//------------------------------// // Silent Witness // Story: The Trial of Discord Draconequus // by 42Zombies //------------------------------// The void was silent. The mood was tense. Queen Chrysalis had taken the stand. Chance had summoned the Changeling Queen with little-to-no fanfare, and she had been surprisingly cooperative so far. There were none of the complaints or snide remarks that Discord had gotten accustomed to when he'd impersonated Grogar. Even when Chance asked his questions, Chrysalis held back on the biting sarcasm. That did not mean she was calm, however. The expression on her face was one of pure anger. And no matter how cool Chance tried to play it, every creature had the sense that Chrysalis might snap at any moment. “Now, Queen Chrysalis,” Chance said, “Discord once aided in foiling your plan to conquer Equestria, yes?” Queen Chrysalis said nothing. Chance waited uncertainly for her to give some sort of response, but none came. She merely stared forward, snarling at the blue draconequus. “Hm.” Chance frowned and squinted at the Changeling Queen. “Well, how about the time he posed as Grogar? Tell us about that.” Once again, Queen Chrysalis gave no response. Her expression was one of defiant anger, and it had changed very little since she'd been summoned to the court. She looked like a she might start ranting and raving at the top of her lungs at any given moment. “Your silence speaks volumes.” Chance said with a nod. “Now, what do you have to say about Discord as a person? Do you have anything positive to say about him at all?” Chrysalis continued to be silent. Her stony expression remained unchanged. At the defense table, Discord held his head in his hands and groaned wearily. He'd been so optimistic when Chrysalis had first taken the stand. She had been so cold and uncooperative. Now that her testimony was underway, however, things were looking more and more hopeless. “This is a nightmare,” Discord groaned as he dragged his hands down his face. “She's absolutely destroying me up there, Fluttershy.” “Um.” Fluttershy looked toward the witness stand and Chrysalis with an uncertain frown on her face. Her eyes darted between Discord and the stand a few times before she gave Discord a very confused look. “She's a statue,” Fluttershy said flatly. Discord had no idea why Fluttershy felt like now was a good time to point out the obvious. Of course Chrysalis was a statue; she, Tirek, and Cozy Glow had all been petrified after their failed takeover. Discord and Fluttershy had both been there when it happened. Discord didn't need to be reminded. “She's a statue that's going to cost me this case, Fluttershy.” Discord pointed to the witness stand, where Chance was attempting to move Chrysalis's frozen form into a more intimidating angle. He was not succeeding. A statue can only look so frightening. Eventually, Chance gave up on trying to frame Chrysalis in any particular way and threw his hands up. “Okay, I think we've gotten all we're going to get out of her. Can I call my next witness yet? I want to call someone who can physically assault Discord.” “Now hold on.” The Bewildebeest said with a gesture in Chrysalis's direction. “As enlightening as the last hour of questioning has been, I feel like we really should unpetrify her. We brought her all the way here. This terrible golem deserves a chance to speak, don't you think?” Chance lowered his eyelids disinterestedly. “Well, your honor,” Chance said, “as much as that makes sense to do, I'm afraid we can't. She can only be set free by the same kind of magic that froze her in the first place. So she has to be a statue forever. Oh well.” Chance shrugged half-heartedly. Evidently, he was impatient to get on to the next witness. Discord couldn't blame him. There was only so much material you could milk out of interrogating a statue, and Chance had most-likely run out of ways to amuse himself with this charade. But the Wildebeest was ruining everything by continuing to take this sham of a trial seriously. “There must be some way for us to hear from her,” he pointed out, stroking the thin beard that dangled from his chin. “We're Lords of Chaos. We can do all kinds of crazy things. Surely we can find a workaround.” The Bewildebeest continued to ponder things as he looked down at Chrysalis thoughtfully. The other Lesser Lords grumbled to themselves irritably, but the Bewildebeest didn't appear to notice. As for Discord, he didn't mind if the Bewildebeest spent all week thinking this one over. If the trial kept stalling, it would give Twilight plenty of time to figure out a way to save Discord and Fluttershy. Of course, that was assuming that the