Tales Of Friendship

by Bluecatcinema

Friendship Summit

Author's Note:

I came up with the idea for this chapter before the movie and season 8. As such, it takes place before either of them.

It was a big day over in Canterlot. A "friendship summit" was taking place within one of the larger rooms of Canterlot castle, with representatives from several species in or around Equestria having been invited. Delegates from the Griffon, Yak, Dragon and Changeling kingdoms were all in attendance. Statues depicting each species had been specially commissioned for the event, joining other personalized decorations that honoured the attendants.

Princess Celestia knew, of course, that a gathering like that required the efforts of Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship. Not only had Twilight organized the event, she was on hoof to greet the delegates and help smooth over any disagreements that might arise. And of course, her faithful assistant Spike was there to help (and ease her through any attacks of stress, of course).

At the moment, things were going smoothly. The delegates were getting to know each other, and it seemed there was a very good of lasting bonds being forged between them.

"Isn't this great, Spike?" Twilight asked. "So many different species, standing as equals, becoming friends, helping build a better future together..."

"It sure is something, Twi." Spike agreed.

"Isn't it, though?" Discord suddenly appeared behind them in a flash of light. He was wearing a purple tuxedo with a matching top hat.

"Discord?" Twilight frowned. "What are you doing here?"

"What does it look like?" Discord grinned. "I'm here to attend the summit."

Twilight and Spike both stared in surprise, their jaws hanging open.

"...Ha-ha-ha!" Twilight laughed flatly. "Very funny, Discord. But I'm afraid I have no time for jokes right now."

"Who's joking?" Discord asked. "I would like to play a part in this marvelous gathering."

"That's... very nice of you, Discord." Twilight said awkwardly. "But I'm afraid you don't quite adhere to the... requirements for the summit-"

"From what I understand, this summit welcomes all creatures who live in and around Equestria. And yours truly certainly qualifies." Discord conjured up a book, the pages flapping until they reached a page with his picture on it. "I am a Draconequus, after all, a species that lives in or around Equestria. And the fact that I'm the only one around doesn't really change my eligibility, does it?" He snapped his claws, causing a statue of himself to join the others.

"He's got a point." Spike admitted.

"I know." Twilight said bluntly.

"Of course, if you have a problem with my attending this little function, feel free to deny me entrance." Discord put on a sad face. "I just thought you'd be a little more accepting of others, that's all."

"Alright, you can stay." Twilight said grudgingly. "On one condition."

"Name it." Discord smiled.

"This is a friendship summit." Twilight pointed out. "It's all about promoting unity and acceptance. Our guests are here to get to know each other, and forge bonds in a peaceful environment. So if you're going to be a part of that, I'm going to have to ask you to not cause any trouble. Am I making myself clear?"

"Crystal clear." Discord momentarily turned himself into glass. Once he returned to his tuxedo look, he held out his lion paw. "You drive a hard bargain, but I suppose I could hold off on the chaos for one day. You've got yourself a deal."

"Good." Twilight smiled with relief. She reached out and shook Discord's paw... which promptly detached from his body. "Ahh!" She dropped it in shock.

"Whoops!" Discord chuckled, as his paw sprang to life and scuttled back to its proper place. "Sorry, couldn't resist."

Twilight gave a sour look, while Spike supressed a chuckle.

"Now, now, don't worry." Discord declared. "That was just me getting a little excess chaos out. From this point on, there will be no trouble from me whatsoever."

"That's what I'm hoping for." Twilight frowned.

"Then that is what you shall get." Discord pledged. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go mingle among my fellow delegates. Catch ya later."

Discord vanished, then reappeared across the room, introducing himself to some Griffons, who were more than a little surprised at his sudden appearance.

"Why do I get the feeling I just made a big mistake?" Twilight sighed.

"Maybe it won't be bad as you think?" Spike suggested. "Maybe Discord really is here to reach out to the other species?"

"I'd like to believe that." Twilight admitted. "I really would. But you know Discord. There's always something going on with him."

"I dunno." Spike shrugged. "He's usually pretty cool whenever he joins me and Big Mac for guys' night. Maybe we should give him the benefit of the doubt."

"Maybe." Twilight nodded. "But even if Discord is willing to be on his best behavior, I have a feeling some of our other guests might be a little..."

"Freaked out by him?" Spike offered.

