//------------------------------// // Keeping Up with Current Events // Story: An Interesting Arrival // by Moongaze14 //------------------------------// Keeping Up with Current Events Back when Statice used his Hibernation Spell on himself, his last thoughts at the time were that things were going to be different when he opened his eyes. He didn’t expect them to be TOO different when he met face to face with Discord. “Hi there, Statice!” the draconequus smiled at the green unicorn, who yelped and got away from him. “What are you doing here, Discord?” Statice demanded, not too happy with his lack of personal space. Discord crossed his eyes and pouted. “That’s the first thing you say to a friend after not seeing him for so long.” “Can you tell me how long was I out?” Statice asked as he rubbed his eyes with the back of a hoof. “I’ve only been asleep for a day.” That last part was half a lie. Regardless of how many days passed during the hibernation, it would always feel like a good night sleep to the caster. Discord’s face changed from pouting, to shocked, to mischievous all in a flash and with clones. The mischievous one snapped his finger to disappear the pouting clone and the stunned clone. He snapped his fingers again and he was now dressed as a movie director. “Oh, Statice, you’d be surprised at what you missed these last months!” Discord declared as he brought a movie screen and some popcorn. Statice’s reaction was less than enthusiastic though. “I’ve been out for months!” he yelled out in surprise. “Yes,” Discord told him before shushing him. He materialized movie theater sits for himself, Statice, and many other clones of himself. There was even one clone acting like an usher walking around the files. “That’s ridiculous!” Statice snapped at Discord. He was shushed by Discord and his clones. “I wasn’t that beat up so I should have woken up in a few days,” Statice groaned as he struggled to explain his spell to Discord. He was a genius in making up spells, but that didn’t mean that he could come up with good explanations for them. “I barely ate that day but that should have made my hibernation last for weeks at worst. It shouldn’t have lasted a month, much less many of them.” The Discord clones once again shushed him. “Sir, be quiet or I won’t show you the movie,” Discord usher threatened. Statice crossed his forelegs in a sulking manner before watching the movie. The opening credits featured a Discord shaped lamp and a movie version of Discord narrating the events of the plot. “Today only, I will show you The Fourth Season!” Movie Discord promised. Statice raised an eyebrow at the name of the movie but he knew better than questioning. He didn’t want to be shushed again or kicked out of the movie. He was not going to be scolded by Discord of all ponies…or draconequus in his case. “Last time we saw our heroine, Twilight Sparkle, she had ascended to become an alicorn princess. Being a humble pony all of her life, our purple unicorn-turned-alicorn had doubts regarding the new responsibilities offered by her position.” Statice smiled a little bit. It was great to see that royalty did not change Twilight’s personality. He would have hated it if Twilight became a professional problem solver. The last thing a movie needed was an invincible protagonist. “Fortunately, the love of her friends, and an unwanted arrival from some out of control plants from the Everfree Forest forced our new princess into a new adventure. The Royal Sisters disappeared out of nowhere, leaving Equestria stuck between day and night and it was up to Twilight to find out how to save them. Old secrets of the past were revealed…” Images of Discord being defeated by Celestia and Luna were played. They were followed by Luna’s transformation into Nightmare Moon and her subsequent imprisonment to the moon by Celestia. Statice had seen those events before but he was still awed at the power of the Elements of Harmony. “And new sacrifices were made. To stop the chaos caused by the Everfree Forest, the Bearers had to return the Elements of Harmony to the Tree of Harmony. Equestria returned to normal and Celestia and Luna were returned. Curiously enough, a coffin came out from the Tree of Harmony, offering some sort of treasure that could only be opened by six keys.” Statice watched how Twilight returned the Elements and reunited with Celestia and Luna. The special chest that came out of the tree was made of crystal and offered six locks. The green unicorn’s curiosity was piqued at the moment. How were the girls going to open the chest? “After the incident, the girls moved on with their lives. They all came up with the idea of making a journal to explain the lessons they learned on their adventures. Little