It was good to be with my friends again. Even if it was piled on the back seat of Comet’s Civic. Ruby and I shared a seat belt while Comet took the other side. Minuette plopped herself right in the middle of us and was happy to be able to reach everyone else in the car, including Chad who was driving. The passenger windows had sun shades placed over them and the back window had a blanket stuffed in front of it.. It was a reasonable precaution, but I couldn’t help think Chad looked lonely up there being made to drive us around.

Ruby’s leg stayed curled around mine for a long time on the drive. It might have been to help control the slight tremors in my own legs but I think she needed it for support too. She spent a lot of time squirming like a small dog in a car. She said it was because she was getting motion-sick. There wasn’t much we could do about it but Minuette jokingly offered to barf with her if she did get sick so that she wouldn’t feel so bad for being the only one.

Chad and Minuette had come and picked Comet and I up first, seeing as it was Comet’s car he was driving. The two had offered us to swing back and pick up my stuff at Nathan’s but I declined. As much as I wanted one of those cigarettes that morning, I didn’t know if Nathan would be home or if it would even be safe to go back there right now. Comet’s dad couldn’t offer me as much as a glass of wine that morning either, being the staunch clergyman he was, so I just did my best to ignore the shaking in my hooves. At least, despite how cramped the back seat was, the air conditioning was helping my symptoms too.

I did my best to keep myself composed while we had stopped at my mom’s house. I wanted to look strong in front of her as well as be strong for Ruby. Chad had gone to the door and came back with Ruby’s stuff. Meanwhile Mom had carried little Ruby out. Anyone looking outside at us would have probably mistake her for a bigger version of that Fluttershy plush sticking out of her bag.

When Mom had sat Ruby down in the back seat with me I couldn’t hide my happiness to see Ruby again. She expressed equal enthusiasm that I was okay as well, knowing ‘something’ had happened with Nathan, and hugged me tightly. The shivering escaped me with her in my embrace but when I looked back up at that old woman I had steeled myself again.

Mom had nothing to say to me, only making sure Ruby had everything, asking one last time if she was sure she wanted to go with us and then kissing my little filly on the top of her muzzle before relenting. Carrot Top had refused to let Mom come as well. She wanted ‘no humans’ to come. Apparently she had to be convinced to even allow Chad. One of the arguments probably being we needed someone to drive us.

Once we got going Ruby tried to show us her progress with ‘magic’. She gestured to the pocket watch from Minuette she took to wearing like a necklace and seemed to concentrate. Something around her horn seemed to catch the sunlight just right and shimmer. The second hand of the watch seemed to stop intermittently but when she let up I saw the watch didn’t quite tick consistently regardless.

“I’m sorry, Minnie, I think I messed it up from constantly trying to stop it,” she admitted.

“Psha! Don’t be sorry! That thing is probably getting more use now than it has in the last sixty years,” Minuette brushed it off. “Besides, when you think you got a handle on it, you have to show us how to do it too!” I smiled and agreed. If my friends' horns did much, Ruby would be the one to figure it out first.

Besides the watch Ruby wore around her neck, Ruby was naked like the rest of us. My reservations and insecurities from just yesterday seemed silly now. I wondered if maybe it wasn’t so weird now because I was around others naked. With no clothes to break up the color of their coats, I started to really admire just how vibrant my friends were in the daylight.

It wasn’t just their coats and manes either. I got lost watching Minuette’s large expressive eyes and ears add to her gestures as she recounted trying to find Sunshower Raindrops.

“...so, it turns out if you ask somepony’s family where they are, eventually their family starts looking too, figures out they’ve been missing and then calls the police,” Minuette shrugs apologetically with an equally awkward and silly smile stretched across her muzzle. I liked how the end of her muzzle curled up a bit occasionally while she talked.

“At least you were smart and said you were from her work. If you didn’t have an alibi for calling you would have probably come off the reason she was hiding,” Comet pointed out.

“Oh. You mean like a drug dealer?” she asked thoughtfully. The way Comet’s ears curled forward told me he seemed a little surprised by that example but he hesitantly agreed. “You know, that reminds me about this time I bought shoes from a drug dealer.” I facehoofed, which kind of hurt, knowing where this was going. “I don’t know what he laced them with but I was tripping all day!”

A collection of giggles and good-humored groans filled the car. I saw Comet try to hide a shy grin by looking out through the sun shade. Even if he managed to turn away his perked ears told me he was amused one way or another by the pun.

