In the safety of an empty pocket dimension, Discord meant to not be—to efface his boundaries and become pure chaos, as he used to do to calm himself. But his physical form insisted on being physical, and his personhood impetuously persisted. Here in nowhere, his will normally slipped into existence at the faintest phantom of thought, but his thoughts weren’t working this time. He even snapped his fingers too, for good measure, but it failed. Try as he might to exist as Spirit of Chaos, he was stuck being Discord, and feeling all the emotions Discord had accrued, and pondering all the problems Discord was fighting.
No Discord I don’t will you be immortal with me no Discord never wanted I love you never wanted never wanted never wanted
He snapped again, hoping for anything, anything, to take away his thoughts.
He got everything—flying endtables with potted petunias shouting profane follies and their words smelled of peppermint while fudge poured like rain from passing clouds that were no clouds but the metaphysical categories of reproach and futility. And it spilled in and compressed until there was no air left and Discord was flailing in a sea that had no surface.
Then the sea turned to hot sauce, and it burned Discord outside and in until he had no thoughts at all but fight or flight and he could do neither.
Then the hot sauce shifted pinker and pinker until it was cotton candy instead. No, now it was not. It was hair, pink hair, her hair, everywhere.
Discord was afraid of it yet pacified. She posed all problems but softened all fears. Fluttershy. His and not his, here and not here. He floated along, his mind finally placid.
There was a reason I held out from her for so long. I always knew: her fate is to perish, someday, and mine is to persist, always. But fate’s a funny thing. I knew loving her would hurt, but time and impossibility only made her more appealing. What’s impossibility to the Spirit of Chaos, anyway? Provocation. Fascination. Temptation.
Finally, the sea grew a surface, and Discord found above him a starry sky. The stars were not stars; they were butterflies, white and flickering. He watched them flutter and swirl and form so many constellations—now her wings, now her eyes… Now her lips.
I love her. Of course I do. That’s why I could never put her in that predicament; follow me into forever, or I’ll part from you. But that’s what I just did! No, I’ll go back. In time, I’ll go back. And apologize. And appreciate every precious moment I can get. But I have to learn to live without her.
He was freefalling into emptiness the moment the thought passed through his mind.
More friends. They will forever be dying. I will forever be making more. I will learn to live without her. Part of me will always be searching for a replacement, but how can she possibly be replaced? Disappointment will follow me forever, but I will go on finding new friends forever. For her.
Ponies popped up all around, facing him, smiling, waiting.
Discord bopped his head a few times. “Come on, chaos, that’s pretty creepy.”
All the ponies disappeared but one. A pegasus, bright blue.
Perfect! I’ll take a pause from Fluttershy to find my independence, and I’ll improve some friendships while we’re apart. Prepare yourself, Rainbow Dash! Your impish friend is coming with plans to pester...
Poof!
~*~*~*~
“Rainbow Da—”
“DAAAAH!!” Papers went flying, and Rainbow Dash with them. “Discord! What do you want?”
“Only to visit with a friend of mine. It has been a while, hasn’t it, Dashie?”
Rainbow Dash alighted on the floor and started picking up the papers that had scattered around her desk. “Yeah, I guess, but a little warning would have been nice! I guess that’s a little more than I can expect from you, though, huh?”
Discord raised his eyebrow.
“Anyway, I’m kinda in the middle of some important work. If you wanna stop by again some other time, at least I’ll know to expect you…”
“Important work, eh? On paper, at your desk? Since when did Rainbow Dash do office work?” Discord floated closer to peer over the pegasus’s shoulder.
“Since yesterday. Spitfire decided our Wonderbolt routines have been getting a bit stale and asked every member of the team to draft a show. She said she wanted them for inspiration and we probably wouldn’t perform anypony’s ideas without some major modification, but I promised myself I’d come up with something so good, there would be nothing Spitfire could possibly change to make it better!”
“Really? Oh, I’m just itching to know what kind of show the greatest Wonderbolt of them all would dream up! Will there be fireworks? Lightning strikes? Mortal danger?” Discord conjured little images of each of the effects as he listed them—miniature fireworks, lightning between his hands, and for the mortal danger one, the sound of ponies screaming.
“Yes, all of that! Maybe? Some of it? Lightning would definitely be pretty awesome…”
“Do you mean to tell me you haven’t actually come up with anything yet?”
