//------------------------------// // What a Wonderful day for a Vacation // Story: Disco at Midnight // by SoaringCoal //------------------------------// Canterlot high. A school of teaching, learning, sports and teenage hormones. Usually a quiet school, or well at least it is today. Yesterday a student almost ripped the walls between two worlds apart, but that was yesterday and today had arrived. The ringing of the school bell reverberated through the empty halls of the high school like the ridiculously loud alarm from an aging clock. Not more than a few seconds went by before students emerged from every classroom, flooding the hallways like water escaping a dam as they chatted amongst each other. Among these students was one named Twilight Sparkle. Sporting her plum colored Crystal Prep Academy uniform that completely went against the green high school’s halls supposed to the cold blue of her old school, already an indication that she didn’t belong. With her outfit alone, she also stood out from the other students, having just transferred from Crystal Prep Academy where they normally wore uniforms, it was hard for Twilight to fit in. As she walked down the hallway, she noticed there were other students glancing at her and whispering. Walking by, she even heard her own name being said and she could feel her arms clutch the books she was holding tighter. She knew what they were whispering about. Not more than a day had gone by since she almost tore a permanent hole between the human world and Equestria. Just thinking about it made her head fall, focusing on the ground. Still, it was hard for her to understand what she had almost done, and despite it, she still felt a nagging in the back of her mind. A nagging Twilight felt regularly and she usually welcomed it, but in this case it almost terrified her. She still wanted to learn about the mysterious and incredible art that was magic. What wonders she could accomplish if she knew how it worked. Her thoughts were interrupted as she heard someone call her name. “Hey Twilight!” Twilight turned and was greeted with the sight of Sunset Shimmer having just exited from a classroom and walking towards her. Twilight smiled at her friend and began to walk towards Sunset, hoping that the nagging, her craving for knowledge, would seize. But a problem to one may seem like nothing in comparison to others. For problems, as with so many aspects of life, are only as bad as the individual makes them. To some, it is the end of the world to get a drop of blue paint on a white dress where as other may see it as the dress becoming more colorful. Problems vary from person to person. What some may see as a catastrophic event of enormous proportions may simply be a regular Tuesday for some people...or ponies. “Ugh…” Twilight groaned as she entered her room and faceplanted onto her bed. Today had been confusing to say the least, being caught in a time travel loop was an exhausting process. Her tired eyes caught the sight of a book on her nightstand. The book was around the size or an average dictionary elegantly covered with brown silky leather, a sun crest on its front, implicating its previous owner. It was glowing purple and vibrating. Twilight’s eyes widened and she felt a smile dawning on her lips as she remembered her human friends. She sat up, opened the book and read the message she could only assume was from Sunset Shimmer. “Dear Twilight…” She read the rest to herself, eyes widening as she finished. She slammed the book down, racing towards the library where a familiar mirror stood waiting. She reached the library and began powering up the mirror to travel to the human world, when she heard a familiar pop ring throughout her castle and a flash of white light behind her. Twilight froze instantly. Oh, no, not him, not now… “Why hello, Princess Twilight,” a deep familiar voice sounded behind her. Twilight slowly turned and was greeted with the one creature she didn’t want in her library. She scowled, “Discord…” The draconequus in question floated in the air above her with his usual mischievous smile plastered on his face. The same expression shifted into one of offence when he saw her expression. “My, my is that a way to greet a friend?” He landed on the crystal floor and coiled around her like a snake. “You don’t call, you don’t write, and your chaos factor has gone down by over seventy-eight point nine percent over the last two seasons!” “Seasons?” Twilight asked with a raised eyebrow. She was promptly ignored. “I must say, I’m very disappointed in you, Miss Sparkle.” Discord snapped his talon and a white light engulfed himself and Twilight. Twilight appeared behind a school student desk. In front of her stood Discord sporting a brown tweed jacket and a red tie while wearing ridiculously big glasses, a blackboard behind him. “I’m afraid you need some guidance from the master himself and while I try and find him, you will sit here and write me an essay on chaos theory with a page requirement of 1,337.” A piece of board chalk wrote on the blackboard by itself all of what Discord said. “You have twenty minutes, and if you fail—” “Alright Discord that’s enough,” Twilight interrupted and was about to exit her chair when she heard the words that made all rationality go out the window. “—you will be sent back to magic kindergarten.” Discord finished. As soon as those words exited Discord’s mouth, Twilight froze as an enormous stack of paper appeared beside her desk, so large it reached the ceiling of the crystal castle along with a pen to write with. She instinctively gulped and raised her hoof into the air. Even the thought of going back to magic kindergarten made Twilight shiver. There were no books...no learning...just sleeping and socialising!  