It was a grand yet odd thing to watch as the "Strangeness" flowed away like the tide on a beach. Normality seemed to creep back into things gradually: floating islands lowering back into place, flying fish soaring back into lakes, twisted creatures and plants slowly untwisting to their normal selves, the checkerboard ground making way for green grass, etc.

Many of the ponies, regardless of their race, started little celebrations over their Guardians solving whatever problem had been ailing their new land amongst the sea of tents and makeshift huts…many, but not all.

"I don't like this," Commander Hurricane commented grimly, his near-black blue coat almost blending in with his armor, while his mane of multi-shaded blue was cropped short with a piece of it fashioned on as part of his helmet- a pegasus military tradition, of sorts, "It's too easy..."

"Oh posh, Cane, don't be such a pessimistic feather-duster," Princess Platinum said with a smirk, her mane a silvery platinum and her coat a lavender shade.

"What'd you call me, Wand-Head?" Hurricane all but growled at her.

"You two just can't get along, can you?" Puddinghead, her white-pink coat with a mane of cinnamon red, questioned with an eye roll,

The trio of Clover the Clever, Smart Cookie, and Private Pansy sighed as they watched their leaders bicker once more. While they had managed to banish the Windigos and convinced their three tribes to do more than just coexist and share this new land they all found, tensions were still high between most members of each subspecies.

"This'll never last," Smart Cookie murmured in resignation, fixing her feathered hat over her short green-and-yellow mane.

"Don't say that," The forest-maned and white-coated Clover countered with a concerned frown, "We knew this wouldn't be easy and that those three wouldn't get along great."

"At least the Guardians helped tide things over for a while," Pansy spoke up softly, her long amber locks escaping from her metal helmet, "They looked so happy too..."

"Well, none of the tribes have ever gotten along greatly in the past, that we know of at least," Clover mused, "This must be a huge step forward for us in their eyes."

"Or might be our biggest tragedy," Smart Cookie muttered again, sighing at the annoyed looks her friends gave her, "I'm sorry, I'm just...out of optimism right now."

"That might not be a bad thing...," Pansy agreed cautiously, getting raised eyebrows from both of them, "While I'm not much of a fighter, I know the Commander is right. Something seems...off about how easy this was," She elaborated in worry.

Smart Cookie hummed to herself before turning to Clover, "Witch, what kind magic does all of...that?" She asked with a scowl.

"Must you call me that?" Clover asked with a glare.

"Huh? Isn't that what you call a female magic user?" Smart Cookie asked in confusion.

"Yes, I thought that too," Pansy added in curiously.

Clover sighed at that, "No, that refers to a rogue female mage, with a very negative stigma held onto it, unlike most wizards," She elaborated.

"Hey, not our fault your lot have been on the secretive side," Smart Cookie pointed out defensively.

"...Fair enough, I suppose," Clover begrudgingly admitted. Non-magic species, at least ones that didn't do outright spell-craft, often tossed terms like that around at their own convenience.

"...You never answered the question, though?" Pansy reminded cautiously.

"That was intentional," Clover answered, biting her lip, "I don't know what force in all of Terrum could have caused all that...chaos."

Pansy blinked, looking around in confusion as Smart Cookie looked skeptical, "You horn-heads raise the sun and the moon, a fact your tribe hangs over everypony's heads, but this all seemed impossible to you?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

Clover let out a long, suffering sigh, "That is using magic to move objects on a grand scale, little more. This? This was utter reality warping and rewriting the laws of nature! No pony, not even the Guardians could do all of that with one spell. You'd have to cast hundreds, if not thousands of spells! Such a challenge should leave any arcane creature drained and the spells easily counterable. But these...transformations held fast even under my mentor's attempts to undo them!"

"Wait, wait, I'm confused. What do you mean, held fast?" Smart Cookie inquired, scratching her chin.

"If a powerful unicorn cast one spell and maintains it, they could hold it for hours, if not days- even if the average unicorn interferes. But if another powerful unicorn tries to interfere with a spell, it will be more draining and depending on the two power levels, might fail quickly. Have a powerful unicorn do the same thing, but with a dozen or two spells? Then the average unicorn can cancel the spell out, maybe even a filly if they know how," Clover elaborated, a bit more patiently now.

"So...whatever we're dealing with has a lot of magic?" Smart Cookie summarized.

