Chapter I: The unloved

--Ponyville, 17:15 PM—

-“Until today it’s still hard to believe how Rainbow Dash and Applejack got so competitive over being the Teacher of the month. I mean, if they wanted a trophy so, so badly, maybe I could have given one of mine? Not that they would’ve earned it, but at least if it prevented them from bickering…” – Fluttershy graciously puts a hand to her mouth, stifling an innocent giggle as she closed her eyes, before bringing her teacup to her lips once again and taking a sip of her spiced tea as her comfy chair bobbed up and down smoothly.

-“You know dearest, sometimes habits die hard. Just because you’ve known them for years, doesn’t mean they’re above trying to strangle each other now and then.” – With an amused tone to his deep and playful voice, Discord shot a toothy grin and closed an eye as he sipped from his cup as well; while being upside down.

The whole living room of Fluttershy’s cottage had been altered in every sense of the word. For starters, all of the lamps available had been turned into oversized glowing strawberries; gravity had been shifted only on half of the living room and large tree branches grew from the walls, supporting amiable Avgrundens Påfåglar as Discord dubbed them, or ”Abyss’ Peacocks”. The birds were relatively alike their terrestrial versions but possessed several light and sound based abilities, dragon-like features and a pride that was easy to wound. However, the list of changes didn’t end there, as from time to time a random window on the floor would open up and let heavy rain in for an uncertain quantity of seconds, pouring the water directly towards the ceiling of the room, as a skylight opened up to let the downpour through.

Fluttershy couldn’t quite get tired of Discord’s ”improvements” whenever he was around. It was just too much fun to meet him as every time he brought a batch of new ideas out in the open. – ”Well, that may be true... But I wished they kept from it when around our students. At the very least they learned with their teacher’s mistakes.” – Glancing around with a content smile, Fluttershy set her teacup down on the part of the table that still was affected by gravity. Looking up at the birds, the pegasus mare expressed a gentle smile, to which the birds corresponded with happy chirps and calls.

But despite all of this rather adorable scene and seeing the sheer satisfaction of his best friend’s smile and blessed features, Discord couldn’t help but feel some muscles in his face twitching at the subject. It’s not like he didn’t want to know about Fluttershy’s days as a teacher in the school of friendship; he cared a lot would love to know more about absolutely everything but, it still stung slightly that no one had called him to participate in several events. Surely he was evolved enough to let that pass by as a minor bother; it still didn’t change the fact that somewhere deeply within, he felt stung.

”Oh no, no no no no, do not pull a”Tree Slugger” on Fluttershy again. It doesn’t matter that you were left out of your friends' milestone in their lives. They just became teachers that preach the word of friendship and the lessons that allowed them to yield the weapons solely capable of saving this unprotected empire by dozens of centuries now, and they didn’t even bother to hit me up for the event. That’s no big deal... AT ALL.” – He thought in silence without noticing how badly he was staring at the horizon line.

A loud crunching sound was emitted as Discord instinctively ate his teacup; porcelain being crushed and dusted in his maw as the warm contents of his now destroyed cup flowed down his gullet. His mind whirled with negativity as his thoughts and inner voices just came and gone as they pleased.

And despite the local storm into his head, a soft voice broke through his deep reflections as the butter-colored mare leaned forward with a look of worry; her mouth moved for some silent moments before his focus could properly be pinned on her.

-”Discord..? Are you alright?” – The look of worry on Fluttershy’s gaze almost pierced through the chaos spirit. He lost a deliberately big chunk of his composure before he managed to bring a closed fist to the front of his lips and scoff.

-”W-why, yes Fluttershy, I’m feeling more than alright. Why you ask?” – With a motion of his talons he floated the kettle over to her and tipped it by her cup, but much to his surprise Fluttershy pushed the kettle up with a finger, preventing it from pouring more tea.

-”The last time I recall you eating a teacup instead of drinking the tea, was when you got jealous of Tree Hugger.” – Fluttershy’s expression shifted in a deadpan as she rose one eyebrow and her lips closed in a light pout. Discord felt seem through like a glass window. – ”So I wondered if you had anything bothering you? You know we can talk about it if you do.” - The deadpan lifted as fast as it came, and finally, she allowed the kettle to pour some more steaming delicious tea.

-”I-...Ahn, Well, you see- It’s not really bothering, no, bother is a bit of a strong word, it’s just...” – After swallowing dry, Discord badly stuttered in order to escape his fate. It was true that he had acquired quite a few more relationships, but despite his successful number of friends it was no easy task to expose his heart in front of any of them, even Fluttershy. The lord of chaos cared a lot about his appearance in front of those he estimated, so putting in the effort to reveal anything considered mushy or sentimental was stressful.

Still, he had to try eventually. Playing with his hands out of nervousness, he tapped his paw pads against the tip of his fingers before his talons, building up his nerves to explain as best as he could without embarrassing himself into oblivion. And as his lips parted and he dragged in air-

The door was knocked.

Instantly Discord frowned and his head snapped to the door’s direction, irises glowing faintly with a red light due to his mild irritation. The Peacocks also bobbed their heads, lifting their serrated beaks and looking down at the entrance of the cottage.

-”My, who could it be at this time?” – Fluttershy got up swiftly and used her wings to boost herself towards the door, avoiding the flying objects all through the border between the normal gravity and the inverted one. Once reaching the door, she let it open to greet Spike. –”Oh, hello Spike. It’s nice to see you; so what brings you here?” – Despite the gentle mare’s warm smile that could thaw even an iceberg, the dangerous glare the juvenile dragon was receiving from Discord for interrupting the tea party made him wince discreetly before smiling back at Fluttershy with confidence and shotting a smug look at the Lord of chaos. However, the playful expression fluttered off from his face as he recalled what he came to say and instantly his features turned a bit more serious and even slightly worried.

-”Uh-yeah, It’s nice to see you too but Twilight told me to call you to the Castle! It’s urgent she said, but she didn’t say much more than that.” – The dragon shrugged as he was indeed lost for any extra information.

-”Oh dear... I’ll go right away!” – Turning to face Discord, Fluttershy wore an apologetic expression. – ”I’m so so sorry to cut our tea-party shortly Discord, but I-”

-”Yeah, yeah, I’m capable of hearing 4 meters ahead of me; I’m not deaf, you know?” – for a short-lived moment there was a bit of anger sipping into his voice, but with a flap of his wings, the draconequus slithered through the air to the part of the room that was not altered. Landing his hind cloven hoof and claws on the floor, he stood upright and smiled reassuringly at Fluttershy. – ”I know you must go to your probable world-saving quest, now off you go my dear! I’ll clean up for you.” – Picking up a broom seemingly from nowhere, Discord held the very tip of it like a cane, resting his paw on the back of his talon and leaning forward with a warm smile and closing his eyes.

Fluttershy put both her hands to her heart and happily smiled back, nodding with satisfaction. – ”Thank you so much Dissy! I’ll make it up to you later! Oh, thanks for calling me Spike, I’ll go right away.” – True to her words, the pegasus walked right past the dragon and used her wings to spring to the air; although low to the floor, she was going much faster than her average speed on the ground.

As the pegasus swiftly flew away and towards Twilight’s castle, there was a moment of cold silence that was only filled by the chirps of animals and the rustling leaves of the garden and trees all around. A snap cut sharply through the quiet, the commotion of chaos and lack of physics being ceased immediately as the sound of hoovesteps echoed through the wooden floor.

-”So, let me guess... I interrupted something, didn’t I?” – Although Spike didn’t turn to face the draconequus, he felt his towering frame stop shy of him by 30 centimeters as he came to the door and stepped outside. But despite this, he held a bit of a smug smirk on his lips.

-”In fact, yes, you did. I won’t give you the satisfaction of knowing what; nonetheless, you have done your job... So what’s the commotion about this time? Recurring bitter villain? Tax evasion? Oh, wait, dear Purple Pony Prodige Princess is above the law I suppose.” – Emphasizing the ”P” in his words, Discord took full opportunity of his gravity-defying power as he floated upwards and constricted the young dragon with his scaly muscular tail. His ruby and golden eyes boring into Spike’s as he expected for an answer eagerly with an expression that was a mix between sheer curiosity and hidden temper. – ”I mean, it must have been something relevant for you to withhold information and interrupt us so rudely knowing exactly when we host this sort of meeting...” – rolling his eyes to the side he gave a brief empty laugh before crossing his arms above his chest and coming almost snout to snout with the young dragon, his expression coated in suspicion and clear temper now. – ”Right?” – he said through gritted teeth.

Squirming in the strong embrace of Discord’s tail, Spike slowly nudged his arms out of his coils and pushed himself upwards, quickly jumping off from the fellow draconian's tail and landing on the floor while dusting his scales with a slightly sour expression as he turned and pointed at the taller creature. –”HEY! Watch the scales! I just molted...” – Such a reprimand barely had any effects on the elder as he simply landed on his hooves again and uncoiled his tail, flicking the tip irritated and expecting an answer. Huffing two poufs of smoke, Spike’s features mellowed out a bit as he looked towards Twilight’s castle. – ”But I’m not withholding anything, I really don’t know for now why Twilight called the others, I just know that she told me to get Rarity and Fluttershy why she told Rainbow to bring Applejack. Besides... Can’t you just eavesdrop instead of asking me?” – Spike looked up at the spirit of chaos with a deadpan.

Raising an ear at his suggestion, Discord grew a smirk that didn’t quite reach his eyes but was sly enough. –”Are you incentivizing me to commit reprehensible actions?”

-”It’s not like you stopped after we told you to, did you?” – The dragon shot back with a sarcastic smile.

-”You’re still excusing your lack of moral reprehension towards me with my lack of boundaries, which still classifies as an incentive. Besides, it’s not like you don’t commit it either.” – Floating up and forward all of the sudden, Discord looked at the horizon as he put his hands together, tapping the tip of his fingers. – ”By the way, if I was you I would try and avoid the twitter mites.”

-”Hey! Even if you’re going to eavesdrop, don’t disturb them, at the very least, okay? I gotta get back to school to help Starlight finish the day!” – Spike frowned slightly as Discord dismissively waved his hand and nodded, pretending to hear everything he was talking about before he disappeared in a bright flash of white light.

-”... This is gonna be a long day, isn’t it? Wait did he say something about twitter mites-” – A buzzing sound was right on cue as Spike looked over his shoulder to the electrical buzzing tiny cloud of insects that struck him with a tiny discharge of electricity. Yelping and leaping forward while clutching his backside, Spike hissed and immediately looked at the place where he was hit... Luckily his scales were intact despite the discharge. Sighing heavily he set out to marching back to the school, expecting the electrical insects to dissipate by themselves. – ”I really interrupted something important huh? Still gonna get the truth out of you about Fluttershy, Discord.” – with renewed vigor, he set the thought aside feeling lucky that this was the only backlash he got from the chaos spirit for his little stunt.

--Twilight’s Castle, 18:01 PM—

-”So let me see if Ah got that right...” – Applejack stood up with her arms crossed, closing an eye before using a hand to point at the other mares as she spoke up. –”Rainbow Dash gotta run an emergency errand for the Wonderbolts at mount Everhoof’s station.” – Pointing out to the cyan mare, she nodded with her arms crossed above her chest. – ”Rarity has to deal with rising problems at her shop in Manehattan and Fluttershy got unresolved problems with the shelter’s documentation to solve there too; Pinkie Pie got called out to plan out a fancy party at Canterlot; Ah gotta tend to this season of apple bucking, and we can’t really stop when we gotta do that, and you Twilight got called to resolve documentation of the school a bit far away from here...”

As she finished to condense the events that each one of them had to perform, Applejack bit her lower lip and frowned, looking aghast all of the sudden. – ” Do Y'all know what this means? There won't be any teachers left to run the school!” – All the other mares gasped briefly except for Applejack herself and Twilight, who tried to keep her cool and stepped forth towards the map table as she teleported a thick roll of scroll paper.

-”Should we send our students home?” – Fluttershy asked putting a hand to her lips in worry as she looked at the bigger farmer mare.

-”Ah’m not sure sugar cube. We don’t even know how long we’ll all be gone.” – Looking to everyone around, Applejack put a hand to the pegasus’ shoulder before Twilight turned around and finally spoke up.

-”Don’t worry, everypony. I already have a seventy-point plan in place for this very situation.” – Although the school had just opened up, everyone had their personal lives and jobs despite doing their best to teach the roots of friendship. Unfortunately, there was not nearly enough time to properly set her plan in motion, but at the very least Twilight had in mind who could aid her with that.

--School of Friendship, Next morning 08:00 AM—

-”Come back soon! Please!” – Starlight waved to the group of mares as they departed towards the train station. Each one of them would have to handle their tasks individually but at the very least they could get on board together, except for Applejack who would wave them goodbye for the moment and head back to work at sweet apple acres.

Suddenly a sound that was something between a nose being blown and a ship’s horn honking hit Starlight and Spike’s eardrums as they turned around with a startle.

-”Huh?” – Starlight looked up at the towering familiar figured that cleaned tears from his eyes with a sappy weak smile and tearful voice. – ”I hate goodbyes, don’t you? I just got to pieces!” – And right on cue Discord’s body severed itself in several parts as they all fell to the floor. Given that he was mindful enough to seal each end with skin so it the visual gag would be funny instead of horrifying.

-“Discord! What a... heh... nice surprise!” – Starlight looked down at the disassembled body as it floated its paw up, giving her a thumbs up before she continued. – “This is your first time at our new school, isn't it?” – At this question, Spike cringed slightly despite his nervous grin, as he nodded towards the mare… He knew this may or may not be a sensitive topic for the chaos spirit.

-“Oh, was I not invited to the grand opening?” – Discord pieces had suddenly blinked out of existence despite his voice still chiming forth. Reappearing in a formal gray tuxedo, he pulled at his tie and looked down at Starlight and Spike with a mildly irritated expression.

-“Friends and Family Day?” – A clone of him joined the conversation seemingly from nowhere, wearing much brighter clothes that had a child-themed air to them.

-“Baccalaureate??” - And at that, a second clone came into the picture, but this time wearing a long black gown and a graduate’s hat on top of his head.

-“I hadn’t noticed.” – They all put a bit of venom in their words as they spoken in synchrony. Just as they finished, they blinked out of existence once again and Discord himself reappeared a few meters away from the unicorn and dragon duo, but this time holding a bit of a forceful smile despite the annoyance lingering in his features.

