"I suppose you've seen the news," I addressed Discord, trying to gauge his reaction.
"Not lately," he said. "What's been going on?"
"It appears I have become a pariah," I said with some disappointment. My good mood had fled from me at this point.
"Well, you are responsible for killing nearly five billion people," he grinned.
"Stop rubbing my face in it!" I hissed through clenched teeth. He was starting to irritate me.
"Well, it is the truth," he stated flatly.
"Only because you forced me to," I said, trying to rationalize my actions.
"I never put a gun to your head and told you you had to," he chuckled.
The third song in the queue started playing. I turned my karaoke machine off at this point, having completely lost my desire to sing anymore. "You know, you made me an offer I couldn't refuse, then when things went south, you almost force me to have a child for you. You have a funny way of showing your gratitude, and an even funnier way of dealing with complex situations."
"Are you regretting that initial choice you made?" he asked, his face darkening as he narrowed his jaundiced eyes at me. "You know, you could have refused to assist me."
"And I would have faced certain death in parts unknown on this planet," I said glumly.
"Twilight, I would never want to hurt you -- but there are certain things I need, things which I know you can do for me," he said. "I had to convince you that assisting me would be in your best interests. I had no idea that things would escalate as quickly as they did."
"So why exactly do you want a second child?"
"Because EJ wants a playmate, and I want him to be happy," he explained.
"You realize that I am going to need an awful lot of persuasion, and considering what you did in exchange for your son, I have no idea of what you can do for me to convince me that I should provide you with a second child."
"You have no idea of what I can do to help you," he said, smiling once again. "If you are willing to give me a second child, I will help you in every way possible to live free from fear, free from hunger, and in complete enjoyment of your life -- in addition, should you wish to live for a very long time, I can help you with that as well. Trust me, there are few limits to what I can do, so small gifts are easy for me to provide."
"If I bear a second child for you, I would like for her to be a full unicorn, and I would like to name her Stephanie," I said. "I want my house to be substantially larger, with better fortification, and easy access to everything I would possibly want for my own personal edification. I would like to live for 1000 years and be given enough money to last me at least that long, if not longer, and --"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Slow down there, Twilight! You're asking too much of me!" he said, showing a little anger.
"Heh. Well, I thought you said small gifts were easy," I chuckled. "But the hard part is dealing with everypony wanting to arrest and indict me for war crimes. That's the big one I want cleared up -- unless you want to give me a new identity. I still want to be able to use magic."
"That's not hard, Twilight. I can change you into another unicorn, if you like -- and for that other stuff, yeah, that's no problem either -- with one exception. EJ needs a playmate who's going to look like him -- otherwise, he won't be able to relate to his playmate. I will accept your request to have her be female, and I will even honor your requested name."
"So what other unicorn are you talking about changing me into?" I asked.
"Watch me then," he said, waving his lion paw at me. I felt a slight tingle through my body as some subtle changes occurred.
When I perform karaoke, I do so in front of a mirror, so I saw my reflection change immediately to that of a blue unicorn with a white mane and tail, and the cutie mark of a wand and a magic swirl appear on my flanks. "OH NO YOU DIDN'T!!" I shouted at him. I couldn't believe my eyes. Trixie's voice sounded a bit different from Twilight's.
"What? You don't like this?" he asked innocently, but flashed a mischievous grin.
"The Great and Powerful Trixie is NOT amused!!" I shouted at him, grinning as I did so. "Discord, Trixie's magic is not as strong as Twilight's!"
"Well, if you think your magic is not up to snuff, here, have this," he said, tossing a small trinket to me.
I used my telekinesis to snatch it mid-air and held it before me in my magic aura. This item was a small triangular amulet with wings at the large end of the inverted triangle, a diamond shaped red gem in the center, and what appeared to be a unicorn head atop the center of the top part of the amulet. "Is this what I think it is? Where did you get it?"
"I'm not at liberty to tell you that," he chuckled. "Use it if you wish, but be careful."
"So you want Trixie to give you a child?" I asked.
"Why not? The end result will be the same," he chuckled. I didn't really believe him.
"Are you sure? What about the color of her coat?"
"Believe it or not, I can choose all these things while you're carrying the child. Just as easily as I changed your appearance, I can change lots of things. Your other requests are fairly simple, and as Trixie, you will not be sought for questioning by the authorities. So..."
"So..." I said, staring at the floor, feeling kind of stupid.
"Shall we get started?" he asked, almost too eagerly.
I heaved a very heavy sigh. "Discord, I know I probably shouldn't do this, but since you continue to do so much for me, I guess I might as well concede, even though it bothers my conscience to do so."
"Excellent! I knew you'd agree!" he laughed.
"You will do for me as you did last time around, I hope," I said with resignation.
"But of course! I'm a dragonequus of my word! You have nothing to fear."
"The day is still young," I said. "I would prefer if you showed up tonight, I need to prepare myself before I allow you to ... you know ..."
"Very well then, Trixie," he chuckled.
"Odd that you call me by the name of my appearance," I observed.
"It wouldn't do for me to call you Twilight when you're no longer in her body," he chuckled. "See ya later, Trixie!" he chuckled as he disappeared again.
I approached the mirror, checking out my new body. I looked at my eyes, but not for very long. I started making funny faces, giggling at some of them, occasionally sticking out my tongue, blowing Bronx Cheers, and generally making a fool of myself. I looked at the amulet again. It was glowing red as if to tell me it wanted me to wear it. I found myself almost wishing he hadn't given me this thing.