message had properly reached her in the first place. Without free access to his magic, Discord didn't have the luxury of being able to come up with a backup plan. That meant that, if Twilight wound up not getting the note for some reason, Discord's only remaining option was to play along with this mockery of a trial. He might have not had any chance of being found not guilty, but Discord was certain he could at least manage to get his sentence reduced. Well, he was relatively certain. Trials, again, were not something Discord had an intimate knowledge of. He generally tried to avoid them. At the witness stand, the Bewildebeest had given Chance a hammer and chisel and instructed him to try and free Chrysalis. Chance looked understandably baffled by this request, and hadn't even started chipping away at Chrysalis's stony form. He probably knew just as well as Discord that the Bewildebeest's plan wouldn't work. A part of Discord wouldn't mind watching them try, though. “This trial can't progress until you get her out of there, young man,” the Bewildebeest said sternly. “Get to chipping.” “First of all, we're the same age.” Chance pointed the chisel at Discord dismissively. “Second, this is his trial; shouldn't he be the one doing this?” The Bewildebeest looked at Discord thoughtfully. The old gnu was actually considering it, wasn't he? Unbelievable. For someone who was apparently sympathetic to Discord, the Bewildebeest wasn't making this trial any easier. Discord sighed irritably. “As much as I'd love to take a hammer and a chisel to Queen Chrysalis's face, I'm not going to do it. It wouldn't free her, and she'd feel as every piece of herself would be chipped away. It would just be needlessly cruel.” “That settles it, then. Someone definitely needs to start going at her with that chisel,” Bedlam said, a hint of excitement creeping into her voice. The Bewildebeest glanced to his left and gave Bedlam a worried frown. “Er, no,” he said. “I've changed my mind. Let's find another way to--” “No, no, I'm into this plan now.” Chance began to nod enthusiastically. “Now that I know she'll be aware of what's happening to her, I think it's imperative to this case that we start breaking her up into little, tiny pieces.” As the Lesser Lords began arguing, Discord felt Fluttershy tugging at his arm. To no surprise, Fluttershy looked slightly worried about the fate about to befall Chrysalis. Discord understood why; slowly getting chiseled into smaller and smaller pieces was a pretty gruesome punishment, even for someone like Chrysalis. Someone needed to stop these idiots from actually trying to do it. Wordlessly, Discord nodded to Fluttershy and turned his attention back to the trial. Chance, Bedlam, and the Bewildebeest were all still talking over each other. No one had made any moves to try and do something to Chrysalis yet, but Discord didn't know how long this stalemate would last. As Discord tried to think of a way to get the court to let go of this morbid idea, his attention was drawn to Dada's stand, where the strange zebra-thing was sitting patiently. They did not appear to be participating in their colleagues' debate, nor did they seem particularly interested. “Are you going to do anything about them?” Discord asked the Master of Absurdity, not really expecting an answer. There was no way Dada could have heard Discord's question. He hadn't spoken particularly loudly, and the other lords were making far too much noise with their arguing. Nevertheless, Dada did respond. It was a response that made Discord realize he should never ask Dada anything ever, ever again. Dada slowly raised one of their hooves up and slammed it down on the judge's stand. The ringing noise it produced was deafening, but it only lasted for a few seconds. It was still enough to stop the lesser lords' argument abruptly. Bedlam, Chance, and the Bewildebeest all whipped their heads in Dada's direction, alarmed, as the striped lord did... something. Discord didn't know what it was that happened, but it was something. There was really no other way to describe it. There were no words for whatever it was that Dada had done; not because it was difficult to describe, but because it, whatever it was, actively fought against any kind of description. Whatever it was, it violently resisted any attempt to understand it as more than just 'something'. The judges all cried out in disgust at whatever it was Dada was doing. Discord had to agree with their reaction, but he wasn't sure why. Fluttershy, meanwhile, just looked confused. She squinted, like she was trying to decipher some abstract piece of art. The answers, if there even were any, persistently