-“Well, at least you're here now. Um, why are you here now?” – Starlight and Spike had crossed quick glances as they had a feeling that this visit could go well or probably terribly wrong. Not that Starlight was expecting Discord to do something troublesome, but just like Trixie; sometimes it was just in his nature to do so. And with the mane six gone out of town, perhaps he would feel a bit more freedom to act than usual.

-“I couldn’t help but hear that our lovely friends are going to be busy for the next days up to a week. So since the girls are the most competent and perhaps the only qualified teachers and management staff of the school, I thought I could fill in as head-draconequus until they come back.” – He lifted a paw to the air and smiled in a sly way as he walked past the duo and towards the school doors. – “After all, a school can’t carry itself alone, can it?” – He turned around with a bit of a smug smile as he put his arms behind his back, holding his hands in each other while doing so.

-“Well, then you heard that Starlight is in charge in Twilight’s place, haven’t you?” – Spike now stood in front of the draconequus with crossed arms and looking directly upwards.

-“Oh, just Starlight? There must have been some mistake. Didn’t Twilight actually call anyone else? I know her logic isn’t very sound in a hurry but that’s a bit outrageous.” – He shamelessly patted Spike’s head with his talons, patronizing the young dragon.

Starlight felt slightly stung at his words, but putting up a bit of a front she raised a large scroll given by the purple Alicorn. – “Nope, Twilight put me in charge with Spike as my assistant and left pretty detailed instructions about it too.”- Much to her surprise, Discord snatched the plan and unrolled it, summoning a pair of round glasses with a golden rim and long strings attached to it, sitting neatly upon his muzzle as he read.

-“Well then, I believe Twilight wouldn’t mind that I’d add a few tiny suggestions now, would she?” – Snapping his fingers he also summoned a comically tiny writing quill and starting to add notes around the ones he saw flaws within as he mumbled to himself. – “Hire capacitated crew huh? Perhaps some species diversity could add to the classes… And as a second item, what about some fresh mangos, green tea, fish and perhaps some Limburger's cheese for the Teacher’s lounge? They surely need the incentive.” – Musing to himself he let a chuckle escape as a particular phrase caught his eye. – “Keep the hallways organized and clean huh? To take care of that-” – Saying out loud, he added another item. – “Gravity is optional.”

But as soon as he finished his thought, he looked around with a satisfied smirk as his chaos magic kicked in pushed by his own volition. Both Spike and Starlight started to float upwards just like several heavy rocks that made the school’s entrance path and several blobs of water.

Discord continued to go through the list despite this, but as Starlight shook the startle out of her system, she activated the spell that allowed her to levitate herself and snatched the scroll from the draconequus.

-“Eh, not happening. Twilight gave me precise instructions on how I should run the school, and I’ll go by them. Thank you but, no thank you.” – Floating away she raised an eyebrow at his notes as her expression twisted in exasperation and a bit of confusion.

Obviously, the lord of chaos didn’t take it well, letting a bit of venom sip into his voice as he held himself from snapping at the asinine planning they got. He had not even finished reading the damn thing, but he could point about a dozen flaws in the first three paragraphs. – “Oh, reeeeeally? Well, fine, do as you must... We will see if you change your mind.”- And with that said the spirit of chaos snarled slightly and snapped his fingers, disappearing in a strong flash of light.

As soon as he was gone, gravity turned back to its normal rules once again as every large blob of water and gigantic rock fell to its previous spot. Spike barely managed to evade a wave of water and Starlight deflected it skillfully with her magical aura.

-” Uh-oh. When we play Ogres & Oubliettes and he puts that many E's in "really", the things don't usually end well.” – Cringing at the bitter memories of almost losing his characters and having to make others, Spike held his fist with his other claw, looking up at Starlight with a worried gaze. Whatever Discord had in mind, he would follow through with it.

-“Don't worry, Spike. Discord and I are old "save Equestria" buddies. He'll be fine. Now, what's next on Twilight's list?” – Starlight asked waving a dismissive hand at the notion. After all, Discord could be powerful enough to handle an army, but power was not everything required to run a school. Leadership was.

-”Heh, I hope you’re right... I’ll fill you in, so let’s go back inside!” – Spike deeply hoped that she was correct. Discord was their friend but sometimes he was not above doing outlandish things if you somehow managed to get on his bad side, or if he wanted to teach you a lesson. Different from Twilight, his lessons weren’t exactly clear nor straightforward, even if he managed to get the message across.

-”Oh Glimmer, I’m just FINE. I wonder if you will be soon enough.” – A deep mischievous voice hummed dozens of meters above, as Discord observed them from the plushy softness of a cloud. With his chin supported on the back of his paw, the spirit of chaos unrolled a copy of Twilight’s list and quietly read through it; although he was getting more and more irritated at each passing line and minute.

Chapter II: The disrespected

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Not much time had transposed since the unicorn and dragon duo entered the school. Luckily for them, classes would start again tomorrow so they could properly go through their to-dos on Twilight’s list. As they walked through the school making sure that everything was organized and all the special artifacts were hidden for the spellvenger hunt, Spike looked up at slightly distraught Starlight while the mare read the exceedingly packed list. As if reading her thoughts, the dragon spoke up.

-“So… Yeah, I know it’s a long list but if we do it as Twilight said, I’m sure we will manage. Let’s head to your room to think it over? We could maybe organize it further for efficiency. Besides, I hid the artifacts for the spellvenger hunt and I ordered school supplies for the week already.”

Smiling at him, Starlight sighed lightly and rolled the scroll to close it. – “Thanks, Spike, and sure thing… I’m not gonna lie, this is a bit of a tall order, but maybe we will get through this okay.” – Closing her eyes for a moment, Starlight pushed the door of her office open…

To be greeted with the buzzing of twitter mites, the Abyss Peacocks, the random clash of thunders echoing through the room and the sound of rattling spikes from cacti that waved back and forth as if they were made from cloth. Discord typed frantically on a typewriter, printing actual text on top of loaf bread and then feeding it to the peacocks; as they tore the loaf to tiny pieces it revealed an actual letter inside, already folded and sealed. Discord picked it up and sent it away with a tiny blow of purple flames from his lips before he leaned back on the chair – “Come in, come in, you’ll let the twitter mites out.”

As the duo looked to the altered room aghast, Spike flinched when a familiar swarm of electrical bugs flew low to the newly formed pond in front of them. As Spike looked around, he was able to spot the bug repellent in a nearby displaced shelf, quickly going for it in order to spray the swarm away.

-“Discord! What do you think you’re doing?” – Starlight questioned in exasperation as her room had been warped senselessly. There were even large trees growing from seemingly nowhere. The biggest held her desk much higher into the room, where Discord lay while typing out documents, enveloping them and sending the letters away via magical flame.

-“Why; you seem like you have an awful lot of things to do in your hands, I just gave them a head start. Besides, no one was at your desk.” – A bit of malice shown in Discord’s smile as he finished typing yet another loaf of bread. However this time he ate the thing swiftly after throwing the bread inside his maw. A few seconds later one of the peacocks burped a letter from its mouth, and it promptly set itself on fire and vanished as the reptilian bird was left looking a bit discombobulated for a few seconds.

Dodging the skylights on the floor and the downpour they brought in afterwards, Starlight stepped forth and used her magical aura to levitate herself to her desk, putting her hands upon it and staring at the spirit of chaos with unspoken temper and a bit of irritation to her features, despite trying to hold a bit of a smile in order to seem cooler towards this whole situation. – “That’s because I’m the one running the school as Head mare; now if you would excuse us Discord, we have a school to run. Why don’t you go relax…? Have some tea, at home.” – Unceremoniously Starlight picked up the chaos spirit despite his physical weight and set them both in front of the doors, pushing him outward with her hands on the lower part of his back. Once he was out of the door, she tried to close it, only to have him put a hoof in the middle to stop the motion.

-“Oh… Some thanks for all my help. Especially after I started to hire all of those substitute teachers for you, and got a monthly supply for the teacher’s lounge.” – Grabbing at the opposite door with a talon, the draconequus let his ears get droopy and gave the purple mare an exaggerated look of a puppy that had been kicked.

-“You did… W-what? Those letters you sent were to call others- Without my consent? Twilight put me in charge, not you, and for a good reason.” – Exasperated, the unicorn put a finger directly upon the draconequus’ chest, poking him while staring into his golden/ruby eyes. A bit of a displeased expression crossed his features for a moment before he gently slapped her hand away from him.

-“I would just love to hear that reason. However, I must state why I jumped at the opportunity. You see dear Glim-Glam; Twilight’s list is not only awfully long, but it also brought to my attention several minor complications that you might have to deal with because our dear purple pony princess prodigy principal didn’t quite take care of them yet, not to say at all.” – Floating forward and into the room again, Discord surrounded her, idly giving one or two flaps from his mismatched wings. – “I just didn’t want you to feel… Overwhelmed.” – Putting his talon and paw together crossing most of his fingers, the spirit of chaos tapped the fingertips of his indexes against each other and pointed both towards Starlight as a sly grin cracked upon his features.

A groan caught in the back of her throat as her expression soured, but before the unicorn managed to retort his tease, Spike answered looking at the tension that had formed. – “That actually does sound kinda helpful Starlight… It was next on our to-do list.”

Silence fell upon the trio except for when the thunder invaded the room and the leaves of the grown trees shook from the currents of wind, the peacocks’ calls being heard afterward. With a deep sigh as she tried to calm herself and overlook how stepped over she had been, Starlight decided to give him the benefit of the doubt despite his meddling.-“… Which teachers did you hire?”

-“Let's not spoil it, shall we? Do not fret dear; they are more than qualified to teach quite a few friendship lessons!” – With a devious chuckle, Discord’s tail flickered back and forth from the sheer enjoyment he was getting at seeing her reaction. Despite their friendship, at the core, the spirit of chaos relished in strong emotions… Besides, he wanted her to realize how wrong she was. She couldn’t fix a problem which she had been set to fail… Even if it wasn’t Twilight’s intention, it was exactly what had happened. – “Talking about spoiling, I hope you like Limburger’s cheese, salmon, and mangos. There are quite a few crates of it available in the lounge.”

An expression of mild disgust crossed Spike’s and Starlight’s face at the same time as they winced at the idea of the strong smell of that particular cheese. Its stench would probably impregnate the entire room in a matter of seconds and be quite difficult to air out afterward. Pinching the bridge of her muzzle, Starlight closed an eye and looked up at Discord with the other. – “… At least please tell us you ordered sealed crates.”

-“Nonsense! Everyone knows that cheese ages more finely when exposed to the elements. Also, the salmon is deeply packed into ice so you don’t need to hurry to eat it. No need to thank me, the acids will do well for a sharp mind.” – waving a hand downwards, he had a cheeky smile plastered across his lips as Starlight groaned in exasperation.

-“I’ll handle it. Worry about getting through the next items before any other intervention.” – Spike was quick to save the situation as he headed off towards the teacher’s lounge, hoping that the mare could keep her cool around Discord. He had learned that at times Discord could be a real friend, but most of the time he would manage to worm his way under your skin if given the chance. He didn’t know what had set him off, but he knew that both the target and the perpetrator were short-tempered, so this smelled like a recipe for disaster. And talking about smells… Spike almost didn’t need to remember the school’s map as the strong scent of raw fish and cheese gave off its location in a very large radius. – “U-ugh… I hope it’s tasty at least.”

Meanwhile back at the counselor’s room, Starlight had made Discord fix almost all of his additions and changes to her room; almost all of them. Although every time she would tell him to change something back without giving enough details, the chaos spirit would exploit the chance to make even more baffling changes. Eventually, getting feed up she massaged her temple and looked up at him. – “Listen, I know it’s your thing to do these changes Discord, but I really gotta get to work on this list. Classes will be up tomorrow and I need to get most of this work down, so could you just return everything to normal?” – This time her expression held more frustration and pleading than anything else.

Raising an eyebrow at her anguish, the draconequus waved a hand dismissively. – “If I must… But try to not wear yourself out dear, tomorrow is still coming and I doubt the plot holes in that list can be filled up so quickly. Get a few mangos to calm your nerves, take breaks, won’t you?” – Patting her hair twice in a patronizing manner, finally, Discord turned to leave as he floated out through the door and snapped his fingers, returning the council room to how it once was; at least for the most part.

Now alone Starlight huffed in exasperation as a groan caught in her throat. Walking up to her desk she brought all needed materials closer so she could do some notes and plans on how to follow through with each elaborate topic of the schedule. – “Ugh, finally… Now let’s see this. Hire teachers? I should call more for backup just in case his happen to be what I think they are-” – and just as Starlight touched the pencil down upon the paper, not a single trace of color came to be. Checking the pencil’s lead, it was black. Confusion hit her for a split moment before she came to the natural conclusion and grabbed an eraser… As soon as she tried to erase the invisible traces from the pencil, several trays of graphite made themselves visible on the former white sheet. Dismayed, she stared at the dysfunctional materials, levitating the sheet of paper with her magical aura and holding it with her hands. When she tried to crumple the dirty paper, however, it collapsed between her fingers like sticky gelatin.

The entrance door creaked open slowly as Spike came in to check upon Starlight. Discord was nowhere to be seen for the moment and although the room looked like it was back to its former self, the disgruntled look of dismay on the unicorn’s face made Spike grit his teeth and suck in some air before raising a brow and then a claw, asking with low hopes. – “I finished the work with the lounge, so how are things on your end?”

Startling the young dragon, Starlight face-planted on her own desk while raising a hand aside and letting the gelatin-like paper sheet slowly slide off from her hand and gain its consistency again as it softly floated downwards.

-“Not good, I take it… But look at the bright side-” – Spike came into the room with his arms raised and a bit of a smile despite the lack of physics he had just witnessed...

-“There is any?” – Asking with false hope and mostly sarcasm, Starlight supported her chin upon the back of her hand. The pungent smell of cheese and fish on spike made she shiver and gag for half a second as she covered her muzzle with her hands and one of her eyes watered.

-“At least the cheese is actually tasty.” – Spike tried to give his most sympathetic smile. But despite his efforts, Starlight pouted and leaned back into her chair while looking at him.

-“Thank you for the help, Spike… And that’s great to know. I feel like these are going to be some long days, but at least we got food thanks to Discord. What else can possibly go wrong?” – Starlight cringed at the realization of her words.

