//------------------------------//
// (Original Epilogue) 
// Story: An Unexpected Inclination 
// by Stryke 
//------------------------------//

The loosely held together collection of magic that had been a Pinkie Pie drifted slowly over Everfree Forest. Her—if she could still be called a her—instincts had called for her to return to the mirror pool that had created her. The way in had been completely blocked off, and now she floated aimlessly. She had been so close, she thought to herself, so close. If she could have laughed she would. If only the real Pinkie, and Twilight with her stupid horn, hadn't chosen that moment to turn up she could have done it all over again. Maybe Pinkie's uncanny sense of timing really hadn't been something that she'd inherited back when she'd first emerged. 

Just when all thought had nearly vanished, she found direction anew. It wasn't like the mirror pool's irresistible call, but it was in some ways oddly similar, and she slowly flowed towards the lost castle of the royal sisters. She drifted through the long abandoned archway, through the halls with their newly restored banners, and upwards as whatever it was called to her. 

"Oh Celestia, you are just too much," Discord said, as he read through the ancient millennia old diary, and rolled around on his serpentine back chuckling to himself. "To think that you'd do that to one of your very own former students. Maybe I rubbed off on you more than I thought."

"Daddy?" the magic whispered, no more than a slightest movement in the still air. She wasn't sure how she knew that she was looking at her ultimate creator, but she knew. 

The draconequus' ears perked up, and he looked around the room. "Hmm..." he mused to himself. "Normally it's me who is the voice in the dark, not the other way round. Curious." 

She moved closer, feeling herself grow stronger by the moment. 

Discord raised an eyebrow, and snapped his fingers together. There was a pop of pure chaos and the Pinkie Pie landed flat on her face in front of him. 

Discord snorted with laughter. "Pinkie, Pinkie, Pinkie, have you been getting into places where you shouldn't?"

"Yes!" the Pinkie said, and grinned in pure exultation. "I'll get back there straight away. This time I'll be more careful, I swear."

"Slow down," Discord said, placing a leonine paw on the clone's head. "I enjoy a bit of randomness as, well, more than anything, now I think about it, and I do recognise you as coming from that old mirror pool of mine, but just what are you talking about?"

"I've been fermenting discord in Ponyville," the Pinkie said, and snapping to attention. "I had no idea that was what I was there for, but it was, wasn't it?" she asked, nearly as eager as a puppy. 

"Highly commendable, young one," Discord said, snapping his fingers and causing a gold star to appear on the pink furry chest. "Not that I should approve of that sort of thing anymore. Tut tut," he added, "and don't let me catch you doing it again."

The Pinkie grinned. "Do you want me to tell you about it?"

"Why not," Discord said, and snapped the book close. "Celestia's mishaps, while terribly amusing, can certainly wait a while."

She started to relate her tale, starting from when Pinkie had first broken into the cave, the chaos the Pinkie horde had caused, the casual mayhem that she'd wreaked about Canterlot's high society, up to her return and replacing the original Pinkie while she was away. "And then..." She laughed so hard, moisture was forming in her eyes. She was so happy to have made her creator proud. "And then I made Fluttershy cry!"

There was a terrible moment of silence, as the entirety of the Everfree forest felt the change in the wind, and promptly held their breath for the inevitable storm. 

Discord swelled in size until he was coiled round the entire room, filling it entirely apart from space left for one small pink pony that he glared down at with a face of stone. "You did WHAT?!"

It had been a nice sunny day up to that point, but then lightning struck the tower above them, exploding it entirely, and thunder rolled. 

"Err..." the Pinkie said, shaking in place and wondering just what she'd done other than what she was supposed to.

"Give me one reason that I shouldn't obliterate you right now," Discord snarled in the voice that proclaimed the judgement of civilisations, as raw power surged in his eyes. 

The Pinkie stared upwards, unable to think of anything. Then she finally gasped out, "She was kissing another pony, and seemed really happy about it!"

There was an echoing slithering sound and Discord was back to his normal size. "Oh, really?" he said drolly. "Good for her, it's not right to stay cooped up with that rabbit all the time." He paused. "I will have to check in with this pony to ensure she's suitable for my good friend of course. That's just what a friend would do," he said, a little uncertainly. "I think."

"Can I go now?" she asked hopefully. 

"I don't see why not," Discord said, and yawned. "How does Thestralia sound to you?" He clicked his fingers once and a hat with corks attached to it appeared on the pink pony's head. He clicked his fingers once more, there was a flash of magic, and she was gone. 

"I really should clean up some of my old creations some time," he mused to himself, as he soured upwards out of the castle. "Or maybe not." Loud ringing laughter echoed over the forest as the spirit of chaos headed straight to Fluttershy's cottage.