Chapter Four: "The Raven, the Draconequus, the Trickiest of Stars"
"Beware of the Raven's call for it never speaks without reason. Beware of the Spirit of Disharmony for he doesn't take kindly to being ignored. Beware of Destiny for it can strike anywhere, anything, anytime." – Equestrian Proverb, Star Swirl's Facts & Truths
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Since his arrival to Ponyville, since becoming the town librarian's gentle pet those many months ago, passive Owlowiscious had become known as many things in the library. Some ponies could say he was simply the expected proper confidant to anypony, especially Twilight, who came as well as went with their bookish business during the day. Others, the few like cautious Spike, could say that he was never up to any good by constantly spying, peeping, or looking where he shouldn't be. Yet, in all reality, such negativity towards him was merely paranoia. Also, what could those few souls, like Spike, be up to where they needed secrets kept? Naughty, naughty of them.
In the end, considering how he was adopted to not do anything special but sit, blink, sleep, hoot, and spookily turn his head about at a 180 degree angle whenever feeling like doing so, nopony could ever be completely sure as to what it was that Owlowiscious really was guilty or not guilty of. In all honesty, the hooting bird of the night had always followed the same plain routine as any other Equestria pet did. He just ate when he ate, hooted when he hooted, blinked when he blinked, deposited his pellets when he deposited them, turned his head when he turned it - specifically with Spike nearby - and acted as any other animal did.
For him, mind, with the usual craziness of his master's social life – which was pretty crazy, even for magical princess pony standards – constantly ailed him, remaining that normal was a medal worthy accomplishment. Regardless, at the end of each fiasco, the owl always just cocked his head to one side before, with a disinterested ruffling of his thick feathers, he settled back into his heavy doze that always lasted through most of the sun's as well as moon's hours.
Yes, in the least, it was certain that Owlowiscious was something of a very heavy sleeper. Through daytime and nighttime, apart for his short mealtimes when they were at hand, the Ponyville community knew he remained asleep for good reason. It was either he cutely slumbered or ponies suffered his severe, very severe, annoyance from being kept awake. Of course, he had his good days of being happily awake. Unfortunately though, in everypony's opinion, those were much too few in number. If only he wasn't such a sleepy, nocturnal creature. If only.
Either way, to the dramatic owl's dismay, it was during the eventful sleep over night, during the eve of Twilight Sparkle's princess anniversary, that he continually found himself being subject to being shaken rudely awake by the most random assortment of noises he'd ever heard during his existence! Throughout the tree house, there were hyper explosions, screams, crashes – what in Equestria was going on?! A mosh pit?! Was beat master DJ-Pon 3, Vinyl Scratch, in the house?! No, wait, that couldn't be true... After having come into the library days ago for some musical novels, bragging throughout her entire visit about it, energetic Vinyl had to be up in the capitol with that other musical pony expert - Octavia - preparing the anniversary's music.
So, if not DJ-Pon 3, who was making all the freaking noise?!
Mind, since coming to the library, Owlowiscious had never been disturbed nor asked to do too much. As a pet, he had always been given plenty of free time to sleep whenever as well as wherever he pleased. So, plainly, there was no reason, apart for selfishness, for him to not understand that his royal master needed her own personal time with her friends to be her loud, party self before tomorrow's formalities arrived, right? Right. Silly, obnoxious, owl.
Thankfully, even though unaware that he'd been put in there for his own benefit, he was in the study room at least; commonly known as the most quiet, if not most cluttered, part of the tree house. Thus, his awkward situation could've been worse, louder, than it was. Still, what could the ponies have been doing outside of his place of rest that caused such massive volumes of sound? Did they not realize it was the middle of the night? That Ponyville was asleep? Weird ponies, one and all.
At points, the night would seem naturally peaceful like it had always been. In turn, Owlowiscious would shake out his discomforts before resuming his snoozing upon his perch with a closing of his brown eyes. Almost next instant though, or so it felt like, he would nearly fall to the floor in indignity after the library was abruptly shaken by another sound, noise, or explosion from nowhere!
For several hours, this madness repeated for the growingly impatient owl. Finally, after a certain pink pony had told her friends one last good night with a random honking of her horn in the living room, he found himself on the breaking point.
Being at the end of his rope on the thin stand that acted as his perch, with his reddened eyes looking ready to pop out of his skull, Owlowiscious was ridiculously puffed up to the size of a pillow with much heated hooting. However, thank the spirits for his forced patience, his pain was at an end. As Twilight and Applejack went over their preferred stallions quietly outside until drifting into slumber, as Fluttershy finished using the little filly's room, the library owl thankfully found himself enjoying a long awaited rest amongst the hundreds of scattered books, parchment, along with quills around him.
In a way, if a pony cared to look at him on his stand then, the napping owl's purpose as a pet of the library was made clearer. He was something of a third keeper for the tree house. If anything, he kept track of the books after Twilight and Spike, right? Through his own lazy methods, anyhow, maybe he did. Even so, whether keeping track of them or not, Owlowiscious glared around at his messy surroundings when he was roused from his sleep once more! Not by another random antic of Pinkie Pie it turned out but by the most peculiar… sound at the most early hour.
Where its source came from was not eligible at first for the awakening owl. Having the sharp senses of a nocturnal hunter, though, he was quick in realizing it did not drift from the formerly lively living room to his left but from the nearby windowpane to his right. There, a "tapping" noise was rapping against the glass.
Maybe a dimwitted bug of larger than normal size was buzzing about against the window? Perhaps a scraggly branch of some sort had gotten caught in the pane and needed freeing?
Not really caring, not really in the mood to do so, the half-awake – even half mad – Owlowiscious actually rather gracefully flew from his perch to the specific area of interest. By Celestia, with what he had endured earlier, he needed his rest! By Luna, he needed his beauty sleep! Slumber; that was all he asked for in his simply overdramatic life and whatever it was that kept him from doing so needed to cease now!
As for the tapping noise, like some ill joke, it did indeed stop when Owlowiscious landed upon the windowsill. To be exact, there was nothing at all, no twig nor bug nor anything, to greet him when he arrived to look around.
Instantly, Owlowiscious didn't believe the rot that visited his mind that he'd been hearing nonexistent things! He wasn't an owl – a bird of the night with spectacular sight, hearing, as well as grace – to believe in that nonsense! The glass hadn't been tapping itself before his current investigating. It couldn't have been! No, sir, something odd was afoot here and, by Equestria, he was going to find out what! Therefore, with determination to solve the mystery mocking him, the last aware keeper of the library observantly looked outside.