Unfortunately, tempting fate was never a good idea.

--School of Friendship, next morning, 08:49 AM--

As the students left the dormitories and had taken breakfast, readying themselves for a new day of classes and learning about friendship, the new head mare and her assistant discreetly tagged along to check upon each class. The teachers they also hired should be already integrated with classes and expecting for the classes to be in session.

-“So, who did you hire to fill in for the other three teachers that Discord didn’t cover?” – Spike questioned as he and Starlight headed towards Fluttershy’s classroom to check the substitute teacher’s work.

-“I got in contact with Spitfire, Maud, and Trixie. I bet that they can be great teachers.” – Although Starlight’s excitement and confidence in her choices were obvious, Spike had to hide a bit of an expression of doubt that fell upon his features.

-“Oh… Those are some interesting choices, that’s for sure.” – He made his best effort to put up a smile in agreement as they came closer to the classroom; the sound of a booming voice and heavy hooves suddenly getting louder just around the corner.

Starlight had actually noticed the dragon’s hesitation in congratulating her for her choices in hiring; nonetheless, before she could question him about the lack of excitement, she immediately hurried her step as they closed in just in time to hear the screams of both teacher and a student. – “… What is going on-?”

-“BE! MY! FRIEND!” – As Yona shouted, several students of the class came pouring out of the room before the rampaging young yak burst through one of the thin walls by bashing her horns through it. Iron Will looked through the hole with an impressed expression as he stroked his huffy goatee. Staring in horror both Starlight and Spike stood there with their mouth agape at the destruction caused in such a short notice.

-“You… Who are-” – Starlight tried to blurt a barely comprehensible question as Iron Will came through the door instead and posed in front of her, flexing his impressive bulk.

-“I’m Iron Will! Turning pushovers into turnovers! Also working part-time as a substitute teacher in self-assertiveness. 100% satisfaction or you won’t have to pay a single bit.” – Quickly turning his arm, the Minotaur handed the unicorn a business card with his face on it, and advertisement about his seminars. Crossing his arms, he smiled to himself in satisfaction. – “Iron Will sees that we got quite promising students, so promising that they even ended the class early! Ha!” – Walking down the hallway following Yona’s path of destruction, the Minotaur strut away without batting an eye at all the damage left behind.

Spike had to push Starlight’s jaw shut as their eyes switched between the debris and the gaping hole in the wall to the hallways and probably the rest of the catastrophe they had to witness. – “… Uh, at least the guy is sort of a teacher?”

To that statement Starlight groaned deeply as her horn fizzled with magic and unbridled anger, a bit of a red cloud of vapors forming above her head before she took a deep breath and closed her eyes letting it dissipate as she pinched the bridge of her muzzle and looked at the young dragon who had winced at her minimal burst of anger. – “Sorry, sorry… Ugh, let’s just get this done with. I can only hope that the other two won’t be as bad as this one. We will fix the damage later, for now, let’s calm down some of the students.” – Stomping down the hallways and towards where every creature scattered to while entering a power walk, Starlight was followed meekly by her assistant. Despite Spike’s silence, he could kinda understand the reasoning behind this choice as Kindness was very important, but not being pushed around for being kind in a wrong way was too… Unfortunately, the results spoke higher than the intentions. Following her with a sigh, he could only hope that Discord’s next choices would be better and not tick Starlight off even further.

The next hour could be summarized by trying to calm down the students and actually sit through the rest of Iron Will’s class once they were gathered. Despite the Minotaur’s imposing aura and the fact that his temperament often rubbed off upon the others in a very fiery manner, this class wasn’t insufferably bad. Before, all that the unicorn wanted was to see Discord gone, but just for a glimpse of a moment, she also desired that he could be right there in front of her so she could possibly yank an explanation about WHY he would pick that guy out of everyone.

And just as the duo was heading towards the next “soon-to-be-disaster” of a class after the first one was done with and the tiny 10 minutes break was over, Starlight’s wish, and nightmare, came true. She saw an irking familiar long crimson draconian tail with a tuft of white hair at the end slithering through the air defying physics just as they strolled by; gasping and changing directions suddenly, Starlight’s horn flared up and half a second later Spike could feel his body be immersed in a tingly electrical sensation.

-“Discord! Explain yourself!” – She spat boldly with her arms crossed over her chest; the duo had blinked out of existence and reappeared right beside the spirit of chaos with a bright light blue flash. Spike shook his head in slight dizziness as Discord had landed and stood right in front of the hole in Fluttershy’s classroom.

-“About?” – Questioning nonchalantly with a calm tone, Discord had not a single care in the world as he snapped his fingers, generating a bright white spark and then a flash. The hole on the wall was replaced by a large window that maintained the same shape from the hole prior, making a yak shaped window. Meanwhile, the debris all became mini-cement golems, walking around and searching for any other trail of destruction to implement to their bodies.

Feeling her lower eyelid twitching at the sight, Starlight gave what was to be her tenth exasperated sigh in the day. –“The Minotaur. Look at what he did! If you’re trying to sabotage us Discord, you can cut it out right now!” – Slapping her hand to the wall, she instinctively floated upwards to be in Discord’s eye level, her expression livid.

Raising an eyebrow with quite the unimpressed expression, the draconequus’ expression soured as he grimaced at the mare and put a talon to the top of her head, weakening her levitation spell and pushing her downwards to be earth-bound once more. – “It’s insulting that you would think I’m up to such ill intentions when I have the successful outcome of these classes in my best interest. Iron Will is an expert at standing his ground as the name implies, so he is obviously a very interesting choice to show a solution to one of the main logical gaps in kindness. Being too kind can get you to be thrown around, you know.”

-“Still! He is not qualified to be a teacher for kids!” – Starlight basically shouted at him in annoyance.

-“I see… Then we should check if the crew you hired is more qualified perhaps?” – His grimace turned into a sarcastic grin before he walked past her and put his hands behind his back, starting to float up in the air and sliding forward down the hall. – “Besides, we’re late for the next class. Chop chop Starlight, that’s not very attentive of you.”

A moment of deadly silence passed as Spike could feel Starlight’s anger practically emanating from her. Gulping at the notion that a powerful egocentric being and a powerful easy to temper unicorn might snap at each other, the dragon intervened again and hushed her forward by following Discord at a hurried pace.

-“Y-yeah! We’re not that late, let’s go… We can talk more about this later.” – he then mumbled under his breath just for himself as he saw the unicorn catch up and walk past the floating spirit of chaos with determination fueled by her anger. – “Preferably not…”

The second class of the day was going to be taught by Spitfire from the Wonderbolts supposedly over professor’s Dash class. For this particular event, the students went outside and were put under a drill dignified for the Wonderbolts themselves. However after the students were exhausted, which didn’t take very long especially after the lap they gave around the field, unfortunately, Spitfire had to take her leave; her packed schedule didn’t leave much time available to really double as a teacher.

With about half a class left for the students to do nothing more than pant and wait for their hearts to stop racing by the benches, the tense trio observed from the sidelines as Discord stroked his goatee deep in thought while Starlight took the moment to go ahead and praise her own success.

-“See? She taught the students a class properly with no damage to property.” – Gloating about her success with hiring a teacher compared to Discord’s previous pick, Starlight smiled and looked up at the draconequus, only to be taken slightly aback by his unimpressed expression.

-“She surely did; a Physical Education class. That is hardly what we were looking for in loyalty class. Besides, she left in the middle of it and now the students are completely idle and free to roam.” – Extending a talon towards the group, Discord rolled his wrist in the air to emphasize his words as he looked down at the unicorn, breaking her previous bravado as she winced discreetly.

-“… No, they’re not; they should just rest and prepare for the next class.” – She tried to find a way around his accusations, but it was just not working.

-“That would hardly take 30 whole minutes, would it, Hm? I don’t recall any half-hour breaks being unsupervised and between classes or within the detailed plan Twilight left for you to follow to heart. Furthermore, there are other classes that won’t have a teacher to fill in the role for this particular class later on the day, since she just headed back to her real job.” – Putting his paw and talon together, the towering creature leaned down so he could invade her personal space.

Despite all the denial that bubbled within her, even if Starlight was taken off her guard. She couldn’t argue against the spirit of chaos this time, he had a point. She thought it would be a great idea to call in a Wonderbolt, even though Spitfire had warned her that she may have to take her leave soon after the class even began due to unfinished business and practice at the academy. Looking down for a moment Starlight wondered about her other choice in professors. Maud was supposed to teach about geology at Rarity’s class, and Trixie about magic in Twilight’s class… Did she do the right decision?

-“Hey, don’t beat yourself over it. I think Discord is trying to test you; don’t take it too personally.” – The young dragon lightly touched her hand to snap her out of her deep trance, effectively surprising Starlight as she looked down at him with wide eyes, but then smiled.

-“Thanks, Spike… But he really had a point-” – Realization beamed upon her. She frowned in mild confusion at both his statements and the way the young dragon spoke. – “Wait, why are you talking as if he wasn’t listening-” – Looking around, the unicorn had lost Discord from her sigh. He was nowhere near them.

-“Because he isn’t.” – Pointing towards the bench where the students rested, they could see from a distance the surprised expressions most creatures held as soon as Discord intercepted them. However, nervousness and shock were quick to dissipate once the spirit of chaos seemed to play around with them, offering drinks of refreshment that had pretty funky colors and fizzling effects, sometimes even turning the student’s tongues a different color; other times changing their coat colors. Silver Stream seemed particularly thrilled at the concept, drinking her smoothie repeatedly and changing colors intermittently while she didn’t run out of her drink. The other students laughed a bit at the event as Discord stood nearby with his casual playful grin.

-“… Spike, why would Discord test me? I thought we were friends.” – The fact that the spirit of chaos pitched in to fill in the void felt both like a relief and a feeling of defeat for the mare. It felt as if she was somehow letting Twilight down… She clenched her fists. –“Discord seems particularly good with children, huh?” – She blurted her question without giving it much thought.

-“Well, for starters, that’s kinda what he does, even to ponies or dragons he cares about. And for seconds, he always hangs out with Fluttershy and at times, also hangs with the Cutie Mark Crusaders. I know you look at the guy and you don’t see “caring” plastered all over, but he is kinda good at handling children... Most of the time.” – Using air quotes with his claws when he said caring, Spike crossed his arms and looked up at Starlight. He was kinda glad that she wasn’t particularly mad, but it was still difficult to see two of his friends having such a clash. Perhaps it could die down from now on? He hoped so.

-“Well, fine. I’m ready for him. I told Twilight I would run her school right, and I’m gonna keep that promise no matter what.” – With new resolve, Starlight picked herself back together and started to walk towards the group, calling Spike with a smile. – “Come on, let’s join them… We kind of have an unplanned break anyways.” – Even though she still felt a bit bad about the fluke with Spitfire, the class had gone quite well nonetheless and no one had been startled or hurt, and that’s what counted. Despite Discord’s criticism, she would keep her wits sharp for HIS next teachers.

After the short break was over and the students were both well rested and naturally colored once again, for the most part; everyone followed on for the third class of the day, Generosity. Luckily for Spike’s sanity, the class was overall uneventful despite’s Maud wide knowledge about rocks. Unfortunately, she was not the most adequate to teach due to being in a social situation and the way she expressed herself being quite vague and methodical at times. Even though Discord kept his commentary to a minimum, once again he pointed how the teacher had nothing to do with the theme at hand, despite her obvious wide knowledge about geology. This didn’t help much as the animosity between him and Starlight only grew exponentially, turning in a cold war of sorts.

The fourth class in session, they had Honesty. It was a class having a teacher that Discord had hired, and for this round of surprise he brought in: the Flim and Flam brothers.

It was a compliment to say that the class lasted for at least 10 minutes without the duo breaking out into a highly energetic and influencing song.

It was an achievement to say that the arguments were kept mildly reasonable for the next 20 minutes.

It was an understatement to say that the outcome was contained chaos. As the arguments within the class kept escalating further and further, with the help of the brothers as they amiably threw more fuel into the pyre, eventually said arguments became full-blown clashes between the students and the class had not only to be dismissed but contained altogether. Turns out that naïve and easily influenced kids picked up fights out of the blue if nudged far enough and their nerves had been riled up. Flim and Flam tried to be the mediators of the conflict, playing innocent and making tries to appease the situation, only throwing more tension upon the students in a discreet way.

In their way out, the brother’s were intercepted by Discord, who waved a dismissive hand at them and spawned a heavy bag full of bits much to the brother’s immediate delight. Starlight witnessed the act as she just finished dispatching the remaining angry students and trying to clean up the mess left behind. At least the damage to property had been kept to a minimum this time. Once finished, Starlight teleported right in front of Discord once again; her anger was amped enough by this point that her expression was more cold and impatient than anything else as she raised an eyebrow. – “Care to explain your reasoning behind this one? Especially since Twilight and the girls have a bit of a story with them… So you know exactly how those two function.”

Barely acknowledging her, the draconequus looked down with almost the same expression, but his features always had a bit more menace and sarcasm than hers. -“Oh, I do know their past stories together… And who better to teach the downside of certain types of honesty than the main antagonists of Applejack themselves? Of course, they asked to be paid up front for their class, but it’s not like I care much for such trivialities.”

-“You do realize they made a whole class spin out of control and jump at each other’s throat, right?” – Starlight questioned almost rhetorically, her horn sparking up with fizzles of energy.

-“Indeed, I did realize that. Perhaps that will teach our dear sprouts to grow thicker stems… If they’re really gonna be friends, they have to learn how to deal with these situations. After all, some unwelcome honesty shouldn’t shake their cores, should it, Starlight?” – Leaning in closer, Discord had his arms crossed above his chest and an eerie sly smile that contrasted against Starlight’s penetrating cold gaze with raw animosity.

-“That doesn’t excuse the riot and the property damage, again.” – Her tone was the furthest you could fit into passive-aggressive. She knew those words were directed at her instead.

But before the two could claw each other’s face off, Spike came in between them and pushed the duo apart, calling their attention by speaking up. –“Uh oh-ho-ho, you two… There are still two classes left, come on.” – Managing to push each other off, Discord just raised an eyebrow before he turned his gaze away, lifting his muzzle and disappearing in thin air by teleporting.

