//------------------------------//
// I'm Back in the Saddle Again 
// Story: Cause, Effect, and Consequences 
// by Coltsguy 
//------------------------------//

"DISCOOOOORD!!!"

Said creature of that name appeared in my room with a flash.

"You bellowed?"

I turned the back of my hand to face him.

"Would you care to explain this little issue to me?" I asked quite forcefully while showing him my hand.

"Why Seth, I know you like your team and all, but I honestly didn't think you would get a tattoo of them. Especially considering your aversion to pain and needles."

"I am not in a joking kind of mood. What. The hell. Did you do?"

"Oh fine. I suppose an explanation is in order. You remember the fact that I left you high and dry on Earth without magic?"

"Easily."

"Well, it was the truth. You had no magic left inside of you whatsoever. The coin was also drained of magic to fuel my departure back to Equestria. However, there was still a spark of magic left in the coin when I was done. It didn't really matter to me since your coin can't turn ambient chaos on Earth into magic. Only I am capable of doing so. Therefore, the coin remained dormant and probably changed shape to conserve itself.

"Once you returned to Equestria, the coin was capable of absorbing the chaos here. Chaos on Earth is not magical in nature, but chaos on Equestria contains trace amounts of magic. When emitted, the coin can absorb it and turn it into it's own ambient magical force. Every force in Equestria can emit this form of magic, but almost all of it is in such small amounts that it dissipates rapidly after it is emitted. Natural sources of chaotic energy are hard to absorb because of this fact. However, larger scale events take more time to dissipate and because of this are capable of emitting much greater amounts of energy of which are capable of being absorbed. Things like large fires, stampedes, even full scale invasions and cutie marks getting swapped are things that take time to dissipate because of the scale in which they are on.

"However, there are two places on the planet that can emit a constant flow of chaotic energy that actually forms an area of effect. We don't speak of one of them, but the one you are most familiar with is the Everfree Forest. It's natural chaotic energy only stays within a certain area thanks to a certain tree, but it still remains a natural wellspring of chaotic energy. With this domicile being so close to the Everfree Forest the coin can naturally soak up the energy and revert back to it's normal state even if the distance causes the effect to be lessened."

"So the coin then transferred the magic into me?"

"Of course not you ninny! How could it? I took all of your magic back on Earth. There wasn't a speck of it left for you. Since that was the case, the coin couldn't transfer it's magic into a non-magical source. The coin has a maximum capacity to it which you could say makes it like a mana stone. However, without a spark inside of you, you can't take on any magic without some kind of catalyst."

"What about those spells you cast on me? Wouldn't I have magic then?"

"Those spells supported you from the exterior. And it was only one spell."

"Well, then- wait. You did do something didn't you?"

"Yes, I apparently slowed down your brain. Keep up already! I didn't want to give any abundance of my magic away to you so you could fiddle away with it again. Instead, I fed you a tiny spark. Something you could build your own power upon. Can you guess what?"

"I can, but I don't wanna," I said with some irritation growing inside of me.

"Spoilsport. Well, yesterday I decided that you deserved a little gift for all the things that you had to put up with and suffused the cereal I gave you with magic."

He leaned in closely while looking all around for something.

"That was the frosting," he whispered to me while standing back up.

I let out a long sigh.

"So, to summarize: you got tired of picking on me so you fed me some Frosted Flakes that were magically delicious in more ways than one to give me a base to pour more magic inside so that I could have my own magic to mess with so it wouldn't be inconvenient to you. Does that sound close to the madness you want to explain?"

"I suppose that's close enough and I don't want to try again so we'll just say that's right."

"Well, I suppose it's time to get into some old habits."

I accentuated the point by snapping my fingers. A pie then flew into Discord's face. He then used a comically oversized tongue and licked it all off of his face.

"Didn't you use this trick once before?"

"I used cake before."

"Oh right! I was the one who used this trick. Which makes it less original. By the way, what flavor is this? It seems familiar."

"It's pie flavor," I said knowing full well how old that joke was now. "Now leave or see me mostly naked. Your choice."

All I saw after saying that was what appeared to be a giant cloud and blur of color coming from it that trailed out of the doorway to my room. It was sad how predictable that reaction was. Especially considering the fact that Discord is usually anything but predictable. It didn't really matter to me. I simply got dressed and grabbed a few things to put in my pockets. I did stop when I grabbed the coin from atop the dresser. Upon inspecting it, the coin had gone back to something close to it's original form. One side was blank except for a thin blue ring around the edge. The other side had the same little symbols of the Elements' cutie marks on it fully colored and faceted around the edge as well as Celestia's, Luna's, and a small blue horseshoe inside of those symbols near the center. Basically, it had gone back to the appearance it had after it had gained all of the essences of the Elements of Harmony.

