//------------------------------// // The Annoyance // Story: A Discordic Adventure // by GeekCat //------------------------------// Time passed, with Discord busying himself by arranging the halls in his house into more of a maze. The sun was setting in Equestria, and after a long day of well-caused chaos, his stomach was starting to growl. He sat at his kitchen table, snapping his fingers a few times. Several pieces of fruit appeared, all of them coming to life and starting to loudly duel with forks and spoons. “Ah, nothing like dinner giving you a show,” he said with a smile. A small cotton candy cloud rained chocolate milk into a wine glass for him, and the dueling fruit began to pile their victims on his plate as an offering. On the stove, a pot of noodles began to boil and stir itself. He sipped at his chocolate milk, sliding a slice of orange onto the rim of his glass. Another flick of his claw, and a record slid into its player. A jaunty jazz tune, though quiet, filled the room, and the fruit soldiers started to choreograph their movements to it. Soon, the pot of noodles dished part of itself on a plate for him. They smelled strongly of peanut butter. He licked his lips, tying a checkered napkin around his neck. Ah, a chaotic meal, he thought to himself, swirling his noodles around his fork. What could make this any better? Something in the back of his mind made him lift his head. His eyes flicked towards the window, where he knew that...pony was resting, right outside. The first pony in at least a couple of years that didn’t panic or scream at the sight of him. And who seemed appreciative of chaos...he shifted in his seat slightly, almost standing up. But just before he rose, he froze. He frowned, shook his head, and sat back down, turning his attention back to his meal. With a sigh, he stuck the noodles into his mouth and slurped them up. Just as he was smacking his lips, something bright and vibrant caught his eye. He turned his head, and though he was too slow to see whatever it was, he still saw something out of the corner of his eye—a flash of pink. He scowled, dropping his fork. “What happened to staying outside?” he snapped at the retreating pinkness. “What?” he heard. He turned towards the window, and saw Pinkie standing up and peering through it. “I’m still out here,” she continued. “Unless...you’ve changed your mind about inviting me in?” “Nope,” he said bluntly, standing up. Something was going on here… “Aww,” she said, her ears flattening as she disappeared from his sight again. He went around the table, turning the corner and glancing at where he had last seen the flash of pink. He heard whispers, and the sound of shuffling...and the door to his coats-and-statues closet was slightly ajar. Scowling, he crept towards the door. The whispering continued, and his ears swiveled forward to pick up the voices. “...a good idea,” one voice said. “What if we’re caught?” “We won’t be caught,” another said. “Cutie Mark Crusaders: Sneaksters, remember?” “Sneaksters isn’t a word,” a third voice said. “What are we looking for, anyway?” Discord grabbed the doorknob and threw the door open. “Trouble, apparently!” he yelled at whoever was inside. Three fillies stared back at him with wide eyes—they were barely preteens. They appeared to be building some makeshift nests with the coats and scarves he kept in the closet. One was a white unicorn, another an orange pegasus, and finally, an earth filly with a large pink bow in her mane—that must have been the flash of pink he’d seen. All three of them had similar cutie marks, not that it mattered to him. “What are you doing in here!?” he snapped. “And how did you get in, anyway?” The fillies shivered, their eyes widening even more. “S-someone left a window open!” the unicorn said. “We just came in because we were curious, and wanted a place to sleep…” “We’re sorry!” they all yelped, running between and around his legs, dashing into another room and going through the open window there. They carried a few coats off with them, but that didn’t matter quite as much as something they had said. “...someone left that window open?” he said, raising his eyebrow. With a flick of his claw, their escape route closed behind them. “I know I didn’t leave it open...the pink puffball couldn’t have opened it...those intruders didn’t open it…” His eyes widened. “There are other intruders.” He scowled, gritting his teeth and sneaking his way back towards the kitchen. His sharp ears could pick up something from in there...whoever they were, they would be sorely mistaken if they thought they could get the drop on him! “En