eluded her. As it continued happening, bits and pieces of whatever it was were becoming clearer to Discord. He caught glimpses of a few bizarre images that he could, at the very least, use words to describe. A hole opening up somewhere and spitting something out. A pony dragging a piano through a desert. A living creature coming out of a sink's faucet like water. Discord furrowed his brow anxiously. What were these things he was singing? Were they metaphors? Just weird images for the sake of being weird? Discord felt like trying to figure it out was a waste of energy. Maybe the only meaning to it all was that there wasn't any. Eventually, something stopped happening. Whatever it was that Dada had done, it seemed to end before anyone even really realized it. Silent confusion hung in the air as everycreature waited to see if something would start happening again. Only when they were certain there would be no more of whatever it was did anyone dare to speak. “What?” Discord asked. He knew he probably needed to use some more words, but at the moment he couldn't quite remember any. That would pass in time, but for now he was just too flummoxed to say much more than just that one word. “I'm a solution,” Dada warbled. This was not a good explanation. The court became filled with uncomfortable murmuring. “Dada, don't just use our magic on your own like that,” the Bewildebeest said. He was trying to hide it, but he couldn't help but sound a little bit stressed. The gnu lord let out a deep breath and adjusted his robes. “Now, I believe we were discussing--” “That was the worst possible way you could have done that,” a new voice said. Nobody had noticed that there was a new addition to the court. How could they have noticed? Whatever it was that Dada had done had been incredibly distracting. And whatever it was Dada had done, it had brought someone to the courtroom. Someone who was now standing next to a statue of themselves. It was Queen Chrysalis, in the flesh, or carapace, or whatever she had. She was just here now. The petrified Queen Chrysalis remained in the witness stand, unchanged. Whatever had happened, it hadn't freed Chrysalis. But Discord could tell it hadn't just whipped up a doppelganger, either. She was, again, just here now. And she was soaking wet, for some reason. Fluttershy gasped in terror, her hooves flying to her mouth as she ducked beneath the table. Discord couldn't blame her; Chrysalis had him on edge, too After the whole Grogar incident, he'd learned that Queen Chrysalis was dangerous, even if you were a handsome genius like Discord. Indeed, even though Discord was the most handsome genius of all time, Chrysalis and the others had still managed to catch him off-guard. That was why, even though Chrysalis looked like she'd been dragged through a few rough miles of swampland, Discord wasn't about to let his guard down. As the entire court stared at Chrysalis, she continued to seethe. “I thought nothing could be worse than being trapped in that petrified form with only Tirek and Cozy Glow for company.” Chrysalis said through bared teeth. “But then you drag me here and make me listen to your nonsense for an HOUR. I was aware of every inane question you asked me, you know. Ever. Single. One.” Chrysalis leveled a downright poisonous glare in Chance's direction. The blue draconequus flinched, eyes darting about nervously as Chrysalis eyed him. Discord liked how shaken Chance looked. It was cathartic. “Oh, but that wasn't bad enough, was it?” Chrysalis's head spun to glare upwards at the judges. Her sneer grew more hateful with every word she spat in their direction. “No. Because you had to go and free me from my prison in the worst. Way. Possible.” There was venom in every syllable coming out of Chrysalis's mouth, and Discord was rather pleased with who it was getting aimed at. The Lesser Lords (Save Dada, who was always inscrutable) were all clearly uncomfortable with the vitriol being leveled at them, and it was just delightful. The only thing ruining it was the fact Chrysalis was back. The Bewildebeest fidgeted awkwardly under Chrysalis's piercing gaze. “Er... Why are you so... wet?” He finally managed to ask. What little calm Chrysalis had had up to that point vanished in an instant. The Changeling Queen's eyes widened at the apparent gall of the Bewildebeest to ask such a question. In a flash, Chrysalis flew up to the judges' stands and got right up in the Bewildebeest's face, her manic eyes mere inches from his own. “I don't know!” Chrysalis screamed at the top of her lungs. “I don't WANT to know! I've put up with your nonsense long enough, and I DEMAND you release me at once!” As much