The antlers and tail had just faded away, but Sweetie still had her wings. I think Pinkie copied her to make her feel less weird about them, but I wasn't sure. Also I think Pinkie being a pink shaded copy of her was making Sweetie feel more uncomfortable. Twilight was looking at my hoof. She shook her head.
"I still don't see it. Pinkie you said you do, but just barely right?"
"Yea, it's all fuzzy and weird if I look directly at it, but I can catch it out of the corner of my eye. They're tricky mini marks."
"Mini marks?" we all echoed.
"Well yea, they're like cutie marks but smaller, right girls."
We all nodded. "But you two really can't see them?"
"I'm sorry but no. I was tempted to dismiss their existence out of hoof until Pinkie spoke up. Applejack and Rarity will be back soon hopefully."
"Are the marks really important?" said Scootaloo.
"If my guess is right, vital. Moonfire's right about me not being rigorous with the scientific method as I should. Magic may break laws of physics, but it has it's own rules and can be studied with science."
"Uh, so what do you know?" Asked Scootaloo
I nodded "Ah'm sure you gotta know something."
"Well as I said I think you three have the bulk of Discord's power. Ideally it would be sealed inside you dormant, but clearly the reason the seal will hold is something I already knew but didn't consider the repercussions of fully."
"Huh?" I said, Sweetie and Scoots echoing me.
"It means his magic, just like any pony is part of who he is. It's impossible to take from him entirely, but somehow you three have a connection to him the elements used to temporarily seal the power within you. However the true goal is what's currently happening. Namely you merging with that power, and pulling it forever out of his reach via the process of…"
"Bor-ing." Said Pinkie very loudly.
Twilight sighed. "You have his magic, some of which can be used individually, but anything big would require all three of you working together."
"Oh" the three of us echoed.
"These marks may be some sign of that. That might explain why Pinkie is the only element of harmony that can see them at all, for obvious reasons."
"Cause since ya'll are the opposite of Discord you can't see them." I asked
"Wait, but then why can I even a little." Said Pinkie, and Twilight sighed "I don't get it."
"Neither do I." Said Sweetie Belle
"What I can't figure out is what that connection could possibly be. I mean you can be somewhat chaotic and were there, but it seems like it would have to be something more than just that."
The other crusaders looked down the same time as me. It was obvious enough. I then held my head up high just as I heard the door opening and Rarity came back with Lyra, Bon Bon, and Screwball. I then gulped. I didn't want to say this in front of everypony, but if I didn't say this now that would be as good as lying, and this was really important.
"We're the ones that set Discord free. We had our fight right before he got out in front of his statue. Ah know it weren't all our fault but…"
Twilight laughed. "Girls. We all knew that already."
"Yes, I barely know you little tykes and I know." Said Bon Bon
"Isn't that only because you tried to have them arrested?" said Lyra
Bon Bon turned to her friend. "Really Lyra, you didn't need to tell them that. Also once Twilight explained things properly I realized how silly that was."
"I didn't know. Could someone explain?" said Screwball
"They did break him out, but mainly because the enchantment was so weak." Said Twilight "The princesses did expect things to take a bit longer, but your little argument only shortened the time frame by a few weeks. It had to happen eventually."
"And you should remember your teacher did mention your little tussle." Said Rarity "It was obvious enough to put two and two together."
"Which was in front of the whole school of course." Said Bon Bon, shaking her head
"So that's why we knew." Lyra added
"Okay, now that that's over I need you three to look for these marks." Said Twilight
"Okay. Sounds fun." Lyra then smiled
"Only because Rarity said this could be so vital." Added Bon Bon
"Of course." Said Screwball.
Pinkie then pulled Screwball out of her heavy boots with one tug, and led her off like a balloon, string wrapped around her tail. I didn't see her tie it. Tootsie's moms just walked over to us. They all seemed to know where to look. I held up my hoof again.
"I can see em all." Said Lyra "Though it hurts my brain to look at for too long."
"The same." Bon Bon, then turned to Lyra "But how clear were they to you dear?"
"Oh, really clear, at least at first."
"Well to me they were rather fuzzy, but still clearly there."
"I have no problem seeing them at all, or for any length of time." Added Screwball.
"Hmm, so far things are going roughly as I expected. Hopefully Applejack will be back soon with…"
"Ah hear mah name?"
Then my sister came in with two pegasi behind her. One was Derpy, and the other that yellow pegasus friend of hers. I forget her name. Dinky likes her I know. I still don't get why Dinky doesn't want to go crusading with us again. I mean Twist said she already got her cutie mark and thinks she should focus on that, but Dinky doesn't. Why wouldn't she want to? Neither one has any problems playing with us at school, so it's not like they dislike us or anything.