Starlight felt her horn heating up with the tense magic that was accumulating within it… It would only take one more push, and she swore it would all go downhill from there.

The next class up was about the element of Magic. Trixie’s cue to dazzle and bewilder all of the students. Trusting Trixie the most to manage her class without external help, Starlight decided to sit this one off unless she was called once again to solve the disaster’s left after the class’ duration. Much to the unicorn’s surprise, for the first time in the day, students didn’t riot or ran around the corridors arguing or screaming; no property damage seemed to have been caused, and everyone came out of class fairly satisfied. Sighing in bliss, Starlight gave a look of glee to Spike who faithfully tagged along with her and smiled right back, and after the chatty and happy students had all gotten out of the classroom, Starlight came in to meet Trixie.

-“So I see it all went better than expected. How did you hold up?” – Starlight asked once she stepped up on the class’s main stage with a broad smile, but much to her confusion Trixie held a grumpy expression when she turned around from cleaning the blackboard.

-“I didn’t.” – Tossing the chalk eraser on the bottom part of the board, she crossed her arms above her chest and pouted with an angry expression. Trixie’s hat was adorably tilted to the side upon her head, barely hanging.

-“What? How? The students all looked so happy. It’s alright if you felt nervous” – Starlight stepped forth wearing her best reassuring smile, somehow feeling that her high hopes were all for naught but also hoping against it.

-“I didn’t! Because Discord stole my class!” – And there it was. The spirit of chaos interfered without any request and managed to step over everyone at the same time, again. Trixie had thrown her hands to the air in frustration before placing one on her hips and starting to count with her other hand. – “First he challenged me to teach him about magic; second, he told me that nor was I only not teaching magic, I was doing a magic show instead. And although I can partially agree with the notion, he just went ahead and took over the class as if I were his assistant! Trixie is the star, not a stage assistant! Much less for him of all creatures.”

-“… And the students enjoyed themselves?” – The unicorn had a deep look of confusion plastered across her face. Trixie huffed deeply and rolled her eyes.

-“… Unfortunately, yes. He gave a whole lecture about different types of magic, conjuring actual holograms and demonstrations, eventually calling me to participate from time to time.” – Pouting in a way that could only be described as adorable, Trixie gritted her teeth and turned her head to the side. – “The visuals were attracting enough to keep the students entertained I suppose. BUT THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE TRIXIE’S LECTURE! Who even called him?!”

-“… I didn’t, I specifically told him to stay out of this because I would run Twilight’s school the way she told me to.” – Holding one of her arms with the other hand and her other arm over her chest; Starlight looked up at the auditorium’s seats, where Spike waited idly checking out his scales.

-“Well, then its high time you stop him already, isn’t it? Hmpf.” – playing the offended part, Trixie rose her muzzle to the air and collected her stage props, floating them away and strangely picking up a banana phone in her way out; probably a reminiscent of Discord’s chaos magic.

As much as she didn’t want to agree, Trixie was correct… She had allowed Discord to go too far and for far too long. There was only one class left in the day, and the moment it started going haywire she would put her hoof down.

-“Let’s go, Spike. We got one more of Discord’s class to survive through.” – Coming back up through the stairs between the seats, Starlight called out to the young dragon. Promptly he jumped from his seat and followed. –“Is it much to ask that maybe he already got bored and left?” – Starlight’s tone was pleading by now as if some superior deity could hear her call.

-“Hmmm… Yeah. I really doubt it.” – Looking up at her, Spike’s expression was doused with skepticism.

-“I can dream.” – It was her turn to pout before they took their leave.

As the initial surprise, the class that was most likely hosted in Pinkie’s classroom had been all taken somewhere else, so when the duo in command reached the class it was completely empty. This already raised several questions as to who was the last teacher that Discord had hired.

But this time the duo in charge didn’t have to search for long; as the very walls of the school vibrated with the blasts of sudden music at the highest volume feasible. Cringing at the rave party music, Starlight and Spike exchanged a worried glance before the unicorn teleported them to the source of the sound, the Campus’ Grounds.

And they would regret it. At the center of the grounds, near the fountain stood an extremely impressive set of speakers, with a remix table in between them and DJ PON-3 blasting some sick beats for the students. Meanwhile said students’ opinions diverged wildly about what was just taking place. Some, for example, liked the music and were able to have fun with it, dancing and going with the flow as they danced around and laughed; meanwhile, some seemed to dislike the music and it’s volume overall. Eventually, the students tried to engage in a discussion about both the music and the volume, despite the fact that arguing above the sound was almost impossible, and since Vinyl Scratch always wore large headphones, she was pretty used to not being able to listen to others over her music.

Spike used his claws to cover his ears as best as he could, squinting his eyes as he felt even his body rattle slightly from the intense bass vibrations. Looking around he tried to call out to Starlight in order to try and maybe appease her temper… After all, Discord kept in mind the overall themes of the classes and things related to it, despite his underachieving results at the end of each class. But as soon as he spotted her it was far too late.

Starlight shot a ray of magic towards the main table of the speakers, forcing the volume to decrease exponentially, then teleported herself right in front of the spirit of chaos, floating slightly above with her levitation spell as she stared at him with her temper showing clearly, all manners of subtlety thrown off as her horn flared up with fizzling magic. –“Discord. I know how much you like jokes and to play around just to your own amusement, but this has nothing to do with the element of Laughter.”

Raising an eyebrow and pulling off the sunglasses he had upon his muzzle, the draconequus that was previously relaxing lying down upon a whole bench decided to stand up as his eyes meet with the unicorn’s gaze. His voice was stern, deep and not in the very least amused. – “Oh, I’m very sorry you cannot see the clear lesson here, Glimmer; but just because of that doesn’t mean that I have to stop applying it.” – With a snap of his talons, he unhinged her magical fix on the audio set, allowing the DJ to turn it back to its original volume. Some students groaned in response, and some cheered.

-“Applying what?! Every failed class that happened today was your fault! You’re just trying to ruin Twilight’s school!” – Daring him once again, the floating unicorn shot a small stream of magic towards Discord’s talon; it felt like being hit by a very small lightning.

-“Me?! How could I possibly be the one to blame when Twilight left YOU in charge! If anything, you’re the one that’s in waaay over your head. Twilight is gonna be so thrilled with the way YOU’RE ruining- I mean, running her school.” – Wincing and shaking his talon in reflex, his focus had been shifted entirely to the purple unicorn, his features shifting with equal or worse temper as he bared some of his teeth in a grimace. Due to Discord’s magic being connected to his emotional state, the tunes raving from the speakers started to sound disharmonized and falling apart altogether. The students, slightly fearful of the change and now seeing the clash that was going on, backed off and headed towards the entrances, still observing the argument but at least out of reach.

-“Because I didn’t ask for your help!” – Shouting back at the spirit of chaos, she cast a spell on the speakers that completely disabled them from playing anything. DJ PON-3 shrugged and left the set behind as soon as it became inoperable. – “I had this situation entirely under control before you shown up and hired a raging nutcase, scammers, and a DJ! You may think you’re teaching something with all this convoluted nonsense, but you’re just causing havoc and destruction all around! Why are you trying to make me fail?!”

-“I set you up to fail?! Under control? Oh please! You’re the only one that doesn’t notice how this school is completely understaffed, unprepared to receive, and set up to fail from the very start. I didn’t put you up to this, Starlight, Twilight did.” – With a motion of his paw, he deactivated her magical Aura, forcing the unicorn to drop to ground level as he glared at her from above.

Spike suddenly pushed both apart, with a claw upon Discord’s thigh and the other upon Starlight’s shoulder. – “Wait! Let’s calm down! I’m sure we don’t need to get hasty.” – Looking upwards, he shivered unconsciously when he was met with fervent glares.

-“You’re just saying that because this school is not the way you like! A riot!” – Her horn now sparked up with raw might from her magical aura, her scowl deepening.

-“Perhaps my teaching methods weren’t crystal clear, and my crew might not have been the most adequate at the start, but it doesn’t change the fact you choose teachers that were incapable of completing their turn, socially interacting and presenting a proper class. On top of that, none of your teachers had absolutely anything to do with the classes’ themes. Strife may not be a beautiful side of friendship, but it happens.” – To her display of aggression, Discord raised his muzzle and looked down at her with a snarl, swiping his tail around and suddenly pushing Starlight further away from him. A grin shifted on the place of his snarl as he suddenly shifted the angle of his head and shrugged with his shoulders. – “But well, don’t worry if you can’t handle the decisions. I’m happy to pitch in if you need me.”

At that taunt, the very air around them charged up with raw magic as she lowered her head, her horn glowing stronger by the second.

-“Hey-hey-hey! Take it easy, Starlight! Discord's your friend, remember?” – For the last time, Spike tried to interrupt the fight, standing between the offended parts as he spread his arms as far as they could go.

-“Well, he is not acting like it!” – Starlight accused, her glare not budging from the draconequus.

-“… She is right Discord, what is your problem?” – Looking up at the fellow male, even Spike was puzzled about Discord’s sudden aggression. Of course that they were sharing accusations, but he just felt like he was between the cross and the sword.

-“My problem..?” – He said with anger coating his tone, suddenly leaning down and invading Spike’s personal space, before looking back up at Starlight. – “How is the fact that Twilight is barely holding this place together alongside the others, and just suddenly decides to put an incompetent and power-hungry unicorn in charge of her school, MY PROBLEM?!”

And this was the breaking point. Spike barely had a moment to spare as he dodged out of the way to save himself. The air around the trio quickly sizzled with unbridled energy as the sound of her horn charging up exploded outwards alongside a blaze of searing light, hitting the draconequus head-on and engulfing him in enough light to make everything else obscured by the show. Amidst the shot it seemed like he had been disintegrated from existence; the remnants of energy blasted through a few trees and carved burns upon the nearest walls, provoking a few windows to break nearby from the sheer heat and vibrations.

The students and the young dragon stared at the scene that played in front of them in pure horror, aghast and shocked. As the dust fell back down and the magical charge and lights faded away, Discord was no more.

Staring with wide eyes at the results of her impulsiveness, Starlight swallowed dry and looked at the students, who immediately shuddered and placed their hands upon their mouths or chests.

-“I… He is alright everybody! Don’t worry, I just… teleported him too far away from here; heh.” – The unicorn found herself in a very poor situation, despite the fact that her explanation managed to put the students slightly more at ease once they thought she had not blown the draconequus to death. After all, he couldn’t… He wouldn’t die of a harsh teleportation spell, would he?

-“Oh; you hardly did.” – No, he wouldn’t. –“This is teleporting.” – Discord’s voice reverberated through the air venomously and menacing. Spike looked up in worry as his latest memory of Discord using that echoing voice was always linked to the times where he had been lashing out upon others. Clenching his fists, he bit his lower lip. – “If only I could stop them and make them talk this out..!” – The thought rapidly crossed his mind, as he scanned for a solution to this sudden crisis.

And just as he pondered, white sparkles burned rapidly around Starlight as she was yanked out of existence and placed exactly 300 meters above in the air. The unicorn yelped at the startle and strength of the teleport but was rather quick to activate her levitation spell in order to not plummet to her doom. Thunder boomed towards her being emitted from the lightning of a dark pink cloud. Upon it, the spirit of chaos laid upon his stomach with a sinister playful smirk. -“You do realize you just proved my point, don’t you? Not only you cannot run this school by yourself, you also don’t have enough power to fend me off.”

With a light growl of annoyance, the unicorn shot a laser beam that destroyed the cotton candy cloud in which he rested. The thing set on fire as soon as the energy blasted through it, burning exactly like sugar.

Flapping his wings to get away, the spirit of chaos cackled with delight as he let his talons charge up with a golden aura. If this was the game she wanted to play, then so be it.

On the ground, Spike helplessly watched the conflict unfurl to even worse levels as he nervously put his claws to his mouth out of nervous habit, chewing them lightly. As a magical explosion happened hundred of meters above looking very alike fireworks and sounding like them too, Spike suddenly felt someone pull him by the shoulder, giving a light scream before being turned around to face the student body.

-“What is going on?! Why are head mare Starlight and he fighting? Although, the light show looks amazing!” – Silverstream asked at a rapid pace.

- “And dangerous!” – Ocellus added.

-“I don’t know!” – Spike threw his arms open in exasperation as another explosion went off in the sky. Suddenly orbs of light formed, one light blue and the other was purple, they bounced off each other and upon impact, creating magical lightning and thunder. – “Starlight and Discord are friends! But both are acting so unreasonable today! Eh; even more so than usual.” – He shrugged with a shoulder and sighed by the end.

-“Maybe they just offended each other? It’s doesn’t matter who is really wrong. Even my parents manage to lose their cool when they get under each other’s skin… They become so not cool, so fast.” – Sandbar said as a gust of wind passed through the campus, shaking trees and making the water from the fountain fly off a bit from its spray.

-“… That’s it.” –As if a ray of hope and sunshine had beamed upon him, Spike smiled and put a claw to his forehead. – “I have to get them to apologize!”

A moment of silence passed; followed by another gust of wind and the crack of thunder again. Suddenly it started to rain grape juice.

-“Cool… And how will you get them to do that?” – Gallus’ expression contorted as he saw the purple colored raindrops starting to change the fountain’s coloration, and it was also falling upon everyone.

-“That’s… A work in progress.” – With that, Spike sighed, and everyone decided to run inside. Whatever he had to do, he had to get the message through… And even though it was going to be complicated, he had just the idea.

Chapter III: Broken Cycle (part I)

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--School of Friendship, 15:26 PM--

As the school building trembled on its foundation due to the intense explosions going skyward outside, the students unconsciously shivered in fear as they all headed towards the observatory. Given that only one member or two could fit within the tower properly at a time, but the area that possessed the tower was the most elevated in the school and gave access to a panoramic view over the campus and the city of ponyville with its telescope.

-"So let's go through this again… You want us, to stop them?" – Gallus asked with a bit of a sarcastic look to his features. Right on cue with his words, thunder roared in the skies as a barrage of pies rained down for a brief moment, going towards the campus' grounds. Looking at this nonsense with widened eyes, his gaze snapped back at Spike who led them. – “How?!”

-“I know it sounds impossible, but Discord and Starlight kinda ran over each other, and now they’re lashing out because they’re upset! We just gotta remember them that they were trying to help the school in the first place, not prove each other wrong; somehow.”

