//------------------------------//
// Lesson Zero 
// Story: An Heir's Frailty 
// by Codex92 
//------------------------------//

My ears twitched at the sound of birds chirping out the window. Or rather, a lot of birds, and some other chittering, squeaks, and other small critter sounds, both in and out of the house. Squinting my eyes open, the sun’s rays shone through the curtains in a bedroom that wasn’t my own. Everything that happened yesterday still lingered on my mind, which meant that what happened to me wasn’t a dream: I was here in the world of “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic”, in Equestria with all the ponies that were the stars of the show, I was in Fluttershy’s cottage, I was laying in her bed, and I was a tiny Discord Jr. after being tricked by the real one to take his place as the next Lord of Chaos.

Grunting slightly, I sat up, flipping the covers off my tiny body. I couldn’t tell what time it was, but it must have still been pretty early in the morning. I yawned, a lot more exaggerated than I meant it to be, and stretched my mismatched limbs. Once my body was as awake as my tired mind was, I shifted over to the side of the bed and dropped down, falling flat on my face, completely forgetting I turned into a quadruped creature.

“Ow,” I grumbled. I really wish I could walk on two legs. Rubbing my face from the possible bruise I was going to get, if something like a draconequus can really get injured, I got back up on all fours and shambled tiredly out of Fluttershy’s bedroom. “Didn’t think it would ever get loud in Fluttershy’s house. She must have a hundred animals downstairs.”

Well, I was only about half off. When I went downstairs, being very careful going down while on fours like a puppy discovering stairs for the first time, there were plenty of Fluttershy’s morning critter friends gathered around the living room and kitchen. There were feeders and bowls filled with feed for the small birds and friendly rodents, each of them chattering among themselves in their animal tongue while eating their breakfast. Fluttershy soon came into the living room with a bag of bird seed, humming what sounded like the theme song for My Little Pony. Her voice was like an angel’s, but with her timidness, she’ll only sing to her animal friends or her friends, no other ponies.

After filling up one of the feeders, Fluttershy finally noticed me watching her. “Good morning, Charlie.”

“Morning,” I greeted back.

Fluttershy fluttered back down to the ground, set the bag of bird seed down, and gave me a hug. “How’d you sleep?” she asked.

“Uhh, fine,” I said, still feeling a bit awkward getting a morning hug for a greeting, but I guess I was going to have to live with it. She finally set me down and headed back to the kitchen. “What time is it?”

“Oh, a little after eight,” Fluttershy said. “I’m just about done feeding my animal friends. Then I’ll get started on some breakfast for us.”

Hopefully it wasn’t another salad, but if I want to eat healthy, it’s better than risking getting diabetes by eating candy and sweets with my chaotic magic. Speaking of, I wonder if I can get some practice after we eat. I want to go bigger with this power, but not too much to cause a tear in the dimension and open a wormhole that sucks everything into the billionth one.

I followed Fluttershy into the kitchen and climbed back into the seat I took last night for dinner, waiting for her return. It didn’t take much longer as the pegasus came back inside, stashing away the remainder of birdseed back in her pantry, then went to her fridge and took out a few eggs. I watched her cook, the stove on and burning hot as she cracked some eggs in a frying pan. After stirring them up, she grabbed a loaf of bread and set a pair into a toaster. All that was missing from my perspective was some sausage or bacon, or both, and my stomach would be satisfied with a big breakfast. Sadly, the meat was going to stay out of my diet while I’m around ponies, or sentient herbivores.

I started to get a bit bored, wanting to help cook breakfast so I didn’t feel like freeloading in Fluttershy’s home. Curious, I stared at my fingers, wondering if I could levitate stuff with my mind rather than making things come to life with a snap of my fingers. I looked at the salt and pepper shakers on the table, then held my hand out and focused on grabbing one of them from a distance. I didn’t have any hopes that it would work, but my eyes widened in shock when my brain felt “something” in its mental grip. When I lifted my hand up, I was actually lifting the salt shaker up the same height. I couldn’t stop the grin growing on my face when I found out I can use telekinesis.

Getting too confident than I should, I set the shaker down, then focused on Fluttershy’s cabinets. With a simple thought, the doors opened up, and I grabbed a couple of dishes and glasses, then some silverware, and a small pile of napkins. Fluttershy was so focused on the eggs, she didn’t even notice her floating plates and cutlery leaving her cabinet as I set up the table. I was tempted to make them bounce and dance in a line as I set them in their place, but I didn’t want to lose my focus and accidentally drop anything. Once everything was set up, I couldn’t believe how easy I made that seem. Maybe chaotic magic was much easier than I expected, even though Discord told me I had to use my thoughts to do anything chaotic.

“Ok, eggs are almost done,” I heard Fluttershy say. “I’ll get some-” As she turned around, she froze when she saw the table was already set, but I was too busy wondering what else I could add to the setting. Some milk or juice would be a fitting beverage for breakfast. With a snap of my fingers, I made a cotton candy cloud, grasped it, then wrung it out like a towel as I drained the chocolate milk into my glass. “...Charlie? Did you...set the table?”

I finally heard her, dismissing the dried out chaos cloud. “Yeah! I can move things with my mind! Watch!” Like a little kid, I thrust my bear paw out, flexing my digits with my tongue sticking out comically in concentration, then began lifting up the salt and pepper shakers. I made them float around, feeling proud of myself while Fluttershy was a bit startled. At least she didn’t scream in terror, but the shock on her face made me feel sheepish. I lowered both shakers back in their rightful places, clearing my throat with a small, embarrassed blush on my cheeks. “Uhh...It’s easier than I thought. Using levitation.”

“...Oh...Well, thank you,” she said. “But...Maybe it’s better to practice that outside, too.”

I nodded timidly, silently reaching for my glass of chocolate milk and took a small sip. I had no idea why I had gotten that giddy like that. It was like I really turned back to being a five-year-old, and tried impressing my mom with something I did that was incredible in my eyes. After a bit of awkward silence, Fluttershy finished up her scrambled eggs and made several pieces of toast. She gave us a nice helping of eggs and placed some butter and jam for our toast. I wanted to ask if Fluttershy wanted some chocolate milk to drink, but she already grabbed her glass and poured herself some orange juice from her fridge. I think she had enough chaos after the other day with the real Discord for anything chocolatey.

After we were halfway done eating, I wondered what she was going to do today. “So, Fluttershy, are there more animals you need to take care of?” I asked curiously.

“I have a few more to take care of later today,” she said. “But Twilight also has a picnic planned for us this afternoon.”

“A picnic? After you girls stopped Discord?” I asked curiously. “What day is it today?”

“Umm...Tuesday, I think,” Fluttershy said as she tapped her chin.

My ears perked up. I remember the episode after the season two premiere, which was exactly what happened the other day. It was the “Lesson Zero” episode that came next: the episode where Twilight goes mad trying to find a friendship problem and write a report to Princess Celestia. All the memeable faces Twilight makes in her manic state to please the princess with her studies and findings, and it bothered her to Tartarus and back when none of her friends had a problem and she had to create one, which ended in disaster. Part of me wanted to see that in action, but would she trust me to hang out with her the whole day to try to calm her already stressed nerves?

I had to try to get on all the other girls’ good sides some way or another, so I was going to take a chance. “Can I help her set the picnic up?” I asked curiously. Fluttershy stared at me silently, reminding me of my impromptu levitation practice on her dinnerware. “...No magic or chaos. I swear.”

“...Well...As long as you don’t cause any trouble,” Fluttershy said.

I quickly nodded, my head making an erratic shaking noise like a maraca being flailed around, then scarfed down the rest of my breakfast and downed the last of my chocolate milk. “Thanks for the breakfast, Fluttershy!” I said as I hopped out of my seat, this time landing properly, then stumble ran out the door.

Running was weird when on four legs, and far different than how it was to walk. I had to start with both front legs, practically pull myself, then with my hind legs, I bring them close and push off. It was hard enough finding a rhythm with walking; running was just as out of sync and messed with my brain. Whenever I think I had it, my brain would cause one of my limbs to move out of place and cause me to stumble, or threaten to topple me over and flip on my back. It was going to take me a long while to get used to this body.

Once I ran at a reasonable jog, getting used to the quicker, but slower run, I arrived at Ponyville and searched around for the Golden Oak Library. Or should I look for Sugarcube Corner, where the start of Twilight’s OCD and insanity show itself to her overly-stressed expectations to deliver? It was hard to see a lot of the tall buildings when you’re the size of a colt or filly. If I could fly, which I really don’t want to start practicing in the middle of a busy morning street, I could find my way much easier.

I ignored the other ponies staring at me. I knew they all thought I was Discord, but I’ll win over Twilight and the others’ approval of me, and they’ll eventually change their minds. If they thought a zebra like Zecora was evil, they’ll forget about who I am by my appearance and get to know the real me in this young draconequus body. I was going to have a hard time convincing Rainbow Dash, though. She really didn’t trust me as far as she could sonic rainboom me.

“Charles?” Hearing my name, I looked to my left. Surprisingly, I didn’t have to find Twilight for very long. She stared at me, along with her baby dragon assistant, Spike, who was carrying a box that was filled with the cupcakes for the picnic later. I was a bit disappointed; I missed Twilight flailing about with a spatula to evenly place the frosting on the baker’s dozen cupcakes inside. Spike stared at me, both curious and a little bit cautiously. “Where’s Fluttershy? I thought she was supposed to be watching you.”

