"Rainbow Dash, if you cannot maintain the patience needed to complete this task, then I'd rather you simply leave it alone. I can find another pegasus to assist me if you're truly in that much of a hurry."
Rarity rubbed her temples as she attempted to calm herself. All she'd asked her friend to do was hang up a few decorations for the sale she was having at her boutique. It wasn't like she was asking Rainbow to give her shop a complete redesign, yet still the pony managed to mess it up.
Rainbow Dash finished adjusting a sign that she'd spent the last ten minutes trying to straighten, constantly shifting it at the request of an unsatisfied Rarity.
"Pfft, patience has nothin' to do with it. There isn't a pegasus pony in all of Equestria who can hang up decorations the exact way you want them! So I guess the only way you're getting this done is if you grow wings and do it yourself." Dash replied.
"Of course," she grinned. "We all know what happened the last time you had wings."
Rarity's face turned red, both out of embarrassment and anger, as she looked down at the ground. "Why do ponies have to keep bringing that up?"
"Anyways, I'd be able to do this a lot faster if that stupid cloud wasn't still on the loose." she grimaced, looking at the floating bane of her existence as it hovered over a nearby tree. "It's like that thing has a mind of its own!"
Rarity squinted her eyes, examining the dark puffball. "It looks like a normal cloud to me."
"Yeah you say that now, but every time I get near that thing it dissipates, only to reappear somewhere else in town. I've gotten like eight complaints from ponies saying it zapped their butts or something like that."
"Well why don't you just ask Twilight for some assistance? I'm sure she could use her magic to get rid of that annoyance." Rarity suggested, pulling more decorations out of a bag and studying them. "Which of these would look better on the second floor balcony?"
Before Rainbow Dash could make a sarcastic response, a panting Discord came skidding around the corner of a nearby street. Not even bothering to address the two ponies, he continued on past the boutique and out of sight. Rarity stared at the direction Discord had gone.
"I wonder what that was all about."
Rainbow Dash shrugged. "Meh, who cares? Discord's always up to some nonsense."
"Indeed." Rarity nodded, going back to her decorating. She lifted a ribbon up with her magic and tied it around one of the columns that lined her shop. Rainbow Dash observed this, and then something clicked in her head.
"Hey, why do you even need my help putting up these decorations when you can just lift them up with your magic?"
"Well aside from the fact that I didn't really feel like putting all these up by myself, I figured it would give you something to do." she answered, tying another ribbon.
"What? There's like a thousand things I could be doing right now, all of which are more important than this!" Rainbow Dash argued.
Rarity snickered and rolled her eyes. "Oh? Name one-"
"Napping." she quickly said, already prepared for the question.
"Okay miss smarty pants. That was one, what about the other nine hundred and ninety-nine?"
A crack of thunder caused both ponies to jump. Rainbow glared at the nearby cloud as it started to rain on Carrot Top's carrot top. The cyan pegasus raced over to the cloud, which promptly dissipated well before she could get close.
She growled, returning to the boutique in defeat. "Okay, reason number two; discovering the mystery of that darn cloud!"
"Oh please. Don't tell me you still haven't figured it out." Rarity laughed.
"Huh?" Rainbow replied, confused.
"Well I think it's quite obvious that everypony's favorite draconequus is responsible for that mischievous happening."
Rainbow's eyes narrowed. "I'm gonna kick that no good snake so hard in the flank... or I guess somewhere in his tail area... er... well he's gonna be sorry, that's for sure!"
Wasting no time, the pegasus took off into the air with a whoosh. She left nothing but a dust cloud and a ticked off unicorn in her wake.
"Hey! You can't just leave in the middle of this, Ms. Loyalty!" Rarity screamed in vain. Ms. Loyalty was already well out of earshot.
The only other creature that remained was the brooding figure that had just arrived, casting an eerie shadow over the perturbed pony. Rarity turned to see what was blocking her light.
After getting a good look at the obstruction, the unicorn promptly sucked in a lungful of air, and screamed.
