In which Sour Note and Discord form a tentative friendship.
There was an alligator on the front porch. As Twilight approached, it gazed up at the troop of guests arriving behind her with the blankest expression ever seen on a living creature. Petrichor, after a long day of flight, gave the extra effort to hover a few inches higher off the ground: scaly things always got to her, whether dragons or not.
"Well, hello, Gummy," giggled Twilight. "Are you here to let us in?"
Gummy stared at her and stuck out his tongue.
The door swung open and a mass of pink fur leapt out. "THERE you all are!" Pinkie shouted, trotting excitedly in a circle. "We've been waiting for you. Come on in, you guys! The party's just getting started...Wait..." A lot of her energy seemed to vanish quite suddenly. "Isn't Governor Crimson Lance coming?"
"She has work to do," whispered Petrichor. Twilight nodded solemnly.
"Oh...oh, well! We'll still have lots of fun all together! Hello, Petri. There you are, Sour Note! Who's the pony I wanna see smile?"
She tackled Sour Note in a big, pink hug. The pale green unicorn, after a moment of flinching terror, allowed herself to be dragged into the center of the bakery, where ponies of all sorts bumped back and forth to a rhythmic beat. Classic rock-and-roll music tumbled out of some hidden speaker. Gazing around the room, Sour Note found Berry Buzz, and regarded her with some apprehension. To her surprise, the earth pony met her eyes, and smiled. She mouthed the words, "Go on".
Sour Note stumbled ahead, pale violet cape still trailing bedraggledly behind her.
Only a few minutes later, it was as if all of Ponyville had shown up in that little bakery, and the party was far beyond a mere "full swing". Pinkie Pie was absolutely in her element. She bounced from one group of ponies to the next, chattering, giggling, offering cupcakes. Berry followed at first. Then Pinkie sent her outside - the backyard where the finale was being set up - to explain everything to Starlight. And confetti rained from the ceiling! And ponies happily jostled one another senseless on the dance floor! And the music - the music! - was all there was to hear!
Sour Note clamped her ears to the sides of her head as she watched Petrichor make the acquaintance of a quiet yellow pegasus with long pink hair. She couldn't hear a word they said, although they were obviously speaking as loudly as they could.
"Don't like this," she whispered to herself. "Loud. Scary. Should be working-" At that moment, someone stepped on her cape, yanking it from her throat to reveal her blank flank to an uninterested audience. She quickly snatched up the fabric in her teeth and wove her way back to the door.
"Oh, I'd appreciate it ever so much if you'd come help me with the larger animals," Fluttershy said courteously to Petrichor, the two flapping relaxedly over a table of red velvet treats. "Sometimes they can be a handful, and the ones I haven't known for long know they can overpower me…and I'd love to get to know more about Pomphay, of course."
Petrichor's method of expressing anything, from thanks to respect to shame to joy, was generally a small bow from the shoulders with delicately closed eyes. "I would love to meet them," she said.
Berry capered like a filly on her way back through the door. She could barely contain her excitement or her pride at the show she was about to put on.
Three small heads poked out from underneath a long purple tablecloth. Applebloom had not been neglected in the invitation process; neither had Sweetie Belle, or Scootaloo, for that matter. Their wide young eyes scanned the crowd for the blank flanked mares who would hopefully be the next step along their career as Cutie Mark Crusaders. It was only Sweetie Belle, however, who noticed Sour Note disappear into the last remnants of day, but she didn't quite feel that she ought to say anything about it.
Sour Note paused on the doorstep, though the castle gates were unlocked and swung wide open at a touch of her hoof. The sun was sinking behind a softened ridge of violet mountains, transforming them into a distant silhouette against a sherbet orange expanse of sky. At the same moment, the rocky moon, half glowing, crested a far-off meadow amidst a sea of empty blue, dotted with stars. The light fell on her sickly-shaded, freckled face, and the unicorn savored that light and the cool, friendly breeze that blew through her mangled cyan mane. It took several thoughts of Crimson Lance to drive her back into the castle.
She stepped blindly through the rapidly-darkening halls, pushing pictures of Twilight's magnificent guest bedroom out of her mind. Magic was more important. She nosed open the door to the library.
It turned out to be a door to a bathroom instead. Sour Note walked through the next door.
"Well, good evening," purred a voice - if not familiar, certainly it was easily recognizable.
Sour Note looked up. "Do you live here?" she asked quietly.
"Oh, heavens no," laughed Discord, laying down one of Twilight's books and picking up another as if he couldn't care less what was in them.
Sour Note approached the draconequus timidly. He towered over her - he could reach the top shelves of the library without using magic at all. And his magic - dragon's wings, his magic! - it was as if he could do anything that took his fancy. Sour Note wanted more. She so suddenly wanted to watch this new master, who pushed Crimson Lance's superiority clean out of her mind, to have the kind of fun he seemed to get out of just living. But, weakest-of-the-weak unicorn that she was, and hardly expecting the responses he'd already given, she was left wondering who would make the first move, as it were. Luckily, he did.
"Shouldn't you be downtown with the rest of those party animals?" he snorted, with just the slightest hint of fondness in his manner.
Sour shook her head. "I need to practice more than I need to party," she said sadly.
The draconequus gave a theatrical groan, teleporting across the room in a restless gleam of light. "Of course you do. And here I thought you might be a little fun. You're just like Twilight, I should have known."
