“Go ahead, Twilight. I will listen.” Discord wrote, aware the ponies were gathering close about him and the card. Their closeness and warmth was comforting yet intimidating, since it was only a matter of time before his friends began to ask questions regarding the thought cloud. Keeping the communication with Twilight was hard enough without that kind of pressure. At least they were being quiet for the moment, even Pinkie Pie. “What do you propose?”
“I revisited the experiences we had the other day during our investigation into the Tree of Harmony, and a few of the discoveries we made there seem very relevant to what is happening now, especially in regards to what the vision had implied about the EverFree Forest.” Twilight paused, as if weighing her next words with great care. She tended to do this, the draconequus had noticed, when unsure of their truth—although the pony was usually right at this juncture.
“TOH has been around for a long time and has a great deal of magic.” Discord put down, to urge her onwards. Honestly, his own memory of the vision was a little muddled, to match the headaches and whatnot from the past few days. Of course, having such a thing filtered through your head made it surprisingly hard to concentrate on the content. “A mystical tree like that acts for a reason, so I doubt she would have shown the vision just for the sake of it. In fact, it would not surprise me if she had seen the present circumstances coming and called out because of that fact.”
“Called out?”
“Yes, my dear. TOH first called out to me with her music a few days ago, when all this trouble with shadows began.” Discord said this aloud, yet the message still went through in written format. The card was essentially like a one-way letter. Whatever he wrote or said appeared to Twilight upon the card, whereas whatever Twilight said aloud echoed through to him. That was just what he had managed during its creation.
“That’s why you were at the Tree of Harmony.” Discord thought he heard Twilight’s breath catch in her throat. “Now I am sure of it. We have to go back to the Tree of Harmony.”
“Didn’t we try that before?” Pinkie Pie interrupted. “You tried to purify it but it didn’t work, and then old gray imposter Discord wouldn’t do anything, and then you came to the palace for Rainbow Power.”
“That sure is strange.” With the discussion between Twilight and Discord broken in this way, Applejack seemed to feel the need to put in her two bits. “After all, Twi has gotten real good with her magic, and we’ve taken on dark magic and shadow creatures before.”
“It seems she needed a teensy bit of help.” Rarity said. “But with Discord being brainwashed and scared of using magic, we decided to try something else.”
“When did this happen?” Rainbow Dash asked. “The last thing I remember is tackling one amazing obstacle course. You should have seen what Discord did. It was fastest I have ever gone—or close to it.” The blue pegasus added the last part as if it were an afterthought.
“Then I woke up here, and Discord and I talked about apples.” Applejack stated. “You’d never believe the secret history of Zap Apples.”
“Don’t forget the fun, ‘Secret party in Discord’s forest’ party.” Pinkie Pie laughed.
The ponies were pressing in closer now. They appeared happy, though Discord could sense more troubling questions preparing to reach the surface. Furthermore, they were digressing from the matter at hoof, and the draconequus still had not figured out precisely what to tell Twilight concerning how to counter his magic. The communication link through the card also would not hold steady forever. In fact, Discord could feel it deteriorating at a faster pace this time.
If that happened, it might give Tirek enough of an opportunity to win. The centaur was picking off his friends one by one, with his magic.
He was sweating. Buckets materialized to catch the leakage.
“Discord.” Twilight said then. “Is that still you? It almost sounds like our friends are there.”
“Yes, Twilight.” Discord answered, feeling a nervous twitch overtake him. He was losing control again. “Our friends are here with me, in my forest—I mean my dreamscape.” Twilight wouldn’t understand what Discord meant by “forest.” She might confuse the woods in his mind with the Everfree Forest. “Listen. There is no easy spell I can give you to dispel chaos magic, which itself is quite random, peculiar, and free-flowing. So my best advice is to shape it, somehow.”
“Shape it?” Twilight asked. “What do you mean?”
Honestly, Discord was not quite sure what he had meant either. And he was getting very confused himself. His head was pounding. It was harder to think than ever.
Stuck again.
“Twi.” This was Applejack. “Is this anything like what we encountered when facing Sombra? It feels a bit like it, with fears and such.”
“Fears.” Twilight said, musingly. “But Tirek isn’t making most of us frightened, or using our fears against us. If he wanted to take his revenge on us like that, he would have done it. The only exception is Discord.” Another breath catch, even sharper this time. Then she pressed on, in a quieter tone. “Which means what we’ve seen relates to those fears.”
“Like his worries about his magic.” Applejack said. “Discord here thinks it’s terrible or evil, especially since everything that happened with Tirek last time.”
“I never said that.” Discord protested, and his statement was true. He had never technically said it was evil, though Applejack’s glance made him tack on, “exactly.”
***
“It’s too dangerous.” The Discord inside the guestroom cried out, surprising Twilight and Fluttershy. He seemed to at least have some awareness of the events taking place within the card, unless he had simply chosen to speak out like that.
But Twilight doubted it.
***
“That makes sense.” Rainbow Dash said, back in the glade. “Given how Discord tried to dissuade me from going into the ultimate tornado ride, and the way Tirek tried to make me give him up for a prize—like he was worth less than some trophy. He also doesn’t give himself much credit, amazingly.”
“Because it was a trap from the past.” Discord explained. “And all I did back then was mess with ponies for my own amusement.”
***
“I only cause trouble for every pony, even now.” The gray Discord shouted. “Because of what I am.”