At this, a collective groan was heard. Sandbar rolled his eyes while Yona smacked her forehead with a hand. They were getting closer to their destiny.

-“So, guess we have to play the adult’s roles again, huh?” – Smolder remarked being snarky.

-"Heh, tell me about it." – Spike shared the feeling. Despite how much he had grown in all those years, sometimes he was forced to be the voice of reason when everyone else was acting irrationally... It would be an achievement on his list to add that he calmed down two former villains clawing at each other's throat.

Reaching the doors Spike threw them open. Immediately a torrent of air and snowflakes flew past the group and over the bridge to the observatory. Swallowing dry, the dragon looked up briefly to catch a glimpse of Starlight conjuring magical seals while Discord freely pivoted around her and used all sorts of different matters to counter her spells, dashing out of the way at times or even; splitting his body in half to let the magical shots go through him.

Shivering at the sight, Spike raised a claw to the air. – “… Alright, let’s put a stop to this!” – He shouted to the others while they made a b line towards the tower. All of the group could observe how utterly messed up the campus looked in the wake of the magical duel that the duo started; much of the fountain grounds were burnt, covered in pie, grape juice, snow, and several windows were broken, launching glass shards forth. –“…Twilight won’t like this.”

-"They'll be lucky if they don't get a rainbow blast to their faces." – Smolder remarked as a particularly strong gust of wind came upon the group. The dragoness helped Ocellus to not be pushed over the other side of the bridge as she slid with the currents. –“Woah-!”

-"Hang on everyone!" – Spike jumped forward and opened the tower's doors, hushing them inside as he waved with a claw and gritted his teeth. Once the students ran inside, he looked upwards again, the light show intense as ever. – "First, we need to get their attention; Kinda hard when they’re so far up… And… F-fighting.” – Gulping with nervousness, Spike racked his mind for answers to this crisis.

-“I think we could take care of that…” – Gallus looked at Smolder and Silverstream with a tiny nod that spread to them.

-"Oh, this is gonna be dangerous!" – Even with this statement, Silverstream sounded excited as she put her talons together.

-“Hah, can’t complain about some excitement.” – Smolder kept her cool despite the pandemonium that was going down outside.

-“Alright! Whatever you have in mind, be careful about it! Well then, when we get them to stop we should make them look at what they did! I’m sure they’ll stop as soon as they notice the wreckage.”

-“W-we could try to help!” – Ocellus nervously offered as she looked at Sandbar and Yona; they both nodded. – “To save the school…”

-“I’ll stay with you to help! I just need to get the telescope first!” – Spike hurried to go up in the tower as another magical explosion went off above, inside the pink clouds.

-“Hah, can’t wait to see my parent’s faces when I tell her how this day went!” – Sandbar said playfully while in awe at the clash.

Spike shuddered as he peeked through the door with a nervous smile. -“Please, don’t share this story.”

Far above within the dense pink clouds, Starlight felt her horn sizzling with heat as she made a dome of energy expand and push all the fluffy candy formations away, shoving the spirit of chaos alongside them as he put his arms in front of himself to block the impact.

-“Everything was going to be just fine until you came along, hiring that random bunch, filling the lounge with disgustingly smelly food and making every single class spin into utter chaos!”

-“Oh, I doubt that. Your crew didn’t have any more success than mine did; a busy captain that had to leave, a stoic geologist and a magic show’s pony? How is that in any way more effective? At least I kept the lessons in mind… Friendship is chaos after all.” – With a snap of his fingers, Discord opened a vortex of water right above the unicorn. Teleporting masterfully, Starlight dodged to the right and shot another beam of magic at the spirit of chaos.

But this time, Discord stood perfectly still as he extended his hand in front of him, blocking the shot and letting it accumulate in a tiny ball of energy. Raising an eyebrow, he held the sphere with two talons and it changed from light blue to white, starting to shimmer like a small contained firecracker. – “A banishment spell, again? You can’t get rid of me with this sort of stuff, Glimmer.”

-“First off, don’t use logic to excuse your failures! Just because I failed doesn’t mean you get to ruin my responsibilities! And I’ll figure out how to make you leave since you won’t!”

Clicking his tongue in disappointment, Discord shook his head as he launched the flare of magic upwards, it started crackling and sparking like a real firecracker, and a powerful one at that. – "I'm deeply anguished by "ruining" your opportunity to impress Twilight; not that this school started buckling upon its pillars as soon as our dearest heroines left... Not at all.”

Gritting her teeth, the mare shot a beam of energy straight at the blinding magical firecracker; much to her surprise the tiny sparkling and sizzling sphere absorbed her magic and diminished in size as if getting more concentrated with energy. Discord slit his eyes and Starlight raised an arm to shield her retinas from the blinding spotlight that had formed between them. Currents of wind started to pick up and twirl in the white light core’s direction. - “You’re just saying that to justify this whole mess! Why couldn’t you accept that you’re not cut out to help with this?!”

-“For the same reason that you took every opportunity to undermine me at every chance!”

-“YOU’RE CHILDISH!” – Starlight shouted as a large red cloud steamed from her horn.

-“AND YOU’RE ARROGANT!” – Discord spat right back viciously as the air around him charged up with chaos magic.

-“YOU’RE ONE TO TALK!” – But as they spun around, ready to charge at each other once again, the white core of magic and light became unstable and collapsed upon itself, half a second later exploding in a large deafening high pitched sound and unbearable intense light as both the draconequus and the unicorn where thrown several meters back, disorientated and temporarily possessing a very poor hearing as their ears rang from the sound wave.

Shaking his head from one side to another and rubbing his eyes, Discord snarled as he mentally scolded himself for forgetting to pay attention to the collapsing firecracker as they bickered like fools. The draconequus actually flapped his wings to stay airborne instead of relying completely on his floating abilities, granting him more perception upon his own balance while in midair, in case of Starlight decided to use foul play.

And as he finally managed to open his eyes, still having his vision full of spots from retinal exhaustion, something vaguely round came in zooming straight for his face.

-“What-” – Discord barely managed to sputter as a snowball crashed on his head, entering his eyes and covering his face with cold solid water that smelled vaguely like grape juice. Shaking his head vigorously, the lord of chaos rubbed his eyes faster this time and looked around, ears spinning to detect any other incoming projectiles despite his mild deafness. – “I like the change of tactics!” – His vision was still faulty and his ears were not doing a great job at telling when attacks were incoming; Discord was still hit by other 3 snowballs, barely dodging another two. He chuckled at this new game that Starlight apparently started.

However, his amusement lasted shortly before an actual fireball cut through the pink and white mist, blazing through the sky as he ducked out of the way with a yelp, looking upwards to watch it go and disperse after existing the mist of the magical explosion and the clouds. –“Fire?! I may be immune, but I call that a bit much, Starlight!” – Squinting at the original hole that the ball of fire made while coming through, Discord huffed letting two poufs of steam come off from his nostrils and put a talon around his lion arm, pushing his skin and his shirt’s sleeve upwards. – “Well, if you want to play with fire, who I am to decline?” – Snarling slightly, the chaos spirit dived off from the radius that the mist from the explosion and destroyed clouds made.

Meanwhile, on the extreme end of the mist sphere, Starlight nervously kept herself still as she blinked repeatedly to try and get her eyes to work properly again, failing miserably as most of what she saw were several spots of bright light. She had been stupid to trigger the slightly contained firecracker, knowing full well that it may explode but getting too engrossed into the childish bickering she had with the draconequus to remember to dodge.

Much to her surprise, the unicorn received a tiny barrage of snowballs hurled at her as she instinctively created a magical shield around her to prevent them from making contact. Her ears rang dully, but if Discord planned to mock her any further and lure her into a trap, he would see what she had ready for him.

Charging up her horn with a spell that she thought wouldn’t fail, Starlight also descended from the misty sphere.

However, as both the rampant overpowered offenders came out ready to charge at each other yet again, they were faced with a young trio, made up of a hippogriff, a griffin, and dragon. Both Discord and Starlight narrowed their eyes as they looked at the group in confusion and with blurred vision.

-"What are you three doing up here?!" – Starlight suddenly had her eyes wide with shock as she flung her arms open and her threatening sizzling horn started to fade down until the only spell activated was the one that kept her levitating. She still felt livid towards Discord, but endangering the students would be the last thing she would ever want to do.

-“Uh, trying to stop you two from destroying the school?” – Smolder delivered with a deadpan and shrugging her shoulders.

-“Destroying the school- ha! What a bizarre idea. We were only having a friendly spar… From which you should stay away from.” – Waving a paw dismissively at them, Discord crossed his arms as he still squinted at the students. Despite feeling the same towards the unicorn, he wouldn’t get the children caught up in their “amiable duel.”

Gallus huffed and scowled at the duo, but they could barely see his expression shifting. Before they could protest any further, a green strong light shone from under them as the second group on the ground caught they cue; surely the flying trio could try their luck at explaining why they had to stop their fighting, but just in case they didn’t have time to do so it was best that the others managed to get their attention.

And they did. As Starlight and Discord shielded their eyes from the green spotlight pointed directly at them, Gallus and the others started to descend and expected to be followed. – “Yeah? Well, if it's such a contained friendly duel, then why don't you come down and check out the damage, huh?"

Worry settled within them to a level as the unicorn and the draconequus gave each other a discreet glance. And as both noticed each other’s stare, they huffed and looked the other way… Their clash was far from resolved, but they couldn’t ignore the student’s intervention. Secretly, both of them hoped they didn’t cause as much damage as they had imagined.

Turns out the damage were not like they imagined at all. It was far worse than that.

After Starlight cast a simple spell to fix her vision and Discord's eyes got a quick reset by his own chaos magic, they stood amidst the destruction. Starlight nervously looked around with a hand to her chest, while Discord held the back of his talon with a paw against his chest too, his ears pinned down as he felt quite a bit of guilt stinging his consciousness with much more intensity than his sheer hurt pride could.

As the pair stood in shameful silence as their eyes glanced around; their attention only got driven back to reality as the thump of small clawed feet on the grass could be heard over and over. When they looked down Spike huffed, streams of steam coming from his nostrils and he had his arms crossed over his chest.

The silence before was shameful, but it started to get awkward as both the young dragon and the students waited for the guilty party to speak up. Sensing this, Discord obviously tried to redirect attention as he lifted a paw to the air. – "Soooo… How did you fellows actually project that green light-?”

-“A large empty can, a window pane and Spike’s flames.” – Gallus retorted shortly before spinning the subjects back around. – “But we didn’t bring you down to talk about that.”

-“Have you looked around yet? If so, good! Now could you tell us why did you two do this?!” – Spike threw his arms wide open, to which both got defensive as they discreetly winced. Starlight was quicker to respond.

-"I was trying to get rid of him so he would stop interfering on my job and let me run things right!" – She put a hand to her chest and used the other to point at the draconequus.

-“Oh, please. Sooner or later you would run into trouble. And for the record, you didn’t manage to do even that, despite this latest stunt of yours.” – Discord scowled as he dusted his clothes with a talon; they were slightly worn and burned at the tips, especially after the blast he had gotten directly from her charged horn.

-“Not as much trouble as you brought in, that’s for sure.” – Turning to face the spirit, she looked into his eyes with an irritated expression.

-“Sure, the classes I hired for, got a bit out of hand, whatever; at least I actually cared about keeping within the theme, unlike somepony...” – The lord of chaos emphasized his last word, leaning forward to meet her glare as he lowered his head.

-"But you..!-" – Starlight started to retort, but then they got cut out by Smolder this time, who pushed them apart and flown between them, with a glare of her own.

-“I think you’re missing the point.” – The orange dragon said and rotated her claw around, calling attention to the campus grounds once again. Spike stepped forth with a heavy sight.

-“Don’t you get it? It doesn’t matter who was more wrong! You both forgot what you were doing and then you just started to try to prove each other wrong!” – Stepping up to them, the purple dragon pointed a claw at each one, per turns as he spoke up accusingly. – “Discord! You only leaped at the chances to comment about how bad Starlight's choices were, and how she could fail at every turn. And Starlight, we both know that he can get a bit out of hand but until a certain point, I think he actually wanted to help. The point is, you just kept trying to kick each other down and now look at this mess! You shouldn’t have provoked her, and you shouldn’t have tried to banish him from the school. It’s not like that would have worked out anyways.” – The young dragon deadpanned at both. While Starlight took the commentary a bit more heavily due to how deep she let it affect her, Discord took another approach trying to deny the truth.

Wincing and rolling his eyes, the draconequus waved a talon dismissively at the reprehensions. – “Ugh, fine, if your sole problem is the aftermath, then here we go.” – Readying himself to snap, Discord raised a talon as his magic quickly charged up; but much to his surprise he hastily got stopped by Spike, who jumped up and seized his arm and brought it down with his weight, forcing the taller figure to tilt forward a bit in surprise.

-“… You don’t get it, do you? It’s not about the damage alone Discord.” – His tone had mellowed out as he let his hand go and sighed, looking to the group of students, then back to the draconequus. – “While you two were fighting, the school was shaking on its base, explosions going off everywhere, crazy weather and things falling from the sky. Honestly, it was kinda freaky- Not for me, since I have been through one of your rampages before. Scratch that, two of them." – He put two claws up but expected now a different answer from Discord… And it seemed to have worked.

Straightening his back up, he looked at the students with a bit of actual worry plastered across his features. – “Freaky?”

Even Starlight was taken aback by how specifically hurt Discord sounded in his wording, despite the fact he only questioned with a single word. Smolder looked around and stepped forth, taking the first turn. – "Yeah, I mean… In the beginning, it was the cool type of freaky. I mean, crazy drinks that change our colors? Awesome magic show and class actually showing each of us can do magic? Sure that was cool… But this was actually the scary type of freaky. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't afraid, but Ocellus almost got blown off by the wind alone."

As the attention got shifted upon her, Ocellus put her hands together nervously and sighed, trying to remain positive about this as she looked up at the strange creature. – “Y-yes, I almost got blown away. I mean, I could have turned into something heavier but, I didn’t think of it at the time…”

-“Oh… Oh. I see, I-… I didn’t really mean to endanger any of you. I just thought you all could use some trickier lessons… And the school could have been livelier.” – Downcast, Discord actually looked troubled by the first time since this whole pandemonium started. His gaze was directed at the ground for a moment before he took an extended moment to fully take in the extension of his actions. He stuttered for words but managed to look up at the students as he held his closed talon with a paw and shrugged off the difficulty to be sincere. – “I thought that any damage that would happen in case the classes got a bit rowdy could easily be fixed, but things spun out of control to unforeseen levels, even for me. What I mean to say is…” – he took a bit of a breath to steady his thoughts and keep his emotions at bay as he opened his hands in an apologetic gesture. – “I’m sorry.”

