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Chapter 5: Lies, Guise and Discord's Prize

The terminally ill Discord observed the window where the Repo Mare's princess remained trapped in her ivory tower. He ordered his chauffeur to drive away for a few minutes; he needed to get something off his mind. She's the spitting image of her mother; well not really, it's just in the eyes and figure, but still! the draconequus pondered as he looked at the rotting city from his legacy and back at the house. A magenta glimmer coming from the window twinkled in his eye. Maybe she could be his new protege in magic. Perhaps, that sheltered princess could be the worthy heir that he'd been looking for all of his last years. That would be just the most perfect, yet cruel way for resolving vendetta. "Tell Chrysalis that I'll be returning in time for the fair today." Discord used his wristwatch that had been enhanced to communicate with others who had the same type, "Let Guilder be in charge, for he is the oldest; if he wants to be a suitable heir, he has to have some leadership experience before he's suited to potentially run my company..." He gagged on that last sentence. If leadership meant punching your way through problems, Guilder would fit the description perfectly. Turning off the communication apparatus, Discord snickered, "And I, Twilight, will be seeing you later..."

***

Meanwhile, at DisCorp's office, a girl with light bluish-white hair with a darker, Persian blue stripe gave a little whistle as she moved her right hand in such a way that it signaled her siblings to come over. As soon as the whistle reverberated the small, metal room, a pair of brown, feathery wings sped over in front of her; his white mohawk needed some serious work, but she didn't mind. Guilder would go gorillas if anyone insulted him. Next to him was her other sister, in whom she didn't consider a sister: Trixabelle, or Trixie: the ladies' and men's woman. It didn't matter what gender messed with the magician; all that mattered was that it had to live, be attractive, and be able to stroke her and her long cornflower hair whilst having hard intercourse in bed or anywhere. Finally, in whom the girl wanted to see most, her other two sisters appeared: Adagio Dazzle, formerly Ambrosia Largo, and Aria Blaze. "Wow, Dagi, you look great!!"

"I always look great, Sonata." Adagio gloated, "Have you noticed my newest surgery?" The pale yellow apple-skinned girl shook her behind so vigorously.

"This time, it's her calves. Such an improvement!" Aria's hand moved as the tones of her sarcastic mannerisms up and down and upwards. "Can we start this advertisement for the Genetic Opera!!?!? And, OH MY GOODNESS, SILVER SHILL, WHAT THE HELL IS UP WITH THE LIGHTS???"

"I believe they're perfect,"

"Of course you would, Sonata."

"Yeah," Adagio added, "it's not my fault you seem to have a crush on him!!"

"No I don't!!"

"Yeah, you do." Aria snarked through an unsubtle cough.

"DO NOT!!!"

"Oh, fine, just shut up!" Trixie ended the potential argument as she angrily pressed the needle of the phonograph containing a vinyl of Blind Rarity's voice, creating the illusion of her singing that large and long note. "Ladies, a-gentlemen!  Signore, signori!" Her mood metamorphosed to a sleek, commercialized happiness in front of the video camera that a male GENtern had just turned on. The lens of the mechanical window was mortified at the sight of Adagio in a dark violet piece of lingerie dancing around lustfully with uncomfortable-looking female GENterns, especially a crimson-haired with bright yellow streaks, amber-tinted skinned teenage who was almost the age of Rainbow Dash, Sunset Shimmer.

"Don't you dare touch your TV!!" Guilder flew over as fast as he could pushing Trixie out of the way as he yelled in his gravelly voice.

"Tonight's Genetic Opera is the place to be!!" a recorded voice of Discord's honeying warbles came from another phonograph a few feet away from the dancing surgery addict that was Adagio Dazzle. During the confusion, Sonata kept popping up in random places shouting "DisCorp. DisCorp"!!

"From the transplants!"

"To the GENterns!" Trixie lustfully made her way over to the male and female GENterns; they would eventually end up on her face.

"Bellissimo!" Aria shouted, then made her way to melodiously speaking in a scale with her best falsetto and faux-Italian accent, "L'opera mi amore!"

"The Genetic Opera is this evening," the recording of Discord's voice's rhythm syncopated with the bearing of Aria's voice and the garnet pendant that matched her partners around her neck.

"You'll-a laugh!" Guilder and Trixie chorused.

"Ha!" Sonata peeped as she bounced around the stage area. Bumping into the flashy Adagio, she suddenly cowered as her older sister thrust her fist upwards with her large, orange curls in as much of a frazzle as it was before.

"You'll-a cry!"

"Ho!"

"You'll-a . . ."

"SIINNNGG!!!!!!" Adagio stepped up from her highly provocative dancing to lip-sync that high note from the grainy gramophone recording of Blind Rarity's vibrato.

"Bravi, bravi, bravissime! The genetic opera is good!!"

"It's-a good!" Guilder put on his cheesiest smile for the camera, whether he liked it or not. As the discombobulated mess of dancing and rocking sideways grew, he then drew his knife right in Trixie's face.

"Bravi, bravi, bravissime! The genetic opera is good!!"

     The last phrase was repeated as the perfect, loving family of the Largos slid into a jazz hand-y position as Rarity's high note ended and Flim's camera work came to a close. All in the building had to get ready, for there was to be a Renaissance fair later; there was an opportunity for the Largo sisters, or Dazzlings as they called themselves, to perform their bubblegum pop. Two GENterns put a lush, scarlet robe on the barely clothed Adagio.

  Meanwhile, Flim came from his camera and supervised the other GENTerns beneath him. His brother, known as Flam, stood behind him, twirling his mustache. As they surveyed the beginning of commercial Zydrate production and perfected organs, Trixie was busy being surrounded by four young GENTerns fangirling around. Guilder was checking up with another GENTern.