"I...don't know, to be honest, if magic could even do all of that," Clover confessed, sounding defeated, "Most likely, it's a group of creatures that found a way to pool and combine magic, almost like how we did with the Unity Flame."

"...Well, I only have one question left: Where'd Pansy go to?" Smart Cookie asked, looking around for the pegasus.

Clover blinked at that, "Huh? She was just here a moment ago..."

"Here I am!" Pansy called with a sheepish grin as she walked from behind the Royal Tent that Princess Platinum had elected, in one of her more diplomatic moments, to allow the other two leaders to sleep in. Needless to say, they were all happy it was a giant tent, "Sorry, had to use the little filly's room," She answered sheepishly.

"What little filly's room? Use it for what?" Smart Cookie asked while Clover tilted her head.

"Huh? Oh, right. It's, um, a metaphor for using a chamber pot," She elaborated, furthering their confusion, "I'll explain later," She added on with a sigh.

"Hey, everypony!" Somepony yelled loudly, "Look, the guardians have returned!"

All heads looked to the sky and sure enough, there were the white and blue shapes of the Alicorns getting closer.

"We'll finish this later," Platinum hissed with a flat glare as Puddinghead huffed, refusing to look at the unicorn princess while the pegasus commander snorted, waiting for the two immortals to reach them.

From the moment they touched down, a small crowd gathered around the sisters, greeting them with praise and questions.

"Welcome back, Lady Luna, Lady Celestia!"

"Thank you, Alicorns, thank you!"

"Guardians! What caused this? What happened?"

"Miladies, are you well? You both look tired."

Celestia unfurled her wings briefly, a common tactic she used to draw silence without raising her voice, "Thank you for your concerns, but please hold your questions for now. My sister and I must speak with the leaders of the tribes about what we discovered," She requested, trying not to show that she was a bit annoyed.

"Do not worry," Luna spoke up with a genuine smile, "We bring only good news, in our own opinion."

The ponies murmured curiously as they made way for them to pass, allowing them to meet with the leaders and their companions.

"Celestia, Luna," Platinum greeted evenly, "It seems fortune favors you well today, vanquishing whatever accursed thing that plagued these lands so quickly and without injury. Or is invincibility another gift of your race?"

"Princess!" Clover hissed with a glare to the unapologetic royal.

"Thank you, Princess Platinum," Celestia returned civilly, "However, I regret to inform you that there was no vanquishing today," She added on with a smile.

"Say what?" Smart Cookie asked in surprise as the crowd of ponies watched on with quiet murmurs.

"What Smartie said," Puddinghead repeated with wide eyes.

"We met with the individual responsible for all the recent happenings in these lands," Luna explained happily, "While unapologetic about doing so, he merely wished to draw us to a meeting with him, it seems."

"I'm sorry, Guardians," Hurricane spoke up with narrowed eyes, "But you are saying that this is a single entity that caused everything to change, from the very earth and plant life to the clouds and waters and he did that...just to talk with you two?"

"Oh no, of course not," Luna assured with a head shake, "By 'us' I mean representatives of the ponies seeking to live here. And of course he didn't do all of that JUST for a meeting...he also did it for fun."

"For...fun?" Hurricane repeated slowly, raising an eyebrow.

"Hahaha, n-nice joke, Celestia, Luna," Clover commented with a nervous laugh, "One creature being capable of doing all of this? That's a stretch, but a being of that magnitude wouldn't throw such power around just for the fun of it. It j-just doesn't make sense. B-b-besides, if such a being existed, what would he even want to talk to us about?" She asked rhetorically with a strained smile.

"Hehe...hehehe...HAHAHAHA!"

Everyone turned to stare with wide eyes at Private Pansy, holding her gut in fully belly laughter, "Wha-what's the matter, Clovey? Did they strike a Cord?" She asked with a wide grin, howling with laughter again as the surrounding ponies backed away slightly from the seemingly deranged pony.

"Oh no," Celestia murmured with an exasperated sigh while Luna just grinned.

"Something wrong with your soldier, Hurricane?" Platinum asked with both eyebrows raised.

"Private! What has gotten into you!?" Hurricane barked, looking at her sternly.

Pansy suddenly stopped laughing and gave her superior a half-lidded smirk, "Well, certainly not you, Hurry-Cane," She said with a teasing drawl.

"...What..?" Hurricane said with a small blush on his shocked face.

"Pansy, by all the fruits of the earth, what's wrong with you?" Smart Cookie asked in alarm.

