//------------------------------// // Princess Twilight Sparkle // Story: Spawn of Disharmony // by KenSES64 //------------------------------// Spawn of Disharmony By: KenSES64 Chapter 36: Princess Twilight Sparkle So I was in Canterlot helping my sister, Screwball move into her new house with Light Arrow... Yeah, still not too fond of the idea, but I’ve already given Light Arrow a….. fair warning about what would happen if he ever broke my sister’s heart, so yeah. Still not entirely on board with the idea, but I’m not about to tell my sister what she can and cannot do. I had just placed a large, red sofa down in the living room when she walked in. “Sweet. Thanks again for the help us out Seth.” “No problem,” I said back to her. “Though to be honest, this is just good timing.” I was, of course, referring to the fact that the girls were here in Canterlot helping the newly crowned princess Twilight Sparkle get ready for the upcoming Summer Sun Celebration. Well, mostly it was Rainbow helping her out with flying cause really, who else could. Yeah, nothing against Fluttershy, but I don’t think she’d make a good flying instructor. “Oh, I’m sure I could’ve of talked you into this even if it wasn’t,” Screwball said to me. And that was when Light Arrow came into the room. “You…. You guys could of…. helped me with the…. bed,” he said breathing heavily, and now trying to push a mattress up the stairs, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. “If I remember correctly,” I said to the struggling pegasus. “You said that I was showing off by using my magic and wanted to do that without help.” “Yeah, but… shut up!” he shouted as he dropped the bed that slid past him down that stairs, making and a loud thud once it hit the floor at the bottom of them “Okay boys, settle down,” Screwball said as she stepped in between us. “No need for a dick measuring contest.” “Do you have to make almost every conversation awkward?” I asked. “Of course,” she responded with a…. rather weird looking, smirk. Neither me nor Light Arrow said anything else as I helped them move some more things into the house. After a few hours we were done. It would have been faster, but Light Arrow kept refusing to let me help him on some of the heavier things. “Thanks again, bro,” Screwball said to me with a hug. “You’re welcome,” I said back to her before I left. “I’ll see you later I guess. I gotta-” “Yeah I know,” Screwball interrupted. “You gotta be a good little doggie and check back in with the one who holds your leash.” Then at that she started petting my head. “It’s okay, you don’t wanna be a bad little doggie and keep your master waiting do you? You wanna be a good boy don’t you. Good boy.” I…… I’m still not really sure how I feel about that. Behind her, Light Arrow had this look on his face that I couldn’t really place. I wasn’t sure if he was making fun of me or was seriously weirded out by my sister speaking to me like a puppy. “Yeah…” I just said as I looked past her right at Light. “Well, take care Light.” “Umm… yeah, take care,” he responded with a wave. So with that out of the way, I went off to the train station to meet up with the girls. 7 minutes later… I walked into the station to hear Rainbow, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rarity recite, “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” Which of course was accompanied by the gestures Pinkie invented for that. “And you will be with us right after the Celebration,” Rarity said, “We already have an appointment on the books to discuss the royal upgrades to your loft décor.” “Hey girls,” I said as I walked up to them. “Did I-” “All aboard for Ponyville!” the conductor suddenly shouted from the train before I could say anything else. “Well what do you know, perfect timing” I said to myself as all the girls except for Pinkie shared a quick group hug. After that they all headed for the train, and then head for the train, shortly followed by me. “Whee!” Pinkie suddenly exclaimed right as I stepped onto the train. Without warning she leapt off the ledge and tackled Twilight to the platform for a good long hug. As soon as she started it, she let go and then hopped back toward the train. The violet bookworm stood up in time to see us waving goodbye just as the train started rolling back to Ponyville. The Next Day… The day started out like any other. With Twilight and Spike back in Canterlot, I had to run the library by myself, and I would be lying if I said I wasn’t looking forward to it a little. On the way there, I noticed something that seemed… I would say off, but that would have been a bit of an understatement. What was off? Well the sun and moon were out at the same time. ‘Okay...’ I thought to myself... ‘Either the princesses are really drunk or there’s something bad going on. Though the princesses being drunk might be a bad thing if of itself.’ I went on and once I turned a corner I saw a wall of black vines. “Okay, now there’s something going on here,” I said to nopony in particular as I spawned my good ol’ rapier. So, as I usually would do, I ran at the vines and started slashing at them, but before I could, I noticed that something was also off with my good ol’ rapier. At first it just started shaking in the air, but when I stopped to look at it, it suddenly turned itself around and started jabbing at me. “Shit shit shit!” I shouted as I leapt backwards, only for the rapier to give me a small scratch on my right foreleg. I winced in pain, but tried to ignore it due to the fact that my own weapon was attacking me! Without listening to my commands, the rapier kept jabbing at me, and for a few moments I kept dodging said jabs, but then I realized something, my magic was still going. So I simply switched it off, and traitorous my rapier vanished into a cloud of red mist. ‘Huh, why didn’t I think about doing that right away?’ I thought to myself, ‘Eh, no matter, I have to go see if everypony else is alright.’ Eventually I reached town hall to find Rarity trotting up. She kicked away one vine and said, “Something very strange is going on, and…” Her protestations were cut off by a sudden gasp as a massive vine erupted in front of her. Before it could touch her she galloped up onto the town hall’s porch. “I for one would appreciate an explanation!” At that Rainbow flew down from the sky. “All I know is the sky’s split in two, and these clouds moving in sure aren’t from around here!” She said in a an obvious panic. “Neither are all these crazy plants!” Applejack said as she caught up with us. “They’re comin’ from the Everfree Forest! And try as we might, us earth ponies can’t do anythin’ to get rid of ’em!” Then suddenly Pinkie appeared… By way of sliding along the black bends of one of the plants and executing a perfect four-point landing. Applejack then turned to Rarity and I and said, “Don’t suppose you know any magic that might stop ’em from spreadin’?” “Alas, this whole ‘raging forest’ situation seems to have left my horn on the fritz,” Rarity explained. “Same here,” I added. “I tried to cut them down as soon as I saw em, but my own sword started attacking me, so I stopped.” Fluttershy, who I didn’t realize was here up till now, then spoke up. “We have to figure out something. I don’t know how much more of this Ponyville can take.” At that, one of her hind legs got snagged by a vine. As soon as it touched her she flew up as far as could can with a cry, only for Rainbow to blasts across and kick the snare apart. “I don’t know how much more I can take!” “The forest is expandin’, y’all. And judgin’ by how fast it’s movin’…” Applejack said before pinning down a vine. “…it doesn’t seem content just takin’ over Ponyville. I reckon before long, it’ll cover half of Equestria!” “So... to the library?” I asked, not coming up with any better ideas. “Seems so, sugarcube,” Applejack responded. “Okay, to the library!” I exclaimed while dramatically pointing my hoof in the direction of Golden Oaks. ------ So the six of us frantically dug through all the books that we could find, which since it was a library, was a lot, trying to find some sort of answer to whatever these plants were and how to defeat them. Needless to say we had little success, and by little success I meant no success whatsoever. That’s when Twilight suddenly materialized in a screaming violet tumble and rolled, into a pile of books, scattering literature throughout the library. After a moment, my boss pulled her head out of the scrambled books, seemingly disoriented by the hit she took. “Well, that happened,” I said aloud. “Oh, thank goodness!” Rarity exclaimed. “Oh, I hope you know we wouldn’t normally go through your books without permission,” Fluttershy said to her. “Well, I gave you permission,” I pointed out. “Oh… right.” Twilight then shook her head clear just as the front door opened and Spike crawled in, half-delirious. “Sweet ground!” He shouted as he kissed the floor repeatedly. “Sweet, sweet, wonderful ground!” “Okay, I get it! I need to work on my flying!” Twilight grumpily said to the baby dragon, who was still kissing the floor. Pinkie then suddenly zipped over, bumping right into Rarity in the