The chirp of early morning birds eloped with a slight chill, the familiar marriage tickling Eris's ears with the unfortunate recognition of consciousness. She twitched out of her hazy dream and into the thorny light of awakening, blearily yawning and stretching to let the length of her body lazily flop out of bed. It was much earlier than she'd have preferred to awaken, but the temptation to crawl back beneath the blankets was stifled by the realization that aside from herself, the room was completely empty.

She blinked, and it took a moment for her to remember where she was. There was no sign of William however, and the futon that had lain on the floor nearby was found neatly placed beneath the bed. Eris frowned, stretching again hard and rubbing her lower back.

Where had he gone...?

The quiet sound of chatter alerted her, slowly but surely drawing her down the hall to to the dining room with her mismatched feet dragging. A plain table with a checkered tablecloth held a small but impressive selection of pastries, looking barely touched between the unicorn and colt.

“Morning!” Lyra beamed, magically waving the pastry she'd been holding in the air. “I know it's really early, did we wake you?”

“No,” Eris lied, dropping wearily into the seat between them. “Whu'z goin' on?”

“We've been talking most of the morning,” William answered sleepily, almost apologetically. He pointed to his nearly full cup of coffee, Eris decidedly nabbing one of her own. “... I couldn't sleep anyway. Coffee's fresh, but save some for Miss Bon Bon please.”

“William has just been telling me about stuff,” Lyra nodded, finishing off her pastry.

“Stuff?” Eris blinked the remaining sleep from her eyes, dumping a handful of sugarcubes into her cup by rote.

“Let's see,” William mused aloud, hoof on his chin. “Topics ranged from Father, to Miss Sparkle, to Mother, the princesses, and ourselves.”

Eris looked back and forth between the two for a moment before taking a long swig from the surprisingly still bitter coffee.

“So you've just been gossiping like schoolgirls the whole time,” Eris snorted finally, shaking her head.

“Oh, hardly,” William rolled his eyes. “Mediocrity envelops the mind discussing only people, I'm far more interested in Miss Lyra's theories on Laggard's Field resonance.”

“Lag- what?” she balked.

“This colt,” Lyra grinned ecstatically, jabbing a hoof in his direction. “Celestia's flank, I have never met any colt with as much knowledge on the history of magical development as him, it's insane.”

“I do pride myself in those regards.” The smug positively dripped from his voice. Eris found herself extremely irritated, but pushed it off. “Those who don't know their history are doomed to repeat it.”

“Oh, ha, ha,” Eris harrumphed sarcastically.

“We were just talking about you, actually,” Lyra admitted. “I've got tons of things I really wanted to ask, but I didn't want to keep you up all night; did you really come from another world too? What's it like? Are there other draconequuses? What brought you here? Did-”

“Hang on, hang on!” Eris scowled. “Christ, one at a time! Enough with the third degree already, Jesus!”

“Sorry,” Lyra gave a small sheepish grin, hanging her head a little. “I'm just still excited is all.”

“Completely understandable,” William tilted his head, slipping Eris a curious look. “By all means, Miss Lyra, we're happy to answer any and all questions.”

“Can we not?” she frowned again. “I'd really prefer we not.”

“You're grumpy this morning,” William teased her.

“And you're being weirder than normal,” Eris deadpanned. “I mean, a lot weirder. What's up with you?”

“I'm just happy to have an intelligent discussion now and then,” he crossed his hooves, almost falling out of his chair.

“I'm intelligent!” she retorted angrily. “What, am I not smart enough now?”

“I didn't say that,” he replied with a sniff. “But conversations with you go in circles.”

“Your mom's a circle.”

“You see?” William rolled his hooves in a circle, almost slipping again. “You see what I mean now? There's no stimulating banter. Miss Lyra provides.”

“Er,thank you... I guess?” Lyra said, looking back and forth between the two.

“'Stimulating banter', my ass,” Eris snorted again. “You just like older women. Admit it.”

“Well... yes.” William's brows furrowed deeply, a hint of color rising in his already pink cheeks. “I hardly see what that has to do with anything.”

Lyra only shook her head, grinning.

“I swear,” she tutted. “You two are like an old married couple.”

“I didn't say anything about marrying my sister!” William blurted heatedly.

“Funny,” Eris snagged one of the pastries for herself, trying to look disinterested but surprisingly had a tinge of pink in her face as well. “It wasn't that long ago you were swearing to everybody we weren't even related.”

“We aren't,” he shot back.

“Yeah, well...” the draconequus stuck out her tongue. “You're adopted.”

“So are you!”

“Your mom is adopted!”

“So,” Lyra coughed loudly into her hoof, her discomfort obvious and making them both shrink back. “We've got some things to do today,” she tapped the scrolled up parchment that Twilight had insisted she take, letting it roll a bit on the table. “Missus Twilight said that she'd be here at eight sharp, so you guys might want to go wash up and get ready for today.”

“Wait, what?” Eris blinked, stopping mid-bite. “Why? Is she just stalking us now?”

“Do you want to tell her, or should I?” William asked seriously. Lyra blew a lock of mane from her face with a heavy breath.

“Actually,” Lyra started slowly. “Missus Twilight is just coming to, er... escort everypony.”

“'Escort?'” Eris repeated in disbelief. Lyra only shrugged.

