Act One
Fluttershy was certainly a more active person now than she'd probably ever been before. Just last year, she could barely maintain one friendship… And yet, over the course of a single week, her world was forever changed. One friendship became five, became six, became seven, and it only seemed to escalate from there. She saved her school, she transformed into a hero, she became the girl she'd only ever seen in books and movies… Sometimes, it was almost too wonderful to believe. As though she would just wake up one day, and find that every fantastical thing had only been a dream, and she would have to slog back into the hum-drum existence of high school, where she quietly receded into the background.
But, no, it was real. It was her life. And she loved it, she loved her friends, she loved their adventures - yes, even the scary ones… But that didn't mean she didn't still enjoy her solitary time. Dismounting her bike and shedding her helmet, she carefully parked both against the metal rack poised outside the animal shelter. More than just a well-paid internship, the shelter was her home away from home, but she particularly loved it in those early, golden hours before its doors officially opened. There was just a serene, almost cottage-like quality to the mornings here. The muted sounds of the still sleeping city. The musty smell of the pens. The groggy shuffling of animals just beginning to rise, all squeaking and woofing and meowing their respective hellos. Unlocking the entrance, she was pleasantly greeted by all three.
"Good morning, my little friends." She said, sweetly. "Ready for another lovely day?"
Breakfast was on the docket first, followed by pen-cleaning, some playtime, and perhaps a few baths, if absolutely necessary. Fluttershy was nothing if not loyal to the schedule, as she arranged diligently researched meals along personalized bowls and plates; some for fattening, some for weight loss, some with pills tucked away under the cheese. She hated deceiving the rowdier bunch, but they just flat-out refused to take their medicine, no matter how hard she pleaded… And then, last to be served, was the smallest kitten in the shelter.
Dust Bunny, named for his meager size and sooty coat. The poor dear had been picked off the street less than a month ago, underfed, and shivering with pneumonia and a sour heart. Antibiotics and a steady diet had been enough to knock out the former, but the latter remained, as fragile today as it ever was, and would most likely remain until the end of his little life. It was a sad circumstance, but unfortunately, not an unfamiliar one. A shy runt with a bad ticker wasn't likely to be adopted, (Fluttershy could certainly sympathize,) so the least she could do was make sure he was as comfortable as possible.
"Dust Bunny..." she sang, carefully tip-toeing to his corner kennel. "Dusty, sweetheart, I got breakfast for yooouu…"
She gave his dish a little wiggle, and the fishy pellets shook like maraca beads. Usually, that was enough. There'd be an awkward scamper of paws, maybe a harmless fall, and Dust Bunny would be at the barred door, his pink nose sniffing expectantly as Fluttershy crept to unlock it.
"Dust Bunny?" she repeated.
There was no response. Moments ticked into seconds, into a minute, and Fluttershy's fingers went cold. She dropped to her knees, clumsily setting the food aside, and fumbled with the ring of keys.
"Dust Bunny!"
No, no, it couldn't be… Her mind panted. He couldn't have… He was fine just last night!
Finally, she happened upon the right key. Jamming it into place, she threw open the door, leaned down, and squinted into the crate.
"D… Dust Bunny?"
Darkness seemed to tunnel in the further back she looked, as though she were peering into the eye of a small, but vast cave with no clear end in sight. Just barely, she could make out his fuzzy silhouette, hunched over like a gargoyle. But he was sitting at least, and she could hear the nasal whisper of his little breath. Good signs, but Fluttershy couldn't shake the sudden gnaw of anxiety at her spine…
"Dusty?" she said again, more quietly than she'd anticipated. She wanted to reach inside, to feel his coat, to have him turn around, smile and mew, and all would be well. The fear would dissolve like a frost, and she could finally breathe, and go on with her day. He was fine, and the crate was fine, just a trick of the light. An excess of shadow. But something in her, a primal something, reeled against it. She jerked her hand back.
