A bright white flash heralded the two new arrivals to the burnt out and largely abandoned town of Ponyville. All was quiet, the only other life being a few random EUP soldiers and contractors figuring out where to start on the rebuilding efforts, along with some crows, ravens and other such scavenger birds searching for any leftover remains to get a snack out of. The town had suffered greatly during the war against Empress Immortalis, leaving it but a ghost town.
So why Queen Twilight Sparkle thought it was a good idea to subject it to the Lord of Chaos would be a subject for historians to decide.
“Well, here we are,” Twilight said with a note of sadness in her voice. “Ponyville, or what’s left of it.”
“My my Twilight, I see you’ve redecorated,” Discord noted casually, floating besides the Changeling Queen while filing down his talon. “I don’t like it.”
“Yeah, me neither,” Twilight agreed, trotting forwards towards the burnt out golden oak sitting directly down the street. “It’s all like a bad dream, what happened here. The Empress’ control was so strong…”
“Bah, she was a wannabe,” Discord dismissed, clearly unimpressed by what he had heard about Immortalis. “No flair. No style! Boring, that’s the word. I’m actually glad you got her to taste the rainbow.”
“You and me both. Still, that’s in the past. And you owe me for missing out again!” Twilight pointed out while throwing Discord an irritated glance. “You never said why you weren’t here.”
“Blame the Smooze, he throws parties that would make that ridiculous pink pet of yours do a double take,” Discord explained, showing a couple of previously non-existent photographs of him hanging out with a green blob in some strange unfathomable expanse. “But don’t tell Pinkie Pie I said that, I have a bad feeling the mare would somehow track me down.”
That got Twilight to chuckle. “Probably. She can get pretty competitive with parties sometimes.”
“Indeed,” Discord said, an overly large shiver running down his entire body. “Now, what was this about a library? You’re sure you don’t want a giant crystal tree instead? I bet it would make for excellent toy sales.”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “No, Discord. I just want the Golden Oaks Library. Good as new.”
“Good as new, eh?” Discord grinned widely. “Oh, I think I can manage that.” he lifted his claws and snapped. There was a bright flash of light. When it faded, the tree was restored, looking almost identical to how it had been before.
Almost.
Twilight wasn’t quite sure what was different yet, though. It just felt a little off to her. For the moment she shrugged it off as mere residual anxiety from the struggle with Immortalis and being chained up in the hive mind.
“Well, I do hope it’s too your liking, even though you don’t live here anymore.” Discord said with a playful glint in his eyes. “Can I go now?”
“Yeah, in a moment,” Twilight replied. “I’m wondering, how did you manage to restore it to how it was anyway? I mean, you’re powerful but…”
Discord smiled and shrugged. “Oh Twilight, it was a simple matter of loading a previous save state and then adding the finishing touches.”
“Save state?”
“Oh, uh, imagine a miniscule version of time travel. Reversing something to its previous state as it was in a different time frame.”
“Oh, so that’s how it works?”
“Not at all, but at least you can imagine or comprehend that explanation.”
“Try me.”
“I would, but I really can’t be bothered with the exposition,” Discord dismissed. “Too much chaos to spread, realities to see. And little book bugs to annoy.”
With one last definitely-not-evil smirk, Discord vanished in another white flash. Twilight was left staring at where her friend/enemy/annoyance had just been standing, before shaking it off and looking back towards the rejuvenated tree. A small smile spread across her face as she was hit with a wave of nostalgia. She hadn’t lived in the old tree for such a long time, but it was always a part of her. Her final days as a regular old unicorn, and the days she had spent with her friends, however short a time it had been.
Twilight let out a breath she just realised she’d been holding, deciding that it would be better to see if Discord had arranged the books properly. Knowing him, he put all the smutty romance novels in the educational section. So with that in mind, and a brand new sorting scheme in mind the likes she hadn’t devised since before the Canterlot Wedding, Twilight took her first step into the library.
She paused in the threshold of the door and glanced up when something dripped onto the tip of her nose. “...Teeth,” she said flatly. “This door has teeth.”
The teeth wiggled at her as if in greeting. They weren’t sharp, but blunt like an herbivore’s. They were dripping with a very small amount of drool. Another drop hit Twilight on the back, drawing her eyes into a deadpan glare. “...Of course.” she breathed out in resignation.
The door’s mouth wiggled, either trying to give Twilight its best smile or worst snarl.
“Yeah, mine’s better!” Twilight rebutted, hissing at the door while showing her own carnivorous fangs, something that the metamorphosis had not changed about her appearance.