“We're to both be tested,” William explained.

“Whoa, nobody mentioned needles!” she flinched, eyes wide.

“Not like that,” he rolled his eyes. “Consider it a placement test of sorts.”

“For what?”

“Look at the bright side,” the unicorn smiled. “You get to go to school!”

This did not sit well with Eris.

From the way that she bolted from the table, darting around the corner and careening directly into a very sleepy (and very surprised) Bon Bon, it did not sit very well with her at all.

If she had done something to anger Spike, Twilight wasn't aware of it.

Normally her assistant was happy to follow directions to the letter, helping in any way that he could, but today he seemed so inordinately restless. Instead of keeping a close eye on the 'chaos spawn', Spike could be found meandering the library, coming back to the main room to stare at herself and her guest for only a moment before taking off, dragging his feet the whole way.

Twilight bit her lower lip for the umpteenth time that day, brows furrowed. She was going to bite it off if he kept making her worry, but she pressed it back to focus on current matters.

“Will they even be accepted there?” Lyra asked, teacup floating in a small magical field before her.

“I've already gone over everything with Cheerilee,” Twilight nodded forcefully, her nonstop pacing rhythmically beating a clop, clop, clop into the floor. “She's a good mare and a decent teacher. She'll be able to handle them just fine.”

“That's good, then...” the unicorn said, thinking. “But if you're really concerned about, um... that, wouldn't it be easier to have them enrolled at Canterlot...?”

“In theory, it sounds good,” Twilight agreed. “But considering the circumstances, I would much rather have them both within arm's reach for now, especially now.”

“So what exactly did you find out?” Lyra pried, still maintaining her patience. “I really hope I haven't been sitting here for three hours for nothing, after all.”

“It's really not personal at all that I don't let anypony else administer, er, tests of these variety,” the librarian answered abashedly. “I've just been a bit worried, and what with the results...”

She left her sentence hanging as she trailed off into thought, leaving Lyra with a slightly irritated look. She sat waiting on Twilight for several long moments before finally rolling her hoof for her to continue.

“S-sorry,” she forced a small grin. “We'll start with the easy one,” Twilight resumed pacing, not even having realized that she'd stopped. She magically levitated a manila folder to herself, leafing through it for a few seconds before stopping and clearing her throat. “Right. I'll keep the summary short. Eris 'Tumulto' the draconequus, age unknown, bizarre physiology; by all rights she shouldn't even be alive, let alone so energetic, but I digress. No knowledge of Equestrian geology, no historical events, no knowledge of political parties, I mean...!”

Twilight held the folder away, revealing her confusion.

“I mean...” she struggled. “It's just crazy, it's like she's been living under a rock her entire life. I'm surprised she can manage anywhere at all, she doesn't even know how Equestrian currency works!”

“So... she's a little... slow?” Lyra cringed. “I mean, some are just late bloomers, I get that, but are you serious? How does she not know... well... anything?”

“I didn't say that,” Twilight frowned. “Don't get me wrong, Eris knows plenty, giving at least a little credence to the whole 'otherly worlds' bit. It's just that some of her knowledge is so... peculiar, so alien that I'm not even sure what to do it with it all! Don't get me wrong, she is undoubtedly brilliant, but her education is patchwork, so weird, I mean... I mean... well, just look at this.”

Lyra curiously peered about as Spike meandered by once again, silently ensuring that Eris and William stayed precisely where they were; from the sound of it they had no intentions of intervening, and Lyra took a closer look at the paper-filled folder.

What she saw within was far beyond 'peculiar'.

Reams and reams of papers came fluttering out, and she was quick to grab them but even when she did couldn't tell whether or not she was even holding them the right way up. Several looked to have been drawn on quite recently, some of which were terrible (occasionally colored) sketches of locations she had never seen, creatures she couldn't imagine, and machines no sane pony had ever dreamed of. Lyra gawked at one paper after another, the next even stranger than the last. One that caught her eye appeared to be some sort of vehicular beetle with fat wheels, belching smoke out of one end with a thin figure trapped at the other.

“... What am I even looking at?” Lyra breathed at last, her mind abuzz with curiosity and confusion.

“Your guess is as good as mine,” Twilight rubbed her temples wearily. “You should see the magic picture box powered by lightning, Eris had a field day trying to diagram that one.”

“A lot of these are... what, exactly?” Lyra leafed through some more, a small shiver rolling up her spine at one drawing in particular. It wasn't highly detailed, and it was clear that it had been scribbled in a hurry, but the depiction upset her deeply for some reason. High chain link fences wrapped around what appeared to be an encampment of some sort, the same thin bipedal figures in striped pajamas she saw in most of the other pictures standing behind it looking outward. Wire wrapped with barbs lined the top of the fence, and a little scrawled message with an arrow at the bottom read something unintelligible.

“... That would be the 'concentration camp,' apparently,” Twilight added somberly when she realized what Lyra had been staring at.

“A what camp?”

“You don't want to know,” she stated expressionlessly, magically replacing all of the papers together and wrapping the whole folder in a thick twine. “I wanted to find out, and by the sun and stars I wish to Celestia I'd never asked.”

“R-right...” Lyra shifted uncomfortably at the oddly haunted look from the mare before her. “Did, er... did William draw a bunch of pictures to put on the ice box too?”

