Discord reclined on a chair, regarding his front-row seat to the chaos running rampant through Ponyville with mild amusement.
“Heh, they told me to lay off on the pranks. They haven’t had their powers for a day and they’ve already warped the whole town.”
Discord chuckled to himself as he drank a glass of chocolate milk. What the girls didn’t know is that things would have been much more widespread and chaotic than this if he had not been containing the chaos erupting around Ponyville, with only a mild amount of strain.
“Let’s hope they get here soon. Even I won’t be able to contain this chaos forever.” As Discord continued to recline he couldn’t quash a minor worry of how enraged the girls will be when they get here, with their untrained powers it could result in disaster. “Luckily my dear author I know a way to keep them calm long enough to explain myself.” Discord chuckled as the author sighed in exasperation about the fourth wall getting broken again, and he’s expecting it to be broken a whole lot more during this -series-.... um, he means story.
“Spoiler alert,” Discord chuckled once more before noticing six chaotic auras approaching his position.
“Ah, right on time!” Discord exclaimed, making the appliances disappear before jumping into the nearby bushes.
***
“I’ll give him a left! Then a right! AJ you go for his legs and I'll push him!” Rainbow Dash rambled on about a ‘likely combat scenario’ for when they ‘fight’ Discord.
“For the last time Rainbow we’re not picking a fight. Words will be had but nopony is hitting anypony,” Twilight said, getting annoyed.
“We’ll see,” Rainbow Dash said confidently.
“At this point when I'm turned back to normal, I’m just going to go home and sleep. Today has been just too stressful,” Rarity grumbled.
“I second that,” Rainbow Dash said
As the group was ascending the hill leading to Discord’s usual hangout spot, they heard a faint whistling noise.
“Are you all hearing that?” Rainbow Dash asked, glancing about.
“Be on your guard, girls. Discord could be up to something,” Twilight said getting ready for anything.
“Oh ye of little faith!” A familiar jovial voice called out from above and the girls looked up to see a sphere descending on them, bouncing on the ground a few times before settling.
“Is that a… circus ball?” Applejack asked curiously
“I bet he turned into it to throw us off!” Rainbow Dash said indignantly as she marched up to it.
“Rainbow Dash, wait!” Twilight cried knowing this could be another one of Discord's tricks.
“Get out of the ball, Discord! We’re here to file another complaint!” Rainbow Dash barked as she approached it only for it to suddenly inflate and pop releasing a shockwave that sent her tumbling back to the group.
“WHOA!” Rainbow yelped as she tumbled back.
“Are you alright Rainbow?” Fluttershy asked.
“Yeah,” Rainbow got back up and got ready to shout at Discord to show himself again when suddenly fireworks shot out from a box that was inside the ball, creating a spectacle that was visible during the day.
Rainbow Dash felt weird as she saw the colorful display, almost… happy?
“Whoa,” Fluttershy, Twilight, and Rarity said in amazement.
“WOWIE! Discord’s got a good taste in firework displays!” Pinkie Pie cheered.
“Heh, and the part with the ball was pretty clever…” Applejack drawled.
“Yeah… WAIT, what am I doing?!” Rainbow shook her head, as she realized she was getting distracted.
“Yeah, that was weird. Why did that fascinate us so much?” Twilight said rubbing her head.
“DISCORD! WE’RE DONE WITH YOUR GAMES! COME OUT!” Rainbow Dash bellowed, losing her patience.
“Geez, no need to shout,” Discord said casually. Rainbow Dash turned to her left and saw him sitting at the base of a tree.
“YOU!” Rainbow marched up to him, destruction in her eyes.
“RAINBOW DASH! Don’t hurt him please!” Fluttershy begged but Rainbow Dash ignored her as she closed in.
“Do you have any idea what we’ve been through today!? Turn us back right now or I’ll-” Rainbow found herself cut off as she stepped on a red button that wasn’t there a moment ago, and before she could react, a pie impacted her face.
“It’s like he’s not even taking us seriously!” Rarity fumed before she and everypony else noticed how Rainbow Dash was shaking with rage.