"Dust Bunny, look at me!" Fluttershy snapped. She'd never taken that tone of voice with her animal friends before, but none of them had ever acted like this before. Dust Bunny was upright, but unmoving. His ears didn't even flick at the sound of his own name. Just as Fluttershy was about to steel herself, and brave that strange, cold darkness to fetch him - to touch him - a noise crept out like the whine of a rusty barrel organ. At first, Fluttershy thought it might've been a toy, but the noise was repeated, drawn out, sluggish and rasping, and her stomach sank to her ankles.
There were words in that sound.
"D-D-Dust… Dust Bunny?" Fluttershy whimpered. Suddenly, she found herself leaning away from the animal; a posture that would've been unthinkable just ten minutes ago. He - it - called out again. "Wh-what… What do you mean… you've changed?"
Fluttershy'd always been grateful to the Equestrian magic that gave her the chance to communicate with her animal friends on a whole new level… But understanding that awful noise somehow made it worse... And then, with a slow shift of its paw, the kitten began to turn...
And Fluttershy screamed.
. • ☆ . ° .• °:. *₊ ° . ☆
"Dear Princess Twilight,
There's something strange going on here. We thought it might be just another case of rogue Equestrian magic, but there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. Even our Twilight can't find a pattern. Things just seem to turn weird and random out of the blue. And it's not just limited to Canterlot High, it's affecting the whole city. All the ice at the cafe suddenly turned into cubes of toothpaste and pocket lint. Someone reported that their bathroom mirror started singing in pig latin. And the less said about Fluttershy's cat, the better. And just yesterday, there was a close call with a bus that suddenly grew kangaroo legs. It started jumping all over the place. No one was hurt, but it could've been a lot worse if Rarity and Applejack hadn't been there to help. We've all been doing our best to deal with it, but it's just been getting more and more frequent. Have you ever faced anything like this? We always appreciate your help.
Your faithful friend,
Sunset Shimmer."
Twilight looked up from the journal, meeting the expectant eyes of her friend group.
"Well?" she prompted. "What do you guys think?" She'd only just recently started keeping her magical interface book on standby, (a habit no doubt picked up from her other-world friends and their flat pocket gadgets,) and she was thankful for the foresight. She'd quickly scrawled back for Sunset to sit tight while she looked into it… And by it, Twilight was almost certain she meant him. But, of course, it wasn't like she hadn't been proven wrong once before. Hence, the impromptu castle meeting. She wouldn't - couldn't - let her own biases cloud her judgement again.
Unsurprisingly, Rainbow Dash was the first to speak. "Uh, sorry…" She rubbed at the back of her namesake mane. "But… What's this got to do with us?"
Twilight, impatient, prodded a hoof to Sunset's entry. "Come on, doesn't all this strike you as a little too familiar? Like… Discordantly familiar?"
The group exchanged glances in a digestive, tentative silence.
"Twilight-" Applejack ventured. "You ain't accusin' Discord of makin' mischief in that other world since he can't do it here… are ya?"
"Oh, Twilight-!" Fluttershy reprimanded. "You can't possibly think that!"
Her timidity always seemed to take a well-earned vacation whenever the subject of Discord was brought up. Regardless of whatever their relationship was, (a hot topic for schoolpony gossip,) she was always ready to defend him at a moment's notice.
"Yeah-" Applejack added. "And, with all due respect sugar cube, ya ain't exactly got a perfect track record with this sorta thing. I mean-" she cast a look towards the rest of the ponies. "Ain't we done this song n' dance before?"
There was a collective nod and murmur of agreement, and Twilight quickly interjected, eager to regain ground.
"Look, I'm not accusing Discord of anything. I'm just saying, whatever's going on with my Canterlot High friends is eerily similar, and that maybe Discord might know something about it. Heck-!" she threw up a hoof. "For all we know, he's just playing what he thinks are a few harmless pranks!"