Twilight managed a small snort at the meager attempt at a joke, and shook her head.

“Hardly. His was, well... probably even stranger, to be honest,” she sighed heavily, pushing the mane from her eyes before continuing. “Take everything I said about Eris, then reverse it and you've got him in a nutshell.”

“How so?” Lyra leaned forward, her already cold tea long forgotten.

“Well,” she unraveled a surprisingly large scroll, sliding her hoof downward a bit. “For example, William was able to identify literally every variety of local flora off the top of his head, the current and political states of every capital from here all the way to the Zebrican mainland and even Griffonia – he knows advanced trigonometry, his astronomy charts, done from memory alone, like I taught him myself, and this colt's education on Equestrian history and genealogy is so far out of the average pony's league that there are college professors I've interviewed who couldn't recite as much.”

Lyra let out a low whistle, eyebrows rising into her mane.

“I'm not done,” Twilight breathed, ceasing her pacing at last. “I am not even kidding, this colt is beyond intelligent, he is ingenious. He has impossibly advanced knowledge of technology, even more so than Eris – he's got an almost perfect memory, his problem solving skills were tested and found far above the bell curve, and then, and then-” Twilight was visibly shaking by this point, rolling up the scroll. “And then, just out of nowhere, he starts telling me about genetics – genetics, for Celestia's sake! Actual microscopic and cellular education that could advance the field of science lightyears further than what we already know, and all of this coming from a colt!”

Twilight heaved a heavy puff of breath, nervously glancing back in the direction of the other room. Shockingly enough the odd pair that Lyra had adopted were still chatting away, like everything was perfectly normal.

“So...” Lyra started, only to be cut off.

“There's more.”

“There's more?” she gaped.

“This colt, this... William Klaskovsky,” she breathed shakily. “Has, quite possibly, the most extensive comprehension of magic that I have ever seen in my entire life, and I studied exclusively under the princess herself.”

“And... what exactly does this mean?” Lyra frowned, each new piece of information colliding with the next. “So, he's a genius, I guess. How is that so bad?”

“It's phenomenally bad,” Twilight shuddered. “Miss Lyra – can I just call you Lyra?” she added with a hint of exasperation. “Look, Lyra; he has knowledge of future events. That, coupled with just the magical knowledge he has now, already spells disaster, I can taste it.”

“He did seem to know a bit about magic when I talked to him about it, yeah.” She rubbed her chin thoughtfully.

“You don't quite seem to understand,” Twilight pursed her lips tightly. “It's not just how educated he is on unicorn magic or even magic in general, it's what he knows.”

“Okay...” Lyra nodded slowly. “And what exactly would that be?”

“In short?” Twilight dropped onto the seat beside her, lowering her voice. “In short, too much. I'm talking advanced alteration spells, transformations, even lunar compulsion curses. Long distance monitor spells, rapid acceleration enchantments, memory transferal charms, and the battle hexes – Celestia's teats, the battle hexes. Excuse me,” she coughed sheepishly into her hoof. “I mean... nopony, especially not a colt, should have that kind of information about spells that could cause so much... damage.”

“How is that even possible?” Lyra mused, more interested than anything else. Twilight, however, did not seem to share in her enthusiasm.

“That's just it,” she sighed again. “He refuses to tell me. However he learned so much, he's either angry that I'm trying to find out, or he's afraid and he doesn't want anypony to know.”

“Then why-”

“There's more.”

“You're joking,” Lyra's brows furrowed, and she nearly knocked over her now chilled cup of tea. A simple spell was enough to reheat it, but she still didn't bother drinking. “There's more. More. How much more?”

“I... asked him to describe basic movement spells,” Twilight started uneasily, unable to quite look straight at Lyra.

“And?”

“And he actually performed it.”

That threw Lyra for a loop more than anything else.

“... Se-seriously?” she balked.

“An earth pony, no less,” Twilight reminded her, as if it weren't already obvious as to why she had been so shocked. “Granted, it was only a few centimeters, but he definitely moved the paperweight telekinetically, no mistaking it; and he just acted like it was nothing important, like he was a unicorn. I've seen earth pony magic at its height, but there's no way he should be able to do that.”

Lyra didn't have an answer to that, entrenched deep in thought.

“I've never seen anything like it,” Twilight continued after a bit. “I mean, if I had known any of this before... well. That's beside the point, the main thing is, he should not be able to do that, and-and I'm considering... quaranti-”

“You want to lock him up?”

Twilight let out an audible hiss, flinching before checking to ensure they weren't being overheard.

“If it comes to that.”

“For what?” Lyra demanded.

“You still don't seem to understand,” she stated quietly, her face paling. “Even if it weren't for the apparent latent magical abilities that he shouldn't have, he is dangerous.”

“He's a colt!” she insisted in a furious hushed whisper. “So he moved a paperweight, big whoop-”

“Knowledge is dangerous, Lyra!” Twilight was nearly butting heads with her. “Especially what he knows! That's what terrifies me so much! He's practically a ticking time bomb!”

Lyra bit her tongue, watching the librarian intently.

