The months that had transpired since Discord’s latest resurgence from his stone prison had been surprisingly uneventful. Both of the royal princesses of Equestria had been almost waiting for the Spirit of Chaos to make some sort of move that would violate this restrictive probationary period they had agreed to.

Indeed, there were some changes made to the land, but only within the areas that had been allowed him. It seemed that Discord was keeping to his word for now.

Every so often, Princess Celestia would look over the map that she and Twilight had used when showing her where they had found the borders to those places. Those four areas had been very distinctly transformed, but nothing outside of it had been altered in any way.

This method that Twilight Sparkle had come up with for dealing with him - this one that allowed a fair outcome for every pony involved - the longer the time passed with no incidents from the draconequus, the more Celestia wondered if this way was truly proving beneficial to him.

As liaison between them, Twilight had been providing the princess with information on his whereabouts, on the different ways that those areas were being transformed by him, and on her progress in this strange sort of friendship they seemed to have formed.

It would not have been the first thing the alicorn would have thought of doing when it came to Discord. Freezing him stone had been the method she had used, but she knew that merely sealing him away hadn’t really taught him anything. It had gotten him out of her mane, because she knew that he was necessary to the well-being of the ponies, whether they knew it or not.

Twilight had been right though, the way the unicorn had wanted to help him; it was a way that Celestia would not have thought of. She knew that giving him a chance was just, even if the princess doubted his ability to learn a thing about ponies or the bonds that make them so special.

As the white alicorn found herself staring back at the map, she tried to put herself back in that impartial mindset, and not let that natural abhorrence for Discord cloud her judgment. Such grudges were for her subjects, as the ruler it was her duty to put them aside for the good of her ponies, however difficult that may be when thinking about him.

She sensed another pony’s presence in the small meeting room but did not look up at first. The guards that always accompanied her would never have entered without announcing themselves. Only one pony in the castle could sneak up on Celestia so gracefully and silently.

Turning her head slightly, she was not entirely surprised to see the sparkly navy mane of her sister Luna as she looked over Celestia’s shoulder.

She allowed Luna to gaze down at the various landscapes and towns colorfully depicted on the map, thought Celestia was certain that her sister was not gaining any more information than she.

“Did you receive Twilight Sparkle’s latest progress report concerning Discord?” Princess Luna asked.

“Yesterday,” Celestia answered simply. “Everything appears to be very much the same, or at least no breeches in the agreement.”

“Did her words imply something that would cause you such concern?”

“Not concern…” she said, trailing off for a moment in an attempt to find the more appropriate term.

“Suspicion?” her sister offered.

“It is more the lack of suspicious activity that is causing me pause,” the elder princess said, thinking once more back to her student’s latest report.

“From what Twilight has been informing me, Discord may be sticking to the more physical and magical stipulations of this probation - and the evidence or lack thereof seems to support that claim - but that he still remains ‘reluctant’ when it comes to her attempts to get him to understand more the ponies of this world.”

‘Reluctant’ had been the word Twilight had used, yet she was more optimistic about this than her teacher.

“Perhaps this is a sign of progress. If he is really and truly making an effort to stick to his restrictions, than it appears this probation may no longer be necessary,” the younger princess said. It seemed that Luna was also in that same vein.

“All that this appears to prove is that he understands the basics, if he is so unwilling to learn what is truly important --- “ she stopped herself mid-sentence, then began anew. “Before it was not a requirement, but the longer Discord lives in this land - on this plane - the more important it will be for him to understand them, or at least form something other than this current apathy and mild obligation he holds for them.”

“It is true that we cannot be sure for certain, but has not what Twilight Sparkle done in his favor or spoken of worth considering?” Luna said to her sister.

“It is,” Celestia answered, though hesitantly. “But my sister, you were so young you may barely remember the havoc that Discord caused to the love and peace in the hearts of all of ponydom.”

