Chapter One Hundred Four
Chapter One Hundred Four
"If such behavior hadn't been witnessed first hand, I would be hard pressed to believe a recounting of the incident by a third party," Ulquiorra stated. "Did a reduction in physical size bring about a corresponding reduction in emotional maturity, or are the two independent of one another?"
"I said that I didn't like needles," Celestia offered up weakly in response. "I'm sorry about your hand."
Ulquiorra's response was merely a quite grunt, although it would be hard to notice over the sound of the wind rushing past their ears.
First he had been bitten by Rainbow Dash. Then by Nightmare Moon's fog puppets. And now by Princess Celestia. He couldn't help but wonder if this was going to become a running thing for him.
"How long will it be until we arrive back in Ponyville?" Celestia asked.
"You can't possibly need to use the restroom already," Ulquiorra replied.
"No, you smartass, I don't," Celestia shot back without hesitation, and without making an effort at keeping her voice even. "I want an estimate on how long it's going to be, before we get to our destination. We don't seem to be traveling all that fast from what I can tell."
"At present speeds, approximately ten minutes. Any faster and the air currents would make vocal communication impossible, even if you could yell like Princess Luna," Ulquiorra explained. "Even if such were not the case, your body wouldn't be able to withstand the resulting pressures exerted on it."
The medical examination conducted back at the palace had been... unconventional was the best way to describe it. Especially when it came to obtaining a blood sample. But unconventional or not, it didn't matter. The only thing that mattered were the results.
Unofficially, as far as Dr. Malar could tell, Princess Celestia's health hadn't been negatively affected by losing her magic. There was a slight imbalance of her electrolyte levels, but that could easily be explained as a result of her diet suffering from all of the recent stress she'd been under. The only factor serving to prevent an official, clean bill of health from being issued, was discovering the presence of the same opioid and hallucinogenic compounds that were present in not only Rainbow Dash's system, but likely of Ponyville as well.
What was also found to be present, however, were the first sign of the corresponding metabolites associated with such substances, indicating that they were being processed and broken down accordingly.
The most logical conclusion to draw was that, with Nightmare Moon now dead, the magical hold she had over so many was also gone. If the contaminates were no longer being shielded from their surroundings via her magical intervention, it would only be a matter of time before they were processed out of existence once and for all.
"Did you know the truth about Nightmare Moon? That she'd actually taken a host," Celestia asked after an extended stretch of silence.
"From the moment she returned. Not only that she had taken a host, but who the host was," Ulquiorra explained. "Do you expect me to apologize for my actions?"
"No," Celestia replied, just barely audible, accompanied by a gesture that felt like she was shaking her head. "I understand you did what you had to do. What I intended to do was thank you."
This served to pique Ulquiorra's curiosity. She was thanking him? For what?
"You warned us, even though we didn't want to listen to what you had to say, because we were too overcome by the desire for revenge. And then you undertook a distasteful task by yourself, to spare us the suffering we'd likely experience in the aftermath upon learning the truth, if we did it ourselves. I can't think of many who would willingly do something like that for others; especially when they stubbornly insist that they aren't heroes," she explained.
Ulquiorra could have predicted numerous possible responses to be met with, but that had certainly not been one of them. It honestly left him without an immediate response, uncertain of just what to say.
Maybe it was best if he just didn't say anything at all, and simply focused on getting them to Ponyville safely.
He didn't need to talk in order to fly. Once they were back in town, back with the others, he could work on figuring things out from there. For now, though, he simply had to focus on safe travel, and ignore the mounting questions and trivialities that would besiege and bog down mortal minds. Now was neither the time, nor place, to be addressing such matters when there were more important details to be focusing on.
All thoughts, both on the matter and otherwise, immediately ground to a screeching halt, as did he himself, as his pesquisa began picking up... something. Something that he couldn't readily identify.
His midair braking must've been far harder than he'd thought, as he felt Princess Celestia slamming against his back, even if the travel for her had been minimal due to their proximity to one another.
"Is something wrong?"
