One Week Later…
--
Celestia yawned, ignoring the drowsiness insisting she go back to bed. It would soon be time to raise the Sun, and as much as she enjoyed a normal sleep pattern after a thousand years of covering for her sister she knew what she had to do. It was her own sense of duty that pushed her to stay awake, as well as the warmth of Luna’s foreleg around her midsection…
Until she realized that she hadn’t slept alongside her sister since she had grown back to her normal size and power, retaking her duties as co-ruler of Equestria. Celestia quickly turned her head to the being lying with her and her eyes widened in shock.
The figure smirked. “Did you sleep well darling?”
That morning it seemed that all of Canterlot, and it maybe even all of Equestria, awoke early to the sound of its Princess shrieking in terror…
--
Luna groaned, her eyes squinting due to annoyance and tiredness. The Princess of the Night had just finished her duties, lowering the moon before her sister awoke to raise the sun. She would’ve been ready to get to bed if not for the piercing scream that rang throughout the land, with her beloved sister as its source. As for the cause of her sister’s outburst, well…
“Discord, could you please stop?” the dark blue alicorn pleaded for what felt like the hundredth time.
The draconequus was giggling giddily, snapping and warping the reality of the Canterlot grand hall back and forth rapidly as he went seemingly oblivious to Luna’s requests. Lucky for any-would be victims, it was only the two of them in the hall. Luna would likely have been shouting in her traditional royal Canterlot voice if it were not for her aforementioned tiredness.
“Discord,” Luna started again, her voice louder this time. “Could you ple-“
Luna was cut off by the massive double doors to the hall bursting open with a forceful kinesis spell, revealing an absolutely livid Princess of the Sun.
“DISCORD, SIT!” she bellowed, surprising Luna with the use of the traditional royal Canterlot voice that she had not heard her use since a millennium ago.
Discord himself also stopped, surprised for a moment, before rolling his eyes. With a snap he undid everything he had done and then proceeded to sit upside down, his head just barely above the floor as he sat with his legs crossed. He smirked as Celestia slammed the imposing and heavy doors shut with another kinesis spell.
“Now then,” she began, her voice restrained but no less intimidating. “I’ve sent Twilight Sparkle and her friends a message, so you had better have a good explanation as to why I don’t tell them to turn you back to stone the moment-“
“Nope.”
Celestia stopped for a moment before speaking again. “What was that?” she asked, the anger inside her having obviously spiked with that simple answer.
“I don’t feel like explaining myself twice,” he explained, snapping his fingers to summon a small scrub brush that he used to begin polishing his claws. “Besides, I’m sure they’ll be here soon.”
Celestia snorted as her face contorted into a scowl. By habit she trotted over to the spot by her throne that she usually stood at when addressing an audience. Doing so put her next to Luna, who had also done the same by habit. Celestia took a deep breath, held it for almost half a minute, then finally released it. Though she had calmed by quite a bit she was still noticeably angry. Luna shifted a few steps to the side away from her sister, not used to seeing her so frustrated.
Within minutes, but what felt like eons, a violet flash came and went in the middle of the grand hall, with six mares taking it’s place.
“Twilight Sparkle!” Celestia called with relief. “Thank goodn-!”
“Hey, the gang's all here!” Discord shouted with joy, dismissing the scrub brush in a flash and floating upright. With a snap several more flashes came and went and before anypony was able to stop it Discord had his paw around Celestia’s neck, his claw around Luna’s, and his tail wrapped around the six Elements of Harmony's midsections.
“Group hug!” he shouted, giving them all a squeeze. “How is everypony!?”
“Group hug!” Pinky Pie shouted in response, her forelegs raised in excitement.
“Discord,” Celestia scolded, her restrained voice dripping with menace as she glared at him.
Discord’s smile fell and he rolled his eyes as he sighed. “Party pooper,” he muttered. With another snap more flashes came and went, teleporting everypony back to where they started.
“Explain yourself, Discord,” Celestia commanded. “Just what are you doing here unannounced?”
“’Unannounced?’ I sent a message a week ago, which as I understand it is the minimum amount of time required for a meeting with royalty,” Discord replied indignantly.
“I didn’t get any message.”
“Really? Luna, are you doing this just to spite me?”
“M-Me?” Luna stuttered, obviously confused. “What role do I have in this?”
“You didn’t give your sister the letter like I told you to!”
“I received no missive from you! I have not even seen you since last year’s Nightmare Night!”
