Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

Twilight’s wall clock sounded through her study, the only sound in the entire library. She barely even heard it, her focus spent solely on the painted blue runes on the floor before her. Each one glowed a little, like each mystical letter contained a happily buzzing firefly.

Her frown grew deeper as the spell whispered through the air, dancing and weaving in tune to her will. Each and every prod sent painful shudders through her mind, but to no avail; Twilight had come too far to stop now.

It might have been moments, but it easily felt like hours before so much as a single rune flickered. The circle that they were contained in glowed with an ominous, sickly yellow light, and the immense magical drain left Twilight weakened, but not completely so.

To say the least, it left Discord both surprised and very displeased.

The draconequus seemed to have been in midsentence, enormous pink sunglasses dangling on the edge of his nose. A wide brimmed straw hat sat lazily atop his head, horns piercing them as he held what could only be a partially emptied martini glass in one paw, a small umbrella sticking out of the shirt pocket of his flowery festive red button-down shirt.

“… Oh, not cool,” Discord scowled, leaning grumpily against the protective barrier that kept him firmly within the circle as if it were no more than a boring wall instead of an enormously powerful containment spell. “Knew I shouldn’t have gone to the luau.”

“What part of ‘hurry’ do you not bucking understand?” Twilight seethed at him, bags beneath her eyes tempting her to rub them. She paced furiously back and forth, unconsciously ruffling her wings. “Were you not listening? Did you just not care?”

“Meh. I was busy,” he shrugged with a toothy grin.

“Don’t give me that!” she snapped, stamping her hoof against the floor.

“Easy there, principessa,” Discord said dangerously, although he made no move whatsoever. “All that anger all the time is going to start sinking into you, and before you know it, you’ll officially be ‘Princess Cranky Pants’ for the rest of your life.”

“I am not in the mood, Discord.” Twilight’s tired frown became even more pronounced than it was before.

“Sure don’t look like it!” he agreed with a sudden cheerful smile, tilting his martini glass toward her and emptying it. “Wow, I’d say you haven’t slept in… what has it been? Five days? Six?”

“Eleven,” Twilight answered for him, jittering as she continued to pace.

“I do believe I warned you,” he said as he picked at something on his flowery shirt. “I don’t mean to be an ‘I told you so’, but when I say that there are some things that cannot be unseen, I mean it.”

“I can still see it when I close my eyes.”

Discord wondered if her admission was deliberate or if she were merely speaking to herself. He pretended not to notice, instead busying himself with toying with the miniature umbrella in his pocket. He already knew that his power had been effectively trampled on the moment he had been trapped inside the conjuring circle – might as well amuse himself until Twilight gave up again.

“Uh huh,” Discord nodded absentmindedly, kicking his feet out and relaxing against the barrier a little more. “Immortality has a few quirks like that. I’m sure you’ve been having lots of fun-”

His words were yanked from his mouth as the barrier suddenly fell away, and he came crashing to the floor. The back of his head hit the wood with a dull thunk, and he stared up at the exhausted mare for a full beat.

“… Ow,” he blinked, quietly noting that the protective circle was no longer functioning, nor sealing in his power. He made no display of it, however.

“Look, I’m sorry Discord. Let’s start over,” Twilight asked pleadingly. Discord almost wanted to taunt her, to mock her and pick at her until she started shouting again, but when he saw just how utterly miserable and unhappy she was, something in him caused him to bite his tongue.

“Alright, alright,” he agreed with displeasure as he creakily pulled himself to his cloven feet. “What is it this time?”

“I need you to mind wipe me.”

“Again?” Discord asked, his voice full of horror.

“You’ve done it before!?”

“No, not really,” he chortled, and Twilight looked as if she were about to hit him. “Just screwing around. But, seriously,” Discord frowned. “I don’t think I can do that.”

“I know you did it to Eris, don’t tell me that it won’t work!” she twitched, slowly beginning to pace again.

“That’s not what I mean…” Discord held up his mismatched hands defensively, Twilight’s tired gaze never leaving him.

