//------------------------------// // 4. What Passion Could Reach Me, What Lesson Could Teach Me // Story: Deja Discord // by Ckat_Myla //------------------------------// The farthest part of the eastern border to the Everfree was where Celestia met Discord. The space where the trees began to give way to what lead to Rambling Rock Ridge was not forbidden to him, so there was no chance of him having to contend with the magical shock collar treatment. This was a fairly deserted area, though not large enough to have been considered in the divvying up of spaces for Discord to inhabit. The princess evidently did not wish to waste any time, for her horn was already lit when he arrived, showing him just where she was. She stood beneath the cross-section of two far-sloping trees, and she apparently had come alone. Discord could see no pony else in the circle of light provided by her horn in any case. Celestia lifted the ball of light from her horn to float above them, giving more light to the surrounding area. As per usual, the alicorn princess did not look pleased to see him. “Discord,” she acknowledged him flatly. “Lovely to see you too, Celestia,” Discord answered. Even if this seemed a cryptic summon, he could not resist the opportunity to be himself. “Have you been well? I suppose I have. Can’t complain, was having a fairly enjoyable day until some pony pulled me away from my bed as I was about to get some sleep.” For added affect, he had appeared before her in a fluffy pink robe and plush jackalope slippers upon his mismatched feet. “For that I will offer an apology,” Celestia said, looking him over bemusedly but otherwise making no mention of his attire. “But this is the only time we have at the moment to speak with you. We do not have long before we must return to our task.” Discord thought maybe she was using the royal ‘we’, as at first he could see no pony else around. Then a hastened flutter of wings in the distance betrayed someone else’s arrival, lessening the affect her entrance had as the second daughter of Harmony stepped from the shadows. The younger alicorn glanced hesitantly up at her sister, looking fairly worn-out as she folded her wings and stood beside Celestia in the pool of light. “You made sure to check the bonds before you left?” The elder princess asked, acknowledging Princess Luna with her words and a quick glance towards her. Luna nodded, adopting the same demeanor as Celestia as she turned her head towards Discord, but spoke to her sister. “Yes, I am certain the spell will hold for the moment.” “We should still attempt to make this brief,” Celestia answered. It wasn’t entirely as if they were acting like he wasn’t there, they seemed quite mindful of his presence though reluctant to clue him in immediately. They were certainly taking their time, in any case. The draconequus folded his arms and the robe and slippers disappeared as he waited for them to begin their explanation for this oh-so-important summons. “Luna and I have been barely able to keep up with our appointed tasks of bringing out the day and night. Our focus has currently been on something much direr.” Celestia took a glance around, as if checking for something, and then gestured to the areas that lead to the Ridge. “Do you know what lies beyond that?” It took Discord a moment to realize exactly where they were, and when he did he realized what she was referring to precisely. In what was now the Ridge there was a cavern, hidden by a powerful magic. Deep underground – even farther down than the caverns beneath Canterlot – there stood a gate. It was a place Discord had been before a very, very, very long time ago. “The entrance to the Gates of Tartarus.” Celestia nodded. “Yes, most ponies have absolutely no knowledge of it, and the ones that do know of it are still unaware of its exact location. Only the most loyal and trustworthy of my personal guard knows where the entrance lies, for I had to explain to them where my sister and I were needed when all this began. I currently have some guard members posted around the Ridge, but none anywhere close by the cavern that disguises it.” Discord had a hunch that he knew where this was going, and that Celestia was going to beat around the bush to get there. “As you are aware, the gates were forged of the strongest and most powerful magical substance known to ponydom, and re-enforced with several magical seals to keep them from ever being broken out of or into.” So, Discord had been correct. “Oh joy, a history lesson. You know I don’t need the recap, Celestia. I was there when all this occurred.” The princess continued as though he hadn’t spoken, although she had closed her eyes to presumably tune him out. “And as an extra precaution, the three-headed dog Cerberus was stationed where Tartarus touches this world. He however, acts as more of a guard, and has not been of much use.” Now Discord was wondering about the whole ‘out of or into’ business. Who would want to break into that place? He kept this to himself, letting Celestia finish her little speech. “He was the one to find us when it was clear that the magic had begun to fade.” Now she was getting to the point. Those seals were meant to last for eons. “And by fading, you mean?” “The seals have been weakening for some time now. My sister and I have been attempting to find a solution, yet so far we have only managed to find a temporary answer. Reinforcing the bonds keeping the gates