“Twilight?” The little blond pony whispered. “Twilight? Please wake up.” Derpy was sitting down next to an unconscious Twilight Sparkle. She was doing her very best to ignore the chaos that was going on around her. She had covered her ears in a set of earmuffs that she had lying around her house and tried her very hardest to keep her eyes locked on Twilight’s body lest she see the ponies fighting and arguing in the background. She didn’t know what exactly happened to all of her friends but she had an idea that it had something to do with that big scary lizard thingy. She really didn’t like him, especially when he threatened to crush her. How mean could one lizard-thingy get?
Luckily she had been transported back into the safety of her house. She didn’t know who exactly had done such a feat but she was sure glad that it had happened. It also gave her time to get her muffs as well as her first aid kit for Twilight Sparkle. The poor unicorn looked terrible and she wasn’t responding to any of Derpy’s treatments. Derpy was beginning to lose all hope in her friend ever waking up. “Please don’t sleep forever,” Derpy whimpered. “Come on. Wake up.” She nudged Twilight’s cheek again as the tears began to well up in her eyes. “Don’t leave me alone with all these angry ponies.”
The sound of claws scratching ground caught her attention. She positioned herself over Twilight’s body while staring out into the haze. “Don’t worry, Twilight. I won’t let anypony hurt you. I promise.”
What came out of the smoky haze was no pony. It was another one of those strange lizard-thingys. This was different than the last but that didn’t mean that Derpy could trust it. She watched as the creature walked through the town square towards where Princess Luna was laying. “Stay away from her!” Derpy commanded but the creature paid her no mind. She wanted to rush on over to keep the monster away from the Princess but if she did, who would protect Twilight? Derpy felt a soft whine of frustration rise up from the depths of her throat. How she wished she could split into two Derpys in order to protect both ponies.
The lizard thingy ran a single claw over the Princess’s cheek. Derpy bit her bottom lip, positive that the monster was going to do something terrible. Instead, Princess Luna let out a soft groan and her wounds began to close. “What did you do?” Derpy asked in awe.
The beast looked back to Derpy. He snapped his claws together and a muffin appeared on a little plate. “Eat this,” He hissed. His voice sounded sore as if he had been screaming. “It’s good for you.” There was a strange smile upon the beast’s mouth that worried Derpy but she saw that he had healed the Pricness so she guessed that it was alright to trust him. He didn’t seem as scary as the other lizard-thing.
“Is it blueberry?” She asked while sniffing the muffin.
“Is there any other kind?” The beast asked with a grin.
“Oh sure!” Derpy exclaimed. “There’s boysenberry, strawberry, walnut, almond, banana, chocolate, chocolate chip, vanilla with chocolate sprinkles, coffee…” she continued to prattle on even as the creature snapped its claws and disappeared. Once she had finished the list of the known muffins, she smiled to the one the monster had left behind. “And this one is blueberry!” she chirped while taking a bite out of it. After finishing her muffin, she felt her eyelids grow very heavy. She stumbled off of Twilight before curling up upon the ground. It had been a very unusual day for little Derpy Hooves and it was time for a well deserved nap.
An hour later found Discord in the palace gardens. He had just finished creating a replica of himself out of marble and was in the middle of placing it onto a pedestal when a familiar presence made itself known. “Ah.” He said while setting the statue down. “I was wondering when you’d show up. Tell me, how does Celestia fare?”
“She has no memory of what happened," Luna responded. She stared at Discord for several seconds, then; "Why did you do this?” Princess Luna whispered. She looked over her shoulder. The skies were the brightest blue with normal, white fluffy clouds floating in the air. The birds were singing and in the distance they could hear the laughter and chatter of ponies. It was as if nothing had ever happened.
Discord adjusted his statue. “You know,” He mused. “Your ponies really did not capture me in the most flattering of positons.” He ran a claw over his stony cheek. “I should have struck a more interesting pose.” He shook his head with a smile. “Who would have guessed that little Twilight Sparkle would be able to break free from my spell?” He turned round to face Luna. “So, you want to know why I restored your precious little Ponyville?”
Luna stared into his eyes. For the first time in over a thousand years she was looking at him with an emotion other than hatred. It reminded Discord of a simpler, more entertaining time. “You could have left. There was no reason to save everypony.”
“Do you know why I fought against Anarchy?” Discord asked. He flipped his paw around summoning a wine glass full of chocolate milk. He gazed into it as he swirled the liquid around in slow lazy circles.
“Because it was the right thing to do?”