“Please. I’d do it myself, but I’m worried about the potential repercussions.”

Discord snorted, crossing his arms.

“Not about everything, clearly.”

“I didn’t know that I would have to see-see something like that, okay!”

She couldn’t even bring herself to name the burning image behind her eyes, as if even the word scarred her very thoughts. Discord looked at her with genuine pity for a long, quiet moment, before eventually shaking his head.

“I really don’t want to do that. You would be worse off if I did.”

“Discord,” Twilight stared at him seriously. “Don’t try to talk me out of it. I’m not stupid.”

“Maybe not,” he admitted. “But considering that you clearly haven’t stopped like I repeatedly suggested, chances are you’re just going to wind up making the whole thing pointless.”

“By what? Seeing something worse?”

“There’s always something worse,” Discord nodded. He watched as Twilight tried to wrap her mind around how anything could possibly be a more horrifying sight than… that.

“And it’s not doing anyone any favors by mind wiping you,” he pressed on as he watched her defenses slowly crumble. “Your friends probably need you at the top of your game. You’re wasting time and resources, you know.”

The violet princess hanged her head at last, and Discord kicked his feet up in the air.

“… Maybe you’re right.”

“I usually am,” he inspected the undersides of his talons with a hint of smugness. “Although I have to ask how you figured out Eris…”

Aloud he sounded nonchalant, but inside was in turmoil.

“You left clues,” Twilight answered weakly. “Too much didn’t add up when you introduced her to me, little tics in her words. Warning signs, especially in her long term memory. I almost would have suspected damage to the frontal lobe, although it seems to be restricted to the hippocampus..” she carried on, and Discord wasn’t sure if she was talking to herself or not again.

“I’ll have to fix that.” He nodded after a moment, thinking.

“You can mend your mishaps later,” Twilight snapped impatiently, desperately trying to flatten her mane immediately afterwards as if it were the source of her irritation. “Did you manage to get it or not?”

Discord was silent for a long moment before finally settling back down to the floor, releasing a heavy, burdened sigh.

“… Yeah.”

“And?” her gaze nearly burned a hole in him.

“… I don’t think you’re going to like what I’ve heard,” he advised her softly, knowing full well what her reaction would be when she found out.

“Tell me anyway.”

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you… Princess.”

William stared hard at the black book, pencil poised in his fingers.

He had never actually recorded his dreams. Cross legged on his rickety bed, he tried to hold the dream in his mind as firmly as he could. Having been several minutes since he had awoken, though, the images were already fading from his mind. Instead, he simply scribbled down a few things that he had seen in his dream.

Pterodactyl, mushrooms, a slingshot, butter, and a battalion of griffons made out of scissors.

The words seemed to shiver across the Book of Dreams for a moment, before William got the shock of his life.

That sounds like the strangest shopping list ever conceived.

“… Oh my god,” he breathed, eyes wide. His hands were trembling as the words seemingly drifted up from within the book and settled across the page, just beneath his own writing. The book itself was writing back.

You can talk? he scribbled swiftly, hands shaking a little. How? Is this an automated reply? How do you work?

I am thoroughly unsurprised that I did not tell you. That sounds rather like myself, I am sad to say.

What do you mean? What are you?

I believe the better question would be ‘who’.

The book did not write back anything further, and William frowned. His brows furrowed in thought, his heart and mind racing equally quickly.

Alright then. If I may ask, who are you?

Why, Princess Luna of course.

William dropped the book.

This is amazing! It’s like a primitive version of instant messaging!

Well, whereas I daresay I do not appreciate being called ‘primitive’ I suppose I could let it slide this time.

If I may ask, Princess, how exactly are you communicating with me like this? Telepathic link of some sort, I assume?

Actually, that is not the case. I was forged along with the Book of Dreams. I am a piece of Luna’s soul, I am a part of her. Just a tiny, insignificant sliver of her consciousness, bound to live within the pages and serve the master of the book. And that so happens to be you, I see.

William breathed heavily, letting the book rest on his lap as he ran a quavering hand through his thin brown hair. He had been caught so completely off guard by the book’s surprise that he hadn’t even noticed when had stopped snoring.

“… Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey, listen. Hey,” she poked him in the side of the head with a little giggle. “Hey. Hey. Hey. What’cha doing?”

“I’m not talking to you Eris,” he scowled, quietly closing his precious new black book. He quietly burned at his failure to take the advice that Princess Luna had given him previously, but there was just something about Eris that made her difficult to forgive.

Unfortunately, she was equally impossible to ignore.

“Aww, cold shoulder?” she pried, leaning over his shoulder and peering curiously at the shimmering black book, which he was swift to return to the underside of his pillow to keep away from her. “Aren’t you even going to talk to your own sister?”

“You are not my sister,” William seethed, pushing her off. She fell away with surprisingly little resistance. He felt her slip away, and although she didn’t speak, he could almost feel her stiffen up behind him. “And I am done putting up with your nonsense. Every single day, it’s always something with you! Now, if you don’t mind, I believe that we have work to do.”

“But-!” she started, only for him to slam the door.

He stamped barefoot down the empty maid’s quarters callously, vengefulness burning in his chest. A hint of guilt rose up at how he had behaved toward Eris, but all he had to do to cure it was remind himself of her constant annoyances.

The cool air of the bathing room seemed to clear his head a little, and he washed his face slowly in the sink with cold water to wake himself up. He sighed and frowned at his reflection, already regretting his words. He didn’t have to slam the door as well…

His bitter anger came rushing back up when he saw what Eris had done to him in his sleep, however.

A small, fluffy patch of his hair just on the left side of his head had seemingly been painted a very fine, light grey.

William gripped the sink furiously with one hand, picking tediously at the hair with his other. She must have done it just last night, after he had tumbled wearily into bed. As to why Eris had randomly dyed part of William’s hair, that was a mystery. Probably just to be a nuisance. He scowled at his reflection, determined not to let her gain the upper hand.

He was just going to pretend that it didn’t even exist. At least until he could find proper hair dye.

William took a few deep breaths before dashing water on his face again, Luna’s words sneaking back into his mind to haunt him. It really wouldn’t do anyone any good to go carrying around all that anger, he knew she was right about that. And he would probably feel even more guilty if he took it out on Eris again…

But he certainly wasn’t going to walk back to her and apologize, unquestionably not after she had dyed his hair in his sleep. He was sick of her pranks, and he wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of watching him fold.

Although it occurred to him as he was padding down the still eerily empty hallway that he would have to go back one way or another.

William let out a hiss through his teeth, his shoulders sagging as he dragged himself back to their shared room. As he quietly pried open the door, he was almost tempted to apologize to the draconequus.

“Eris!”

“What?” she blinked, looking up at him as she reclined lazily on her own bed. Her tail trailed over the edge and swished about like a cat’s, and the book in her hands was clearly upside down. He knew because it belonged to him.

“That’s private! he shouted, snatching the book out of her hands. She harrumphed indignantly as he jammed it with his other belongings beneath the bed, protectively standing in front of them. “What do you think you’re doing?

“I got bored,” she deadpanned. “I get bored easily. Curse of living forever, I guess,” Eris shrugged carelessly.

“Don’t touch my stuff!” William demanded.

“Yikes,” she held up her mismatched hands, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. “Dude, you are tense lately. Look, it’s early, you should chill out.”

“Why don’t you-” he caught himself, forcing down his words as his hands clamped into tight balls. He held down his breathing, dragging out his uniform. “Never mind. Just… please, Eris. Just leave me alone today so we can finish our duties and get this nightmare over with.”

“But-” she started as he swiveled his finger around.

“Just turn around, I’m trying to get dressed.”

“Oh, come on. It’s not like you’ve got anything on you that I haven’t seen before,” Eris snorted.

“Turn around already!”

“Alright, fine, fine!” she uncomfortably twisted her head, loudly slapping a hand over her eyes for good measure. “Happy now?”

“Absolutely not,” William frowned, tugging fretfully at his uniform. “I would be happier if had things like, you know… PANTS.”