"Not quite how I'd put it, but yes." Twilight nodded. "It wouldn't hurt to keep an eye on his progress, just in case..."

"Not too much, though." Spike suggested. "There are some delegates here I'd like to catch up with..."

"Don't worry, Spike." Twilight smiled. "You'll have plenty of time to say 'hi' to Ember and Thorax."

"That's all I ask." Spike nodded, before spotting a familiar, blue-scaled figure. "Speaking of which... Hey, Ember!"

"Hey, Spike." Ember smiled, as Spike rushed over and gave her the usual welcome hug. "Good to see you."

"How are you enjoying the summit so far?" Spike asked.

"Eh, it's okay." Ember shrugged. "We dragons don't have much experience in diplomacy, you know."

She indicated two other dragons with her, an orange-scaled male, and a green-scaled female, both of whom looked as if they wanted to be anywhere but where they were at the moment.

"I tried asking for volunteers to come with me, but when no-one offered, I had to use the old Dragon Lord authority, and ordered these guys to come along." Ember admitted. "To say they're not happy about it is kind of an understatement..."

"I'm sure once they get a taste of what cultures have to offer, they'll start to enjoy themselves." Spike glanced at the two dragons (who made it a point to look away).

"Here's hopin'." Ember nodded.

From across the room, Twilight smiled, happy to see Spike catching up with Ember. Her happiness was short-lived, however, as she hard a commotion on the other side of the ballroom. Rushing to investigate, she found the Yak delegates floating in bubbles, Discord standing close by.

"Let Yaks out of bubbles, or Yaks smash!" Prince Rutherford demanded, struggling to free himself.

"Oh, no..." Twilight groaned. "Discord! What are you doing?"

"Why, I'm defending myself, that's what." Discord retorted.

"Explain." Twilight said firmly.

"As you wish." Discord nodded. "I was having an innocent little chat with these fine hirsute fellows. Then I made a simple observation, and they all went berserk!"

"Chaos spirit say Yaks smell like wet Timberwolves!" Rutherford snarled.

"Wet moldy Timberwolves." Discord corrected him. "And I'm not wrong, am I? They do have quite the odor... but I digress. After my little comment, they lost their tempers, and threatened to 'smash' me. I had no choice but to seal them up in these bubbles, for my own protection. So you can't really hold this use of magic against me, can you?"

"Let them go, Discord." Twilight said through gritted teeth. "Now."

"If you insist." Discord snapped his claws, and the Yaks' bubbles descended to the ground, popping on impact.

"Prince Rutherford, please accept my most heartfelt apologies-" Twilight attempted to smooth things over.

"Maybe Yaks not become friends with ponies if Yaks knew ponies were friends with chaos spirit." Rutherford said coldly.

The Yaks marched off to another part of the room, to Twilight's dismay. That dismay quickly turned to anger, and she rounded on Discord, scowling intensely.

"Oh, wait." Discord placed his eagle talon to his mouth. "When you told me not to cause trouble, you weren't just talking about my magic, were you?"

"No. I. Wasn't." Twilight seethed. "I'm warning you, Discord. No more trouble, or I'll have to ask you to leave. Do you understand?"

"Of course." Discord nodded. "No more trouble from this Draconequus."

"You mean it?" Twilight raised a skeptical eyebrow.

"You have my word." Discord raised his lion paw.

"...I guess that's going to have to suffice, isn't it?" Twilight sighed.

"You won't regret this." Discord lowered his serpentine body and gave Twilight a one-armed hug. "Just you wait and see. I'll be the best behaved Draconequus around."

"You're the only Draconequus around, remember?" Twilight pointed out.

"My point still stands." Discord insisted. Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I'll have another chat with those Griffons. The whole 'half-bird, half-cat' thing really speaks to me for some reason..."

Discord once again vanished, leaving an unsure Twilight behind.

'Hooves crossed...' She thought.

A short time later, Spike was talking with Thorax, who was flanked by yellow, light green and blue Changelings.

"How are things at the hive?" Spike asked.

"Pretty great." Thorax smiled. "All the renegade Changelings have accepted the new ways, and hive is stronger than ever."

"Glad to hear it, buddy." Spike declared. "I know how worried you were about those renegades during your last visit. Good to know they've all seen the light."