"Oh, I just don't know, Smarty," Pansy said with a pout as she strolled right up to the slightly disturbed earth pony's side, "Maybe I just want to taste your Cookie?" She asked suggestively, Hurricane gapping with an almost broken expression.

"Since when are you a fillyfooler!?" Smart Cookie asked in alarm, blushing heavily.

"That's NOT Private Pansy," Celestia spoke up flatly, getting gasps and chatter from everywhere.

"Not Pansy? But it clearly is!"

"Have the guardians lost it?"

"Maybe it's a spell? Pansy IS acting weird."

"Oh, ruin my fun, Celly," Pansy pouted childishly.

"I think these lands might be spreading madness to us ponies," Platinum whispered to the others. Clover just stared with wide eyes at the scene playing out while the earth ponies rolled their eyes.

"Just couldn't stand to be without us for another second, Discord?" Luna teased, walking up to the 'mare's' side.

"Ohhhh, you are sooooo too young to be trying to get me to blush, little Alicorn," Not-Pansy countered with a wicked smirk.

Hurricane scowled, his composure regained, "Guardians, have you both gone daft? This is obviously-" He started, only for 'Pansy' to look at him with a bored expression, steel blue eyes flashing to scarlet red briefly, "...not Private Pansy," He agreed with wide eyes, now truly alarmed.

"Seems the bird half of a pegasus is a parrot's," PansiCord joked with a smirk, raising her right wing out...

...and prompting Luna to hold it still with her magic, "Now, Discord, doing...whatever you're thinking of doing would probably be a bad first impression," Luna reminded, unable to stop grinning.

"Impersonating one of my soldiers isn't helping either," Hurricane seethed, glaring down at the imposter as four pegasus soldiers joined their commander and surrounded their "comrade" as two unicorns and earth ponies stood near their respective leaders, just in case.

"Commander, I would advise against threatening him," Celestia cautioned evenly.

"And why is that, Guardian?" Hurricane asked as he stared at the doppelganger and the other immortal next to it. Luna cast a slightly disapproving look at the soldiers, even if they were clearly pointing their spears at the disguised Discord and not herself.

Speaking of whom, he was staring right at the point of one, looking up it into the wielder's eyes, "Spears? How barbaric," Disansy teased in a mock scandalized voice, making the spear colt growl lightly.

"Commander," Luna spoke up, giving him an unamused look, "May I introduce you to the source of the Strangeness, along with being the current occupant of these realms: Discord," Luna introduced.

"...What?" Hurricane demanded with a glare as he marched up to the duo, "And just why has this so called source infiltrated our camp, mare-napped one of my own and taken her form?" He asked through gritted teeth as he stood eye to eye with PansiCord, glaring into those amused eyes.

"I was bored," Discord answered with a shrug, Hurricane gaping for a moment. Discord seemed to have that effect on him.

Celestia face hooved at that as Platinum rose an elegant brow, "Celestia, are you sure this isn't some manner of prank by your sister?"

Discord snorted, tossing his currently-feminine mane over his shoulders as he glanced at the royal, "This is obviously a prank! Just one by me, not Bluna here," Discord corrected with a chuckle.

"Enough!" Hurricane roared, "Where. Is..." He trailed off as the eyes suddenly got higher as the equine body slowly turned more serpentine, "Pri...vate...Pan...sy?" He continued numbly as the guards took a step back in alarm, all the ponies gasping and staring at the chimeric giant towering over them all now, "What...?"

"Hello, Commander," Discord greeted with a lazy smirk.

"Wha-what is that!?"

"H-how did it do that?!"

"Look at those claws! And that fang!"

"Did He Eat Pansy!?"

"WE'RE ALL-"*SNAP!*

Everypony suddenly found themselves muted as Discord snapped his fingers, causing their fear to turn to confusion.

"Yes, sorry about that, ponies!" Discord called over them all, getting their attention once more, "Before you all start besmirching my character, I do not eat ponies. I am here to have a talk with your leaders. That is all," He announced, snapping his fingers again.

"...How did you do that?" Clover asked in shock.

"Magic!" Discord answered...popping out right behind her, making her and the other pony leaders leap in shock as they looked at him floating effortlessly off the ground.

"H-Hey!" Hurricane yelled, turning to the warriors...who were all hogtied with deceptively strong balloon-versions of their own spears.

"Commander, please calm yourself," Luna scolded lightly, "I promise you, Private Pansy is fine, if not better."

