In a flash, Discord had used his teleportation to warp into Twilight’s office back at the school. From your guess, it was probably where Fluttershy ran off to at one point after your disappearance. Discord also had placed you in a baby basket, complete with you wearing a bonnet and having a pacifier in your mouth. He just gently placed it on the desk and presented it as if everything was fine. “Greetings, everypony! Fluttershy especially. I have returned with Anon, safe and sound, and without any reason to worry about whatever you may have been worrying about. As I said, being his father, I would be able to-” But Discord stops mid sentence when he actually notices no one he was actually wanting to speak to was in the room. The only one who was waiting was… Cozy Glow? “Excuse me, Twilight, but when did you turn into a filly with actual taste in mane fashion?”
Cozy Glow giggled at that and shook her head. “Golly, I’m not Headmare Twilight at all. My name is Cozy Glow! It is very nice to meet you Mister Discord!” She said as she waved towards him.
“Yes, well, normally I appreciate being doted upon, but I actually need to know where Fluttershy is. You wouldn’t know where she went off to, would you?” Discord asked, while you spat out your stupid pacifier to address why Cozy was even here.
“Cozy? What are you doing here?” You asked, confused by her presence.
“Erm, um; Well, to answer Mister Discord’s question, she’s at Princess Headmare Twilight’s castle! And to answer your question, Counselor Starlight asked me to stay here to wait for you two when I suggested it to her. She said something about everypony being ‘melodramatic’ and said she’d wait at the castle too in case you both showed up there first. Golly, I only heard a little about what happened and it didn’t sound good at all.” Cozy said as she began to frown. “I hope nopony is in trouble.”
Ugh, looks like Starlight was able to figure out how ridiculous the situation became and tried to come up with a way to calm things down. She was probably already explaining to everyone else that it wasn’t as big a deal as it seemed. At least you hoped she knew you enough to do all that. “I… Don’t think anypony is, Cozy. I think everything is going to be fine, if a little emotional. Oh, uh, Dad, this is one of my friends from school, Cozy Glow. She’s sort of my biggest fan and is pretty a-ok about chaos.”
“Well, a pony who appreciates the workings of all things un-non-anti-mundane is already automatically alright in my book. However, I’d rather not waste time here if Fluttershy is elsewhere.” Discord said, a little smile on his face as he spoke, he also felt a little pride for meeting a pony who appreciates chaos, but he really was dead set on meeting with Fluttershy and was preparing to snap his paws.
“Wait!” Cozy suddenly called out, holding her hoof up to stop you two.
Was there something else she needed to tell us? “What’s wrong, Cozy? I don’t want to seem rude or anything, but Dad is right, we kinda gotta go.”
“Erm… Well.. It’s just that…” She sighed as her ears folded, and she looked at the both of you with big sad eyes. “It’s just that, now that I got to meet your father, I oh so very much had wanted to ask him a question. I know I’m not supposed to feel bad about the Storm King, but it’s just… Maybe there was some way I could have helped him. My whittle heart hurts just thinking about it.”
This again? Ngh, don’t be rude, Anon. Okay, just humor her, remember, you’re bettering yourself. Remember, she’s very innocent and naive, and dammit, she’s just too nice. Whatever annoyance you did have was overwhelmed by just wanting to get a smile back on her face. “Oh, er, sure! Dad, c’mon, you’d take a question from a little pony who likes chaos, wouldn’t you?”
Discord crossed his arms for a moment as he murmured to himself, then sighed. “Alright, alright, I’ll take one question. And I’ll do it free of charge, considering even I must appreciate a small little filly seeking guidance from the greatest being in Equestria. Go ahead, ask your question.”
“Well, erm, it’s about the staff. I know it was dangerous, but golly, he weally weally WEALLY wanted it. I think, maybe, that he just wasn’t thinking because of what the staff did to him, and that maybe having it back would have maybe also calmed him down, like I do when I have my Anon puppet! But I know the staff was very dangerous to touch too, so I wouldn't have known how to do that. I asked my friend, Winter Krumb, about it once. But, um, he didn’t seem to know much at all about the staff. He said maybe using something safer and made of chaos would have made it safe to touch, but he didn’t seem too sure on even that, and he didn’t even want me to think about it. But, erm, was there any other way to have safely given him his staff back?” Cozy asked as she curled her tail around herself, rubbing on it as she seemed so timid to be even asking such a thing.
She really thought she could fix him, even now. Though, given the question, you were glad she never found the staff. She would have for sure tried to find a way to give it to him the moment she found it. So, not wanting to scold or lecture her, you just let Discord answer.
“Ah, well, I can assure you giving that ninny the staff in any capacity wouldn’t have helped your friendship with him. Though, I also have to give this other friend of yours his due, as one can use an item made of chaos, like a tool or gloves, to move something as dangerous as that without repercussion. Another way would be to simply filter the magic through something else that can handle the chaos within. Take Anon’s horn, it filters my own magic to allow him use of it on his own accord. Granted, Anon has quite a bit of chaotic resistance in his body that allows him to cast whatever he likes without a change to his being, as the chaos magic still has to come through the user of said horn to even be cast. For anypony else, using the horn for prolonged periods of time would have an effect on them eventually. Now, putting the horn on the staff would cause it to filter through the staff instead, which means anypony would be able to touch the thing without being affected at all. Now, is that expository enough for you? I’d hope it is, as I merely expect some praise in return. Go on, tell me how thankful you are.” Discord said, looking pretty proud of himself as he awaited Cozy’s praises.