He acutely stared in one direction through the window for a time. Then, with a huff, he looked in the other direction. Either way, to his bewilderment, all that was to be seen was an empty Ponyville. A dark empty Ponyville.
What a load of pinfeathers! What a heap of golly-floff! What an utterly ridiculous night this had turned out to be for him! What had he done deserve being kept awake? Bah!
Hotly shaking out his wings, fed up with how he'd been made somewhat more of a fool than he thought possible, Owlowiscious looked to return to his comfy nightstand perch for another doze. Hopefully an uninterrupted doze until breakfast this time, mind. Yet, it was just as he looked to depart the windowsill that he suddenly felt noticeably weirded out. Literally out of nowhere, blame his sleepy mind, he felt in every part of himself that he was no longer alone. In the end, it would turn out that he was half correct, half wrong, with his feelings.
Owlowiscious was alone in the cluttered study room, true. For the moment at least. As for being alone completely… well, that wasn't as true. That was confirmed when the tapping noise from just before resumed at the window behind him and, in some reluctance at the newly ill feeling coursing through his plump body, the library owl keeper slowly turned back around to look outside. What he found peering back at him through the glass from Ponyville's streets, what tapped away, made him ruffle his feathers the worse yet in his life! Truly, if he could have, he would have exploded on the spot for he did not like, in the slightest, what he witnessed watching him from outside!
To be fair, what frightened him would have made anypony, anything, react the same as he if they saw it too. And who else could do such an easy job of scaring Twilight's pet? Of being able to scare anypony, anything, in Equestria for that matter? Well, the one and only Spirit of Disharmony, of course. Duh.
With his mismatched, yellowed eyes rolling about at different angles, his tongue lolling around, his weird fingers wriggling menacingly, and the glow of Luna's full moon illuminating his bizarre form just perfectly against the window's glass, grizzly Discord appeared to be the perfect nightmare come true in Owlowiscious's view! Chaos had arrived for revenge! Yet, as Twilight's owl continued to puff up into a paralyzed ball of feathers from sheer fright, it was then that the fearful moment broke down into the joke it had actually been from the beginning.
Quickly covering his mouth to not awaken all of Ponyville with his mirth, the draconequus levitated into the air while chuckling at his dastardly deed! In turn, his ominous raven companion glided forth from the darkness to witness what had transpired to cause the humored behavior. Landing upon the outside windowsill, the black bird observed the petrified Owlowiscious recovering himself inside. It turned out that the owl wouldn't recover for long. At seeing the newly arrived visitor roll its "three" eyes at Discord for having some fun, Owlowiscious ruffled himself up into a feather balloon a second time!
Noticing this repeated show of fright from the owl, the Spirit of Disharmony erupted into a newer fit of the giggles at which his raven fellow let out a harsh series of lecturing calls, "Caw! Caw! Caw!"
"Oh, heh heh, come now, featherbrain," Discord managed out through his gasping chortling, nearly on the brink of tears, "you can't sit there and tell me that that owl isn't a laugh riot! I mean, look at him go! Why can't I do that to you? Agh, if only we had a pin… ha ha, we could poke him and see him burst into pillow stuffing! Ah yah ha ha ha!"
"Caw!" The raven was suddenly in Discord's face at the suggestion of "popping" poor Owlowiscious, making the Spirit of Disharmony drop everything with a look of boredom replacing his amused expression, "Caw! Caw! Caw!"
"Oh, alright, drop the lecture. I know, I know, I'm supposed to be giving Twilight Sparkle a hard time. Not her owl. I need to stay focused on the mission at hand and not distract you and blah, blah, blah." The draconequus waved aside the black bird hotly flapping too close to him as he added snootily, "Either way, leave it to you to ruin a perfectly good gag when your master would have joined right in. Don't argue with me, he would have understood that I just wanted to start this operation off with a laugh, feather cushion."
Next, the tricky spirit deviously rubbed his hands together as he snickered, "Anyway, anyhow, let's get started with this fiasco! I suppose you checked that Twilight and her friends are off with Princess Luna in her dreamy realm, correct?"
"Caw!"
"Well, of course, Twilight isn't with Luna exactly. She's with your master at the moment or, put better, he's with her. But, either way, everypony is asleep, right? Good! So, while they do what they do, you need to stop wasting time flapping about my horns and get this little visit of ours to Ponyville done with." With that said, the Spirit of Disharmony purposefully snapped his fingers. After the flash of magic that followed, he next stood in a serious uniform of black with intimidating shades over his eyes – looking like quite the bodyguard.
Turning away to keenly observe dark Ponyville next, the draconequus stated with a no nonsense like tone, "So, get to it, my feathered friend. While my tricky presence very well does keep the distant enemies of Equestria from knowing for sure what you and your master are up to… it won't keep Ponyville's garrison from seeing us up to supposedly no good here tonight."
Imagine that. Even though innocent at the moment, who wouldn't expect Discord to be up to no good when sneaking around Twilight Sparkle's home? Not feeling like arguing further with the frustrating Spirit of Disharmony, the raven began working on the very reason for why they were in town.
As the black bird settled itself upon the windowsill again before trembling Owlowiscious, it rather politely rapped at the glass with its beak. It seemed to want inside the study room at which, with much fierce hooting, the library's owl turned his head about to look backwards. This was Twilight's pet's way of saying, "No way! I'm not letting you in, three eyes! Not after you and your interesting friend there went and gave me half a heart attack!"
Reading this for what it was, the black bird dealt with the owl's blunt rejection patiently as well as respectfully. It didn't squawk, flutter about, nor ruffle its feathers. It simply resumed tapping on the glass again and continued to annoyingly tap until, with a huff, Owlowiscious turned back around in preparation to unleash his building courage against it.
However, no matter his anger towards the situation, what the owl hadn't counted on when looking to stand up for himself was… was how entrancing the raven's third eye suddenly seemed to be now. Next, without realizing it from the beginning, Twilight's pet was sinking blissfully deeper into a mysterious spell the black bird outside had conjured up. Yet, with what happened next, had it been the bird that had cast the magic… or some other identity completely?
All that Owlowiscious knew was that he was attracted to the raven's trio of eyes for a long moment before, to his shock, an echo of a voice that seemed far off said to him from thin air, "A pleasant night to you, friend. To all of Equestria. I beg your forgiveness for this most rude of intrusions but if you would allow me to come inside, please?"
The open mouthed, three eyed raven hadn't done any of the talking. Discord, being preoccupied with his own job, hadn't said anything either. No, there was something else, some unexplainable third presence, with them that was quite formally addressing Owlowiscious who, having seen plenty of craziness beforehand in his life, merely cocked his head to one side that easily said for him, "Wait? What?"