“She’s busy with her other animals,” I said. “And I’m allowed to go wherever I want as long as I don’t cause any trouble. I just left and was trying to find you.”

“Why?” Twilight questioned skeptically.

“Because she told me about the picnic you were going to have with the others, and I thought I could help,” I said with an innocent grin.

Twilight grumbled slightly, clearly annoyed with me wanting to tag along. “Uhh, is this...Discord?” I heard Spike ask Twilight. “He looks...smaller than I thought.”

“It’s a long story, Spike,” Twilight said.

“My name is actually Charles,” I said, stepping closer to Spike and holding out a claw to the baby dragon. “I’m...Discord’s heir.” Spike gave me an odd look like I really was Discord’s crazy spawn and he couldn’t believe it. “It really is a long story. I thought Twilight would have mentioned me yesterday.”

“I kind of stayed in bed all day,” Spike admitted. “All those letters Princess Celestia sent messed my stomach up, so I missed out on the celebration for Discord’s defeat.” I did find that a little weird. No wonder Spike wasn’t with the girls that day when I woke up. I was about to lower my hand, but Spike seemed to give me the benefit of the doubt, gave me a grin, and grasped my eagle claw with his claw. “Well, you don’t seem that bad. Nice meeting you, Charles.”

“Same,” I said as we both shook hands. “At least I met someone who didn’t hate me immediately because of my appearance.”

“Eh, being the only dragon in Canterlot and Ponyville has the odd looks, but I’m not dangerous,” Spike said. “And you haven’t done anything chaotic, so Equestria’s safe another day.”

“Try telling that to Princess Celestia,” I said. “They were going to use the Elements on me and turn me into stone before giving me a chance to explain.” I noticed Twilight looking very annoyed as she was reminded of her and her mentor’s harsh judgement toward me yesterday. “I was lucky Fluttershy stood up for me, otherwise I’d be another living statue in the garden.”

“Yes, you are lucky,” Twilight mumbled. “But you’re still under close watch, so you’re already treading on a very thin line.” Well, at least I made a friend in Spike, mostly due to how different we are compared to the ponies in this kingdom. It was a bit upsetting knowing these friendly ponies can really be harshly judgemental against other creatures who aren’t like them without fully understanding their background until much, MUCH later in the series. “Anyways, we’ve still got quite a lot of things to do on our checklist before the picnic today. Come on, Spike.”

“Can’t Charles come with us?” Spike asked. “He probably never got a proper tour of Ponyville when he arrived. And the library’s a good start.”

Twilight just sighed and rolled her eyes in annoyance. “Fine, he can tag along. But no funny business.”

“Promise,” I said as I held my eagle claw up and placed my bear paw over my chest.

Twilight huffed and continued on her way. Spike and I caught up with her, striking a conversation and let him get to know me a little more. Aside from the box of cupcakes, I noticed the long scroll that was Twilight’s checklist gripped in his tail, along with a quill furled into the rolled up log of parchment. All the double checking and quadruple checking on a list that was completely unnecessary for Twilight to make sure everything works perfectly. It was odd, but her desire to be one hundred percent organized is so messed up, it almost sounds chaotic.

It didn’t take long for us to reach the library, also known as the Tree-brary for many fans of the show. Inside, it was exactly how it looked: shelves of books all along the walls, a stairway leading to the upstairs area where Twilight and Spike sleep, a kitchen near the stairway, and a door that must have led to the basement for some of Twilight’s more serious science experiments. I let Spike and Twilight be with their checklisting and examined some of the books Twilight had. Aside from what they pulled for some information important to the episode plot or a random spell, I wanted to see the books that weren’t mentioned.

I started with the lower shelves closer to my height. I didn’t want to freak Twilight out with any levitation until I was certain I would be in complete control of it. Reading the spines for the titles, some of them were novels, science or math books, biographies, historical records, the usual type of reading material meant for someone like Twilight. I did see the Daring Do series lined up in one section, all of them set in order of their release dates by the famous A.K. Yearling. I knew Rainbow would get hooked on these adventure novels by the pegasus who looked similarly like her. I wonder why she never discovered other adventure stories like these before after enjoying Daring Do’s dangerous and explorative stories.

Curiously, I grabbed the first book, dying to read the beginning of Daring’s tales. Just as I was about to open up to the first page, I thought I heard Twilight shout something. Putting the book back in its place, I approached the stairs and began climbing up to see what she was worried about.

“Bad?! BAD?! Of course it’s bad!” I heard Twilight shriek. I entered the duo’s bedroom, poking my head inside as I was about to witness Twilight begin her day of stress-induced panic. “I’m supposed to send Princess Celestia a letter every week, telling her about a lesson about friendship! Not every other week! Not every ten days! Every! Single! WEEK!”

And there she goes running around to find her calendar. I walked up to Spike, who seemed just as baffled as we watched the unicorn searching frantically.

“Is she alright?” I asked, clearly knowing Twilight wasn’t fine.

“I have no idea,” Spike mumbled. He moved toward a cabinet, where he remembers where they put their planning calendar. “She’s freaking out about not sending a letter to Princess Celestia.”

The moment Spike pulled the calendar out, Twilight snatched it with her magic and dragged it toward her podium, along with the baby dragon. I cringed when I saw Spike slam into the podium, slightly dazed, but quickly snapping back to his senses. No wonder Spike was the voice of reason for Twilight at times.

“When did we send the last letter?” Twilight asked, flipping the calendar rapidly for the date.

“Last Tuesday?” Spike said.

“And today is…?” Should I even tell her what she didn’t want to hear?

“Uhh...It’s Tuesday today,” I said.

And there it was; the start of Twilight’s breaking sanity. She let out a startled, panicked squeak with a grimace, then sped up the flight of stairs up to the loft.

“No no no no no!” she exclaimed, planting her face against the window. I had a feeling she was staring at the sun, but my ears twitched when I heard a strange, loud ticking sound. “If I don’t send her a letter by sundown, I’ll be...TARDY!!!!!”

Spike and I glanced at each other, then we both looked at the panicked unicorn. “Twilight, I don’t think Princess Celestia will punish you for being late for one little assignment,” Spike said, trying to diffuse Twilight’s stress. “You’re the most studious student I know. She’ll forgive you for missing one letter.”

“I am not taking that chance, Spike!” Twilight exclaimed. “This is Princess Celestia we’re talking about: the ruler of Equestria! The pony who holds my fate in her hooves!”

And she’s rambling about her worries and fears. I tuned her out, blankly staring at her while she listed all the worst case scenarios that run through her head on a daily basis. She’s a grown mare, Celestia puts all her faith in her pupil, no matter what the circumstance, and Twilight’s afraid of being sent back a grade for missing one assignment. I did well in school, and I did miss one or two assignments before, but none of those ever held me accountable for being held back from going up the next grade. And she expects to be flung all the way back to magic kindergarten over one little friendship letter?

Spike and I looked at each other again, and he had the same expression I had. “Yeah, she has a bit of a problem overreacting to certain things sometimes,” he said to me.

“Yeah, I can see that,” I mumbled.

When we looked back at Twilight, we winced when she seemed to space out, probably thinking about her “horrible” experience at magic kindergarten. “Come on, Twilight, you’re not going to get sent back to magic kindergarten,” Spike said.

Twilight perked up, but I could still see the manic, panicked look in her eyes. “You’re right, Spike!” she said. Spike sighed in relief, but I shook my head, knowing the worst was going to come. “Because I’m going to solve a friend’s problem and get that letter to Princess Celestia before sundown!” Spike flinched, letting out a tired groan as his words barely assuaged the unicorn. “So, got any problems, troubles, conundrums, or any other sort of issues, major or minor, that I as a GOOD friend could help you solve?”

Twilight leaned closer to Spike, giving him that big, toothy grin that seemed a bit too friendly, ready to hear out whatever “issues” her number one assistant has for her to help solve. “Uhh, sorry, Twilight. I don’t have any problems,” Spike said, which quickly disappointed Twilight.

“I have a few problems,” I spoke up.

Twilight glanced at me, her frown telling me she didn’t want to help me. “You have a problem?”

“Yeah. I have a really big issue with being trusted by you, Rarity, and especially Rainbow Dash,” I said with a sarcastic tone. I was still a bit miffed with everything yesterday, but maybe reminding her about dealing with judging people, or creatures who are completely different from them. “You see, I am a ‘Discord Jr.’, the real Discord’s heir who was tricked into taking on this body to take over his throne. But whenever I tried to explain, no one took the time to listen to me except Fluttershy. Maybe you can figure out why everyone hates who I look like, but not who I am on the inside.”

I had an ecstatic look on my face, but quickly dropped it into an annoyed frown once I was done. Twilight grumbled at me slightly, clearly striking a nerve as I reminded her of how much everyone judged Zecora, the zebra shamaness who lives in the Everfree Forest. Speaking of, I wonder how she would react to seeing me.

“Well, Charles, you aren’t a friend of mine, so I cannot solve a friendship problem when the ‘friend’ part between us is lacking,” Twilight stated with a smug, haughty air to her.

