Twilight was working on her lonesome the day it began. Humming a familiar tune, she made a few final corrections to a scroll on the desk in front of her.
Plopp.
Jerking backwards, she spilled several drops of ink on the letter.
"Sooo..."
Recognizing the voice, Twilight rolled her eyes, cleaned the soiled parts with her magic, and tried her best not to show her annoyance. "Discord?"
"Now, what is my favorite unicorn doing?"
A quick contemplation of all options available to her told her to answer truthfully. Everything else would just prolong this conversation unnecessarily.
"I'm correcting my questions which I've come up with for an invented psychological test." Despite whom she was talking to, Twilight couldn't keep a certain amount of enthusiasm out of her voice. "I'm evaluating my test subjects in four different categories, each one deciding between two differing extremes. Introversion or Extroversion. Intuition or Sensing. Thinking or Feeling. And Judging or Perceiving. Based on these results, I will be able to put each type into one of two power four making sixteen different categories. It's my biggest and favorite research project in psychology yet,” she added with a fair amount of pride. “I've been working on it for over a year."
"Quite fascinating..." The letter turned into spinning cylinder with countless eyes, but before Twilight had time to even process the absurdity of this fact, it had already changed back. "Which category you think you'll fall into?”
"Well, I already made the test," Twilight said bashfully. "I'm INTP, introverted, intuitive, thinking, perceiving. But I'm much less introverted than I was two years ago." Then, as if realizing whom she was talking to, Twilight bit her lip, not wanting to reveal more. "I'm going to ask the other girls to do the test.”
"Really?"
Discord turned into a... thing crawling on the floor. "What if they disapprove of being treated as test subjects?" He asked with the voice of an innocent filly.
"I'm sure they won't. Plus, it's not like I'm going to force them to do it. If they don't wan to, they don't have to."
"Oh, but what if they do take it... only to be hurt in the face of bad results?"
Twilight frowned. "There are no bad results, Discord. It's not a ranked metric."
"Just keep telling yourself that, my little pony." Discord laughed. "If you think all results are equal, then how come you're so ashamed of your little I?"
Twilight wanted to say something, but then she stocked. "I don't think introversion is a bad thing," she replied quietly. "I just... want myself to open up..."
"What if they think your test is poor and makes no sense? You haven't tested it before, have you?"
"Well, of course not. I need others in order to test it. I just have to rely on my abilities. I'd like to think that they have at least a little bit of faith in me."
"But what if they don't? What if they don't like what you have created? What if they think it's arrogant for arrogating yourself to put them into your little categories?"
Now Twilight's hesitance turned into anger. She had had these doubts before, but she didn't need to be reminded of them. Not by Discord. "Why do you even care? It's not like I made this test for you. I did it because I'm fascinated by psychology, and I happen to think that the girls will appreciate it."
"Why, I care because we're friends."
"We're..." Twilight bit her lip. Taking a few breaths, she calmed herself as best as she could. "Whatever."
Suddenly, she was face to face with Discord, now in his normal form. "Yes? What did you want to say?"
Twilight sighed. "Look..."
"I happen to know that, after my little forced 'reformation', you went around telling everypony how you're friends with Discord now. The girls, your beloved princess, your baby brother, maybe even yourself. But did you really think you could feel me? You never considered me a friend.”
[
„I...“ But suddenly, Twilight had no response. He was right.
„If I were you,“ Discord said, his voice now cold as ice, „I would go downstairs now. There is something you need to see.”
Gulping, Twilight turned her head towards the entrance. Up until now, she had thought Discord's visit would merely be a distraction, but maybe that wasn't all More afraid than the situation seemed to call far, she slowly descended the stairs leading into the library's entrance hall.
There, leaning against the lowest stair, was Spike. His body was stale and his eyes were closed.
Her blood turned cold when she touched him. Cold... just like him.
Trembling, Twilight collapsed at the spot. The world was spinning around her, but she barely even noticed. Icy, merciless waves of shock washed over her.
„You did this,“ she stammered, her voice nothing more than a wheeze. You. You... killed him. Just because... just... just because...“
„It is all perspective, my dearest Twilight. You think I'm cruel because I murdered someone for personal feelings. But isn't the mere fact that you're still l alive rather generous of me? You insulted me, lied to me, imprisoned me for months, and not once did a generous thing for me. I could have done worse. Much worse. Instead, I am merely turning this into a game, and even give you a fair chance to redeem yourself.”
Silent tears dropped onto the wooden floor of her home, but Twilight knew that letting her feelings run free now might be harmful, no matter how much she wanted to. After all, she was talking to a psychotic killer with nearly omnipotent powers.
“A... game?”
“Yes!” Discord did some ridiculous maneuver in her peripheral, but Twilight didn't have the energy to register it. “I have convinced some of your old enemies into giving you a visit. The lovely Chrysalis is one of them. You and any of your friends which you want to involve will fight them. Winner gets all players back. Loser is out of luck. I just had take care of your, uh, shortcut."
The lightheartedness with which Discord spoke hurt Twilight almost as much as the shock of her loss. This was a side all too new for him. Chaos, yes. Deception, maliciousness, complete disregard for honor, privacy and dignity, all those were traits which he had shown in the past. Not so this. Not murder.
Yet, one thing he said awoke in her a faint glimmer of hope.
“Did you say... winner gets all players back?”
“Sure. The game wouldn't be fun if there was nothing at stake.”
“Does this include Spike?”
“Of course.”
“So, he's not...”
“Well, not technically.” Discord grinned. “I could have told you right away, but I thought opening up the game with a little shock would be just what you need to finally take me seriously.”
With quivering lips, Twilight slowly stood up. “What if we use the elements to turn you back into stone, and only release you if...”
She didn't get further, as all elements suddenly appeared in front of her, only to be shattered into a million bits a moment later.
“One more thing for you to win back.” Discord remarked drily. “You cannot bargain with me, Twilight.”
“Well...” Squeezing her eyes, Twilight turned her head away from Spike's frozen figure, unable to bear his sight any longer. “I don't have much of a choice, do I?”
“No, I'm afraid not.” He disappeared, only to reappear as mural art on the library floor. “One more thing Twilight.”
“Yes?”
“When I say win the game, that means destroy your opponents. It is time you make these little hooves of yours dirty. Think about it... it's them or you... and your friends.”
And with that he disappeared.
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Topic: M61: It's a Beautiful World (Mafia and Discord win) (Read 92500 times)