“I don’t see what your big deal is,” she shrugged again. “I mean, almost everybody you’re around is naked twenty-four seven. Hell, even I’m naked, and you don’t see me complaining.”

William bit back a retort, refusing to talk to her any longer than he had to. He instead snatched a pair of envelopes from his belongings, and made straight for the door.

“Uh, Will?”

“I already said that I’m not talking to you, Eris!” he said loudly.

“But-!” she held up a finger after him, only for the boy to close the door as swiftly as he could. She quietly noted that he didn’t slam it that time. Eris sighed and slowly shook her head.

He’d figure it out eventually.

For now, she plucked the book back out from beneath his bed, settled against her own and resumed reading where she had left off.

It was surprisingly interesting, for a journal.

“Rainbow Dash?” Rarity knocked lightly on the door again with the flat of her hoof, the drizzle splattering off of her umbrella. She frowned as the silence greeted her once again, the miserable rain continuing to cover Ponyville.

Rarity sighed, brushing a strand of frizzling purple mane from her face and held herself in check. It likely wouldn’t do any good at all to get upset about it now, she could fix her mane later. Besides, at least she had an umbrella this time.

“Rainbow Dash, I know you’re in there, dear,” Rarity lied, a tingle of worry beginning to nag at her. “If you don’t hurry up and answer, I’m going to take that as permission to unlock this door.”

Even her own threat sounded pitifully weak in her ears, but Rarity paid it no attention. After silence met her ears once again, she sighed heavily and magically activated the tumblers inside the door, unlocking it from within. It swung open a little creakily, and she made sure to dry herself properly before leaving her umbrella in the stand by the door.

“Rainbow Dash?” Rarity called out again, hearing a slight rusting from the kitchen shortly after she did so. She peered into it and was immediately assaulted by the overpowering smell of alcohol, and nearly tripped over a bottle of hard cider.

“Whozzat?” the pegasus blearily cracked her eyes open. She sat up stiffly against the cabinet beneath the sink, another empty bottle rolling off of her when she did so and falling with a clatter to the floor.

“… Oh, darling, I knew you two had a spat, but this is just heartbreaking.”

“Hey, Rares,” Dash blinked groggily, head pounding. Her wings were stiff and uncomfortable behind her, and she tenderly gripped one of them and held it close, almost in panic before she realized that there was nothing wrong with it.

“Alright,” Rarity breathed, carefully attempting to manage the situation as a lady would. “How many hooves am I holding up?”

“Uh…”

“That’s what I thought,” she frowned, helping the woozy Rainbow Dash to stand. “I knew I was right to worry when another rainstorm hit, it wasn’t expected unt- actually, that’s not important right now, poor thing. You, my dear, look as if you’re about to be ill.”

“An’ you look kinda hot,” Dash giggled, interrupted by a hiccup. “Hey. Hey. Hey, Rares,” she leaned heavily on the unicorn, nearly falling over. “Guess who’s on the re~bound…!”

“Okay, clearly not well.”

“You’re – hic! – you are a f-friend, you know that?” she slurred, tone changing again as Rarity attempted to help her to the couch one step at a time. “You’re – Celestia, I love you, Rarity. You’re-you’re-you’re awesome, that’sh what you are. A very, very, very… friend.”

“And you are very drunk,” Rarity deadpanned, helping her to lie down on the couch. “Very, very, very drunk. Stay put, I’ll get the ice.”

“Kinky,” she giggled, taking a swipe at her rear and missing by nearly a foot.

“Lots of ice.”

William found himself staring up at the stained glass in the throne room more often than he would care to admit.

He was careful to bring along the cleaning supplies in order to support the ruse that he was cleaning them should anyone stop by and see him, but in all actuality all he really did was traipse up and down the enormous hall, inspecting each glass portrait that contained Discord.

Many of them held images of the princesses as well, even one displaying the incident he had heard of from his mother of ‘Nightmare Moon’. He was fairly tempted to inquire about it, but doubted that Princess Luna would care to bring up something like that again. He placed it in the back of his mind with his many other questions, the history of Equestria being laid bare before his gaze.