"Nope, nothing." Said the yellow pegasus. "Can I go now?"
"The marks of chaos are as clear as such a thing can truly be." Then Derpy giggled
"Chaos marks?" said Twilight. "Hmm, that's a good term for them."
"Oh, I guess there is something there." Said the yellow pegasus. "I can't see it real great though. It's just sort of a fuzzy smudge."
"So it does matter how much magic you have as well." Said Twilight, hoof on chin
"I think it has more to do with how chaotic they are, right?" asked Sweetie
Twilight stared forward for a moment. I was a little confused at first but then I got it. Pinkie was the queen of random, Lyra was really energetic, and Bon Bon and the yellow pegasus not so much. Screwball was somewhat chaotic and still under the effect of Discord's magic so she had no trouble at all. And we somehow had all his magic stuffed inside us so we didn't have any problems either. And Derpy has like super weird, but also super good eyes so she didn't have problems either.
"You're right." Twilight smiled "Thanks Sweetie Belle."
"So we're done here, right?" asked Bon Bon "There is only so long I'm willing to leave Tootsie and Dinky alone with Sparkler."
"Sparkler is a good pony." Said Derpy
"Not what I meant at all." Bon Bon shook her head. "In fact I would be less concerned if I didn't agree. Come now, we must go save her from those in her charge."
"OOO, wait." Said Lyra "Is it bad that I said Ruby Pinch could come over and just now remembered?"
Derpy and Bon Bon were then very suddenly gone. Lyra then ran after them shouting apologies about not remembering earlier. Parents are weird sometimes. Its times like this I'm even glad I don't see mine that much. Not glad most other times, but they have to do it, and it's not like they're never here.
"I'm going to go too." Said the yellow pegasus.
"I can stay. I close the store early at random all the time. Probably lose a little business, but I don't really care." Screwball then laughed.
"Twilight, what does this all mean?" I said
"Yea, I mean right now it sounds super cool." Said Scoots "We can like do a bunch of weird stuff with no downside."
"Can does not mean should." Said Rarity
Twilight sighed. "Actually there is a slight problem there. You notice how Discord has been slowly regaining some of his abilities?"
"Ah already don't like where this is going." Said AJ
"The connection is at least somewhat two way. Now it isn't all bad. We can counteract it giving him less access to his power once again. Ultimately even if it currently resides in the crusaders it is at least for the most part still his power."
"Well it's mine now and he can't have it." Said Scoots
"Ah'll just use it so much Discord won't have the chance." I said
Rarity sighed. "While a nice thought magic doesn't work that way."
"Ah sure wish it did." Added AJ
Twilight laughed. "Actually that is almost exactly what can be done to counteract it. It's not quite a matter of simply if you're using it he can't, but the more you use it the more it should acclimate to your own magic and the more it will become yours. Never entirely, but the more you use it the better."
"That sounds dangerous." Said Rarity, and Sweetie nodded.
"Well yes, but there are two far more dangerous outcomes if they don't. First the obvious issue of Discord being at least near full power if they don't, but also the second less obvious problem. His magic is essentially pure chaos. Raw uncontrolled magic."
"Whu?" AJ and I echoed.
"Oh it's really simplicity itself." Said Rarity "Magic, or at least magical power is chaos."
"Thus magic users have the power to change reality and break the laws of physics, because that it magic's essential nature." Twilight closed her eyes briefly, a smile on her face "Spells and to some extent all beings with magic channel that into order to break them in a very organized and thoughtful manner."
I hopped up and down. "But Discord's magic just breaks whatever all sorts of ways."
Twilight nodded. "Exactly. Essentially it's screaming to escape you three, and may indeed do so somehow. In a completely random manner. I don't think it can be entirely controlled, even Discord didn't manage that."
Then there was a laugh and Discord was in the room. Pinkie growled at him, but only for a few seconds before breaking out in laughter. She let go of Screwball. He grabbed one of her hooves surprisingly gently and spun around.
"So my dear, still enjoying life?"
"It's a bit inconvenient at times, but I like it." She smiled. "Also you should probably put that out. This is a library."
"What do you mean by…"
Then he howled, his foot on fire. There was a little book of matches in his toes. He then hopped around the air in a weird position blowing on his foot. It just made the fire climb higher. Then he teleported away as Twilight's horn lit up, and she smiled. Then the door burst open and he stomped in soaked. Pinkie immediately started licking off the white chocolate he was covered in. He pulled her off, and dropped her on the floor.
"No one ever taught you any manners, did they?"
"Huh?" Pinkie tilted her head to the right "Why would you think that?"
Pinkie was the only one that didn't face hoof.