“Then how about getting to know me a bit more, like Spike did, and maybe you can help me,” I suggested bitterly.

“I have no time to waste!” Twilight quickly said, ignoring me and trotting downstairs. “I’m going to find somepony who actually has a real friendship problem!”

I growled, fuming as Twilight practically ignored me. “No wonder Princess Celestia had to send you all those letters the other day! You’re not that bright of a student if you forgot all those ‘important’ friendship lessons last season!” I shouted, my face burning red, and quite literally, too.

“Wait, how’d you know about that?” I heard Spike. When I turned to look at him, he winced when he saw my face. “Whoa. You ok, dude? Your face is all red like an apple.”

Confused, I stared at him for a moment, then turned to find a mirror nearby. I grimaced when I saw my face. Or rather, my entire head; from my neck up to my head, it was completely red. I quickly looked at my claws, not remembering casting any spells, but I remembered Discord was able to do weird stuff even without snapping any of his digits. Taking a few deep breaths to calm down, I watched the red on my face slowly drain down like I was a living thermometer checking the temperature of my temper. Once my head was back to normal, I let out an annoyed huff.

“Ok, so my magic’s also going to pop up whenever it wants, whenever I’m emotional, or maybe what I think of, and without warning,” I muttered. “I really need to practice controlling this chaos. And soon.”

“...Ok...But, you knew about the...thing with the scrolls?” Spike asked again.

Should I tell Spike and explain how I knew about the moments Discord wasn’t around for? Or should I hold my tongue and just say it was a lucky, but very specific, guess? No, he probably wouldn’t believe that. I suppose I should tell him, but I hope he doesn’t freak out and tell Twilight.

“Uhh...Well, to start, I wasn’t a pony, or any creature from this world who turned into a baby Discord,” I said. “I was a creature called a human. And from my perspective, you, Twilight, this library, Ponyville, Canterlot, all of Equestria...this whole world is a cartoon show.” I let that little bit sink in for Spike. He stared wide-eyed at me, though I wasn’t sure if he believed me or was just baffled by the nonsense I was making up. “It’s been going on for a few years, very popular, even though it was originally meant for little girls. I know about all your adventures since you and Twilight moved to Ponyville and far beyond everything that could have happened if Discord was still around. Which means I also know Twilight’s going to freak out, not find a friendship problem, and eventually create one herself in a state of insanity, throwing all of Ponyville into chaos, and really be in trouble with Princess Celestia.”

I don’t know why, but mentioning how chaotic the town would be with Twilight’s desperate friendship problem made my spine tingle. That was really weird, and I enjoyed it. Hopefully Spike didn’t notice my awkward grimace and the grin that was about to curl up, but I held it back. Spike just blinked, processing my foresight into the future today.

“...Dude, that’s...so creepy,” Spike finally uttered. “So, if you’re right and you know what’ll happen next...what’s Twilight going to do that’ll make all of Ponyville go nuts?”

“I’d rather not say, and you need to send Princess Celestia a letter to warn her about what’s going to happen in the next few hours,” I said. “Meanwhile, I’m going after Twilight and see if I can help her with that friendship report before I let that happen.”

Spike was still suspicious, but he was willing to give me the benefit of the doubt at the least. “Ok. If you say so.”

“Also, don’t tell anyone what I just told you,” I quickly warned the dragon. “I’m already in hot water just by being Discord’s heir. Knowing what’s going to happen from me would be enough to give me a one way trip to Stonesville.”

“Oh. Right,” Spike said, wincing slightly. “My lips are sealed, Charles.”

“Thanks, Spike.” I let him get to work on that letter while I hurried as fast as I could down the stairs and out of the library.

I knew her first destination would be near Rarity’s home and place of work: the Carousel Boutique. I wasn’t much of a fan of Rarity’s clothing designs, but they were quite interesting to see and gave a little fashion flair to this world. Just as long as they weren’t as hideous as “rough draft” of the girls’ Grand Galloping Gala dresses. Alyssa even gagged when she saw them. And speaking of little sisters, maybe I’ll get to meet Sweetie Belle, but hopefully before Twilight goes through with her insane friendship problem.

Out of nowhere, I heard a loud shriek that stretched all throughout Ponyville. That was the scream of a certain unicorn fashionista in severe distress and panic. Sadly, I know that was a bit too dramatic for a small ribbon. I rushed toward the direction it came from, where Twilight wasn’t probably too far off from the boutique. When I arrived at the unique boutique with a fake carousel ride for a roof, the front door was wide open, and I could hear Twilight and Rarity inside. Panting slightly from the run, I caught my breath and caught on to the two unicorns and their conversation.

“I lost my diamond-encrusted purple ribbon!” Rarity cried out, acting a bit too dramatic for losing one strand of ribbon. I could understand if it was actually worth millions of bits, but with gems being the norm throughout the world, they aren’t that precious of materials. Especially with dragons eating them like candy. “I have searched high, and I have searched low. Low and high! High and low! But I can’t find it anywhere!” Her magic pulled out her precious fainting couch, then plopped down onto it to wallow in misery. I rolled my eyes, wondering how she drags that thing everywhere when the need arises. If Rarity became an actor instead, I would think she was just hamming it up for the camera. “How can I possibly finish my latest creation if I can’t find it!?”

Twilight looked away from Rarity with an excited grin and a creepy rub of her forehooves, like she just dug up a goldmine. Sadly, that faded when she saw me, but she ignored me and faced Rarity again.

“Never fear, Rarity,” Twilight said. She acted all heroic, prepared to give a speech as her close friend to help her in her time of need. I looked around the floor, remembering Rarity finding it in the last place she left it, which was under a wooden bucket that I think was used for washing her laundry. And I found said bucket and walked over to it. “As your friend, I will do my best to help you find-”

“I found it,” I called out. I held up the roll of ribbon, but I found a huge lack of diamonds encrusting the material. “At least, I think I did. No sparkles or anything on this ribbon.”

“Oh, there it was.” Rarity got up from her couch and walked over to me. “Heh. Always in the last place you look.” She took her ribbon, then gave me an awkward pat on the head. “Thank you, Charles.”

Well, it might not be a grateful thank you, but I’ll take it in stride. Let’s just hope Spike doesn’t get jealous of me. I noticed Twilight was a bit baffled, and a little peeved at me.

“So...you just lost your ribbon?” Twilight asked Rarity. “And...Charles found it for you?”

“Mhmm,” Rarity said as she went back to work on her next design.

“And nothing else is bothering you?” Twilight asked, hopeful and desperate. “Nothing that I, as a good friend, could help you with?”

“Hmmm...There is one thing.” Twilight’s grin returned as Rarity put a hoof on her chin. “I think I left my measuring tape under the fabric over there. Could you or Charles get that for me?”

Disappointed, Twilight levitated the measuring tape Rarity pointed at, dropped it unceremoniously at her hooves, then walked out of the boutique to find an actual friendship problem. Rarity watched the lavender unicorn leave, then looked down at me with confusion.

“...Uhh, I’m gonna follow her,” I said awkwardly with a sheepish grin before taking me leave. I picked up my rushed walk into a quick jog, catching up to Twilight before I lost track of her. Hearing that ticking sound from earlier again, I managed to glance up, thinking the sun was shifting randomly in a different position. “Ok, I guess the sun moving like that really is happening. Wonder what Princess Celestia is even doing with it today.”

Without paying attention, I smacked my chest into Twilight’s leg. I didn’t even realize she stopped, but when I looked up at her, she was not happy.

“Why are you following me?” she questioned.

“To help you,” I said.

“Well, fat lot of luck that did when you found Rarity’s ribbon for her,” she said. “I’m trying to find a friendship problem, and I’m the one who needs to solve it and write the letter!”

I just gave Twilight a blank expression. “...Really? Finding a lost item for a friend as a friendship letter?” I questioned. “How will that go? ‘Dear Princess Celestia, I helped my friend Rarity find her precious ribbon that she lost. I searched high, and I searched low. Low and high. High and low.’” While mocking Twilight’s friendship letter, I copied Rarity’s dramatic motions she made back in the boutique, even the despondent pout at the end before standing back up. “‘But, thankfully, it was always in the last place you look. Sometimes, another eye can help you find what you’re missing. Your student, Twilight Sparkle.’”

Twilight leered at me, one of her eyes twitching, believing I was making fun of her. Well, part of it was, but I was proving a point that a simple letter like that wasn’t even worth being written as an important lesson about friendship. It would only show Celestia that she was grasping at straws and paying attention to the academic side of doing these friendship letters in the first place and not focusing on bonding and growing with friends through the issues that came with the lessons she discovers.

“...Well, Rarity is just one pony, but I’m sure the others will need me for something,” Twilight said, turning about and continuing on her hunt for a friendship problem to solve. I sighed, seeing she completely ignored me and didn’t understand how desperate she was getting, but I continued following her. “And they’ll be asking for MY help, not yours, Charles.”

“Sure. Whatever,” I grumbled.

We seemed to be approaching the fields at Sweet Apple Acres, where Applejack and her family lived. The two of us heard something in the distance, like someone fighting with something and putting a lot of effort into it. And that voice must have come from Rainbow Dash, where she was probably taking down the old barn Applejack was planning to rebuild and she needed the speedy pegasus’s help. As we ran toward the noise, we found Rainbow Dash flying around, busting up the old boards of the decaying barn with her hooves, and hilariously, biting one off with her teeth.

