//------------------------------// // The Discord Map Part 1 // Story: Discord Fixes Everything // by Princess Brightside //------------------------------// The ponies’ eyes widened as they felt something deep, deep within their cutie marks. They first saw Twilight Sparkle’s flank glowing before looking toward their own marks to find they were glowing as well. “Strange how Hasbro didn’t capitalize on that little trick.” It was one surprise too many. Coupled with the appearance of the castle, then the large, crystal map, followed by glowing cutie marks, having a draconequus speak up where no draconequus stood seconds ago set more than one pony screaming. “Discord, what are you doing here?” Twilight demanded. She had a feeling that he wasn’t supposed to be there, not just because she didn’t want him there, but that the fabric of the universe hadn’t counted on him being there. But because it was Discord, neither she nor the universe could do anything about it. “I heard you moved,” Discord said. He handed her a present. “I brought you a house warming gift.” “How nice,” Fluttershy said with a bright smile. She was proud of how far her friend’s sensitivity had evolved. Twilight eyed the box skeptically. “Thanks.” She tossed it away, knowing better than to open a present from Discord. “They’re cookies,” Discord explained, looking hurt. Maybe Twilight shouldn’t have tossed them. “I made them myself.” Yep, she definitely did the right thing of tossing them away. “I’m sorry to turn you away, Discord, but we have something very important to take care of,” Twilight informed him, turning back to the glowing table “You mean the magical map of Equestria that appeared in your magical castle that the Tree of Harmony grew for you,” Discord observed. “So, the usual.” The ponies nodded. “I’ll admit, my appearance isn’t entirely coincidental,” Discord admitted, looking innocent. “I felt inclined to come, as if something…mystical was pulling me here.” Fluttershy gasped. “I feel like that now. Perhaps this map was calling to him, too.” “And look at our cutie marks. They’re moving,” Pinkie Pie said, pointing. The glowing marks hovered for a second over Ponyville on the map before moving to a different location. “But if this is Ponyville, why are our cutie marks over there?” Fluttershy wondered. “I don’t know,” Twilight mulled. “But it seems like the map wants us to find out. The Tree, the chest, the castle, and now the map. How can we not follow it?” “Good idea. Racing into an adventure without knowing anything is a great plan,” Discord said. “I’ll pack.” Fifty suitcases appeared in the air over Rainbow Dash’s head before collapsing on the blue pegasus. “You’re not coming,” Twilight stated. “But I must come,” Discord reasoned. “Why?” “You need me. After all, I can fix everything,” Discord said smugly. Twilight tilted her head, one brow raised. “But will you fix everything.” Discord chuckled. “Oh, Twilight, I thought you knew me better than that.” “Everypony, if we’re t’ git a movin,’ we should run for the train,” Apple Jack said. “Accordin’ t’ the sundial, it’s a leavin’ the station in five minutes.” “Okay, let’s go everypony,” Twilight Sparkle announced, feeling uneasy about the whole situation, especially with Discord. “Silly Twilight. You have me. No train needed.” Snap In the twinkling of an eye, the six ponies and draconequus, plus fifty suitcases, appeared just outside of the town the map had indicated. “Hmmm, how quaint,” Discord said, running a scrutinizing eye over the rows of simple houses, the dead trees, and brown landscapes for as far as the eye could see. Rainbow Dash, after escaping from under Discord’s luggage, put in her two bits. “This is where the map sent us? It looks like the most boring place in Equestria.” Apple Jack said it looked normal, Rarity complained about the décor, and Fluttershy liked it. The residents of the little town, at first confused by having so many guests drop in, smiled and came closer. “I don’t like it,” Pinkie Pie said, glaring at the approaching ponies. “I don’t like it one bit. I know smiles. And those smiles? They’re just not right.” “Welcome!” the first pony to reach them said, followed by several more greetings with the same tone and pitch of joy. The group of seven started walking into town, which instigated