“You have to understand,” Twilight pressed on. “You need to know just what you're getting yourself into with these two, just what could go wrong at any given moment-”

“I disagree,” Lyra crossed her forehooves. “I don't think they're dangerous, not either one of them; far from it. You already told me that Eris has no power whatsoever on her own, and Will just seems... he just seems like a colt.”

“And therein lies one of my biggest problems,” Twilight harrumphed. “He is, when all is said and done, just a colt – and there is no colt in Equestria that should know what he does, have the potential for raw, concentrated magical power. Power of a god in the hooves of a colt, Lyra.”

“Do you really believe that?” Lyra asked after a long stretch of silence, looking past her and into the kitchen. Sill there sat William and Eris, the colt with his hooves folded neatly before him, the two of them so lost in conversation that it was no wonder they hadn't overheard.

“You might see potential for danger, or trouble, or outright chaos,” Lyra said adamantly. “But I just see a couple of foals who needed help, and that's exactly what I'm going to do.”

Twilight started to reply, only to slowly close her mouth and let out another long, heavy sigh through her nostrils.

“Has he told you that he still thinks Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie are his 'mothers' yet?” Twilight asked quietly.

“Er... yes,” she admitted. “That part was kind of, uh... weird, at points.”

“Everything we just talked about,” Twilight looked her dead in the eye. “All of it, from start to finish? You think that's weird? Lyra, we're just scratching the tip of the iceberg. Despite what you or anypony else thinks, they are not – repeat, are not 'just foals'. Those two are offspring of Discord himself...!”

“And they're practically harmless!” Lyra threw out her hooves toward the oblivious couple in exasperation.

“They appear it, yes,” she nodded. “And that scares the Tartarus out of me. Titans know why Celestia wanted me to help them integrate safely into society, but I think I'm getting the picture.”

They sat in silence for a while, each mare wordlessly pondering her own suspicious thoughts, and neither with the courage to share them for what felt like forever.

“I'm not just going to abandon them.” Lyra’s flat stare met Twilight’s hard glare once more.

“I wouldn't ask you to,” Twilight responded lowly. “I just want you to know exactly what you need to do if things go wrong, and it's probably going to be hard to hear.”

You need me.

“What?”

“I said I think my brain's leaking out of my ears,” Eris flopped her head down on the table miserably across from William. “I can't take any more of this shit, dude.”

“Oh, it's not that bad,” he folded his hooves together calmly, the surprisingly pleased chatter from Twilight and Lyra in the room adjacent occasionally breaking in. “Really, it could be far worse.”

“You,” Eris tilted her head up with a scowl. “See, you didn't get all hooked up to a freaking machine in the basement. God, I think that thing gave me cancer,” she prodded her chest worriedly.

You are not alone.

William had found the entire process rather like busy work – whereas Eris was separated for 'alternative testing' including a full medical examination (which she was only too happy to complain about) strangely, William received almost nothing but paperwork. Granted, Twilight had given him a very brief examination as well, but her attention had been almost completely consumed by Eris for the last three hours, and despite enjoying the silence initially he was glad to have her back.

“-and I think she got part of that stethoscope deliberately in there, I swear to god she keeps it in an ice bucket or something, bitch be trippin', I did not need that done nor should anyone for crying out loud, haven't any of these people heard of personal space? I mean, god, if I had a nickel-”

Mostly glad.

“Hey,” Spike managed to make himself heard eventually, poking his head around the corner and staring at the odd couple taking up their kitchen. “Hey! Twi said you guys can come back now, you know that, right?”

“Tell 'er to eat me,” Eris's head hit the table again with a groan, but she eventually pulled herself up to follow William, who had begun tailing the miniature drake almost instantly.

Lyra sat comfortably on the sofa with one leg crossed over the other, calmly levitating a cup of tea before patting the seat beside her welcomingly. Twilight, on the other hand, stood off to one side, silently masking the fact that she was still very much fuming.

“You rang?” the draconequus uttered in a guttural, mocking tone, giving a little half-bow as she approached.

“... Ring what?” Twilight balked at her. Eris only sighed, shoulders heaving heavily.

“I'm unappreciated in my time.”

“Eris,” Twilight started slowly. “Um... just as an aside, please, please behave yourself, I really don't want another letter from the princess like the last one.”

William gave Eris an odd look but kept his mouth shut.

“No idea what you're talking about,” Eris waved her off dismissively.

“Eris,” Twilight said a little testily, noting that the draconequus was clearly avoiding her gaze. “It involved harassing royal guards and telling them to-to... well, don't say anything about forceful rectal insertions next time!” she blurted at last, flustered and blushing.

Lyra was suddenly overcome by an extremely powerful sneezing fit which sounded suspiciously like sniggering.

“Right,” the librarian nodded eventually, gradually pulling her eyes away from the ever stranger specimen. “Just wanted to tell you both now; William, Eris, Mi- er, Lyra is going to take it from here. Don't worry, nopony is going to make you go to school today, but you're both registered and you'll be safely under Miss Cheerilee's tutelage in no time flat! Also the princess will be here any minute,” she rushed out in a quiet tone, almost nervously.

Eris only gave her a deadpan stare.

“You say that like it's a good thing- “ she started to grumble, but not loud enough to be heard before jerking her head. “Hold on, what?

“Oh, don't be so sour!” Lyra said cheerfully as William wobblingly clambered onto the sofa next to her.