Then the door whimpered like a poor sad puppy, and Twilight suddenly felt more like a Crudelis than a Chrysalis.
Then she realised she was feeling sorry for a door.
“Gah! Discord!” Twilight snarled in indignation.
“My Queen?” Façade, the latest addition to the hive, felt her distress over the distance between them.
“Don’t ask,” Twilight replied with a huff, before adding: “But if you see Discord, have the entire hive jump on him. I would be forever in your debt…”
She could feel his blush from Ponyville. “Er… sure thing, Twilight…”
The connection was cut, though Twilight’s smug grin quickly transformed into a horrified look. “Did I just… Oh, what is coming over me around that stupid drone!?”
Twilight shook her head, removing stupid attractive Façade from her mind and moving back to the immediate issue. Namely, the grinning doorframe.
It’s teeth wiggled again before the door itself swung open a bit more, inviting Twilight to come inside and have a look around. She wasn’t sure, but she thought it was purring in a friendly, if a little anxious, welcome.
“Well, that’s easily fixable…” she muttered to herself, sighing. “It can’t get any worse, at least.”
She just had to say that.
Stepping the rest of the way into the first room of the library, Twilight glanced around. For a moment, she felt herself relaxing, despite the door mat wiggling like a tongue as she walked over it. She took a deep breath, just letting the nostalgia relax her.
Then she looked at the nearest bookshelf.
“Oh I am going to punt him into the nearest black hole,” she groaned in frustration when she realized something.
The bookshelf had no organization to it whatsoever. There was a romance novel sitting right next to the complete history of pots, which itself was sitting next to a satirical book about magic written purely to make fun of some of it’s weirder aspects. This book was, in turn, next to the pony-latin version of the Hearth’s Warming Eve play in novel form.
No order. No organization. No logic.
And then there was the fact that some of the bookshelves were floating.
Twilight wasn’t sure why she expected anything else from a being that was the literal antithesis of such things.
“I should have brought Fluttershy with us after the initial guilt-tripping,” Twilight muttered to herself, groaning towards her lack of foresight.
“Mayu san peetch wassa!” a weird voice shouted from the direction of the bathroom. Twilight froze as she felt her eye twitch.
“What did he do to the bathroom?” she muttered while anxiously heading in that direction to have a look. On the way she had to pass through a kitchen, where the forks were dancing merrily on the table in a weird waltz. Ignoring that oddity for the moment, she opened the door to the restroom and looked inside.
“Ay! Shea nu takka dam dur!” the toilet screamed at her. “Ah urvay teeka shite, aar!”
Twilight slammed the door. “...No. Just no...” she turned and returned to the main room, and then shook her head. “Ugh… this is going to take forever to sort…” she reached out with her magic to pluck the history of pots from the shelf.
She then froze.
The book on pots was gone. In its place was ‘Fifty Shades of Hay’, which Twilight noted as being authored by a changeling to try and harvest love from its readers, with mixed results. Looking over, Twilight noticed that another book suddenly shrunk back into the shelf along with another one of the other side of the room. They then re-appeared in the other’s places.
Twilight reached out with her magic, and tried to move some books on science to the science sections. They stayed there for a moment, but then floated out and moved away again. She saw ‘The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide’ move to the science fiction shelf.
“Screw this, I’m going up stairs.” Twilight sighed, heading for the bedroom.
She was thinking about having a good nap in her old bed, forget her chaotic troubles until a few hours later where she could tackle the problem with a fresh mind. And she needed it, she was feeling more like that clueless magic student from yonder year rather than a powerful Changeling Queen with the second largest hive in existence.
“I’ve slayed dragons and evil Changeling Queens with even bigger egos, this will not beat me!” she hissed, her eye twitching as a little bit of her mother poked through for a moment. “I just need some rest, and then I can fix all of this no problem.”
She reached the top of the stairs, ignoring the book on relationship advice that seemed to be homing in on her. She batted the tome away, opening the door and then quickly slamming it shut behind her.
She slumped against the door, trying to still her racing mind. She had just about managed to do so, when she finally caught sight of the bed.
There were two pictures hung up on either side of the double bed, and the faces of both herself and Façade stared back at her with rather… sultry expressions. The bed was also littered with small rose petals, and sexy jazz music was emerging from the nearby phonograph.
The picture of Façade winked at her.
And then the entire bed went flying out of the window.
The phonograph fell to the floor, continuing to play its music before a lavender hoof smashed it into its base parts. Queen Twilight stared down spitefully, albeit while heavily blushing, at the device before her gaze moved to the window.