And of course, I had to bring the reunion down. All of my friends were here. And Chad was here, too. So I finally had a chance to admit to all of them about my attempt to drink myself to death on my birthday. Ruby took to petting my tail to comfort me while I talked and Comet seemed solemn and listened intently. I explained apologetically how quickly the valium went and how much I had been drinking at Nathan’s and how much I got him to drink. I only hinted at what Nathan had wanted to do but I did fully admit to accidentally hurting Nathan and how I escaped.

Comet interrupted only once there to ask about Nathan again. I insisted he wouldn’t call the police or try to follow us. Nathan was a good person, he was just drunk and lonely. Besides, there was no address to follow us on my phone. While I vouched for Nathan’s character Minuette smiled at me. The world made a bit more sense when she did that. I felt brave and got to my point.

“...So, Comet, when you asked if friendship could ‘be my higher power’ I agreed but I didn’t think too much about it at the time. But I was thinking about friendship a lot at Nathan’s… probably because I was watching a lot of My Little Pony,” I admitted. I saw Minuette visibly perk up. Before I went on, I pulled my own little pony closer to me and fussed with her mane playfully so I wouldn’t have to make eye contact. “Can you guys forgive me and... help me stop? Help me be... a better pony?”

“Of course,” Comet replied quickly.

Minuette added, “you’re always worth forgiving, Berry Punch.”

“I’ll be there for you, Mom,” Ruby said as she turned to hug me around the middle.

As I put my hooves around her to hug her back I could tell my hooves were trembling harder now; I was overwhelmed and thought I was going to cry again.

“Hey Comet, you got the whole show on your laptop, right?” Minuette brought the attention of the car away from me.

“I do, yeah. But it’s packed up in the back,” Comet gestured to the trunk behind us.

“That’s fine! We should watch more of the show when we get to Carrot Top’s place and see if we find anything else,” she suggested.

“That sounds like a good idea,” Ruby chimed in. “I really don’t want to try watching anything right now,” Ruby said, still laying against my barrel. I rubbed her back to try to help with her motion-sickness.

So it seemed like we were going to watch more My Little Pony when we got there. We weren’t going straight there though. First we had to take a detour in the outskirts of Kansas City to see if we could pick up another pony. The address that Comet Tail had led us to a multi-story apartment building. We pulled into a parking spot off to the side.

“Joseph Revert should be living on the fourth floor; 4C,” Comet instructed Chad. The rest of us just looked up at the building.

“So, just knock and if anybody’s home check if they’re a pony?” Chad asked Comet unsure. Comet shrugged.

“She’s prolly living with a roommate. So she could be hiding out at home easy,” Comet reasoned.

“Okay. But what if she’s home alone, what do I say to get her to come to the door?”

“Tell her about us and if I figured out how the face-to-name recall trick works, her name’s Blossomforth. You can use that to get her trust,” Comet offered.

“Oh. I know that one! She’s white with purple and green hair. And freckles!” Minuette added. Chad thought it over and seemed satisfied with that much.

“Alright. I’ll give it a shot. Don’t drive off,” Chad teased as he got out of the car and headed for the lobby.

After a moment of silence Minuette crawled up to the front seat to activate the car’s power locks and quickly crawled back to us. “Now we can’t go anywhere,” Minuette jested, her intent likely to keep others out rather than us in.

We waited in silence for a long while in anticipation of our potential new pony friend. A conversation topic came to me.

“So you said you know her? What’s she like? On the show, I mean,” I asked.

“Well, she’s really flexible! And, uh, she’s a pegasus,” Minuette filled us in. I thought she'd keep going but that's all she had and we fell back into silence.

One by one, a thought seemed to occur to all of us and we all looked up at the building. We were all looking up at the fourth floor where she apparently lived. All the apartments had balconies.

“Do you think… “ Minuette said with hesitation, “...she learned how to fly?”

“If you woke up with wings, wouldn’t you?” Ruby asked rhetorically.

“Pegasuses are just as big as us though, right?” I clarified. “And their wings are kind of small on the show. Do you really think she could fly?”

“Pegasi fly with magic, not aerodynamics,” Comet clarified. “It’s the same magic that lets them control the weather.”

I knew I wasn’t the most graceful person, but I really didn’t think a pony body was built for flight. I was skeptical but wanted to believe.

“Flight and magic. It sounds like I got the short end of the stick,” I said half-jokingly.

“Earth ponies have magic too. It lets them be stronger and grow plants better,” Comet tried to make me feel more special.

“Stronk and a green hoof!” Minuette rephrased.

“Yeah that still doesn’t really sound fair,” I muttered to my be-horned friends.

