CYCLED

by The REAL Mister Pkmn

Rthö Achifüf- Ego Dash: Part One

A few weeks had passed, and things seemed to have calmed down. Though, Twilight was a bit worried. Sure, many events that had happened after they faced Discord had been nipped in the bud, and- “Ehem, Sparkle. Aren’t you supposed to be teaching me something about your precious ‘magic of friendship’ or something?”

She shook herself as she drew her attention back to Discord. “Sorry about that. I got a bit distracted. Things seem a bit too quiet lately…” Discord smirked, getting ready to snap his talon, but twilight shook her head. “That doesn’t mean that I’m going to let you use your magic, Disord.” he huffed, and rolled his eyes. “Now, where was I?”

Discord decided to give a bit of a helping hand. “Well, you were talking about… ah! How ‘rewarding’ it is to listen to your friends’ issues.” he shivered slightly.

Twilight smiled. “Thank you, Discord. I know that this can’t be easy on you, but it’s better than being stuck in stone again, right?”

He sighed in resignation. “I suppose that you’re right.” He shook his head. “Better suffering through this with some modicum of freedom than being stuck in a stone prison. Now, about that example you were about to provide…”

Twilight nodded as she picked up where she left off. “Right. Let’s say that you notice a friend of yours is acting a little down. You don’t know what’s bothering them, but they don’t seem to have been cheered up by the humor you tried to bring them. What should you do?”

Discord grumbled a bit, but he knew that if he ever wanted to use the full might of his magic again, he’d have to comply. He thought about it for a while, going over the things that he had been taught by Twilight’s friends. Going out on a limb, he spoke. “Well, I’m not exactly certain. Maybe asking what’s bothering them would be best. If they don’t tell you at first… um. How was it again?” He stroked his goatee. “I think it was that you should let them know that you’re there to listen when they’re ready? Or something like that, anyway…”

Twilight smiled. Discord was struggling with it, sure. But he did seem to have a better grasp on it than before. “Right, that is one way of doing it. It all depends on the problems they are facing. Also, your friends won’t always be able to have time to spend with you. So don’t be disheartened or jealous if they spend time together with somebody without you.”

Discord scratched his head. “Where’d you learn that? I don’t remember that in one of your letters to Celestia…”

Twilight gasped a little, realizing what had just slipped out. However, she recovered quickly. “Well, it’s come from having Maestro go in and out of our lives so often, you know. He’s always pretty busy.”

Discord stared at Twilight for a moment with a skeptical look on his face for what seemed like forever. She was a bit nervous, but luckily he dropped it. “Well, it’s none of my business if you decide to hold some of the truth from me. Far be it from me to tell you how to interact with somebody that you’re trying to teach the value of friendship. Though, you weren’t exactly lying either. That Maestro character sure is interesting… I wonder where he’s from? He won’t speak a word of it…”

Twilight and the others had never really gotten an answer about that. Sure, they knew that he was an orphan- but that only told them so much. It was unlikely that he would tell them the full story any time soon. Her thoughts and lessons were interrupted when Rarity came into the library. Twilight looked at her with a concerned look. “Rarity, what’s the emergency?”

Rarity had to catch her breath a bit, but that didn’t take long. “Dash is being more of a pain than usual lately! I think something’s wrong with her. Could you get Maestro to look at her?”

At the mention of that, Twilight thought about what this could mean. Had Rainbow Dash’s ego about saving ponies started to rear its ugly head again? It was nothing that she couldn’t handle, unless it was amped up by Nightmare energy. Twilight nodded as she teleported a quill and paper to her. She scrawled a quick letter that just told Maestro to get over here and that it was urgent. She sent it off with her magic, and then turned to Discord with an apologetic look. He held up his paw. “No need to apologize. Your friends are important to you, so I understand. Go.”

She nodded, and followed Rarity out to see what was going on with Rainbow. Once near her cloud home, they saw that the others had just arrived, including Maestro. Twilight spoke to him, concern in her voice. “Do you know what is going on with her?”

He lit his horn, and his eyes started to glow. He took a look towards the cloud house, and sighed. He let go of his magic, turning back to the others. “Well, time to get cracking. She’ll transform any moment now.”

Pinkie gasped. “You mean!”

He nodded firmly. “She’ll turn into a Nightmare version of herself. I don’t know how it keeps happening, but I will find the source. And when I do…”

He was cut off when a flash of dark light came from Rainbow’s house. Twilight gulped. “Well, at least we have some idea of how to deal with this. So, how-”

The next thing she knew, Rainbow shot out of the house to land in front of them with a large crash. Her colors looked darker, as had the others when they had changed. Her Cutie Mark had changed, the cloud was a dark grey and the thunder bolt was split. She grinned menacingly. “You’re not gonna catch me. No way, no how. See ya! Losers.” Then she bolted away.

Author's Note:

Now, things get complicated again...

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[GleamingKyler111]

She shook herself as she drew her attention back to Discord. “Sorry about that. I got a bit distracted. Things seem a bit too quiet lately…” Discord smirked, getting ready to snap his talon, but Twilight shook her head. “That doesn’t mean that I’m going to let you use your magic, Discord.” he huffed, and rolled his eyes. “Now, where was I?”