Funny enough, the owl didn't find himself shaking anymore from uncertainty. As a matter of fact, he discovered that he wasn't at all afraid of the oddity that was taking place. Rather, he found that he had actually enjoyed the sound of the newest voice and, not knowing how else to hear it again, he hopefully gazed back into the raven's mysteriously attractive forehead eye.
"That's right. Slow your heartbeat, my feathered companion. Regain your composure from Discord's rather indignant humor. Very good…"
There it was again! The voice! Not at all understanding nor caring in the slightest what was transpiring that night to him or why he wasn't weirded out any longer by the sight of the two bizarre strangers outside of the library, Owlowiscious at least knew that looking into the black bird's third eye was the key to remaining blissfully comforted by forces unknown.
Truly, by the spirits, the owl felt he was at the utmost comfortable he'd ever been in or would be in his life. Thus, wanting to enjoy himself for as long as he could manage, he completely shoved sleepiness, everything, from his mind. All he wanted now was to hear more of what the mysterious far off voice wanted from him and, indeed, it did need his help with a rather simple task.
"Again, I am sorry for this surprise visit, my friend. I am especially sorry that you had to be the target of the Spirit of Disharmony's little gag there…" After this, when Owlowiscious humbly shook his head that meant he bore no hard feelings towards anypony or anything, the distant voice chuckled, "Ha ha, humbleness! Good for you. Mind, Discord meant nothing towards you personally with his prank. Tonight, he's merely sticking to his nature as a spirit, as am I. After all, he is the master of tricks so it only makes sense he needs to joke around to satisfy his devious craving every so often, correct?"
That description of Discord sounded mostly correct. As the Spirit of Disharmony was the master of tricks, he couldn't hold back on doing a good gag on others. Still, what about this third identity? Had it been Owlowiscious or had his acute ears actually heard the mysterious voice admit that it was like Discord? That it was a spirit too? If so... what its purpose? Chaos? Harmony? Both? When dealing with the otherworldly, no one could be sure.
"Ah, either way, now that all is forgiven between us, could I trouble you to let this certain three eyed fellow of mine inside? Is that too much to ask of you, my friend?"
At the hopeful inquiry, Owlowiscious had to break out of his deep thoughts on whom or what he was dealing with at the window. At the moment, like anypony else if asked, he couldn't help but show his concern at letting in a three eyed stranger at a magical voice's request. He needed more... reassurance of what was going on or what was going to happen.
"Ah, you are careful too. Very good, very good. Smart owl." The mysterious voice praised, making the library owl's heart soar for unknown reasons, "However, my dear Flannen's business isn't like Discord's was with you. My raven, shall we say, has a most important delivery for your troubled master to help her keep Equestria's future from descending into darkness. You do wish to see your Twilight Sparkle stop fussing late into the night and keeping you awake, don't you? You do not want to see her kingdom fall, do you?"
At registering the rather casually explained heavy news that he could very well aid his ailed alicorn master in determining the fate of Equestria, the library owl speedily jumped onto the task of unlocking the window and allowing the ominous raven, Flannen, inside to do what fateful business that had to be done.
In the back of his mind, during the entire transaction, Owlowiscious felt a twinge of caution about the magical series of events currently happening to him. In a matter of moments, he had endured Twilight's sleep over, been scared silly by the Spirit of Disharmony himself, and now was supporting an invisible voice in the effort of supposedly saving the known world? Well, considering what he had endured seeing Twilight do in the past already… Ah, what the heck, right?
Things could've been weirder for the owl that night which, unbeknownst to him, they would eventually be. At that moment, though, the future or whatnot certainly sounded like it was going to get that way if he didn't go along with current events. Why would spirits be visiting the library to help Twilight otherwise?
When Flannen had finally changed his position from being outdoors to indoors, he instantly bowed to his newest library owl companion as the far off voice gratefully echoed, "Excellent, my owlish friend. You have a grand heart in that plump chest of yours. I assure you, Equestria will forever sing of your heroic decision of placing your trust in the unknown this night. Now, Flannen, my most faithful raven, you know what must be done. I nearly have Twilight prepared to take her fated road. For her to continue down it, you must be as quick, precise, and intimate as ever. Go, go now! Help her fulfill her destiny!"
With that declared, the three eyed raven literally zipped into the air without so much as a sound!
Now, to say that Owlowiscious was a quiet flyer of the night would be accurate. Nevertheless, everypony throughout the kingdom knew that Princess Luna alone was aware of the best ways of flying undetected during her nighttime. However, with how noiselessly Flannen flew from one place of the study room to the other, it was honest truth to say that he was a phantom in his own eerie way. Truly, seeing as how acutely Twilight's pet had always listened and now heard nothing, it became that much more understandable how the raven hadn't been previously spotted by anypony in Canterlot during his subtle recon mission.
Yes, then and there that night, it could definitely be confirmed that Flannen – the raven with three eyes who traveled with Discord as well as moved about as mutely as a shadow and did the bidding of a far off voice – was anything in Equestria but an ordinary bird. Good thing then that he, like his enigmatically distant master, appeared to be on the ponies' side by aiding the Element of Magic save her homeland from a terrible future. Or – as Owlowiscious was doing his very best to keep up with what was ensuing – that's how Equestria's fate sounded it would turn out to be without their intervention.
As for what Flannen was furtively doing in Twilight's cluttered study room, he appeared to be searching for something. His eyes flashed over every open book, unrolled parchment, laid out map, along with more as he hopped, glided, hovered, and flew everywhere. No nook, no cranny, no crack, nothing escaped his sharp observation until at last, with a sudden turn-about of impressive skill, he found what he had come to Ponyville with Discord for. How he'd missed it to begin with was somewhat embarrassing for, since the beginning of his hunting, it had been in the middle of the den.
There, on the main table, was a familiarly thick, black leather tome among heaps of items; a tome that easily looked to be the oldest object in Ponyville as well as could have been one of the oldest things in the entire Equestria realm. Even so, the ancient book had caught Flannen's interest only due to the fact that it was opened to a certain page of a section with a title that he read as "Yonderland: That Which Resides Amongst Our Sun, Moon, Stars".
It seemed the first step of Flannen's peculiar operation for that night was complete. He'd found Twilight's reason, one of the oldest of Star Swirl the Bearded tomes, for having studied so very hard for the past month. Now for the mission's second step to be accomplished which turned out to be easier than imagined. Casually reaching under his wing like back in the Canterlot garden, the raven produced the same ragged piece of paper that had unnerved Discord.
