Changing Lanes 23

"I still do not approve of this idea."
>You are Luna, and your procrastination has lasted two weeks.
>Twilight has not been too happy about delaying your meeting with Discord for this long.
>"Luna, I promise he will be on his best behavior. Have you even met him since he has returned?"
>You shake your head.
"Our last encounter with him was when my sister and I locked him away."
>You look around for any sign of Anon.
>You and Twilight decided to conduct this meeting in a secluded forested area not too far from Ponyville.
>Well, you insisted.
>Meanwhile, Anon insisted on driving here, rather than just being teleported with Twilight.
>Hopefully he didn't get lost, the sun is already getting low in the sky.
"I do certainly hope you as well as my sister did not misplace your trust in him. I apologize if I am rather pessimistic, but it is very hard for me to believe he changed in one fell swoop."
>"I understand. But if you think about it, he is the spirit of chaos, what is more fitting than him changing his ways in one day."
"Hm. Point taken, Twilight."
>Her faint smile disappears as her mind shifts to something else.
>"So, I have to ask, since it's just me and you right now, about two weeks ago..."
>Right, the kiss.
>Twilight has acted even more awkward than usual lately when around you.
>You had hoped that would stop her from feeling so anxious when around you and Anon, but it seems to have had the opposite effect.
"I did not wish to make things weird between us. I had hoped it would make the two of us closer as we are to Anon."
>"No, no! I just didn't know if it was a serious thing or not."
>You scoff.
"We would never jest about such a sensitive thing, Twilight Sparkle."
>You sense she finally relaxes a bit, as you hear a distant growl getting closer.
"Speaking of Anonymous, better late than never, I suppose."
>"When do you think he will be ready to move on to physical magic, Luna?"
"Soon. Very soon, Twilight. He has progressed far quicker than we could have imagined."
>Twilight leans against you.
>"Well, he did have a good teacher."
>The fact is, you really have not had to teach him much.
>All of his abilities in the dreamscape were like second nature to him from the very beginning.
>Accessing memories has been the only item that took a bit of time.
"He is a very good student."
>As you say that, he and his car round the bend, the engine abruptly cutting off as he coasts to a stop.
>He steps out, the door emitting a squeak as it opens and closes.
>"Sorry, I took the scenic route."
"That is fine, we did not have to wait that long."
>He looks around, rather confused.
>"So, where is this guy? Did he take the scenic route, too."
>You can't help but chuckle a bit.
>"I have a spell Celestia taught me to summon him, we were waiting for you to get here before I cast it."
>"Of course. That makes perfect sense."
>With a sense of dread, you nod to Twilight.
>She closes her eyes and focuses her magic, horn aglow momentarily before it goes out.
>The three of you look around for any sign of the draconequus.
"It appears the spell did not work. We should head home."
>"He'll be here."
>A rainbow of color erupts nearby, fading away to show a foe you have not seen in many years.
>And had hoped to never see again.
>For whatever reason, he is attired in a tuxedo and a top hat.
>"Twilight, you must give me a heads up before you call. I was just about to go out for a night on the town."
>He snaps his fingers, both items of clothing disappearing.
>"Discord, I appreciate you coming. You see, we-"
>"Oh, you've brought me visitors, splendid!"
>He circles around Anon, making you anxious.
>"Wow, and ponies say I'm an freaky-looking one. Tell me, what is your name?"
"His name is Anonymous, and he is no freak."
>Discord whips around, apparently just now noticing you.
>"Princess Luna, what a surprise! And here I was thinking you have been avoiding me. How are you, darling?"
>You scowl at him.
>His crazed grin grows wider yet despite your silence.
>"Come now, is that any way to greet an old friend?"
"You were never a friend, Discord. Do not toy with us."
>His smile fades a bit.
>"How long has it been since we've seen each other? A thousand years?"
"One thousand eighty-seven."
>He skates over to you, as if on an invisible sheet of ice.
>"Wow, you are good. Silly me, I was thinking of how long it had been since you've seen Equestria."
"You do not know the slightest of what happened, Discord. We had fortunately been rid of you for nearly a century by that time."
>He stops, turning and smiling at you.
>"Oh, but I do. You see, as a statue I may not be able to move physically, but I can still hear many things. Such as a poor young princess slowly going over to the dark side."
>You lunge at him, throwing the both of you to the ground.
>And yet, he doesn't seem surprised.
>"Touch a nerve did I?"
"We were not nor ever will be a monster like you, Discord! My sister, among others, may believe you have changed, but I do not believe it for an instant."
>You feel your heartrate intensify as your blood pressure spikes.
>Suddenly, you feel yourself being lifted of the draconequus.
>You crane your neck to see Twilight dragging you back over to her side.
>"Luna, you need to calm down. He won't help us if you're rude to him."
>Discord rises from the ground, brushing himself off as he tries to listen in on the two of you.