“Are you sure?” Discord asked with a sly grin, floating over to her. “Think back, one week ago today.”
“I would remember having met you.”
“Apparently not,” Discord replied, stopping just in front of the Night Princess. “Maybe I should give you a hint.”
With a snap and a he created a rolled up parchment.
“What are you doi-mph?” Luna asked before Discord quickly forced the letter into her mouth. She quickly spat it back out. “What is the meaning of this!?”
“Discord!” Celestia shouted, not taking kindly to the treatment of her sister.
“Wait for it,” he said in response, his sly grin not faltering.
“Wait for wh-?” Luna began, before stopping herself mid-sentence.
“Luna?” her sister asked.
Luna’s expression changed to one of confusion before her eyes widened with realization. A moment later her eyes widened further with shock just before her mouth opened in horror, her body beginning to shake.
“B-But how?” Luna asked, barely above a whisper. “How could you possibly…?”
“L-Luna?” Celestia asked, her worry obvious. “What’s wro-?”
“How could you possibly be there!?” Luna shouted at Discord. “That is my realm! Not even my sister has reign over it!”
“Why Lulu, me not being able to go there…” Discord began before his grin widened even further and he paused for dramatic effect. “Would make sense.”
“He was there…”
“L-Luna, what’s wrong? What did he do?” Celestia asked, nearly frantic.
The Princess of the Night slowly turned to face her sister, her body still shaking and her face still stuck in horror. “H-He… He…”
--
One week ago…
Luna surfed the dream plane as she did every night, watching over the ponies of Equestria and helping where she could. Thankfully, the many nightmares about Discord suddenly destroying everything had faded from most everypony, finally after nearly a year. More surprisingly was that Ponyville itself was the first to have those particular nightmares fade. Luna mused that it must have had to do with Discord’s frequent, but ultimately harmless, pranks. Ironically, the draconequus’ antics had made him seem like less of a threat in their eyes and more an annoyance.
She roamed the many dreams of the residents, quickly but carefully scanning each one to make sure nothing was wrong. This was actually the second time she had visited the dreams of Ponyville in one night, a routine she had begun to make since the trickster god’s arrival. One particular dream caught her eye, and she couldn’t help but smile. Pipsqueak, by far one of her favorite foals, was already dreaming about Nightmare Night again, sharing candy while also having fun with other ponies, herself being the focus.
“Aw, how cute. Looks like you’ve done well for yourself Lulu.”
“Yes, I suppose I-“
Luna stopped mid-sentence, realizing that she had not made herself known to Pipsqueak and that nopony should be talking to her. She turned her head to look to her side and saw Discord nonchalantly floating next to her, his trademark smirk on his face.
“W-Wha-mph!?” Luna tried to ask before having a rolled up parchment forced into her mouth.
“Give that to your sister, k thanks bye,” he quickly said before snapping and disappearing in a flash of light.
Luna spat out the letter. “What in-?”
“Wow!”
Luna turned back to the dream to see Pipsqueak hopping in joy as he gazed at her.
“Two Luna’s! This is the best Nightmare Night ever!” he shouted with glee.
“U-Um, indeed,” Luna stuttered. “W-What a surprise for me as well.”
“Let’s go Princess Lunas, the apple bobbing is starting!” Pipsqueak said before running off, the rest of his dream machinations following suit.
Luna hesitated a moment before following as well. What harm could come from indulging the young colt’s dream a bit?
“Still,” she muttered, “why did he dream about Discord doing that?”
--
Present…
Everypony just stared as Luna managed to recount her tale through her shaking and stuttering. Everypony, even Celestia, had their mouths hanging open in shock.
Discord simply smiled. “Your faces are priceless,” he stated, his tone full of glee.
“I feel… unclean,” Luna shuddered.
There was a moment wait before Celestia’s horn glowed with a magical aura and her eyes turned their cold and piercing gaze towards Discord. “You better have a phenomenal reason for doing all of this,” she threatened.
“Of course. You see Tia,” he began before placing the back of his claw against his forehead, striking a dramatic pose that would make Rarity proud. “I’m dying.”
The entire room went silent for a moment.
“What?” Twilight Sparkle finally asked.
“DISCORD! WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME!?” Fluttershy shouted, surprising everypony with the volume of her worried voice.
“I’m sorry Fluttershy, but there just wasn’t anything you could’ve done,” he stated in a still overly dramatic voice.
