Six Broken Ponies: Ether's Dusk
~BlackRoseRaven
Twilight lay comfortably on the large cushion, Fluttershy still curled against her side, almost dozing in her warm, soft joy. On the floor in front of them, two cups of tea quietly steamed… and gathered in a rough circle, five other ponies and a baby dragon sat, gazing around at each other with hesitant smiles.
Pinkie Pie looked perkier, better than this afternoon, even if she was still a little quiet… but that was certainly understandable, after what had happened. She had brought a small box of cupcakes for them all to share from the shop, and given much of what she'd made today over to Rarity despite her protests, only saying kindly that she deserved it for helping out so much and watching out for her.
Rarity herself was smiling, looking comfortable as she sat back on another cushion, an old straw hat on her head. Not very fashionable, but she seemed less concerned now with material things… and she had confessed her dinner with her family had done a lot for her. Sitting down with her less-than-rich parents and studying how they could still be happy despite everything, seeing what real generosity was… it had all seemed so much healthier, so much more wonderful than the rich ponies who lived in their ivory towers and only did everything for their own selfish aims… and yet were so often never truly happy, always distrustful of the world, always hating everything around them and wanting more, never at peace.
Rarity would rather be like her parents than one of those so-called 'wonderful ponies…' and speaking of parents, Fluttershy had not meekly tried to hide herself tonight. Instead, shy as she was, she kept herself firmly pressed to Twilight, curled up comfortably against her side where she still was, even now… and although it was difficult for the others to grasp, no one said anything as they saw the compassion between the two: they only watched, but made no judgments… not after everything they had been through in the last few days.
Rainbow Dash had turned back to female, although the spell had lasted much longer than Twilight had anticipated… and even though she was a she, Applejack still referred to Rainbow firmly as a 'he,' and the Pegasus seemed to appreciate this small but important gesture. The two were pressed together as they gazed around the room, and it was truly heartwarming.
Spike, lastly, had found them all here after his run to the quill store, but no one had turned him away: in a way, he was like their little audience, the test run for their new selves. He was a friend who was a little further outside the group, but a friend all the same… someone they all felt comfortable with, to one degree or another. And sure, lots of ponies had seen Applejack and Rainbow Dash running around, had probably also witnessed Rarity throwing Chic Trendy out of the store, and had likely noticed both Fluttershy moving in as well as Pinkie Pie's calmness… but none of them had yet to really allow the others in Ponyville to see their few but pronounced changes.
Not that they were about to go showing them off… but Twilight didn't think they'd be hiding them, either, as she smiled a little and sipped quietly at her tea before looking over them all, her eyes settling on Rainbow Dash after a moment as she asked curiously: "So… five, almost six hours, right?"
Rainbow nodded, smiling warmly, still looking elated: it was as if the male-in-mind Pegasus had just won some important race, and in front of the Wonderbolts no less. "Yeah, yeah! It was… it was amazing." Rainbow softened, toning down and glancing at the floor almost abashedly before looking back up with a warm smile. "I can't… thank you enough, Twilight. I feel comfortable with myself, for the first time in a long time. I feel… right about myself. Or well, I mean, I felt really right in that body, now I don't feel as right but… I think I can be patient, hard as that is for me."
She stopped, glancing over at Applejack with a soft smile, and Applejack gazed back at her affectionately, murmuring: "That's right, sugar-cube. We got each other, don't we? I mean, we all gots each other but… well, y'all know what I mean." She stopped, looking almost embarrassed before she gazed around the group quietly. "I only thank my lucky stars every minute now that I have such good friends… open-minded, compassionate, just good friends, who helped me do some things I probably should have done a long time ago and see the world for… for the special people in it."
She smiled at Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy yawned a little as she stretched before gazing up softly, saying gently: "I'm only glad that everything's worked out so well for… for all of us. None of us have to be alone, or feel left out anymore. We can all be confident in… having each other."
"Yeah, it's… it's real swell." Pinkie Pie added with a smile, looking brightly around the room as she straightened a bit, then closed her eyes and nodded firmly. "It feels a lot better this way, too. Everything feels so much better… and safer, too. For me, and for everyone around me. I almost feel like yelling that we should have a party or singing a song but… I think I'll keep it toned down just a little for the next few days, just in case."
She smiled, gazing around at them all, and Rarity laughed quietly, shaking her head as she looked around at the others affectionately. "Yes, I know exactly what Pinkie means… it's been years since I was able to sit down, not worrying constantly about how I looked, not thinking constantly about money or respect… only enjoying my time with my friends. It's a nice feeling… and while I have no plans to stop being the most fashionable pony in Ponyville, I certainly have no intention of chasing glittery lights that just lead to nightmares any longer."