"Unknown. There's some sort of anomaly ahead of us," he explained as he scanned the area to try and determine what course of action to take. But all of his readings were... highly inconclusive. He couldn't even decipher it's location, or its position in relation to their present own. It was all very-
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They were in Ponyville.
that was the simplest, most straightforward way to explain the current predicament they found themselves in, but it was hardly the most logical explanation of what had just happened.
It wasn't a matter of being in Ponyville airspace, but rather in Ponyville itself, down on the ground; specifically in front of the Golden Oaks Library. In addition to that it was also daytime, with the position of the sun in the sky suggesting it was approximately eight in the morning. Factors and developments that couldn't be physically possible, and yet... they were factors that were staring them right in the face.
Princess Celestia wasn't even on his back at the moment, but rather standing next to him, and looking just as confused as he felt.
"Did... did you see what just happened?" she asked.
"I did not. There was a bright flash of white light, and suddenly we find ourselves here; as if we just blinked into existence," he replied.
Their surroundings were very quiet. Cliche as it was to say, it was too quiet. But it was also quite accurate, as his pesquisa was detecting absolutely nothing at the moment. No ponies, no disturbances, no nothing at all. It was almost like being back in Nightmare Moon's fog again.
"Should we go inside?" Celestia asked.
"I don't believe we have much of an alternative. Out of every location we could have arrived at in Ponyville, it was the library specifically. Such can't be a coincidence," he noted.
Knocking was considered as an option they had available. But it was discarded in favor of simply walking into the building. They could stand around and speculate on exactly what was happening for a great many hours, but they would still be no closer to getting any answers.
Beyond that particular matter, engaging in such heavy speculation and theorizing about what may or may not be simply didn't seem right; not at the present moment anyway. Potentially another side effect of what he had been through. But that would be another question for another day.
Still, he went first, just in case this was some sort of elaborate trap, with Celestia tailing behind him. The scene that greeted them inside the library was... unexpected to say the least.
Twilight was present and sitting at the main table with the other five members of her core group of friends, along with Spike, Princess Luna, and even Zecora. None of them looked any worse for wear from what they could see, but each of them was looking just as confused about the present situation. And that look of confusion only grew as they entered the scene.
"Don' ask," Applejack stated in a preemptive manner. "We don't know what's going on. We found ourselves here like five seconds before ya walked through the door."
Pinkie nodded in agreement. "The last thing I remember was being in Dashie's room and using Rarity as a pillow. The next thing I know we're all here and it smells like pancakes cooking in the kitchen."
At Pinkie's comment, everyone took notice that there was indeed the smell of pancakes currently present in the air.
"Then perhaps we should turn our attention to the kitchen, and find out who else is present," Ulquiorra noted. Pancakes took time to prepare and even get ready for cooking. So it stood to reason that if such was already under way, someone had already been present before all of them, thus meaning a greater likelihood of them possessing answers as to what was going on.
"Fine by me," Rainbow Dash replied and pushed herself up from the table. "Let's go get some answers, and if need be kick some ass."
"And chew some bubblegum?" Pinkie asked.
The oddness of Pinkie's question served to make Rainbow Dash falter on her follow through. "Do you actually have any bubblegum?"
"Yep!" Pinkie replied excitedly.
"Did you bring enough bubblegum for everyone?" Rainbow Dash asked, before suddenly getting the strangest feeling of déjà vu from back in flight school.
"...No," Pinkie replied and turned her attention downward, suddenly finding the table in front of her to be the most interesting thing in the room.
That exchange... had been weird. That was the only way Ulquiorra could presently put it. But now was neither the time, nor the place, for such nonsensical distractions.
"Whoever is in the kitchen, come out into the open where we can see you," he called out. If this really was a trap, he wasn't about to go charging further into it, and potentially leave the others unguarded as a result.
Had he known that it would be Discord of all beings appearing before then, wearing a chef's hat sitting askew on top of his crooked head and with a half apron tied around his waist, he might've actually refrained from calling out.
"Oh good, everypony's here! We can finally get started!" Discord state in an all too cheerful manner as he clasped his paws together, giving a smile that was deeply unnerving. "Just sit right down and I'll be with you in just a moment!"
