While the group was waiting for Rarity to drop by with Applejack and Sarge, Twilight went into the kitchen with the girls to make some food and some tea. Meanwhile, the guys sat about waiting in silence, bar Simmons who insisted on pacing around the room, wearing down the wooden floor.
"You seem pretty nervous," Tucker noted dryly.
"How can you guys not be?" Simmons asked, not turning to look at him, choosing to continue staring at the floor and walking in circles. "We can never go to sleep again knowing that Discord could be at our throats."
"Cough," Grif grunted, not actually coughing.
"Besides you," he grumbled, rolling his eyes. He looked to Church appealingly. "Come on, Church. Usually you're worrying about the worst case scenario too."
"Hey, yeah. Simmons has a point," Tucker remarked hesitantly.
"I don't know what you guys are talking about," Church muttered quietly, looking to the kitchen. "I'm feeling fine."
"That's our point," the blue pegasus said, more worried about Church's attitude than the threat of Discord coming back. "You seem... I don't know... normal. Which in your case is sorta fucked up."
"It's because I was turned into stone. It's not like I was asleep, so I was basically awake for an entire month, running from an inescapable enemy that loved nothing more than to pick away at my sanity. I'm just tired and a bit confused, that's all."
"Yeah, being stoned usually has that effect," Grif snorted.
"What are you guys talking about?" Rainbow Dash asked as she came back into the room with the other girls.
"Nothing special," Church answered before the others could.
"Where's the food?" Grif asked.
"Right here," Spike muttered as he came into the room holding two trays.
As soon as Spike put the trays down on the table, a knock came from the door. Knowing who it was, Twilight used her magic to open the door from the other side of the room, allowing the trio of ponies to enter.
"Howdy, everypony," Applejack greeted with a smile as she trotted inside.
"You didn't start without us, did you?" Rarity asked pleasantly, strutting in after the farm pony.
"Of course not. We can't come up with a plan without the master of retarded ideas," Grif muttered as the one he was talking about entered. "Hey, Sarge."
"Girls. Spike. Simmons. Blues." Sarge nodded at them, then looked to Grif. "Dirtbag."
"A pleasure as always, sir," Grif said sarcastically, giving him a lazy salute before taking a bite out of the sandwich. Glancing over to Twilight, he let out a loud yawn and stretched his forelegs. "So can we get started on this Discord stuff? This is taking longer than I thought it would."
"Hold onto your hors- er, yourself, Grif," the red stallion muttered. "I want to know why you're back."
"To keep a long story short, Celestia and Luna freed me to talk to Discord. He wasn't there when I came out, so she split me apart to find him, thinking he was in my mind, but he wasn't there either," Church murmured. This made Tex scowl and shake her head, knowing he wasn't telling them everything, but she remained quiet. "Anyways, let's just get started so you guys can leave sooner."
"Right," Applejack said with a small nod. "First, what should we tell th' town? They didn't know that Church trapped himself with Discord in his noggin, so they won't suspect anythin' is wrong when they see Church."
"I think that's obvious. We should tell the town that Discord got free," Sarge stated simply.
"It's not as easy as that. What end would telling them that be useful?" Twilight retorted. "All that would do would just cause undue panic. The ponies here have already had him torment them twice in their lifetime. Promise of a third would just make them panic."
"They're going to find out eventually," Sarge grunted, waving off her concerns with no thought.
"It doesn't matter. Telling the town that he's free would make everypony go crazy anyways," Church muttered. "Celestia sent word out to whatever other empires there are, so they'll hear about it eventually. But by that time it will probably have been a few months rather than just a few days, so they won't worry as much since they'd think he'd strike sooner rather than later."
"But isn't that reckless?" Simmons asked. "The town should be told. Not telling them wouldn't do any good if he's just going to come back soon. They at least deserve the right to know that way they can prepare themselves. Why are you willing to gamble that he's not going to show up?"
"Because I know for a fact that he's not going to come any time soon," Church said snappishly.
"Bow-chicka-bow-wow," Tucker murmured, earning him a glare from Church.
"How do you know that?" Rarity asked curiously.
"I just know, alright?" he grumbled. "He got his ass kicked twice here. He's probably going to go off and find some easier targets that don't have the power to trap him."
"He seems like the kind of guy that would hold a grudge," Tucker said. "I mean, he didn't run off when he came back the second time."
"Because he thought he could manipulate us, but now that he thinks we know better, he won't try again," Church assured them.
"Even so, we still need a plan," Sarge piped up. "And you guys cut me off before you heard the best part of the plan!"
"Here we go," Grif muttered. "This oughta be good."
"Alright, Sarge. What's your plan?" she inquired with a sigh.
"Once we gather everyone in town and tell them about Discord, we'll draft them into our own little militia. That way when Discord comes, we can band together and take him out with overwhelming numbers. Sure, some of us could die, but it would be for the greater good. In the end, our ancestors would thank us for our brave sacrifice."
"No," Twilight said simply.
"Fine, if you're worried about getting hurt, we'll draft all the stallions in town. I'm sure they'd love the idea of protecting their homes. That way they come back as war heroes and get respected. And this is good because the mares probably can't fight, so all they'd do is just get in the way anyways."
"Hey, I could kick your ass any day," Tex hissed. "I think you know that I'm probably the best fighter out of all of us, even with me being built to fail at everything I do."
"Besides, sir. I'm not sure if you've noticed, but most of the town is compromised of females," Simmons added. "The ratio is pretty low, so your group would be too small to pose any real threat to a Discord. The best they could be is a distraction."
"Drat. Both valid points," Sarge mused thoughtfully, smiling a few seconds later. "New plan. We grab the children of the town that are above the age of six and train them to be super soldiers. Discord will never expect it!"
"I don't think the town would go for that one either," Fluttershy said softly.
"Double drat!"