My Little Pony: the Harmony of Friendship

by Godzilla313

Chapter 23

Chapter 23

They were able to return to the studio and finish their day’s work, but they had to lay low until the crowds at the farm had thinned enough for them to go in a back way. Once there, Granny Smith and Applejack already had a spread for the whole touring group. One of the roadies said, “Boy, you can’t but help attract attention, can you Ra-Ra?”
She just sighed and rolled her eyes with a slight grin as they sat to eat. By this point, the tea party was over, and now Discord felt the need to let the folks know that problems were afoot. The crew were asking the twins about their music, and they were about to ask for a number or two when Discord appeared looking like a bad Bob Dylan impression, complete with overplaying his voice and singing way out of tune, “The problem, my friends, is spittin’ in the wind, the problem is spittin’ in the wind.”
He then spit, and it came back in his face. Everyone not familiar with him were put out of their wits as they just sat and stared. The rest, however, were not all that impressed as AJ said, “Took you long enough to show up, Discord. Ah am surprised ya took this long t’show yer face.”
“My dear Applejack,” he said, looking hurt, (though with him, it was hard to know just how hurt he was, if at all,) “You give the impression I’ve come to disrupt the festivities and make things bad.”
They just gave him that look and he said, “Well, okay, maybe a little, but in actuality, I am well aware of our Bardic duo here, and I find it intriguing with their reemergence into this world to see where this is going to go. However, I was just at Fluttershy’s today, and much earlier today, I sensed a great shift in the magic fields. I am not sure what it was, but somehow, it is connected with these two.”
He pointed to the twins and said, “I’m not sure if it’s because of their acting and getting stronger, or something else. In fact, it was just a blip on the screen, and then it was gone. However, I thought it might be good to tell you, considering…”
Now AJ was cross. She could see the worried look on the twins faces and fear that maybe this was it, and she snapped at Discord, “This had better be some joke er sumpthin! That ain’t very nice makin’ them worry.”
“Well, I would think they would want to know,” he said, “But in all honesty, I’m not sure what it was, but it was powerful, and an odd premonition. However, I can’t say just what it was, because just my telling you this might be changing what I saw.”
Not satisfied with that, AJ then said, “Then, I would suggest y’all go find out, cause if you worried us fer no reason, I’m ah gonna get Celestia on yer case, and we’ll set y’all straight.”
“Oh, the idle threats,” he said, making an idol of AJ with the word, “threat” on the base of it, “Oddly enough, I was going to do that anyway. If it was what you feared, in all honesty, he poses a threat to me as well. Someone like him would love to go after somepony like me. If he’s come up from the Abyss, then he’s definitely grown more powerful. Yet, he wouldn’t come after the twins right away. Being the spirit of chaos as I am, I am certain he would love to do all he could to spread more chaos through pain and war than I would ever dream. I mean, at least I wouldn’t seek to physically harm anypony, but that one? Ugh, I shudder to think what could come of this. He’s going to try to build an army first, and he’s got global conquest on his mind, for certain. He is too calculating for rash action…if it is even him at all. As I said, I am not sure. But, there is as much at risk for me as for everypony, so I am off to where I felt it to see what is going on. I wouldn’t worry too much, though. It would take him time to build anything, and he’d have to be very clever to cover it up without Celestia knowing anything about it before long. Well, I’m off to study the mystery.”
With that, he suddenly had a deer stalker hat, calabash pipe, long jacked, and magnifying glass, and then disappeared. “Uh, sorry ‘bout that,” said AJ, apologizing to her guests, “He has this bad habit ah jumpin in at the wrong times.”
Yet, the twins were genuinely scared now. They knew they were not ready to face him, but AJ said, “Hey, dontcha all worry none. First of all, if he’s like what Discord said, he ain’t gonna act right away. And knowin this makes us aware of it. We’ll be able t’jump on it the second he takes one step outta line. Besides, y’all got the protection ah four princesses, and maybe even whole armies if it comes to it.”
“I don’t know what I don’t like more,” said Quill, “The fact that he may already be back, or that a war might be fought because of us.”
Downy then added, “Maybe we should go back…”
AJ was a bit upset at their shrinking back and said, “Hey, that ain’t the way t’face down sumpthin! Runnin’ ain’t gonna solve anything! Besides, if he does have t’be fought, then you can use this time t’find other Bardics and get’ em ready.”
They listened as AJ calmed down and said, “Look, I know y’all don’t like fightin’ an all, and there ain’t anythin’ wrong with that. It’s a better world when there ain’t pony folk fightin’ over stupid stuff anyway. But, y’all gotta realize that sometimes there are things worth fightin’ fer. One thing y’all gotta know, and that freedom ain’t always free.”
“Doesn’t make us less scared,” said Quill.
Granny Smith piped up and said, “What’s all this milk toast, mealy mouthed talkin’? Y’all don’t like fightin’ but y’all have a way t’stop it. Well, the best way t’fight the fear is t’face it head on! Best way t’git rid of a bully is t’pop him in the snot box. Once he realizes he’s knocked over a hornet’s nest, he’s gonna wish his sire never met his mother.”
“But, we don’t like to fight,” Downy started to say, but Granny Smith cut her off and said, “Tarnation, child! Y’all ain’t listenin’! I never said nuthin’ bout fightin’, or at least in that way. Y’all tell me he hates y’all because ah what y’all can do with music? Then don’t stop makin’ music! Find others and make more. Make him face what HE fears and give him sumpthin t’lose sleep over. If yer version ah fightin’ is doin’ whatcha do to stop a fight, then get real good at it and get others who can do the same. Then y’all won’t have nuthin’ t’fear.”
The wisdom of her years were coming through, showing good horse sense in all of this. Indeed, Granny Smith had a way with words that endeared her to many, and this was no different. AJ then said, “And I bet, if y’all throw yer minds t’yer music, y’all won’t even fuss over it. If there’s even a hint ah trouble, Twilight will get with Princess Celestia and get y’all someplace safe…maybe the Crystal Empire, bein’ a good ways off and well protected. Y’all got friends now, a lot of good friends. Now, let’s stop all this foolish talk and get t’eatin’! Tell us how y’all been doin’ in the studio. Tell us how y’all make a record. Been curious ‘bout that.”
With that, the twins, along with Ra-Ra, told about how it worked, and before long, Discord’s interruption was soon forgotten and they managed to enjoy the evening.