  "Mark it up!" Sunset Shimmer shouted; another organ had been perfected to DisCorp's standard.

  "Mark it up!" one of the younger GENterns, a mage named Snips, repeated almost absentmindedly.

"Mark it up!" Flam observed a new batch of Zydrate to be shipped to the lower East Side of Manehattan.

  "Mark it up!" all three seemed to blurt at the same time; they then looked at each other in sheer confusion.

"Where the fuck is dad, others?!" Adagio Dazzle finally realized that her father was subsequently absent.

"He left me in charge, sister!" Guilder snapped quite arrogantly as he flew right in front of her walkway. Two of Chrysalis's cronies, who also happened to be Adagio's bodyguards, cocked their guns at him threateningly.

"I don't take lip from a-" the griffon and siren yelled at the same time.

  "Slut!" Guilder coughed in the least subtle manner.

    "Cunt!" Adagio then kneed him in the nuts,dipped him downward into a sexy tango pose, and locked her lips intensively onto his beak.

Trixie stage-whispered over to a male GENTern by the name of Snails, "My brother and sister should fuck--" She stared over at the bickering siblings inserting her left index finger inside of her right index finger and thumb in a circle with a quick pace.

"Trixie," Guilder interrupted in the softest tone of voice he could possibly go, which was a notch lower than his normal yelling tone. "shut the fuck up! I'm the smartest! And the toughest! I will find a hole and fuck it!" On the last two words, he pantomimed humping a woman. Meanwhile, a GENtern bumped into him. Irrationally infuriated, he savagely grabbed a scalpel from the cart that she pushed and drove it directly in her heart. "If there ain't one, I will make one! Guilder don't take shit from no one." Guilder pushed the dying woman into her own cart, resulting the contents being spilled onto the grey tiles, that were recently waxed. "One brain, mark it up!" The griffon picked up the bloodied brain from the floor and squeezed it in front of his younger sister's face in a taunting manner. "Only I got brains enough! That's why pop will leave DisCorp to me.... ME ME ME ME ME MEEE!!!" After that, he threw the brain onto a scale, marking it up. He then made his way over to a ladder and started showing off his scars from previous duels and enragement there.

The perturbed Trixie gawked at her now shirtless brother and stood there while her entourage continued to gush in awe over the great and powerful mage! She gloated, "Ask a GENtern who they prefer, 10 out of 9 will say the Trixie! The most dashing, pantie snatching;" Trixie focused on three GENterns, named Sunny Flare, Indigo Zap, and Sour Sweet and three pairs of briefs appeared in her hand; "I will leave your diapers dripping!!" She strutted her way over to the slowly dying GENtern and picked up two hearts that managed to survive the mess of scalpels and shards of glass. "Two hearts, mark it up! Trixie steals all of the hearts."

"You ain't got the guts, sister!!!" Guilder just couldn't help but quietly snarl; the snarling was heard by his other sisters. They observed the quarreling and interjected their thoughts, which matched those of their siblings: death and inheritance of the property.

  "All bark, but no lungs, mister!!" Trixie retorted.

  "Dad will leave DisCorp to me!" All five siblings screamed the false assurance that the company and, essentially, the fate of the world were going to be in their hands. But what is there to do with an entire monopoly that spanned across the entire globe? It was blatant that they each had different ideas on where they wanted to take the organ distribution facility in the future. Guilder was focusing on brute physical strength with anyone weaker than him being annihilated by his own fists, while the women in the Largo family only found appearance and talent to be top priority. Sunset shrugged and sunk her head into her palm as she made an escape from this corrupt family.

  "You wait! Time will tell!" the original two siblings who started the squabble circled around each other as they failed to notice one of their employees attempting to escape from the facility and the dying GENtern slowly suffering on the floor. They now started to insult each other in counterpart. "Trixie's face will woo them all! (Guilder's fists will rule you!). When I inherit Papa's stuff, (When I inherit all Dad's stuff)! Take Dad's will and mark you out! (Take Dad's will and write you out!) Take my cut and mark it up! Mark it up!! Mark it up!!!"
*********
  Twilight had finally calmed down from the squeeing from having a friend -no- two friends and levitated a copy of Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone, the exact same as the copy that she had given Dash and Blitz. The small television that she had been given as a present for her 15th birthday played a small documentary on the outbreak; it seemed to be the only thing that was on. "A girl can't be cooped up forever," her father always said, wondering if she was aware of his hypocrisy. She then found it boring and used her magic to adjust the rabbit ears to refocus whatever was on the TV, She finally stopped at a DisCorp commercial. Typical for today's age. Hearing a high vibrato from the TV, Twilight Sparkle dropped her book and adjusted her position to fully face the woman on screen and her second greatest influence, following the works of StarSwirl the Bearded, Blind Rarity.
  Blind Rarity stood on the stage, dressed in a semi-translucent skirt and tight midriff-baring top almost the same color as her skin, a wave of pure sound coming out of her mouth as her golden eyes sparkled. Literally. Everyone was jealous of the technology that gave Rarity the prettiest eyes in all of Equestria, at least according to Vanity and Vein at 9. A voiceover of the purple-haired woman started playing over her singing."Hi. I'm Blind Rarity," the posh, sophisticated voice seemed to further sooth the young girl, "Your treasured memories don't have to fade with time. Announcing DisCorp's Cornea Plus, where everything is digitally recorded, so you can relive your favorite memories again and again."