“They’re really strong and can grow things really well!” Minuette doubled down for emphasis. I thought about how I nearly kicked Nathan’s arm off and wondered if that was why it was so easy. So was Berry Punch’s calling to work the land then? While other ponies were supposed to fly? I looked up at the fourth floor balconies hoping for some clue but saw no sign someone left through their balcony. I didn’t think there would be anyway, besides maybe an open balcony door.

After a long while Chad came out of the building by himself. He shrugged at us on the way back to the car. After an awkward fiddling with the door locks, Minuette let Chad back into the car.

“Nopony home?” Minuette asked her fiance from the front passenger seat.

“Someone got to him,” he said with a sigh. He looked over to the blue unicorn next to him and pet her mane. “I asked a neighbor. She says a few nights ago there were a bunch of people in military gear and some really loud explosions. She thinks it was a police raid.”

“Oh. We... should probably get out of here then,” Comet Tail suggested. We all agreed with the sentiment and left our lead.

With no reason to stay, we put the Kansas City metropolitan area behind us. We got back onto the interstate and headed south to Creighton. Our path had us crossing smaller and smaller cities until we finally got to our exit. After that, the towns became increasingly smaller and less populated. Creighton’s city limit sign said it had a few hundred but I didn’t know where they were hiding. If I blinked I would have missed their downtown. As we drove further into the country I watched the asphalt below us slowly gain cracks and wear as we went. It was starting to look like nowhere.

“So, Minnie, Carrot gave you a ride home from urgent care just a few days ago, right? Why is she all the way out here?” I asked. I had a suspicion this was answered in the video call.

“She was getting supplies from her home. She was trying to get her grandma’s place ready to sell,” Minuette explained.

“Oh. And while that happened she turned into a pony,” I finished for her. “So, did... her grandma pass?”

Minuette nodded solemnly. “Yeah. A few months ago. I went with her to the funeral.”

I took that in quietly as we traveled down the country roads to our destination. It was mostly woods interspersed with large open fields for grazing cattle. I saw Chad look down at his phone several times and start to slow down at a heavily wooded area. With the car slowed down to a crawl he looked around outside. When we saw what he was doing we all looked too.

“There!” Minuette pointed her hoof further up the road. She had climbed up into the front passenger seat and pointed again. Chad drove forward to see a metal farm gate. There was a green bandana tied around one of the low bars of the gate, apparently an agreed upon sign.

Chad got out and after a moment figured out how to get the gate pushed open and a nearby rope on a tree to loop around it and hold it in place while he drove through. After which he got back out to close the gate. Apparently according to Carrot’s wishes, he removed the bandana and took the lock hanging behind the gate post and locked it up behind us. He came back and drove us further down the narrow dirt path lined by trees.

The treeline broke soon after and we were in an opening about an acre in size surrounded by woods on all sides. On the far side of the field dotted with trees was a humble one-story farmhouse with a few solar panels on top and a few additional ones standing freely in front of it. Next to the house was a long wooden shed with faded paint.

As Chad followed the curve of the dirt path up to the farmhouse, the other half of the farm was on our left. Beyond the low wooden fences and chicken wire was a dense garden of vegetation. There were some bare spots and some plants that looked replanted. There were rows of plants, most of which I didn’t recognize. Some looked like stalks and others looked more like bushes or little trees. On the end of the garden nearest the house was a flower garden and another shed. This shed looked smaller and more utilitarian. I saw the door to the shed was open and next to it was a gardening trolly loaded down with tools, fertilizer and some uprooted plants with white roots.

Just as we started to pass it, a small yellow head with a straw hat cautiously poked itself past the shed door to look at us. It was unmistakable who it was.

“There she is!” Minuette said, still in the passenger seat, pointing across Chad’s vision to the pony that had appeared. When she thought Carrot Top saw her she started waving frantically to her.

Chad took his cue and stopped the car right there, still some distance from the farm house. Chad unbuckled himself first and reached over to open the passenger door for Minuette. Excited as a dog to get out of the car, Minuette pushed the door open and jumped out to run and see her friend.

Chad got out and opened the back door to let us out as well. Comet slipped out while I turned to Ruby to see how she wanted to get down. It was only two feet but when you weren’t three foot that was a lot. I wordlessly offered my back and Ruby agreed to climb on top of me.

By the time we got out, Carrot Top had stepped out further and Minuette was hugging her and laughing in relief. As we approached I saw in addition to the straw hat on her head there was some kind of gardening apron tied around her middle and an armband on her lower foreleg holding her phone and various small utensils. Other than her equipment she had ‘gone native’ and wasn’t wearing regular clothes like us either.

“Welcome to the homestead! It’s so good to finally see some other ponies,” Carrot Top said to all of us after Minuette stopped hugging her. She made a note to look over each of us. I thought her green eyes lingered on me a little longer. Compared to my friends I probably looked like a disheveled, hungover dog.