“What in the world?” Twilight uttered. “Rainbow must be angry with Applejack! She must hate her guts! How wonderful!”

“How are two friends fighting with each other ‘wonderful’?” I questioned Twilight’s logic, but the unicorn already ran off to stop Rainbow Dash. “And she’s off.”

I just let Twilight deal with Rainbow’s destruction until she finally realized she was stopping a friend from helping a friend. I looked around the farm, where several hundreds of acres of apple trees lined the massive grove a small family of four could barely handle on their own. There was the farmhouse where the Apples lived, a small plot of land for other crops like corn for some variety of food for the farming family, a pig pen, a storage shed where most of their farming tools were held, usual stuff you could find on a farm.

“Charles?” Hearing my name, my ears twitched as I looked to my left, where Rainbow was busy wrecking up Applejack’s barn. In a dug up trench on the Apples’ property, there was Applejack’s head poking up and staring at me. She was wearing a helmet, no doubt protecting herself from the flying debris Rainbow Dash was raining down in the area. “What brings ya here?”

“I was helping Twilight,” I said.

“Well, don’t just stand out here. Rainbow’s takin’ down the barn for me, and she’s showin’ off at this point.” Applejack let out a laugh and shook her head. “Just so long as she takes it all down, Ah don’t care if she does any of her fancy flyin’ tricks while doin’ so.” As she beckoned me over, Applejack noticed a lack of wooden pieces flying around. “Huh? Did she need a break or somethin’?”

When I got closer, I saw Twilight and Rainbow Dash nearby at a bench. Twilight stopped Rainbow and was trying to play therapist and resolve Rainbow’s issues with Applejack. Sure, these two bicker and fight a lot, but they’re considered rivals and one-up each other competitively.

“Now, why don’t you tell me about all your issues with Applejack,” we heard Twilight say to the confused pegasus.

“I don’t have any issues with Applejack,” Rainbow said.

Now it was Twilight who was confused. “You don’t? Then why are you destroying her property?”

“Ah asked her to,” Applejack said as she and I approached the two. Rainbow gave me a small glare before ignoring me. “Ah’m plannin’ to build a new barn, but the old one needs to go. So quit slackin’ and back to workin’, Rainbow!”

“Yes, ma’am!” Rainbow shot up into the air, nearly knocking Twilight over as a rainbow trail flew behind the pegasus.

“Ah’d take cover if Ah were y’all,” Applejack warned as she ran back to her trench.

I quickly followed after Applejack, diving right in to avoid the hail of broken wood, nails, rivets, and metal bars and rods that made the old barn. I poked my head up, expecting Twilight to jump right in when she looked up, but she still stood by that bench, baffled and stressed even further.

“Twilight, get in here!” I called out.

“That doesn’t make any sense,” she seemed to mutter to herself. “Why ask Rainbow Dash to destroy her property she wanted to take down? Why not ask for an actual demolition crew to do it!?”

“Twilight!” I called out again, but she was too lost in her worries to pay attention. Applejack seemed nervous as well as we both looked up. We could hear Rainbow Dash yell as she dive bombed straight for the barn for a powerful explosion of a nuclear rainbow. “Twilight, get down!”

She finally heard me, then looked up, noticing it too late. Thinking quickly, I had no choice but to use my chaos to protect her. With a snap of my fingers and thinking of a protective bunker, I managed to create a wall of tough steel in front of the startled unicorn when she flinched, then ducked into the trench with Applejack. I felt my heart leap out of my chest when Rainbow slammed into the earth, literally creating a nuclear rainbow explosion and demolished the barn to pieces. Applejack and I got piled on by some debris that reached the trench, but thankfully, we came out unharmed.

We both poked our heads out of the dirt and pieces of the barn, then over the trench. To my relief, my wall stood tall, protecting Twilight as a pile of debris laid against the other side. Twilight peeked from behind her hooves, staring at the steel wall that shielded her. Rainbow flew out from the colorful dust cloud, laughing triumphantly and brushing off some dirt on her shoulders.

“Piece of cake,” she boasted proudly.

“Rainbow, ya could have gotten Twilight hurt!” Applejack scolded. “She didn’t get in the trench in time! You’re lucky Charles saved her before ya landed!”

“Huh?” Looking down, Rainbow noticed the random steel wall. “Where did that come from?”

“From me,” I said. I climbed out of the trench and walked up to Twilight. “There wasn’t any other way to get her to safety, so I had to use magic. I’m actually glad that worked.” Looking at the wall, I wondered how I would get rid of it. I tapped it with my eagle claw, somehow puncturing it as it let out a hiss of air, then startled all of us when it flew out of control like a deflating balloon. I watched it fly and flail about, its path ending by smacking Rainbow Dash in the face, letting out a weak, tooty sputter before flopping down to the ground. “Oops.”

She leered at me, then zipped down and stood over me. “You did that on purpose, you little runt!” Rainbow shouted.

“Don’t go blamin’ him!” Applejack scolded, chomping down on Rainbow’s tail and pulling her far away from me. “If anythin’, ya deserve much worse than gettin’ slapped by a wall balloon thing.”

“He couldn’t just do the snapping thing and make it disappear!?” Rainbow questioned.

“He’s still learnin’, and we should be glad he rescued Twilight before any part of that barn could have seriously injured her!” Applejack argued. I’m really glad Applejack trusts me despite my inexperience, but now I’m going to have a tougher time getting Rainbow to trust me after that. I swear, that wall wasn’t supposed to intentionally hit her. “Maybe next time, warn us when ya do a sonic rainboom sort of dive like that!”

“That thing could have exploded in my fast or splattered me with some sort of goop! Who knows what that kid could do!?” Rainbow exclaimed.

Growling, I lifted my hand, forcing Rainbow to spin around and face me with my telekinetic powers. “I am not a kid! I’m fifteen!” I shouted. “I’m younger than all of you by a few years! I had no control over that, and I didn’t know I was able to puncture it when it was able to withstand your dive bomb! Twilight was supposed to jump into the trench with-!” I glanced back at Twilight, but when I looked back at Rainbow, my head twisted around on my neck like an owl to look behind me again. Twilight was gone. I turned my body around, one of my hands subconsciously rubbing my neck, ignoring how I did that as I searched for her. “Where did she go?”

Before Applejack or Rainbow could find an answer, I remembered Twilight was going to go to Fluttershy’s next. I quickly ran as fast as my tiny legs could carry me back to Fluttershy’s cottage, leaving Applejack to chew Rainbow out for judging me and the unintentional prank. Maybe helping Rainbow prank ponies might lighten her up with me a little when I can control this chaos. But right now, I needed to find Twilight and make sure she was alright.

I managed to catch up to her, though she seemed to get more frazzled by the minute, even as I heard the sun “ticking” across the sky. “I can’t believe I wasted all that time,” I heard her say to herself. “Fluttershy always has some fear she’s trying to get over. As a good friend, I’ll be able to help her.”

“Twilight, wait!” I called out. I caught up with her, panting slightly as I tried to get in front of her to bar her path. “Fluttershy doesn’t need any help. She’s doing fine today.”

“Nonsense! If she puts up with you and any random chaos you fired in her house last night, I can sort this out faster than you can say ‘friendship letter’!” Twilight said boldly and brimming with overconfidence.

We arrived at her cottage, clearly chaos free, but Twilight continued trotting forward. “Twilight, seriously, she doesn’t-!” I was suddenly picked up in a lavender aura, moved aside, and then dropped to the ground as Twilight passed me. I grumbled to myself and chased after her around Fluttershy’s backyard. “Will you listen to me for-!?”

A sudden roar distracted us as we peered around the house. There we saw Fluttershy dealing with an angry bear. Or, from what I recall, and putting this lightly, Fluttershy’s brown bear friend named Harry, and her version of giving him a massage. Twilight and I got front row seats to the timid pegasus mare “facing her fear”, and face it, she did. The bear roared at her, but Fluttershy zipped between his legs, then swooped back and divekicked Harry hard in the back, sending him crashing to the ground. Then Fluttershy grabbed one of Harry’s back legs, and with incredible strength for someone so frail as her, lifted the bear’s leg and put him in a near back breaking leg lock while putting a lot of pressure on his upper back, making him roar out in pain. Fluttershy let go after an agonizing few seconds, then aggressively stomped on Harry’s back. And the coup de grace of Fluttershy’s wrestle-like massage, she grabbed Harry’s head, and with a sharp twist, she looked like she snapped the bear’s neck with a sickening crack. Harry flopped to the ground, startling Twilight as she had practically witnessed Fluttershy “killing” a bear, an animal she takes care of, which is completely unlike the pegasus who was grinning at her accomplishment. And this scene was made for a cartoon for little girls?

“...W-Wha…? How can this be happening!?” Twilight exclaimed in disbelief. “Of all the days she had to stop being a scaredy-pony, she had to pick today!?”

