//------------------------------//
// CH19: Chaos 101 
// Story: Sunset Helpers 
// by Spirit Shift 
//------------------------------//

	Slamming her palms down on either side of Rainbow Dash’s desk, Trixie leaned over it and leered at Rainbow herself. It was easy since she had been already leaning back in her seat with her arms crossed. 

Behind Dash, students in every part of the classroom eagerly discussed the events of that morning, most notably Celestia’s angry words to Discord after being let back in the gym.

“You have no idea?” asked Trixie, her brow twitching in frustration.

Rainbow simply shook her head with a blank look.

Sunset tilted her head and looked towards the ceiling in thought. “The name certainly rings a bell. I’ve probably heard of him on the other side.” Her brow crinkled a bit as she paused and struggled to remember something important, but when it didn’t come to her she shrugged and continued. “No, I’ve never heard of any famous magician by the name of Discord.”

Trixie simply glanced at her and let out a scoff before continuing to lecture Rainbow. “How have you never heard of the Magician of Chaos! He’s like, the most talented showman in the world.”

Behind Rainbow Dash, Thunderlane, who had been half listening to music in his headphones and half listening to what was going on in front of him, chimed in. “If it helps, I’ve heard of him.”

His statement was accentuated by multiple people around the class as they raised their voices in agreement.

Lyra, sitting one seat behind Rainbow, threw up her hand eagerly. “I still watch his reruns on TV!”

“So did I,” added Bon Bon with a frown. “You know, until he stopped making public appearances that is.”

Letting out a tiny squee of excitement, Derpy, who was seated next to Sunset, leaned over to Sparkler and said “Do you think he’ll be teaching our class?”

Sparkler just giggled and shrugged. “Who knows? Isn't Vice Principal Luna also teaching a class? We might wind up with her.”

Derpy nodded. “But think about it, if we get a real magician then we might actually learn how to do magic!”

Rainbow shrugged. “I was never into magic, didn’t think it was real. Well… till now I guess.”

Sunset rolled her eyes. “It still isn’t real in this world. Every bit of magic on this side is glorified slight of hand.”

Trixie’s head snapped towards her with an audible crack, her gaze boring into Sunset’s. Taking a deep breath, Trixie angrily stomped over to stand in front of Sunset who had quickly realized her error and had clapped a hand over her mouth.

“Listen you little d—”

“Now, now, settle down my little students; it’s time to start class!” Everyone’s head shot towards the man sitting behind his desk at the front of the class. Not a one of them had even seen or heard him come in.

Trixie, however, had completely frozen. “D-d-d-d-d-”

Discord simply grinned and reached a hand up to the cord dangling down from the nearby projector screen. Yanking it down he revealed, pasted onto the white screen, colourful paper letters spelling out his name in a childlike pattern. 

“Just spell it out,” he cheered, pointing to the letters. “Duh-is-cord,” he said slowly.

Trixie seemed to snap out of her daze and nearly threw herself at him, stopping just short of his desk. “O-of course! Discord, the one and only! Trixie is your biggest fan!”

Discord just stared at her. “Who’s Trixie?”

Trixie froze her smile twitching slightly on her face. “I-I’m Trixie… your biggest fan. I’ve even memorized all your tricks!”

Discord just chuckled and muttered, “Oh I doubt that.”

Trixie leaned forward, her eyes wide and sparkling with excitement. “No, really! Like that one time where you—”

While Trixie began fangasming all over their new teacher, Rainbow was busy trying not to roll her eyes out of her skull. Receiving a small nudge to her side, she glanced over to see Sunset smirking at her.

“Hey, I guess this is what we were like when we first met Daring Do, huh?” she asked jutting her head in Trixie’s direction. 

Rainbow just laughed and waved her hand. “Nah we played it way cooler. But speaking of Daring Do,” she trailed off as she reached down to her other side and pulled up her backpack. Reaching into it she pulled out a copy of Daring Do and the Abyss of Despair. Holding up the book, she looked back at Sunset. “Let me know when Trixie’s done and we start class.”

