Discord's School for Padded Princesses

Chapter 1

Okay, I think that's the last of them," Twilight said, putting a stamp on the paperwork. "Send this off, please, Spike."

Spike duly did so, breathing a flicker of flame onto the stack Twilight provided and making it vanish in a puff of green fire.

"Thank you, Spike," Twilight said, sighing with relief.

"I'm surprised you're reacting like that," Spike said, picking his comic back up. "I thought you liked doing lists and smart pony stuff like that."

"Well, yes, it is interesting," Twilight began. "But... it's not as interesting as it could be, and it's definitely not as fun as I imagined being a Princess would be. I used to dream about helping Princess Celestia, but for some reason I didn't imagine so much of it being work."

Spike sniggered.

"And I've got a whole day of meetings tomorrow, too..." the Princess added. "Firstly with Starlight, to see how she's getting on, and then with the local governmental planning board..."

She stopped, as a familiar shape emerged from Spike's comic book. Appearing as an artistically drawn piece of brushwork, Discord laughed.

"Oh ho ho," he said, scratching his chin. "Interesting! I didn't realize-"

"Why do you look like that?" Spike interrupted. "That's nothing like the comic book style."

"Some people don't realize what spirit of chaos means," Discord said, deflating a bit and turning back to his normal self. "But I hear that the Princess of Friendship is having trouble getting to grips with being a Princess!"

"Discord, this isn't the time," Twilight tried.

"Of course it is!" Discord replied, with a smirk. "Because the Discord Academy for Perfect Princesses – name not final – is just about to enroll a new class of students!"

He leaned down to stage-whisper to Spike. "Funny how these things work out..."

Twilight opened her mouth to protest, but Discord snapped his claws and both of them vanished.

Spike waited a moment, then picked up his comic book again.

"Wonder what it'll be this time..." he said, absently.

Spike flipped open the comic book, skipping the first few pages upon noticing they simply depicted the last few minutes of Discord's sudden appearance and stealing away of Twilight. Flipping to a new page, the scene depicted Celestia and Luna sitting at their breakfast table. The picture began to grind into motion, the faint sound of a projector whirring to life emanating from the book as well.

"Would you pass the syrup, Luna?" Celestia asked, placing her hoof out in anticipation for the bottle. Luna rolled her eyes and levitated it over to her hoof, Celestia taking the bottle out of the air and beginning to pour it over her waffles.

"Are you sure that's wise, sister? You've already eaten half a bottle's worth, and clearly the sugar has made you forget you have magic as well." Luna joked, biting down on a few haybacon strips as Celestia waved her hoof dismissively after drowning her waffles in syrup. "I'm surprised you've managed to maintain your figure with so many sweets. Imagine what our subjects would say when they see you waddle out onto your thrown! It'd be quite un-pr-"

"Did somepony say, unprincess-like?" Discord asked as he appeared from under the table, dressed as a waiter and balancing several dishes upon his head and tail. Celestia and Luna looked at him mid-chew, blinking a few times. "Oh, pooh, I jumped the gun, didn't I? Well, you can't blame me, when I'm about to have the sun and moon princesses (or I suppose would-be-princesses if my school is to prove itself true to its name) attending my classes!" He proclaimed. He snapped his fingers, both Celestia and Luna suddenly vanishing in a flash of light, leaving Discord balancing his dishes alone. "Alright, that's three down, now who am I forgetting?" He tilted his head to one side as his tapped his chin, the pile of cups upon his head remaining balanced even at 90 degrees. "Ah, right!" He vanished once again, the porcelain crashing to the floor as he did.