//------------------------------// // Stop This Game // Story: Magical Mystery Oops // by BookeCypher //------------------------------// The door to the Crystal Castle swung open with a low groan, letting the head of the estate through. Her purple fur, usually groomed to at least a presentable state, was now dripping wet. Clawed forelegs clicked along across the polished floor, leaving brownish prints as she went. her hind paws were leaving a very similar mess. In all, Twilight Sparkle was not a happy draconequus. "Ah, Twilight," Discord came around a corner a moment after his voice rang out, wrapped in a exceedingly fluffy pink robe, carrying a mug of tea he was in the middle of making in one claw. "having a pleasant day?" "A week." Twilight replied flatly as she took a seat in the middle of her own entry hall. "It's been a week since that first cotton candy tornado and we still don't have a way to predict these events." She struggled to wring out her mane before giving up. "And now I'm soaked in chocolate milk! It's not even noon yet - it's going to take me all day just to get clean again!" Discord rolled his eyes before snapping his claws. An instant later, Twilight went from svelte draconequus to an oversized fluffle puff as every drop of fluid in her coat decided it had better places to be. Twilight blinked in surprise before looking over herself as she smoothed out her coat. "...that is… huh. Why didn't I think of that?" Discord shrugged. "Still thinking like a pony and not a proper purveyor of chaos." He took a quick sip of his tea. "So, still trying to predict these lovely little phenomena?" "Of course I am," Twilight replied as she started past Discord and toward her library. "That's our primary job at the moment." "According to you, maybe," Discord replied. "But I am here to teach you about chaos - which reminds me, why weren't you at my lesson yesterday?" "Because I was in the library trying to figure out how to detect chaos magic," Twilight replied. "I can't be at every one of your 'lessons', Discord." There was also the fact that most of his lessons were usually just excuses for him to screw with her - trying to figure out how to remove an apple from inside a wine bottle without teleportation and without breaking the bottle was only a 'lateral' thinking puzzle up until she started getting pelted with cabbages. But she kept that to herself. "You never missed one of sunbutt's lessons, did you?" Discord asked as he sipped his tea in a decidedly normal manner - which, Twilight guessed, was about as weird for him as it could get. "Princess Celestia was my teacher," Twilight pointed out. "And what does that make me?" Discord asked as he slipped in front of Twilight, eyebrow raised expectantly. Twilight shrugged. "An adviser, I suppose - as you like to point out, there isn't anyone better with chaos magic than you." Discord grinned smugly at Twilight as he let her pass. "Miss Sparkle, You're trying to seduce me, aren't you?" Twilight gave a noncommittal shrug as she stepped into the library. "If it would make you more helpful," Twilight replied as she started down the steps to one of the larger tables, "then yes." She paused part way down the steps when she realized she couldn't hear Discord following her. She turned around to find him giving her a quizzical look, an eyebrow raised. "Not sure if serious," Discord said, seemingly to himself, "or just messing with me." "Would you hurry up?" Twilight said with a sigh as she started down the row of shelves. "There's research to be done." Up ahead, a wheeled ladder as tall as the bookcases it leaned against rolled up and down the row, stopping every now and then so that its purple draconian operator could reshelf a book. Discord slumped as he followed after Twilight. "Research - bah! You can't research chaos. The only way to know it is to do it!" "I researched you, didn't I?" Twilight replied as she stopped at the base of the ladder. "And look at how well that turned out." Discord said before, after a pause, adding, "You know, that didn't come out nearly as sarcastically as I expected." Twilight resisted the urge to faceclaw and instead turned her attention upward. "Any luck, Spike?" The dragon replied by sliding down the ladder, hopping off as he neared the bottom and landed in front of Twilight. "Nothing - I've looked under contagion theory, sympathetic magic, advanced thaumaturgy, even that 'spooky action' stuff that gives me a headache." Spike shrugged. "None of it works." "Well, it has to be detectable in some way," Twilight replied as she slipped into a seated position. "How else would Discord have been able to know when I had transformed myself?" "Or when any of that other crazy stuff happens that he shows up for," Spike added. Discord looked up from his tea to find Twilight and Spike staring at him expectantly. "What? I already told you that I can't predict all of it." He took another sip of his tea with a shrug. "It’s all too...minor." "Wait, back up," Twilight said as she