sealed shut appears to be beyond even our level of magic.” “This is starting to sound familiar, but for the life of me I can’t think why,” Discord said, paw to his chin in thought. “So, you’ve called me here because?” He saw Celestia’s frown grow even more pronounced. “It would seem that something yet more powerful than alicorn magic alone is needed for the binding of the gate. It is magic of the ancients, from nearly the beginning of existence. Tartarus was reserved for the most dark, the most evil; the things that would most harm the ponies of this world and throw it out of balance. It has been said that even you have banished a creature there once.” “Well, we all have our moments,” Discord waved away her lengthy explanation. “So you need some ancient magic, and I’m the oldest magical being around. Small world, is it not?” “This is not something I am pleased to do, Discord. Asking you of all ponies for help was not my idea. If it were not absolutely necessary I would not have bothered.” Suddenly Discord was reminded why this was feeling so familiar. “You know, this is the second time I’ve been asked to help some pony with some big crisis of theirs. Who would have thought I would be so popular?” The princess seemed caught slightly off guard by this revelation. She blinked several times before posing her question with only a mild annoyance. “What do you mean ‘second time’, to what are you referring?” Discord smirked again at her confusion. “Twilight came to see me, asking for help about some sort of ‘state of emergency’ hoo-hah. Her friends are under the impression that I am the cause of it, but she appears to believe that I could be able to fix it.” “If you are referring to the predicament concerning Ponyville and Cloudsdale, we have been made aware of it by Twilight Sparkle as well,” Celestia said. “I am surprised that she would come to you for assistance… though I suppose that is somewhat my fault. Regretfully I have been out of touch with her during this time.” “So I’m just the next best thing to Celestia, huh?” Discord sarcastically questioned. “Don’t give yourself too much credit, I’m sure she approached me for the same reason you are. This is another chaotic situation, and I may or may not know of a way to reverse it.” “So do you, will you help?” “Not to sound cliché but, what would be in it for me? I’m not seeing too much of a downside if the seal breaks. It would create chaos the likes of which these modern ponies have never seen.” “That is precisely why it must be avoided. That much chaos energy would certainly throw the world off balance. Were you not one of the beings that aided in forging the seal in the first place? Surely you are aware of its purpose.” “That was not my idea, princess,” Discord answered. “Harmony dragged me into it. I suppose she made some good points. She said they’d ‘go too far’ blah blah blah, that they’d ‘eventually overpower us’ yadda yadda, mostly the boring ‘end of the world scenario’ things. But you know what really got me to go along? If I were to let those chaotic creatures run loose, how would any pony know who the real chaos being was?” Celestia did her best Twilight Sparkle impression then, rolling her eyes and shaking her head at the draconequus’s remark. “They’d steal my thunder, those creatures! And they didn’t even know how to take a joke. How could there be a being like that with no sense of humor. I mean, can you imagine?” He paused, and then chuckled at himself. “Oh wait, my mistake. Look who I’m talking to.” “But seriously. I am the Spirit of Chaos. I may not be as destructive as I used to be, but I chalk that up to my imprisonment and my recent…restrictions,” Discord halted at the thought of his current situation. He still wasn’t quite sure how to feel about it, whether or not it was better than before his thousand-year ‘stone age’. “I’m not going to lie and say that I don’t think I’d enjoy myself watching it for a while, but I suppose it could get dull after a time. Though you must admit it would be a refreshing change from all the hugging and friendship.” “You know that if this were to occur, then Order may we be wiped from the world. I know you to at least respect the balance made of the world for which we are both responsible. We may not care for each other, but we both know the other needs to exist. That is why I chose to seal you in stone rather than throw you in Tartarus all those ages ago.” “I always did wonder about that. Thanks for clearing it up for me.” “Bear in mind though Discord. We do need you to seal the gates, they grow weaker every day, and I fear something may escape if we don’t proceed quickly. I will do everything in my power to see that Tartarus is sealed and ensure the safety of this world. You can either help my sister and me to lock it up from one side of the gates…or the other.” “Oh my, giving me a threat when trying to ask for my help? Your negotiation skills haven’t really improved, Celestia. What about the whole ‘Chaos and Order need to exist’ thing you just said?” “If you are so arrogant as to not understand why this is so important and decide not to aid us, then I will very strongly consider it,” she said, the venom rising in her tone. “Tartarus has a connection to your original plane of existence, does it not?” The draconequus nodded. “There’s an entrance there too, so what?” “If you managed to live through the prison, you could return there and retain your part of the