"Now, hold on-!" Fluttershy suddenly stood up against her chair. "Discord may enjoy his little jokes, but he knows better than to do something so outright dangerous! … Or, well…" she quickly wilted against the round table of raised eyebrows. "H-he's gotten better about it…"
"He has, actually." Spike offered, mercifully drawing attention away from the steadily blushing Pegasus. "When we get together for Guys Night, I can tell Discord really makes an effort to reign in the chaos. I think he's startin' to get that me and Big Mac aren't as… well… indestructible as he is."
"The same goes for my property." Rarity piped up. "Just last week, one of their little games unfortunately got a wee bit out of hoof. Right as I was about to set to work, my shop was being invaded by cardboard ghouls and demonic scribbles! Come to think of it…" she tapped at her chin. "They kept referring to me as Shmarity for some reason…"
Now it was Spike's turn to blush. Avoiding Twilight's smirk, he quickly stapled his attention to the ceiling.
"Well-" Rarity continued. "Less than a moment later, Discord pops in, all apologies and bouquets, and poofs everything back to normal. He even dusted my shelves!"
"Aw, geez, Rarity..." Spike masked his face behind his claws. "Again, I'm really, really, really sorry about that. If I hadn't distracted Discord while he was setting everything up-"
Rarity shooed his apology with a smile that threatened to levitate the dragon out of his seat. "Oh, darling, water under the bridge! But my point, Twilight-" she looked back to the princess. "Even if Discord does overstep his boundaries on occasion, he has grown considerate enough to clean up after himself."
"Well, why don't we just ask Discord?" Pinkie Pie chimed in at last, pointing over to Applejack. "He's right there."
Without warning, the apple farmer's hat shot up.
"What in the-?!" Applejack exclaimed, blindly pawing for her snatched Stetson. Twisting itself like a towel, the hat wrung out a liquid that dripped into the shape of the one and only Discord. With a snaggletoothed sneer, he landed a dramatic pirouette against the center of the table; tutu, spotlight and all.
"And I thought I was being subtle!" he proclaimed, pouting in spite of the manifested applause. "How ever did you see past my disguise, Miss Pie?"
"Eh, good instincts." Pinkie grinned and shrugged. A year ago, this all might've been startling. But the girls and Spike had long since gotten used to Discord's sense of humor. He was like a sneeze, blowing in at the most random of times, loud and abrupt, but ultimately harmless. In spite of all this, Twilight was sternly unamused. With one hard shout, she seemed to whisk the whole ballerina shtick away.
"Discord!"
She glared up at him as he fished out Applejack's real hat, (or its reproduction,) from his nostril. Applejack accepted, though it was with a rather reluctant grimace.
"Yes, Princess?" Discord mused. He yoyo'd a buzzing gnat by a frayed string. "Is my fly down? ... Or, rather, up? Or, is it down again?"
"Discord, how long have you been here?"
Contrasting Twilight's barely restrained fury, Discord was positively cheered by the question. "Oh! So you're finally asking me about my backstory, eh? Well, it's quite a tale. You see…" he leaned back against a patch of air. "It all started thousands of years ago, when Mamma Discord was working at an interdimensional bar-"
"I mean-" Twilight seethed through gritted teeth. "How long have you been in this room?"
"Oh," he waved his lion's paw dismissively. "Just for the last few paragraphs or so. I thought I'd see what my gal pals were up to, when I hear someone other than me is making ponies lives miserable? Why, I have half a mind to sue!" Suddenly sporting a suit and tie, Discord angrily brandished a briefcase, clicking it open to reveal a severed brain, pinkly wet and pulsating. The room reacted accordingly, chorusing cries of repulsion, with only Fluttershy remaining straight-faced.
"Discord," She said, a kindly reproach. "Remember our little talk about dismembered body parts in mixed company?"
"Ugh-" He scoffed. "Fine… I didn't want to get caught up in all that litigation, anyway." Unscrewing his scalp like a bottlecap, he promptly tossed the still-beating brain into the hollow of his skull. "In all seriousness, though, what's all this about an upstart trickster? You girls aren't thinking of replacing me as your adoring antagonist, are you?"
"Oh, perish the thought." Rarity muttered dryly. Giggles rippled through the group.
