//------------------------------// // #43 - A Gentlecolt's Challenge: Part I // Story: Techorse Short Stories // by Spirals95 //------------------------------// A Gentlecolt's Challenge: Part I Techorse Series: #43 By Spirals95 “Another cup of decaffeinated, Fluttershy?” asked Discord, pointing to Fluttershy's empty ceramic cup on her living room coffee table. “Please!” she answered, pushing it forward with her wing. Discord picked up the teacup and with a quick flick of his lion wrist, threw it into the top of the open teapot on the table. He then grabbed it, and shook the teapot like a cocktail mixer, before pouring. A thin stream of white liquid poured forth onto the wood surface. Soon the original teacup had been poured out, solidifying again and full to the brim with more of the hot drink. “Oh I love that trick!” giggled Fluttershy, pulling the cup back towards herself, “It never gets old, Discord.” “Oh come now Fluttershy, it's a small parlor trick,” answered the draconequus sitting cross-legged on the floor of the cottage, “with some real chaos I can do more than these cantrips. These little jokes are nothing special at all.” Fluttershy's weekly tea and discussion with Discord was her way of helping him on his long journey towards using his chaotic mischief for the good of Equestria. But it had been a few months since he had been freed, and the Lord of Chaos was beginning to wonder if there really was a good use for his magic, or if he was only being kept pacified with an empty promise. Fluttershy had been his only good friend in the slow, drawn out process, and he was always eager to spend time with her, as she had been the one to suggest trying to turn him for good. “Well, your tricks are special to me, Discord,” she said, smiling and reassuring him, “I promised you that you'd help make life interesting with your magic, and you've done such a good job!” “It's true I've made your life more special, but what about the rest of Equestria?” Despite her kind words, Fluttershy knew she'd have to answer the question, as the towering Discord was avoiding eye contact, thinking a million thoughts a second. She knew he felt like he didn't have a place quite yet despite finding out what he was good for, and needed to think of something to cheer him up. “Maybe what you need now is a, um... a project!” suggested Fluttershy. Discord tugged at his goatee in curiosity, “A project?” “Well, you see, whenever the girls or I want to use our special talents, we start a project,” explained the pegasus as if talking to a child, “last week I built a cute little birdhouse for some new bluejays that moved into Ponyville.” Fluttershy sighed, remembering how happy her new avian friends were when they built their nest in the small, white painted house she build. She returned her attention to Discord, and cleared her throat, getting her mind back on track. Fluttershy tried to explain what she really meant, “All you need to do is find a nice thing to do each week using some chaos, and you'll help Equestria out. We don't expect huge things, just little things from day to day.” Discord straightened his lengthy back out, glad to hear he expected too much from himself, and thought of some small tasks he could accomplish. He figured the best way to go about this way to look for someone needing a little chaos in their lives, and offer help. “I see exactly what you're saying, Fluttershy!” he chuckled, standing up, “And I think I'll get started on this whole 'project' thing immediately. Same time next week, hmm?” Fluttershy nodded with a happy smile on her face, and opened the door for Discord, who bent over backwards as if playing limbo to exit without whacking his antlered head. While he could simply travel through a chaos portal to get from place to place, he'd quickly learned that ponies don't appreciate him appearing unannounced through time and space, so he learned to either walk or at least hover around. Not wanting to really make the effort of moving his legs, Discord took a running start, and then jumped into the air horizontally, his momentum perfectly preserved. Sliding just a few feet above the ground, he reclined on his back and let his violation of physics carry him along the dirt path back to Ponyville while he thought about how he could lend a mismatched hand. Shadow Breeze was on his way to visit Fluttershy, his recent marefriend, and was walking along the same path when he caught Discord sliding towards him. He gasped and jumped into a nearby bush for cover, the draconequus zooming past and nearly clipping his head. The pegasus waited patiently for him to be gone, and then slowly emerged from the bush, a look of terror on his face as he clenched his teeth and galloped for Fluttershy's house. “That was a close one!” he whimpered. Discord continued his