"Indeed it is." Discord suddenly joined them. "Personally, I was never a fan of the old color scheme. I mean, really?" He took on the guise of a fashion designer. "Black and green? That combination is sooo last season!"

"Hi, Discord." Thorax smiled. "It's been a while."

"It has, hasn't it?" Discord nodded. "Remember when we were braving the dangers of the pre-reformed hive? ...Well, before I got captured by a bunch of Changelings pretending to be Fluttershy." He glared at the Changelings who had come with Thorax. "I don't suppose any of you were part of that particular group, were you?"

"Uh... not that I can remember?" The blue Changeling quivered.

"Doesn't ring a bell." The yellow Changeling cringed.

"Must have been some other Changelings." The light green Changeling said awkwardly.

"That's too bad." Discord mused. "If you were among that group, I would have congratulated you on a trick well done. There aren't many creatures who can get the drop of the master of Chaos, you know."

"W-well, if we see any of them, we'll be sure to pass that along." The yellow Changeling promised.

"Wonderful". Discord smiled. "Let them know I'm also open to an exchange of ideas, if they can find the time. Never hurts to have a little brainstorming session."

"Or maybe you could visit the hive, sometime." Thorax offered. "We'd be more than happy to have you there."

The other Changelings didn't look quite as happy at the possibility.

"Well, thank you for the generous offer." Discord smiled. "I might just take you up on that. Nothing wrong with getting out more..." He laid eyes on the buffet. "Ooh, snacks! Excuse me, would you?"

"Of course." Thorax nodded. "Nice seeing you again, by the way."

"Isn't it, though?" Discord chuckled as he walked away on his mis-matched feet.

Seconds later, Rutherford joined Thorax and Spike.

"Chaos spirit not giving Changelings trouble, was he?" He asked.

"Not really." Thorax shrugged. "We actually had a pretty nice conversation."

"Changeling lucky." Rutherford scowled. "Chaos spirit insult Yaks! Make Yaks look like fools!"

"Maybe you just got off on the wrong hoof?" Spike suggested.

"Chaos spirit only have one hoof." Rutherford shrugged, missing the point. "At least other species not so bad."

Rutherford pointed across the room, where two of his Yak entourage were showing off their strength for Ember's followers, smashing some chairs with ease. The dragons actually seemed impressed by the demonstration, and joined in by snapping the chair pieces in half with their bare claws, the Yaks cheering them on.

"You were right, Spike." Ember admitted as she joined them. "They finally did find something they like about other races."

"I knew they would." Spike grinned. "When you're around other species long enough, you're bound to find something you like about them."

On the other side of the room, Twilight was once more watching events unfold. Her gaze fell upon Discord again, who was helping himself to some food.

'Everything looks okay.' She thought. 'Maybe Discord meant it when he said there'd be no more trouble? He was perfectly civil with Thorax. With a little luck, we can get through this summit without any more surprises...'

"Twilight?"

"Ahh!" Twilight yelped. Looking to her side, she found the source of the voice: Princess Celestia.

"Are you alright?" Celestia asked.

"Yes, yes." Twilight said, embarrassed. "You just... startled me, that's all."

"It's time for the speech." Celestia pointed out.

The summit had been planned that, after giving the delegates time to get to know each other, Celestia would give a speech about unity and acceptance, and how she hoped their nations could all help each other grow stronger.

"Right, the speech." Twilight nodded. 'I can't believe I forgot about the speech!' She admonished herself. 'So much for everything going smoothly...'

Moments later, Twilight and Celestia were standing at the front of the room.

"May we have your attention, please?" Celestia called out, catching the delegates' attention. "To begin with, we would like to thank you all for agreeing to attend. The first step in building a brighter future for all of us is for us all to stand together, so that we may-"

Celestia was interrupted by a loud creaking sound. One of the statues started to tip over, with several of the delegates in its path.

"Look out!" Thorax yelped, pushing one of the Yaks out of the way.

When the statue hit the ground, the impact caused one of the limbs to break off and fly through the air. It struck another statue, causing it to tip over, and hit another statue. That statue nudged another statue as it fell, causing that one to fall also.

"Oh my!" Twilight gasped.

The Griffon and dragon delegates had to take flight to avoid getting crushed. The tables and decorations weren't so lucky, breaking under the collapse.

When the dust settled, the delegates were unharmed, but rattled.