did they know that those lessons were going to be more useful than they expected…” “Spoiler alert, Discord!” Statice angrily stood up. He was getting interested and now Discord had just given him a clue of how the girls were going to get the keys. Instead of getting shushed again, all of the Discord clones, including the Discord usher started booing at Movie Discord. Movie Discord smiled sheepishly at his audience. “Sorry about that, my audience. I better get to the good part.” He snapped his fingers and divided the screen into five. Each screen focused on one of the Elements of Harmony. The first of the screens showed Rarity talking with some shy looking earth pony mare, who gave her a spool of thread. “Rarity learned a lesson in generosity during a trip to Manehattan. A greedy rival fashionista stole her designs and Rarity had her friends abandon their plans to help her sew new designs. She realized how wrong she was for putting her interests ahead of those of her friends. Rarity’s generosity inspired her rival’s unappreciated assistant to quit her job and start a new life. She gave Rarity a spool of rainbow thread in gratitude.” The second screen focused on Rainbow Dash at the hospital talking with a blue pegasus stallion, one of those Wonderbolts that Statice heard many ponies talk about. The scene shifted to Rainbow Dash confronting two pegasus mares, one yellow and the other light blue, about trying to replace the stallion with her. The final scene showed the yellow mare give Rainbow Dash a golden Wonderbolts pin. “Rainbow Dash learned a lesson in loyalty on Rainbow Falls. Caught between competing for Ponyville with her friends or Cloudsdale with her Wonderbolt heroes, Rainbow Dash attempted to prevent a choice by faking an injury. Upon talking with Soarin, a Wonderbolt who got hurt and abandoned by his friends in favor of them trying to get Rainbow Dash into their team, Rainbow Dash confronted her heroes to call them out on their actions. She decided to participate in the Equestria Games in the Ponyville team. Her loyalty earned the respect of Spitfire, leader of the Wonderbolts, who gave her a Wonderbolts pin in appreciation.” The third screen focused on Pinkie Pie, who was competing with some orange earth pony in some sort of comedy duel. Apparently, it was Rainbow Dash’s birthday and they were competing to see who was going to make her laugh. Pinkie Pie quitted when she saw that Rainbow Dash was not having fun, only for her opponent to reveal by song that she was the one who inspired him to be a party pony. Both went on to make an excellent birthday party, even by Statice’s admission, before they went to say their goodbyes. Pinkie Pie was given a rubber chicken that used to belong to her as a reminder of the party. “When party planner Cheese Sandwich goes to Ponyville to plan Rainbow Dash’s birth-iversary party, Pinkie Pie challenged him to a goof-off. It was a comedy duel unlike anything ever seen, but it ended in defeat when Pinkie Pie resigned from the match. Her pride as a party planner was indirectly ruining the party for Rainbow Dash. Only with a quick musical origin story by Cheese Sandwich did Pinkie Pie regain her party spirit. The pair went on to give Rainbow Dash the party that she deserved. Cheese Sandwich left with Pinkie Pie on good terms, but not before returning Boneless, Cheese Sandwich’s rubber chicken that he got from one of Pinkie Pie’s party, back to his original owner.” The fourth screen showed Fluttershy talking with some adorable insect looking ponies. The leader of the group seemed short tempered and impatient with Fluttershy as his group was living on her house and didn’t want to leave. Fluttershy reluctantly but firmly got them out of her house and led them back into their homes by having Twilight turn her and her friends into those insect ponies. After getting them back into their home, Fluttershy was given a flower to remember them. “Fluttershy’s lesson in kindness happened during the migration of Breezies. An incident with a leaf separated some Breezies from their group and left them unable to return home. Fluttershy let them live on her house for some time until they were ready to move. Sadly, the Breezies grew too accustomed to their new living conditions. After their leader, Seabreeze, was nearly attacked by bees in his attempts to return home, Fluttershy finally got the courage to get them out. With a magical spell from Twilight, Fluttershy and her friends returned the Breezies to their home. Because of her efforts, the Breezies gave Fluttershy a flower in response to her help.” The fifth screen showed Applejack with some yellow unicorn brothers. They were promoting some tonic that Applejack’s grandma was drinking. An