"Discord, please settle down," Celestia requested as she approached him, "You're still scaring everypony."

"Oh, come on, Princess! I kept it tame!" Discord complained as he summoned up a glass of chocolate milk, "It's not like I brought all their tents to life to start singing backwards Opera. Lemon cake, by the way?" He offered, a slice floating near her

"...Tempting," Celestia admitted, "And we appreciate that, but you should probably hold it off a bit longer, at least until it's been made clear who you are and why you're here."

"Oh, fine...Also, you still have that list?" He asked curiously. Celestia merely rolled her eyes as her horn ignited...and a roll of paper came out of her ear, to the amusement of several fillies, "Good, add this to the top of the list, in big bold letters: In-door Plum-bing. Then circle and underline it. Repeatedly," He instructed bluntly as she summoned a quill.

"...PlumMING or PlumBING?" Celestia asked with a raised eyebrow as Luna rejoined them.

"Bing, as in Bingo," He answered with a grin, getting confused looks, "...Oh, right, this is before that," He murmured to himself thoughtfully.

"I'm still far more interested in those you mentioned, Discord. What were they again...Vid Of Games?" Luna asked curiously.

"Lulu, we are a LONG ways away from that!" Discord informed as he held out his eagle talon and pulled a string down with his tail to reveal a calendar, which he folded several thousand years up to a random date and year sometime- okay it was flipped to the thousandths Summer Sun Festival, not that they knew that.

"...Princess Platinum, you have any idea what is going on here?" Chancellor Puddinghead asked with wide eyes.

"I'm not sure, beyond the fact that the guardians are conversing with this strange creature and Hurricane is once more making a fool of himself," Platinum answered, glancing at the pegasus, working on getting his troops unbound, "Clover?"

"They said he's the source of the Strangeness...," Clover the Clever murmured in disbelief, eyes still wide as she watched Discord's move, "M-master Starswirl might have a better idea of...what he is."

"Excuse me!" Smart Cookie called, standing a few paces behind the newcomer, scowling lightly.

Celestia tilted her head to the side to get a better look at the mare while Discord removed his head with a pop, to the shock and horror of many, before putting it on backwards as his body turned around without moving, a clanking noise in the background, "Cookie?" He asked, and offered, holding up a chocolate chip one in her direction.

"...Yes I am, and no thank you," Smart Cookie answered carefully, trying not to let her hooves shake as she addressed him, "I-I would appreciate it if you told me where Pansy is, S-sir..Discord, was it?" she demanded respectfully.

Discord smirked, "A little respect, how refreshing. Yes, that is me, my dear. As for your friend, I just let her take a dip," Discord assured with a grin.

"...What did you do?" Luna asked with a smirk of her own.

In response and to the confusion of many ponies, Discord snapped his tail. A flash of light later and they were all staring at...

"Discord, what IS this?" Celestia asked in honest confusion.

"What does it look like, Celly?" He asked with a smirk.

Princess Platinum tilted her head as she approached the object, "It...looks like a pond or pool of some sort, but above ground," She noted in interest.

"And made of...this almost feels like leather..." Hurricane noted suspiciously, feeling it with his hooves.

"Vinyl, actually and don't scratch," Discord supplied, grinning at his inside joke…or time joke, whichever.

"And is that...chocolate?" Puddinghead asked in disbelief, smelling the delicious liquids.

"Chocolate milk, to be precise," Discord answered, raising an eyebrow as he looked at it, "What is she-oh, well, I'm glad I added those in now," Discord mused with a massive grin.

Luna rose an eyebrow, "What are you-?"

*SPLASH*drip*drip*drip*

And in that moment, Discord unknowingly got on Commander Hurricane's good side as said pegasus ingrained the image into his mind for all eternity. There was Private Pansy, bare of all armor, half way emerged from the pool, her fur and mane drenched in chocolate milk that freely washed off her coat like water, clutching a cookie-fish in her forelegs...and head tilted back with her eyes closed as she spit a stream of milk out of her mouth...and falling right onto Princess Platinum's head, drenching her crown and all.

"Oh...s-s-sorry, your majesty," Pansy apologized nervously as the princess glared at her, "...Fish-cookie?" She offered hopefully.

"No, thank you," Platinum said through gritted teeth.

"I'll take that," Puddinghead volunteered, taking the living confection.

"Chancellor, wait it might not be safe to eat!" Clover warned urgently.