A heavy hand landed firmly on Discord's right shoulder from behind, serving to interrupt whatever derailed train of thought he might've once had. Turning his attention to the disturbance he noticed it was a left, off-white hand, just as Ulquiorra disappeared from his vision.
Huh. So that was how it felt to have something like that done to him, instead of by him.
"The only reason you're presently alive where you're standing, is the remote possibility of you having answers as to what exactly is going on around here," Ulquiorra stated as he -not so- subtly increased the force of his grip on Discord's shoulder to let him know that now was not the time for fun and games. "If you don't have answers, then say as much now so we can proceed accordingly."
The sheer amount of menace in that sentence hadn't been hampered one bit by the monotone delivery. If anything it'd only made it worse to be on the receiving end of.
But not to be outdone, or even intimidated, Discord responded by snapping his eagle talon, effortlessly disappearing out of Ulquiorra's grip, and reappearing a short distance away.
"Well that's a fine way to be greeted," he replied sarcastically, "I've been very busy doing important and necessary work. I decide to take some time and come visit my friends, and what am I greeted with? Outright hostility and threats. Why it's enough to-"
"Discord."
One word from Fluttershy had effortlessly put an end to the rant, making him go quiet and look forward in response as he waited to hear what she might've had to say next.
"It's always nice, being able to see you again after so long," she continued, her voice warm and quite friendly as she spoke. "I was starting to get worried when I didn't see you. Where've you been all this time?"
That was far more appreciated in Discord's opinion, warranting a wide smile in response.
"Oh, my dear, I'm sorry but you wouldn't believe just how busy I've been lately. Unlike certain others, I don't have the luxury of working for six days and resting on the seventh. I've been grinding eight long, grueling days worth of work this week without rest and-"
"You've been absent from this world for more than thirty five days, not eight," Ulquiorra interrupted.
Discord paused at this, a look of utter confusion on his face, before he blinked sideways, turned and literally rolled the fur on his lion's paw up his arm like one would a coat, revealing what looked like a regular wristwatch, an hourglass filled with red sand being worn much like it was a wristwatch, a calendar, a sundial, and what bore a strong resemblance to an abacus.
"Ahh," he replied as he consulted the devices on his arm, before rolling his fur back down again. "Well that's the thing about my neck of the woods. Time flows, let's say... differently, with no real rhyme or reason as to why. You could easily cram several months worth of studying for a test on the night before you take it. You could start writing a best-selling novel and have it completed by morning. Or alternatively your two-week vacation could be over before you even step out the front door. Even I can wind up losing track if I'm not careful and don't pay attention. So... my bad. I guess you could say my watch simply stopped!"
The others were silent in the wake of Discord's revelation about where he'd been. He'd been absent this entire time, and he hadn't even realized it, all because he hadn't been paying attention and thought it'd only been a little over a week?
"I am in no mood for your shenanigans, or your bullshitery, Discord," Luna growled, although much of the effect was lost due to the currently higher pitch of her voice, giving said growl and almost squeaky quality. "Ulquiorra Cifer, kill!"
It wasn't an order Ulquiorra actually anticipated to hear; not even in light of recent events that had forced these ponies to confront topics and developments they were uncomfortable with. But at the same time it wasn't an order he was particularly opposed to. If Discord had no use to them, no way of justifying his continued existence in this world, then doing away with him made the most sense.
He would've followed through with the command right then and there, if not for the fact that Princess Celestia was also present, and potentially able to override the order before he could execute it properly.
"Do you concur?"
Celestia, in response, shook her head.
"I would certainly like to. But not just yet," she replied, before turning her attention to Discord. "While you were off doing who knows what, Nightmare Moon returned and murdered forty one of my little ponies!"
Discord blinked once again, before slowly turning his attention to where Luna sat.
"You didn't learn after the first time?"
Before Luna even had time, Rainbow Dash was already unleashing an outburst on her behalf, angrily slamming both of her front hooves down on the table in response.
"Not her, you piece o' shit! The real Nightmare Moon! The one the Elements of Harmony ripped out of Luna's body! She's been alive this whole time and has been fucking with us!"