"Rude to him? Surely you are jesting with me Twilight. Did you not hear what he has said to us?!"
>The purple alicorn closes her eyes, as if to refocus before speaking again.
>"Yes, and I'm not saying what he said was nice either, but for the sake of Anon, just try to be courteous?"
>Discord bats his eyes when you look back to him.
>Meanwhile, Anon is leaning on his car, nervously exchanging glances between you and Discord.
"I will try, Twilight. But it seems to me he is being antagonistic on purpose."
>You step forward.
"I.... apologize for the outburst Discord. We have summoned you because we hope you could possibly help us with Anonymous here."
>His crazy smile returns as he floats toward the three of you.
>"Ah yes, I assume it is because he has inherited some of your magic somehow?"
"Well,  Nightmare Moon's magic, yes, but-"
>"Luna, Nightmare Moon, same thing right?"
>Your optimism disappears as quickly as it came.
>"Oops, I'm sorry, that came out wrong. Anyways, to answer the next inevitable question of how I know, lucky guess?"
>You regain a bit of your composure, which is becoming increasingly more difficult.
"Yes, well we were hoping you could help us. You see, Anon comes from a different world, that apparently has no magic. Now being blessed with magic, we do not know how or if he can channel and use that magic."
>Discord leans towards Anon while scratching his chin, who recoils back a bit in response.
>"Well, I believe it is possible. I could possibly pop that bubble for him, so to speak, but...."
>"What is the catch, Discord?"
>Twilight seems to be on her guard now as well.
>Discord chuckles a bit.
>"Since Princess Luna here decided to hurt my feelings, I cannot just do it as a friend. Perhaps instead, I could be granted a few concessions like, I don't know, part of Equestria to call my own?"
"You swine!"
>"Oh Luna, here we go again. Perhaps anger management classes would be good for you."
"This was your plan all along, to have some excuse to not help us! I knew you had not changed."
>Discord huffs, as if he is genuinely offended.
>"Not changed? Those are strong words coming from somepony that tried to kill her sister."
>You grab him by the throat with your magic as you hover in the air with a slow beat of your wings.
"It was not. Our. FAULT!"
>"Luna, put him down!"
>You turn to see both Twilight and Anon both fear stricken.
>Forcefully, your head is jerked around, Discord locking eyes with you.
>"That's it, show everypony the monster you truly are."
>As he continues to stare, his eyes seem to begin to spiral.
>"Discord, what are you doing?!"
>Everypony's voices get quieter as you feel yourself losing consciousness, mesmerized by Discord's eyes.
>This is how it ends.
>You fucked up again.
>Everything fades to black aside from his eyes, the sensation of floating enveloping you.
>Suddenly, you hear a snap of fingers, and Discord's maniacal laugh.
>"Looks like I got everypony good!"
>Slowly you descend to the ground, your legs wobbly and barely able to hold you up as your surroundings fade back in.
>Groggily, you look back up at him, his face sporting a toothy grin.
"A.... joke?"
>"But of course, I had to have at least a little fun."
>You hear Twilight and Anon breathe a sigh of relief, while you try to regain your bearings.
>For a practical joke, that was rather intense.
>"Anyway, I can't actually help you too much with your friend's new gift. It will take a lot of time, but he should be able to tap into it."
>"But how can he channel it? He doesn't have a horn, Discord."
>Twilight switches her glance from the draconequus over to you quickly.
>Judging by the confusion on her face, she can tell something isn't right with you.
>You take a deep breath, trying to steady yourself.
>You know one of Discord's main powers he uses on others is hypnosis.
>But if that is what he did, what the hay did that accomplish?
>Discord snaps you out of your thoughts again.
>"You seem to forget dear Twilight, yours truly does not have a horn. With enough discipline, he should be able to focus in on that power and manipulate it with his mind. But it's not an exact science."
>Discord pulls out a grossly oversized pocketwatch from midair, glancing at it.
>"I do hate to be a spoil sport, but I have things to attend to back home. It was a pleasure meeting you, Mister Anonymous."
>He thrusts a taloned hand toward Anon, who slowly grasps and shakes it.
>"Twilight, always a pleasure."
>She gives him a half-assed grin, her attention still rather focused in on you.
>"And good seeing you, Miss Luna. We must catch up on old times soon."
>His grin grows wider as he disappears with a snap.
>Your two friends hustle over to you.
>"Hey, you alright Luna?"
>Anon runs a hand through your mane, brushing it out of your face.
"Yes, I believe so. I'm not sure what happened."
>"What do you mean Luna?"
>Twilight is surprisingly calm and collected.
>Especially since you lost your temper even after she had pulled you aside the first time.
>It probably would be unwise to start accusing Discord of nefarious actions without some concrete proof.
>And you aren't even sure if he did do anything.
"Nothing. He just got me really good, I suppose. As difficult as that is to admit."
