Wait. Something's actually happening?

Untitled Document

Part 3

Matter sits alone in an empty field near Sweet Apple Acres. Her eyes glare at the setting sun, her artificial mane blowing in the breeze. She has not moved in nearly an hour, after spending a large amount of time with Luna and Energy in Rarity's Boutique, modeling her new line ideas. Total Matter was contemplating the Elements, paying special attention to Magic and Laughter. She needed to weed out who Magic really was, and she needed to get the pink one out of the equation.

She bit her lip. Elements were hard to break a bond once they've latched on to a pony, but it wasn't impossible. It's been done before. Matter snorted, she couldn't bear another filly or mare taking her spot. Not again and not anymore! The deep-rooted anger that boiled up from her chest felt like she was about to explode.

"You're beginning to wisp." A deep voice commented. Matter nearly snapped her neck looking up quickly. Energy stood, a somber look on his face.

Wisping was dangerous for the two Cosmponies. It was when they began to loose the focus of their form, and particles begin to break off. The two were the only ones who needed to be cautious, as Luna and Celestia were totally solid, and Radiation X and Quantum Dust were basically gas. Wisping was brought on by strong emotions.

Energy lied down close to his mate. "If you wish, I will break off my friendship with Pinkamina." He stared at the sun as well.

"I would like that yes…but you wouldn't. It would make you unhappy." Matter watched his face carefully.

"You know exactly how long it has been since we met any of the Elements, and how it's been longer still since all six were present."

"Five."

"What?"

"Five are present. Supposedly Magic didn't latch."

Energy snorted, "I would have assumed that that protégé of Celestia's, that Twilight Sparkle girl."

"Apparently not."

"But we felt all six Elements when we arrived, on that we can agree?"

"Yes. They are all here, but Celestia is hiding something from me." Matter turned her face back to the warm rays.

"There is something else, isn't there. Our daughter lying isn't the only thing upsetting you."

Matter was quiet for a minute, "it's boring."

"Hmm?"

"I knew it would, as this race has not yet achieved interstellar travel yet. But there's no scandal, nothing exciting to help with."

Energy sighed, "We came here for the boredom, yes? We agreed we needed to get away from the action of galactic affairs."

Matter breathed slowly, "in the short amount of time we're here, I'm sure I can think of something to—"

"No." Energy's anger flared. "We don't need any activity on our vacation."

"Are you kidding?" Matter muttered, "this is nearly exile." She leaned into him. "Please? Just a released prisoner or something? Anything. I don't know how long I can sit here."

He planted a light kiss on the top of her head, "Revana promised only a week. It's been only two days. Perhaps next week we can return to Eletrona."

But Matter's mind was already churning, formulating a plan. Something to do; anything. She wasn't one for relaxation; she needed to move, to think. Books didn't help; she knew so much already. But a small disagreement. Between friends maybe…it might give her answers…

Discord had spent the whole day with Pinkie, and had learned the science of cooking desserts. Although after the embarrassing run-in with the Cosmponies, he regrettably declined when Pinkie offered the apron to him. At the end of the day, the two were in the kitchen cleaning the pans and bowls they had used.

Discord tried the loophole again. He had finally placed it sometime earlier; mentally to the right of where he usually got his magic. He huffed and scrubbed a little harder, attempting to explain it to himself. Discord imagined a flat plain—no. Magic is to 3D for that. A ball maybe? And placed himself in the center. He imagined magic flowing to him from everywhere on the surface of the ball; but inside, there were little places where magic couldn't get through; unexplained phenomena's in magical theory. He mentally placed one far to his right; near the skin of the ball. Yes, good enough. He breathed out quickly, glad to have finally made something that kind of made sense.

Except all of his magic was gone. He cut off all communication with the ball. Then he imagined a thin thread of magical phenomena reaching out from the source to him. There we go. He thought, smiling. A kind of explanation.

Pinkie took Discord's silence for boredom. "Did you have fun today?" She grinned, grabbing a mixing bowl and placing it in the hot water.

Discords ears turned back to where Pinkie was, "Yes, Pinkie, I did. Surprisingly." He used the strange magic to clean the bowl; taking off all the dough and putting it in the trash.

"Well that's good. I don't have to work tomorrow would you like to hang out with me again I will probably go to see what Total Matter and Energy and Celestia and Luna are up to if you would like to join me. Oh yes I should probably bring Gummy as he hasn't met any of them yet and that is just terrible."

Discord could not believe how much the pony could talk. It seemed like throughout the day, the only time she breathed was when he was talking. "I would love to."

"Are you going to ask Matter if you can stay here in Equestria as long as she can keep your magic stunted? Because that would be fun because all my other friends work and I work so I'm usually alone unless the Cakes are in town. But they are out of town a lot to see their family and find new recipes and such."

Discord dropped the pan he was cleaning. Stay in Ponyville? With stunted magic? His face scrunched up in thought. Tempting.

