“... Again.”

Discord shrieked, a high, unnatural sound that made the hairs on the back of Celestia's neck prickle uneasily. He lay panting on the ground for several moments after, heaving shakily as a few minuscule plumes of smoke trailed off his back like winding spiders into the air.

“... Again.”

The resounding tortured scream as Discord was launched backward from the dully glowing crystal orb with a luminescent blue light bounced around the chamber almost as much as he did, spinning like a top, a painfully loud thwack! making her cringe when he hit the wall.

“Again,” Discord coughed out a small puff of soot, hacking and shaking as he struggled to force himself to stand.

“I think that's quite enough for now,” Celestia shook her head uneasily.

“No, no,” Luna motioned her away with a single wingtip. “If Discord wants to continue his 'ultimate super infallible plan', I advise that we assist him in his idio- err, endeavors.”

Discord let out a quiet coughing fit that sounded suspiciously like 'sadistic bitch'.

“I said that's enough, Lu,” her eyes narrowed sharply, magically dusting off the cinders Discord had spread in his wild dance through the air.

“No,” the slightly crispy draconequus insisted. “No. One more try. This will work. It has to work this time.”

A sparkling star alit atop Luna's horn, casting waving blue rays of brilliance that peirced the shadows as she prepared herself.

“Perhaps I didn't make myself clear,” Celestia held Discord back with a single hoof, her brows furrowed. “If you keep trying to reunite yourself with it, you're going to die.”

Discord's amber eyes were as slits as they met Celestia's violet ones, her multihued mane tumbling around her a little even though she'd long since stopped moving.

“... Well, I suppose that would mean our little game would be over then, hmm?” After a long, long pause, Discord put on a toothy smile, but she could see the weariness through his facade. Although his grin was large, the bags beneath his eyes hardly lifted from it. It was almost as if he were trying to smile off the painful looking slump in his back, like she wouldn't notice the effort it took him to move.“You know, it's awfully immature, being a sore loser about it-”

“I can't watch you tear yourself apart like this anymore, Discord,” Celestia said softly, her tone expressionless.

“You could always wait outs-”

“Lu.”

Princess Luna shifted awkwardly, innocently observing the flawless and still glowing crystalline orb on it's stone pedestal. Celestia turned back to the draconequus, catching the tired, faraway look in his eyes.

“... Please, Celestia. I-I have to do this.”

“No, you don't. Just- let's at least try it my way, it's more-”

“Repulsive?” Discord finished, achily crossing his arms with a frown and cracking his back, ashes falling off of him. “Kowtowing to the 'Council' isn't going to get us jack diddly, they don't give a damn about this world or any of its inhabitants! So long as nothing interrupts their precious balance,” he spat in disgust, “I wouldn't be surprised if they played ping pong while the universe implodes.”

“You don't have to do this.”

“Tia, we talked about this. They – are – not – an – option,” he reiterated through clenched teeth, mismatched hands shaking.

“... Don't be late.”

“Luna, again.”

From outside the room, in the dark and long hallways whose pillars carried the decorated ceiling, the occasional flash of sun bright blue flame would flicker beneath the heavy wooden door. The gargantuan shadows bowed and quavered fearfully from the light, only daring to return to their positions as sentinels once the terrible echoing scream laden glow had retreated.

Celestia walked amongst those shadows in pensive silence, her face cast in darkness.

Councils and treaties and Titans and life. Simplicity, how I long for thee.

Sun beaming down on them, the wind in their hair, the day couldn't have been better.

“This couldn't possibly get any worse,” Eris moaned miserably, slapping away what she assumed was a giant mosquito from the back of her head.

“Aww, chin up!” Lyra beamed, apparently no worse for the wear as she pulled out a small map from her saddlebag. “We're almost there, it's totally worth it.”

The winding dirt path leading from the wooded trails up the mountainside felt like it had taken years to climb, even though the sun had hardly reached midday. William scowled up at it distractedly, straining to ignore the sweat and tiredness.

“Swear to god,” Eris shook her empty canteen with a foul look at it. “If we get all the way to the top just so you can go 'look at the view!' I'm kicking Will's ass.”