Luna blinked, walking around both her sister and the table to look at the map from another angle. “I do remember some, but I also remember that Twilight Sparkle and her friends aided in my path to redemption for my past sins. If they are willing to give Discord a chance then--”

The white alicorn interrupted her. “And I have agreed to that chance, although I am not as confident in his willingness to learn about things as you are.”

She had felt the tension begin to get the better of her; Celestia had not meant to cut her sister off so abruptly. She knew all too well that Luna had endured a certain amount of doubt from the ponies of this world that she had truly changed once she re-emerged. A thousand years of tales about Nightmare Moon and generations of only one princess ruling the land had all but wiped the real Princess Luna from the collective memories of their subjects.

Luna had made an effort though, an honest attempt. Celestia would imagine that the younger alicorn would want to assume Discord was doing the same, to give him the benefit of the doubt she had struggled for.

“We can also not be certain that he would not be more willing to try if given more opportunity,” Luna tried after a brief silence. “It is something I feel our mother would have done, offering him such an opportunity.”

“Perhaps,” she allowed. “But our mother also understood the potential danger he posed. She never would have allowed him to live so freely here on this plane of existence, even under these restrictions.”

“Not without a substantial lesson on why the ponies of this world function the way they do, their minds and hearts can be difficult for those of us who exist so differently to comprehend.”

She noticed that the slight knowing cadence in her younger sister’s voice, as if she had first-hoof experience.

Whether it was something that Harmony would consider or not, Celestia knew that she didn’t know for sure. She couldn’t merely assume that her mother’s opinions mirrored her own. Harmony had known her former partner for far, far longer than either alicorn princess.

Discord might not have shown any care or concern for his former partner in the balance between Chaos and Order, and it was true that Harmony had not spoken exactly fondly of him to her, but Celestia could see her sister’s point on how their mother might prefer her student’s way of dealing with him over the alicorn’s.

“You would suggest that he be able to spend more time among ponies?” the white alicorn asked. Luna’s mane gave a slight swish as she slowly nodded.

“With no disrespect to her, it would take a drastic lesson to even attempt to get through to him. Probably more than Twilight Sparkle can offer on her own.”

The princesses contemplated that thought for a moment.

“And you feel this would truly be beneficial?” Celestia asked.

“A closer inspection of his progress may be in order, however I do feel it would be, my sister,” Luna answered. “It may be that a immersion into their culture may be something he requires.”

Celestia was dreading the thought that she may have to pay Discord another visit, to see just how far a stride he had made in learning to appreciate the ponies of this world… apart from the one friend he seemed to have. She could not deny though that Luna might have a point. These restrictions kept the ponies away from him, and him away from them. It was for their safety, but she did admit that this might be used by him to enable his continued ignorance of their importance.

It was something to be ruminated on, but not carried out for a while, if at all.

Unfortunately, circumstances were currently being set into motion that would expedite their need for a decision.

~*~

Dear Princess Celestia,

It has been a little over a week since we noticed Cloudsdale’s apparent drop in altitude. My friends and I have been doing the best we can to figure out both the cause of this mysterious phenomena, and more importantly how to reverse it.

It’s been a struggle, since there are – so far – absolutely no leads as to why this is happening. The only thing that we can say for sure is that the pegasi city is sinking…and what’s more, it seems to be sinking at a more rapid rate every day.

We have been able to keep the cloud city in place only due to the combined magic of the unicorns of Ponyville. As many of us as can be spared are focusing our efforts on keeping Cloudsdale afloat. The problem is Princess, that even with our power, we can only focus our energy for so long before we need to rest, and if we do rest, we run the risk of Cloudsdale falling right on top of our own home.

I realize that things have been evidently very busy for you and Princess Luna; I assume that is why you’ve been so quiet as of late. If there are any unicorns in the guard that can be spared, having them to aid us in slowing Cloudsdale’s deceleration would be very much appreciated while I and the rest of the Element-bearers search for a more permanent solution to this strange and troublesome problem.

I await your quick response. Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle

As the wispy green flame of Spike’s carried the message to her teacher, Twilight hoped that it hadn’t sounded in any way accusatory towards Celestia. True, she wanted the princess to understand the urgency of the situation, but if she had already heard of their efforts to stop Cloudsdale from sinking, surely she would have already sent help, wouldn’t she?

