"You'd think, but most of them refuse to acknowledge that they exist." Nightshade laughed. "Humans are astonishingly good at ignoring the obvious."
"Not all, but most. They've poisoned their planet, wiped out entire species for sport, and are constantly fighting wars over some sort of Magic Sky Grandpa that they worship."
"Exactly." She sighed. "The species has a lot of potential. Supposedly, they're almost as intelligent as ponies."
"Last I checked, Lord Discord never asked anypony to kill for him, anyway," she said, almost angrily.
Nightshade sighed. "Az told me about his ordeal with the Cult. I wanted to explain that most of us aren't like that, but he just seemed so angry..."
"Maybe you can break that prejudice. Try to show him what he went through shouldn't warp his mind. He knows I care about you, he'll keep his hooves off you."
"He'll keep his hooves off me, anyway," she said. "If he knows what's good for him." She sighed. "I like Az, I like Maya and Dusty, I like you. I really don't want this to drive a wedge between any of us."
"Then don't let it. Maya and Dusty won't mind. In fact... well, I don't know if I should even tell you this, but they cut a little deal with Discord before he reformed. It involved some... classic Discordian manipulation."
"I'll just assume they told you a little about what they did before. If not, correct me. Even Discord thought Az was getting to be a problem when he was... well, Discord's *squee!*. Az had an undead army, and he was straight-up murdering ponies. After a while, and after some... things... the soldiers did, Maya wound up getting in touch with Discord. They struck a deal. Two new souls in the Chaos Realm. Both stupid enough to take on an entire army, and strong enough to wipe the floor with them. Discord would scare them, make them feel like they had to leave, then Maya and Dusty would do their normal thing, train them a little bit, and lead them the right way; only this time they didn't bother sneaking them by like they did before. They led these scared, impulsive, unstable, dangerous mother buckers straight at the army. In the end, the army lost. Then Az confronted the four of them. Azrael put up a better fight than the army, but in the end, he had his ass kicked, too. He prolly would've died, too, but something about the beating he took knocked some sense into him, and the old, married couple showed a little mercy. So basically, Maya, Dusty and Discord manipulated two monsters into kicking Uncle Az's ass."
Nightshade arched an eyebrow. "I had no idea they were that strong." She sighed. "When we get back, I'm going to have to talk to Az. I don't think he's going to like what I have to say, but I have to try."
"Probably shouldn't have lied to him in the first place," she said. "I just didn't want it to turn into a fight."