Sunset shrugged and went back to leaning over her desk. However, before she could zone out a hissing noise called out to her.

 “Psst!”

Curious, Sunset looked around the classroom, only to see nothing out of the ordinary. People were either following Rainbow’s example and distracting themselves, talking to one another or, in one case, bombarding the teacher with questions.

“Psst!”

Deducing that the sound was coming from below her, Sunset cautiously leaned back in her seat and looked below. Looking back up at her from between her legs were two odd, swirled eyes that could drag anyone into a hypnotic trance. Attached to those eyes was a young girl crouched under Sunset’s desk. 

The girl wore a purple, arm-length fingerless gloves and striped knee-high socks as well as a purple skirt. Her curly white highlights bounced in her bright lavender hair that matched perfectly with the tank top she was wearing. To Sunset’s further confusion, on top of how this girl managed to fit under her desk in the first place, the strange girl was also wearing a suspiciously familiar looking propeller beanie that seemed to spin constantly even while almost scraping against the bottom of the desk.

For almost a full thirty seconds Sunset’s wide eyes were locked onto the swirling magenta ones beneath her. “You’re fatter in person, you know,” the girl stated poking Sunset’s thigh with her index finger.

Sunset’s reaction was immediate: she jumped out of her seat with a small yelp, while throwing her chair back in the process. Unfortunately, in her surprise, every head in the room turned to her, some in confusion, some in surprise. Sunset met most of their gazes even as a large blush began to form on her face. 

With Rainbow sitting directly next to her, she was part of the latter, her reaction having been to jerk herself to the opposite edge of her seat. “Are… you alright, Sunset?”

Before she could even acknowledge Rainbow’s question, Sunset rushed to check her seat. The girl was gone by the time she looked.

“What?” asked Sunset turning to stare at her. “O-of course, there was just a… well a girl under my desk.

Rainbow went from a concerned friend to a skeptical classmate when her gaze fell as flat as the floor around them. “Um… What?”

Sunset opened her mouth to respond when the sound of clapping reached her eyes.

“Wonderful,” cheered Discord, standing up from his desk. “What an excellent way to start the class. I was starting to get bored.”

Trixie reeled back in shock. “Bored?! But Trixie has been—you didn’t answer any of Trixie’s questions! You just… sat there,” she complained.

Discord gave her an overdramatic shrug, lifting his shoulders as high as he could. “And isn’t listening the greatest magic of all?” he asked, his voice dripping with sardonic tone.

“But!”

Discord held his hand up and shooed her back to her desk. Huffing, Trixie complied, taking her seat next to Rainbow Dash.

“Now,” began Discord, reaching down to grab the cord of the screen once more, “before we get started, I would like to introduce you all to my assistant, and your new classmate…” With a single tug the screen flew back up, revealing the young teenage girl from before. “Screwball.”

Screwball just gave an innocent and cutesy grin and a cheerful wave.

Lyra let out a loud gasp. “I didn’t know you had a daughter!” she nearly screamed.

Bon Bon crossed her arms and shook her head in disagreement. “I don't think that's his daughter, Lyra.”

Discord’s cheeky grin broke and his face went flat. He opened his mouth to say something, closed it, then looked to Screwball who took the opportunity to jump up and hug the larger man.

“Daddy!” she cried. 

Discord for his part ran with it and began twirling around with the young girl in his arms.

“Screwy!” he cried back, the two laughing as they spun.

Sunset, having gotten back in her seat, frowned at the pair in question. “She's just as weird as him,” she muttered.

With one final twirl, Discord gleefully tossed Screwball out of the classroom door, the preteen whee’ing all the way out into the hallway.

Just as some of the kids in the classroom sood from their seats in surprise, Discord waved his hands and gestured for them to sit back down. Snapping his fingers, their surprise increased when the door slammed shut.

“Now!” he exclaimed holding his arms out wide. “Let’s start this lesson…” Discord held the pose for about a minute longer, just long enough for the students to start exchanging looks. 

“Anyone know what I’m supposed to be doing?!” Discord finally called, his excited expression unchanged.