I looked back to see Twilight running off, panicking even more as her time was running out and there were barely any friends left to help solve a friendship problem. “You really should have come to me sooner,” I heard Fluttershy say. I looked back at her, who was giving a proper shoulder massage to Harry, who was alive and well, but much more relieved. “You were carrying so much tension in that shoulder.” Harry uttered his response with a very pleased rumble. Fluttershy glanced up for a moment, spotting me and gave me a wave with a wing while her hooves were busy with her friend’s massage. “Oh! Hi, Charlie.”

“Hey,” I greeted back. I gave up pursuing Twilight at this point. I knew she was going to eventually get desperate and lose her marbles, but we’ll see her go a little nutty at the picnic later. “Uhh...What are you...doing?”

“Just giving Harry a little massage,” Fluttershy said, not even phased that she had wrestled an eight-hundred pound bear into submission as a massage technique. “Don’t worry. He’s a big teddy bear.”

“Yeah. ‘Teddy bear’,” I mumbled nervously. I’ve seen bears randomly waltz up on cabin houses and rummage through garbage for food on random videos online. I know not to mess with a bear of any kind, or else you’d be its next meal instead. “Hope he’s cuddly when he’s around me.”

“So, is the picnic ready yet?” Fluttershy asked curiously. Her smile faded when I grimaced and looked down, trying to figure out how to explain what I’ve been doing the last couple hours. Getting off of Harry once she got that dreadful knot out of his shoulder, she came over to me. “She...didn’t let you help her, did she?”

“Well...A lot did happen in town, but Twilight didn’t do anything picnic-wise,” I said. “...Or anything involving plans.”

I felt Fluttershy’s hoof gently rub my head. “Maybe she needs a little bit more time,” she assured me. “We’ll see how it goes at the picnic. You can even make some cotton candy clouds for dessert.”

I just shrugged in response, and we soon left for the park a while later. I didn’t want to tell Fluttershy about Twilight’s desperate search for a friendship problem. I doubted she would help the unicorn after we both watched her wrestle Harry and overpower what was one of the world’s many dangerous wild animals that wasn’t a mythical creature from my world. My ears twitched at another ticking sound, glancing up at the sky to see the sun shifting in position again. How did no one else besides Twilight see that happening? Is Princess Celestia trying to teach Princess Luna how to move the sun, and she’s doing it in short increments on purpose?

We arrived at the park, where the other girls were already there and getting the picnic set up. Applejack brought a quilt for us to sit on, Pinkie and Rarity both brought baskets, though Pinkie’s had balloons that flew out after moving the cover, and Rainbow was wearing her sunglasses and brought sunscreen. I completely forgot about Pinkie Pie. I haven’t seen her all day today, and Twilight didn’t think to check on her to ask for a friendship problem. Speaking of, she saw me and bounced over toward me and Fluttershy.

“Hey, Fluttershy, Charles! You’re right on time!” Pinkie said. “So, Charlie boy, any crazy adventures since your arrival in Ponyville? Because that kinda happens around here.”

“Uhh...define crazy?” I asked nervously.

“Oh, please don’t tell me I forgot the plates.” Rarity let out a gasp after rummaging through her picnic basket in shock. “I did. I totally forgot them. Of all the worst things that could happen, this is THE. WORST. POSSIBLE. THING!” Out of nowhere, Rarity dragged her beloved fainting couch from home, with no idea how she had that thing on hand to act like a drama queen. “Why, why, why!?”

“...Like that kind of crazy?” Pinkie asked me.

Suddenly, we all turned to something thudding on the ground nearby. From the sound, we all gawked in surprise as we saw Twilight, who looked a lot more frazzled and a little bit insane with her wide eyes and creepy grin, and she unceremoniously dropped the box of cupcakes like it was empty. The box was in bad shape, as would the cupcakes after being dropped like that.

“No, that kind of crazy,” I muttered under my breath.

“Uhh, ya alright, hon?” Applejack asked.

“No, I’m not alright!” Twilight exclaimed. “It’s just terrible. Simply awful. It’s the most horrific trouble I’ve ever been in!”

“For Celestia’s sake, egghead, spit it out already!” Rainbow said, rushing Twilight to tell us all the horrible trouble she got herself in.

“She’s going to be late writing a friendship report to Princess Celestia,” I said. Everyone glanced at me, though Twilight’s pleading gaze toward her friends quickly turned to malice toward me, like I just told everyone her deepest, darkest secret. “She’s been running around all day seeing if any of you need help with something, but no one was having any issues today...Except maybe me.”

“I thought Twilight let you help out with the picnic,” Fluttershy said.

“I didn’t want you to get upset with her if you found out. But after seeing her like that, there’s no point hiding it now,” I said.

I yelped as I was suddenly yanked by Twilight’s magic, skidding to a halt in front of her. I dared to look up at her, and she was close to having her mental breakdown.

“Charles, you are definitely not helping me right now,” she uttered through her teeth toward me, then pat me really hard on the head to hide her disdain before lunging toward each of her friends. “This is serious! If I don’t turn this letter in on time, I’ll be tardy! TARDY!!!!!”

The girls all looked at each other, neither of them not even the least bit concerned about being late for any little thing as a big deal. “...Right. Missing one letter is not that bad,” Rainbow said, the wrong choice of words to a powerful unicorn who could magically blow up at any moment.

“Rainbow’s right, sugarcube,” Applejack added. “No offense, but you’re gettin’ yourself worked up over nothin’.”

I facepalmed; yet another poor choice of words to tell an overly studious scholar with a penchant for scheduling and listing everything in her daily life a fortnight in advance several dozen times. “This is not nothing. This is everything!” Twilight shouted. “I need you guys to help me find somepony with a problem I can fix before sundown! My whole life depends on it!”

The picnic was filled with silence as Twilight’s anger was simmering into a boil. It was eventually broken when Pinkie Pie laughed at the nonsensical dilemma Twilight was putting herself in. Again, not the right thing to do when someone takes something this small so seriously.

“Oh, Twilight, you’re such a crack-up!” Pinkie laughed, not intending to sound insulting, but Twilight took offense as her cheeks burned red with anger.

“Come on, Twilight. Have a seat and stop sweatin’ the small stuff.” Applejack patted a spot on the picnic blanket to help the unicorn relax.

That did the exact opposite. We all watched Twilight let out strangled growls, fed up with her friends’ lack of help, and with a loud, disgruntled groan, she ran off and teleported back to the library. I shook my head in disappointment, wishing the girls noticed something was wrong before what I was afraid of happening would come true.

“Wow. I’ve never seen Twilight so upset before,” Fluttershy said.

“Oh, what a drama queen,” Rarity huffed.

I leered at the fashionista, and with a snap of my fingers, I turned her fainting couch into a fainting quilt. She yelped as she flopped to the ground and looked down in confusion at her flattened sofa. That might have been a bit too mean, but sometimes, Rarity can be a bit too self-absorbed with herself and be hypocritical. She can defend herself in a fight, so she’s not always a damsel, but still, calling someone else out for being a drama queen when she herself was a bigger one was just rude.

“Charlie, that wasn’t very nice!” Fluttershy scolded me.

“See!? I knew he’s starting to do this stuff on purpose!” Rainbow exclaimed, pointing a hoof at me.

“That time, I did,” I said to Rainbow before I pulled the sofa-turned-quilt out from under Rarity. Hopefully able to change it back, I dragged the “blanket” away, and with a flick, it regained its full, three dimensional form. I then turned to look at the girls, some of them amazed that I was already learning how to use my chaotic magic this well so soon. “Rarity, you were distressed over a missing ribbon earlier today! You call Twilight’s stressful cry for help dramatic when you freaked out over a misplaced piece of fabric!?”

“Well, you didn’t have to be rude doing that to my fainting couch to prove your point,” Rarity muttered.

“But it looks like he’s getting good at his magic now!” Pinkie said. “Now, let’s give him a challenge. Make me an ice cream sundae tree filled with all types of ice cream flavors, the bark made out of triple choco-chunk pieces with the sap made out of fudge, and the leaves made of sprinkles and shaped like Gummy!”

“No, Pinkie,” I chided. “Don’t you girls see what Twilight’s going through? Someone who grew up studying her heart out to be Princess Celestia’s student? She looks up to her, and she’s afraid of failing! Even I thought she’s overreacting! But she takes it very seriously because she grew up constantly learning and studying everything and anything she could get her hands on! She’s afraid of failing something that’s not even an assignment, and telling someone who’s about to emotionally blow up to calm down wasn’t helpful!”

“Then here’s an important lesson she should learn: learn to take a chill pill and be lazy for a day,” Rainbow muttered.

“You’ve been helping her find a friendship problem?” Fluttershy asked me.

“Well, I do have one: why she doesn’t want to trust me, and why she’s trying to avoid my advice,” I said. “We need to stop her and actually calm her down before she makes all of Ponyville go crazy with a problem she’ll create to write that letter, and time is running out!” I pointed to the sun in the sky, but I frowned when I heard it tick and watched its position change again. “Consarn it, Princess Celestia, what are you doing with the sun today!?”

“Maybe the little fellah needs to settle down a little bit, too,” Applejack uttered.

And they still don’t believe me. I sighed and ran off toward the library.

“Wait, Charlie, where are you going!?” Fluttershy called out.