process, and said, “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the Everfree Forest is just a teeny tiny bit out of control.” Her tail choose this moment to twitch madly as she hit the deck just as a thorny vine punched though the room, missing her but plowing Rarity away. “Guess it turned out you were missin’ somethin’ here in Ponyville after all,” Applejack said and with some effort as she got the window closed and cut off the length inside the building; a dazed Rarity stood up and shook some sense into herself. “But perhaps you already know what’s causing all of this calamity,” Rarity said as Rainbow and Fluttershy moved closer. “Has Princess Celestia sent you to dispel it post-haste?” “Not exactly,” Twilight answered. “You see, Princess Celestia is…well, she and Princess Luna are both-” “They’re missing!” Spike shouted before Twilight could finish. His two clawed hands quickly clapping over his mouth, but not before his little outburst earned a six-way gasp from the rest of us. “I don’t know who has taken them, but I’ve got a hunch we’re going to need the Elements of Harmony to get them back,” Twilight explained as she turned her attention to the glass case that held the other five Elements and levitated its cover away. Fluttershy and Rainbow’s necklaces are floated over to them and put on. “Oh, yeah! Just like old times!” Rainbow cheered. Rarity got hers next, smiling fiercely, then Pinkie as Twilight walked over and high-hoofed her. “Ah, boo-yah!” the pink party pony exclaimed. Last was Applejack. “I told you we’d always be connected by the Elements,” she said as she touched Twilight’s chest. “Now we just gotta figure out who to aim these bad boys at…” As she said that a vine inched up behind her. “...so we can get Celestia and Luna back and keep the rest of Equestria from becoming plant food!” She then used one of her hooves to pin the unwelcome flora to the floor. “Any ideas?” At that Twilight let out a “Hmmm.” “I haven’t found squat in any of the books I’ve been looking through!” Pinkie quickly said, hunkered down on the boards with a couple of coloring books and a box of crayons. “Oopsies! Missed a spot.” With nothing else to go on, Twilight started to pondering to herself. “Half day, half night…strange weather patterns…out-of-control plants…I think I’m starting to get a pretty good idea of who we’re up against.” I couldn’t speak for the rest of them, but I had a pretty good idea of who we were up against, and I didn’t like it. We then all followed Twilight outside and gathered in an open area that wasn’t too badly choked with vines. Once we were all there, Twilight threw her horn into high gear. Why she could still use magic when the rest of us couldn’t was beyond me. Probably had something to do with the whole new “alicorn” thing. Anyway, the energy spread through to her tiara, then a brilliant white glow built around its star jewel before throwing off magenta rays. The gems in the other necklaces all ignited as well lifted them of the ground. Ribbons of rainbow light laced from one to the next in both directions, finally curling around Twilight and connecting into her tiara before swirling across in a varicolored tornado. After a few moments, the tornado cleared to reveal Discord sitting in a bathtub scrubbing various bits of his crazy-quilt anatomy with a soapy brush. “Winter Wrap Up, Winter Wrap U…” he sang to himself before he noticed us. “...ooh!”, Throwing the brush away, he conjured up a towel and wrapped it around himself with a slightly embarrassed laugh. “Now, Twilight, you know Princess Celestia said that you were to give me a heads-up before you summon me…” He said as he stepped out of the bath and tapped her tiara. “...with that little spell she gave you.” The tub then vanished as he started drying himself off. “In case you haven’t noticed, I was in the middle of a particularly invigorating shower.” “Enough!” Twilight shouted as She shoves him away. “Release Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, and stop the Everfree Forest from invading! “ At that, Twilight was suddenly and thoroughly wrapped up in a heavy black vine, the end of which, stopped inches away from her face. After less than a second, the growth transformed into Discord, who just looked her straight at her at point-blank range. “Why, whatever are you talking about?” he asked, chuckling innocently. “Don’t you play dumb with us, Discord! We know you’re the one behind all of this!” Applejack shouted at him. He then slithered away and reappeared on a roof behind a house. “Don’t get me wrong.” He said as he