“She's right,” Twilight insisted. “Think of it this way, Eris! You're much better off than you were before with ponies that care about your well being. And with Princess Celestia's help, everything is going to be just fine, I promise.”

Eris still stood, arms crossed furiously and staring at her as if she'd grown a second head.

“... So what about Dad?” she threw out her arms at last. “What about him, huh?”

“He's the god of chaos,” Twilight tutted, nudging the reluctant draconequus along at last. “I'm sure that Discord is perfectly safe and happy... wherever he is.”

Discord screamed in pain, twitching violently with the rhythmic electrical spasms jittering through him. He was soon buckling under the immense magically propelled gravity pillar, no powers of chaos flooding from his talons, not even so much as a trickle to defend himself with. Electricity crackled along his limbs, causing him to constrict and jerk as if yanked by an invisible puppeteer. He wheezed defiantly, his face pressed hard to the floor, but his eyes remained locked firmly on his aggressor.

“One hundred seventy-four,” Yolk yawned, effortlessly blasting Discord again within the runed circle with the pillar hanging over him, accentuating each number with another painfully forceful slam. “One hundred seventy-five, one hundred seventy-six... this is practically effortless, I can do this all day, Discord.”

“When – I get – out – of here...!” he wheezed through the spare breaths he had when not being forcibly pummeled by the conjured pillar, “I – am going – to do – horrible things – to you!”

“Yes, like you did my baby brother? Don't even bother, this spell was designed for you, it's completely indestructible from within.” Yolk White readjusted her glasses calmly, staring down at him as if he were an insect on the wall and not a being of unfathomable power trapped under what might as well have been a very large glass. He could still feel the ethereal tug in his gut pulling him away, hauling at him agonizingly, but unable to properly leave the summoning circle. From the strength of the call he'd have guessed it was Twilight or perhaps the princess herself, but there was no way of telling from his ephemeral cage, and he wasn't about to tell Yolk anything useful, even if only out of spite.

“I've made it very easy for you. All you have to do is tell me where he is, what you did to Egg, and I'll let you go.”

The inside is indestructible, huh...?

Discord managed to meet her eyes for a brief second before the pillar came crashing painfully back down, his form realigning itself before the spell could finish obliterating him. All it would take is one little confession and she'd finally release him. Just a couple of simple words was all it would take to make it stop, and he'd be free at last. Free to answer the call and make the wrenching pain wracking his body from failing to respond end, and turn his fury upon the mare who dared imprison a god.

“I hope you choke.”

Discord flinched in expectation of the pain returning, but he felt nothing; for a split moment he hoped that she had released him, but the watery vision indicating he was still very much sealed within the runed circle dashed that hope instantly. Yolk only watched him, small emerald glow atop her horn basking her irritation in a grim light.

“... Are you really that thick?” she scowled. “I am trying to make it easy on you here.”

“Says the mare beating my head into the floor,” he stated flatly, still unable to push himself up from the weight.

“I lied for you, you piece of scum!” Yolk seethed through clenched teeth. “I betrayed my princess, my country for you, and for what?!”

Discord said nothing as she glowered down at him, her nostrils flaring.

“Did you really think that the Organization wouldn't have one of their own members protected?” she fumed. “Two years, Discord – two years of my life, gone! I did everything you said, I followed orders to the letter, and you still didn't hold up your end of the bargain!”

“Neither did you,” he shot back.

“How was I supposed to know your brat would try to change history?” Yolk rammed him with the magical pillar again, and a couple more times for good measure. “I watched your troublemakers day and night, I lied to my superiors and protected them from every damn thing you should have, I turned traitor for you, you... dirty, filthy, scum!”

She finally stopped slamming the crackling magical column of energy atop him, only to find the gasping draconequus reacting in a more disturbing manner than if he had been threatening her as before.

He was giggling.

“... What's so funny?” Yolk ceased the battering with another flick of her horn. “Do you realize what's going to happen to you if you don't just cough up the information and tell me where my little brother is?”

“Outside,” he hacked, grin plastered to his face.

“What do you mean, outside?” Yolk drew in closer to the draconequus.

Come on little mare. Just a little closer. Just a single hoof over that line, just a HAIR, come one, come on...

“Outside,” he whispered breathily as she drew closer, ears erect. “Outside of space, and time, outside the illusory veil of reality.”

“Give me a straight answer!” Yolk threateningly drew the pillar of magic higher. “Or I'm throwing you to the Timberwolves, I swear it, Discord! We had a deal!”

“A deal that won't be made for another two years in your timeline,” he laughed weakly. “A deal now considered null – and – void.”

Yolk White didn't slam him again. She didn't respond, she didn't even blink for several long moments.

“So you're openly admitting that you're never giving my brother back,” she said in a soft tone. “Maybe you never planned to give him back at all. That's okay, Discord.”

A sudden dreadful icicle pricked his heart, and Yolk began casting another spell.

“That's just fine,” Yolk continued with fire in her emerald eyes. “If I don't have the authority to drag it out of you, I have the power to get somepony that does. Well, not pony, exactly...”

“What do you mean by that?” Discord put all of his effort into pushing off the floor, but the magical pillar that had been crushing him before was long gone.