as Discord was enjoying watching the Lesser Lords get yelled at, it sadly couldn't last. Eventually, one or more of the lords would remember that they were nearly omnipotent. Sure enough, just when it looked like Chrysalis was about to bite the Bewildebeest's face off, Chance stretched his arm out and grabbed Chrysalis by the neck before dragging her down to the witness stand. “Okay, little lady,” Chance said as Chrysalis landed with a dull, wet thud. “Stop being such a drama queen and play along. You should show a little gratitude to the draconequui who turned you back to normal.” Chance glanced at the statue of Queen Chrysalis, which still occupied the witness stand. “Well... we sort of turned you back to normal.” Not giving it any further thought, Chance pushed the still-petrified Chrysalis out of the witness stand and sat the living version down in its place. The Changeling Queen looked to be a mix of outraged and shaken. With an impatient scowl, Chrysalis set her hooves on the door to the stand and made to open it so she could leave. Just as Chrysalis did, however, her eyes darted in Discord's direction. She stopped. Her eyes narrowed. Discord could practically see the gears turning in Chrysalis's head. Then, after a moment of thought, she sat back down in her seat. “Fine,” Queen Chrysalis said. “You want me to testify against Discord? I'll tell you everything you need to know.” It was only at that moment that Discord remembered that, oh right; Chrysalis being here was a bad thing. He'd been so amused by her tirade against the Lesser Lords that he'd forgotten about the whole trial thing. “Er, objection!” Discord said as he stood up from his seat. “The witness is clearly unreliable. She is a known liar and manipulator. Nothing she says should be taken at face value.” Bedlam shrugged her amorphous shoulders. “That's fine,” she said. “It's not like we swore her in or anything.” “That's another thing I take issue with,” Fluttershy said as she poked her head up from under the table. “You really should be swearing your witnesses in.” Chrysalis glanced towards Fluttershy and hissed threateningly. With a small yelp, the little pegasus ducked back down beneath the table. Chance was looking positively giddy at the moment. He knew just as well as Discord how incriminating Chrysalis's testimony could be. The blue draconequus rubbed his hands together eagerly as he floated before the witness stand. “Alright, your highness,” he said. “We'll start things off relatively simply. How long have you known the defendant?” “Too long.” Chrysalis answered. Chance's excited grin died just a little. “Could you be a bit more specific?” He asked testily. Chrysalis blew a wet lock of hair out of her face and leaned her cheek on her hoof. “I didn't actually meet him until the incident with Starlight Glimmer.” The Queen's voice momentarily deepened when she mentioned the mare's name. “But I was aware of who he was before then, of course. I saw his work when he took over Equestria, and when he helped Tirek eat the ponies' magic. But we didn't actually meet until he decided, apparently on a whim, to set me up for failure.” “It wasn't on a whim!” Discord protested. “It was a carefully-orchestrated plot, I'll have you know!” Chrysalis snarled threateningly at Discord. “Discord, please don't interrupt.” The Bewildebeest chastised. “Miss Chrysalis, please continue to tell us about Discord's wonderful plan to ruin your life.” “This buffoon took me in when I was at my lowest,” Chrysalis said, gesturing towards Discord. “He essentially forced me into taking part in a plan that was never meant to succeed. That's entrapment. It's only thanks to my own clever planning that I was able to turn things in my favor and nearly conquer Equestria. Even after all of that, however, he still found a way to ruin things for me. I have no idea why he decided to single me out for this, but it's all his fault.” Discord looked at Chrysalis skeptically. “'Single you out'? What about Cozy Glow and Tirek?” The mention of her accomplices made Chrysalis look as if she had suddenly developed a very bad taste in her mouth. “Oh. Them.” Chrysalis waved a hoof dismissively. “They were also involved in things.” Chance looked up at the judges' stands, a stern expression on his very punchable face. “There you have it, your honors,” he said. “Discord manipulated this poor, innocent changeling into taking part in a scheme that was doomed from the start. All this plan would have achieved was a brief blip of chaos before returning to an orderly status quo. And on top of all of that, he committed entrapment, which is improper police procedure.” “Did you just call me 