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A Day with Discord

by jkbrony

Chapter 2: Earth Pony for a Day

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Twilight stared blankly into a bowl of strawberry oatmeal that lay on a table just beneath her face. The draconequus sat opposite her, his eyes shut, sipping blissfully on a cup of tea.

They had decided to begin their special day of bonding with breakfast at Hay and Clover. Ponies sitting at nearby tables stared over at them in awe, unsure of which was a more astonishing sight: the infamous draconequus Discord sitting peacefully and not causing any of the chaos he was so well-known for, or the newly-crowned Princess Twilight Sparkle lacking both her horn and wings.

"Isn't this nice, Twilight?" Discord asked setting his tea down on the table. "I absolutely love a cup of tea in the early morning. Truly there no better way to begin a day."

Twilight did not respond, and instead closed her eyes in a vain attempt to rid herself of the humiliation she was feeling. A waiter reluctantly approached their table.

"C-Can I get you anything else...sir?" he asked Discord nervously.

"Another slice of lemon for this tea, if you would," Discord answered in a manner much more civil than what could generally be expected of him.

"Y-yes, of course. And you, Princess?"

Twilight shook her head, her eyes still shut.

"Right. I'll...be back," he said, and walked away hastily.

Steam rose up heavily from the oatmeal, brushing past Twilight's face. Though it had been cooked hot and steamy, just how she had requested, she was unable to find any desire to eat.

As of today, Twilight Sparkle was an earth pony. An earth pony! Yesterday she was an alicorn—which was about as far from an earth pony as a pony could possibly be.

The lack of wings was not really a problem. Twilight had lived most of her life without them and had yet to grow particularly attached to them. Though Rainbow Dash would have surely been driven insane by no longer having the ability to fly, Twilight felt that she could easily continue living without it. After all, it wasn't as though she had actually known that she was going to become an alicorn someday. Flying was not an ability she had ever expected to have. Admittedly, however, she was quite grateful to remember what it was like to not have wings. Her body felt so much lighter that she didn't even realize just how heavy they were until now.

The lack of a horn, however, was an entirely different story. It had been firmly attached to Twilight's head since birth, and she was unspeakably fond of it. The only thing she was perhaps more passionate about than magic was reading. Twilight could still remember the day she had first performed a successful levitation spell—on a book. She remembered being incredibly overjoyed at the notion that she would actually be able to read without having to hold a book in her hooves. Throughout the years, she spent innumerable hours reading through all manner of spellbooks, learning as many spells as she was able while coming back to the more difficult spells after her abilities had increased. Without her horn, Twilight felt as though she had been turned inside out. So much of her life was based around her magical ability—her cutie mark, her prior studentship under Celestia, her Element of Harmony...

However, this was not the first time she had been without it. During her first encounter with Discord, he had removed it while she and her friends engaged in his game to search for the Elements of Harmony in the Canterlot Palace Labyrinth. However, he had returned it to her after they had lost the game, and so Twilight had little reason to believe that he would not stand by his promise to return her horn and wings once she passed his test.

The problem, of course, was actually passing the test. Discord was probably the last living being in the world Twilight would have chosen to spend a day with. Even spending a day with Maud Pie and listening to her recite every piece of rock poetry she ever wrote was a more appealing proposition. As challenging as it would be to find the willpower to endure a day with him, treating him as an actual friend would be an even bigger challenge. Though Discord had supposedly reformed himself and changed his ways, he had not done much to show it—at least not to Twilight. When the Everfree Forest went awry during the last Summer Sun Celebration, Discord feigned ignorance and Twilight did not find out until after it was all over that the whole thing had been caused by seeds he had planted thousands of years ago. And of course, Discord's previous friendship test had been mostly intended to disrupt Twilight's day with Cadence, and the only reason she didn't completely hate him for it was because Cadence had enjoyed it more than having a quiet, relaxing day.

Needless to say, between all of that and everything that had happened that morning, treating Discord like he was a good friend was going to be exceptionally difficult.

