Bury Me in Books {open}

[Twilight Sparkle]

Twilight was having one of those days. In actuality, it almost felt like she was having one of those weeks. She'd heard all about the various events that had sprung up throughout Tenebrae; she'd even seen the debris of the Meatlings first hand. But she hadn't actually been near any of that. Which meant that Twilight had no first hand accounts of what happened, nor did she have any idea of how to go about getting them without just walking up to random people and hoping that they happened to have been in the right place at the right time. Making matters worse, Twilight was having difficulties actually getting near any of the various places that had been affected by things. Sure, she could wander around the housing area well enough, but the few meat samples she'd gotten hadn't exactly been great. Plus, Rainbow had given some to their neighbors for burgers or something, making an already difficult situation more difficult still. As for the mall, apparently nobody was allowed near that for at least a few days while they "put things in order." Twilight had heard about the woods, which actually seemed the most interesting, but the one time she'd arranged to get there, she'd had to go through training.

Today had just been the topper. Twilight hadn't gotten much sleep last night because Rainbow had apparently decided that now was a good time to start practicing throwing things, or something. Twilight wasn't sure: there was a lot of crashing and loud noises. For all Twilight knew, Rainbow was inventing a time machine. She didn't care: she wasn't getting sleep. Then, she'd managed to end up a little late for work, which of course had put her whole schedule out of whack. She'd done some paperwork, which she was pretty sure she'd messed up, and she'd already gotten some returned. Plus, they told her that she'd likely need at least another week of training before they were willing to officially give her the job and the subsequent payraise. Not that it mattered, since nobody could actually get to their money at the moment anyway. Something about washing the monkey off it. Then, Twilight had apparently grabbed her last meatling sample instead of her lunch, and the idea of eating meat, especially meat that had gone on attack mode, turned her stomach.

So she'd retreated to the library, thinking, hoping, that things would get better. She'd arrived with her usual cheery smile, breathing in the books and immediately feeling relaxed. Twilight had then gone straight for the shelves, thinking that she just needed a break. The Daring Do books were all checked out (probably Rainbow), so Twilight had ended up wandering and looking. She'd found a book and was reaching for it now. Just as Twilight's fingers graced the book, her powers giving it ever the slightest nudge toward her, the entire shelf came crashing down. Most of the books pummeled Twilight, burying her almost immediately, though she was pretty certain she heard a shelf falling.

From underneath the pile of books, Twilight groaned, closing her eyes and feeling every inch of her battered body. Somehow, this day just seemed to be getting better and better...

[Darwin Daugherty]

Shuffling through the halls of the library, Darwin was on the look out for someone he knew. He was told somewhat that there were other's from their world here. Meeting Dashie out in the woods was a pleasant surprise, though he seemed to phase out who else was here. The chaos of invisible animals and all bored him. As he walked into one row of books, the twinkling of thought went through his mind that maybe he should get a book to bide his time. Now that he thought about it, why did he even come to the library? It was as if he was compelled to come here by some force of fate, as if someone put an open invitation in a box or shouted it out for everyone to come here and some cosmic power controlling him walked him like a puppet into here. Like that could happen. He was Chaos, he was Disharmony. He was Discord.

As he reached for a book, who even knew what the topic was, the bookshelf he was reaching for fell away from him. The sounds on the other side was quite obviously that of wood and bundles of paper colliding with flesh and bone. Looking over, he saw some body trying to get out from under the pile. Walking casually around the row, he bent down and knocked a few books away to reveal the dark purple hair and the girl underneath. He then offered a hand to her to help her up. "I think you are only allowed to check out one book at a time. At least I read it somewhere. Not to sure. Let me get back to you on that."

[Twilight Sparkle]

Twilight groaned, closing her eyes. The last thing she needed or wanted was someone giving her lip, especially someone who sounded like they were enjoying it far too much. Plus, to make it even better for Twilight, she knew that he wasn't right:

"Actually, you can check out quite a few books at once. I've got at least eight back at my house right now," she informed him. She nudged a few books, trying to work her way out. The pile had done a marvelous job of burying her, and Twilight wasn't exactly the most physically fit of unicorn girls. Thankfully, she did have just enough of her magic restored to start moving a few books around. They'd glow purple for a moment before living into the air. Twilight knew that she should be putting them back, but for the moment, she was happier just uncovering herself.