encounter with a silver earth pony who worked with the brothers revealed that the tonic was a sham. Applejack wanted to tell the truth of the tonic but didn’t want to at first because it made her grandmother feel strong. When Applejack’s grandmother attempted to do some dangerous diving trick, Applejack saved her and admitted the truth of the tonic. Applejack’s honesty got the silver pony to admit the truth and he paid her back with the single bit that he earned working for the brothers. “Applejack’s trial of honesty happened when dealing with the scamming Flim Flam Brothers and their ‘cure all’ tonic. The tonic was supposed to cure all ailments and Applejack’s grandma, Granny Smith, fell for it. When Applejack met the brothers’ assistant, Silver Quill, she refused to tell the truth out of fear of breaking Granny’s heart. It was only when Granny’s stunts became dangerous that she finally told the truth. Inspired by her honesty, Silver Quill, quitted his job for the Flim Flam Brothers and gave Applejack the bit that he earned working for them as payment for her lesson.” The screen faded to white for a full minute. Neither Discord nor his clones said anything. Statice was focused on a pattern that he had seen on the stories. It appeared that the girls had some sort of epiphany that revealed some rainbow light in their eyes before they did something that represented their elements. Even more strange was that every time that they succeeded they got some sort of memento that glowed with the same rainbow light as their eyes. Rarity had her thread, Rainbow Dash had her pin, Pinkie Pie had her rubber chicken, Fluttershy had her flower, and Applejack had her bit. But there was one that was missing… “What happened to Twilight’s key?” Statice asked the movie screen. “What about Twilight?” Movie Discord asked as he stared at Statice deeply. The green unicorn took a deep breath and spoke his mind. “All of the girls had some sort of rainbow light in their eyes and their mementos released that same light when they got them. I assume those things were the keys. But you only showed me five of the six elements. What do you have to say for Twilight?” Discord hummed in contemplation as he stroked his beard. “I’m not sure on how to tell you that part. I guess that we will have to do some backstory first so that you can catch up on what is going on in the story.” Statice groaned in dismay. Why did everypony always wanted to give him the full story? It was not like he was going to need it anytime soon. As he silently protested, the movie switched to an ancient book that showed two creatures. One looked like a black and red centaur and another seemed like a brown hybrid of a monkey and a bat. He stared at the draconequus for an explanation before he found him sitting on a couch in front of him. Discord was dressed in elegant purple robes and a red fez, like a storyteller, as he explained the story in front of the unicorn’s eyes. “Long time ago, there were two brothers from another land that came to Equestria. Those brothers were Lord Tirek and his brother Scorpan. They intended to steal all of the magic from the ponies. However, Scorpan befriended a unicorn wizard and decided to change his ways. He attempted to convince Tirek to abandon his plans and ultimately betrayed him when he told Celestia and Luna about them. Tirek was exiled to Tartarus while Scorpan returned to his homeland.” Discord snapped his fingers and disappeared, replacing the drawings with his own appearance. All of the Discord clones were captivated by his story but he found Statice’s lack of reaction to be disappointing. “Can you move on with the story already?” Statice gave him an annoyed look. “I have a lot of things to do!” Discord was not amused at Statice’s comment but opted to resume the movie. It now showed a pony in Canterlot meeting with an old shrouded figure. Statice narrowed his eyes, feeling some sort of horror story vibe. To his surprise, he was right, as the shrouded figure opened his mouth and sucked the magic out of the pony. Statice gasped in shock at what he had just seen. That thing was capable of sucking magic! His shock turned into horror when he saw the pony’s eyes turn glassy and his cutie mark disappear. “That thing was Lord Tirek, right?” Statice asked the Discord clones with a grimace. A somber nod was the only thing that he got in response. “I guess that backstory was worth something,” Statice remarked as he took a few breaths to regain his cool. “Tell me, what does Twilight Sparkle have to do in this little horror story?” Discord smiled as he snapped his fingers and presented Twilight at the Crystal Empire. The purple alicorn was nervous about a meeting with some dignitaries from