Discord then laughed. "Well that was far from pleasant but at least I know one pony in this town really does appreciate my sense of humor. Now what horribly inaccurate thing was miss Twinkle here saying I felt needed correcting?"
"She said you couldn't even control your magic." Said Sweetie
"Hay." I said "Don't help him."
"Ah yes, how silly of me. You said I couldn't control it? Why would you assume that? Just because I'm the king of chaos, and I might remind you Equestria…"
"Pfft, that's not that impressive." Said Pinkie
"Oh really? I still like you little pink ball of chaos, but what may I ask are you Queen of exactly?"
"Griffany."
Discord blinked. "Wait, so that wasn't a joke?"
Twilight sighed. "Sadly no. It took a great deal of help from Rarity and both princesses to convince her not to bankrupt the country with her silly plans."
Pinkie sat down, and crossed her front hooves. "I still say Griffany needs government mandated parties."
Twilight groaned. "No, we're not discussing that anymore. It's over, we came up with various reasonable compromises, let's just move back to whatever poorly thought out point Discord was going to make, okay."
"Hmm, I suppose it isn't well thought out, but that's mostly because it's so simple. I don't want to control my power entirely. I mean how would that be fun? But that doesn't mean I can't. I just chose not to control the chaos."
"But if it's controlled chaos, is it really chaos at all?" said Sweetie.
The room was silent for a while. Pinkie flew up to Screwball and grabbed her. Both slowly floated to the ground. Discord then shook his head.
"This is ridiculous."
"You mean that you call yourself the king of chaos and never thought of this before?" asked Twilight, then smiled
"No, this whole situation. You really think giving three children the power of a god is a good idea. Even if it's divided..." Then he paused, and smiled "Hmm, maybe this isn't so bad after all."
Twilight sighed again. "Sadly I can guess what you're thinking. The girls are chaotic it's true, but there is one big difference."
"Hay, no we ain't." I said
"Yea, I mean it's not like we break stuff on purpose." Said Scoots
"We don't mean to cause any trouble, really." Added Sweetie
"But that's the best thing about chaos." Discord smiled. "It doesn't matter what you intend, it still gets away from you."
"Yes, and they may cause some trouble for Equestria it's true, but as I was saying they are good girls and would never wish anypony any harm. Unlike you."
"And you really believe that, don't you?" Discord laughed. "You really are just like those two little usurpers, aren't you? Still, I do have to wait. Now I must go, but don't worry girls, you'll be seeing a lot of me, especially once you join my side."
Then Discord was gone. Dash and Fluttershy entered a few minutes later to break the silence. Twilight then smiled.
"Excellent. Now that we're all here I can get into the details of exactly what's going on. It's really fascinating actually."
"Twi. Speed version please. I have things to do."
"Uh, and we already know about most everything since you told Dash and she told me."
"Oh, then what don't you know?"
"What the marks are." Said Dash "I mean I'm assuming you're right cause you're like a super egghead and such, but what are they?"
"Well Derpy gave me the name, but chaos marks seems most appropriate. They are like cutie marks a manifestation of something very important about the pony in question. In this case it's not their personal magic, but Discord's."
I jumped up and down. "OOoooo, so they're really sort of like cutie marks?"
Scoots and Sweetie joined me then echoed "Really?"
"Somewhat. Cutie marks reflect who you are, and what magic you possess."
"Fer unicorns you mean?" said AJ
"No, I no longer believe that's true of only unicorns. But ultimately the mark is only representative of your talent, not it's actual substance."
Everypony but Twilight echoed "Eh?"
"It's why similar marks can actually represent various talents, but everypony knows without a doubt what their symbol means."
"Uh, sugarcube…"
"Well for the most part, also I already explained how that really wasn't an exception."
"What da ya mean?" I asked
"Never mind. The point is they represent the magic itself. Unfortunately they clearly have no need to clearly represent anything, and in fact the whole point is they are vague and chaotic in meaning. Or the like."
"Ugh, I'm really bored." Said Scoots "Can we go yet?"
"I do need to run some further tests, but I have some other things to discuss with the girls alone. Miss Screwball I know this is imposing but…"
"I'd be happy to."
I frowned. "Ah thought you said ah could play by myself now."
"That was fore you got filled up with chaos magic. Ah might still be letting ya, but ah need to think about it and talk it over with granny and Big Mac."
"Rarity?" said Sweetie Belle
"I will have to discuss it with mother and father, but I expect I have realized something Applejack has not so don't see a reason to change things."
"What da you mean by that?"
"Come on girls."
Screwball was in her metal boots again, and gently nudged us until we started moving. Scootaloo ran out the door. Sweetie and I followed behind her. I looked back as all six of them stared at us. What was I missing?