However, Discord knew more than he was letting on.

As he went, he began to ponder the era when Ponaeros was around initially. Being the spirit of chaos, he had been around, but global conquest had not yet been in his heart. He had to admit that it was his actions and the fact that the power vacuum after the Great Civil War was soon filled by the princesses that made Discord desire to want to fill that power vacuum himself. Yet, he had not intentions of being the murderous monster Ponaeros. He just wanted to make the world as chaotic as his own mind and let things run wild. If he had been evil, it was only in the mildest sense of the word: malicious mischief. It was destructive, but not with the intent of doing bodily harm outright. He wanted to intervene during that war, but found the situation had gone beyond itself and even he would have had a hard time using his own brand of magic to stop it without making the carnage worse. Even after it was over, and Starswirl seemed to keep things together, he looked to jump in, but also knew that Starswirl may have found a way against him considering who he had helped defeat. Besides, humor, as twisted as his was, has to be timed right for the joke to work, and arising before the two sisters would not have had as much effect. When they came into the picture, it was never as more fun as to frustrate them for the mere sake of being able to and knowing they could not stop him. He would have rather they got in on the joke rather than having to force him to just get them out of the picture, but they went very severe before that action could come to full fruition. He never liked the fact that they just had to go overkill with the Elements of Harmony the way they did. He thought it rich that Ol’ Sun Butt herself gave him the chance to try it again, and not liking that the elements were being wielded against him in that way. Indeed, if she had wanted him to reform, she should have shown more trust, and it was because of the trust of Fluttershy that he learned that there was something greater than the Elements of Harmony that could restrain him; he could restrain himself because of the power of friendship. Of anything in this world he valued more now, it was friendship, and he knew that any actions by him to destroy that would rip his heart to shreds. This is why he had to act now. He did not understand this back when Ponaeros was acting then, and, had he knew then what he knew now, he would have put a stop to him before it got going. Now was his chance to help make up for that mistake. Indeed, even if for his own personal reasons, and for Fluttershy, he was going to help try to proverbially kill the foal in the cradle if he could.

He followed the traces of the magic cast to rebuild that one ruin in the Fillydelphia slums and it led him right to it. Indeed, it was unoccupied, and there taking applications to what seemed a future endeavor was a stallion he seemed to recognize as the escaped convict from the Equestria Military Disciplinary Barracks. He took note of this, and realized he could act now to get him jailed. However, doing this would alert Ponaeros of danger, which would cause him to go underground again and make him harder to catch, having him emerge somewhere else and far more subtly. He thus had to let it go. Ponaeros was the main target. Yet, the stallion of the hour was nowhere to be seen. Moreover, if he was somewhere else, it was clear that he had used more conventional methods to get to where he was going as there was no trace of magic remnants that showed he used that kind of means to travel. He decided the rather to hang out in the town and watch for his return. Once he did, he would observe his actions and take notes. He would try to turn this against him, and even us his own trickery to try to slow the process to give the twins the time they needed to get enough Bardics together to act. He did not want to take this one on alone, because, if Ponaeros had grown as powerful as he feared, then even with his powerful chaos magic, he may not be able to stop him.

