There was a whirl of light, a cacophony of bangs, whizzes, and wapows! and, with that, much to the surprise of the residents of Marwaukee, the hotel that had vanished three days ago reappeared, a crowd of confused, colorful ponies surrounding it.
Fizzy, Caramel, and Barley all got to their hooves. The crowd around them milled about in uncertainty. Then, the nervous milling was cut short with the thunk of a spotlight far overhead switching on.
And coming down in a pillar of light, dressed in white flowing robes, surrounded in a cloud of cherubic whoopie cushions and kazoos, was Discord.
As he touched down, he looked out upon the crowd, beatific smile across his face… only for it to suddenly be marred with a grimace of annoyance.
“Itching…” he muttered, slithering around on the spot, pawing at himself. “Wool really is… argh!” And with a jerk, he threw the robe and the heavenly gag props to the side. “Not my style, anyway!” He whirled to face the crowd. “Ciderfest! Ah, what a con! I want to thank, first and foremost, my fans, really couldn’t have done it without you!” He fired a pair of finger guns, causing several audience members to duck. “We have a whole new world to make, together!” He grinned, somewhere between triumph and oddly, hope. “And I for one cannot wait to see what we make.”
“You will make nothing, you glorified sock puppet!” a voice snarled.
Discord slowly turned, and out of the crowd came a wedge of a Who’s Who’s of Equestria’s greatest monsters.
“Ah, look who it is, the losing team!” Discord grinned.
“You may have the book,” Sombra snarled. “But that just means it’s all in one place to be ta-urgh!”
“Why, Sombra,” Discord said, shoving the oversized candy bar into the evil mage’s open maw. “You’re just not yourself when you’re hungry! Have a snack!” With a final shove, he sent Sombra sprawling over. He looked up at the rest of the villains. “Anyone else hungry?”
Grogar stepped forward.
“You may have won, Discord, but even you must know that fortune is a wheel, and those it lifts up, it will one day cruUSHARGH–UNHAND ME!”
“Yes, yes, ominous speech, the fight against evil is never over, sequel bait, we’ve heard it all before!” The second Discord said, shaking his head as he lifted Grogar up by the scruff of his neck. “Always with the motions! Ally-oop!” And with that, a second Discord hucked Grogar face-first into the Book of All Stories, held out by the first Discord, and the whole crowd watched as the demonic goat was sucked inside and disappeared. The first Discord turned the Book back to face him, and began writing.
“‘And then he was banished to the Clown Dimension for all eternity, with no mystical gates, shatterable seals, or any other conceptually related MacGuffins allowing for his escape.’” Discord said as he wrote.
“Very clever!” The second Discord said.
“I’m glad you like it!” The first Discord replied.
And then they high-fived.
“Now,” Discord, only singular again, said, looking at the rest of the villains. “Anyone else want to join him?”
There were not, to his displeasure, any takers.
“Ah, oh well. ‘And then the rest of the villains vanished into the book, to await what wonderful things would happen next!’” And with the final scratch of the pen, it was so, and the rest of the villains began to blur and glow, and disappeared into the book. “Now… ah, yes!”
Fizzy, Barley, and Caramel had made their way to the front of the crowd as Discord turned to face them.
“Ms. Glitch! Wonderful show you’ve put on!” He grabbed her hoof and shook it so vigorously that various odds and ends began falling out of Fizzy’s mane. “Your community is absolutely wonderful, an absolute pleasure to have been a guest at this con!” He let go and leaned back. “Of course, I do hope we all learned a valuable friendship lesson about listening to each other, hmm?”
All three of them grinned awkwardly.
“We’re gonna try to do better in the future, Discord,” Caramel said.
“Ah, well, good!” Discord leaned back, pulling a notepad out with a third arm. “‘Participated in bringing about the friendship lesson.’ Check!” He tossed the notepad aside where it landed square on an otherwise unshaded lamp, and turned and started marching back to the center of the clearing. “Pinkie! It’s time!”
“On it, boss.” Pinkie bounced out to meet him. Discord strode beside her, writing away in the book, grinning wildly.
“Oh, I have such plans!” he said.
Suddenly, all the creatures called there by the book began glowing and rising into the air. Pinkie giggled as she started to levitate, spinning in the air.
“Have you ever wanted to taste color, Pinkie?” Discord laughed, rising alongside her.
“Boy have I!” Pinkie laughed.
“You’ll love it! Chartreuse is my favorite!” Discord laughed in return.
“I can’t wait!” Pinkie giggled, wiggling her legs with glee.
“Discord! Discord, wait!” a soft voice cried out.
Rushing out from the crowd came Fluttershy.
“Fluttershy, dear! Oh, I’ve been looking forward to seeing you!” Discord shouted, continuing to rise heavenward.
“Discord! I forgive you! We all forgive you! You don’t have to change the past!”
Discord, for a second, looked panicked.
“There will be nothing to forgive, Fluttershy!” He said, his bravado undercut by a nervous breath of air. “We will make everything better, for every creature!”
“Discord–!”
“Please.” Discord for one brief moment, looked afraid.