"Oh," Discord replied flatly. "Sorry, Lulu."
Luna just scowled in annoyance and folded her forelegs, doing her best to try and make him burst into flames through the power of her glare alone.
Celestia could only sigh, before turning her attention back forward. "Discord."
"'Tia?"
"You know how I feel about your pervading the natural order of things. So it should tell you just how serious this matter is to me, when I ask you to do just that, to fix what went wrong. Those that died due to Nightmare Moon's actions over the past two month period, they don't deserve to pay the price for what's ultimately our fault. Bring them back so they have a second chance."
The room went silent at Celestia's words, as the more mortal members of the group tried to understand just what they were presently hearing.
"Bring them back," Discord repeated slowly, trying to determine if he'd heard right. "Ah. Well, the thing is, Celestia, that's something that I can't actually do..."
"Not all at once? You'd have to do it in batches? Bring them back one at a time?" Celestia asked.
"Not at all, period," Discord clarified. "I can do a great many things otherwise impossible, but what you're asking of me is far outside of my skill set."
Celestia's face dropped and her eyes went wide at this revelation. Surely this had to be some sort of joke. It couldn't be possible that Discord was telling the truth, it just couldn't!
"You've done it before, I know you have!" she protested loudly. "I-"
Discord could do little more than shake his head in disagreement at this point. "I'm afraid not. I've certainly tried to do just that under other circumstances in the past, but it's simply just not something I can do. I can extend the duration of life to a truly ridiculous degree if I want, but even I can't give back what's no longer there."
"You're lying!"
The shriek from Celestia had taken most of the others by surprise, causing more than a few to jump at the sudden high-pitched outburst.
But perhaps more surprising was how Discord -now sans the apron and hat- crossed the room as if he'd always been there, and scooped Celestia's tiny form up in his arms in an almost tender manner.
"I know it's hard to accept and understand, Celestia, but it's the absolute truth," he explained as he practically cradled her, his voice sounding deep and quite genuine as he spoke. "I can animate the corpse of a recently deceased, letting it move about as the neurons and synapses in the brain continue to fire. Maybe even bring out the vestiges of whatever memory that might still be housed within to give the illusion of life, but that's all it is; nothing but an illusion, and only for an hour at most. It allows for closure for the bereaved, but that's as far as it goes. The power over life and death is an authority reserved for far above my pay grade, well beyond whatever position I could ever hope to hold myself."
"Then how do you explain me?"
The attention that'd initially been focused on the spectacle of a sombre, almost tender Discord trying to console Celestia with the cold truth of reality, was quickly refocused as Ulquiorra spoke up, bringing their attention back to him.
"That's a rather good point," Rarity noted and slowly turned her attention back to Discord, all the while giving a critical eye to her target. "With all this information you've dropped on us, how do you explain Ulquiorra's presence in this world, as well as our ability to interact with him when he's, by all accounts, quite dead?"
What followed was a chorus of voices echoing the same and similar points to Rarity's, wondering how Ulquiorra's presence was a possibility in light of Discord's little confession about the shortcoming of his powers. All the while said spirit of chaos wore a look that suggested he'd been caught in a lie that was quickly unraveling before him. A look that was made all the worse by Ulquiorra's own hard gaze being fixed upon him.
"Well, lad, that's where explaining everything get a bit... let's say complicated. Firstly, you come from a different reality with an entirely different set of rules governing it and its physics. Secondly, you sort of fall into a quasi-dead/semi-alive kind of legal-ish gray area," he explained as Celestia was teleported to a newly vacant seat at the table, allowing him to freely wobble his hands, as if he were trying to shape a ball out of thin air. "Technically all Hollows would qualify as such, I suppose. You're all souls, disembodied spirits, yet you have bodies and presences capable of interacting with the physical world and others around you. Why, trying to figure out the mechanics of how something like you works is enough to make your head explode an-"
Discord's explanation was cut off as his head quite literally exploded, much to the surprise of everyone present, leaving nothing but a smoking neck stump behind in its place. Although the matter was short lived as both hands proceeded to pull his head back out of the stump, as if nothing had happened.
