Rainbow Dash alit on the edge of the cloud, the orange light of the evening bathing her cyan coat in fire. Her magenta eyes flicked rapidly across the forest below, searching desperately.

’Shoot, shoot, shoot! Where was it?!’

Her first stop had been at Twilight’s. There had been some weird blue pegasus in brown armor that seemed to just stare through her. Halfway through her babbling explanation, he just walked out the door without a word. Frickin’ weird. Then the mint green unicorn just sorta stumbled off through Ponyville after that, muttering to herself about chicks and dark gods and Goddess knows what else. After that, Twilight had gotten all serious and began running around her library. Dash knew the unicorn well enough by that point to leave well enough alone, so she rushed Scoots home to her parents. They looked a lot more afraid than the filly–she was almost as fearless as the cyan pegasus was, an awesome lil’ squirt–but after a few courageous words that were mostly honest and seemed to mostly calm them, she had shot off back towards the Everfree.

That stupid alien, staying behind to face an entire horde of timber wolves by himself like he was half as awesome as she was. No buckin’ way was she gonna just leave him back there to get all the glory for himself. Besides, she still had his little black box, and even if she gave zero bucks about ol’ Tall-Dark-n-Ugly, she’d be damned to Tartarus if she didn’t at least try to get the thing back to him. It stopped working after the first few hours, anyway.

She grumbled to herself, lifting a blue hoof to her forehead and squinting as she continued her search. In the distance, she thought she saw a cloud of dust, maybe a slight green glow. A-ha! She crouched down and flared her wings, focusing on the spot in the distance. Her muscles quivered as she became coiled steel, a distant clearing in the forest below her unwitting target. She grinned wildly. And fell through the cloud.

’What the hay?!’

Her wings flapped uselessly at the tearing wind as she plummeted towards the earth. Her flight having failed her, she barely noticed the pillar of white light that pierced the evening sky. As the ground rushed to meet her, the rainbow-maned pegasus let loose a decidedly uncool scream.

“Spike, I need everything written about timber wolves, ever! From Mane Goodall all the way back to Equicurus!” Twilight’s hooves were a purple blur as she raced along the lengths of the wooden shelves that lined her home. Spike appeared from behind one of the wooden monoliths, his small chest heaving and his arms laden with a towering pile of dusty tomes. The unicorn promptly collided with the small purple dragon, sending the books shooting through the air–papyrus meteorites that crashed down around the tangled limbs of the two lavender creatures.

“Ack!”

“S-sorry, Twilight,” the dragon stammered, hurriedly rushing about to collect the fallen tomes. He abruptly paused, standing straight up. “I- I feel kinda good all the sudden.” He looked over at the lavender unicorn. She was holding a hoof to her head, groaning.

“I...feel dizzy. Th-the magical weaves on the leylines, what are they-” Twilight looked up suddenly, her pupils narrowing to pinpricks. “N-no, not-”

She collapsed to the ground. With a frightened squeak, her green-frilled assistant ran to her side as a bright white light flared through the windows of the library.

“Are you sure it’s alright?” Fluttershy breathed out softly, staring pointedly at her own light yellow hooves. She looked up suddenly with a small smile. “If you’d like, you could make the house spin again,” she offered.

“What, and ruin the tea? Perish the thought, Fluttershy!” the dragonequus protested half-heartedly, smiling warmly at the shy pegasus in spite of himself. “Besides, last night was probably enough excitement to last you a few years.”

“I- oh, yes,” she admitted, her gaze reintroducing itself with her hooves. “But really, I was asleep for most of it.” She shuddered at the memory of her first encounter with...booze. “Oh, dear me, I almost forgot the tea!” Her exclamation echoed through the small living room of her cottage with the force of a napkin impacting its wooden floors. “I- I’ll be right back, okay?”

“Oh, but of course, m’lady!” Discord bowed deeply, his smile deepening. As she left room to tend to the teapot, he snapped the digits of his bear paw. He snickered to himself as every inkwell, quill, and blank scroll in Twilight’s library was offset by a few inches.

’Oh, how the mighty have fallen,’ his brain prodded.

’Quiet, you. No point in needlessly upsetting Fluttershy with something more bombastic,’ he demurred.

’Bombastic, you say? Like a certain alien retrieving certain weapons that a certain lord of chaos was supposed to certainly guard?’

’Exactly- Wait, why’re you replying to me? It’s against the rules.’

’Rules? Oh, how the mighty have fallen,’ the internal voice taunted again. ’At least one of us still remembers ourselves. Or is it all of us?’

’I forget, too. Let’s just roll with it.’

’Works for me. Twilight’s gonna be livid.’