Rainbow Dash flipped through the papers where she’d been sketching ideas. “Well, I’ve come up with a few sweet moves to use, but I guess I haven’t really come up with a plan to stitch them all together into a cohesive show yet. Genius takes time, alright? It would really help me think if I didn’t have any distracting draconequui hanging about my house.”
“Yes, well, I can see how that might be a nuisance,” Discord ceded, cloning a new duplicate of himself with every word, “but sometimes collaborative thinking can really get those creative juices flowing!” Each draconequus in the room was suddenly sipping on a juice box, making as much noise as possible through the flimsy straws. “What do you say? Would you let me help you?”
“Ugh, fine. As long as there’s only one of you!” Rainbow Dash glared at the horde of mischievous creatures crowding her living room.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” All of the clones rapidly merged back into a single original, who then fell backwards onto Rainbow Dash’s sofa. “Anyway, would chaos magic be within the realm of possibility for this show of yours?”
“No.”
“Are you sure? You didn’t even think about it!”
“No.”
“But what if it’s disguised?”
“No.”
“Oh, come on! It could be cool—”
“No.”
“—epic, even!”
“No.”
“Well, what would you consider?”
“N—uhh, I dunno. It’s gotta be dramatic, entertaining, utterly awesome, and safe. For the audience, I mean. We Wonderbolts can handle anything.”
“Can you now? What about...” Discord started growing and changing shape. The dimensions of Rainbow Dash’s living room grew to fit him. “An Ursa Major?”
Rainbow Dash had been sifting through her papers. When she turned to look at Discord, she yelped and fell out of her chair. “I mean, uhh,” she flew up until she was level with the creature’s face and throwing mock punches at it. “Yes, of course! We could totally take an Ursa Major! But like I said, it’s gotta be safe for the audience.”
Discord shrunk back into himself. The room shrunk too, and the ceiling hit Rainbow Dash’s head on its way down, knocking her to the floor. Discord did not acknowledge the assault. “I can’t make any guarantees about a real Ursa Major’s attitude or acting abilities—not unless Fluttershy were there, anyway, and I don’t think she’d be into the idea—but I can tell you I can be perfectly safe when I want to be!”
After furiously shaking her head to clear the ache, Rainbow Dash flew up to Discord’s height, keeping a close eye on the ceiling lest it suddenly descend again. “Okay, but why would the Wonderbolts fight you charading as an Ursa Major, especially if you weren’t intending to hurt anypony? I mean, what’s the point of that?”
“The point is, it’s a show. A dramatic battle between the forces of pony and malicious magical creature, staged with all kinds of tricks and stunts for your audience’s viewing pleasure!” To illustrate his proposal, Discord summoned a flock of buttons and sent them after one of the throw pillows on the sofa, as if they were a troupe of pegasi attacking an Ursa Major.
Rainbow Dash sat down and lifted a hoof to her chin. The buttons and pillow started flying circles around her head, but she ignored them. “Huh. That might actually be just a little bit awesome… Yeah! Hang on!” The pegasus darted into her desk chair so fast it almost fell over sideways, but she was already rapidly scribbling on a sheet of graph paper.
Discord set the pillow back on the couch and caught the buttons in a jar, and then he set the jar upside-down on the coffeetable. The still-animated buttons bumped themselves against the side of the glass facing the pillow. A hairbreadth at a time, they were pushing the jar toward the edge of the table. Discord watched for a moment with devious glee, then floated over to Rainbow Dash to watch her work. “So, chaos magic is okay after all, then?”
“Sure. Uh-huh.”
“Of course, when your little captain is awe-struck with your show and schedules a performance, I will be most happy to make myself available and come play my part as the angry, evil bear.”
“Great!” Rainbow Dash finally set down her pencil and admired the sequence she’d just sketched. “There’s no way Spitfire’s not gonna love this. Once she comes around on the idea of you being part of the show, that is. But I’m sure we can convince her.”
Discord grinned. “Oh, this is so exciting! I’ll get to use my magic, spread some chaos, and make ponies happy in the process instead of just terrorizing them!”
“Heh, you know,” the pegasus chuckled, elbowing Discord in his side, “I do sometimes love spreading some chaos and mildly terrorizing ponies myself.”
“You do?”
“Yeah! You helped me get that office work done a lot sooner then I expected, so now I have tons of free time. Wanna help me pull a few pranks?”