Maretonia, only to be disappointed that her presence was needed just so that she could smile and wave. In a certain way, Statice could understand that, although he would be more angry than sad for being forced to travel all the way home to the Crystal Empire just to greet some ponies he barely even knew. “Poor Twilight started the story going into the Crystal Empire to do some royal duties with the dignitaries of Maretonia. Sadly, said royal duties were just smiling and waving. Of course, dear Twilight’s self-esteem took a turn for the worst by the end of the meeting.” Statice narrowed his eyes as he watched Twilight coming out of the meeting and being depressed. As the other princesses came out and asked her was wrong with her. She told them on how useless she felt in comparison with Celestia raising the sun, Luna raising the moon, and Cadence spreading love while she didn’t even have a purpose. This started some sort of musical that Statice quickly interrupted. “Stop!” Statice yelled angrily. “Why should I stop?” Discord questioned as he glared at Statice for the interruption. “First of all, I’m not fond of musicals,” Statice crossed his forelegs. He had already seen enough musical numbers when Discord told him about Twilight and her friends. “But this is getting ridiculous.” “Do tell?” Discord crossed his arms and gave Statice a questioning look. “First of all, what’s with Twilight’s self-doubt?” Statice threw his forelegs to the air in exasperation. “I get that she was no princess with a specific affinity like the sun, or the moon, or love. I would feel a little annoyed if I were just a prince. But come on! Twilight has protected Equestria multiple times, long before she was a princess, and she feels worthless? She is the Element of Magic for crying out loud! And now she is singing because she doesn’t feel that she belongs with the other princesses? If I don’t recall, she and her friends are always the ones who protect Equestria while the other princesses barely do anything! The way I see it, Twilight deserved to be a princess long before she completed that ridiculous destiny switching spell!” Discord stood aghast at what he had just heard. He expected Statice to be insulting and dismissing of Twilight given his lack of social skills and previous encounters with her. And even though he was right regarding the unicorn’s opinion of Twilight, he was also shocked that he held an even greater opinion of her. “I think that we’re going to see the musical number,” Discord replied, still stunned but willing to continue the movie. “Don’t pout, little unicorn! You’re going to like the musical!” Much to Statice’s surprise, Discord was right. The musical number that Celestia, Luna, and Cadence made for Twilight was beautiful. Their voices were divine and the lyrics were sublime. A part of him actually wanted Discord to replay the part but he controlled it in favor of continuing the story. By the time the musical was finished, all of the Discord clones were applauding. “Excuse me,” Statice raised a hoof shyly, trying not to let it slip that he loved the song. “Can we please focus on Tirek now?” Discord smirked in satisfaction at the unicorn’s question. “Eventually, Celestia found out about Tirek’s return and told Twilight about it. Afterwards, she put me on charge of capturing Tirek.” “Celestia trusted you to capture Tirek?” Statice reluctantly pointed a hoof at him with a disbelieving expression. “Excuse me but I am pretty reliable,” Discord frowned angrily before rubbing the back of his head in what looked like…shame. “I was reliable at first though.” “Did he beat you in a fight?” Statice asked, trying to sound comprehensive with him. Although Discord was a jerk, he was technically speaking the only friend that he had on Equestria for the time being. Rather than answering, Discord snapped his fingers and showed him the fight between himself and Tirek. Much to Statice’s surprise, Discord proved to be a tough opponent. He made short work of Tirek and even dodged a magical blast by splitting his face in half! He felt awe at the draconequus until it turned into horror when he saw Tirek speak to him with tempting words. “You didn’t?” Statice asked apprehensively. “I did,” Discord nodded his head. The next images featured Discord helping Tirek to steal the magic from all of the unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies of Equestria. Statice couldn’t believe what he saw. He knew that Discord was a little wacky, but siding with Tirek was pure insanity. He was going to question Discord about it but chose not to when he saw him feel guilty for his actions. The movie moved on to show Twilight reuniting with the other three princesses. Much to Statice’s surprise, the