Ch.4: Chaotic Heroics

Later into the morning before the Nightmare Night party, everypony was at Chaotic Estate getting everything ready for the party, apparently too excited to worry about the story behind it. Even the Cutie Mark Crusaders came along to help out.

"Where do you want this bowl, Discord?" Scootaloo asked, a black bowl on her and Apple Bloom's backs. The Draconequus then looked at the buffet table with a bit of thinking.

"I think right here," he answered, taking the bowl and placing it on the table next to a bowl of guacamole. "I can fill it with tortilla chips."

"I got them right here," Sweetie Belle said, handing him the bag of said chips.

"Thanks, Sweetie," he replied, taking the bag. As he filled up the bag, he turned to see Pinkie and Cheese Sandwich tossing the orange and black streamers up to Rainbow and Spitfire. "Thanks for helping me out, guys."

"It's the least we can do, darling," Rarity replied as she hung up a cutout of Nightmare Moon. "You've done so much for us, like inviting the friends whose lives we've changed and got the Keys of Harmony for it."

"Plus, each of us Key-Givers get to meet each other," added Coco Pommel as she put up the orange-and-black striped candles. "I just know this Nightmare Night is going to be so much fun."

"You must be pretty brave to not believe in the story of the Headless Horse, Discord," Silver Shill stated, helping Applejack with the punchbowl.

"Well, I wouldn't say brave, Double S," Discord chuckled. "I just think there's a more logical explanation like Twilight would say."

"Still, if there is such thing as a Headless Horse," Rainbow said with a smirk, "I'll bet ten bits you can take 'im on."

"Well, there is something about the story that bothers me," Discord stated with a shrug. "I mean, getting your head chopped off over a misunderstanding involving an ex-mare-friend. I've heard of crimes of passion, but that just feels heavy." He fell to the floor when a 1-ton weight tied to his tail pulled him down abruptly.

"I agree," Fluttershy said as she and Seabreeze set the punch glasses by the punchbowl. "It just sounds so sad that someone as heroic as Sir Midnight Gallop has to become a feared terror."

"Yeah, Granny Smith did say that he's—"

BAM! Everypony shot their heads up when they saw Spike run into the room like Tirek was on his tail.

"HELP! THE HEADLESS HORSE IS AFTER ME!"

"Spike," Twilight started, "there's no such thing as—"

"THE HEADLESS HORSE!" Pinkie screamed, pointing at the doorway. They all saw that she was right. Rearing up at the doorway was a black Pony with a flowing black tail and absolutely no head!

"RUUUUN!" Twilight screamed, and everypony ran for cover with screams as the Headless Horse galloped into the room. Everypony but Discord, who saw that Spike had tripped on the carpet.

"Spike!" He then rushed forward, putting himself between the dragon and the headless terror. With a quick snap of his fingers, he had the streamers shoot out and wrap around the Headless Horse, tying it up and lifting it up into the air. Discord then turned to Spike with a look of worry.

"Spike, you oka—" He was suddenly cut off when the struggling Headless Horse screamed out.

"HEEELP! SOMEPONY GET ME DOWN!" Discord turned to the headless phantom as the others rushed up to him and Spike.

"Wait just a minute," he said suspiciously before having the streamers bring their prisoner closer to him. He then pulled the neck off and revealed…

"Diamond?" It was indeed Diamond Tiara under the fake neck. The others then saw that she was running on stilts in the costumes legs to make herself look taller. Discord then looked down firmly at the intimidated filly.

"You are in serious trouble, young lady."

A short while later, Filthy Rich came over and scolded his daughter for pulling off such a cruel joke.

"Diamond Tiara, what were you thinking?! Discord is a friend of Princess Twilight; you can get into serious trouble with her!" Said Draconequus then placed a paw on his shoulder to calm him down.

"Maybe we should hear why she did that," he said to him, although he is rather annoyed with her as well. She then looked up at him sadly.

"I did it to scare you away, Discord." He blinked with surprise before she went on. "I was getting sick and tired of you always making me look bad. Everypony at school chose to ignore my performances just because it was my butler doing them instead of me. Even Snips and Snails made me mad by saying I don't have any actual talent because I didn't actually do anything. And it was the last straw for me when Silver Spoon started to swoon over you and your saxophone playing. So I put together the Headless Horse costume to scare you away so you'd cancel your party and never come back. But…" She looked away sadly. "You were too brave for even the real Headless Horse to handle." Discord only gave her a comforting frown.

"Actually, I was scared back there." She, her father, and Spike looked up at him with surprise.

"You were?"

"Yeah," he said before turning to Spike. "When I saw Spike trip on the rug, I thought that 'Headless Horse' was gonna hurt him by trampling him or something. That's why I ran in there." The little dragon looked down in shame.

"I didn't mean to worry you like that, Discord." He only ruffled his spines with his tail.

"I know. I just didn't want ya to get hurt."

"I…I haven't thought about that part," Diamond replied, serious regret in her voice. "I was only trying to scare Discord away; I wasn't meaning to hurt anypony." Discord only gave her a smile.

"If your best friend Silver Spoon swooning over me was bugging you, why didn't you just talk to her about it?" She looked down in shame.

"I was afraid she would stop being my best friend because she thought I was being jealous…which I guess I was." Discord then ruffled her mane gently.

"Hey, just because you were getting a little jealous doesn't mean she'd stop your best friend. You just needed to talk with her and be honest with her. I forgive you for pulling off that prank since no one got hurt, and you're still invited to the party. " Diamond then looked up at him with a small smile.

"Thanks, Discord…and I'm sorry." Filthy then gave her a smirk.

"And you can think about how sorry you are when you'll be helping his friends clean up after the party," he said before turning to Discord. "Does that sound like a good enough punishment for you?"

"Sounds fine to me," he answered with a nod.

Well, Diamond thought to herself, at least it beats getting grounded for life.