“I see you’ve been staying busy!” Minuette teased her old friend.

“Yeah. I guess I lost track of time,” she said apologetically. She raised her foreleg holding her phone and it briefly came on to show her the time. Apparently pleased, she put her hoof back down. “Did you shut the gate?”

“I did,” Chad said as he showed her the green bandana.

“Good. Let me clean up and we can head inside. Lunch is probably ready,” Carrot offered.

Carrot accepted no protests about lunch as she put her hat and apron up in the garden shed and walked us to her front porch. There was a bucket of water and a rag by the door which she used to wipe the dirt off of each of her hooves. Comet Tail, Minuette and I wordlessly followed suit, not wanting to be rude. Ruby slipped off my back when it was my turn.

“Ruby, you’re probably fine,” Carrot told her. She then turned to Comet. “So, I guess no Blossomforth?” Comet shook his head.

“Someone got to her first,” he said. “We think it was a police raid.”

“Oh no! That’s awful...” Carrot said. As if suddenly remembering something else she looked at me. “I’m glad you’re joining us, Berry Punch, but your friend doesn’t know where we are, right?”

I shook my head.

Satisfied with our hooves and our company, Carrot led us into her home. She made no attempt to turn on any lights. From the windows in the living room I made out a couch, an easy chair and a rug all from several decades ago. There were bookcases and family photos covering the available wallspace. There was a brick fireplace on the far wall and hanging above it was a flat screen TV. I noticed I couldn’t make out the distinct electric hum of any idle appliances but there was a soft crackling like a fire, despite the fireplace being unlit.

What there was though, was a warm, savory smell of food permeating the entire home.

“This is the living room,” Carrot gestured around us. “We’re off the grid so I’m kind of conservative about the power. There’s not a huge need though, everything is pretty energy-efficient in here. Feel free to turn on lights, just turn them back off when you’re done. The extra power is stored in a battery bank in the crawlspace so we have power at night too.”

Carrot turned and pointed down the hallway. “Bedroom and bathroom are down there. The water pump and hot water are on a switch. Although if you’re feeling up to it, there’s a compost pile out back,” Carrot said with a slight giggle. Minuette’s laughter joined hers. “And... the kitchen is this way! Let’s plate up!”

On a black iron stovetop, Carrot Top had a rich tomato and carrot stew, a pie-plate of cornbread and some kind of amazing oatmeal-carrot cookies. From the cooking and the way she ladled out food she displayed a surprising amount of hoof and mouth dexterity. Although she did relent and let Chad help cut and serve the cornbread.

“I have plenty of food and recipes that aren’t carrots but I figured that’s what you were expecting from me and I didn’t want to disappoint!” she explained with mirth.

With so many guests, including a little one, she opted for us to all sit and lay on the shaggy rug in the living room. In the late morning light, five ponies and a human ate lunch. I was somewhat surprised my stomach didn’t mind the food. I must have been more hungry than the dull ache suggested.

Comet Tail asked more about the property and Carrot was happy to share.

“The shed is where most of the foodstuff is kept. Just about everything is canned or jarred and dated. My grandparents grew or traded most of it. The rest, like all of the grain, they bought. The grains are stored down below in the hidden cool room. I’ll show you that later.”

“The barn is mostly in disuse but it’s safe. There’s not really any rusting metal and from the looks of the hay in there, I don’t think there’s that many leaks in the roof. With summer coming, ponies could sleep out there no problem. There’s even an old distillery out there if you get interested,” Carrot Top teased me. I frowned and Carrot took notice.

“I’m… trying to cut back. A lot,” I admitted. Carrot apologized and went on with her breakdown of the property.

She told us about how her grandparents thought the world as we knew it was going to end a few decades ago and started building the property. Carrot Top said growing up this place was the summer home she wasn’t allowed to tell any of her friends about. When Carrot graduated and moved out, her grandparents decided to retire here.

“Papa passed a few years ago but Meemaw didn’t want to leave; they built this place together,” she explained while inspecting her cornbread. “When Meemaw passed, my relatives were given a few things but… she left her home to me. And the garden... She kept right on planting as much as they did every year so I would come help her when it came time to plant and prep. The last of what we planted is ready to harvest now though... I was trying to get it all up and prepped before it goes bad.”

“If you’d like, I’d be happy to help!” Minuette offered. “You’ll have to show me what to do though.”

We all chimed in as well. Carrot Top smiled humbly at the offers.

“None of you have to do anything while you’re here. I’m just happy we’re together again,” she insisted. “But if you want, I would love to walk you through the whole harvest process. They would be happy knowing I was passing along what they taught me.”