"Actually-" Fluttershy said, demurely speaking over the titters. "We think there's a problem with Twilight's… um… other friends."
"Oh, yes!" Discord, ribbon-like, slithered over to Twilight. "I've heard tell about your little adventures in species-swapping. Well, rest assured, I had nothing to do with whatever's going on. Frankly..." He idly inspected the nonexistent cuticles of his bird claw. "I've never even been to that world before."
"What?" Twilight blinked. "But… You've been to other worlds, you've told us-"
"Other worlds, yes. That particular one, no. The fact is, I can't enter worlds without any magic." he shrugged, flopping in mid-air onto his stomach. "My powers - my very being - simply won't allow it."
It was almost surreal, hearing Discord sound so… matter-of-fact. Against her better judgement, Twilight's natural curiosity nudged her along.
"Why not?" she asked.
"Oh-" Discord stroked his beard. "How do I explain it… Imagine a key that can open any locked door in existence. Well, some doors, like the one to your bipedal pals' realm, have a barrel bolt on one side. Suddenly, my key is about as useful as a ham sandwich in a world full of herbivores."
"What's ham?" Pinkie chirped. The question unfortunately went unanswered as Twilight mulled over this new development.
"But, Discord-" she argued. "There is magic in that other world. Sunset Shimmer brought it with her when she tried to use my elem-"
"Up-up-up!" Discord sputtered, throwing up his hands with an audible tire screech. "Kindly grind the exposition express to a halt! There's magic in that world, you say?" His slow, manic grin all but reached to the tips of his ears. "Well then, what are we waiting for?!"
"We?!" Twilight yelped. "Wh... You... You want to go to to the other realm?! ... With me?!"
"But of course!" Leaning over to a drawer that hadn't been there a second ago, he began to rummage about. "This is clearly chaos magic, and I'm the spirit of chaos! Who better to track down this new villain than yours truly? Hm… Now, let's see… I'll need socks, snacks, my hypoallergenic pillow…"
Twilight was stunned. Her mind couldn't even register the visual gag of Discord trying to stuff an albatross into a suitcase. Desperately, she looked to her friends for support; perhaps a gentle talking down from Fluttershy, or a hard smack of reality from Applejack, anything to swerve Discord away from the looming prospect of a cross-reality road trip…
But, to her dismay, they actually seemed… intrigued.
"You know," Rarity said, thoughtfully. "That… mightn't be such a bad idea…"
"Yeah!" Rainbow nodded excitedly. "It's just like in Daring Do and the Highwayman Hideout. Remember, Twilight? Daring got ambushed by the notorious Poacher's Guild…?"
"And so-" Twilight concluded reluctantly. "She hired ex-member Brigand Bandit to help her find them." Of course, she could've pointed out that Brigand Bandit wound up betraying Daring Do at the end, and she was ultimately saved by the foreshadowed turncoat, Deus Ex Marauder… But now wasn't the time for splitting hairs.
"It's like the saying goes!" Pinkie said. "You catch more flies with cotton candy clouds than with vinegar!"
"And it would be wonderfully fun for Discord to explore a world he's never seen before..." Fluttershy added.
Twilight's head fell in a slump. Clearly, she was outvoted. But more than that… They were right. Discord was right. As much as it pained her to admit, the Princess of Friendship really had no idea what Sunset and the gang were up against, and Discord's input - however obnoxious - would be indispensable. Even if she had to watch him like a wandering toddler, the safety of her alternate friends was worth it.
"Fine." she relented with a huff. Sparking her horn, Twilight quickly summoned a quill and inkwell. "I'll let Sunset know the plan, and we can leave right away… But you're not taking any of that with you!"
She jabbed a hoof to Discord's tourist getup. Sighing, he snapped his claw, and the floral shirt, slather of sunscreen, straw hat, and oversized camera were gone in a blink.
"Oh, you have no appreciation for prop comedy." he tsked.