balance as you were originally intended.” “And you wouldn’t just force me to go back there?” Discord asked. “Making me have to venture though there seems a tad extreme, I would think. Why must you come up with such creative forms of punishment?” “Because I do not have much confidence that you will ever learn,” Celestia answered sternly. “I am attempting to be accommodating – even understanding – because I know that my student does believe that you will. You however have not done enough in my eyes to convince me. This could be your chance.” It just came back to that whole ‘trying’ thing Twilight kept bringing up, didn’t it? Why did Discord have to continue to prove himself to ponies that he was certain would never change their ways any more than he wanted to change his. “Perhaps I need some more convincing as to how this would improve anything for me.” “For one thing, you would be able to remain here,” Princess Luna had been silent during this time, possibly waiting for a proper break in Celestia’s thoughts. She now chimed in in a less sharp manner than her sister. “We know that - however you may grouse about it – this limited freedom you have has provided you with much entertainment and freedom, and you would not want to give that up. You may not have dreamed of living here amongst the ponies as our mother did, but now that you are here I am certain that you would not wish to return.” So she was the balm, an odd method for convincing some pony to help Discord thought, poking with a stick before offering a carrot. “That is one thing you have right,” Discord gave her. “If I agreed to this, would that mean that my probation would be over?” At this, Celestia raised her hoof to her face. “You are the only being I know that would take an impending catastrophe and use it to your advantage. Does this not seem like an inappropriate time to barter for more freedoms?” “You did say mine is the only magic that can do the trick. The way I see it, why shouldn’t I be able to?” “This is something that concerns the world; every pony in all lands will be affected by your action, or your inaction,” Celestia said. “We had hoped that your more recent activities here meant that you now considered this plane to be your home,” Luna stated. “You have stake in it, and the means to aid us. Does it not bother you that this world would be so altered, how the beings here would be affected?” Discord turned to the younger princess, addressing her with the same ‘of course’ attitude with which he had approached Celestia’s words. “It’s not as if that’s new for me. I’ve been affecting this world for longer than any pony even knows and what has that gotten me? The majority of this ignorant population probably wouldn’t even care if they knew I’d aided you,” He answered. The elder princess appeared to have taken this time to center herself, but Luna was not growing quite as agitated by him. Discord didn‘t seem to be able to push her buttons like he could Celestia‘s. If anything, Luna seemed sadder, almost disappointed. “They might be persuaded to care if they were to know you had aided us out of a care and concern for them, instead of a mere tradeoff. Is there not something - not one single thing - which you would find in this land worth saving from this danger?” Discord didn’t answer Luna right away, although his mind had jumped to an answer with startling precision and speed. An odd sense of dread knotted itself in his stomach at the idea of Twilight being around when those gates broke open. Those creatures were power the likes of which even she most likely had never seen before. They were ancients almost as surely as he, and of course once she heard about it that exceptional unicorn would try and do something to fix it, and for a moment flash of something that tasted an awful lot like fear caused him to actually possibly think about caring whether or not Tartarus’s seals broke. Of course, she was the exception. Even if he were still uncertain where her true concerns lied, Discord admitted his friendship with Twilight Sparkle was an anomaly, and something he would very much not enjoy verbalizing to these two. That may not even count, Discord thought. They might have been holding out for him to help every pony for every pony’s sake, and in that case he might never get any new freedoms, and then where would he be? This seemed to be a no-win situation for him, and they clearly wanted their way whether or not he agreed. Evidently he had waited too long to reply, and his silence was taken for a negative response. “This is their world, Discord. You chose to become a part of it, and so you must learn to live and coexist in it harmoniously. This is something you simply must learn if you are to stay,” Celestia seemed to be losing her patience again, well that didn’t take long. “Do not forget that you were never meant to exist on this plane. You are no more supposed to be here than the creatures trapped in Tartarus.” Another truth from the mouth of the princess. Discord knew that he was not of this world, that was one reason why his power was so much stronger than any pony else’s, and what had made him so perceivably dangerous. The only ones to have ever defeated him were the daughters of his former partner and ponies armed with the Elements formed by her. Still it sort of stung to be lumped in with all those mindless, humorless beasts. Luna seemed to be reading Discord’s reaction to Celestia’s statement, and