Discord quashed his snickers as Fluttershy re-entered the room empty-hooved. He felt like he was missing something. Some things, possibly. One a dull black, and the other a searing silver, perhaps? Whatever, things usually worked themselves out. Or didn’t. He was particularly fond of the latter. He was fond of a lot of things. Actually, in the last coupla seconds, he was much more prone to fondness. The dragonequus felt pretty good, all of the sudden. At least until he saw his pink-maned friend crumple to the ground, her yellow coat lightening as it reflected a bright light that flared through the window.

“I...I feel wrong,” she mewled as the patchwork serpent rushed to her side.

He paused halfway to the fallen pegasus, his yellow eyes narrowing. “Hmm, can’t have that,” he muttered with a snap of his fingers. “Fool boy has no idea what he’s doing, does he?” he asked no one in particular, and everyone in his brain.

’Of course he doesn’t. He’s an idiot.’

’A dangerous idiot,’ a voice added.

’Not necessarily,’ another interjected. ’Mostly just a helpless idiot.’

’The sisters won’t be happy...’

’Bah, they’ve been too drowned in doldrums ever since Sunny stopped dancing and Lu did her prison stint. They can serve to lighten up a bit.’

’They can, and should, but will they? You don’t think he’ll be sent to the moon, maybe imprisoned in stone after this?’

‘Not if I run damage control...’ The dragonequus sighed to himself. ’Such an idiot...’

’Him, or you?’ Discord ignored his brain’s question and flashed out of the room. The white light piercing through the cottage’s windows died down, replaced with the orange glow of the setting sun. Fluttershy trembled groggily as she got to her hooves.

“I...oh, dear, I hope I didn’t ruin the tea,” she meeped, shooting back into the kitchen.

“Mm-hmm,” Celestia murmured distractedly, sipping lightly from her levitated tea cup.

The Royal Canterlot Accountant stood before her in the Royal Throne room, appearing far more haggard than he did a few days ago. He nervously readjusted his glasses under his tousled mane as he flipped through the massive tome of the kingdom’s ledger before him.

“S-so, you see, Princess,” he stammered out, “due to the sudden influx of sales tax from a single Canterlot mare, and if we adjust some other departments’ budgets-” He buried his nose more deeply in the moldy book–Celestia’s eyes widened imperceptibly and her throat gulped more hungrily at her coffee at his distraction. Holding her tongue about the mare that had gone on a spending spree for her two colts was much easier this way. “-we actually do still have the funds for the Grand Galloping Gala this year!”

“Hmm,” she responded indifferently. She briefly considered using the excess funds for the turgid, boring ball as insurance for the human’s continued stay in her kingdom. Slowly standing, she mentally vetoed this, favoring instead the idea that the bits go towards Canterlot’s various orphanages. Reaching her full height, she smiled warmly at the Royal Accountant–her face revealing none of her malcontent that the title was capitalized–and she spoke.

“Excellent work, Fiscal Slip.” She regarded the grey pegasus calmly even as he tiredly beamed from her praise. “I shall look into this-”

She fell to the ground, her eyes widening over the sudden disturbance that wavered through her kingdom, through her world. She felt her sun fall from the horizon, and the soothing leylines of harmony bend and crack as her world–her world–began to shatter.

“P-princess?!” the accountant gasped, stumbling dizzily. Celestia forced herself off the ground.

“Fetch Luna. Immediately,” she commanded. As the bookish pegasus galloped from the room, wavering drunkenly, the Sun Goddess’s horn exploded in searing gold, and her eyes became twin flares of white light. The burning stars of her eyes fearfully regarded the blinding white pillar that burst forth from the south, bathing her throne room in a shock of light, before she redoubled her efforts, her horn glowing impossibly bright as she fought to restore order to her kingdom, to her existence. The million threads of magic her immortal horn weaved wrapped desperately around the cracks in her world, the sudden imperfections, and struggled in vain to hold them still, to heal their fissures. As every thread she wove in desperation snapped, she cried out in pain and failure. Each one recoiled with world-shattering viciousness back into her horn, and through her soul. As she lost consciousness, time seemed to slow, and her regal white body floated slowly towards the hard marble of Canterlot’s royal chambers.

Her torpid descent was halted by a pair of mismatched limbs. Her immaculate white coat fell into the open digits of an eagle’s talons and a bear’s paws as the dragonequus cradled her gently.

“Tsk, tsk, dearie,” Discord muttered quietly. “I’m sure I’ve told you before that you can only fight chaos with chaos. You and lil’ Lu never did defeat me after all. Just postponed me.” His yellow eyes gazed somberly out the palace windows, upon the darkened sky and the piercing white cracks that lacerated its form. Soon, the cracks would shatter all reality.

’Now, where’s the fun in that?’

’It’s definitely chaotic.’

‘But so terribly short-sighted. I may as well have snapped my talons and made the two alicorn fillies that appeared in my realm so long ago disappear.’

‘You still can.’

‘Can I? Perhaps. But they’ve made things so interesting since the dissolution of the Grove. I don’t think I will.’

‘Then?’