effortless air slide into town, where he was met with the startled looks of the townsponies. Usually Discord didn't bother to go into Ponyville and just went straight to Fluttershy's house, but today was different, as he needed to look for his “project”. “Well, let's see now, who around here could use some help?” he mused, looking around while he continued forward. Derpy Hooves spotted Discord heading straight for a brick wall separating two of Ponyville's houses and tried to warn him. “Hey, Discord, watch out!” she shouted, putting a hoof up. Discord sat up and turned around, catching a glimpse of the brick wall just a second before smacking into it full force, instantly spreading out and flattening him as thin as a sheet of printer paper. The ponies in the square winced and some pointed as the Lord of Chaos ignominiously peeled off of the cold, hard wall, drifting gently to the ground like a pamphlet in the wind. “Oops,” cringed Derpy, walking up to him, a twisted look on his face, “I run into that wall all the time. I was hoping you'd see it.” “Oh, not to worry,” answered Discord through gritted teeth, “this isn't a problem at all! Just give me a moment.” He stuck out his paper thumb and blew into it, quickly re-inflating him into a 3 dimensional being again. “Tada!” Derpy Hooves laughed, “That was really cool! So why'd you come to Ponyville, Discord? Haven't seen you in a long time.” “Well, I'm here to help out however I can!” he answered, “I've had a change of heart recently if you do recall, and to help prove it, I'm starting a project today to use chaos to help another.” Discord handed Derpy Hooves an orange envelope with her name on it, and the mailmare carefully opened the letter, revealing a plain greeting card with red hearts on it. She opened the letter carefully with her right wing, and Discord's head shot out from the card. “Know anyone who could use a little chaos?” Derpy dropped the card in shock, and looked up at him, who hadn't seemed to move even a centimeter despite projecting his head through the card. “Um... no. I'm sorry, I can't think of anypony.” “Well, that's all right, I'm sure there are others who need my assistance.” The other ponies around did not want to become Discord's next “project”, knowing exactly what he was capable of, and pretended to have moved on from his embarrassing entrance and treatment of Derpy in order to avoid getting into hot water. Soon they had all left back into their shops, or were deep in pointless conversation so that no trouble would be coming their way. Discord became rather hurt, knowing it was going to be hard to convince any of Ponyville's residents to let him help after how he had turned the town on its head just last year. “Keep trying, Discord,” encouraged Derpy, “I'm sure you'll find something. Took Ponyville a long time to get used to my clumsiness, but I made it!” Derpy turned around and went to leave, but tripped over an uneven cobblestone on the road and fell flat on her face. Picking herself up, she flapped her wings and left Discord alone on the sidewalk. He miserably shambled along, a dark storm cloud literally forming over his head as he walked along the cobblestone road. His reputation and previous upheaval of Ponyville had made him rather unpopular with the small town where word spread quickly. One brave soul noticed Discord's misery while he was shambling down the road, and wanted to make a difference. “Hello, mister Discord!” called out Steiner, standing out front of his soda shop, “what is wrong?” Discord's rain cloud disappeared in a poof of magic, and he drifted over to Steiner, “Oh, just pondering things. Namely, how to be of use to Equestria without putting it in total chaos. As you can see, Ponyville remembers me well enough and doesn't need my help.” “Well, I may not have lived in Ponyville at the time to see what you did,” continued the soda maker, “but if it's amends you're trying to make, you'll find something fast!” “It's not exactly amends, it's trying to use my chaos for good... and it's proving to be quite the task,” explained Discord, placing a paw over his heart dramatically, “I wanted to start a new project today, but I'm afraid there aren't too many ponies interested.” Steiner suggested, “Maybe you just need some time and not worry about it for a bit.” His horn glowed light blue as he picked up an icy can of cola from a nearby wooden barrel filled with ice chips and cans of his various product, and he hovered it over to Discord, who accepted it with his talon tipped hand graciously. “Here, have one on me, and don't worry about things!” Discord smiled at his kindness, and then promptly horrified him by taking a bite out of the soda can like it was a fresh piece of fruit, leaving the rest of the soda inside suspended in a perfect bite shape. “Once