then - with a quick look to the other alicorn in which some silent agreement was exchanged - spoke again to him. “Would you be willing to learn those things, Discord? If we gave you some time?” Discord wasn’t certain what the younger princess was getting at. “Isn’t that what I have been doing, or rather isn’t that one of the reasons for Twilight checking in on me?” “In the time that we have allowed Twilight Sparkle’s method for detaining you, we would have assumed – or even hoped – that you might have learned something about caring for others beyond yourself from her. Empathy is a concept that you evidently need a much more in-depth lesson in,” Celestia said. “Hey, don’t blame her,” Discord said, staying cool although he was beginning to sense something from the white alicorn’s tone. “It seems like Twilight has been utilizing everything in her power to try and show me from within the confines of my homes, and she’s been quite entertaining sometimes in her attempts to explain why I can’t perform action A without causing disruption B which in turn affects pony C.” The two princesses did not seem to appreciate his joking manner. “Then you do admit that you may require something else?” Luna asked. There was something in her tone as well, and Discord didn’t like the sound of it. He recognized both that same look and that same tone from all those years ago, the first time he met the alicorns. He had not paid Celestia’s words any mind then, but in hindsight he probably should have. After that cold farewell, the next time he saw them it had been to freeze him in stone. “We can give you one week to prove to us that you can exist in this world with a pony’s sense of conscience. Show that you are in some way the redeemable soul that Twilight has attempted to assure us that you are. It is all we will allow before the gate is sealed one way or the other.” Discord’s creeping sense of dread grew stronger, but he did not show it. Another ultimatum by Celestia, she seemed quite fond of giving him those. He had no idea what they were going to do to ‘teach’ him, but he was sure he wasn’t going to enjoy it. He had only seconds to ponder before the alicorns lit their horns in tandem and their magical strength converged upon him. The intensely solid wall of energy seemed to slam into him with the force of a train going top speed. The wall then surrounded him, now swirling and compressing him in the exact opposite of a gentle manner. Discord had no idea what was happening, but he should have assumed another sneak attack would come. This pain was not as terrible as when the Elements of Harmony had been used on him, but it came fairly close. On his own personal pain scale, this compacting crushing sat comfortably between what the Elements had done and the jolts he received from the borders. His eyes were shut tight, for he was not sure he wanted to know what was currently happening to him, but he was fairly certain he wasn’t being locked away in stone again. This might not be the power of the Elements, but it had a similar feel to it. When the concrete wall of magic that had been curling itself around him finally slid him out of its tight embrace, Discord landed on the floor with a thud, completely wiped and with barely enough energy to even open his eyes to stare up at the princesses much less lift his head. “Wha… how…,” he panted, trying to form some sort of idea about what they had done to him. Princess Celestia appeared to anticipate his question. “Regrettably Luna and I no longer wield the Elements, which I would prefer to have used. However this may have been a stroke of luck for you, Discord. I do not believe the Elements are capable of such a transformation.” “We were not entirely sure that we could succeed in this by our own power,” Luna continued for her sister. “As you are an ancient, our magic may not have been enough. “So we appealed to the spirit of Harmony, which our mother bestowed within us ages ago, that we have rarely ever tapped into. It was not enough to reseal the gate, but it appears that this remnant we possess has at least succeeded here.” Through this haze of exhaustion, Discord found strength enough to be annoyed by their lengthy explanation about how they’d done it and not telling him what they’d done. “You will have one week, Discord,” Celestia repeated her warning. “Prove to us that you can learn, and that this world could benefit from having you remain here.” With that, the forest and alicorn princesses disappeared from Discord’s vision. He was suddenly back on his bed, for the few seconds it remained a bed before its form dissolved into a puddle on the floor sending him crashing down along with it. But, he hadn’t done that, he hadn’t flashed himself out. He didn’t think that Celestia had power enough to send him away like that. Discord’s mind tried to keep him awake to assess the situation, but whatever they had done had weakened his body exponentially, and he was finding it hard to even stand on his back limbs. Stumbling into a hanging sheet of fabric, Discord gave in to the exhaustion, faintly hoping that sleep might relieve the rushing dizziness that so overwhelmed him. It took Twilight a few very groggy minutes to realize where she was when she woke the next morning. The unicorn was quite irritatingly dragged from her cozy cocoon of warmth and dreams by a grating, ringing noise and something lightly slamming into the back of her head. As her