gesticulated. "You never mentioned that before - you mean you can, actually, feel these events?" "Yes and no," Discord said with a shrug. "Does a unicorn feel every little twitch of magic around them?" "Of course not," Twilight replied. "It’s like how you don't hear your own heartbeat usually - your mind filters it out." "And I filter out most of those little bouts of chaos," Discord explained. "Most of it just isn't worth it - lost left socks and misplaced house keys. It's all got a pattern and I only hear the interesting ones." "Interesting..." Twilight had already grabbed a blank scroll and started jotting down notes. "I know that the strings represent lines of interaction, but you make it sound like more than that." Discord rolled his eyes as he dropped himself onto an empty couch. "It is more than that - if you were paying attention to my lessons like a good student, you would know that though." "So, what are you feeling from the strings?" Twilight asked, seemingly oblivious to Discord’s complaint. "What sort of sensory feedback form does it take?" "Tasting color," Discord replied as he sat up, "You aren't even paying attention to me, are you?!" "You said I don't pay attention to your lessons," Twilight replied. "I might if you helped with my research like I asked." "Don't go changing the subject!" Discord shot back. "This is about you ignoring me. I'm as useless for research as that dragon over there is for fighting a rain of space-fungus." "Hey!" Spike said indignantly. "Ignoring you would require that you actually have authority over me," Twilight pointed out. "I'm the lord of chaos." Discord pointed out. "Princess." Twilight countered as she pulled another book over. "Now, help me figure out the carrier vector for chaos magic and I might consider indulging you." "Indulging..." Discord echoed as he gaped. "I'm trying to help you!" "And the fact that it lets you order me around on occasion has nothing to do with it, I'm sure..." Twilight said dryly. "Nothing!" Discord said, before adding after a pause, "Okay, maybe something. A lot of something. But not all of it. Part of it is showing off and keeping Dear Fluttershy happy." Twilight flipped her book closed as she turned to Discord. "Aren't you a noble soul. Discord, I'm grateful for the help you've given me so far, but if things are going to keep going like this then you might as well just go back to Fluttershy's." "You know," Discord replied after a moment, "I think I might." It took a moment for Twilight to actually process the statement. "Wait, what!?" Her head shot up from her book to scan around the room, but all she managed to see was the tuft of Discord's tail disappearing around a corner. "Hey, wait!" Twilight bolted for the door as her one decent source for information on chaos magic walked out on her. "Discord, would you-" She stopped as she rounded the corner and found it empty. She stared down the empty corridor as Spike poked his head around the corner. "Huh," he said after a moment. "you know, I keep forgetting he can do that." "Me too," Twilight sighed, "me too." Slowly, she turned and started back into the library. "Come on - if books aren't going to solve our problems, then it's time to start experimentation." "How are we going to experiment with chaos magic without, you know," Spike asked, "the lord of chaos?" Twilight snapped her claws and an orange manifested in her waiting claw. "We still have me - I might not be as powerful as Discord, but I should be sufficient." She did her best to ignore the small crack that was still echoing around the room - a side-effect of the void where the fruit had been suddenly filling with air. She still couldn't figure out how to stop that - it never happened to Discord, but that particular trick hadn't come up yet. Spike studied her for a second before shrugging. "If you say so. So - list time?" "List time." Twilight said with a nod as she levitated the orange and started toward a table. If Discord wasn't going to help her, well, there wasn't anything she could do about it. All she could do was hope for the best. "First things first - parameters for the experimental protocol..." The next few hours were spent running through Twilight's main scroll supply as ideas were suggested, elaborated on and eventually discarded in a steady rhythm. Twilight could feel a familiar twitch working its way into her eyebrow, but she did her best to suppress it - maybe the next one would work! The line was less reassuring the fifty-seventh time. Both the draconequus and the dragon were so engrossed that they didn't notice the knock echoing from the front door, even with the castles rather exquisite acoustics. Similarly, neither of them noticed a familiar purple-maned unicorn who had let herself in coming around the corner. "Oh, Twilight," Rarity sing-songed as she stepped into the library, A white foreleg sweeping a sunhat off her head. "I just heard the most unusual rumor from-" She stopped as she took a look around the library. Most of the floor was covered