“B-But-!”
“You’re dying?” Celestia asked, no longer threatening the draconequus with magic, her expression now of sarcastic disbelief. “Of what, might I ask?”
“Oh, an absolutely terrible affliction! One I wouldn’t wish on anypony. Not even when I was trapped in that stone prison would I have even wished it upon you Tia! It’s that horrible!” he answered.
Celestia was a bit taken aback by that. Sure, she still didn’t completely believe him, but to say he wouldn’t even have wished it on her back when he was outright evil? That statement carried some weight to it.
“And just what would that be?” Celestia asked, a slight amount of worry in her voice.
Discord practically sprung forward, stopping only when his face was just inches from Celestia’s. “BOREDOM!” he shouted in a panicked voice.
There was a moment wait before the Princess of the Sun sighed, her face showing an utter lack of amusement. “Dying of boredom,” she stated. “Why did I think it would be anything else?”
“Oh, I completely understand,” Pinkie Pie interjected. “I couldn’t imagine how horrible it would be to bored all the time! I mean, what if I wasn’t able to have a good laugh!? Or worse, what if I wasn’t able to throw a party for somepony!? That would be awful!”
“Uh, sugarcube, nopony’s gonna stop ya from throwin’ them a party, so can we focus on what’s going on here if ya don’t mind?” Applejack politely asked after rolling her eyes.
“Okey dokey, lokey!”
“So you’re bored,” Celestia began. “Congratulations, Discord, you’ve found out how the rest of us live. What exactly do any of us have to do with this?”
“Plenty, but first I think I’d better explain how my boredom is different from your boredom,” Discord began, giving Celestia a condescending pat on the head.
Celestia rolled her eyes. “Enlighten us, please.”
“Of course. You see there’s quite a large difference between me being bored and you being bored in that you’re bored because you don’t have anything to do, while I’m bored because I can’t do the thing I want to do.”
“What do you mean ‘can’t’?” Celestia asked, her voice filled with worry.
“Well you see, as much as I’m enjoying myself now, I miss some of the things I did in the old days. The chaos, the manipulation, the twists and turns of trickery, the battle of wits. Maybe it’s just the nostalgia in me talking, but I happen to miss the days when I had someone to really compete against.”
Despite the nonthreatening tone of his voice almost everypony in the room responded as if the mad god was calling for a fight. Celestia, Luna, Twilight Sparkle and Rarity gathered magic in their horns, Applejack pawed at the ground and snorted, and Rainbow Dash took to the air, preparing to barrel down at the draconequus. The only two who didn’t react aggressively were Pinkie Pie, who was completely caught off guard at this turn of events, and Fluttershy, who gasped in terror at the scene before her.
“P-Please,” she stuttered. “Pl-lease, everyp-pony stop.”
“Discord, if you came here to tell us you are returning to your life of chaos and villany-“ Celestia began, her voice surprisingly angry.
“Oh come now Tia,” Discord interrupted, his smug smirk an island of calm in this sudden storm of aggression. “Do you really think I ‘d go through the trouble of getting myself an audience, waiting for the only ponies who could stop me to show up, and then announce some deviously evil plan right when I could be stopped?”
“It wouldn’t make sense, and that is your thing,” Celestia retorted.
“Now Tia, I thought you knew better,” he said, looking offended. “There’s a very big difference between not making sense and just being stupid.”
The tension held for a few moments more before, after exchanging glances between each other, Celestia and Luna backed off, dropping the spells they were preparing and assuming less threatening stances. The other ponies did the same soon afterwards.
“And what, may I ask, is keeping you from simply going back to your old self?” Celestia asked.
“Why, the same thing that got me to give it up in the first place!” he stated. Six flashes came and went, teleporting the six smaller mares in front of him and allowing him to hug them all at once. “Friends! We’re all friends, right girls?”
“Put me down before ah buck ya,” Applejack stated flatly.
“The best!” Discord said, his cheeriness not affected in the least by that threat. With another set of flashes the six ponies were put right back where they were before.
“So what? You want me to give you a Chaos pass? Allocate a time and a place for you to work off your desire for troublemaking?” the Sun Princess asked angrily.
Discord disappeared in a flash and reappeared next to her, draping one arm over her in a friendly manner. “Oh Tia, I’m disappointed in you. To think that I would ever suggest a solution that was so… orthodox.”
“So, what did you have in mind?”