"But I've already eaten three...," Pansy pointed out.

"...I left you alone for less than ten minutes- how fast do you swim!?" Discord asked, honestly a bit impressed by that, 'She might be an ancestor Fluttershy AND Rainbow!'

"Pansy has a unique gift for being able to make her feathers go rigid and stay together, making it easier to swim," Hurricane answered, still looking too pleased with the current situation. Pansy blushed as she caught her commander's gaze.

"You planned this, didn't you?" Celestia whispered to Discord accusingly.

"Not nearly as much as you might think," Discord whispered back with a sly grin.

"Discord, was it?" Hurricane asked with a smirk, looking up at the giant, "I believe we got off on the wrong hoof."

"Which is too bad, since I have only one of those," Discord quipped, now balancing on his tail and holding up said hoof in his hand, leg and all.

While most other ponies reeled back in shock and horror, Hurricane just went a little wide-eyed, "If only we didn't have to worry about our limbs like that," Hurricane commented in interest, "So, why are you here exactly?"

Discord grinned in approval as he popped the limb back on and snapped fingers on both hand. The pool vanished and was replaced by a long table. On one side sat the three leaders of the tribes, Platinum blinking to find herself dry and spotless once more, with their advisors at their backs. On either short side was one of the Alicorns, looking much less bewildered. And on the opposite end of the leaders sat Discord in his horned throne.

"I'm here, ponies, so we can negotiate the living arrangements here for you and your tribes," Discord answered bluntly while smiling disarmingly.

Silence reigned at that implication.

"Well, this feels awkward," Luna commented absently.

"Might as well as make it a public hearing," Discord answered with shrug.

"Negotiate? Why would we negotiate with you?" Chancellor Puddinghead asked when it was obvious that no one else would.

"Because I'm the ruler and owner of these lands," Discord announced with a small smirk, his voice carrying over the area.

"What!? By what right do you claim ownership of anything? I see no subjects, no castle to mark you as any form of nobility or royalty!" Princess Platinum retorted in slight outrage.

Discord stayed cool as a cucumber, which he restrained himself from turning into, as Celestia scolded the unicorn with a frown, "Princess, please be civil. Lord Discord was more than willing to come to the table on this matter and pulled back the chaos spreading throughout the land as a show of good will."

Platinum stuck her nose up at that, "I doubt it was his doing alone, according to the words of Clover the Clever," She rebuked, making her adviser stiffen a bit, "He probably merely ordered some other spell casters to undo it."

"So, which is it?" Discord asked with a raised eyebrow, "Do I have nosubjects or do I have several subjects that apparently can manipulate reality?" He asked toyingly. Platinum clammed up, realizing her error in logic, prompting Discord to look to the Pegasus Commander, "Tell me, Hurricane? What allows someone to be recognized as the ruler of any lands?"

The blue stallion raised an eyebrow before answering evenly, "The ability to exert influence, authority, and control over the region," He answered solemnly.

"Exactly," Discord said as he rested his head in his talon...

...Something changed. The tribe leaders weren't sure what it was, but something was different about the beast before them

They and the crowd turned around in shock as they saw trees of a nearby forest rise and bark, somehow bark, like mad dogs. The ponies took fearful steps back, before looking down to see the grass uprooted itself and used their blades to do battle against the relatively giant flower-monsters.

"That's...That's impossible!" Clover yelled in disbelief.

"Think that's proof enough, Princesses?" Discord asked a smirk.

"Yes, yes, that's enough, we believe you!" Platinum answered in slight fear.

"Sorry, but you're not whom I'm asking," Discord retorted smugly, looking to Luna and Celestia.

"I think they get the message, Discord," Luna answered with a smirk.

"My Lord and Ladies?" Celestia asked, trying to stay neutral.

"Aye!" Puddinghead agreed readily.

"..." Hurricane was busy watching the grass fight…rather well too. Perhaps he could ask Discord for some troops to…

"Hurricane!" Platinum hissed.

"Hmm?" The pegasus looked up curiously, "...Well, obviously, if you can bring the plants to life and fight, along with everything else we saw happen the past few days, then yes, you certainly have some claim of dominion over these lands," He acknowledged with a shrug.

"That's all I wanted to hear," Discord answered with a grin as he sat upright, the trees settling down and the grass diving their roots back into the earth, "So, down to business?"

"What, exactly, do you want from us?" Puddinghead asked cautiously.