Twilight nodded at this, looking warmly around at the five before she glanced towards Spike with a slight smile, saying quietly: "Good thing you picked up parchment. I think another long letter to Princess Celestia is in order."
Spike jumped to his feet and saluted before running off as the others shared a quiet laugh… and for a few hours, they relaxed together, talking, adding tidbits now and then to the long letter they drafted together, studying one another and watching the ways they were adjusting both to each other and to themselves. It was a comfortable evening, during which they were all able to talk a little bit more about each of their own problems when they liked, and otherwise only bask in the confident compassion of the company of friends… and finally, the others began to leave as it grew dark and late, Rarity saying quietly she had promised to spend tonight with her parents and see Sweetie Belle to school, Pinkie Pie saying warmly that Mrs. Cake had a surprise for her in the candy shop before bed, Rainbow Dash and Applejack awkwardly fumbling some nonsense about a 'sleepover' before Twilight had simply laughed and shooed them away.
She had walked Fluttershy up to bed to tuck her quietly in, and done the same with Spike despite the baby dragon's protests… but after a little grumbling, he had fallen quickly asleep in his comfy basket, and Twilight had smiled despite herself. She liked watching out for other ponies… and she shook her head after a moment before turning and heading quietly back down the stairs, returning to the main library to work a little in a research log she was steadily forever compiling, a blue lantern glowing quietly on the desk beside her.
The violet unicorn, however, soon felt her eyes growing heavy… and then she slowly settled to the desk, yawning and murmuring: "Just… need to rest my head for a moment…"
And a moment later she was asleep, in front of the window gazing out into the starlit night, tired after all the business of the day… and in her sleep, Twilight twitched once before she felt herself descending, descending, into darkness, into a dreamscape, and when the unicorn slowly opened her eyes, she knew she was no longer awake… and yet with only a single glance around, she also knew she wasn't in a dream of her own making.
Beneath her hooves, the ground stretched out white and dusty, a bleak, eternal wasteland that was cracked here and there, littered with broken stones and the only life a few ugly, gnarled and long-dead trees that loomed here and there over the tundra. The sky above was black and cold, blindly shadowing the strange world she stood in… and then Twilight grimaced as she heard a soft sigh before she spun around… and stared in shock at none other than Discord.
The Draconequus sat with strange calm on an outcropping of stone, his elongated, serpentine body straight, dragon's tail flicking, one scaled leg crossed over the mismatched, furred lower limb. The eagle's talon at the end of his gaunt left arm was tented with the leonine paw of his right, and his single fang glinted in features that were more goat-like than pony, with thick, bushy white eyebrows and a ruffled beard, glowing amber eyes with tiny red irises full of terrible knowledge. An antler stood up from one side of his skull, and a twisted blue horn from the other, and Twilight growled at him… but Discord only rose his hands as his mismatched wings – one leathery, bat-like, the other a blue Pegasus wing – flapped once before settling as he said almost mockingly: "Now, Twilight, dear. I know you're not exactly part of my fan club, but hey, you're a mature big-girl, aren't you?"
"What are you even doing here, Discord? We already defeated you and stopped you from spreading evil over Equestria." Twilight snapped, and Discord looked insulted at this, leaning back and touching his chest with a hurt expression. "Oh, don't give me that, you transformed Ponyville into nothing but chaos!"
"Yes, exactly, chaos!" Discord snapped his fingers… but that was all that occurred, and he visibly sulked for a moment before sighing and kicking off the rock, striding forwards and looking moody as he put his hands behind his back. "You swallowed Celestia's little lies so easily, Twilight Sparkle, I'm really quite disappointed in you. I thought you were all brainy."
Discord leaned down, making a face at her and waggling his fingers on either side of his head, and Twilight gritted her teeth as she glared angrily up at him before the incarnation of chaos dropped his hands, resting them on his hips and saying distastefully: "There is nothing wrong with a little chaos. Your friend Pinkie Pie knows that… and so okay, maybe I have a… shall we say… bad habit of playing practical jokes on others that sometimes get a little out of hand. But baby, I don't mean any real harm… well, okay, that's almost a lie, since I was forced to try and get rid of you six… although I feel I must point out, again, that I didn't actually harm any of you."
"You turned us against each other and tried to shatter our friendship." Twilight said sharply, and Discord sighed and rolled his eyes, yawning loudly in her face… and the unicorn gritted her teeth before she stepped forwards and simply slammed her head into the Draconequus's mismatched features.
Immediately, Discord yelled in surprise and toppled onto his back, grabbing at his face with a wince and covering his sensitive nose as his eyes watered… and Twilight stared in surprise as he skittered backwards before rubbing moodily at his muzzle, curled low and suspicious now. She looked at him, and he glowered back before uncovering his maw and muttering: "You're almost as bad-tempered as that foul little monster Luna. I used to have more than one fang in my mouth, you know. But oh no, Discord can't have anything symmetrical except his eyebrows, so she made sure to take care of that for me."