with snarls of scrolls, intermixed with the occasional broken quill or emptied ink pot. "...oh my..." A low thumping from somewhere in the sea of paper interrupted her gawking, and after a moment of following after it she managed to find her purple friend as well as her little assistant. Twilight was slumped over a table, scrolls scattered around her as she pounded her head against the wooden surface in a slow rhythm. The papers around her bounced dramatically upward with every thump before falling back to the table an instant later with a rustle, just in time for the next thump. Thump. Rustle. Thump. Rustle. "Twilight, dear, are you alright?" Rarity asked with worry. "No, Rarity," Twilight replied, though her voice was somewhat muffled since she hadn't bothered to raise her head from the table. "no, I'm not." "Is this about what happened with Discord?" Rarity asked as she dusted a layer of papers off of one of the chairs. She glanced across the table to where Spike was splayed out across the table, a scroll draped over his face as an improvised sleep mask. "Fluttershy told me that he had popped back into her cottage this morning, but I am a little light on the details..." Twilight tilted her head just enough to stare up at Rarity with a red and purple eye. "Something like that - we had an argument about... well, I guess my brother would call it 'chain of command' - he thought he was in charge." "And you think you are?" Rarity questioned. "This is my project after all," Twilight stated, "why would I not be in charge?" Rarity chuckled softly, "My dear, I have been over to Fluttershy's often enough for our spa days to know that the only way you can be 'in charge' of Discord is with blatant bribes or harsh stares." "And I can't really pull off the latter," Twilight mumbled as she finally pulled herself up into something resembling proper posture. "But he was trying to order me around like he was my teacher!" Rarity blinked at that. "I thought he was." "He explains the mechanics of chaos magic, yes," Twilight replied, "but that is the full extent of his position - completely advisory. If he is going to keep interrupting my research, then it is better that I continue without him." Rarity took another look around the room before turning back to her friend. "Really, now?" Twilight sighed as she shuffled a few nearby papers around. "I will admit that I've hit a bit of a...roadblock trying to design an experiment - variable isolation is proving problematic." Spike snorted from where he was laying on the table. "That's an understatement." "Care to elaborate, dear?" Rarity asked as she settled in for what would no doubt be a very jargon-heavy monologue. Her friends were always there for her, so the least she could do was let them vent on occasion even if she only understood around half of it. Or, as was usually the case when Twilight was venting, less than half. "I'm trying to isolate whatever it is that lets Discord detect chaos," Twilight explained. "which should, in theory, be easier than it sounds - not a great deal seems to interact with chaos, so I don't need to worry about noise like I do with a thaumascope. But the problem is on the other end of the system - I can't maintain isolation between generation and detection." "I'm afraid I don't follow, dear." Rarity said. "I'm trying to use my chaos magic to create something similar to a spell matrix that will react to ambient chaos magic. The issue is that I don't have a way to test it properly since the only one here who can create chaos is me." "Well, I could send my sister and her friends over if all you need is chaos," Rarity said with a shrug. "But I take it that it is not that simple?" "I can't use my own magic for the test since my magic is also the detector - it's like..." Twilight tapped her chin for a minute as she thought it over. "...if something gets dropped, which are you most likely to catch - something you dropped yourself, or something your sister drops?" "I think I take your meaning," Rarity said with a nod. "You think that since both are from you that there might be a sympathetic response?" "Exactly!" Twilight replied before adding, "Most ponies don't catch on to my metaphors that fast..." Rarity shrugged. "You tend to remember a few things on magical theory when you use magic to make clothing every day - that is, if you don't want to spend your mornings pulling an angry sweater off of your face." "Right..." Twilight replied after a moment, not quite understanding. "...anyway, since using my own magic for both tasks would contaminate the results, I need somepony else to handle part of the experiment..." "Then go talk to Discord," Rarity suggested. "You've been working with him for a week, haven't you?" "But it's Discord!" Twilight protested. "He is completely uncontrollable! He thinks he's better than everypony else! He doesn't follow the scientific method!" "Well, I'm sure you can teach him the last one," Rarity replied. "The other two - well, like I said, you managed to work with