"Not a lot," Discord answered with a shrug, "First, I just want you to acknowledge that you're living on my lands. I think I deserve at least that considering that I've fought over it with Ursas, dragons, meganticores, sauritans, rabidogs, and everything else," He mused idly, "And that's just these past few centuries."

"....Centuries?" Pansy spoke up in surprise as everypony else tried not to imagine those creatures.

"Oh? Did I forget to mention?" He asked coyly, "I'm an immortal, like Celly and Lulu here. Only waaaaay older," He answered, holding his hands apart and stretching his arms beyond their length to do so.

"An immortal?"

"Another one?

"What is he? A...chimera?"

"Draconequus, my dear," Discord answered loudly, glancing right at the mare in question, "That's the best word for what I am," He explained with a smirk.

"Discord the Draconequus....," Clover mentally noted.

"I do have a few loose rules about living here, however," Discord informed with a frown.

"And what, exactly, would that be?" Platinum asked, still looking unhappy about the situation.

*BOOP!*BOOP!*BOOP!*

All three leaders found their noses being poked....by the same lion-finger, somehow, "I don't want to find your tribes at war with each other," He warned.

"And if there's a dispute?" Hurricane asked evenly, while the other two looked to be somewhat agreeable to this point.

"Then we'll mediate it," Discord answered flatly, waving to Luna and Celestia, before sitting back in his seat, back to only having one paw now, "Speaking of them, this next rule is actually something these two requested," Discord explained, getting raised eyebrows, "You three tribes have to live together."

"What?!" The three yelled in slight rage, as did several other ponies.

"SIT DOWN!" Discord barked, his eyes ablaze for a moment. Immediately, a good hundred or two flanks went straight down, including the leaders and their aides. Even Celestia and Luna looked shocked as their new friend instantly returned to a more pleasant tone, "Look, you lot beat the Windigos. I didn't particularly have a thing against them, but I give you props for that. And I want to give you ponies a break, I honestly do. But if you're not going to play nice, you'll have to play rough....with me," He warned gravely, "You can all have your Tribal centers or whatever, but since you're sharing this land, you can't just go back to ignoring each other outside of that flimsy trade agreement you all had."

".......That'll take some work," Puddinghead warned, "The three tribes have been at odds for a long time....Lord Discord," She added on carefully.

"That's what these two are for," Discord said, thumbing toward Celestia and Luna, who blinked.

"Wait, what?" Luna asked in surprise.

"You want the tribes to get along, you're both helping," Discord explained with a shrug.

"Is there anything else?" Platinum asked curiously

"Well, obviously, I'll still have my chaos outside your towns and a bit inside when I come visit," Discord mused, scratching his beard, "That just leaves one question: How are you going to pay your rent?"

"Rent?" The three asked at once.

"Well, you're living here, so I'd like to get a little something out of it occasionally," He explained.

"....Are these terms set in stone, for the record?" Clover the Clever spoke up.

Discord gripped his tail with his draconic foot to stop from laughing, "Nope! That'd make it boring. You can all sleep on it. I have all the time in the world, literally, so we can negotiate this for quite a while if you want," He answered, poofing away the table, chairs and his throne, "For now, you're all still free to stay."

"....Just like that?" Puddinghead asked curiously.

"You're my guests for now," Discord answered with a grin, "I'm not about to throw my guests out into the cold while we try to work something out."

"Though, if you want to end the talks quickly....," Luna spoke up with a smirk.

"Luna, don't you dare," Celestia whispered to her sister.

"He said he'll take a virgin mare every decade as payment!" Luna finished.

"What?!" Several ponies asked in alarm.

"That's an outright lie!" Discord denied before grinning, "I said every eleven and a quarter years."

Celestia facehooved at that. She just knew she'd be doing that a lot in the future

Author's Notes:

Here we go, new chapter! Took me a little while, but I got it done and am satisfied with how the three leaders and their advisors turned out.

And the negotations have begun....obviously, by the titles. Those are all the opening point, but there'll be more to address. And Discord has exerted just enough power to show that yes, he does have a right to these lands by most standards. However, he hasn't pulled out the big guns just yet. After all, controlling plants like that is impressive, but its not God-tier exactly.

And yes, Discord of all beings is setting down ground rules. If for no other reason than to establish that yes, he's top dog here, and to make the alicorn sister happy.....and probably get the timeline's Equestria on track to existing.

Next chapter, Discord meets Starswirl, and a great wizard meets a god.