"Are you actually planning on helping, or are you just going to stand there and spout incorrect information?" asked Twilight, unable to stop herself. She'd managed to clear enough books from her face and chest to get a decent look at the guy. Younger, definitely, with what looked like white hair and darkish skin. Well, considering some of the people Twilight had seen around here, that was hardly a surprise. Nor was that smile; she'd all but expected it even before she'd seen it, after all.

[Darwin Daugherty]

Darwin moved his hands through the books uncovering some from the side of her and slid his arms under her legs and shoulders. His sizable height helped as he lifted her up in his arms and gave her a little toss to settle her in place as the books fell away from her. Holding her up about where her head would be if sh stood, he turned around and walked out of the row before stopping. At this point she was kind of cute. Man has he just come across every cute girl in this community already. Well since he had a captive audience, he would keep her up high and smile to her. "So what is someone as cute as you doing under all those books? If you were planning a igloo I think the encyclopedias might offer more stability." He gave her another small toss up to adjust her position to be more comfortable as he was holding her as he walked over to the nearby tables, turning lightly to sit her down on the table top.

As his arms came away from her, he gave her another of his signature smiles before bowing comically. "Please allow me to introduce myself. I am Darwin Ivor Sawyer Carlton Oliver Reginald Daugherty. But my friends, enemies, and everyone of my world just call me Discord." The final word was said with a little bit more arrogance, but it was something built over countless time. Like a little shift in reality was going to change that. Before this, he shifted reality on a daily basis. Now he was just biding his time until he could reak some real havoc on this area. And without Twilight and the Elements of Harmony in this world, as far as he knew, or Fluttershy, there was nothing to stop him. He knew Rainbow dash was here, but he would just leave her alone and let her enjoy the entertainment. At least Twilight wasn't here. Lecture after lecture. The order and obsession for tidiness and checklist. It was enough to drive him bonkers.

[Twilight Sparkle]

"They fell on me," muttered Twilight, flushing as Discord worked her out from the books. The sheer surprise of being lifted and moved about froze Twilight for several seconds. Generally speaking, people did not manhandle other people. Then again, most people here didn't have nearly a foot on the unicorn girl, and Twilight generally commanded a little more respect. Then again, Twilight usually wasn't buried under books and looking as though she'd just been attacked by an invisible squirrel stalker. When she was set upon the table, Twilight brushed and wiggled away. She was tempted to use her magic to put a little more distance between her and the guy, but he seemed to have already stepped away.

The smile, the bow, the name, it all clicked several elements into place for Twilight. She narrowed her eyes at the young man, throwing them up and down. He wasn't a draconequus, but then again, nobody was what they were supposed to be here. But with the way he acted and the way Twilight's day had been going, and well, even his voice, Twilight was really starting to suspect. The last person she'd thought was from Equestria had actually been from Equestria, meaning that Twilight was right more often than she was wrong.

"really? Discord? That's funny, because I used to know a Discord from where I came from. He caused all sorts of trouble and stuff, though that was before a princess got a hold of him. Then my friends and I dealt with him when he woke up a second time. You wouldn't believe how much trouble he was. Caused all sorts of chaos and tried to get my friends to doubt themselves. It's alright now though, because another of my friends, her name is Fluttershy, she worked really hard to get him to use his powers for good, because he learned that having friends is better than being a jerk,' Twilight finally paused to catch a breath, which seemed to remind her that there were, in fact, books all over the ground. she extended a hand, her aura surrounding a couple, which she carefully began stacking, half paying attention to them, half paying attention to "Discord."

[Darwin Daugherty]

Darwin walked around to the side of her as she rambled on. Out the corner of his eyes though he saw her magic some books into a stack with the purple aura. The hair, the story, the magic. Go figure the second pony he runs into is the buzz kill, his exact opposite. As she finished he just ran a finger quickly up her human spine all the way to the base of her neck. "We I'm sorry for being a jerk, Princess Twilight. I honestly thought everypony would enjoy a skating rink in the middle of Sweet Appple Acres. I know I always like Ice Cold apples. Plus the bunny had it coming." Pulling a seat from under the table he sat down in it with a bit of a guff and lenaed back, feet crossing atop the table.

As he crossed his arms he looked up to the ceiling. "I mean come on. What is the fun in making sense? I mean look at this body. It's so organized. It looks the same on both sides. I mean, belh, I..." He draped his forearm over his eyes dramatically and threw his head back. "Blend into the crowd." As he dropped his arm he looked back to her. Wondering what she was thinking and how he could twist it to his advantage.