more “Welcome’s”. “This must be the most pleasant place in Equestria,” Fluttershy said, hovering above her friends, smiling as a dark blue pegasus greeted her. “Everypony is right cordial, but there’s somethin’ odd about them,” Apple Jack said, closing one eye as if that would help her figure it out. “How about their cutie marks?” Twilight Sparkle observed, lowering her voice since they were within hearing range. “They’re all the same. And not just their cutie marks. Their mane and tail styles, their homes in neat lines, even their smiles are all the same.” She turned to Discord. “Well? You’ve been strangely quiet. I can’t imagine that this place is up to your taste. Too orderly.” “Actually, I like it,” Discord said, grinning just as brightly as the town ponies, although his smile didn’t look so welcoming. “You do?” Twilight Sparkle was echoed by Rainbow Dash, Apple Jack and Rarity. Pinkie Pie still glared at the smiles surrounding them. Fluttershy radiated bliss. “Yes. Such peaceful, unassuming innocence, as if they expect the best of the world. They’re the perfect victi—I mean, friends.” Discord turned his back on the ponies and chuckled. “Rainbow Dash, I think you’re going to have to watch him,” Twilight Sparkle whispered to her friend. If Discord was happy, then something must be going on. “I’m on it,” Rainbow Dash said, narrowing her eyes at the draconequus. “At least, until a horrible monster appears. Then I’m ditching this lame assignment.” “Uuummm,” Twilight moaned. “Welcome! Pardon my forwardness,” a blue male unicorn asked politely, his wide smile disarming as he approached. “But are you an Alicorn?” Before anyone else could speak, Discord rose up between the others and this stranger. He was dressed in a dark suit with even darker sunglasses. “Let me handle this.” The male unicorn looked nervous but his smile never wavered. “Take…me…to…your…leader,” Discord said in slow, enunciated words. “Uh…You mean Starlight Glimmer?” the male unicorn asked, perking up. “That’s her name? What a coincidence.” Discord happily turned to Twilight. “She has the same name as you.” “No she doesn’t.” Twilight wrinkled her nose. “Yes, she does, Twilight Glimmer.” “Sparkle!” “Oh, sorry Starlight Sparkle.” Twilight sighed. “Let’s just go see this Starlight Glimmer. Maybe she can give us a clue why the map sent us here.” “My name is Party Favor.” Twilight introduced her friends. “Follow me,” the male unicorn said, waving his hoof. “Awwww.” Discord bend backward, his head and neck crashing into the ground and raising a cloud of dust. “Walking. Is that all you ponies do? Let’s move the plot along.” Snap A lilac unicorn with purple and teal hair appeared in their midst, her hoof as far up her nose as it could possibly go. “What the hay?!” For a second, the crowd of smiles faded, everypony looking away from their leader’s embarrassing moment to pretend it didn’t exist. “Oh, we have guests,” Starlight Glimmer said, wiping her hoof onto the ground and standing up. “I would have come out to greet you if you knocked on my door. There was no need to transport me here.” She smiled, but her tone was irritated. A white, male unicorn approached the leader. “They appeared out of nowhere. And they have unique cutie marks.” Party Favor then introduced the group, although before he could point out Discord, the lilac unicorn zeroed in on the alicorn. “Forgive my bluntness, but I’m assuming it’s Princess Twilight Sparkle. We don’t get many alicorns around here.” “Or probably any draconequus’s,” Rainbow Dash said, still keeping an eye, albeit a lazy one, on Discord. That’s when, for the first time, Starlight Glimmer spotted the long, towering creature. “Oh, my.” She adopted a large smile. “Welcome! We are very fortunate to have such a distinguished tour group come to our humble little town. How did you hear about our village?” “Magic,” Discord said, getting bored of these simple introductions. “Let’s cut to the chase, Twistar Glammor.” “Huh?” Starlight tilted her head, having the feeling she was missing out on the joke. “I don’t know what you mean.” “My pony friends are all too polite—well, except the flashy one…” “Hey,” Rainbow Dash cried out. “…to ask right out, but what’s with the ugly cutie marks?” By his tone, Discord meant no offense. It was just a fact. “Oh, so