. • ☆ . ° .• °:. *₊ ° . ☆
A few moments later, the motly herd made their way through the winding corridors towards Twilight's study: considerably smaller than the castle library, though certainly not lacking for books. (Of course, there were very few surfaces of Twilight's castle that did lack for books. It made the already exhausting concept of reshelving a not-so-fun scavenger hunt, in Spike's opinion.) Towards the back of it all, at the curtesy of Princess Cadence, sat the relic of the magical mirror, outfitted by its ramshackle framework of wires and tubes and pistons. A perfect merger of science and magic, and a personal stroke of genius by Twilight, (if she felt so inclined to brag.) Discord, however, appeared unimpressed.
"Hm," he hummed. "I thought it would look more… antique-y."
"How could it look like a tiki?" Pinkie asked. "We're not even on an island!"
It wasn't clear whether she was speaking to Discord, the room as a whole, or herself. Regardless, she was answered by a round of good-natured head shakes. Even Twilight succumbed to a smile, as she elevated the journal to the conduit slot crowning the apparatus. There came a gradual whirr of magical engines winding up, as spools of glittering purple energy were fed through the squeaking gears and chugging mechanisms. Meanwhile, Fluttershy flitted about Discord like an anxious mosquito, fussing with his beard, his eyebrows, even the tuft of hair capping his dragon tail.
"Now you be good in the other dimension, okay?" she said worriedly. "And don't get scared, or… well, scare anypony else. And remember, you promised to cut back on eating spatulas, you know how they hurt your tummy, and don't-"
"Fluttershy…" Discord chuckled and took his friend by the hooves. "You have my word of honor, I shall be the very model of friendly behavior. And-!" he booped a lion's finger to her nose. "I'll even bring back souvenirs for everyone!"
Fluttershy blushed. Whether or not Discord was aware of it, (like everypony else in the room,) he made no comment, merely smiling with an expression that he seemed to reserve only for her. With a quick shake of her rosy mane, Fluttershy then reached up, aiming a whisper towards Discord's ear.
"And go easy on Twilight." she muttered.
Twilight could hear that, (she was, after all, only a few feet away from the pair,) but she somehow felt inclined to ignore it. This trip was going to be enough of a hassle without her flaring up before her hoof was even through the portal. There was a burst of purple light, and the glassy surface of the mirror rippled like transparent silk.
"It's ready." She announced. Turning to Spike, she nodded her horn to the gateway. "Do you wanna come along, Spike?"
She hoped - prayed - he would say yes. Even if there was another version of him waiting for her on the other side of the mirror, Twilight wanted her surrogate brother by her side. He may have been young, but he was her anchor, her buffer. He calmed her down when her nerves were at their tightest, and with Discord seizing his pincers into the quest, she needed the dragon now more than ever.
"Actually…" Spike rubbed at his arm. "Would it be alright if I stayed behind this time? The CMC are helpin' this kid with his spelunking cutie mark, and they invited me to help! Since, y'know-" he dusted his shoulders smugly. "I'm such an expert on caves and all. Besides…" Spike hoisted himself on tip-toe, whispering in his turn, "I think this'll be good for you. Discord's really not that bad once you spend some one-on-one time with him."
Good advice, even if Twilight's head already ached with a preemptive Discord-induced migraine. Nevertheless, she drew Spike in for a tender hug, and the rest of the girls followed suit.
"Y'all come back now, y'hear?"
"Be sure to recount every little detail you can retain, darling!"
"You find that creep, and give 'em what for!"
"And have lots and lots of fun!"
"And be very, very careful…"
"Yes, yes…" Discord wedged a tire jack arm between Twilight and the hug. "Adios, au revoir, hau rein, and all that jazz. Now can we puh-lease be on our way?"
Twilight withdrew, not troubling to hide her displeasure, but after a motion from Spike, did her best to feign a smile… though, it more resembled a reaction to bad ranch dressing.