[Twilight Sparkle]

Right, so definitely Discord, and, as expected, he'd figured out who Twilight was easily enough. She might have this new human body, but between her hair, her attitude, and, well, her location, she pretty well screamed Twilight Sparkle to anyone who knew what they were looking for. Speaking the location: Twilight did look about, wondering what was keeping the librarians. The unicorn girl had earned some respect and such for them, particularly after she reshelved an entire section of the library on her day off, but she'd still figured that at least someone would have shown up by now. Given who she was dealing with... but deal with the immediate problem.

"That's Twilight Sparkle to you, Discord," she said, her voice flat. "I'm not a princess," and she wasn't sure where he would get the idea that she was one. Sure, she was Celestia's favorite student, and she'd done her share of work around Equestria, but she was hardly a princess. The thought made her frown deepen, though the concentration needed for magically reorganizing the books probably wasn't helping matters.

"Some people like blending into the crowd," she muttered, lifting a book up to better examine. Twilight definitely was not in the mood to deal with Discord. Not today. She knew Fluttershy was in town now, and she knew that Discord was supposed to be reformed, but Twilight wasn't sure how much either factor weighed with Discord at the moment. She gave him a look out of the corner of her eye that was absolutely loaded with suspicion. "Are you actually planning on helping? Or do I need to send a letter to Fluttershy first?"

[Darwin Daugherty]

Darwin stayed in place but lowered his arms to his stomach. When she prodded him about helping or sending a letter to Fluttershy, he froze for a moment. She was here? Biting his bottom lip he looked into nothing and just thought. If Flutters is here, does she remember him? where was she? Dashie didn't mention her. Or if she did, he wasn't listening at the time because of the wonderful chaos around them. He ha to find her and find out, but he had to play it cool. When he looked back to the books he looked like he was about to get up. "So you would like a hand with the books?" He took a second then clapped for her. Giving her a hand. He did however stand up and walked over to the books grabbing one and holding it up. "My apologies Princess. I had just apparently shifted to this reality. These men in suits told me very little about this place and then vanished me on to leave me to my own devices. I don't think they actually know who I am."



As he started shelving books, upside down that is, he started to think back. "So you don't remember becoming an Alicorn Princess? I must say, that spell you used was some epic level chaos. I do applaud you for that. I kind of wish I had a hand in it." It was tougher for him with his body size since he had more distance to clear each way up and down. "the spell you cast mixed up the destinies of all your friends. Dashie handling animals. Flutters, bless her heart, was doing her best to make the others in town laugh. Applejack was making dresses. And Rarity, who might just be a little bit more OCD than you, had to handle the weather. Even i never caused that much misery." Putting three books on their sides and stacked them up instead of putting them right, he would let her stew on this a bit. but sighed before she could respond with it. "However you as miss goodie two hooves couldn't leave chaos alone. You used a song of all things to set things right, showing you were the utmost authority on friendship and earning your wings. There was a big coronation event and everything in Canterlot. I had to watch from the window."

[Twilight Sparkle]

Twilight glared at Discord as he applauded her work with the books. Just glared, glared hard; it wasn't near to Fluttershy's patented Stare, but it was definitely a look of extreme disapproval, one definitely befitting the princess Discord kept insisting that Twilight was. The unicorn girl went to work shortly after, knowing that she shouldn't waste more time than she absolutely needed to with the draconequus. He did apologize and mention that he just got here. Twilight didn't want to say what she thought, which was mostly "good." Since Discord had just gotten here, that meant he had less juice than Twilight, which meant that, for the time being, she had a definite edge on him. Not that she didn't think he couldn't or wouldn't cause trouble even without his impressive powers; it was apparent that the Shift did nothing to quell his mischievous, chaotic nature.

To make things more complicated, Twilight recognized many of the elements in his story. Oh, the bit about her friends was definitely weird, but there was something about a spell. She had just gotten the book from Celestia prior to her arrival here, and she'd spent some time looking over it since her arrival, meaning she'd read the unfinished spell in the back of the book. If what Discord said was true, and Twilight highly doubted it, the spell was one of chaos, one that would have led to a mishap among her friends, which they would of course solve, but that somehow ended up with wings? That just... didn't make any sense. That was exactly the sort of thing Discord would say.