princesses’ plan was to transfer all of their magic into Twilight. He couldn’t believe what he heard from Celestia’s mouth until after he saw the magic transfer in front of him. Seeing his surprise, Discord continued his narration. “With almost all of the magic of Equestria stolen by Tirek, only the alicorn magic was remaining. Seeing no other choice, Celestia instructed Twilight to take her magic, Luna’s, and Cadence’s for safekeeping. Since Twilight’s special talent was magic, only she was capable of holding that much power. Even though I was not present for the event, I felt it outside of Canterlot Castle but chose not to tell Tirek about it.” Statice was confused. If Discord was Tirek’s ally, why did he choose to hide that information from him? The movie went on to show Tirek banishing the princesses to Tartarus, capturing the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony, and then stealing Discord’s magic from him before going after Twilight. “Celestia’s plan succeeded, as Tirek was unable to steal the alicorn magic he desired. Sadly, this did not stop him from banishing her, her sister, and her niece to Tartarus. As a reward for my…services, Tirek gave me a medallion as a symbol of trust. Unfortunately, Celestia’s plan was ruined when Tirek saw a window of Twilight as a princess and he went to Ponyville, where he stole my magic and that of Twilight’s friends. With his magic power taken to a whole new level, Lord Tirek faced Twilight in a duel to obtain her alicorn magic.” Statice dropped his jaw the second he saw the fight between Twilight and Tirek. All of the spells that they used were fueled with powerful magic. Their sheer destructive power terrified him…and he was the type of unicorn that had highly destructive spells on his arsenal. Despite what he saw, there was something amiss in what he saw and that made the fight less realistic on his eyes. “Cut that out!” Statice snapped at Discord. “Cut what out?” Discord asked Statice. “You expect me to believe that’s what really happened?” Statice angrily pointed a hoof at the screen. “It is what really happened!” Discord cried out in indignation. “I understand the need to take creative license to make the story more entertaining but you’re really exceeding it, Discord!” Statice stomped a hoof on his seat. “That’s what happened!” Discord slapped his eagle talon on his forehead. “Yeah, right,” Statice snorted dismissively. “Not even Celestia and Luna could beat you together. And now you’re telling me that with their combined power and that of Twilight and Cadence’s is enough to not only beat you but to rival Tirek when he has stolen your magic and that of almost everypony of Equestria? How does that even make sense in the first place?” Discord sputtered. As much as he wanted to come out with an explanation he couldn’t find one. That was how magic worked and he didn’t mind as long as it didn’t make sense. That kind of erratic mechanic was what made magic what it was…at least in his opinion. “Well that’s the way it happened, Statice! It might seem exaggerated but I am giving you a full recap of the true events.” Statice took a deep breath. “Let’s take Twilight and Tirek out of the equation. At your best, you’re stronger than Celestia and Luna put together. However, when you put Cadence, they are more powerful than you. I can get that if the difference was at least a little margin, not when the gap is so big that you need the power of everypony in the land to face them as your equals! The only way this equation makes sense is if Cadence was more powerful than Celestia and Luna put together!” “Are we going to stay here and talk math problems or are we going to watch the movie, Statice?” Discord gave him an authoritative look. “Continue the movie,” Statice crossed his forelegs. The movie continued with a stalemate between Tirek and Twilight. Statice was surprised to see that Twilight gave up her magic not just to save her friends from Tirek but to save Discord as well. Twilight’s forgiveness was what ultimately led the ponies to victory when Discord gave her the medallion that Tirek gave him, which turned out to be her rainbow key. The girls used their rainbow glowing objects as keys to open the chest given to them by the Tree of Harmony. They obtained some sort of magic called Rainbow Power that changed their appearance and gave them the power to defeat Tirek, sealing him in Tartarus once again. “It turned out that Twilight and Tirek were too powerful to defeat each other in combat so Tirek decided to do a little bargain: Twilight’s friends for her magic. Being the good girl she is, Twilight traded her magic for her friends and even asked to save me despite my betrayal. After the bargain was done, I gave