‘We do what I’ve always done. Sit back and enjoy the ride!’ Discord grinned widely, gently laying Celestia on the ground. The patchwork serpent glowed dully as the cracks in the newborn night’s sky began to heal. He frowned slightly to himself as a barrier of harmony slid home, separating a certain human from the force that kept him alive. ’It must be done,’ he reminded himself.

“Now, my little filly, don’t you dare disappoint me!” he admonished. His features became serious for a moment. “Oh, and please don’t banish the human. He’s an idiot. Not too far removed from a recently unpetrified chimaira, if you ask me. But he’s got moxy!”

Celestia’s chest moved evenly, her eyes closed.

“Oh, right, you’re unconscious. Silly me. I’ll...get back to a certain yellow pegasus.” Discord frowned down at the unconscious Celestia. “She worries far too much. A lot like her metaphorical momma. Good thing ol’ deus ex snappina was around to fix things up, eh?” He smiled at the unconscious Sun Goddess.

“Although the boy really should have gotten a nice suit to replace my sunglasses after he lost them,” he muttered to the empty air before disappearing from the throne room. Its towering doors crashed open, revealing a small contingent of dark-colored ponies. A midnight blue alicorn stepped warily into the throne room, before seeing her sister and abandoning all caution as she rushed forward.

“Sister!” Luna cried. The contingent of guards at her side shied away at the volume of her voice. Luna ignored them and galloped up to the pale form that littered the throne room’s floor. She embraced the white alicorn fiercely, lifting her off the red carpet and drawing her close. “Sister, please!”

Celestia’s eyes fluttered, and she confusedly drew her head back. “L-Luna?! But where- how-?” Her frazzled responses were momentarily silenced by Luna nuzzling her neck deeply.

“Sister, thou art in good health...” Luna murmured.

Celestia suppressed a chuckle. “Well of course I’m fine. It’s just, I don’t...” she paused, pressing one hoof to her forehead. “What just happened, Lulu? I feel tired and-” Her eyes widened, and she brought her face down to meet her little sister’s concerned gaze. “The human.”

Luna nodded, reluctantly breaking her embrace with her sister and turning back to the guardsponies at the door.

“My chariot,” she demanded. “Now.” The guardsponies gulped and disappeared as Luna turned back to Celestia.

“Rest, Tia,” she said, authority saturating her voice. “P-please,” she added after a pause.

“My, my, they grow up so fast, little sisters,” Celestia murmured to herself quietly before nuzzling the princess before her. The Sun Goddess drew back, and her eyes hardened. “Let him know that I have words for him in the morning, would you?”

“Of course, my sister,” Luna responded. She had words enough for the human after he had just broken–almost broken–the harmony of their world. Her sister ambled tiredly out of the room as Luna moved to intercept the captain of her Night Guard at the door. He smiled at her openly and bowed towards a pair of doors that led to a nearby balcony. She ignored his mirth, feigned or otherwise, and trotted imperiously towards the obsidian air chariot that awaited her.

Night-Captain Moon Glade snorted, shook his head slightly, and followed after his Princess.

“Twilight!”

The lavender unicorn winced at the volume of the squeaking cry.

“Ugh, maybe take it down a few notches, Spike? This is a library...”

“S-sorry,” he whispered. “It’s just you collapsed and I was scared and-”

“It’s alright, Spike,” she muttered softly. The leylines of harmony magic that formed the foundation of the world’s weaves had seemingly repaired itself, but she wasn’t convinced. She met the quivering, worried gaze of her small assistant. “But we’ve got a lot of work to do.”

The dragon gulped, but nodded bravely. “Right. Tell me what I need to do.”

Twilight’s eyes narrowed. “Pull every book we have on Chaos magic, the Elements of Harmony, and,” she paused, “...and Discord’s origins.”

“AAAAAAAAUUUUUGH-” Rainbow Dash’s scream cut off as her wings bit into the air, and she leveled off a few meters above the tree line. The white fractures had disappeared from the evening sky, and the warm glow of the sun danced across her cyan feathers as it made its final, ponderous descent beneath the horizon.

“That was...definitely uncool,” she said to no one with a self-conscious cough. Her bright blue wings flared and she glided towards the clearing in the distance. She scowled slightly at the glimmering flames and growing smoke at its edges, but pressed on.

“My dear Fluttershy, not to be a bother, but is the tea ready?”

“Oh, yes, Discord. I’m very, very sorry about the wait,” the yellow pegasus breathed quietly from the other room. Discord steepled his discordant appendages, leaning back into the green couch contentedly and basking in the soft melody of the pegasus’s gentle voice.

’I really should thank the newbie one of these days,’ he thought to himself.

’Shh, against the rules,’ his brain warned.

’Rules?’ he thought back. His grin widened as the red pupils of his eyes almost flashed green. ’Was never a big fan, to be honest.’