“Sure, sure, I’ll explain,” he began, releasing his grip before floating some distance from her. “But first I’d like to ask you a question, Tia,” he continued, his expression calm but still unexpectedly serious. “You released me and wanted me reformed because you thought my magic could be used for good, yet even after I’ve taken up residence in Ponyville for about a year you’ve yet to ask anything of me. What exactly did you have in mind for me?”
Celestia looked a bit surprised by that question, something not helped by the fact that now everypony was staring at her. The Sun Princess closed her eyes and took a deep breath to relax before answering. “I intended you to be a failsafe for Equestria, an ultimate last resort. You have the power to alter reality itself and you’re one of the most intelligent and cunning beings in Equestria. Old threats, like King Sombra, have been returning. And who knows how many other new threats, like Queen Chrysalis and the Changelings, might be lying in wait.” Celestia opened her eyes before continuing, a look of regret clearly evident on her face. “Moreover, the invasion of Canterlot showed me how vulnerable we really are. Chrysalis’ schemes left her with enough power to defeat even me head on, and even the members of the Elements of Harmony failed. We escaped that disaster by the skin of our teeth thanks to Cadence and Shining Armor, and now they’re both off ruling the Crystal Empire.”
“So basically, you wanted me as giant reset button in case everything that could go wrong did go wrong,” Discord responded, summing up everything he’d heard.
“Well, I wouldn’t use such words, but yes.”
“Ugh,” Discord grunted, looking like he was about to gag. “That’s terrible! Honestly, Tia, I expected more from you! Did you really expect me to just wait around for everything to be ruined before acting? Really now, even I could think of a better plan than that!”
“Discord!” Fluttershy scolded, a surprising amount of anger in her voice. “You stop that right-!”
“And, as it just so happens,” he continued, his expression changing to one of smug satisfaction. “I have.”
For what felt like the hundredth time that day, everypony else fell silent and stared in disbelief.
“Pardon?” Luna asked.
Discord chuckled before teleporting over to Rainbow Dash. “Prepare to pay up, Rainbow.”
“’Pay up?’” the cyan pegasus asked, clearly confused.
“Don’t you remember our bet?”
“’Our bet?’ What be-“ Rainbow asked again before realization cut off her sentence. “Wait, that bet? But I didn’t bet anything!”
“Au contraire, my little pegasus, you bet your pride, and that’s worth plenty to me.”
“Rainbow Dash, just what is this bet he is referring to?” Princess Luna asked.
The rainbow maned pony hesitated for a moment before scratching the back of her head in embarrassment. “Uh, well, ya see it was about a week ago. I didn’t really think much of it at the time, but I bet that Discord couldn’t do anything outright good for anypony even if he tried.”
“And you intend to prove her… wrong?” Celestia asked the master of disharmony in disbelief.
Discord chuckled before floating up into the air. “Can I get a drum roll please!?” he shouted dramatically.
Pinkie Pie responded by pulling out a drum and a pair of drumsticks from who knows where.
“Pinkie Pie!” Twilight, Rainbow, and Applejack shouted.
“He said ‘please’,” the pink mare responded.
The other three mares simply groaned and rolled their eyes as Pinkie began.
“And here! We! GO!” Discord shouted, before spinning in mid-air, his body making the shape of a circle as he went. As he continued his own body began to shine brighter and brighter until finally there was a bright burst of light that everypony had to shield their eyes from. Despite this Pinkie Pie perfectly timed the end of her drum roll to this. Once the light settled down everypony looked to see a floating neon sign, the words “Discord’s Villain Reform Program” flashing in rainbow lights, with Discord’s own body as a picture made from neon tubes at the end.
“Tada!” he proclaimed, an unsettling notion as he was now a simply a collection of glowing lines.
“’Villain Reform Program’?” Celestia asked, completely confused.
Discord returned to his old form in a flash, the neon sign disappearing as he did.
“Oh Tia! You can read!” he exclaimed with condescending joy. “I’m so proud of you!”
“Discord,” Celestia began, her expression harsh and annoyed.
Discord snapped his claw and made a dog treat. “You want a snack girl? You want a snack?” he asked as if he was talking to a pet.
“Discord, could you at least be serious long enough to get your own point-?“
“Get the snack!” he shouted throwing it up into the air.
To everypony’s utter surprise Celestia’s mouth opened, seemingly against her will, and her tongue shot out extending a good few yards into the air to wrap around the treat, pulling it in and swallowing it in one swift movement. All of this happened over the course of a second.