“If we're two years back, then I still have a perfectly clean record, and no need for a guilty conscience,” she answered smartly. “You brought this on yourself, traitor. There isn't a single member of the Organization that doesn't know how to contact the Council, and I will tear you apart if it means getting my baby brother back!”

“You- you're bluffing,” he cringed as an unfamiliar magic began to encompass Yolk's horn, bubbling with a cruel violet and black instead of the brilliant green that had whirled from her before. A thunderous tempest began to rattle her office, blasting papers everywhere in a boisterous cacophony. “Yolk – White, stop this, you don't understand what you're doing!”

“You had your chance!” Yolk spat in disgust, the vile color of the summoning magic seeping ever so slowly into her eyes. It grew like a vine up her eyeballs as her incantation resumed, bolstering the tornado of power that blasted the room. From the force of it, Discord could have sworn that maybe, just maybe, his impromptu prison might begin to crack...

“Yolk!” Discord screamed, scrabbling desperately at the barrier holding him in and suppressing his power. Anything to distract her further, draw her attention away. “Stop, stop! I swear, it's not that I wouldn't, I can't, you have to listen to me! Stop!”

Anything he shouted might as well have been whispered for all she reacted, or perhaps she really couldn't hear him over the storm roiling literally around them. Regardless, her attention was swayed from him long enough that the imprisonment spell wouldn't be held at full strength...

Instead of relying on any of his own power, Discord reached out to the infernal ceaseless pulling sensation that he had so cursed before. If it could act as his savior now he silently vowed he'd never complain about it again, just so long as he could reach out a little further...

A weak sliver, just a tiny splinter began to appear before his eyes.

Granted, that was all he needed.

Biscuits, William thought silently to himself, were very nice. The ones provided by Miss Sparkle were pleasantly warm and fresh, and the quiet in the library was greatly appreciated. He could lose himself in his thoughts as Celestia kindly but firmly spoke to Eris. He could even appreciate how sheepish and quiet Eris had grown, compared to her regular noisy self William considered this very nice too. He pondered in wordless contemplation next to Lyra on the sofa, just enjoying the company.

It was almost peaceful, for a minute.

It was a nice day.

For a minute.

The screams of fright and surprise were lost amongst the explosion that erupted in the middle of the library. Books and leafs of paper went flying at lethal speeds, some of which left a burning streak in the air as they burst into flame.

“Holy Christ!” Eris shrieked over the destruction, Twilight frantically trying to magically salvage her library in horror. “What the hell-”

Eris was swiftly covered by an enormous alabaster wing, pushing her back and preventing her from seeing the action; it took Eris a full beat to realize, however, that Celestia wasn't pushing her back at all, but protectively blocking the barrage of flaming projectiles with her own body. A brilliant flare of golden glow halted the fiery rain in an instant, giving the others more time to react.

Lyra was already on the way of trying to pull William away from the source of chaos, but the colt wriggled free from her grasp and darted to the crumpled form of Discord regardless.

A gargantuan black stain had been burned into the floor from where he'd burst into reality, scorch marks splintering across the floor like a gigantic ebony spider made its home in the center of Twilight's library. Smack dab in the middle of the destruction lay the unmoving figure, several trails of smoke still wavering off him.

“Father's hurt!” William blurted in concern, scrambling to his side only to reactively jerk away when his hooves were painfully burned at the touch. William worriedly tried blowing out a small fire on Discord's ear tip, resulting in yet another trail of smoke.

He stumbled backward in shock when Discord lurched toward him without warning, one talon snagging his shoulder as he reached for Eris with his free hand.

“Discord,” Celestia kept her firmly behind her wing, Twilight teetering on the side as if she were unsure of what to do. “What's going on?”

“Eris!” the draconequus coughed breathily, signaling her to come closer. “Time's up!”

“What, now?!”

“Discord!” the princess readjusted her tiara that had been knocked aside from the force of the blast, simultaneously physically pushing the reluctant draconequus back from the crippled god of chaos. “What did you do this time?”

“There's no time!” he screamed, and William cringed in his grip. He had never seen Discord shout at anyone like that, especially not in such a full blown panic. “We have to go, we have to go now!”

“Explain yourself!” she demanded. “Discord, what is the meaning of this? Why did you not respond earlier, what's going on?”

“Celestia,” Discord's bloodshot eyes rolled in fear, leaning on William's pink shoulder for support as he struggled to stand. “I'll explain everything, but let her go, we have to leave, now!”

“He's right you know,” an identical Discord nodded knowingly from directly behind him. “The Council is going to be here any minute.”

“See?!” Discord jabbed a slightly crispy thumb behind himself. “He knows, the Council could – oh.”

“Yes,” Yolk White dusted an invisible speck of dust from her shoulder, appearing quietly from behind the much less-toasted Discord. “The Council could most certainly oh in a lot of areas.”

“I don't follow that in the slightest,” the newer Discord said cheerfully, a couple of others silently appearing to surround them all. They did not pop into existence as the burned Discord did; rather, they simply started existing, as if they had been there all along and the world had just been too slow to realize it.

“You!” William spluttered upon spotting the bespectacled mare. “Princess -” he rammed a hoof toward Yolk, enraged, “- that mare is a fraud!”

“Yes,” Celestia said bluntly. “I know.”