"Is everyone alright?" Celestia, as she and Twilight moved to inspect the damage.

"Of course Yaks alright." Rutherford nodded. "Yaks tough!"

"Takes more than a few oversized lumps of rock to take out a dragon." Ember added.

"Lucky you." One of the Griffon delegates scowled. "We were almost flattened."

"Let's just be glad no-one was hurt." Thorax added.

"Just look at this mess." Spike frowned. "It's catastrophic! Cataclysmic! It's... it's..."

"Chaotic." Twilight announced, looking at the one statue that hadn't collapsed: Discord's.

As one, the rest of the room turned to glare at Discord, who had been oddly quiet for the last few moments.

"...You don't seriously think this was my doing, do you?" Discord raised his mis-matched claws up in defense. He was answered with more glaring. "Come on! Give me a little credit! This wasn't even chaotic! It was just mindless destruction. There's no humor there!"

"I can't believe you." Twilight told Discord, equal parts anger and disappointment in her voice. "You gave me your word. Guess now I know how much that's worth..."

Discord took a step back, finding himself genuinely hurt by Twilight's words. But that hurt quickly gave way to anger.

"So that's the way it is, huh?" He growled. "Guilty until proven innocent? So much for unity and acceptance... Well, have it your way! If you want me gone so bad, I'm outta here!"

Discord vanished in his usual flash of light. Immediately after, his statue crumbled to dust.

"I'm so sorry." Twilight told the delegates. "If I'd known Discord was going to cause this much damage, I would have never let him attend in the first place."

"Your heart was in the right place, Twilight." Celestia said fairly. "But rest assured, one unfortunate calamity will not put an end to this summit." She turned to the delegates. "If you would all please follow me to the ballroom, we can continue the summit from there."

"Sounds like a plan." Thorax nodded.

"Better than staying here." The Griffon delegate stated. "This mess is starting to remind me of home..."

"Talk about bringing down the room." Ember sighed.

"At least chaos spirit gone now." Rutherford pointed out. "That one good thing about this..."

The followed Celestia out of the room. Spike made to join them, but stopped when he realized Twilight wasn't following. Instead, she was standing in front of the first statue that had fallen, staring sadly at its cracked and broken form.

"Twilight?" Spike asked.

Twilight didn't answer, so Spike moved in closer.

"It's okay, Twi." Spike told her, placing a comforting claw on her shoulder.

"No, it's not." Twilight shook her head. "I let Discord attend the summit, and he nearly wrecked it."

"You were just trying to live up to the summit's ideals." Spike declared. "Nothing wrong with that."

"Doesn't seem that way to me..." Twilight bowed her head.

As Spike continued comforting Twilight, he noticed something odd about the fallen statue - specifically, the pedestal where it once stood.

"Wait..." He took a closer look. "This statue didn't just fall over. Look here!" He pointed to the pedestal, where a piece of the statue remained. He examined it closely, finding large scratches in it. "This was slashed up until it fell."

"Discord has claws, remember?" Twilight pointed out.

"But why would he bother with them, if he could just use his magic to make it fall?" Spike asked. He scrutinized the damage more closely. "And these claw marks don't match either of Discord's."

Twilight took a look at the claw marks herself. Spike was right. They were shorter, but thicker, than marks that could have conceivably been made by Discord's.

"You're right, Spike." She admitted. "Discord didn't do it. Someone else did."

"But who?" Spike frowned.

"That's what we've got to find out." Twilight declared. "Before they strike again." She looked around. "Let's try to find some clues."

"Might be a little tricky, with all this mess." Spike pointed out.

"Or maybe not." Twilight used her magic to lift up all the debris in the room. Even with her level of power, it was a strain. "See... anything?" She asked, sweat running down her brow.

"Nothing yet." Spike quickly scanned the area. "Gimme a second..."

"Take... your time..." Twilight said sarcastically.

"Hold on, I think I found something!" Spike declared. "Over here!"

Letting most of the debris fall, Twilight rushed over to Spike, finding a trail of strange white spots on the floor.

"I think it's the vanilla dessert they whipped up for the yaks." Spike surmised. "Whoever did this must have stepped in some when they were making their getaway."

"Then let's follow them." Twilight nodded.

"Right behind ya." Spike nodded.