pulled out a camera and started taking pictures. “I absolutely love what you’ve done with the place.” He then sidles up to Fluttershy; camera gone. “But I couldn’t possibly take responsibility. I’m reformed. Don’t you remember?” "Yeah, right! This has got your cloven hoofprints all over it!” Rainbow said to him. “I’ll have you know that I have only one cloven hoof. Such accusations. And here I thought we were friends. And you Rainbow Dash, how can you say such things to your favorite Father-in-Law,” he then gave her giant puppy-dog eyes. “Drop the act, buster! We’re onto you,” Pinkie says, squinting rather forcefully. “Ladies, ladies! I’m innocent! Would I lie to you?” “Yes.” All of us, but Fluttershy said. “Um, maybe?” Fluttershy added. “Well, then, it seems we’ve reached an impasse. I’m telling the truth, but you think I’m lying. What do friends like us do in a situation like this Princess Twilight?” At that he then threw a forelimb over her shoulders. “Congrats, by the way, on the promotion. You totally deserve it.” “I say we blast him back to stone!” Rainbow suggested. “Works for me,” Applejack chimed in. “Hear, hear!” Rairity added. At that the three of them warmed up their Elements, ready to crank off a bit of petrifying vengeance. Before they could however, Fluttershy quickly moved in to intercept. “Hey!” she shouted. “We can’t do that! What if he really is telling the truth?” Discord then stitched on an ear-to-ear grin, along with a halo appearing above his head to really drive the point home. It disappears as soon as he spoke. “Well, finally! Somepony willing to give me the benefit of the doubt. The rest of you could learn a lot about friendship from my dear friend Shutterfly here.” On the end of that sentence, he reeled in his left arm, which was wrapped around a rather irked Rainbow Dash. The yellow pegasus flew up on his other side. “Um, it’s Fluttershy,” The correct pegasus mare said. At that Discord threw Rainbow aside and put the other limb around her shoulders. “Oh, right, whatever.” “If you’re not the one responsible, then help us figure out who is!” Twilight demanded. “I suppose I could, but after all the hoof-pointing and besmirching of my good name…” he said as he producing knitting needle and stretched out a vine, “...I just don’t know if I’m up to it.” He then started passing the time by doing a little crocheting. Twilight then voiced a loud, frustrated groan that just made Discord smirk a bit. “Why don’t you ask your zebra friend if she knows anything?” At that we noticed that he knitted a large arrow pointing off to his left, which coincidentally, pointed at Zecora, who was trudging into view, hitched to a cart piled with all her belongings. “Zecora!” Twilight shouted before we gallop over as the zebra dropped to her haunches. Fluttershy and Rainbow airlifted some of her gear away while Applejack and Pinkie unhitched the cart and rolled it back. “From my home I’ve had to flee. The forest has grown too wild even for me,” Zecora explained. “Any idea why all this is happenin’?” Applejack asked the zebra as a vine stole her hat. “I’m afraid it is a mystery to me as well,” Zecora explained. “but I may have something that, if combined with a spell…” She then pulled out a bottle of some purple liquid and set it onto the ground in front of us “I do not dare to use it myself. The results would be tragic. It only responds to alicorn magic. Princess Twilight, you can turn the potion from purple to white. After a sip, you may see why the sky is day and night.” With the achievement of at least somewhat of an explanation, or at least an explanation of how we could find out what the tartarus was going on, Twilight dropped into a half-crouch with magic boiling around her horn. The same green-rimmed purple aura similar to that one that King Sombra used appeared rather than her usual purple magic. After a long, pained groan of effort, she fired a beam of black energy into the potion. As she did, its purple hue faded away as Pinkie leaned down for a closer look, letting out an “Ooooh” in the process. That done, Twilight just floated the bottle up to head level to really get a look at it. Zecora stepped over with a nod and nudged its trailing edge up to her nose. At that, Twilight looked at it for only a second longer before she took a long swig. A lot of nothing proceeded to happen as she licked her lips. “Doesn’t seem to be worki-” she said just before the lack of action came to a rather sudden and screeching halt as her wings spread to full extension and her eyes blazed white, the potion bottle dropping