“I know for a fact that-that, I-I, um... what?”

“I know,” Princess Celestia stated expressionlessly. “Yolk is a member of a small group directly under royal orders.”

“What the actual fuck is going on?!” Eris blurted at last, throwing out her arms to her sides.

“Not exactly how I would have phrased it, but I am curious as well, Princess,” Twilight carefully fixed her hair, brushing out a couple of cinders and casting a forlorn gaze to her poor books. Spike poked a wide-eyed head from around the corner, keeping close watch on the area and multiple Discords.

“I assume you've already discovered that Dr. White isn't precisely who she says that she is,” Celestia nodded in Yolk's direction, who proudly bowed before her.

“I don't even think we've met,” Twilight nodded politely.

“We have...” Yolk frowned. “You just don't remember.”

“... Spooky,” Lyra grinned uneasily, looking back and forth between the unicorns. “So how-”

“If you're all quite finished,” the Council Discord coughed loudly into one paw. “Celestia, good to see you again by the way. We're here on business.”

Celestia gave a single understanding nod, but still did not cease to keep one wing spread in front of Eris.

“I assumed as much,” the princess answered quietly. “Is it truly time?”

“What?” the Council member balked. “Oh, no, we're not here for that,” he drew something out from behind his back that certainly shouldn't have been there before, and probably shouldn't have been there at all. “No, we're here for him.”

William's mouth dropped at the familiar thing, his own dangling motionless human body a curiosity in the opposite Discord's grasp. At first, all were enraptured by the strange creature that he held aloft, but that was eventually changed by the Council member's directed stare. Every head in the room slowly turned from the bizarre sight to the vulnerable Discord at William's side.

And, eventually, William finally realized that they weren't staring at Discord.

They were staring at him.

“... What?” he shifted under the uncomfortable silence, Discord's iron grip still pinching his shoulder.

“William...” Discord explained quietly, although the entire room could easily hear from how still it was. “When you... adjusted reality when using the powers of chaos, you changed... things.”

“You mean turning back time?” William looked up at him fearfully, throwing a single glance to his dangling human counterpart. “But-but I thought-”

“The Council is unconcerned about the irregularities in the flow of time on mortal worlds,” the new Discord said with authority.

“Then...” William furrowed his brows, looking at the lifeless body as if he were being given an obvious clue. “Then what...?”

“A hundred million worlds,” the draconequus at his shoulder gave him a little squeeze. “All of them with a suddenly missing little boy.”

“... Oh. That.”

“Yes,” Council Discord frowned. “That.”

William swallowed audibly, looking around for any sign of help from the many faces, but none was forthcoming.

“So... does-does this mean I'll be...” he found his throat mysteriously constricting, like unseen fingers were tightening around his neck.

“... No,” Discord shook his head. “You won't. I will.”

“Is this because of what I did before to...?”

“William,” Discord said through clenched teeth as motion from around them seemed to blur, like they couldn't quite notice what was moving. “You played with forces that you don't fully understand, and when you killed your grandfather you caused a serious ripple effect-”

“Grandfather?” William balked, noticing his immediate flinch. “That-that was... oh god, oh my god, why didn't you tell me?!”

“This shit's getting good,” Eris muttered in Celestia's ear. “You bring popcorn?”

Celestia did not seem to have a response.

“I believe that I can answer that,” Yolk chimed in, refusing to be left out. “You see, I believe that Discord here – not you, dear,” she brushed past the Council member, “He has been keeping a little secret of his own, haven't you, Discord?”

“Enjoying this?” he said without any emotion whatsoever, locking eyes with the mare and staring down at her. “Make you feel like a big girl, hmm?”

“Discord,” Celestia turned her attention to the burn victim. “I do hope I'm not about to hear what I think I'm about to hear.”

“You see,” Council member number one dropped William's human body to the floor. “He thought he'd try to play clever by inserting the memory and a similar soul into the same body and get off scot -free.”

“So...” William touched a hoof to the side of his head in confusion, his mind abuzz with questions. “So... this isn't even my body, really?”

“It's a facsimile, yes,” the draconequus murmured wearily, his shoulders far more slumped than usual. “I... needed to make you a new body from scratch, but I didn't have a lot to go off of right away. I had to make do.”

“I'm... I'm a copy of somebody else?”

“You're in a copy of somebody else,” Discord corrected him.

There were other noises that William could have sworn were words, but he couldn't hear any of them over the internal screaming.

“And the sleazy prick – sorry, pardon my language, Princess,” Yolk stopped suddenly to bow to Celestia, abashed, before continuing. “Discord tried to make off with my little brother's soul trapped in that alien body, sacrificing it to the Council so that he could get away with the crime of the century!” she breathed triumphantly, her cheeks glowing.

“Nope,” the Council member corrected her. “Way off.”

“And now,” Yolk White pointed at the body. “Now, I'm going to make you give Egg back, I told you-”

“That's not your brother,” Council Discord said again.

“- that I would win, I-I told... um... sorry,” she shook her head, blinking up at him in honest befuddlement. “Sorry, what?”

“That's not Egg White,” the Discord by William stated miserably.

“What?”

“Nope,” Council Discord added far too cheerfully.

“What?”

“I did say similar soul,” the draconequus beside Yolk gave the lifeless body a small kick.