What was so important about the old note that Flannen had clipped in his beak? What made it radiate with vast power that caused the Spirit of Disharmony to fidget outside in discomfort? How, by the Crystal Heart of the Crystal Empire, would it help Twilight aid Equestria? Whatever the case, with a simple flick of his beak, the phantom of a black bird finished his job by dropping the bit of parchment into the Yonderland tome. Then he heard the far off voice say to him, "Ah, there is a stirring change in the winds now... Is it done then, Flannen? Ha ha, of course it is. Like usual, you have done well with your tasks, my friend."
"Caw!"
"Yes, yes, keep your voice down, chap. Celebrations with your brothers and sisters will be held when you return. So, fly back home, my friend. Come back to us and rest after what has been a most tedious yet successful anniversary eve."
The voice abruptly added though as Flannen looked to return to the dark outside, "Oh but wait! I'm nearly done so don't come home just yet! Stay with Discord. I'm sure the Spirit of Disharmony will want to stick around Ponyville to see Twilight start what will turn the tide against this approaching darkness. He's always liked a fireworks show and what the Element of Magic is bound to do when the fast approaching dawn arrives will be a doozy. Oh and, silly me, reward our newest owl friend. I am sure this will not be the last time we'll meet him. Therefore, it would be best for us to keep his friendship, don't you agree?"
"CAW!"
Finished with his duties for the fateful night – having done what needed doing in Ponyville and with the peculiar note of destiny acting something like a bookmark for the Yonderland tome – Flannen flew once around the library until landing himself beside a most curious Owlowiscious next. It was then that, like ordered, the three eyed raven fetched from under his inky black wing the owl's well deserved reward.
In slight surprise, despite everything he'd seen leading up to the moment of being compensated, the library owl observed the black bird pull out a coin of silver. Mind, all pony currency of Equestria was simple copper pieces no bigger than pennies. They were nothing to be excited about, simply put. Flannen's token, however, appeared to be the size of a quarter and, since the raven had just produced a note from under the same wing, where had this beauty of his come from? What, did Flannen have some out of sight backpack carrying everything for him?
No, hadn't it been obvious enough already? Flannen was a magical raven. What he did and didn't do, like Celestia raising the sun, couldn't be properly explained. With him, one just had to go with the flow when dealing with the arcane.
When the piece of silver was placed at his feet with a soft "tap" against the wood of the windowsill, it broke the pondering Owlowiscious out of his rapid thoughts. It was only after the three eyed raven nudged it closer to him that the owl glanced at the coin in disbelief. Not really believing he was being given such a beautiful thing that mirrored the moon's light perfectly, the keeper of the library cocked his large head to one side as he innocently hooted a soft hoot. His actions said for him, "Truly? This is for me?"
Understanding Owlowiscious's wordless language, Flannen actually spoke up for himself in a scraggly voice, "Caw! Take! Destiny thanks thee! Caw! Caw!" And, with that performance over, the bizarre black bird of few words hovered back outside to join Discord in the dark street.
Finally left alone to attempt to comprehend what exactly had happened to him that night, Twilight's pet immediately engaged in looking over his newly acquired silver coin with much admiration. When he pecked at it, he found it was sturdy as hoped. For sure, the token gift wasn't a fake and upon its shiny surface, both sides, there happened to be a detailed etching of what looked like a series of shooting stars along with a swarm of ravens.
Truly, the raven's coin wasn't like anything Owlowiscious had ever seen and, considering how studious his owner had always been, that was quite a shocker. Despite Twilight's constant research, no matter her huge collections of exotic items now, it appeared that her pet had acquired something unique before her! Perhaps, seeing as it had been given to him by a magical - possibly spiritual - source, the owl should hand his silver token over to his master for it to be inspected? For safety reasons, naturally, he needed to do so and, afterwards, it would most likely be placed in a display case.
Yet, silly owl, what if Twilight thought of it as a bit? What if she bought something with it? Oh no, no, no! Owlowiscious would never see it again!
Filled with conflict but sure of his decision about what to do with his newest treasure, Owlowiscious gingerly took a hold of his silver token glinting with moonlight. Satisfied eventually that the arcane coin wasn't going to hurt him in any way at physical contact, he next hovered to the bookshelves nearest his comfortable perch. There, even though viewed as a pet, he showed off his own cunningness that proved he wasn't an average owl.
When with the shelves of tomes, novels, so on, Owlowiscious aimed to pull out one of the most insignificant as well as least favorite of Twilight's smaller books: "Dragon Babies & Their Challenges". With precision along with skill, he lifted his selected book to the main table to set it down as well as open it to its middle. It was then that he dropped his treasure – which was softly illuminating the dark with white light, as if it had absorbed the very starlight – into Dragon Babies & Their Challenges. With that done, the owl closed the novel; brimming with rebellious confidence that, until he decided to reveal it, Twilight wouldn't find out about his magical token.
It was his little secret, his little mystery, to enjoy at whatever time he wanted.
Yet, indeed, what a night it had turned out to be. Owlowiscious had been through plenty of madness beforehand – he'd saved little Spike from being devoured by another freaking angry dragon in Everfree Forest, observed Twilight have a magic show down with another blue unicorn that ended by stopping a magical bear, witnessed a full grown Spike raid Ponyville on a greedy spree, he'd even assisted in trying to keep everypony's pets in check during Twilight's recent trip to the Crystal Empire – but this certain event with Flannen, the echo of a voice, and even Discord, had left him a bit dazed.
Well, that seemed a natural aftereffect he was suffering from. When dealing with the fate of Equestria, who wouldn't have been dizzy afterwards, hm? Even Twilight wouldn't have been okay after such an experience. In fact, while sleeping in the living room, she was dealing with troubling problems of her own...
Either way, turning his head at a 180 degree angle again, the owl gazed outside to look at the two strange visitors to the library. The only issue with wanting to do that was… that both raven as well as Spirit of Disharmony had vanished from Ponyville's streets. They were utterly gone! Yet, ah yes, their business had been concluded. Flannen's silver gift had explained that much but, unable to help himself, Owlowiscious couldn't keep from pondering over the night's events.
Confound it, the owl had been kept up through much of Luna's nighttime already! Earlier, all he wanted to do was sleep but now, augh, he couldn't even think of sleeping! He needed to try to figure out why the library had just had such ominous guests come as well as go! Then, quite conveniently through the darkness, his stomach loudly growled.
With an indignant hoot at realizing he was hungry, Owlowiscious confirmed he could think over the craziness that had recently happened to him while he went outside to hunt for a little snack. For obvious reasons though, he had to go about putting away Dragon Babies & Their Challenges first. So, with more hooting, he looked to do just that when, to his absolute amazement, there was an audible "click" of the study room door being unlocked!