  "Incoming message from Discord Largo… Incoming message from Discord Largo…" beeped Twilight's wristlet that matched the tycoon. The continued beeping drowned out the rest of the Blind Rarity's performance, but really, Discord Largo? The Discord Largo??? Employer of Blind Rarity and savior of Equestria? Why would he ever personally talk to her, a sickly, young seventeen-year-old girl? Answer it! It won't kill you. Her thoughts urged as she fumbled for the TALK switch. A silhouetted hologram of man flickered to life.

  "Twilight Sparkle," a velvety voice spoke. "You don't know me, but your mother was once a very dear-" he almost seemed hesitant to let the next word out, "...friend to me. I can help you find your cure. Meet me at your mother's tomb." The hologram flickered out, and she glanced out the window. Should she dare go out and disobey her father? More importantly, how did he possibly know about her condition? According to one of the many fairy stories she had read, there was this thing in the olden days called a "summons" , where you yourself was to be sent before a person of high authority and anyone who refused was to be incarcerated or executed. Nowadays, the consequences for such a thing were not that severe because there was no royalty in Equestria. Well... am I going to miss out on this potential opportunity? It's never gonna happen again. Besides, what would Daring Do, uhm... do? With the mentality of positive endurance in her head, she made her way towards the secret entrance to her mother's tomb.

***

Discord glanced out at the cemetery, turning off the video feed that gave word of his children's progressing with him not around. It turns out that Guilder raised the mortality rate of the GENterns, Trixie broke the record of people instantly added to her harem and the occasional panty snatch, and the triplets were still being complete bitches to every single person they met. On top of that, report from one of the superintendents stated that one of his employees attempted to escape the premises.

"Ashes... dust," he muttered ruefully, then his tone drastically changed to one of extreme contempt. "My children were a bust! They shall inherit nothing! No... no! My legacy is too great to throw away on ingrates!" That was right, all they had been for the past years of his life were burdens and impudent disgraces, everything but suitable heirs for his company. In fact, no one that he had ever known had ever been fit for controlling the entire land of Equestria (Well, he could give it to Chrysalis, but that'd seem too generous for him.). Originally there was one he had in mind... "Artemis," the thought of that man, even though he was one of his top Repo Mares, made him scowl, "he had potential, til he stole my Flutters away! In denial, Artemis blamed himself for his wife's sudden death, and never once thought to suspect the man who wrote his checks! I guess... I'll take it to my death!" For a moment, her pained face, her silky hair, her deep, soulful eyes all flashed through his mind -her last words barely choking out her husband's name, the immense grief that enveloped all in the room- only to be replaced with vice and a bit of triumph. How could he, as dexterous as he was in being a killing machine and occasional doctor, not spot the symptoms of an equally psychotic man in whom he's employed to?

  Focus now shifted to the child he had seen on the graveyard cameras. She'd grown to look exceptionally pretty, a dark beauty, just like her mother. The limo halted in front of the crypt, and he stepped out. He could see the portrait of his former fiancee through the iron grate. "Fluttershy," he whispered, almost reverently with an air of sickeningly sweetness on her name. The tone of his voice flipped to his normal vengeful sound. "You never should have left me. I would have given you the world..." His fist clenched harder than it originally was, and his eyes and hand started to radiate a yellow flame. "It's been difficult to see you, after what you've put me through, you forced my hand and made me do..."

  He kept himself from telling what he did, for he noticed a silhouette of the same teen from earlier. To let Twilight know about her past would probably frighten her, besides the only way to preserve a secret between two people is if one of them is dead. "Well... it looks like I'll be joining you. It seems the man who cured the globe cannot stop his own extinction," His melancholy lessened ans "but I can go out with a bang!" He nodded at his two lackeys, stepping back into the limo as they opened the crypt. A maniacal laugh echoed throughout the limousine as he saw the two Changeling guards throw two smoke bombs into the partially open door and he heard Twilight's screams and pleads to go back inside. "I can go out with a... bang."

***

Among the tumultuous movement of the strange men in sunglasses jerking her out of the mausoleum, the immediate and constant beeping of her wristwatch upon contact with oxygen, and being thrown in the seat of limousine, saying that things were moving way too fast for dear Twilight was quite the understatement. She attempted to take a breath and soak all of this in for the two seconds she was in the car, but she was immediately flanked by the two guards wearing gas masks. The purple-haired girl's first instinct was to reach in the front of her bag to get her medicine, but before she could take the bottle out of the pocket, the guard to her left snatched it out of her hand. "Twilight." the voice in front of her beckoned, as she turned her head to the blood red orbs of the man facing her; she also couldn't help but stare at his other abnormalities such as the long tooth that protruded from his mouth like a vampire's fang, elvish ears, and his mismatched shoes.

  "Thanks for coming," Discord Largo chuckled while Twilight failed to realize what was so funny. At the snap of his long, bony fingers, he conjured a little glass of water for Twilight to take her pills. "It's nice to see young talent blooming in the least likely of places. My kids have been... well, disappointing." Understatement of the 21st century.

"Talent? You must be mistaken... I'm not the one who you should be going to for talent," Twilight sheepishly shrunk into her shirt.

"No, no, don't be modest, dearie. I've heard many things from your father about you: like naming almost all the constellations found in Equestria, your keenness for the tiniest details, you've read all of Starswirl and Meadowbrook's first-hand accounts of their discoveries. May I state more?" A veil of jealousy obscured his mind. Why couldn't his kids know all there was to know about history? Guilder could have some use in diplomacy with the griffon territories. If he was so concerned with money, why wouldn't he want to expand the business?

"Wait, you know my father?"

Discord snapped his fingers as a puff of smoke hazed in front of him. Twilight, after the smoke cleared, observed that the draconequus' wild bangs straightened similar to hers. "Wait, you know my father?" he mimicked, but then he returned to his normal, sly tone, "OF COURSE I KNOW YOUR FATHER! In fact he's one of my top employees," he made sure to be wary of his wording.