eyes eased open, she had to blink a few times before her mind registered the thing that was now bonking into her nose as she had turned over. It was an alarm clock that had apparently grown wings and wanted to be very sure that Twilight got up. She watched it with a puzzled yet still sleepy expression as it seemed to realize that she was awake, but not getting up. It began to ring louder and louder, making itself comfy right next to her ear as it flapped its tiny gray wings. Twilight batted the timepiece away and sat up, shouting at it to be quiet. “Urgh, ok ok I’m getting up, see?” she grumbled at the irritating little clock. It was persistent; she had to give it that. She wondered what it was doing here, and why it had found her to come and annoy. Why would any pony even make such a thing? Even in her abruptly-woken state, her mind came up with the most obvious – yet silly – answer. “To see time fly,” she muttered at the clock, which had finally come to a rest on the arm of the couch she had been sleeping on. Its job now done it went back to its silent, dormant state. Such a weird, silly thing, Twilight thought. It was just the sort of thing Discord might find funny. That kind of obvious visual gag just screamed Discord. This was when she got a good look at her surroundings, and remembered where she had gone to sleep that night. It was a bit more than a slight shock for Twilight to realize this, and for some reason she couldn’t really explain why the shock of finding herself here was coupled with a sense of embarrassment. Perhaps it was just the idea that she had lost track of time and fallen asleep. Any pony might feel awkward at that, she supposed. But as she thought over the previous night, she remembered something. Hadn’t she fallen asleep listening to Discord read in the desert? She supposed he must have taken her back here, but she could have walked home, hadn’t he tried to wake her? She sat there on what was her book chair – now her book couch, she supposed, when had he done that? – pondering Discord’s uncharacteristically thoughtful gesture. Looking around the large main chamber of his ruin/castle home she did not see the draconequus in-question. Maybe he was still in his own bed. She wondered for a moment if it would be rude to just sneak out while he was sleeping. She really did need to get back, Spike might be worried that she hadn’t returned, and Twilight wanted to see if there had been any progress made about Cloudsdale. The unicorn determined that it would most likely be rude – or at least impolite – to do so without at least saying a goodbye or a thank you. So she untangled herself from the blankets and placed all four hooves on the floor. She stepped lightly and cautiously, as she knew her hooves could make a loud noise that could fill the echoing chamber if no other sounds were present. Twilight had never actually gone exploring Discord’s new abode before. She had not really had a reason to in the past. She wondered what sort of little surprises or extra touches he had added throughout the old castle. She figured that a place so ancient and made of stone would have a terrible draft problem, but as she wandered from long hallway to long hallway she didn’t feel cold at all. He seemed to have at least done a good job on the insulation. It took Twilight a couple tries before she learned that she had actually been going down the same hallway for ten minutes, and that it had kept turning around on her whenever she turned a corner. Ducking into a random room and then coming out the other side seemed to have fixed that little problem, though if she hadn’t realized it she would probably have been there all day. Or until Discord came and found her… and had a good laugh at her expense. Finally reaching what she hoped was his bedroom, the unicorn eased the obnoxiously creaky door open and slipped inside. There was a large, ornate four poster bed, a hammock, a pink cloud, and a very large pool of water. Twilight thought that was to give Discord some variety on where he slept, but the pool of water didn’t look that comfortable. The pink cloud was also for some reason on the floor, and the ornate four posters on the ceiling, the curtains seeming to defy gravity. It was his snoring that alerted her to his current whereabouts and the correct sleeping place, which turned out to be the hammock. It swayed a bit at his every subtle movement, even in-sync with the snoring; it was a comic and almost cartoonish site to see, not at all out of place in the home of Discord. She let out a soft laugh that thankfully he had not heard, for as Twilight thought about it, she started having reservations about waking him at all. She felt oddly weird even being here in his room. Twilight knew that he didn’t have a very firm concept of boundaries – at least concerning her personal boundaries – but she wasn’t sure if he considered anything of his in this castle private at all, and if coming in here might be a violation of that privacy. It was a catch-twenty-two of etiquette. It might be impolite to not wake him to tell him she had to leave, but it might also be impolite to wake him now and reveal that she had entered his room unannounced. Making up her mind, she gingerly crept closer to his sleeping form hanging in the thick orange cloth and lifted her hoof up to give him a quick firm tap in what she hoped was the center of his back. Although it turned out to have been his