"Anyway, as I was saying. You're sort of an exception to the rule. You weren't so much "brought back to life" as you were simply brought from your own world here to Equestria. But all that aside, the original point remains the same; I can't bring the dead back to life, no matter how much I'd like to do just that. And believe me, I'd like that very much. I can't have fun with dead ponies now, can I?"
Nopony had actually seen the spirit of chaos being slammed into the library's floor. They only saw the aftermath as he was pinned to the ground with Ulquiorra's left foot planted firmly on his throat just beneath his chin.
"If you can't be useful to us, there's no sense in keeping you around any longer," Ulquiorra stated calmly as he looked down on Discord's position.
"Wait."
Rather than one of the diarchy, or even Fluttershy, the outburst had come from Zecora instead.
"If Discord can do nothing for the dead, perhaps he can assist the living instead. Currently there is an entire hospital wing of ponies injured in their fight against Nightmare Moon, and from what I have heard the prognosis does not suggest a full recovery anytime soon. As he can warp reality at a whim, undoing their pain and suffering should be a piece of cake for him."
At hearing Zecora's suggestion, Twilight's face lit up quite spectacularly. She hadn't even considered such an idea on her own, and she regretted that, but she'd worry about regretting it later. Right now the idea was just too good to waste with dwelling on negativity.
"Sister," Luna spoke up with a barely suppressed grin, "if you do not kiss her, then I am going to do it myself."
Ignoring the squeak of embarrassment from Zecora that followed, Ulquiorra -slowly- lifted his foot off Discord's throat in response.
To which Discord immediately vanished and appeared next to the table once again, rubbing the spot where Ulquiorra's foot had been. "Really, lad, you're far too up tight about these sort of things. You need to learn how to take it easy and relax at times."
"I was taking it easy," Ulquiorra countered. "Can you do as Zecora suggests or not?"
"... Not at present time, no," Discord eventually admitted, before quickly continuing before he could be interrupted again. "But not for lack of desire or willingness on my part. There are certain rules that even I have to follow that preclude me from doing such."
"You once stole my tail right off of my butt," Celestia stated flatly as she frowned at Discord. "Do you really expect us to believe you can pick ponies apart but can't put them back together again?"
"And don't even get me started on when you stole our tribe attributes, you uncouth brute," Rarity added.
"Oh no, it has nothing to do with that. I certainly have the ability to do what our dear zebra friend is suggesting. I just can't do it right now. I'm far too tapped out for an orderly deed of that degree of magnitude," Discord somewhat-clarified.
"Explain."
The statement had been quite simple, straight to the point, and right from Applejack herself, as she was in no mood for fun and games at present time. Fortunately it seemed to do the intended job, as Discord was busy doing just that without -much- in the way of fuss.
"Well you see, it's like this. When you're a spirit of chaos, engaging in orderly deeds can be rather... well let's say it can be rather detrimental to your health; not unlike feeding chocolate to a dog. The more order you participate in, the worse it gets. And if you engage in too much order too quickly, without adequate time to recover in between, you'll literally cease to exist as a result."
"It's true," Fluttershy added and nodded in confirmation. "Discord can't give up being chaotic, anymore than we could give up on oxygen. He tried once and... well the results weren't pretty..."
"So, wait, does that mean you're not an asshole by choice? All those practical jokes you play on everypony for laughs, that's just you doing what you need to survive?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Well I wouldn't go and phrase it quite like that," Discord replied indignantly, "but to make a short story long, yes. I sort of have this thing against ceasing to exist. If I were to heal all those injured ponies now, after all I've already been doing, I'd have to cause five times as much chaos just to balance things out and break even. And depending on just how many injured ponies we're talking about, I can guarantee you absolutely nopony would like the degree of chaos attached to that particular price tag..."
The darkness in tone at the end of Discord's statement had been so palpable, everyone short of Ulquiorra felt an involuntary shudder run right up their spines. As much as they knew he loved his chaos, if even he was advising against it, they really didn't want to think about that matter too much.