Carrot Top was more talkative than I remembered Claudia being. I assumed she had been lonely and was happy to finally have someone to talk to again. Her large green eyes easily telegraphed a follow-up thought before it hesitantly escaped her muzzle.

“They were good people, you know? My relatives disputed custody of me with them... saying they weren’t fit to raise me because of their crazy beliefs. Papa had been listening to end of the world predictions since 1972,” Carrot Top admitted sheepishly. “They were... eccentric but they eased up a lot as they got older. Like we weren’t supposed to celebrate birthdays but they had me now feeling left out. So, being spoiling grandparents, they started celebrating the date they adopted me instead. They gave me something to look forward to that time of year instead.”

“So that’s why I thought your birthday was in October,” Minuette pieced together.

“I didn’t want to steal any attention away from you on your birthday either. When I got older I kept celebrating it like it was out of tradition. And out of respect I guess.”

“Right. I know you loved them. When I was with you for ‘Meemaw’s passing, you told me you learned your love of gardening from them.”

“My parents did too. But those memories have gotten kind of fuzzy,” she admitted. She looked back at her cutie mark: the three carrots adorning her flank.

“And of course, then those really old memories started coming back to me and it started to make even more sense. But of course, at first I thought I was going crazy! But then I was in town when I realized others could see the body changes too. One of the good ol’ boys threatened to shoot me! So I came back here and just… hid until I finally figured out what was going on,” She shook her head disapprovingly. “I’m such a silly pony.”

A phone rang before I could ask her what she meant. I looked around until I spotted Chad pulling one from his pocket. He looked at the contact name.

“Maggie S?” he read off and looked to Minuette expectantly.

“DERPY!” came a resounding shout from everyone else in the room.

“Answer it! Put it on speaker phone!” Minuette instructed excitedly and pointed to a space in the middle of our circle. Chad obeyed and set the phone down. We heard the sound of multiple ponies galloping.

“H-hello?” came a gentle, panting voice on the other end.

Minuette approached her phone and said “Derpy! Is that you? It’s me, Minuette! I used to be Monica!”

“Oh hay! Yeah it’s me. I saw you called. What’s up?” came a cheerful tone on the other end. There was some shouting and a clattering crash of dozens of metal objects hitting the floor.

“Derpy! Where are you? Are you safe?”

“Oh, I’ll be fine! I’m with The Doctor!” she said before the blown out sound of an explosion came through the phone. We all stared in shock at the phone until we heard hoof steps again and then flapping.

“Derpy?” Minuette asked, concerned. “Derpy, are you running from something?”

“No! I’m flying!” Derpy corrected. “It’s part of the plan! I’m supposed to lure them into the-” Derpy’s said before her voice fell away as the phone apparently clattered to the ground. There was a small, distant ‘oops’ and a sudden, short crunch that ended the call.

End time: 43 seconds

We all stared at the phone in a dazed silence for a moment. That broke when Minuette let out a slight giggle.

“I guess you shouldn’t talk on the phone while flying,” she said. “I think she’ll be okay; She sounded pretty confident about her plan.”

“Huh. So... I guess we know pegasi can fly now,” I said. Carrot Top looked at me like I said something funny.

“Of course they can. They could fly in Equestria, why couldn’t they fly here?” she asked.

“Because... Equestria is a place in a cartoon and physics and stuff don’t really need to apply there?” I suggested. I turned to Comet Tail for someone to back me up. I saw hesitation in his eyes. “I mean, right, ‘magic’ or whatever but, come on…” I looked to Ruby and Minuette who seemed equally as confused as me. Carrot Top looked around at our group and something dawned on her.

“You haven’t all figured it out? The dreams?” she asked. She turned to Comet Tail. “Why didn’t you tell them yet?”

“I was waiting to do it in person,” Comet Tail explained. “And Berry hasn’t been having any dreams and he hasn’t seen any of the Discord episodes yet.”

“What is this about?” Ruby asked the group. She placed a hoof onto my foreleg which I responded to by wrapping my leg around her and pulling her close.

Carrot looked at us warily. Then glanced over to Minuette and Chad with a hint of reluctance.

“I... think we need to watch a few things after lunch then,” Carrot suggested. “Did any of you bring a copy of the show?”

Carrot was thankful for everypony and Chad helping her clean up. Which mostly just amounted to washing the plates and bowls and rekindling the stove to keep the stew warm for tonight. The cornbread was finished off and the leftover cookies didn’t survive long after lunch.