It did give me pause though. Discord had just stated that it had been absorbing magic from the Everfree Forest. He hadn't said that it regained any of it's magic from the Elements of Harmony. Would that still make the coin incomplete then? Also, how much magic could it store? I mean I never figured out anything much about the coin other than it was capable of storing magic, and maybe magic essences, as well as be used as a locator device for the girls. There were probably other things it could do that I might want to try and figure out, but that was for another time. I needed to do a couple of things.

I was pretty sure I needed to let Twilight know about this. After all, she was technically my teacher in magic before that got shot to hell. Well, she was also supposed to be my teacher in friendship studies but I'm not about to bring that up with anyone if I can avoid it. Actually, considering Discord is around this time and he isn't some villain anymore, though at best he's an anti-hero, maybe I could get him to give me some instruction on this magic since it's the same as his own? I suppose if he's still around I can ask him.

Wait. What was the other thing? Dang it, I forgot. Well screw it then. If I couldn't remember then it must've been something frivolous and unnecessary. Therefore, back to getting my day going.

I went and palmed the coin as I exited my room. I couldn't find Discord as I entered the kitchen through the living room. He must either be in his room or still making tracks towards somewhere since I didn't see him in the bathroom as I passed by. It was kind of annoying since I wanted to discuss this magic with him. Bah! Food first and then track him down if I feel like it.

Of course, the first thing I did with my newly returned magic was use it to conjure up a bottle of Pepsi. Phenomenal cosmic powers; self control of a two year old. After guzzling down a part of the contents, I set it down on the table and thought about what I wanted to do concerning breakfast.

This was cut short when there came a knock at the front door. I leaned back a ways to see that it was Twilight at the front door. That was excellent timing. Time for a show. Easing back into the way to use magic was the same as anything else. You might feel a bit rusty, but you still know what you're doing. As such, it took a few moments for me to reach out and turn the knob on the door with magic to open it for Twilight.

"Hey there Princess. Come on in!"

"You don't have to call me Princess you know," she said as she walked inside.

Not the reaction I expected. She must not have seen what I did.

"Back where I'm from, Princess is used as a moniker. It doesn't mean that they're actually a princess. It's just more factual in your case."

"Oh...kay?"

"Don't worry about it. Check this out instead!"

I didn't use any magic, but I held out my left hand with the tattoo towards her and concentrated enough that I made my whole hand glow.

"You have magic again!" she exclaimed as her eyes lit up.

"You are correct madam!"

"How did it happen?"

"Well, apparently my coin started storing magic when I came back here, but since I'm normally non-magic compatible it just stayed there. Discord realized this and gave me a spark of magic yesterday and I got it all back."

"Wait, wouldn't the coin have given you it's magic when you received this spark from Discord?"

"I think it had to assimilate into my body first. Then it could do it. At least I think that's what happened with the way Discord told me."

"But that doesn't make any sense."

"Since when does chaos make any sense? To quote Discord himself, 'what fun is there in making sense'?"

"But things are supposed to make sense!"

"And it I had a nickel for every time I heard that I'd be rolling in cents!" I half-yelled followed by chuckling heartily.

"That doesn't make any sense either!"

"Darn, stupid, monetary system differences," I mumbled after losing my funny feelings.

"I think we should run some tests this time."

"Hey! Let's do a rundown of stuff I used to be able to do. Levitation."

I used my magic and picked up the couch. I brought it up to eye level before I set it back down gently.

"Looks good. Invisibility."

I brought forth that feeling of fading away from view and looked down to see that nothing was visible there. I then returned to normal.

"Checkaroonie. Illusions."

I waved my hand and a unicorn, pegasus, and earth pony version of Twilight appeared throughout the room.

"Check times three," they all said and disappeared.

"Very funny Seth," Twilight glowered.

"Yeah, well I still need to test out a couple of other things, but I'd need more safety precautions first. Though, there is one more thing I can try out here."

I thrust out my palm and a sliver of a shield formed in front of me.

"Check and check. That's actually better than I used to be able to do. Alright, now to track down that scaredy-cat Discord so we can chat more about the nature of manipulating chaos."

"Actually, I'd like to hear about that too," Twilight stated enthusiastically.

"Well, that's just too bad."

We were both confused for a moment before the chair morphed into the appearance of Discord.

"I thought you ran off," I said conspiratorially.

"I simply had somewhere else I needed to be."

I couldn't help but laugh hard at that.

"That's a load and we both know it. Still, I did want to ask you about working with this magic since it's your brand."

"Some other time perhaps," he said while floating towards the hallway. "I really do have somewhere I need to be. And for the record," he said while his body vanished except for his eyes and mouth a la the Cheshire Cat, "it's not exactly Wonderland where I'm headed," he said while vanishing completely with some fading chuckles.

"Well that happened," I stately dumbly. "Anyway, we should head up into town so you can send a letter to Celestia about this development. I think she would like to be kept in the loop."

"That's a good idea," she said while charging her horn.

With that, the two of us teleported off to the library.