It bothered Twilight a little bit, this silence from both of the high royal alicorns. The unicorn knew that the princesses were busy, but it was unlike them to not have any communication whatsoever with the Elements of Harmony, much less not send some sort of word about their latest plight.

Whatever their reasons, Twilight hoped that she was not out of line in writing that letter. If they did already know, she didn’t want to seem pushy…

Then again, as she and Spike exited the library and looked up at the slowly-encroaching city of clouds looming over their earthbound home, Twilight figured that it had been a necessary and responsible move.

“Do you think the princesses will be able to find out what’s causing it?” Spike asked. They walked to the outskirts of the town, beginning their inspection of the unicorns that stood there, stoically encircling Ponyville all with horns alight, and focusing on pushing Cloudsdale back up to its former place.

The sense of dread Twilight felt every time she looked up to see a whole other city blocking Ponyville’s view of the sky flared up again within her. “I certainly hope so, Spike” was all she could give for an answer.

“The biggest concern though is how to reverse the deceleration process.”

They reached the closest unicorn and began to walk in a line around the town, making their way from one tired-looking face to the next. She was grateful for each and every one of them, coming together to help their fellow ponies in such a way. She knew first-hoof how difficult it was to focus all of one’s energy on pushing an entire city upwards. Twilight had been one of the first unicorns to feel that strain when this temporary solution was thought up.

They had left the unicorn behind and soon walked between the strained ponies, none of whom gave any signs of their presence. That was fine with Twilight; they needed to be focused on their task. She was only there to ensure they didn’t over-exert themselves.

Eventually she did find one quite exhausted-looking mare along the western edge of Ponyville. Twilight could tell the mint green unicorn was on her last legs, she only wished that she hadn’t only just come off of her own shift so that she could fill in for the pony.

Luckily, that was when Rarity came rushing up to where the harp-flanked young unicorn stood, about to drop.

“Oh, I’m so sorry my dear! I simply lost track of time.” The fabulous white pony managed to quickly work in her apology as she and Twilight caught their comrade, who probably could not have held on any longer anyway.

Twilight and Spike moved her out of the way, with Rarity moving in to the space the other mare had occupied.

“I do apologize that I was late, Twilight. I just…” she trailed off, giving a pained, apologetic smile to her friend before summoning her strength to focus with the others.

Twilight nodded. “I understand, Rarity. I know how hard it is, but you’ve got to remember, we’re doing this for our fellow pony folk. We’re doing this for Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and all of the pegasi who live up there.”

Rarity frowned as her eyes closed tightly, possibly both from the strain of the spell and from the purple pony’s words.

She managed a nod in return, and Twilight smiled at her before moving on. When she noticed that Spike hadn’t joined her, she turned around.

“Spike, are you coming?”

Spike looked troubled by the thought of Rarity having to stand out there with the others for the hours that her shift would last. Twilight had to give a tired yet resigned sigh at his reluctance to leave her side.

“Just be back before dark, ok?” she gave him a small smile before returning to her self-appointed task.

Twenty-four unicorns were placed strategically around the town, all focusing their powers on the same spell to try and keep Cloudsdale up. It wasn’t a whole lot, but it was all that could be spared at once. They needed to be given time to rest, and keeping up that schedule for them had been a stressful endeavor indeed. It seemed to be all that Twilight could do for the moment however, for none of them yet knew what was causing it.

The mayors of both towns had been holed-up in Ponyville’s Town Hall, arguing over the best methods for aiding the citizens of both Cloudsdale and Ponyville, and what could be done to prevent the looming catastrophe.

It was already looking like both cities would have to be evacuated, but Twilight hoped that it wouldn’t come to that. By her calculations, they still had another week to figure this out. It wasn’t a whole lot of time, but it was something.

When she had finished checking up on the unicorn team, she found her way to Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie had been a source of levity in these worrying days, which all the ponies – especially the other Element bearers – had needed.