Chad parked the car around the side of the house next to Carrot’s and we brought all of our stuff in. We ended up camping out in the living room again. This time in front of the flat screen. Carrot turning the TV on was the first sign to us that there was indeed electricity in the home. Carrot directed Comet to the episodes she was wanting to show us and to ‘cast’ the video to the TV. The TV picked it up and started playing the first episode she picked out.

It was unsettling to see Discord’s face again, even in 2D. From the way everyone else squirmed and looked away from the screen I could tell everyone else felt that way too.

I had been told Discord was the ‘spirit of disharmony’ but he didn’t do things out of some cosmic obligation to cause disorder but out of glee. He seemed more like an all-powerful, uncaring ‘god’ just trying to amuse himself. Whether he helped create their universe or not, the fabric of it bent to his will like he did.

The ponies strove to keep harmony, order, around them and yet Discord took that all away in an afternoon. With little effort, even the bearers of the Elements of Harmony saw the world his way and turned on each other.

After the second part got going I saw just how much Ponyville had changed to his whimsy. I expected him to come off as more malevolent. Instead he just didn’t seem to care about the ponies beyond what amusement they could give him. Like materializing a giant pepper shaker and making me in the cartoon sneeze buildings down like they were cardboard cutouts on a stage.

When Twilight’s spirit was finally broken and she decided to pack up and leave Ponyville forever, she found Princess Celestia had been sending back her friendship lessons. Since all of her friends were ‘Discorded’ and acting the opposite of their normal character, I took this to mean even Princess Celestia fell to him. That everything and everyone could fall to Discord.

But that’s not how Twilight took it. Twilight found meaning in the chaos. She read the lessons she wrote to her mentor and they reminded her that there were things worth fighting for. Like friendship.

One-by-one she reminded her friends what they meant to her. Once they returned to harmony they confronted Discord again. This time they were able to put him back into stone and return the world back to the way it was. There was a big celebration for the return to the status quo.

But I knew from what my friends told me that he would just get out again. This victory was temporary; this celebration was hollow. Order would fall to chaos again.

“That climax still gives me goosebumps!” Minuette cheered as she rubbed her forelegs together.

“It’s one of my favorites too,” Ruby piped up next to me.

While I quietly wondered if I took away the wrong message, Carrot directed Comet to put on the next episode Discord was in.

In this one, Discord was redeemed by spending a day or two with Fluttershy. Fluttershy was a doormat the entire time and Discord seemed to take advantage of her kindness. And yet by getting to know her, by the end of it he felt bad for how he treated her. He could have just discorded her and made her enjoy the way he treated her, but instead he apologized. It seemed like what he wanted was the friendship and kindness that she freely gave, not what he could take from her.

So caring about Fluttershy meant he cared about something beyond his own amusement and he realized if he wanted to not upset Fluttershy he couldn’t harass the rest of ponykind either. This meant Discord was considered ‘good’ now. By the loosest terms.

“See? He can be a real sweetheart once you get to know him,” said Fluttershy as the last line to the episode. Almost prophetically, all of the other ponies on screen looked reluctant to agree.

“So they tried to reign in chaos with kindness,” I commented. “Isn’t the definition of chaos to not follow order? Why would he have a morality system? Why would he care?”

“He was sort of possessive of her,” Ruby admitted. “Like a bad boyfriend.”

Or an irresponsible kid with a pet. Something to obsess with until he got bored. And then it was back to doing whatever.

“And that’s okay,” Minuette piped up. “Sometimes someone takes advantage of a kind act. Kindness is knowing that can happen and doing it anyway, giving them the benefit of the doubt. It’s not Fluttershy’s fault he betrayed them.”

“So did Fluttershy ever have doubts about Discord?” I asked my friends. Minuette seemed to think carefully before answering.

“No. I think she just always believed that he could care. And then that he did.”

Without any prompting Comet Tail seemed to know what episode to go to next. He skipped straight to the very last one.

“Wait,” Carrot Top stopped him. “You’re skipping an important part.”

“Um… is there another episode with Discord?” Comet asked.

“Not that. Do you have Equestria Girls?” Carrot asked. Comet frowned at that question. I recognized the name of that. That was the one where they were humans?

“I don’t,” Comet Tail shook his head. Something seemed to click for him. “Are you... suggesting that actually happened?”

“I have it!” Minuette piped up. “I can stream it from my phone! Let’s watch it and debate if it’s canon after!”

Satisfied with that, Carrot asked for Minuette to get everything set up with her phone while she put the kettle on. With Chad’s help with a few finicky login screens and taps, they got the animation starting on the TV. Just a few minutes in, Carrot’s kettle was whistling. With everyone given a mug of hot herbal tea and a straw, I finally got to see what ‘Equestria Girls’ was.