you have noticed that we are unified by our true friendship?” Starlight Glimmer said, looking confident with head held high. “We have no judgements here in our village. Each of us was confused once as well, blinded by the false promise of our cutie mar—“ “Before you break out your brain-washing, cult speech, what I would like to know is, what did you do? How did you remove the cutie marks?” Discord asked politely. “Cutie mark magic is remarkably powerful. Even I couldn’t do anything permanent to a cutie mark, although in my youth, I did pull a really good prank on Princess Luna. Did you know she has an illogical fear of rabbits? And candy? But mostly rabbits that make candy.” After detangling her thoughts from the random tangent, Starlight Glimmer smiled, “Oh, so you’re interested in how we have become such a unified village and created such a strong bond of friendship? In that case, perhaps one of you would like to experience your own unmarking?” Her eyes stared hopefully at Twilight Sparkle. The alicorn took a step back. “Uh…heh heh. No thank you. But Discord is right. We are all interested in how you have taken away everypony’s cutie mark and why.” “Simple questions,” Starlight Glimmer began. “I use the Staff of Sameness, one of Mage Meadowbrook’s nine enchanted items to remove the cutie mark and place it in a vault. It’s a very special and wonderful process, one I’m sure you would all enjoy.” Rainbow Dash looked skeptical, Rarity horrified, Fluttershy intrigued, and Pinkie Pie was still offended by the fake smiles, not even listening to the rest of the conversation. “Oh, of course,” Discord said, picking up Party Favor to look at the equal sign cutie mark up close. “I thought it was going to be a difficult spell, but you aren’t doing anything to the cutie marks. All you’re doing is transporting them, putting them in stasis, and using this rather dull and unimaginative mark as a blocker into the cutie mark magic. Genius.” “It is, isn’t it?” Starlight Glimmer looked ecstatic. “Yes, let us take a moment to bask in Lightstar Grammar’s—“ “Starlight Glimmer.” “—genius. It must have taken a special talent to think of that plan,” Discord finished. The words sank in. “Did he say special talent?” the white unicorn asked, looking confused. “No. No he didn’t!” Starlight Glimmer exclaimed, her eyes wide. “Why, yes I did,” Discord said, hugging the white unicorn. Then he slapped his cheek. “Wait…You’re not supposed to have those, are you?” Whispers sprouted in the crowd like daisies in the spring. “She used a special talent.” “I’m scared, mommy.” “It’s forbidden.” “She’s special.” The large smiles disappeared, replaced by suspicion. “No, don’t you see, he’s trying to twist things around,” Starlight Glimmer told the others. “Don’t listen to his lies.” Twilight Sparkle stepped back, deciding her interference wasn’t needed anymore. It was nice to see Discord twisting the situation on somepony else for once. “Can’t you see he wants to make us all different?” Starlight Glimmer continued her persuasion, creating a villain of the draconequus. “Oh, but you’ve already done that,” Discord said matter-of-factly. “What you’ve done in this quaint, little village, nopony has ever done before. You can travel the world, and not find a village like this anywhere else. In fact, there hasn’t been a village of ponies like this in the entire history of the universe. It is the most unique village ever.” The village of ponies glared at their leader, encroaching on her for her hypocrisy. “You can’t trust him,” Starlight Glimmer shouted. “He is Discord, a creature of chaos. That is what we are trying to fight. Chaos. Uniqueness. Disorder. He’s twisting what is good for his own purpose. We can’t let him divide us.” Seeing that her words were calming the crowd, she stood taller. “We are stronger together. And we are more together the more we are the same. He is just jealous because he is one-of-a-kind, that there is nopony like him. He is alone.” “Yes, I am very lonely,” Discord said, dramatically putting an arm to his forehead. “Which is why I would like to join your village.” “See, he is…What?” Starlight Glimmer was once again thrown a curve ball, one that hit her in the eye. “But…but you can’t. You’re not a pony. You don’t have a cutie mark to give up.” “Are