Bon Bon slowly lifted her hand, her eyebrow raising along with it. “Umm… sir, you’re supposed to be teaching us about—”

“You need to teach us magic!” blurted Trixie, her arm flailing in the air. When everyone proceeded to stare at her she blushed lightly and shrank back. “Trixie means… you have to teach Trix—us about what you know best.”

“Gardening it is!” he said, his eyes lighting up in glee. When the class just looked at him funny he calmed down a bit and thought about it. “No… wait… Poetry?! Class Action Lawsuits?! Hackysack!” Discord paused when he noticed Trixie's dismayed expression. With a small chuckle he snapped his fingers, as if only just remembering the right answer. “Oh, the OTHER thing I do best!" 

Discord slammed his palm on his desk, a squeaking noise echoing out instead if a normal wooden pound. “Alrighty then, let’s talk about chaos!”

Sunset’s head snapped upwards in a very alert manner. Her former teachings racing to the forefront of her mind and then further to her mouth before she could stop them. “What? But… what does chaos have to do with magic?” she blurted out in surprise. “Isn’t magic the opposite of chaos? You know, harmony,” she asked.

While the others looked at her strangely, Discord just smirked and produced a white sphere of of chalk from… somewhere unseen. “That’s what they want you to think, my dear.”

“They?” she asked.

Discord turned and began writing on the board with the single white chalk stick. By the time he was done he had written one word in five large letters in five different colours, to the amazement of the class.

“Chaos,” he began, dropping the chalk to the ground, “and magic are far more similar than magic and harmony, especially in this little world of ours. What do you all think of when you think of magic.” Just as Sunset opened her mouth Discord put a finger to his. “Not you, you little cheater, someone else—YOU!” he declared pointing to Trixie. “What is magic to you, speak your heart and wow me!” With that last word, Discord sat himself back in his seat, lifted his feet up onto the desk, and gestured for her to go.

Taken by surprise, Trixie stuttered for a bit before awkwardly standing up at attention and starting. “I-uh.. magic. I-is.... umm…” she trailed off, a large blush creeping onto her face.

“Psst!” Trixie glanced over to see Derpy winking at her. “Just talk about it like you always do, this is your chance!”

Trixie nodded and took a deep breath. “Magic… is something mysterious and beautiful, it's the act of showing the world that not everything can be explained and that not everything wants to be explained. Magic isn’t something than can just happen with a reason because, in essence, it’s the act of surprise, revelation, suspense and the unexpected—”

Before she could continue, Discord let out a round of applause and stood up. “Wonderful, bravissimo! Excellent choice of words. Yes! Magic, and showmanship in general, is the act of subverting the expected and living within the unexpected. However, to truly be a great… errm… well me, you have to bypass even that. For example, something unexpected is about to happen, I want you all to try as hard as you can to not be surprised when it does.”

For a hot second everyone in the class tensed up, curious and cautious about what was about to happen. While some people were staring at Discord who was standing calmly at the front of the class, others like Rainbow Dash were looking around the room.

With a whip crack, just about everyone flinched in shock when Sunset was suddenly pelted by an egg to the back of the head. With a second crack, everyone turned to look at the back of the classroom. Nobody was there.  With renewed awe, everyone began muttering to one another until a hollow chuckle began echoing through the room.

Sunset sat there, her head still lowered from the force of the egg throw, chuckling darkly. “Sorry to say, but I expected that. Few days go by without someone throwing something at me,” she said darkly, egg shell and ooze falling from her hair. Reaching into her pack she pulled out a box of tissues, half of which were gone from fixing the incident this morning. 

Discord just smirked and leaned forward. “Did you now? You really think that’s egg?”

“Huh?” gasped Sunset mid-wipe. Narrowing her eyes at him she hesitantly reached up and stuck in a finger into the yellow liquid on her head. Bringing it up to her face she craned her head this way and that, examining the fluid. She chanced a glance at Rainbow Dash who could only shrug and, with a shrug of her own Sunset stuck her finger in her mouth. 