Discord laughed. “What is wrong and what is right is all subjective.” He took a sip of his drink. “No, I fought Anarchy because he played with my toys without my permission.” He smirked. “Then he broke them.” Discord shook his head slowly. “That is just plain rude. No one should ever destroy the toys of another.”
Luna’s expression fell. “That’s it? That’s the only reason because he broke your toys?”
“Yes.” Discord chuckled. “Were you expected a more noble response?”
“Maybe, but I guess I forgot whom I was talking too.”
“Perhaps you did.” Discord approached the Princess and ran a finger down the side of her face. “Or perhaps you continue to see things in me that just don’t exist?” His smile was unpleasant. “Our playtime has come to an end, Luna. I have new ponies to entertain myself with. The sooner you accept that, the better.”
Luna pulled away from his touch. “Do you think I will just let you waltz on out of here? To allow you to escape would be condemning my citizens to your madness. I will not allow that to happen.”
“We both know that you cannot stop me,” Discord commented. He finished the rest of his milk and threw the glass over his shoulder where it exploded. “The reign of you and your sister is coming to an end. Eventually you’ll be forced to pass the throne along to a much more deserving pony and when you do,” Discord smiled. “I will be there to play with them but until that time, there is an entire world full of toys that are just dying to be used.” He walked past Luna who refused to face him. “Ta-ta…” he whispered.
“Discord,” She said. “Why did you do it?”
Discord kept his back to Luna as he answered. “What fun is chaos,” he whispered in a very serious tone. “If there is nopony around to appreciate it?” With that, he vanished leaving Luna alone with her thoughts, and her memories.
One Week Later
“Spike? Spike! Where are you?”
“Down here, Twilight.” Spike the Dragon called out. “What’s wrong?”
“Rainbow Dash’s birthday party is coming up and I am running late!” She was sitting in front of her bedroom mirror trying to brush her mane.
“Well, what do you need me for?”
“I need you to wrap her present!” She levitated the newest edition of Sherlock Hooves off her nightstand and sent it down to Spike.
“Oh Twilight,” Spike sighed. He took the book out of the air and began to hunt down some wrapping paper. “You are usually so organized. What happened?”
“I keep having these weird dreams,” she growled at her mane as it refused to stay down. “More like nightmares, really. I’ve been having them ever since last week and they are driving me crazy.” She finally got her mane the way she liked it. “There,” she snorted at the mirror. “It’s about time.” She wandered downstairs to help spike wrap Dash’s book. “But it seems like they are going away. I didn’t wake up in the middle of the night this time.”
“What are the dreams about?”
Twilight frowned. “I really don’t remember but they seem so real at the time. Whatever they are about I know that they are just figments of my imagination and the less time I spend thinking about them, the faster they’ll go away.” She nodded in approval as the finished wrapping the present. “There. Now let’s hurry! If we run, we’ll be able to make it nice and early.”
Spike’s jaw dropped. “Early?”
“Of course!” Twilight gave him a look. “Do you know how uncool it is to arrive on time? I want to get there as early as possible to help Dash set up for all the other ponies.” She grinned. Spike slapped his claws against his forehead. “Oh Twilight,” he groaned.
Together the two of them stepped out of the library. They traveled through the town square, enjoying the beautiful day. “The sun sure feels nice,” Twilight commented. Spike wasn’t paying attention. He was busying himself with trying to catch a quick nap while lying on Twilight’s back.
Twilight trotted through the center of town. She waved to all of her friends, feeling unusually happy to see them all. It was as if somewhere in the back of her mind she was reminding herself to appreciate every friend as if they were family. Of course that was just plain silly. Why shouldn’t she consider these ponies her family? They were the best…
Something unusual caught her eye. She was passing a newspaper stand and one of the headlines read:
Chocolate Rain Storm expected in Northern Manehattan
“Spike?” Twilight bucked the little dragon off her back. “Wake up!”
“Huh?” groaned Spike. “What’s is it this time?”
“Look!” She pointed her hoof towards the newspaper.
“So what?” Spike shrugged. “I don’t care if the Harlem Globe Trotters won another game. You know I don’t like sports.”
“No!” She looked back towards the paper. “I’m talking about…” she trailed off. There was no headline about chocolate rain or Manehattan, instead the article was about the Harlem Globe Trotters and their latest victory. Twilight frowned. “But I swear I saw…”
“Twilight,” Spike brushed himself off. “I think you are more tired than you realize.”
She blinked her purple eyes. “Perhaps your right.” She chuckled nervously. “For a second I thought…” She shook her head. “Nope! The sooner I forget about these things, the sooner the nightmares will stop.” She used her magic to put Spike onto her back. “Come on Spike. Let’s go have some fun!”