“It’s not like that!” she shouted to the spirit she knew was listening in. “I just met the guy, we’re friends! Who cares if he’s the first stallion to ever call me beautiful!? And so what if his lack of disguise magic is actually really cute and endearing!? It’s… we’re just friends!”
“Clearly you care that he called you beautiful. If you didn’t why would you be bringing it up with such a fury? Such a passion?” Discord’s voice entered the room, full of mirth and snorts as the disembodied voice attempted to stifle it’s boisterous laughter.
Twilight’s blush deepened, still quite the feat given that her body was comprised of armoured chitin. “There’s no fury! It’s just something that happened!”
“And the flirting? Is that just ‘something that happened’ too?”
“Shining said I should get to know him.”
“And, my dear, you are most certainly doing that.”
There was that eye twitch again. “COME OUT BEFORE I DRAIN YOU OF SO MUCH LOVE YOU’RE LEFT BUT A WITHERED HUSK!”
A bright flash appeared, and then Discord appeared with a microphone in his claw that was attached to a nearby megaphone, one that certainly was loud enough for all the outside ponies to hear.
“My my, you certainly have developed your mother’s temper,” Discord said with a tut. “Perhaps I should start calling you Chryssi the Second?”
Twilight looked ashen. “You… transmitted that?”
“But of course! But then again I’m sure it’s not too much of a surprise, Changeling Queens are known to be quite volatile.”
Twilight huffed. “I’m not volatile…”
“COME OUT BEFORE I DRAIN YOU OF SO MUCH LOVE YOU’RE LEFT BUT A WITHERED HUSK!” the megaphone randomly repeated, once again startling the ponies outside.
“...Most of the time.”
Discord chuckled. “Honestly, though, why are you so upset? You did ask me to restore the library good as new.” he winked.
Twilight froze while her brain caught up. “I... “
“You know; fresh out of the box, unopened, all the snazzy newest gadgets and additions and featured and all that,” Discord continued, one of the dancing forks from earlier appearing on the palm of his paw as he held it open.
Twilight grit her teeth. “...Put it back as it was. Before I blew it up.”
“Awww, but it’s soo much more entertaining like this,” Discord said as he pouted, crossing his arms. The fork screamed in a tiny voice as it fell to the floor. “Honestly, you’re no fun.”
“Discord, put it back before I-”
“-DRAIN YOU OF SO MUCH LOVE YOU’RE LEFT BUT A WITHERED HUSK!” the recorded voice of the Queen blared one last time.
Discord smirked. “Oh, very well. You’ve scared me into submission!” He chortled to himself before snapping his talons. The library was engulfed in a bright white light. Once said light faded, Twilight found herself back on the ground floor in the central room.
She frantically ran up to the first shelf and looked it over. “Not my organization style, but… it works. Organized by the mare who lived here last, I think...” she thought out loud before slumping with her back against the wall.
“Ugh, I need a break…” Twilight muttered to herself, closing her eyes. “I thought I was done with his craziness. I should have known better, being a Changeling Queen is no protection.”
She sighed to herself, opening her eyes and viewing the now normal library around her. A few tears came to her eyes, a smile gracing her face.
“I do miss it though, just sometimes,” she admitted to herself. “No responsibilities beyond an occasional report to Celestia. Just me and my friends, hanging out. No royal title, no hive to run, no wars to fight.”
“Yes, your life does seem a bit darker than it used to be,” Discord casually commented, not yet gone and just laying atop the shelves above Twilight. “Aren't you glad I can provide that little bit of simple, fun chaos every now and then?”
Despite herself, Twilight didn’t retort to the Spirit of Chaos’ statement. “Hmph, I suppose you’re not wrong, Discord. Don’t get too comfortable, though.”
Discord rolled his eyes. “Please. Twilight is way more fun than Queen Twilight.”
“I’m both, you know,” Twilight responded dryly.
“For now, yes,” Discord replied, his voice a little bit more serious than Twilight was used to. “But you are very different to the Twilight who Celestia sent to Ponyville ten years ago. And remember, your mother was once like that little unicorn, nerdy and cheerful.”
“I could still see a bit of that, on occasion.”
“On occasion, but never in full form. You, even now, when was the last time before today you wished to organise a library for the fun of it?”
Twilight didn’t respond, simply closing her eyes again.
“You’re changing, Twilight. Slowly but surely, and have been ever since Queen Chrysalis bit the dust. Every passing day you are that little bit more of a Changeling Queen, and less a unicorn.”
