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// Part 10: It Takes Q 
// Story: DisQord 
// by Midnight Sprint 
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	Once again, back in their natural bodies, but stuck in this bizarre comic-like world, Fluttershy leaned her head towards Twilight, while the two near omnipotent beings exchanged a myriad of witty insults and riddles. The timid Pegasus spoke quietly amid the ruckus. “I guess it could be worse. I would have thought the two of them would get along, since they’re so much alike.”

“Oh darling, sometimes the closest personalities clash the most.” Rarity contributed from the side. “Discord is such a prima-donna, it’s no wonder he feels threatened by Q’s stronger powers.” As the fashionista spoke these words, Discord stopped short, and peered over Q’s neck to eyeball the beautiful mare. “Hey!” He shouted, within an exasperated hacking noise, as though thoroughly shocked by the prospect of being labeled inferior in might to anypony else.

“What do you mean, I feel threatened?” Discord questioned, sounding more than a little insulted. Rarity walked forward, past Applejack and Rainbow Dash, who appeared to be conversing amongst themselves with Lyra and Spike about a way out. Rarity giggled gently to herself, aware of what she had provoked. “Oh, it’s nothing really. We’ve all seen what you can do. You corrupted each of us, bent reality, and literally turned the world upside down. But there’s no shame in feeling threatened by Q!”

Again, Discord hacked in appalled insult. “Threatened? By this… space monkey? There is nopony in the world who can compare to my chaotic power!” Q, watching Rarity converse with Discord in curiosity, crossed his arms, smiling to himself in amusement. Even though he didn’t NEED such praise, the attributed compliments to his power make him smirk. Q always thought it amusing when lesser creatures knew his strength, and even more so when they thought it something to respect, fear, or worship. Obviously Rarity’s reverence for his might came from a strictly theatrical standpoint, but Q was content taking it for what it was.

Discord however, was not. He marched up to the militantly dressed Q, and prodded his chest with a finger from his eagle claw. “Listen, pal.” Discord said, with an obvious tone of frustration in his voice. “I was here first, and while you might be some being from another dimension, I am of Chaos itself! Born of magic!” Q yawned in theatrical boredom, and clicked his fingers together. This teleported Discord some handful of meters away with a crackling pop, now appearing as a very twisted looking humanoid. He appeared similar in appearance to Q’s Starfleet incarnation, but with long white eyebrows, a spindly white goatee, and a mish-mash of colors on both the top and pants of the uniform.

Discord searched himself over, and dropped his hands and half-lidded eyes in irked acceptance. “You know, Discord.” Q began arrogantly. “I could end this right now. Blink you right out of existence, send you a million universes away, turn you into a llama, perhaps, stripped of all his chaos based powers? But I won’t. We’ll go about this the proper way. If there’s anything I’ve taken from my time with the Captain here, it’s that there are processes and order that must be followed in the universe.”

“Only when it is convenient for you, you mean.” Picard quipped from the sidelines, as the spirit of chaos stared down Q, attempting to revert his form back into his true self. Q didn’t so much as turn around, but simply responded with a, “Hush, Picard.” Discord finally managed to get himself into his original form. Q pondered quietly to himself, with a finger on his chin. Captain Picard knew this was never a good thing. The question here was whether or not this would be against Discord’s favor, or against everyone’s favor.

“Now then, Discord.” Q began, walking slowly around the tall creature. “Clearly our little scuffle is getting on your nerves. To be honest, I’d be right there with you, if I weren’t utterly certain that I’m infinitely more powerful than anything this pony-filled planet could offer.” Discord’s eyes dropped again in exasperation at Q’s lack of humility and disinterest in the feelings of others. Which surprised the Draconequus, as he cared little for the friendship or thoughts of anypony else.

“What are you getting at?” He replied to Q, suspiciously. Q ended his circle around the creature, finally standing directly before him again. “A battle, of sorts... a few games, so to speak, to see who is really the more powerful entity here. If I win, you return to the stone prison you came from, so that these pony people can go about their chromatic little lives, and the Captain can go home to the Enterprise and his little journey of science.” Twilight’s ears perked a little at the mention of the spacecraft and science, which she quickly hid, a little embarrassed.