'poor?'” Chrysalis asked. “This is just further evidence that Discord is failing at spreading chaos,” Chance continued. “Furthermore, he's failing as a police officer. This is why I suggest that he be stripped of his title and his badge, and then punished to the fullest extent that the court can possibly--” “I'm not a police officer!” Discord protested, exasperated. There were other, more prudent points that he knew he should have been arguing against, but the police officer thing was just too distracting for Discord to leave it alone. “That's no excuse for this shameful behavior, Discord.” Bedlam said scathingly. “Personally, I don't think there's any excuse for what you pulled with that little Grogar stunt. You ruined whatever wonderful chaos would have been created by Queen Chrysalis.” “He certainly did,” Chrysalis said dismissively. “If it weren't for him and his little pony friends, I'd be ruling all of Equestria right now.” “But what about Tirek and Cozy?” The Bewildebeest asked. “What about them?” Chyrsalis countered. While Chrysalis glared at the Bewildebeest hostilely, the gears in Discord's head started turning. There weren't any literal gears; at least, not as far as Discord knew. But regardless, an idea formed in Discord's head as he stroked his goatee. “Discord?” Fluttershy whispered, poking her head out from beneath the table. “What's wrong? You're just sitting there, tugging your beard and staring off into space.” Discord stopped stroking his beard. He didn't stop staring off into space, though, because that was technically impossible to do. Everything occupied space, so if you were looking at something, you were looking at the space it filled. Right now, Discord was looking at the space that presently contained Fluttershy. “Sorry. Just thinking of something.” Without bothering to explain things further, Discord stood up from his seat and raised a claw. “Excuse me! Your honors!” The Bewildebeest squinted at Discord and pointed his gavel in the Lord of Chaos's direction. “Yes? The tall gentleman in the front row? What is it?” “I know that I'm not supposed to question any of the witnesses in this trial,” Discord said. “But I just wanted to let you know that I'm about to anyway.” “That's fine,” the Bewildebeest said. “Thank you for letting us know in advance that you're about to do something we don't approve of. It was very polite.” Chance scoffed and raised an eyebrow skeptically. The eyebrow he raised was Chrysalis's, much to her clear irritation. “What question could you possibly have to ask?” Chance asked mockingly. “The facts in this incident are clear, Discord. Don't try to weasel your way out of it.” Discord didn't let Chance's bad attitude get to him. With a small smile on his face, Discord looked to the ex-Queen occupying the witness stand. “I was just wondering,” Discord said. “Queen Chrysalis, could you please paint a clearer picture of what I ruined? What, exactly, would you have done as the ruler of Equestria?” Chrysalis swatted Chance's hand away from her face and narrowed her eyes at Discord. “For starters, I'd get rid of your precious pony friends,” she said. Her eyes darted in Fluttershy's direction for a moment. “That includes the princesses. Then I'd get revenge on Starlight Glimmer and those ungrateful traitors from my old hive.” Discord waved a hand in the air. “Yes, yes, okay. Revenge is great; we all know it's good. But I'm asking about how you'd rule things. How, exactly, would you run your kingdom.” “Oh.” Chrysalis folded her hooves and gave it some thought. “I'd find minions to enact my will; either through hypnosis or creating them on my own. Then I'd send my agents to stamp out any possible resistance. The ponies of Equestria would be either workers or food, and would obey my every order without question. All of my subjects would love and fear me under pain of death, and my word would be law. Shining Armor would--” “Aha!” Discord clapped his hands triumphantly before pointing an accusatory finger at Chrysalis. “There it is!” “There what is?” Chance asked. “What is there?” The Bewildebeest asked. “Is there what?” Dada asked. Discord grinned with confidence. “You all heard it yourselves,” he said. “Straight from the changeling's mouth. She just confessed that if she had successfully taken over Equestria, she'd rule it with an iron hoof. Did anything she described sound particularly chaotic to any of you?” The judges looked among themselves uncertainly as they thought over Discord's question. While they mulled it over, though, Chance was looking up at them in desperate shock. It pleased Discord to no end to see the smugness wiped off of Chance's stupid face. “The fact