Everypony simply stared, all of them wearing expressions of surprise and horror, none more than Celestia herself.
“P-Princess?” Twilight asked hesitantly.
“Sister?” Luna asked equally worried.
It was another minute or so before Celestia responded. “Well,” she began, trying to sound as normal as possible. “That was thoroughly horrifying.”
“Priceless,” Discord said with a satisfied smile.
“Discord!” Fluttershy scolded, being the first to fully recover.
“Ok, ok, I’m done,” he sighed. “Now, down to business.”
“Y-Yes, indeed,” Luna stuttered with her reply, trying to return to a more professional tone. “Explain this idea you have.”
“With pleasure. Fluttershy!” Discord shouted, pointing to the pink maned pegasus before teleporting over to her. “What exactly did we talk about last week?”
“L-Last week?” the shy mare stuttered.
“Yes, one week, exactly, seven days, what were we talking about?”
“Um… Well, there was Pinkie Pie talking about how to feed Angel Bunny more carrots.”
“Later than that.”
“Well, then there were those pranks you played on the others.”
“Which I’m still having nightmares about, thank you very much!” Rarity cut in.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Discord rolled his eyes and waved his paw dismissively. “Keep going.”
“Then there was when you apolo-“
“Yes, yes, after that!” Discord said quickly.
A smirk crept onto Flutterhsy’s face when she noticed the slight blush on Discord’s. She found it cute that he was embarrassed about having apologized to her. She decided to simply let it go and continue. “Well, then we were talking about when Twilight…”
Fluttershy stopped and her eyes began to widen in realization as Discord’s smile grew. “Yes?”
“…When Twilight defeated Trixie when she came back.”
“That’s it! That’s the one!” Discord shouted enthusiastically.
“Wait, what does Trixie have to do with this?” Twilight Sparkle asked.
“Oh it has less to with her, and more to do with you,” the draconequus asked, teleporting over to the violet alicorn and wrapping his clawed arm around her neck in a similar manner to what he did with Celestia.
“W-What do you mean?” she asked, obviously uncomfortable with the physical contact.
“I’m talking about how you beat her, Sparkle. Ingenious, really. Using some paint and family resemblance for “age changing” and “gender changing” spells. Simple, yet very effective. You may have the makings of a real trickster yet.”
“…Your approval fills me with shame.”
“Oh, don’t be like that. Besides you don’t anything to be ashamed about do you? You helped liberate Ponyville from a magic-crazed tyrant, and you did it by beating her at her own game. And you even got her to apologize after it was all said and done.”
“Heh, I guess it was pretty cool,” Twilight said, an embarrassed blush forming on her cheeks for a moment before she slipped back into a more antagonistic front. “B-But that’s beside the point! What does this have to this idea of yours?”
“Hm. Looks like for all your reading you aren’t very quick on the uptake, Sparkle,” Discord began, releasing the violet alicorn before floating a bit away. “You, Sparkle, have given me a wonderful idea on how to do some good in this world, and still get plenty of fun while I’m at it! After all, if you were able to trick a corrupted showmare into removing her own source of power, imagine what a pro trickster like me can do!”
“Wait a moment Discord,” Luna began. “You intend to use your skill in manipulation in order to reform others? That was your plan?”
“Is there a problem?”
“’A problem’?! Do you really expect us to simply allow you to go off on your own anywhere in the world and interact with any number of beings that you could recruit to cause chaos and mayhem, and expect us to believe your intent is to reform them!?” Celestia asked, shouting in exasperation.
“Of course not,” Discord said simply.
Celestia’s mouth hung open for a moment. “THEN WHAT WAS THE POINT OF-!?”
“Fluttershy’s coming with me!”
“I-I am?” the shy pegasus asked.
Before she had a chance to react Fluttershy was teleported into Discord’s arms. “Of course! Who better?” said giving her a friendly noogie. “Tia and Lulu would never let me go off on my own, but I don’t think they’d mind sending me off with the very mare who reformed me as my ‘parole officer’. That and I could use some company and somepony to bounce ideas off of.”
“U-Um, well-“
“Besides,” Discord continued, holding the peagasus out towards the two alicorn sisters. “How could they resist these faces?” he finished, adding his own sad-puppy face to compliment Fluttershy’s nervous cuteness.