we're used to things like that,” said Steiner, pointing at the breaking of physics with his front hoof, “you'll be fine, honest!” He finished off the can in short order, twisting the pop tab off and returning it to Steiner to be recycled. The cola had been a refreshing treat in his time of distress, but it was time to move on. “Thank you for everything Steiner, perhaps I'll think about what you've said and take a break for a while. I haven't even been able to find another soul to have a mundane conversation with in a while.” “Come back anytime, we really do serve anyone!” chuckled the unicorn, going back inside to check on his thirsty customers. Techorse and Twilight were standing outside of the quill and sofa store downtown, to try and pick up some repair supplies for Techorse's aging green couch in his living room. It had lost a spring recently, and Techorse was insistent on repairing the spring rather than simply pitching it out and buying a new couch. Applejack had also decided to tag along, if anything to get a laugh out of Techorse's antics. “Why not just donate the old couch?” suggested Twilight, “I'm sure there's somepony in town who'd love to take it even if it is missing one spring.” “Yeah, come on!” agreed the owner in hopes of a sale, “We've got plenty of new ones, we probably even have one just like your old one.” Techorse realized he was probably making a stupid move trying to fix the couch out of frugality, based on Twilight's secondhand embarrassment and the owner's desperation to move his goods. “Yeah, I guess it's pretty silly to try and hang on to the old couch. Show me what you have,” he said, finally changing his mind. “Great! We'll help you pick out a new one!” cheered Twilight, smiling and nodding in approval. “And I know just the pony to give the old couch to,” added Applejack, “I'll come over to your castle later and help you move it, techie.” “Thanks Applejack,” answered a thankful Techorse, “now do you have anything in mint green?” The store owner was interrupted by Aloe, who shouted out across the street, “OH MY GOSH, HE'S HERE!” Heads turned as a crowd of ponies started to form around the center of the town square. “What, who's here?” asked Applejack, “Come on everypony, we gotta check this out!” Techorse and Twilight followed Applejack into the crowd, leaving behind the disappointed shop owner without a sale. They pushed through the ponies swarming in the streets, until they reached the center of the circle, where they saw the visitor Aloe had shouted about. He was a handsome earth pony, tall and thin, with a tan coat, bright orange eyes hidden behind a pair of sunglasses, and black mane hair that was clearly gelled in the front to spike up. His long tail curled once at the end was tucked into his trademark cosmetic, a white construction belt loaded with tools of all kinds. A cutie mark of two crossed wrenches adorned his flank, taking up a massive portion of it. “Spanners Buildsbetter!” cried a voice excitedly. “Hey, who told everypony I was coming?” he answered to the crowd, smiling and lifting his shades up with his other hoof. “Oh my goodness, it's Spanners Buildsbetter,” gasped Twilight. Applejack turned to her friend and raised on eyebrow, “Scuse me?” “The son of Hammers Buildsbetter, the famous architect from Canterlot who designed the Canterlot Library when it was remodeled years before I was there!” squealed Twilight, a twinkle in her eye, “His dad's built thousands of fancy houses in Canterlot, but his libraries are so cool!” “Ah, I see daddy's work is appreciated here too!” laughed Spanners, walking up to Twilight, “But hey, Golden Oak's not a bad library either, reusing a tree's the green way to build a book house!” Applejack was highly suspicious of how “suave” Spanners was seeming to be and asked, “Spanners, just gonna let you know right here, none of us Ponyville folk can afford your family's fancy homes.” “Pffft, I'm not here to sell homes, I'm here to help Ponyville work with the homes they already have!” he countered, “Absolutely free of any costs to you. Dad's done so much work with his life that I need to start making a reputation for myself, so I'm starting with the hometown of the famous Twilight Sparkle and her friends.” “That's us!” fawned Twilight, her horn glowing as she shot a tiny magic firework in the air which detonated over the crowd. The townsfolk started to cheer at the news of Spanners wanting to help them upgrade Ponyville's homes. High property values and more comfortable living would soon be theirs, or so they thought. “Woah, calm down there, Twilight!” said Applejack, raising a hoof, “Ahm still not sure about all of this.” Spanners knew that he wasn't going to get anywhere with Applejack without striking at her weakness, her business, so he made an offer, “Well if