"Discord… Before we go through…" Twilight placed a hoof to the portal, and watched as shimmering ringlets expanded outward. "I should warn you… I don't know what you'll look like on the other side. I don't even know if you'll be able to-"
"Well, from what I understand, it positively dolled you up, didn't it?" Discord slicked back his horns with a peacock grin. "I'll no doubt get the same treatment... Though, I don't envy the challenge of trying to improve perfection. Well-!" He pinched at his nose. "Last one in's a rotten sales pitch!"
And he cannonballed, horizontally, through the gateway. For one moment - one nasty little shoulder devil moment - Twilight considered simply unplugging the machine, and walking away; if for no other reason than to hear the horrified gasps of her friends. But, of course, with one sidelong glance to the remaining five, she knew it couldn't be done. Bidding them all a final wave goodbye, she fanned out her wings, held her horn high, and stepped, once more, unto the breach.
Maybe Discord was used to this sort of thing, (Twilight could swear she heard him laughing,) but the transition between realms was never an easy one. A warped gravity stretched Twilight into a strand of chewed gum, swirling her down a nauseating, iridescent funnel. Round and round, she twisted, feeling the change like a numbing smother… And then, all at once, there was a slip like passing through a veil of water, and Twilight's two feet found solid ground. She may have stumbled slightly, but by the fourth go around, her body had more than adjusted to the sudden loss of limbs. Squinting against the onslaught of sunlight, she took a moment to get her bearings.
Yes, it was just as she'd remembered. The grand entrance to the school ahead of her, the monument gateway behind her, the funny stilt back legs, the skinny forelegs ending in the wiggling twin starfish of hands, the sudden release of weight from her face as her muzzle shrank to a button of its former shape, the full array of clothes… Yep. She was back. Her eyes scanned the courtyard for any familiar faces, but there didn't seem to be a welcome wagon this time around.
Guess they're all still in class, Twilight thought. At some point, I really ought to study the time delineation between this world and Equestria-
"Well?" Discord's voice floated up from over her shoulder. Twilight gave a start; she'd almost forgotten he'd tagged along. "Go on, tell me how pretty I am."
She turned, ready with a eye-rolling retort, but suddenly balked.
Discord was taller than the average Canterlot High denizen, and abnormally gaunt, with cheekbones that seemed to slant towards the edge of a pointed nose. Most of the minor details remained untouched: his disease-yellow eyes, his concrete complexion, his protruding fang, his lightning bolt eyebrows… But it wasn't the similarities that drew Twilight's attention. It was the additions.
A pair of large, coke bottle glasses sat in the middle of his new, confused face, engorging his eyes to an even bigger degree. His sudden shock of black hair was glossy with grease, combed into a withering mullet. In keeping with the rules of this world, his outfit was coordinated to his natural color pallet. A dark brown sweater vest was laid over a dull grey button-up, with a triangle pattern of yellow argyle zig-zagging across the middle. At the collar of it all, just at the base of his scrawny neck, sat a neat - if somewhat strange - bowtie: not any sort of knotted ribbon, but two small duplications of his typical mismatched wings, bound into a tight V-shape. Pleated pinkish khakis snaked along his twiggy legs towards a set of loafers, bridged by high-hiked green and brown socks.
For such a wild card character, Discord's new form was… shockingly well put together. In fact, Twilight might've even called him -
"A nerd!" He bellowed. Discord twitched and caught his reflection in the monument's mirror paneling. He fell to his knees, fingers splayed, crowing to the heavens, "I'm a nerd, Twilight! A sad, sick, antisocial, maladjusted nerd!"
It wasn't funny. It really wasn't. Twilight of all ponies could more than empathize with the horrific revelation of an unfamiliar body… And yet… for someone as vain as Discord…
"C-c'mon-" her lips quivered with the threat of a laugh. "It's… not that bad…"
"Not that bad?!" Discord clawed his hair by the roots. "I'm the spirit of chaos! I'm centuries old! I'm the living embodiment of madness and anarchy! … And I look like I should be sucking an inhaler from behind a chess board! Why, I don't even have a beard! My chin…" sadly, he dabbed at his clean, beardless chin. "It feels so… naked… Wait!" Discord suddenly jumped to his feet. "What am I getting so boo-hoo about? There's magic here, isn't there?"