Celesita and Luna exchanged glances for a moment, unsure of what to say. Discord had clearly thought this out, even picking out somepony to watch over him and make sure he stayed in line.
“Ignoring the question of whether or not you’ll stick to your word, there is also the question of what methods you would use in this scheme of yours,” Celestia argued. “Even for the sake of the safety of Equestria there are certain things we will not permit.”
“Like?”
“Brainwashing, for one,” Luna said.
“Pfft. Please, there’s no way I’d do that. It’d ruin the challenge.”
“Um, you did use it on me before though,” Fluttershy muttered.
Discord goaned. “Ok, ok, so I did have a bit of rage quit moment there, but it won’t be happening again. Like I said, I’m looking forward to a battle of wits like in the old days.”
“Moreover,” Celestia continued, “there is the question of coercion.”
“Well, I can’t promise there won’t be any of that, but certainly nothing long term. And before you complain, don’t forget that when you had me released you gave the six of the Elements back their jewelry in case anything got out of hoof.”
Celestia and Luna were quiet, as was everypony else. Obviously Discord had not spent his week simply waiting around.
“He’s surely thought of a way to refute every argument we could make,” Luna whispered to her older sister.
Celestia groaned for a moment and closed her eyes in thought. After a moment she opened her eyes and smirked. “It would seem so, but this might not be as distressing as we’re making it out to be,” she answered back.
“What do you mean, sister?”
Celestia’s smirk widened as she trotted towards Discord, stopping about a yard from him. “Alright Discord. Assuming you truly intend to use your powers and skills for the purpose you propose, and with the restrictions you have so graciously given, you have a deal.”
“WHAT!?” Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight Sparkle shouted.
“Sister!?” Luna yelled.
“YAHOO!” Discord shouted in glee, tossing Fluttershy into the air and doing a backflip, thankfully remembering to catch the startled mare on the way down.
“With one amendment,” Celestia said.
“Ugh, WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?” Discord whined.
Celestia chuckled at the foalish complaint before continuing. “I want you to prove this little project of yours would be worth my time.”
Discord stopped for a moment before gently putting Fluttershy back on the floor. “Come again?” he asked, surprisingly serious.
Celestia’s smirk widened. She knew she had him now, and even if he knew it as well he certainly couldn’t help himself. “You heard me. You’re undoubtedly one of the world’s more cunning and crafty beings, but perhaps your time has passed. You were outdone by a simple mare who had nothing to her name but boundless kindness, and as you’ve already stated my student and her friends have already pulled off some impressive tricks. Despite your generous proposal, it seems like it’s hardly necessary.”
Discord snapped and summoned a candy cane. He placed it between his teeth and inhaled, the red lines on the confectionary treat receding as he did. He snorted and red smoke came out of his nostrils.
“They’re amateurs,” he said plainly. “They can’t do what I can.”
Celestia’s eyes narrowed. “Prove it.”
Discord inhaled again before eating the now completely white candy cane in one bite. He leaned in towards the Princess of the Sun, inches from her face, before snorting and exhaling a red puff right at her. To her credit, Celestia didn’t flinch.
“What’ve you got in mind?” he asked, his own trademark smirk appearing to match Celestia’s.
The alicorn princess backed off, turning away and taking a few steps from him. Her smirk still held.
“I want you to reform somepony that you think only you could. I want you to complete a task that you feel that not I, nor my sister, nor the Elements of Harmony could complete. That is my condition. If you can meet it, then I will sign off on your little ‘reform program.’” She turned to face the draconequus, her expression practically dripping with confidence. “I want you to impress me.”
Discord merely stood there for a moment before stroking his beard in a thoughtful manner. After a few moments of this he snapped and summoned a straw, a bag of popcorn, and a carton of milk. He pulled open the milk carton and reached in, snacking on solidified pieces of milk while using the straw to drink the popcorn. Discord strolled around the grand hall in thought, alternating between eating his drink and drinking his food for a few moments before he suddenly stopped in his tracks. He appeared to be in deep thought for a good minute and just stood there pondering. Soon enough his mouth widened into a truly terrifying smirk as he turned to the white alicorn.
“I think I’ve got just the one in mind,” he said in a dark tone before letting loose a maniacally evil laugh and disappearing in a flash.
“Sister, what have you unleashed?” Luna asked with a worried expression.
Celestia simply turned to her younger sibling with a comforting smile. “With any luck, the greatest asset Equestria and the world has ever had.”