it helps, I'd like to buy a couple bushels of your Equestria-famous apples.” He reached into his belt and pulled out a small bag of bits, giving it to Applejack with his teeth, which she accepted. “Heh, I guess I was wrong about you Spanners!” Discord had noticed the crowd from a distance, and tried to get a little closer in order to figure out what was going on. Seeing that Twilight and Techorse were in the crowd, and not wanting to get spotted, he curled up into a tire shape and rolled behind a nearby house, going undetected. “Hmmm, looks like something's going on with Twilight Sparkle. I think I'll just listen in for a moment,” he said, smirking. He spotted a piece of plastic pipe lying on the ground, likely a spare used in the home's plumbing, and picked it up. Reaching behind his back, he donned an admiral's white peaked cap, and extended the pipe with his arms into a working periscope that stuck up over the top of the thatched house. The birds on the roof of the home squawked and flew away at the sight of Discord's yellow eye appearing magically at the end of the now-curved tube. “Let's see now...” he mused. “Spanners, we want to take you on a tour of Ponyville if you don't mind,” offered Twilight, “it'll give you a chance to find out where you want to do your first project.” “Sure! But let's start big and go see that fort I saw on my way in. That'll be a great place for me to kick back while I plan,” he said, smiling at Twilight and batting his eyebrows, “and I'm going to need another earth pony to help show me around and give me some help.” Techorse interrupted, “That's my home, the small castle over there. I'd be happy to have you over if you want, and can loan you some building supplies too.” Spanners gained a disturbing grin on his face, “And you built that? Who are you?” “I'm Techorse, nice to meet you,” he answered, smiling and scraping his front hoof on the ground. The builder scoffed, “Oh, so you're Techorse huh? That's funny. I always imagined you'd be taller from all the stories.” Techorse was a little too oblivious to get the joke, “Oh? Didn't think I was that short. Must be the stained glass in Canterlot, huh?” “Wow, what a dork,” thought the architect, trying not to laugh. “Anyways, can I be of help?” asked Techorse, eager to work with another earth pony. “Listen, Techorse, I know you like to put together some toys, but I need a real earth pony to help me,” he said, chuckling, “like Applejack here.” Applejack watched as Techorse's ears sank back from the hurtful words. “Hey now!” growled the country mare at Spanners, “Techie here is just as much of an earth pony as I am!” “Is he?” teased Spanners. “Yes he is,” added Twilight Sparkle, stepping forward with a stern look on her face, “and he's a great earth pony. Why would you say something so mean?” “Well I'm just going by the textbook definition, you are a librarian aren't you?” asked Spanners defensively, stepping back and gaining an arrogant look of falsely being taken aback, “You know that every kind of pony in Equestria has some kind of magic, right?” “Yeah,” answered Twilight, her inner nerd kicking in, “unicorns cast spells, pegasus ponies can fly and stand on clouds despite being heavier than air, and earth ponies all have a special connection to the ground.” Spanners sneered, he had caught Twilight in a clever trap, “Exactly. And while my family grows the very trees we chop down and process to build those famous houses, Techorse here builds things without any connection. I myself consider myself a great earth pony when I see the trees from my family's special grove just outside of Canterlot grow stronger each day with me around. What kind of an earth pony has no power over plants or the ground?” Techorse attempted to be reasonable, “It's true, I don't have any magical connection to the earth, but I do have...” He was rudely interrupted, “Techorse please, that's enough, I'll find somepony else to help. Inventing machines is just not an earth pony thing, and won't help us fix up Ponyville. Now just step aside and let me pick a different helper.” “Well count me out!” snarled Applejack, tilting her hat with her left front leg, “I'll have nothin' to do with varmints like yourself! Come on Techie, Twilight, let's go.” “I guess I'm just going to have to skip over Ponyville and pick a new place to start my work,” sighed Spanners, shaking his head, “a shame, isn't it?” The townsponies gasped and tried to plead with Spanners not to leave, and that behavior is exactly what the devious architect wanted out of them. By creating demand for his improvements on their homes, he was going to force Twilight and her friends to cooperate. Most of all, he was finally going to show himself a better builder than Techorse, the famous inventor! His fame would become just as great as his