As the spirit of chaos uttered his words and calmed down completely, letting the feeling of guilt settle into him and preparing himself for any backlash, a white dome of magic subtly expanded from him in rapid pace, fixing everything that had been damaged or altered in the whole school at once while creating a new current of winds and changing the overcharged magical atmosphere.

Immediately the students in front of the group had their expressions lighten up, cheering to see their beloved school back to its normal self and seeing everything fixed. Discord calmly let a small smile linger on his lips for a moment before he sighed to himself, turning around and readying a spell to teleport himself home and try to pretend this day had not occurred, because Fluttershy surely would not like to get winds about this. However, as the draconequus walked away gently and lifted a talon to cut through space itself, Starlight who had been quiet walked right in front of him, turning the attention of the cheering students back to the duo as their frolic died down.

-“Wait! I have one thing to tell you, Discord.” – Starlight stood right in front of him, sturdy and with renewed determination. Most of the students winced at the sight since the previous clashes had started like that and ended quite badly… But this time there was something different in the unicorn’s eyes.

-“… Oh; do go on.” – Discord tried to hold back the mild scowl that crept upon his features. Whatever long speech she was about to give to reprehend him, he knew he deserved it; despite his obvious monotone and annoyance.

-“I’m sorry, too.” – She seemed saddened as she spoke with honesty.

-“What?” – Discord’s eyes went wide with the sudden apology. It didn’t make any sense. - “Why?”

-“All this time I have been so worried about getting everything to run exactly like Twilight implied, that I really thought you didn’t care about helping the school at all. I thought you just wanted to test me and break my nerves-” – Starlight started just to be interrupted by the chaos spirit.

-“That’s partially true, yes-” – without any shame Discord simply admitted to it.

-“Listen, Discord.” – She put her hands together while looking up at the draconequus, her expression shifting from a deadpan back to its previous emotion as she brought the words from her heart. – “I was so caught up in thinking that you just wanted to mess around and ruin things for me, that I didn’t notice you actually wanted to help. And on top of that, it also slipped me that you felt left out.” – Starlight’s temper was completely gone, and she looked up at him with empathy and understanding; and quite a bit of patience, actually.

As all of the attention and eyes suddenly turned towards Discord, he shrugged and turned away from her, waving a dismissive talon at the idea before crossing his arms. – “Uh, I-… I don’t know what you’re getting at.” – Even though he had already put in some effort to apologize, it was by no means easier to show his exact feelings to everyone; and unfortunately, she had jabbed him where it hurt.

-"No one ever invited you to the school, and when you offered to help I was inflexible. Given that you actually lived up to my fears of what your help might turn out to be; I think you just did it because I shunned you. I mean, the students seemed to like your class whenever you intervened… Despite a few multiple bumps with Iron Will, the brothers, and the DJ.” – She enumerated with a bit of a smirk but was quick to return to the matter at hand. – "Maybe if I had taken time to actually request your opinions, and you had not stepped over mine, things wouldn’t have turned out this way…” – Her sincerity came from a place of truth, but there was something else lying under her words; a sense of hurt.

- “…And?” – Discord instigated, looking over his shoulder with his expression set between neutrality and a bit of worry. He knew what she was going to point to next, but he wanted her to bring it up first.

-“… Do you really meant those things you said about me; or were you trying to get me worked up?” - Just as he imagined, his words had hit a very sore spot for the unicorn about her past. A wound she had but detested to remember.

With a heavy sight, Discord turned around to face her. His long ears twitched upwards slightly as he noticed the students staring at them in utter silence, admiring that they were exposing their feelings but at the same time apprehensive about every turn that each of them took to speak up. Swallowing dry and trying to survive the sheer emotionality of the moment, Discord prepared himself to take his turn as he pressed his talons into his lion arm, uncrossing his arms but holding one across his chest in an unconscious defensive display. – “… I know exactly how hard you’re working to overshadow your past deeds. And perhaps, even if you’re correct about my… Urgh… “Feelings”;” – After gagging before sputtering the word, he made air quotes and rolled his eyes before continuing. – “I used that particular sentence to irk you… I was… Upset, indeed. And I knew that bringing that up would make you lose composure.”

-“Aaaand?” – Spike chimed in as he grinned at the chaos lord, raising his eyebrows and rolling his claw in the air to instigate the taller creature to continue.

Breathing in and raising his head, Discord felt his hackles standing up reflexively as he squints his eyes and gritted his teeth, proceeding to pinch the bridge of his muzzle with his paw pads. – "… Fine! I was upset because not only the girls did not include me in a milestone of their life, they also had not prepared in advance to run this school without their own aid and on top of that, they deposit all the responsibility upon you as if you could just magically solve all of the staff’s problems overnight. I was upset that no one was even willing to listen to my ideas, despite my lack of grasp about how certain aspects of “friendship” should be taught. You weren’t responsible for the flood that I brought in, but I made you the sole drop of water that was missing for everything to break down. I was just… Mad.” – At the end of the honest display of his feelings, Discord avoided eye contact with Glimmer out of sheer embarrassment and had his arms crossed.

Spike was taken by surprise from witnessing this coming from Discord of all creatures. The students by turn were less surprised and more in awe for a moment, before they looked at each other with small smiles of their own. Sometimes friends blew fights out of proportion because of how they felt; it didn't mean they couldn't be friends anymore.

Starlight visibly stifled a chuckle as her shoulders went up and down a bit, she put a hand to her forehead as she sighed and looked up to the draconequus in exasperation but holding a bit of a smile. – “Next time, just tell me how you’re feeling and what you want instead, alright?”

This actually gave him the window of opportunity he needed to perk up again, his confidence returning as he answered with a playful tone, holding an elbow with a paw as he turned a talon to the air and looked at her with a sly grin. -“But then, we'd miss out on all those delightful misadventures.”

Starlight actually chuckled in return as she tilted her head and furrowed a brow. – “You sound like Trixie when I almost- …Got her in deep trouble indirectly.” – She avoided saying that she almost got the blue unicorn lynched by three possessed ponies just because said unicorn was being very annoying and dense. That wouldn’t sit right with the students, but Discord’s features twisted in amusement as he got what she really meant.

-“Perhaps your taste in friends happens to involve a taste for trouble.” – He provoked her while inspecting his polished claws.

-“Eeeh, don’t use that as an excuse to cause more ruckuses around me.” – Starlight quickly warned while retaining her smirk but pointing a finger at him and flaring her horn for a moment, letting sparks crackle.

-“Consider it considered.” – Raising both hands to the air, Discord shrugged with a smile and closed his eyes as he gently waved his tail around. He wouldn’t admit to not be reprehended, but part of him found that magical duel actually fun; another reason why he thought about making Starlight his roommate someday. However, he shuddered slightly when Spike grabbed his tail, pulling at the fluffy tip.

-“Finally! I thought the school would be a crater by the time you two actually made up.” – The young dragon said smugly before the crimson tail flickered it’s fluffy tip back in his face, suddenly wrapping around his torso and bringing the reptile up to Discord’s eye level. – “But all’s well that ends well, right?”

-“Not in tarnation, it isn't, Spike!" – A sudden familiar southern voice shouts from the doors to the campus' grounds. All eyes snapped towards the farmer mare as she burst through the doors and quickly closed the distance between her and the group. She was slightly disheveled, had dirt over her hooves and the signs of being worn out tainting all of her figure and clothes.

The element of Honesty had always been a torn on Discord’s side, and as he gritted his teeth, this time it seemed like it would be no different. Reflexively he lowered his tail, letting Spike go in order to assume a more imposing instance, trying to convince that he was not bothered by the way Applejack approached them at all.

-"Ah was minding mah own chores at Sweet Apple Acres when suddenly the school is shooting dangerous fireworks and explosions! The strange weather was all over it and several bits of the entrance were floating off several meters in the sky. Ah could recognize from anywhere that was your handy work, Discord! Now do you bunch mind to tell me what actually happened?!” – Applejack was furious. Despite her anger being mostly turned at Discord, for the time being, her scowl soon fell upon Starlight as well as she stood in front of them; chest rising and falling quickly showing how she probably ran from one end of ponyville to another because of their little stunt.

Of course she was mad. As one of the few qualified staff members capable of keeping the school together and running; watching it be warped and taken over by two overpowered people that came off as irresponsible due to their exploding tempers must have been unnerving. Starlight gritted her teeth and stepped forth to try and start an explanation. – "You see, Applejack… A few miscommunications happened..."

But just as Discord’s attention was starting to dissolve away from the bothersome situation he was suddenly thrown in, one of his sensitive ears rotated around as it caught the sound of a camera. Despite being able to look all around with how flexible his neck was, the spirit of chaos was unable to detect exactly where the clicking sound came from. And just as he was about to launch his hand upon a spell to facilitate his search, Starlight tugged at his worn sleeve to catch his attention.

-“Right, Discord?” – She looked up at his eyes, but his sleeve tore apart when she pulled at a burnt piece of it. Her eyes went a bit wide from the accident.

-“Oh? Ah, sure thing.” – Discord said in blind agreement, still suspicious but not completely capable of focusing on his previous thoughts as Applejack intervened.

-“Well then, I would surely like to hear more details about this miscommunication of yours.”

Biting the inner side of his mouth, Discord rolled his eyes at the farmer. – “This ought to be fun.” The draconequus thought in silence as they followed her. She was leading everyone back inside.

Meanwhile, a pony was discreetly heading off from the school and towards the train station; giving a last glance at the school of friendship and a quick peek at the freshly taken photos with satisfaction.

Chapter IV: Broken cycle (part II)

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--School of Friendship, Night 21:46 PM—

It had taken only about an hour and some change for Applejack to actually manage to calm down the school’s population and get Discord and Starlight to properly apologize for the utter havoc that happened during the day… But they were far from done despite calming everyone down. After the episode of pure mayhem, the students took off to the surrounding town or their quarters with the promise that everything would be running smoothly by the next day, as it should.

As for the overpowered prodigy of the freakout and the petty spirit of chaos; the duo got rounded up by Applejack as they were taken around the school to clean remnants of astray magic from the generated conflict. By the end of the day, all of the teachers previously hired had already taken their leave or been disposed of.

As night fell, most of the students seemed to be back inside safely; Cozy Glow strangely was one of the last students to make it back to her quarters, claiming to Starlight and the others briefly that she got quite scared and decided to walk around at the town of ponyville to calm her nerves before going back to the school.

Nonetheless, none of the mares responsible for the school was too stoked about the news they received from the recently terrorized students. Applejack made a short work of reuniting the entire mane six with the help of Twilight, since the Alicorn didn’t take long to arrive alongside Pinkie Pie after Discord’s and Starlight’s little magical quarrel went off, due to the fact that the magical explosions were set several hundred meters up in the air and were sufficiently bright to shine all the way to Canterlot. As soon as the princess of friendship and the party planner were filled into the events by AJ, Twilight pinched her muzzle’ and closed her eyes while claiming that the conversation they would have with everyone was going to be a lengthy one; despite’s Pinkie’s lack of response to this, she seemed particularly bothered and frankly disappointed towards the sudden turn for the worse that everything took, specially due to who was responsible for it.

As if pretending not to be bothered by the fact he was going to receive the scolding of the year wasn’t enough, Discord had to help regroup his own “executioners” as his magic happened to be the only thing convenient enough to be capable of entering contact with the remaining separate mares and safely teleport them back in case they were done with their own businesses. It took quite a while for Rainbow Dash to be liberated from her duties at Mount Everhoof; and Fluttershy, and Rarity also took their time at Manehattan with their own challenges and problems to tackle. Eventually everyone was finally done with their tasks and was summoned to Twilight’s office at the school of friendship, and as the mares were well aware of everything that went down, they grouped around the culprits as Spike silently went back to Twilight’s side, getting a sympathetic gentle caress to his cheek for having to deal with this troublesome pair.

-“So to recap all of this…” – Starting in a mildly frustrated tone, Twilight frowned as she looked up at Discord and then down to Starlight. Disappointment clear in her features but not aimed at only one of them at the moment. – “After we left you in charge of the school with Spike’s help and went off to deal with our other responsibilities, Discord came in “offering to help” and actively intervened in several things which he wasn’t qualified to oversee; And sure, he can get under your skin pretty fast but you thought blasting him halfway through the school’s campus ground was a good idea?!” – For a moment Twilight sounded as incredulous as she was baffled. It was as if she wanted someone to tell her that this wasn’t the actual truth.

A moment of tense silence befell the group… The draconequus rolled his eyes and briefly sucked in a breath as he opened his mouth, but was interrupted by Starlight before one of his snarky sarcastic remarks could dig them deeper into the crater that already had formed around them. – “I may have let myself be carried by my gut when he… Stepped over the limits, again and again-” – she rolled her hand for emphasis as Discord furrowed one brow and raised another towards her. – “But in the end what was really happening was that I was feeling steeped over, and surely I was being stepped over, but Discord also felt forcefully excluded from even trying to aid at all.” – The purple unicorn’s voice sounded empathetic, although she wasn’t giving Discord a green flag for all of his previous actions.

All the mares exchanged glances between themselves, Spike had his arms crossed and silently looked at Fluttershy as he had a feeling she would step forth

-"… It's really good that you two managed to make up in the end, since you seem like quite good friends when we all hung out before, but… Still, this is not right. Everyone was really scared by your fight and you shouldn't have dragged the students into such personal matters." – As much as Fluttershy's voice was stern, it felt like a soothing melody and it was difficult to shield yourself from her scolding as it wormed its way into the mind, bringing out the guilt in both of them.

-“… I know… I just felt that if I could stand my ground, maybe I could get him to listen to me; I knew the students could have gotten hurt or scarred but still I let my temper take charge because I was sure I could solve all the problems no matter what.” – Starlight felt shame and crawling at the back of her mind as her neck felt slightly hot and she looked down, ears pinned as her gaze turned towards Twilight. – “After all, Twilight trusted me to deal with the school’s responsibilities.”