“... What?!”

“So...” Eris interjected, raising a questioning eyebrow to her father. “So if Will killed his grandfather and set off a ripple effect and wiped out all the other Williams in existence, that means it killed all of his dads too... right?”

“All except one,” the unnecessarily camp Discord beamed. “One little Neil Klaskovsky, locked away in a personal torture chamber in a teeny tiny little pocket dimension.”

“Discord,” Celestia almost exploded, causing Eris to lurch back in surprise at the sheer heat waving off of her. “You told me that was destroyed!”

“Actually,” he said tiredly, “I said it would be destroyed. And now it is.”

“Discord!”

“What?” he snapped, making William feel extremely uncomfortable at how tight his grip was on his shoulder, which was beginning to lose feeling. “Look, it's gone now, that's all that's important, let's just get this over with-”

“Nobody going to guess which soul is in it?” Council Discord gave the body another chipper kick. “Anybody? Anyone at all.”

“Please stop kicking me,” William cringed.

“It's Neil!” Eris gaped at him in horror. “Oh my god, dad, what the fuck-”

“They were going to torture him for eternity anyway!” he threw up his arms in exasperation. William wasted no time in examining his human form, the bouncing thoughts in his head long gone, leaving him feeling strangely hollow. “I saved William from that, how am I the bad guy here?”

“Discord,” Celestia seethed in quiet fury. “I am not intervening this time.”

“Oh, come on,” Discord rolled his eyes grumpily. “It's one little soul that nobody would ever even miss-”

“Did I mention that his pocket dimension contained about three billion other souls?” Council Discord butted in happily, delighting in his dismay. “Tut, tut, tut. Three billion souls. Three. Billion. Billion. Bil-”

“Shut up,” he harrumphed, crossing his smoked arms. “Can you do that for me? Shut up.”

“That's... that's pretty messed up,” William looked up at his adoptive father uneasily. “So... does that make you Satan?”

“I am not the bad guy!” Discord insisted, even looking a little hurt that even William seemed to be turning on him. “The whole thing was packed with damned souls anyway, not a single good apple in the bunch.”

“You included, apparently,” Celestia added. This, if anything, hurt more than the explosive impact.

“So...” Yolk looked around as if she'd just come out of a daze. “So... where-where's my little brother?”

“No idea,” the Council member shrugged. “Not my jurisdiction, those souls could be anywhere by now.”

“Titans have mercy,” the princess breathed quietly.

“What do you mean, not your jurisdiction?” Yolk shouted. “What about my brother?!”

“Discord sixty-nine dash eight comma ampersand purple question mark,” Council Discord ignored her and unraveled a scroll from midair with his free talons. “As voucher for one William Z. Klaskovsky, you have hereby been charged with genocide on a multidimensional scale. How do you plead?”

There was silence once more, though whether from tension or magically enforced was a mystery.

“... Guilty.”

“Then as seat number Four on the Council of Discords, I hereby decree you eternally banned from the Halls of Eternity,” number Four rolled up the scroll with a snap of his talons. “Your immortality shall be henceforth stripped, your connection to Chaos snipped, and your name now and for all time stricken from the records of Discords.”

Discord felt himself thrust to his mismatched knees by a pair of the other silent draconequuses, an impossibly heavy invisible weight dragging him down.

“From this moment on, you shall cease to exist before the eyes of the Council,” number Four's voice was a booming thunderclap, consuming all else. “Your pleas shall not be heard, your cries shall go unanswered, and Chaos will not aid you in your chosen world. By the power invested in me by me and some other guys, I now pronounce you draconequus and draconequus, you may kiss the bride.”

Discord blinked as the weight was lifted, the other silent images of himself already strolling off into thin air as number Four calmly rolled up the scroll.

“... Hang on, what?”

“Sorry,” number Four pointed at his pointy ears with a sharp grin. “Can't hear you now. You've been banished. Sorry, brah.”

“I'm not being tortured for all eternity?”

“Still can't hear you,” Four said to the air, stepping easily past the still very stunned Yolk. “But if I could, I'd probably say something like 'be glad you rolled me instead of Five or Eight' or 'your sentence may or may not have been reduced due to the fact that a single easily replicated human child might save several billion worlds a bit of grief'. You know, stuff like that,” Four nodded politely to Celestia before tucking the scroll beneath one armpit. “Now if we're all done here, I'm off to get some donuts. Ciao!”

And with a snap of his fingers, he was gone.

Yolk still stood smack dab in the center of the library, mouth gaping a bit like a fish, opening and closing repeatedly but no words coming out. Celestia finally lowered her wing from in front of Eris, but she too seemed too stunned to speak. Twilight graciously offered Discord a conjured blanket, which helped put out one last smoking ember on his shoulder, who woozily put one clawed hand to his feverish forehead, and Lyra silently inspected the encompassing destruction with Spike.

William, however, remained with shaking hoof by his body, and for something so familiar it had never looked quite so peculiar.

Journal of William Zachariah Klaskovsky

New World, Day Three

He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake. He's awake.

Author's Notes:

Feedback is greatly appreciated readers, I wrote most of this while sleep deprived, so please let me know if there are any errors I missed. Mostly error proofread by Cola Bubble Gum and Dash the Stampede.