Discord contemplated the offer, sitting on a seemingly invisible chair in mid-air. Leaning forward, and looming over Q and the others in a more intimidating appearance than he had previously displayed, he answered smartly. “Very well. On one condition. An even amount of matches, and we alternate who picks what sort of games. That way it’s a fair fight.” Pinkie Pie hollered something about how Discord has never offered a fair fight, and that it was a ‘dumb idea’. Q waved a hand, dismissing the comment, to Pinkie’s displeasure.

“Agreed. Six matches, then. Once for each of the Elements of Harmony. You’ll run your game first, then mine. We repeat, and the most victories wins.” Discord considered it thoroughly, remembering his treatment of the ponies during their first encounter together. “Agreed.” He answered, grinning to himself. Q added in a highly authoritative voice. “And no cheating!” He warned. “Believe me, I will know. So once the rules are set, there’s no changing them.” Discord smiled confidently again.

“Right then. My game is up first!” The world became immersed in a quilted curtain of black and white, before ultimately resting upon the ground, a large set of checkered squares. Q raised an eyebrow, knowing the simplistic approach Discord was taking. “Chess? Seriously?” Q questioned with contempt at the insultingly simplistic and stereotypical trial. Discord retorted. “Pony chess.”

Q, rolling his eyes, snapped his fingers, placing large chess pieces across the respective ends of the field. “Ah ah ah.” Discord corrected, answering by snapping his own fingers, and replacing all the pieces with live ponies from Equestria. Each square held one pony comfortably, but any pony trying to escape the square they rested on ran into an invisible wall. Picard, unfortunately, found himself amongst the ponies on the gigantic playing board. “How utterly barbaric. I’m disappointed in you, Discord.” Q spoke from across the board.

Within each square on the opposing sides, ponies either sat in confused fright, or attempted to escape with nothing to show for their struggles. Even the Pegasus ponies were unable to fly more than twice their own height upward before running into an invisible ceiling barrier. On Q’s side, Captain Picard stood as the King, Twilight Sparkle as the Queen, and Trixie and Zecora stood on opposite sides as the Bishops. Zecora was speaking her native language to herself, privately considering if this was a strange dream or not. 

Accompanying them on the board was Applejack and Big McIntosh as Rooks, Rarity and Rainbow Dash as Knights, and Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie as pawns on the front line. Q considered Fluttershy’s extremely frightened expression, and simply looked at Discord across the field. Discord sighed. “Oh please. Fine.” With a small puff of smoke, Fluttershy and Rarity switched places, giving Fluttershy a safer, more maneuverable job, which Rarity was willing to sacrifice for her friend. The other pawns on Q’s side consisted of various towns ponies from Ponyville. Lyra found herself standing next to Bon Bon, who looked happy to see her friend, but panicked from the circumstances.

Discord’s side of the field was filled with villainous characters both real, and defeated. King Sombra, or at least a stoic depiction of him, stood as King. By his side stood Queen Chrysalis, eyeballing the field and the opposing pony force with curiosity. The Knights on Discord’s side were Shadowbolts, while Diamond Dogs served as Bishops and Timberwolves acted as Rooks. The pawns were all Changeling minions. Whether or not these were illusions created by Discord or not held no importance. What they knew was that the ponies on Q’s side were very real, and the Six holder of the Elements of Harmony, along with their new friend Jean-Luc, desperately needed to get the ponies home safely.

Picard turned around and stared up at Q. Both ‘players’ were elevated over the board on floating platforms of stone. Discord had made the same throne appear as the one he had sat upon during his first encounter with the Six. Q simply sat down, a chair appearing as he did so. Picard yelled up to the being. “Q! This is a sadistic game. You had better make sure no harm comes to any of these ponies!” Q held up a hand, gesturing for Picard to leave it be. Picard glanced back down, and over to Twilight. “I hope Q knows what he’s doing.”