guard, intruder!” he shouted, whipping out a purple plastic sword and waving it in the general direction of the noise in the kitchen. A grey pegasus mare with a blonde mane whipped around, knocking over the cookie jar as she did so. A pile of chocolate and blueberry muffins spilled out, one of them already stuffed in the intruder’s mouth. “Hey! I baked those desserts for me, not for ponies who think they can invite themselves in!” he shouted. “Out!” He waved the sword at her, making her jump. “S-sorry!” she said, muffled by the muffin. Her golden eyes drifted in different directions, and she ran past him, heading for the door...and running into the wall just a foot away from it. She slumped to the ground, dropping the muffin as letters and more muffins fell out of her saddlebags. There were stars in her eyes, and her limbs were all sprawled out. He sighed and dropped the fake sword. “I guess the pink annoyance is getting a friend to camp with after all,” he said, picking the pony up by the scruff of her neck. She dangled limply in his grip, and he rolled his eyes. “And I might as well feed Midnight-Snacker some muffins...maybe she’d like to work as security for me.” He went into the living room, dropping the knocked-out pegasus onto the couch. It grew spider-like legs from its sides and scrambled towards the door. While it was dropping off its cargo, he opened the door to the guest bedroom. To his surprise, there was another intruder inside—this time, an Abyssinian with brown, fluffy fur, wearing a red, patchwork coat. And he was lying casually on the bed, tossing snacks at his scary guard spider! The feline looked up from the bottles he had been inspecting, tossing another slice of stale bread at the arachnid. “Uh, hey,” he said with a wave. “The spider’s not the worst security system I’ve seen, but you might wanna get locks for your windows. ...are you interested in buying anything?” He gave a smug grin, his hand starting to dig into his jacket. Discord stared blankly at him for a few moments...then scowled, summoning a spray bottle into his paw. “Out!” he shouted, aiming the spray bottle and sending a jet of ice water at the feline. “This is undignified!” he complained, his fur bristling. Still, Discord continued to spray, reaching forward and grabbing him by the back of his jacket when he felt the Abyssinian wasn’t moving fast enough for his liking. The cat complained, and Midnight-Snacker looked upset that the new source of tasty treats was being taken away, but Discord ignored both of them. (Still, he used his tail to toss the muffins towards the giant spider. No point in letting anyone else bribe the arachnid without doing something about it.) Five unexpected intruders all in one day, in his house, was starting to make his blood boil. “I swear, if I see one more creature in my dimension…” he snarled to himself, baring his fangs. The Abyssinian winced. “Uh...if you put me down, I promise I’ll head right out,” he said quickly. “You don’t need to worry about throwing lil’ old me out the door.” “Oh, and let you sneak away, to find some other way to leech off of me?” Discord said, raising an eyebrow. “No chance! As soon as I kick you out the door, I’m locking everything down and sweeping the whole place for anyone else. I’d suggest that you leave my dimension as soon as possible.” “That’s...going to be a bit tricky,” the Abyssinian said, struggling in his grip. “Look, if you put me down, you can just watch me leave and be sure I won’t come back…” Discord was starting to feel suspicious. “Why don’t you want me to open my own front door?” he said, narrowing his eyes. He kept his grip tight on the feline’s jacket as he reached for the door. “Wait!” the Abyssinian said. Discord paused for a brief moment, watching him struggle to come up with a quick excuse. (If he hadn’t felt so annoyed, it probably would have been much more amusing). “Well, you gotta understand, there’s a reason I snuck in here. The name’s Capper, and a lot of creatures were asking me for a quick favor or solution…” Suddenly, the front door creaked open, and Discord’s couch skittered back inside. “Ah, just in time,” he said. “I stopped paying attention to your story after ‘understand’. Time for you to find some other place to sleep, preferably on some cold forest grass!” Discord stepped forward, rearing his arm back to lob the feline away. But what he saw made him freeze in place, dropping the final (or first) intruder in shock. His dimension was teeming with creatures, most of them pastel ponies. Unicorns were using their magic to try and build organized structures out of