Twilight Sparkle: “The crown may be upon your head, Sunset Shimmer, but you cannot wield it, because you do not possess the most powerful magic of all: the magic of friendship!”
Sunset Shimmer: “No! What’s happening?!

The Elements of Harmony did their thing and Sunset Shimmer was blasted into a crater, stripped of her demonic form and the students were returned to normal.

Sunset Shimmer: “I-I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I didn't know there was another way.”
Twilight Sparkle: “The magic of friendship doesn't just exist in Equestria. It's everywhere. You can seek it out, or you can forever be alone. The choice is yours.”
Sunset Shimmer: “But... But all I've ever done since being here is drive everyone apart. I don't know the first thing about friendship.”
Twilight Sparkle: “I bet they can teach you.”

Twilight Sparkle gestured to the human copies of her friends she met on that side of the portal. Then there was the dance, the humans she met promised to take care of Sunset, and then Twilight went home and then she and ponies laughed before the credits started.

Princess Twilight’s crown ended up on the other side of a portal thanks to a unicorn named Sunset Shimmer. On the other side of the portal was a school full of colorful humans. Sunset Shimmer stole the crown and used it to turn into a demon and mind controlled the school. Twilight Sparkle and alternate universe versions of her friends used the magic of friendship to take the crown back and defeat her.

“So what do you think?” Carrot asked Comet specifically when the credits rolled.

“You might be right,” Comet acquiesced. “If there’s a special connection between the human world and the pony world like the movie suggests, it would explain why we ended up here.”

“Wait, I think I get it,” I interrupted them. “You think Equestria is another world on the other side of a portal?” I asked our host. She smiled and nodded at my understanding. Last week I would have called horseapples but here I was: a walking, talking technicolor horse making horse euphemisms instead of actually cursing.

I looked down at my forelegs and considered the bottom of my hooves. I only had one other body to go off of, but this one felt too perfect to be some kind of cruel curse. This body was fully functional and after seeing all that Carrot Top could do, I saw that these bodies weren’t that less dexterous than a human’s if you were determined enough. The forms themselves weren’t a curse.

With all the evidence present, it seemed there was a world out there, reachable by a portal somewhere, that was home to colorful talking ponies and I turned into one. Not only that, but somehow it was documented and turned into a cartoon for children.

Carrot Top had waited patiently for me to continue while I reflected on my body. When I finally looked up she asked me “And guess how we got into this mess?”

“Discord,” I stated the obvious answer. Carrot nodded gravely.

“So he’s really real,” Minuette said from her spot, curled up securely in Chad’s lap. Her voice was strained and defeated. “In the series finale? When he destroyed all of those ponies... All of those ponies that we loved were real people and they died? And now he’s turning humans into those ponies?”

“No,” Carrot stopped her. “They didn’t die. You’re remembering the series finale wrong. I bet all of us are.” She looked to Comet Tail and gave a ‘go ahead’ nod for the final episode.

The series finale played out just like Minuette had told me: Discord had tricked the ponies. Whether he snuck around this entire time to prevent himself from getting put back into stone or not, it didn’t matter. In the end, he played the long con for the same reason he did anything: it brought him joy. He didn’t care about the ponies.

Twilight’s friends disappeared. Princess Luna disappeared. Princess Celestia was confronted. Discord effortlessly stripped her powers and tossed her weakened body into the fiery abyss that he was responsible for summoning. The same one from my fleeting dreams: the one that the monsters covered in ash came from. But I saw none of those monsters in the show.

By the time Twilight Sparkle figured out Discord was behind it all it was too late. The final confrontation between them lasted less than thirty seconds. Discord cast a spell, Twilight’s counterspell failed and she disintegrated. Discord laughed and the credits rolled. The series ended.

There was no cave. There were no ponies fleeing their homes and hiding from the spirit of chaos. There was no shift to less important characters after the mane six disappeared on them and left them feeling hopeless. The series ended with Twilight. And yet we remembered what happened afterwards… somehow.

The room sat in silence.

The ‘moral’ at the end seemed dark but consistent to me with Discord’s first appearance: any perceived order was flimsy and was easily washed away. Eventually the status quo gives way to the indifferent forces of chaos. Was it trying to say appreciate what you have before it’s gone? If it all goes away, what’s the point of the experience at all? Was it trying to say the universe was cruel and indifferent?

“Wow...” Minuette said in disbelief. “This whole time…”

“What kind of bucked children’s show was this?” I commented. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed something stirring: my favorite little pink unicorn.

I looked at her and she looked up at me with large, absinthe-colored eyes.