"Is something wrong, Twilight?" Discord asked after several minutes of dead silence between them. "I see you have not touched your oatmeal."

Twilight sighed, finally opening her eyes again.

"No, Discord. Everything's just....fine."

"Well, that's certainly great to hear, because for just a moment, I was thinking that you were perhaps wishing that you did not have to spend the day with me," he said, raising a suspicious eyebrow at her.

Twilight contorted her face in annoyance.

"No. Of course not," she mumbled irritably.

The waiter returned carrying a small plate with a slice of lemon in one hoof. Almost instantly, the lemon jumped from the plate and hopped over to Discord's tea cup on the table. It hovered over the cup and scrunched itself up tightly, releasing lemon juice into the tea. Once finished, it hopped back onto the plate.

"Thank you," said Discord.

The waiter stared at the lemon with wary apprehension.

"Uhhh...sure...no problem. J-just...let me know if you need anything else," he replied, and hurried away once again.

Discord picked up the tea cup and resumed sipping.

"So....how has life been treating you since you received your little promotion?"

Twilight looked up at him. Making small talk seemed a pretty good place to start if she was going to treat him like a friend.

"Uhh...fine. Just fine," she answered with feigned enthusiasm. "And how has life been treating you since you've been....unstoned?"

"Oh, I can't complain. Though I must admit, it does become increasingly difficult to resist certain...urges, if you will."

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "What kind of urges?"

"Oh, you know, little things: wreaking chaos and havoc upon the world, sowing some more of my little seeds, usurping Celestia as the ruler of Equestria. Just little things like that. But the curious thing is that I find these urges have become so much harder to resist now that I know that you ponies would not be able to use your Elements of Harmony against me if I suddenly decided to give into them..."

Twilight cut her eyes into a glare.

"Of course, it's not like I actually would," Discord said with an innocent tone. "I'm reformed, after all."

A halo appeared over his head as before.

"Right...," Twilight said, rolling her eyes.

"Oh, why do you have such a hard time believing me?" he asked, crossing his arms. "You look at me and all you see is the old Discord. The Discord who did not understand friendship. Not unlike yourself, Twilight Sparkle. Would you not say that you've become a better pony since you've discovered the magic of friendship?"

Twilight paused, almost stunned that Discord was actually making her think deeply for a response. The life she had led before meeting her friends now felt like a long-lost memory. Once she had been accepted into Celestia's school, reading and studying had been her sole priorities. She remembered constantly being invited to hang out with her fellow classmates, only to reject their invitations every time. She remembered hearing about various parties and social gatherings taking place in the dorms, and thinking it was ridiculous that her classmates would waste valuable study time by attending them. She remembered being annoyed at Spike's continued absence due to him spending time with the ponies she had declined to spend time with.

And she remembered how irritated she had been when Princess Celestia had tasked her with making friends in Ponyville...

"Yeah, I....I suppose so..." she answered casually.

"And yet you doubt that friendship could have the same effect on me?"

"No...," Twilight sighed. "I'm just saying you haven't done much to show it. This..." She pointed to the top of her head. "...reminds me a lot of the 'old Discord.'"

The draconequus shrugged nonchalantly.

"Well perhaps you could ask yourself why you have so much trouble accepting me as a friend, particularly when dear, sweet Fluttershy already has."

Twilight groaned in frustration.

"What do you expect, Discord? We were enemies once, after all."

"Oh, that's hardly an excuse!"

Discord instantly snapped his fingers and a pair of reading glasses and a scroll appeared before him. The glasses had half-moon lenses which were much smaller than his large eyes. Discord put them on and opened the scroll. After clearing his throat, he began to read aloud:





"Dear Princess Celestia,

Friendship is a wondrous and powerful thing. Even the worst of enemies can become friends. You need understanding and compromise. You've got to share, you've got to care.

Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle"





Twilight's jaw dropped. "How did you get—?!"

"You see, Twilight?" Discord interrupted, snapping his fingers again to make the scroll disappear. The glasses remained on his face. "'Understanding and compromise.' Those were your own words. Do you believe that we are incapable of reaching that?"