Another section that he was particularly interested in was one that showed Discord holding ponies over a flaming pit, laughing while he did so.

William frowned, chin cupped in his hand as he thought.

He didn’t know why the image fascinated him so, in equal parts horror and interest. Had his father really been-

He shook his head slowly, drawing himself out of his thoughts. One father might have been a monster, but William did not consider him a parent. Discord couldn’t have been that bad, could have he…? William was reminded of Eris’s words again and how he had to be stopped, and his brows furrowed further onto his face.

“Just how much do we have in common, I wonder…” he mused aloud, staring up at the shining image of Discord surrounded by his mother and her friends.

“Irresponsibility and laziness,” Trimming’s voice made him jump nearly a foot in the air. “That’s for certain.”

“Missus Trimming!” he snagged the small bucket of untouched cleaning supplies, holding them up for her to see. “I was just, er-”

“Clearly not using any of those,” she deadpanned. “I’m not stupid, human.”

“Of-of course not, Missus Trimming,” he shifted uncomfortably, sticking his heels together. He rifled around for a moment to find the letters, drawing them out quickly in the hopes of distracting her. “Although I meant to-to give these to you, ma’am, but you weren’t in your office-”

“Yes, yes, yes,” she waved him off. “More letters, of course. You want me to send them for you, I presume?” Trimming asked with a hint of disdain.

“Er, yes ma’am.”

She sighed through her nostrils, eyes flicking back to the windows.

“You’re not getting paid, by the way,” she informed him. When she saw the confused look on his face, she smirked and added “Maids have Saturdays off. Unlike myself,” an unexpected snort came through. “Back in my day we didn’t have off days. I’m surprised you’re not lazing about like your good for nothing sister.”

He almost spoke back in retaliatory defense of Eris, before he remembered what she had done to his hair in his sleep. Instead, he bit his tongue and continued walking alongside the mare, who he assumed was treading back toward her office. William supposed the day would explain the lack of maids, but he oddly hadn’t seen any more than a couple of the royal guards. Perhaps they were all off somewhere as well?

By the time they finally reached the hall where her office was at, William spotted a familiar sight.

“What do you think you’re doing, little miss Velvet?” Trimming’s voice became high and cold, and the redheaded filly almost tripped over herself in her hurry to jerk away from the door.

“N-n-nothing!” Velvet half laughed, nervously looking back and forth between the two. “I-I was just, um… you!” she turned desperately to William. “Uh, yeah. I was looking for you! And here you are! Hey, Will! How ‘ya doin’?”

“He is currently being punished,” Trimming’s sharp retort made both William and Velvet flinch. “I caught the little runt trying to claim work when he clearly wasn’t. Thought that you could squeeze a few extra bits out without effort, did you?” her venomous gaze was turned toward William, who only shook his head rapidly. “Unless, of course, you would like to share in his punishment…” she left her statement hanging.

Velvet looked toward William, who stared back at her pleadingly.

“W-well…” the filly pranced back and forth, nervously deciding. She gave one last unhappy look to the boy before shaking her head again, and William’s heart sank like a stone. “I was just going, Missus Trimming.”

“That’s what I thought.”

Velvet darted past them, the clopping of her hooves bouncing down the hall.

“Sorry,” she whispered barely audibly to William as she passed, making swift exit.

Trimming watched her go for a moment, disdain apparent on her features as she unlocked her office.

“Oh, what am I going to do with that filly,” Trimming murmured more to herself than anything, drawing the apprehensive William inward as she closed the door behind them. His heartbeat picked up pace when he heard the click and latch of the door’s heavy lock falling into place, sealing them in.

“Um, Missus Trimming?” William spoke finally. “The-the um, the door appears to be… locked.”

“I know,” she nodded quietly. “Sit.”

William anxiously clamped his hands together in his lap, mindlessly running his fingers over themselves. Trimming didn’t say a word for several minutes, instead picking at a couple of pictures behind her desk before wordlessly placing them away in one of her drawers.

“Why do I have so much trouble out of you?” she asked eventually, breaking the awful silence.