“Wow!” Exclaimed Cozy “I really wish I knew that before! Thank you, Mister Discord, you’re the bestest draconeequsqus ever!”
“Of course I am, that’s probably why you said ‘qus’ twice. I’m simply twice as amazing as the second most amazing thing in Equestria.” Discord proudly said, straightening his neck fur like it was a shirt collar.
“Cozy…” Okay, you actually did have to step in here, because she had to understand the whole Storm King thing was over. “Look, don’t take this the wrong way or anything, but just like Dad said, and what I've been telling you, there was no helping him, okay? Your friend was right, you shouldn’t think about the staff either. I know you wanted to help him like I did Chrysalis, but he was truly evil. There was no good in him at all. Cozy, please, please, please, just forget about the staff and him, okay? For me? You have lots of good friends here at school, and you sound like you have a good friend with Winter. So please, I don’t want to hear about this any more, alright?”
Cozy just paused, she just stared at you, she didn’t have a single emotional expression on her face as she did so. It was almost unsettling. But then she smiled, and nodded to you. “Okay! You’re right! I do have a lot of friends here, and in Winter. But golly, Anon, I think it’d be so so nice to just have everypony be my friend and to never ever fight with each other ever again! Don’t you think that’d be nice?”
Something in you almost found that concerning. But why? You almost wanted to ask her ‘in what context?’. “Yeah, Cozy, it’d be nice. But, uh, just focus on the friends you have right now, okay?”
“Oh, no worries there, Professor! I’ve been focusing very very very hard on that! I just wanted to know what I could have done to maybe help the Storm King too! But I see I just couldn’t, and while that makes me sad, I know I can’t just let myself be too sad about it.” Cozy said with renewed enthusiasm as she hopped off the seat and went towards the door to the hallway. “Well, I better get going then. I have to write my friend a new letter telling him not to worry about me and the staff. Gee, I hope it reaches him quickly, I don’t want him to be scared that I’d go looking for it or anything.”
“Yeah, that doesn’t sound like a bad idea. Take care, Cozy, and remember what I said.” You tell her.
Cozy nodded. “I will! Goodbye Mister Discord, and Professor Anon! I hope you two have a fantabulous day!” She said with a giggle as she left.
Discord waved, but as she left, he turned back to you with a suspicious stare. “Anon, didn’t something strike you as odd about that entire encounter?”
Shit, did he actually get that sudden uneasy feeling too? “Sorta, what do you mean?”
“I mean she didn’t even say anything about how cute you looked in that basket! How am I supposed to help settle Fluttershy’s nerves when even a tiny filly like that doesn’t find you cute? Anon, I’m really ashamed of you right now, I went through all that trouble to make sure you were the cutest colt imaginable and somehow you took that and flushed it down the drain.” Discord said as he picked up the pacifier and began to brush it off with his tail.
“Are you serious?! Cozy already said that Starlight wasMPH!” And before you could finish your sentence, Discord plops the pacifier back in your mouth as he readied his talons for a snap.
”Hush! We already wasted enough time here and I won’t keep her waiting.” Discord said. But before he could snap, you spat the pacifier out of your mouth and began shouting at him.
“What the hell, man?! Why are you treating me like this?! You were about to kill Celestia a few minutes ago!” You shouted angrily at him.
“One, I wasn’t going to hurt anypony, I was just going to do my thing, but to a certain extreme past infinite. Two, I was also more than worried, Anon. I lost my temper, my composure, my wallet, and my sense of reason fearing the worst. Okay, maybe I never actually had that last one, and I still have my wallet right here in my pocket, but you get the point. Anon…” Discord looked at you with caring and soft eyes, he began to speak more seriously and emotionally about it. “I really don’t know what I would have done if something had happened to you.”
You just raise an eyebrow at him, skeptical. Not on his feelings, but about his current emotional state. “And now comes the part where you slam the thing back into my mouth and force me to play along?”
“Ye-, I mean no!” Discord retracted as he plucked you out of the basket, removing your bonnet as he cleaned up your mane a bit with a brush of his tail. “Silly Anon. I just don’t know what’s going on with everypony today, thinking they can predict what I’m going to do when that’s simply impossible. So, no, I’m not going to degrade you further because I think Fluttershy seeing you that way would make her smile. No, we go as partners, and I’m sure the results will be the same.”
Hah! You got him this time! Although, he kinda wasn’t wrong, Fluttershy probably would have found you adorable laying in the basket… All calm, and not screaming about judgment and punishment. “Er, y’know? Actually… How about we compromise?” If anything, Discord was more than right. If Discord showed he was calm and collected, and you were presented in a manner she’d find precious, then it would warm her heart really quick and help her not worry. “I’ll do the whole basket thing, just no bonnet or pacifier or any baby crap, okay? I wanna help Fluttershy too, you know? I just hope Starlight calmed down everypony else.”
“Hmmm…” Discord calmly picked you up and gently put you back in the basket, tucking you in the blanket. “I actually hope so as well, Twilight can be such a nag when she’s lost her mind. Ah well, she can’t really say anything if I haven’t done anything to Celestia, now can she?” Discord said as he gave you a gentle pat on the head. “Thank you, Anon, for at least doing this much. I really do think it’ll mean a lot to her.”
“I know, and I think so too. So, y’know, come on already. You don’t want to keep her waiting, do you?” You said with a smug yet light hearted chuckle.
“No, no I do not.” Discord said, as he finally snapped his talons, warping you both to the castle.