“If you guys won’t help me fix this, then I’ll do it myself!” I didn’t turn back, half expecting Rainbow Dash to swoop in and carry me back, thinking I was going to cause trouble.

Thankfully, I was still moving, but I surely wasn’t going to make it to the library. She was probably going to find Smarty Pants, her old doll as a filly, so I had to reach the section of the park where the Cutie Mark Crusaders were playing, and were going to be the first few victims of Twilight’s “brilliant” plan. Clock is ticking, Charles! Clock. Is. Ticking!

Panting heavily, I ran through the bushes and out into the field the Crusaders were playing, only to be smacked in the face by the ball they were playing with. It hit me hard, sending me flying back into the bush with a grunt, leaving me in a slight daze.

“Uh oh! Scootaloo, Ah think ya accidentally hit somepony!” I shook my head, then felt some small hooves pull me out. “Sorry about that. Didn’t mean to-”

When I was up on my feet and out of the bush, I was staring at three gawking fillies: Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, otherwise known as the Cutie Mark Crusaders. I didn’t budge an inch for fear of making them run away screaming in terror. Although, with Scootaloo being much like Rainbow Dash, she probably wouldn’t flee and try to tussle with me. My eyes glanced at each filly, trying to gauge their reaction. I finally broke the ice, giving them an awkward grin and a wave of my hand.

“Uhh...H-Hiya?” I uttered sheepishly.

I was met with more silence before Sweetie Belle pointed her hoof at me. “...Is that a baby Discord in front of us?” she asked.

I fell over in disbelief, startling the fillies as I just immediately plopped on my front without warning like an anime character hilariously does over something baffling. “Geeze. Did he really get hurt that bad?” I heard Scootaloo question. “It was just a rubber ball.”

I got back up on my feet, still baffled that these three weren’t terrified of me. At least they didn’t intentionally try to attack me with a pointed weapon. And these three do a lot of dangerous stunts, so what else was I expecting?

“You three...aren’t scared of me?” I asked.

“Well, Applejack did tell us what happened when she went to stop Discord,” Apple Bloom said. “Or, you...uhh, but...ya ain’t...Discord?” The farm filly rubbed her head, already going cross-eyed from trying to put the pieces together. At least Applejack was honest and possibly told her family about me. “Ah don’t get it. We saw Discord’s statue on our school field trip to Canterlot Castle, then Discord ran amok, he was beaten, but he wasn't and you took his place. And ya ain’t Discord, but your name is...Chuck?”

“It’s Charles, actually,” I corrected.

“I’d prefer Discord Jr.,” Scootaloo said, to which I gave her a blank leer in annoyance.

“Well, I think he’s adorable!” I gawked at Sweetie Belle at the compliment. Out of all the things I’d be called, adorable was NOT what I expected from the most innocent of the Crusaders. She grabbed my cheeks in her hooves and squished them, startling me as my face burned with an awkward blush. I’m never going to get used to this amount of attention, am I? “If this was Discord as a colt, who would ever think he was evil? And Charles is a cute little colt, aren’t you?”

I gently pulled Sweetie Belle’s hooves off my face. “I-I’m not a kid. I’m fifteen years old, and the real Discord tricked me into this form.”

“Fifteen!?” the fillies shrieked in surprise.

Oh, NOW they’re shocked by me. At least it was by my age, and they seemed to understand a bit more than the Elements of Harmony, the princesses, or the Royal Guard. Seems like the adults in this world are much more ignorant than the kids, almost like my world sometimes.

“You’re way older than us!” Scootaloo said.

“Maybe by a few years, but not THAT old,” I grumbled. “You three are about as old as my sister.”

“You have a sister? Is she like you?” Sweetie Belle asked curiously.

I had no idea how to answer that. It was already a lot for them to take in that I’m Discord’s heir and was turned into a younger version of him, and telling them I was a different sort of creature from another world might be too much for them to comprehend. We were getting off topic, despite making a good impression on the Crusaders.

“As much as I like to play twenty questions with you girls, I was actually looking for you three,” I said.

“Ya were? Why?” Apple Bloom asked.

Behind the girls, I saw movement come from the ball they were playing with. It suddenly inflated and popped, shocking us as I grimaced in fright.

“That’s why,” I said.

Twilight had definitely lost it. She definitely looked like a psychopath who escaped a mental institution, forcibly grinning with her mane a tangled mess and a bug-eyed look with shrunken pupils and irises.

“Hi, kids!” she greeted creepily, her left ear twitching as her eyes slowly trailed over each of us.

“Uhh, Twilight?” Apple Bloom uttered. “Are...Are ya-?”

“Great! Just great! Absolutely fantastic!” Twilight interrupted with a nervous giggle and slowly approached us.

“Is she alright?” Scootaloo asked me.

“Obviously, no,” I said.

“And you all seem to be doing great, too! And you’re hanging out with Charles!” Twilight said. “Not a good idea hanging out with a little chaos monster, but you three were having quite a lot of fun, right!?” Ok, as much as that comment hurts, she’s clearly not in the right mindset. “You three girls seem to be doing so great as friends that you don’t need help from another GOOD friend!”

She leaned her head awkwardly toward us, her face twitching as we lowered ourselves closer to the ground, honestly being terrifying more than hilariously crazy witnessing this up close. “Umm, Twilight, I think we need an adult,” I said.

“I am an adult! And a very responsible, NOT TARDY, adult!” Thankfully, Twilight moved her head away from us as she expressed how “not tardy” she was, but we still needed someone to help us with her behavior. Then she pulled it out; her old doll, Smarty Pants, which was a sort of Raggedy Anne donkey with blue and white polka dot pants. “This is Smarty Pants! She was mine when I was your age, and I wanna give her to you girls!” Twilight gave Smarty Pants to Apple Bloom, who awkwardly held the old doll. “And she even comes with her own quill and notebook, for when you want to PRETEND she’s doing her homework!”

Twilight then levitated a small notebook and quill, giving them to Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle respectively. “...Umm, great?” Scootaloo uttered.

“Yeah. Great,” Apple Bloom agreed nervously.

“...I...really like her...mane?” Sweetie Belle commented.

“I’m so glad you like her!” Twilight said. “I just hope the fact that there are three of you and only one of her doesn’t become a problem! I’d hate to cause a rift between such good friends.”

And I’ve finally had enough of crazy Twilight, especially with that weird face she made when expressing with intense emphasis about the Crusaders being good friends. “Twilight, I can’t take this anymore. You’ve officially lost it!” Twilight froze, slowly turning her head to look at me, her manic grin gone as she looked at me with utter disdain. Using my telekinesis, I took Smarty Pants and her “accessories” from Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, and set them on the ground in front of the adult unicorn. “You need to learn to chill out and stop freaking out about being tardy! Everyone’s late at some point or another! Even trains might not run on time because of complications with the engine, weather, or something on the tracks! No one’s perfect! Not even you! So drop it before you do something you’re going to regret!”

Her face remained angrily stoic, which only made it creepier than crazy Twilight pretending to be happy. All that bravado I had telling her off quickly disappeared with that blank stare. I had no idea what she was thinking, but if it involved turning me to stone, then I was in real trouble.

“...I see what you’re trying to do to me,” she uttered bitterly. “You were planning this all along, weren’t you?”

“Huh?” I mumbled, confused.

“Don’t play innocent with me, ‘Charles’,” she said. I was suddenly lifted up in the air by her magic, held up at eye level to her. “You appear and cause so much trouble in Equestria, distracting me from any friendship problems to write to the princess. And on the day when my next letter is due, you conveniently joined me, and you knew exactly what was going to happen to me.” Twilight chuckled and shook her head, then glared at me with those insane eyes and a scary, curled grin. “You set this all up so I could fail, and you ‘helping’ was meant to keep distracting me.”

“W-What?” I asked. “That’s not what I-”

“Well, I’m onto your little game, Discord,” she said. “You’ve ‘helped’ me so much today. But maybe I can ‘help’ you.”

I didn’t like where this was going. Swallowing nervously as I stared crazy in the face, I glanced around while my body tried to twitch desperately to curl into a ball.

“...I...I think I really need an adult right now,” I said.

“I am an adult,” she said darkly.

Before I knew it, I was encased in a magic bubble, and then flicked several yards away. I yelped as I was bounced and rolled around in the enchanted bubble before it came to a complete stop. I was expecting a lot worse, but it was going to get so much worse if Twilight cast that “Want it, Need it” spell on her doll. When the world stopped spinning, I pondered how I was going to break out of this bubble. I pushed against it, but despite it stretching, I couldn’t pop it. Not even with the sharp talons of my eagle claw.

Maybe I could try teleporting? It might not be a good idea after now starting to get used to the chaos magic, but if I want to stop Ponyville from going on a rampage over a doll, I had to give it a shot. The only problem is how teleporting actually worked. Do I imagine the location with my mind and snap my fingers? I know how it felt after Discord warped me to this world in this new body of mind. Taking in a deep breath, I imagined myself out of the bubble, then closed my eyes and snapped my fingers. Within seconds, I felt my body pop out of existence, then reappear right outside of Twilight’s magic bubble, flopping on the ground with a grunt after misjudging how high I wanted to appear from. At least I got used to the weird warping sensation.