to the ground in the process. Then, for the next few minutes she just mumbled to herself. There was a point that she even started crying. She must have been seeing something we weren’t. I couldn’t help but wonder what it was. I really wanted to know. Then, just as quickly as it set on, it was over and her eyes went normal again. When she got back to normalcy, she looked at us confused “Why are you all looking at me like that?” she asked us, not that I could blame her. There’s a long pause before Applejack spoke up. “It’s just…you were mumblin’ to yourself,” she explained. “Ooh! And don’t forget the uncontrollable sobbing,” Pinkie spontaneously added as subtly as a brick to the head. “We were really worried about you,” Fluttershy added. “I for one found it delightful,” Discord chimed in, oddly enough with more subtly than Pinkie Pie. “Sort of a one-pony theater piece, if you will. You should really consider taking it on the road.” He then pulled out a sheet out of nowhere depicting a video clip of Twilight crying her eyes out, accompanied by the sound of a bawling infant. Rainbow, who was hovering in place and kicking at air chose this moment to chime back in. “Did you find out whose rump we need to kick and where we can find ’em?” she asked. “I saw something from a long time ago, but it didn’t explain what’s happening now,” Twilight explained. “Perhaps farther back still are the answers you seek,” Zecora chimed in. “Another sip of the potion will give you a peek.” “You sure about this?” Spike asked Twilight, obviously worried. Not that I could blame him, hell I kind of was. She just looked at the bottle for a few more seconds before she went “hell with it,” and took another swig. She didn’t say that part out loud, but I could tell that mentally she was saying it. Discord then suddenly appeared with a movie camera on a tripod as well as a new set of clothes that I could only describe as “a director with an incredibly bad fashion sense.” No, really, his clothing consisted of half-green/half-purple jacket, white pants, red ascot with white polka dots, beret, pencil-thin mustache. “Oh, I do hope she breaks into a song this time!” he exclaimed. Then Twilight’s eyes went white again. A few moments later she opened them. "So what’d you find out?” Spike asked. “I still don’t know what’s happened to Princess Luna and Princess Celestia, but I think I know why the Everfree Forest is acting this way. Something’s happened to the Tree of Harmony.” Twilight said, confusing the rest of us. “The Tree of what, now?” Rainbow asked. “It’s where Princess Celestia and Princess Luna found the Elements. I think it’s in danger.” “Well, all right, then! Let’s go save a… tree. Uh…where is it exactly?” Applejack asked. “I think it’s in…” Twilight began before she pointed into the Everfree Forest, “…there.” “I’m going to need more popcorn!” Discord said with glee. Twilight then turned to me and said, “Seth, stay here and keep an eye on Discord while we’re gone.” “You don’t want my help in there?” I asked, confused. “It’s not that, it’s just…” she paused for a moment. “He’s your father, we trust you more than anypony else to make sure he doesn’t do anything that he’ll regret.” “Oh,” I responded with immediate understanding, she was right, in a way. So I just nodded and said, “Okay.” With that, all the girls and Spike all went off into the dangerous unknown that was the Everfree Forest. With nothing else to to, I turned back towards my creator. Father. Thing….. Under the circumstances, he pretty much is my father. “And, so they leave you here to babysit me, can’t say I’m surprised,” my “father” said. “What do you mean by that?” I asked, confused. “Well, aside from the fact that this chapter is the season 4 opening. You don’t get to have that many opportunities to do anything since too much plot is happening and a new status quo has to be introduced. Plus, there’s the fact that your magic will be on the fritz right?” “Yeah...” I responded, confused as all hell. I’ve pretty much learned to zone him out with he starts talking about stuff like that, so I really didn’t pay attention to what he said. “And without your magic can you even really do anything to help? I mean without it, all you are is a stallion with a hot wife. A hot wife who pretty much has you on a leash at this point, but a hot wife nonetheless.” And thats the second time a member of my family brought that up. I wanted to feel insulted, but instead I asked about something else I caught on. “Wait, you think my wife is hot?” I asked, a little weirded out. “Not really,” he answered. “I