The rest of the Mane 6 caught up to Fluttershy. She turned to look at Twilight. Neither said a word, but eventually, Twilight nodded. Fluttershy, eyes wide, frown taking on a determined cast, turned and looked back up at Discord, stepping forward.
“I’m coming!” she shouted, and with a flap of her wings, launched herself up beside Discord and Pinkie.
“Ahah! I knew it! I knew you’d understand!” He swept her up into a great hug. “You’ll see, Fluttershy, the wonderful world we’re going to create! So much potential! We’ll all get our time in the sun, you’ll see!”
“Promise me, Discord,” Fluttershy said, breathless as the two twirled together, rising into the air. “Promise me, no matter what happens, you’ll do what's best… for us. For all of us.”
“Fluttershy,” Discord’s smile softened. “Of course.”
Fluttershy curled into his arms, and their ascent halted as the Book of All Stories rose above them.
“Thank you, everyone, for this wonderful con!” Discord shouted to the crowd below, throwing out his arm. “We have a glorious new project ahead of us, all that we can do unveiled. I look forward to seeing it all, and remember: pre-order your tickets for next year’s Ciderfest!”
And with that, every single creature the Book had called began to blur, and in a shower of light, flew into its open pages. The Book of All Stories slammed its covers closed with a crack of thunder, and began to vibrate. Suddenly, it exploded into a corona of multi-hued light, and blasted off on a jagged, erratic path, to whatever future awaited it.
Barley, Caramel, and Fizzy, and the crowd of guests, were left in silence, looking up at the empty night sky.
“Do you… think they’re gonna be okay?” Barley said.
“I mean… the future is always unpredictable, Bar,” Caramel said. “But they all have each other, and, you know, they can take things as they happen. I suspect they’re a pretty adaptable bunch.”
“Whatever happens.” Fizzy said. “It’s gonna be wild.”
And then her stomach growled. Loudly. She looked at the other in embarrassment.
“Say, either of you hungry?” she asked sheepishly.
Barley and Caramel both grinned.
“You know,” Caramel said, “right before you sucked us all into that book we were gonna treat you to dinner.”
Fizzy let out a short laugh, the tension leaving her body.
“Honestly? That sounds amazing.”
A short while later, the three of them found themselves in the low, soft light of the pub in the hotel, chatting away as they ate.
As the three were finishing their meal, though, Fizzy looked down at her plate and frowned.
“Guys… I’m sorry all this happened.”
“No, none of that!” Caramel rose up in her seat. “You’ve had enough of beating yourself up, Fizz.”
Fizzy shook her head, looking up at Caramel.
“I lost control, Caramel. I just…” She looked away. “When you brought me on, all that awful stuff was happening, and I really felt like I was making a difference… but then nothing changed. It just went on and on, getting worse. I felt helpless. Worse. Useless. Between that and feeling like you guys had forgotten me, I just snapped. I’d do anything to feel like I wasn’t useless. Like I mattered.”
“Point of order, Fizzy,” Barley leaned forward. “We did forget about you. I completely screwed up on your idea, remember?”
“Yeah, Fizz.” Caramel’s smile was sad. “You aren’t the only one who screwed up!”
“But you didn’t–”
“And maybe if we didn’t ignore you, you wouldn’t have snapped!” Barley shrugged. “Reality is complicated, Fizzy. That’s certainly clear after this weekend!”
“Alright, alright.” Caramel said, leaning over the table. “Everypony put your hooves out on the table. On three, we all say we’re sorry, and make a promise about what we’re gonna do better! Okay, one, two, three!”
“Sorry!” They all said, in unison.
“I promise to keep an eye out for all my friends and make sure we’re all shouldering the burden!” Caramel said.
“I promise to keep track of things and remember we’re a team.”
Fizzy just looked at the two of them, a small, lopsided grin on her face.
“And… I promise to make it clear when I’m struggling… and maybe read the fine print on any magical artifacts I get mailed in the future?”
It started with a chuckle from Barley. Caramel’s laugh quickly rose louder than his. It spread between them, infectious, until they were all doubled over. Laughing with relief. With joy.
“Move! Out of my way!” Caramel said, nudging Barley. He did so, and she trotted around the booth and leapt onto Fizzy with a great hug. “I missed you, girl!”
“Hey, make room for me!” Barley said, flying into the hug as well.
“Guys…” Fizzy said, wiping a tear from her eye.
“Alright!” Caramel said, letting go and standing up. “Whew! What a con!”
“Right?” Barley said.
“Oh!” Caramel bounced. “I can’t wait for next year!”
Barley groaned.
“After what we just went through?” Barley said, laughing. “Can’t we take a break?”
“I’m so excited, though! Discord might have been a little sketch, but the idea sounds so fun! I’m really on fire for this creativity theme! There’s so much we could do!”
“Right,” Barley said, “which is why we should take a break first!”
Fizzy watched her friends bicker, and they really were her friends, she realized, even if the stress of the world had made her doubt and forget. Here, in this moment, whatever the past had been, they were all together again.
Fizzy Glitch was not a simple kirin, of course. She had many interests and talents. Many honest expressions and hidden scars, but in her heart was one simple joy; to love and be loved.
And with her friends, and a future wide open before her, there was nothing she couldn’t do.