father's once he had been proven to create better homes than Techorse could create machines, and it was all falling into place for him. The citizens of Ponyville were beginning to get restless, and some begged Applejack to help him, including the mayor who desperately wanted Ponyville to grow. He turned to face the crowd around him and shook his head to raise digression against Techorse. “Applejack,” sighed Techorse miserably, “you should help Spanners. We can't let Ponyville miss out on his family's famous home improvements just because he thinks my inventing is stupid.” “Techie, it ain't right!” “Just let him make his improvements and go. I know Ponyville likes my appliances and thinks my inventing is cool.” Twilight told him, “That's not the point, he said you weren't a real earth pony! He's slandering you because he's jealous of your house and your machines.” “Right, and the best way to get rid of him will be to let him do his thing and then tell him to leave after the fact,” argued Techorse, giving a hint as to his real feelings. Applejack caved in, “Well, ok, I'll help him out to get rid of him, but ah still think he owes you an apology for saying such nasty stuff!” Twilight sighed, “Yeah, for the son of such a well known, nice architect, he's a real... jerk. I can't believe he said you have no connection to the ground.” “Yeah, but it's true,” he answered. “No it's not, and I'm going to spend today researching what your connection to the ground is!” she said defiantly, “Because I love you and I want you to understand you really are a sweet earth pony.” Techorse gave his marefriend a big hug, “I love you too. But I've got to just sit this one out. I'm going back to the castle.” “Go head, we'll take it from here,” assured Twilight, letting him go. Techorse pushed his way out from the crowd, and heard Spanners' voice again as he started the slow walk back for home. “Ha, well changed your mind Applejack? Of course I'll let you help, just show me around!” The inventor paused, and shook his head before trotting away miserably. Discord had seen the entire things from behind the house, and retracted his periscope down, throwing the normal again piece of pipe back where he found it and placing his hat back into his personal storage. “What cruel treatment of Techorse,” he pondered, crossing his mismatched arms and shaking his head. Discord sat there for a few moments, before a strangely wicked idea came to his mind. “Perhaps... Techorse should be my project!” Not wanting to lose the inventor, he planned to ambush him as soon as possible, and jumped into the sidewalk headfirst, turning into a chalk drawing that raced down the cement, before popping out again in front of a streetlight. He saw Techorse approaching, his eyes down at his front hooves in misery, and started to file his paw nails. But Techorse never noticed him and shuffled by, which irritated the draconequus. He summoned the nail file by snapping his fingers, and called out for him, “Techorse! So good to see you!” Techorse looked up from his misery at the sound of the familiar voice, and saw Discord leaning up against the streetlight. “Oh, hey Discord. Cool seeing you here,” he said glumly. “So, I heard the new pony in town was rather brutish to you,” chuckled Discord, walking over to him, “I personally wouldn't listen to such a pompous individual, you know.” “Solid advice,” agreed Techorse, “and I'm not going to listen to him. I'm going home and waiting for him to leave.” “Well, it sounds to me like you're being a bit too nice, as usual Tech. I know you love handing out second chances like bon-bons, but deep down, how do you really feel?” The green stallion sighed and caved in to Discord's temptation, “Spanners is a total jerk and should be dealt with. He's throwing his weight around to get his way, and it's just plain wrong.” “Oh I agree,” Discord said in a snobbish manner, nodding pretentiously, “and that's why I want to help you.” “Why would you want to help me?” asked Techorse, tilting his head. “Well we are friends aren't we? Isn't that what I'm supposed to learn, about friendship?” Techorse looked away a little bit, “Friends? Well, I don't know...” Discord became a little bit incredulous at his doubt, “You mean we're not friends!?” “Well, you do spend all of your time in Ponyville visiting Fluttershy, and you turned down all of my invites for anti-gravity tennis, which you always talk about wanting to play but never getting a chance to,” mulled Techorse. The Lord of Chaos knew he was guilty of not spending any time with the other ponies despite them trying to be his friend, and his tail and wings drooped. But he tried again to assure Techorse they were still some kind of friends. “But you did build that wonderful castle for me, quite a treat living there instead of all