-“Which she shouldn’t have.” – The draconequus’ deep voice resonated with seriousness, surprising even the purple unicorn as he stepped forth and stood right beside her, his arms crossed over his chest in defiance. All those present were now aghast; Spike felt worried at the situation, deeply wishing that Discord was about to discuss the problems at hand instead of purposefully irk everyone further.

Stepping between them, Twilight unfolded a wing protectively in front of Starlight while pushing them apart. -“Discord! Just because you somehow felt offended it gives you no right to attack others or hurt their feelings. I thought you said you would even like to have Starlight as a roommate if given the chance! Why are you saying that to her?!” – Even if the delivery of that bit of personal information wasn’t quite necessary, as a minor flare of curiosity rang through the group, the argument was effective enough to make the chaos lord grunt in exasperation and close his eyes, raising both talon and paw and shaking them negatively from side to side.

-“No, no, no, Princess Sparkle… You’re not only interrupting me, you’re showering everyone with your own rushed conclusions. Now, hear me out, would you?" – As he opened an eye to look at her again without a trace of mockery he used a talon to boop the unicorn’s muzzle.

Twilight promptly pulled back as she raised an eyebrow and brushed his hand away. – “I’m listening then, go on.” – Waiting patiently for any justification for this big mess, the draconequus had the Alicorn’s undisputed attention.

-“I’m claiming Starlight couldn’t have possibly handled the responsibilities due to the fact that you six as the foundation of this very school didn’t handle them either. What made you think that she could possibly, by herself, hire competent and qualified personnel overnight without any indications or the minimal guidance necessary? I do get it; a school that brings several creatures and cultures together is an optimal idea, Twilight… But we can’t excuse some plot holes in the execution now, can we?” – Raising a talon, he started extending his fingers enumerating problems. – "No teachers were at the ready for this very situation; there isn't any maintenance staff around the school, nor secretaries. Despite your impressive track record with saving Equestria, I'm afraid that all and each one of you has your own routines and occupations to handle and none of you is even remotely qualified to teach.” – Finishing his compressed list of issues the draconequus looked at the group ready to take any form of backlash and discussion that he was about to receive.

But what hit him was a complacent wave of silence as their eyes widened in a collective reaction. An awkward embarrassed quietude took over the group shortly before Twilight's eyes drifted towards Starlight. The unicorn didn't seem too eager to speak up but did so anyway. – "Sure he is putting it bluntly, and well I was a bit puzzled by the lack of specifics, despite how many instructions you had left behind. Of course that we both tried to handle things differently…”

-“And perhaps this drove the situation a bit out of hand-” – Discord added as he closed his eyes, trying to smooth out the situation and aid Starlight’s case.

-“A bit?” – Spike deadpanned at the duo as he gritted his teeth and lowered his head, looking upwards at them.

-“Oh, shush it. Things became a mess. Happy now?” – Earning a nod from the young dragon, Discord narrowed his eyes. – “I thought I could aid tiding up things a bit around here, but turns out that was a bit more complex than expected… Who could have guessed?”

-“… Added to the fact that tiding up things is not exactly your specialty, darling.” – Rarity frankly said as she crossed her arms and gave him a skeptical look.

-"Given." – With a shrug, Discord put up a smug grin as an answer. Which was very short-lived as it was snuffed off from his expression as soon as Twilight took the next turn of the conversation.

-“Look, Discord… I recognize that I may have given Starlight too many issues to tackle in hopes that she could just keep holding the school together until we came back… And I'm really glad that you tried to help, but still, from the looks of it, the school and the students were in real danger from this outburst. And although you didn’t create that whole firework show by yourself, things could have gone at least a bit smoother without you bringing more conflict to the school by antagonizing who I left in charge.” – Twilight’s expression had disappointment written all over it towards this whole conundrum.

-“… Yes, but I’ll have you know I humbly offered my help! It’s not my fault we had very different visages of how an educational establishment should be run; specially one this specific.” - Raising his muzzle upwards, the chaos lord feigned a dramatic show of hurt to actually shield them from the fact that her words had stung him.

-“But that’s your problem! We all know very well that ya have a tendency to have temper tantrums whenever someone stands in your way or things don’t go the way ya wanted them to.” – Stepping up to the draconequus the earth pony stomped her hoof and pointed at his face with a finger. – “Like the time when ya threaten’ to send Tree Hugger to another dimension at the gala because you were jealous; or when ya tried to put a rift between us and Fluttershy just so you could be free to do whatever ya want with no scoldin’; or even when ya traded sides and put a knife through our backs and teamed up with Tirek! Do ya know that many farms lost their harvest for months to come because of the lack of magic and the destruction?! No ya don’t, because ya never cared. As soon as someone irks ya, ya just turn their world inside out and sideways!”

Swallowing dry and feeling himself diminishing on the spot, the accused part pinned his ears as he lifted his hands, feeling actual hurt at the mentioned mishaps as his expression sullied. – “… Oh, come on now; I may not have behaved my best in the past, but I learned my lessons, Applejack.”

-“Oh yeah? Then ya have a funny way of learnin’, cause I didn’t see ya apply any of the lessons. No wonder we can’t leave the place unwatched for a day! Of all the things that could have attacked, you had to be it. And ya know what? Maybe it was you who made everyone act like rabid dogs at Twilight’s retreat last weekend as well!”

This time around everyone’s gaze snapped at Applejack as she spat that bold claim at the Spirit’s face. Fluttershy and Discord himself where the only ones that remained confusedly silent as the rest of the group couldn’t help but exclaim in alarm. – “What?!”

As this torrent of building tension and passive-active aggressions made a tiny spark of discontent lighten up within the chaotic being’s core, he stepped back and flicked the tip of his tail in irritation; frowning, his deviated gaze snapped right back at the earth pony's as he switched from his prior complete silence and snarled at her in chagrin and frustration. – "Retreat at the Everfree? I haven't even heard of that properly! I certainly didn't mingle with your short lived frustrated vacation.” – As his pent-up nervousness from the conversation accumulated, it started to sip through him in a venomous manner due to the unfounded new accusation. Energy charged all around them in response to his mood, something that both Starlight and Twilight could feel as they exchanged a surprised and worried glance consecutively but having very different feelings over this whole situation, still.

Fluttershy non-surprisingly stepped forth and held Applejack’s shoulder in order to pull her back gently and try to calm everyone’s nerves down. – “… I can see why you’re upset at Discord’s behavior through the time we have known him… But there is no reason to accuse him of such a thing without any proof.”

-"Oh come on Shy, what proof else ya need?" – Looking at the butter-colored Pegasus from above, the farm mare threw her arms wide open before she started counting. – "First ya said Dash abandoned ya in the forest, then Pinkie said Twilight didn’t care about your feelings and Twilight told the same about Pinkie Pie. Rarity was acting like a greedy maniac and then Starlight said Ah mocked her by lying’ about the camping gear, which Ah clearly wouldn’t ever do! Weren’t we acting much “Discorded” to your taste? Even Rarity commented that we looked different in color, and now this whole thing about the school becoming a giant mess ‘cause he’s shown up. Aren’t those things a bit too close for bad luck alone?” – At this pressure, Fluttershy shrunk a bit as she let her mane fall in front of her eyes unsure if she should stick up for the spirit of chaos or try to digest Applejack’s hypothesis further.

Watching the distressed kind Pegasus made the draconequus’ gut twist around with unspoken chagrin and accumulating anger. – “I can take plenty of responsibility for anything I have done, and sure, ramble your mouth off about how bad I’m doing, but don’t drag me into something I have not done; and don’t force others into it as well.” – The tension had rose skywards as he coiled his long serpentine tail around Applejack’s waist and pulled her away from Fluttershy, turning her whole body in order to face him as he loomed over her with a snarl to his words.

At this scene, Twilight felt her hands turning into fists as everything was unraveling to the worst case scenario. – “Let’s not get out of hand you two-” – But before she could start to properly intervene, Spike and Starlight had already moved in the scene; Spike grabbed at Discord’s tail and loosened it from the mare’s body while Starlight teleported between the two, successfully distracting them and pushing the clashing duo apart.

-“Uh-oh, wait just a moment you two!” – After the farmer and the spirit both gave a step back, their gazes fell squarely upon the dragon. – “Sure, Discord slipped up now but he is doing much better from when we first meet him as a villain. He even listens when our games get a tad too intense.” – Offering his best reassurance, Spike looked up at the draconequus but his crimson eyes were solely focused upon Applejack, pupils slit. Something flared on the back of Spike’s memory. – “And talking about games, he couldn’t possibly have jinxed up your retreat because we took the whole day off to continue our O&O Session.” – Clearing his throat at the end, he stood to defend his friend, arms crossed in front of his chest and the fins by his ears visibly flared upwards.

A very brief moment of quiet went by as Rainbow Dash and Pinkie exchanged a glance due to how much they had liked the game in the few instances they ever played. Discord spoke up after a couple of seconds. – “Other than that, what interest could I possibly have in spoiling your retreat? Although it sounds like you managed to do it by yourselves… Somehow.” – Narrowing his eyes, the lord of chaos’ mind started to turn on its gears once again.

-“Well, Ah surely don’t know about that, but Ah really don’t see anyone else who could have magic capable of doing it! Guilty of that or not, you still gave everyone a hard time and scared the students halfway out of their skins earlier.” – Narrowing her eyes Applejack crossed her strong arms right above her chest in a display of confidence in her points.

-“… Applejack, I was there too and I don’t think you’re right.” – Starlight cut no corners as she voiced her opinion while squaring up, sparing a glance at the distressed draconequus as her tail whiplashed in a signal of irritation. – “Sure, we had a rough day and things got out of hand because everyone was acting really off, but as far as I know, if Discord was to blame he would let us know… And since you six saved not only Equestria over and over, but also me, what could he accomplish by ruining one afternoon in your several years of friendship?” – With a mild huff and an impatient expression, the mare expected no retort.

Visibly being taken off guard, the mare’s green eyes darted back and forth all around the room, following everyone’s surprised but agreeing reaction to the well made argument. Gritting her teeth and mildly stomping a hoof, she extended a hand in exasperation. – “Well-… Even if somehow he isn’t to blame for that, why are ya of all ponies defending him? Ah thought he just walked all over ya today.”

-"Because I can slip up too, and I still do. This whole mess just happened because we failed to communicate and we couldn't hold our own tempers. The more you go on rambling about how much he messed up, I can see that we got more in common than I imagined… He is not the only one that ever relied on his powers to fix problems." – Several memories ran through her mind as she gave him a sympathetic look, which in turn calmed the aggravated creature a little. – "From my village to my revenge, to trying to impress Twilight or make amends and reach out to others, I have lost my patience several times and used my magic a lot; it was wrong and I had to learn the hard way to cope with the consequences. Yet you all forgave me and helped me through it." – Walking forward, Starlight raised her muzzle and pinned her ears, getting in Applejack's personal space. – "But the first thing he told me by morning was that he wasn't invited to any school matters; and alright everyone got a busy schedule… But I didn't know any better until you all had shown me differently. So why is there a double standard for him?”

Applejack's words all caught up in her throat as the tables had turned. Spike, Fluttershy, and Twilight were very surprised by that question. The Alicorn stepped up to the situation, noticing immediately how Discord's expression had mellowed out from angered and frustrated, to cold and patient; Twilight liked his previous emotional display better somehow. – “Double standard? What do you mean by that?” – She asked nervously.

-“Well, even if we’re doing the same things, and acting equally as bad, you’re taking it more out on him than on me… And I can’t really see why.” – Turning at Twilight, Starlight had a confused expression to her features.

-“Because he has been around for a longer time and has much more power than ya could ever imagine havin’, and still he goes out of his way to rile up our nerves every time.” – Applejack was quick to protest.

-“Just because he’s been around for longer, doesn’t mean he knows any better than her.” – Fluttershy held both hands together above her heart with worry and some traces of frustration forming. – “Starlight’s magic may be powerful too, but she has not lived as much as the princesses and him.”

-“But it should at least mean that he would have learned not to pull stunts like these. Ya give the critter too much slack, Shy. He may be your best friend but at times he doesn’t really try to be one for everyone else.” – It pained Applejack to stand up to the kind soul, but she would stand her ground if needed.

-“… Well, I’m sorry that I’m not too eager to bend over and out of shape to fit under your gracious expectations, workaholic apple equine.” – Putting a talon in front of the Pegasus, Discord protectively put himself in front of Fluttershy as she held his arm in worry, tilting to the side to not lose sight of the farmer mare.

-“Discord… You’re upset over this, but that was uncalled for.” – Twilight reprehended.

-“Her opinion was uncalled for, but I didn’t stop her from opening her trap now, did I?” – Answering venomously, he pinned his ears lowly and shot a disgusted look at the earth pony.

-“Why, ya serpent-” – Raising a clenched fist at the draconequus she stepped forth but was held by Starlight’s magical aura, as the unicorn stood her ground and scowled lifting her out of the floor by a good meter.

-“Tell them how you felt.” – Losing her amiable tone and patience, Starlight looked over to the draconequus and commanded with her most imposing voice.

-“Why would I have any interest in doing that? She is clearly biased! I don’t even know how they can possibly teach the next generations with that mindset. I can’t be what they want me to be. Believe me, I tried and it didn’t quite work out.” – Obviously refusing he snarled and looked aside while almost rolling his eyes so far that his crimson iris disappeared under his nictitating membrane for a moment; ivory teeth exposed, with only his solitary fang being of a deeper color than the rest of the sharp set.

-“… Please don’t try it again. ” – Fluttershy swallowed dry and clenched her eyes while lowering her head, the grasp around his arm tightened at the memories. – “It was scary.”

-“… I’ll keep it in mind, dear.” – Momentarily shaken from her pleas, Discord’s gaze fell upon the Pegasus as he used a paw to gently caress her mane in a comforting manner.

-“This is getting messier by the second.” – Spike stood with Rarity, Pinkie and Rainbow Dash who were mostly quiet seeing this whole argument unfurl.

-“Maybe I could make some mango juice. It’s good for the nerves.” – Pinkie brought a hand to her mouth as if directing her low voice at the others, despite her normal volume being perfectly audible for all.

-“Where would you find those?” – Rarity questioned a bit puzzled at the random suggestion for juice refreshments.