“Rainbow Dash, calm down! We can still solve this peacefully!” Twilight said desperately, seeing the situation dissolving. As the girls were about to run over and restrain her they heard something they didn’t expect to hear.
Giggles.
The giggles came from Rainbow Dash and grew louder before the pie fell from her face showing a broad smile and looking as if she were restraining a laugh.
“Aw great, she’s so angry now she’s lost it!” Applejack said nervously
“No, this is different.” Twilight watched amazed as Rainbow gave a full out laugh and rolled onto her back, kicking her legs and banging her fist on the ground. This continued until Rainbow caught her breath and calmed down. As Rainbow Dash sat up and rubbed her head the others came over to her concerned.
“Are you okay, Rainbow?” Fluttershy asked.
“Y-yeah… What was that? I couldn’t control myself back there.” Rainbow Dash straightened up and actually looked slightly nervous.
“That my fellow mismatched friend, is a natural instinct of an amateur draconequus,” Discord chuckled.
“DISCORD!” Rarity shouted, being done with these games. She marched up to Discord, who stared up at her expectantly. “You listen here, I am expecting an important client soon and I am NOT going to greet her looking like-” Rarity began before Discord suddenly shoved a pinwheel into her hands.
“Huh? What are you-” Suddenly the pinwheel began to spin on its own and make a whistling noise. For some reason Rarity found herself entranced by it and began to giggle like a filly as it continued to do so, losing focus on what she was just doing.
“What the? Now ah know your messin’ with us, Discord! Can’t ya take us a little more seriously!?” Applejack barked at the Lord of Chaos impatiently.
“How about this?” Discord suddenly pulled out a wind-up teeth toy and set it on the ground where it began to bounce and chatter. Applejack tried to resist it but it was like ignoring a glass of water after going a week with no drinking. She soon found herself flattened on the ground along with Pinkie Pie and they were watching it with sparkles of wonder in their eyes.
“Discord, what did you do to them?” Twilight asked nervously
“Draconeqqus’s, mainly inexperienced ones have a tendency to get distracted easily and elated by amusing things, and I happen to know the right ones.” Discord shrugged
“Well make it stop! This isn’t right!” Twilight snapped at him.
“I’ll stop when all of you give me a chance to speak my piece,” Discord responded casually.
“Ok, negotiations are over!” Rainbow said at her wits end with today's events. She tried to approach only for her to suddenly receive another pie to the face which drove her into more laughter despite her attempts to resist.
“I can do this all day, Twilight. You’re free to keep it brief though,” Discord said.
“Look! We just want to be turned back to normal! Is that brief enough!?” Twilight said, throwing her hands in the air.
“Yes and I'm going to tell you, I can’t do that yet.” Discord responded making all the distractions disappear with a snap of his fingers.
“WHAT!?” Rainbow Dash shouted in dismay. “You mean we’re stuck like this?!”
“Oh, dear! Gilded Canvas will never even approach my boutique if I'm stuck like this! This is terrible! Awful! The-” Rarity cried out before Applejack cut her off.
“-Most horrible thing, we know! Point is, Are you saying you can’t fix us Discord?” Applejack demanded.
“Oh I can, anytime. However, before I do, I need to settle a dispute. “ Discord said standing up.
“Settle a dispute?” Twilight parroted.
“Y-your not mad at us are you, Discord?” Fluttershy asked with a worried look on her face.
“My dear Flutterbuddy, I could never be mad at you. What I mean by that is a serious question has been posed and I'm open to testing it.”
“What question? Twilight asked carefully.
“If whether or not chaos magic is as easy to resist as conventional magic is. And so far, you six haven't been doing well” Discord said gesturing to the chaos going on in the town “Honestly, how Celestia and Luna haven’t noticed by now is baffling.”
“Seriously? THAT’S what this is all about?” Rainbow Dash groaned.
“Yes, you six believe that I'm not being sincere about the difficulty of resisting chaos, then I want you six to prove your point.” Discord said crossing his arms.
“This isn’t the right way to go about it. We could have talked about it first!” Twilight complained.