>Your friends chuckle, partially out of relief, you sense.
>It doesn't feel right lying to them, but it's your only option right now.

>"So how did today go, sister?"
>After spending an hour with your friends, you quickly returned to the castle in time to raise the moon and debrief with Celestia.
"It was fairly uneventful. San Flankcisco is hoping to receive more bits to overhaul their rail system yet again."
>Celestia sighs.
>"And yet with another overhaul, it will likely still be a snarling mess. That city needs better planners and engineers desperately."
"The mayor of Manehattan apparently stopped at the castle today, then abruptly left when he found out I was atop the throne today. The bookkeepers said he did not mention a reason."
>Celestia attempts to stifle laughter, with little success.
>"Oh, I forgot about that. Yes, Anon made a bit of an impression on the governor when you two did the swap."
"I can only imagine what he said."
>Another fit of laughter erupts from the white alicorn.
>"Well, he hasn't asked for more money to replace the bridge since then, so I'd say he did a good job."
>Your thoughts turn to the events of this evening.
>The last thing you want to do is worry your sister, so you tread lightly as you hope to gain some information.
"Tia, what do you know about hypnosis?"
>She looks at you as if you have spoken in a foreign language.
>"That's a rather odd question. Why do you ask?"
>You quickly try to think up an excuse.
"Twilight asked me, she found another obscure book I guess."
>Celestia cracks a smile.
>"Sometimes I think she never sleeps, she just reads. Well, I don't really know much about hypnosis, but Twilight should ask Discord. He can hypnotize ponies, so he should have a very good understanding."
>Back to square one.
"Thank you sister, I will let Twilight know. But how much do you trust Discord, if I may ask?"
>Celestia pauses before answering.
>"Trust is a two-way street, Luna. I allow him all leeway short of using his chaotic powers. I am not blind to his trickery, but the more we allow him to be free, the more likely he is to help us."
"You and Twilight may believe that is wise, but I still vehemently disagree."
>Celestia rises from her seat.
>"Pardon me, but you seem to forget of Anon's past. You and I saw what his world was like, and we gave him a chance despite that."
>You had forgotten about that, actually.
>The world pictured in his memories had been more akin to Tartarus than Equestria.
>And yet, the two of you decided to chance it, and now you have somepony very close to you.
>What if you had felt the same way about him as you do Discord?
>You turn away from your sister as you feel tears start to well up.
>Warmth envelops you as your sister takes this time to give you a hug.
>"It's alright sister. Even at our age, we do not know everything, we still make mistakes. And we can still learn."
>You get a hang of yourself and return the hug.
"Thank you Tia, and goodnight."
>"Good night sister. And do not forget, in the morning we must begin to get the castle ready for the Grand Galloping Gala that takes place in a few weeks."
>You and your sister exchange faces of disgust, then laughter.
>It may be good for your people, but neither of you like the cursed gathering.

>You are on a mission tonight as you fall asleep and enter the dreamscape.
>Focusing your mind, you find yourself in a world what can only be fittingly described as absolute chaos.
>You aren't sure which is move troubling, the floating land masses or the violent rainstorm raining pebbles.
>It doesn't take long to find the draconequus.
>He notices you first.
>"Ah, the Princess of the Night cannot leave well enough alone, can she? Here to terrorize my dreams?"
>He flashes you his trademark wide-eyed, crazy grin, as if wanting you to snap.
"Whether you believe me or not Discord, and as difficult as you are trying to make it, I came to apologize for not even giving you a chance."
>Everything in this dream world freezes suddenly.
>"You what?!"
"I came to apologize. I do not know the spell to summon you, so this is the best I could do."
>He walks over to you, his gaze determined.
>Suddenly, he picks you up and hugs you tightly, catching you by surprise.
>"Miracles really do happen! And here I thought you were forever stuck in your old ways."
>He sets you down, and you take the time to fix your disheveled mane draped over your eyes.
"Yes, it took some time to reflect over what has taken place in the past couple months to realize I was wrong."
>"You mean that thing that has landed in our world? Anon, was it?"
>Before you can reply, he snaps his fingers, making you jump as an odd sensation travels down your whole body.
>"Ought to fix that before I forget."
"What did you do. Or to rephrase, what did you 'fix'?"
>He waves a taloned hand dismissingly.
>"Oh, don't worry about it. Water under the bridge, right?"
>You narrow your eyes at him.
>"Let's just say I patched an old wound that I aggravated. No harm. Now, I think it's time for me to wake up; the early bird gets the worm!"
"But it's-"
>A bright flash cuts you off, then everything disappears into black.
"-three in the morning."
>You shake you head as you take flight to other's worlds and dreams of the dreamscape.
>You'll let Anon do his own exploring, since he's become quite the natural at navigating this place.
>Real magic won't be so easy for him.
>But with Twilight and you as his mentors, he's already got a good start.