“I’m of two worlds. That will never change.”
“No,” he agreed. “But you will. You DO have your mother's temper, and that’s not all you’ve inherited.”
Twilight sighed. “Then what would you suggest?”
“You already know to keep your friends close, so I won’t repeat that,” Discord replied. “But also, every now and then, reorganise that library just because you can. Have fun, and remember that the crown doesn’t define you.”
Twilight opened her eyes, looking up at the draconequus. “That was surprisingly heartfelt coming from you.”
“We don't need a changeling Nightmare Moon running around one day,” Discord stated. “Or another Crudelis, I’m just trying to be a friend. Fluttershy would agree.”
“Yeah, I guess she would.”
“Hm. But I do have one last piece of advice, before I return to Canterlot and see what’s happening up there.”
“Oh?” Twilight enquired, interested what he had to say after his sentimental outburst. “What is it?”
“Go see Façade,” he replied with his usual mischievous smirk returning. “Because you really need to get laid.”
“DISCORD!”
tough the one serious moment worries me, does Discord knows more of the future then we saw?
-ded-
Discord-san, anata wa jõdandesu!
8683143
Facade isn't designed to be perfect for the sake of perfection. I mean, I've never had too much of a problem with Flash, though I get that some people don't like how he's designed to be a perfect goody goody with few other character traits.
Besides, the actual Flash is still milling about in the Crystal Empire somewhere.
Gosh, I'm already fully into theorizing what leads to another bad situation in the finale, so many ideas what might happen...
as alway a great story
Great job my friend. I really enjoyed this story. Can’t wait for the next one in the series
for some reason i sort of expected an ordinary tree, before it became a library-then i realized that would be WAY too boring!
Ok, I'm going to be honest: I did not enjoy the sequel. Now, I have a feeling I'm going to be downvoted for saying this, being called an idiot or other mean spirited things, and even a few death threats for saying this. Its happened before sad to say. So before I get into the why, please not that it is not to bash or demean the writer since I have enjoyed many of his/her stories. I am only saying that there were things that hindered my enjoyment of this story. Greatly.
I guess the first major stumbling is the moments of levity. Now, normally I have nothing against them in the slightest. However in this case its a matter of me knowing whats going on as well as the characters knowing whats going on and still acting like this. The most jarring two were with Shining Armor and Cadence followed by one with the mane six. The entire time while Cadence was yelling at Shining Armor she is well aware that something has happened to Twilight, that her sister-in-law and a pony she has known a majority of her life is in trouble. In a situation like this, it would be more in character and fitting for her to whisper to Shining Armor that they will take later OR have this scene happen right after Twilight has left so that nopony knows whats about to go down. But because it happens in this way, I just feel angry at Candece. The same thing happens with the mane six and the doughnut scene. Given how many times they have risked their lives for each other and have gone out of their way, it feels off seeing them just...accept that they are rendered useless for a majority of the story. It might have been better if they wanted to TALK about options out of the castle, but it was just a pointless chapter. A lesser one was with Celestia getting drunk with Velvet. I get what the intention was but as we move down with how events play later, I'm left wondering how many lives could have been saved if Celestia hadn't gotten drunk like that. But at the same time I can at least understand the situation.
The war is really the second biggest disappointment because it feels like they are still operating like they did in the first story. No advancments have been made nor new staregies when facing Changelings even through they have faced them in military combat several times. It's almost pathetic. Then there is Celestia and Luna's plan. Not to try and reclaim territory but to go on a potential suicide mission where, if they fail, will doom the nation. When the enemy is kicking their flanks this hard, a plan like this is dumbfounding to say the least.
Then there is Daybringer. Oh do I HATE Daybringer. Where she came from is never mentioned, she just there until she isn't. She's not defeated by the Elements, but Celestia's love meaning that Luna was just weak (something I really don't like). Honestly, this could have been interesting to make this a threeway war. Daybringer going on a rampage, killing forces on both sides that don't bow to her will meaning Luna has to figure out a way to save Twilight in order for them to use the Elements on her sister. Maybe even convincing the Empress to release Twilight showing that she fears the destruction of all within the Hive Mind meaning her immortality is at risk. And if the sole reason was to leave a link within Twilight's mind, why couldn't Celestia do that herself while she was fighting?
Then there is the Empress who...is boring. Her deal is the same as Crudelis just with a power boost. Honestly, this story might have been better if this was just the return of Crudelis. Like when she died she somehow managed to become lost within the Hive Mind, growing in strength until she was able to take over like she did. It would have made things more tense and make her hatred of Twilight feel more effective besides hating her for what her ancestor did. Just saying.