the debris he let float around. Pegasi flitted between the floating islands, seeing how everyone else was doing. A handful of earth ponies paced back and forth. There were families comforting crying foals, Breezies floating and offering the most forlorn-looking creatures flowers, a grey griffon nearby helping up the cross-eyed pegasus and trying to distract other creatures with some small, magical trinket. His eyelid slowly twitched. He could hear Catter or whoever it was scamper away, along with the sound of ponies...ugh, singing to each other about their difficulties, or to try and cheer each other up. His hands clenched into fists, and his boiling blood grew even hotter. It felt like steam was pouring from his skin. “Um...Cordy?” a voice said. His head snapped over towards the source—that pink pony, who was now offering small treats to a couple of younger ponies. “You okay?” His eyelid twitched again, and he felt something inside him (perhaps his patience) snap. “No, I am not okay!” he snapped at her. She jumped, and he whirled back around towards the bunch of freeloaders that had come into his home! “What. Are you doing. In my dimension!?” he yelled, anger and magic making his voice echo through the whole area. An immediate quiet fell over the dimension, heads turning to look at him. The first creatures to react were the Breezies, who chattered to each other in a panic, quickly flying and hiding in a patch of bell flowers (a terrible hiding spot, really...the flowers rang as they trembled inside of them). The ponies were next, most of them trying to hide behind their friends, a few of them starting to wail and moan. “You have all overstayed your never-received welcome!” he yelled. “Leave!” He snapped up a broom and swung it in the general direction of some of the nearest ponies, like they were some sort of vermin he could chase off and scare away. (Well, who was to say they weren’t? He chuckled to himself.) The few ponies closest to him shied away, a few of them dropping off the edge of the island and paddling through the air to try and escape from him. But more of them ran around him, trying to avoid the edge. "Hey!" he snapped. And with a snap of his fingers, stop signs appeared in front of them before they could even think about heading inside his house. "What do you think you're doing!?" The ponies just flinched, dropping to the ground and cowering with their hooves covering their ears. He snorted and rolled his eyes...then turned to Pinkie. "You," he said between his teeth. "What, was your little camping trip not enough? Did you have to invite some intruding friends, too?" She looked hurt, then shook her head and shrugged at the same time. "Don't look at me—they just started showing up an hour ago," she said. "I didn't invite them." "Of course not!" a new, female voice said. He glanced up just as a griffon with grey feathers landed in front of him, with the three fillies from earlier paddling through the air behind her. There was a mailbag slung over her shoulder with a couple of letters poking out of it...along with the top of a potion bottle, unless he was mistaken. "No one invited us here. We were all…kind of arrested and forced to come." She rubbed the back of her neck, while the three fillies flopped next to her with varying degrees of grace. The yellow earth pony was the first to make it back to her hooves. “It was Lord Tirek!” she declared, her lip wobbling pitifully. The white unicorn sniffed and was helped onto her hooves by the orange pegasus. “He...he rounded up everypony, and any creatures who had magic, and he...he…” She looked up at her horn, screwing her eyes shut in fierce concentration. A measly green spark was all she could manage, and even after that, her legs wobbled and she looked close to falling again. “He...took our magic,” the pegasus clarified. “And...after all that, we couldn’t even stay. All of us were led here and shoved in.” The griffon spread her wings over the fillies, draping an arm over the grey pegasus and trying to comfort all of them. She tried to smile, but her eyes shone with sadness. “He even captured some creatures who weren’t even citizens...like me,” she said. Discord raised an eyebrow. “Why would he care about you, if he’s interested in magic? Griffons don’t have that.” “I...like to collect things,” she said. “Magic things, but he...took almost all I had collected.” He sighed, looking past her at all the ponies that were trying to make themselves at home. “If I take care of this situation with this ‘Lord Tired-wreck’,” he said, using air quotes and rolling his eyes at the lord’s name, “Would