"Well," Twilight fidgeted with her fingers. "Technically, but-"
"Then I'll just zap myself into a proper sheik!"
"Discord, hold on, you can't-"
He clicked his fingers. As Twilight expected, the sharp sound was met by an unprecedented silence. In the distance, a mourning dove whined its call; a punchline to the awkward pause. Brow furrowed, he snapped again.
Twilight took a step forward. "Discord, listen-"
"Why-" he snapped a third time. "Isn't-" Snap. "This-" Snap-snap-snap. "Working?!"
"Discord!"
Twilight grabbed him by the lapels. Even through her anger, she was grateful not to have a bevvy of onlookers outside. I probably look like I'm stealing his lunch money… She thought.
"You've got to calm down, and listen to me… Magic exists here, but it doesn't work the same as it does in Equestria. For you or me." She gestured to her bangs, and the distinct lack of a horn. "It's hard to explain, but-"
"No, no…" A strange calm fell over Discord's face. "… I think I understand… What you're saying is that even though there's magic here, we ourselves do not possess any innate magical abilities. That magic is something we must tap into, and cannot draw out at will… Am I correct?"
"Yes!" Twilight loosened her grasp. Leave it to the Lord of Chaos to put things so succinctly. "Yes, that's it, exactly!"
Without missing a beat, Discord turned on his heels. "I'm going home."
"Wh- no!" Twilight lashed out, nabbing at his arm. It was a tug-of-war match between her and the mirror, as Discord popped a foot through the threshold.
"Twilight, I can deal with a lot of things-!" he grunted. "I can even look past the arbitrary second puberty! But I shall not be struck impotent! I refuse to be in a world where I need a wand, or… vomit nonsense Latin in order to cast spells!"
"First of all-!" Twilight growled. "That's not even remotely how it works! Second, you volunteered for this! And you said so yourself, you're our best bet for figuring out what's going on! So, the sooner we nip this problem in the bud, the sooner we can leave. Okay?!"
Discord paused, and Twilight risked slackening her grip. For such a boney outline, he was surprisingly resilient to physical force. At last, he slipped his foot back onto the pavement, and Twilight stepped away with a much-maligned sigh.
"Fine," he grumbled, folding his arms. "But I'm not singing, and I'm not playing any basketball."
"Yeah..." Twilight patted down her tousled hair. "I've seen you do both. It's no great loss."
Discord grinned, and his hand found an unwanted spot on Twilight's shoulder. "Ooh! Is this a rare appearance from Twilight Snark-le, I spy?"
It suddenly dawned on Twilight just how much of… this… she was going to have to endure for the duration. Whatever was going on, whatever caper she and Discord were bound for… Twilight sincerely hoped it would be a short one. She glowered at him, ready to wrench off that hand and stuff it into his overactive mouth, when the high trill of the school bell sounded off across the campus. Squeezing her eyes shut, Twilight took in a steadying breath, and her fists slowly unclenched… She hadn't even realized she'd been clenching them.
"C'mon… " she shrugged off Discord's contact, and nodded toward the entrance. "I told Sunset we'd meet her in the music room."
Discord accepted the rebuff, and waved her on ahead, still grinning with that devious, lopsided mouth. "Lead the way, mon capitaine."
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I clicked on this story on a whim and I'm very glad I did. You have a really striking style of prose that perfectly blends vivid descriptions with colorful metaphors - I'm actually shocked that this is apparently your first fic on the site.
You definitely deserve more views and I'm very eager to see where this story goes.
To quote Douglas Adams:
"It's rather unpleasantly like being drunk."
"How can being drunk be unpleasant?"
"Ask a glass of water."
In any case, fascinating opening. Forcing a being (probably?) older than the princesses into a teenage body is both fascinating and more than a little cruel, but it definitely offers a hint at who and what they're dealing with. Plus, I'm just happy to see more iterations of human Discord; it's a surprisingly underutilized concept. Looking forward to seeing where you go with this.