The purple unicorn slowly eased the door to the sweet shop open – careful to not let the bell over the door tinkle, as both a precaution in case the foals were asleep, and to ease the splitting headache she had that always accompanied a shift of ‘spell duty’.

Her caution about the babies had not been necessary though, when she made it through the unusually-empty dining area to the counter, she could see Pinkie Pie in the kitchen. Her pink friend now chalk white, covered from head to hoof in flour, much to the amusement of Pound and Pumpkin. The two foals giggling with delight as Pinkie pranced about the room like a bouncy flouncy ghost.

The earth pony noticed her friend, and bounded her way, leaving a trail of powder behind her.

“Hi, Twilight,” she sang, still in her foal-entertaining mode. “Everything going ok out there?”

Twilight suppressed a giggle of her own as Pinkie’s appearance, even though she knew it wouldn’t hurt her friend’s feelings; she wanted to remain serious for the moment.

“It seems so. Rarity just came on for her shift, so I think every pony’s been rotated twice today so far. It’s getting sort of desperate out there, and I’m hoping that Rainbow has some good news for us when she returns.”

As if on cue, the bell above the door tinkled, and the pegasus in-question appeared, though not acting quite as politely as Twilight had done when noticing Pinkie’s floury visage.

“There you are, Twilight, I’ve been looking everywhere for y-“ Rainbow began as she came up beside the unicorn, her eyes landing on their formally-pink friend. She burst out laughing, which Pinkie didn’t mind at all about. She even began to shake the whiteness off herself violently like a dog, which caused Rainbow to laugh even harder, falling over herself at Twilight’s feet.

Twilight tried to keep her composure, but the blue pony’s laugh was always infectious, and soon all three mares were enjoying a welcome fit of the giggles.

When it finally dissipated, Twilight tried to get them back to the task at hand.

“How about it Dash, what’s the news from Cloudsdale?”

Rainbow stood up, wiping her mouth and losing the smile that had been plastered there. “Not very good news, Twi. The city’s gone down a good half a meter in the last day. It seems like it’s speeding up.”

The weight of the un-answered question that was on every pony’s mind put a damper on the collective mood of the group. Even Pinkie looked downhearted at the prospect. None of them knew why this was happening, or how to stop it.

“The other members of the weather team have been doing all they can from above, but we’re sorta at a disadvantage. We can keep a cloud in the air, but it’s a lot tougher to pull a strato-cumulus mass as big as Cloudsdale up and keep it up just by wing power. My group’s probably been running themselves ragged faster than the unicorns have down here.”

“I sent a letter to the princess; I just hope that she’ll be able to figure something out.” She didn’t want to mention that she hadn’t actually heard from Celestia in a while, lest that add to her friends’ worries.

Pinkie had taken this lapse in good mood to clean herself up properly, and when she returned it was with a very thoughtful and un-Pinkie like expression.

“Twilight…this is a really weird thing to have happening, right?” she asked as she picked the foals up and placed them on her back for a ride.

That was an obvious question to be asking. “Uh, yeah, Pinkie,” she answered as Pinkie began to trot around the room, much to Pound’s and Pumpkin’s enjoyment.

“A really unexpected thing, something crazy?”

“Uh, Duh Pinkie Pie. What are you getting at?” Dash asked her, leaning against the counter with her front hooves crossed.

“Well, I don’t wanna put any blame on him – cause he did make that big promise and all – plus we put that spell on him so that he can’t mess with us, so I wouldn’t think he actually had anything to do with it, but he might know what we can co. You know?”

Twilight stared at her friend as she tried to board Pinkie’s train of though, which seemed to have left the station and was chugging up into the sky and doing loop-de-loops. Twilight was having a bit of difficulty in deciphering her meaning.

“Um, can you run that by me again, Pink?”

Pinkie gave a hop to jostle her little foal riders and then stopped for a moment in front of the unicorn.

“Isn’t it obvious? You should ask Discord.”