of the matter is, Chrysalis's reign would have been even less chaotic than Equestria already is,” Discord continued. “And I'm willing to bet that Tirek and Cozy Glow would be no different. These amateur villains have no skill when it calls to sowing havoc and mania. All they care about is being in control of every little thing so they can placate their flimsy egos.” “Flimsy?!” Chrysalis slammed her hooves down on the walls of the witness stand and lifted herself up off the stool. “How dare you belittle me, you insane little buffoon! I'm no amateur; I am a Queen! I was born to rule! I don't care about chaos! I only care about making every creature in Equestria grovel at my hooves!” “Lady, stop! You're just digging us deeper!” Chance pleaded. All that got him was a snarl from Chrysalis. The judges murmured quietly while Discord sat back down with a big smirk on his face. He had nailed it. He'd finally figured out how to turn this case in his favor. From here on out, it would me smooth sailing, even if Twilight never showed up. “Discord has a point,” the Bewildebeest said after he finished convening with his colleagues. “If he had actually gone through with helping Chrysalis and her accomplices achieve their goals, it would have only resulted in a more rigid status quo.” “Yes,” Bedlam grumbled. “As much as I hate to admit it, this isn't as cut-and-dry as I'd like it to be. I'm not sure if we can use this incident against him.” Chance made a noise as if he was about to speak, but stopped before he could say more than a syllable. The blue draconequus looked mortified. He dragged his paws down his face in a display of frustration that made Discord feel all warm inside. And while Chrysalis looked more annoyed than angry at the little trap Discord had sprung on her, Discord still couldn't resist giving the queen a mocking little smile. “I think I'm getting the hand of this whole 'trial' thing,” Discord said to Fluttershy. He leaned back in his seat and crossed one leg over the other. “Pretty impressive of your old pal Discord, isn't it?” “Well, I don't know if that trick would have worked in a normal trial,” Fluttershy mused, her expression thoughtful. After trailing off, however, she looked back at Discord with an excited smile. “But you did great! We might be able to turn this trial around!” The Bewildebeest banged his gavel, and the shrieking sound it made gave Fluttershy a little start. Both she and Discord looked up at the judges who were looking down at them. “Don't go celebrating just yet,” the Bewildebeest cautioned. “We have more witnesses to go through, and not all of them will be as this insect-woman. Oh, speaking of which...” The Bewildebeest looked down at the witness stand, where Chrysalis was glaring spitefully up at him. “You're dismissed.” The Bewildebeest banged his gavel once again, and there was a bright flash of light. Discord could feel their shared power being used to send Chrysalis back to where she'd come from. When the light faded, that had certainly happened. But there was a slight complication. The petrified Chrysalis, who had originally been summoned to the court, had indeed been sent back to her point of origin. The flesh-and-blood Chrysalis, however, remained in the witness stand. “Huh.” The Bewildebeest said after a moment. He looked at his gavel, as if it had somehow messed things up, then turned to his right. “Dada, could you get rid of her?” “No.” Dada said. The Bewildebeest shrugged. “Oh well. I guess she lives here now. Chance, you may call your next witness.” Chance, shoulders slumped, sneered at Discord before turning back to face the judges. “Fine,” he said listlessly. “I mean, you're clearly making a very stupid mistake, but FINE. I was going to call more witnesses anyway, but I guess it's cool that this one completely screwed up. What do I care?” Petulantly, Chance kicked the air in front of him like he was a child throwing a tantrum. From the looks on the judges' faces, they had about as much sympathy for Chance as Discord. “Did you really just say that I screwed this up?” Chrysalis asked incredulously. “Don't blame me for whatever it was that just happened. I refuse to play along with whatever insanity is--” With a wave of his hand, Chance took Chrysalis's mouth away. It popped out of existence, leaving smooth carapace in the spot it had been. The Queen's eyes widened in shock, then narrowed in outrage. She glared at Chance, her eyes conveying the anger she couldn't express with words. This time, though, Chance wasn't anywhere near as intimidated. “Blah, blah, blah,” Chance said mockingly, moving his hand like a puppet's mouth. The normal smug condescension in his