by myself in that lonesome dimension I used to inhabit prior to being trapped in stone,” he argued, “surely that means something.” “Building you a house was also Fluttershy's idea, I just loaned the tools, and Princess Celestia granted the land for the project,” explained Techorse. “Perhaps I really should invest more time and effort into our friendship,” sighed Discord in some agreement, “I'm sorry, it's just that Fluttershy was the one who thought I meant something special! I'll try to be better about visiting the others and you, ok?” “I'm not so sure you even care that much about Fluttershy,” Techorse said, rolling his eyes as he lacked his saddle to cross his robotic arms with. Discord never heard such a stupid statement and fumed, “What?! Are you joking?” Techorse pointed a hoof angrily, “No. My best friend Shadow Breeze told me that you've been picking on him for dating Fluttershy, and not being 'good enough' for your standards for her. It's really hard for me to get along with someone who hates my closest guy friend!” Uh oh. Discord had been caught red-handed, and he knew it. It was true that he had been torturing the graphite colored pegasus for some time over the fact that he was taking valuable Fluttershy time away from him by loving her. His jealousy caused him to do terrible things to Shadow Breeze when he was caught alone, including flipping all his furniture onto the ceiling and polymorphing the poor pegasus into whatever he felt was funny for the moment. But Discord needed to cause some chaos soon or he was going to spiral into depression, so he thought of a partial lie to try and trick Techorse. He laughed, “Pffft, hate Shadow Breeze? That's not true at all, why, I played catch with him just last week and it was the most fun he had in ages!” The inventor growled, “That's not what I heard. I heard you played catch with Shadow Breeze. Cloned yourself magically and batted him back and forth after turning him into a hoofball.” Discord's pained laugh and grimace revealed that truth to Techorse, who shook his head. Eventually the draconequus gave up and knew he'd have to make some compromises if he was ever going to bond with Techorse. “Oh... I'm sorry,” he sighed, the dark cloud returning over his head as he drooped over entirely, “It's just that... I only wanted what's best for Fluttershy, and she wants me to help someone out besides myself. I saw your plight concerning Spanners Buildsbetter, and I thought offering some moral support would be a good use of my time.” Despite everything with poor Shadow, Techorse lightened up for a minute, and said softly, “Hey, Discord, I do appreciate you wanting to help me out with Spanners. It's just, well... I want to...” “Teach Spanners a lesson? Why I'd be honored to help!” cheered Discord, the cloud vanishing instantly, “We should start at once.” “I only want him to not be so mean, so what are you going to do?” he asked, unsure what Discord had in mind. Discord had an answer already prepared to his surprise, “I propose we have a gentlecolt's challenge. Since Spanners thinks you're not a good builder, let's prove him wrong with a contest of engineering!” He snapped his clawed fingers, and three small balls of light appeared in front of him, “There will be three rounds, each one testing the three core skills of creativity, mechanical inclination, and practicality. To make it fair, I won't tell you what the two of you will be building in each round, but I assure you the supplies and space will be there.” “So you're going to set up a fair contest between me and Spanners?” pondered Techorse. The word “fair” made him wince a bit, but Discord was aware Techorse wouldn't agree to cheating, so he promised, “It'll be a fair challenge, but I'm sure you'll win and prove to him you're just as good as he is!” Techorse stood there, thinking about whether or not he wanted to accept the deal. On one hoof, it would mean Spanners might walk away thinking about the bad things he had said, and could lead to a positive change. But if Discord was up to something, it could make things even worse. “One more thing, Discord,” requested Techorse, “if I agree to let you do this, you've got to stop picking on Shadow.” Discord did not want that “wimp” near Fluttershy, but was willing to do anything, “Very well, I'll stop going after your friend. Now, do we have a deal, Techorse?” Techorse saw the paw extend to him, and could not believe he was going to go through with this, but he reached out with his hoof and shook with Discord. To his surprise, Discord did nothing arcane during the handshake and finished it regularly. “Excellent! Be here at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. I have some preparatory work to do!” “Great, thanks Discord, see you then, this is going to be fun!” answered Techorse, becoming