“Discord?” Twilight asked aloud, with a sort of blank stare that usually came when Twilight made a realization. Of course, that was a brilliant idea. She had no idea why she hadn’t thought of it sooner, but as her mind landed on the draconequus, a small pang of guilt began to gnaw at her.

With all of the craziness that was happening in her own back yard, Twilight had almost forgotten her other responsibilities to something – or rather some pony - just as crazy. She hadn’t paid a visit to Discord at all since this had begun happening, and she hoped that her neglecting that particular duty was not one of the reasons for Celestia’s and Luna’s silence.

Strangely enough – or perhaps not as strangely as it had been – she did feel bad for not visiting him, and especially for not sending word as to why that was. She would hope that he might have been paying attention to Ponyville and that her absence would be obvious…but the more Twilight thought about it, the more she wondered why it would be so obvious to him. Things that were obvious to normal ponies seemed to be completely alien to Discord.

She couldn’t help thinking that her silence might be leaving him feeling as put-out as the princesses’ silence was making her feel. She would have to make visiting Discord a priority.

“Oh yeah,” Rainbow brightened up; sounding almost like the problem had been solved already. “Good thinking, Pinkie. Of course with something this crazy and chaotic, Discord’s gotta be the one behind it.”

“I didn’t say that,” Pinkie stated. “I just think he might know what’s going on.”

“Rainbow, I don’t believe Discord is behind this. He wouldn’t be able to. At least, I don’t think so…” Twilight said, starting strong but losing the firmness as she began to contemplate the prospect. She was fairly certain that the restrictive spell they had put on him kept him from messing with any pony in a populated area, although she wasn’t sure if the actual area which was being populated was also as off-limits to his manipulation. If this was his doing, Discord may have found some kind of loophole.

But Twilight did not want to think that. She didn’t want to believe that he was just waiting around, searching for loopholes in his punishment. He had made a promise, and he was no longer able to affect ponies as he had once been able to… Twilight supposed this was yet another time when actually asking him what was going on instead of jumping to conclusions would be best. She did want to believe the best in a friend, after all.

Of course, she didn’t say anything about her suspicions – however small – to Rainbow Dash. Out of all of her friends, it was she and Applejack who seemed to retain their mistrust of Discord the most. They were going to be suspicious of him no matter what it seemed, and now with all of this happening, Twilight wondered what had taken the pegasus so long to immediately connect the sinking of her home town with the spirit of chaos.

“I’ll still ask him, in any case. We need all the help we can get.”

“Uh, I dunno if ‘help’ is exactly what we’ll get from him, even if he isn’t the one causing this,,” Rainbow added in a way that not-so-subtlety hinted that she retained her belief despite Twilight’s statement to the contrary.

Twilight didn’t want to argue about that right now, there was still so much to be done. Ignoring Dash’s comment and reminding herself of all the inspecting and checking in with her friends she had to do, the unicorn returned to her crisis-schedule-master mode.

“Have you been to check on Fluttershy yet today?” she asked her pegasus friend.

Rainbow shook her head, to which Twilight replied with authority, “Than you should most likely do that for now, I’ll go and see AJ and – if I can – see how the mayors are getting along with their negotiations.” She knew for a fact that the negotiations had been taking forever and the last time she had braved a check there were distinctly raised voices and something flew past her head.

At least they were doing a fair job in keeping things as organized as they could. Twilight felt sorry that she had not considered asking Discord sooner and allowing herself to get so swept up, but sadly she felt this was something unavoidable. So as she left her friends to find some other ways to feel useful in this predicament, she filed the ‘visiting Discord’ plan away for now, with hope she could get to it in time. Twilight might not have even needed to worry; perhaps he was reveling in this new alone-time.

~*~

Pop. Pop. Poppopopop.

The twenty or so cacti balloons that burst had begun to set off the rest in a chain reaction of exploding colorful noisiness. Such random and vaguely destructive happenings were usually something that Discord found entertaining, but today it could not hold his interest.