* * *
What had happened? What had he just witnessed? What had he just experienced? By Celestia, had he almost died!? Ocraten was back in Equestria! How had that happened? He had made clear guidelines with The Keepers. They had promised him an eternity. An eternity! The Keepers held their word in the highest regard. Such loyalty was something completely alien to him, but he had relied on it when they made the deal. Ocraten would be locked away in the deepest pit of Tartarus for eternity. He kept going over the agreement in his head, seeing if there was perhaps something he'd missed, but the terms were clear.
Discord passed the last remaining houses of Ponyville as he made his way out of the town. He would occasionally try his powers, hoping whatever foul magic that suppressed them would fade.
No such luck.
Without his powers, the spirit didn't stand much of a chance against one of the most powerful demon kings in existence. Even with his powers, all he could have done was run and hide. That's what he was doing right now, of course, but it would have been a heckuva lot easier with teleportation. The old fashioned way was kind of a drag.
As his mind wandered onto the subject of running, a burning in his chest alerted him that his lungs wouldn't take much more of it. Hesitantly, he slowed to a brisk walk, catching his breath and looking behind him.
Ponyville seemed as peaceful as ever, a strange sight considering the evil that now walked its streets. In his mind's eye, Discord could easily see flames sprouting up and an army of dark creatures leveling the town. Ocraten wouldn't let it stay standing for long, especially since Twilight had taken direct action against him. That was a big no no.
A pang of guilt stuck him at that moment. The draconequus still couldn't believe Twilight had saved his life. He knew she wasn't a fan of him. Discord had ruined her day on more than one occasion, passive aggressively tormenting her and her friends, sans Fluttershy. The fact that she forcefully stayed Ocraten's blade had truly taken the spirit aback.
Oh please, you idiot. She didn't do it because she considers you a friend. She did it because it was the "right" thing to do. If she'd known what Ocraten was capable of, she would have gladly watched as that big black oaf spilled your blood all over the street.
Discord's brow furrowed. His inner voice was probably right. Twilight would do anything if she thought it would please her dear Princess Celestia. After all, it was only on Celetia's request that they let him out of his stone imprisonment and attempted to reform him in the first place, and the only reason she requested it was so she could use his powers for her own personal gains.
No, the only pony he could really call his friend was Fluttershy. She was the only one who genuinely cared about him, even when he wasn't the kindest to her. That's where he would go; to the only pony who cared.
The draconequus hung a left and entered the woods. It was only a short distance to the yellow pegasus' cottage, and she'd be able to help him out. Discord picked up the pace, though. Ocraten would no doubt be looking for him, and without his powers, time was not on his side.
* * *
The cloud reappeared in another part of the town, like it had done many times that day. The cyan pegasus had been chasing it around for quite some time, and t had to admire her tenacity.
Ponies... they always freaked out when they couldn't micromanage every little thing.
What? A single cloud couldn't float around without everypony throwing a fit? It seemed like the Everfree Forest was the only place a cloud could enjoy the freedom of raining, thundering, and lightning, free of persecution.
Though it did have some fun times in Canterlot. That city was a riot when something didn't go according to plan. Those ponies in the skintight suits and funny goggles freaked out like nopony's business when they failed to catch it. They had to call on one of the bigger ponies to handle the disruption, the darker one with the moon on its butt and a bad attitude. It had found evading that pony to be quite entertaining. This smaller town offered entertainment as well, but not to that degree.
The cloud now floated over three of Equestria's more important ponies, the ones that had seemed to take it upon themselves to save Equestria every now and then. It wondered if they would be able to step up to the plate once more. With the kind of stuff that was coming, they would need to be on their A-game if they hoped to keep their kingdom intact.
If the cloud had a mouth, it would be grinning, but it instead opted to thunder a bit, which would sound like laughter to anypony close enough to hear it. However, it was high enough in the sky where no other conscious thing was within earshot. Suddenly though, it felt compelled to go lower, closer to the three ponies. It figured they must have been saying something important, otherwise it wouldn't have had such a strong urge to eavesdrop.
Stealthily, the cluster of water vapor and sinister thoughts got closer to the trio of heroes as they continued their conversation. Soon the voices became clear enough for it to understand. It quickly started to ingest the information, absorbing it into its being and savoring what it heard.
"And just what in the hay were ya thinkin', Twi!?"