"Nice story," Twilight commented. She reached out with her hands, obviously feeling confident enough in her actual manual dexterity to work at rearranging books as best she could. Twilight pulled the others up with her powers, desperately working to fix them as best she could. She had several handfuls when the librarian finally poked her head into the aisle. Twilight offered her a quick "I can fix this" smile, hoping that it would actually work. It usually did; Twilight was nothing if not a confident smiler.

[Darwin Daugherty]

Darwin stepped back as the books were reorganized. He at least continued picking them up even if he did place them in wrong. He looked to her as it was apparent that all he needed to do was placed them on the shelf. "It is. Especially of what happened next. One of the sappiest moments I've ever seen. Shining Armor was caught crying and shrugged it off as Liquid Pride. You had trouble sleeping with the wings and didn't like wearing the crown." As the last book of the pile hit the shelf he walked back and sat back down. Giving off a yawn he leaned backwards and stretched. "Tell me Princess. What would I have to gain by lying to you about your life? And if you are thinking chaos, wouldn't it bring you even more torment by telling you something horrendous than telling you that you became a princess, saved your friends, and the worst thing in your life right now is settling down to sleep with new wings?"

His mind drifted over to Fluttershy. Perhaps he could get her to show him where she was. While he wanted to see his F.E.B.F.F. [First Ever Best Friend Forever], to be honest he didn't mind spending time even with Twilight right now. Not that he was messing with her, that was a pleasent plus, but he felt calmer around her than around the other shifted in the area. "Man I could sleep here right about now. So far the only place I've been besides that wretched office was the forest where things kept vanishing. That took alot of energy out of me."

[Twilight Sparkle]

The details Discord kept spewing out were ringing truer and truer. Her brother would act like that, and Twilight would have trouble dealing with wings. She'd actually talked to Rainbow about not having them and how that threw everything off. Given how uncoordinated Twilight was under normal circumstances, she figured she'd probably be flying into things, assuming she didn't fly in circles. Plus, there were hints that Celestia might be grooming her for something. Worst still, Discord's last comment held way too much truth, so much so that Twilight was frowning. Where was the catch? There was always a catch with Discord. Always.

"Alright, let's say all that's true. Why would you tell me something that would get my hopes up like that? And why would you remember something that clearly never happened to me! The only way that makes sense is if there's some kind of new dimension created whenever we occur, one that ruptures timelines or something with each Shift--" Twilight trailed off. Now that made too much sense, especially given everything she knew. Apparently Rainbow had come after her, but Twilight hadn't exactly asked Fluttershy about when.

"Oh, you mean out in the woods? With the office or what have you? Yeah, we're going to try and get a group out there. I'm hoping to bring it up at the next CAUS meetin---" Twilight purposefully shut up, realizing that she was spewing off stuff to Discord, who she still doubted, especially without Fluttershy standing next to him holding his leash. Though, since Twilight knew Fluttershy was here and knew where she lived, she wasn't that worried. Plus, Discord was mostly harmless.

It was that mostly that made her so edgy.

[Darwin Daugherty]

As the writer of this post opens her Pepsi bottle and takes a drink, there is a bit of joy coming that she had such a simple idea on how to throw Twilight off so much. But that was neither here nor there and Darwin was just staring through the screen in her mind's eyes wait for her to get to the post. So here we go.

He just remained in his seat. There was definitely something off with him, he never sat in place this long. Perhaps it was just fun seeing the truth unrival his ravel...I mean unravel his rival that he could just soak it in. Perhaps it was that the hardwood library chair was comfortable. Or perhaps there was more. Something that wasn't there back in Equestria. Nah it was most likely that he has thrown her off her tracks. Though he did like her blush before hand. He blinked wiping his thoughts clean as he went to her questions. But in true Twilight fashion she asked a lot of questions really quickly. mostly answering her own.

"Well Princess. I would tell you all this because when you became Princess, Celestia and Luna made me promise on my friendship that I would never try to manipulate you into evil and to keep you alert for anything that may come. They figured my powers of chaos could be used as a front line to prevent the small stuff from taking every waking moment of your day so you can focus on the magic of friendship. I'm supposed to tell you everything except about what happened just before I came here...but...I don't think you want to know anything about your wedding. Too much spoilers." As he sat the seat on all fours, he stood up and popped his back. Hmm that was an interesting sensation perhaps there was something to this smaller spine.

"Oh don't worry about that. I saw things disappear from that and a meeting isn't exactly my cup of tea. While I can not mess with you and will not mess with Fluttershy, this is apparently a full realm of beings who do not know of Discord, and I plan to educate them." Educate...hmmm there was an idea.