There are other things, but these are the major points.
Anyways, good look with future stories
8684314
I'm sorry you feel that way. And while I could go through point by point and share my rebuttals, I won't. I can understand why you didn't like it, and that's fair enough. What one person likes another shall not, you cannot please everyone.
I hope the next ones are more to your liking.
8684314
Upvoted, not because I agree with what was said (which I don't), but because this is how you do constructive criticism, and not "this is shit."
8685066
It was well worded (unlike some other comments I've had in the past). That's certainly respectable, whether you agree or disagree with what was said.
8685066
Thank you for that.
8685096
8685066
People getting along on the internet? What is this blasphemy!?
a perfect ending to a super story.
8685128
So what were those weird sayings that the toilet was saying? Was is just jibberish or was another language or was is just words with the letters mixed around?
8685338
You'd have to ask Skijarama, who wrote that bit. I believe it's something to do with "get out I'm taking a shit".
Pretty good, but not as tightly written as the prequel. Such is the case of sequels I guess.
I really liked the usage of Daybreaker but I knew that wouldn't last. The hinting of Starlight is... well. Can't fit everything into one story. The Crystal Empire is a complete afterthought though, I wouldn't be surprised if it was forced into the story for prequel continuity.
Well Discord sure does know how to give good friendship advice, before messing up the mood with his jokes.
8685338
8685484
The words the toilet was blurting out reminded me of Piemations' (who is a YouTube channel) Merasmus, which is a spinoff character created from magic and a wooden target of the medic from TF2.
Other than that, I do not regret that comment, this bonus chapter is great
This line is so meta.
:I should know better by now.
What the hell language is this?
You don't suppose this is what Discord is going for?
The bedroom scene was funny. The talk with Twilight and Discord in the library was endearing. But those last lines:
That was hilarious.
Replace "your" with "yours".
Replace "that" with "than".
thinking of Immortalis fate,
what is hell?
is it a burning lake?
is it a freezing void?
no it's worse
it's not being able to lie to yourself anymore
and face the consequence of sin on your soul
yeah, Princess of friendship indeed...
8736329
It's Twilight, she finds a way, and Avia isn't complaining in the slightest (who cares if it's ridiculously past her bedtime?).
8740635
Maybe, though there's a reason why it's not tagged as a romance. It was mostly a subplot acting as a lead up to the next story.
Great writing, I had hours of fun reading this and I'm looking forward to the remaining two stories.
Keep up the great work!
-frozen
Great stories, both the original Change, and its sequel. Fun to read, interesting concepts, not too much to nitpick. Though I will say this: these stories seem to get dark for the sake of being dark, and the trend looks like it's going to continue onto the series finale. Dark is fine, it didn't really mean much in this story. Countless unnamed characters died, but the only deaths that really had significance were Draco and Scorpion. Draco's death led Twilight to stop thinking straight and succumb to the Empress's influence, while Scorpion's....mildly inconvenienced Twilight and paved the way for the ironically-named Facade.
I didn't really care that much about Facade. He gets with Twilight and becomes Avia's father simply because the only other named male Changeling is already married. The initial banter between them was entertaining, but didn't really make sense since they just met. Facade marrying Twilight is fine, but it really didn't...come naturally. It was just there because the plot demanded it. There just wasn't nearly enough time to properly show the beginnings of any sort of relationship
I accidentally unfollowed this way back in 2016, so I'm only on chapter 5! I have a tonne to read now, it's great.
Just found the second and third stories of this Trilogy and am already loving it. This is one very well written set of stories. I’m constantly looking forward to the free time I get to read the next chapter.
Ha! I imagined the first part of Careless Whisper playing during the double bed scene before Twilight destroyed the phonograph. Makes it funnier for me.
Oh Discord, you goof
Well he's not wrong Twilight.
Damn, finishing this one took me way too much time. I blame my life coming down on me. Anyway, amazing work.
That ending, 620 pages for
was totally worth it. Now onto book 3.
I suppose it was technically Good as New.
See, Dissy, until you said that, you were on track to receive an alicorn-grade changebug hug. But you never could quit while you were ahead, huh?
10213358
That's still funny
Discord. Spirit of Chaos thogh he may be, jokes and pranks and all, this advice rings very, very true...
It rings so true that it feels warm and heartfelt enough to make me moved, despite coming from Discord of all creatures.
I've always loved the nerdy, enthusiastic yet anxious side of Twilight. All her beauty and all her flaws.
There we go!