I got back on my feet and ran back as fast as I could. I could already see Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo fighting with each other, but thankfully, Twilight didn’t cast the spell yet. She was panicking and finally had the idea, making me pump my tiny limbs harder than ever before.

“Oh, you’re going to LIKE Smarty Pants. And you’re going to like her more than ANYTHING!” Twilight proclaimed, holding her doll out to the tussling trio.

Twilight had her horn lowered and aimed right at her doll. I wasn’t going to make it! I had to try teleporting again. With a leap, I snapped my fingers, disappearing and reappearing in front of Twilight. I wasn’t able to warn her as the hearts she released from her horn flew at me. As they struck, I froze stiff as I was hit by Twilight’s spell instead of Smarty Pants. I fell to the ground after the spell was complete, grunting in discomfort, but nonetheless worse for wear. I heard Twilight gasp when she saw me, shocked and infuriated at my surprising leap to take her enchantment in her doll’s place.

“Ok, I’ve had enough being abused,” I grunted as I stood back up.

“What did you just do!?” Twilight shrieked.

“Trying to stop you from losing your mind,” I grumbled. Oddly, I looked around me, seeing hearts popping up around my body. Twilight didn’t seem affected, though I’d chalk that up to her being the caster and being immune to her own spell. My ears twitched when the fighting coming from the Crusaders stopped, which made my blood run cold. “...Oh...I also...got in the way of the ‘Want it, Need it’ spell.”

Warily, I looked behind me, and immediately regretted it. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo were staring at me, but their eyes quickly turned into hearts.

“I want him!” Scootaloo said.

“Ah need him!” Apple Bloom said.

“I really like his mane!” Sweetie Belle said.

Letting out an audible gulp, I looked back to Twilight, who was still flummoxed by what just happened. “...Help,” I squeaked.

Suddenly, I was jumped by all three fillies, but then they all started fighting amongst each other with me stuck in the middle. A dust cloud picked up around us, hearing the Crusaders arguing with each other over me while they yanked and tugged parts of me to try to take me away from each other. I cried out for help from Twilight to fix this. I don’t know what she’s doing, but if there’s ever a friendship problem to solve, it’s right now!

By some miracle, I managed to slip away, stumbling out of the dangerous wrestling match I’ve ever been a part of. “Hey, there he is!” Apple Bloom exclaimed.

With no time to rest, I scrambled back to my feet and ran away. “Twilight, for goodness sake, do something!” I shouted as I ran circles around the unicorn while the three fillies were practically at my tail.

“Why did you ruin my plan!?” Twilight exclaimed. “I’m running out of time! I could have had this solved right away!”

“You wouldn’t solve anything!” I screamed angrily. Skidding to a halt, I snapped my fingers, creating a wall of pink cotton candy. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo ran into it, getting themselves stuck in the sticky confection. With more time bought for me, I marched up to Twilight, thrust my hand out to forcefully push the unicorn onto her back, and hopped onto her chest. “Creating a problem with the ‘Want it, Need it’ spell, which isn’t properly controlled in your mental state!? Think, Twilight, THINK! You’re so obsessed with this stupid letter that you’re not even thinking about what you’re going to do to the whole town!”

“H-How did you even know what the spell was-?” I slapped my bear hand against her muzzle, silencing her before I heard anymore of her brain dead excuses.

“No! Shut up! I’ve had enough!” I interrupted. “I had been trying to help prevent this from happening! I KNEW what was going to happen, and despite me being around, everything that was slowly making you go psycho-bonkers crazy was happening regardless! I thought you knew better than to judge others by who they looked like instead of getting to know them when you all met Zecora! And if you so much as think I was responsible for making you lose your mind, then you’re the worst excuse of a friend when I’ve done nothing but try my hardest to help you, and you refuse it because I’m ‘Discord’!

“Now before this gets any worse, get rid of this spell on me before Big Macintosh shows up and gets affected by this spell, too!” I barely got a muffled response from Twilight. She glanced away from me, looking shocked and puzzled at what was behind me. I had a sinking feeling she was looking at a certain somepony who decided to pop in to check on the commotion. “...He’s right behind me, isn’t he?”

“Eeyup,” I heard the low, single-worded response from the strong Apple stallion.

I looked up and saw the hearts in Big Mac’s eyes. Before I knew it, he picked me up with his teeth by the scruff of my neck, then began to trot away from Twilight with glee.

“Help! I’m being kidnapped!” I cried out. By some miracle, the Crusaders managed to eat their way through my cotton candy wall, then charged at Big Mac to “save” me. Big Mac ran into town, making other ponies see me and be affected by Twilight’s spell. Soon, all of Ponyville went mad, some fighting against each other while others swooped in the middle of the chaos and steal me away, only to repeat the cycle all over town. “This is getting insane! I need an adult!”

“We are adults!” the grown up populace of Ponyville chimed in, taking a moment to stop fighting to respond before getting back into the fray.

“...Not like this!” I managed to free one of my hands, quickly snapping my fingers and attempted to teleport back to Twilight. I succeeded, plopping in front of the frantic unicorn, but the other girls were there too to see what got the town in a frenzy. They all turned their heads to look at me. “No! Divert your eyes!”

Before any of the Mane Six could be under Twilight’s spell, Twilight miraculously came to my rescue, forcing their heads to turn away from me. “He’s right! Don’t look at him!”

“Who? Charles?” Applejack questioned.

I quickly snapped my fingers and created a cardboard box to hide under. I sliced open a slot for me to see, hoping the enchantment wouldn’t affect anyone if part of me was visible.

“What’s going on with the town?” Rainbow asked. “Everyone’s fighting over...something.”

“It’s me!” I exclaimed. “They’re after me!”

“Whatever for?” Rarity asked. “What did you do?”

“Nothing! It was my fault!” Twilight said. “I was trying to cause a friendship problem by enchanting my doll with a spell, but Charles appeared in front of me and took it instead!”

“Why did you try to enchant your doll?” Fluttershy questioned, looking a bit upset at Twilight for causing me a lot of distress.

“I had to do something!” Twilight explained. “I had nothing to report to Princess Celestia! I thought if I couldn’t FIND a friendship problem, I’d MAKE a friendship problem! And it only got worse when Charles tried to stop me, and I didn’t listen to him!”

While I thought I was safe, I didn’t realize how much of a magnet I was under this spell’s charm. The box was suddenly lifted off of me by one of the charmed ponies, which, as my unfortunate luck would have it, was Ponyville’s ditziest, but my world’s most popular background character in the show, Derpy Hooves.

“Found you, my muffin!” I heard her cheer.

A loud alarm blared around me as I winced, along with a red exclamation mark that popped above me for a brief second. I was then snatched up by Ponyville’s best mail mare, screaming in terror as my random chaotic surprise alerted the other charmed ponies. I don’t know if the others tried to help me or couldn’t because of Twilight’s spell, but I needed someone to save me before I was literally pulled to pieces by every single pony in Ponyville.

“TWILIGHT SPARKLE!!!!!” In a bright flash of light, I was blinded by it while also feeling something ethereal wash over me.

Groaning, I opened my eyes, anticipating someone to scoop me away. Instead, everyone seemed confused, wondering where they were and why they were all scuffed up and slightly bruised. They all soon looked at me, which got really awkward as the whole town finally met me. With some more awkward silence, everyone left and headed back on their merry way like nothing ever happened.

“...Well, thank goodness that’s over,” I uttered. When I looked up, I just now noticed the sun had finally set and it was getting darker. Behind me, I heard a familiar voice clear their throat. Looking behind me, I winced at Princess Celestia’s presence, and she did not seem happy with me. “Oh no…”

Without a word, she carried me in her golden aura, then turned to head to the Golden Oak Library. Perfect. Twilight caused all this, and I was the one who was going to take the blame. I did see Twilight follow us eventually, her head hung low, feeling ashamed for letting the princess down. I wanted to point out what took Celestia so long to get down here and explain how Twilight exaggerated the friendship reports as due assignments every week, but I kept my mouth shut. I already looked like I was in enough trouble while being in the center of a mob of ponies fighting over me.

When we arrived back at the library, we were upstairs in Twilight and Spike’s bedroom. Celestia set me down on the floor in front of her while Twilight sat beside me. She refused to look her mentor and ruler in the eyes to avoid her disappointed gaze.

“What happened?” Celestia asked, finally speaking up after several long, quiet minutes. I didn’t know how to explain it, and Twilight was afraid to say anything. Celestia wouldn’t believe me, but she’d believe Twilight. “I was a bit busy today when Spike sent me a letter, warning me about what you were doing, Twilight. I glanced over it when he mentioned Charles was the one who gave me the warning, but the moment I took a small break, I looked through my telescope to see Ponyville, and caught sight of a ruckus going on. Thankfully, nowhere in the town to cause any collateral damage, but this is still very serious.”

Surprised, Twilight looked over at Spike, who was hiding in the corner eavesdropping after seeing us come in. I was disappointed that Celestia didn’t believe me after reading a letter Spike sent, but then again, she’s only giving me the benefit of the doubt after yesterday. That’s probably thrown out the window after what she saw. Twilight glanced at me, her eyes no longer crazed, panicky, or filled with dread. She clearly looked guilty, and for a moment, I thought she might have actually believed me when I said I was trying to help stop her from the cataclysm of her friendship problem she came up with.

