Product of Friendship (My Little Pony)

11 Animal Sanctuary (2/4)

Wist continued her scavenge through the forest, lifting fleeting animals before her to examine. She skimmed through dens of snakes and colonies of bats and badgers. However, none suited her taste.

"No, no, no," Wist grumbled, tossing aside a wombat. "Come on, I need something extraordinary, something that goes beyond the normal."

The changeling stopped when she noted the animals hopping in out of many portals littered within the forest. A wobbly azure ring outlined them, shrouding black vortexes that look of space.

Mrs. Fluttershy had urged the students not to interact with them, but their bizarre presence fascinated the changeling. Just how and why do they exist here?

Wist shrugged and peered inside a portal. She couldn't find much harm to it if the animals are gung-ho about entering.

Her head emerged to another side of the portal. The atmosphere showered an unnatural phantasm that weighed her heavy and fluttered her light simultaneously.

Her sight then fixed upon an odd creature sat on a recliner among an open yard.

"Honestly," the creature grumbled as it thumbed through pages of a book. The creature wore the claws and talons of a lion and eagle. Its body riddled with contrasting pieces of animals that Wist wondered if some creature had designed it themselves. "Why did they have to make so many revisions to the magic system?" the creature continued, complaining. "There was nothing wrong with the old edition."

"What are you?" Wist surprised the creature with her close presence at its side.

"Whoa!" The creature yelped and threw its hand up, knocking the recliner and himself to the ground. The creature warped back onto its feet and patted its head of grass. "Don't you know any ethics, young lady? It's rude to sneak up on someone when they are busy in their reading."

"You look like one of those chimeras," Wist commented. "Though I've never seen one of your compositions."

"And I imagine that you never will. Well, that's unless Fluttershy and I can fix the quirks." The creature rubbed his tassel goatee, pondering the trials he must take. He noted the changeling still in wonder. "I don't think I have introduced myself, where are my manner. You may know me as Discord, Lord of chaos, spouse to the spirit of kindness, and this week's King of Ogre and Oubliettes. That last title I went through a lot to garner."

"Lord of chaos," Wist repeated, her eyes slit with hunger.

Discord failed to note this as he picked his recliner from the ground. "Now, if you don't mind, I still have reading to attend to. You can see yourself out the door."

Discord snapped his finger, intending to warp the changeling back into the sanctuary. Except that didn't happen. Wist remained before the lord of chaos, sauntering around him and examining his features.

He snapped his fingers again, nothing happened.

Discord arched an eyebrow. "Well, that's strange?" He summoned a magnifying glass in his paw and inspected his eagle limb. "This has never happened before."

"Hmm." Wist stopped in front of the confused Draconequus. "I think you will do."

Discord raised his sight from his magnifying glass. "Do? For what exactly?"

"Congratulations, Discord," Wist proudly announced. "I've decided upon you to become my familiar."

Discord paused at the changeling's declaration for a moment before descending to wild cackles. "Oh, ho ho," Discord spoke in between untamed laughs. "That's a good one. Do you think some random creature is fit to control the lord of chaos? Oh no, dearie, that is reserved to only one."

Wist happily harnessed her magic and lifted the draconequus above her. "I can't wait to show you to Luster. I can already imagine the sweet, sweet jealously she will have compared to her silly piglet."

"Hey now!" Discord yapped. "I never consented to this!" Discord tried to break out of the changeling spell, but his magic seemed unable to touch it. He summoned a portal beneath the changeling, but her body did not fall into its suction. It was almost as if she was immune to his chaos magic.

"You should feel honored," Wist chuckled, making her way to the portal she came from. "I'm not your normal kind of witch."

"Sounds nice, but unfortunately I'm already occupied with other commitments." Discord snapped his fingers and summoned a large bucket above the two. It dumped gallons of water over them, forcing Wist to exert eldritch flames to singe the water to mist.

Discord seized the brief opening to break out of the changeling's loose grip and slithered into a portal. However, his escape did not go unnoticed by the changeling.

"And where do you think you're going?" Wist asked, pursuing Discord in the portal.