  Twilight Sparkle stared off into the cosmos, still in awe of his status as told by the ruler of Equestria. She knew what her father did for a living, but he never really spoke much about it for some odd reason; being a top-notch surgeon for DisCorp. What could he have possibly done to earn such high praise from Discord? He might have performed an outstanding heart surgery with a patient who only had seconds left to live! Or maybe he could have helped find a cure to other, more serious ailments besides hers; if that was the case, why was hers taking so long?

  "Oh, goodness, where are my manners? I'm Discord Largo, but I'm sure someone as intelligent as yourself know that already." Still no response. He clenched his hand in an open fist and he slowly drew Twilight closer to him with his chaos magic. The girl jolted out of her daydream, staring eye-to-eye with the most powerful man in the world; she felt like a fly staring into the multiple, compound eyes of a spider. What was he going to do?

  The draconequus snapped on the hand that he clenched as a thunder cloud conjured behind his future protoge's head. At the snap of his other finger, the cloud spun out of control; its colors gradually changed from a brooding grey to a light pink, similar to his former flame's plumage. Twilight, with her powers of observation, noticed a slight change in the atmosphere of the limousine; was that strawberry-scented spun sugar swirling swiftly through the air? Additionally, something sticky stayed in her hair. Cotton candy... She stared at her captor in disinterest while he could barely control his laughter. "And you thought I was going to smite you with the fires of hell!! Pricel-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!"

"Hilarious. Can you please let me go now?"

"So much for trying to have some fun around here..."

"Was there any other way you could have talked to me? Any other method that wasn't kidnapping."

"Oh," Discord feigned forgetfulness, "sorry for being so difficult. I had no choice; you're a tough one to find. Do you know how many holes we've had to climb to find someone as extraordinary as yourself?" Twilight exchanged a worried glance to one of the guards next to her, but to no avail. "Please tell me, why is it that you hide that pretty little face of yours?"

Twilight's cheeks flushed a very vivid pink. "I cannot be outside. I have a blood disease."

  Discord, smiling slowly, raised an eyebrow. That was odd, coming from the personification of oddities. He remembered Fluttershy falling ill, but he failed to remember. Apart from a slightly pale complexion, she exhibited the symptoms he was used to seeing in blood disease victims. Fluttershy was much paler than that in her last hours. "Are you aware of the disease?" No answer. "Anemia? Leukemia? Hemophilia? Myeloma?"

"No. All he told me was that it was rare and that my mom died from it." Why wouldn't Artemis tell her about her disease, Discord thought to himself, it's quite queer for a former doctor to not notify a patient of their diagnosis down to the specifics.

"Well, never mind about all of that," he slyly smiled. "Anyway, my personal scientists and I have created a new form of medicine that is claimed to cure all of Equestria and beyond's ailments. Of course it needs a test subject... what about you?" Twilight became a deer in the headlights (even though it was something Discord could do). "It's the cure you're seeking, Twilight. Your chance to see the world, Twilight. It's right here in your grasp."

"Why me, of all people? Shouldn't you be testing it on one of your GENterns or someone in that vicinity?"

"But you know, there's always option B. I could take you back home like you wanted and you could rot away your life inside your bedroom waiting for your dear old daddy to find a cure. And you know how long that's going to take, right? Factor in all of the late hours he has to work with last minute patients, transplants, women crawling at DisCorp's doorstep about to deliver a baby on the dirty, mucky streets of Canterlot..."

"Alright!"

"A night of fun awaits us, dear Twilight! Would you be my date to the annual DisCorp fair? Blind Rarity would be there. "

"Rarity!" Twilight quickly squeed.

"You two should meet."

   She suddenly realized something, "Hey, didn't that sound-"

"Yes, I'm completely aware of how unsettling that sounded, but seriously. Would you think that someone almost reaching his fifties would go and court some seventeen year old girl, especially coming from someone who has read almost the entire Canterlot library? On a somewhat related note, I saw you performing some magic, and, don't tell Trixie this, but, I do say that you're better than my second oldest, and she's only in her late twenties! Let me rephrase that. Will you be my date, in the sense of no romance at all, coming from teacher to student?"

"Wait, you, Discord Largo, head of DisCorp and ruler of the world, actually want to teach me magic?"

"It doesn't look like anybody else is doing it."

"Mr. Largo, thanks for the offer, but I have to go back home. My dad will worry sick about me."

Discord advised, "Twilight, I'm going to tell you one of the most important things I've learned from all of the years I've been in the business of running the Genetic Opera. This entire experience has taught me to relax, take life a little less seriously. Yes, lives are my main priority, but why should one worry about death when you simply can just replace the cause of the sickness? The opera is the perfect example of this; in act one, you die, but you come back as a ghost in act three! Do me a favor: live a little, and I'll definitely make sure that he'll be off our heels."

"You sure of that?"

"Of course, who do you think I am? Some sluggard like your father?" With his Cheshire Cat grin, he leaned in conspiratorially as he outstretched his hand, "And besides, who says that dad needs to know everything?"

   Twilight brought her hand from her lap out to shake his, but she quickly retreated. She had to think logically about this. So, a man, in whom she had never met before, was offering magic lessons and a chance to go outside her bedroom? Awesome!!! But this could end badly. This is Discord, we're talking about: her father's boss, who could rat on her at any time. Mr. Largo did have a point though; she did need to live a little. As Blind Rarity had once sang, "chase the morning, yield for nothing"! After some short thought, she, with a confident smile, returned the handshake.