him for the last week." "It's not that simple, Rarity." "Isn't it?" She asked as she rose from her seat. "Since it looks pretty simple from my point of view. You both having something the other wants - tit for tat, darling." Twilight turned to Rarity as the unicorn started out of the Library. "What under Celestia's sun could I have that Discord could possibly want?" Rarity stopped as she reached the doorway, giving Twilight a little shrug. "I honestly haven't the slightest clue, but like you said, he is almost impossible to control. I don't imagine he would have stuck around if there wasn't something in it for him." "Yeah," Twilight said as she slumped in her chair. "messing with me." "Darling, he can do that anywhere," Rarity replied with a wink as she started down the hall. "So what would need him to be here?" Rarity's hoofsteps faded into the background as Twilight considered her friend’s words before giving up. "Spike, any idea what Rarity was talking about?" "Not a clue," Spike mumbled from under a thin layer of paperwork. "Twi? I can't feel my claws." "Take a break, Spike," Twilight replied as she rose from her seat. "I'm going to go for a walk and… clear my head. You want me to grab you anything?" "Yeah, three large sapphire cupcakes with everything, no opals on one," Spike replied before adding. "and a ruby turnover." Twilight chuckled softly as she started out of the library. "You got it. Enjoy your break, I should be back soon." "Take your time," Spike mumbled back with a languid wave. "I'm not going anywhere." Either Discord had gotten bored again or she had been inside longer than she thought, Twilight decided when she noticed how low the sun was. She really hoped it was the latter, since the former would make any further research rather problematic. With little idea of where else to go other than 'about', Twilight started toward Sugarcube Corner to buy Spike his well-deserved pastries. With the threat of dairy-based rain no longer looming, it was a lovely day and Ponyville was as lively as it ever was. A few ponies gave her a wave as she passed, and Mayor Mare even spared a glance up from whatever the pony next to her was showing her to give Twilight a quick nod. The mental flexibility and adaptability of Ponyville never ceased to amaze her, and their ability to adapt to a second draconequus just drove the point further home. In fact, Twilight mused, that could be just as interesting to study as chaos magic itself. After all, this town was located closer to a major Wildlands - in this case the Everfree Forest - than any other major settlement in Equestria. Detrot further south had to contend with megafauna more often, but its valley was otherwise fairly mundane. Yes, she had plenty of observational data on hoof for a baseline, and she could gather more besides. It would be a simple matter of introducing new stimuli and timing how long it took them to return to baseline activity levels! She would need to talk to Mayor Mare about getting access to tax revenue to track economic impact... and, technically, if she wanted a valid result she would need to run the same tests on a second town. Appleloosa would work, or Dodge Junction - both were near enough that logi- No, Twilight scolded herself, no experimenting on local populations. Twilight dismissed the thoughts of potentially unethical scientific experimentation long enough to notice that she had arrived at her destination. In any other situation, Sugarcube Corner was borderline impossible to miss - life-sized gingerbread houses tended to catch one's eye no matter how often one had strolled past it. Science, however, allowed no distraction. The lunch rush had long since dispersed and the evening crowd had yet to gather, leaving the bakery in a rare moment of quiet. A crash from somewhere further inside the store drowned out the small chime of the bell over the door as Twilight entered. Well, she corrected herself, as quiet as a place could be when Pinkie Pie was employed there. She gave Lyra a wave and the mint-colored unicorn giving an energetic wave back. Across from her, Bon Bon was nursing a blue and pink milkshake that matched her mane and sporting her usually dour expression. It didn't seem to dissuade Lyra as she returned to animatedly conveying whatever story Twilight's arrival had interrupted. Twilight left the two to their conversation as she approached unoccupied front counter. A quick glance around showed nopony and nothing but a plate of day-old pastries (two bits each!) and a small bell. With little other recourse, Twilight tapped the bell. "Hiya, Twilight!" Twilight recoiled as her bouncy pink friend suddenly manifested out of seemingly nowhere. "What can I get you and- oh." "Oh?" Twilight replied as she pulled herself off the floor. "Why 'oh'?" Pinkie's curly pink mane bounced as she shrugged. "I was sort of hoping Discord was following you around - he's so funny!" "Yes, well,” Twilight replied. "He and I haven't been on speaking terms since this morning." "Fighting