just thought that would make you feel better.” “Oh… Thanks,” was all I could say in response. “So,” Discord said as he snapped his fingers as summoned a scimitar, which he swung in the air for a few seconds as some more vines shot out at him. “You’re going to watch me, and make sure that I don’t do anything right?” As if on cue, as he finished that sentence, the scimitar disappeared. “Yeah, pretty much,” I said. Yeah I didn’t like it either. “Well then I gotta ask, exactly how do you plan to stop me from doing so?” “With a threat of my friends returning you to your stone prison if you disobey,” I responded confidently… Yes, confidently, and not at all insulted. “Think about it, they know me, they trust me. If you do anything, hell, even if you try and deny it, which one of us do you think they’ll believe?” At that, Discord scowled and lowered his head so that he could make eye contact with me. “Remember, ‘son,’” he said with air quotes around the ‘son” but before he pointed up at my chin. “I made you, and I can erase you too.” “Yeah, try that. See what happens,” I responded with a smirk on my face that matched his own earlier. There was a long silence with nothing but the two of us staring at each other, waiting the other to blink, or to see who would do what, but mostly blink. Eventually, Discord blinked first and let out a rather loud sigh before he moved away from me and spawned a lawn chair “Fine, you called my bluff,” he said as he laid back. “I’m just going to sit here doing nothing. You can go off doing something else. Don’t worry about me, I’m not going to do anything, lest I get turned back into stone because you snitched on your dear old dad tha-.” “Yeah, I’m not an idiot,” I deadpanned. “No, but you’re no fun.” Discord said before he pulled a pair of sunglasses out of nowhere and just kicked back on the lawn chair. So for... I don’t even know how long... I just stared at him, making sure that he did nothing at all, which he did…. remarkably well actually. He was just sitting… and doing nothing… at all….. for who knows how long…. I had to say, I didn’t really believe in him, but he did it, he, wait…. WAS HE DOING THIS JUST TO BUCK WITH ME!? He is definitely the type of pony… chimera… thing, that would do this sort of thing, so was he!? I couldn’t tell. I mean yeah, he is the god of chaos, and I’m not supposed to be able to tell what he’s doing, but if he is then… Wait, what if he isn’t, what if he is actually scared of the consequences, what if I got to him more than I thought I did, what if I got him to ACTUALLY listen to me. But what if I didn’t? What if he was just making me think I did, so that I would turn away for an instant, then he would quickly snap his fingers and turn all the houses into toothpicks or something like that. Then I would have failed, and GAH THIS WAS SO- “No luck finding your tree?” Discord suddenly said, breaking my concentration in the process as he looked up from his lawn chair to see Twilight coming back. “We ran into some trouble,” Twilight said before she stopped and sat on haunches. “And my friends decided it would be best if I return to Ponyville while they continue the search. Equestria will need me if Princess Celestia and Princess Luna don’t return.” “Wait, seriously?” I couldn’t help but ask, taking my eyes off of Discord for a moment. Remarkably though, all Discord did was stand up and start talking. “I’m just surprised that you agreed to their plan. I never thought you’d be the kind of pony who would think she was better than everypony else.” “I don’t think I’m better than anypony!” She shouted at him, practically ignoring me. “Oh, well, how silly of me to assume that you would think that,” Before he said anything else, he conjured up a royal purple robe, trimmed in purple-spotted white fur, onto her back, accompanied a gold scepter topped with a red gem at one end and a sculpture of her own head at the other. “All you did was choose to keep your precious Princess self out of harm’s way while your friends thrust themselves right into it. I’m sure you’ll all be the best of pals again when they return from their terrifying yet deeply bonding experience that they’re having without you.” “Lay off her!” I shouted at him, “This is a serious situation. I mean if Celestia and Luna are…” I was TRYING to say, but then I stopped when I noticed Twilight galloping away, back into the forest. “Aww… there goes my fun,” Discord said before he turned back to me. “You know,” he began. “If there were ever an opportune moment for you to actually do anything meaningful in this