Description
Chapter 5: Lies, Guise and Discord's Prize

The terminally ill Discord observed the window where the Repo Mare's princess remained trapped in her ivory tower. He ordered his chauffeur to drive away for a few minutes; he needed to get something off his mind. She's the spitting image of her mother; well not really, it's just in the eyes and figure, but still! the draconequus pondered as he looked at the rotting city from his legacy and back at the house. A magenta glimmer coming from the window twinkled in his eye. Maybe she could be his new protege in magic. Perhaps, that sheltered princess could be the worthy heir that he'd been looking for all of his last years. That would be just the most perfect, yet cruel way for resolving vendetta. "Tell Chrysalis that I'll be returning in time for the fair today." Discord used his wristwatch that had been enhanced to communicate with others who had the same type, "Let Guilder be in charge, for he is the oldest; if he wants to be a suitable heir, he has to have some leadership experience before he's suited to potentially run my company..." He gagged on that last sentence. If leadership meant punching your way through problems, Guilder would fit the description perfectly. Turning off the communication apparatus, Discord snickered, "And I, Twilight, will be seeing you later..."

***

Meanwhile, at DisCorp's office, a girl with light bluish-white hair with a darker, Persian blue stripe gave a little whistle as she moved her right hand in such a way that it signaled her siblings to come over. As soon as the whistle reverberated the small, metal room, a pair of brown, feathery wings sped over in front of her; his white mohawk needed some serious work, but she didn't mind. Guilder would go gorillas if anyone insulted him. Next to him was her other sister, in whom she didn't consider a sister: Trixabelle, or Trixie: the ladies' and men's woman. It didn't matter what gender messed with the magician; all that mattered was that it had to live, be attractive, and be able to stroke her and her long cornflower hair whilst having hard intercourse in bed or anywhere. Finally, in whom the girl wanted to see most, her other two sisters appeared: Adagio Dazzle, formerly Ambrosia Largo, and Aria Blaze. "Wow, Dagi, you look great!!"

"I always look great, Sonata." Adagio gloated, "Have you noticed my newest surgery?" The pale yellow apple-skinned girl shook her behind so vigorously.

"This time, it's her calves. Such an improvement!" Aria's hand moved as the tones of her sarcastic mannerisms up and down and upwards. "Can we start this advertisement for the Genetic Opera!!?!? And, OH MY GOODNESS, SILVER SHILL, WHAT THE HELL IS UP WITH THE LIGHTS???"

"I believe they're perfect,"

"Of course you would, Sonata."

"Yeah," Adagio added, "it's not my fault you seem to have a crush on him!!"

"No I don't!!"

"Yeah, you do." Aria snarked through an unsubtle cough.

"DO NOT!!!"

"Oh, fine, just shut up!" Trixie ended the potential argument as she angrily pressed the needle of the phonograph containing a vinyl of Blind Rarity's voice, creating the illusion of her singing that large and long note. "Ladies, a-gentlemen!  Signore, signori!" Her mood metamorphosed to a sleek, commercialized happiness in front of the video camera that a male GENtern had just turned on. The lens of the mechanical window was mortified at the sight of Adagio in a dark violet piece of lingerie dancing around lustfully with uncomfortable-looking female GENterns, especially a crimson-haired with bright yellow streaks, amber-tinted skinned teenage who was almost the age of Rainbow Dash, Sunset Shimmer.

"Don't you dare touch your TV!!" Guilder flew over as fast as he could pushing Trixie out of the way as he yelled in his gravelly voice.

"Tonight's Genetic Opera is the place to be!!" a recorded voice of Discord's honeying warbles came from another phonograph a few feet away from the dancing surgery addict that was Adagio Dazzle. During the confusion, Sonata kept popping up in random places shouting "DisCorp. DisCorp"!!

"From the transplants!"

"To the GENterns!" Trixie lustfully made her way over to the male and female GENterns; they would eventually end up on her face.

"Bellissimo!" Aria shouted, then made her way to melodiously speaking in a scale with her best falsetto and faux-Italian accent, "L'opera mi amore!"

"The Genetic Opera is this evening," the recording of Discord's voice's rhythm syncopated with the bearing of Aria's voice and the garnet pendant that matched her partners around her neck.

"You'll-a laugh!" Guilder and Trixie chorused.

"Ha!" Sonata peeped as she bounced around the stage area. Bumping into the flashy Adagio, she suddenly cowered as her older sister thrust her fist upwards with her large, orange curls in as much of a frazzle as it was before.

"You'll-a cry!"

"Ho!"

"You'll-a . . ."

"SIINNNGG!!!!!!" Adagio stepped up from her highly provocative dancing to lip-sync that high note from the grainy gramophone recording of Blind Rarity's vibrato.

"Bravi, bravi, bravissime! The genetic opera is good!!"

"It's-a good!" Guilder put on his cheesiest smile for the camera, whether he liked it or not. As the discombobulated mess of dancing and rocking sideways grew, he then drew his knife right in Trixie's face.

"Bravi, bravi, bravissime! The genetic opera is good!!"

     The last phrase was repeated as the perfect, loving family of the Largos slid into a jazz hand-y position as Rarity's high note ended and Flim's camera work came to a close. All in the building had to get ready, for there was to be a Renaissance fair later; there was an opportunity for the Largo sisters, or Dazzlings as they called themselves, to perform their bubblegum pop. Two GENterns put a lush, scarlet robe on the barely clothed Adagio.

  Meanwhile, Flim came from his camera and supervised the other GENTerns beneath him. His brother, known as Flam, stood behind him, twirling his mustache. As they surveyed the beginning of commercial Zydrate production and perfected organs, Trixie was busy being surrounded by four young GENTerns fangirling around. Guilder was checking up with another GENTern.