"That makes literally zero sense," Twilight stated as she spoke up to break the ensuing silence brought on by Discord's efforts at explanation. "Undoing the damage caused by Nightmare Moon would be instituting chaos since it goes against nature, wouldn't it? Fractured bones and crushed larynxes don't just heal up and disappear of their own accord. Letting them heal naturally would be the orderly thing to do. The argument could easily be made that, by undoing their injuries and returning them to their previous state, you'd be contributing more to chaos than to order."
Discord chuckled, but it was easy to tell there was no humor or joy behind it.
"Oh, dear Twilight, I do love the way you think. but I'm afraid it's not quite that simple. In the grand scheme of things, what does and doesn't amount to chaos and order is subject to enough fine hair-splitting and technicalities that even a griffon would get fed up and have no part of it," he replied. "Honestly, even giving a straight answer can be subject to the order/chaos divide at times; especially right now. Although what with this being a dream that lessens the burden at the moment."
The others looked up silently at the last part of Discord's statement, opting to ignore what he'd been saying up to that point.
"This is a dream?" Luna asked. "You have been meddling with my field of magic again? What did I tell you the last time!?"
"Oh seriously, Lulu, it was either this, or I wake everypony up at five in the morning to have a sit down with my friends and see how they've been doing in my absence. Bringing everyone together in their dreams was the least intrusive approach I could take under present circumstances," Discord explained.
Rainbow Dash said nothing as she looked at the hoof of her right foreleg, and watched as it morphed into a fist. Specifically a balled up dragon's claw of a fist, with the rest of her body following suit and taking on the Raindragon form once again.
"Yep, it's a dream alright," she noted.
Spike, unprepared for the sight of Rainbow Dash in dragon form, was left speechless as his jaw dropped in surprise. That had been both amazing, and hot, and left him very confused about what he should be feeling right now.
"Ooh! Dashie, you look amazing!"
Pinkie, however, had no such qualms with expressing herself on the matter.
"Girls, Ah think we're gettin' a might bit distracted here," Applejack spoke up before the others could chime in, and turned her attention back to Discord. "A'right, Discord, Ah reckon we owe ya an' apology er two, but later. Ya said you couldn' heal anypony right now 'cuz yer tapped out on bein' able to do orderly stuff. So Ah gotta ask, wha'd ya actually do ta leave ya so tapped out in the first place?"
"Oh, that is a good question," Rarity added and turned to Discord as well. "Whatever did you do to leave you in such a state?"
"Well as I said, even giving a straight answer can be problematic in situations like this. But why don't you ask your friend over there," Discord replied and gestured over to where Ulquiorra was presently standing, slowly bringing their attention to him. "While he's still here, that is..."
"Princess Celestia and I were wide awake just minutes ago, on the way to Ponyville to rendezvous with the others at the hospital," Ulquiorra pointed out in turn.
"Or were you?" Discord asked cryptically in equal return.
Ulquiorra very nearly responded, but promptly chose not to. That was a question he really didn't want the answer to at present. He would seek clarification later, but not right now.
"I would ask what nonsense you're getting at now, but I know I wouldn't get a straight answer even if I did," he responded. "Let us rephrase the question in another manner. Exactly what can you reveal without putting yourself at risk of ceasing to exist, that is directly relevant to the topic of discussion at hand? How do I factor into any of this, and how am I keeping you from healing those that were injured?"
"Well it's quite simple. Sort of. Not really actually. Bear with me," Discord muttered.
What followed looked deceptively like Ulquiorra's own Garganta Broadcast technique, as two side-by-sde displays appeared before them. Each was black and rectangular, divided by a horizontal white line running along the middle. The display on the right possessed a secondary line, rose pink in color, following a gentle sloping wave pattern at it rose and fell in rounded hills and valleys, both the upper and lower hemispheres looking equal to one another.
The display on the right stood in sharp contrast, as its secondary line was teal green in color, and far more jagged and erratic as it rose and fell at drastic angles with no apparent rhyme or reason for the position of the highs and lows of the peaks.