[Twilight Sparkle]

Never manipulate her into evil? Twilight nearly laughed at that. Because there was just no way, no way at all, that Discord could possibly manipulate Twilight into evil. So that was probably a lie. And she really, really, really didn't believe the stuff about her wedding. She didn't even have a very special somepony back home, nor was she interested in having one. There weren't even anyponies here, err, anyone here, that interested Twilight. Not that she even had time to consider special someponies, given how very, very busy she'd been since her arrival.

Oh, this was just all kinds of confusing and bothering. Twilight let out a moan of frustration, stomping her foot. She was so worked up that she nearly missed the comment about messing with people. Unfortunately for Discord, that was a "nearly" not a "she missed." Twilight whirled on him, her frustration coming off her in waves.

"No! Absolutely not! You're supposed to be a force for good and friendship now, remember? Pranks and such are okay, I guess, if you have to,  but you can't go around messing with people's lives! Remember what happened back in Ponyville? Fluttershy! Fluttershy is not going to happy with you if you torment peo---aaaha!" Twilight snapped her fingers and pointed at Discord. "That's what this is about, isn't it? You don't have any powers here, and I'm already starting to get my magic back! You're hoping that I'm gonna do something for you, aren't you? Well, Mister Chaos, that's not going to happen. So ha! Hahahaha!" Twilight folded her arms, looking extremely cocky. Especially considering how very near the librarians likely were, and how very likely it was that they'd heard that little outburst.

[Darwin Daugherty]

Darwin walked closer to her and looked down into her eyes. One could assume that this was to show that he was a lot taller than her. But this was Discord, he would never stoop to physical intimidation. The firey spirit was something that Twilight always had. It was something that he kind of admired about her. Admired? Was that the feeling he had all this time? Was he admiring her? Falling for her? As this thought cam though his mind, he held up a single finger to her and looked up past her and let out a loud burp. One to rival her lecturing of him. Love? Psht. It was just gas. "Well princess. I have seriously let up my pranking and have been a force for good. When the six of us talked about my role at the castle, you suggested that I can only use my powers on those who can actually defend thierselves from them. That narrowed it down to just four ponies. With Princess Cadenza expecting. That's three. With you learning the ropes of your new form as an Alicorn, you were also ruled out so I could only pull my pranks on Luna and Celestia. Or in defense of the Kingdom, which has happened." He placed his hand on top of her head patting her lightly as he walked around behind her and giving one of the librarians a wave. He then turned back around and placed his hands in his pocket. His face moving to one of sadness and loneliness as if she had hurt his feelings with her accusations.


"Actually there was something I was hoping you could do for me since I do not have my powers." He would give it a moment in case she felt the need to gloat about being right. "I would humbly request an audience with Fluttershy. I didn't get much time with her back in Equestria because of our roles. At most we were able to send five letters. You may or may not believe me or the information I brought you. But beleive this. I would never do anything that risk the one true friendship I have.

[Twilight Sparkle]

Twilight didn't budge an inch, at least, not at first. She believed the bit about only pranking those who deserved it. Though, really, Twilight wanted to point out that some people were perfectly fine with harmless pranking. Both Pinkie and Rainbow didn't mind so long as it was all in good fun, nor did Spike. However, the last thing Twilight wanted was to offer anything resembling encouragement to Discord. Though she was certainly feeling those pangs of guilt.

Honestly though, as often as Celestia had put Twilight through the ringer, some small part of Twilight thought the princess probably deserved a few tricks from Discord from time to time. Though with the comparison, did that mean that Discord could go after anyone? Without his powers, he was at the same level as pretty well everyone. In fact, Twilight was again reminded of the fact that she technically topped him out.

"Uh, Fluttershy just works at the mall," Twilight pointed out, blinking a few times in confusion. "She's just, well, as normal as you are now. If you want to see your friend, you certainly don't need my permission," and that was, admittedly, one of the few things that Twilight wouldn't interfere with. Fluttershy had proven herself more than capable of going toe to toe with Discord if it came to it. That didn't mean that Twilight wasn't going to run home and tell Rainbow that they had Discord was running around.

Which reminded her: "You didn't have anything to do with today, did you? You haven't, say, been stalking me and just waiting for the perfect moment to spring out from hiding and show your special brand of mischief, have you?" Because given the day Twilight was having... well, she certainly couldn't help but  glare at him. Which did make her feel slightly bad, considering how very contrite he was working at sounding.