Starlight tapped her hooves against her chair, just one of the many nervous ticks featured in her arsenal. Before her, suspended in her turquoise magic aura was a folded letter, gently bobbing up and down in the air. The letter's envelope lay discarded below, addressed with a pink butterfly stamp and a neatly written cursive that read, 'To Starlight'.

Dear Starlight,

I wish I had time to let you know, myself, but I'm very busy at my nature preserve today, helping this season's litter of baby bunnies get accustomed to their new home, so I've sent Cleo to deliver this message to you for me, instead.

Starlight's focus shifted past the paper. Cleo, a red robin chirped warmly at her from atop her dresser.

I know you're probably busy as well, so I'll get straight to the point.

Discord and I were having our regular Tuesday Tea this morning, when the topic of our friends, and all the wonderful things they've been doing lately came up. It usually takes quite a lot to catch Discord's attention, but he became very interested when I brought up your visit to see the changelings with Trixie, earlier this month. He left not long after that, and he didn't even take his tea cakes with him!

Starlight, I think Discord may be planning to drop by the castle to see you. He seemed upset, though I'm not entirely sure what about. Please let Twilight know about all this, as well - she gets anxious when things go unexpectedly, and, though I find him endearing, Discord tends to do, well, everything unexpectedly.

Please say hello to Twilight and Spike for me,
Fluttershy

Starlight frantically read through each sentence, her eyes growing steadily wider and wilder with each one passed. When the letter finally finished, her teal magic aura faded, and the paper gracefully floated down to the table surface. Like clockwork, Starlight left her chair and began to pace around the room, absently watching the floor as her mind raced.

"Discord is upset...over Trixie and I seeing the changelings?", she muttered aloud, casting a glance to watch Cleo preen her wings. "Why would he be upset over that? That...doesn't make sense."

A loud bang rippled through the room and caused Starlight to jump. When the unicorn turned her head she found her bedroom window thrown open, while her overhead light swung in the breeze. Spooked, Cleo flew from her perch and out the window, while a cold chill ran up Starlight's spine.

But this was no burst of morning air. An unmistakable presence now leered over her.

"We've now reached the part where I say something to the effect of, 'why, Starlight, have you even met me? Not making sense is my very reason for getting out of my tree in the morning.'"

A shallow gasp fell from Starlight's lips. The unicorn shot a look over her shoulder, slowly tracing her gaze up the elongated body of Discord. The spirit's pointed yellow eyes met hers, and he crossed his arms - a brow raising clear off his forehead.

"True to form of not making sense," he continued, racing along the wall like a snake and rising up next to where Starlight stood, "I am feeling rather torn up, today."

As if on cue, the shrill sound of tearing paper filled the room, as Discord's body was reduced to a pile of shreds. Starlight barely had occasion to grimace before the pile of scraps rose to life with a mind of its own, folding itself into a still blizzard of crumpled origami shapes until Discord's form was rebuilt. His expression returned - a hard stare that left Starlight in a sweat.

"But why are you upset?", the unicorn probed. "What about my trip with Trixie could have possibly bothered you?"

Discord's beady eyes rolled out from his head like golf balls, circling up and around his antlers before returning to his sockets. "You're an astute graduated friendship student, and you don't even realize what you did? Really, Starlight, I expected more from you."

The draconequus reached his eagle claw through thin air, pulling a bright yellow foam hand out from the ether. The prop, featuring a pointed finger was emblazoned with 'YOU!', and began to float up above their heads, incessantly pointing at Starlight as it bobbed around in the air.

"You and Trixie went to visit our newly crowned friend King Horsebug, yes?"

"We did."

"You did this because you consider yourselves friends with Thorax, now that Queen Cheeselegs is no longer calling the shots, correct?"

Starlight hypnotically watched the foam hand dance around her bedroom ceiling. "Well, yeah. That, and we're allies with the changelings, now. When Thorax needed help Trixie and I offered to pay him a visit and see what we could do."