Somepony was coming in at such an early hour? Why? That was about to be found out.
As Owlowiscious sat himself firmly upon his silver token's hiding place, the door began to open to let a certain, disheveled, lavender alicorn peek inside…
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"Caw! Caw!"
"Oh, please, feather cushion! It was his own fault, not mine, for sticking his nose where he shouldn't have!" Discord sharply snapped back at Flannen as he looked to stuff one of Luna's unconscious lunar guards into a large trashcan beside the Town Hall!
Earlier, as the three eyed raven had been distracted conversing with Owlowiscious inside the study room, one of the princess of the night's scouting elite guards had happened upon the library and seen what was transpiring. In turn, the shadowy stallion knight had immediately looked to alert his highness in Canterlot. However, what he hadn't counted on – before he could even yelp for help from Ponyville's garrison – was being roped up, gagged, along with hit upside the head by the vigilant Spirit of Disharmony in the blink of an eye!
Now, with little to no respect and seeing it as more of another joke than anything, the master of gags looked to throw the helpless lunar guard into the trash until being told off by a very upset Flannen! It seemed the sneaky pair were meant to slip into town without… mishaps. At least, not the kind Discord had just placed one of Luna's troops into!
Nopony was to be harmed! None!
"No, no, he's not hurt. Well, there's just this light bump on his head, true, but I didn't hit him that hard with the Forget-Me-Stick." In reply to Discord's weak excuses, Flannen hotly cawed up a storm until his beak was forcefully clamped shut by a lion paw, "Come, come, quiet down before you wake up the entire neighborhood. Think about what you're venting over. I'm not the one who should be ashamed here. I didn't intrude where I shouldn't have, did I? I only stuck to my duty and protected your secret matter in the library, didn't I? I was told to be tricky on this mission and, looky-looky, that's what I've been with this little rat who looked to bring Princess Luna onto the scene."
As he motioned to the unaware lunar guard thrown over his shoulder, the draconequus inquired slyly of his feathered fellow, "Would your master have wanted that to have happened, hm? Would you have preferred that I needed to knock out dear Luna too and would have had to throw both her guard and herself into the trash? How selfish of you! I say, the nerve! Thinking of the princess of the night that way, your master should be ashamed of you!"
Wriggling free, Flannen snapped out a quick retort, "Caw! Caw!"
"Heh heh, simmer down already. I may not ever be able to scare you but it's at least good to know that I can get under your skin, you silly thing." As indulged Discord looked to resume putting his limp baggage in the trash though, he went too far with his joking around. That was proven when the enraged black bird bit at his ears!
Letting out a hiss as well as flicking his ears free of the pest, the tricky spirit snarled, "Ouch! Well I never! Indeed, that's gratitude for a job well done for you! I'm merely doing my duty for Equestria you flying black rat!"
"CAW!"
"Oh but why? This rat deserves to be put inside the trashcan, not beside it! All in all, this is just a joke and when he wakes up, which will be soon enough, he'll think he only had a bad flying trip due to freaky bad luck or maybe due to him having sipped a little bit of an adult beverage before – Okay, okay, fine! Quit it! Have it your way!" With a sharp snap of his clawed fingers, Discord placed the unconscious lunar guard stallion beside the trash as well as unbound him.
Finished with his fun – involuntarily, mind – the Spirit of Disharmony clicked his fingers a second time to flash up onto the Town Hall's roof, "There! That little rat, guard, whatnot, is fine, you feathered party crasher! Now, like your master wanted, get up here with me and watch Twilight Sparkle change the fate of Equestria!"
Discord wasn't the boss of everything. These days, he wasn't the boss of anything for that matter. Especially over Flannen who, with a roll of his eyes, made sure Luna's knocked out knight wasn't suffering from anything too serious. Of course, since they had recently started working together for the better good, the raven and the draconequus had come to trust each other for the most part. Plainly though, the secretive pair still had some personal issues to work out.
Like a child, which he would always be at heart, the Spirit of Disharmony seemed to need a reminder of his limits so not to mess up or cross the line on the serious issues he was ever assigned to. Like a mentor, which he had always tried to be at his master's request, Flannen was that very reminder, that very limitation on Discord's goofing around. Therefore, it was clear to see that, despite their goal to help the world keep together rather than be blown to bits, they were fated to see things differently yet get along just enough to not destroy one another.
Simply put, they were like all reluctantly paired up heroes. They were opposites on plenty of things until their efforts truly mattered the most and the outcome of their quests demanded success. Like now.
"That lunar knight is fine, Flannen!" Discord exclaimed snidely from above, getting sick of the raven second guessing his actions below with Luna's unfortunate guard, "Do you honestly think I injured him? I plain well know how to tell a joke, I know how to do a gag, and I know where to draw the line on both of them! When I gave Equestria a hard time, the princesses, your master, sealed me in stone because I never drew blood! Duh! Now quit fussing over nothing and get up here, you buzzard!"
"Caw!"
Flannen, finally satisfied with the shadowy stallion's unharmed condition and ignoring his harsh fellow's words, went about making his way upwards. Not because he was told to do so by his companion, oh no, but because he wanted to get back at the Spirit of Disharmony the best way he knew how to as well as lessen the building tension between them. Mind, Flannen's confident' tactics to make peace never failed. So, with several lazy swoops, flips, dives, along with maneuvers that made Discord patiently duck, bob, as well as dodge out of the way, the raven landed himself upon the tricky spirit's head at last.
There, like he'd done many times beforehand in the past, the three eyed raven purposefully took his time in getting as comfortable as he could between the disfigured horns on either of his sides. When happy with his position, he gave Discord a hearty snuggling on the forehead.
"Stop it." The Spirit of Disharmony firmly stated at once, his ears lying flat in mortification at realizing what was starting. When another snuggle was the answer he got, Discord snapped his fingers to flash to another position on the roof, "No. Unless you're Fluttershy – no, Celestia – stop it."
Already, it seemed the tension in the air was shifting into humor.
Again, Flannen's methods at making peace never had failed. Thus, like every other time in the past before, Discord's disappearing acts to make the raven stop befriending him, to get back on his good side, didn't work. Not taking "no" for an answer when things were beginning to get interesting, Flannen looked to roost upon his mischievous friend's head whenever the opportunity presented itself. After some strenuous moments along with flashing lights afterwards, the feud came to an awkward end with the black bird, as always, snuggled happily on the uncomfortable yet humored draconequus's head.