Twilight and Spike tracked the prints across the room and behind. There was only one trail, suggesting the culprit had only stepped one appendage in the vanilla. As they reached a door that lead outside, they found that the trail suddenly stopped.

"The tracks end here." Twilight frowned.

"Weird." Spike noted. "Almost like whoever it was vanished."

"Or flew away." Twilight pointed out. "Either way, the trail's gone cold. We're just going to have to-" She noticed Spike wasn't paying attention. "Spike? What is it?"

Spike pointed across the castle grounds. Twilight followed his claw to see a familiar figure sitting on the grass, looking miserable.

"Discord?" Twilight asked, as she approached.

Discord turned around, and acknowledged Twilight's presence coldly.

"Oh, it's you." He scowled. " Come to yell at me some more? Here." He conjured up a megaphone. "Have at it."

"That's not why I'm here." Twilight put aside the megaphone.

"Why are you here?" Spike asked. "Figured you'd be long gone by now."

"I didn't feel like going home, so I decided to check out the old neighborhood." Discord pointed across the grounds, indicating the statue garden where his petrified form had once stood. "I spent a thousand years trapped in stone, standing in that very spot. Nothing to do, nopony to talk to. It was a lousy way to spend a millenia... but somehow, I feel like it wouldn't be so bad right now. At least then, I couldn't be accused of things I hadn't even done..."

"Discord, I... I'm sorry." Twilight apologized. "I know now that you didn't sabotage the summit."

"Told you so." Discord pouted.

"Yes, you did." Twilight sighed. "And I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions like that. I should have given you the benefit of the doubt, like a real friend would."

"That's right, you should have." Discord said bitterly.

Twilight hung her head in shame. Spike caught Discord's eye and glared reproachfully.

"...But I suppose I didn't give you much reason to do so." Discord admitted grudgingly. "But I swear to you, my intentions were pure."

"And what exactly were those intentions?" Twilight asked. She noticed Discord look uncharacteristically nervous. "Come on, Discord. The truth. Please."

"I, well... I was bored." Discord confessed.

"Bored?" Spike frowned.

"Yes, bored." Discord repeated. "Fluttershy was visiting her family, Applejack and Big Mac had their apple deliveries, Rainbow Dash had Wonderbolts practice, Pinkie Pie was hanging out with her monotone sister, and Starlight was up at the Crystal Empire, visiting that friend of hers, Sunspot."

"Sunburst." Twilight corrected him.

"Whatever." Discord shrugged. "I had nopony to hang out with, and nothing to do. Then I remembered Fluttershy mentioning this summit of yours. I figured attending would be a good way to kill a few hours, and maybe, possibly... Expand my social circles a little."

"So you really didn't come here to cause trouble." Spike noted.

"I know, it's a real shocker." Discord grinned.

"You were still playing an angle, though." Twilight pointed out. "Why does it always have to be a big game with you? You could have just told us this in the beginning!"

"What? And look like some desperate loser?" Discord scoffed.

"It's not shameful to admit that you'd like some company." Twilight told Discord. "Nopony or creature would think any less of you for it. In fact, I actually respect you a little more now."

"You do?" Discord asked. "How about that..." He shook his head. "Not that it helps my current situation."

"Whattaya mean?" Spike asked.

"You may believe me, but all the others don't." Discord pointed out. "My reputation may be permanently tarnished."

"Maybe not." Twilight replied. "The true culprit is still around here somewhere. If you help us find them, it'll prove your innocence without a doubt."

"Find the true culprit... Clear my name..." Discord tugged his beard. "Alright, I'm in! Let's track us down a criminal!"

Discord snapped his claws. The area suddenly turned black-and-white. Discord was wearing a trenchcoat and fedora, Twilight was in an evening dress, and Spike was wearing a newsboy outfit.

"Let the investigation begin!" Discord extracted an overlarge magnifying glass from his trenchcoat.

"Finding clues might be easier if you brought back the color." Spike declared.

"Whoops. Sorry." Discord restored the colors.

"It may not be so easy to find any clues." Twilight admitted. "We followed a trail out here, then it went cold."

"So much for that idea..." Discord scoffed.

"But I have a feeling whoever it is isn't done yet." Twilight continued. "If we keep watch over the rest of the summit, we might just be able to catch the true culprit in the act."