He had set them up and started them off like dominoes just to watch the outcome, but he had only done so out of boredom. He had been shifting from one of his holding places to another, though not entirely sure why. Perhaps he was merely searching for something to do, or see, or mess with. There had to be some way to have fun on his own that would keep him engaged.

The swamp really was not the most fragrant of places for Discord to have as a place to call his own, but that had been a quick fix. Discord had made a game out of it that proved to be entertaining. It was like a scent roulette, different smells drifted in and out through the swamp, so some pony may be pleased to find a spot that smelled of baking bread, or cotton candy, whereas other places would have that lovely muggy swampy smell, or possibly much worse. Though it was only entertaining during those rare times when any pony – or any sentient type being – ventured into the territory.

There was plenty of fauna to play with as Discord only knew how. It wasn’t hard at all to find some toads and teach them to play washboards and jugs and the spoons. The mouth organ was a bit beyond their skill level, but he was still able to construct a pretty good sounding band out of them.

Discord even found ways to make the sink holes lead to one another, like a secret chute going back and forth forever.

He watched his band swimming in the pickle juice part of the murky water for a while; evidently they had no will to practice. Discord supposed that was what he got for using amateurs. He eventually left after watching his second washboard player be eaten by a snake.

The badlands had been no more interesting. When it had been bestowed to him he had made the comparison between it and the desert he already had been given rights to. They were quite similar and Discord did not want to repeat himself in any way. There were minor differences between them, the landscape was rockier, and the soil grittier, but a few floating spires of rock and flying buttresses later it was starting to take on a whole other look.

A great deal of the rocky terrain had been replaced by a giant colorful ball pit. Discord took a swim through it, every now and then sending a ball or two flying up into the air and exploding in a shower of fireworks and confetti.

He eventually made it back around to the desert, and that was where he lay slumped and uncomfortable on a low-hanging cloud as he had flashed the cacti balloons into creation, and then began to pop every last one just so he could do it all over again.

Deciding to flash back to his home in the Everfree for what he only realized afterward was the fifth time that day; Discord began to search through the ancient ruins for something that he hadn’t really figured would be there. Some pony, rather. He checked the tally on the wall behind his ornate comfy chair, and added another hash mark. The unicorn hadn’t come to see him in nearly a fortnight. Why was that? Had she really finally gotten tired of him? Discord would not have thought that Twilight’s sense of duty would allow her to go this long without keeping up with her responsibilities even if she no longer wished to spend time with him.

It bothered him, and it bothered him as well how much this bothered him. Why should he care if she didn’t want to see him anymore? It should free him up for whatever he wanted to do without having to sit through all her nagging about trying to get the ponies of this world to understand or appreciate him or… something. It always seemed to boil down to him doing things to show them, and Discord continued to stand firm in his belief that they should already be appreciative if they weren’t already.

Without really thinking he had wandered through the massive, empty main hall, making his way to what had been deemed her chair. Made of books, naturally, though not the type he would have chosen.

Text books, history books, and philosophies that she had obviously chosen to maybe get him to read in his seemingly endless spare time. Like that was going to happen. He already had knowledge far beyond the texts, and the history books held almost no interest for him – they were written by biased order-loving ponies after all – and the philosophies… no doubt Twilight had picked those to help him find a new outlook on life. He didn’t see much use in that, what was wrong with his normal outlook?

He did notice a very large book seated awkwardly on the cushion, a thin layer of dust on the cover, looking quite of out place among the other tomes arranged so neatly into chair form.

This was his book, although Discord wasn’t certain whether he wanted to pick it up or not. If he left it there, he might be able to tempt her to sit for another reading.

He enjoyed performing little recitations for her, as it always seemed to both bother and entertain her. The only thing that seemed more fun to do than making Twilight uncomfortable was having her listen. When he read from his books aloud, she would always play the patient audience member, but there was a certain kind of thrill in being able to get her to shut up about ‘making changes’ to himself for a little while and hold her attention for so long.

She really did seem to enjoy them, even if Twilight had never actually told him so. He had caught her every now and then, looking almost completely enthralled by his storytelling prowess. Watching her flustered face try and avoid looking like she was having a good time had to be one of the highlights of her visits.