stomach, and in her nervousness it might have been a harder jab than she had meant it to be. He gave a quite surprised grunt and flipped the hammock over, falling out with an ‘oomph’ and a moan as he tried to stand in his own sleepy state. Not being able to stifle her laugh this time, Twilight only felt a little bad about it as she watched him rolling over, trying to stand. This was when she noticed something even stranger than all the other strange things she had seen just this morning. For a second she paused, one eyebrow raised and her head tilted in confusion, for this was not Discord. As the pony that had been sleeping in Discord’s hammock stood she could see that it was indeed a pony, but in the darkness of the room it had been hard to determine that his form had been smaller than Discord’s would have been. He was also in shadow, so Twilight couldn’t get a proper look, but the silhouette that stood before her was definitely pony-shaped. “Oh, I’m so sorry,” she apologized to the shadow as she heard it continue to groggily grumble. “Sorry to wake you, but um… I didn’t know any pony else came this far out into the forest. Did you get lost? If you want to come with me, I was just about to head back to town; I don’t really think you want to stay here for very long. I’m not sure if you know where you are, but the being that lives here might not be too happy about you finding your way into his house like this.” She rambled for a bit out of a vague nervousness, for she was growing suspicious about this pony, just who was it, and why had they come here, specifically to Discord’s room? “Ugh, do you have to talk so much so early in the morning?” the shadow grumbled. “Let me get a chance to wake up before you start your innate pony chattiness.” Twilight blinked again. That was strange; this pony’s voice sounded a lot like Discord’s. Her suspicions only grew, and she found herself backing away without thinking, slowly making for the door. “U-um,” she mumbled, stuttering her ‘um’ into two syllables. “I apologize, but I don’t really know who you are, if you could just come out here, where it’s light? Oh, or better yet…” She hesitated, but then lit her horn anyway. Her magic glowed magenta and a ball of light shot out of the tip, floating up to the center of the ceiling and illuminating the room. Now she could see this pony properly. He stood still hunched a tad near the hammock, now wincing from the light. It was a stallion – a unicorn evidently – with a bristly black mane and a white tufty tail. His fur was a drab sort of grayish tan color, and as he shook himself and stood up straight she could finally get a good look at his face… and she nearly dropped her ball of light from the shock. His face was long, a bit wonky, slightly asymmetrical – though not quite as asymmetrical as the one it resembled so closely – his nose was a bit wide and his horn was an odd, twisty gray/blue knob at his forehead. Twilight’s mouth was agape as she stopped backing up and just stood there blinking far too much. His eyes may be the same size now, but they were the exact same shade of yellow with their strange red pupils. There was absolutely no way around it, this pony looked exactly like Discord. Well, minus the other horn, goatee, and fang. The pony that so resembled the spirit of chaos was staring back at her staring at him, looking more annoyed than confused. Finally he broke the silence. “What?” he asked grumpily, using Discord’s voice again. The unicorn’s mind had halted completely; absolutely no words were coming to her, just faint, odd sounds that didn’t even count as syllables were escaping her still-gaping mouth. She raised a shaking hoof, her voice just as quivery. “D-D-Discord?” “Yes, what?” he asked, now following her pointing – first to look behind him – and then looking himself over. “Oh yes, right… that,” he said with realization and at bit of indignation. “That explains some things. It will most likely be a long story, and I still need to wake up so if you’d be so kind as to give me a few minutes I’ll explain.” Twilight stayed silent and unmoving, and when she didn’t move Discord rolled his eyes and walked up to her, gently leading her out the door and back into the main hall to sit her down on her book couch as he continued his morning rituals. “Honestly, I can’t get you to come around for two weeks and now you’re having trouble with leaving me alone. You are giving me quite mixed signals, Ms. Sparky.” The use of his irksome endearment for her seemed to coax her mind back into business, and she felt like she could probably actually form words now. “But, Discord, what—“ “Up up up,” he waved a hoof at her shaking his head. “No questions until I figure out how to brush my teeth with these hooves.” The most obvious answer would be to use magic, although since Discord had not been a pony for very long and Twilight was still reeling and trying to come to terms with the idea of Discord being a pony at all, neither of them came up with it. All thought of exemplifying the correct etiquette abandoned, the unicorn slid off the couch and wandered the length of the chamber, the vague goal of ‘back to the library’ was the only reason Twilight could think of for why she was already outside, and she decided it would be more than fine to carry that out. It may have partially been to give Discord his desired space, but it was most likely to distance herself from what she had just seen.