  "Mark it up!" Sunset Shimmer shouted; another organ had been perfected to DisCorp's standard.

  "Mark it up!" one of the younger GENterns, a mage named Snips, repeated almost absentmindedly.

"Mark it up!" Flam observed a new batch of Zydrate to be shipped to the lower East Side of Manehattan.

  "Mark it up!" all three seemed to blurt at the same time; they then looked at each other in sheer confusion.

"Where the fuck is dad, others?!" Adagio Dazzle finally realized that her father was subsequently absent.

"He left me in charge, sister!" Guilder snapped quite arrogantly as he flew right in front of her walkway. Two of Chrysalis's cronies, who also happened to be Adagio's bodyguards, cocked their guns at him threateningly.

"I don't take lip from a-" the griffon and siren yelled at the same time.

  "Slut!" Guilder coughed in the least subtle manner.

    "Cunt!" Adagio then kneed him in the nuts,dipped him downward into a sexy tango pose, and locked her lips intensively onto his beak.

Trixie stage-whispered over to a male GENTern by the name of Snails, "My brother and sister should fuck--" She stared over at the bickering siblings inserting her left index finger inside of her right index finger and thumb in a circle with a quick pace.

"Trixie," Guilder interrupted in the softest tone of voice he could possibly go, which was a notch lower than his normal yelling tone. "shut the fuck up! I'm the smartest! And the toughest! I will find a hole and fuck it!" On the last two words, he pantomimed humping a woman. Meanwhile, a GENtern bumped into him. Irrationally infuriated, he savagely grabbed a scalpel from the cart that she pushed and drove it directly in her heart. "If there ain't one, I will make one! Guilder don't take shit from no one." Guilder pushed the dying woman into her own cart, resulting the contents being spilled onto the grey tiles, that were recently waxed. "One brain, mark it up!" The griffon picked up the bloodied brain from the floor and squeezed it in front of his younger sister's face in a taunting manner. "Only I got brains enough! That's why pop will leave DisCorp to me.... ME ME ME ME ME MEEE!!!" After that, he threw the brain onto a scale, marking it up. He then made his way over to a ladder and started showing off his scars from previous duels and enragement there.

The perturbed Trixie gawked at her now shirtless brother and stood there while her entourage continued to gush in awe over the great and powerful mage! She gloated, "Ask a GENtern who they prefer, 10 out of 9 will say the Trixie! The most dashing, pantie snatching;" Trixie focused on three GENterns, named Sunny Flare, Indigo Zap, and Sour Sweet and three pairs of briefs appeared in her hand; "I will leave your diapers dripping!!" She strutted her way over to the slowly dying GENtern and picked up two hearts that managed to survive the mess of scalpels and shards of glass. "Two hearts, mark it up! Trixie steals all of the hearts."

"You ain't got the guts, sister!!!" Guilder just couldn't help but quietly snarl; the snarling was heard by his other sisters. They observed the quarreling and interjected their thoughts, which matched those of their siblings: death and inheritance of the property.

  "All bark, but no lungs, mister!!" Trixie retorted.

  "Dad will leave DisCorp to me!" All five siblings screamed the false assurance that the company and, essentially, the fate of the world were going to be in their hands. But what is there to do with an entire monopoly that spanned across the entire globe? It was blatant that they each had different ideas on where they wanted to take the organ distribution facility in the future. Guilder was focusing on brute physical strength with anyone weaker than him being annihilated by his own fists, while the women in the Largo family only found appearance and talent to be top priority. Sunset shrugged and sunk her head into her palm as she made an escape from this corrupt family.

  "You wait! Time will tell!" the original two siblings who started the squabble circled around each other as they failed to notice one of their employees attempting to escape from the facility and the dying GENtern slowly suffering on the floor. They now started to insult each other in counterpart. "Trixie's face will woo them all! (Guilder's fists will rule you!). When I inherit Papa's stuff, (When I inherit all Dad's stuff)! Take Dad's will and mark you out! (Take Dad's will and write you out!) Take my cut and mark it up! Mark it up!! Mark it up!!!"
*********
  Twilight had finally calmed down from the squeeing from having a friend -no- two friends and levitated a copy of Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone, the exact same as the copy that she had given Dash and Blitz. The small television that she had been given as a present for her 15th birthday played a small documentary on the outbreak; it seemed to be the only thing that was on. "A girl can't be cooped up forever," her father always said, wondering if she was aware of his hypocrisy. She then found it boring and used her magic to adjust the rabbit ears to refocus whatever was on the TV, She finally stopped at a DisCorp commercial. Typical for today's age. Hearing a high vibrato from the TV, Twilight Sparkle dropped her book and adjusted her position to fully face the woman on screen and her second greatest influence, following the works of StarSwirl the Bearded, Blind Rarity.
  Blind Rarity stood on the stage, dressed in a semi-translucent skirt and tight midriff-baring top almost the same color as her skin, a wave of pure sound coming out of her mouth as her golden eyes sparkled. Literally. Everyone was jealous of the technology that gave Rarity the prettiest eyes in all of Equestria, at least according to Vanity and Vein at 9. A voiceover of the purple-haired woman started playing over her singing."Hi. I'm Blind Rarity," the posh, sophisticated voice seemed to further sooth the young girl, "Your treasured memories don't have to fade with time. Announcing DisCorp's Cornea Plus, where everything is digitally recorded, so you can relive your favorite memories again and again."