Discord had been smiling at the memory, and a sigh escaped him before he could reign it back in. Of course, there was no pony around to hear it anyway. He decided to pick up the book eventually, and wiped off the dust. Carrying it away from her chair and dropping it onto his long table with an echoing slam.

He sat in his big comfy throne for a while, just staring at it but not really looking at it. He must have been even more tired of this waiting than he originally thought.

Honestly, what was taking her so long? What could possibly be happening that was so important that she wouldn’t even send some sort of word? Discord wasn’t accustomed to having to wait for some pony. He’d done enough waiting while trapped in stone, thank you very much.

Discord was growing bored again, and that was probably one of his least favorite feelings. This frustration at her absence wasn’t a whole lot of fun either, though. Nothing seemed capable of keeping those particular thoughts at bay. It was almost as if he didn’t know how to have fun without her anymore.

A thought then struck him, something that he had hadn’t really considered because Discord knew it wasn’t possible. It wasn’t as if he could try actually going to her and seeing what was holding her up. He would be physically unable to, that restriction spell made sure of that. If merely going to the border on the outskirts of Ponyville had shocked him, Discord didn’t want to think about what it would do if he actually tried to go inside the town.

He pondered having to wait for Twilight for another two weeks, and his frustration only grew. There was also a hint of something else, something that made him wonder if it wasn’t just her being busy, or her losing interest in helping him that was preventing the unicorn from seeing him. There might be something wrong with her that was keeping her.

Discord tapped his claws rhythmically against the table for a long, long time. There was really no way of knowing without actually being able to see her for himself. That was out of the question though. She was well within the boundaries no doubt, probably holed-up in her library.

He rested his head on his paw, still drumming the tabletop with his other mismatched front limb. He wondered what would happen if he did attempt to flash into town…most likely more pain, but just how much? It was a dangerous thing to wonder about, because even though he did have a great liking to avoid pain, it was just the type of challenge that might make it interesting enough to even consider.

The draconequus winced at the prospect. It was either that or make another round to all his vast, empty places of residence, knowing that they would not be able to entertain him in such an intriguing way.

Discord didn’t think – for if he thought about it he might change his mind - he just…did it.

~*~

Spike sighed dejectedly as he lumbered back through town towards the giant tree of a library. He kicked a rock for a good seven blocks before it finally fell into a storm grate, he then grumbled about not even getting to kick it all the way home.

The young dragon supposed he understood why Rarity had sent him away. It had been fairly dull just sitting there beside her on that grassy hill, watching as she and the other unicorns focused their magic.

Oh Rarity, such a sweet, beautiful, and generous spirit. If being beside her to offer support could help her in any way, than Spike had wanted to provide that for her…she however seemed to think that he should ‘go off and play somewhere’.

He didn’t exactly like watching her suffer in silence, but Spike wanted to show Rarity that he was strong and tough beyond his years. He was the type of guy she could feel comfortable to cry or even rest her delicate white head on his shoulder if she grew tired from all the strain.

But no, what she appeared to see instead was what he had been trying to get her to look past: a small, meek, ‘baby’ dragon. It figured, in her mind Spike was a baby and should be off playing somewhere, and then to Twilight he was an assistant and should be off cleaning or something. True, things weren’t that bad with Twi, she was like a big sister, but Spike had to admit that she could get pretty scary about her schedule sometimes.

With all that was going on, Twilight had been leaning on her number one assistant more and more for the cleaning, schedule-checking, and most of the duties of the librarian that she had unfortunately been neglecting.

Spike didn’t really mind usually, he knew Twilight was in several different places at once where her mind was concerned, and if Rarity wasn’t too tired after her shift on the outskirts of town, maybe Spike could pay her a visit.

He entered the library and wiped his feet, looking around but not expecting to see his purple unicorn roommate. As he assumed, no pony was in sight, but a lot of books and loose pages were scattered about haphazardly. Spike wasn’t sure if this was a mess, or if Twilight had left it that way on purpose, but just to be sure he decided to leave the clutter alone for now.