over who's in charge?" Pinkie asked as she cleaned a spotless milkshake glass with an equally spotless rag as she leaned against the counter. "Surprised you didn't cash in that favor he owes you." "If I force him to help, he'll be worse than useless, and-" Twilight paused as she realized something and quickly turned to her friend. "How did you know we had a fight?" "Paying attention," Pinkie replied. "Duh - anyway, don't worry about it. You guys will be buddies again in no time!" "What makes you so sure of that?" Twilight asked, though part of her didn't want to know. Some things were just better taking on faith. "Its too early in the story, obviously!" Pinkie replied. "But you didn't come in here to listen to me be a chatty chatter-box - you came here for pastries! What do you need?" "Uh..." Twilight took a second for her brain to catch up with her hyperactive friend. "Three large sapphire cupcakes, no opals on one, and a ruby turnover." "One Spikey-wikey reward platter coming up!" Pinkie said before literally diving into the display case. Twilight wanted to point out that such behavior couldn't possibly be sanitary, but she couldn’t manage to form the words. Instead, Pinkie's voice chimed up again, muffled slightly by the glass. "So, what is your plan to fix things with him?" "Who said anything about fixing things?" Twilight replied, perhaps too quickly. "You wouldn't be moping around town if you weren't bothered by something," Pinkie replied as she tossed a few gem-coated cakes into a box. "So, whats the plan, el capitan?" "Right now? Find an alternative to Discord," Twilight replied as she eyed a crepe sitting in the display. "since I'm pretty sure I can't get him to come back." "Can't or won't?" Pinkie asked as she dropped the box of pastries onto the counter. "Also, that'll be forty-seven bits. I'd put it on your tab, but Mrs. Cake got mad since I didn't have a ledger which is weird because ledgers don't have tabs, they have lots of columns and that was what I told Mrs. Cake and then she just stared at me for a moment and then she revoked my tabbing privileges." Twilight stared at her friend for a moment. "You know, I haven't tried testing you..." she gave her head a quick shake. "no - too many unknowns. Let me just..." she paused as she reached back only to realize that she hadn't brought her saddlebags. "...shoot. Hold on." Twilight rubbed her claws together before snapping one. There was a small 'wumph' of displaced air as still-sleeping Spike suddenly appeared on the counter, clutching Twilight's coin purse like it was his Rarity plushie. "...huh," Twilight said after a moment. "that didn't even go wrong the way I expected it to." "That was so cool!" Pinkie said as she hopped up and down excitedly as Twilight carefully freed her purse from the small dragon's grip. "Do something else! Oh - can you teleport Gummy here? No, wait - Mr. Cake said reptiles in the bakery was against health codes after he found Gummy sleeping next to some bagels on the warming rack... what about your brother? Or my sister! OH - what about-" Twilight stopped her as she dropped a claw-full of bits onto the counter. "Pinkie, its probably best for their health if they stay exactly where they are." Last thing Twilight wanted was to accidentally teleport somepony, sans skin. "Right..." Pinkie nodded as she counted out the bits before sliding three back to Twilight. "So - can't or won't?" "What?" Twilight asked as she carefully levitated the box of confections along with the young dragon onto her back. "With Discord, silly!" Pinkie replied. "You said you can't get him back. Can't or won't?" "I mean...a bit of both, I guess." Twilight replied as she found herself caught off-guard. Ponies were so used to Pinkie's wild antics that they tended to forget that she could, with surprisingly regularity, be surprisingly cognizant. "I mean, I sort of told him he might as well leave, but after this week I'm not sure if we can actually work together." "And he actually left?" Pinkie replied as she returned to cleaning her milkshake glass. "I'm surprised - you're the only one that lets him get away with any chaos at all." "Other than Fluttershy, you mean." Twilight replied as she tossed her coin purse onto her back, where Spike quickly returned to clutching it without so much as stirring. She would have just teleported it back, but considering how it arrived she didn't want to risk sending it straight into a volcano or something. "Not really," Pinkie replied. "I keep asking her to let me play with him, but she's always like 'no, we shouldn't encourage him' and that sort of thing." Twilight blinked. "Really?" "Yup!" Pinkie said with a nod. "She lets him do a little bit, but nothing like what you guys did for your training!" "Huh," Twilight said after a moment, "that never even occurred to me." She shifted the loads on her back before giving Pinkie a polite nod. "Thanks, Pinkie." "No problem, Twi!" Pinkie replied with a cheerful wave as her friend departed the bakery. "Thanks for