Amid the horns, Flannen gave the Spirit of Disharmony one last affectionate snuggle and only purred when jokingly told off again, "Stop it, stop it, stop it. I get it, I get it. Stop with the mushy stuff and enjoy your seat for the show… you little rascal."
After several moments of silence upon the Town Hall roof, Discord added humorously, "To think, though, that with just you on my head gives me the goose-bumps… and your master has dozens of your brothers along with sisters clinging to every part of his body they can! Ew! Not just that but, considering there are hundreds of you, he lets you guys take turns. How does he do it? How does he act like a scarecrow for you so easily?"
"Caw!"
"Just like how I'm letting you rest on my head, hm? So, let me get this straight, he has no choice in the matter, right? He disappears like I do and you feathered rats just follow him wherever he goes until, at long last, he just lets you swarm him? How very selfish of you all. Haven't you all heard of personal space? Breathing room? Private time?"
"Caw! Caw! Caw!"
"Oh, clever you. Feel proud of yourself, birdbrain. In the past, I was the master of tricks, yes. I may have done the impossible with my gags, of course. I may have been the incarnation of chaos, disharmony, as well as disorganization, true, but," At this, Discord assumed a dramatic air, "most certainly, I respected everypony's need for rest! I alternated with regions, see? First, I played with the ponies. Second, the griffins. Third, with great pleasure, the dragons. Then repeat, ha ha!"
"Caw! Caw! Caw!"
"Well, nope, me being turned to stone doesn't mean anything about me disrespecting privacy. It just means there's nopony in Equestria that can ever take a good joke or two of mine. Lesson learned, I'll keep to myself. Yet, ugh, that's just it! Everypony around here is such a bore. They're too serious! Except for your master, of course. He likes games as much as I do and, ha ha, he got me good when he helped Celestia and Luna imprison me with the elements. That was a good gag indeed."
"Caw!"
"Me hold a grudge against your master? Psh, no! You're so small minded, Flannen! In the end, he was right about the outcome of our little game, about me. Like he said those many centuries ago when we started riddling each other, I needed a big time out from freely running around to think and after being given a millennium of sitting in one spot to ponder… Well, let's just say Fluttershy finally made me realize your master's twisted logic as well as helped me find my true purpose." At seeing a crooked shingle nearby, Discord snapped his fingers to purposefully fix it, "I can use my magic not just for fun but for a reason now. See?"
"Caw! Caw!"
"You think so, do you? I'm so glad. Since Fluttershy, yes, my arcane talents have been a great aid to you, your feathered family, to your master, to all of Equestria, haven't they? Especially since your enemies have been appearing…. well, everywhere! And guess what? I'm thoroughly enjoying myself the entire time! I'm loving the fact that I'm helping stall the enemy with my joking around!"
When Flannen cawed about a specific something, the Spirit of Disharmony added sheepishly, "Meh, alright… I might be helping everypony because I can't resist throwing a gag or two at the hostiles but… my efforts might be giving me brownie points with dear Celestia too. Shush."
"Caw! Caw!"
As he spoke next, Discord looked a little nervous over something, "Well, one can only hope everything turns out alright, no? I admit, working with you behind her back might not be… the best way of earning the Keeper of the Sun's affections. Considering the history she's had with your master – how he allowed the fall of her parents, the banishment of an entire civilization, the making of Everfree Forest, King Sombra's reign, her sister turning into Nightmare Moon, me being freed to be reformed, the arrival of the changelings, along with the ill tidings ailing Equestria now – it's no shock to know that Celestia argues with many of his actions."
Next, Discord became thoughtful as he explained, "Nevertheless, like your master has always said, whatever future conflicts that arise will work themselves out for the better. So, although I'm helping you keep her in the dark for as long as possible about this significant matter at hand, Celestia won't stay mad at me forever when she discovers it, right?"
"Caw!"
"Ooh, you think so? When the forces of darkness affecting Equestria these days are finally routed and she finds out it began through our secret efforts here tonight, you believe Celestia won't be able to resist these devilish good looks of mine, hm?" At this, the inspired Spirit of Disharmony flashed into a formal outfit with a top hat!
As he gave humored Flannen a seductive raise of his eyebrows past his summoned one monocle, he admitted, "Well, most certainly, here's to hoping!" Then, his handsome uniform disappeared with another snapping of his fingers, "Besides, all in all, it's not like she's really that upset with your master over their previous exchanges in the earlier days. She knows as well as me that he has had his reasons for doing what he has done in the past as well as what he does now and, hey, everything unpleasant he's allowed to occur has turned out to be okay in the end."
At this, the tricky spirits began counting off his fingers, "Luna is back and understandable as ever, the Crystal Empire is an ally, I'm mostly reformed, the changelings are banished and, as he'd predicted from the beginning, Twilight Sparkle has become the *bleh* perfect leader during these dark times."
"Caw!" Flannen called out, thoroughly enjoying his personal conversation with the draconequus, "Caw!"
"And as for Princess Twilight Sparkle," The Spirit of Disharmony breathed, staring straight at the library with an astonished expression, "there she is! By Equestria, you fool, stay still! She hasn't seen us!"
There, on the Town Hall roof, the bizarre pair of companions froze at seeing Ponyville's princess curiously looking around out of her study room window. They had apparently been too loud and attracted her attention. However, to their great relief, she didn't seem to notice them. No "Forget-Me-Stick" was required against her. Phew.
Releasing his breath softly, Discord stretched while inquiring gently, "Now, again, as for Princess Twilight Sparkle… what are we to expect from her at dawn?"
"Caw! Caw-"
"Shut your freaking beak, featherbutt! Your obnoxious voice was the reason Ponyville's little princess investigated outside just now! Now, more quietly, answer my question."
When done hearing Flannen answer his inquiry softly, Discord sat back as he purposefully gazed eastward, "Ah, yes, Twilight will fulfill her true destiny when dawn arrives, will she? Dawn, dusk, are indeed the times when both the princess of day's and the princess of night's powers are combined strongest… and the gate to that which lies beyond is most open. That is the ideal time when the Element of Magic will do as your master predicts and, well, will summon one of them back to Equestria, will she?"
At the ominous mention of "them", the three eyed raven cocked its head to one side in curiosity. It seemed to be intrigued to see the Spirit of Disharmony abruptly be discomforted by the current topic and, thus, let out, "Caw! Caw!"
"Indeed, as said before, I know that your master has always had good reasons for his decisions. So, I am fully aware that he knows what he's doing in having Twilight call to Yonderland… or am I?"
Discord became coolly honest with his fellow next as he admitted, "Pardon my sudden show of distrust, chap, but I can't help myself. Your master, Flannen, didn't aid Star Swirl in banishing the Yonderlanders from Equestria during the old days for simple reasons. In fact, talking about simplicity, that which lies beyond the sun, moon, and stars isn't at all a simple matter."