“Sorry?”

“No you aren’t,” Trimming deadpanned, her golden eyes burning a hole in his head. “Every single day, it’s always something with you.”

William didn’t say anything, instead opting to fiddle with his hands.

The mare sighed again, the kind of exasperated sigh that he had caught himself giving, especially lately.

“I don’t even think that I could punish you,” she said at last, trotting from around her desk and slowly beginning to pace around him. “One can only punish the young for something so many times before it becomes mindless, you know. It doesn’t do any good if you don’t learn anything.”

“I don’t think it would be necessary,” William added hopefully.

“Of course you don’t. Hmph. The arrogance of youth,” Trimming’s little smile seemed almost plastered on, and the swishing of her tail as she circled around him like a shark was beginning to make him even more nervous. “Tell me, little one. What is your goal?”

“To go home,” William answered truthfully.

Trimming snorted, her rustling tail lightly smacking him in the face as she turned. He resisted the urge to swipe it away, refusing to drop his gaze.

“Typical of a little colt,” she sniffed in contempt. “Run back home to mommy as soon as things get a little… hard.”

“No,” he insisted, although Trimming seemed to be smiling a little more now. “No, that’s not it. I just… want to get back home, is all.”

“You aren’t a very good liar…” she stopped directly in front of him, lowering her head and staring straight into his eyes. “So why do you keep trying? Why bother struggling uphill when all you ever do is fail?”

He tried to speak, but the words seemed lost on the way out. William looked away, but Missus Trimming didn’t move away. If anything, she only drew closer.

“That’s what you are, you know. A failure. That’s why they sent you to me,” she frowned, making sure to show her displeasure at him. “Because nopony else in their right mind in this castle would have you brats under their charge. You don’t see any like you under Spear, do you? You’ll never find any like you in royal business unless you’re streaking through it, will you?”

“Princess Luna likes me,” he shot back defensively, but his resolve was already beginning to crack. Trimming could see it happening in his eyes, the way they wandered fearfully away from her instead of glaring with intensity through her.

“Oh, she does?” Trimming asked in mock awe. “Surely it couldn’t just be cordial behavior that a princess is expected to show, I don’t know, everypony else?”

“W-well…”

“It’s because you’re deluded,” she pressed in a little more, blocking his view. William could smell the mint on her breath, the heat nearly radiating off of her as she all but rubbed up against him. “I'm really the only one that even cares about you in this place. Pathetic, really. But what else can one expect?”

William’s eyes were drawn to the floor, and she seemed to almost feed off of his downcast expression. Instead of pressing further with mockery, however, she cupped his chin in her hoof and very tenderly began to force him to look up at her.

“And that’s where the problem really is, isn’t it?” she asked gently, her gaze softening as their eyes met. “That’s where the problem really lies. You can’t expect much from a little colt. Human or not, that’s what you still are – just a little colt.”

William mumbled something and tried to look away, but she forced his gaze to remain. Not painfully, but with enough strength to keep him in place.

“Nopony likes mumbling. If you have something to say, mare up and say it, you little bitch.”

“You aren’t my mother,” he said a little more loudly.

Trimming almost smiled again as his fierce gaze returned, a burning spirit behind his eyes that she was unaccustomed to seeing. Something a little off, just something wrong with his eyes. It belied something even more fiery buried within, almost taunting her.

But even a great fire could be stifled. All it really took was patience and the strength to smother the life out of it.

“You really are just like a little colt,” she took one of his hands and peeled it away, and surprisingly he gave no resistance, despite the look in his eyes. “But don’t you worry one bit, little William.”

Trimming internally crowed in victory when he let out a whimpering moan as her lips hotly brushed his neck, and he squirmed beneath her. For one that seemed so insistent upon being resilient and resistant as much as possible, it was like he wasn’t putting up a fight at all. It only made Trimming’s smile grow, and it was one of the first genuine ones on her that William had seen.

“I’m going to make a proper stallion out of you.”

Author's Notes:

After much debate and complaints galore, I have returned the original cover art.