"Ooh, a stakeout!" Discord put them all in police uniforms. "Now we're talking!"

"Yeah, it might be a good idea not to draw attention to yourself." Spike added. "The other delegates are probably still sore about that mess."

"Let them be sore." Discord scoffed. "It'll just make it so much sweeter when I bring in the real culprit. Then they'll be sorry they ever thought so little of me!" He grinned diabolically at the idea.

"A-hem." Twilight cleared her throat disapprovingly.

"Oh, right." Discord caught himself. "What I meant to say was 'it'll just make it so much sweeter when we bring in the real culprit'. Better?"

"Close enough." Twilight rolled her eyes. "Now let's get to work. The culprit could strike again at any moment."

"Leave that to me." Discord grinned. "The Discord Express is leaving the station!"

Discord snapped his claws, and they were instantly transported to the ballroom. The rest of the delegates were half-heartedly trying to make the best of the rest of the summit. Discord's return didn't go unnoticed. Most of the delegates scowled at him, while Thorax sadly looked away.

"What are you doing back here?" Ember glared.

"Hasn't chaos spirit caused enough damage?" Rutherford snarled.

"Oh, you have no idea what kind of damage I can cause, Prince hairball." Discord retorted, needled by the remark. "Keep up that attitude, and maybe I'll drop by Yakyakistan sometime and show you..."

"Okay, let's just take it easy." Twilight stepped between Discord and Rutherford, fearful of what either could do if they were pushed too far.

"Twilight, I hope you have a good reason for bringing Discord back?" Celestia asked.

"I do." Twilight nodded. "Spike and I discovered evidence that suggested that Discord wasn't the one who knocked over the statues."

"Evidence?" A Griffon delegate scoffed. "From what I understand, this guy can do pretty much anything. Who's to say he didn't conjure up this evidence?"

"I-" Twilight stopped for a moment, briefly thrown by the Griffon's suggestion. She looked at Discord, who looked away from her, hurt that she was even considering the possibility. Remembering his earlier confession, she found new resolve. "I know Discord is innocent."

"Me too." Spike added.

"Pony too trusting." Rutherford snorted. "Yaks no trust chaos spirit, no matter what ponies say!"

A loud creaking sound muffled Rutherford's last words. As one, all eyes glanced upwards, and saw the chain holding up the ballroom chandelier suddenly give way. The chandelier dropped down, with Rutherford directly in its path.

"I don't think so!" Discord snapped his claws, causing the chandelier to change into harmless white feathers, which briefly buried the astonished Yak. "You're welcome."

"That doesn't prove anything." Ember frowned.

"You probably just set that up to look good!" A Griffon remarked.

"Seems a little too obvious, don't you think?" Thorax pointed out.

Before more accusations could be made, Twilight flew up to inspect what was left of the chain, which was smoldering at the part where it had broken.

"It wasn't magic that caused this chain to break." She announced. "It's been melted!"

"Melted?" Thorax frowned.

"And judging by the way it was melted, I'd say whatever caused it came from this direction." Twilight glanced across the room, and spotted a sinister-looking cloaked figure on the upper levels. "There's the culprit!"

Realizing they had been spotted, the cloaked figure made a mad dash for the nearest exit.

"Where do you think you're going?" Discord snapped his claws, changing the walkway to ice.

"Whoa!" The cloaked figure skidded across the ice. He crashed into a wall and bounced back into the bannister, toppling over it and crashing onto the ballroom floor.

"Nice move, Discord!" Spike smiled.

"I know." Discord smirked, as the others gathered around the culprit's groaning form. "Now, let's see who's really behind all this mess..."

Discord tore off the culprit's hood, revealing a face that was familiar to Twilight, Spike and Ember, that of a red-scaled, angry-looking dragon.

"Garble?!" Spike gaped.

"You're the one behind all this?" Twilight gasped.

"Oh, this is so embarrassing..." Ember groaned. "Why did you do this, Garble? Answer the Dragon Lord!"

"Why?" Garble snarled. "Why not? I heard your big announcement about going to this 'friendship summit'. Bad enough you forced us to make nice with ponies, but asking us to do the same with cat-birds, overgrown bugs, and those stinkin' piles of hair? I wasn't going to let that happen!"

The Griffon, Changeling and Yak were all appropriately angry at Garble's insults.

"How dare you!" A Griffon snarled.