"Well...no, but..."

"And how about this?"

Discord snapped his fingers again and a second scroll materialized out of thin air. Ignoring Twilight's obvious disapproval, he took the letter and read it aloud:





"Dear Princess Celestia,

It's hard to believe that two ponies who seem to have so little in common could ever get along. But I found out that if you embrace each other's differences, you just might be surprised to discover a way to be friends after all.

Always your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle"





"Where are you getting—?!" Twilight said, flustered.

"'Embrace each other's differences'", Discord interrupted again. "I'm not a pony, mind you, but does the same concept not apply to me?"

Twilight groaned, growing incredibly irritated.

"And just one more for the record..."

NO!" she shouted, but Discord's fingers snapped anyway, and a third letter appeared in his hand while the previous letter vanished simultaneously.





"Dear Princess Celestia,

My friends and I all learned an important lesson this week: never judge a book by its cover. Someone may look unusual, or funny, or scary, but you have to look past that and learn who they are inside. Real friends don't care what your cover is. It's the contents of a pony that count. And a good friend, like a good book, is something that will last forever.

Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle"





"You wrote this one after you made friends your zebra friend, if I'm not mistaken? Does that not prove that I do not have to be a pony for the two us to become friends?"

Twilight looked at him with annoyance.

"Oh, don't give me that," Discord said, snapping his fingers to make both the letter and his glasses disappear. "I've read all of your little letters to Celestia. The point is that these are all friendship lessons that you've learned already, Twilight. Therefore, accepting me as a friend really should not be much of a problem for you at all."

"Those letters were not for you!" Twilight said angrily. "You had no right to read them!"

Discord shrugged again.

"I was simply curious," he said with the innocent tone that Twilight was now more than sick of hearing. "From what I understand, you used those letters to restore faith in your friendships after I had....well, you know what I did. There's no point in bringing up the past, is there?"

Twilight sighed, rubbing her forehead with her hoof. Steam no longer rose from her oatmeal.

"How can you just do the things that you do and expect us to be friends? Friendship actually requires compassion and care, among several other things that I've never once seen from you. I mean, do you even know what you put me through this morning?! I was terrified! You couldn't have just told me what you were planning? You had to give me a fake horn and fake wings and wait for me to freak out over it?!"

Discord scoffed, as though refusing to allow himself to be guilt-tripped.

"Fine, fine. I admit that it was probably a bit more extreme than I had intended. Friends do still prank each other, do they not?"

"Not like that!"

Discord let out an irritated sigh and tugged on his beard.

"Fine. I'm...sorry," he said, turning his head to the side so as to avoid eye contact with her. The moment he uttered the final word, his teacup sprouted tiny legs, jumped from the table and sprinted away. "Now was that caring and compassionate enough for you?"

"Hardly," Twilight responded bitterly.

"I'm...sorry," he reiterated with more sincerity than before, but still without looking in her direction. Twilight's bowl of oatmeal also sprouted legs and scurried away after the teacup. "Better?"

"Not really," she replied as she watched her breakfast run away. "A sincere apology requires eye contact, Discord."

Discord grumbled and took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry!" he said loudly, looking Twilight dead in the eye. At that moment, there was a sudden uproar. Every plate and bowl at every nearby table sprouted legs and hurried off, most with meals still on them. The ponies seated at the tables glared at Discord, who shrugged innocently. Twilight buried her face in her hooves.

"All right, Twilight, I shall prove to you just how caring and compassionate I truly am," Discord said as he removed himself from his seat. "Let us be off now. There is something I'd like to show you."

The scene had turned to chaos. Some of the ponies decided to chase after their runaway breakfasts, while others went to their waiters to express their dissatisfaction.

"Oh, and you wouldn't mind picking up the tab, would you, friend?" Discord asked smugly.

Twilight groaned, wishing she could simply teleport or fly away from her seat. The day was already off to a bad start and she did not have much hope that the rest of it would be any better. This was surely going to be one tough test to pass...

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