A couple of weeks passed, and indeed, Ponaeros was able to find his stash. He was able to convert it all to Bits and began his work. He started by setting up some to do some investigating for him on the poor conditions of that town and started to put together ways to not only make it look worse than it was, but to spin some propaganda that the mayor was incompetent. He was starting to set a campaign going against the mayor’s policies and to force him to act. Indeed, what he was demanding were things that would be impossible for him to resolve, and that was his hope. He was going to let enough time and false usurpations pass until he could start pushing for a recall vote and then try to step into the leadership vacuum and further himself from there. Still, he had to admit that he was not all about the slow pace and decided that, at some point he would have to employ magic. He figured a ramped up “need it, want it” spell on the masses could turn the tide for him. The hard part was to try to find a way into national politics and an inroad to the royals. He had to be careful not to tip his hand to them, and eventually do something to create a big enough crisis to make the princesses look bad and him look good by resolving it. The goal was to put a vote of no confidence against the princesses and create a way of life that seemed to be better under his vision. Once done, he could build up the military and start to conquer. Of course, it was all eventually to serve him, because, if he was ever near being a god, it was now, and he deserved such worship. The world was his plaything, and to serve him, and he was going to make sure it was never taken from him again.

In all this, Discord was paying close attention. “Clever lad,” he thought, “It makes me wonder if I should say anything yet.”
Yet, he had other ideas. For whatever reason, he knew there was a lesson in all this that could be related, and the only way for it to be learned is for this to run its course up to a certain point. This way, they could look, for the first time, exactly what wickedness was, and look it in the face personified in Ponaeros. This way, it could be burned into the annals of history to where, if it ever reared its ugly head ever again, it could be recognized for what it is and stopped. He was walking a fine line on this one, but if he acted too soon, he may not have been believed, being who he was. If that had happened, they may have actually looked at Ponaeros in the wrong way, and made it harder to see the danger until it was too late. No, he had to let things go for a while and watch. When the time was right, he would act. He just had to be patient.

In that time, the twins were halfway through their album, but the acetate recording was received well by the company, and the two were released as two singles, with B-sides as their personal signature songs; for Quill’s song, they used “Catch the Wind” as the B-side, and for Downy’s, they used “Brand New Key.” Being B-sides, they could be played as song’s themselves on the radio and had a chance to chart themselves. The twins were excited that they actually had records out, but, at the same time, they didn’t think much of it, as they had the rest of the album to finish, and payed no attention to it. This changed a couple of weeks later.

At first, they were getting no air time, because it wasn’t the music that was popular at the time. But, one night, a DJ in Manehattan on a late night show, looking for something different to play, came across “Learn the Love of the Princesses” and gave it a spin. Within 15 minutes of the airing, everypony called in and asked just who that was and wanted to know about the duo. Of course, the DJ only had the press bios the company sent with the records and gave that out. There were requests for more, so they played “Love and Tolerate,” loving the duo, and now having a contrast of how the two worked together when they each had the lead in the song. All night long, there were requests for the songs and more, and they were able to play the B-sides as well. Word spread fast, and other stations were picking up on it. That, of course, spread to other cities, and all four songs got enough air play to the point where Bill Box magazine, (who covered the popularity of music in single and album form,) took notice and started to chart it. The twins had charted into the hot 100 and did not even know it. What they did notice was the amount of money that was starting to come in, as ponies everywhere were buying the singles, and the twins were getting the agreed percentage for the sales, and also royalties for being the authors of the two songs, not wanting to claim they were the source of the other two, but saying that the authors were unknown. This, at least in this world, was true, as they would not have known who they were anyway. They just did not feel right passing them off as their own work, even though no one would have ever been the wiser. At first, it was not much, but all that changed one day when they saw the royalties and sales checks come in, and then, in town, they were being mobbed and asked for autographs while the cameras flashed. This was capped off when they heard their songs played back to back on a nearby radio. “Th-th-that’s us?” said Downy, all excited.
“Of course!” shouted Pinkie Pie, joining into the mob because it looked like a good party was going on, “Haven’t you two been reading the news or looking at the magazines? Here’s the latest Bill Box magazine!”
She held it up and turned to the charts, and pointed saying, “You’ve got four songs in the top 20, and two in the top ten nationwide! You’re actually passing Sapphire Shores and Coloratura!”
The crowd saw them trying to make their way to where Pinkie was and made a path for them. They saw the charts and saw that the two they had wrote were numbers 7 and 8 respectively, with Downy’s better by one. They turned to the article on them and it said, “Not much is known about them and Bill Box hopes to contact them to get an interview. In the meantime, their music is fresh and new, providing a sound and talent that has not been heard in many years. Their two songs in the top ten have been changing places back and forth, each one seeming to getting a fair shake at the top of one another, and they both could sit at the top spot within a matter of weeks. Their label said they were both working on an album currently, and hope to have it released in a month or two. We look forward to seeing more of this duo.”
“Wow! You’re famous!” said Pinkie Pie, “It’s time for a ‘hey, your famous’ party!”
Everyone cheered, knowing the reputation of Pinkie’s party, and Mayor Mare then said, “Why not have it here in the square!”
Everyone cheered, and the mayor then said, “Even though it’s in honor of you, perhaps you two could perform?”
The twins shrugged and said, “Sure!”
The gravity of this wasn’t quite hitting them yet, as it would need time to sink in. However, the engine for them to find new Bardics has started. It was time get to work.