"Oh, how very thoughtful," came Discord's calm voice, fluttering just out of Starlight's attention. "Though I do seem to recall a fourth member to that little troop of side characters that took on the changeling hive, a fourth friend to that gaggle of companions that faced certain peril, together. Hmm, now, what was his name, again?"

As if yanked by an invisible force, the foam hand soared over to fit itself over Discord's lion paw, its lettering now reading 'DISCORD!'. Starlight blinked, and Discord now wore a black leather outfit with a wool overcoat. She blinked again, and a vibrant red guitar hung from a shoulder strap over the spirit's shoulder.

"One does not simply have a band reunion without the lead guitarist, Starlight," Discord said, tossing jet black bangs from his face. "Honestly, it's as if you failed to invite me on purpose."

"Lead guitarist?", Starlight babbled. "Wait, you feel...you're feeling left out? I didn't-Discord, I didn't think you'd care to come along with us. I didn't know you and Thorax were even that close. I didn't think you'd-"

"Yes, you didn't think," Discord interrupted, turning on his hoofed heel and facing the still-open window. His wavy black hair trailed to his waist, flowing in the breeze. "Just how many times must I assure ponies that the Lord of Chaos is truly reformed, now, and that he is truly interested in creating and maintaining friendships, these days? I feel it's been shown ad nauseam at this point, don't you think? I mean we are pretty far along in the plot."

Discord cracked the joints in his limbs by twisting them. "But you know what? This is just fine," he continued with a little sigh. "As Fluttershy always says; 'look for the positive, then create the positive'. I'll simply pay our dear friend Lord Beetlemoose a visit, myself. I promised the changelings I'd return with new comedic material, anyway, and now that they're all varying shades of fabulous and can think for themselves, I'm sure they'll be far more entertaining than they used to be."

In a way to defy all laws of gravity, Discord's feet left the floor before his upper body, slithering up the wall and out the window. As his body followed suit, he shot another look at the baffled unicorn.

"Rest assured, Thorax and I will have a grand old time, Starlight," his flattened mouth said venomously. "I promise I'll tell you all about it as soon as I return, and perhaps next time we can all organize a proper reunion for the four of us."

The serpentine spirit vanished, and Starlight's window panes promptly slammed shut. The unicorn bit her lip as she stared after him, mounting anxieties tumbling down a slippery slope. Her room was suddenly quiet and calm, but the volume of her own thoughts was deafening.

"Starlight!", came the sudden, frantic voice of Twilight, appearing a few stray feet away with a pop of pink magic. "Oh, there you are. Are you okay? I thought I heard voices in here."

Starlight sidelined a worried look, and Twilight raised a hoof in distress.

"...oh my, I'm so sorry", she winced. "I really need to get better at knocking first."

"No, you're fine," Starlight mumbled, releasing a heavy sigh and trotting over to her bed. "It was nothing, just another friendship lesson I botched horribly."

Twilight cocked her head, softening her expression. While Starlight cocooned herself within a mass of pillows and blankets, Twilight took to the bedside, attempting to catch her pupil's eye. "Botched a friendship lesson? Starlight, what happened? Who were you talking to?"

"Discord," came Starlight's muffled voice. "He's put out that I didn't invite him to come with Trixie and I to visit Thorax. I guess he thinks we were having some kind of 'Chrysalis Overthrowers Squad' reunion without him."

Twilight giggled and sat back on her haunches, patiently observing the distraught unicorn as she fumbled around under the mass of feathered comforts. "Well, it is Discord - he's only beaten by Rarity when it comes to being melodramatic."

"Still, I could have at least asked him, couldn't I?", Starlight mumbled from beneath her sheets. "He's right, without him we would have never been able to get past Chrysalis's guard changelings. We may have never even made it to her throne room to face her. Now he probably thinks I'm ungrateful."

"Starlight, I think you're overthinking this just a bit," Twilight stated with a knowing smile. "There's no way you could have known Discord's feelings ahead of time. You may be skilled in magic, but nopony is omniscient - especially towards someone as unpredictable as Discord. Instead of mulling over the past, why don't you try and organize a proper reunion, for all four of you? Discord will feel included and everypony will get a chance to see each other again."