Pinkie took his hesitation as declination. "Well I mean you don't have to but I would like a companion who can talk." She looked over at him, a large smile still on her face, "Gummy is great and all but I must look a little crazy talking to him all the time. Maybe we should go talk to Matter tomorrow."

"Yes," Discord said, "I think we should. I would like to stay here. It's much better than being stone anyway."

Pinkie went back to washing dishes contentedly. Discord began to use his forbidden magic more and more to clean dishes; obviously Matter couldn't feel it; unless she didn't want to stop him. Once he regained his powers, though, how could he torture the old mare? Could she even die? Long forgotten was their friendship when she allowed him to be imprisoned—twice—by her daughters. Well, he thought, that wasn't very fair. Only the first time was by them; the second was by those damned fillies. His anger made him glare at the spatula, a wretched snarl on his mouth. Twilight Sparkle would pay the most; oh she would feel his wrath for thousands of years. Or as long as she could last. Rarity would be a simple torture; take everything from her, even her friends, and cast her out of society. Make her undesirable.

Fluttershy would be difficult but not impossible, she was easily scared, and was uncomfortable around people who weren't her friends. He would need to put her someplace with terrible creatures, where the meanest and worst criminals were held. Perhaps the dungeons.

Rainbow Dash would be hard to break but that Loyalty of hers. He would use it against her again. Give illusions of dilemmas that would drive her insane. Discord huffed. If there was one thing he learned from last time, it was that psychological damage could be worse than physical displacement.

Honest Applejack. He chuckled. Oh, what would he do with her? She was a strong, tough pony, possibly hardest to place. He would think of one later.

That leaves Pinkie Pie. He froze. This was his favorite pony, the only one who had been kind, the only one who had appreciated him. He would need to find the resolve to hurt her in the future. Give her nearly the same treatment as Rarity. He resumed cleaning, hardening his miserable mind. She deserved it, no doubt she will turn on him like how he was planning to turn on her.

Discord felt a hoof on his side, and nearly jumped out of his skin. Pinkie smiled happily up at him, "I'm glad you aren't as super-duper evil as you were last time we met. I don't think we could have done this with you trying to take over Equestria." She laughed, "again."

He looked down disdainfully at her, then rested his muzzle on his eagle claw, "I hope you realize it's only because my power is stunted and I respect Total Matter."

Pinkie stared into his uneven eyes, "yeah, what is with you guys? I mean, you guys are both super old, so I'd assume it was a friendship of some sort—"

"Yes." Discord said, "we were best friends." Memories blitzed around his mind of a younger Matter, crying her eyes out on his shoulder, "closer then you six, even."

"Whooooa. That's really close." She was absolutely perplexed. Could her young, insane mind even handle the intense emotion that went along with betrayal? Not the kind of betrayal he was planning, no that was simple to get over. But the kind Matter has had to deal with, over and over again, as a curse of the Elements.

Discord stared silently down at her, then turned back to his pots. "So what do you want to do now?"

"Isn't it late?" He said, back into his detached voice.

"Not really, I think the sun just set." She gasped, "we can go see what Rainbow Dash is doing! Come on Discord! Clean faster! Go go go go GO!"

He scrubbed faster, "where will she be?"

"Probably up in her cloud house. You can take us up there."

He rinsed the last object. "Alright."

There's always time to plan a revolution. He thought.

Throughout the evening, ponies slowly began to trickle into Twilight's tree. First it was Fluttershy, asking about her day. Then Celestia and Luna who smiled at her and began to converse with Fluttershy on proper animal care, all the while Celestia would send careful looks at Twilight. Soon Rarity joined the bunch, in a beautiful maroon cape she had made earlier today. Celestia laughed, commenting on a similar cape she had been forced to wear. Rarity easily retaliated with, "If you wish to be treated as a normal pony, you must wear my beautiful fashions."

Discord, Pinkie, and Rainbow Dash arrived quite a bit later, Pinkie gushing about the great racing "Dashie" and "Dissie" had done. Discord wandered to the opposite side of the room, taking into consideration the collective hate towards him. After a bit of prompting, Twilight got Dash to admit that Discord "wasn't too bad…if he doesn't have his magic."

Applejack, Complete Energy and Total Matter showed up at nearly the same time, Applejack looking completely uncomfortable, Energy nearly as excited as Pinkie, and equally as happy to hear her rendition of the race. With an obviously ignoring head turn, Matter trotted off to lie beside Discord, and began talking up the awkward creature. Twilight, attempting to avoid Matter, settled down with the two Princesses and four of her friends.

Celestia looked at Twilight, "what have you found out since our little talk?"

Twilight shook her head, "not much, Celestia. I attempted to look up Matter's effects on the Elements, but she's scratched her name out of every history book! Any historian who so much as mentions help from a pony immediately changes course in the paragraph." Twilight raised a hoof to her face, "like she doesn't want to be known."

Luna scoffed, "of course she doesn't want to be known! It's her experiment. She toys with our lives every few thousand years or so, then goes on her way to see the results."