He made his way through the main area of the library and began to climb the stairs. There was one area of the house that he knew required attention; Twilight’s bedroom. The mare had been continually forgetting to make her bed, and the half-eaten breakfast she had made herself still sat at the foot, though it was well past lunch time.

With an amused shake of his head, Spike began to tidy up for his friend, humming a little tune as he descended the stairs and backed himself into the kitchen with his claws full.

It was just as he was placing the dirty dishes in the sink that he heard a collection of very strange sounds all at once. First there was a pop, then a crackle, then a whooshing and finally a scream of pain.

Spike rushed through the door towards the sound, expecting to see something magicy going on – because apart from the screaming those were some very magicy sounds – and the screaming was soon joined by a sizzling, zapping, almost-electrical noise.

The dragon leapt over a chair as the screaming grew louder, and as he landed on it he could properly see what was making the noise.

Something was lying on the floor of the library. Well, not so much lying as twitching, seizing, and gasping for air as it writhed in apparently horrific pain…a very large something…something large and with various different miss-matched body parts…

It took only a few seconds for Spike to register what was happening, and then a few more to realize who this was that was having his nerve endings fried on the floor before him. By the time he had realized it however, the large and pitiful creature flashed away as swiftly as he had arrived.

It couldn’t have been more than ten seconds in all, but it was truly something to behold, and something that Spike didn’t think he’d have trouble forgetting in a hurry.

Once he had flashed away – and Spike’s brain started working again – his mind reeled with questions. Specifically: what in the world was Discord thinking? He must have known that something like that would happen if he tried to teleport into Ponyville. The whole restriction spell thing that Twilight and the others had placed on him was supposed to shock him if he came too close to the outskirts of a populated area… and if that was the case than why in Equestria would he try flashing directly into the center of a town full of ponies?

It left Spike wary, for he was about as reluctant to trust the spirit of chaos as the next pony, but he knew that Twilight not only trusted him, but was trying to help him. She had befriended him in a sense. A part of him knew that he should tell Twilight immediately about this. Discord was – in a sense – her responsibility.

Then again, Twilight had so much on her plate right now, and from his knowledge of Discord this seemed like an uncharacteristically dumb move for him

He might have been content with just telling the unicorn upon her return, if it hadn’t been for his appearance a second time.

If Discord’s first attempt to flash into the library tree had surprised Spike, this re-appearance all but dumbfounded the dragon. He hadn’t expected Discord to do such a stupid thing as that even once; he never would have imagined that Discord would try it again.

Yet as he was attempting to calm himself and turning away from where he had watched the draconequus writhe, Spike could only take a few steps towards the kitchen before there was another loud flash, pop, and scream.

Once more Discord seemed to sizzle with pain and once more did he teleport away as quickly as he had come.

After this literally shocking new development, Spike could only stand frozen in place and ponder its meaning. When some pony does something that stupid, he usually would learn to avoid doing it again. Spike could think of very few reasons for Discord to have been so impatient – or possibly so anxious – to reach his liaison. He certainly knew the only way he’d be caught going through something as awful as what he’d just witnessed… and that was only if some pony he cared about were in trouble.

But of course, that wasn’t possible from what Spike knew about Discord, and why should he assume that it was Twilight that he had been trying to contact? Who knows what he might have been trying to do?

His actions caught the young dragon’s suspicions. He had been wondering what types of things the draconequus got up to when he and Twilight had their little meetings for a while now, and this could be his opportunity. If the guy was trying to come see her, that was one thing…but with the whole Cloudsdale danger literally looming overhead, Spike couldn’t help but be concerned for both his friend and for Ponyville.

He began to think that he might have to pay Discord a visit himself, to set things straight, and to see just what his deal was. He decided to wait at least until Twilight returned. For all he knew the unicorn might have been on her way to meet with him at that very moment. If she were able to tear herself away from handling the more current troubles of the town.

Author's Notes:

[Story written/published between Nov. 2012 and Nov. 2013]