“Wait, what-”

“Nah, we aren't going to the top,” Lyra ran a hoof over the unfolded map, several red circles seemingly scribbled on at random. One was near their position on the mountainside, another was far off to the Everfree forest, and a couple had been crossed out by the outskirts of Ponyville. William silently noted that a particularly large circle had been scratched on beside Ponyville's lake, but Lyra made no move to explain them.

“So... we can go home now?” Eris stretched before cupping her eyes and looking out over the treetops. “Hey, I can see my house from here.”

“Breezie Springs is just a little way from here,” Lyra informed them, neatly tucking the map back into the depths of her saddlebag before William could get a better look at it. “Trust me, you can't miss it.”

“So there is a spring all the way up here...” William mused aloud.

“Why's it called Breezie Springs?” Eris asked boredly, dragging herself along behind the oddly now invigorated ponies. The rock walls grew higher as they traversed the steadily shrinking path, making her feel uneasily small.

“Normally,” the unicorn magically brushed aside a large pair of bushes conveniently blocking the path, “It's because the Breezies can't get enough of this place. They're all cleared out of here at this time of year, though, so we should be good.”

“So, what are Breezies, then?” Eris rolled a paw through the air as she followed them. “Are they like... some kinda people, or mountain tribe, or cannibal cult, or holy titty nuggets.”

Nobody seemed to have a proper response to that.

There was a bit of a contrast, to say the least.

The forest path that they had been following abruptly ended, as if a gigantic invisible knife had neatly sliced off the rest of the trees.

The high, cold and sharp looking rock walls that felt as if they were continuously pressing in on them seemed to simply halt, widening around in a humongous stone bowl. On one side, the sun perfectly caught the crystal clear water springing out from the mountainside, creating a calm little waterfall in the pool. The sudden introduction of so much bright green almost blinded them, as the palms and leafy plants themselves seemed to warp down from over the lip of the bowl and further into the valley, deepening in hues as they descended until they crashed reckless and free onto the sandy beach. As if to complete the picture, a single rainbow stretched down over the lake, casting a number of brilliant hues on the sand. William's attention was particularly focused on this for a while.

“Yeah, I've seen better,” Lyra grinned, allowing the pair of stunned chaoslings to pick their jaws up. “Me and Bon used to come up here all the time, but we came less and less when she started picking up work.”

“This place is, is... I mean, it's gorgeous,” Eris balked, neck craning as she attempted to follow the treeline where some seemed to be growing horizontally, giving her a bizarre flash of vertigo. “I mean, it's almost unreal.”

“This is why you brought us all the way up here?” William blinked, trying to keep himself from taking in every breathtaking sight at once.

“Well, I figured it would be a bit more fun to clean up in the springs instead of taking a boring old bath to get ready for tonight's shindig, eh?” Lyra clapped him on the back.

“... Aren't we just going to get dirty going back down the mountain?”

“Quit bein' a spoilsport!” Eris cackled, making straight for the springs. “Last one in's a rotten egg!”

“I'll-I'll catch up!” William insisted when Lyra nodded ahead cheerfully, sliding her saddlebag off. “I just want to-to, er... check out some of the, uh, flora here, it's fascinating.”

Lyra gave him an odd look, but shrugged.

“Don't take too long, we don't have all day,” she reminded him, and William heaved a breath that he hadn't realized he'd been holding when she traipsed off to join Eris. For a moment he was afraid she wouldn't find it believable. He pulled off his own saddlebag, carefully eyeing the pair to discover when they would inevitably grow bored of him. Then, he could get near that rainbow as well...

Some of the flowers growing around the springs really did interest him, though, so it wasn't a complete lie. Nothing like the wildflowers or mushrooms of the surrounding forested areas, the plants in Breezie Springs were a sight to behold in and of themselves. Upon closer inspection of the leafy vegetation, William discovered that some of them had fat pink berries growing along their undersides, which he gleefully noted. He silently kicked himself for not bringing along something to write with to record his findings.