-“In the teacher’s lounge! Right by the codfish and Limburger's cheese crates. It would go well with the next interruption to set things straight.” – Turning around, she started to head towards the principal room’s doors. Discord’s ear twitched at the random try to appease the nerves of everyone around.

-“Well, I was indeed one step ahead; glad to see someone recognizing the benefits of my choices. But you mentioned an interruption? That’s curious…” – Although it was pretty clear who would step forth, Discord played along Pinkie as she nodded to the notion.

Rarity’s and Rainbow’s features visibly contorted at the barrage of new confusing info that poured from Pinkie’s and Discord’s brief exchange.

-“Just tell then you felt left out!” – Starlight pushed through the duo and shout now, completely impatient as her horn flared with magic and the door was closed, stopping Pinkie Pie from leaving and using a levitation spell to place herself at Discord’s and Applejack’s level. – “Fine, I get it! You’re upset because he doesn’t really absorb the lessons that quickly, but maybe some of you are used to expecting the worse of him; you put absolutely no effort in trying to reach out to him from what I’m seeing. And Discord, I know you’re not very open with your feelings, so you can’t just expect them to get why you’re upset or lonely either. They’ll have to be more patient, but you need to show them how you feel instead of letting it build up and have an outrage about it later! There’s not just one side to blame here and you know it.”

Flinching at the notion the draconequus narrowed his eyes and pulled himself away even from Fluttershy’s side, crossing his arms and keeping his gaze astray. -“The day I admit up to that is the day I go back to stone.” – With a sarcastic tone he mocked the whole premise. Who did Starlight think she was to expose the fact that he may be feeling lonely? It was not only unnerving, but it made the chaos lord feel quite pathetic.

-“... Really?” – With a motion of her hand, she levitated Applejack back down to the floor and ceased her own levitation spell, simply walking closer to him now and tilting her body in order to get in his direct field of view. – “So you'd rather be trapped in torturous boredom in complete silence and being able to hear everything around you than admit you're feeling hurt?”

Sucking air through his clenched teeth, Discord’s gaze snapped back at her and to the rest of the group. -“… From both evils, the lesser I guess. Whatever.” – In all aspects of the notion, Discord was reluctant to share such a show of vulnerability. He was always powerful, sarcastic, mysterious, sly… The last thing he possibly wanted to be seen as was weak.

-“Is that true? Oh my… That would explain why you suddenly were in a foul mood yesterday.” – Fluttershy brought a hand to her lips in surprise and worry. – “I’m sorry I didn’t notice... We have all been so busy that I just forgot to share in the news, I didn’t mean to leave you out.” – Looking up at the draconequus, her teal eyes shone with a certain type of guilt that stung him in return. Discord ceased his sulking as his expression mellowed out… He had to make an effort.

The only difference this time is that he had a full audience to witness his exposure rather than just Fluttershy. Spike visibly clenched his fists in the background, making meek silent gestures in hopes that he could just say the right thing to make amends through this flaming mess.

-“I-…” – Words escaped him at every turn as he searched for an excuse, a fake-out, anything to pull him out from this embarrassing situation. But it was no use, he was cornered and there was no way out. Sighing in defeat, he caressed his black mane with a talon, unable to look at Fluttershy directly. – “I’m sorry… Applejack is right.” – shrugging in an apologetic manner, his voice sounded downtrodden and humble for once.

This time there wasn’t even a collective vocal reaction. Rainbow Dash’s jaw dropped and everyone stared with wide eyes.

-“Did he-… Did Discord just-… What? Ya said Ah am right?” – Incredulous of her ears, the orange mare looked at the rest of the group, but Discord clicked his tongue at this in annoyance.

-“Yes… Do you need to hear it twice?” – And just this time his sudden snap actually caught her off guard as Applejack flinched out of sheer surprise. Sighing heavily at the display, Discord ran a paw on his face before finally looking at the others in the eye, preferring to focus at Fluttershy for now. – “I always ran on a short fuse, not really caring about costs or consequences... And all of the sudden I just have to accept that even with all of my power I can’t simply get what I want when I want it because things don’t work like that... Not anymore.” – A sarcastic smile grew on his lips as he closed his eyes and chuckled while pinching the bridge of his muzzle with his talons in chagrin. – “For an entity of change and chaos, I’m doing a remarkably poor job at adapting lately, aren’t I?”

Twilight chest felt a little heavier hearing to the spirit’s confession, although it was unfinished. -“Discord… We never imagined it could be hard for you to reform-” – But as soon as she stepped up to aid him, he rose a claw to silence her with a gesture, no magic involved.

-“I’m not finished, Miss Sparkle.” – Announcing as politely as he could, Discord exhaled strongly letting his lungs empty and fill as he caught a moment of calm and his golden and crimson gaze fell to the floor before running up to those comforting teal eyes. – “Things were different back then, and Starlight’s claims hold deep strength. I’m fairly used to molding things to my own needs, not the reverse… So by extension even if you couldn’t quite come to understand me and always expected the worst, it’s not like I gave you too many chances of comprehending my motivations either; and I do have a tendency to cause enough strife when I show up, to actually root distrust towards myself in your minds.”

-“Duuude… I wish I had popcorn.” – Spike commented in awe, realization beaming upon him a second too late. – “Wait! Don’t-” – Bracing himself as he heard the snap, he expected to be showered with popcorns on the spot; but instead, a large bowl of the snack popped into existence between his claws. – "Huh… Neat."

A very brief relieved silence went by before he spoke up again; secretly glad by the small pause the dragon had created. -“If you want honesty Applejack, I have a tendency to be quite cynical… But I’ll try my best from now on to look at things in another light. It’s not like someone already tried to push that one particular lesson upon me.” – Glancing through the corner of his eyes, Discord directed his gaze at Spike.

-“Well, yeah, at hearts and hooves day. Although I still want to see if that lesson paid off-” – As soon as a smug provocative look grew upon Spike’s features, a bright and large sapphire flashed into existence clogging his mouth.

As everyone stared in curiosity and bafflement after hearing the tease, Discord had his best façade to hide from the flustering topic that was hinted at, glad that the young dragon happily accepted his bribery for silence and chewed down the gem without uttering another word.

-“Look, Ah’m glad ya admitted up to that much… Ah honestly never thought ya would have a problem with adjustin' to the pony's ways; it’s not like we are complicated folk ya know.” – Furrowing a brow and relaxing her arms, Applejack put down her defenses after what she felt was a sincere apology and confession. – “Ah won’t lie since Ah can’t see eye to eye with ya in a lot of senses, most of the time Ah won’t understand why ya prefer to not talk about things… But if ya promise ya will make an effort to not toss everyone into chaos’ way when ya feel like throwing a tantrum, then Ah’ll have to be more patient with ya crazy critter… After all, we’re not really buddies yet, but there is a reason why Shy befriended ya; guess Ah’ll have to see what it is for mahself.”

Even if the farm mare's accent rung dully in the draconequus' ears, he was secretly overjoyed that the single biggest boulder in his path was starting to move out of the way… At least until his next slip up that is. Putting up the effort to become better always came with certain hiccups anyways. – "I’ll try to behave myself… Most of the time.” – His sly smile was plastered on his lips as he could hold himself with a small sense of pride again. He had survived the overexposure of his feelings (at least in his opinion) and no one had particularly judged or mocked his case. Applejack shot back a playful small smile which was mixed with a bit of a reprehensive expression, but before she could speak up he questioned her with an expression shifting from mischievous and playful to serious. – "Nonetheless, I'm still rather curious and personally offended over your previous accusation about the whole retreat affair. I can guarantee I had nothing to do with it, but still, you claim something nefarious made you act akin to the way you did in our little maze game..." – brushing his goatee with a talon, the draconequus was deep in thought.

-“Oh indeed, after all, I'm very sure I missed my things but I didn't go around raiding Applejack's farming equipment! And when we arrived at our tents and camp, it was completely devastated, as if a storm had gone straight through it.” – Rarity provided more details about that ludicrous day; even though everything had turned out alright, it still was rather weird.

-“I’ll give it a look then. I hope our odds have been set to rest for the time being, as I bid you adieu for the night.” – with an exaggerated bow to those present, the draconequus mind kicked off with activity as he felt his chaos magic stretching far and wide, warming up and receptive to any prompts.

-"Oh sure-, wait, what?! You're going to look it up now? So late?!" – Twilight had a tiny moment of lag before the context of his actions sank in.

-"The night is still young my purple pony princess principal, so I'm afraid I have plenty of time at hand. Besides, I'm not going to sleep through the framing of my good-…" – Raising a talon to the air, soon enough he lowered it and put it to his lower lip in doubt. – "…Well, of my name." – With a shrug of his shoulders, he turned on his hoof elegantly and headed towards the room’s doors, slithering through the crowd with grace befitting of a snake despite his tattered clothes.

-“But it has been so many days since then-… And our current conversation-” – Twilight confusedly tried to protest to no fruition whatsoever as he waved a dismissive paw at her.

-"Oh dear, no, I think I had my dose of feelings for the semester there Twilight, I need the refreshing night air and smell of framing plagiarists to fill my senses. Perhaps we can talk more about feelings and sincerity at another date. Preferably not, since I don’t want to; I meant, ta-ta.” – The principal room’s doors opened but he simply teleported with a bright white flash as they did so.

Starlight blinked at what had just happened. – “Is he always like that, or is this new?”

Twilight shook her head from one side to another while giving a tired but amiable groan. – “You don’t know half of it.” – Which triggered a tiny chuckle from the purple unicorn as they both smiled at each other. – “Thank you for helping us connect with him… It has never been an easy task.”

-“Aw shucks, I just handled the situation how I thought you would have. And besides, I have been on his place at least partially so I can understand where he is coming from…” – Starlight felt herself blush slightly from the embarrassment, and also the warm fuzzy feeling in her chest as the rest of the ponies all seemed content at how things unraveled. Fluttershy flashed a bright and proud smile at her too.

-“Well, now I can say that everything’s well that ends well.” – Spike downed a clawful of popcorn again, satisfied as he crunched down the tasty buttered treat. This time he earned a playful head shake from the orange earth pony.

-“Sure thing… But what was that whole thing during hearts and hooves day?” – Pinkie Pie suddenly loomed over the young dragon, full of curiosity for some juicier details as she balanced her whole body’s weight on her arms, doing a handstand on the table and looking at Spike while upside down.

Gulping the mouthful at once accidentally, Spike gave a nervous laugh as he finished his popcorn and got up from Twilight’s table, bringing the bowl with him as he headed off. – “Haaah… I think I’m a bit thirsty, from all of this salt.”

-“Oooh of course you are. Perhaps some lemonade could do the trick… With a few donuts in case you had too much salt." – Pinkie as subtle as a brick, bribed the young dragon as she let her body fall back to a normal position and stood up, being quick to bounce right beside him.

-"Well, that does sound like a good offer." – Grinning, he racked his mind for ways to exchange some interesting info with the pink party pony.

-“Spike!” – Twilight crossed her arms and furrowed a brow as she tapped a hoof to the floor, smiling mildly at their exchange but with a reprehensive motherly tone.

-“I know, I know! It’s not like I can say much anyways…” – After all, being blackmailed by a creature with an ego the size of a fortress and a taste for extreme pranks was not ideal.

-“Welp, have fun with trying to not get blackmailed… I for one will crash.” – Rainbow Dash audibly yawned as she stretched her sore body and swiftly took to the air. There was a lot to do both about their personal lives and the school by the next day after all.

-“Right there with ya Dash… I’ll have to work extra hard tomorrow to cover up for today’s ditch.” – Applejack added sourly.

-“Oh, I can help with the harvest after I take care of the animals.” – Fluttershy offered meekly and hiding the sudden tiredness in her voice, but failing to do so as a cute yawn escaped her.

-“Oh, oh! Me too! I have to get the baked goods ready for Mrs. and Ms. Cake tomorrow, and I’ll be a hop, a skip and a jump away from Sweet Apple Acres.” – Pinkie added excitedly.

Consequently, the other mares all joined in the group effort to help Applejack accelerate the harvest for Apple bucking season whenever they could, all leaving the room and locking things up as they rejoiced in a day that didn't end in as much of a disaster as it could have been; for someone’s displeasure.

--Everfree Forest, 23:32 PM—

The solitary crunch of dry leaves and fallen floral debris was one of the multiple sounds that filled the chaos spirit’s ears as he walked through the dark and threatening forest, accompanied by all manners of curious sights and sounds such as the howls of hungry Timberwolves. Idly making his way downstairs the draconequus gave a weak flap of his wings and leaped off from it halfway through, prompting his magic to keep him airborne as he slithered through the air and towards the very base where the girls had set camp recently.

Of course, they had dismantled it as soon as they left by the end of their retreat, but Discord still could see the marks left by pony activity. Conveniently, a familiar and quite distressing faint scent was picked up by the draconequus’ forked tongue...

The scent of changelings.

-“No wonder something was bugging me lately.” - Cracking a classic pun by his lonesome Discord analyzed the site until he picked up a lonely strand of green hair stuck on the dirty ground that vaguely reminded him of a certain cheese-legged dethroned menace.

This by itself was really not a surprising turn of events at all. Ponies acting out of character? Random fights happening for the most minimal reasons? It was a “plot twist” so obvious that the lord of chaos couldn’t help but vocally voice his disappointment. – “That’s it then? Finally queen cheese legs returned? It’s almost not worth the trip…” – Voicing his displeasure to the universe and yawning in boredom, a sudden shiver ran down his spine, sending his hackles to stand on edge; the breeze of the night blowing stronger and hurrying with unknown potency.

Gently turning around, Discord followed his ears which twitched as they had caught up to the subtle buzzing of electricity rippling through the air alongside the familiar and distasteful scent of a specific harmonious magic that had always antagonized him. Now he almost wished that karma had not paid attention to him, but at the same time, his stomach fluttered with curiosity and adrenaline.

Large crystalline roots and vines spread across the cave in which the tree of harmony resided, pulsing with life and light as if the tree itself was a heart powering everything around it. As the shining and shimmering roots crawled their way across the site swallowing more things in its awake, Discord gave a fearful step back instinctively due to the raw mix of excitement and terror at the discovery. – “Now that’s something much more interesting…”

A matter of principals

by Melani-Nexus

Chapter I: The unloved

Chapter II: The disrespected

Chapter III: Broken Cycle (part I)

Chapter IV: Broken cycle (part II)