"What?" Though she couldn't understand his logic, a hurt warmth flushed through her body. "But I'm nothing like Her Highness. I can't work the most basic of spells - she's incredible. ...Like you," she added, gazing up at his fanciful form, so different from anything she'd ever seen.
Discord, his ears flicking up at this unmistakable admiration, smiled cunningly over his shoulder. "Oh, it's nothing, really - it's a piece of cake - to me." A snap of his talons sent the contents of one table flying off in random directions, a tall layered cake appearing in their place, and Sour Note found herself laughing. The treat was a perfectly artisan affair done up in alabaster frosting: three modeling-chocolate ponies, one of each type, were posed atop the layers; two sleeping dragons - or were they…not? - encircled its base. Initials in colorful, curly script dotted the sides: CL, BB, P, SN. Discord gave the cake a faux look of confusion. "Hm, I wonder where that came from?"
Sour regained her composure enough to say seriously, "But that's amazing. I'll never be as good as you. That kind of power, and you don't even have to think about it? You don't have to practice at all?" She looked discouraged, dejected.
The spirit of chaos shifted uneasily. This unicorn…he recalled his escapade in the old Changeling Kingdom, wandering across the desert with no magic to speak of - and then imagined having no hope of ever getting it back. Discord was never one to be sympathetic, and never, never one to make friends out of strangers for no reason. But - perhaps it was Fluttershy's voice in the back of his mind - he sighed and said, "Well…I am an inherently magical being. As far as ponies…I mean, even Twilight has to practice...all the time."
With a shake of her head, Sour considered this. "Not the way I do...really?"
"Of course," Discord smiled. It was almost easier to assure her the second time around. He went back to the bookcases, tearing out pages and working them into a mock origami statue - probably of himself, if he'd finished it. Sour Note found the courage to walk up to his work, intently watching every movement.
The next book he selected was The Principles of Magic. He flipped through the pages with a smirk. "So, which of these are you on, then?"
"Er...number two," Sour admitted. "It's a color-changing spell. But when I try it, the cover just stays...brown." She took the spellbook from his paws and cast some ineffectual sparks in its direction.
Discord purred, "Well, what color were you after?"
"Purple, I guess?"
It didn't take the draconequus even a twitch of the hand to change the book's cover to a deep lilac.
"Thank you..." said Sour Note slowly. "I...I'm sure Her Highness Twilight knows the best way to learn, but really...I need to learn combat spells, to please Governor Lance. We don't really use magic for anything else in Pomphay, so I have trouble with these...Principles. Of course, I wish I could learn the Governor's crimson blade technique, but even the strongest of us..." She nodded sadly.
"I...I can't thank you enough for listening to me, Lord Discord."
Discord looked slightly thrown off. "It's no trouble," he said. "Why?"
"No one listens to defective ponies like me. At least, not at home. Here, things are different. Ponies aren't working two-thirds of the day and sleeping the rest. There's libraries of spells that aren't even for fighting. There's a dragon...in this castle...and no one is afraid of it. Er, him. And you, you just seem to have so much fun..." She perked up a little. "It's amazing. Your life must be wonderful."
She blinked up at him, subconsciously switching on the one skill she knew she had: looking pathetic enough to draw charity from the few soft-hearted of society.
Compared to Crimson Lance, even Discord fell into that category. He scratched the back of his grey neck. "Oh, not really. I mean, I can do anything I want. But, of course, no one likes chaos around here, so I have to tone it down a lot - to keep my friends, you know," he added, thinking of Fluttershy.
"That's terrible," said Sour Note. It was the loudest thing she'd said since she arrived in Ponyville.
"They...they don't know what it's like not to be able to have fun. To - to work sixteen hours a day. To know, when you're born, exactly what you're going to do all your life, and it's the same thing forever - and if you're no good, it's like you don't exist. You! You can make the world a kaleidoscope madhouse. You can...I heard someone say...you can make candy rain from the sky! And they won't let you? They don't know what they're missing. I just-I don't understand."
She was silent, as if horrified with herself for speaking at all. The monstrous draconequus loomed over her. He, seeming to realize this, curled his body around itself until he was only twice as tall as the unicorn.
"I couldn't agree more. Pinkie Pie - you know Pinkie Pie, of course - she liked the sugary stuff, but I've never...I've never met a pony who talked quite like you." He tried to show, in his twisted countenance, that he approved of this.
"Thank...you?"
A ringing laugh filled the library. "Maybe I could help you, Sour Note."
"Help? You mean," the unicorn cried, "you could help me learn magic?"
Discord smiled inscrutably.
"Help me impress Governor Crimson Lance?"
"Why not?"
"Discord!-You're wonderful!" whinnied Sour Note, galloping in a circle around his feet. Her blue mane flew wild as a Pomphayian storm cloud, violet sparks trailing erratically behind her.
What have I gotten myself into? thought Discord - in earnest. He lifted his plumed tail out of her way. Maybe this was a bad idea...maybe it wasn't.
The library window was ever so slightly open. Off in the distance, in the very heart of Ponyville, a near stampede of ponies sang along to Pinkie's soundtrack record as they tumbled into the backyard of Sugarcube Corner. The pounding like a heartbeat reverberated through the warm night air. There was a moment's pause. Then, a particle of light shot up into the black night sky. Fireworks cracked apart overhead, bathing the houses below in brief flashes of unnatural light, fuchsia and lime, powder red, deep blue. They fell silently as they burned out, back to the earth.