To both her shock and surprise her face immediately puckered at the sour taste and she quick spat it out. “Lemon?”

The class was immediately filled with low mutters of disbelief and curiosity. Bon Bon, the resident cooking student quickly stood up and reached under Sunset’s seat to pick up the white shells from the ground, examining it the same way Sunset had.

“These are definitely eggshells,” she muttered. “How did you get the lemon in the egg without breaking it beforehand? A syringe? 

Discord grinned wider. “Do you really think that’s an ordinary egg shell?”

And with that, Bon Bon’s sure attitude cracked and she gave the egg a second look with time with wider eyes. As she tentatively brought it to her mouth, Discord’s grin grew ever so slightly. And when she immediately spat it out he let out a loud guffaw. 

“Yes,” seethed Bon Bon, “it’s an egg shell…”

Rainbow Dash just scoffed and crossed her arms. “So what, you hit Sunset with a Lemon-flavored egg. Plus, I’m pretty sure that wasn’t even you. It was probably that weird girl from before who threw it.”

Discord simply shook his head and began pacing around the room, head held high. “You’re missing the point my little polychrome. The challenge here was to expect what might happen and not be surprised. Did you see how you were all united in this endeavour, half of you looking at me, and half looking around, all united in silence and suspicion. But with one simple sudden act I not only broke your collective concentration but divided your attention even further. I also fostered confusion and even subverted your expectations a second time with a follow up. Whether or not I was directly responsible is irrelevant.”

Discord stopped in front of Bon Bon who had gone back and sat in her seat. “Take you for example. You were so confident that was an egg shell but after seeing Sunset surprised to find a not-egg filling, you stopped believing in what you were so sure of. You were ready to believe that I had turned the egg shell to marshmallow or something similar. 

Crossing her arms in resignation, Bon Bon averted her eyes from his and nodded.

“And there you go!” he shouted jumping back to the front of the classroom. “The pure definition of mystified! A true showman can even make the expected unexpected.” He looked directly and Sunset who had been staring at him like he was making absolute zero sense. “Order is boring, order can be predicted, only chaos can bring stars to the crowds’ eyes, literally at times.”

In complete opposite to Sunset, Trixie was staring at him like he was a god who had descended to earth just to teach her.

Before anything else could happen, Screwball broke through one of the panels in the ceiling and, hanging upside down from the hole, held out a ear-shattering loud alarm clock. The high-pitched ringing forced everyone to cover their ears. The only ones apparently not affected were Discord and Screwball, the latter swinging back and forth with a cheshire like grin on her face.

“Oh would you look at that,” Discord exclaimed over the din, “looks like class is over! Bye students.”

Like a balloon, the alarm clock expanded and popped in Screwball’s hands. Afterwards, the girl flipped onto the ground and took her spot next to the teacher’s desk.

“What?” asked Trixie her palms slamming down in defiance. “But it’s only been like thirty minutes since class started.

Cocking his head slightly, Discord made his way to the door and opened it, revealing dozens of students making their way to their next class. With a straight face, he turned towards Trixie. “I know it’s my first day but I don’t quite feel like getting fired for holding students past the bell, Ms. Lulamoon,” he snarked, going back to his desk.

Trixie let out a small gasp and gave a dumb smile. “You do know Trix—my name then!” she sighed.

All of the students exchanged odd looks and shrugs but ultimately decided not to question it. With the rushing speeds employed by any suddenly late student, they all grabbed their bags and piled out. Except for Trixie who stopped to admire her sensei from the doorway.

“Um, Sunset Shimmer, could you stay behind one second? Discord called.

Rainbow, who was halfway out the door looked at Sunset, then back at Discord. “I guess I’ll see you later then,” she said before running out, pushing Trixie into the flow of foot traffic.

Sunset quickly reached out for her to wait, but she was too slow as Rainbow had already exited the scene. Sighing dejectedly, she turned back to Discord, quickly noticing that it was only her and him left in the room.

“Oh, why the glum look,” he teased, “you don’t like your new teacher?”