you all get out of my mane?” The griffon and trio of fillies all looked around at the chaos surrounding them. A swirling purple sky, floating islands and random debris, strange plants growing everywhere...they all turned back to him. “...yeah, I think we’d leave if we could,” the orange pegasus said with a nod. Well. At least that offered a possible solution. “Alright,” he growled, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “Does anyone happen to know where this lord lives?” “I do!” Pinkie said, bouncing up and down and waving her hoof in the air. “It’s called Duloc! It’s a pretty recent town-city-palace-place, but I’ve made deliveries there, and—” “Does anyone else know?” Discord said. The other creatures just mumbled and shrugged, or shook their heads. “Oh, c’mon! There’s got to be a couple dozen of you, and only one of you knows how to find the person who sent you all here!?” He turned towards the griffon and grey pegasus with mailbags. “You two don’t even know!?” The griffon shrugged. “They blindfolded me when they brought me here,” she said. “And...I didn’t make too many deliveries there, anyway.” “I made a few deliveries there!” the pegasus said, her eyes veering in different directions. “But I don’t know where I am and how to get there...and I got lost a lot of the time, anyway.” “Anyone else?” Discord said with a groan. He looked around for any more mail carriers, or even any volunteers...but no, only the pink terror was jumping up and down, waving her hoof wildly in the air. “Duloc’s a pretty new place!” Pinkie said helpfully. “And most ponies aren’t exactly welcome there. I only know where it is because I had to run deliveries there before that one guy tried to sell me—” “And out of all of you, it’s the most annoying one who knows how to find the place?” Discord said. Most ponies shrugged, shying away from him, though a few glanced over at Pinkie and nodded. He frowned when he noticed a few of them grinning, like they were enjoying his annoyance. Typical candy-colored creatures...all happy and smiley, but secretly enjoying the ‘monster’ facing a trial. He shook away his dark thoughts with a groan, casting one last glance around his dimension. Most ponies and Breezies were (futilely) trying to hide from him, and out of the ones who weren’t, the pink puffball was the only one saying she knew the way...and still trying to get his attention. He sighed and snapped his fingers, creating a megaphone. “Attention squatters, freeloaders, and general annoyances!” he shouted through it. “You might not be happy to be here, but I’m even unhappier! So I’m going to talk to this ‘Lord Tired-Wreck’, give him a piece of my mind...and get you all out of here!” The ponies and other various creatures stared at him silently for a few seconds. Then, cheering and clapping broke out. “Our hero!” “Thank you!” “You’re so kind!” several voices called out. “Ugh, no!” Discord said. A swarm of Breezies flew over to drape a lei of purple flowers over his shoulders. “This isn’t me being a hero, it’s me wanting to get rid of you annoyances!” Still, the creatures continued to cheer. He rolled his eyes and stormed away, grabbing Pinkie’s foreleg as he walked past her. “You! You’re coming to help. Try not to be too much of an annoyance.” “Oooh, this’ll be fun!” she said, bouncing along beside him. “I know tons of travel songs! And travel games! And one or two travel stories, although I think the songs are better…” “No songs,” Discord said. “And I’m not interested in games...I just want to get this over with.” “One song?” Pinkie asked as they went through the door, entering the normal forest. “Pleeease?” “No,” he said bluntly. “Which way?” “Aww,” she said, pointing towards the east. “Can I tell the travel stories, at least?” “Are they all by ponies, about ponies?” he asked. Her pause was telling. “Pass.” “...can I hum?” she asked, giving him a wide-eyed, pleading look. He sighed, his head flopping back until he could stare up at the stars. “Fine,” he said, “Yes, you can hum.” “Thank you!” she said. Immediately, she began humming a peppy, upbeat tune. Discord sighed, closing his eyes and continuing to follow behind her. At least this journey should be short, he told himself. I mean, how long could this take? Meanwhile, in a castle not far away, but not terribly close, a centaur clopped through the halls. Each of his hooves were loud against the stone floors, alerting all workers and soldiers ahead. Everyone jumped to work at the sound, or saluted him as he went by. But he ignored them, giving them only a wave of his hand at most...he was too focused on his