  "Incoming message from Discord Largo… Incoming message from Discord Largo…" beeped Twilight's wristlet that matched the tycoon. The continued beeping drowned out the rest of the Blind Rarity's performance, but really, Discord Largo? The Discord Largo??? Employer of Blind Rarity and savior of Equestria? Why would he ever personally talk to her, a sickly, young seventeen-year-old girl? Answer it! It won't kill you. Her thoughts urged as she fumbled for the TALK switch. A silhouetted hologram of man flickered to life.

  "Twilight Sparkle," a velvety voice spoke. "You don't know me, but your mother was once a very dear-" he almost seemed hesitant to let the next word out, "...friend to me. I can help you find your cure. Meet me at your mother's tomb." The hologram flickered out, and she glanced out the window. Should she dare go out and disobey her father? More importantly, how did he possibly know about her condition? According to one of the many fairy stories she had read, there was this thing in the olden days called a "summons" , where you yourself was to be sent before a person of high authority and anyone who refused was to be incarcerated or executed. Nowadays, the consequences for such a thing were not that severe because there was no royalty in Equestria. Well... am I going to miss out on this potential opportunity? It's never gonna happen again. Besides, what would Daring Do, uhm... do? With the mentality of positive endurance in her head, she made her way towards the secret entrance to her mother's tomb.

***

Discord glanced out at the cemetery, turning off the video feed that gave word of his children's progressing with him not around. It turns out that Guilder raised the mortality rate of the GENterns, Trixie broke the record of people instantly added to her harem and the occasional panty snatch, and the triplets were still being complete bitches to every single person they met. On top of that, report from one of the superintendents stated that one of his employees attempted to escape the premises.

"Ashes... dust," he muttered ruefully, then his tone drastically changed to one of extreme contempt. "My children were a bust! They shall inherit nothing! No... no! My legacy is too great to throw away on ingrates!" That was right, all they had been for the past years of his life were burdens and impudent disgraces, everything but suitable heirs for his company. In fact, no one that he had ever known had ever been fit for controlling the entire land of Equestria (Well, he could give it to Chrysalis, but that'd seem too generous for him.). Originally there was one he had in mind... "Artemis," the thought of that man, even though he was one of his top Repo Mares, made him scowl, "he had potential, til he stole my Flutters away! In denial, Artemis blamed himself for his wife's sudden death, and never once thought to suspect the man who wrote his checks! I guess... I'll take it to my death!" For a moment, her pained face, her silky hair, her deep, soulful eyes all flashed through his mind -her last words barely choking out her husband's name, the immense grief that enveloped all in the room- only to be replaced with vice and a bit of triumph. How could he, as dexterous as he was in being a killing machine and occasional doctor, not spot the symptoms of an equally psychotic man in whom he's employed to?

  Focus now shifted to the child he had seen on the graveyard cameras. She'd grown to look exceptionally pretty, a dark beauty, just like her mother. The limo halted in front of the crypt, and he stepped out. He could see the portrait of his former fiancee through the iron grate. "Fluttershy," he whispered, almost reverently with an air of sickeningly sweetness on her name. The tone of his voice flipped to his normal vengeful sound. "You never should have left me. I would have given you the world..." His fist clenched harder than it originally was, and his eyes and hand started to radiate a yellow flame. "It's been difficult to see you, after what you've put me through, you forced my hand and made me do..."

  He kept himself from telling what he did, for he noticed a silhouette of the same teen from earlier. To let Twilight know about her past would probably frighten her, besides the only way to preserve a secret between two people is if one of them is dead. "Well... it looks like I'll be joining you. It seems the man who cured the globe cannot stop his own extinction," His melancholy lessened ans "but I can go out with a bang!" He nodded at his two lackeys, stepping back into the limo as they opened the crypt. A maniacal laugh echoed throughout the limousine as he saw the two Changeling guards throw two smoke bombs into the partially open door and he heard Twilight's screams and pleads to go back inside. "I can go out with a... bang."

***

Among the tumultuous movement of the strange men in sunglasses jerking her out of the mausoleum, the immediate and constant beeping of her wristwatch upon contact with oxygen, and being thrown in the seat of limousine, saying that things were moving way too fast for dear Twilight was quite the understatement. She attempted to take a breath and soak all of this in for the two seconds she was in the car, but she was immediately flanked by the two guards wearing gas masks. The purple-haired girl's first instinct was to reach in the front of her bag to get her medicine, but before she could take the bottle out of the pocket, the guard to her left snatched it out of her hand. "Twilight." the voice in front of her beckoned, as she turned her head to the blood red orbs of the man facing her; she also couldn't help but stare at his other abnormalities such as the long tooth that protruded from his mouth like a vampire's fang, elvish ears, and his mismatched shoes.

  "Thanks for coming," Discord Largo chuckled while Twilight failed to realize what was so funny. At the snap of his long, bony fingers, he conjured a little glass of water for Twilight to take her pills. "It's nice to see young talent blooming in the least likely of places. My kids have been... well, disappointing." Understatement of the 21st century.

"Talent? You must be mistaken... I'm not the one who you should be going to for talent," Twilight sheepishly shrunk into her shirt.

"No, no, don't be modest, dearie. I've heard many things from your father about you: like naming almost all the constellations found in Equestria, your keenness for the tiniest details, you've read all of Starswirl and Meadowbrook's first-hand accounts of their discoveries. May I state more?" A veil of jealousy obscured his mind. Why couldn't his kids know all there was to know about history? Guilder could have some use in diplomacy with the griffon territories. If he was so concerned with money, why wouldn't he want to expand the business?

"Wait, you know my father?"

Discord snapped his fingers as a puff of smoke hazed in front of him. Twilight, after the smoke cleared, observed that the draconequus' wild bangs straightened similar to hers. "Wait, you know my father?" he mimicked, but then he returned to his normal, sly tone, "OF COURSE I KNOW YOUR FATHER! In fact he's one of my top employees," he made sure to be wary of his wording.