excited at the thought of the challenge. Once Techorse was safely out of hearing distance, Discord rubbed his hands together and smirked, “Oh it'll be fun for you Techorse, I'll make sure of it. But things are about to get a bit more... chaotic for Spanners!” Discord laughed heartily, accompanied by a bolt of lightning crashing behind him, which made him stop and turn his head skyward. “Hey!” Rainbow Dash, having accidentally triggered the lightning from a dark cloud she was shoving around, sheepishly grinned back, “Heh, whoops! Sorry Discord.” Shadow Breeze was heading back from visiting Fluttershy, having brought her a set of tulip bulbs to plant so her animals could enjoy the blooms the following spring. He was flying slowly close the ground, smiling from spending time with his marefriend, when he came across on the dirt path back to Ponyville a strange looking sight. It was a large cardboard box propped up on a stick, with a rope tied to the stick leading into the bushes. A small packet of seeds sat on a red plate in the middle of the cardboard box, and a paper sign shaped like an arrow pointing into the box at the seeds read: “Free rare plant seeds.” The pegasus pony landed near the box and shook his head, “This has got to be one of Pinkie Pie's jokes.” Not wanting to be rude, he decided to “fall for it” and let Pinkie Pie catch him. He walked into the box, smiling, and laughed as the stick got yanked away, “trapping” him in darkness under the container. “All right Pinkie, you got me! Come on out now,” he said, “by the way, any chance I can keep the seeds?” “They're yours!” came a looming voice which made Shadow Breeze's blood run cold. Suddenly, the box lit up. It was no longer a large cardboard container, but a massive room made of gray stone. Strange objects floated everywhere, mostly household toiletries such as paper towels and toothbrushes. “Discord!” screamed Shadow Breeze, a few feathers falling out of his wings as he molted in terror, “Hey, I was just, you know... leaving!” “Like you'll find your way out of my castle's supply closet on your own,” he answered, smirking and crossing his arms, “you've been spending time with Fluttershy again, haven't you?” Shadow Breeze shook like a leaf, but he couldn't deny it, “Y... yes I have. But you know, I really should leave, I have to go do... diplomat stuff for my studies.” Discord floated over to him rapidly and grabbed him by the blue striped tail, hoisting the pegasus into the air, who whimpered. “Listen you,” said Discord sternly but calmly, poking him in the sternum, “I need you to cooperate with me on something.” Shadow Breeze tried not to totally cry in terror, tears starting to well in his eyes, “Just leave me alone! I've had enough Discord! I can't take any more chaos.” He dropped him on his four hooves, “I'm not here to punish you again. This time, I'm requesting your help with a project, it's for Techorse.” The surprised pegasus dried his tears and sucked back his feelings, “Techorse?” “Yes. Apparently a fool named Spanners has called Techorse not a real earth pony because he has no connection to the ground,” he said, nodding. “But that's horsefeathers!” exclaimed Shadow Breeze, “I'm good with plants and I'm a peagsus.” “Well true, but you're still capable of flying and landing on clouds. Spanners took advantage of the fact that Techorse has no obvious magical connection and needs to learn some manners.” “But how can I help?” asked Shadow Breeze, frowning. “It's simple, you're going to help me infiltrate Spanners' very mind so we can figure out his weaknesses. I've already set up a challenge between him and Techorse, and we're going to rig it so that Techorse wins and Spanners receives a just humiliation for his arrogance!” Shadow shook his head, “Techorse would never agree to cheat, and I'm not gonna help him cheat either.” Discord rubbed his chin and threatened, “Well, that's just a shame. I was hoping you'd agree, but I guess I'll go with my old plan of getting a new candle for my bedroom, and I think a nice gray one with blue stripes would do nicely!” The thought of being slowly melted alive made Shadow Breeze's mouth fall open in horror, “No, please! Anything but that!” “So you'll help?” Shadow Breeze sighed, “Yes. I'll help.” “Good, if this works, you'll be free to see Fluttershy anytime, I promise,” answered Discord, smiling. “R.. really? You mean you'll stop turning me into stuff?” “Absolutely!” answered Discord, snapping his fingers. A piece of magical paper appeared, a large scroll with black ink font written on the front. “I, Discord, hereby agree to no longer polymorph Shadow Breeze against his will, if he will grant me aid in helping Techorse stop Spanners Buildbetter from pulling the wool over Ponyville's eyes!” he announced, “All you gotta do is