destination. Eventually, he reached a set of metal double doors, with armored guards at each side. They quickly stood to attention, saluting him and opening the doors. He nodded, satisfied, and went inside. A small, young-looking pink pegasus was inside, standing at a table with her back to him. “Golly,” she said to whoever else was there. “It’d be a shame if anymore of these lovely cupcakes would have to be destroyed for no reason…” She placed a cupcake with sapphires in the frosting on the table, holding a hammer above it. “No, not another one!” a young male voice moaned. “I could just give it away if you told us what we want to know…” the pegasus said, the hammer hovering just above the pastry. “I don’t know anything!” the voice said. As the centaur approached, it was clear that this prisoner was a small dragon with purple scales and green spikes. The pink pegasus’s grin twitched...and the hammer came down. In a blur, the cupcake and the gems that had decorated it were all smashed into a glittery mush. The young dragon looked just as crushed. “Well, Cozy Glow?” the centaur said, stepping forward with his hands clasped behind his back. He was a few heads taller than her, and thankfully there were no adult ponies to compare him to...and no one would remark upon his height (or lack of it) if they knew what was good for them. “How go the interrogations?” Cozy Glow glanced up at him as she scraped the cupcake remains into a trashcan. “Golly, Lord Tirek..ten tempting cupcakes taken away, but he still hasn’t said anything,” she said. “If I could just get another hour or so…” She widened her eyes. Lord Tirek rolled his eyes and waved her away. “You’re too soft...like all ponies,” he scoffed. “Stand aside and let me take care of this.” He turned to face the young dragon, barely missing the scowl Cozy made behind his back. He stepped forward, his hooves clopping ominously against the stone floor. The young dragon cowered away. Cowering was fairly difficult since being tied to the chair made it hard for him to shift around much. “Tell me!” Tirek said, leaning forward and slamming his hands onto the table. “Where are the other magical creatures!?” “I told you, I don’t know!” the dragon said. “Everyone I knew scattered as soon as you showed up!” Lord Tirek growled, his eyes flashing. “Cozy,” he said with thinly-veiled annoyance. “Did you remember to grab the item from the safe room?” “Of course!” she said cheerfully. With a wide smile, she went to another, smaller table, and brought over an item on a plush red cushion. On it, there was an ancient crown—a light teal color, with patterns of dark blue, and run through with plenty of dark cracks that betrayed its age. The dragon’s eyes widened at the sight of the crown. “Is...that what I think it is?” he asked worriedly. “Ah...right. You’d know what this is, being the assistant of that know-it-all alicorn,” Tirek said. He pointed the crown at the dragon, pausing for effect. After a few seconds where nothing happened, he frowned and gave the crown a small shake. It made a ringing sound, one that caused fur to raise and scales to crawl. At that sound, something, some kind of small, glowing strand, was dragged out of the small dragon, pulled into the inside of the crown. The dragon moaned, slumping tiredly in his chair, bags forming in his eyes as though suddenly exhausted. He coughed several times...but instead of green flames, only puffs of thin smoke came out of his mouth. The door at the top of the stairs opened. “My lord?” a knight said, saluting him. “We found the item you requested.” “Good,” Tirek said with a nod. “Bring it down here...and take this with you, too.” He pointed at the dragon. “He has no information, and now, no magic...put him with the others. Cozy, make sure everything goes smoothly.” The pink pegasus nodded, and the knight saluted him. She started giving a few instructions, making his wishes more clear without disturbing him...just as he preferred. Tirek stared down at the crown as knights worked around him. There was shouting and grumbling from them as something was brought down the stairs, and moaning from the small dragon as he was ‘escorted’ away. But he ignored the bits of chaos around him. Instead, he slowly, almost expectantly, put the crown on top of his head, right between his horns...and waited. And waited. Nothing happened. With a frown, he tapped on the side of the crown, as though that could kickstart it. Still nothing. With a scowl, he removed the crown and set it on the table in front of him. He looked up at the knights in front of him, clasping his hands behind his back as they