Twilight the medallion Tirek gave to me as a sign of friendship. This ultimately turned out to be the final key needed to open the chest that the Tree of Harmony sprouted some time ago. Once the chest was opened, the girls obtained new powers, which they promptly used to lock out Tirek in a jail inside Tartarus.” For some reason, Discord giggled at the last sentence, more out playfulness than out of sadistic spite for his betrayer. Statice went on to watch the end of the movie, which showed Twilight getting her library replaced with a new castle that had seven thrones, six for her and her fellow Elements and one for Spike. The last minutes of the movie featured a musical number celebrating the return of the princesses and Twilight becoming the Princess of Friendship. “Wow,” Statice whistled once the screen went to black. “I thought that Twilight was going to be the Princess of Magic or something.” “Friendship is magic, Statice!” Discord smiled as he snapped his fingers and dissipated all of his clones. “I don’t think that it’d be different if you were to say that Twilight is the Princess of Friendship instead of the Princess of Magic.” “As interesting as the movie was, this does not explain how I was out for months,” Statice said, returning to the original topic of their conversation. “Even with no food in my belly and little magic reserves, I shouldn’t have been out for that long with the injuries that I had when I made the spell.” Discord winced at the explanation. “That may have been my fault, Statice, for the whole out of control Everfree incident.” “What does the Everfree have to do with this?” Statice raised an eyebrow at the draconequus. Rather than answering, Discord showed a video of Statice being wrapped by spiked vines as he was hibernating. The green unicorn was horrified upon seeing what happened to him months ago before glaring at Discord. “So that’s what happened!” Statice yelled at Discord. “You and your stupid vines disrupted my spell!” “Humph!” Discord raised his snout indignantly. “Excuse me, but I took care of your body while you were asleep. I took out the thorns from your coat and I even looked out for you when I was not busy with Fluttershy.” Statice wanted to yell at Discord but opted against it. As annoyed as he was with Discord for the situation, he did help him during the months…apparently. “I guess I shouldn’t whine about the months that I lost,” Statice exhaled in resignation. “I would have probably spent them on the run anyway. And I don’t have any right to blame you for something you didn’t mean to do to me. What I’m trying to say is that I’m not holding this against you, Discord.” “That’s my friend!” Discord scooped Statice into a hug. “How does it feel to learn your first Friendship Lesson?” “It’s not a Friendship Lesson!” Statice yelled as he teleported out of Discord’s grasp. “I don’t need to take friendship as homework to know about it.” “Are you sure?” Discord teasingly elbowed him before turning into Twilight, dressed in royal clothes and wearing a ridiculous scepter with her face on it. When he spoke again, he did it with her voice. “Look what Twilight got for doing her homework!” “I’m sure,” Statice gave the now purple alicorn a deadpan look. Discord shrugged his shoulders and returned to his original appearance. “If you like, I can also show you some additional material of Season 4. There are still some adventures you haven’t seen yet.” Statice rolled his eyes. “I’m fine. I need to get out of here right now. I have to move forward and not waste time.” “Are you sure?” Discord asked again when he saw Statice walk away from him. “It’s nighttime already and even though you’re still in the crystal caverns the only ways out are either through the entrance many miles above the land and the exit that leads you back to Canterlot, where you’re still a wanted fugitive.” Statice stopped on his tracks. He took a deep breath to calm down but he only ended up growling at himself and speaking in angry gibberish. Behind him, Discord smiled and summoned a bucket of popcorn to watch the spectacle. “You know,” Discord munched as he ate his popcorn. “You don’t have to leave right away. You don’t have a life anyway so you don’t have to worry about compromises or deadlines or the like. Sit here and have some fun with your friend!” Hearing those words stopped Statice’s anger. As insane as Discord was, he made a good point. He didn’t have to leave immediately and he might as well as have some fun after being asleep for months. He used his magic to teleport next to Discord and summoned his own bucket of popcorn. “Start the movie, Discord,” Statice levitated his popcorn and started eating it. Discord smiled, snapped his fingers, and played the movie.