“Would I ever!” As soon as he finished his exclamation, Discord’s whole body tingled and he suddenly twitched so hard that he fell over onto the floor.
“Uh, you okay?” Rainbow Dash tilted her head in confusion but offered a hoof.
Discord took it and stood himself up again. Then he scratched his head. “Huh. That was weird, even for me. I’m feeling fine now, though...” A thermometer appeared in Discord’s mouth, but instead of the tube filling with mercury, it somehow flashed the word “healthy”.
“Maybe it was just a fluke. Still wanna go pranking?”
“Absolutely!” The duo flew off into the afternoon to seek their first victim. Shortly after they left, anypony who happened to fly by Rainbow Dash’s house might have heard the loud crash of a glass jar shattering. Inside, a fleet of flying buttons started pummeling a throw pillow.
Applejack’s day had been long and hard, but she relished in the toil. She had arrived in Ponyville on the morning train and had hardly set her belongings down in the house before she went out with Big Mac to inspect the fields and help tackle the chores. Now it was sunset, and she took a moment to wipe the sweat off her brow before heading in for the evening.
“Oh, there ya are, Applejack! I was fixin’ to think I’d dreamt you showin’ up this morning!”
“Aw, come on, Granny, you knew I’d be itchin’ to get back to work out there!” Applejack reached out to give Granny Smith a hug, and Granny returned it with a chuckle.
“I understand all that, but listen here: you were itchin’ so hard to get out there, ya must not have heard me sayin’ ya got some mail! It came in shortly before you did this mornin’. Looked like it was from one of your friends, so I went ahead and put it on the desk in your room.”
“Thanks! I’ll go have a look at it in a bit. For now, what can I do to help get dinner together?”
“Don’t you worry about that, dearie. It’s your first day home in moons! Go up there and see what that letter’s all about, and give your ol’ Granny the pleasure of cookin’ for ya again. I’ll holler when it’s all ready.”
Applejack obeyed, for she knew her own stubbornness came from somewhere, and that somewhere was Granny Smith. Besides; it was a little odd for one of her friends to write to her so soon after she’d left them. Before she’d left, even, if the letter arrived home before she did! It couldn’t have been a big emergency, or Twilight might have just teleported her back to the castle. So what then? The envelope indicated it was from Rarity. Applejack carefully tore it open and sat on the edge of her bed as she started reading.
Dear Applejack,
I know you haven’t been home for very long by the time you’re reading this letter, but I wanted to make sure you knew there won’t be a single moment you’re forgotten to us in Canterlot. It sure is difficult to part ways from our friends after we’ve been through so much together. Hopefully the distance between us is never more than physical distance! That’s why I’m writing—even though you’ve moved away now, I still want to be part of your life. Getting to know you and spend time with you has truly added much to my own life, and you must understand that I am loath to forfeit your good influence!
Now, now, Applejack; you are the bearer of honesty, so don’t be so modest. You know I’m right. I’ve always been a little bit melodramatic, as you know, but you and your level head have always managed to keep me grounded. I’ve learned a lot about myself the more I’ve gotten to know you, strange as it is to say, but it’s true.
And that is why, if you’re willing, I positively insist on your continued company, even if it must continue in the form of a written correspondence for the foreseeable future. Would you grant me that, pretty please?
Give my regards to your family.
Forever your friend,
Rarity
A drop of water landed next to the name just as Applejack finished reading it. The earth pony set the letter on her nightstand and wiped the rest of her tears away. She had kept herself busy with work all day to avoid thinking about how much it hurt to move away from her friends, and now those thoughts were all flooding in. Of course she knew her relationships with the other element bearers was too strong to fade over physical distance, but she still feared the changes. This change, though, writing letters instead of talking face-to-face… Well, it wasn’t the most ideal, but it might be the next best thing, and the thought brought Applejack comfort. She dug out a pen and some stationery, then sat herself at the desk and contemplated what she would write.
Dear Rarity,
“Applejack! Dinnertime!”
“Comin’, Granny!” Applejack quickened her writing and got a couple of lines down before setting the page aside and moving to join her family around the table.
Thank you so much for your letter. I guess I needed it more than I would have been willing to acknowledge. Anyway, I feel the same way, and I would be more than happy to write frequently if it means keeping you a part of my life…