She was hurt. I didn’t know how yet but she was hurt. I immediately pulled her up into my legs and held her. She clung to me tightly and croaked out a vulnerable, “Mom...”

“Pinchy, what’s wrong?”

“You’re Mom! You’re my mom!” she choked out. While she had called me that many times by now it usually felt good. This time there was something uncomfortable about it. She believed it. Without any restraint or exception and in horrifying realization.

While her love and safety filled my life with meaning and I would die for her, at the end of the day, I couldn’t live up to that title. I was a failure. These feelings she had must have just been from Ruby Pinch’s love for her mother confused with the love for her brother.

“Pinchy…” I rubbed her back to console the starting hiccups. “I’ve only been your mom for like a week.” She shook her head still pressed against my chest.

“No. You’ve always been my mom. All those drawings. The way you protected and encouraged me. All that time wanting your approval...”

“You’ve always had my approval. You’re the smartest, most talented pony in the world. But I’m your brother. That’s why I protect you. We’re the same age; we grew up together. Remember?”

Ruby began to cry in earnest and my heart broke. I felt hot sympathetic tears stream down my own face. What could I do to take away this pain from her?

“It-it was... a lie!” Ruby made out between sobs. “My-our child-hood wa-was a curse! A-and I d-don’t rem-ember my real one wh-when you... ”

“Ruby, I’m sorry. I don’t understand...” I said as I rubbed her back and quietly tried to console her.

"Berry," Carrot said to get my attention. She was looking me right in the eye. "The curse we were under lifted. It lasted twenty-five years to the minute we were born and then we changed back. This is us; we're back to normal. We were never human."

Ruby held me tighter and continued crying.

"Wh-what? No. We're..." I mumbled to a stop. My mind was racing and I couldn't keep up. I looked at my forelegs holding my daughter.

“Chad! We’re ponies!” Minuette stated in shock.

“Uh... yeah? I noticed?” he replied, confused.

“No! I’ve been a pony this whole time! I’m not human! This is the real me! I’ve only been Monica for twenty-five years!”

“Monkey, you’re only twenty-five… right? You’re scaring me,” Chad held his fiance and petted her mane.

“No! It makes sense now!” Minuette claimed, sounding near hysterical. “Twenty-five: Five score divided by four,” Minuette recited. I felt Ruby’s grip tighten around me and her sobs renewed.

“...your me-memories removed... y-your body... confused!” my filly strained out.

“For your insolence you must pay...” Comet Tail continued.

“Cast off to a land far, far away,” Carrot Top added.

I knew this poem and I knew how the second part went. From a dusty memory, tucked away in a forgotten cellar in my mind I found what I was looking for.

It was a fermented fairy tale. And In the last drops in the nearly-empty bottle I found the last lines to the poem.

“I’ve scattered the six, and that’s just the start of my tricks,” I shared. Ruby’s convulsing sobs grew quieter as she listened. I felt everyone’s eyes on me so I continued. “Your mind shall be weak, your outlook bleak. Forgetting everything and living like a fool, you have all lost, now no one can stop my rule."

It was Discord’s poem: the last thing I heard in Equestria. It was about the mane six, me and everyone I loved.

I remembered this... because I was there. We were like our respective ponies on the show even before we changed back because we are them.

The ponies didn’t die, not forever. They were us and we were them.

This body was my old body; I was a mare. Before and now again. My masculinity was… a lie?

I felt dizzy at the revelation and if I wasn’t weighed down I would have fallen over.

Discord took my old life and my memories from it. All I had was a body for it. And my human life had the opposite problem: I remembered a shitty life in a human world that I could no longer participate in. I had nothing I wanted. Just pieces, lies and failures.

‘Am I even whole?’ I thought. ‘If Berry can’t remember her life and if Brian was a dream I woke up from then who am I? Am I either? Both? Nothing?’

I didn’t even have an identity anymore. Discord had taken everything and just left me with pieces that don’t fit together.

I felt the small bundle in my hooves stir and I looked down at her. Ruby was sobbing in my embrace. The sound of her crying meant she was near and alive. The feeling of her sobs against my chest meant I could hold her and protect her. I hugged her tightly and she clung to me. We fit together.

I felt a new pair of hooves wrap around us and opened my eyes. Comet Tail was hugging us. Carrot Top and Minuette approached and quickly joined in too. We group hugged. We fit together. I saw it on the show and I felt it now.

We were ponies and we had friendship.

My name was Berry Punch... and I was a mother.

And now back to your irregularly scheduled pony transformation fic!

Mare, so much for the three chapters a week thing. This whole 'regularly writing' thing is really new to me. I typically hold a chapter back while I work on the next one but I was taking too long and you were all waiting patiently.