“I believe it was somepony nopony really remembers the name of who said ‘Actions speak louder than words’ and ‘experience is our best teacher.’ instead of arguing your point, how about you prove to me that chaos magic is easy to resist.” Discord stated.
“But- Why do this to Fluttershy? You could have scared her to death!” Rainbow Dash said continuing to be the vocal one of the group.
“But she wasn’t,” Discord responded simply.
“Still! Why?” Rainbow Dash demanded.
“I did a coin flip. Does that count for anything? Besides she would have opted to join you girls anyways.” Discord pointed out.
“He isn’t wrong,” Fluttershy admitted, “I wouldn’t bear the thought of my friends going through this without me because it wouldn’t be right.” Twilight and the others nodded understandingly when a question that had been gnawing at Twilight came up.
Kicking the annoying question out of the way with one foot, Twilight turned to Discord and asked, “How did you even do this? Transforming a non-caster into a caster type should be impossible due to the unique magical leylines.”
“Simple, I turned them into unicorns first and then used their new magical ley lines to catalyze the transformation from caster into chaotic beings.” Discord shrugged as Twilight’s jaw dropped.
“What?” Rainbow Dash said, head spinning from all the smart talk.
“YOU CHANGED THEIR TRIBE?!” Twilight exclaimed.
“Yep. I used a spell that I commonly used when I was extremely bored back during my days as ruler. I would use this spell to turn unicorns into draconeqquses. Then give them a week to prep, and then do battle with me. I was always the victor in the end but it was amusing.” Discord stated
“You’d use a spell that had such a barbaric purpose on us?” Rarity said, taken aback.
“But that still doesn’t explain-” Twilight attempted.
“I’m the Lord of Chaos and Disharmony, I can do things you can’t even imagine,” Discord said surprisingly stern, and Twilight began to look nervous.
“Soooo… You're going to fight us now?” Twilight said with a slight gulp.
“No, I’m just stating the transformation's origin. This will serve its purpose for a little bet I’d like to propose.” Discord said getting to business.
“A bet? Discord, we are not taking part in this. We’re all very busy right now!” Twilight said exasperated.
“Considering I'm the one who can turn you back, perhaps you should stop shouting at me, and besides, this could be your only opportunity to study chaos magic,” Discord stated.
Twilight paused at this and considered what he said. “That is true… chaos magic is a new avenue to explore.” The voice in Twilight's head sounded interested.
“Yeah, it is… No! What am I thinking!?” Twilight mentally berated herself before turning to Discord.
“Discord, the damage, and potential risks are too great. We need to be turned back to fix this mess.” Discord just rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers and the chaos in town was quickly reversed.
“There, problem solved,” Discord said casually.
“Wow, that was quick,” Rarity said as she saw the repaired town.
“This changes nothing. Discord, we still need to be returned to normal,” Twilight said not taking her eyes off of Discord.
“I’m afraid I must insist,” Discord replied
“Why?” Twilight sighed.
“So we can settle this debate, and have some fun doing it,” Discord said
“Discord! I’m being serious here-” Twilight started but found herself trailing off as Discord began juggling some colorful balls with his tail.
“If you’ll let me speak now, This bet is also to serve as a means for convenience since I'm going to be out of town for a while. I’m heading to a crystal dimension to meet up with my buddy the Smooze and some triangle-shaped cyclops he told me about and discuss things beyond your mortal comprehension. We’re also playing bingo. I’ll be gone for a week and so now I’ll discuss the bet.” Discord said amusedly watching Twilight zone out a bit as she continued watching him juggle while the others thankfully managed to pay attention.
“We don’t have a choice in the matter, do we?” Applejack sighed
“No, not really,” Discord said with a shake of the head “Now, I’m going to be gone for a week.”
“Thank goodness…” Rainbow Dash muttered, before getting a sour look from Fluttershy.
“And in that time, you six will prove to me that chaos magic is easy to master,” Discord finished.
“Can’t we do this next week or something? I’m expecting a special reviewer to come and appraise my work and I don’t wish for this to ruin it,” Rarity demanded.