finally placed something large but flat in front of him. It was currently covered by a white sheet. He waved his guards away, then nodded to Cozy. With a nod in understanding, she grabbed the cloth and tugged it off, sending up a cloud of dust and unveiling a very large, ornate mirror. His reflection in the glass was clear and untarnished. Nothing happened for the first few moments, even after everyone but Cozy had stepped to the side. He tapped one hoof impatiently. “Ahem,” he said. “Mirror mirror on the wall…” His reflection rippled, and a face appeared in the mirror. A lavender alicorn stood there, ruffling her wings and scowling at him. “Don’t patronize me, please,” she said, her brow furrowing in annoyance. “Wasn’t putting me in here enough?” “Hello, Princess Twilight,” he said patronizingly. “I thought it was, but you’re the most knowledgeable creature around here...and I have a few questions for you.” Twilight snorting, looking away. “Flattery won’t get you anywhere,” she said. Cozy peeked her head over the table and grinned menacingly, while Tirek cracked his knuckles. She sighed, her wings drooping. “But I guess I don’t have a choice but to answer. What is it?” “This crown,” Tierk growled, picking up the artifact and holding it out to her. “Is supposed to let me use the magic of other creatures. Why isn’t it working?” Twilight frowned, leaning a little closer to the mirror’s surface. “What...is that Grogar’s Crown!?” she said. “How did you—?” “That doesn’t matter!” Tierk said. “What matters is that it’s broken, and it isn’t working for me!” He ground his teeth. “I can fill it with magic from dozens of creatures, but no matter what I do, the magic refuses to come back out!” “Of course not,” Twilight said. “That crown only works for kings and queens. Even if you force an area of land under your rule, that doesn’t make you worthy of the crown.” Tierk growled. “Cozy?” The small pegasus perked up. “A demonstration, please.” Cozy smiled sweetly, walked over to one of the non-magical mirrors...and tipped it over, causing it to shatter into tiny pieces. “Now, you were saying?” Tierk said. Twilight swallowed, and even through the glass, it was clear she was sweating bullets. “W-well, land ownership isn’t what the crown activates by,” she said. “It checks to see if you have any royal blood...or failing that, you could use some kind of crest to activate it.” “Crest?” Tierk said. “A royal crest. Sometimes in the form of a ring or necklace,” Twilight explained. “But the only way that will work is if you have some connection to whatever family the crest belongs to—usually through marriage.” “So if I marry a royal, the crown will work,” Tierk said. “Tell me...are there any unmarried princesses close by?” Twilight scowled. “You’re not marrying me,” she said. “Even if you did let me out of the mirror...never in a million years.” “I don’t like the idea of that, either,” he said with a sneer. “But if you don’t find some other eligible bachelorette, I guess you’re the only one around…” Twilight went pale, then turned a bit green. She sighed and closed her eyes, her horn glowing faintly. Tierk sneered at the display of magic, glancing over at his crown. “There’s...a few somewhat close by,” she said. “But you’re not going to like this…” “What?” he said. “They’re all ponies.” Tirek froze, then groaned, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “Seriously? There’s not one centaur, or gargoyle...not even a griffon?” “Most of the royalty around here are ponies or changelings!” she said. “And the only unmarried ones are ponies. Maybe you should have founded Duloc in an area with less of them, if you find them so beneath you…” Tirek growled. Cozy Glow helpfully held up a hand mirror and smashed it against the edge of the table, making Twilight gulp. “I suggest you start going through the list, and telling me about each one,” he said, cracking his knuckles. Twilight closed her eyes, her horn glowing. Her reflection rippled, soon replaced by another alicorn—this one taller, with a pink coat and a mane with streaks of purple, pink, and yellow. She wore golden regalia, including a small crown on top of her head. “The first option I found was Princess Cadance,” Twilight said, though she didn’t appear. “Hailing from the Land of Sweets, far in the frozen north, she’s currently under a curse that only the rare Crackatook Nut will be able to cure.” For a split second, the alicorn’s image changed into something much less beautiful—something horrifying. But it was replaced by Twilight before Tirek could see anything more about her. Tirek rose an eyebrow. “The Land