“What, exactly,” asked Twilight, pointing at the mess of silk, wood, birdseed and dragonequus nest to her, “is this?”
“It's a dragonequus.” said Discord, quietly, dusting himself off.
“Are we gonna get in trouble?” asked Scootaloo, nervously.
“Well, you just saved Celestia from a future filled with cake.” said Discord. “You might get a small medal or something. Or maybe not, given how much she likes cake.”
“Well, you did manage to head off a significant catastrophe.” said Twilight. “I think you deserve milkshakes, at the very least. I'm just... curious. What was the aim of all this?”
The Cutie Mark Crusaders glanced back and forth between themselves. After a few moments, Applebloom opened her mouth.
“Well...” she began.
“We were kind of trying to get our cutie marks.” said Sweetie Belle.
“So we had this really awesome idea!” added Scootaloo.
“I've tried hang-gliding already, but Sweetie and Scootaloo haven't.” said Applebloom.
“Only we didn't have a hang-glider.” continued Sweetie Belle. “So we decided to make one ourselves.”
“And we modelled it after the most awesomest pegasus in Ponyville!” said Scootaloo, triumphantly. “Rainbow Dash!”
“'Awesomest' isn't a word.” objected Sweetie Belle.
“Yes it is!” argued Scootaloo.
“No, it isn't!” objected Sweetie, unwilling to concede the point.
“Girls!” interrupted Twilight. “Alright, you decided to make a hang-glider. Then what?”
“Oh, right.” said Scootaloo. “Then we got Dash to show of some of her gliding for us! Well, for me. I took lots of notes! Wing position, steering, all that sort of thing!”
“And wing size and shape?” asked Twilight.
“Nah,” said Scootaloo, “I had all that already.”
“But when Dash heard what we were doin',” continued Applebloom, “she made us promise to test our glider with a dummy first, to make sure it flew right.”
“And she made us promise not to try it ourselves unless she was right there to catch us in case it didn't work.” said Sweetie Belle.
“So we made a dummy and stuffed it with birdseed.” said Scootaloo.
“And where did that birdseed come from?” asked Fluttershy.
There was a long silence.
“Ummmmm... we were going to give it back when we were done?” said Sweetie Belle, hesitantly.
“And this silk,” said Discord, tapping it, “it must be the silk that Rarity was missing.”
“Oh, yeah.” said Sweetie Belle. “I got that.”
“An' Ah got some bits o' wood from the farm.” said Applebloom.
“Alright, so that's where the hang-glider came from.” said Twilight. “But how did you launch it? Hang-gliders only go down, unless there's a thermal...”
“It's not the right weather for thermals.” pointed out Fluttershy, quietly.
“Oh.” said Applebloom. “Ah built a trebuchet. There were plans in that library book that Sweetie got this mornin'...”
“And then we launched it up,” said Sweetie Belle, “and it actually glided for a bit!”
“Only then it wobbled.” said Scootaloo. “An' it kinda slipped sideways a notch. An' then it dived an' we were worried it was gonna hit somepony...”
“An' then it did!” wailed Applebloom. “An' we really didn' mean for it to, an' it was all an accident, an' we were just trying to get our cutie marks in hang-glider makin'!”
“There, there.” said Discord, weaving his serpentine body in between the Crusaders. “I'm the only one who got hit, and really, I'm very thankful for it. In a way, you've released me, from an extremely uncomfortable trap. It's not the first time the three of you have released me either, now, is it? In fact, I find myself quite significantly indebted to the three of you. Tell me... what is it, before all else, that you would want?”
“OUR CUTIE MARKS!” yelled all three Crusaders, simultaneously.
“Really?” asked Discord. “A meaningless picture on your flank? I can do that.”
“Cutie marks aren't meaningless!” objected Applebloom. “They tell you what your destiny is!”
“Your special talent!” added Sweetie Belle.
“What you're really good at!” said Scootaloo. “They're full of meaning!”
“Really?” asked Discord. “What a pity, the only pictures I can do are the meaningless ones. You can do the same yourself, actually, with a bit of food colouring and a tiny paintbrush.”
“Ah... never thought of that.” said Applebloom.
“But... then how can we get our cutie marks?” asked Sweetie Belle
“Oh, that's easy.” said Discord. “Your cutie mark will appear, the moment that you find out what it means.”
Twilight laughed softly. “Come on,” she said, “I'll treat everyone to milkshakes at Sugarcube Corner. And then I'll get more birdseed for Fluttershy, and wood for Applejack, and silk for Rarity.”
Discord let Twilight and Fluttershy lead the way, and then fell back and whispered to the Crusaders. “I'll give you a little something that should help.” he said, producing a notepad out of nowhere. “A little piece of magic. Anything you draw in this notepad, if you just tear the page out -” Discord demonstrated by quickly sketching a hang-glider and ripping out the page - “will become real.” He placed the brand-new hang-glider in the Crusader's cart.
“Cooooooool!” chorused the Crusaders.
“And,” continued Discord, “it will never run out of pages. There are just two limitations.”
“And those are?” asked Sweetie Belle, cautiously.
“Firstly,” said Discord, “it'll only ever work for the three of you. And me, of course, but that's all. No-one else.”
“Ooooooooh.” said the three fillies together.
“And secondly,” said Discord, “you can't use it to create living beings. If you try to draw somepony -” he demonstrated with a quick sketch of himself - “all you'll get is a doll, or a stuffed toy, or something like that.”
He tossed the stuffed Discord toy into the cart next to the hang-glider, and the notebook in after it.
“It works great for sketching milkshakes, though.” he added, with a wink.