The male sniffed distastefully, and then he straightened and crossed his arms moodily as Twilight frowned at him, saying slowly: "You're not… you don't have any of your powers here, do you?"
"Little thing about chaos, babe. I'm not complicated, I'm not much of a schemer. I like things to change on the fly… it's why I started with 'hey, let's play a game with the ponies' to 'hey, let's get them lost in the hedge maze since they're too dumb to figure out my riddle' to 'hey, let's really mess them all up to get them out of my hair so I can go make Celestia miserable' to 'hey, I know, I'll just trick the annoying blue one into leaving the game, thus securing my victory.' You really think I planned that all out, or do you think it just happened?" Discord asked flatly, crossing his arms, and Twilight looked at him stupidly. "I'm a troublemaker, but I don't start too many fires. Sure, I think the best giggles come from messing with other people. But you ponies are the ones who keep hitting me in the face and turning me to freaking stone!"
Twilight winced a little at this, shuffling awkwardly on the spot, and Discord sighed as he floated up into the air, hovering on his side and resting his head on one hand, raising his other in a lackadaisical motion. "Don't feel so good about yourself now, do you? Because you know, Twilight, it's not like I've ever had a problem with you or the ponies… my real beef is with pretty little Celestia. You know, back in the day, I didn't really rule Equestria. I was more like a storm, roving from place to place, having my fun, getting my kicks. And seriously, come on, I made the clouds cotton candy and rain chocolate frigging milk. Are you really going to tell me that's an act of pure evil?"
He glared at her, leaning forwards… and then he suddenly fell out of midair, crashing onto his front and sending up a puff of dust with a mutter of distaste, carefully picking himself up as Twilight frowned a bit at him… then stared in surprise as she saw the creature was beginning to lose its color now, turning slowly ivory as she stepped forwards hesitantly and asked quietly: "What's happening to you, Discord?"
"Oh, the inevitable, that's all." Discord muttered, looking at her sourly as he rubbed at his chest before glaring down at her. "No, I'm here to tell you something, little Twilight Sparkle, and it's that your friends won't be your friends forever. Do you really think that when you lay on your deathbed, they'll all be there for you, all around you? No, they won't. Either they'll have abandoned you… or, if you're lucky, they'll all have died before you. Then you can be miserable over that, dying alone, the last of your precious little clique, but chaos knows it's better than having everyone turn their backs on you, leaving you to rot…"
Twilight studied him quietly as Discord began to pace back and forth, snarling and throwing his arms out. "Oh sure, Twilight. You think you're just so great. Saving all your friends again, knitting them back together from problems that were much worse than I caused… but what have you really done? Built a dependency on them, and at the same time, made them dependant on you: and look, look at them!"
Discord snapped his fingers… cursed under his breath and snapped his fingers a few more times… and then he laughed and pointed as weak images flickered into being in front of him, of Twilight's five friends, all of them standing emotionlessly, semitransparent and riddled with static. "Fluttershy's a giant baby you cuddle and coddle, Rainbow Dash wants to dangle instead of clutch, Applejack also wants Rainbow Dash to dangle but is very willing to work with her clutch until she does, Rarity's sold out her dreams and Pinkie Pie's… well… uh… she's still mental."
The incarnation of chaos looked almost lame for a moment, then he pointed at the unicorn, adding grimly: "And you, the worst of them all. Gotta save the world, gotta save my friends, gotta do everything right, and all by Celestia's rulebook. What are you going to do when Celestia's rules turn out to be upside-down, though, Twilight?"
Discord emphasized this by trying to flip backwards as his head twisted around… but he only succeeded in flopping awkwardly onto his stomach with a wheeze, spasming and rolling around for a moment before clawing his way up to all fours as he panted roughly… and Twilight grimaced a little at him, leaning back before she studied him quietly and asked slowly: "Why are you doing this, Discord? Just… give me a straight answer. Maybe I can help you."
"You? You! Help me?" Discord stared at her, incredulous, then he leapt to his feet and laughed hard, grabbing at his knees as Twilight looked up at him resolutely… and then he glared at her, pointing again and saying darkly: "That's exactly what I was just talking about. You need to save the world, play little miss superhero, and do you know what the rule of the world is? Every single time you try and save it, it gets worse. Do you really think things are better off with Celestia's rule? Believe me, they are not. They most certainly, definitely, are not, and oh just wait until the punchline of the joke and you see just why… believe me, everything's much safer just… stewing in chaos, at least that can be fun…"
Discord rubbed his hands together, grimacing… and yet he didn't look happy all the same, despite his tone. If anything, his eyes betrayed a flicker of nervousness… and Twilight leaned forwards, asking quietly, no longer afraid in the slightest of the chimerical Draconequus: "Just… tell me, Discord. What is it?"