sign.” A quill appeared magically in front of Shadow Breeze, and he reluctantly grabbed it in his teeth and signed the paper after reading it to check for loopholes. It curled up and vanished into thin air. “You'll need that Shadow Amulet of yours,” said Discord, still looking rather pleased, “and I suppose we'll need some entertainment. You can handle that once you've gotten me past Spanners. For now though, let's just head back for Ponyville, and start some chaos, hmmm?” And with that, the lights in the room extinguished, and Shadow Breeze found himself underneath the cardboard box again, where Discord lifted it off of him and offered a paw in standing up. It felt strange to Shadow Breeze that Discord was trying to help him, especially after all the cruel games of “Shadowball” they had played. But he was willing to help him set up this challenge if it meant the torture would end, and he followed the draconequus carefully into the town to begin work on his scheme. Twilight was flipping furiously through every book on earth ponies she could find, and their magical connection. Spike was asleep upstairs, oblivious to the commotion the unicorn was making as she read like crazy through the scattered volumes. “Ugggh, Earth Ponies Throughout the Ages didn't give me Techorse's connection either!” she groaned, placing the volume back on the shelf magically, “There's got to be some other thing besides trees, herbal plants, or farming that Techorse could possibly have.” There was a knock on the library door, and Twilight Sparkle remained polite despite her exasperation, “Come on in!” Rarity entered, her saddlebags at her sides likely stuffed with gemstones from her latest expedition to the mountains to collect them for her work. “Good afternoon darling!” she said, “I just returned from mining, and I brought a curiosity you'll simply love!” “That's great Rarity, just leave it on the table, I'm looking stuff up for Techorse,” answered Twilight, a book still unmoving from her face. But Rarity wasn't going to have any of it, “Well Twilight Sparkle, you can look up from your searching for just a moment, can't you?” Twilight sighed and placed the book down carefully, her horn stopping its glow, “I'm sorry Rarity. I'd love to see what you brought me, it's just... Techorse got told by Spanners Buildsbetter...” Rairty gasped, her eyes twinkling, “Spanners Buildsbetter?! In Ponyville? The son of the famous architect?” “Yeah, and he told Techorse in front of everypony there in the town square today that Techorse isn't a real earth pony because he doesn't have a special connection to the ground,” answered Twilight, groaning, “now I'm trying to figure out what Techorse's magical connection is so that we can prove him wrong and help Techorse feel better about himself.” “Well Twilight, you're the best marefriend Techorse could ask for, searching so hard for an answer,” cooed Rarity as she swept her glance at all the books Twilight had tried, “but perhaps you should really take a break and look at this.” Rarity's horn glowed light blue, and the saddlebags opened up. A silver, shiny rock appeared, followed by a twisted piece of metal from the other saddlebag. “This is a magnetic stone I found deep in the mountains,” explained Rarity, “look!” The magnetic rock attracted the piece of metal as Rarity moved it closer, and the metal soon stuck to it without Rarity's magic levitating it at all. “Wow!” said an impressed Twilight, smiling and walking up to Rarity. She passed the stone magically over to Twilight, who set it down on the floor and attempted to peel the metal off with her hoof, which eventually came off. Nudging the stone back, the scrap of iron got attracted to it again and stuck with a sharp click. “This is really cool Rarity, I've always read about magnetic stones but haven't actually seen one. I can't believe you grabbed a piece of scrap metal too, seems a bit too dirty.” “Not at all,” explained Rarity, running a hoof through her hair, “not a speck of dust came from that piece. It's just a small bit of iron ore I find all the time amongst the gemstones in the ground.” Twilight stopped for a moment as her great mind stumbled onto something, “Wait a minute... Rarity, that's it!” “What's it?” she asked, “Did I say something?” “Yes! You just gave me the answer to Techorse's problem!” she said, laughing and jumping around in a small circle, “Yes, yes, yes!” Twilight stopped in front of Rarity excitedly, “We've got to go tell him! Pack the rock and let's go!” Rarity returned the rock and scrap of metal to her bags, and the two ponies left the library after waking Spike up and dragging him groggily out of the tree home. If they hurried, they would be able to explain to Techorse what his special connection to the ground of Equestria was after all. To be continued...