"Visuals make the whole matter so much easier to explain, especially when they're color-coded for convenience. Now, the visual on the left represents the normal harmonic frequency of our reality. Calm, gentle, relaxing, balanced... all perfectly boring really, but ultimately important. The visual on the right represents the harmonic frequency of Ulquiorra himself in our world. As I'm sure you can see, there's a stark difference in the two."
The two displays then merged together, with the only visual difference being as the two colored lines now ran simultaneously with one another.
"Now, do you see the points at which the two wavelengths overlap? And more importantly, the points at which they don't overlap?"
Outside of Ulquiorra, the others nodded in response to the question as they observed the display, waiting to see where Discord would actually be going with his presentation.
"As I'm sure you can conclude from the chart, our friend here isn't properly in sync with our own reality. Although contrary to popular myth, differing frequencies can coincide with one another without being drastically at odds with each other, so long as they're generally within a tolerable threshold."
Discord's explanation paused briefly as the first approximate third of the green line blinked, drawing attention to how its high and low points were still within the same highs and lows of the red line, just at different points and at a far greater frequency.
"For the most part that threshold hasn't been a problem. Although the degree of that out-of-sync nature started to become far more significant after the Changeling Incident occurred up in Canterlot," Discord continued, with a blue dot appearing at a specific point on the display just before a series of jagged and erratic spikes had formed, which then became highlighted and started blinking, drawing their focus to just how far past the boundaries of the red line they actually went. "Had it not been for that particular development I might never have noticed the problem and-"
"Discord," Celestia interrupted, "if you have a point, please get to it. I have no patience to sit through another one of these presentations; I get enough of them from petitioners during the day shift at the palace, seeking money for their pet projects."
Discord simply sighed in defeat, not even offering up a nod before continuing.
"Very well then. The absolute bottom line; these sort of harmonics we're seeing are not compatible with our reality. If they continue to remain unchecked then our friend here, the Cuatro Espada, is at the very real risk of ceasing to exist if his own frequency continues to remain as unstable and incompatible with our reality as it presently is..."
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Um, point of contention.
Based on the fact that this story is taking place in Season 3 (Between S3E10 and S3E13 to be precise), how would Fluttershy know about Discord's need for chaos, as that was revealed to her in Season 7 (S7E12)?
Otherwise, good chapter and note about the potential dangers of cross-dimensional travel (although when Discord threatened Treehugger, he did not seem concerned, but then again, he wanted her to no longer exist).
Oof
Well, here start a new arc of shenanigans.
Celly or Luna smooching Zecora huh...I approve.
Anyway the fact that Discord has to worry about order overdose is kinda neat, a way to deal with the `Genie problem` so to speak. Aka the problem of having an all powerful being that can twist reality itself, and thus making conflict and obstacles pointless, in a story. As for the final bit...not sure if this is going to head into a sad departure situation or an attempt to get the guy to be in balanced with the world. I'd think the Equestria group is going to be very much for getting him to stay, but dunno if he will want to undergo so much change to fit in if it is...extensive.
Alright ulqiuora is dying again and the only way to save him is to turn him into a pony
10249543
Well, he betrays everyone temporarily at the end of season 4, but from what we've seen of him this chapter the Discord in this story seems less likely to do that. My guess would be that the events of S7E12 happened early in this stories' universe because he already truly values Fluttershy's friendship.
10250485
If so, I’ll probably stop reading , that trope of suddenly pony is why this site is still dying
This story started with Ulquiorra, and soon it shall end with him.
Me too bro me too.
Spike... no... why, just why.
Whatever happens after this point is up for debate.
• ulquiorra could be killed although that is unlikely.
• ulquiorra could reject humanity return to pony and I'd be ok with that as long as it isn't too jarring.
• through obscure and unforseen magics ulquiorra could suddenly be fixed and the reality incompatibility just goes away, that is the laziest option in my opinion.
• ulquiorra could be sent back to the bleach reality where he is dead, but just like the plain death option the plot needs him as he is the reason this fic exists in the first place.
So yah I like it keep it up, stay frosty.
Noooooooo! 😱
The crossover frequencies are fucked up!!