“...It was my fault,” Twilight admitted. I saw the startled look on Celestia’s face as she looked at her faithful student. It was rare to see Celestia ever express her emotions or reactions after ruling a nation for over a thousand years, but away from the eye of her people, she’s just a normal, sentient being. “I always sent you a friendship letter every single week ever since I moved here to Ponyville. You asked me to send you a report if I ever found any, and I was never late or tardy. I completely forgot about it when Discord was free and caused so much trouble, and...when Charles appeared.”

“You mean...it wasn’t…?” Celestia looked at me, baffled, but I kept my silence. “But...everypony in Ponyville-”

“He got in the way of a spell I was supposed to cast on my old doll, Smarty Pants,” Twilight interjected. “I tried to create a friendship problem, but Charles was trying to stop me and help me. I...I didn’t want to listen to him, or have him around me, because…” She looked at me again, then back to Celestia. “...Because...I thought he was trying to trick me...just like he-...No. Like Discord had. To my friends…”

“He kinda knew what was going to happen,” Spike said as he stepped in. “Charles didn’t tell me what it was, but I didn’t think it would be that crazy.”

I was surprised. I didn’t expect Twilight to finally see me as me, not as Discord. Maybe everything I did for her finally clicked in her head and she realized how horrible she was as a friend. Celestia remained silent, pondering all this information as she no longer seemed to blame me, but was still doubtful of me and my chaos magic.

“...Well...I actually thought that Charles was responsible for…” The princess trailed off, dismissing the subject around me. “Twilight, I never said you had to send me a friendship report every week. You’re already a wonderful student. I didn’t need a letter every week to know that.”

“Y-You didn’t?” Twilight asked in disbelief.

Suddenly, we heard the front door slam open downstairs, along with several hoofsteps climbing up them. “Wait! Princess! Don’t punish Twilight!” Rainbow exclaimed.

“It wasn’t her fault!” Applejack added.

“And it wasn’t Charlie’s either!” Fluttershy quickly said, ensuring that I wouldn’t take the full brunt of whatever they thought Celestia’s sentence would be to me or Twilight.

“We didn’t listen to Twilight, and we should have taken her feelings more seriously like Charles had!” Rarity explained.

“And if we actually listened, Twilight wouldn’t have gone all coo-coo crazy and thrown all of Ponyville into chaos!” Pinkie added.

The girls all tried to explain how it was all their fault for not helping Twilight with an issue she took very seriously. Celestia quickly raised her hoof, silencing everyone, hearing enough. As she lowered her hoof, she looked at me, then back to her student and her companions.

“I suppose all of you have learned a valuable lesson today,” she said. “I will forget Twilight and Charles’ ‘punishment’ on one condition: I would like all of you to report your findings on the magic of friendship, but only WHEN you happen to discover them.” It took a moment for the girls to realize Twilight was off the hook, and Twilight would no longer have to worry about a deadline for the princess’s friendship letters. I’m sure she didn’t mean me as well with the brief glance toward me, but, again, I said nothing to avoid getting banished to the already set sun. The girls celebrated their relief as Celestia approached the outdoor balcony of the tree house/library. “Now that that’s settled, I must head back to the castle. I’ll be expecting some mail.”

She hopped up onto the railing, but took one final warning glance at me before taking off. Once she flew off and was out of sight, I let out the breath I didn’t realize I was holding. I’ll take that as the only free chance she was going to give me before the next random disaster occurred. While the girls recounted the lesson they all learned today and Spike wrote it out for them, I just walked out to the balcony for some fresh air. After that horrendous backfire of a magic spell, I couldn’t help but feel an odd satisfaction from the chaos, which was a bit bothersome. I really hope I don’t enjoy witnessing or being a part of something like that again. If Discord liked it, then he really is twisted in the head.

I didn’t know how long it was while standing outside and looking at the town while deep in thought. I heard a set of hooves approach me, but where I expected Fluttershy to carry me and take me back to her home, it was Twilight as she sat beside me. To be honest, I was still miffed that she saw me as Discord, thinking I was out to get her while she was in her crazy phase. At least she admitted she was the one who screwed up and didn’t put the blame on me.

“...Did you...really know?” she asked. My ear twitched, but I didn’t look at her. “About...everything that was going to happen today, I mean? With me going around Ponyville to...what just happened a moment ago?”

“To quote the stallion who has your Smarty Pants doll right now, eeyup,” I said, somehow startling Twilight as I spoke exactly like Big Macintosh with his simple one word responses.

“Wait, what?” Twilight uttered. She popped away in a flash, possibly teleporting back to the park where she forgot all about her doll, then reappeared a few minutes later with a shocked frown. “...I can’t find Smarty Pants...You mean...Does Applejack’s brother really have-?”

“Yup. Must have found it after Princess Celestia freed everyone from that spell,” I said. “Some things were different from what I know, but all in all, everything happened just like it had.”

Struck with silence, I looked at Twilight, who just stared at me dumbfoundedly. “...Spike said you knew,” she uttered. “You knew what the spell was called, and...you knew Zecora, but Discord never met her...How did you know?”

“Do you really want me to tell you? Because if you lose your mind again, I’m sealing you in a magic bubble until you calm down enough,” I warned. Twilight winced, immediately feeling guilty for trapping me in a bubble to prevent me from creating a mess she was going to cause. She hesitated, but slowly nodded her head, her curiosity beating her loss of rational thought. “Fine. I told Spike, and he’s promised not to tell anyone else. You keep this to yourself, too. Deal?”

“O-Ok,” Twilight uttered.

“Alright.” I sighed, bracing myself for her to go “coo-coo crazy”, as Pinkie Pie put it. “In my world, your world is actually a cartoon show. All of your adventures since you met the others, befriended them, found the Elements of Harmony, and stopped Nightmare Moon are known throughout everyone who actually enjoys it. I was one of them, along with my little sister. There’s a lot more ahead that neither of you know about, but you all teach some pretty important morals, have some pretty catchy songs, and some surprisingly good action and animation meant to be viewed only by little girls who like colorful talking ponies. So basically, your world exists as a creation from someone else’s mind, but it actually exists in some other dimension.”

Twilight took it all in, visibly disturbed by the fact that she, her friends and family, and her world were all another world’s creation. At least she wasn’t freaking out and questioning everything. She probably had enough worrying for today now that Celestia finally shed some light to her woes. Twilight appeared to accept this, but there were a dozen questions in her head she wanted to ask me.

“...Do you know what’s going to happen next?” she asked curiously.

“Yes, but I’m not telling,” I said.

“Because you don’t trust me,” Twilight said dejectedly.

“It’s actually because I don’t want to deter what’ll happen next, and it’ll give Princess Celestia a real reason to turn me into stone,” I said. “Even though I’m still sore about today, that doesn’t mean I hate you. I just want you and the others to trust me while I’m trapped in this body after Discord tricked one more victim before I ‘took his place’.”

“Oh. I see,” Twilight mumbled. We both sat in silence again. This is becoming very awkward between us, and I think Twilight’s finally reconsidering loathing my guts and accepting me as a friend. “...You said you have a little sister?”

“Yeah,” I said. “She’s a few years younger than me.” She seemed interested in my sibling, and I knew just what she was about to say before she opened her mouth. “And I know you have an older brother, who’s also part of the Royal Guard, a captain no less, and you love him to death.”

Twilight’s mouth hung open in shock. “Y-You know about-?”

“Shining Armor. Yeah. I know quite a bit about all of you,” I said.

“...That’s...terrifying,” she said.

“You know what else is ‘terrifying’?” I asked. “You have a fear of quesadillas.” The look on Twilight’s face almost made me burst out laughing. I revealed to her her most hated food, without never even mentioning it to anyone. “Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone about your hatred of cheesy, gooey quesadillas. I’m not as sadistic as Discord.”

“Good,” Twilight said, sighing heavily in relief.

“Charlie, it’s starting to get late!” Fluttershy called out. “We’d better head home!”

“Ok!” I called back. I was still a little annoyed at being treated like a kid, but it’s Fluttershy. I’ll let her treat me however she pleases because she’s just that nice. I owe her that much for coming to my rescue the other day. “Guess I’d better get going.”

I stood up and stretched my tired limbs before walking back inside. “Charles.” I stopped and looked back at Twilight, wondering what else she wanted to say to me. “...I’m really sorry for how I treated you,” she apologized. “You’re not like Discord after all...I hope you can forgive me and we can...start over?”

She grinned sheepishly, half expecting me to say no. I grinned back and gave her a silent nod to reassure her that I’ll forget her behavior toward me to start afresh. I headed back inside, watching Spike blow a breath of his magic fire on a scroll that was the group’s friendship lesson everyone learned to Celestia. As the rest of the girls began to leave, I said bye to Spike before following Fluttershy back to her cottage.

It was a crazy day today, with the literal crazy adventure Pinkie mentioned earlier that was surely not going to be the last. Never thought I would actually be involved with an actual episode. And besides making up with Twilight a little and earning her trust, I befriended Spike, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. Kinda wished I met the Crusaders in a better way, but at least they weren’t afraid of me. Now all I had to do was get Rainbow Dash and Rarity to like me, though that would be a problem with Rainbow Dash after that dumb deflating metal wall incident.