"Luna's right." Celestia looked at each face in the circle. "You be careful of what comes out of that pony's mouth. She is downright dangerous. Over the eons, she has mastered manipulation."

Twilight, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash nodded solemnly. Rarity ran a nervous hoof over her mane, "What are we supposed to make of Discord? What's his place in her plan?"

A pink Celestia looked perplexed, "We have no idea. His lack of magic is confusing as well."

Pinkie and Energy wandered over to the group, grins on their faces. "Well, Rainbow Dash, Pinkamina here says you're the best flyer in Equestria."

Dash stood up quickly, smirking "of course! Born and raised in Cloudsdale!" Her wings flapped powerfully. Energy chuckled.

"Perhaps you would enjoy, then, to participate in the Yalgoer races."

Dash's smile slid off her face, "The what races?"

Matter laughed from across the room, "Don't tempt her, En. That's just mean."

Energy turned to her, "I'm serious! If she's as good as Pinkamina says, she may have a chance."

"The only thing she'll have a chance in is losing gracefully." Matter trotted over, followed by a slow Discord.

Applejack looked at Luna, "uh, what are the Yalgoer races?" Luna shrugged. Celestia's eyes narrowed in anger.

Energy stepped around her, "come on, Rainbow Dash; show me what you can do." He looked at his mate, "uh, Matter, could you…?" he looked back at his side.

Her mouth pursed as orange-brown wings appeared on his back. "Thank you," Energy muttered as he walked past. Matter didn't respond. Rainbow spared a single glance at Matter as she trotted past.

Discord was watching Matter closely. He recognized the signs from long ago written across Matter's face. His eyes drifted to Celestia, who was also keeping an eye on her mother.

Matter settled down in Dash's spot, while Fluttershy inched closer to the group from her corner. Discord lied behind the grey and white mare, listening.

"Well, mother," Luna began, "how was your day?"

"It was fine, child. Spent a good day with my family. Under disguise, of course." She raised a hoof in thought, "are we secure here?"

Celestia looked at Twilight, "yes, of course."

Matter morphed back into her true self, Celestia and Luna as well. With a shake of her head, Matter said, "where is that little dragon of yours, Twilight? I would have thought he'd love to be with us."

"He's not my dragon." Twilight said with more venom then expected. "And from how you treated him last time you were here I don't expect to see him until you leave." She stared at the floor.

Matter didn't even flinch, "I only treated him like how I would treat any dragon. Especially one that could talk." She looked around the circle, no one meeting her eyes expect her daughters. "As Celestia said, it was evolution."

"Which raises another question, Mother," Luna said stiffly, "you say there is no life in the universe but us, yet you reference other ponies. As Element of Honesty I would expect you to…not lie."

"I did not lie." Matter smiled wryly, "it is true there is no other 'life' in the universe, because they have other names for it."

Celestia and Luna looked flabbergasted. The earth ponies looked confused at each other. "uh, excuse me, Mrs. Matter?" Applejack spoke first.

"Yes, Honesty?" Matter turned her gaze.

"Well. What other types of life are there, if we aren't the only ones?"

Matter's smile grew, Discord huffed. "There is a lot of 'life' out there. The Eleatrons, for example, or the Reltiks. And I don't think the Cave Ponies have chosen a name for their race yet. Can't forget the Shoobi's." With each new name, the two Princess's jaws dropped a little further. "There is loads of 'life' out there."

"And you never saw fit to tell us?" Celestia shook her head.

Matter chuckled, "I would think you would be interested in a particular race though. The Elderondack's."

"Why would I be interested?" Celestia noticed Discord's sudden boost in attention at the mention of the race.

"Well," Matter began, her smile becoming a smirk, "they were created by your brother."

Everyone froze. It was only a few moments before Matter began to laugh, "they aren't a very impressive species though, as he made them when he was still young. He wanted to grow with them, if you understand."

Twilight looked at the mare, "is there any way we can meet these ponies?"

The others looked expectantly at Matter, "no." She said, "not until you improve your technology."

Discord began to lose interest in the conversation here. He felt the string growing stronger between him and Black Hole's magic. It wouldn't be long until he had enough power to at least break Matter's grip on him. But then again he has never seen the mare's full power which, considering he's seen her create galaxies must be immense. He knew that Black Hole's magic was strange to her, possibly unknown. But Matter knew what Discord was made of; hell she gave a portion of herself just to create him. This would not be easy, or fun.

The first idea was just to get away. But to where? Not Canterlot, and he didn't want to exchange planets. This one was his. He could teleport to the Everfree, though it was traceable. Perhaps he would have enough time to make a second teleportation before she came through after him. He supposed he could always hide inside a tree, but with how angry Matter will be, Discord was sure she would cut down any tree in the immediate vicinity. Perhaps after a few teleports, he could hide. But as what? He could change his form easy. A griffin would be most desireable.