Discord raised an eyebrow but other than that kept looking professional. “No time for questions,” He looked at a nonexistent watch on his arm. “Your time begins...now!” Twilight did not waste any of the precious time given. Without thinking, Twilight had already grabbed the pen in her mouth, grabbed her first page and begun writing. Her writing was sloppy and incredibly fast and she honestly had no idea what to write, but she wrote anyway. By her estimations, her own average word per page count was at four-hundred-fifty-three words per page. With some quick math Twilight figured out she had to write 650,661 words in twenty minutes which in total was 30,283 words per minute. It was completely impossible, but that didn’t keep Twilight from trying. Her pen was practically on fire as she wrote page after page. She slowed down to a stop when she realised something. “Wait, he can’t send me back to magic kindergarten…” She muttered. She deadpanned, dropped the pen and looked up only to be met with a draconequus rolling on the floor clutching his stomach in laughter. “Oh, that was priceless,” Discord laughed and wiped a tear from his eye. He heard hoofsteps and looked up. His eyes were met with a scowling alicorn princess glaring daggers at him. “Uh, hehe… No hard feelings Twilight. You’re just so easy to… Wait, what are you doing? ARGH! Twilight, let go of my tail!” Discord tried to drag himself away from the mare that had gripped his tail in her purple magical aura, but to no effect. With a quick thought he snapped his talon and appeared with his back against the ceiling. “Get down here, now!” Twilight yelled angrily and fired a warning shot from her horn. It landed beside Discord, leaving a soot mark. “Celestia’s flankus gigantus I will!” Discord replied with a distressed expression. “Do you even know how big a pain in the flank you are?!” “I wouldn’t know about that,” Discord scratched his beard in thought. “But I can assure you that I don’t intend to be a ‘pain’ in your flank.” His words calmed Twilight a little, that is if he had stopped talking there. “If I wanted to be a pain in your flank, I would have made my introduction with a friendly bite in it. Or maybe changed your cutiemark into me doing acupuncture on your flank. That would have worked too. Actually thank you, Twilight. Now I know how to announce my presence around you.” Twilight didn’t know whether to be embarrassed or furious. Discord looked to the weird machine attached to a mirror behind Twilight. “And what is that by the way?” He pointed to the machine. “I’m pretty sure it’s new.” All thoughts of embarrassment and fury completely disappeared from Twilight’s mind as Discord pointed to the machine behind her. She smiled sheepishly, “That thing? I, uh, found it? Yes! I found it in the... basement!” She blurted out. The draconequus looked oddly at her. “Twilight, firstly, you don’t have a basement, I’ve checked. And secondly, even if you did, where could it have come from? I’m pretty sure the Tree of Harmony doesn’t create anything that isn’t made of crystal.” He slowly descended from the ceiling and landed before Twilight, eyes having shifted to the machine. “That’s… Because I…” Crap! Twilight, think of something! He can’t know that it leads to— “Is that one of Starswirl’s Otherworld Mirrors?” Discord walked closer and began inspecting the mirror attached to the machine and tapped it with his talon. “Huh, haven’t seen one of these since I began the Discordian era.” Again every thought about what Twilight was doing and what she was trying to prevent went out the window. “Wait, you know about the mirror?” Discord looked at her, almost in shock. “Of course I know about the mirrors.” Twilight’s eyes widened. “‘Mirrors’ as in plural?” “Although I’ve always found these mirrors to be a bit primitive.” Twilight’s jaw dropped. “Primitive?!” She gawked. “You’re calling perhaps the greatest invention Starswirl the bearded ever built primitive? I don’t even understand how that mirror works, so what does that make me?” Discord patted her on her head. “It makes you a pony, my dear.” He began shifting his gaze between Twilight and the machine for a few seconds before smirking. “Ah, I see what is going on here. You were going to take the portal to the other world that it leads to.” Twilight was about to deny and then hung her head in defeat. “Yes I was…” “How very irresponsible of you, Twilight.” Twilight shifted her hooves uncomfortable and kept her gaze on the crystal floor. “Do you know how dangerous it can be to go into other dimensions? What horrors could be waiting beyond that mirror.” Twilight was tempted to defend herself, but kept silent. “And I bet you didn’t even tell your friends.” Twilight could feel her stance getting lower as shame washed over her. “And most importantly, you didn’t invite me.” Twilight’s apparent shame disappeared instantly. “Huh?” She looked up once more and was greeted with Discord’s smiling face. “It seems I’ve misjudged you, Twilight. Perhaps your chaos factor hasn’t gone down after all, but we can discuss that later,” Discord picked up Twilight and slung her over his shoulder. “I’ve been meaning to take a vacation and this is the perfect opportunity!” Twilight felt a shiver go down her spine at those words. “Wait, what?!” “Now onwards for chaos and glory!” He announced and began sprinting towards the mirror. Instinctively Twilight lit her horn and encased Discord in a magenta aura where in which he stopped on the spot. She managed get herself out of his grip, remembering she has wings and landed in front of him as a poison yellow aura engulfed Discord and Twilight’s disappeared. “Oh, come on, Twilight. Don’t be such a sourpuss.” “Discord, I am not letting you through that portal.” She said defiantly. Discord tilted his head and shrugged, “Eh, suit yourself.” He snapped his talon and a rumble went through the crystal castle. Twilight raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Wait for it.” The door to the library blasted open and a wave of chickens came crashing in. “What in Celestia’s...ARGH!” Twilight didn’t get to say more as the surge of chickens washed over her,bawking all the way. It took a few seconds for Twilight to dig herself out, and when she did, she met with a horrible sight; Discord waving at her as he walked through the mirror. As his tail was about to get engulfed by the mirror, Twilight focused her horn, took aim, and then a chicken knocked into her head, shaking her aim and a magenta beam shot from her horn, but instead of the tail, it hit the top of the mirror. Twilight was practically fuming in anger at the, now absent, draconequus. “Discord, when I get my hooves on you… Hey, get away from my books! They’re not chicken food!”