  Twilight Sparkle stared off into the cosmos, still in awe of his status as told by the ruler of Equestria. She knew what her father did for a living, but he never really spoke much about it for some odd reason; being a top-notch surgeon for DisCorp. What could he have possibly done to earn such high praise from Discord? He might have performed an outstanding heart surgery with a patient who only had seconds left to live! Or maybe he could have helped find a cure to other, more serious ailments besides hers; if that was the case, why was hers taking so long?

  "Oh, goodness, where are my manners? I'm Discord Largo, but I'm sure someone as intelligent as yourself know that already." Still no response. He clenched his hand in an open fist and he slowly drew Twilight closer to him with his chaos magic. The girl jolted out of her daydream, staring eye-to-eye with the most powerful man in the world; she felt like a fly staring into the multiple, compound eyes of a spider. What was he going to do?

  The draconequus snapped on the hand that he clenched as a thunder cloud conjured behind his future protoge's head. At the snap of his other finger, the cloud spun out of control; its colors gradually changed from a brooding grey to a light pink, similar to his former flame's plumage. Twilight, with her powers of observation, noticed a slight change in the atmosphere of the limousine; was that strawberry-scented spun sugar swirling swiftly through the air? Additionally, something sticky stayed in her hair. Cotton candy... She stared at her captor in disinterest while he could barely control his laughter. "And you thought I was going to smite you with the fires of hell!! Pricel-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!"

"Hilarious. Can you please let me go now?"

"So much for trying to have some fun around here..."

"Was there any other way you could have talked to me? Any other method that wasn't kidnapping."

"Oh," Discord feigned forgetfulness, "sorry for being so difficult. I had no choice; you're a tough one to find. Do you know how many holes we've had to climb to find someone as extraordinary as yourself?" Twilight exchanged a worried glance to one of the guards next to her, but to no avail. "Please tell me, why is it that you hide that pretty little face of yours?"

Twilight's cheeks flushed a very vivid pink. "I cannot be outside. I have a blood disease."

  Discord, smiling slowly, raised an eyebrow. That was odd, coming from the personification of oddities. He remembered Fluttershy falling ill, but he failed to remember. Apart from a slightly pale complexion, she exhibited the symptoms he was used to seeing in blood disease victims. Fluttershy was much paler than that in her last hours. "Are you aware of the disease?" No answer. "Anemia? Leukemia? Hemophilia? Myeloma?"

"No. All he told me was that it was rare and that my mom died from it." Why wouldn't Artemis tell her about her disease, Discord thought to himself, it's quite queer for a former doctor to not notify a patient of their diagnosis down to the specifics.

"Well, never mind about all of that," he slyly smiled. "Anyway, my personal scientists and I have created a new form of medicine that is claimed to cure all of Equestria and beyond's ailments. Of course it needs a test subject... what about you?" Twilight became a deer in the headlights (even though it was something Discord could do). "It's the cure you're seeking, Twilight. Your chance to see the world, Twilight. It's right here in your grasp."

"Why me, of all people? Shouldn't you be testing it on one of your GENterns or someone in that vicinity?"

"But you know, there's always option B. I could take you back home like you wanted and you could rot away your life inside your bedroom waiting for your dear old daddy to find a cure. And you know how long that's going to take, right? Factor in all of the late hours he has to work with last minute patients, transplants, women crawling at DisCorp's doorstep about to deliver a baby on the dirty, mucky streets of Canterlot..."

"Alright!"

"A night of fun awaits us, dear Twilight! Would you be my date to the annual DisCorp fair? Blind Rarity would be there. "

"Rarity!" Twilight quickly squeed.

"You two should meet."

   She suddenly realized something, "Hey, didn't that sound-"

"Yes, I'm completely aware of how unsettling that sounded, but seriously. Would you think that someone almost reaching his fifties would go and court some seventeen year old girl, especially coming from someone who has read almost the entire Canterlot library? On a somewhat related note, I saw you performing some magic, and, don't tell Trixie this, but, I do say that you're better than my second oldest, and she's only in her late twenties! Let me rephrase that. Will you be my date, in the sense of no romance at all, coming from teacher to student?"

"Wait, you, Discord Largo, head of DisCorp and ruler of the world, actually want to teach me magic?"

"It doesn't look like anybody else is doing it."

"Mr. Largo, thanks for the offer, but I have to go back home. My dad will worry sick about me."

Discord advised, "Twilight, I'm going to tell you one of the most important things I've learned from all of the years I've been in the business of running the Genetic Opera. This entire experience has taught me to relax, take life a little less seriously. Yes, lives are my main priority, but why should one worry about death when you simply can just replace the cause of the sickness? The opera is the perfect example of this; in act one, you die, but you come back as a ghost in act three! Do me a favor: live a little, and I'll definitely make sure that he'll be off our heels."

"You sure of that?"

"Of course, who do you think I am? Some sluggard like your father?" With his Cheshire Cat grin, he leaned in conspiratorially as he outstretched his hand, "And besides, who says that dad needs to know everything?"

   Twilight brought her hand from her lap out to shake his, but she quickly retreated. She had to think logically about this. So, a man, in whom she had never met before, was offering magic lessons and a chance to go outside her bedroom? Awesome!!! But this could end badly. This is Discord, we're talking about: her father's boss, who could rat on her at any time. Mr. Largo did have a point though; she did need to live a little. As Blind Rarity had once sang, "chase the morning, yield for nothing"! After some short thought, she, with a confident smile, returned the handshake.