Starlight let out a shallow laugh at her onset deja vu. Her head emerged from the depths of her blankets, and she shared a smile with her mentor. "Yeah, that's probably a good idea. I think I'll leave a message with Fluttershy for when Discord comes back from the changeling empire, letting him know I'd like to have us all get together some time soon. It's just like you first taught me - I can't change the past, but I can change the future, right? Twilight?"

The color had begun to drain from Twilight's face. Starlight quickly bloomed from her cocoon, waving a hoof in front of Twilight's blank face.

"Uh, Twilight? Are you there?"

"Did you say Discord is going to the changeling empire?", Twilight repeated in a low whisper. Starlight's worried look returned to her with a vengeance.

"...um, yes? Is that a bad thing?"

Twilight began to dance on her hoof tips. "As in, he went on an impromptu visit to one of our foreign neighbors without letting anypony know in advance!?"

Twilight's pink magic aura seized the latches of Starlight's bedroom window and threw the panes open. Starlight frowned. She was going to have to invest in a new window set at today's rate of wear and tear.

"Well, yeah, I guess so," Starlight answered, walking over to the window while Twilight ascended through the air, pressing her hooves together. "I mean he told me just now but, I take it I'm not who you were thinking of."

"This could be disastrous," Twilight hissed, missing her pupil's input altogether and trotting back towards the bedroom door. "The last time this happened was with the yaks, who almost started another war over Discord's antics!"

"...okay. A thought. I was overthinking things, but you're just preparing for doomsday," Starlight monotoned, rolling her eyes. "Thorax? Start a war, Twilight? I think we're sooner to come under siege by Fluttershy's animals."

"It was just an example, Starlight. I'm not worried about a war," Twilight replied, galloping from the bedroom and enticing Starlight to follow her. "I'm worried that Discord might startle the changelings."

There was a pause. Starlight gave a shrill, one-note cackle. "Startle? Like, 'hey, don't spook my goat, he might faint' startle?"

Behind her mask of concern Twilight held back a giggle. "You know what I mean. The changelings are still rediscovering themselves, getting used to feeling emotions rather than feeding off of them. The last thing they need is an erratic stimuli like Discord wreaking havoc on the entire hive."

Starlight curled her lip at the thought. "Fair point. So what's the plan of action, then? Warn Thorax?"

"No, it's too late to warn Thorax with a letter," Twilight sighed, casting her aura over the doorknobs to her library. "And I have way too much work today to make a trip over, myself. We'll have to send some ponies over to play damage control."

Starlight had been surveying the tiles along the floor, but a hanging silence caught her attention. She looked up to find Twilight staring at her, wearing a sheepish little smile. The unicorn gave a sigh of her own.

"...oh, fine. I'm not sure how effective I'll be, seeing as Discord seems pretty peeved with me, but I can give it a shot. And...this just came to me, but I think I'll bring along somepony with me. He's been dying to see more of the changelings ever since the graduation dinner, and I have a feeling he'll come in handy."

"Tibia."

"...yes, Prince Pharynx?"

"You wanna tell me what I'm looking at?"

"Um, I could only manage a guess, your highness."

From atop the chilly peak of the changeling hive, Tibia and Pharynx watched an impossibility hurtle straight towards them. A large, narrow vehicle was roaring across the open grasslands below, spouting a trail of boulder-sized soap bubbles from its rear end. The entire car was covered in polka-dots featuring every color of the rainbow and then some, and perched atop the mighty engine was a bizarrely shaped lamp wearing a tutu.

Sitting in the cockpit of such a monstrosity was a tall creature with an overgrown tooth, outfitted with aviation goggles and a yellow hardhat. The creature grinned from ear to ear, yelping in glee as it ran the car off a hill like a high-speed ramp.

Tibia bit his lip, sweating profusely as Pharynx's head slowly turned in his peripheral.

"Get Thorax," Pharynx growled. "If that's what I think it is, this day is about to go from headache to migraine, and he can share in that suffering right along with me."

"R-Right away, Prince Pharynx."

Author's Notes:

Discord, I'm howling at the moon, and sleepin' in the middle of a summer afternoon~