kept losing courage when in certain situations. Many dragons and griffons are still trying not to be greedy. The yaks can sometimes get carried away.” “I think we get the idea,” Discord interrupted. “You don’t need to drag the students down with me.” Fluttershy sighed. “...What I’m trying to say is that you shouldn’t just be mad at others because of what they did in the past. Some of you weren’t even around when that happened!” “You think we should add our opinion?” Silverstream whispered. “I think we should stay quiet,” Sandbar quietly replied. “Now, listen,” Fluttershy said, “You’re all going to stay here until this is all over. Understood?” All of the students nodded, some feeling a little guilty. There was a minute of awkward silence. “Right then,” Rarity said, “How about you helped me get the rest of the students out of the school.” “Of course.” The mare braced themselves and ran back outside. Discord was left with a group of silent creatures, who’re awkwardly looking at him. “...I’ll...be in a different room,” Discord said. He walked off, as a couple of students started doubting themselves. As chaos kept going wild, Princess Twilight and Rainbow Dash were quickly flying towards Ponyville. “So, you’re saying this out of Discord’s control,” Twilight said, flying beside her. “That’s what I’ve been told,” Dash replied. “Look!” She pointed to the ground, where the chaos was spreading. “...We better hurry.” They picked up the pace and made it to Ponyville. Meanwhile, Applejack and the other professors led the remaining students to Twilight’s crystal tree castle. “Alright,” Applejack said, “I think that’s the last of them.” Pinkie watched the last of the students run in the castle for safety. “Now what do we do?” she asked. “Wait for them,” Fluttershy said, “They should be here any moment……now.” She pointed towards the air where her friends came flying down. “Dash already told me everything,” Twilight said. “Let’s fix this before things get worse.” The girls started getting their positions as Twilight made her horn glow. Rainbows started swirling around them before bursting into the air. All of Discord’s chaos was cleared up. The wings popped off Lighthoof’s back and back onto Gallus’s back. Emerald and Peridot finally split apart and promptly hugged each other. They looked out the window and saw that Ponyville is now returning to normal, even the buildings are now in their exact places. Twilight and her friends returned to the ground and take a look at their surroundings. Fluttershy could see her wings had returned to her back. “Thanks, Twilight,” she said. “No problem. Now I’m going to stick around to help make sure everypony’s doing okay,” the princess replied. While she did that, Fluttershy and Applejack ran into the castle to check on the students. “Everycreature alright?” the farm pony asked. All the students confirmed they were fine now. Fluttershy looked around for a while until she found the room that Discord was in. “Discord, what are you doing in here?” the mare asked. “Things were getting awkward in the throne room,” the draconequus replied. “Plus, I see you’ve cleared things up. Look, it’s snowing like normal. I’ll just head back home. You still have that key I gave you?” Fluttershy nodded and gave the key to her friend. Discord proceeded to use it on the closet door, which opened up to Chaosville. He pulled the key out of the lock and tossed back to his friends before walking through the door and closed it behind him. “Discord?!” Sandbar called. Fluttershy looked out into the hall to see Sandbar and Ocellus looking around. “I’m afraid you missed him,” Fluttershy explained. “He went home already.” “I thought his magic wasn’t working properly,” Ocellus said. Fluttershy showed them the key. “He made this key so I could visit his home. I think it was also part of a backup plan.” “We wanted to see if he was alright,” Sandbar said. “Including Pearl here.” Discord was at home sitting at his couch with only his chaos and Smooze for company. “I just don’t know how things keep going wrong,” the draconequus sighed. “I just keep messing up.” Smooze tried to smile and jiggle around to cheer up his friend. “Smooze, I know you’re trying, but it’s not working.” Just then, they both heard some knocking on the door. Confused, Discord got up and answered it to find Fluttershy, along with the young six, Pearl, and Frida. “Hey, Discord,” Gallus said. The draconequus tilted his head. “...What are you doing here?” “Frida came to say sorry for making Yona crushing your claw,” Frida admitted. “So, friends bring gift for you.” She held up a book that delighted the chaotic creature. “Oh, you shouldn’t have.” Discord was given the book, which he promptly ripped a page out and ate. “...Not what we had in mind,” Ocellus admitted, “Though, I don’t think we should be surprised at this point.” “Listen, Discord, we came here to say,” Sandbar said. “We’re still on your side.” “Yeah,” Silverstream agreed. “We all make mistakes.” “Yona agree,” Yona said. “Well, I understand why you’re on my side but why Pearl?” Discord asked, looking at the violet hippogriff. “Well,…to be honest…you’re the coolest thing I’ve seen in my life,” Pearl stated. “I mean... Name one other creature that can mold the laws of Physics.” “The closest thing I can think of is Pinkie Pie, but I appreciate this.” “So, can you do some chaos for us?” “I think it’s best if we wait for Discord’s paw to heal,” Fluttershy said. “Probably a good idea,” Discord commented. “Well, let us know when you’re feeling better,” Sandbar said. “Maybe we could try some more Ogres and Oubliettes.” “Ooh, good choice. See you again.” Discord waved goodbye before closing the door. “So, how do we get back home?” Smolder asked. “Just follow me,” Fluttershy said. She led the way home feeling good that her friend’s relationships weren’t all for nothing