chapter. One that would add to the character arc of you or another pony…. that was it. And you missed it.” “Shut up,” was all I said in response. “Duly noted,” he replied to me before lounging back onto the lawn chair. So once again went back to staring at my father and making sure that he didn’t do anything that would say... violate parole. Then after some more time, all the vines vanished into thin air. “Well, I’m going to guess that they fixed the problem,” I said. “Oh really, I would never have guessed,” Discord deadpanned. Not long afterwards, the girls and Spike emerge from out of the… I suppose now formerly Everfree Forest, given how it looked now, and I noticed that they were no longer wearing their Elements of Harmony. Before I could contemplate that any further, or even ask them about it, banners suddenly drop down from nowhere and signs popped up, also out of nowhere. The former were marked with #1 and pictures of all their faces, yet I was strangely absent… of course, and the signs just showed “#1.” Though one showed an arrow that points at them. Oh, and confetti, party horns, and cheers accompanied all of these. Of course. And of course, Discord appeared in front of them, with a giant #1 foam finger on his lion paw and a pennant striped with the group’s coat colors in his taloned grip. “Bravo, ladies, bravo!” Discord cheered for them. “However did you save the day this time? Blast the beastie with your magic necklaces, I presume?” Before anypony, even I, could answer him, he instantly appears on Applejack’s back, smaller-sized and dressed as a cowcolt, peeking under her mane. “Where are those little trinkets of yours?” he asked “You know, the ones you used to send me back to my extremely uncomfortable stone prison.” “Gone,” the farmpony told him. Then, with another flash, he was back to his normal dimensions and out of the duds. “Gone?” he said, seemingly thoughtfully, twiddling paw/talons. “Gone...” Before anything could happen (thankfully) Fluttershy flew right up to him and said, “But our friendship remains.” She glares at him. “And if you want to remain friends, you’ll stop thinking whatever it is you’re thinking and help us clean up.” He shrunk down on the latter part of that. Kind of satisfying to see really. Then he suddenly winked out, only to reappear, full size, in a Prench maid outfit and holding a feather duster, which well... seeing my FATHER dressed liked that… disturbing isn’t even a good enough of a word. “Fine, but I don’t do windows,” he might have said, but I didn’t hear him. As we all headed back into Ponyville, him I heard Applejack say, “One thing I don’t get. Why’d all this happen now?” “I have no idea,” Discord suddenly said as he stopped and made the maid outfit vanish (thank all that is holy), “Those seeds I planted should’ve sprouted up ages ago.” “Wait what!?” I couldn’t help but shout as I gave a rather nasty glare at him. “What did you say?!” Twilight shouted with rather obvious shock. “Oh, why should I try to explain it when you can see for yourself?” Discord said to her as he moved over and, with a blip of light, Zecora’s white potion was in his grasp. The irked young Princess floated the bottle over and took a chug; her eyes flaring white again. “Well, obviously things didn’t go according to my original plan,” Discord explained while Twilight was still… gone. “My plunder seeds should have stolen the magic from the Tree of Harmony and captured Princess Celestia and Princess Luna thousands of moons ago. Alas, it seems, the Tree had enough magic to keep the seeds from growing up big and strong. Until now, that is.” Twilights then shook the light out of her eyes and used them to aim her most hostile glare Discord’s way. “You realize this is information we could’ve used hours ago?!” she said to him. “And rob you of a valuable lesson about being Princess?” he responded as he pinched her cheek. “What kind of friend do you think I am?” “You’re a dick, you know that right?” I couldn’t help but ask him. “Oh, of course I do.” He responded with a grin as he let go of Twilight’s cheek. “And I have fun with it.” The two of us didn’t say anything else to each other for the rest of the day. ----- Hours Later… So with everything solved, Twilight went back to help with the Summer Sun Celebration while the others went back onto helping with Ponyville’s celebration. So what did I do? Well, even though babysitting a god of chaos wasn’t the hardest thing in the world (thankfully), especially if he listened to you, I was still tired. So I just simply went to bed and had a good night’s sleep.