At this, the tricky spirit seriously asked, "Have you gone there recently? Have you seen it? What's there is very complicated! More so than here even! I can't help but somewhat feel like I know Celestia would if she were aware of this situation… Is it really wise to call a Yonderlander, even if it's been destined for so many millennium, here to deal with the darkness this land faces? Are we not dealing with a two edged sword that could fall either way; on us or our foes?"
"Caw!"
"No, no, I'm not backing out of anything! Yes, I know your master has thought long as well as hard on this matter for thousands of years and I did indeed say earlier that his every action has had good motivation behind it. Still, forgive me, but I just know that during my time of running free a thousand years ago, those now called the Yonderlanders were split… Some were good to everypony, yes, but most of them…" The Spirit of Disharmony made an audible rolling of his eyes as he finished, "were not as good. They were a fire towards everything then and still are beyond the stars! Their power isn't to be underestimated. If used incorrectly, it could very well destroy our troubles now and then us! Tell me if I'm wrong in thinking so! Tell me!"
"Caw!"
"I am, am I?"
There was a long quiet after Flannen solidly shot down Discord's worrying. It seemed, no matter the revealed danger of that which resided amongst the stars, the black bird firmly believed in the actions of whoever master he served. Then, the tricky spirit beneath him admitted humbly, "I know your master is trickier with his methods than me and that's definitely saying something, Flannen. I mean, look at me. Indeed, as prophesized, I know that Equestria has to get back in touch with distant Yonderland at some point too… You have to admit, though, that contacting it has always been seen as something of a gamble. And for good reason too! Lecture me for saying so but, in the back of your fathered head, you know I'm right for being uncertain about this entire ordeal…"
"Caw! Caw! Caw!"
"Desperate times require desperate measures, sure. I know that better than most since Celestia and Luna sealed me away during my rebellious years. Still, a bit too much desperation leads to the most terrible of turnouts. You and your master, having always been around, know that to be true." Next, the spirit of gags sighed out, "For example… think of the mighty griffins of Zeklathine. They're homeless not due to their own choices, true, but their desperate driven actions have led to only a handful of them remaining alive since, well, Flangteth the Ice Dragon took their home for his own a year ago."
Next, Discord purposefully gazed out towards a certain spire of a mountain that stood south of forbidding Everfree Forest, "When they were assaulted as well as driven from their homes at that dark time, the Zeklathine griffins had the option of staying at Pinnacle Rock, of fully recovering themselves under pony guard. Yet, because of their blind pride, many of them hastily followed their remaining young prince Gild Goldfeather to their deaths when trying to retake their lands… Few of those warriors returned with their princeling in defeat afterwards and fewer assumed the consequences of their actions without anger. They remained and remain proudly arrogant of their reckless choices towards fighting mighty Flangteth. They use their losses against him to fuel their blinding fury, not grow wise."
Done looking at the mountain overlooking Everfree, "Pinnacle Rock", the tricky spirit finished, "Desperation certainly didn't and doesn't make things better for the griffins, Flannen. Now, with the few numbers they have been reduced to, they cannot effectively participate in the efforts being made to keep Flangteth from starting a tribal war between the dragons nor can they assist in keeping the changelings from swarming the south. No, the most the Zeklathinians are available for now are scouting Everfree Forest and keeping Ponyville's garrison updated about what hostiles that dwell within. Yet, with how bitter they are, it seems even that task is becoming something of a challenge for them to-"
"Caw! Caw! Caw!" Flannen erupted hotly, sick of the negativity being shown from the formerly jovial master of tricks, "Caw! Caw!"
"Well, tell me wrong then! Considering the tight spot Equestria is in currently, why do you believe contacting that which resides beyond the sun and moon is wise, Flannen? Remind me and I might stop being concerned and ruining your night!"
Flannen had an instant, firm response to the question, "Caw! Caw! Caw! Caw! Caw!"
"Believe in the impossible and it becomes that much more possible, eh? Ah, yes, your master's personal favorite saying… and there is also Twilight Sparkle, the Elements of Harmony, isn't there?" The Spirit of Disharmony said with a nodding of his long head, "Indeed, you and I knew the Yonderlanders during a time of pure destruction. True, true. These times are different than then though. Everything is different than then, isn't it? Despite the present darkness, there is still plenty of peace here and not the same desperation like in the past nor in their world. Even though I hate to admit it for them, you are also correct in saying the Elements of Harmony have accomplished improbable things already. Like reforming me for example, heh heh. Yet, there is especially the Element of Magic. If anyone can gain the loyalty of Yonderland, your master is correct in believing it would be Ponyville's princess."
Discord reluctantly huffed as he caved in, "It seems that I agree with your twisted logic again, Flannen. My concerns have all but... left me."
"Caw! Caw!"
"Since Celestia took her under her wing at your master's encouragement, since becoming royalty last year, little Twilight Sparkle has become something of a… legend of her own, hasn't she? She did help turn Luna back into herself, stopped the changeling queen from taking over Canterlot, helped me find my *yawn* better side, foiled nasty King Sombre, as well as broke through one of Star Swirl the Bearded's greatest spells concerning the elements, didn't she? My, my, if she does end up befriending the Yonderlanders, she'll have even outdone your master in feats, won't she have?" At being harshly pecked on the head at this brash comment, Discord chortled, "Ouchies! Begging your pardon, she'll have come close to having rivaled your master's victories then. Does that sound better?"
It was as Flannen next appeared to forgive the Spirit of Disharmony that the time they both had been waiting for arrived at last. In the north, shooting from Canterlot towards the east, a thin beam of what looked to be solid gold light purposefully blinked into existence for the briefest of moments! Mere moments later, the unmistakable pink glow of dawn fast approached. Soon, Luna's moon would be simultaneously setting while Celestia's sun would be rising. It would be during that brief moment, with sun as well as moon together, that busy Twilight was expected to begin her fateful road towards her true destiny by casting some kind of spell, charm, incantation, whatever, that would call upon that which laid beyond the stars; Star Swirl's ominous Yonderland or such.
As the apprehension built up, as the hairs and feathers on both of their heads stood on end, the raven suggested something important to the draconequus.
"Sunglasses?" Discord questioned, his eyes showing his bemusement at Flannen's suggestion, "Of course I have some! Didn't you see me wearing them earlier? Ah, right, we need them so we won't be blinded by dawn's light! Good thinking on your part, featherbrain." Not caring to notice the black bird's grimace at his name calling, the Spirit of Disharmony summoned up two pairs of shades. As he put his on, he suddenly found it was going to be a challenge to get three eyed Flannen covered. Finally, he just gave the raven the sunglasses as he simply stated, "You hand out destiny every day. Surely putting on glasses won't be a problem for you, right?"