denying me friendship?” Discord gave her a pair of big, watery eyes. “After all, I have no cutie mark, so from the beginning, I have had no special talent. I thought that you ponies would understand me.” Starlight Glimmer narrowed her eyes at Discord, not buying his act. But, to her consternation, several members of her village had already thrown their bits down and asked for a receipt. “You must understand, I am wary of letting just anypony into our village. Everypony here has given up their cutie mark to show their devotion to true friendship. What can you do?” Discord grinned. This was just what he was waiting for. “Why, I can give you exactly what you want, Starlight Glimmer? Everything you have asked for.” For a moment, Starlight Glimmer’s vision danced with the power she craved, to spread her bitterness to every corner of Equestria. If she had Discord on her side, there was nothing to stop her. “You want everypony to be the same, then so be it,” Discord said, standing up straight, towering over everypony. “You have done an admiral job of it so far, but in my opinion, you haven’t gone far enough.” And then Starlight Glimmer’s dreams popped. “First, you did a great job with these hair styles, but there is still too much diversity here,” Discord said, eyeing the simple bangs and shortened tails. “Let’s remove your manes and tails.” Snap Somepony screamed. Several sobbed at the lack of covering on their heads or butts. One mare, feeling the breeze on her scalp, felt elated and free. Starlight Glimmer felt a stone in her stomach. She must do something. “Oh, I can still tell everypony apart,” Discord said, pulling on his beard. “I know. Let’s remove those wings and horns. After all, without special talents, who needs to cast magic or fly.” Starlight Glimmer reached deep into her hidden cutie mark, preparing a spell to stop Discord. Her horn glowed. Snap Several pegasi fell out of the air, crashing to the ground or into other ponies. Starlight Glimmer screamed, the connection to her magic was horrifyingly gone. “Noooooo!” Her hooves scrambled around her head as if it had been misplaced. “Oh, I’m not done yet. I can still tell some of you apart,” Discord said. “All the colors must go. I think blindingly white coats will go nicely with those cutie marks.” Snap “There. Now you all are really the same,” Discord said happily to the herd of pure white horses. “Well, except for gender. Let me fix that.” “NO!” everypony said together. Twilight Sparkle stepped in. “I think you’ve made your point,” she said, looking smug. “I’m sure Starlight Glimmer will be happy that she got exactly what she wanted.” Pinkie Pie tilted her head. “She doesn’t look that happy. But at least those fake smiles are all gone.” She was happy again. Discord put a simple, brown fedora on his head. “Well, it looks like our mission is complete. We finished what the map sent us here to do, leaving the place better than we found it.” Fluttershy looked back on the village. Ponies were running around, screaming incoherently. Some sobbed hysterically. Starlight Glimmer was rocking herself while lying in a fetal position. “I’m not sure about that.” “Trust me, Fluttershy. Let’s go home with our heads held high, knowing we made the world a better place,” Discord said. “Rainbow Dash, get the rest of my luggage.” Snap Fifty suitcases appeared and fell on the blue pegasus. There were some muffled curses from underneath the pile. “Bye-bye Trifecta Glimbomb.” “You didn’t even try to get her name right that time,” Rarity said with a lifted eyebrow. Snap They were back in the castle. Spike and Big Mac were using the glowing table map to haggle over hoofball cards. Apple Jack scratched her mane under her hat. “Are we really gonna leave them that way?” She looked concern. Twilight Sparkle shrugged. “Well, maybe for now. I suppose we can let them have a taste of their own medicine before we go back. Starlight Glimmer was obviously up to something, and once she softens up a bit, we’ll straighten that mess out.” “Good luck,” Discord said, floating above them all. “Huh? Don’t you think we’ll be able to teach Starlight Glimmer the error of her ways.” Discord shrugged. “Possibly. But then again, by the time you go back, that whole village will be so alike, they might as well be the same pony.”