Amid these exchanges, Twilight noticed a certain magical tension beginning to fill the atmosphere. It was like an invisible looming presence that, all the same, made her horn tingle and the hair along the back of her neck stand up—even as each harsh exchange began piecing together a puzzle the princess had pondered ever since reading the journal entry, and in fact, since Tirek had appeared again.
Yet whatever happiness she might have felt at this dampened when Twilight noticed the shadowy substance around the lock bubble and start to grow, while the discussion of Discord by her friends continued to escalate.
Twilight now tried to encircle the sprouting tendrils with her magic, and to force them to retreat back closer to the knob. And she could tell now that the two were definitely related. The more frightened and wound up Discord became, it seemed, the more powerful the shadow grew.
“Discord.” Twilight called through gritted teeth. “Calm down!”
But neither Discord nor her other ponies friends in the card seemed to hear her, based on the way the card kept filling up with interrogative dialogue.
***
“And you should see this cloud.” Pinkie Pie piped up. “It’s like he thinks we would be happier hanging around with a boring gray Discord who doesn’t like parties, while he stays here alone and has fun making all this incredible stuff. You should see what he did at the party here. He’s super creative.”
“I never said I wasn’t creative, and it was an absent-minded observation that just happened to slip out.” Even as Discord said this, he knew it was far from convincing.
***
“Keep me this way.” The reversed draconequus begged. “Think of our friends and Equestria, Princess Twilight. We will be far better off this way, and my other half can be his vile self where no pony will get hurt.”
The pressure from the shadow-imbued lock was becoming too intense, and one of the tendril tips reached out and actually wrapped about Twilight’s horn.
In that moment, it felt as if Twilight had lost all sense of direction and space. She even briefly forgot her name—the touch was so biting and struck such fear into her heart. And over and over, a single question echoed in her mind:
“Who are you? Who are you? Who are you? Who are you? Who are you? Who are you? Who are you? Who are you? Who are you? Who are you? Who are you? Who are you? Who are you? Who are you?”
She heard Discord screaming, and thought, for one fleeting second, that she was Discord, lost and alone. And Tirek was laughing somewhere in the back of her mind, reaching for her with one huge clawed hand. Meanwhile, Starswirl the Bearded was staring at her in sadness and saying: “Someday things will be different, and you will find true happiness at last, renewed purpose, and lifelong bonds.”
***
“Discord, poor darling. You’re unwell!” Rarity said while patting the draconequus’ back. Or, at least, she might have said this—although Discord scarcely heard it. “Every pony, give him a little room.”
For by the time Pinkie Pie had made her point about parties, Discord had doubled-over, clutching his head. It was the worst splitting headache he had ever experienced, and he was ready to yank apart his cranium between antler and horn to relieve the pressure.
Then a soothing melody suddenly began to play, easing the pain and starting to bring things back into focus.
At first, Discord thought TOH had somehow, inexplicably, came through again and filled his mind with calming light.
But a few seconds later, it occurred to the chaos spirit this could not have been TOH. The inflection and sensation—and other indescribable things—were familiar yet failed to come from the Tree of Harmony. They were like a lullaby.
Wait a minute…
***
“Hush now, quiet now,
It’s time to rest your sleepy head.
Hush now, quiet now,
It’s time to go to bed.”
This song brought Twilight back to herself, and she pulled free from the dark tendrils, which were calming down now. They had gone from almost engulfing the princess to ebbing downwards. And the pony to thank for that fluttered at the door, leaning against its smooth surface and singing the refrain with slightly different variations. Of all her friends, Fluttershy probably would have had the most to say concerning what was happening to Discord. Instead, she had decided to sing.
And that was the best thing Fluttershy could possibly have done.
The “Hush now, quiet now” lullaby was a common one to soothe young fillies at night. Twilight had memories of her own mother singing it, whenever she had trouble getting her mind to stop racing or calm down. However, the effect here was astonishing. The tendrils not only continued to ebb, but some of them changed in color.
Twilight watched these parts lighten to a dark purplish hue, with orange lines crisscrossing past light lavender bubbles (almost like a lava lamp). A whitish film about the edges caused it to gleam, with greenish flickers coursing throughout.
It was so strange yet fascinating to glimpse that Twilight had no doubts this was how Discord’s magic truly looked. She was also aware that the tension seemed to have drained from the air, and it was possible to breathe a little easier.
Reaching out with her magic again, Twilight testing the bits of healthier chaos magic poking out from the shadowy substance, and how it moved gave her the impression of shifting sand, or perhaps a mold of some kind. It lifted apart when beckoned gently in this state, and moved about her magical grip.
Discord had told Twilight to shape his chaos magic.
Meanwhile, the card was mostly blank, so perhaps Discord had lost the connection again. All that was left on it was the riddle:
“How do you solve Discord in discord?”
But what had happened, combined with the exchange between her friends and her own suspicions had confirmed something in her mind.
And Twilight thought she might have the answer at last.
There was just one last thing Twilight needed to do to prove it, and she would start by unlocking this door.
“Fluttershy, can you continue to sing your lullaby?” Twilight asked.
“Of course, Twilight.” Fluttershy said, beginning the gentle tune all over again.
Closing her eyes, Twilight concentrated her magic on the dark substance that still remained on the lock, praying she had the solution at long last—
Not only to unlocking this door, but to many other things as well.