"Caw!"
"Oh, don't be such a baby. You'll figure something out."
With a tense moment, Flannen actually forced his third eye to meld away into his forehead. Ready now to watch the show that was coming up, the raven put on his own sunglasses to observe a rather rare sight for anypony.
Equestria, for the longest moment, remained passively shadowed with Luna's moon and stars radiating to the west. Then, in the blink of an eye with the passing moment, the shadows seemed to make a hasty retreat from the first beams of Celestia's arriving sun. Little bit by little bit, the land was undergoing a rather epic change. Once a dark hue of navy blue, everything was instead being covered by the most beautiful of golden shades with dawn's arrival. It was as the sun's top half finally showed itself and the moon's remnants were fading away, though, that the true rare sight began. For the longest moment, however, as the light of the new day grew brighter and the previous night's shadows grew smaller, nothing seemed to happen in the library as expected.
"Wellllll…. This tension is killing me! Did you put the note in the right place, Flannen? Nothing seems to be happening – Ow!"
Through his pain, Discord silenced himself as tense Flannen gave him a good peck on the skull to keep quiet and not be distracting! Another series of anxious moments passed by with the Spirit of Disharmony as well as raven biting their tongues. They couldn't say anything in case they missed the slightest detail. Their forced silence paid off as, from directly above, they abruptly noticed a new presence of power show itself. Instinctively looking up, they witnessed a sight long forgotten in Equestrian lore, they witnessed history being made, they witnessed destiny being fulfilled! A lone star – or so it appeared – fell speedily straight from the far off heavens above downwards into the library!
As befuddling as it was, there was actually no crash, explosion, nor devastation in the slightest when the mysterious falling star connected with Ponyville's library's roof! In fact, as if it were a phantom apparition, it merely passed through every solid! In fact, the magical star made no noise or disturbance at all when arriving as well as illuminating the treehouse's insides with a searing white luminosity that flooded through the study room windows onto the street! Truly, the only thing it did was make the watching pair on the Town Hall roof fidget uncomfortably when its pulsating energy of alien origin abruptly radiated!
So this was destiny in the works, was it? This was just the beginning of Twilight taking her fated road to true greatness? Well, if it was this crazy at the beginning, what would it be like to see her reach her journey's end? What a spectacle that would be!
"Indeed, your master was right, Flannen…" Discord muttered through his trance, "With the build-up of power we're feeling, this situation really is going to be one heck of a fireworks show." Then, he noticed a blur of pink flash by the living room window and assumed, "Oh dear, somepony has noticed something is going on with Ponyville's princess. I believe it's the Element of Laughter. Shall I stop her?"
"Caw! Caw! Caw!"
"No? This is part of the plan? Very well, if you say so, birdbrain."
"Caw!"
"Alright, alright. I'll stop with the name calling, party pooper. Oops, pardon me! Slip of the tongue!"
As Discord and Flannen exchanged on the Town Hall roof, they turned their attention back to the library when audible screams echoed from it! Whatever was going on, it felt like everypony of the Elements of Harmony was involved now!
The fallen star's foreign power was only getting bigger, its light shined brighter until almost blinding, and the watching duo could feel their hearts pumping faster than ever with the growing excitement of the moment! It seemed, as they should have foreseen beforehand, summoning a Yonderlander of Yonderland was proving to be quite memorable. Quite memorable indeed and, as the moment of destiny for Twilight reach an absolute high, it was then that the fireworks show was set off.
"TWILIGHT?!" A little voice cried out from the study room into the sleepiness of Ponyville just as the alien star's light was blinding the library's insides, "TWILIGHT STOP!" And then, as if interrupted, the ominous power behind summoning the Yonderlander twisted, curved, was out of control!
Everything, formerly peaceful, seemed to go completely hectic as, with much shattering glass, an object of considerable size shot through the study room window and out into the street! With screams still coming from inside the library from Twilight's shaken friends, the star glitched this way as well as that, inside and outside of the library, before, with a blinding glint, it shot clear away from the town utterly! Where it landed next made Discord cringe with good reason; dreaded Everfree Forest.
Unsure of what had just transpired, not certain that contacting Yonderland had gone as predicted, the Spirit of Disharmony looked to frantically question Flannen for his opinion on the matter. To the draconequus's bewilderment, he found his feathered fellow had departed without a word to fly down into the street to investigate what exactly had broken through the library window.
Snapping his fingers to flash away, Discord joined the raven to half inquire, "Flannen, chap, what just happened? The star, the summoning, it went all crazy and do you know where it landed? In Everfree Forest! Was that part of the plan too or did we go a bit far with-" And then the Spirit of Disharmony paused with his questioning as he noticed what had the raven's complete attention.
What had smashed through the window proved to be quite the simple wonder. Considering it was quite alien, why wouldn't it have been a wonder? Either way, that which had shattered Ponyville's quiet atmosphere with the breaking of glass looked to be a heavy, durable, black wheel of some sort. In its middle was a circular work of steel and as for the black material surrounding it, that proved to be firm rubber when touched. What in Equestria – no wait, what in Yonderland – was the thing?
All that could come close to really answering that question was that which was written, astonishingly in clear Equestrian, on it: "Ford Neon Fit – 2010".
"TWILIGHT WAIT! WAIT UP!"
At hearing this, both raven and draconequus were quick in not looking around but vanishing back to the town hall's roof! As Ponyville's shaken princess, followed by a hyperventilating Spike, ventured outside to seek out what she had produced for destiny's sake, Flannen and Discord were discreetly leaving the town in a fit. Back and forth they heatedly discussed what exactly had happened to Twilight's summoning spell. Finally, the Spirit of Disharmony snarled, "That was part of the plan? That star landing in hostile Everfree Forest was PART of the plan? By Equestria, I'm never going to catch on to your master's planning!"
"CAW! CAW!"
"Well, pardon me but your words aren't good enough anymore, featherbutt! I need to talk with your master about this! Your hopes for bettering Equestria just landed in enemy territory and you expect me to go along with that? Bah, dumb bird! I like to make a mess every now and then but this is too ridiculous, even for yours truly!" And after that, with flustered three eyed Flannen in tow as well as the Elements of Harmony all shaken up back in town, Discord seriously snapped his fingers for a last time to vanish to parts unknown.
++++++
End of the Raven, the Draconequus, the Trickiest of Destinies…