"Who do you think you are?" The yellow Changeling scowled.

"Dragon make Yak angry!" Rutherford bellowed.

"I'm so sorry about this." Ember told the others. "Believe me when I say I knew nothing about Garble's plan, and I'll see to it that it won't happen again."

"You'll have to catch me first!" Garble tore off his cloak, freeing his wings, and took flight.

"Leaving the party early?" Discord tutted. "Shame on you!"

A set of chains suddenly appeared out of thin air, wrapping around Garble's wings.

"Heyyy!" Garble's yelped as he dropped to the floor like the stone. "Why, you lousy-!" A large cork suddenly appeared in his mouth, forcing his jaws open. "Mmmph!"

"I think we've all heard enough from you, mister." Discord smirked.

"Again, I am really sorry about this." Ember told the others. "But I'm going to make sure it doesn't happen again. As Dragon Lord, I hereby decree that no dragon shall harm any Griffons, Changelings or Yaks."

"Grrf!" Garble growled, incensed that Ember's word had effectively nullified his efforts.

"Now, there's just the matter of having you 'escorted' back to the Dragon Lands." Ember declared.

"Allow me." Discord snapped his claws, causing Garble to vanish.

"Err... Where exactly in the Dragon Lands did you send him?" Spike asked.

"Beats me." Discord shrugged. "I'm not all that familiar with the area. He may have ended up in a volcano for all I know. Still, you guys are fireproof, so it's probably not a major issue."

"Chaos spirit save Yak!" Rutherford hugged Discord. "Yak had chaos spirit pegged wrong. Yaks and chaos spirit friends now!"

"How... Nice." Discord cringed, his nose wrinkling as Rutherford's scent wafted up into his nostrils.

"Sorry about not believing you, Discord." Thorax apologized.

"Well, it's not like you were the only one." Discord noted. "But at least now, you've all seen the error of your ways. So let's call it even!"

"We are all grateful to you for saving the summit, Discord." Celestia declared. "Thanks to you, we can continue strengthening the bonds between our nations."

"Hear, hear!" A Griffon cheered.

"I can get behind that." Ember clapped her claws together.

"Yes, I'm the big hero of the hour, and should therefore be lavished with praise." Discord said smugly. "Whenever you're ready, folks."

Twilight rolled her eyes, while Spike chuckled.

"Good to see all that praise hasn't gone to his head, huh?" Spike joked.

"Humility is one of the hallmarks of a true hero..." Twilight joined in on the joke.

With the threat having passed, the Friendship Summit was back in business. The delegates were once again chatting amongst themselves, learning more about each other, and becoming friends. And of course, Discord had become very popular, entertaining each group of delegates in turn. But even he could only take so much attention. Dragging himself away from Rutherford's grateful hugs, he found an empty spot where he could take a break. Moments later, he was joined by Twilight and Spike.

"That's the problem with these big gatherings: you can never get a moment to yourself." He said sarcastically.

"Just dropping by to congratulate you on clearing your name." Spike smiled.

"Yeah. You did good today, Discord." Twilight admitted.

"Well, don't get used to it." Discord shrugged. "Seriously, between that Changeling business and today's events, I am in serious danger of losing my Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony cred."

"And we wouldn't want that, would we?" Spike joked.

"No, we wouldn't." Discord chuckled.

"On a side note, I don't think any of the delegates would object if you attended the next summit." Twilight declared. "In fact, I think they'd be more than happy to see you again."

"Of course they would." Discord smirked. "When it comes to livening an international gathering, Discord is the best Draconequus for the job."

"You're the only Draconequus for the job." Twilight and Spike said in unison.

"So true." Discord grinned. "I really am one of a kind."

"And I'd say one is more than enough." Twilight rolled her eyes.

"No argument here!" Discord hugged Twilight and Spike.

It had been far from the summit Twilight had expected. But she couldn't argue with results. All the same, she hoped the next gathering would be a little less crazy - even by Discord's standards...

Comments

[Speculore]

Aww, I would have loved to know where Garble ended up.

[SuperSonicHeroes]

I like events that bring the creatures together. Glad to see Discord prove innocent, and Garble once again put in his place.

[OmniFox]

Now that Spike has got them wings......

[redmar]

I hope Garble ended up somewhere unpleasant or embarressing.