Another of the plants was what appeared to be a stubby orange turnip, but when pulled up from the ground revealed a row of cactus like thorns protruding from a bundle of twining roots. One that especially held William's attention was a small, unassuming flower bulb with a simple green palette and a red spot that smelled faintly of moss. It drooped from the stem heavily, a single dangling leaf stiffly jutting out. William frowned, poking the little bulb curiously, only for one end to pry open at his touch and reveal a number of rubbery tooth like appendages that curled upwards upon contact with air. The 'mouth' of the thing looked, strangely enough, almost tongue pink.

Of course, this was the one that he promptly decided was perfect.

It sat quietly in a little mound of dirt in his pack on the way out of the springs, almost as if watching over the vial of bottled rainbow.

“I wouldn't worry about it,” Lyra replied when a still sopping wet Eris casually asked what was to become of Bon Bon. “She just loves these sorts of big parties, distracts her from her boring job. She wouldn't miss it for the world.”

“What do you mean, you have to miss it?”

“Exactly that,” Bon Bon responded cooly, tugging on a slimming black overcoat in the doorway. Lyra only stood stunned, small saddlebag still in hoof as the mare trundled neatly out the door without looking back.

“But-but you'll miss all the fun!” the unicorn called after her, mane in her eyes.

“I'll be at the next one, promise,” she lifted a single hoof without looking back, checking the road before setting off into the evening. “Gotta work tonight, see you when I get home.”

And with that, Bon Bon skipped cleanly past the waiting carriage and vanished into the evening.

“What happened to 'wouldn't miss it for anything', eh?” Eris drained the remaining dampness from her hair with a lime and pink polka dotted colored towel. William held his own similar one at arm's length in revulsion, muttering about color tastes.

“She just has to do that sometimes,” Lyra stated expressionlessly, “I don't question it anymore. Come on, you two, or we're going to be late.”

“We could always, y'know... not go,” Eris suggested loudly as William was trundled awkwardly into the pony drawn carriage. One of the pegasi gave them an attentive nod before resuming his post.

The interior matched the outside in opulence; whereas the carriage itself was gleaming silver, the interior was lined with velvet and cushions, two circular windows set in both doors. A sinking feeling of dread gnawed in William's stomach as the obvious occurred to him.

Of course, they were being escorted by Celestia's pegasi.

“Heights. I hate heights,” he grumbled as Eris flopped into one of the comfortable seats next to him.

“Aww, you've been cranky all day,” she ruffled his white mane as she stared out the window, oblivious to his irritation.

“It'll be a great party,” Lyra reassured them as the gradual bumping of the massive plated wheels rumbled the carriage. “Just wait until we get there, it'll be fun!”

“I mean, it's not like I care or anything...” the draconequus began casually, squinting out the window at something. “But, uh, what exactly is this whole shebang for?”

“What, you mean the Griffonian ambassador?” William blinked at her. “Did you even bother to read the invitations?”

“For the love of Celestia, stop that carriage!”

The trio's cries of surprise were muffled by the rattling halt that they came to, and Lyra wound up stumbling into the floor. Without warning, one of the carriage doors was flung open to the cool evening air.

“Miss Twilight?”

“Have you seen anything?” the unicorn blurted, wild eyes flickering around the cabin. Her mane was frizzy and sticking up in multiple directions, and she repeated herself more urgently, clearly out of breath.

“Are-are you alright?” Lyra balked, pulling herself up in embarrassment at her position a moment later. “What are you talking about?”

“No-no, no you wouldn't have...” Twilight murmured aloud, eyes darting back and forth.

“Wouldn't have what?” William leaned forward curiously, his interest peaked. He swiftly noted that her mane was partly matted and her tail looked as if she had been tugging on it, a nervous habit that she frequently indulged in whenever he had been allowed to borrow her beloved and fragile telescope.

“Are you on drugs or something?” Eris asked bluntly.

“No nothing no bother sorry to take up your time have a nice day,” Twilight said all in one breath, shoving the door shut and leaving as quickly as she had come, the clopping of her hooves trailing off as the carriage started up again.

Lyra looked back and forth between William and Eris, confusion the only constant among them.

“... That probably wasn't important,” Lyra let out an awkward half laugh as they began to rise into the air. It might have sounded a little more comforting if she believed it.