of Sweets, in the north? Isn’t that quite far?” “Yes, but she’s come quite a ways because of...her curse,” she said slowly. “That’s common, among royalty, to leave their kingdoms if something such as that happens to them.” He frowned. “You said there were more?” She nodded, slowly closing her eyes and igniting her horn again. This time, her image was replaced with that of a unicorn—one with a pure white coat, purple mane, and blue eyes. She wore a baby blue dress, and glass slippers on her hooves. “This is Princess Rarity,” Twilight said. “One of few descendants of Princess Platinum, she’s been named as heiress to the Ancient Unicornlands, both for her generous spirit and royal blood. She originally hails from the small town of Ponyville, though.” “Ancient Unicornlands?” Tirek said, raising an eyebrow. “Isn’t that just fields of rocks and gems?” He scowled. “And is that really noble enough to make the crown work?” “She has the blood, she’s been named an heir...and the Ancient Unicornlands are historically important! Not to mention the…” Twilight trailed off as he rose an unimpressed eyebrow. “Just...go on,” he said, waving her along. “Who’s next?” Twilight sighed. “The third option I found is Princess Fluttershy.” Her horn glowed, and her image in the mirror rippled again. This time, she was replaced with an image of a buttercream yellow pegasus wearing a forest green dress. This princess was sitting in the window of a tall stone tower, staring expressionlessly out at the horizon, her pink mane draping over her teal eyes. “Hailing from the land of...Far Far Away,” Twilight narrated. “She’s currently being held captive in an old castle by a large dragon.” A silhouette of a large beast rose behind the tower, smoke pouring from their muzzle. Before he could see any more details, the image vanished, once again replaced by an unamused Twilight. “She’s one of the last princesses in the nearby area,” she said. “Any others are probably more than a month’s journey away from here.” Tirek sighed. “Not great choices,” he muttered. “I do wish they weren’t all ponies…” “Is there anything else you’d like to know?” Twilight said. “I only gave very brief descriptions on all of them, but there’s probably more you should know...especially about—” “The first one obviously isn’t any good,” he continued with a scoff, talking more to himself than to her. “If I must marry a pony of all creatures, it won’t be a...prissy pink one. And having all that natural magic…” He grimaced. “And whatever that curse was, I do not want to deal with it,” he finished, shuddering at the memory. “So that first one is right out.” Twilight let out a silent sigh of relief, her shoulders relaxing. “What about the second one?” Cozy Glow asked. “She looked pretty enough, and she can’t be as magically powerful as an alicorn…” “Yes, but she still has magic,” Tirek said with a scoff. “And her title only comes from a hint of noble blood...even if she is an heir, that’s no real guarantee the crown would activate for her. There’s no way I’m going to be stuck with a wife with more magic than me!” “It would probably work…” Twilight mumbled quietly. “And the Ancient Unicornlands are nothing to sneeze at…” She was ignored. “So that just leaves Princess Fluttershy,” Tirek said. “She didn’t seem so bad,” Cozy Glow said. “Yes...out of all the ponies, she seems to be the most...tolerable. I mean, she’s a pegasus, right?” Tirek said. “No magic to worry about.” “Well, actually,” Twilight said. “There’s a curse, and—” “And no magic means she’s less of a pain than other ponies,” he continued. “That’s it. She’s the one. We’ll have a tournament immediately, to find the best creature to retrieve her!” “There’s a magical occurrence that happens at night—” Twilight tried to continue. “Enough!” Tierk said. “No more talk of magic, unless it involves me finally getting what’s rightfully mine.” He sighed and placed the crown back on its velvet cushion. “Soon enough…” Twilight sighed. “Fine,” she said. “Don’t listen to me...even if I am the only one who actually knows anything about magic around here…” With that, her image faded into a blur, and the mirror showed his reflection. Tirek snapped his fingers. Cozy quickly covered the mirror with the white cloth, then gently picked up the cushion with the crown and carried it towards the safe room. With that taken care of, Tirek left, already plotting. “Soon, Duloc will have a king and queen,” he said aloud to himself. “And the crown will work...making me the most powerful magic user in the land!” His eyes gleamed, a spark of ominous orange light forming between his horns.