visiting Sugarcube Corner - come again soon!" The bell over the bakery door chimed again as Twilight stepped outside and once again into the afternoon sun. She still couldn't think of what to do, so she just started back toward the castle via the most scenic route possible. Curse her and her inability to do nothing! Maybe she should take lessons from Rainbow Dash - that pegasus never missed a chance to take five. Then again, she would probably take a lot of breaks too if she trained as hard as Rainbow did and ran the weather patrol. Rainbow worked in bursts, where as she - hello Rainbow - worked almost constantly. Her brain couldn't shut itself off - even those spa days Rarity sometimes managed to convince her to go on... Wait. Twilight stopped and looked up at the blue pegasus who was hovering about a meter overhead and smirking. "Rainbow?" "Twilight," Rainbow Dash replied, still smirking. "I think you're scaring your neighbors." Twilight blinked. "What?" "You were thinking out loud again." Rainbow replied. Oh. Oh dear. That...should be embarrassing. Funny, she didn't feel embarrassed. Was that normal? What was normal anyway? She was a draconequus, after all. "Hey, Twi," Rainbow waved a hoof in front of Twilight, snapping the draconequus out of her thoughts. "You alright?" "I'm fine," Twilight replied as she tried to get her thoughts in order. She was finding it unusually difficult. "Just have a lot on my mind." "Well, maybe I can help with that," Rainbow replied. "Mind if I borrow Discord for a bit?" "He's not a tea set," Twilight replied, "I can't just lend him out... and he's not working with me right now anyway." "Oh. Darn." Rainbow replied. "What’s he doing right now?" Twilight shrugged. "No idea - we had a fight and then he left. He's probably at Fluttershy's." Twilight turned to her friend. "What did you need Discord for, anyway?" "Wanted him to make me an obstacle course to fly through." Rainbow replied. "I saw some of the stuff you guys made the other day and thought that it would be awesome for a practice course." "So why ask me?" Twilight asked as her friend touched down next to her. "Since I figured if you told him to help me you could make sure he didn't... I dunno," Rainbow waved a hoof vaguely. "Alphabetize my organs or something." "On the upside," Twilight replied casually, "Your autopsy would be really easy." Rainbow paled slightly. "And now I wished I had just asked Discord. Thanks for that mental image, Twi." "I could make your obstacle course, you know." Twilight suggested. "I might not be as good with this chaos magic as Discord, but-" "No offense, Twi," Rainbow replied as she gave her friend an apologetic look, "but you aren't nearly as fiendish as he is. I mean, yeah, you're clever, but Discord is like a Daring Do villain." Twilight wasn't sure why the first part of that conversation she focused on was that Rainbow Dash had just used the word 'fiendish', but there you go. She quickly moved on. "Sorry Rainbow, but I've been having a very… odd day. Talk to me tomorrow and maybe I can help you out." Rainbow gave her friend a jaunty little salute as she took wing again. "Sure thing - but I'm telling ya, you need Discord!" Twilight watched her friend fly off, most likely to a less-interesting-than-hoped training session and sighed. She was doing that a lot, she realized. "She's right," she said to nopony in particular. She needed Discord - she had worked out that much the day of her transformation. What she didn't realize was just how right she had been at the time - and how right Rainbow was now. Twilight was still standing where she had been when Rainbow had flown off as the dragon on her back stirred to life. Spike woke to find himself one, in the middle of town; two, on Twilight's back and three, Twilight was repeatedly faceclawing. "Uh...what's going on?" "I messed up, Spike." Twilight replied as she stopped and stared off toward the lowering sun. "You'd think I'd have learned by now..." "Well, everypony messes up," Spike replied as she hopped off her back, stretching before he noticed the pastry box. "that's how you learn, right?" "Well, I don't know if I can fix this one, Spike..." Twilight replied. If somepony had sent her off like that, would she accept an apology? Probably, but she was really bad at holding grudges. Discord was the current reigning champion for holding a grudge, though getting locked in stone for a millennium is likely great motivation for revenge. "Not like it can hurt," Spike replied as he tossed the first cupcake into his mouth, chewing on it for a moment before swallowing and turning to Twilight. "Wait, what did you do?" Twilight chuckled as she levitated her assistant back onto her back. "I yelled at Discord, remember?" "Oh. Yeah." Spike looked haunted for a second as he recalled the sea of scrolls. "So, are you going to, uh, try and get him to help you again?" "Nope," Twilight replied as she started forward - she finally had a destination in mind. "I'm going to see if we can help each other."