"Stop it, stop it!" Discord fumed, stomping his feet and glaring down at her as he clenched his claws into fists. "Stupid little unicorn, you're so naïve! I'm not here to be your friend, and I'm not here to give you a warning… I'm here to show you that everything's going to go to hell. And a worse hell than you can imagine, at that! I'm here to point out your failings, I'm here to tell you that for every problem you fix, you create another one: do you really think it's healthy that there's a pony older than you sleeping in your bed, calling you 'mommy, mommy, mommy!'"
Discord pushed his hands together, fluttering his eyelashes as he swayed back and forth, but Twilight only looked at him with pity, making him grumble in distaste before he reared back in surprise when one of his hands glowed before it was pulled firmly down as Twilight sat back on her haunches, reaching her front hooves up and taking it quietly as she said softly: "You're right about a lot of things, Discord. You are. Does that make you feel better?"
"I… well… no. It changes nothing." Discord muttered bitterly, and then he tried to jerk his lion's paw away, but Twilight held on firmly with her hooves as she looked up at him almost imploringly, but the Draconequus only childishly closed his eyes and stuck his tongue out at her even as he turned his head away. "Oh don't think this makes us magical friends or something, or that I even care. I'm just here to play one last prank on the obnoxious little unicorn known as Twilight Sparkle, see if I can at least bring her friendship down in flames with me."
But Twilight only smiled a little, saying quietly: "Whatever you say, Discord. Either way, listen, I want to say that… I'm not angry at you about the past. That maybe I even appreciate what's happened… and well, I'm glad, one way or another, for what happened. It might sound weird but… with what you did, it taught me a lot about friendship. A lot about why I need to be there for my friends… lessons I was able to apply to help them out only recently, as you obviously know."
Discord looked down at her sulkily, saying irritably: "Oh, gee, thanks, that makes me feel like so much less of a failure. Now I'm a real winner, trapped in stone until I rot, which will very likely start soon, by the way."
Twilight rolled her eyes, then she retorted: "Yeah, well, maybe it means that you are wrong about one thing, and it's that the world doesn't have to be bad. Your chaos, your bad, brought about something good, a strengthening of vows and friendships, a realization of how important things like that are in the world…" She stopped, frowning at the ground… then she looked back up and smiled a little, saying quietly: "I guess without chaos, harmony would mean nothing, huh? And Discord, I… I know it's no excuse, that I did what I was told… but I am sorry. And I'm not going to say I forgive you, but only because maybe there isn't much to forgive. You screwed things up, yeah, but you… didn't hurt anyone. You didn't do anything that was irreparable… besides, if I really am going to save the whole wide world, I gotta save the so-called bad guys, too, don't I?"
Discord looked down at her for a moment… and then a smile quirked at his mouth as he sat down beside her, saying mildly: "I think I like Pinkie Pie more than I like you, Twilight, but all the same, you're not as bad as I thought, for a nasty little unicorn heroine. You better not tell Celestia, though, she'll give you an enema and an exorcism just for telling her you spoke to nasty old me. She really hates me, after all."
Twilight rolled her eyes as Discord pulled his claw away… then she blinked in surprise when he wrapped his arm around her comfortably, gesturing with his eagle talon towards the shadowy sky overhead and giving a faint, but real smile. "Chaos is so much better when you have someone to share it with, even if there's none of that here… but do me a favor, Twilight. Even after I'm gone, keep a little chaos in your life. Harmony is boring and placid… I'm not saying you have to hurt anyone, and I far from expect you to do as good a job as I did, but have a little fun now and then, you boring little bookworm.
"And I'm not saying you're safe, that we're friends, that everything's going to work out, that Equestria will not burn… but maybe it doesn't have to be all bad, does it?" Discord looked thoughtful, nodding a little bit as he stroked his beard, then he glanced down and murmured softly: "Or perhaps… I just don't want to die alone."
"You aren't alone." Twilight said quietly, looking down as well, and she smiled a little, closing her eyes. "You know, I think you dying as my friend is going to mess me up more than you dying while trying to convince me I ruined all my friends instead of saving them."
"That's the razor of chaos. It doesn't cut both ways… it flops around wildly in every direction until it gets a lucky bite." Discord replied with a bit of a smile, and then he reached down and gently patted Twilight on the back, saying kindly: "I guess I get two things, then. To corrupt you a little, and to save you a little. Funny… I don't know which I'm more proud of."
And Twilight laughed a bit, neither looking at the other as they sat silently together, once-enemies in a dreamscape that grew bleaker and smaller and darker around them until they were all that was left in a single point of light… but as it, too, was swallowed up, the unicorn could swear she heard a final, whispered 'thank you,' before everything went dark.