“I thought ahead for that and decided to give this to each of you.” Discord said handing out a colorful sphere, Applejack held Twilight’s since Twilight was still spacing out watching Discord’s tail juggling.
“What’s this?” Fluttershy asked
“I call it a ‘boring sphere’ Use it to disable your chaos magic for two hours, or you can say ‘undo the undo’ and your magic will be returned to you. Just in case something big comes up,” Discord explained
“Well, at least he’s given us a chance to take a break,” Applejack muttered before noticing Twilight was still watching him juggle. “Are ya ever going to let her snap out of it?” Applejack asked
“I’m certain you all can relay what she needs to know afterwards. It will be quicker and easier if I explain it to you all first,” Discord replied “Now if I come back and find Equestria in chaotic trouble, then I suppose I win,” Discord said confidently
“But we hardly know how to use these powers!” Rainbow Dash stated exasperatedly.
“Then use this.” Discord tossed a thick book at their feet, the words ‘How to be a Draconeqqus for Dummies’ were titled on it.
“There’s a guide?” Rarity asked confusedly
“Yep! Written by yours truly!” Discord announced proudly. The girls glanced between each other and sighed at their current situation, knowing Discord wasn’t going to listen unless they could prove themselves. They did not want to resign themselves to the inevitable, but it looked as if there was no choice.
“What’s in it for us? What happens when we win?” Rainbow Dash said approaching Discord carefully.
“If you win is what you mean. And what’ll happen is I’ll acknowledge you were right and work harder to cease my pranking, you girls will finally have a chance to relax and I’ll even throw in a prize of your choosing.” Discord stated. That caught Rainbow Dash’s interest.
“And if we lose?” Rainbow Dash asked
“You’ll have to acknowledge I was right, you’ll stop pestering me about how annoying I am and you all have to spend a week sleeping over at my house,” Discord said smugly as the girls paled at the last condition. Little known fact, sleepovers at Discord's house are like a nightmare, the last time they did so was a night they’d sooner forget.
“That’s… pretty rough…” Rainbow Dash stated hesitantly.
“Well girls? Is it a deal?” Discord asked, the other elements looked to each other and shared a reluctant expression.
“You’ll really try to cool it with the pranks if we win?” Rainbow Dash asked
“Yep,” Discord responded
“And we’ll all get a free request of you as well?” Rarity said with a hint of hope.
“Yes, you will, within reason, of course, I don’t do embarrassing things even for free.” Discord nodded. The girls thought this over and knowing Discord wouldn’t be swayed decided they could at least play for the benefits at the end.
“Alright Discord, we’ll play yer game, but ah still need to know how to turn back or at least look normal again.” Applejack said impatiently
“All that and more is in the book. Now, if you ladies will excuse me, I have to get packing.” Discord snapped his fingers and summoned a briefcase and began walking off before pausing. “Oh and do let Spike know to pack his toothbrush because the crystal dimension doesn’t have any convenience stores,” Discord mentioned.
“Inform Spike? Why would we need to tell him that?” Rarity asked
“Oh, didn’t I mention I'm bringing him with me?” Discord said with a speculative look on his face.
“YOU’RE WHAT?!” the five draconeqquses shouted at the same time.
“Yes, I figured me and the little guy never hang out at all so I thought I'd invite him along since it’s a dimension of crystals.” Discord chuckled.
“You are doing no such thing!” Rarity seethed.
“Why’s that?” Discord said with a raised brow.
“Who knows what trouble you’ll get him into!” Applejack added in.
“Oh come now, you can trust me.” The looks the girls gave him said otherwise…
“You ain't taking him, that’s final” Applejack stated.
“We’ll let him decide that,” Discord said before walking through a portal.
“This bet better be worth it….” Applejack sighed.
“If it means I can actually train like I used to, it’s going to have to be…” Rainbow said, giving a bigger sigh before walking over to the book and picking it up.
“YAAAY! This means I can stay like this!” Pinkie Pie cheered. The others began to look through the book while a lavender draconequus finally stopped spacing out.
“What? What just happened?” Twilight said, still in a slight daze.