voice was gone; now he sounded angry and tired. “Your testimony's over. You're done talking. If you talk to me like that again, I'll take away the part of your brain that lets you speak. Understand?” Chance snapped his fingers, and Chrysalis's mouth reappeared on her face. The Changeling Queen quietly snarled at Chance, but wisely kept silent for the moment. She begrudgingly exited the witness stand and trotted over to the prosecution table, where she took a seat. Discord didn't know if Chrysalis was actually allowed to sit there, but he was willing to wager that neither did any of the lesser lords. In any case, none of them were raising a big stink about it. Meanwhile, Chrysalis was busy channeling her unending animosity into an angry glare that was being divided between Chance and Discord. The lesser lords probably wouldn't raise a stink about that, either. “Now, let's move past that nonsense that just happened and get into some truly compelling testimony.” Despite still sounding fairly irritated, a wicked little smile was forming on Chance's face. “My next witness is someone who knew Discord before his first takeover of Equestria. I call to the stand--” Chance stopped, his eyes wide. He was sensing the exact same thing as Discord: a magical disturbance happening nearby. It was subtle at first, like the change in a stuffy room after a window had been opened. But there was no ignoring the fact that the atmosphere was changing. A twinkling spark of magical light, no bigger than a pinprick manifested in the middle of the courtroom. It danced in the air like a will-o-wisp, or like electricity crackling at the end of wire. Every now and then, the spark would stretch and extend before quickly returning to its original size. Every fluctuation of its form was accompanied by warbling, twinkling sounds. “Ah, this must be the next witness,” the Bewildebeest said cheerfully. “It's nice to meet you, Flickering Mote of Light.” “This isn't my witness,” Chance said. He scrutinized the magical phenomenon in front of him as he rubbed his chin. “I don't know who this guy is. I think we might have an intruder.” The Bewildebeest smiled. “An intruder? How did they get in? Did they get in-tru--” The dot of light suddenly burst, loudly expanding into a massive, pink dome of magic. Sparks flew out from the dome as energy crackled all along its surface, filling the air with noise. Chance had been right; something was trying to get into the pocket dimension. Discord could feel a powerful magic attempting to puncture a hole into the fabric of this void's reality. Discord could only think of a few creatures powerful enough to attempt something like this, and one in particular who was smart enough to figure out how. Which meant the note had worked! Discord gave Fluttershy a confident smile, and the little pegasus smiled back. She looked a bit uncertain as her eyes glanced in the direction of the spell being cast, however. The dome of light fluctuated wildly, its surface collapsing and expanding at random as whoever was on the other side tried to stabilize their connection. Chance hesitantly approached the magical apparition, paw outstretched, only to jump back when it shuddered out towards him. The blue draconequus looked up to the judges, a concerned expression on his face. “Shouldn't we be doing something about this?” Chance asked, an accusatory edge to his voice. “This could disrupt the trial.” The Bewildebeest leaned over his judge's stand, still smiling eagerly. “Did you hear me? I asked, did the intruder get in-tru--” The dome exploded outwards, filling the void with blinding light. Discord was quick to provide both himself and Fluttershy with a pair of sunglasses to shield their eyes. This also served to make them both look cool as heck. Even with the glasses on, though, the light was absolutely blinding. Then, in a split second, the light was gone. It retreated back to its origin point, as if it were being sucked back into wherever it had come from. The dome of magic was gone now; the only sign it had ever been there was the scorched circle that had been burnt into the rocky ground. Inside of that circle was a pony. The pony who'd cast the spell. The pony who'd traveled to a different reality. The pony who had received Discord's note. Unfortunately, it was the wrong pony. “Discord!” Starlight Glimmer said as she trotted out of the burnt ring. “I got your note! What do you need me to do?” “Note?!” Chance repeated angrily. “Starlight Glimmer!” Chrysalis snarled furiously. “In-tru-der window!” The Bewildebeest exclaimed excitedly. “The intruder got in tru da window! Get it?” Nobody laughed at the Bewildebeest's great joke.