Sunset immediately stood to attention and shook her head. “N-no, I’m just… umm…” she trailed off, unsure of how to actually describe her feelings for this… curious new teacher.

Discord continued nonetheless. “Well anyway, I’m sorry for the egg. I have been given,” he threw up his hands in quotes and put on his best Celestia impression, which of course happened to be spot on, “‘express orders’—for me—‘not to pick on Sunset Shimmer’.”

“By Celestia?” asked Sunset in surprise. “Why?”

Discord just grinned and laid his head on the table. “Oh well you know good ol’ ‘Princess’ Celestia, always having to make sure her students are doing well even if they are in a tough spot socially. I’m just not supposed to make it worse.”

Half way through Discord’s line Sunset froze, eyes going wide at his words. “Pr-princess Celestia?” she asked hesitantly.

Discord glanced up at her then flinched. “O-oh yes,” he said, waving her off with a flick of his wrist. “That was her college nickname. We called her that because of how she always acted like a leader, lording over her fellow students, and now her own students. Really it’s only gotten worse. She hates it but I’m gonna try and get the students to call her that.” He winked at her. “Don’t tell her.”

Sunset deflated in relief, last thing she needed was this teacher knowing about her roots, or worse, if he was from Equestria himself. “Please don’t call her Princess Celestia,” she sighed.

Discord shrugged. “Sorry, I’m too used to it. Despite my time in Equestria, the nickname has stuck. Don’t ask me why though.”

From deflated to regid once again in two seconds flat. Sunset’s eye began to twitch ever so slightly. “A-and by Equestria you mean…” she trailed off, trying to get a definate answer.

Discord simply burst out laughing, further increasing the twitching of her brow. After a second, the man stood up and pulled down the screen from before, this time revealing a world map. With a twitch he ripped out a lock of his hair and, flicking his wrist, extended the hair into a solid black stick at least twelve inches long. 

“Honestly,” he scolded while tapping the map, ”What do your geography teachers teach you? Equestria is a small suburb in South Africa.” He began circling the continent with the hair stick. “Right in the Pretoria area I think.”

Looking back at Sunset, whose jaw had fallen during the explanation, Discord grinned mischievously. “What did you think I was talking about?” 

It was then that the late bell had decided to ring, forcing Discord to roll his map back up and usher Sunset out of the room. “Oh dear look at the time, you really should be going,” he said, gently nudging her towards the doorway. Sunset, for her part, took mostly small steps while still trying to have her mind catch up.

Finally, as she found herself outside of the classroom, she looked back up at him.

Discord, for his part stared at her through the slowly closing door. “By the way, Ms. Shimmer, harmony isn’t all it’s cracked up to be in magic. I think you of all people should know, all it does is get you a rainbow to the face.”

And with that, the door shut with a quiet click. 

Sunset stared at his door for a hot second, mind reeling. One blink… two blinks… it took her three blinks before her mind caught up and she hurriedly reached for the door handle.

“Wait hold on! What did you mean…” she paused, looking into the completely empty room. Before she could say anything else she felt a large shove to her backside, forcing her to stumble forward until she eventually fell to her knees.

“What the—Why!” she screamed, looking behind her. Standing in the doorway was the the odd girl from before, Screwball, Sunset recalled. The girl was turned mostly away, but was still looking at her. With a small giggle she pointed a thumb at her back. 

Raising her brow in confusion, but getting the gesture. Sunset reached behind her back. She let out a deep sigh when she pulled off a bright yellow and orange piece of paper, same colours as her hair actually. Her face contorted into an annoyed frown at the words on the paper.

Still giggling, the odd girl spun around, swinging a light purple backpack out of nowhere and putting it on. And with a wink and a wave she skipped away merrily. 

Sunset shook her head, bringing her composure back to her. She had dealt with worse teasing before. All she could do now was pick herself up, whip the dirt off, and walk out into the hallway. With her head held high, Sunset tossed the note in the garbage and made her way to her next class, her mind filled with questions.

Just who was this Discord and what was with his weird daughter?